blogging
Blawger Survivor Finale
This is officially my last post as part of the Blawger Survivor challenge and I am so excited to have been able to get a post in every single weekday the last three weeks. Sure, half of them came in a mere hour or less before the day’s deadline, but evenings are my quiet work time, so that just was convenient!
A big congrats to the other blawgers who completed the entire challenge:
- Connecticut Employment Law Blog
- Employment Law Blog
- Jeff Krause’s Practice Management Blog
- Leadership, Women, Lawyers
- No Reins Girl
- Taxgirl
- The Connected Lawyer
- The Nutmeg Lawyer
The challenge I think really did get me in the habit of blogging daily and I hope I can stick with it into the fall. Setting aside specific time probably is the solution, although in all honesty I just fit it in wherever worked (as mentioned, usually last thing before shutting down my computer at night!)
Oh, before I go, a huge thank you to one of my biggest supporters during this challenge – and writer of a fabulous “blawg”, Lynne of the Practical Paralegalism blog – thanks Lynne!!!
Laurie Mapp, Owner Halo Secretarial Services Contact us for more information on virtual legal assistance!
Read More
Some Friday Fun
Working from home as a virtual legal assistant is not all work – no play! In fact, one of the best things about working for myself from home is the ability to have flexibility in my day. Today I have had quite a varied day already and it’s not even 2pm yet! I’ve done some client work, reviewed next week’s schedule on my calendar, bought buspasses for my kindergarten/grade two kiddos and had the pleasure of a phone conversation with Vicki Voisin of The Paralegal Mentor.
Next up in my day is a very rare evening out with my best friend and then a weekend of about half work and half fun.
If you want a little bit of relaxation this Friday afternoon, here are a couple of fun links for you:
Want to see a fun little graph of how the Internet sees You? Try this link (my graph is below, and semi-accurate, lol)
Some truly hilarious quotes over at The “Blog” of Unnecessary Quotes (hat tip to @RandallMoeller)
And a couple of my favorite little jokes from a recent forwarded email. I never even READ forwarded joke emails normally, but this had me laughing hysterically (ok some of the funnier ones turn out not to be blog post appropriate, sorry, but still these are good!):
Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the “people you
may know” feature on facebook people that I do know, but i deliberately
choose not to be friends with?I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it’s on
shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my itunes.It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on
CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.
Have a great weekend!!
Laurie Mapp, Owner Halo Secretarial Services Contact us for more information on virtual legal assistance!
Read More
Paralegal Career for You?
This weekend I was asked to do a job profile for a friend who is thinking about a career as a paralegal. Although my answers are somewhat atypical, being a self-employed legal assistant/paralegal, it was still an interesting experience to really take a few minutes to do a broad overview of what I’m doing, what I’ve done throughout my career and if I would do it again if my choices were different today.
I should have pointed the friend to a great blog that often profiles paralegals as a resource for learning more about her potential career path. Lynne DeVenny offers tons of helpful information and news items relating to the paralegal world, but my favorite posts on her blog are the paralegal profiles. It’s a great way to show the various choices within the profession that are available to someone who thinks that this is the career for them! Hmmm, think I better go shoot off a follow up email!!
Laurie Mapp, Owner Halo Secretarial Services Contact us for more information on virtual legal assistance!
Read More
Finally Friday
Well, I’ve done it! One week down with a post each and every day for Blawger Survivor. And that means I made it even longer than the host of the contest, lol.
So far it has been a great reminder of how useful and interesting blogging can be. And I have read some wonderful posts from the other entrants in the contest. A couple of my faves:
- The Haiku post at Leadership, Women, Lawyers (short and sweet)
- Orientate Me at No Reins Girl (love the attitude!)
- D. Jill Pugh’s post about privacy and social networks (makes great points)
- And best for last? I think so! The Nutmeg Lawyer’s post Canada is Trying to Kill Us is hilarious (especially to me as a Canadian!!)
Do take the time to enjoy some of these posts this weekend and see you Monday (I won’t forget to post of course, I’m organized, so it’s in my calendar!)
Laurie Mapp, Owner Halo Secretarial Services Contact us for more information on virtual legal assistance!
Read More
Blawger Survivor
I have not been great about posting on this blog lately! It’s good in a sense, because I’ve been busy actually being a virtual legal assistant, not posting about it!! Still this blog was one of the first things I did for my business and it is a valuable tool well worth spending my time on, so I’m taking up the Blawger Survivor Challenge for the next three weeks and hopefully I’ll be able to post every weekday during the challenge.
One of the best aspects of this challenge is that it includes a component to link to the other competitors. What a great reminder that really, we aren’t competitors in the blawgosphere, but rather a community where interaction and inspiration come together to create a whole that is better than the individual parts.
So check out the other competitors (like Only 3 Years, TaxGirl or Hope and Change or any others listed over at Sean Carter’s blog in the right sidebar), then come back here every weekday for my posts about the law, virtual legal assistance, community and working from home (plus whatever else I can come up with to write about, lol!)
Laurie Mapp, Owner Halo Secretarial Services Contact us for more information on virtual legal assistance!
Read More
Searching for Inspiration
I’ve been perusing my google reader tonight searching for inspiration for blog posts. I’ve been (happily!) so involved in the actual “doing” of my virtual legal assistant work, I’ve spent little time blogging about it or even reading about it. Whenever I need inspiration I turn to my lovely google reader and the many, many legal blogs I subcribe to. I almost always see something within the feeds that inspires me or motivates me. Reading someone else’s exciting blog post can definitely be a great way to get the creativity flowing!
Tonight I came across so many interesting posts, for example, loved the idea for a regular Twitter Column from Donna Seale’s Human Rights in the Workplace Blog. I definitely post more frequently on Twitter than I do on my blog! Might as well make sure those tweets are “duly recorded”! I was inspired by the most recent post on Scylla’s Law & Motherhood Blog – a good reminder to those of us who are self employed!
I actually saw, and posted, about this amazing post on Twitter a few days ago, but it caught my attention in my reader tonight nonetheless and is well worth sharing today: The best and the brightest comes from Jordan Furlong at Law 21 and is in my mind a truly thought-provoking post that I wish could be required reading for anyone thinking about applying to a law school – ever. Yes, I liked it that much.
Linsey Krolik had a post from earlier in June on her Me Too You blog that I only just managed to catch up on. School isn’t out here for a little bit yet (7 days of school left actually!) and I totally can’t wait. Just found out about yet another school activity for the very last week, a grade one garage sale. I need to send both items and money, fun, fun!
Loved PHAT Mommy’s blog post about her Life/Blog Happiness Project. What a great idea!!
You can see why I find so much inspiration in my reader now, right?! I have a huge variety of blogs that I subscribe to, although many have a legal slant, I also of course follow tons of interesting mom bloggers, general business or entrepreneurial blogs and blogs that just fascinate me regardless of their “niche”.
So what’s in your reader that you feel like sharing?
Laurie Mapp, Owner Halo Secretarial Services Contact us for more information on virtual legal assistance!
Read More