Thanks for a Wonderful Week!

Special thanks to all who participated this week! And guest what? If you didn’t, it’s A-okay, because all of the programs are archived and you can listen any time.  We will post links to specific programs over at our Rest Ministries site in coming week, but for now, just got to Blog Talk Radio at our Invisible Illness Week Account and you can choose from any of the programs this week or last year.

Here are a few quick things to know about!

Prizes

We will be randomly choosing prize winners and announcing them here on our web site next week. All you need to do to be eligible is to have posted somewhere. We’ll be choosing from people who registered over at Bloogers Unite, people who blogged about II Week, people who commented on blogs, people who Tweeted, Re-tweeted or posted on Facebook. People who join our Facebook Cause page or our Facebook Fan Page.

MP3 Players!

We have 3 to give away. Between now and Sunday night 9/20/09 at midnight, you can be eligible to win an MP3 player. One will be given away to a random person who:

• Makes any purchase at the Rest Ministries Bookstore, ChronicIllnessBooks.com
• Makes a donation (tax deductible!)
  
• Sign up to receive email updates from the Rest Ministries web site when we update it with articles, Q/A and more! (See Rest Ministries site here)

One winner will be drawn from each of these areas fora 2GB MP3 Player.

Blogs

Thank you to all of the people who have blogged about Invisible Illness Week. or done our meme. You have created an entire new level of awareness out there about invisible illnesses! Be sure to visit the sites of some bloggers here at our web site in the comments section and here at Bloggers Unite!

And don’t forget to read some of the blog posts of people who were Guest Bloggers here at our very own Invisible Illness Week web site.

Our Meme

It spread through Facebook, Twitter and more online thanks to your participation! Read people’s memes “30 Things You May Not Know About My Invisible Illness” here.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Are You Blogging Today?

Are you joining us and blogging about Invisible Illness Week or your invisible illness? If you don’t have a blog, just try to post something about it somewhere and it will help us out a lot. (MySpace, Facebook, any social network you are a part of.) Every time yuou post somewhere it helps us increase our exposure and it’s because of you this week is going to be a success!

A lot of our bloggers have joined Bloggers Unite to let us know when and where and what topic they have blogged about. you can read some awesome Invisible Illness Week blog posts that are all listed over there.

If you have posted your thought somewhere, be sure to let us  know below too in the comments section! We’d love to come and visit your blog!

Here is our press release about how bloggers are coming together for Invisible Illness Week.

Chronically Ill Unite September 14 to Blog About Invisible Illness Issues

Posted on Thursday, September 10, 2009

Popularity: 7% [?]

Are You Blogging for the Cause? Post Your Blog Here!

Hundreds of people are blogging for the cause of Invisible Illness Week! Thank you!

We look forward to visiting you blog post. Please write a sentence or two about your post and provide your link. We look forward to reading it and possibly sharing it with others too.

And if you haven’t yet, we’d love to have you register “officially” over at Bloggers Unite!

Here is a sampling of some of the blogs by illness bloggers who have signed up with Bloggers Unite and the blogs they have written. Be sure to check them out!

____________________________
PRESS RELEASE – feel free to reprint
____________________________

Chronically Ill Unite September 14
to Blog About Invisible Illness Issues

9/9/09 – SBWIRE – SAN DIEGO — Who would guess that nearly half of the U.S. population lives with a chronic illness? But according to a study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation over 133 million people have an illness or condition, most of which are invisible, and many that cause daily pain. Illnesses can range from Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy to diabetes, multiple sclerosis to fibromyalgia, or painful conditions like back pain and migraines.

With 75 percent of internet users using the internet for health information (Pew Internet Project, 8/08) and many of them seeking support, thousands of bloggers now post daily journals about the emotional challenges they face with daily chronic pain.

National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week, September 14-20, 2009, invites bloggers to have a significant role in their awareness campaign. For example, part of their outreach has been featuring guest bloggers on their own web site invisibleillnessweek.com , as well as inviting bloggers around the globe to commit to blogging about invisible illness issues. To help spread the word they have also create a meme, “30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know” that people have posted on Facebook, blogs and other social networks.

Lisa Copen, who founded National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week in 2002 says, “Though our illnesses and symptoms may vary, we still have a great deal in common. We can learn from one another about coping and finding the balance of taking care of ourselves yet living life to the fullest.” Copen says patient blogs aren’t depressing like healthy people may assume. “Illness bloggers don’t typically dwell on the logistics of symptoms, lab tests, or hospital stays. Instead, they write on everyday topics and how their illness impacts their families, finances, careers. They may discuss patient advocacy issues, but they also write about vacationing with an illness or dating when you have a chronic illness.”

Invisible Illness Week was recently the host of Grand Rounds, the largest medical blog carnival on the internet.

Over 300 people have officially committed to blogging for Invisible Illness Week so far and many are sharing on their Facebook notes page or other social network. Copen encourages those who do not have a blog to shares something about their illness with Facebook friends, a few Twitter posts, or even in the comments section of the invisibleillnessweek.com web site.
If you would like to join this unique opportunity to blog for awareness about invisible illnesses, see www.invisibleillnessweek.com for details. Invisible

Illness Week’s highlight is a 5-day virtual conference with 20 speakers that can be heard online for free on a topics such as marriage with illness, applying for disability, setting boundaries, and when your child is ill.

Copen is also the founder of Rest Ministries which sponsors the event and IllnessTwitters.ning.com for anyone who “tweets” on health or medical conditions.

Popularity: 9% [?]

On Facebook? Be a Fan!

We hope you will join our Invisible Illness Week Fan Page if you are on Facebook! Why?

Doing simple things like becoming a Fan of something helps us increase awareness.

When you become a Fan it goes into your feed (wall) on Facebook for friends to see what kinds of things you find important. Than you can also invite your friends to join if you feel comfortable doing that.

And then… our logo for Invisible Illness, for example, may show up in your friend’s sidebar of “highlights” which is much more effective than us buying advertising on Facebook.

So even if you don’t want to hang out over there on our Fan Page, at least click here and in less thna 30 seconds you can help us in lots of ways.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Tweet Something About #iiwk09 Today

Are you on Twitter? We have over 2000 followers of us on http://www.twitter.com/invisibleillwk.

In fact, if you Twitter about your illness you may want to join a group Lisa started Illness Twitters .

But I regress. There are loads of things to tweet about Invisible Illness Week! We have done

• 20 Things to Say to a Chronically Ill Friend
• 20 Things NOT to Say to a Chronically Ill Friend
• 25 Illness Facts in 25 Days
• If Your Friend is Ill Tips (27 of them)
• Friendship Tweets
  

We will also be sending out tweets from our speakers, tweets about the seminar topics for our virtual conference and more.

A fast way of locating tweets about Invisible Illness Week is to search twitter for #iiwk09 which is our hashtag. If you do any tweets on II Week, be sure to put #iiwk09 somewhere in the tweet so people can find it later when they search.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Share Our Video

Can you take just a minute today and share our Invisible Illness Week Video with your online illness support groups, friends, Facebook or Twitter pals or anyone else who may benefit?

With just a few different clicks you can share it on your Facebook wall, your own blog, add it to your favorite You Tube videos, bookmark it with a social bookmarking tool so more people can now about it, or email the link to friends.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Contact Newsletter Editors

If you are like us you are signed up for all sorts of newsletters that have to do with health, illness, or your specific chronic illness.

Can you do us  a favor? Check your “inbox” right now for all the August newsletters you have recently received and drop the editor an email about II Week. We’d love to have editors of these know about National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week and even post something in their September newsletter about it.

The virtual conference held Sept 14-18 is completely free and we have a wonderful assortment of seminar topics as well as leaders in the chronic illness community, so it’s something well-worth editors mentioning.

Please copy and paste this and leave it on your desktop and as newsletters come in to you remember to scroll down and find the “contact us” area and send them a fast email informing them about II Week. Here is a template of what you can edit and use as your own.

Hi! My name is [name] and I always enjoy reading your newsletter. I wanted to make sure you were aware of National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week in September and their free 5-day virtual conference online.

The week is September 14-20, 2009. The theme this year is “A Little Help Gives a Lot of Hope.” The conference is M-F with 4 speakers giving seminars each day featuring many well-known illness leaders including Jenni Prokopy of chronicbabe.com, Rosalind Joffe, career expert, Christine Miserandio of butyoudontlooksick.com and Laurie Edwards, author of “Life Disrupted.”

There is lots of information available at the web site www.invisibleillness.com, including facts/statistics, articles, and some great goodies like tote bags or white silicone bracelets that say, “Invisible Illness – Visible Hope.” You can find daily updates, guest bloggers, a blog tour, lots of cool things to tweet and even a badge that says, “I’m blogging for Invisible Illness Week”.

They have sort blurbs that you can cut and paste directly into your newsletter or a longer press release at their web site under the MEDIA section. I hope you will consider including this in your next newsletter so more people can benefit. The event is entirely free and the conferences are done via Blog Talk Radio and will be available “live” or archived to listen to later on itunes.

Thanks again for taking the time to bring awareness about living with chronic illness through your web site.

[your name]

Popularity: 2% [?]

Update Sent to Plp at Facebook

Are you signed up for the  Invisible Illness Week Cause on Facebook? This is what we sent out our friends over there 7/13.

________________________

Thank you so much for signing up for the Invisible Illness Week Cause as it’s something I care about soooo-o-o much! Please remember to invite your friends!

Nearly 1 in 2 people live with illness so everyone on your friends list has someone they care about who is ill.

I wanted to share a few highlights with you this week!

* If you follow us on Twitter @invisibleillwk you will get lots of updates. It’s a great way to stay in touch. If you Twitter about illness topics, be sure to check out our new social network of influential Twitter-ers at http://www.illnesstwitters.ning.com

* Be sure to go to our web site and sign up to get updates there too at http://www.invisibleillnessweek.com . We’ve recently started a prayer team for Invisible Illness Week, we’re tweeting 20 things to say to an ill person (in 20 days) and have some great blogs posts.

* Do you blog about illness? We have a couple of opportunities just for you!

(1) I am going on a “Blog Tour” to spread the word about II Week. Details are here http://invisibleillnessweek.com/?p=1348 or sign up here http://ow.ly/hcnx to host an interview with me about II Week. You will receive a free digital copy of Beyond Casseroles: 505 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend too!

(2) Sign up to be a guest blogger. Submit a blog post about 500-700 words here http://ow.ly/hcpe

I’ve had a number of people ask “Does my illness (fill in the blank) count?” If you have to wonder, yes, it counts. Whether it’s autism or bi-polar, endometriosis or heart disease, diabetes or cancer, RSD or Menier’s Disease, we want to have as many illnesses represented. It’s a great time to increase awareness about an illness that you or a loved one has. (And that’s also another really great reason to blog for us!)

Thank you again for your friendship and support!

Lisa Copen
____________________________________________
FACEBOOK CAUSE PAGE FOR II WEEK

http://www.InvisibleIllnessOnFacebook.com

TWITTER INFO:
@invisbleillwk (invisible illness week)
@lisajcopen (personal, illness ministry, ii week)

Popularity: 1% [?]

Let’s Blog for Our Cause

Whether you have a blog or not, you can help us blog for Invisible Illness Week. Here are ways we need you and your stories!

If you don’t have a blog:

• You are still welcome to submit a “blog post” and be a “guest blogger” here at the Invisible Illness Week web site. We recommend reading some of our past blogger’s posts for ideas, but we are happy to consider anything of interest to those with invisible illness. We’d love to hear your reflections, ideas, stories, and more.

If you do have a blog:

• Submit a blog post you wrote in the past or just yesterday as a guest blogger here on our web site.
• Be a host for our founder’s Blog Tour (More information coming soon but you can sign up here now if you want. Details will be emailed to you). Lisa will have different interviews in text format that you commit to posting on a certain day. Do you know friends who blog who may be interested? We’d love to spread the word about II Week all through the blogosphere of many illnesses, from cancer to autism, migraines to arthritis, celiac disease to other rare disease.
• Submit your blog post in July for an August edition of Grand Rounds, the biggest (and first) medical blog carnival online. (Read more about this here.)
• Join Bloggers Unite to commit to blogging on your own blog about invisible illness.
• Don’t forget that on our front page we have a button, widgets, all kinds of things you can add to your blog if you want including our 2009 Invisible Illness Week logo.

Thank you for your help! We really couldn’t do it without you!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Patients for a Moment: A Blog Carnival in the Making (brassandivory.blogspot.com)
• Patients for a Moment: A New Blog Carnival Hits the Scene! (emergiblog.com)
• Grand Rounds: The Diversity Edition (digitaldoorway.blogspot.com)

Popularity: 2% [?]

Blog for II Week by 6/6/09 for II Wk to Win $

Zemanta is a new application I started using a couple days ago that suggests tags, links, photos, and related articles to enrich one’s blog based on keywords extracted from the text of your posts. It speeds up writing by giving you relevant news stories to your post. I’m lovin’ it.

But I just now discovered– at 2:02 a.m.– as I am up (in pain) that they have a “Blogging for a Cause” campaign that ENDS JUNE 6TH (next Saturday!)

It’s easy – How Your Voice Can Make a Difference

(1) Blog about your favorite non-profit and why their work makes a difference. So write a blog post about Invisible Illness Week and why it’s important.

(2) Paste this text and link to the end of your post. Without this text and link, they will be unable to track and credit your charitable cause as part of this campaign:This blog post is part of Zemanta’s “<a href=”http://www.zemanta.com/bloggingforacause/” mce_href=”http://www.zemanta.com/bloggingforacause/”>Blogging For a Cause</a>” campaign to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes that bloggers care about.

(3) Publish your post!! Then go tell your friends to do the same!

1. Twitter It

The 5 non-profit organizations that get the most bloggers to endorse them will get the donations. There is $6000 up for grabs! So let’s go for it!

Popularity: 1% [?]

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