Successful Blog

Life and the Universe

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I've been thinking . . .

about life and the universe.

I look at the stars. I look at my feet on this planet.

My life. What is it?

Every bit of my singular life stands refusing any label I try to give it.

Those moments where I’ve been . . . they aren’t all of my life, are they? How could my life be what it’s been without the people who went before me, who lived around me, who worked and played beside me in school and every day since then?

Would any business transaction be the same without the trees I climbed and rocks I sat on, without the beaches I walked, the shooting stars I watched falling on a silent night? Could I write the same proposal, if I never saw a rainbow or the color of the water in Sydney Harbor?

Who would I be if I never tasted rock candy, never saw the fireworks like a magical waterfall off the bridge?

What would shift if I didn’t have this slightly messy desk here before me?

Who would recognize me without the instinct, the memories, and the DNA that made me?

Every cell, every atom, every bit on the Internet connects. If I removed even one something would be gone.

With every breath, I change the atmosphere.

With every step, I change the ground we share.

I look at the stars and remember we are made of the same stuff.

Life is so woven into the universe.

How could I ever have felt alone?

Liz's Signature

Interview 1.9: Andy Tilley, a Novel and the Blogosphere

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Andy, What Do You Do?

Out in the desert in Algeria, Andy Tilley is finding it a creative endeavor to promote his first book. So he turned to the Internet and bloggers for support. We held a conversation via email about the challenge that posed. Andy has become a friend an penpal . . . as you’ll see the conversation is really about the author and the new blogger known as Andy Tilley and how he found the blogosphere a disappointment . . . Could that be a good thing?

Hi Andy! What do you think of as your profession?

I think I’d have to go with oil field engineering at this stage in my life Liz. That isn’t to say that this won’t change some day and my ambition is to be a full time novelist. My first novel Recycling Jimmy is the beginning of this transition. The truth is, I’m forty now and simply put I don’t want to spend the rest of my life getting on planes every month to go and spend time somewhere that I don’t really want to be. I’d much rather be at home putting fictional characters in to places and situations that I don’t want to be.

What did you write that makes you an author?

Recycling Jimmy by Andy Tilley

A novel. It was the first manuscript that I wrote and surprisingly the submission process went really well. As I mentioned before, the book is called Recycling Jimmy. It’s fiction and it’s darkly comic. The premise of the book is one of ‘suicide for profit’ but that’s only the headline. In reality the book deals with the relationship between two best mates, a couple of likely lads from Manchester who stumble across an outrageous idea to make money on the internet from the DVD sale of ‘spectacular’ suicide attempts. It’s very funny and has a lot of soul. The reviewers seem to agree so far too, which I am pleased about because I had no idea how the book would be received.

“Recycling Jimmy is energetic, imaginative, relentlessly and unabashedly vulgar, and at times, funny enough to make a cranky reviewer laugh out loud. This belongs on every eccentric fiction fan’s short list of oddball black comedies…” Booklist

How is authorship like and not like what you thought it would be?

Difficult question this, mainly because at no stage did I hold a preconception as to how it might feel to be an author. I think the main reason for this is that the whole process is so prolonged that the thing creeps up on you. Once you start writing the milestones are there but they’re small ones and spaced well apart (multiple drafts, edit after edit, rejection letters etc etc) so by the time that I finally did get that contract through the post, I guess had become a little blasé about the whole affair! By the way, I’m not denying here that it felt good. It felt great and I was elated when I secured the publishing deal but by that time I think I had already become an author in my own mind without realising it. As for what it’s not like, well that’s easy. Published authors simply don’t have time to write. I am so hoping that this will change but at the moment all my effort has to go into supporting my book release.

As a reluctant blogger, what unexpected values have you found in blogging?

The blogging community has really disappointed me. I expected cold, socially inept, manipulative geeks and instead I got real people who are warm, funny, friendly, intelligent…need I go on? In summary the bloggers are bloody marvellous! As for unexpected values it’s a toss up between frankness and dedication. In fact, thinking about this I’m not even going to try and split them because these two values go hand in hand and I’ve found them in every blogger I’ve contacted to date. And how do I know that this isn’t just my good luck and that the evil bloggers are out there somewhere? Simple, because blog culture is so strong and vibrant that it simply couldn’t thrive the way it does if it had a cancer.

Andy Tilley and a camel friend

How do you suppose becoming a blogger will change who you are as a person?

I am now honest and….
well small steps eh?

Thanks, Andy! Also check out the video of Andy’s book. It’s quite cool.

Another reluctant blogger is won over . . . YEA!!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

How Smart People Can Be So Dense, Difficult, and Frustrating

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Thinking about What I Think About

think_different

It was Valeria who challenged me and Joe who challenged her. The challenge was simple enough. Choose something that I have a negative response to and find a way to give my view a new spin . . . think “different” . . . change the way we’ve thought in the past.

When she put forth the challenge, Valeria said,

I tag Liz Strauss at Successful and Outstanding Blog(gers) — because she can think different.

which added a bit to the mix. My natural inclination to make things interesting was — BAM! — kicked up a notched because of what Valeria said.

For a whole day, I walked around
thinking about what I think about
so that I might think about
how I might think about
what I think about in a new and different way.

Naturally, my worry was that if I start out as someone who thinks differently, would my “think different” response end me up an answer that looks the same as most people already think?

Think about it. The question was mathematical. Does different + different = same?

I’ve resolved the issue, I think.

The Rules of the Challenge

Write a new blog post in which you “think different”. Interpret the challenge phrase the way you want. (Thanks, Joe, for letting me borrow yours.)

  1. State that the post is a part of the Think Different Challenge and include a link and/ or trackback to this post so that readers know the rules of the challenge. Feel free to use the above banner (inspired, of course, by Seth Godin).
  2. Include a link and/or trackback to the blogger who tagged you.
  3. At the end of your post, go ahead and tag some fellow bloggers. Don’t forget to email them to let them know they have been tagged.

People Really Do Think Differently

All of that thinking made me realize that I really had only one think different topic that was truly close to my heart . . . we too often forget that, from the very start, people really do think differently.

Let’s think this through . . .

When we solve a problem, make a plan, or try to teach something, we offer our thinking process using the order and logic we find natural. Listeners who can arrange ideas in the same way track what we’re trying to communicate.

Folks who think the same way as we do are smart, savvy, and quick on the uptake. Now, really, wouldn’t the world be a better place if everyone was as smart as we are?

Truth is, for all practical purposes, most everyone we meet is smart enough. We’re all just smart in different ways. The difference is in how we construct ideas.

Yep, it’s a fact that different brains construct thoughts in different ways.

  • Some folks have to see things; then they can do things; then they can talk about them.
  • Some folks have to see things; then they can talk about things; then they can do them.
  • Some folks have to do things; then they can see things; then they can talk about them.
  • Some folks have to do things; then they can talk about things; then they can see them.
  • Some folks have to talk about things; then they can do things; then they can see them.
  • Some folks have to talk about things; then they can see things; then they can do them.

Agree on the right order and the communication goes smoothly. Choose an order that’s unnatural to the listener and he or she will have trouble following the ideas.
That person will probably not “get” what we’re saying.

That’s when we start to think something like . . . the listener is . . . um, er . . . dense, or inattentive, or just plain difficult. After all, other folks “get it” when we say what we’ve just said. So it must be the listener not the message — right?

I’ve been “dense, inattentive, and just plain difficult.” So have most of my friends. We know because of inane conversations like this.

“I’m not following you. I don’t understand.”

“You can’t be so smart and not understand. You’re just being difficult.”

“Busted! It’s a plot to frustrate us both to no end.”

“Oh. What part don’t you get?”

By the way, I’ve been on both sides of that conversation. I suppose most folks probably have.

Presenting the information in a different way usually works, especially when the listener gets to ask for the data in the order that he or she constructs ideas.

Think “different” about how people think.

People really do think differently.

Don’t you think?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Blog World Expo: Internet People All Have Cameras

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I Found One and Took It Back

relationships button

If you go to a blogger meet up that involves more than yourself, you’re likely to find at least one camera in the group. Actually it could be two, couldn’t it?

Cameras of every sort were in use at BlogWorldExpo. A camera or two got pointed at me now and then. I even found one on a bench left behind when designer, John T. Unger, headed off to a session. I returned it even though I think I might have been the only camera-free person at the entire event. It turned out that the camera belonged to John’s friend — Well actually it belonged to the man’s wife. So a husband and a camera united in Las Vegas might have helped save a marriage. Now that’s something you don’t get to say every day. Yeah!

Liz Strauss and Toby Blumberg

This shot of Toby Blumberg, the famous Marketing Diva, and me was taken by Andy Wibbels. Imagine this — he lives within walking distance of my living room, but we had to go to Las Vegas to meet. It’s a bloggers’ shame . . . don’t you think?

Toby and I also ended up in a video shot by the handsome Shel Israel with his new video cam. As Toby and I discussed bloggers, Las Vegas and Shel’s equipment, Jim Turner and Tris Hussey hid their heads in their hands. I’m sure that their red faces were caused by their own outrageous laughter. Shel made the comment that Tris could be Andy Rooney. I sort of think Tris could lead about 43 double lives if he cared to.

Toby, Robyn Tippins, Steve Broback and I also got caught by Deb Weil’s video cam.

If you head on over to Brian Solis’ Blog bub.licio.us, you’ll get to see other folks I got to see while I was there. Sim from Utterz is an intelligent, engaging guy with a great new product. Chris Brogan, Robyn, Jeremiah, and Stephanie look great. Stephanie was the elegant host of a fine party the evening before. Thank you, Stephanie for your hospitality.

I didn’t meet Matt Colebourne until the next evening, but he’s there in the pictures as well. I sure enjoyed the time we had when we did get to talk. It’s not often that a conversation on music goes quite as far reaching as ours did.

Robyn and I met up with Brian Solis and Frank Gruber after the pajama party. If you look, you’ll find both of them in the pictures. Frank’s always a friend in a crowd and a pleasure to see. Meeting Brian for the first time was a smile of the mischevious sort. We found that we have people and thoughts in common — no further comment on that, only a grin. Robyn, Frank, Brian, and I actually talked business as well as blogging. It’s okay, no one was listening in.

More on the people of BlogWorld Expo to come . . . Part 3 is next.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Related
Blog World Expo: Internet People 1

The Ageless Project: David Wilkinson

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A Problogger in His Teens

by Keith Dsouza

Did you think that age could deter you from blogging? Did you think that a 13 year old only can accomplish things in school?

Well lets break the myth today. Blogging is ageless.

David Wilkinson has shattered any idea that blogging is restricted by age. . . .

David Wilkinson, a 13-year-old blogger from Manchester, England, was born on February 15th, 1994. He has been actively blogging since the age of 12. In that short time, David has become a full-time Problogger and Internet Professional without affecting his studies. He is also the CEO and founder of Zi Media.

David also likes to play golf in his spare time or hooks on with his Xbox 360 or his gaming PC. He also has an interest in Photography but meekly says that he is not a expert at that yet.

Vital Stats

Name: David Wilkinson
URL: http://www.tech-zi.net
Birthdate: 15th February 1994
Birthplace: Manchester, England – UK
Current Location: Manchester, England – UK

What David Blogs About

David writes at Techzi.net and also owns Affiliate Defined. David writes about technology and has quite an engaging way of doing it. He mixes humor with his writings that many of regular readers have come to appreciate.

Reading through his blog, I was surprised at how easily a reader could digest the information he provides and laugh while doing it.

David’s categories include Internet, Gaming, Gadgets, Web2.0 and many more.

Getting Candid With David

Here are a few questions we asked David and what he had to say. .

Successful Blog (SB): How old were you when you came across blogging?
David Wilkinson (DW): I started blogging in July 2006 which would have made me 12. Admittedly, it was complete fluke that I ran across blogging at all and I have a spammy AdSense arbitrage website to thank, ironically enough.

SB: How did the interest generate within you, knowing that you are of such a tender age?
DW: I’ve always been an entrepreneur – trying to sell things to my friends and try out new methods of work. I’ve also always showed a natural interest and a burning curiositry for anything out-of-the-ordinary, or even slightly different. Blogging presented itself to me in a strange way (see above), but I don’t regret it for a second.

SB: Did something influence you to take up blogging?
DW: I’d always had a passion for writing and like to have my views known. I knew XHTML and a bit of CSS and with the help of Blogger managed to get a site running pretty quickly. I soon picked up on sites like Engadget and Gizmodo, along with the other “usual” technology blogs you’ll run across who dictated the direction my writing took. My style, being arguably different from the masses – aimed to please and not just inform and reading my blogs for the first time, alot of people won’t pick up on the underlying humor and jokes that long-term reads will. I guess my biggest influence however was the relationship I had with my readers, and for that – I thank them.

SB: What are your most memorable experiences when you started blogging?
DW: Ha! One stands out particularly strongly, as it happens and it was perhaps one of my first ever backlinks I was to receive. I’d reviewed NABAZTAG, a French Wi-Fi Rabbit-turn-evil-villain-turn-RSS-reader-turn-alarm-clock and the makers had picked up on the article and linked to it. Being new to the whole concept of blogging, I went off and wrote three or four posts ranting on my blog about how “famous the blog was”. Oh boy – I had a long way to go… 😉

SB: Do you think blogging is ageless? If not a ProBlogger, would you have still chosen to blog regularly at your age?DW: Ageless? Certainly. If not a ProBlogger would I have chosen to blog? Bear in mind, when I started to blog, I *wasn’t* a ProBlogger. I was just your average geeky kid (which I’m proud to say I still am). Today, I’m not sure I *would* class myself as a ProBlogger. Six months ago, maybe, but my focuses and earnings have shifted from one place to another and today my main focus is affiliate marketing. Despite this, I have to admit that the blogosphere is one of the safest and most fun environments online with such a community element to it that it’s hard not to grin broadly at the random adventures of Timmy the cat and Darren Rowse’s next big thing.

SB: Could you give us some quotes on how blogging can be an ageless experience.
DW: It’s nothing like a 9-5 job. There’s nothing stopping you from doing your schoolwork AND blogging. I guess it’s flexible “working” hours, to be honest. There’s nobody to tell me off (besides my blog readers) or whine at me for not writing (besides my blog readers) or dock my pay if I turn up for “work” late (besides my advertisers). 😉 Hehe… At the end of the day though, it’s one of them things that ANYBODY can do with a keyboard and a mouse. You don’t need to be 18. You don’t have to be younger than 60. You don’t have to have an IQ of ten-thousand and one. You don’t even have to write well so long as you have an interesting story to tell. A breath of fresh air in a controlled world.

Thanks, David. We couldn’t agree more.

Be ageless and let the world know. Great thoughts come from every age and all over the planet.
–ME “Liz” Strauss and Keith Dsouza
Work with Liz!!

Change the World: Put Yourself in Your Work

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It Makes a Difference to Know

changetheworld8

Yesterday I was in a business meeting with some spectacular human beings who own a digital animation company. We had reached that point at which our conversation turned to contracts and a formal relationship about the work that we would do together.

As we spoke of who, how, what, and how much, one young man excused him and left. He’d gone to find a single sheet of paper and copied it several times. Upon his return, he handed a copy to each of us still in the room, including members of his own team. This is an excerpt from the letter be brought.

My 71 year old father has stage IV pancreatic cancer . . . He is in his third week of taking part in a clinical trial using Rexin G.

Viewing your animation helped me understand his cancer treatment. . . . I’ve been praying for cures for the many types of cancer for years. I never imagined that my own father would develop the terrible disease. My Dad is hopeful and so am I . . .

Thank you for your part in helping us to understand this complicated treatment.

The letter made us all stop. I think I heard every voice in the room whisper, “Wow!” Each person handled the page with reverence and care for the person who wrote. I’m sure it slightly changed our perspective on what we already knew was a good and right relationship to something more.

The writer had sent a piece of herself in the spaces between her words. She said, “You made a difference in my life.”

That page was proof. One man had put heart in his work and that gift had changed a stranger’s life.

Just the thought is stunning.

We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss