Over the years, we’ve heard so many people complain that the Internet is bad for our children. People aren’t reading enough books anymore, they say. Kids are writing in txt. And I’ve always pretty much thought it was hog wash.

Now there’s some science to back up my feelings. A recent article from LiveScience starts off:

“Widespread Internet use will actually improve the reading and writing skills of the world’s population, most experts agreed in a new survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.”

The article goes on to discuss a survey that indicates, among other things, that a lot of people believe that the Internet is actually making people more literate than ever before. And you know what? I buy it.

Has book reading declined over the years? I’m not sure. I think that a case could be made either way. But what I do think is true is that there are more people, especially young people, who are reading a variety of different material on a daily basis thanks to the accessibility of information on the Internet.

We have access to more information than ever before. Kids who would never have watched the news before have a general idea of what’s going on in the world because of updates on various sites including their favorite social networking sites. Kids who never would have written long letters to their friends are constantly articulating things to them online and via text messaging.

Yes, undoubtedly there are some drawbacks (as there would be with anything). Text and IM may hinder spelling abilities. At the same time, you have to admit that the fact that your computer tells you when you’ve spelled something wrong makes it a lot easier to see your errors and learn how to fix them. So, pros and cons, maybe, but I’m in the camp of people who thinks that the more people who are reading - whether they’re reading books or reading Twitter status updates - the better.

What do you think about this issue?

As I mentioned not that long ago, I’m going to be participating in a really cool project called Blog it Forward (or The Blogger Mashup). Over the course of the next month, three hundred of us bloggers are going to be sharing what inspires us. That’s a lot of creativity being shared in one place! I’m super excited about it.

The whole thing kicks off today with the first ten bloggers:

1. SFGirlByBay: This inspiring blogger is the one who started this whole thing. Be sure to see what inspires her!
2. Creature Comforts. Beautiful photos of inspiring things along with a description of why they’re inspiring.
3. The Paper Pony. Picture-rich post of inspiring photography.
4. Design for Mankind. Great A-Z list of inspiring things.
5. Ink on my Fingers. Inspired by some surprising things!
6. Poppytalk. The Olympics, the elderly, art … and more.
7. Heart Fish. If you’re a fan of typography then you’ll love this post!
8. Smile and Wave. Inspired by illustration art.
9. Oh Hello Friend.
10. Hula Seventy.

I’m participating in a really fun little blogging project that’s been started by the very awesome, very creative, very inspiring SF Girl by Bay. There are three hundred people participating in this blogging project. Essentially it’s going to be a stream-of-thought blogging experience and you can follow the stream of thought by going from one blog to the next. (The link above shares the details.) Hopefully you’ll check this out - it starts next week and it involves loads of interesting blogs so I think it should be something fun for everyone. And if you like it, there’s likely to be another one like this in the near future so you and your blog could get in on the action too.

One of the things that I love about writing on this blog is that I don’t limit myself to a specific topic. Diary of a Smart Chick is just about all of the random things that tend to capture my interest. I think that’s how real people are - we get intrigued by tons of different stuff that doesn’t fit neatly into a box. That’s what makes us unique; it’s what makes us who we are.

Because I like so many different things, I tend to read a lot of different blogs. I don’t stick to one topic. I like stuff that’s kind of off the wall. Here’s a glimpse into some of the stuff I read regularly just to keep myself interested in the world around me:

1. Weburbanist. I love to check out the weird and interesting things that are collected on this blog. This stuff is creative, weird, eye-catching and compiled in a way that makes it even more compelling. This is the site that introduced me to steampunk and to storage container housing. I loved the recent post on patching buildings with Legos.
2. Live Science Strange News. I love reading about advances that are being made in science. From nanotechnology to crazy medical discoveries, this stuff is interesting. I particularly love the “strange news” channel of this site which gives you all kinds of info on stuff that is almost unbelievable and yet apparently true.
3. Retro to Go. This great little blog collects information on all stuff retro. I love checking out the furniture, fashion and other fun stuff that they highlight on this blog.
4. Weird Asia News. This blog shares all of the odd news that is printed in Asian newspaper. I just get a huge kick out of some of the things that are shared here.
5. SF Girl By Bay. I used to be a big fan of Apartment Therapy until I discovered this San Francisco-based design and style blog. It’s got a funky edge to it that I adore and yet offers info on so much pretty stuff.
6. Lomography Blog. This is a photo topic that I’ve recently started to take an interest in so I’m enjoying learning more about it from the blog. Cool stuff.
7. Fail Blog. I’ll admit that I don’t check this site out daily but I always get a kick out of it when I do. I think I love this blog for the same reason that I love typos. I love the mistakes that people make that show off our humanity and provide humor for our lives.

One of my recent posts, about using Twitter to learn Spanish, was included in the Carnival of Social Media this week. If you like reading about social media topics then you might be interested in the rest of the carnival which includes post on:

• SEO for Twitter (including hashtags) and also on blogs
• Wordpress plugins
• Google tools
• Search engines and trust (interesting one!)
• Marketing through social media and email
• Increasing web traffic
• Tracking info on your website
• Bootstrapping
• And making money with blogging

Happy reading!

I studied Spanish for five years in junior high and high school. At the time, nearly all of my friends were from Spanish-speaking homes so I was able to practice the language regularly. I became mostly fluent. However, I graduated from high school over ten years ago and I have failed to realy practice my Spanish since that time. I keep trying to find new ways to practice it but nothing’s worked consistently so far. I am hoping that I just stumbled across the answer - perhaps I can use Twitter to practice my Spanish.

The problem with practicing is that I don’t do it regularly right now. I occasionally read books that are in Spanish with English translations. I sometimes watch movies in Spanish. Every once in awhile I’ll check out a Spanish class or group but then fail to follow through with it. I guess the truth is that I’m not committed enough to keeping up with my Spanish to consistently study and practice it.

However, I miss the Spanish language. I love Spanish. I think that there are some things that you can only really say in Spanish because the English equivalent doesn’t express the same type of emotion. And I don’t want to lose my Spanish. I’m actually surprised at how much I’ve retained over the years without too much practice and I know that it’s only a matter of time before I lose it all. As it stands now, my vocabulary is pretty good but my ability to conjugate verbs or speak in the correct tense is almost non-existent.

Enter Twitter. It occurred to me today that I could probably stick to a schedule of daily Spanish practice if I did it through Twitter. The short 140 character DM messages allowed by Twitter keep it concise enough that I can mostly understand what’s been said and I can respond promptly without much hassle. I have already found a few friends on Twitter that I can exchange thoughts with in Spanish. I would love to find some more!

Find me on Twitter @KathrynVercillo and send me a message en espanol!

I write about a lot of different topics. One of the topics that I write about is writing. After all, it’s what I do for a living so it makes sense that I would write about it. Mostly I write about the writing life over on my other blog, Real Words. However, I’ve also recently started writing about writing over at Scribophile.

Scribophile seems like a pretty great community of writers so far. You sign up as an author and then you can post your work so that other writers can read it and comment on it. People seem to give really fair and interesting feedback.

Two articles that I’ve written for the site so far are about how to stay creative when you write for a living and why I don’t mind typos even though I’m a professional writer. Many people post fiction pieces and other works of prose or poetry over at this site.

Have you used Scribophile? What do you think of it?

As I’ve mentioned here before, I try to stay active on Twitter. After disliking it for quite awhile, I finally got pulled into using it daily. And I admit that I was wrong about it in the first place. It’s a great place to communicate with people on all different types of topics.

Some of the major types of people that I follow on Twitter include:

• Other writers. I’m happy to say that I’ve been included on two different lists of Top Writers to Follow on Twitter. I try to follow the other writers on both of these lists as well as bloggers and writers who aren’t on these lists but who are active on Twitter.
• Frugal living twitterers. I love learning about how to live frugally or to save money on different things so I follow a lot of people who offer tips about that.
• Mobile news writers. I like learning about mobile phone news. Cell phone twitterers really help with that.

Some people that I exchange thoughts with on the site really stand out because they offer good conversation throughout the work day. Ten of those that I’d recommend are:

1. @allison_w
2. @marcofratelli
3. @inksnatcher
4. @ebwriters
5. @BillHarper
6. @JessicaWard
7. @henpow2nd
8. @bekkal
9. @moneywatch
10. @texaswriter

Who do you follow on Twitter?

I love the work that I do as a writer and blogger for businesses. I think it allows me the chance to research many different interesting topics while working from the comfort of my own home. However, I also sometimes feel like I need a break.

You see, I don’t know if I want to be a full-time writer forever. Sometimes I think I do. Sometimes I think I’d like to write part-time and then do something else part-time (consulting, art, something else). On rare occasions, I think I’d like to do something else altogether.

The problem is that I can’t seem to figure out exactly what I want when I have to work all day every day. I feel like I need the space of not writing to just breathe into. In that space, I hope to hear myself echo back to me what it is that I specifically want to do with my writing.

So I’m planning for a sabbatical. I want to take a year off of writing professionally in order to just engage in some deep self-reflection. I won’t be doing this anytime soon. My goal is to write full-time for at least three more years. I’m working on some new writing goals to accomplish during that time. But then I want a full year sabbatical to just figure things out.

I think sabbaticals are important. They give you the chance to get to know yourself again. You can assess what you’re doing and how to do it better. Why don’t more people take them?

YouTube is a site that I visit semi-regularly but I’m not terrifically active on it. I think that’s because the site has its benefits but I haven’t really been maximizing my use of those benefits.

Some of the things that I do use YouTube for include:

• Watching funny clips. I admit it, I’ll sometimes watch whatever links I’m sent just for entertainment.
• Watching shows I missed during the week. I don’t follow too many TV shows. The ones that I do, I can usually see online elsewhere if I miss an episode (either on Hulu or on the network’s channel). However, there have been times when I couldn’t find an episode online anywhere else except on YouTube so I watched it there.
• Researching information. There are things that I have researched which are much easier to understand through a video than through text (like how to blow smoke rings) so sometimes I research through the site.

What I think I should start using the site for more is:

• Promoting my work. You can definitely use YouTube to promote your business but I haven’t done it much myself.
• Networking. YouTube is a social networking site but I’ve never really taken advantage of that aspect of it.
• Learning about new shows that I might like. As far as entertainment goes, I could probably find clips of shows I might like on the site but I’ve never bothered.

What do you use YouTube for?