Successful Blog

10 + 1 Reasons to Write Well, Not Perfect-ley OR Save the World with Realistic Expectations

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You Thought Multitasking Was a Curse

power writing at work

Have you got an inner editor telling you what you write has to be perfect? Perfectionism is a problem that can hurt you. Here are a few light reasons why you should give up trying to create perfect work. — Sometimes fun talk can combat a serious problem.

I don’t write perfectly. You don’t either. No one does. Leonard Cohen hasn’t gotten there — much as I love him. Nope, he hasn’t. Neither has Toni Morrison, nor any other living writer. You can forget Mark Twain, Shakespeare, and the rest of the dead ones too.

There’s no such thing as perfect writing.

Tell the editor in your ear to take a hike on the whole idea. Trying to write perfectly could cause an alien invasion.

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Commercials Cause Link Leaks on Comments Night!

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Branded with Link Leak Virus

Choosy mothers may choose Jif and choosy kids may choose Skippy, but choosy commenter chose Open Comment Nights again Tuesday Night This week. We conquered our fear of “a word from our sponsor” and took on commercial interruptions of our own. But commerical are not only irritating, they also spread viruses — the evil/good link leak virus left us leaving links. The Link Leak Virus is a special strain of the indie virus with blogtipping mutations that occur in threes. We didn’t seem to mind though.

Chris seemed to have recovered from his visit from Basil and his pod experience.

Welcome to all of the new folks who came. It was great fun having you!

Cool links were shared.

And Now a Word From Our

A word from our attendees . . . we didn’t invite sponsors.
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Before You Ask for that Link, Know I’m a Relationship Blogger

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Blogging Is Relationships

New Blogger Logo

Let me introduce myself. My name is Liz. I’m delighted that you emailed me about a link from my blog! What a lovely compliment.

But I’m a little concerned too . . . You see, that was all that your email said, “Could we trade links?”

I need to confess something before we go further.

I’m the kind of blogger who wants a relationship not a one link stand.

Please understand I love to share links, but to give a link means to give my trust, my endorsement, and my belief that your blog will continue to make a relevant contribution to the blogosphere. How can I do that if I don’t even know you?

Do you about the SOB links or how they work?

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4+6 Things to a Product Review Even James Bond Would Trust

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What You Have Here James Is . . .

power writing at work

Product reviews. We all do them. We love to tell people what we like about stuff. Even more, we love to tell them what’s wrong with stuff. . . .

The President had started a discussion about a product we were prototyping. Our new product was meant to compete with one that had owned the market for 10 years.

“So, what do you think of the product that’s out there?” the President asked the editors.

Each editor was eager to respond and gave in detail the things that she saw in the existing product. The President made sure that every editor had a chance to talk.

“I wonder how it continues to sell 100,000+ units per book per year?” Then he glanced over my way and said, “That’s why no one listens to editors’ opinions. They only talk about the negatives.”

I was the only person in the company who reviewed product for the President.

Where do you get advice about products? Most people trust friends and family first. If friends and family don’t know, research says that 77 percent of online shoppers read consumer product reviews and ratings.

That means you’ve probably done that.

Product review are big business . . .

. . . if folks feel they can trust what the review says.

If you want credibility James Bond would trust, you have to know 4 things before you start and tell 6 things when you write..

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301 Links in a Story — Chapter 9 The Lists of 10 and the CanCan

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Finding Ideas Outside of the Box logo 2

[For those of you just tuning in, this is based on the 301 Lists that Darren Rowse’s List Group Writing Project brought together. You’ll find Chapter 1 here –> A List Becomes 301 Links in Story — Chapter 1 ]

The Show Goes On

Backstage, Lizzie, who wore white satin and sequins, and Amanda Congdon, in beautiful blue, discussed the traits that Jeremy. Jeremy Wright had in common with James Bond and Jack Bauer.

“J”

“Too bad his last name isn’t Bright.”

That’s as far as they got when it was time for them to walk out together.

“Welcome back, everyone,” Amanda called to the audience. Then, walking past each contestant, she clicked each contestant’s button to say hello as she went by. They all smiled back.

“Hi Arianna, Dave, and Jeremy, Jeremy! Shall we start?” Lizzie said, grateful that our two VIDSTARS got to come out after the music, lights, introductions, and rules had all been taken care of.

“Tonight the Blog Board starts with the category Lists of 10. We’ll move from contestant to contestant under a time limit. Each person will be asked to blog one item on a list of 10. Each answer that is actually on the list will be worth 100 points. Scores when we left last night were Arianna — 500, Jeremy — 100, and Dave — 0.”

“Dave, we’ll begin with you.”

“I was up all night, studying every blog at Technorati.”

Top 10 Ways to Get a Technorati Top 100 Blogger to Link to Your Blog or Website

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301 Links in a Story — Chapter 8 Lizzie, Amanda, Arianna, David, and Jeremy

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Finding Ideas Outside of the Box logo 2

[For those of you just tuning in, this is based on the 301 Lists that Darren Rowse’s List Group Writing Project brought together. You’ll find Chapter 1 here –> A List Becomes 301 Links in Story — Chapter 1 ]

At the Studio

Lizzie followed. Jeremy. Jeremy Wright across Rue Dante into the creepy brownstone-like building up the stairs to the second floor. The door at the top of the stairs was on a landing with a desk.

“I don’t have keys,” said Jeremy, Jeremy Wright. “I’ll find Aaron Brazell to let us in.”

“I’ll hang here,” Lizzie said, settiing in at the desk.

The desk had a book for visitor sign ins, alongside it were several information pamphlets. They were lined up in a little stand as if this were a bed and breakfast. The header on the stand said, “Classic Pre-Show Reading.”

“Get your post listed on 25 sites in 10 Minutes” by Fence, Emily and Evening Post.

“They should know,” Lizzie thought, getting interested.

7 1/2 pieces of Blogging Software I have used by a kid with many siblings who’s had to share everything.

Essential Books for Bloggers How books can be used to raise your monitor to eye level and to do other cool stuff.

Should I Add Your blog? Alan Greenspan tries creative economics during retirement.

How I Set Up WordPress Ben Trott outlines the plan he never made to foil a competitor.

The Secret to Blogging for Baby Poop One Gentleman Blogger’s Way of Tracking Achievement Without Using Money as a Benchmark.

How to Keep Spam out of your Blog The latest kid craze since putting sandwiches in the VCR went out with DVD players.

“I wondered what kids were doing now,” Lizzie laughed.

Aaron came through the door with Jeremy, Jeremy Wright.

“Hey, Lizzie,” Aaron said. “Could you hand me that Sailing Magazine I left on the desk?

Our new TV host passed it to our sailor friend and followed our Jack Bauer/James Bond type into the studio. Then she gasped with some emotion she couldn’t quite name.

The seats were set up as if David Letterman would walk out any minute, but the stage was different, so different. It looked as if it were a gigantic . . . [Read more…]