President David Bullard pulled off a quick turn of business cards for me even though one of his machines went down temporarily. Very important to me with multiple trade, speaking, and travel engagements in June! Good price, good service, in business since 1944. What more do you need? lazareprinting.com

I’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately (in fact, I’m on the road now) and it’s tough to feel connected. Here are a few of the things I do:
Twitter, which is highly addictive. While I travel I sometimes turn on notifications on my cell phone so I can keep up with what folks are doing while away from my computer.
Blackberry, which is a new addition to my arsenal, and lets me send text messages and emails to folks. I don’t receive emails on it because it would cause an overload, and the price would skyrocket (I get upwards of 150 emails a day).
Remember the Milk, which Matt Mayes just turned me on to. It’s a great way to make and keep to-do lists, and I use their little program MilkSync to sync it up to my Blackberry.
GoToMyPC, which lets me access my desktop computer at my home office whenever I want. That way I can peek at my outlook, send and receive emails, find files I need, etc. Love it!
CNN Headline News. Nuff said.

So, how do you stay connected? Tell us!

You may want to consider this update I received from colleague and Kyle Shannon mystery series author, Linda Mickey. An excerpt:

“Happy Spring. There is some big news in the publishing world that has a direct impact on me and thousands of other writers.

Amazon announced that unless certain publishing companies (mine included) use Amazon’s printing company, Amazon will not sell the book. An article in Business Week points out that Amazon’s real goal is to print ALL the books it sells on a print-to-order basis. Why? Because warehousing is costly. If Amazon switches to a print-on-demand business model, it will save millions of dollars. It’s a smart business move on their part and they have the marketplace muscle to pull it off.

There’s only one problem. Amazon’s print company, Booksurge, is not a good printer. iUniverse (my publisher) and others switched to Booksurge’s competitor because of quality issues. The Internet is full of complaints about Booksurge’s quality. (Some copies of my first book, Greased Wheels, had green pages that matched the cover.)

Why am I telling you all this? Because I want to assure you that my books are available at www.bn.com and www.powells.com and many other book selling sites. If they order from Amazon, I cannot guarantee the books will ever ship. Barnes and Noble also has a $25 free shipping program.

As always, thank you for your support. Keep reading!”

Attending SXSW was an incredible experience, and one of the most fun things was discovering a whole new world online. So many web sites, so little time! Here are a few that are new to me and SO worth checking out:

• AllTop: Guy Kawasaki’s creation, it collects high-quality resources on a ton of topics in eight categories: work, living, people, interests, culture, geekery, good, news.
• Unclutterer: Tons of tips to keep your workspace, home, car nicely organized and simplified.
• Twitter: Never thought I’d jump on this bandwagon, but I love feeling connected to folks and this really does the trick.
• Blurb: Make your own book. Gorgeous!

You know what an RSS feed is, right? If not, Wikipedia explains it pretty darn well. Many sites put out little feeds, and it’s nice to have a feed aggregator to capture the feeds of all your favorite sites into one place.

I’ve been using Bloglines for a while now, and really like it…but fresh off the plane from SXSW Interactive, I’ve got more recommendations floating around my brain, and I’m curious: What’s your favorite feed aggregator, and why?

The Trib featured ideaxchanger Jackie Sloane this month discussing the benefits of virtual networking. If you would like to learn more about e-networking and e-marketing, come to my presentation tonight. Hosted by Independent Writers of Chicago, I’ll be highlighting the work of several ideaXchangers in a discussion titled “Writing for the Web: How to Find, Get, and Do Your Next Writing Gig Online.”

On Thursday, mix your virtual and physical networking at the mediabistro.com Chicago party for creative, content, media, and publishing pros at D4 Irish Pub & Cafe, just in time for the holiday. My cohosts and I enjoy getting to know your professional endeavors and introducing you to people with similar goals. Hope to see you at one or both events!

An ideaXchanger asked me this question, so I thought I’d post here for everyone to get in on the discussion, especially for those who are into GTD.

First, I’ve been in goals partnerships of some sort for over 5 years and have found them indispensable. In short, a goals partnership helps two or more people achieve their goals in a mutually supportive and accountable arrangement. It’s a two-way exchange, whereas professional coaching is better if you need to focus solely on your own goals. You can set it up in any number of ways. Some are more organized and linear; some are more brainstormy and collaborative.

Curious? Check out the power of goals clubs and this online goal-setting community.

I just devoured Seth Godin’s The Dip, which I chanced upon in Barnes aand Noble the other day. It’s a great little lunch break read, with one really big idea that has me seeing things in a new way in this new year. The essential idea is: get comfortable being a quitter. But quit strategically, when you realize you’re in a situation that isn’t worth the work to complete. And quit the distracting pursuits that take you away from the really big pursuits that are your passion and offer the best success potential.

It’s not rocket science, but it’s still a powerful idea. And after a few months of upheaval and the opportunity now to sit back and make a fresh plan for 2008, it’s just what I needed to read to get me in the right mindset to plan for success. I give it my highest recommendation!

Heads up, Creativos. Sharpie has just launched a new Web site, mysharpie.com, which enables you to customize fine point Sharpie pens! The pens are available in a eight different colors, and there are 10 different fonts and about 20 different pieces of clip art to choose from.

Okay, only six of the fonts are really fun and the clip art is kinda lame, but it’s still a cool idea. And they’re not too expensive, about $12 for six pens. Plus shipping, of course.

If you’ve got the pitch but no cash, apply for financial assistance through The Nation Institute Investigative Fund.