Successful Blog

William Tully Shows Us How in Canadian Living Magazine

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One of the Best on Blog Basics

Successful and Outstanding Blogger, William Tully, is featured today in Canadian LIving Magazine. His article on How-to Blog is one of the finest written on the web. It’s informative, entertaining, and best, it makes (what can be) confusing topics clear in a minimum of words. I’ve not seen a better short segment on comments and trackbacks written for nonbloggers. The whole article shows his expertise. Click the logo to go there.

If you’re trying to explain blogging to someone, after you share your metaphor. This article is a great next step. It has just the right amount of information and links to give a helpful start without overwhelming the reader.

YEA, Bill!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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The Metaphor Project: What’s Your Blogging Metaphor?

The Mic Is On: We’re Talking About Stupid . . . Yep, Unbelievable Things!

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It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

The Mic Is On

Here’s how it works.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

Can You Believe It?

Here’s a few ideas to get us started:

  • Dumb laws that are still on the books
  • Stupid situations
  • Crazy things we watched
Silly Cat

And, whatever else comes up, including THE EVER POPULAR, Basil the code-writing donkey.

Oh, and bring a link about unbelievable things, if you have one to share.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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Open Mic 7pm Chgo Time: Let’s Talk About Stupid . . .

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Yes the Mic Will Be on Tonight

Join Us Tonight

We’re Talking about Stupid . . . Yep Unbelievable!

. . . like dumb laws, stupid situations, crazy actions, and anything else that comes up.

Oh, and bring a link about an unbelievable thing to share, if you have one.

The rules are simple — be nice.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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What Is Humility?

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PERSONAL IDENTITY

Can we talk about . . .

humility.

Once when I was about eight, I saw this sentence written in an open space on a church bulletin.

The funny thing about humility is the second you think you have it, you don’t.

Obviously that sentence stayed with me. I revisit it often. I still see it. The original had been typed on the master sheet by a manual typewriter. As I reflect on the image, the sentence itself looks humble compared to what we look at now.

This morning, Karin and I talked about the meaning of humility, which started me thinking again.

I reflect on one idea every time I encounter that word humility It’s been the same since the day I first saw that sentence.

We get ourselves into weird shapes and strange configurations chasing after humility.

Humility is the recluse star of the virtues. It starts with the same H as halo.

What Humility Is Not

I can tell you what I know about humility. Then maybe you’ll tell me more. That would be useful, because the elusiveness of humility means we know more about what it is not than we do about what it is.

In fact, what humility is not is a good place to start. Humility is the absence of many things that we can do without.

Humility is not about deprivation. Humility is about more, not less. A humble heart gives more, has more room, sees more good, and is more generous.

Humility doesn’t make itself less. It doesn’t think of itself at all. So less cannot happen.

Humility does not bring itself down. It raises others up higher yet. A humble heart can hold up a chin. For a heart to do less would be to devalue everyone. Humility is about giving value, not taking it away.

Humility is not false. It doesn’t pretend to something it’s not. It doesn’t deny the truth about what is good. A star needs to shine fully bright to remain a star. A humble star knows that shining is what it does well and is generous with its light. Falsehoods in any form, are not humility. They are a denial of the truth, that’s something else.

What Is Humility?

Humility is without guile. It needs no plot, no plan. It has no needs at all.

Humility is not about me. It doesn’t make me bigger or smaller. It’s about everyone else. We don’t know when we have it, because when we look at ourselves, it is gone.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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Change the World: Truth and Humility

The Blog Herald: The Two Webs — Information or Relationships?

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Relational Information?

We’re living in two Internets. It looks much like the companies we find in the world of brick and mortar. One is about places, information, and data. It’s the buildings in which people work. The other is about people, relationships, and conversation. It’s the people who work in those buildings. One is a structure. The other is social.

Read the whole feature in today’s Blog Herald by clicking the logo.

The Blog Herald

It’s about blogging and real life.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

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Liz Strauss at The Blog Herald, The Blogging Times, and Who’s One in a Million?

The Metaphor Project: What’s Your Blogging Metaphor?

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We’re All Teachers and Learners

What’s Your Metaphor?

When I traveled to other countries, one thing I didn’t expect was to learn how people add new things, ideas, and groups of people to their culture. Here’s an example of what I mean.

When I first started working with publishers, I noticed something about illustrators that I later realized was also true about writers.

  • When we have no experience with something, we notice the differences.
  • When we have a little experience with something, we begin to look for similarities, but we still talk in generalities.
  • When we really know something we can talk about generalities and specifics. We can point out how it is like and different from other things.

That’s the point at which we can switch from learner to teacher.

The Metaphor Project: What’s Your Blogging Metaphor?

Isn’t the same thing happening with blogging? Finally we’re gaining the experience to pull together the pieces into a picture from which to speak. We’re reaching out to explain to nonbloggers in terms they can understand.

Two weeks ago it was Derrick Sorles saying we’re pizza makers. This morning it was Char with this outstanding post.

Did Char’s metaphor work? Her mom’s question at the end proves the power of a great metaphor.

Let’s find some more.

Group Writing Project: What’s Your Blogging Metaphor?

So, what’s your blogging metaphor? I suggest a Group Writing Project.

1. Write a blog post using a metaphor to explain blogging.

2. If you leave a comment with a link to your post, link back to Successful-Blog, or email me, I’ll know how to feature your post. It’s not necessary, it just helps me track to make sure your work gets seen.

3. If you use Technorati tags, tag the post Blogging Metaphor.

BONUS: Ten contributors will receive an autographed copy of Lorelle’s book “Blogging Tips — What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging.”

The more ways, the more metaphors we find to help folks understand, the more businesses will see the value. And imagine our friends and families will understand the power and reason behind what we’re doing.

They say a picture is worth 1000 words. Use soa few hundred to draw a picture that they’ll never forget.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.