My blog: www.sixminutes-hilary.blogspot.com

A women’s amateur boxing match is three, two-minute rounds — six minutes. When you’re staring at someone who wants to punch you in the face, six minutes feels like six years.

When the kids are playing together peacefully and for just one moment you don’t have to answer why (why don’t worms have noses? why does she have more toys than me? why can’t I have a snack?), six minutes is over before it even starts.

My blog is an attempt to capture some of these minutes. It’s about me as a writer, mom, and athlete. Come say hi!

There was one big publisher in town: Harcourt. In an amazing stroke of luck, the Children’s Books Division had an opening for an entry-level editorial assistant just as I moved to San Diego, and I got my dream job. I eventually left Harcourt and moved into writing and marketing, but I loved the creative environment and the smart, dedicated people passionate about art and books.

A few years ago I got back in touch with one of my former colleagues, Shelly Bowen. We met for coffee and discovered we were both involved in online content. We agreed to join forces and since then I’ve worked as a writer for her company, Pybop, which provides web content strategy and development.

Last Friday, I joined Shelly to raise a glass to her impressive 10 years of web content creation. It’s great to be working together again!

The work I do for Babble.com helps me take a methodical, analytical approach to parenting. My recent article helped me take a more proactive approach to playdates, and it’s been a lifesaver.

I’m also working with the lovely team at the Rady School of Management, working on their print and online marketing. More exciting projects bubbling behind the scenes!

Another fun project that appeals to the fitness side of my personality is helping out the folks at 10 Mile Wednesday. Yes they get together every Wednesday to run ten miles, but they also raise money for charity and have just started an Amazing Race-type event called Amazing Wednesdays.

I’ll have a new article on Babble soon — I’ll let you know as soon as it’s up!

I landed a great new client that lets me combine my marketing experience with my interest in nutrition and fitness. The Human Performance Institute (www.hpinstitute.com) trains employees at all levels to manage their energy, not their time. Smart move, since there are only 24 hours in a day, but energy can be expanded with exercise, nutrition, and smart work habits. Guess what landed me the job? (Other than my talent and experience, of course.) My boxing background. Turns out the president is a former Golden Gloves champion. Just goes to show — put your interests and passions on your resume. You never know when they will give you an edge in the job market.

On that note, I will also be combining my love of travel with my editing skills. I will now be editing Frommer’s Travel Guides. Not as good as actually traveling, but a fun, interesting gig.

Finally, I’m also going to be writing for UCSD Extension. This builds on my experience at National University.

Now it’s time to pick up my pencil and return to work!

A recent article by Julia Angwin in the Wall Street Journal gives some tips about how anyone can gain control of their SERP, or search-engine results page.

It turns out there’s a reason to join social networking sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook–as long as you connect the dots and link your online presence across the board. You have control over what appears on those sites, and the more times your name appears in interlinking, reputable websites, the higher they will appear in your SERP.

Keep interlinking sites, and the undesirable Google results will get pushed down the page and into the seldom-seen second page. Just like that–you can game Google.

It’s fascinating reading, and good news for anyone who has Googled themselves and cringed.

I started listening to podcasts while running on the boardwalk, with my mind drifting between the surf and Ira Glass. Since I have so many to catch up on, I just listened to a pre-Christmas show set entirely in a mall in suburban Tennessee. Among the stories of businesses going under and scrappy salespeople fighting for the consumer dollar, one woman stood out. She was the owner of the local Chick-fil-a franchise.

Her business was doing just fine. Not because she came up with some new marketing ploy. Not because she had spend a bunch of money on advertising. She was doing well because she recognized that her true customers were not the mall patrons but the mall employees. The people who worked in the mall. She had appointed herself as the unofficial mayor of the mall, and spent a good part of every day visiting the stores to check in and find out how they were doing. She targeted her promotions to the stores, and cultivated relationships with everyone around her.

I started thinking about this as I was writing a direct mail piece — who are my mall employees? Who is the overlooked but built-in audience? Instead of casting a wider net, now more than ever it’s important to look around, use our networks, and focus on the customers close to home.