I think these very short update posts are going to become more and more common on AccountingElf!

I spent 3.5 hours on CPA exam studying today. That’s the most I’ve done in one day so far, but after doing some calculations regarding how much time I need to do the first run through of practice problems, I think this amount of time studying is going to have to become my normal routine until July 29th!

I mentioned previously that one of the ways I’m motivating myself to study is to “pay” myself per hour for the exam. For each hour I study, I set some money aside for a new laptop. Since I’m hoping to be able to buy this at the end of the month, I really need to step up the hours!

I have so much I’ve been wanting to get together to post on here (apart from the CPA exam stuff) that I just haven’t had the time to put together! I’m going to carve out some time to put serious work into one of those ideas in the next two days though, and I’m excited about it!

While reading over my CPA study book’s suggestions for how to score well on writing sections of the CPA exam, I was struck by how similar their advice is to the rules I have learned about blogging.

They suggest that you use short sentences and short paragraphs. I have read many articles about blogging that promote this same writing style, as it is easier to read on a screen. This style of writing also makes it easier to present your points clearly.

The book also suggests using keywords throughout your writing. In blogging, you do this because it helps search engines know what your post is about. For writing on the CPA exam, I suppose using consistent keywords forces you to have a a very clear main point.

So, hopefully blogging will make the writing part something I don’t need to worry about too much. Then again, just because I know these are rules, it doesn’t mean that I actually follow them!

Note about my writing style:

My natural inclination is to be concise. I like to keep things short and clear. Warring with that is the fact that almost all the writing I did during college was for Spanish class. In Spanish, run on sentences are encouraged, haha, so sometimes that can creep into my writing in English. I think it’s an interesting mix of influences.

sxc.hu/chappy14

My last couple of posts about the end of my internship have gotten quite a bit of attention, Thank you as well to everyone who links to me!

The reviews and comments on the posts sparked a lot of discussion about how recruiters and potential employers view blogging, as apparently not many interns out there are interested in sharing their experiences the way I have!

I’ve been involved with social media for a long time now, starting with Livejournal and DeviantArt at the beginning of high school. In fact, I still stay in touch with some people that I first got to know through DeviantArt.

There is something that appeals to me about blogging and connecting to so many other people just by searching for shared interests. It is very rewarding to know that even one person got something valuable out of my experiences (besides myself of course!)

I Can't Hide. sxc.hu/sande2

I know that I can’t rely on anonomity in this blog, as much as I can go out of my way not to link to my full name, etc on here, so I do have to pay attention to what I write. However, from the recent responses I’ve gotten, I know that there are people and firms out there who are just as excited about blogging and social networking as I am.

I had a great conversation with my father today about his views on blogging and online networking. I told him that I was a little nervous about the fact that I seem to be unique in blogging about my accounting internship, but that I really enjoyed being involved in this new world of networking.

My dad told me that when he was studying engineering, 40 years ago, the university got ahold of two Wang computers (think today’s TI-83 calculator). The students had the chance to use them, but you know what? None of them did. And look at where computing went from there.

Maybe some employers will shy away from the fact that I have a blog, but I hope that the ones that are pumped up about social networking will see it as a positive point about myself!