4-Step Method for Reading Any Book Faster

I read a lot. Seriously, a lot.

Once, at a meeting, we all had to introduce ourselves with a little fun fact. My fun fact was that I usually read a book or two a week. I thought this was maybe a little quirky, but it was apparently NOT NORMAL. Seriously, the record skipped. Dead silence. People came up to me later to ask about how I can possibly do such a crazy thing.

The truth is, most of my reading is just for fun. I read a lot of fiction and I do a ton of re-reading just because I like it. But I also read a lot of non-fiction, lots of which is useful for my business. And I do actually have a secret method for reading lots of non-fiction pretty fast.

Here’s my secret to reading a lot

Click to read more ...

It’s Like This SEO Stuff Works

When I was re-designing and re-writing www.bridgetreddick.com earlier this year, I put some effort into search engine optimization for the site for the first time.

In the past, enough business came from past clients and referrals that I didn’t put any effort into being findable. But now that I’m in St. Louis, a new market for me, I wanted to be easier to find.

How My SEO Is Paying Off

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that if you Google the phrase “St. Louis Copywriter” (even without the quotation marks), www.bridgetreddick.com comes up on the first page, sometimes as high as the #4 organic search result. Awesome!

And, extra awesome, several of the results that come up ahead of me aren’t copywriters, but sites listing

Click to read more ...

Shortlisted for Flash Fiction Prize

A month or two ago, on a whim, I wrote a one-page story and entered in a contest run by Fish Publishing.

Fish Publishing is an independent publishing company based in the West of Ireland. It has been running writing contests since 1994 with the goal to discover, encourage and promote new writers.

The one-page story contest (also called "flash fiction") was established in 2004. The goal for each writer is "to create, in a tiny fragment, a completely resolved and compelling story in 300 words or less."

The 10 winners and the top prize will be announced at the end of the month, but the short list of 114 (out of 1,500 entries) was announced today and my story, "Rebellion", is on it!

4 Years Ago Today

April 16, 2006 was the first day I opened my freelance business. In the four years I've been in business I've pitched, signed and completed hundreds of thousands of dollars in business (not bad for a one-woman shop).

Some of the highlights have been . . .

• My first book, coming out from FamilyArchives.com later this year (read an excerpt).

• Content for many websites including heritagewerks.com, familyarchives.com and constitutionfacts.com and others.

• Relocated from Virginia to the greater St. Louis area.

• Dozens of word-of-mouth marketing stories for the Snow Companies on behalf of clients like Genentech and EMD Serono.

• Given hundreds of dollars to Miriam's Kitchen and the St. Louis Area Foodbank.

• Working with a thought leader on op-ed pieces published in USA Today Online.

• Content marketing, including new quizzes, fun facts and Facebook page for ConstitutionFacts.com, including flagship quiz that has been taken over 60,000 times since launch in Sept. 2009.

• Business blogging for Furniture Brands (Henredon, Pearson Textiles, and Furniture Designed) on behalf of Durbin Media of Ladue, Missouri.

• Advised many friends and colleagues about launching their own freelance businesses.

• Led corporate history projects including creation of unique history quiz cube for M.C. Dean, Inc. of Sterling, Virginia, on behalf of CorporateHistory.net of Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, working with Craig Martin Simon Design of St. Louis.

• Copyediting for publishers, including Colonial Williamsburg and the Omohundro Institute/UNC Chapel Hill Press (Chicago Style).

• Production proofreading and for MD Consult and Anheuser-Busch on behalf of Switch of St. Louis, Missouri (AP Style).

A Proofreader's Tools

Proofreading sounds like something anybody can do. When your mom reads your 5th grade homework, she’s proofreading it.

But professional proofreading is a specialized skill that’s as much about knowing where to find the answers as about knowing the answers.

So here’s my list of the proofreader’s must-have resources.

A Business Proofreader’s Must-Haves

AP Style is the default for almost all business communication (at least for now), so the AP Style Guide is

Click to read more ...