Help a blogger out?

b5media is hosting a contest on the Entertainment Channel where I also write Gossip Girl Report about, well, Gossip Girl.

The current challenge is poll-related. I have an easy peasy poll in my sidebar on the site. All you have to do is a click a button and vote!

For more info on the choices (if you’re so inclined), you can read the post here.

Just taking a break from lawmummy.

I’m around, of course, at taxgirl.com and other sites.

If you’re wondering what else I am up to, here’s a peek at one project:  http://inpracticebook.com/

Yep, I ain’t too proud to beg.

I have a story on digg right now – and Bloomberg just submitted the same story (after me, mind you).

Give me a little digg love?

http://www.digg.com/football/JoePa_s_salary_made_public

It’s all about PSU, Joe Paterno, college football and taxes.   Yep, I swear.

So, one of my posts on taxgirl.com has made a list of the most popular web posts right now. Only, it’s between these two…

• Keeley Hazell Topless In Maxim Magazine
• Fearing the Taxman: When Not To Be Scared
• Trinny and Susannah Undress the Nation: Trinny Goes To 32D!!!

I’m trying to figure out if I’m happy to be on the list (hooray, I’m popular) or bummed (because this is what other people are reading?).

How can it only be Thursday?

I am tired.  Chris, Amy and Charlie all seem to have some sort of thing and Katie is, well, being Katie (translation:  getting her dressed this morning was murder).

Some girl calling herself taxgirl has been selling terrorist tee shirts on CafePress and they are refusing to take them down.  Grr.

And some other web site is stealing my content and hasn’t replied to my email.  I am not excited about sending the cease and desist letter.

What’s going on with the world this week, for goodness sake?

So, to create a diversion, I have two fun writing exercises up at my other blogs…

One, tax haiku. Who can resist tax haiku?

Two, a three word story game on my kids’ book blog. Easy peasy.

If you need a burst of creativity during the day, stop on in!

So, it’s been a weird couple of weeks at the Erb household… Chris has been in Germany, my mother has been in town and the Phillies just got booted out of World Series contention. Sigh.

I know I’ve been fairly silent on the blogging front. There has been lots of rearranging and re-prioritizing going on. Some of it is a continuation of stuff from before but I am really happy about the direction that things are going. Here is a bit of an extended re-cap:

First, the house. It’s still not sold which means we are still not in the new house. We have a few more days left on our contract for the new house so the sign is still up on the old house and we’re still showing it to potential buyers. It’s been a long, painful process. I have learned a lot. More on that later.

Second, the law. Chris is in Germany, promoting the firm. Yeah, it just happens to be Oktoberfest, too. Think what you will. Another of our associates just got married this past weekend (congrats, Erica!). Another associate got her blog featured on ESPN (how cool is that?). I love that everything that happens in life is not about work.

Third, blogging. Clearly, my blogging on lawmummy has suffered. But I’m turning a corner. I was trying to get situated as Channel Editor of the Business Channel for b5media during September. It is the most fun job. Ever. Just sayin. My tax blog had a phenomenal month (www.taxgirl.com – are you subscribed?). My Gossip Girl blog (www.gossipgirlreport.com) has been a blast to write – what other gig gives you an excuse to have friends over every Wednesday for cocktails? And finally, my kids’ book blog has launched. I used to write for one at 451 Press way back (okay, just a month ago) but b5media offered me the opportunity to launch a new one from the ground up – title, concept, look, the whole bit. The result is at www.onebooktwobook.com. Just getting started but loving it. The tally, for those of you keeping score at home (and you know who you are, Jackie) is… 3 b5media blogs, 1 personal blog (this one) and limited participation in a blog for Katie’s school. So there you go. See, not as nuts as you thought.

The kiddos are still sick. Well, two out of three. Katie has a great immune system, Ames and Charlie not so much. Gotta love those first month of school germs. Amy’s nightmares, sleepwalking and breathing difficulties are continuing and the sleep study at Children’s Hospital will be scheduled soonish.

The weather here stinks – where did autumn go? Nonetheless, I am thinking like autumn and went out and bought far too many plants. Plants are my shoes. They just are. Other women spend their weekends at Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s; I spend mine at The Secret Garden and Franklin Styers Nursery. What can I say? This week, they had pots 50% off. Beautiful, glazed pots. I am officially penniless (but boy, the porch looks lovely).

So, gosh, I think you’re all caught up now. My plan is to get back into the swing of things this week. And work on Halloween costumes, so expect plenty of cursing.

Part of my super new job as Channel Editor for b5media’s Business Channel is to launch new blogs.  I have quite a few in the pipeline and now I’m looking for bloggers!

I’m not going to lie:  the competition is fierce.  I just closed the job posting for another blog because I had received a bunch of great apps.  But don’t let that discourage you.  If you’ve got what it takes – interest, a great voice (the writing kind, not the singing kind, Lord knows that I don’t have that), check out the list at Problogger.net.

Despite the fact that I told Chris no more blogs, I couldn’t help myself.  I had given up Kids Dish earlier (to the very talented girlfiend) because I was finding it difficult to continue to dream up creative entries about food and kids.  Perhaps it was because I was also finding it difficult to deal with food and kids.  But that’s another story.

Skip ahead.  The blogging is going smoothly – taxgirl.com is loads of fun to write and I’m really enjoying my kids’ book blog (I’m going to interview Meg Cabot!  I’m going to interview Meg Cabot!).  I’m constantly scouring the press releases from the publishers to write for the book blog – and I found out about Gossip Girl.  And I was really intrigued.  It was being turned into a TV series for the CW, which kind of re-ignited interest in the books which I missed the first go round (which is why I mentioned it on my site well after its debut).

At any rate, I started following the book series – and the show – and a little ad happened to catch my eye for a Gossip Girl blogger.  Oh yeah.  I couldn’t help myself.  I applied.  I got it.  So if you’re into the drama, check it out at www.gossipgirlreport.com.  It’s so retro-90210.  And I’m loving it.

(Photo source)

Okay, if you’re a Monsters, Inc. fan, you’ll totally get the title… And you know I’m a fan.

I mentioned that there is a lot going on lately, so I thought I’d dish on some of it.

For one, I am no longer a crazed blogger. Well, I guess I am crazed and still a blogger, but what I mean by that is that I am no longer writing a million blogs.

And here’s what happened.

I have been running a series on taxgirl.com called “Getting to Know You Tuesday” where I spotlight various tax professionals from around the globe. It’s been a popular segment and fun to do (hey, if you know anyone who should be featured, shoot me a note). I interviewed Kay Bell, who happens to be a favorite of William Perez who I also interviewed. When I featured Kay, William blogged about it and wrote the following:

You’ll enjoy reading the read of the taxgirl blog. Taxgirl is written by tax attorney-turned-obsessive-blogger Kelly Phillips Erb. When she’s not being an attorney or writing about taxes, the taxgirl writes about family life for not just one, but four different blogs. Where does she find all that energy?

Nice, right? I thought it was a really thoughtful mention – and it was about.com, which was good from a publicity standpoint.

And then I thought… but I write five blogs. Actually seven, if you count those that I contribute to as well. And I sound scattered.

At some point, I didn’t want to be that girl who wrote a ton of blogs. I wanted to be the girl who wrote a couple of great blogs. And as Katie would say, “A couple means two, right?”

So, that week, I gave 451 Press my notice that I would no longer be writing Kids Dish. Fortunately, my good friend and fellow blogger, Jackie, was up for the challenge so she took it over and has done a far better job than I would have done.

Then I stopped writing anything for the two other blogs that I contribute to… One was dying anyway because of lack of other participation. It was time.

I started streamlining lawmummy – that was part of the infamous switchover from TypePad – and focusing on taxgirl.com (my favorite to write).  I was trying to figure out what to do with the remaining blogs.

And then I got a little help.  Out of the blue, I received a phone call from Disney.  Long story, short, they told me that I would no longer be blogging for family.com.  I had never heard a peep out of them before regarding the blog other than a reminder about photo sizes, etc., so I had no clue about traffic or whether they liked my content.  I just received my check.

I’ve thought long and hard about what I was going to say about this…  I told Lauren at Disney that she had given me a lot of “blog fodder” based on our conversation.  But, in the end, I don’t think it gets me anywhere to be mean-spirited.  So, I will merely say this:  I did not enjoy writing the blog for Disney.  It was the most difficult blog to write because of the restrictions, blogging platform and lack of feedback.  I do appreciate their vote of confidence in me initially and I am grateful for the opportunity.  But it was not a good fit.  That is, after all, why they let me go.  I was hired to write about family and finance – with an emphasis on tax since they found me through taxgirl – but they felt that wasn’t a popular topic.  I was told that moms who visited family.com weren’t interested in my content.  They wanted, and I quote “crafts and recipes.”  Fair enough.  I was given the option of writing through the end of my term based on notice or not – I chose not.

So then there were three.  The original blog – lawmummy – and two network blogs.  I am extremely proud of how well taxgirl.com is doing and I’m having fun with my kids’ book blog, Tiny Treasury.

You know that I believe that things happen for a reason.  And finding some focus makes sense.  Hopefully, you’ll notice a change…  I already have.

Try some haiku!  It’ll make you feel better.  You can summarize the plot of a kids’ book a la haiku over at Tiny Treasury.  I started doing them last night and I couldn’t stop.