MS Maze

Reconciliation can sound like a dirty word, depending upon who is doing the speaking, but the process is nothing new and is certainly not out of the bounds of normal politics.

Introduced in 1974, the process of reconciliation is used when Congress issues directives to legislate policy changes in mandatory spending (entitlements) or revenue programs (tax laws) to achieve the goals in spending and revenue contemplated by the budget resolution.

Reconciliation was first used in 1980 and at least 22 times since then on a variety of policies including overhauling the welfare system, and passing several huge tax cuts under George W. Bush. Of the 22 times reconciliation has been used, 16 were approved by a Republican-controlled Senate.

Read this post in its entirety:

Reconciliation: What Does It Really Mean Anyway?

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinwburkett/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

On National MS Education & Awareness Month

Multiple sclerosis. Is that the disease that puts you in a wheelchair or leads to a nursing home? Montel Williams… Richard Pryor… Annette Funicello… all names associated with MS, and isn’t there a mountain climber or two that have it?

Confused? You are not alone. That’s why the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation recognizes March as National MS Education & Awareness Month, and the National MS Society designated March 8-14 as MS Awareness Week.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS)… some call it the MonSter, or the Beast. It is a demyelinating disease, an invisible illness, a MySterious ailment subject to many MiSconceptions.

Throughout the month of March, I will offer glimpses into my own life with MS. While there is no such thing as a typical case, those who are familiar with MS will nod in recognition. If you are not familiar with MS, please allow us a few moments of your time during MS Awareness Month.

MS: A Diagnosis Odyssey: It began with a seemingly benign but persistent tingly feeling in my upper right arm. It was the kind of thing you tend to dismiss and certainly not the kind of thing that makes you rush out to see a doctor. Little did I know what was to come.

MS: Who Gets It and Why: Get the who, what, where, when, why, and how of multiple sclerosis.

Elsewhere on the Web:

Reconciliation can sound like a dirty word, depending upon who is doing the speaking, but the process is nothing new and is certainly not out of the bounds of normal politics. Reconciliation: What Does It Really Mean Anyway?

“Every American who wants this reform to make their voice heard as well — every family, every business, every patient, every doctor, every nurse, every physician’s assistant. Make your voice heard.” Obama’s Call to Action: Will You Answer?

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WebCamp One, LLC: Full-service website design, management, and development company with clients throughout the USA and Canada. Expert in standards compliant website design. From website management to freelance writing, we’ve got the web covered. Visit: WebCamp One on Facebook.

On Writing

Making goals and sticking to them… last week’s ruminations about my still unfinished book and rambling about a lack of deadlines resulted in a virtual put up or shut up from a writer friend. Actually, he proposed that we set a weekly writing goal and hold each other’s feet to the fire. Casting aside my fear of failure, I took him up on it.

We started with a very manageable weekly minimum that I secretly vowed to surpass. I never did come up with a title for my project, so I started anew with a clean manuscript (lots of edits from the previous version will be transferred over) and gave it the very confident-sounding working title “This Is It.” Okay, my friend, we’re on. My keyboard is burning and I’ll be checking up on you…

We bloggers can have fragile egos. We want to be read and we want to know that we matter. Novice bloggers, while trying to build a following, often harbor serious doubts. This great read on BlogHer fills newbie bloggers in on the cold hard truth behind blogging: Hey, Jealousy: Every Blogger Was a Newbie Once. Every blogger will recognize themselves in this one.

Around the Web This Week

Business owners take note. Discretionary spending to the tune of $175 billion is at stake. People with disabilities enjoy going out and socializing with their friends and family… and they spend money. If they cannot enter your establishment without a great deal of difficulty, they will patronize your competitor. Accessible Design Makes Good Business Sense

“The health insurance industry is the shark that swims just below the water, and you don’t see that shark until you feel the teeth of that shark.” – Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV). Despite the bipartisan health care summit, the shark is still circling. After the Health Care Summit : The Shark in the Water

Having trouble getting health insurance? Maybe you can get on your pet’s insurance plan. Probably not, but that didn’t stop Hal Ziegler from making the call anyway, after receiving the infamous rate increase letter from Anthem Blue Cross. Pet Insurance for People..Marriage for Healthcare..How Far Would You Go?

Is there a link between the use of occupational pesticides and Parkinson’s disease? That’s what we’d like to know. Find out more: Pesticides and Parkinson’s: Possible Link Must Be Investigated

The White House released his proposed health care reform proposal on Monday, despite Republican demands to scrap the whole thing and start over with Thursday’s “bi-partisan” health care reform summit. Obama Health Care Plan Targets Insurers, Lacks Public Option

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WebCamp One, LLC: Full-service website design, management, and development company with clients throughout the USA and Canada. Expert in standards compliant website design. From website management to freelance writing, we’ve got the web covered. Visit: WebCamp One on Facebook.

On Writing

“I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done.” – Steven Wright

Sorry to say it, but I can relate to that. I’m a lot further along than page numbers, but definitely not where I should be. I figure that’s because I don’t have a deadline — no one is waiting for a manuscript and there is no editor to call me on it if it’s late. Unlike my blogging gigs, where deadlines loom on a weekly basis, my open-ended project always follows more pressing items on the to do list, last in line for attention. I never would have imagined that I would long for a deadline…

Posting Around the Web this Week

Sorry, but it’s not me… it’s you. Despite evidence to the contrary, most Americans believe they are managing their own health well, while those around them clearly are not. Only 17 percent of us recognize that our own health is going in the wrong direction and we’re pointing fingers. It’s Not Me… It’s You

Do you walk on eggshells around people with chronic illness or disabilities? Maybe you’re a little uncomfortable — you don’t know quite what to say and don’t want to stick your foot in your mouth. You want to ask questions but don’t want to pry. In our politically correct world, eggshells are all over the place. Let’s stop Hiding From Our Disabled.

Is reconciliation a dirty word? Senate precedent for using reconciliation to enact other important policies include The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare Advantage, and the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA). Will Senator Reid take the hint? Senators to Reid: Public Option No Longer Optional

If Congressional leaders, both Democrat and Republican, will work with the White House in an effort to do the right thing for the country… well, let’s not hold our collective breath. But do stay tuned. White House: “Stay Tuned” for Health Care Proposal

Earlier this week, I gave a brief interview to WebMD reporter Salynn Boyles, who takes a look at the migraine/multiple sclerosis connection in her article: Migraines in Women May Have Link to MS

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WebCamp One, LLC: Full-service website design, management, and development company with clients throughout the USA and Canada. Expert in standards compliant website design. From website management to freelance writing, we’ve got the web covered. Visit: WebCamp One on Facebook.

On Writing

I was in the fifth grade when I learned how a single word can change the entire meaning of a sentence. Not the word necessarily, but how it is interpreted by the reader.

We were assigned the task of writing a one-page description of ourselves, both our physical attributes and our personality traits. The teacher planned to read them aloud to the class and we were to guess the author. The purpose, I now know, was to teach us descriptive writing. Fifth grade is a risky time for such an assignment. For one boy, it proved to be very embarrassing.

It was the sixties, when long hair for males was just coming in to fashion. Boys who wanted to be “cool” had longer hair. This particular boy described himself as having “pretty long” black hair. The guessing began with girls names. In fact, no one guessed a boy. That’s because the teacher, being a woman, read the sentence emphasizing the word “pretty.” Pretty was read in a way that would describe a female attribute. Long was read in an elongated fashion. We were looking for a classmate with pretty, long black hair.

When his name was revealed, the flustered boy tried vainly to explain that he meant “pretty long” as in “fairly long.” It was too late. The damage was done. He spent the rest of the year as the boy with the pretty, long black hair.

Lesson learned. People don’t necessarily read things the way you meant them, and we are wise to keep that in mind as we choose our words.

Around the Web this Week

My contribution to Care2’s Healthy and Green Living this week was titled Lie For Me, and is another example of reader interpretation. In this particular piece, I used a little “artistic license” to illustrate a point. The comments confirm that most readers understood and appreciated the emotion I was going for, but some took what I wrote quite literally and expounded on the topic of lies. I figured that would be the case prior to publishing, but decided it would be worth the confusion for the sake of what is, in fact, a sweet love story.

February 14 is Valentine’s Day, a day set aside to celebrate love and romance. It is not usually a day when we want to ponder our own mortality, but it also happens to be National Organ Donor Day. Valentine’s Day Gift of Life

While people are losing medical coverage and, along with it, access to care, Washington is keeping reform in the deep freeze, more concerned about the next election than with making progress. Health Insurer Defends 39 Percent Premium Increase

Obesity is estimated to affect an estimated five million young people in the United States alone. Studies are currently underway to evaluate laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding as a possible treatment option for adolescents. Gastric Banding Proposed for Obese Teens

Have you got style? If so, you probably don’t want to get caught using one of those old clunky metal canes. Fashionable Canes celebrates style with gorgeous decorative canes — check out their beautiful pink cane with a delicate rose!

Mary and Jenny, of Writing Without Periods, bestowed upon me the title of last Saturday’s “Sensational Woman.” Thank you, ladies. And the member spotlight was on yours truly this week at Women on the Verge, in one of their one-word answer interviews. It’s harder than it seems.

There’s a new feature on Care2 Causes. The Friday Wrap-up bundles all this week’s post in Causes, and the first installment packs quite the punch! Care2 Causes blogger Steve Williams definitely put some blood, sweat, and tears into piecing our work together. Thank you, Steve, for a job superbly done. This Week’s News and Views from Care2 Causes.

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WebCamp One, LLC: Full-service website design, management, and development company with clients throughout the USA and Canada. Expert in standards compliant website design. From website management to freelance writing, we’ve got the web covered. Visit: WebCamp One on Facebook.

On Writing

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – William Shakespeare, from Romeo and Juliet

Does the same hold true for blog post titles? I think not. You can write an absolutely brilliant blog post, but if no one clicks on the title, what’s the point? If you’ve got an eye-catching title, but your post disappoints, you’re no better off.

“Ay, there’s the rub.” – William Shakespeare, from Hamlet

You’ve got to get their attention! You don’t want to get smarmy or cheesy, and you don’t want a title that has nothing whatsoever to do with what you’ve written. That might get you short term spikes in readership, but will hurt your reputation in the long run.

In the world of internet writing, titles are a very important part of the job — no title clicks, no readers. Coming up with just the right title is an art form, one borne of sweat and tears, hits and misses. It… and I… are a work in progress.

Around the Web this Week

“I want politicians to be nice to me… I’m sick,” says a woman with multiple sclerosis. One cannot put it more simply than that. She happens to live in England, but we’ve got the same problem in the states. Medical marijuana is back on the front burner. A Toke a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

“Medical experts have warned that our children are on track to be less healthy than we are.” – First Lady Michelle Obama. We should be ashamed of that fact. Michelle Obama Taking On Childhood Obesity Crisis

It’s not just a man thing. It’s not just an old lady thing. It is the number one killer of women. National Wear Red Day: A Wake Up Call to Women

Since the dawn of time, women have been telling men that size doesn’t matter but, oh, how times have changed. Size does matter, at least when it comes to your benefits package. These days, as you stroll out into the single scene, you just might want to dangle your group health insurance card as a tantalizing offering to the opposite sex. For maximum appeal, make sure the side with the co-pay amount is clearly visible, because Size Does Matter.

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WebCamp One, LLC: Full-service website design, management, and development company with clients throughout the USA and Canada. Expert in standards compliant website design. From website management to freelance writing, we’ve got the web covered. Visit: WebCamp One on Facebook.

On Writing

The writing world bids a fond farewell to author J.D. Salinger, who died on January 28 at the age of 91. Not a fan of the spotlight, he lived most of his life in seclusion, but will be forever revered for his 1951 classic novel “The Catcher in the Rye.”

“Life can’t ever really defeat a writer who is in love with writing, for life itself is a writer’s lover until death — fascinating, cruel, lavish, warm, cold, treacherous, constant.” ~Edna Ferber, A Kind of Magic, 1963

Around the Web this Week

From my wonderful and talented husband comes this brief but brilliant post: Heading for Third

If you’ve just recently been diagnosed with MS, waste no time in putting yourself in the driver’s seat: Multiple Sclerosis for Newbies

It is never a convenient time for a multiple sclerosis relapse, but unless you are willing to call it a day and give up, you’ve got do all you can to stay in the game. Fashionable Canes on the Front Lines

Do pharmaceutical gifts to doctors improve patient care… or is the relationship just a bit too cozy for comfort? States Cracking Down on Big Pharma Gifts to Docs

The scam artists are at it again… before you fork over your hard-earned dollars to help the victims of the tragic earthquake in Haiti, make sure you’re not about to play the fool. Haiti Earthquake Relief: Is it a Scam?

What is Lurking on your Toilet Seat… and Beyond? Certain types of toilet seats, and how you clean them, could be making you sick… really!

On Women on the Verge: Life with Chronic Illness: Who to tell… when… and how much

New Site in Town

Everyone dreams. Crossing the boundaries of nations, cultures, age, gender, race, class, and religious affiliation, dreaming is a fundamental human experience — and yet we know relatively little about it! As dreaming is an experience that is so easy to relate to, a dream archive not only provides entertainment, but also becomes endlessly valuable to the studies of sociology, psychology, linguistics, and anthropology. ButIWasDreaming.com, the brainchild of an enterprising young grad student, is in its infancy, but as it grows will act as a global archive for dreams.

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WebCamp One, LLC: Full-service website design, management, and development company with clients throughout the USA and Canada. Expert in standards compliant website design. From website management to freelance writing, we’ve got the web covered. Visit: WebCamp One on Facebook.

ST6KDA4BXTHH

What does freelance writing have to do with professional wrestling? At first glance, it would seem like an odd comparison. The truth is, someone very close to me is working toward a career in professional wrestling, and I have often noted the similarities between his career goals and mine.

We are both working toward a long shot dream, one with no clear path to success and where the meaning of success is in the eye of the beholder, a dream that sees more failures than successes and makes people wonder just what the heck is wrong with you. We are both focused and determined (read that as stubborn) and are progressing nicely.

In my daily visit to FreelanceWritingGigs.com, I recently came across an article titled 6 Things Freelance Writers Can Learn from Professional Wrestlers. You can only imagine my surprise and delight that someone else had the same train of thought, but writer Jodee Redmond took the concept much further than that. Take a look at her article and, like me, you’ll find you can learn a thing or two from professional wrestlers.

Weekly Roundup:

Recently, I quite tentatively posted brief snippets about my latest MS relapse on Facebook and Twitter. The somewhat surprising results became the basis for this article: Sharing a Life Altered by Multiple Sclerosis

They are the most vulnerable among us, completely dependent on us for care, safety, and food. They are our infants and young children and we owe them at least that much. If there is valid concern over the safety of their food supply, it is incumbent upon us to act in their best interests. Protect our Young: Get BPA Out of the Food Supply

If health care reform dies, don’t blame it on Massachusetts: It is NOT GUILTY of Killing Health Care Reform

If you are disabled, it is important that you understand your rights under the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) Guide to Rights under Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Women on the Verge ran a previously published book review: Building a Home with My Husband

New Site in Town:

Everyone dreams. Crossing the boundaries of nations, cultures, age, gender, race, class, and religious affiliation, dreaming is a fundamental human experience — and yet we know relatively little about it! As dreaming is an experience that is so easy to relate to, a dream archive not only provides entertainment, but also becomes endlessly valuable to the studies of sociology, psychology, linguistics, and anthropology. ButIWasDreaming.com, the brainchild of an enterprising young grad student, is in its infancy, but as it grows will act as a global archive for dreams.

Read more:

Care2 Healthy & Green Living with MS

Care2 Reform Health Policy

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WebCamp One, LLC: Full-service website design, management, and development company with clients throughout the USA and Canada. Expert in standards compliant website design. From website management to freelance writing, we’ve got the web covered. Visit: WebCamp One on Facebook.

AnnPietrangelo.com

The FTC’s new rules for blog disclosures have a lot of bloggers scratching their heads and wondering just how it applies to them. Michael Hyatt offers concise explanation and suggested disclaimers in his article Five Ways to Comply with the New FTC Guidelines for Bloggers. As someone who occasionally posts book reviews and receives compensation for posts and/or links on my personal blog, I now have a disclaimer template that makes sense. If you blog, it’s a must read.

I wrote an article this week that contained a minor grammatical error, one likely to be missed by most readers. A sharp-eyed former reporter caught it and sent me a private email, writing that she always appreciated getting a similar heads up, especially if there’s still a chance to get it corrected. Now she could have left a comment on the already published piece, but her intention was to help, not embarrass. I must say, I was surprised and impressed. I will definitely spread the good karma and extend the same courtesy to other writers when the opportunity presents itself. Thank you, kind stranger.

Writing around the web this week:

People with MS do not think or act more alike than any other segment of the population. We are a diverse and complex group of individuals and despite all we have in common, our experiences with MS are uniquely our own. One thing we all can benefit from is mutual support. MS = Multiple Sclerosis + Mutual Support.

Are you having trouble losing weight? Do you have a drinking problem? If you are drinking soda on a daily basis, the answer to both questions is probably yes. That’s why I followed up last week’s hot topic Self-Serve Soda Fountains: Serving up Fecal Bacteria with Can’t Lose Weight? Soda’s Dirty Little Secret.

The true horror of the situation in Haiti and the lasting impact on health will play itself out over years, not weeks or months. Now is the time for the people of the world to unite and make a difference in the lives of those who are suffering, but this is not going to be one of those one-time fix it and forget it events. The extended consequences of this disaster are unimaginable. Long-Term Health Problems Facing Haiti After Earthquake.

It’s a Super Bowl milestone! 2010 marks the first time that fans will be able to order up kosher hot dogs, grilled salami sliders, and knoblewurst (a garlic laden hot dog). Going Kosher at the Super Bowl!

An article previously published on Care2 was re-run on Women on the Verge: The Art of Inclusive Language.

Thanks for dropping by!

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Visit: AnnPietrangelo.com

“If you do something great and don’t create a record of what you did, did you really do it? As far as the web is concerned, you didn’t, and the web is becoming the global memory. So you’ve got to get it down – get it recorded.” — Gerry McGovern, Killer Web Content.

A solid piece of advice, one that I have taken to heart — hence the blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and all manner of social media into which I’ve become emerged in the last couple of years. I spent most of my 50 years on the planet as a very private, somewhat shy person. So much so that when I first began writing in a public forum I hid behind a pseudonym, but found that to be awkward in social networking.

The problem here is that the global memory doesn’t only record what you throw out into it, but whatever anyone throws out there. If it is a commentary about you, whether true or not, it also becomes part of the record. In the end the online world is much like life itself — full of truths, half-truths, and falsehoods. Some things stick, some don’t, but if writing is what you do — who you are — then you just have to keep on writing and working on that record.

I am humbled and elated to have been accepted into The Author’s Guild. May it serve as inspiration to complete my memoir and live up to the standards of such an amazing and creative group.

Writing around the web this week:

Odd Jobs and Life Lessons

2009: Year of Research Breakthroughs in Multiple Sclerosis

Mike Coffman’s Excellent Adventure: U.S. Health Care System Works!

Self-Serve Soda Fountains: Serving up Fecal Bacteria

Democrats Going it Alone on Health Care Reform

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WebCamp One, LLC: Full-service website design, management, and development company with clients throughout the USA and Canada. Expert in standards compliant website design. From website management to freelance writing, we’ve got the web covered. Visit: WebCamp One on Facebook.

Visit: AnnPietrangelo.com

Greetings to 2010 and a happy new year to all.

The first thrill I ever felt as a writer was in the early 80’s. Mom was turning 50 years old and, in honor of her birthday, I wrote a verse straight from the heart. Signed and framed, I presented it as her birthday gift. In true Mom form, she gushed appreciatively.

I showed the verse to some of my office pals and they liked it so much that several of them asked it they could use it for their own mothers. Flattered, I happily distributed my little work, going so far as to tweak the others to make them more personal.

Looking back on it now, I don’t think it was a particularly good poem. I really haven’t a clue how to properly write poetry. But my words were powerful enough to touch not only my own mother, but co-workers as well. That was the thrill of it all.

When I was in my early twenties, I loved playing with words and writing letters to friends and family, but saw no future in it. Now I am 50 years old, and have been an active freelance writer for three years. It took decades for the writer in me to bubble up to the surface, but she is part of me now. Back at Mom’s place, that framed verse still occupies a space on her bedroom dresser, and it still gives me a bit of a thrill.

Writing around the web lately:

Life with Chronic Illness: Who to Tell, When, and How Much

10 Tips for Managing Daily Living with Multiple Sclerosis

Senate Bill by Christmas but No Health Care Reform in 2009

How to Stay Informed about Health Care Policy and Reform

Health Care Reform: Redux Ad Nauseam

Health Care Reform in 2010: 50 States, 50 Battlegrounds

Reminder — CDC Warns: Don’t Fall for this H1N1 Scam!

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Care2 Healthy & Green Living with MS

Care2 Reform Health Policy

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WebCamp One, LLC: Full-service website design, management, and development company with clients throughout the USA and Canada. Expert in standards compliant website design. From website management to freelance writing, we’ve got the web covered. Visit WebCamp One on Facebook.

Visit: AnnPietrangelo.com Contact: writer@webcampone.com

Writing around the web this week:

Tis the season for celebration… and angst; for hustle and bustle… and unrealistic expectations. If you live with chronic illness, you might want to push Norman Rockwell and Martha Stewart aside and work on having Healthy Holiday Expectations.

If you sometimes feel like a mere bystander in your own health care, it’s time take control. Health Care Self-Advocacy: Be the Squeaky Wheel.

Have you heard about Care2’s new Butterfly Credit Program? It’s a simple way to earn credits that can be turned into good deeds. You can lend a helping hand to others without putting up a single penny. Find out how you can take 20 Seconds to Save a Child’s Life, or How to Get Soap from a Butterfly.

The most intimidating thought to a writer is that it really has all been said before. Whenever I find myself on that train of thought, I remind myself that it hasn’t been said my me — in my voice, backed by my emotions and life experiences. It certainly hasn’t been read by everyone, at least not yet.

My own writing project has been stalled for several months, as I tried to sort out what I was writing, why, and for whom. I showed bits and pieces of this work to a select few, then retreated into a sea of busy work. Prompted by my son, I decided to dust off the manuscript and take another look.

With great trepidation I shared my opening chapter with an online writing friend — someone I’ve never personally met and who would have no interest in telling me anything less than the truth. It was only chapter one, but his critique gave me the courage to revisit this work and the nerve to show it to my husband for the first time. His comments were also encouraging.

The busy work shall continue through December, but in January I’m seriously considering locking myself in a room, sans the internet, and getting this thing done. That sounds like a new year’s resolution in the making.

I won’t be ruminating next Friday, Christmas Day, so here’s wishing you and yours all the best now and in the new year.

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Care2 Healthy & Green Living with MS

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WebCamp One, LLC: Full-service website design, management, and development company with clients throughout the USA and Canada. Expert in standards compliant website design. From website management to freelance writing, we’ve got the web covered. Visit WebCamp One on Facebook.

Visit: AnnPietrangelo.com Contact: writer@webcampone.com

Posting around the web this week:

If you’re looking for information about MS online, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding reputable sources. Multiple sclerosis information on the web… on Twitter… on Facebook… oh my!

’Tis the season of giving and no gift carries more weight than the gift of hope. I often write about people who have been denied health care due to a lack of medical insurance or an insurer’s refusal to pay for treatment. How utterly refreshing to be able to lend my support to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in its mission to give the gift of hope. Donate your Voice: Give the Gift of Hope to Children Battling Cancer

It’s open enrollment for “the widest selection of health plans in the country,” where pre-existing conditions are not an issue and the government pays a portion of your premiums. Could there be a catch?

The Senate is doing a lot of compromising on real reform. Reconciliation will likely result on further watering down of the bill. Will the Senate Compromises Threaten to Doom Comprehensive Health Care Reform?

Need a walking cane? Get one that cops an attitude… I did! Cop an Attitude with a Fashionable Cane.

An article previously published on Care2 Healthy & Green Living was re-run on Women on the Verge: Deciphering MS Speak

I have a love/hate relationship with blog comments, as I suppose most writers do. We all love to get a good debate going, as well as feedback for our efforts. We take the good with the bad, understanding that people will disagree with our opinions and some will be downright nasty. A thick skin is required, and I’ve certainly developed one.

Something I could live without? The folks who comment even though they obviously haven’t read the piece. They read the title, or a sentence or two, and go off on a tangent proving they haven’t a clue. It’s a bit like when a politician does a television interview. It really doesn’t matter what the reporter asks — they have a point to make and will answer the question they wanted to be asked. In the blogosphere, I believe these people are called “trolls.” They are on a mission to hijack the discussion, often succeeding. Conspiracy theorists take honorable mention. Comes with the territory.

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Visit: AnnPietrangelo.com Contact: writer@webcampone.com

Writing around the web this week:

Sometimes the positive attitude patrol functions as a guilt trip in disguise. Are they really promoting a positive attitude in the best interest of someone else… or is it a lopsided attempt to protect themselves from having to deal with someone else’s disease or disability? Keep up the positive attitude because I can’t deal with your problems. Do people with health concerns have a responsibility to people around them… to protect them from dealing with the uncomfortable? When Positive Attitude Goes Negative.

In the interest of promoting patient-centered, compassionate medicine, I wrote a post last week soliciting commentary from patients about their doctors. This week, I ask Are you guilty of making these 5 mistakes with your doctor? It is a two-way street.

I write about health care reform and it is a frequent topic of conversation in my life. This would be a great place to insert the usual point/counter-point arguments, but this isn’t about politics; it’s personal. Why I take health care reform personally — and you should too. And, please, Don’t Fall for this H1N1 Scam!

I just finished reading Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol. It was a wild wide full of twists and turns and a thoroughly enjoyable read, if you like a page-turner. Goes good with popcorn.

It was quite a week in my writing life. Lots of quiet introspection. On its surface, freelancing is flexible and rewarding, but underneath the pretty facade, it means staying on top of things all the time and never resting on your laurels — a constant quest for the next project.

My email inbox is often overflowing with questions about how I’ve come to do what I do. That’s a tough one. It’s inch by inch, baby, and we each have to cut our own path in the woods. Starting out is easy — lots of new writers and bloggers crop up every day, especially in a down economy. Understanding that you must not only write, but sell, promote, and market yourself is crucial. If you’re looking for instant recognition and high-paying assignments to pour in, you will soon be disheartened.

The best advice I can give is to write because you know yourself to be a writer. If you want to be a freelance writer, you’ve got to BE a freelance writer. That takes lots of time and energy. If you accept an ongoing freelance assignment, you must accept the reality of deadlines and working with editors and possibly with a whole team. If you’re not up to that, don’t take the job.

Basically, I got my butt kicked this week. Not having worked on my book in quite some time, I am now at the mercy of my eldest son, who has promised to continue the butt-kicking until I get serious about it. That’s what happens when you have no editor and no deadline looming…

Read more:
Care2 Healthy & Green Living with MS
Care2 Reform Health Policy

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WebCamp One, LLC: Full-service website design, management, and development company with clients throughout the USA and Canada. Expert in standards compliant website design. From website management to freelance writing, we’ve got the web covered. Visit WebCamp One on Facebook.

Visit: AnnPietrangelo.com Contact: writer@webcampone.com

Language is dynamic, a living entity. It evolves from year to year and decade to decade. What was once acceptable is no longer so, but it may change yet again. New terms come into vogue that challenge our previous notions. It takes a long time for new ideas to take hold and become habit. Inclusive language can be a virtual minefield for writers, where any misstep can result in offending the reader. This is my take on The Art of Inclusive Language for Chronic Illness and Disability, a post that generated some very insightful comments.

Several years ago, somewhat self-conscious about the prospect of using a cane, I set out on a search for something inconspicuous. That’s when my husband stepped in. “You’re looking at this thing all wrong. Don’t be embarrassed by it… make a statement with it. Own it.” Wise man, my husband. Here’s the rest of the story: “If you’re going to use a cane, use a CANE!”

Thanksgiving in America is a day of celebrating nature’s bounty and giving thanks for our many blessings. Food in abundance has become the central theme of the day, but too many among us go hungry on a daily basis – Food Insecurity: Gentle Words, Harsh Reality

Why are women so angry and upset about the new guidelines? Here’s one theory Behind the Angst over Mammogram Guidelines.

In the ongoing debate about health care reform, we often speak about access to health care, but there is another element to the debate that is equally important — what kind of care are you getting?  What happened to patient-centered, compassionate medicine?

Read more:
Care2 Healthy & Green Living with MS
Care2 Reform Health Policy

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WebCamp One, LLC: Full-service website design, management, and development company with clients throughout the USA and Canada. Expert in standards compliant website design. From website management to freelance writing, we’ve got the web covered. Visit WebCamp One on Facebook.

Visit: AnnPietrangelo.com Contact: writer@webcampone.com