I am excited to share that I have officially registered the domain of my blog! You could now put down “sijieand500words.com” to locate my site. What’s more, I have upgraded the site to the premium plan so that it has a cleaner view with open sans typeface, gets rid of irrelevant ads, and enables the subscription function (on the upper right corner for desktop and at the bottom for mobile views). I not only love the new look, but also believe it will give my readers easy access to the website and improved reading experience.

With the holidays coming, I am going to be on a writing break. As much as I love writing, producing a piece in clear logic and precise words does take up lots of time, most of which I spent locked up at home. In the holiday season, I would rather spend more time with friends and focus on other priorities, such as training for my first half marathon, which will take place on January 17^th, 2016. Unfortunately, I overtrained in early November and had some IT band pain. The recovery has put me behind on training schedule by a couple of weeks. With the goal of finishing the race under two hours, I need to put in more effort while avoiding further injuries.

Though I won’t be updating the blog every other Sunday, there is still a chance of me publishing in the next couple of months. Remember to check back for updates! In the meantime, feel free to check out some of the blogs I follow:

Phil’s Career Blog – http://www.phils-career-blog.com/

Written by my college professor, who is an ex-consultant/corporate strategist passionate about teaching and mentoring, the blog focuses on career management and business thinking. The “Career” section includes pieces on Interviewing and Networking that are must-read.

If you are a young professional, Phil gave a great podcast this year to the University alumni community on managing the one’s career after college – It’s Not Just Luck: Increasing Your Odds for Early Career Success. I cannot recommend it enough.

James Clear – http://jamesclear.com/

The blog centers on habit formation and performance improvement. It is under his influence that I decided to write more to form a habit. It is also due to his article that I set my mind to prioritize writing. To be honest, I cannot keep up with his publishing frequency. However, it matters more to internalize and practice the learning than to count the number of articles one reads. Thus, when I do read, I usually try to apply the takeaways.

Ellen Chisa – http://www.ellenchisa.com/writing/

I recently stumbled upon her blog via her article “Have Some Coffee”, the points of which I can’t agree more with. She beat me to it in sharing tips on “stay in touch” and “return the favor”. I am planning to cover them in “Networking Hack #2”, so I will make sure my post has more examples, whenever I get a chance to finish it!!

I will resume the normal writing schedule in late January, hopefully with good news to share on the half marathon!

Until next time,