Successful Blog

John T Unger Is a B.A.D. Blogger!

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello is John there?

Much like the innovative mosaic art John T Unger has received acclaim for, so went our bubbling conversation yesterday. It was piece after beautiful piece fitting perfectly into one another. We were a pair of champagne flutes constantly filled with effervescent Veuve Champagne. Those tiny bubbles started us laughing immediately.

John and I jumped right into talking about his marriage next summer. The wedding rings the couple chose, specially-made will have bubbles where the stone would be. That says a lot about the artistic couple — John who writes, does mosaic, scuplts, and makes other beautiful things, and his wife-to-be, lawyer, who does mosaic.

John and I let our curiosity run wild as we talked about blogging, techies, poetry, and how-to writing. In the middle of our talk, we discovered that we were both kissed by famous people — no I’m not saying who. You’ve heard of both of them. You’ll do fine not knowing. I have faith in you.

We agreee that blogging allowed us to leave the world where it’s hard to find people to talk to and enter a world where there are many who understand what we’re saying. It’s as if we’ve found a way finally to be in the majority. The irony is that we “find our feet” in a virtual world where our fingers are in charge of getting us where we need to go.

The conversation was rollercoaster — made from that original mosaic inside the Veuve bubbles — with a best friend on a Satuday afternoon. We could both let go of the rail with two hands knowing that we’d still be together no matter what route we to the end.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

You should read it and should instantly get it. Then wonder why you didn’t know you knew that already. — John T Unger on reading well written work

Stop by John’s blog, John T Unger Studio, and say hi!

Thanks, John, you B.A.D. Blogger!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. Blogger? page in the sidebar

Cat Wentworth Is a B.A.D. Blogger

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello is Cat there?

Last night I spoke to Cat Wentworth for the very first time. How much cooler can it get than to hear the voice of someone already pegged as a friend for life?

Cat was surprised at the sound of my voice. I was surprised at the sound of hers. I thought her voice would be lower. I bet she thought my voice would be higher. What if our voices got switched when we were babies? Hey, weirder blogger synchronicities have happened. Why not that? Hmmmmm?

I’d offer to trade voices, but I don’t suppose she’d want to hear people tell her that she should be doing 900-number calls as often as I hear people say that..

The conversation that Cat and I shared was like virtual window shopping. We talked about design, blogging, business, and our histories and our futures — all the while we were passing links to places and pages that we like on the Internet. We critiqued designs, discussed the ways we find new blogs, especially those we feature, and we spoke a while on why folks online seek out communities.

Cat said that originally she had no use for blogging or bloggers, partly because she thought she had nothing to say. HA! She was caught by the blogging bug when a cause came calling. Unethical behavior by a design firm got Cat blogging with an industry-wide group of designers, who wrote for days on end, about the logos the villains had been stealing and calling their own. Cat’s been blogging ever since.

We talked about workable business models and whether it’s harder to get started as a blogger now than 18 months ago. We explored ways to help designers getting started on their own without asking them to pay for things.

It’s amazing think that it took us until now to figure out that we both had Skype and could talk this way! It’s rare, but nice. when a first conersation seems like one from the middle of a dialogue that’s been going on for years and is still going on and on and on.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

No offense intended. I’m also fairly passionate when selecting the brand of nuts I might eat. —Cat Wentworth

Stop by Cat’s Blog, Designers Who Blog, and say hi!

Thanks, Cat, you B.A.D. Blogger!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. Blogger? page in the sidebar

Sheila Scarborough Is a B.A.D Blogger

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello is Sheila there?

Almost before she picked up the call, Sheila’s energy was coming across the states into my home. Just like Sheila drag racing, that was the speed of our conversation.

In minutes, we talked about the interview she just did for TechZ. Sheila recalled how they met — Sheila introduced herself because TechZ lives in Bahrain, where Sheila once called home. When Sheila told her mom about the interview and drag racing in Bahrain, her mom asked, “Oh, does that mean they don’t do camel racing anymore?” She assured her mom (and me) that she’s sure they do for tourists.

Our Navy-lady now prodigal Texan is making waves as a writer. She’s freelancing for print magazines, blogging her family travel blog, and blogging on drag racing. Sheila says sports writing is fun and conversational, but “you’ve got to know what you’re talking about.”

We also talked Austin, work-at-home dads, and moving and boxes. We have all three in common. Then music was mentioned. Who would guess that we both like Johnny Clegg and Savuka? Or that a South African Zulu band would come up in the first place?

There’s something to blogger synchronicity.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

You get to know people through their writing first. That forces you to pay attention to what’s in their head, not insignificant things like how they look.
—Sheila Scarborough

Stop by Sheila’s Blog, Family Travel, and say hi!

Thanks, Sheila, you B.A.D. Blogger!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. Blogger? page in the sidebar

Mark McGuinness is a B.A.D. Blogger

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello, Hello, Hello is Mark there?

Mark and I were ready for a great phone call. Skype wasn’t as prepared. After a good college try, Mark, gentleman and hero, volunteered the call from London to Chicago. What’s not to love about a blogger like that?

Mark was a business coach at the corporate level, but his passion is creativity coaching. So he changed his focus to working in the creative industries — television, film, design, and others. Last month, Mark finished his dissertation on coaching in creative businesses. He’s putting podcasts of the interviews on his blog while his dissertation is under review.

Mark and I talked about his interviews and my experiences as director of departments that were made up of editors and designers. Mark touched on the same point that Tony made yesterday — creative work requires a personal investment; then folks have to let go. We talked about managers helping with that and the way managers translate to financial folks the most effective ways creative people think and work.

Our conversation included high-trust environments and the problems of needing to be creative on-demand — the fact that no one is creative all of the time — and that people need to know that it’s okay not to be exceptional every moment.

Mark’s a poet. He drew an analogy between poetry and blogging. He pointed out that the deeper you go into poetry the more you notice the great poets connecting to poets who have gone before — he called it a poetic form of hyperlinking. One more way that poetry is code.

Imagine poets as the first bloggers . . . I can see the similarities.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

A blog is like a book where you can see the readers reading it and talking back to you. –Mark McGuinness

Stop by Mark’s Blog, wishful thinking, and say hi!

Thanks, Mark, you B.A.D. Blogger!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. Blogger? page in the sidebar

Tony D. Clark is a B.A.D. Blogger

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello is Tony there?

Yesterday, I heard Tony D. Clark’s voice for the very first time! Today I feel good about saying I think he’s a friend of mine. Maybe part of that’s because he’s been reading Sucessful-Blog since before I was here. Immediately we were talking about good stuff.

He told me about jobs he had — drawing his cartoons on surfboards and t-shirts and working in bookstores, among others. He decided he liked having clients better than having a boss.

I told him how having three daughters meant that he had been hit by the “curse of the movers.” The curse is one my friends and I made up iwhen we were 20. It says that guys who are wild men in college should grow up to only have daughters.

The conversation was mostly about creativity. We shared thoughts on how artists, writers, and others have to invest personally to do creative work and then have to step back and let the work go. We both like the collaboration part of working with a team — how ideas change when they have everyone’s view. Tony said that his cartoons are still his favorite thing to do.

Boy, time sure flew while we were talking.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

There aren’t enough right nows left to wait for some day. –Tony D. Clark

Stop by Tony’s Blog, success from the Nest and say hi!

Thanks, Tony, you B.A.D. Blogger!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. Blogger? page in the sidebar

Jeff De Cagna Is a B.A.D. Blogger

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello is Jeff there?

The second he started talking, it was easy to see how invested Jeff De Cagna is in his business. He’s out to help associations change the way they look at themselves and how they interpret their responsibilities to society and their members. His quest is to help them see that innnovation is as old as cave people and critical to growth and progress for any thriving enterprise.

Jeff is a guy who brings his heart tn work. Listening to Jeff, you know that he’s always thinking about ways in which he might lead folks to be more proactive and ready to take a strategic risk to invest in themselves. Listening to him talk about this favorite topic, I found myself laughing and enouraging him to breathe every once in a while.

Part of the fun was Googling Jeff’s name and seeing what came up with and without the space between De Cagna. Each entry on both passes offered more history of Jeff’s association career — a career that Jeff says no one sets out to have in the beginning . . . and that I can see some fall in love with and never leave.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

Respect the past, adapt to the present, create the future. –Jeff De Cagna

Stop by Jeff’s Blog, Principled Innovation to say hi!

Thanks, Jeff, you B.A.D. Blogger!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. Blogger? page in the sidebar