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Karen Shanley Is a B.A.D. Blogger!

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello is Karen there?

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Go to her blog and you’ll find the words One Writer Mom, One Tween Kid, One Brilliant Australian Shepherd, One Comical Border Collie Mix, and One Big Fluffy Maine Coon Cat. The words are not very large, but they’re in all caps.

Karen Shanley named every one of them in the email she sent saying that she wanted to be a B.A.D. blogger. This is a woman who considers her animals to be a cast of characters in her life. Who wouldn’t enjoy a conversation with someone who has a joie de vivre like that?

Gosh we had a fine conversation of the kind that two abstract thinkers with too much say can do. We talked about writing and blog writing and why we do it. We talked about our dads and unconditional love and how we wished everyone could experience it at least once in their life.

When we talked about being moms. I think I told her the story of how, at 17, my son thought it tragic that people over 30 just don’t care about anything. That seems to be when Karen said that “Getting older is humbling in a good way.” I still like the sound of that.

Karen and I had a full-out writing discussion. We talked about how writing makes a person a better thinker — deeper, quicker. “When you go about it with integrity and vision, you’re sure to grow,” is how Karen said it.

Karen writes about the two-legged and four-legged creatures she loves. and “Good people take the time to read and make thoughtful comments.” she says.

It’s easy to see why. She serves them stories abour the characters in her life. They make you want to tell her stories abiout the characters in yours or get her talking more about the characters in hers.

Karen Shanley makes conversation easy.

I smile to think back on it.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

My writing is about finding the words someone else would hear, but not shying away from difficult conversation. —Karen Shanley

Stop by Karen Shanley’s Blog and say hi!

Thanks, Karen 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.

Thomas R. Clifford Is B.A.D. Blogger!

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello is Tom there?

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When I suggested to Director Tom that he be a B.A.D. Blogger, he was, as he is, the curious person who makes stories on film. He wondered about what we would do, and say. He suggested “Saturday morning with a cup of coffee sound.” 🙂

I thought here’s a guy who was going to be a perfect conversation partner for me — worth looking forward to the way children look foward to Saturday morning cartoons.

I tried to set his mind to ease a bit with “We’ll just talk like regular people. 🙂
It’s a phone call. I bet we’ll get it right. Probably have a whole lot more fun than Dinner with Andre.”

Tom set the tone for the call when he replied to my email with, “Regular people? Fooey! Aw, c’mon.” 🙂

What could I possibly answer to that, but “Okay then, like us.” 🙂 . . . ? And looking back I have to say that’s exactly who we were.

Tom answered the phone and immediately we were talking, and laughing. Laughter comes easily to both of us. We spent most of our time working on changing things on Tom’s blog, while we did so we talked about blogs and what he did. Boy that was fun!

Tom talked about his awards and his films, but I liked most the part when he talked about how he started blogging. He said that he went online looking for someone, anyone,who explained how to do what he does. “Everyone has a website,” Tom said. “I don’t want to attract other filmmakers. I want to tell folks who want to tell stories on film how to do that.”

Tom explained to me that there were three important questions I needed to answer to tell a good story on film — I should know

  • What do you want to say?
  • Who’s going to say it?
  • What pictures compliment the story?

Tom said that’s how to tell a smart story in a smart way.

Go read his blog I think he does great job of it and every time he leaves me wanting to say, “Hey Tom, would you do it again?”

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

I love all sorts of ideas and philosophies. . . . I need to play around in the sand boxes. . . . I have to at least look, with blogging, I wanted to participate. — Thomas R. Clifford

Stop by Tom’s Blog, Director Tom Blog, and say hi!

Thanks, Tom 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

Rory Sullivan is a B.A.D. Blogger!

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello is Rory there?

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Off in London is a dad, named Rory. What a nice man he is. What a gentle, kind man he is. He done so many things in his past lives. I like that he’s working as a window washer. I think that all guys should know how to make glass shine and sparkle.

Rory wrote to me to say that he would be interested in being a bad blogger. Who would I be to say no? The most interesting people come knocking with that same request. So, the next thing you know we were talking on skype, as if we had been talking all of our lives.

Rory said that his blogging started as something personal. He would blog each day for a month before he went public. His goal was a website and blog on parenting. His love is Annabelth his daughter. Have you been there yet? He’s a natural. His blog and website are what he wanted.

We talked about what it’s like to be a parent in these times. Rory said he wanted to offer some isnights and direction, maybe a little, to other parents, from his experience. He doesn’t know what I see by watching. That the love of one dad named Rory is more than experience enough.

Rory Sullivan is one special guy who mashes up life with the mahers he serves his daughter at dinner. Somehow it all works to make a life that others want to emulate and learn from as they watch.

Off in London is a Window Washier who goes by the name of Rory and he is one heck of a father who blogs so that we might learn what makes him so special.

But only some of that translates into words.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

It is a world I didn’t know existed. —Rory Sullivan

Stop by Rory’s Blog, Hamelife and say hi!

Thanks, Rory, 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.

Alister Cameron Is a B.A.D. Blogger!

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello is Alister there?

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I noticed him first in my stats. A name like his is kind of hard to overlook. It looks like this

alistercameron.com.

Yes. I wondered who the person was who had bought the URL for an A Lister blog. I clicked through to find Alister Cameron had written a post called The real reason nobody reads your blog that outlined in detail Tony Hung’s first 50 days as a blogger.

Everything Alister said in that post was about relationship blogging. I’m not sure how it happened, but next thing you know we were on Skype and talking. He was kind enough to stay up at midnight to listen to me chatter away. We talked for over an hour about so many things.

Alister and I talked about Melbourne and the people I know and I miss there. I had to get that out of the way because . . . well, relationships after all. . . . Then we got serious about the subject of relationship blogging. We discussed the posts he wrote and how people are the at the heart of everything. We talked about social media and the phenomenon of MySpace. We managed to touch on New Year’s Resolutions, Text Link Ads, and Tuesday coffees with Daren Rowse as well.

I asked Alister why he blogged and he said, “It’s giving expression to the leader in me. I’m wired to want to influence people.” I liked the way he worded that. I liked the thought as well. This is a man who likes his life and himself. No wonder he knows so much about relationships.

The day after the call on an Australian holiday, Alister took time to write a lovely post making it sound like I did him a favor by keeping him up half the night. Only a great guy looks at the world like that.

Since that conversation, Alister and I have talked more than once to help each other out with advice.

Which goes to prove a couple of things.

Alister is a relationship blogger and a fine friend, as well.
I’ve been monstrously slow at getting this post written up.

Oh and it’s even cooler to see alistercameron.com in my stats now.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

Blogging can really bring the best out of you, if you’re the right kind of person. — Alister Cameron

Stop by Alister’s Blog, Alister Cameron, Blog Consultant and say hi!

Thanks, Alister, 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.

Robert Hruzek Is a B.A.D Blogger!

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello is Robert there?

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It was a while ago when Robert emailed me that he was ready to be be a B.A.D. blogger. He warned me, though, that if I was as bad at small talk as I profess to be, the resulting conversation could be rather slow. He said that was because he’s writer, not a talker. I told him I wasn’t worried about my ability to people talking with me.

You might call it irony — that we started by talking about bridges — the bridges in Chicago and in Portland. I live in Chicago, and we have lots of them over the river that flows backwards through our city. Bob remembered them and then told me about the bridges of Portland.

I kind of liked the idea of two bloggers who don’t take to small talk starting out by talking about bridges. It seemed to lie a perfect writer’s segue.

Somehow from there we got talking about “the mysteries.” We discussed people who use the details of their job to cloud the issues by making what they do sound “mysterious.” You’ve run into them, I bet. We mentioned the print buyers who say, “Oh no, that will never work on the press,” nixing what they don’t want to do by using the mysteries of the equipment most people don’t know. We talked about folks across every industry who do the same thing.

Then, Bob told me about his grandmother’s attic where he found a love of reading. He said she had a window there with hundreds of books and magazines. He said he’d sit in the window and read. I could picture him perched in the daylight of the attic window, nose in a book, unaware of the rest of the world.

When he spoke of blogging, Bob was speaking of the cosmopolitation nature of the community. “I’ve met people from every corner of the world . . . It’s fascinating . . . I can travel with my computer . . . It’s really fun.”

So was talking our way across bridge with a guy who doesn’t like small talk as much I don’t.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

It’s truly addictive to find a voice I didn’t know I had. — Robert Hruzek

Stop by Robert’s Blog, Middle Zone Musings, and say hi!

Thanks, Robert, 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.

Karen Lynch Is a B.A.D. Blogger!

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello is Karen there?

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Karen Lynch answered the phone and immediately we were talking about her husband, her 3 kids, and her cat. It seems that she has a special family to share her life, and she’s pretty proud of them. She’s also the kind that you can tell right away that they’re pretty proud of her as well.

Karen has a blog for breast cancer survivors, and she is a survivor herself. She spends time on the cancer blog sharing informtion and her story so others can move forward. Karen’s also a writer and a journalist. She has writer’s blog as well. Over there, she writes about her writing work and related writing subjects.

I asked Karen where her life had taken her. She said that she’s been writing since grade school. We talked a bit about that. She told me that she started journaling as a teen and did creative writing, during and after that. Karen said that even when she had a coporate marketing job she was still writing. I knew what she meant.

Karen said that she left the marketing job for a writing life — magazine writing to be exact. She talked about when she would know she was a writer and her definition of success. Then I told her mine.

I could tell that magazine writing is her passion. Possibly the easiest way for me to tell it was her calling was that I tried to talk her out of it, told her all of the reasons not to like it; gave her the pitch about everything wrong with writing for magazines . . . and Karen answered simply that she had decided that was what she wanted to do. She would make the big glossy magazine article happen. I have no doubt about that.

I’m usually quite convincing. Karen must be quite sure of where she is going.

I like that about her. I also like her laugh, her sense of humor, and a whole lot more.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

I want to be an anpproachable resource who says to new writers that we can walk the walk together. — Karen Lynch

Stop by Karen’s Blog, A Writer’s Blog, and say hi!

Thanks, Karen, 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.