There are a variety of senseless and mindless psychological tests floating around out there but this one from Barbara Demarco-Barrett of Pen On Fire is quite different.
It is titled "Spot the Fake Smile". There are 20 questions and it takes about 10 minutes. My score was a dismal 8 out of 20. I guess I am just too trusting.
Click here to take it.
Report back and let me know what your score is.
Write it down,
Carma
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
The Impatience of Success
"Instead of thinking about where you are, think about where you want to be. It takes twenty years of hard work to become an overnight success." Diana Rankin
Thomma Lyn responded to Writer In the Making’s meme tag and posted a “recycled post” on Failure that fits so perfectly with this quotation. Click here to check it out.
Wikipedia says that failure refers to the state or condition of not meeting a desired objective. What is the criteria for failure? Is it a company failure or product failure? It could be a hyped event like the 1986 live TV special, where Geraldo Rivera had the public anticipating that Al Capone's vault was full of money, but all that was found was an empty moonshine bottle.
Failure is part of life. You have to string a bunch of them together in order to achieve the best possible result. You are only a failure if you stop thinking and creating. Your family won’t think you are a failure. Who is more important than that?
Write it down,
Carma
Thomma Lyn responded to Writer In the Making’s meme tag and posted a “recycled post” on Failure that fits so perfectly with this quotation. Click here to check it out.
Wikipedia says that failure refers to the state or condition of not meeting a desired objective. What is the criteria for failure? Is it a company failure or product failure? It could be a hyped event like the 1986 live TV special, where Geraldo Rivera had the public anticipating that Al Capone's vault was full of money, but all that was found was an empty moonshine bottle.
Failure is part of life. You have to string a bunch of them together in order to achieve the best possible result. You are only a failure if you stop thinking and creating. Your family won’t think you are a failure. Who is more important than that?
Write it down,
Carma
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Are You a Writer or a Salesman?
Rumor has it that some writers fear selling face to face. True or False? I am a writer who hates selling face to face. My first distasteful experience with sales happened when I was ten years old. I was required to go door to door selling flower seeds as a fund raiser for my 4-H club.
Fear of selling is not a good thing for writers, since we need to sell our ideas and projects to publishers. Is it the fear of rejection or just an aversion to meeting people face to face? For me it is more about insecurity of myself. I find it much easier to “sell” myself on paper.
In Doug D’ana’s monthly newsletter he states that in order for writers to develop their own unique selling style they should take a sales course and not just read a sales book. A sales course will help you get down to the basics of selling face to face. You will learn how to see and feel clients’ emotions and how to react to them and you will gain an overwhelming advantage over writers who take only writing classes.
Doug characterizes his success in one way when he says “Truth is, if there's a reason why I've had such great success in copywriting, it is because I'm not a writer--I'm a salesman who types for a living.”
Of course “selling” is just another form of marketing. Suzanne Lieurance of The Working Writer’s Coach suggests that if we want to keep our freelance writing career going we need to develop a weekly marketing plan. There are two important items in any plan. One is Promotional Activities. We must constantly promote (sell) ourselves and our writing in order to be a working writer. Keep your web site or blog updated, write press releases and so on. The next one is Networking with other writers and community organizations. Join your local chamber of commerce and go to business luncheons.
Also, think of yourself as a “big” business. Even though you are the chief cook and bottle washer, you have a global business on the world wide web. Don’t sell yourself short in this area.
Everyone has a selling style waiting to be developed. Develop your own personal unique selling style and you can be a “thank-you-for-the-money-in-my-pocket” writer.
Write it down,
Carma
Fear of selling is not a good thing for writers, since we need to sell our ideas and projects to publishers. Is it the fear of rejection or just an aversion to meeting people face to face? For me it is more about insecurity of myself. I find it much easier to “sell” myself on paper.
In Doug D’ana’s monthly newsletter he states that in order for writers to develop their own unique selling style they should take a sales course and not just read a sales book. A sales course will help you get down to the basics of selling face to face. You will learn how to see and feel clients’ emotions and how to react to them and you will gain an overwhelming advantage over writers who take only writing classes.
Doug characterizes his success in one way when he says “Truth is, if there's a reason why I've had such great success in copywriting, it is because I'm not a writer--I'm a salesman who types for a living.”
Of course “selling” is just another form of marketing. Suzanne Lieurance of The Working Writer’s Coach suggests that if we want to keep our freelance writing career going we need to develop a weekly marketing plan. There are two important items in any plan. One is Promotional Activities. We must constantly promote (sell) ourselves and our writing in order to be a working writer. Keep your web site or blog updated, write press releases and so on. The next one is Networking with other writers and community organizations. Join your local chamber of commerce and go to business luncheons.
Also, think of yourself as a “big” business. Even though you are the chief cook and bottle washer, you have a global business on the world wide web. Don’t sell yourself short in this area.
Everyone has a selling style waiting to be developed. Develop your own personal unique selling style and you can be a “thank-you-for-the-money-in-my-pocket” writer.
Write it down,
Carma
Monday, June 4, 2007
Metaphor - Figure of Speech - Free Speech
Liz Strauss at Successful Blogger.com always comes up with intriguing projects. She makes us dig down deep into the cortex or is it vortex (I don’t know for sure), of our creative minds.
Blogging is transforming everyday
To make it simple I usually tell family and friends that blogging is like writing a newspaper column. You get to write about a wide variety of topics and you get your own byline. The part that is hard for them to understand is the WHY I do it.
I tell them when writing for a newspaper one does not get feedback or meet new people or exchange creative ideas, or help one another. I think the day will come when all we have to say is “I am a blogger” and people will nod their heads and say “Wowwww, cool”
There are oh so many ways to define blogging. Check out the list below
Bloggers, Brains and Metaphors at BrainBasedBusiness - Using your Brain to succeed in Business ·
Blogging is like a box of chocolates… at Small Business Marketing Ideas - Marketing Idea Blog
Blogging Metaphors, or, What I am doing here at A Politically Incorrect Entrepreneur
Blogging Metaphor: Why blogging is like a Mommy at Moments of Clarity
My Blogging Metaphor at Carpe Factum
What’s Your Blogging Metaphor? Teaching by Bits (and Bytes) at ModernMagellans - Maps to Improve Your Business, Leadership, and Life
A Blog is Your Bullhorn to the World at Blawg IT
An Image Is Worth A Thousand Words! Huh? at Smart Wealthy Rich
Blogging Metaphor - The “Party Line” at Insight Advertising-Marketing Communications
Singing the “blogging song” around the campfire at Live the GREAT life you desire
Blogging is Like Baseball at Rush Nigut: Rush on Business
Raise your sails and blog on! at dsm BUZZ
One BIG small town at Runners Lounge
Metaphorically speaking, this is what I do at Passing It On
Write it down,
Carma
Blogging is transforming everyday
To make it simple I usually tell family and friends that blogging is like writing a newspaper column. You get to write about a wide variety of topics and you get your own byline. The part that is hard for them to understand is the WHY I do it.
I tell them when writing for a newspaper one does not get feedback or meet new people or exchange creative ideas, or help one another. I think the day will come when all we have to say is “I am a blogger” and people will nod their heads and say “Wowwww, cool”
There are oh so many ways to define blogging. Check out the list below
Bloggers, Brains and Metaphors at BrainBasedBusiness - Using your Brain to succeed in Business ·
Blogging is like a box of chocolates… at Small Business Marketing Ideas - Marketing Idea Blog
Blogging Metaphors, or, What I am doing here at A Politically Incorrect Entrepreneur
Blogging Metaphor: Why blogging is like a Mommy at Moments of Clarity
My Blogging Metaphor at Carpe Factum
What’s Your Blogging Metaphor? Teaching by Bits (and Bytes) at ModernMagellans - Maps to Improve Your Business, Leadership, and Life
A Blog is Your Bullhorn to the World at Blawg IT
An Image Is Worth A Thousand Words! Huh? at Smart Wealthy Rich
Blogging Metaphor - The “Party Line” at Insight Advertising-Marketing Communications
Singing the “blogging song” around the campfire at Live the GREAT life you desire
Blogging is Like Baseball at Rush Nigut: Rush on Business
Raise your sails and blog on! at dsm BUZZ
One BIG small town at Runners Lounge
Metaphorically speaking, this is what I do at Passing It On
Write it down,
Carma
Eight Minutes!
Today at exactly 2:30 p.m. PST, with clammy hands and fingers, I pushed the send button and my email query sailed into cyber space. Exactly at 2:38 p.m. I had a response. Is that a world record? Nevertheless, there is a positive side to this because the editor said I should feel free to submit more queries in the future... You betcha.
What is the shortest amount of time between submitting an article and receiving a response for you?
Jenna Glatzer of AbsoluteWrite.com addresses the benefits of E-Queries in her book “Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer”. She says you don’t have to spend money on postage, ink, paper and envelopes. Response time is faster.” (I say it is!)
Of course there is always a down side to everything. You have less time to engage your reader with an e-query. “A busy editor checks her email with one hand on the mouse, ready to hit ‘delete’” Jenna says. “You have to use every word to convince her to read on.”
When sending an email query you can be a little more creative with the subject line so you can grab the attention of the editor. In these days with the bombardment of spam, it is probably better to identify yourself as a writer immediately, rather than risk looking like an ad. For instance you can write “Query: How I broke the Glass Ceiling”, in the subject line or any catchy title that may generate a response.
Let’s hope you write a fantastic lead because in an editorial meeting, editors usually only have about ten seconds to pitch their (your) ideas. Keep this question in mind: “What can you write that will be easy to summarize in just a few seconds?”
Which ever method of delivery you choose, snail or email, to send off your query just make sure it is what the editor asks for. Keep sending them because persistence pays off. So get ready to send out a killer query.
Write it down,
Carma
What is the shortest amount of time between submitting an article and receiving a response for you?
Jenna Glatzer of AbsoluteWrite.com addresses the benefits of E-Queries in her book “Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer”. She says you don’t have to spend money on postage, ink, paper and envelopes. Response time is faster.” (I say it is!)
Of course there is always a down side to everything. You have less time to engage your reader with an e-query. “A busy editor checks her email with one hand on the mouse, ready to hit ‘delete’” Jenna says. “You have to use every word to convince her to read on.”
When sending an email query you can be a little more creative with the subject line so you can grab the attention of the editor. In these days with the bombardment of spam, it is probably better to identify yourself as a writer immediately, rather than risk looking like an ad. For instance you can write “Query: How I broke the Glass Ceiling”, in the subject line or any catchy title that may generate a response.
Let’s hope you write a fantastic lead because in an editorial meeting, editors usually only have about ten seconds to pitch their (your) ideas. Keep this question in mind: “What can you write that will be easy to summarize in just a few seconds?”
Which ever method of delivery you choose, snail or email, to send off your query just make sure it is what the editor asks for. Keep sending them because persistence pays off. So get ready to send out a killer query.
Write it down,
Carma
Sunday, June 3, 2007
The Human Condition
'Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again.
Fail again. Fail better.'
~Samuel Beckett
~Samuel Beckett
Hope Clark at Funds for Writers, prompted me to comment on Samuel Beckett this evening with the above quote.
Is this a pessimistic statement from Beckett or can we catch sight of the positive in it? Some readers might say Beckett meant that nothing in life matters because we are all destined to fail. Or does it mean that when we do fail we should learn from it and move forward?
I am not familiar with Beckett’s work so I did a little research. I found that Samuel Beckett was a talented writer, poet and screenplay writer and very unhappy. I also realized that he cared deeply about The Human Condition,
The Human Condition is a philosophical problem. Only human beings ask themselves questions relating to the purpose of life beyond the base need for survival, or the nature of existence. Why was I born? Why am I here? Where will I go when I die?
There are some things that cannot be understood. Maybe we should just learn to "Be" and learn to "Accept" and learn to (at the risk of being too simplistic) "Bloom Where You are Planted"
There are 4 things in life you cannot recover:
1. The Stone, after the throw
2. The word, after it’s said
3. The occasion, after the loss
4. The time, after it’s gone
Write it down,
Carma
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Get A Human
Have you forgotten what it is like to talk to a human over the phone? I called my city offices the other day and my call was answered with a recording.
This peeved me a bit so I left an unkind message. I wasn’t rude; I just told them that as a public agency they were doing a disservice to the community by not having a live person answer the phone. I did not leave my name or number.
Ten minutes later, the city office called me. Apparently, caller ID is working fine.
If you relate to the frustration and difficulty of trying to talk to a live person when you call a company, go to getahuman and try their cheat sheet. They provide you with information that will help you navigate the automated menu. It’s a neat website and you get to rate the company you call.
Write it down,
Carma
This peeved me a bit so I left an unkind message. I wasn’t rude; I just told them that as a public agency they were doing a disservice to the community by not having a live person answer the phone. I did not leave my name or number.
Ten minutes later, the city office called me. Apparently, caller ID is working fine.
If you relate to the frustration and difficulty of trying to talk to a live person when you call a company, go to getahuman and try their cheat sheet. They provide you with information that will help you navigate the automated menu. It’s a neat website and you get to rate the company you call.
Write it down,
Carma
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