Gosh, I wish it were all flip flops, sandy beaches and palm trees over here, but this summer my blog will be taking a brief hiatus so that I can focus on...

MY BIG BOOK RELEASE (For Memoirs of a Surgeon's Wife on July 17, 2018)!

I'm working away to get the book across the finish line on the publication date, so this blog is going to take a much-deserved little break-y before returning in August.

As always, I'll be sharing major announcements on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and with my email subscribers (sign up here). 

Happiest of summers to you, and be back soon!

Congratulations to the winners of my Book Release Date Giveaway, and many thanks to everyone who participated!

Winners will be notified via email. 
​
Exciting news on two release dates coming soon:

1. Paperback edition of "100 of Your Toughest Business Emails: Solved"
2. Digital edition of "Memoirs of a Surgeon's Wife: I'm Throwing Your Damn Pager into the Ocean"

​Stay tuned to this blog for more info!

You may also like these blogs by Megan Sharma:
Book cover design: How I developed a concept for my indie author book cover
BIG NEWS! I’m self-publishing my memoir in 2018. Here’s why…
It's Here! Get My Free E-Book: 100 of Your Toughest Business Emails: Solved on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks and more
Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: A word to mothers who aspire to have a surgeon-in-law
Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: No, I don’t want no scrubs
Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: For the love of Danskos
Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: The other shoe
Writing tips: What I want to blog about vs. what I actually blog about
One year after my major career change from full-time mom to full-time writer: reflections and lessons learned
For writers: All your writing fears, squashed!
A real, imperfect day in the life of a writer: me
Your writing conference checklist: how to make it worth every minute and every penny (takeaways from the 2017 San Francisco Writers Conference)

You may also like these blogs by Megan Sharma:
Book cover design: How I developed a concept for my indie author book cover
BIG NEWS! I’m self-publishing my memoir in 2018. Here’s why…
It's Here! Get My Free E-Book: 100 of Your Toughest Business Emails: Solved on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks and more
Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: A word to mothers who aspire to have a surgeon-in-law
Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: No, I don’t want no scrubs
Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: For the love of Danskos
Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: The other shoe
Writing tips: What I want to blog about vs. what I actually blog about
One year after my major career change from full-time mom to full-time writer: reflections and lessons learned
For writers: All your writing fears, squashed!
A real, imperfect day in the life of a writer: me
Your writing conference checklist: how to make it worth every minute and every penny (takeaways from the 2017 San Francisco Writers Conference)

New year, new byline, and new tips on how you can support your favorite authors!
 
The Write Life is a trusted source of information for writers of all genres.
 
This piece, published on The Write Life, focuses on how you can show love and support for authors – without spending a penny!
 
For new authors (present company included), it’s just as important, if not more so, to have help spreading the word than to make a few bucks on a book (although we don’t hate that! Go for it!).
 
Check out the article here, and feel free to add your feedback on creative and simple ways to share the love with the authors in your life and on your bookshelf. 

You can find all of my articles on The Write Life here.  

Cheers!   

You may also like these blogs by Megan Sharma:
On The Write Life: 17 Incredible Possibilities if Writers Ran The World
On The Write Life: Get Inspired! 20 Writers to Follow on Twitter
Article on The Write Life: Think Like a Journalist to Improve Your Writing (Trench Coat Optional!)
How to be the perfect friend: a guide for the ladies
Writing tips: What I want to blog about vs. what I actually blog about
One year after my major career change from full-time mom to full-time writer: reflections and lessons learned
For writers: All your writing fears, squashed!
A real, imperfect day in the life of a writer: me
Your writing conference checklist: how to make it worth every minute and every penny (takeaways from the 2017 San Francisco Writers Conference) 
The write stuff: An author’s favorite books and authors 
Writing tips: Cutting down on word fat and other newsletter best practices 
All about writing: writing 'til it hurts 

When I first started this blog in March 2014, frankly, I was completely clueless.
 
At the time, I was working full time as an IT Corporate Communications Manager and was looking for a creative outlet. I could literally feel the creative juices escaping my brain and being replaced by business jargon (which is another art form, of course).
 
Funny enough, it was the college intern I hired to help me write corporate intranet articles who inspired me to create my own web site and online writing portfolio.
 
I was blown away by the fact that she even had a web site, with impressive media clips, to boot – while still in journalism school.

So, I built this web site as my digital portfolio, and launched my blog as part of it.
 
All I knew was that I wanted the freedom to write about whatever I wanted. The rest came with research, experience, and a knock-your-socks-off blogging course.
 
I’ve written this blog to help other newbies who may be struggling to get traffic to their blog, or who simply don’t understand blog SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
 
The following are ten straightforward blog SEO tips to increase traffic and your ranking (essentially, where you fall in Google search results). 

The newbie’s guide to optimizing blog SEO in 10 easy steps

1.  Determine the best keywords to use. First things first: you need to know what keywords people are using to search on subjects related to yours. Get ideas on Soovle or ubersuggest—plug in potential keywords and observe what word combinations are most popular.

2.  Choose the right headline. When selecting your blog headline, incorporate your SEO keywords. You will also want to sprinkle it into your opening paragraph, in a subheading, and within the body content. Try to make it flow naturally. 

3.  Go for a straightforward title. Don’t go all ‘play on words’ or little-known pop culture reference in your blog title. Your title should be concrete and specific. For example:
 
Do this: Seattle travel guide: 10 most romantic hotels in the Emerald City
NOT this: Keep the love alive in the Emerald City
 
4.  Images are key. Pair your blog with at least one image, preferably several interspersed throughout the text to keep interest and create white space. The main header image should include the title of the blog to make your content more sharable, and more likely to be seen. 

5.  Create your own high-quality graphics for free. You can use free tools from Canva and Pablo to design your own graphics, and free stock photos from Visual Hunt and Pexels.  
 
6.  Encourage social sharing. Include visible social sharing links to encourage readers to share your blog with others. If your platform doesn’t include automated sharing, create your own free HTML sharing code to embed in your blog here or try the free Sumo plugin. 

7.  Add categories. Tag at least one category to each of your blogs to help readers find content of interest. Like with blog headlines, this should be down to earth, not ethereal.
 
8.  Leverage your platform’s SEO settings. Find the SEO settings on your blogging platform and add appropriate keywords and descriptions to each blog entry. These will often be located in the advanced settings for each individual blog post. 

9.  You may also like…Take the guesswork out of related content for your readers. Automate this if you can. Otherwise, copy and paste the most relevant links to your blogs on similar topics.
 
10.  Leave a final impression. If someone makes it to the end of your blog and they like what they read, now is the time to keep their interest. Design a graphic to include at the end of each blog with a succinct call to action, such as subscribing to your blog RSS feed or email list, or connecting on social media. An image with text overlay pointing to a link works well. 

See? Now you’re no longer a blog SEO newbie. Best of blogging to you! 

You may also like these blogs by Megan Sharma:
Writing tips: What I want to blog about vs. what I actually blog about
It's Here! Get My Free E-Book: 100 of Your Toughest Business Emails: Solved on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks and more
Business Email Etiquette: 50 Things You Should Never Say in a Work Email
For writers: All your writing fears, squashed!
A real, imperfect day in the life of a writer: me
Boss baby: 22 traits shared by 2-year-olds and bad bosses
One year after my major career change from full-time mom to full-time writer: reflections and lessons learned
The write stuff: An author’s favorite books and authors 
Writing tips: Cutting down on word fat and other newsletter best practices 
Writing tips for email: In 30 seconds, this message will self-destruct 
Public speaking tips: How to move your audience from callous to captivated 

I had an epiphany today: If bad behavior were an Olympic sport, horrible bosses and toddlers would be fighting tooth and paci for the gold.
 
Of course, 2-year-olds have the legitimate justification of not yet being fully formed humans. I mean, their brains are still developing.
 
So, what is your horrible boss’s excuse? 

Horrible bosses: 22 things 2-year-olds and bad bosses have in common

1.  Self-absorbed
Your toddler: I want I want I WANT!!!
 
Your boss: Don’t mess up my reputation, underling.
 
2.  Can’t be reasoned with
Your toddler: [Refuses to wear coat on 20-degree winter day]. NO! I want to wear my swimsuit. No coat.
 
Your boss: I reviewed your budget report and I see that you’ve identified a $275K deficit. That should be easy to move around and balance, right? Have it done pronto.
 
3.  Don't do their fair share
Your toddler: Runs wild through the house, eats everything in sight, complains about being bored, demands to watch a movie, spills cheerios all over the kitchen, and then kicks you instead of helping you clear the mess.
 
Your boss: Runs wild through the office, eats a half dozen bagels on bagel day, complains about being ‘soooo busy’, demands a status update, spills coffee all over the shared kitchen, and then leaves you to mop up the mess.
 
4.  Take you for granted
Your toddler: Daddy will make my macaroni.
 
Your boss: Sheryl will take care of it. She always does.
 
5.  Don't acknowledge your hard work
Your toddler: NO, I want chicken nuggets! [After you’ve spent three hours preparing an extravagant dinner]
 
Your boss: Oh, I completely forgot about that. What else is on your to-do list? [After you’ve spent six months tackling a near-impossible task]

6.  Make a mess and expect you to clean it up
Your toddler: [Removes every piece of clothing and pees on the floor] Mommy, look what I did for you.
 
Your boss: [Instigates political firestorm in the office] You’ll get this squared away by end of day, won’t you?
 
7.  Attempt to control everything
Your toddler: [Imitating your exact tone of voice] Excuuuuuuuse me, Daddy, you do NOT talk to me like that.
 
Your boss: [On casual Friday, when literally everyone in the office except your boss is wearing jeans] I noticed that you’re wearing jeans today. Is that appropriate for the workplace?
 
8.  Are terrible at listening
Your toddler: [After hearing it’s time to go to school, immediately hides under the bed and starts giggling like mad]
 
Your boss: [While you are confiding one of your deepest professional insecurities] [Looks like she’s been shaken from a dream] I’m sorry, were you saying something?
 
9.  Often yell and/or throw fits when things don’t go their way
Your toddler: But I don’t WANT my friends to come over for my birthday party to give me presents and eat pizza and cake! WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I want to sit in this box and never come out.
 
Your boss: But I don’t WANT my co-workers to acknowledge my birthday with a cake and be forced to socialize with them for more than two minutes. WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I want to sit in this office and never come out.
 
10.  Ask for something, then immediately reject it
Your toddler: I want bubbles. [Hands child bubble wand] NO! I HATE BUBBLES! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME???
 
Your boss: Where is that marketing plan I asked for? [Employee responds: It’s been in your inbox for a week] Well, why did you send it so soon? I didn’t want it clogging up my email! 

11.  Change their mind constantly
Your toddler: I want chocolate cake. I want vanilla cake. I want chocolate cake. NO, VANILLA! [Conversation continues into eternity]
 
Your boss: I think this is the right strategy. Or maybe this isn’t the best strategy. Let’s do more brainstorming. Shouldn’t we start from scratch? Ask Bob what he thinks.
 
12.  Always think they are right
Your toddler: I’m cuter than you, so I must be right.
 
Your boss: I’m smarter than you, so I must be right.
 
13.  Resist even the smallest of changes
Your toddler: New socks? NEVER!!!
 
Your boss: Remove the emojis from my email signature? YOU CAN’T TAKE MY FREEDOM!
 
14.  Have the absolute worst timing
Your toddler: [While on a video conference call with your boss and the CEO of the company] Your toddler enters the room, completely naked, and announces: I POOPED!
 
Your boss: [Just as you are packing up your laptop for a long weekend] I just thought of one more thing I’d like you to finish before you head out…
 
15.  Can alter your day from good to ghastly in mere minutes
Your toddler: Mama, where do babies come from? [Unprepared parent cringes]
 
Your boss: [Without warning] Franklin, we need to discuss your performance. RIGHT. NOW. Close the door.

16.  Blind to their own faults and weaknesses
Your toddler: Yup, I eat my own boogers. Is there a problem here?
 
Your boss: Yup, I verbally abuse my own employees. Is there a problem here?
 
17.  Constantly play favorites
Your toddler: [To Mommy]. Daddy is my favorite. Daddy is my favorite. Daddy-is-my-FAVORITE! Go away, Mommy. I no like you.
 
Your boss: You know I never play favorites, but the employee of the month is…Ricardo, again! Congratulations to Ricardo! The rest of you should aim to be more like him.
 
18.  Have emotional outbursts
Your toddler: NO, I AM NOT TIRED!!!! NO NAP TIME! While writhing on the floor of Costco, clutching a jumbo pack of string cheese.
 
Your boss: NO, I AM NOT TIRED! Just bring me my coffee, damnit.
 
19.  Make demands without providing any guidance or context
Your toddler: I WANT THAT TOY!!!! THAT ONE! NO, NOT THAT ONE. [Every toy parent points to in the Toys R Us store elicits the same response]
 
Your boss: I want this to be top-notch! I’ll know what that means when I see it! I don’t have time for questions.
 
20.  Skip out on their obligations
Your toddler: ME NO WANT TO BUCKLE MY SEATBELT! [Every morning in the car seat, like clockwork]
 
Your boss: Oh, I was supposed to sign your timesheet? I wasn’t aware of that. [After four years of weekly reminders to sign the same freaking timesheet]

21.  Lie to get what they want
Your toddler: Daddy said I could have some ice cream. Daddy: I have no recollection of this. [Toddler puts on most fetching grin]
 
Your boss: [Lying through teeth] If this isn’t done right, we’ll all be fired.
 
22.  Never say thank you
Your toddler: [Says for the very first time] Thank you, Da-Da [Daddy falls down at baby’s feet in worship]
 
Your boss: Why should I thank you for doing what you get paid to do?

Let this be a lesson to horrible bosses to stop acting like babies, and babies (toddlers) to stop acting like bosses.
 
We’re all in this together!
 
Do you have a Boss Baby or a Baby Boss? Tell us about it in the comments (no names, please)!

You may also like these blogs by Megan Sharma:
Business Email Etiquette: 50 Things You Should Never Say in a Work Email
Vacation time! Why I’m actually vacationing on my vacation
One year after my major career change from full-time mom to full-time writer: reflections and lessons learned
It's Here! Get My Free E-Book: 100 of Your Toughest Business Emails: Solved on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks and more
Vacation fun: 44 things you only do when you're on vacation or holiday
Writing tips: What I want to blog about vs. what I actually blog about
For writers: All your writing fears, squashed!
A real, imperfect day in the life of a writer: me
The write stuff: An author’s favorite books and authors 
Writing tips: Cutting down on word fat and other newsletter best practices 
Writing tips for email: In 30 seconds, this message will self-destruct 
Public speaking tips: How to move your audience from callous to captivated