Those of us who have been online since before Al Gore invented the Internet, talk about Web 2.0. Even if you’ve heard the term before, you might not be sure what it means.

The first version of the Internet resembled print media. In the early days, companies had websites, while people didn’t. The company website contained the same information that a print advertisement might. The reader could learn about the company, but the flow of information was strictly one way.

As the Internet became more mature, individuals starting play a more important part. The web became interactive. Personal blogs, forums, communities, and social networking sites appeared. Building relationships using the technology of the Internet, became known to techies as Web 2.0.

As a writer, how does this impact you and your career?

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As a writer, you know that sometimes it’s harder to get an agent than it is to get an editor.

When I first decided to target the category romance market, I thought that I wouldn’t need an agent because I could handle the business aspect of writing myself. Later as my focus changed to non-fiction and single title, I realized that I’d need an agent to succeed.

Now, if you are trying to get the interest of a print publisher, you will need a literary agent to represent you. Attracting the attention of an agent is very similar to attracting an editor. However, a bad agent can hurt your career much more than no agent at all.

There are a few things you should keep in mind as you start (or continue) your search for an agent.

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Voltaire said, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” Actually Voltaire said, “Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien.” As writers, we need to take these words to heart.

I know when I’m worrying over which font I used, and I’m spending time making sure that all the pages have exactly 25 lines, I know there’s something I’m avoiding.

Sometimes I run spell-check after spell-check and grammar check after grammar check (even though I argue with Microsoft’s grammar checker).

I have a friend who was obsessing over how the bold didn’t show in her blog when viewed with the Firefox browser. No one ever left a blog never to return because there wasn’t any bold.

I can spend a whole day checking out blog themes, down loading blog themes, uploading blog themes to my hosting account, and then editing them when they don’t look right. Does this get any posts written? Does this move my career forward? Can I tell myself I’m being productive?

When we send our words out in the world, we are putting ourselves on view for anyone who reads them. That takes a lot of courage.

We all know how the gremlins put in the typos the minute we hit send or drop our packet in the mailbox. This is the way writing is.

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