You won?t believe what my son said yesterday! It was so funny. I was sitting at the computer typing away on my latest project and he walked up behind me and looped his arms around my neck (just like he does almost every morning) and said, ?Mom, what cha writing??

I calmly responded, ?Content for my site.? And leaned back for his warm hug. I love it when he does that.

?So, who did you write about this time?? His voice sounded almost excited, as if he really wanted to know.

I typed in another paragraph with him reading over my shoulder including his name in the conversational dialogue. ?Mom, you?re writing about me again.? I got another hug and he was off to work on his next book. Kenton has been writing an average of one children?s book every three or four months, including illustrations since he first figured out he could be a published author and make money from his writing, almost a year ago.

How often are we inspired by seeing our name in print? It?s awesome! What more could a writer want than to be quoted?

Not very long ago, I saw an article that said, ?According to Jan Verhoeff? and a bit later in the article, referred to Jan (me) as HE.? It didn?t matter. I?m sure the author of the article hadn?t done any research on me as a writer, just on what I?d written about. The quote was right out of one of my more prominent Internet documents, and well stated, fitting extremely well with the topic of the article where I was quoted. For those of you who have seen my picture, I?m definitely not a HE, and for those of you who haven?t, but do read many of my gender specific posts, you already know I?m a woman.

I ran around for two weeks telling everyone within shouting distance that I?d been quoted! I think I even posted it on a favorite writer site, to hear all the congratulations and encouragement. It made me feel special to be written about.

If you want to impact your reader ? make them feel like you are writing your article specifically for them, about them, and to them. Put personality in the article. Get personal. Motivate your reader by bringing them into the action.

Content motivates. Inspire your reader to follow the directions included in your signature by actively inviting them to participate in the content. If not by name; at least by implication, invite your reader into the action.

Let them get to know you, and get to know them. Get personal. Get involved.