Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

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September 16, 2007

Soulful Dots Speaking

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 8:28 am

Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

Connecting Dots logo

Perhaps it is archaic education or upbringing, there always existed a distinct difference in my mind between writing and speaking… Reading and writing was a passive, distance activity whereas speaking and listening was an active and intimate experience.

…until now.

Over the past months, I started to speak and listen through my blog.

The words were not just the medium, they were proxies for my voice just as your comments were for yours.

Is it so radical? you may ask.

I think it is, when you read, you want to be educated or entertained. When you listen, you want to be engaged.

When you write, you want to inform or enlighten, when you speak, you want to participate and elicit a response.

It is a question of intent, something that is beginning to change the face of the blogosphere.

The intent to converse and engage…

If that is your intent, then listen to these dots…

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Liz spoke this week of what it takes to be a superstar conversationalist. We have to be imperfectly human to draw a response and then be active listeners.

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Ann made me wonder, Maybe we need to listen to someone else’s interpretation of the conversation that can only come about if we start a conversation and then leave space for a response.

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As a parent, I love reading bloggers describe their experiences with their children. When Nesting Momma spoke about her child, falling from the nest, I realized I was not reading but listening when she spoke about, It will happen often, daily, yearly even in her adulthood; she will make mistakes, have accidents and fall from the nest. I am so honored to be the one that gets to pick her up, dust off her wings and give her wind to fly again.

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Robert told us a joke to end the week, it was pretty much the same way I related it to my son. For me, Robert is a story-teller first and a writer second. Isn’t that the way it should be?

Perhaps, the word blog has already outlived its usefulness because for many of us,

we’ve already taken it far beyond where we found it.

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Instead of saying I read a hundred blogs this week, I really heard a hundred souls speaking..

I am truly blessed.

So which dots spoke to you this week? pray tell!

May the dots be with you!


Vern, The Idea Dude





Filed under Connecting Dots, Successful Blog | 12 Comments »




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12 Comments to “Soulful Dots Speaking”

  1. September 16th, 2007 at 9:58 am
    ann michael said

    … and YOU are truly a blessing!

  2. September 16th, 2007 at 10:10 am
    ME Strauss said

    The blessings are everywhere. Yes indeed. :)

  3. September 16th, 2007 at 10:33 am
    Vernon Lun said

    Hi Ann, so glad to have found your dot!
    Vernon

  4. September 16th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
    Joanna Young said

    Hi Vern, I didn’t realise you could read my mind the same way that Liz does!

    I’ve been thinking about conversation, voices, talking and listening this week too… Maybe because I’m reading the Age of Conversation, maybe because I’m thinking about dipping my toe into audio/podcasting which is very scary for me… I like to think of helping to create conversations with my words, but conversations ‘out loud’ on the Net take me way out of my comfort zone – which is probably a good reason to go right there…?

    Thanks for another great piece – pitched just right for Sundays :-)

    As for the dot that spoke the most to me – it was a comment here (I think on the superstar conversationalist piece)

    “Be interested not interesting.”

    The words have stayed with me all week.

    Best wishes

    Joanna

  5. September 16th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
    gp said

    hi all … the “be interested, not interesting” came from moi :) it’s the “innkeeper’s creed”.

    Glad i was able to make a difference. :) Methinks for me… whether reading, writing, blogging… it comes back to… am i making a difference?

    anywho… our smilin’ phil always gives me a nudge just when i need it to “make it great”

    gp in montana

  6. September 16th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Joanna and GP
    Gosh I hopw you both know that you’re making a difference in this writer’s life. You’re making it a life that has more color, more meaning because you are a part of it.

    Thank you. :)

  7. September 16th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
    ME Strauss said

    And yeah, I agree, Phil is the one who can’t help but “make it great” jusb by being who he is. :)

  8. September 16th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
    Vernon Lun said

    Hi all,
    Wow, I love how this conversation is going, “being interested, not interesting” is something we know to do in our physical world but sometimes we forget in our virtual one.

    I always read the comments of every post I read especially Liz’s because she always makes room for us in her conversations.

    It tells me who’s interested.
    Vern

  9. September 17th, 2007 at 5:13 am
    Joanna Young said

    Hello everyone – what a lovely place this is to hang out! Thank you Liz, and for your words :-)

    GP – I loved those words, and they mean even more now I know it’s the innkeeper’s creed… I’ve been focusing on creating the space for others recently (maybe this is part of me trying to make a difference?) – maybe I’ll develop the role even further to imagine myself a virtual innkeeper :-)

    Vern – reading the comments really adds to the mix doesn’t it (especially here!), people miss out on so much if they don’t read them too. But I have to confess I only read and comment in a limited number of places, 10 sites regularly, maybe 20 infrequently plus dipping in to say hello to new people when I can.

    I skim read a lot more to see what’s going on – although I never enjoy that so much. I’m wondering how you approach this – have you deliberately reduced the number of things you read in order to make time for the comments too?

    Joanna

  10. September 17th, 2007 at 6:36 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Joanna!
    I do read less than I once did, but I read more deeply and with more respect. I might make it back to each blog less often, but when I do I stay and catch up like I would with an old friend, reading over past posts for a while. :)

  11. September 17th, 2007 at 8:31 am
    Vernon Lun said

    Joanna, I have 2 modes of working. I skim a lot of new blogs as part of managing TheGoodBlogs but the ones I care about I put into TheGoodBlogs communities (if you click on View My Profile) on my blog, you’ll see what I mean. I can get a glance of my favorites with their latest post. I have a Dots community that only contains dots I connected.

    But like Liz, I try and go really deep with the ones I call ‘friends’ but only a few a time.

    I’ve often felt I should only comment if I had something meaningful to say but these days I realize it’s just as important to drop in and say ‘hey, that really inspired, thanks’.

    Vern

  12. July 17th, 2011 at 4:17 am
    The Age of (authentic) Conversation | Confident Writing said

    [...] check out two recent posts on Liz Strauss’ site (secrets of a superstar conversationalist and soulful dots speaking) – and don’t forget to delve into the comment box which is where the conversation takes [...]

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