For years I have taken for granted having a career in which I can work from anywhere, at any time. Have laptop, will write! I have worked through the flu, through childcare crises, when my car was broken down, during blizzards, and through various and sundry physical ailments (at various degrees of misery, but I could still work). What a blessing, I have always thought, to have a job that did not depends on too many external factors. My husband has a recurrent foot ailment which often makes his long days of teaching (on his feet at the front of the classroom) extremely difficult. If there was something wrong with my foot, I would simply prop it up on the couch and keep typing.

But this month I have finally learned what it would take to make my job very, very difficult: Last week, I broke my hand. On the plus side, I broke my left hand, and I am right-handed. On the minus side, I broke my hand. I had to have surgery, and I am not expected to be back to full mobility for another six weeks at least. Even overlooking the pain and discomfort associated with my injury, I spend my days typing. I spend my days touch typing, with two hands. One of my hands is currently in a splint. Things have changed.
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I’ve known Susan Getgood for years, and when I heard that she’d be tapped to write Professional Blogging for Dummies I immediately thought to myself that she was exactly the right person for the job. As I talked with Susan throughout the process—both just on a general level, and because I spoke with her as part of her research—my anticipation mounted. The most basic way to put it is that Susan gets it, from the dual perspective as a strategic marketer and as a blogger, herself. So I knew the book would be spot-on.

Last week Wiley (the publisher) was kind enough to send me two copies, and even knowing everything I did, beforehand, about Susan’s acumen and how she was planning to structure this, I was still absolutely blow away by how thoughtful and comprehensive this manual is. You could truly pick up Professional Blogging for Dummies if you’d never blogged a day in your life and—after reading through the advice herein—start a professional blog and make money with it. Moreover, if you’re already a problogger, there’s still great information in here for sharpening your approach.
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Sometimes neat things happen in connection with this blog. Like, I’ll say something and someone will email me and say, “Hey! I feel that way, too!” and that makes me feel moderately warm and fuzzy. Or someone will email and say, “Wow, I never thought of it that way. Thanks!” and I’ll feel even more warm and fuzzy. And then still other times, I’ll say something, and someone nice will email me and say, “Hey, want to try my product for free?”

It’s hard, being me. But not when that happens.

So, you may recall that a while ago I was going on and on about the office tools I adore, and I mentioned my NeatReceipts Scanner. And then a nice woman who works with Neat contacted me to ask if I’d like to take their newest baby, the NeatDesk for a trial spin. I said of course, because it’s shiny and you know how I like shiny things.

And so the NeatDesk showed up at my house and was promptly buried in one of my bazillion piles and it took me a month to dig it out.
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Thanks to the fine folks at Epson and the ladies in charge here at Work It, Mom!, I was given the opportunity to check out one of Epson’s latest all-in-one office solutions, the WorkForce 600. It arrived on my doorstep looking all sleek and black and pretty, and it only took me a week to clear off enough space in my office to actually, you know, set it up and start testing it.

The idea, of course, behind a compact all-in-one machine like this is that you can get everything you might need in a small space and at a low price point (in this case, around $200). Most tech aficionados will tell you that without exception, you will be trading off quality in exchange for this convenience; no machine can do everything and do it well without costing a fortune. I happen to agree, but only to a point—most people only require a “good enough” level of performance from something like a scanner, say, and the gains of getting all of this functionality in a small desktop machine will outweigh the drawbacks.
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