10 Thoughtful Tweets - Part 4

The first time I shared some of the great quotes I had been collecting from my Twitter feed, the post was pretty popular. I understand why: quotes are awesome. I've kind of always been obsessed with collecting them, so, believe it or not, I have even more to share since last time!

In no particular order, from my "Favorited Tweets," here are ten quotes that either made me smile, think, laugh or wonder when I read them. Enjoy!

10 Thoughtful Tweets

1. “Inspiration usually comes during work, rather than before it." Madeleine L'Engle
2. ”Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.” - Roy Goodman
3. "Don't be discouraged! Don't cast sidelong glances & compare yourself to others...Writing is not a race." - Joyce C Oates 
4. ”It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” - Vince Lombardi
5. "Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger." - Saint Basil
6. "The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper." - Eden Phillpotts
7. "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." --Napoleon Bonaparte
8. "Love yourself first and everything else falls into line." - Lucille Ball 
9. “Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.” ― Janet Lane
10. "If writers had to wait until their precious psyches were completely serene there wouldn’t be much writing done." William Styron

10 Thoughtful Tweets - Part 3

The first time I shared some of the great quotes I had been collecting from my Twitter feed, the post was pretty popular. I understand why: quotes are awesome. I've kind of always been obsessed with collecting them, so, believe it or not, I have even more to share since last time!

In no particular order, from my "Favorited Tweets," here are ten quotes that either made me smile, think, laugh or wonder when I read them. Enjoy!

10 Thoughtful Tweets

1. “If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities." - Maya Angelou
2. “Write what you need to write, not what is currently popular or what you think will sell.” - Phyllis Dorothy James
3.  "Be occupied, then, with what you really value and let the thief take something else." - Rumi
4. "The wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water molds itself to the pitcher." - Zen Proverb
5.  "I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying." - Michael Jordan
6. "The test of every religious, political, or educational system is the man that it forms." - Henri Frederic Amiel 
7. "The stories we love best do live in us forever." - JK Rowling
8. "Life is a grindstone. But whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on us." - Thomas L. Holdcroft
9. "There cannot be a stressful crisis next week. My schedule is already full." — Henry Kissinger
10. "Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive." -Matthew 21:22 

10 Thoughtful Tweets - Part 2

The first time I shared some of the great quotes I had been collecting from my Twitter feed, the post was pretty popular. I understand why: quotes are awesome. I've kind of always been obsessed with collecting them, so, believe it or not, I have even more to share since last time!

In no particular order, from my "Favorited Tweets," here are ten quotes that either made me smile, think, laugh or wonder when I read them. Enjoy!

10 Thoughtful Tweets

1. “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” ― Oscar Wilde
2. "I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you know?" - Ernest Hemingway
3. "The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors; that which it loves, and also that which it fears." - James Allen
4. "Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement." - Brian Tracy
5. "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." -Albert Einstein
6. ”You are afraid to die, and you’re afraid to live. What a way to exist.” - Neale Donald Walsch
7. "Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely essential." Jessamyn West
8. "It's better to write about things you feel than about things you know about." - L. P. Hartley
9. "Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen." - Mark Twain
10. "I want all my senses engaged. Let me absorb the world's variety and uniqueness." - Maya Angelou 

 

Do you have a favorite from this list?

Is there one quote, in particular, that you NEEDED right now? 

Writing Challenge - 52 Stories

Two days ago, while scrolling through my twitter feed, I caught a glimpse of the following tweet by a new online writing friend Erica Cresswell:

A short #story per week for a year?I'll take that challenge #RayBradbury#amwriting
— Erica Cresswell (@Ericatweetheart) April 23, 2012

I thought to myself, that's a pretty great idea.

A little while later, Erica sent me a tweet just seeing how I was doing and we starting talking about her challenge. As the conversation continued, I realized I was getting more and more excited about this idea. I was saying things like, "I should do that," then the reality of, "I've got nothing to lose" hit until finally...

@ericatweetheart I'm tempted. There really is no reason NOT to, right? Alright! WHY THE HECK NOT! #amwriting
— Nicole Rivera (@riverand) April 23, 2012

And that was it, I added a new challenge and goal to my list for my writing life: I will write one story per week for one full year. I figured, with Erica by my side and our twitter pact of committing to this challenge, I could do this.

I was inspired. I was ready. I even had a short story for the week that I could work on to get going already.

And then twitter happened... 

If you are a twitter user, then you may have an idea of what I am talking about. You see, while Erica and I are having a conversation, all of our followers can see it. So, just as we were settled upon moving on to write, the questions started pouring in:

• Is this a new thing?
• Can I join?
• What's the word count goal?
• What's the accountability?
• Are there prompts?

...and on and on and on. It was amazing! I don't think either one of us expected it. However, here we are, two days later, using the #52stories hashtag to communicate on Twitter with a nice little group of people who are joining this challenge.

The rules?

Really, we have none. Anyone can join (how could we stop you?!). Our goal is to write. If we put a limit on word counts so that the stories are blog-friendly, then those participants who are looking for print publication will be left out. We don't have prompts because we have ideas of our own that we are willing to explore for the moment. When we do need them, well, StoryDam has a prompt every week, and one of our participants, Greg W. (@HauntedAxiom), has been tweeting prompts he comes up with using the #52stories hashtag.

As for accountability, we are in the process of selecting a day of the week where we will post our stories online, but we have also been keeping each other updated through and through via Twitter. Erica said she finished her story last night and I finished my first draft.

Honestly, it really is quite exciting. It isn't taking away from editing my novel or my concrit class on SavvyAuthors. When it comes down to it, this is what I should be doing with my time, anyway. So it's back to the editing table for me!

I hope everyone in Round 2 of ROW80 has had the blessing of such inspiration in their week as well. Click Here to check out how my fellow ROW-ers are doing with their current writing goals!

10 Thoughtful Tweets

Playing catch up on my week has not given me much time to write today, but there are some great quotes that I've been collecting from twitter that I have been meaning to share with you. In no particular order, from my "Favorited Tweets," here are ten quotes that either made me smile, think, laugh or wonder when I read them. Enjoy!

10 Thoughtful Tweets

1. "Beware how you take away hope from another human being." - Oliver Wendell Holmes
2. "The most certain way to succeed is to try just one more time." - Thomas Alva Edison
3. "I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book." ― Groucho Marx
4. DEAR HATERS, I COULDN'T HELP BUT NOTICE THAT.... 'awesome' ends with "me" and 'ugly' starts with "u" -- Twitter user: itsMeLiane15
5.  "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." - Theodore Roosevelt
6. "I ask Finnish educators, how do you hold teachers accountable? They answer, 'We trust our teachers. They are professionals.'" --DianeRavitch
7. "I didn't get old on purpose, it just happened. If you're lucky, it could happen to you." - Andy Rooney
8. "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
9. "The soil is the great connector of our lives, the source and destination of all." - Wendell Berry
10. "Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much." - Blaise Pascal 

Do you need 10 more?
10 Thoughtful Tweets - Part 2 

ROW80 Wednesday Check-In 2/1

Today marks one week since I first learned about the ROW80, or A Round of Words in 80 Days Challenge. It's also time, believe it or not, for my second check-in! I decided on Sunday that I would do "Quickie" Check-Ins on the Sundays and give you a more specific picture of what is going on with my challenge on Wednesdays. So here we go...

These are my goals as I defined them last week, and what I have done to accomplish them so far:

Writing:

• Write three hours per day Mon-Fri. I am extremely happy to say that I have accomplished this so far. There is one issue I have with my accomplishment, however. When I wrote this goal, in my mind I had imagined this to mean three hours devoted to my creative writing only. This week I have spent some of that time writing for Rivera Runs Through It (not a bad thing!). I am trying to schedule some posts ahead since I have signed up for a writing workshop for this month (more about that later). NEW GOAL: Write three hours per day Mon-Fri in addition to writing for blog.
• Become an active member of a writing group. Most of the writing I have accomplished above has been during #wordmongering sessions on twitter with my online writing peeps ( Morgan, Tui, Julie, Chasing Joy, and Susan). This has been awesome and while I have been able to connect with each of them via Twitter, I would like to become a little more active and interact with each of their blogs in the coming weeks.NEW GOAL: Become more involved with my online writing group's multiple platforms.

Reading: 

• Read at least one hour per day I honestly don't know how I've done with this. I don't time myself when reading, so this was a silly way for me to write this goal. I know there are some days I definitely didn't reach an hour and other days where I exceeded it. On average, I think I definitely read at least one hour per day. However, this goal needs to be rewritten if I am to truly hold myself accountable. NEW GOAL: [This terrifies me...] Complete at least one book per week.
• Complete goodreads 2012 challenge of 52 books this year This goal and my new goal above are now in sync with each other. When I originally wrote my goals I had completed no books in the year 2012. As of this morning I have finished FOUR. I am well on my way to completing this challenge especially if I stick to the new goal above. NO NEW GOAL NEEDED.

Spreading Out/Getting Published:

• Start claiming and completing assignments from the Yahoo Contributor's Network of which I am a part. (Although I have yet to submit a single piece of work!!) I am most proud of making headway here. If you click the Yahoo link you will see my profile which now has two pieces of content published by me. They have not received a ton of traffic, but I still don't know how the Yahoo world works, so hopefully they will soon. I am particularly proud of my short story fairy tale called "The Peanut in the Woods" so if you get a chance I'd love to hear what you think of it! NEW GOAL: Continue claiming and completing assignments from the Yahoo! Contributor's Network
• Enter at least one writing contest per month. Unfortunately, I failed for January on this one. Although, technically, I am waiting to hear about two contests I entered earlier that had January deadlines - does that count? OK, no. Of course not. I put all focus on Yahoo! and forgot about this. GOAL MISSED: try again!
• Send at least one piece to a literary magazine per month. Oh dear... who wrote this goal? I don't remember this one at all. I blame Yahoo! for this one as well. OK, OK! I know what I need to do this week! GOAL MISSED: try again!

One goal I would like to add after watching this earlier today:


Well, it is co-inspired by that and the hike I went on with my dogs yesterday... the one where I came home and felt like sleeping for the next month straight because I was so exhausted (I still hurt).

NEW GOAL: Walk 10 miles per week.

This is a lot less than what I used to do, but I'm not sure my body is even up to that yet, so we shall see. If ten miles is a cake walk, I'll up it next week. And if it is, pathetically, still out of my reach, then I will adjust it where needed.

So, that's it for now. On Monday I will be starting a month-long online writing workshop that I am extremely excited about (you should check it out). I can't wait to learn a ton, and I'll be ready to readjust all my goals to fit around my education!

Here are the other brave souls on this journey with me, be sure to show your support! (I'm the 24th link!):

First Quickie Check-In for ROW80

On Thursday I announced my participation in the ROW80, the writing challenge that understands you have a life. In that post, as part one of the the challenge, I set goals for myself. The second part of the challenge is the accountability: The Check-Ins.

As part of ROW80, you must check in each Sunday and Wednesday to ensure you are keeping up with your goals.

Welcome to my first check-in!

For the sake of brevity (and saving your sanity) I will only list those goals which I moved forward in this week so far, as for the rest, I will do a thorough recap on Wednesday.

Writing 

 I had two writing-specific goals and I am pleased to say that I have made headway in both! First of all, I committed myself to  writing for at least three hours per day Monday through Friday. I have don this consistently since Wednesday, and, I am overjoyed to say that on Friday afternoon, one story seemed to beg to go on. I think I may be on the verge of starting my next novel (I still can't believe that!) thanks to this commitment.

The second writing-specific goal also sprung to life this week. I am an active part of an online writing group via Twitter. There are six of us that keep checking in with each other, meeting via #wordmongering word sprints and checking in with our ROW80! There's Morgan, Tui, Julie, Chasing Joy, Susan, and ME! It's been really great to have this virtual support and it is nice to share the joy of the writing experience with others (check out Tui's first check in to ROW80 - it surprised the heck out me today!)

Reading

As part of my reading goals, I was hoping to make a dent in my goodreads 2012 reading challenge. I set it up that I would read 52 books in 2012! Well, this week, I finished my first two books of 2012, so I'm finally on my way!

Spreading Out/Getting Published

Finally, I said that I would like to start contributing to the Yahoo Contributor's Network. I have been enrolled since August 2011, but have not made the leap to contribute any work yet. Since I set it as a goal on Thursday, I got right to working on that and submitted two pieces. So far, one has been published and the other is still being reviewed. You can check out my Yahoo Contributor profile to see my stuff (who knows maybe there will be more stuff by the time you get there).

The Rest of the ROWers

Here are the links of all of the others who have bravely checked in this week Looks like I'll be link #77). Check them out, cheer them and on, and, if you are so inclined, join the crew! I hope I've made you proud in the couple of days I've at this challenge!

10 Tweetable Tales

This post was written in response to a Red Writing Hood writing prompt from Write On Edge.


This week's prompt is as follows:
This week’s assignment will require the fewest number of words ever: we want you to write a story – your choice of topic – as a tweet.
That’s right. One hundred and forty characters. Not words. Characters.

Below are my attempts to tell a tale in 140 characters or less (not including their titles, of course).


 
1. NIGHTMARE
She woke up sweating, shaken by the previous night’s dream.
What’s that feeling on her face?
Lights on - She screams -The spider flees.

2. THE WAIT
Two days I stare at a silent device.
Was it my laugh? Was it me?
We kissed, you smiled, the stars aligned.
Or maybe not, maybe -
IT’S YOU!

3. FRIGHTENED
Hello?
Is anyone there? I think the power’s out. My flashlight’s broken. My son doesn’t live around here. I don’t know what to do.
Hello?

4. AT THE VERY LEAST
“He ain’t here!” slamming the door, thinking that, at least, he’d shared his new address. But “the least” was always too much for her ex.

 5. THE PREQUEL
A boy, a fire dragon, and her egg - these are the ingredients for building a Leagacy. Flet clutched Sheleia’s egg awaiting the true battle.

6. HOW MUCH DOES THIS COST?
A bucket in one hand, an icy cold jug in another. I struggle through the aisle peeling my shoes from the sticky floor with each step.

7. CLASSY
College; Whatever 101:
“Blah, blah.”
I write it down.
“Psst, you got a pen?”
Sure.
“You got the notes?”
Yep.
“What’s your name?”
Interesting...

8. OUR SIXTH SENSE
Her eyes are wide. Her tongue dangles. The drool pools beneath her.
My head aches. My vision blurs.
The sky turns gray, the storm is coming.

9.  T.W.E.E.T.
Tell it
Without description
Emotion or
Expression
Through abbreviation, emoticons and links.

10. THE LAST OUT
Crack!
“I got it!” The words clear his stage.
He moves to the left, then to the right with the glove positioned over his head.
*Smack*
Cheers!

So that's it. Which one is your favorite?

My Magical Monday

I feel tingly all over. It makes sense, too. I am magical after all. I was just told so by the Magical Quill!

After pumping myself full of caffeine (I did this with the help of Mocha Almond Fudge Ice Cream before dinner and some dark chocolate squares about an hour ago... that would be 4am!) I waited patiently by my computer through a lightning and thunder storm, the calm after, and as the sun rose behind me. I kept myself occupied with blog reading and then, ultimately, chatting it up with Pottermore tweeps from all over the US, Britain, France, Brazil, Australia and even the Philippines. Then, as one twitter friend asked me what the time was in New York, USA, I noticed it was exactly 5am.

One thing I didn't let pass all night (starting at 12am London time) was refreshing the Pottermore page on the hour. *POW!* There it was the second Magical Quill clue:

I called frantically for my husband, so he could call my friend to wake her and tell her (this was at her request!) while I tried to read, absorb and think about the clue. 

*DISASTER* My brain was absolute mush! I feared this. I started multiplying everything by 42. When I was one number off, I had made it into a foreign site! This was no good. Suddenly answers were everywhere - being texted to me, on my twitter feed, I was so grateful! I was a complete mess!!

Once I had typed in the appropriate web address for the English version of the Chamber of Secrets, and, in turn, the English version of the Pottermore site, I was taken to something that looked like an advertisement for Deathly Hallows Part 2:

Due to my fried brain, I once again had difficulty knowing what to do next. I probed at the menu when my husband and I almost both knocked the monitor off the desk by pointing out the QUILL on the page (do you see it there? It kind of STANDS OUT!).

Then, rather than try to pry the quill out the screen with our bare hands, I decided to actually click it:

Then, the journey could begin...

The five questions asked were:

• Birth date
• Where you live?
• Name and e-mail address (if a minor, then I believe it is name of parent and parent's e-mail)
• Password
• Which Harry potter books you've read and which Harry Potter movies you've seen

It is after these questions were answered, when I completed this "journey,' that something, well, magical happened:

I am in the book! I am "magical." There's no denying it! The Magical Quill says so!

However, the fun wasn't over yet. I needed a magical name. There were choices given:

I really was thinking only about the first two (although "StarCloak" is pretty cool, too), but the pumpkin and the tree won me over. My parents always used to call me "Pumpkin" and I love trees (I should probably write a post about that sometime soon), so...

The e-mail did not come right away. No big deal. One of the benefits of being a Day 2 person is that you witness all of the freak outs of Day 1 and learn that there is nothing really to freak out about. However, by the time I started writing this post, my e-mail had arrived!

There was a link at the bottom that had to be clicked within 48 hours (I think I did it within 48 seconds!) in order to register, otherwise it was all for nothing. I clicked it and found out

I am "one of the lucky ones."

Yay! Joy and splendor!! I am in the Pottermore BETA group! Sometime before October 2011 I will receive an e-mail with my formal invitation to begin my journey through Pottermore and, what I'm looking forward to most, be sorted into a Hogwarts House!

I guess I'll just have to keep checking my e-mail, keeping an eye out for my owl! 

A Huge Thank You To:

•  My fellow #pottermore tweeps that kept me company on twitter. Especially those that worked toward us getting #pottermoreWORLD to trend while we learned about each other!
• My husband and friend, Cristyn, who both were calming influences on my obviously sleep-deprived brain.
• To all the Rivera Runs Through It readers and FaceBook fans that crossed their fingers that I would only be a muggle until Monday.

and, of course

• Ms. Rowling and her crew that came together to make such an exciting, global and happy experience for all of the fans of a very special book series!

4 Great Ways to Get Your Blog Writing Going

You are sitting in front of your computer. You are ready to write for your blog. You've even managed to carve out a nice space of "me time" to accomplish this task, but then it hits you - what the HECK am I going to write about today? Since you have little time to waste, let me tell you about some of the fabulous resources out there to get you juices flowing.

Share Your Knowledge/Learning 

Do you have a skill, a hobby or something else you can teach your readers? Have you just gone to a class, watched a movie or read a book where you have learned something? Take a post to teach us! Here are some examples of some great teaching posts that I've run across:

• 6 Ways to Start An Art Collection Without Breaking the Bank Using what she knows from being an artist's wife, Ginger teaches us some tricks of the trade so we can all add that glitz and glam to our spaces no matter what our income is!
• 4 Heartstopping Myths On Drowning Every Responsible Parent Should Know When Alison learned about what drowning really looked like, she knew she had something to share. It was an extremely important post and, because of that, it went viral. Do you have some important knowledge that you should be sharing with the world? Don't take it for granted that everyone knows what you do!
• Lemonade Pie Kristl of The Budget Diet blog had a fun, yummy recipe from her childhood that takes only four ingredients and some chill-time. She shared it with her readers who are always interested in fun things to do, make or get for a bargain!
• How to Wash Windows from The Damsel of the Old School - Self Reliance 101 blog. The Damsel is one of my great online teachers, this is just one example of her fun and funny teaching style that leaves you begging for more. ...and this is a post about washing windows. Moral here: inspiration can be anywhere - you just have to be up to the challenge of writing about it!!

Challenge Yourself

Pick a challenge, either for yourself or for your blog and write about it. This can be a lot of fun and an easy path to finding material to write about. Here are some challenges you might want to think about:

• Go Meatless! This past November I found out it was World Vegan month and decided, in honor of that, to go meatless every Monday for the entire month. I documented it on my blog Searching for Sustenance and it gave me an easy day of writing for six weeks of Mondays. I also couldn't help but occasionally refer back to it from time to time, so it continues to be a source of writing inspiration. Here is my wrap up post What I Learned from Meatless Mondays.With this challenge you'll examine ethical eating and your blog will benefit from it as well.
• 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Do I write about this enough on this blog? I love this challenge. I am going through it again right now. If you participate with a community like I am (shout out to the SITS Girls!), then not only does the eBook give you tons of ideas for writing, but so do your fellow participants! You will be improving your blogging skills and you'll have something to write about every day! Here's a fantastic look at one of the most content-heavy days in the challenge From Eileen of the Web Design School blog: Tips and Tutorials for Bloggers Day 6.

• Couch to 5k Program This is a nine week program to go from couch potato to 5K runner. It is a program designed for people who have often thought most exercise, especially running, is a far away dream. Dream no more! MAKE IT HAPPEN and take your readers with you on the journey! You will transform yourself, inspire others and be able to write about the program, your ups, your downs, your runs, your falls - there is SO much to write about here... (I keep dreaming of the day my IIH takes enough of a back seat for me to try this one!)
• 30 Day Challenges In general there are a lot of various types of 30 day challenges out there - fun ones, fit ones, financial ones, a quick search on Google will send you on your way to finding one that fits for you. One post about 30 Day Challenges that caught my eye was 10 Thirty Day Challenges No One Wants to Take.

Causes
Many causes need people to be talking about them. If you have a cause, or an action that is near and dear to your heart, then get writing! You'll feel better about it and you can engage your readers in discussing important issues. Here are some examples of blogs writing with causes in mind:

• Conversations on Giving  This is a segment on the Do Good blog where the act of giving whether through charity, kindness or self is discussed. It is a simple idea that can be written about in so many different ways.
• 365Give This blog fascinates me. It is about giving every single day. It doesn't have to monetary, it doesn't have to be huge, but it is making the commitment to giving at least once every day and then writing about it. Imagine you made this commitment. Imagine you had to write about it. How would this change you? How would it engage your readers?
• One-Shots Stay in the loop with your special causes to find out if there are any special events or petitions floating around that need some publicity. Don't forget that your blog can be your podium when necessary. For example, this week I am trying to get people to let the Girl Scouts know I would like some gluten-free cookies! To that end, I wrote this post: Tell the Girl Scouts How Big the Gluten-Free Market Is! (if you have a minute, you should totally check this post out and sign the enclosed petition!).

For the Art of Writing

• The Red Dress Club Every week these ladies provide two writing prompts. The prompts could be as simple as a word or a picture, or they could even be specific lines to be included in the writing - they change all the time and I check in every week. If you write on one of the prompts, you can return to the site to link up your post to share with the Red Dress community for concrit. It's pretty awesome.
• One is called the Red Writing Hood prompt and can usually be either fiction or nonfiction and is typically limited to be anywhere between 600-700 words. Here are some of my prompt responses: Detour in "Off My Trail", Someone who drives you crazy in "One Lucky Turtle" and Fightin' words in "Someone Stole My F-ing Car" (*warning: this one is angry)
• The other prompt is called RemembeRED and is a memoir prompt and has the same types of length restrictions. Here are some of my prompt responses: Forgiveness in "I Forgive You", A positive from a negative experience in "Wash Away My Normal" and something you are proud of in "My Teaching Appreciation Day" 

• The Writer's Toolbox This is an offline resource that I actually found in the Barnes & Noble bargain section years ago. The box comes with a timer, a number of different tools (sentence sticks, sensory cards and the protagonist game, for example) and  book describing different ways to use them in conjunction with each other to find inspiration.

There's More!


There is definitely at least second post in here about how you can write about what's going on in the news, how you can join blog communities like Blog Frog or SITS Girls or even Twitter parties like #CommentHour to see what other people are writing about and write a reaction post to it and link up. There's still even more, but to be honest, I think I am taking up too much of your time because you really need to get to writing!
 

The Birds and the Bees of Your Blog Life

As I expressed in my first post about the BlogWorld and New Media Expo 2011, the over-arching lesson I learned was that blogging is all about relationships. The first panel I attended, 365 Days to a Household Name led by Srinivas Rao of The Skool of Life blog and BlogCastFM podcast, started this theme right away when he began to analogize all of our Internet interactions with those that we undertake when finding our perfect mate.

I loved this analogy so much because it made clear to me the value of each of the interactions we take. I would like to share this delicate dance with you now so you can be better prepared for the World Wide Web.

THE FLIRT

Flirting is quick, it's easy, it's fun, oftentimes funny, and it can happen any number of times per day with any number of people in a room. All of this can happen without any of it holding that much meaning for anyone involved, however, for all relationships, there is usually some flirting in the beginning even if it is just to get noticed. So in the world of social media, on the path to developing relationships with readers, fellow bloggers, potential employers or potential clients if you want to flirt, then all you have to do it TWEET.

Twitter is the single most casual interaction held in the biggest, hottest party on the Internet. In 140 characters or less you give the twitterverse a little piece of you with every tweet - what you are interested in, what you write about, who you are. There is no commitment involved in Twitter, but when you've earned yourself a "follow," perhaps it is time to make the next move.

THE FIRST DATE

While you are busy blogging away and tossing your tweets out into the world, there are others doing exactly the same thing. Others you could be developing a relationship with. It is time to up your game with those you may think are worthy. As you are catching up on your reading, is there someone who's writing truly speaks to you? Or someone who is in your niche and may be someone you want to work with? Here are a couple of first date possibilities for you to consider:

• Blog Comment ~ If you are a blogger, you know the value of this. Receiving a meaningful comment related to your post can have the same dizzying effect as going on a first date with someone special: Someone connected with you, they liked what you had to say and they cared enough to share back. This is definitely a way to move toward a relationship and for me, personally, has led to guest posting opportunities and a number of web friendships.
• E-mail ~ In terms of the evolution of social media, e-mail is considered Web 1.0, you know - old news - however, sometimes old-fashioned charm is exactly what is called for on a first date. E-mail is not dead and it is very personal. If you want to make a one-on-one connection and you are not interested in doing it publicly, then this may be the move for you. Just keep in mind, for a first e-mail connect you want to keep it short and simple to ensure it is read.

As you continue your dating you can use some stand-out options that Srini shared in his session to deepen your connection. They are all pre-web, so you may want to grab a pen or something, because since they are pre-web they are unique in this digital age: send a letter, hand-written thank you notes, or even send a care package to a special someone who you wish to develop a working relationship with.

SEX?

This is where things get really personal and you are one on one - focusing on each other and (hopefully) nothing else. You may be saying to yourself That never happens in the social media world. Well, if you think about it for a moment, it will probably come to you. You can have this kind of connection with someone in a personal chat/instant message, through Skype, or with a Phone call (doesn't it seem to  always come down to somehow getting those digits?!). Anyone of these avenues is the type of communication that takes place between two people who want to connect and, oftentimes, are already in a social media relationship, or, at least, are on the fast track to having one.

THE RELATIONSHIP

So what are you in for? What are you working toward in this pretty little dance? Simply put: Conversations. In Social Media, on the Internet, and in your Blog Life your relationships are measured by your conversations. This isn't too different from what do in what we refer to as "real life," but it's something we sometimes think is beyond the reach of social media when we're seated behind the anonymity of our screens. It could be. If that's what you want. However, if you are looking for relationships, if you are looking to grow your blog, your business, your brand or simply just to find other like-minded individuals then it is time for you to start the dance - start flirting, dating and making some moves - in short, start having some CONVERSATIONS.

"Amazing things start happening when you start conversing for the sake of conversing." ~Srinivas Rao

Related Reading

• 3 Lessons from My First Day at Blog World NY 
• How Darren Rowse Has Forever Changed My Life in 10 Days 
• Where Do I Get My Degree In Blogging?

Srinivas Rao

• The Skool of Life
•  BlogCastFM

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Get a Clue with Kludgy Mom

I can't think about StumbleUpon without thinking of Kludgy Mom. It is not that this is, per se, her claim to fame, it just happens to be how our paths crossed in the winter of 2010. I was going through Darren Rowse's 31 Days to Build a Better Blog for the first time and became curious about using StumbleUpon as a promotion tool for my blog. I had no idea what it was, but I found Kludgy Mom's blog and was swept away by its design, its simplicity and her depth of knowledge of social media.

The first post I ever read from the Kludgy Mom blog is one I continue to recommend to new Stumblers to this day:

• How to Use StumbleUpon: Tutorial

What I learned in that post has been enough to turn me into a stumblin' junkie that has StumbleUpon as one of my leading traffic sources month after month.

Since that time, Kludgy Mom has continued to teach me about Social Media, introduce me to new ways of finding income on the Internet and make me laugh with her and at myself with her fabulous sense of humor. As you will see when you visit Kludgy Mom's blog, she is a woman of many talents. She claims in her tagline that Kludgy Mom is "the art of living haphazardly," and while the haphazard part of that statement may be what initially draws our attention, it is this Austin mom's art that wows us post after post.

Some of my favorite posts from Kludgy Mom are:

• What Twitter is Good For
• Finding Work From Home Opportunities
• App Girl to the Rescue
• How to Sell Groupons You Don't Want Anymore
• Why Blogging is Good for You

Take a moment now to head on over to the Kludgy Mom blog to see what her latest post is about - and be ready for anything: social media, product/app reviews, a recipe, a lesson for bloggers, or just a humorous post about a day in the life of Kludgy Mom. Whatever it is, I am sure you will be better off for having read it!

***

This post was written as the first official post of my continuing series on My Stumble Buddies. To be a part of our StumbleUpon party to read and stumble week by week, come visit the Kludgy Mom community in Blog Frog!

Other Stumble Buddy Posts:

• Are You Reading Read Aloud Dad?

 


**Don't forget Rivera Runs Through It now has a brand-spankin' new FaceBook Fan page waiting for YOU to LIKE it!!**

An Impulse Done Right

The sun was high in the sky, the schedule was free and clear and the bikes were free from their dangerous overhanging hooks in the backyard shed. We were in the living room, on the couch, still in our PJs and deciding what to have for breakfast. "Let's go bike riding to the park today," I suggested hoping that my husband's yes would be all my muscle-atrophied body would need to make the trip a reality.

"OK, if you want to..." he responded, I think realizing that this would be one request that would haunt him every weekend until he finally acquiesced.

In an hour or so, we were finally out on the road. My shins were burning, my butt was aching, I was already panting harder than my overweight beagle after a mid-day walk around the block, but I was riding my bike - something I hadn't done in nearly 10 years! It was awesome, and I just hoped I wouldn't kill myself in this short ride.

When we reached the park and I could bask in the serenity of the lake before me, I knew it was all worth it. I needed this. I needed to be free, to be outside, to be moving and to be with nature on this beautiful day.

Sometimes I find myself in the throws of impulse when in the grocery store and I wonder, when I get home, how I ended up with so much stuff. Other times I find myself impulsively following someone on twitter, only later to realize that the one brilliant tweet I read of theirs that led to the follow was the beginning and end of their readable tweets. It becomes such that impulsiveness starts to grow a negative reputation, and yet this bike ride - a completely impulsive act made my Memorial Day Weekend!

I'm not really a planner, so impulse is a big part of my day to day. It feels extra special when one goes so perfectly right.

3 Quickie Lessons from My First Day at Blog World Expo New York 2011

Click above to find out about their NEXT event!

I did it. I ventured forth and, on my own, with tickets given to me as a gift from my husband, I experienced the first full day of my very first Blogger's Convention. Needless to say, after a day on my own traveling back and forth to the big city after nearly one full year of being on medical leave and doing... well... nothing, I am exhausted. Therefore, this will be a quick run-down of some of the stand-out lessons for me with promises of more in-depth posts to come (I really hope I make sense here and don't babble too much)!


Lesson 1: This whole social media, blogging, Internet thing is not just about communication, it is about RELATIONSHIPS.
This was a theme reiterated by many of the speakers I saw today. In one way or another, the moral of the story is if you want more followers, if you are looking for your audience, if you want to have genuine, sincere comments and conversations with the people of the World Wide Web, then you had better be thinking first and foremost about how you are building your relationships with these people.

"Amazing things start to happen when you converse for the sake of conversing..."

~Srinivas Rao

Lesson 2: Nothing "sells" better than an authentic YOU and PASSION.
Again, words spoken by many, and not things I heard for the first time here either. Each of the speakers I saw today were blogging about things close to their heart, things they were passionate about and it showed.

"If you are not passionate about what you are doing - find something else to do!" 

~Jared Rolin

Lesson 3: The Nerd Within Might Be Exactly What You Should be Proud Of.
Just hours after feeling ashamed for letting all of my geek-goo go all over the Twitterverse, I found out, that perhaps the persona I so proudly flaunted in my classroom should also have a place in my web space!

I am a nerd, to ignore such things, or leave out such telling details separates me from my readers because they do not know the authentic me without it. Your nerd within doesn't have to be so nerdy (I mean, honestly, could I be any more cliche? Comic books, math, calculators???) - you might be a grilling nerd or a knitting nerd, who knows? Only you know, until you let us in on your juicy secret!

"Tell me about your inner geek... You don't have to go open kimono!" 

~Michael Margolis

Bonus Lesson from BEA: Free Books are Awesome, But Quickly Become Heavy!

As a bonus with the admission to BlogWorld, I also get access to the exhibitor floor of the Book Expo that is housed in Javits Center as well.  Considering I am a book lover I could not pass up this opportunity and hopped in during the lunch break between blogging panels. These people are just giving away books! In some cases, the authors are there to autograph them for me!! I was in heaven, until the weight of my decision became a reality when walking eleven city blocks to my express bus home. I have not yet come up with a better action plan for tomorrow... I will sleep on it.

"This was a bad idea." 

~my left knee, my foot, my right shoulder, my lower back, and, of course, my ACHING HEAD

Related Posts:

• 3 More Lessons from Blog World Expo NY
• How Darren Rowse Has Forever Changed My Life in 10 Days 
• Where Do I Get My Degree In Blogging?

A Geek Family Examines the Geek Zodiac

As my husband and I were driving around putting our final touches on our Mother's Day gift for my mother-in-law and getting ready for dinner later on, I quickly took a glance at my TweetDeck and found a tweet from Attack of the Show about the Geek Zodiac. As a self-proclaimed geek, obsessed with all types of signs, married to a comic book guy I was quite intrigued. I decided to give it a go:

attributed to geektyrant.com (click image to enlarge)

As I read off the various "signs" on this list, my husband and I just started laughing. This was turning out to be quite ridiculous. I was about to close the image when my husband said, "Well? Does it tell you what our signs are?"

It was then that things started to get a little creepy.

• My Husband I started with my husband, who, as I stated above, is a life-long comic-book guy. He loves superheroes, he is a really good guy - this is not just coming from me, it is an undeniable truth stated by anyone that knows him - it can be sickening sometimes. His sign, as a baby of 1975? Superhero. We both decided that was a bit freaky.
• Me I was born in 1976, I scanned over: Undead*. This was a bit of a let-down. My husband and I felt this was a bit off, UNTIL I read the description, the characters associated with "Undead": Dracula, Eric Northman (ok, ok, I had to admit I do have a thing for vampires...), Zombies, (then I screamed the next two), BUFFY, THE GHOSTBUSTERS. My husband actually took his eyes off the road, "You're joking!" You see, my dog's name is Buffy. I wear my Buffy the Vampire the Slayer T-shirts weekly, I own the entire series, I also own all of Angel and can't resist following Bones. Also, in terms of the rest of the description it was spot on. We were now a bit freaked out by this "silly" geek zodiac.

As we let it settle and my husband asked me to re-read the descriptions. We were "wow-ed." Then it occurred to me, "Who else do we know? My brother, your brother! Let's see!!"

• My Little Brother The former Marine, currently re-enlisting. He's a cop. He's always wanted to get into "intelligence." He was on his way up when mom got sick and he chose family over moving forward. He was born in 1980 making his sign a spooky spot-on Spy! 
• My Brother-in-Law is twelve years younger than his brother and was shown by him and his father the world of comics. He too, is a Superhero.

When we got to the restaurant for the Mother's Day dinner we were waiting for our table. I informed my brother-in-law of his status as Superhero which then sparked a conversation with everyone. We then continued exploring the people we know:

• Mother-in-Law  She is a lover of sales, finding anything the family needs and a coupon or sale that will get it. She also loves and immerses herself in the family culture. I will be a lady, and not reveal her year of birth, but she is a Treasure Hunter!
• Father-in-Law The man to go to with your questions. Many in the family come to him with questions about legal paperwork, financial decisions, directions to get places and he often, magically, provides all of us with beautiful prints and videos of any media. Not surprisingly (now that we were all converted believers in the Geek Zodiac), his sign is that of the Wizard.

After all of this I was a believer. My brother-in-law asked what the other signs were, when I got to "Daikaiju" I just said, "I have no idea what the heck that is. Then I read more closely as he explained to me (he has spent a lot of time in Japan) - it is those MegaMonsters like Godzilla and KingKong. I did a quick glance at the years to see if there was anyone I knew who fit the mold. I doubted it, but there was the year 1978. The year my cousin was born. He is a center of attention, larger-than-life kind of character. He just started his own business. Their name is T-REXX.

That was it. The Geek Zodiac may be the most accurate zodiac signs I have seen in a long time. Brilliant work geektyrant!   

What is YOUR geek sign? Does it fit?

If you want to follow me on twitter, my handle is @riverand.