Archives for February 2013

I Found A Way

February 10, 2013 by 15 Comments

It is no secret that the past few years have been filled with numerous challenges and a couple of setbacks here and there. I took a beating and then did it again because I thought it was the right thing to do for my family and I would do it again.

Or maybe I wouldn’t.

Maybe I would do things differently because hindsight is 20-20 and you can always see different ways of approaching things but there is nothing to be gained by looking backwards and saying “I should have” so I am not going to.

Not going to spend my time doing it because I found a way through the fire and though I danced in the flames I made it through. I haven’t gotten quite as far as I want and there are still challenges to be overcome I am confident I will find a way because it is what I do.

There are options in life and they go like this: “Do or do not.”

Yeah I just quote Yoda but that little green Muppet is a Jedi master and wise.

I am not the guy to just lie down and let things happen. It is not always easy to wander through the forest at night without moonlight or a torch because you haven’t a clue what is pulling at your legs or why that scrape suddenly appeared.

Nor are you always sure you are heading in the right direction but sometimes that is how life is. You move forward and take your best guess.

I feel pretty good about it because I found a way.

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  • This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…
  • Set a timer and write for 5 minutes.
  • Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
  • Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
  • Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post (in the sidebar).
  • Link up your post below.
  • Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.
Filed Under: SOC, SOC Sunday

The Golden Age of Blogging

February 7, 2013 by 32 Comments

Sky Walker

I have bad news for you. You missed the golden age of blogging. You are too late. The best of times has come and gone and now all you have are the remnants and left overs of the great society that once was. I probably should be kinder and gentler. I probably should be nicer and not tell you that things would be different if you had started sooner.

If you had been smarter, faster, more agile and more progressive you would have figured out that this Internet thing was going to take off. You would have secured cool domain names like “Internet.com, “news.com,” and “business.com” long ago. It really is a shame that you missed out on that.

You really should feel badly about it. There is a reason that you feel like you are on the outside looking in. There is a reason why your blog doesn’t get as much traffic as the next guy. And it doesn’t matter if you attend every major blogging conference because we have already established the cliques and cool clubs. You don’t know the secret handshake and you can’t be a part of us because we won’t let you in.

So you’ll sit there looking up at us- the professional bloggers who are making a million dollars a year and our friends the cool personal bloggers who are beloved by all. You’ll stare at us and ask yourself why? You’ll curse your dumb luck and blame us for keeping you down because we know how to game the system better than you do.

Because it isn’t fair that we aren’t as talented as you are or as smart. It is not right and completely unreasonable to ask you to suck it up and accept your place in the lower caste. But that is what you are going to do because you don’t have a choice.

Or do you.

Maybe the golden age of blogging hasn’t passed. Maybe old Chucky Dickens was right about it being the best of times and the worst of times. Maybe what he really meant was that life is what we make of it and so are our blogs.

Call me a cockeyed optimist with an overindulged imagination and frantic fingers that can type more than 200 words a minute but I know from experience that this really is what you make of it. Find your community. The blogosphere is built upon the backs of millions. There is no reason why you cannot find like minded individuals to hang out with.

Don’t wait to start writing. Do it now. Take your pencil and scribble some lines down on the back of a napkin. Write about what you would do if you woke up and discovered that you were a giant cockroach. Proof it once or twice and post it.

Be true. Be real. Be authentic. Be consistent. Be there and people will come. Try not to worry about whether the big bloggers know your name. The old saw about not putting all your eggs into one basket is true here too.

Don’t fear blogging. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Write and enjoy.

If the words above don’t resonate with you or make sense than maybe the next few lines will.

Success in blogging is subjective. For some people it is based upon generating revenue and others it is based upon comments. If you want to be successful you have to identify what success means to you. It sounds obvious but many bloggers forget to do it.

Once you define success you can build a road map to reach whatever plateau you are striving for. Or you can let fear and insecurity rule your world.

The choice is yours.

Filed Under: Blogging

The 1,457 Miles From Home Podcast

February 6, 2013 by 7 Comments
listen to ‘The 1,457 Miles From Home Podcast’ on Audioboo

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The Story I Want To Tell

February 6, 2013 by 6 Comments

Sometimes when I think about the story I want to tell I think about something similar to the video below.

It is the opening montage to the second season of The Sopranos. What you see are a series of clips set to It Was a Very Good Year as performed by Frank Sinatra.

To be clear the story isn’t necessarily set back East nor does it really have any mob or Italian connection, but what it does have is depth. There are multiple layers and complex characters and I see a relationship between what I I want to write and the video.

People fascinate me. Really, I have learned that the most ridiculous television shows can be outdone by the things that real people do.

We like to think we act based upon logic and reason yet many of our decisions are based upon emotion or arbitrary choices that aren’t based upon anything of substance.

Many of us adopt the same religion or politics because that is what our parents were/did. It is not necessarily a bad thing but it does help illustrate how sometimes we don’t really choose to do or be, we just are because they  (parents ) were.

More to come about this at a later date.

Filed Under: People

Sometimes The Best Posts Ramble

February 5, 2013 by 7 Comments
  • I Am On Fire- Bruce Springsteen
  • My City of Ruin- Bruce Springsteen
  • Ain’t Got You- Bruce Springsteen
  • Crossroads- Cream
  • Summertime- Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
  • A Little Less Conversation- Elvis Presley
  • Wonder of Wonders- Fiddler On The Roof Soundtrack

Sometimes the best posts are nothing more than an exercise in free writing where you let the words roll off your tongue and dribble down the page without any concern for whether people will read, comment or share them.

Those are the moments when you set yourself free and begin to understand the kind of depth and joy writing can bring when it is given freely and without regard for what comes after.

It is when you find out what lies under the surface of your mind and gain a degree of clarity you might not otherwise have.

There Are Too Many Rules

Blogging has too many rules, requirements and restrictions. If you try to follow them all you will suck the life out of you and kill the joy of just writing.

This should be fun. This should be a celebration and if it is not it should be because you have chosen to write about a serious topic because you wanted to. It shouldn’t be because you are trying to make sure you came up with the most incredible piece of content to be stuffed with keywords and matched with an exceptional headline that people can’t help but click on.

I Want My Words To Be Like A Song

I want my words to be like a song that people can’t help but sing. I want it to be catchy and clever and silly and whimsical.

I want it to be fun.

That is why I am here. That is why I do this.

It is fun.

It is cathartic.

It is mine.

Filed Under: Blogging