Frequently asked questions

Are you related to Rufus/Martha/Louden or the general or the colonel or…?

No. Dad changed the family name. And my sister took her husband’s name, so now I’m the last Wainwright standing. Bye-bye, fake Anglo name! You were fun while you lasted!

How did you manage to take an entire year off of work?

Savings, investments and a windfall. I’ve always been a saver; I saved up $40K (in 1992 dollars!) before moving to L.A. to help cover our first year.

The windfall was my dad dying and leaving me and my sister some money. I was using it (sparingly) to augment my move from commercial acting into design, and then (less sparingly) to augment my move into consulting. I’ve used a lot more of it over the past few years, because the investments weren’t paying out as I’d hoped they would. Have you heard that the world is going through economic turmoil? Good times!

Fortunately, my sister saved all of hers, which I am grateful for, as I will have to move in with her and my brother-in-law when I am too weak to push my shopping cart to the soup kitchen.

How do you DO so much?

It’s my priority!

By which I do not mean “I have made it a priority and you should, too.” I literally mean that the most important things in my life are writing and thinking and talking, and I’ve organized my life around them. I don’t have kids. I don’t have a significant other. I don’t have a pet or own a house or hold down a 9-to-5. I don’t even have much family anymore (orphan-hood has its benefits). I have had all of these things before (well, except the kids). I have enjoyed things about having them, but ultimately, I treasured other things more. Life is a series of choices.

Also, you can get a lot done in 51 years if you lay off the TV and videogames.

I started a blog and I’m a little overwhelmed. I was trying to make myself feel better by looking at your “early days” , is there any way to search your archives by date, or is it only by topic/category?

Alas, for now, there is not. However, a cheater way is do type the desired month into your URL (address) bar:

http://www.communicatrix.com/2004/11

Basically, the year, a forward-slash, the month. You’ll still have to page back to the beginning, but it’s better than nothing. I think.

I’m freaking out about WordPress/blogging/Twitter. Are there any reference materials you really loved and can recommend?

Yes and no. I do keep a list of “101″-type articles on delicious; combining a “101″ tag with something else (e.g. blogging + 101 or marketing + 101 or social media + 101) may help narrow things down.

But the media landscape is shifting so fast, it’s hard to recommend stuff unless you’re spending all your time vetting the sources, which I’m not interested in doing. Google is your friend here: “WordPress” + “beginning” or “getting started.” You get the idea. (Or if you don’t, ask your kid.)

I’m coming to L.A. and would love to meet up in person. May I take you out for coffee/drinks/lunch and talk about life/marketing/our intestines?

Sorry, but probably not. I’ve met so many awesome people this way that it kills me to say “no,” but the reality is it started killing me and my health and my work to say “yes” so I had to severely curtail this sort of stuff. However, I do get to certain events here and there, mostly to meet IRL people I’ve grown to know and love online: my friend Chris’s World Domination Summit, my friend Jodi’s Women’s Business Socials, etc. I do a mostly-monthly update that outlines big stuff coming up as well as stuff I’ve done (interviews, articles, etc.) that comes out on the first or second Wednesday of a month, usually.

Why won’t you follow me on Twitter?

Because I’m a colossal dickhead, of course!

No, not really. I just can’t; I wrote a whole Twitter policy explaining why. It explains a lot more than my crazy personal reasons, too. It’s actually not a half-bad place to start understanding what Twitter can be good for.

Will you friend me on Facebook?

Certainly! (Unless you’re Creepy Half-Naked Stalker Dude or obviously friend-trolling.)

It is helpful if you write a brief note saying why you want to be friends. Not strictly necessary, but if you don’t and I don’t immediately recognize you, you go into a sort of holding-pen list of mystery people. That’s the first list I check when someone starts getting spammy on me.

Oh, yeah, if we’re going to be friends on FB, let’s be friends. Post funny, interesting stuff. Have conversations. Don’t look at our “friendship” as your chance to market to me. You are not marketing to me; you are spamming me. And if you are spamming me, you are not my friend.

Now that we’re friends, will you “like” my Facebook page? It is for something superfantasticallyAWESOME!

I’m sure it is, but no. Maybe. But if you ask and I don’t, definitely don’t ask again. Your mom taught you better than that.

But I need you to “like” my page or I’ll be fired!

There’s no other way to put this: if that’s true, you have the wrong job.

Also, you are not helping your employer and may possibly be hurting them. Feel free to have them email me if they need help figuring this stuff out. That’s why people pay me the big bucks.

Well, how about we connect via LinkedIn? Surely, you can’t have an objection to that.

Actually, I do. Again, not because I am a dickhead, but because I reserve LinkedIn for people I know well enough personally to recommend.

I usually suggest we friend it up on Facebook, if you want to keep in touch via social media. I also have ended up getting to know people through email, lots of lively, good exchanges from newsletter readers or blog commenters have blossomed into real friendships and turned strangers into trusted colleagues.

Also, don’t call me “Shirley.” (Sorry. Can’t resist a chance to work that in, ever.)

Can I buy an ad on your site?

No.

Eventually, I will have a podcast. Ask me then. I always wanted to have my own radio show with a sponsor!

Will you trade links with me?

No.

Okay. Well, then, will you link to this awesome thing my client/my daughter/I wrote?

Probably not, but if you write a nice note, I am more likely to check it out. No promises.

Do you accept guest posts?

No.

Never?

Never.

How about if I email you about it anyway?

Definitely not then. (Seriously, please don’t. And definitely don’t send a passive-aggressive follow-up note when I don’t reply to your first email.)

Do you write guest posts?

Theoretically. But I still haven’t delivered on two I promised over three years ago, so realistically, no.

May I interview you for my blog/podcast/Girl Scout Troop newsletter?

Probably. I love doing interviews; they’re terrific learning opportunities for me. Email me your questions at: colleen AT communicatrix DOT com. It’s helpful to give me some lead time. If it’s for a podcast or Skype interview, it’s helpful if you toss out a few times that are good for you.

May I use your poem/post/article on my own blog/site/newsletter?

By all means! I release all of my work under a license that permits re-use based on the following conditions:

You attribute it to me, Colleen Wainwright
You do not use it to make money
You do not change anything—not a comma, not a line break. Nothing.

A link back to this site, http://communicatrix.com, is nice, too. Be nice!

Basically, I want whatever is helpful to people to reach as many of them as possible. But I do like seeing my name in print (plus it, along with a link, helps those who need it to find more helpful stuff), and really, I give so much away for free that it REALLY chaps my hide when I see people doing gross, funky stuff with my stuff to make a quick buck. (Be nice!)

The no-changing thing is 100% pure control-freak-ism.

If you do not know how to make a hyperlink, this explains how to do it in HTML (code) and this explains how to do it in WordPress (it’s very similar in any other blogging platform.

Updated 6/25/12