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The Famous Joanna Thematic Link Posts Back to Challenge Me!

August 24, 2007 by Liz

Jan and Joanna Started It

If you recall Jan of Circular Communication wrote a wonderful guest post for Lorelle called Why A Link Post Should Be Like Mingling at a Party, and Joanna of Confident Writing used it as a springboard into a post of her own, How to write a links post. Joanna set out a list of criteria for writing quality, readable posts that link out.

I wrote up Joanna’s criteria and offered a challenge in a post of my own. The challenge said that I would take all of the link posts that readers wrote and use them to write a link story from them. Last night was the deadline to get your link post in.

It’s been hard keeping track of the individual posts. So, just to be sure that I’ve got everyone’s post before I start writing, I’m going to list them here. Do take a moment to read through them. I’ve found them to be some of the most billiant writing on the Internet.

Links Post Entries

Thank you to all who played along.

Fan the Flames

Error Retrieving What You Wished For! Retry? Y/N by Alina

Weekly Wrap-up: War on Clutter by Michael

Shared Answers – Final Roundup & the Winner by Yvonne Russell

How to Best Pitch Bloggers – a Virtual Group Interview by Jan

Why go out and Play when you can be Inside Blogging? by Andrea

A learning whirlpool by Anastasia

How to read feeds without driving yourself mad by Joanna

Blog writing with a purpose by Joanna

I’m just writing to say thanks by Joanna

When writing means spirit spilling by Joanna

Linking with intention by Joanna

Why Writing a Link Post Should Be Like Planning a Party by Jan

Google and the Privacy Dilemma by Brad

A New Week by Jon

I’ll give this a day. Please, if you don’t see yours here, leave the link in the comment box below. Thank you. I don’t want to leave anyone out . . . and you don’t want to make my quest too easy. You see . . .

Now my challenge, should decide I wish to keep blogging here, is to do as I promised — write a story post linking all of these thematic link posts together in the tradition of 301 Link Posts in a Story.

What was I thinking when I volunteered to do that? Actually, coming up with tale about these should be fun!

Anyone want to offer some character names and a setting or two?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Update: This now includes Jnswanson’s entry. Is yours Here?

A Whole New Day

August 24, 2007 by Liz

What Are You Waiting for?

It’s a whole new day.
Look at the sky.
We’ve never seen that exact sky before, nope, not that one. It’s brand new today.
What will you do to celebrate it?

What whole new thought will you bring to the whole new you that woke up this whole new morning? Will you take a whole new minute to savor an idea?

Will you have a whole new cup of coffee or your favorite tea, while you while away some time just looking out the window on a whole new day that’s just beginning?

Might you plan a whole new way of doing something? Take a whole new walk around a whole new block outside your building. Say a “hello” to a whole new someone you might like to meet.

Will you take a chance at finding a whole new side to someone who you’ve known for what seems like forever? Could you start a whole new habit of smiling for no good reason?

You have a whole new day to think of something.

It’s your life and the coolest part is tomorrow will be a whole new day all over again.

Holy cow! Can you believe a blue, blue sky like that? It’s a whole new way of seeing.

121: From a Blog Writer to a Conversational Dynamo

August 23, 2007 by Liz

Dynamo? Oh Wow!

Sure, Dawud, put me on the spot, why don’t you? . . .

Have you read, Dawud’s latest one-2-one post? He answers the question, Are You Having A Conversation With Your Niche Audience? and he invites you to help him come to his best answer. The conversation in the comments brings up some fabulous thinking on the subject.

Then what does he do? He asks me (and you folks reading) about how I got to be a conversational dynamo. I sort of feel like I’ve been asked to explain what a great kisser I am — whether I am one or not.

His actual question was.

Whatâ€™s helped you go from just being a writer on a blog to becoming a conversational dynamo?

I won’t waste your time, I’ll pretend like he knows what he’s saying. We all know I can talk and that there are a few comments here and there on my blog. So let’s start from that premise. What makes the conversation happen here? Am I a conversational dynamo or is it smoke and mirrors?

I vote for the second.

Conversation is two or more people talking together. I can talk all I want. That doesn’t mean anyone will listen. Does it? Some days, I feel pretty sure that no one does. So what makes it special when they do?

It’s got to be more than me. Of course, it is. I can only guess at the recipe, but here goes.

A Recipe to Be A Conversational Dynamo

Write with one part heart. Put it out there open wide and let everyone see what it is you have to say. Don’t hedge your bets. Know that some days everyone will disagree and that all days some people will not see eye to eye. Be okay with that. Like them anyway. They’ll respect you for that.
Then write with another part thinking mind. Offer it without fear and let folks know what you’ve learned lately about life and yourself. Don’t be stingy with your knowledge thinking that one day you’ll need to know more than someone else. People can tell when you’re holding out on them.
Lavish it all with room for everyone you meet to be who they are, to come in and change your ideas, and expect them to be every bit their best. Hope they expect it of you.
Welcome every person at the door. Call each one by name. Let every one of them know that you are glad he or she is here.
Then after you make all of them feel at home, stop talking and listen.
Stop talking and listen some more to each one individually.
And care about what they say with your head and your heart.

That would be my recipe for becoming a conversational dynamo, if I were to guess how.

I leave you with this question for next week.

What do you do when suddenly no one seems to be paying attention to your blog?

If youâ€™re reading this, Iâ€™d love to hear your answer in the comment box below.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

One2One is a cross-blog conversation. Find the answer at dawud miracle on Monday. You can see the entire One-2-One Conversation series on the Successful Series page.
In Case You Missed It: Writing 06-13-07

Questions to Get Closer to You: Question 7

August 23, 2007 by Liz

Get Closer to You

This is a series of questions, I don’t know how many. They are the ones I ask when I help folks get closer to their personal identity.

What one thing might you do to make your life simpler?

I’ll answer first to get things started.

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

10 More Outstanding Links that Answer “What DO You Do for a Living?”

August 22, 2007 by Liz

SIMPLE SALES SERIES

Some of the Best Answers

One of my favorite answers to the question “What do you do for a living has always been, “I’m an assistant notary public,” since there is no such job. But I answered it seriously here.

3.3: Three Steps to an Intriguing Answer to â€œWhat Do You Do?â€

Before we leave the topic of how to answer the “What do you do? question. I am offering a few more links to some other wonderful sources. Some are less serious than others. All are worth a quick look.

Outstanding Links that Answer “What DO You Do for a Living?”

“So, what do you do for a living?” Some fun answers

pdf http://www.whywork.org/about/faq/question.html a pdf study

How do you introduce yourself? Ways to make a good first impression when answering the question

What Exactly Do You Do for a Living? How to get more specific

So, What Do You Do For a Living? The difficulties of explaining a rare job description

What Do You Do For a Living? | Duct Tape Marketing Blog A fabulous example of how to do it well

Answer this question: What do you do for a living? Â» Leadership … Why it’s important

What do you do for a living? Sometimes just hearing other folks answer helps us have an idea of what to do.

What Do You Do For A Living? Are you talking about the most important part of your business?

Cuis-Zine Quizzing Blending your work life and your real life together

Now that you can say what you do for a living.

Can you say what you do for a life?

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

I'm the Life of the Party . . .

August 22, 2007 by Liz

parties.

Don’t feel bad if I don’t come to your party. It’s not that I don’t want to be with you to celebrate. It’s that parties scare me.

People at parties act differently. They talk differently. They smile party smiles. They chat party chatter. I watch people at parties, and I see them waiting for the fun to begin. It’s intimidating. I end up like Alice in Wonderland at the Tea Party. My words seem to be in another language.

If I get there early, I’m sure the fun hasn’t happened. If I come in the middle, the fun seems to have started without me. I’m not sure how to join in. If I get there too late, the fun seems to be over.

People say, “Hey, here comes the life of the party.” I think, Uh-oh my life is now over. I’m about to do something too big or too foolish.

To me parties are more like the Serengeti than like my natural habitat. Navigating a party is much harder than a photo safari.

It works better, if I don’t call it a party. If I call it a few friends “getting together,” the pressure seems to come off. I can talk to friends without feeling that “fun responsibility.” Friends don’t expect friends to be effervescent and fun every minute, . . . except maybe at a party.

Fun is so elusive and undefinable. I don’t want to be in charge of it. Sometimes I don’t know I’ve had it until I look back long after it’s over.

I know I had fun once, but don’t ask which time it was.

Oh yeah, then that one special party happens . . . when I lose self-consciousness. Fun falls from the sky like stardust on me . . . yeah then, going back to the real world no fun at all.

I guess I pack too much into when the word parties. I wonder whether I’ll ever outgrow that.

Until then, I’ll keep thinking of them as visitng my friends who are getting together for some occasion. Then, I can have a good time and even be entertaining.

Sometimes I can be the life of the party, as long as it’s not a party.