I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends: LINKwithlove

Last June, I wrote a post that included this thought:

“I have netiquette conundrums all the time. (What my great grandmother Fifi, my personal Emily Post, would have made of this, I wonder?)”

The rumblings of what would later become something more cohesive with If Emily Posted were slowly coming together. And, it was in that piece last June, that I first mentioned LINKwithlove, excited to have found people were not OK with the notion that EVERYTHING ON THE INTERNET IS FREE.

Because it isn’t. It absolutely isn’t. EVERYTHING ON THE INTERNET ISN’T FREE.

What is mine is yours to see – and only to take if I give you permission.

That was something I never questioned when my writing and photography work were predominantly in print. Online, that fact is mistaken for a sense of entitlement or some sort of greediness. I didn’t believe it then and I don’t believe it now.

And that is how last June, because of this Shrinky Dinks blogosphere, I crossed paths with LwL founder Kal Barteski – artist, designer, wife, mother to three mini-Kal’s and the hand behind the fabulous brush script that is LINKwithlove’s signature.

But it wasn’t until many months later that we began to chat and learn how much we had in common, from calligraphy to doppelgänger French Bulldogs (Frenchies look alike, but not identical. One day, I did a double take when I thought I saw Tru in someone’s Instagram feed. It was Kal’s – the resemblance is uncanny.)

Also in common? Kal and I had both experienced firsthand how our work could be exploited and misused because of the web in ways we didn’t experience in our offline creative work. And it wasn’t going to stop either of us from continuing to create online.

I can’t tell you how much I dislike the sort of elitism amongst “real” writers/artists/photographers/blahblahblah about “just bloggers” – I find that talk makes as much sense as dancing about architecture.

But I will tell you one thing that most writers and artists and photographers and other creatives would probably agree on: we know that putting our work online comes with potential risk of being taken advantage of. But potential risk shouldn’t keep us from doing our work and expecting people to respect it. Online or off.

Kal’s created a very cool bit of LwL gear – a give and get. They’re keychains, done in the style of the best friend necklaces like my friends and I traded as girls. Keep one half and then give the other to a friend.

The first time these limited edition tags were made available, they sold out in less than a week. But Kal whipped up a new bunch. And you can get yours here for $3. That’s two for $3.

I keep one of the tags taped on the big inspiration board above my desk and often use it as a bookmark. They’re good words to live by.

A constant reminder of why I write If Emily Posted. A reminder that there are lots of people who feel the same way.

Get your tags here while they’re still available – and if you do, let me know who you plan to share them with!

I GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS is a new regular feature here on le blog. Because I like throwing dinner parties, introducing new people, sharing talents – let’s make this a virtual dinner party. As Auntie Mame would say, Life’s a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!