Fan Friday: Mannyapolis

Every Friday I'm going to be spotlighting something (person, place or thing) that I'm a fan of on Facebook. Not only to get me more into the mood of regular blogging, (if you've been reading my blogs up to this point you probably know that I'm trying to make it a habit) but also to hopefully introduce my readers to some new stuff!

Today I picked my good friend Manny Castro who updates the lands of Facebook and Twitter on the daily weather situation in the Twin Cities.

He is:

Mannyapolis

His mission: Providing the most accurate misinformation and detailed reports of misestimation to the public in general.

Short and sweet posts yet more entertaining than any weatherman I know. Heck, Manny tweets everyday. I don't see Paul Douglas doing that and he's a professional, yet retired, weatherman.

Even if you don't live in Minnesota, you should be Manny's fan. Maybe he'll branch out if he gets enough out of state fans.

Become a fan of Mannyapolis on Facebook here

Follow @mannyapolis on Twitter

Making changes

The workshop in Estes Park was excellent. I got lots of good information about how to increase my online presence, but more importantly, I met some very awesome artists from all over the country. The energy in the room was amazing; so many people trying so hard to make their businesses succeed. It was very inspiring. As those of you who have actually read my blogs know, I struggle with what to write about A LOT because I always thought about all I should be writing about is what's going on with my art. New pieces I've made, shows I've applied to, etc. NOT TRUE! I got a whole list of ideas of what I should write about for my blog and I've very excited to start applying them.

I also got some great tips about my Facebook and Twitter profiles and have started applying what I learned to my Facebook right away. Having two Facebook profiles was getting to be quite difficult to keep up with so I decided to whittle it down to one and just clean up shop. I had so many stupid application invites, almost 120 of them that I went through and finally got rid of. Some of that stuff is fun, but there's already so much to keep up with on Facebook that having a Lil' Green Patch and some hatching egg thing and whatever else is just overkill. No offense to anyone who sends me any of that stuff, but I won't accept it unless it's either REALLY funny or REALLY useful/cool. I've got enough to do without getting sucked in to quizzes like "What Steel Magnolias character are you?". 

So from now on, you will see some different things going on with my blog, and possibly see a switch as I try to learn more about WordPress and how it might be a better fit for me (also a workshop suggestion). 

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more!

"Live blogging" (otherwise known as totally random thoughts)

While I'm waiting for folks to show up to the Art Crawl, I thought I'd take the opportunity to blog since I fell behind on it on Wednesday and know I need to try to keep my schedule as much as possible or I'll let the whole thing slide.

Hopefully I get to see more folks this evening...it hasn't started raining yet! But unfortunately it's on its way. :( I'm dangerously close to the bowl with the Dove chocolate in it. This can only lead to unneeded chocolate consumption.

Just added a link to my Facebook fan page, so come on by and become a fan!

I'm VERY VERY excited to go to an artist's workshop in Colorado next weekend, held by Alyson Stanfield. I believe that she last tweeted that there were still spaces available, so if you're interested in learning more about how to utilize the web as an artist, SIGN UP!

Okay, back to being attentive to my studio, though there's still no one in it! Hrm.

Twitfacespace

I am completely overwhelmed by social networking these days. There's SO much!! People blog, tweet, facebook, myspace....you could spend all day just talking about yourself! Or pointing people to things you found interesting. Or connecting with customers, friends, family, etc. It's amazing. An artist I'm following on Twitter, Shannon Grissom, pointed me to this article. It made my head spin. I could spend all day reading up on how to "properly" use these resources. 

Is that the best way to use my time? I have no idea. I hate to bring up the economy because people are probably so very sick of hearing it, but I think drumming up new business will be a struggle this year. Plus I'm trying to be cost effective in doing it. I can't afford to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on ads, be it print or web, so I'm going to take a shot at all of this social networking stuff. So...shameless plugs:

Follow me on Twitter!

Friend me on Facebook!

or, sign up for my email newsletter on my website!

Sorry, folks. If I don't have business, my dog goes hungry. ;)

A little at a loss

As I figured, I wouldn't have topics to blog about forever. It seems I was lucky last week to be able to think of things for 3 nonconsecutive blogs. Nothing too exciting going on around Inkblots right now. I will be sending out an email newsletter soon letting people know about my Facebook and Twitter profiles and inviting everyone who has been kind enough to sign up for my newsletter to follow my blabbing. (If you'd like to sign up for my email newsletter, go to my website!)

I am actively looking for graphic design work (part-time freelance) so if any of you lucky readers know of anyone who's in need of an awesome designer, send them my way! Many kudos will follow and karma will bless you most definitely. :)

This might just work out!

Ok, I'm positive bragging about my ability to follow through with posting a blog every three days is annoying, but it's a big deal to me since my whole goal this year is to consistently follow through on things that will better my business in the long run. I promise that this won't be a continuous topic of my blog, or maybe it will be until someone comments to shut up already. :)

New things.....

I'm going to work towards getting to Chicago in the beginning of March to FINALLY complete my Chicago collages. Yes, I know, I've been talking about that for a year, but this time I have the time, resources and travel companions in place to make it happen for sure.

Atlanta collage? I have a friend that will be moving back to Atlanta this year and she's invited me down to show me around. She thought it might be an interesting place to do a collage of. I'd love to hear some feedback!

Collage a day. I'm currently tossing around the idea of doing one collage a day and putting it up for sale on a separate blog page. Right now I just don't feel all that creative and it's a bummer. I've seen a lot of 365 blogs (my friend who's moving to Atlanta currently has one that I think is fantastic) and I just like the idea of trying to do something you love every single day to push yourself to be better at your craft and learn new techniques. I'll update my website with a link as well as announce on my Facebook profile and Twitter page should I follow through!