That’s why I’ve been pretty absent here.

But I will start blogging again soon. I’ve not been writing for oh so very long, but after literarily spewing privately, I’ve suddenly found the dams broken.

Isn’t it funny how after a dry and barren spell of wordlessness, after the first words are cast, a deluge starts flowing?

Words and sentences swim around in my head, reminding me that I am by trade a wordsmith. Haunting me. Tormenting me. Depriving me of sleep.

I love how words play on each other and sentences form, making meaning out of nothing. The English language is much unlike the Chinese one, so unsuccinct and unable to stand alone. But if put together the right way, is pure poetry and music to the ear.

I was told before, in my creative writing class, that I was a poet, not a storyteller. I think that was the death of my fiction writing. I’ve tried to write again over the years, but nothing comes out. Till today, I abhor the need to grade one’s art. Journalistic writing, writing as a craft, is one thing. But writing as an art is another.

But maybe, because I am a poet that no longer rhymes, I might still be able to pull sentences out of my arse that might move the everyday man.

This I hope.

Screw creative writing classes.

Writing has always been self-indulgent. I should probably learn to indulge myself once in a while, instead of being ever so cautious.

However, I started this blog with an aim to NOT be self indulgent in my writing. That is still best left for private journalling. But, this blog is my anvil, and life is my hammer. And only by using it can I hone my pen (or keyboard) into a worthy blade.

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I started using feed readers around 2006 to keep up with the burst of blogs that suddenly permeated the internet. It was all the craze then, and everyone had a blog. My feed reader consisted mostly of friends and fellow bloggers that I met through the Project Petaling Street community. It was a brave new world then.

Nowadays, most of my friends have stopped blogging, and their section in the feed reader is woefully silent. The feeds that are updated the most are usually informative blogs, and other websites that use RSS feeds.

If my feed reader was a coffee shop, it’s an entirely different crowd now. There are a few regulars from the old days, but the place is mostly buzzing with a different type of read and feed now.

Things have changed.

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I know that work seems to be impeding my blogging, but I’m stubbornly making it a point to blog because I work as a social media consultant, and therefore must participate and experiment on my own as well, and not talk out of my ass when advising clients.

I’ve also learnt a couple of things about my own social media participation lately as well. At first, I was all for social media integration, but lately I’ve been wondering whether it’s wiser to separate your social and work accounts. But that, my dear readers, is for another post.

And I’ve been wondering whether I should open up more on this blog as well. Longtime readers will probably notice that the passion and fire and brimstone is acutely missing here, just because I’m quite wary that this is the blog that I’m marketing “me” on. But I don’t think this blog is worth it’s name without it’s original soul, is it? So that’s something else to try in this experiment.

Anyway, I’ve had a couple of topics lined up lately. I’ve also been brainstorming for content for the company to package, because I feel that I’ve a lot to share and teach. And even if I don’t get it (I hope I do!), putting my ideas down in writing has given me even more content for this blog.

Now the question is when am I going to write them?

Here are some tentative topics:

1. More Abbreviations 101
2. Should you separate your social media accounts for work and play?
3. What browser would suit you?
4. Review of the Seashell Asus Eee PC (I just bought one! Yay to finally be able to do work over a cup of coffee in a nice Cafe!)
5. And much much much much more on social media and business, depending on how things pan out for work, and the content that I’ll develop or will have to keep company property.
6. And much more from myexperiences working as a waitress and in the newsagency job in Freo. I love Freo; there’s just so many little things about the city.
7. And, possibly reworked posts from my older blogs, especially if they’re relevant.

And I WILL aim to write at least one post a week. Hold me to it.

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The blog was never compromised at all. It was just the theme I was using. Apparently it just links to the online service Websnapr that just shows a popup of snapshot of the link in your pingbacks. I mistook it for a popup because the service was down when I hovered my mouse over it, and saw a different site.

Meh. At least it’s a learning experience!

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If the blog looks weird, that’s because I did a complete wipe and reinstall. I spotted popups when I hovered over my pingback links yesterday, and got worried that the blog might have been compromised, and decided to do a fresh reinstall.

Most of the blog content is back up and running anyway, except for the pictures. But everything is back up and good to go.

I’ve got to send Leia to the vet now, so I’ll sort it out over the weekend. She’s got malocculsion (misaligned teeth), so we’re gonna go get that sorted out before it gets worse. Please keep her in your thoughts.

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And there I have my answer. That’s what my blog is going to be. A place to canvass.

“Canvassing” was the name of the previous blog before this one. That blog was also post-”Cynical-idealist” (my first blog), and it was where I stepped back from the whole blogging exercise and gave it a rest, and only blogging when I saw fit, and when I needed to. And even though that blog is no longer public, the whole idea of a place to canvass everything still resonates with me.

That’s why, as part of my self-discovery here, I’m going to port over the idea of canvassing my ideas and thoughts onto this blog. It’s not new. It’s just giving what I wanted to do here a name anyway.

Starting this blog coincided with my starting an actual job (albiet one that I really don’t earn much at all from yet, because it operates as a partnership) in a field that I’m trained in and would like to progress in.

This has been the year where I’ve learnt tons of new things, as well as realised that I knew more than I actually realised at the same time. Haha.

It’s also been the year I discovered what “account management” meant, and discovered that my calling in life would probably digital account management, as well anything to do with anything on the net. Two years ago, I would never have fathomed that actual digital account management would be an actual job in itself, and today it’s suddenly become the norm. Although I must say that most of those jobs are still over east!

And I wanted to blog about the things I’ve learnt, but because this post is ballooning (and rambling, that’ll be for another post!

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Therefore, I’ve started collecting ideas for posts, and putting down drafts, so that I don’t run out of ideas and topics.

I’ve also canvassed some friends regarding this blog, and the feedback I got was to keep posting the “how-to” posts, because they’re useful. And useful information is always good.

Also, I need to start writing for the web. Meaning I have to start thinking about shortening my posts to short sweet snippets if it suits the topic. I keep telling clients to keep things short and sweet, but sometimes, when it comes to blogging, I’m so used to reading text heavy posts from some of the blogs I follow that I tend to forget that people DO glaze over large chunks of text online.

Better practice what you preach, Char!

Also, I’ve started shortening down my categories, and have started using tags more. Basically, “categories” on blogs are usually used to class your content, while “tags” are the keywords that identify your post. Right now, I’m still tweaking my “categories” and “tags” list so that it suits the content a lot more.

And as for the previous post, some of you might have noticed that the post title has changed about three to four times. At first, I titled it “Host a website and save the world!” because I thought it had a nice ring to it, and would grab some attention.

Then a friend pointed out that carbon neutral just meant that you would not add to climate change, instead of actively saving the world. So I changed it to “Host a website and NOT destroy the world.”

And then Jon went o_0, so I changed it to the most standard, safest thing evar. Yes, I need to improve on my headline/title writing skills, very much. One day I will be able to churn out something witty and to-the-point like the really good headline writers out there. Until then, I guess practice makes perfect!

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This is what I’ve done so far, as well as what I intend to do:

1. Be clear about what I want my personal brand to be about

This blog is still a work in progress, as I’m still feeling my way around it and trying to figure it out myself.

But what I am clear of at this moment is this: Careerwise, I’m decently happy where I am at the moment. The company I’m working for and the work that I do with it currently allows me to utilise my public relations and journalism training. More importantly, it allows me to integrate all my other unquantifiable skills and experiences into the work I do. It can be quite a challenging job at times, but I’m learning tons, and that’s what matters at this point in my career.

On the other hand, me starting up this blog was also to help establish myself as a writer-for-hire.  This also ties back into the following points of me finding my niche and developing it, as well as me updating regularly so that I get to polish my writing here. After all, if you don’t use it you lose it, right? And practice makes perfect!

Plus, looking at how long winded my sentences have been of late, I so do need that practice.

2. Start a personal blog with my own personal domain.
Now that I’ve gotten the above out of the way, starting this website after hibernating on a private blog was the next logical step. That way it ensures that my name is right on top of the list in search engine rankings (unless of course there are a million other Charmaine Hons out there) if and when someone does choose to find me online. Right now, when I Google my name, this blog comes second on Google. My Twitter is on top. For now.

3. Join relevant social networks
I’ve been on Facebook for ages because all my friends are on it. I also joined Twitter a couple of months ago, and I just remembered that the reason I signed up was because enough of my friends were on it for me to hop onto it and have a ready network of people to twit and be a twat to.

I’ve also recently joined LinkedIn, because my boss was bugging his staff to get on it. LinkedIn wasn’t relevant to me before, but it has become so lately, so onto that bandwagon I hop.

I’ve been on DeviantArt for ages, under two accounts, but given recent circumstances, my art isn’t my career priority. However, it is something that I am capable of and that is still quite dear to me. Plus, to me, an extra set of skills and perspective is always valuable, especially when you’re working on design related projects.

Plus, with any social networking platform, after you take away the hype and newfangledness surrounding it, in the end, everything still boils down to the genuine relationships that you build. Whatever platform you use is merely a medium.

4. Update regularly with authentic, quality content
The key words here are “authentic”, “quality” and “regular”.

Authentic: I took down my previous post for a couple of days, because I was afraid that prospective employers who stumbled across my blog would get the impression that I was undecided on where I wanted to go careerwise. First of all, I’d like to assure them that I’m not. And in the end, I put it back up because I felt that it was important to me. And from a different perspective, it could also say that I am someone who could add a lot of value an organisation.

Quality: I will not write what I do not believe in. And I will not write about what I’m not passionate about. And I will ensure each post that is churned out is written in a manner that is easy to digest and yet does not compromise what it says.

Regular: I have set a target to myself to post at least once a week. That way, even if I’m swamped with work, the one post a week won’t be too heavy to deal with. And it will help my in my writing discipline.

5. Find my niche and roll with it
In the end, personal branding is merely another term for “self-marketing”, isn’t it? I’m trying to market who I am, and what skills I have to offer. I also need to find my niche and become an expert in my field.

Right now, my work-related niche is  mainly social media, new media and online marketing. A lot of what I do at work is common sense to a lot of us in my generation. But our generation is but a fraction of the entire population, and there will still be many people in the working world who need to be introduced to the sheer capacity of these new technologies, as well as to be coached to be responsible, genuine and effective social media users. I’m so not going to help churn out the next big social media abuser (a spammer, in other words).

6. Be myself
I may be aiming to use this blog to further my career goals, but it doesn’t mean that I will choke out all else that is not part of the whole career plan. This blog bears my name, and it’s only fit that the rest of me outside work should come through. Albeit in moderated doses.

***

In the meantime, this blog is still far from complete. My “About Me” page is constantly changing as I strive to rewrite it to present well, and to convey what I’m about. My “writing portfolio” page is also incomplete, because my net was giving me problems when I tried to upload the rest of my writing samples. Garrr.

My current list of links includes the sites that I have personally found very useful, and would really love to share with everyone else. That list is also still a work in progress.

Until then, I’ll be off for the long weekend. Cheerios, everyone!

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Old self portrait

That’s one of the whole points of me starting up this blog.

I’ve read many cases for personal branding using all that new media has to offer. It’s a way to put yourself out there, and can act as an online resume and as a showcase of what you’re capable of. It can both display your achievements, as well as highlight the skills and personality traits that you can’t quantify in a standard resume. In today’s competitive job markets, having an easily accessible online profile will give you an extra edge. Plus, it is becoming more and more common for employers to Google potential employees, just to check up on the kind of person they are.

Reputation is become a massive commodity, and the whole practice of Personal Branding is an attempt to control that commodity.

These are among all the many reasons and many ways new media and career coaches will give for a person to start a blog, join Facebook and Twitter, as well as one of the many social networking services. And I’m sure that in your online travels, you have heard about the need for personal branding at least once.

But what are my own reasons for personal branding?

Of course, keeping an attractive online profile in order to give myself an edge in the job market is an important reason for me. I am working at my current firm on a flexible basis, and whilst the workload I’m getting is steadily increasing, I am also open to new opportunities that will help me grow and take me to that next step in my career.

I want to freelance as a writer, and I need to take time out soon to sort that out. But I understand that as a freelancer, having an online point of contact isn’t just useful; it’s necessary in today’s world.

But to me, personal branding is not just something to try out because it’s “cool” and the “next in thing”. I’ve been blogging since 2004 under the pseudonyms Cynical-Idealist and Atlasya, and over the course of five or so years, I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with people from all walks of life online. I’ve watched online trends come and go, and have hopped on countless bandwagons since my foray into the big blue nowhere.

I have become a net native.

And like most people my age, social media and social media has almost become second nature to us. It is what we grew up with, and it’s what we have come to accept as the norm. In the olden days, there were pubs and clubs for networking. And in our current generation, these offline networking places have integrated with the online, connected world. Networking (another word for making friends and mutually beneficial relationships imo) has always been the norm for people since time immemorial. “Social media” and “new media” is where and how we do it, right here, right now, in our very time.

The next big thing, not

While Twitter and Facebook have constantly been in the media as the next big thing, I won’t hold my breath on them, for they are just some of many that come and go. What determines whether or not they stay or go is how they will manage to stay relevant to us in the coming years.

And the same is true for any brand, whether they be corporate or personal.

How can we stay relevant to the people we’re targeting? How can we put ourselves out there? How can we slowly grow our online reputation?

This blog and everything else that goes hand in hand in it is going to my own personal experiment in personal branding. In today’s working world, it has almost become essential to have your own personal brand, both to sell your skills to find work, as well as to keep work.

How am I going to do it?

What I intend to do is to update here regularly, have good and relevant content, and to just be myself. I have my interests and my niches; it’s just a matter of finding the words to put them down.

On top of that, I’ve integrated my Facebook and Twitter, so it so saves me the hassle of double posting. I don’t join enough social networks to warrant the use of a social networking client just yet, because I don’t believe in hopping onto a service unless I absolutely have to. That gives me less unnecessary online clutter to deal with.

I want to be a good writer, and I have been quite out of practise lately. This blog is also a massive practise run for me as well. I need to get myself to the point where my words have much clarity again, and where every single sentence is a means to the entire end that I’ve crafted my piece towards. My writing is not there yet today, but given time, one day I might actually write something here that I can sit back and be amazed at.

At the same time, this is also my journey in self-discovery. I have a pretty good idea of what I’m good at to date, but with every new job and challenge that I undertake, I discover something new about my limits and capabilities. And writing this blog will be no different.

So the gist of my personal branding exercise will be to identify my strengths, and then to package it well to the world.

Personally, I believe that if I have good content and if I have enough energy to maintain and grow what little I have online, this will be a successful experiment. But until then, I shall have to keep at it and do all the basics of personal branding, and watch and wait to see how it all pans out.

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