So this week I’m working on creating a 2012 calendar for Kenya Aid. A little something we can sell over Christmas to help us raise the money we need to buy the community an ambulance. And it’s also a nice reminder to our donors to donate each month! Continue Reading »
Since I’ve been getting my graphic on, in between tending to a very beautiful squealing baby boy and making sense of this new life as a mother I’ve been thrown into, I’ve been discovering lots of beautiful things. But you know, it’s so hard to keep track of all this stuff. You wander around the internet for a few hours, find a bunch of cute things you like, or want to make, and before you know it you’ve forgotten what you’ve seen, what you’re looking for, or even why you sat down in front of your computer in the first place. Or maybe that’s just me. Continue Reading »
How to work with a graphic designer
As a copywriter who dabbles in a bit of online marketing I’ve often had requests from clients to work with graphic designers and web developers on their behalf when launching a new website. Why? Sometimes, the client is simply too busy and doesn’t want the extra pressure of managing an extra team. At other times it’s a communication issue. Usually the client comes to me, frustrated, because their graphic designer hasn’t created the website of their dreams. Both are locked in a stalemate and after a number of thinly veiled insults have been thrown, neither the client nor the designer wants anything to do with the other.
The result? Usually, a half-complete website that looks like it was put together by a four year old on crack.
Dear John…
Swept up in a romance that’s enough to make you believe in love at first sight, John and Savannah battle distance, war and more than one broken promise but the question remains – can love conquer all? Continue Reading »
A natural beauty
From an accident that left her temporarily paralysed, to a trip across the Australian outback that inspired her to follow her artistic passions, Anastasia of Anastasia Beads is full of surprises. Continue Reading »
New beginnings
It has been remarkably quiet here at Text Bent, hasn’t it.
No, I haven’t been eaten by the deadline monster. Not yet.
What I have been busy with is a new job… which is now an old job. I’ve also been busy with the occasional freelance gig. And getting married. And then getting pregnant. And after all that deciding that I still had some spare time which I should probably fill with a graphic design course.
And you know what? It’s all going pretty well.
But with my maternity leave due to start in a matter of weeks now I find myself trundling back to Text Bent in the vain hope that I’ll have time to do what I’ve been wanting to do over the past few years and that’s put up some interesting posts about writing, web marketing and, now, design. Plenty of fuel – I just need a DeLorian to get about in and help me make up some time.
So while my head may be filled with all things baby – our little one is due on the 24th of June – I’m hoping to get some action happening on Text Bent in the not too distant future.
I hope you enjoy the change.
The Return of the Kings
If you’re looking for some beachy tunes this summer, you’re in luck. Kings of Leon are heading back to their roots in their fifth album, Come Around Sundown. Continue Reading »
SEO and other three letter words
A few of days ago I wrote a short post about choosing keywords. Now, the question is: what do you do with those keywords once you’ve chosen them?
The great keyword search
I’ve noticed people getting very fired up about keywords over the past few years. Terms like ‘Google rank’, ‘optimisation’ and ‘meta tags’ are being bandied about, often accompanied by a look of vague confusion as business owners wonder if this stuff really matters. Continue Reading »
A Mother Divided
Leonie discusses life as a new mum and the changes women face as they make the transition from work to full time parent.
City of Ancients
Tucked away in the cleft of a mountain in the middle of the Syrian countryside lies a tiny Christian village. Admittedly, it’s an odd place to have a Christian village. But in the country that holds claim to the longest continually inhabited city (Damascus or Aleppo, depending on whose side you take) it’s no surprise that this little village is also the last place on earth where the language of Christ is still spoken.
Read the full story over at SheGoes.com.au
On getting old
I realised something this weekend. Somewhere between the hundredth gray hair I had to pluck out and the intense feeling of disapproval I now feel towards teenagers I realised I am now, officially, old. Continue Reading »
10 Ways to Improve Your Blog in 2010
Often people ask how to best market their website or blog to get instant traffic. Well folks, there isn’t a way. Unfortunately for most of us there’s no ‘instant’ in the on-line vocabulary, unless you’re talking about how your computer ‘instantly’ crashed, or your server went down ‘just for an instant but long enough to lose that big customer’.
Still a Secret – Bay of Fires, Tasmania
Named the world’s “hottest” travel destination for 2009, Tasmania’s Bay of Fires – located on the state’s East Coast – remains one of its best kept secrets.
Discover the highlights and find out how to get there over at SheGoes.com.au
Frank On Holiday
‘Frank On Holiday’ is a story about a character, Frank, who popped into my mind a few weeks ago and wasn’t going to leave until I’d told his story. Using dialogue to create the characters and also as a basis for manipulating time, ‘Frank On Holiday’ is a simple short story about life, death, and that point in space and time that divides them.
“If you want communication…”
I love The Cardigans. I think their lyrics rock. And really, when you’re listening to a song you’re listening to the story and relating to that, not the little black balls and squiggles that make up the tune (though a nice tune obviously helps). Continue Reading »
Glamorous is the life of a doctors wife
I’m a big fan of Google. In fact, I can’t figure out what I used to do before we all got the Internet in 1995. I have vague memories of looking things up in books, and there’s a foggy recollection of something called an encyclopedia, but luckily enough none of that appears to matter anymore. Now all I have to do to have any question of mine answered is type a few choice keywords into a little search field and – hey presto – seconds later, I have an answer. Continue Reading »
Turning Japanese at Kobe Jones
When dining with The Boy I’m always a little worried about turning Japanese on him. I’ll admit, it’s a passion. Nothing beats the beauty of a perfectly presented plate of delectable sashimi that melts in your mouth, or a mere forkful of sizzling beef that is somehow supposed to satisfy a full blown man. But it was our ‘One Year Anniversary That’s Not Really Our Anniversary’, which entitles me to dinner out. Delightfully enough he’d booked us in to Kobe Jones, a lovely East meets West restaurant without the up-market pretension of so many other top end fusion eateries.
Journey to Shikunga
Dust. Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu. More dust. More names I’ll never remember. Giraffe. Oh my god look, a giraffe. Definitely not in Kansas anymore.
Between wake and sleep
I’ve decided I like betweens. The ‘almost’ parts of life, where you’re right on the brink of possibility and chance. Like that moment when you’re drifting somewhere between wake and sleep – you know you’re awake, but in some entirely different reality where angels touch your soul and make your mind soar. Or the almost possibility of a first kiss landing in its innocence between your lips and cheek and lingering for just a moment. So delightfully full of promise.
