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Beach Notes: You Don't Always Have to Own It to Enjoy It

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by Guest Writers Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh

We sometimes walk around the area out back of where we live, on the Anchorage Islands in Australia’s beautiful Tweed River, and we see boats from the local fishing fleet at the wharf across the river and a lot of more leisure-type vessels riding at anchor in the river.

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While we don’t have a boat ourselves, we can and do relish the spectacle that is there each day for us. We don’t have to own one of these craft to enjoy them. And if we were seized with a desire to go out on one it would not be a problem to hire one with someone to do all that stuff with sails and anchors and steering, for much less cost than actually owning one (or having a bank own one for us to use).

One of the things we notice is that some of these very valuable boats never seem to leave their moorings, which suggests that someone else may be getting the pleasure of looking at them, mixed with the work of maintaining them. We get that old 70’s dream, the pleasure without the responsibility.

What do you enjoy that you don’t have to own?

Suzie Cheel & Des Walsh

Distraction or Opportunity

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It’s summer and I have summer things on my mind.  

Bonfires, camping, the beach, music festivals. picnics, road trips with friends… You get the idea. 

Today I was working away, attempting to “get things done,” as we’re all focused on productivity these days, and I just kept getting distracted. Distracted by invitations, phone calls, cars driving by with windows down, music blaring, people streaming by on their way to the pool. 

beach2I’ve been working on writing this post for two days and my mind just kept drifting. I couldn’t think of anything to write. 

All and all it wasn’t a very productive day. 

I started thinking about it differently when someone on Twitter pointed out that I might not be distracted by summer but distracted by work. 

And you know what? Maybe it isn’t summer. Maybe I just need a break and instead of looking at it as not being productive I can look at it as an opportunity.  

A wise friend I haven’t seen in a while once told me, when I was complaining about not being able to write, that in order to draw from the well you have to make sure it gets filled up. 

She’s a farm girl – she thinks a lot about rain 😉 

I think I’ll call her to see if she would like to go to the beach this weekend. 

I’m going to use that distraction as an opportunity. 

from Kathryn Jennex aka @northernchick

Beach Notes: What Would You Wish for Today?

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by Guest Writers Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh

Every time I saw a well as a child I had to stop and pretend to through in penny, even if I didn’t have one.

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Winter is here. After a few mornings of suffering frozen toes from going barefoot on the beach we have taken to putting on shoes and socks and varying our walking path

We have walked up to Point Danger many times, this morning was the first we had focussed on this wishing well.

Our immediate thought was that this would be a great Beach Note. It also reminded me of my childhood and the joy of discovering a wishing well, tossing in a coin and making a wish.

So just pretend, drop in a coin and make a wish

Here’s your chance … What would you wish for today?

Suzie Cheel & Des Walsh

Toeing the Line

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“If you are asked to toe the line the you are expected to conform to the rules of the situation.” from James Briggs

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.

We all have certain roles and responsibilities we are committed to upholding. Some of these commitments are made by choice, others we as a result of that choice. (Ex: you chose to marry someone: choice; you have a relationship with their family as well: acquistion).

528447370_1ffc43878c_m Some of these choices mean supressing certain aspects of our personalities. Some choices we make definitely require us to toe the line and I’m okay with that.

When we have a blog we have responsibilities to ourselves to be true in our writing but then we start to find an audience and often that audience comes with expectations. Those expectations can be seen in the comments and in the reactions to certain content. It does seem tempting to just stick with what’s been working.

“Don’t fix it if it isn’t broken.”

But I wonder if we all toe the line a little too much.

Do you blog like you’re expected to in a “certain situation”, maybe according to what your readers expect? Do you write according to how you have always written? Do you write about the same things you have always written about?

When I meet someone offline that I read regularly online I’m always surprised by something about them. A crazy way they dress, an interest they have never expressed through their blog or an amazing sense of humor that I didn’t pick up in their writing.

I’d like to think I can write about all the things I am interested in and not hold anything back . I’d like to provide content a little outside the box from time to time. Something to get people thinking and hopefully provide some value. This could work as an advantage by attracting new readers and that’s always good! New conversation and opinions are always worthwhile.

The disadvantage may come from throwing off some of your regular readers and making them feel a little alienated. Hopefully we can think of ourselves as accepting and patient enough with those we read to allow them room to change, grow and try new things.

I’d like to think I’m adventurous enough. Are you?

from Kathryn Jennex aka @northernchick

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Beach Notes: Beach Gallery

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by Guest Writers Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh

We sometimes go to galleries where there are sculptures and artworks that are made from materials that have been found in nature, recycled and then as art installation sold for thousands of dollars..

Recently we had the pleasure of enjoying a sculpture made by nature for a week or so on Rainbow Bay Beach for free. We now think of the beach as natures gallery.

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What uncommon sights of art have found in nature?

Suzie Cheel & Des Walsh

Hearing the Conversation

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Blogs tell stories. 

There are different elements within a blog that make people care about your blog. Joel Kelly would suggest these are “the story, the content and the offer”. All of this makes sense but, what happens when the story you’re trying to tell isn’t the one people hear? What happens when the conversation that occurs as a result of your story isn’t the one you were hoping would happen? 

People are commenting but totally missing the point of your story? You were writing about X and the conversation that happened was all about Y. 

It’s always great to start a conversation, especially one that leads to building a community, but what if you want to talk about your remarkable insights into marketing strategies, your product or service or just delight people with your amazing writing talent and your audience only picks up on a tiny detail you revealed about your personal life?

I keep mulling that over in my mind. I’ve listened to Brian Clark talk about finding your intersection, your purple cow (although I thought he said elephant). I started blogging on my own site this week. Maybe it’s too soon to tell what people want to hear from me. Or maybe I should take the advice of CCseed and wait for the people to find me that do want to hear what I think I want to say.

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Or, maybe, the way I see myself as a writer, as a person, isn’t really what others see.

We’re all storytellers. Whether we practice the art through blogging, writing, painting, photography, film making, song writing, poetry  (I could go on) it doesn’t matter. 

What matters is we’re all telling a story.

Have you had any experience with this?

from Kathryn Jennex aka @northernchick