So to help out other Virtual Assistant’s and Solopreneurs, I’ve made some additions and changes to the lists and compiled my own list of truly free Press Release sites.

1888pressrelease.com

24-7pressrelease.com

betanews.com

eCommWire.co

Free-Press-Release-Center.info

FreePressIndex.com

FreePressRelease.co.cc

FreePressReleases.co.uk

IndiaPRWire.com

I’ve just returned from my first real “vacation” as a VA but boy am I tired! Not only did we travel half way across the US to get to a wedding in Ontario, but we did it with a variety of children, 2 laptops, 1 Blackberry and a finicky camera.

Yikes!

Though it was called a vacation, it felt more like a travelling road show of VADiva Goes to Ontario. I’m just in the process of starting to build a team, so I am all there is. I told my clients that I would be travelling during the days and online in the evenings, and for the most part that was true. There were a few hiccups – a new client didn’t get the vacation message and wondered where I was – but for the most part things went well.

What we really didn’t figure out right were the trip timings. Most days our drive took much longer than anticipated as we ran into lengthy border crossing lines, kids with small bladders who are in lengthy border crossing lines, pee breaks, back breaks, driver switches, actually wanting to stop and see the sights and so on. Which meant that we hit the hotels much later in the evenings than we had hoped, meaning less time in the pool for the kids and hub and less time for me to work.

So last night, I slept like a rock

But all’s well that ends well. I snagged my own version of the “white whale” and scored a major coup at Louis Vuitton in Minneapolis – and thank you ladies for a wonderful experience. I got to experience a wedding that was perfectly orchestrated right down to seating all the kids at two end tables next to an open area where they could run and play during dinner and drunken bride speeches (we love you JoAnn!) I had the time of my life with my East Coast family – though it was too short and we had great fun with our friends and family in Kingston (love you guys!) and London (Ty, you’re coming here next!)

So back to work – onward to a new team, a new vision and a new version of VADiva – stay tuned!

I’m the type of person who reads the paper with a pen in hand to circle all the typos and underline questionable grammar.

But what has struck me most lately is the way mainstream journalists are using “web slang” in their articles.

A couple of months ago, I read the phrase “policy wonk” in a mainstream newspaper used to refer to a political activist. Seriously, is that the only phrase you could think of?

I realize that as a culture we have become much more laid back and casual – gone are the days of men in suits parading off to work and women in pearls and high heels vacuuming the house. And that is a very good thing. But are we really at the point where we want to overlook poor grammar and terrible spelling? Are we ready to just say “oh well, that’s ok, a few mistakes are to be expected” when we are confronted with the problem?

How do you think your clients would feel if you had spelling and grammar errors in their ebooks, marketing promotions or website copy?

I highly doubt they’d say “oh that’s ok – 1 or 2 errors are to be expected!”

I think we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard, and not let bad grammar and poor spelling take over!

Adding Twitter to my social media mix was inspired by one of the team leaders I work with, and as a result I have actually gained clients thru Twitter.