• social media icons

    In case you’re feeling social

    July 9, 2023 / No Comments

    Social media sites come and go (remember MySpace and LiveJournal?), but I always try to join the latest ones as soon as possible.

    One reason I do so is because I’m curious about the next new thing. Will it connect with people? Will it help them connect with others? Will it assist me in sharing information with the world, be it news or pictures of cute kitties?

    I also sign up for a professional reason: I want to brand my name. There are 26 Jade Walkers in the U.S., at least two or three in the U.K. and possibly two or three more in Australia. If I want to use my name as a screenname, I have to snag it first. Note: I’m not always successful.

    Although my accounts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Goodreads and Tumblr are still active, I’ve been using them less than in the past. However, if you, like me, have jumped head-first into the burgeoning worlds of Post+, Spoutible and Threads, feel free to say hello.

  • 2013: The Year In Review

    December 18, 2013 / 2 Comments

    At the end of the year, I always take a moment to examine the ups and downs I experienced, both personally and professionally. What follows is my accounting of 2013:

    * Produced hundreds of breaking news stories, including the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, the intensive manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombers and countless mass shootings.

    * Blogged for The Obituary Forum, The Blog of Death, Hooked From The First Page and Afterthoughts.

    * Passed the 29,000th tweet mark on my personal Twitter account (@jadewalker) and received the “I’m real” checkmark of verification.

    * Penned 60 journal entries.

    * Worked on my novel.

    * Purchased a Fitbit, increased my daily steps/stairs and cut back on my sleep debt. Also started using FitBolt to decrease time spent sitting.

    * Subscribed to the HelloFresh and Plated food services, then cooked a ton of delicious dishes.

    * Read 38 books and countless magazines.

    * Watched more than 30 films.

    * Took classes in archaeology, disaster preparedness, health/nutrition, literature and photography.

    * Launched The 10th Muse, a mailing list of writing prompts.

    * Updated The Written Word.

    * Participated in the New York City Writers Group, the South Florida Freelancers Group and the Journalism & Women Symposium.

    * Attended The Society of Professional Obituary Writers (SPOW) conference in Canada and launched the group’s private Facebook page.

    * Created a YouTube video about the future of obituaries.

    * Featured in a CNN article about obituaries.

    * Profiled on JobShadow.

    * Built websites for my husband and grandfather.

    * Redesigned The SPOW website as well as my own.

    * Went house-hunting in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.

    * Dyed my hair red.

    * Traveled to Burlington Vt., New York City, Toronto and Scotland.

    * Visited the monument to Phineas Gage.

    * Tended a garden of basil, oregano, catnip, romaine lettuce, mint, thyme and flowers.

    * Dealt with the libelous rantings of a couple of cyber-trolls (yes, lawyers were involved).

    * Saw Stephen King, Sting and Stuart McLean in person.

    * Leased a new car.

    * Perfected my versions of fudge, chocolate drop cookies, carrot cake, chicken pilaf and lasagna.

    * Celebrated my 4th wedding anniversary.

    * Turned 40.

    * * *

    End of the yearPlans/goals for 2014

    * Save up enough money for a down payment on a house.

    * Write more snail mail letters.

    * Work on my books.

    * Write more obits.

    * Write more poetry/short stories.

    * Experience fewer migraines.

    * Eat more fruits and vegetables.

    * Exercise.

    * Win the lottery.

  • A ‘Typical’ Night

    February 18, 2013 / No Comments

    Laptop and notepadPeople occasionally ask me what it is that I do for a living. They know I’m a journalist. They know I write for The Huffington Post. They know I work the graveyard shift from my home in New Hampshire. Still they wonder, “What’s a typical night like?”

    Here’s one of the greatest things about my job: There is no typical night.

    Working as a journalist on the graveyard shift is very similar to being a firefighter. Some nights you’re busy putting out fires and other nights you’re just sitting at the fire house, honing your skills, waiting for a fire to happen. The key thing is, you’re on duty when the fire breaks out. Or in my case, when news occurs.

    During a typical week, I’ll cover one or two big breaking news stories. The rest of the time, I’m updating the homepage, checking wires, filing news stories/features, copyediting other people’s work, posting items to Twitter and Facebook, sending out breaking news alerts, scanning social media and competitor’s sites for interesting content, searching other sections of our site for stories that deserve more play, reading through more than 1,000 emails, coordinating content with other editors, handling any corrections that come in overnight and waiting for news to occur somewhere in the world.

    Last week, however, was utterly insane.

    Every single evening, a major news story broke on my shift. On Sunday, I handled the North Korean nuclear test and the United Nations’ response. Monday night saw the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. Between the manhunt for Christopher Dorner, the former LAPD police officer accused of committing a series of shooting attacks on police officers and their families, and the State of the Union speech, Tuesday was beyond busy. On Wednesday, Paralympian Oscar Pistorius was arrested and charged with killing his girlfriend. In between all of these stories, I also penned a brief about the president doing an “exploding fist bump” with Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), and an obituary for a man who appeared on several episodes of “Storage Wars.”

    I would have covered the meteor that exploded above Siberia on Thursday, except I took the night off to spend Valentine’s Day with my awesome husband. Had I been on duty, however, my entire shift would have been dedicated to covering the 1,200+ people who were injured and the massive amount of damage caused by the space rock.

    Light only knows what’ll happen this week.

  • Late night ponderings about mocking machines

    February 3, 2013 / No Comments

    Street lampSometimes The Blog of Death server mocks me.

    I’ll sign into the content management system, in this case WordPress, and attempt to delete the thousands (I kid you not) of spam messages sitting in the “to be approved” queue. For some reason, WordPress or my server Dream Host only allows me to delete 100 messages at a time and so the whole process takes for-freakin’-ever.

    When I spend too much time on this task, I receive a server error that says my request is too large.

    I hit the back button and try again.

    “Your server request is too large.”

    I clear my cache and try again.

    “Your server request is too large.”

    After seeing this message over and over, I start to take it personally. “No, server,” I think, “my request is not too large. Perhaps your capabilities are too small? Or maybe, just maybe, the spammers are too cruel. Did you ever think of that?”

    The server does not reply.