Long story short, this mom had a MySpace account and posted pictures of herself and her daughter to share with friends and family.  Not something uncommon and probably something all of my friends have done.  She was contacted by police to inform her that some perv had hacked her account, stolen her pictures and posted them to an inappropriate (read: pornographic) website.

We all get warned about being careful with posting stuff online and how dangerous it is but sometimes we just brush that advice off as being overcautious.  I know I do.  I lose site of the possibilities of their being creepy perverts out there when I’m chatting up really sweet moms about diapers and co-sleeping and breastfeeding.  I don’t even think that someone might be illegally sharing pictures of my family while I’m networking and connecting with amazing professionals who really want to help one another out.

I certainly don’t think about the weirdos when I’m sending cute little messages to update my high school and college friends about Dessa’s latest babble or adorable picture.  It’s a tough thing to think about but if you’re going to have any kind of online social life and you’re a parent it’s important to consider your family in how much exposure you want.  I didn’t mind throwing around pictures of myself on MySpace or MiGente when I was younger; the risk didn’t seem real and to be honest it didn’t matter to me much.  But it enrages it me now to think that someone would have the balls to exploit my child.

To each their own, but this is just a kind reminder that bad things do happen to good people.  With technology, crimes can be committed against you that run deeper than having personal belongings stolen or your car broken into.  You can have something very precious and dear to you exploited in monstrous and disturbing ways.  I’m getting a bit dramatic here and I’m sure being pregnant and watching my 18 month old daughter sleep via our monitor isn’t helping the drama but I can’t help myself.  My heart goes out to this family and I hope the jerk ends up in jail.  I’m headed to all my accounts and taking a close look at how much I’ve already put out there.

Photo courtesy of Stock.xchng

The last two months have really gotten me thinking about what direction I want to take my professional life.  Right now I work for a large insurance company in a cubicle; your typical corporate America nine to five.  I didn’t set out on any kind of path to get to where I’m at, things just kind of fell into place.  Actually, I probably did more to try and avoid the cube life than anything else.  I’ve never really known what it is I want to be when I grow up but I’ve always known the things that I love to do, writing being one of them.  So two months ago when Latina came knocking looking for a Latina mom blogger, I felt like some cosmic force was at work telling me to wake up and get going.

I’ve always loved to write but never sought out how to turn it into a career.  I had dreamed for a long time of writing a book but was always too scatterbrained to develop characters fully or a solid storyline; fiction was not my thing.  I stepped away from writing for a long time, not consciously but just because life was happening and I wasn’t paying attention.  When Dessa came around I had to get back to the things that I love and blogging let me connect back to my love for writing.  I’m incredibly lucky to have been given the opportunity to blog for Latina.  For someone with zero professional writing experience, this is the chance of a lifetime.  I’m feeling more and more each day that I have to seize the moment or it’ll pass me by.

I’ve been mulling over exactly what seizing this moment  means; I’m afraid I won’t know how to use this great opportunity to benefit me in the long run.  So in an effort to avoid missing out on this opp, I’ve put myself out there.  I’ve applied for several blogging positions and have gone from two little blogs to a whopping four (I start at BabySwags and Blissfully Domestic this month)!  I listed myself in a directory of moms looking to help one another out and I’m now writing a press release and have gotten great connections from the moms on there.  I was bold enough to even put myself out there as a social media consultant.  I lined up a busy month in February with 4 giveaways and 4 interviews (yikes!).  I’m not getting paid for any of this and I don’t mind; I just know there’s something in this jumble of assignments that I’m really hungry for.  And I’ve never been hungry for anything professionally.  It’s invigorating and exciting and kick ass!

I have so much brewing I can barely think straight sometimes.  I’m working on a posting schedule and trying to prioritize the things that matter.  I will keep writing at the various blogs and taking on freelance work as it comes and for as long as everything is working towards building a solid portfolio of work in my area of expertise.  But I also want to make sure I have enough time to start developing both an ebook and a full length book.   I’m considering attending a blogging/social media conference.  I want to continue to educate myself on this new field I’m venturing into.  As you can see, my mind has a lot to think about these days.

I’m reading a ton of different blogs right now and am considering signing up for a marketing course.  I also just downloaded a great eWorkbook which might help me get to one of those conferences I’m dreaming about.  I’ll follow up this post later week when I sort through all the info.  I’m hoping to find some really great info that might help out other freelance newbies.  Heck not to mention put it all in one handy place for myself!

If any of my readers just up and took a leap with freelancing, I’d love to know how you did it and where you’re at now.  Where did you find the best work?  How long were you willing to work for free?  How did you define being successful?  Any input would be great!

I follow almost all of my daily blog reads on Twitter so I often forget to check out what they’re posting.  I even find new and interesting people to follow who’s blogs I barely visit.  I’ll visit once to learn more about them and see if they’re someone worth following but then I forget to go back.  I feel like I’m following them throughout their day so I neglect to give them any blog love. 

I can’t figure out which is more valuable to someone I’m following – Twitter love or blog love?  Sheesh, I’m not even sure which is more important to me!  Can I be both a microblogger and a blogger?  I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve posted more tweets than posts and I’m starting to wonder how to find the balance between the two.

With the new year quickly approaching, I need to figure out a way to better manage my time and prioritize my goals.  Interesting because I don’t think Twitter ever started out as a goal of any sort.  It was meant to be just a fun way to connect and build community.   

I’m so confused!  Maybe you can share some wisdom to help me plan for 2009- 

• Which is more valuable – twitter love or blog love? 
• Can you be a successful blogger and microblogger? 
• How do you balance both?

The party was a one time event and I was a bit lost because I wasn’t that familiar with the Classy Closet radio show. The ladies were super helpful and were ready to field questions from newbies. As for #journchat, even though it is still a fairly new gathering (the first one took place 11/08), the conversation was very lively but also very specific to the PR and journalism field; I’d hoped to gain a bit more for blogging. Despite the PR/journo focus, I found the discussion fascinating and couldn’t stop following it. I stayed on for a good two hours so there was certainly plenty of time for blogging to come into the equation. On both occassions, I was welcomed with open arms and was amazed by how active and engaged everyone was.

As social as I’ve been, I have yet to attend a site warming party where a particular product, service or site is given a little fiesta on the Twittersphere.  Experts in the particular field are gathered, a giveaway is arranged and a discussion is developed to engage the party goers.  I’d love to sit in on one of these.  I’m keeping an eye out for Resourceful Mommy, who hosts the shindigs, so hopefully I’ll get to party it up at one soon.

I love this aspect of Twitter.  Since I’m an anti-social girl (in the winter at least) these Twitter gatherings are right up my alley.  Up next: GNO on Tuesday!  I’ll let you know how it goes =)