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A Blogger’s Personal Narrative Checklist

January 10, 2006 by Liz

Successful bloggers write well. As a professional writer, I have a few tips, tricks, techniques, strategies, and of course, checklists that I use to keep me on the right path. It’s time I started sharing them.

Almost everyone uses personal narratives. They’re the stories we tell to our families and friends. They’re the incidents we relate at work about meetings we attended. A personal narrative is any story you might tell about something that really happened to you. Bloggers do that all of the time.

Use this short checklist to review your next personal narrative to add value and polish to it.

Personal Narrative Content Editor’s Checklist

Does the introduction make readers want to continue?
Are the events clear and in chronological order?
Does the body stay to the core of the story, using only rich and relevant details for support? Less is definitely more in most cases.
Do you use exact words that portray the experience in a way the reader can understand it?
Does the conclusion tie the story together, leaving the reader glad to have read it?

Taking a minute to review the narratives you tell will kick them up a notch. Your writing will be just that bit more entertaining. It might be the difference that makes readers bookmark your blog to come back again.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Introducing Simplenomics

January 10, 2006 by Liz

SOB Directory Entry: Simplenomics by Mike Sigers

Categories: Sales, Marketing, Entertainment

Simplenomics, written by Mike Sigers, is trying to give the world a look at how to use common sense to get more out of your sales, marketing, advertising and management efforts. Mike’s not for sale at any price, so don’t ask for consultation time. Well, you can ask, but send money first.

Notes from Liz: I swear that Mike’s directory listing was in my email before I even posted the announcement about the SOB Directory. I’m not sure how he knows things so quickly. It was Mike’s idea, you know, that SOBs should get buttons for their blogs.

Maybe Mike and I are really the same person. I’ve never seen us in one room at the same time. Hmmmm.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Has your SOB Blog Been Introduced to US?
Blog Promotion: May I Introduce You?

Announcing the SOB Directory

January 9, 2006 by Liz

To All SOBs and All SO-Wanna-Bs

Successful Blog is not just getting a new design. It’s changing to become even more focused on success, community, and our readers. That means you’ll be seeing content changes and new content features as well as spiffy new design and production values.

I’m prepared to announce the first change right this minute.

Though the old Successful and Outstanding Blogger page is still under cover. It’s now also undergoing a change of it’s own. No longer will it just carry a simple list of links as an honor roll.

Announcing the SOB Directory

As a service to our readers and our community, we’re turning this page into a directory. Each Successful and Outstanding Blogger’s link will expand to carry both the blog logo and a description of the content readers will find when they visit your blog. So the SOB directory entry for my business blog would look like this.

ME Strauss skews the world wondering about crayons, conformity,heroes, yo-yos, idiosyncrasies, and that person reading the paper at Starbucks. Enjoy storytelling that brings back memories.

What to Do

If you’re already an SOB, send me your blog description. I’m happy to do the rest. You surely have one that you’ve used for some directory listing hiding on your computer somewhere. Take it out and dust it off. No worries about your logo. Unless you want to switch the one I have. (The logo restriction is 60 pixels high.) Then e-mail me at lizsun2@gmail.com.

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, take a post home with you to share Successful-Blog ideas with your readers.
Just link to that post on this blog and write your own insights to “add value” to the conversation.
Then e-mail me at lizsun2@gmail.com with a link to your post.

That’s all there is to it. I’ll feature your logo with a link and you’ll get your SOB badge for your blog. Then your logo will be part of our new directory.

OR contribute an outstanding idea about how we might add value for readers to Successful- Blog.

Even more exciting changes that serve your needs are sitting right there on the horizon. Can you see them yet?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles:
What Makes a Great SOB?!

Great Find: Laptop Life Extension Tips

January 9, 2006 by Liz

Great Find: Software Tips & Projects: Your Laptop Life-Extension Program by Computer Power User Magazine, January 2006 issue
Type of Article: Magazine Feature Article on Win XP
URL: www.computerpoweruser.com (then do article search)
Target Audience: Any XP Laptop user

Content: If you’re like us, you dump most available funds into keeping that desktop PC at the cutting edge of tech innovation, while your aging laptop upgrade will have to wait for a lottery hit. . . . this article begins. Well my laptop is my desktop, and I’m still waiting for that lottery hit.

What you’ll find here is how to circumvent some of the redundancies built into XP to allow your laptop to run faster and to keep up with the resource-hungry programs that seem to get bigger by the minute. Included in the article are tips on how to

Do deep disk deletes
Uninstall the uninstallers that you’ll never need.
Stop Windows from fetching functions that you don’t want to use.
Delete dlls that are no longer associated with any program files.
Shut off unnecessary background Windows services to get faster performance.

If you’re a road warrior or if you just earn your miles at a desk machine, more resources can make the day go by faster and your life seem like you’ve just gotten your windshield cleaned.

I’m not a computer power user or a computer power magazine reader, but I have to say when I read this article I was ready to try at least one or two of these to make my life easier.
Take a peek and see whether you might not agree.

After all, you aren’t really going to uninstall the service pack that you intalled and have been using for two years now. Are you?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Bloggy Life Question 6

January 8, 2006 by Liz

muddy teal strip A

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week, I USUALLY offer a Blogging Hypothetical Question.

This one’s for real.

Here you go. . . .

What community service might the NEW and IMPROVED Successful Blog offer you? Should the focus be more on the SUCCESSFUL and less on the BLOG? Or is that right as it is?

We can take this blog in a world of directions as long as we stick to three words–success, community, and readers.

You’ve passed me some fabulous ideas earlier that I’m working on, and I’ve come up with a few of my own. But I want to unroll this new version really right.

We have a chance to make something unique here–something outstanding that makes your life easier–a community blog that actually does something for you.

What a concept! What might that something be?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Thanks to Week 11 SOBs

January 8, 2006 by Liz

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

muddy teal strip A

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this badge’s validity, send him or her directly to me. This award comes with a full “Liz said so” guarantee. It is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame. Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss