I’ll admit it. I haven’t been blogging much lately. I blame summer. And visiting relatives. And lazy afternoons. And Broadway shows and new restaurants.

I also blame the fact that I’m not quite sure what direction I’m moving in anymore. I’m working on an article for Time Out NY, starting to become a regular face at Lemondrop, and helming a new blog over at Nerve. But it’s not enough. And I’m not quite sure how I want to supplement my income.

When one is not moving in new directions, it’s tough to find new freelance questions to answer. Help me out: Let me know what you’re dying to know.

In the meantime, here’s this week’s link love:

• Mashable’s 10 Ways to Find People on Twitter
• Success Center’s 8 Magazine Strategies That Add Value to Your Blog
• Web Worker Daily’s What to Do When the Dot-Com You Want Isn’t Available
• Shine’s How to Improve Your E-mail Etiquette
• CAREEREALISM’s 5 Parts to a Cover Letter
• Shine’s Life: One Big Interview
• All Freelance Writing’s How Not to Hire Freelance Writers and Bloggers
• WebInkNow’s So You Want to Write an Ebook? 30 Tips for Success
• The New York Times’s Teenagers Are Building Their Own Job Engine

I was thrilled to have a chance to review the Peek Pronto. Loath to spend money on a smartphone, the cheaper plan for this standalone e-mail device seemed ideal.

In the end, though, even that small cost proved to be not worth it.

Head over here to see my full review.

Between a last-second edit test, a quick trip to PA, and a full day holding poses for a portrait artist, I. am. wiped. So I hope you’ll forgive me for relying on an easy-as-pie Coffee Break post so early in the week.

This one was actually inspired by a conversation taking place over at the mediabistro bulletin boards, on how different pitching tactics have different success rates.

The original poster mentions that he gets the best response from telephone pitches, followed by face-to-face pitches. Only a small amount of his e-mail queries have led to something more, and he’s had no success with either Twitter, LinkedIn, or his blog.

While the numbers are disappointing for those of us who hide behind our computers (um, me), it makes complete sense. People are more likely to respond well to you if some sort of personal connection is made. The web — while a great jumping-off point — can often be seen as too impersonal. And it doesn’t help that the web makes it easier to slack off when it comes to professionalism and polish.

Personally, I have a decent response rate from e-mail queries, have landed one cool gig via a networking event, and have received some great job leads through those I’ve met through both Twitter and Freelancedom. (I’ve been too terrified to try cold calling anyone.) I’d love to hear about what’s been working for you.

What’s your biggest distraction when it comes to working from home?

I often find myself being distracted by…everything. Reality television. The mail. Even housework! Stuff I would usually avoid like the plague at any other time.

And it seems that remaining in front of my computer can be just as dangerous, if not more so.

After all, I always keep my Gmail (with its attendant gchat) open, in addition to my Google Reader, where I’ve subscribed to 59 blogs. Whenever something new pops up, I can’t help but check it out.

And then there are the online games. It could be dangerous sharing this information with you, but my favorites are Free Rice, Wordle, Wolfenstein, TypeRacer, and Throw Paper. Guys. These are so addictive. Never click on these links, unless you’re prepared to waste a lot of time. Just stare at the pretty word cloud I made over at Wordle:

Anyways.

Sometimes, I can even be distracted by my iTunes. I’ll decide it’s a good time to delete all the songs that don’t excite me anymore, or to make a new playlist. Seriously. I’m hopeless.

Vote on your greatest distraction category here:

And then include links to your favorite distractions in the comments!

My pretty pretty website.

After reading a post on website stickiness over at ProBlogger, I spent a good amount of time this past weekend implementing Darren’s tips, in order to make this blog more inviting to readers.

As I uploaded plugin after plugin, and asked my husband to make design tweak after design tweak (I may be his most demanding customer), it occurred to me that a first impression post was in order.

After all, despite our having the ability to wear bunny slippers and fuzzy pants for the bulk of the day, first impressions with prospective clients still count for a lot.

So…what did I learn from the changes I implemented?

It’s not just what’s on the inside that counts.

This may seem snotty but, when looking for a bed & breakfast the other month, I automatically disqualified all b&bs with an ugly web site. Why? With the number if b&bs out there, I had to minimize my search field somehow!

Most of us suffer the same problem within our field of choice. With so many fabulous freelancers to choose from, it’s difficult for any one of us to stand out from the pack. Prospective clients are usually looking for any reason at all to eliminate us from their list of possible hires.

Make a good first impression by projecting professionalism. If you have a web presence, consider the ways in which you might look your best. In addition, invest in some nice-looking business cards (VistaPrint has some great deals!) and perhaps even some nice letterhead stationery. Make sure your e-mail address doesn’t scream “pre-teen pop idol” or some such thing; it could be smart to register a more business-y sounding e-mail address for work-only missives (I eventually had to retire Harle84900, my very first e-mail address ever, chosen because I wanted a Harley Davidson…). Before you send things out into the world, do consider the image they’re projecting.

Then again, looks aren’t everything…

…and after someone becomes impressed with that hot look of yours, they’ll want to know that you have the brains to back it up.

As they may not know your work first-hand at this point, consider how you can make examples of your superior capabilities easily available to those researching your business. For example, on my About page, in addition to giving a quick run-down of my professional experience, I also link to my professional website — where one can find a resume and portfolio. I also use my About page to link to the other blogs I presently contribute to.

Besides a portfolio, positive feedback from previous clients can also reassure web surfers that you’re someone who can be counted on to get the job done. Collect some blurbs and display them prominently alongside your portfolio.

Finally, don’t play hard-to-get.

It’s not cute, and only tests people’s patience. Make it easy for people to contact you, or to follow your work.

Just this morning, I added plugins to Freelancedom that allow readers to easily subscribe to my blog, via either an RSS feed or e-mail. I also included a link to my Twitter account, plus my e-mail address, on my About page.

If people can’t easily figure out how to reach you, they’ll (even more easily) decide that you’re not worth it. Make yourself available to your clients, and make it easy as pie.