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The Complete Metaphor Project Listing and Winners

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What Teachers and Learners!

What’s Your Metaphor?

When we know something well we have internalized what it’s about. That makes us flexible with our thoughts and our models. It offers us an ability to be fluent when talking about the subject. Our experience and knowledge allows us to teach others how it works.

When a concept or practice is simple, teaching is often an act of simple demonstration. When the concept or practice multi-layered or complex — when it’s process and information, people and data — sometimes a translation or a comparison that takes a person from the known to the unknown has a better chance. . . . That’s when a great metaphor comes in handy.

Thanks again to Char and Derrick for inspiring this project.

Welcome to the Complete Metaphor Project List!

Thank you all for being a part.

BONUS: 10 Winners

These ten contributors, selected randomly by a man, who paid so little attention that he doesn’t know what this contest is about, will receive an autographed copy of Lorelle’s book “Blogging Tips — What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging.”

If your blog’s name is listed below, please email me, using the subject line METAPHOR WINNER and include your email address and postal address. We’ll ship the book to you.

Congratulations to the winners!

Everyone won will all 50 metaphors! You drew unforgettable pictures with your words. Thank you, again!

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

Metaphors Post Four — We’re Good at This!!

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The Metaphor Project: What Fun!!

This list is the fourth set of metaphors you’ve sent. I’ve gathered all I could find in every corner where they might have come together. I’ve visited most and hope to read the rest today. Each one I read makes the experience even better.

To think that Derrick’s Pizza Makers and Char’s Famer’s Market got this whole thing going is quite the statement of how the blogosphere works. A great idea takes hold and gets growing — each one inspiring another.

Check this new batch out and pass them along to your readers. The more ways we look at blogging the better we’ll be able to explain it when we need to.

Oh, I hope I found them all.

Because this project spread so quickly and not all links are making their way to me, if you’ve written a metaphor and you’re not on the list, please email me a link.

This weekend, when I’m sure that I have them all together with none missed, I’ll compile the entire lot into one list. (If you sneak one in late I’ll add you, you know that.) That’s when I’ll announce the winners of the ten copies of Blogging Tips That Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging by Lorelle VanFossen.

Thank you for all of the submissions to The “What’s Your Blogging Metaphor?” Group Writing Project.

In respect and gratitude to all who took part and all who blog, here’s my metaphor:

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

The First Submissions: Your Blogging Metaphors

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The Metaphor Project: What’s Your Blogging Metaphor?

When a nonblogger asks, “What is a blog?’ How do you answer? Have you tried using a metaphor? Would you mind sharing yours? A few bloggers have.

The first submissions are in. Like the blogs they come from, each metaphor is a unique representation of the writer. We see blogs almost everywhere. They are a County Fair. They’re underwater. They’re a line of koalas. Like life, blogging seems to lend itself to metaphorical explanation — maybe more easily than it does to a straightforward definition.

These are the first submissions to The “What’s Your Blogging Metaphor?” Group Writing Project. I’ve discovered some great new blog writers and fun ways to talk about blogs. Just look at the titles! Check them out and pass them along to your readers. The more ways we look at blogging the better we’ll be able to explain it when we need to.

Let’s find some more.

Because this project spread so quickly and not all links are making their way to me, if you’ve written a metaphor and you’re not on the list, please email me a link. If you’ve already done that before noon on May 31, please forgive me and send it again. (I had dental surgery yesterday . . .)

Be a Part of the Project

So, what’s your blogging metaphor? Join the project. There’s still time to be a part – I’ll keep adding to this list until June 5th at Midnight Chicago time (GMT-6hrs.) Here’s the original post for the background — the whats and the hows.

C’mon tell us. How would you explain blogging to someone who knew nothing about it? What’s your blogging metaphor?

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

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.