Original Content is Critical: What to Do When Someone Steals Your Work

Today has been a roller coaster ride. I added a cool, new client that needs a revamp of their website. I received an email asking if I would write an article for a popular SEO website. And I got blatantly plagiarized. By someone who claims to be a friend, and does not understand Google and duplicate content!

This is not the first time plagiarism has happened to me; I consider it an unfortunate fact of the free nature of the Internet. However, this time was different. It was not some nameless, faceless person in a third-world country snagging my post for their blog.

This time, it was far more personal. The work stolen was a page from my website, and this copycat was someone in our social circle. This was someone that has had trouble finding work, and that I have tried to help get started with writing for a living. I have pointed out on multiple occasions the importance of improving skills, and given her links to spelling and grammar checking sites. I have edited work for this person and pointed out weaknesses-- (hint, f-en hint!) Sorry, can you tell I am just a wee bit perturbed?

November is Writing Time: NaBloPoMo Here I Come!

Maybe it's the weather getting colder (did I mention I saw little chunky pellets of ice/snow/yuck today?) or the fact that so many cool writing events take place in November-- whatever it is, always makes me want to write more, and more often. Of course, this is a good thing-- I have several books in various stages of completion, and my goal is to have three of them published by year-end. While that may seem like pie-in-the-sky, the fact is that I am pretty close with all of them and just need to buckle it down and "get 'er done" as Larry the Cable Guy says.

This might seem counter-intutive, but I also joined NaBloPoMo for this month as well. For someone with adult ADHD like myself (I linked to my book about how I deal with it, naturally, in case anyone needs that help) structure is paramount. So, the fact that I have to sit down and write a blog post each and every day is a big. flippin. deal. for me! It's not that I am lazy, but I get distracted....you know, squirrel! Seriously, once I start working, I am a machine...but I can honestly say that I work best with a deadline approaching...under pressure. So this actually helps!  

NaBloPoMo is a takeoff of national novel writing month (Nanowrimo) and means National Blog Post Month. If you have a blog yourself, you can join as well. If you don't have a blog, start one-- seriously. If you ask me nice, I will probably help you set it up. There are also prizes-- you can win tickets to BlogHer Pro '14 Conference in San Francisco! Click here to sign up for NaBloPoMo and be eligible for prizes.

This is my (short) blog post for today. I have spent most of the day getting WordPress set up locally so that I can work on multiple websites "behind the scenes." I can tell you that I got a crash course in mySQL, PHP, WAMP, MAMP, XAMPP, and AMPPS today--- and finally found the proper combination to get things functioning exactly the way I need them. But my head is aching and I am ready to watch my Buckeyes finish
off Illinois!