About

• Bio
• Social Media Links
• Media and Releases
• In the News and around the Web
• In Books
• News Releases
• About meryl.net, the Web site
• Not So Vital Info

Meryl K. Evans, Content Maven, is the author of Brilliant Outlook Pocketbook and the co-author of Adapting to Web Standards: CSS and Ajax for Big Sites. She has written and edited for AbsoluteWrite, ECT News Network, The Dallas Morning News, Digital Web, Lockergnome, MarketingProfs, PC Today, O’Reilly, Pearson, Sams, Wiley, and WROX. Meryl has written copy for businesses ads and games including Fib-or-Not? and Meet, Mix, and Mingle.

Meryl writes and edits content for businesses and publications. She helps business build and maintain relationships with clients and prospects through content. She’s also a long-time blogger who started blogging on June 1, 2000.

She is the original Editor-in-Chief of Shavlik’s The Remediator Security Digest, a popular newsletter on computer security that started with a few thousand subscribers and climbed to over 100,000 subscribers during her tenure. She’s also the editor of Professional Service Journal, an email newsletter for business-to-business (B2B) service providers, Intel Solution Services’ Connected Digest, Attus’ The Compliance Advisor, and TailoredMail’s Email Marketing Insider.

Want some CSS inspiration? Check out the CSS Collection.

Meryl is also an educator with New York University’s online graduate program. She has worked for two Fortune 500 telecom companies, federal government in Washington, D.C. and IT consulting. A native Texan, she lives a heartbeat north of Dallas in Plano, Texas with her husband and three kiddos.

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Social Media Links

Connect on one of many social networks. Who can keep up?

Lijit Search

Media and Releases

Meryl can help the media by providing articles, resources, and contacts:

• Provide experts and resources relating to Web design, Internet, software, hardware, and Internet marketing.
• Write articles, blurbs, tips, and fillers within the required word count and meet deadlines for a variety of publications.
• Respond to emails within 12 hours to help those needing a rush job.

She has an excellent reputation for providing quality content on time (even early) and an easy-going style. Email Meryl or call 972-624-7825 (relay service for the deaf - link to explanation).

In the News and Around the Web

• 04-30-2007: Instablogs Interview
• 04-12-2007: People in the Know Interview
• 05-29-2006: How to be a better blogger — and still keep your day job
• 11-01-2005: McVille.net Interview
• 05-26-2005: SnagIt Interview
• 05-01-2005: BBS: The Documentary
• 04-18-2005:Passing The Acid2 Test
• 01-25-2005: Kick the Email Habit interview
• 01-20-2003: Daily news diet at J-Log.
• 01-12-2002: LemurZone interview

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In Books (as editor, contributor, or researcher)

• Adapting to Web Standards: CSS and Ajax for Big Sites: Co-author
• Brilliant Outlook Pocketbook: Author
• Blog Schmog: The Truth About What Blogs Can (and Can’t) Do for Your Business: Resource
• The Secret Power of Blogging: How to Promote and Market Your Business, Organization, or Cause With Free Blogs: Interviewee and contributor
• CSS Cookbook: 2nd Edition: Contributor
• What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting: Real-Life Advice from 101 People Who Successfully Leverage the Power of the Blogosphere: Contributor
• The Corporate Blogging Book: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know to Get It Right: Researcher
• The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living: Resource
• Weekend Entrepreneur: 101 Great Ways to Earn Extra Cash: Interviewee
• Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer: Acknowledgements
• The Well-Fed Writer: Back For Seconds A Second Helping Of “How-To” For Any Writer Dreaming of Great Bucks and Exceptional Quality of Life: Resource
• Stories of Strength: Contributor
• Sams Teach Yourself Movable Type in 24 Hours: Tech editor
• Words You Thought You Knew: 1001 Commonly Misused and Misunderstood Words and Phrases: Contributor
• Beginning Dreamweaver MX: Tech editor

News Releases

• 12-02-2005: Writing Community Unites to Write “Stories of Strength” for Disaster Relief
• 09-01-2005: CSS Collection Showcases Sites Large and Small
• 10-25-2004: Is Blogging Right for Your Business?

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What is Meryl “Two-syllables-not-one and rhymes with Cheryl” dot Net?

Meryl’s Notes - The Blog

This is also known as weblog, blog, bloggin’, rambles, yadda yaddas, or [fill in the blank]. meryl’s notes cover the big three! Sing with me: webby, geeky, and wordy.

Feel free to beg others to check them out. It’s OK to come back. It’ll be our secret. If you’re not coming back, I beg you to please, please, please come back! Tell me why? Why? Someone out there must like it here because www.meryl.net is one of the 101 Best Web Sites for Writers in 2005 by Writer’s Digest in its May 2005 issue.

Contact Meryl, if you’d like the content maven’s services, submit a book or product for review, a press release (make sure it’s on topic!), submit an article query, a question, get expert advoce, or anything else (except spaham).

Meryl.net Articles

This is the part with free content, the good stuff. There are interviews, book reviews, software reviews, and any other views. Heck, it’s got articles that show you how to do stuff. If you’re interested in adopting an article or would like a similar article, give Meryl an e-call to discuss.

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History

Meryl first joined the Internet pre-revolution in 1992 with Internet in a Box. She blogged the rest of the meryl history for your reading boredom.

Why the dull, uncreative names?

She racked her brain to come up with a name that would stick. Alas, nothing came. Ironically, she loves to read about names and the meanings behind them. She is even a professional namer! Yet, Meryl couldn’t name this electronic baby.

She never had a nickname, a big hobby, or a way for making up a creative name using her name. For example: If your last name was Boot, then a good Web name would be “Reboot.” Although she did have a handle when BBSing (pre-Internet) days, she was embarrassed for ever having used it. Considering “meryl” is so uncommon, she used it and figured a better name would come later. No brilliant idea ever came. Even when trying name the articles section, nothing clicked. So, meryl whatever stuck.

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Not So Vital Info

Bio: The cool version

Meryl has been hanging out on the Internet since 1993, 1800s in digital years. She fell in really like (love is for folks) with it at first text (as in Lynx and UNIX-based email and surfing) site.

Ms. Content Maven has written for anything and everything relating to Web design, technology, software, hardware, online marketing, grammar, and writing. She is the [pick one] president, CEO, CIO, CFO, UFO, and founder of meryl.net, writing, editing, copy, and all that extra stuff services. When in the real world, she is a technical writer and editor in a teleco’s data IT department.

She writes about living life as a deaf person. Her numero uno priority-a is de familia. You can find the southpaw not wearing 10-gallon hats and cowboy boots in the Lone Star State.

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Stats

• Sign: Cap-Aquarius (some say Capricorn and some say Pail Bearer - I drink lots of H20, it’s usually the latter)
• Birthday: January 20 - Inauguration Day (how ironic, doesn’t closely follow politics — just enough to make the right voting decisions.
• Myers-Briggs: ISTJ, ISTJ,ISTJ (everytime since taking the first one in ‘90)
• Birth order: Da youngest, but practically only child (siblings over a decade older)

Favorites

• TV Show: Monk, Heroes, Cold Case, Lost, Without a Trace, and Veronica Mars (I know it’s canceled, but just showing my support — it should’ve been on one of the big three networks — it was one of the best shows. Ever.).
• Games: meryl.net Games
• Musicals: Wicked and Assassins (I know the subject matter sounds bad, but the music is fantastic and I can’t get enough of the songs. It provides a history lesson, too.)
• Pro Teams: Mavs, Rangers, Cowboys, and Stars
• Birth place: Fort Worth, Texas
• College: TCU (one year), American University (finally won a basketball championship!) grad, and some post-college classes at SMU and Amberton.

Colophon

• Site created with CSS and strict XHTML using text editors and Dreamweaver.
• Validated W3C CSS and XHTML compliant (if you run the validator on XHTML, it says that ID is invalid, but it is required for accessibility) upon first release.
• Validated Section 508 compliant upon first release.
• Validated WAI compliant upon first release.
• www.meryl.net named one of the 101 Best Web Sites for Writers in 2005 by Writer’s Digest.
• Received Talking Hands award for validation and accessibility.
• You’re right. There are validation errors. This was not the case when the design was born.
• Yes, you may link to this Web site. No need to send an e-mail asking.

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