First it was that my little writing blog had a feed. RSS what was that? Really Simple Syndication. Then I joined a social networking, or was it a social media site? I don’t know.

But it had a river of news about what everyone was doing.

Now along comes Tumblr.

Steve Rubel has a great description of lifestreaming and how he is using it.

I have set up a tumblelog at my personal domain at www.steverubel.com. It rolls up my blog, del.icio.us links, Flickr, Facebook notes and Twitter tweets all in one place. You can subscribe to the feed here. Also, there’s a mobile version. Next step: turning my lifestream into a Steve Rubel widget.

I really like that there is a single place attached to my name that rolls up all of the content that I am publishing online. I also like that in just a couple of clicks I can set up a river of news that I can share at the domain of my choosing. This can become a very powerful concept. For example, I could use either my existing tumblelog or a new one at a sub domain to roll up all of your content – such as @steverubel tweets on Twitter or in-bound inks to my various blogs.

I heard about it first from Easton Ellsworth who suggested that

Lifestreams are simple to implement and, I think, extremely useful. You could create a public lifestream for friends and followers to track. Or you could make a private lifestream for you own record-keeping. Web feeds obviate the need to visit various locales around the Web to find out what a person has been up to lately.

So I thought on a Saturday, this might be worth a try a life stream of my own. Getting started way simpler than starting my first blog post. I just punched in my feed addresses to my three blogs and there they were. Ah, but to put them on my www.lizstrauss.com URL was a little trickier.

When I punched in my domain name I got this answer.

This domain’s A-record is not pointing to Tumblr. It is currently set to “www.lizstrauss.com/”.

Please contact your domain registrar for support. Our staff is absolutely unable to assist with DNS configuration.

You can find more information on setting up a custom domain on Tumblr here.

I’m not sure what it means, but it sounds like a hassle. Doesn’t that just seem the way with my lifestream? Oh Go figure.

I’ll be living now on tumblr . . . you can find it all together at http://lizstrauss.tumblr.com/

One day I’ll live on my own URL, then I’ll stream where I want to.

Until then I’ll be floating away on tumblr.

The problem is that, over the long haul, we sometimes change the way we blog. Like rock stars, some of us peak too early. Some of us get better as time goes by. Some of us get tired of the daily grind, and some buy into our own PR.

What’s sad is when a rock star blogger I love quits doing what won my heart and starts phoning it in. What’s devasting is when a rock star blogger I know begins to think the universe revolves around his or her blog.

Blog writing’s tough, and though being a little Internet famous can be fun, keeping up with readers can be a pain. I guess a rock star could make a case for wanting readers to go away — more leisure, less stress in a rock star day. In a case like that, I think the best thing might be to help.

For those rock star bloggers, I offer these 3 easy steps.

1. Act like you’re something that you’re not. You’ve got attributes and strengths. Ignore them. Pick other ones that you want people to see as yours. Make sure they’re really just pipe dreams–wishes not realities. Make promises about what you know — promises that you can’t possibly keep.

As readers, we can be a little slow, but we’ll figure out that you’ve oversold yourself. Your credibility will be gone and so will we.

2. Be unpredictable in the comment box. One minute be sweet and charismatic, then fall apart. Make any issue on the web about yourself. It doesn’t matter if that particular issue is about us, we’ll understand that one day a conflict will arise, and you won’t choose us over yourself.

3. Think that our attention is an entitlement. Excuse me. Excuse me. Some days it isn’t easy to show up, and if you decide that we’re a sure thing, it’s likely that we we’ll feel a need to prove you wrong.

Of course, no one actually sets out to chase away readers, do they? Yet, it happens that they do. To make sure that’s not what’s happening in your life, here are three things you might do.

1. Be attentive to your readers’ needs for great content.

2. Be consistent and transparent. Be grown up with self-respect.

3. Be authentically you in service to them.

Invite your readers to be themselves too. That’s how communities begin.

Communities offer experience and wisdom that a rock star blogger might never see.

I’d like to think the popularity of this post is because what I recommend is rock solid advice. I’d venture to say that no expert blogger has gotten to where he or she is by doing only six of the seven on this list. In my mind, no one could question that these seven steps work. I’ll set a short version here.

1. Be the expert you are, not the expert someone else is.
2. Be an expert in ONE thing.
3. Write expert content.
4. Be an expert at keeping track of your niche.
5. Be an expert at specialized searches.
6. Be an expert at getting the word out.
7. Be an expert at going deeper into your niche.
8. And the bonus one: Be an expert at having fun.

When I wrote the post that includes these, I thought of the time it takes to develop expertise — education and experience — and the time it takes to get that message out. That much time could be years.

Yet the post experts has brought a small segment of bloggers whose expectations aren’t quite in line with that. They come saying, “Tell me what you did — really. What’s the fastest way to where you are? I don’t have time to do all of the things on that list. I plan be where you are in a matter of weeks, if not days.”

Even if I could do their homework . . . how would that help them?

I wish them well, but expertise can’t be borrowed, bartered, or bought to claim.

For folks who want to be the next Darren Rowse, Lorelle VanFossen, or Brian Clark, look very closely. Every one of these heroes work every hard even today. If you look back through their archives you will see that got to be something special one well-written post at a time. Each of them knew that to do the work they were investing in their future and themselves. They’s how they got to be experts — they met everyone of the seven steps on their own.

Most anyone can do it, if we are willing to invest as much as Darren, Lorelle, and Brian did to keep learning about their field and the folks they serve.

One other thing that isn’t on the list . . . every expert has it and you’ll need it too.

Faith in yourself. If you want to be an expert . . . believe you’re worth the time it takes to prove your value one person at a time until you have an audience following you.

That’s the secret ingredient — belief in you.

Last night I stopped by Twitter while I’m in D.C. working. I heard a twit or two about not mentioning I was in town earlier. . . . I’m a Twitter beginner. But Twitter has become so much more than a record of who’s tying their shoes or where they’re tying them. If you’re still thinking that, you’re missing a dynamic culture. The Twitter I see is busy folks who like to check in with each other to crack a joke, share a fact or ask a question . . . or entertain each other.

Some do it solely for scalable communication. They drop links and mention folks to get their attention. Note this twit by a popular A-List blogger.

If I want to get a hold of Mike Arrington, for instance, i know that writing a Tweet about him will get his attention far faster than email. . . .

Basically this is my gesture to the world: I am not answering my email and I’m not going to start. I’m overloaded. Tweet me.

I can trade remarks with people I couldn’t hope to meet otherwise.

Questions get asked and answered.

Question of the day: Are you persistent enough to get what you want/need?

Nope.

no I’m not.

[not all answers included here.]

Many thanks to everybody who have answered the “question of the day”
Pithy observations remind us of what counts.

Some questions are about finding help or expertise. In the last hour, two have been about available jobs. Two have pointed to blog posts — which might make you worry about irrelevant spamming. Yet I’ve never seen it in the group that I follow.

Some tweets are simple observations.

One user report is more valuable than 1,000 expert opinions.

From the Twitter dictionary to the twittersearch, people are finding little ways to innovate on this microblogging platform. Keep the people straight reading twitopera, the Twitter Tabloid about the Twitterati.

140 characters can take many shapes — most of them are clever, informative, or relational. The biggest mistake you might make would be to assume that only twits are twittering.

The event kicked off with the first General Session: Speed Dating for BlogHers, in which two massive circles of attendees faced each other as pairs to exchange introductions. Five minutes later one circle moved on to repeat their hello to the next BlogHer in the circle across. In the group of about 25 or so that I met. Many were charming new bloggers at their first conference of any kind . . . ever. Most of them had mommy blogs or were political bloggers. Two were conference sponsors.

The conference had sessions that followed six strands of information.

• The Art of Life: Sessions on writing, storytelling, reviews, visual art, foodblogging, crafts, community
• The Business of You: Sessions on branding and self-promotion, speaker training, media training, mentoring, turning a blog into a book, problogging
• Community: Sessions on life stages of communities, raising money for causes, raising consciousness, women across the world, oppressed or silenced communities, inclusion and exclusion
• Identity: Sessions on digital exhibitionists, blogs about body issues (weight loss etc.), intolerance, state of the momosphere
• Politics: Sessions on election 2008, breaking news to Op-Ed, Patriots Act
• Technical: Sessions on design, web standards, technical tools and traffic, workflow tools, taking your blog to the next level, multimedia labs, food photography

Sessions, other than the labs, were panels of 2-6 speakers. The second day started with the Google Breakfast. Unfortunately, the friends who went found that it must have been moved or been cancelled, because no one from Google was around the Grand Ballroom. We never did find out. Then again, I don’t know that anyone asked.

Elizabeth Edwards, blogger wife of the presidential candidate, was interviewed in the final session. She spoke of blogging, the election, and healthcare for women. The focus of BlogHers Act, a special initiative, was announced after. BlogHers Act will support global women’s health for the next year.

Christine Kane played at the first night’s cocktail party. Her set was fabulous, though the audience was not. The second night’s party was held in the children’s museum. Food was plentiful and often complimented.

Still, the best part was the people I got to hang out with.

The project was a joint publishing venture. My team was working with a team in Australia. We were combining our expertise to build a 200+ book program for kids learning to read and the teachers who teach them. Most of the books were little readers — 8-, 16-, 24-, and 32-page books, written with subtle supports for early literacy.

Two parts of my role as the head of the department were to ensure that the supports were there and that the content would “travel.” The first part called for an understanding of how kids interact with text to gain meaning. The second required knowledge of whether content and presentation would work in classrooms from logging towns in Maine, through the Bible belt, in the land of “fruits and nuts,” to our diverse city schools.

The program was on an educational publishing timeline, which meant a missed deadline would cost an entire year. When a book didn’t work, the manuscript to replace it had to be fit the program and educational standards, had to be of highest quality, and had to be executed quickly — solutions had to be elegant and practical.

That’s when I started to notice. That was the year I first called the words “content,” not a story or a report. 1997. That’s when I noticed something happening in my office was also happening on TV.

“Richard,” I said to a close friend (and educational publisher) in the U.K. “I’m worried about the future. I see a trend in the books we are making and on television. The easiest way to generate content is to build a list — The Top Ten Monster Machines. If you watch close enough you will see how we take one list apart, to make another. Making lists is so much easier and faster than explaining something, writing a how-to, or telling a compelling story. We’re becoming a fast-food content culture.”

I worried that kids wouldn’t learn to enjoy the connections of thinking long and deep. Richard and I revisited the conversation more than once. We talked about it for hours. Conversations like that are the bedrock of our relationship.

Flash Forward to 2007

When I woke up this morning, I found myself publishing on the Internet. . . . with a profile on StumbleUpon, Facebook, Twitter, and Ning, (and others I don’t get messages on.) I’m connected, and I connect people with each other and with information.

Most days it’s fun. Verbal volleyball can be a kick. When Twitter used the term, people, to mean friends for an Internet second, I got a chance to type, “I’ll have my people call your people and we’ll do lunch.” I’ve always wanted to say that.

Cute, but off the page and forgotten, rightfully so, minutes later.

For the last few days, I’ve been thinking about the realities of going wide and going deep. It’s hard to have the time and the bandwidth to do both. It’s hard to keep up with it all. Every day it happens at a slightly faster speed. The wider I go, the shallower I get.

How much can you say in 140 characters? What happens if conversations on voice media become Ims and text messages?

I could ask more questions like that, but I won’t. Instead, I’ll ask you to read those two questions again.

I don’t want 1,500 friends I say “Hi” to every day. If it took only 10 seconds to find each name and to type that one word, that would be more than 4 hours of not thinking.

Maybe it’s too many years of hearing about wasting time. Maybe it’s just my world view. A friend once said something about an onion. She said many folks do fine living on the papery surface. I prefer layer 17.

In the modern world, more alone than ever before. Demographics shout isolation in a crowd. In previous centuries, when extended families dominated the social landscape, a sizeable proportion of adults living alone was unthinkable. Lifestyle choices and advances in modern medicine have left us alone longer. Have we reached out to grasp as many connections as we can in response to feeling adrift?

We need relationships to function. How many and how deeply is the question.

Is it enough to know Liz is ___. Liz feels ___. Liz reads ___. Poke, nudge, smile at Liz.

Are infobytes all we need?

I’m slowing my speed and narrowing my focus. People aren’t items on a list.

Blogger Book Quest: Roger’s Book, Ferdinand, the Word Guy, and Me

Title: Maps for Modern Magellans: Charts for Captains of Commerce
Blogger/Author: Roger Anderson
URL: Modern Magellans

http://www.modernmagellans.com/

Get this Book: Maps for Modern Magellans: Charts for Captains of Commerce

A Business Book for Folks Crossing Uncharted Waters
Are you feeling that your blog or your business is lost at sea? You might pick up Roger Anderson’s book, Maps for Modern Magellans: Charts for Captains of Commerce. It’s a map for uncharted waters.

When Roger sent me this book, I couldn’t help but remember 4th grade social studies and the guy named Ferdinand Magellan who was the first to successfully circumnavigate the planet. Ferdinand was first to through the strait of Magellan (conveniently named after him), and the first western explorer to find the Phillipines. Needless to say the guy could find his way around places that no one had ever been.

This book is written for folks with that same spirit of adventure and exploration — blogger business folks sure seem to fit the bill from what I can see. We’re smart, out on our own, and sometimes we could use a map.

A Modern Magellan is anyone who owns, runs, or in some fashion controls a part of a business operation. This also includes those who want to. There are 25 million businesses in the US and possibly as many more worldwide. One of the key similarities in most of them is that the captain of the ship could use some navigation help.

Enter the word guy, Lewis Green. About the time Roger sent me the book,Lewis reviewed it. . . . I spoke to Lewis last week. We didn’t talk about Roger’s book, but I know him to be a kind, honest, and dedicated journalist.

On Maps for Modern Magellans, Lewis and I are on the same page. We both suggest that folks starting a new business or taking on a new management role would do well to read Roger’s book.

Lewis Green said this in his review.

. . . the text is written in a simple, easy-to-understand manner, and is full of good ideas, business strategies and tactics, definitions, case studies and questions that every entrepreneur needs to ask.

. . . this book best serves entrepreneurs who don’t have much business experience and newly promoted managers within any company. Those of us with lots of business experience in the corporate world and as entrepreneurs will find little new. However, those without experience will find lots to like about Maps for Modern Magellans. From the basic lesson that is often overlooked and causes more harm to business than one would believe to questions every business person must ask, to case studies that teach us both what and not to do.

I agree, Lewis. I agree.

On one point about Roger’s book, Lewis and I disagree. this is what Lewis thinks about Chapter 1, where the premise of the maps and charts is laid out.

To be honest, most of the visuals are useless to a word guy like me. I’m not sure I understood any of them. . . .

I recommend skipping Chapter 1, which seems a bit like filler, and start with Chapter 2, entitled Mind Your Own Business.

Lewis is the word guy. I’m the first-grade teacher who promotes metaphors. I found the first chapter one more way to analyze a business. I like to bend and stretch thoughts and ideas that way.

Which one are you? Get the book to find out.

Blogger Book Quest: 10 Ways to Make It Great!

Title: 10 Ways to Make It Great!
Blogger/Author: Phil Gerbyshak
URL: 10 Ways to Make It Great!

http://makeitgreat.typepad.com/

Get this Book: 10 Ways to Make It Great! Product Info

Can an Information Geek Survive a Relationship Geek’s Book?

One of the most memorable moments of SOBCon07 was Jeff Brown’s statement about Kum-ba-ya-ers and business bloggers. No matter who hears me talk about that moment, if they were there, they remember it with a grin of “ain’t it the truth?” That’s because the famous BawldGuy, Jeff, was talking about the preferences folks have toward relationships or information as their personal strong suit.

So, when the time came to talk about the book by the consummate Relationship Geek, Phil Gerbyshak, I thought, perhaps, I was not the best choice. I found the right guy up in Edmonton. He’s Greg Balanko-Dickson, and he’s a self-professed Information Geek, as you can tell by his newest blog, the Remote Control CEO.

Hi Greg! How did go when you, an Information Geek, first met Phil, THE Relationship Geek, in person and in his book?

Phil is an extrovert, friendly, and passionate guy and it shows, as an introvert nothing gets my goat more than meaningless hype and hyperbole. When I first ran across Phil’s site the Make It Great! my guard went up, my concerns were never realized as I realized that Phil was the real deal and lived what he wrote. The same is true of his book, Phil works hard to live 1o Ways to Make It Great!

And when you got to reading Phil’s book did you go right through to the end?

The first Chapter of his book “Begin at the End and Work Toward Today” launches with a bang as he asks the question, “What would you change if you only had one day left to live?” I have to admit that I closed Phil’s book after reading that question.

As someone who has seen more than my fair share of death in my family I knew what Phil was getting at. What I had not realized was just how much “Begin at the End and Work Toward Today” I learned to do that but Phil’s three questions brought greater focus.

So you kept reading and what was your experience?

The greatest personal turnaround for me personally was Chapter Five, “Surround Yourself With This That Can Help You”. Asking for help was not something that was natural because I told myself “I can figure it out.” except it was a pretty lonely existence. This Chapter really helped me be more intellectually honest with myself and others.

I can say that as I have opened up and shared how I am really doing that people really do care and will help. All I have to do is ask.

What is a longer-term value that Phil’s book has contributed to in your life?

I like to say that Phil’s book helped me move from being a little to cerebral at times to traveling the six inch super highway from my head to my heart. As a result my life is fuller, I am living my dream, and Make It Great ! everyday. Thanks Phil!

So you see, Jeff Brown, information bloggers and relationship bloggers, can live together in peace and harmony in the blogosphere! Kumbaya! 1, 2, 3, 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9, 10. Making it great is everyone’s business.

I’m pleased to say that no Information Geeks were harmed in this experiment.
Thanks Greg!

This is the story behind the story of the eBook that hasn’t happened yet. Brett Farmiloe and two friends are Pursue the Passion. The past few months they have gathered sponsorship, developed a following of blogger fans and support to hit the road again.

I got to know Brett a few weeks ago when he asked to guest post about Pursue the Passion on Successful Blog. We’ve had several conversations and emails since that day.

The team left Phoenix yesterday in a fully-wrapped RV for a 90-day trip to interview Americans about their passion at work. I was able to catch an interview with Brett before they hit the road. I’ll let Brett tell the story from here.

So, Brett, why are you going? What will this trip accomplish?

Half of the American work force is not satisfied with their job. Only a fifth say they have a passion for what they do. My goal with Pursue the Passion is to change all that.

I believe that people will draw inspiration from our cross country roadtrip. I believe people who do not have the time to investigate how others have found their passion will benefit from the information we gather and make available.

To be the source of that inspiration and guidance while traveling the country in a gigantic RV for ninety days with three friends is simply a dream.

Transportation, accommodation, interviews . . . so many details — Who are your comrades in this pursuit of passion?

I have some very special guys that are helping make this trip possible. James Whiting has an unbelievable talent and passion for multimedia, so he will be filming and uploading video of the tour to our site so people can feel like they are a part of the journey. Noah Pollock is a gifted writer who will be providing written summaries of the interviews we conduct. Zach Hubbell quit his corporate auditing position two weeks before the trip started so he could serve as our utility player…which means he does everything from finding people to have lunch with to distinguishing the difference between the gray and black tanks on the RV. And then we’ve got Arvydis Sabonis, which is our 30 foot RV.

Can you give a short description of how the trip will work?

The four of us travel around in a gigantic thirty foot RV to interview people who love their work. We ask interviewees how they developed a passion for their profession, and for any advice they would give to people seeking to find their calling in life. We then make this information available on our website www.pursuethepassion.com for others to glean guidance from.

What sort of support did you get from what corners of the universe? How did bloggers help?

The saying goes that when you want something, the universe conspires to help you achieve it. That has definitely been true for us as we have been getting an unbelievable amount of support for taking a risk and pursuing our passion.

The central reason we’ve had success in our pursuit is blogging. The power of blogging is something that most people don’t understand, and it was something I definitely didn’t understand it until three months ago when I started blogging on our site. Bloggers from all over the country soon found out about our trip and conspired to help us in any way they could. They offered couches to crash on, lunch, interview referrals, advice, and were willing to spread the message.

Amazing stuff.

From your experience, how does blogger passion for life and work stack up to that of other folks you encounter?

Blogging is tough, and I don’t think that it can be done without passion. The bloggers I’ve had interactions with are not just passionate about blogging, but are passionate about life in general. That is the connection that I make between bloggers and the people I’ve interviewed. They both have so much enthusiasm that their passion overflows in to other things, like helping a couple college grads out with a 90 day roadtrip.

And we are looking for bloggers to interview on the trip, so if you’re passionate, submit your story at Pursue the Passion Submit a Story.

What have you learned in putting together this year’s trip compared to last year’s trip?

That anything is possible. I have no fear when I cold call Mayor Villaraigosa’s office, or when I have a meeting with the CEO of one of our sponsors. Anything is possible if you bring down the imaginary obstacles people tend to set for themselves.

I bet 90 days will go fast, what journey will you be starting on that day 91?

The 91st day will consist of mostly sleep, but after that I have big plans. The journey that starts at the conclusion of the 2007 tour is creating an interactive program that offers students the opportunity to conduct their own Pursue the Passion interviews with leaders in the local community. We are also looking to use the footage we gather for a documentary, and I have plans to write a book for people in search of their passion.

If you could have everyone quote you word for word, coast to coast, what would you say?

Pursue the Passion.

Well said, Brett. Well said.

Follow their journey at Pursue the Passion.

As you know SplashPress and The Blog Herald are running the Independent Blogger Book Quest in which I’m reviewing a book about blogging, business, or the work of online professionals. Read this post for guidelines to submit your book for review.

Title and link: Pursue the Passion: Timeless Advice for the Aspiring Individual pdf
Blogger/Author: Brett Farmiloe
URL: http://www.pursuethepassion.com/

When you read the marvelous quotes the team of Pursue the Passion gathered on their trip across the US last summer you’ll understand why it’s worth taking the time to download this little gem. Brett Farmiloe did a beautiful job of choosing and editing them.

Brett chose to organize the quotes into these ideas.

• Passion: How to Find It
• Dare to Dream: I Dare You
• Determine a Direction: Career Choices
• Opportunity Knocks
• Attitude: It’s Important in the Workplace
• Networking: Power In Numbers
• Interviews: Things You Need to Know
• It’s Not About Money: It’s About Lifestyle
• Fear. Uncertainty. Confidence.
• Making the Leap: What Do You Have to Lose?
• The Journey

The eBook above is the record of what one man and two friends found when they traveled the US for 90 days to Pursue their Passion — to interview people who are passionate about their jobs. The eBook is filled with the stuff that bloggers reach for to get inspiration. But Brett’s no designer, and he fully admits that the little book could use some help there. Does a design whiz have an hour or so to offer some great quotes a good look to help out?

See the Interview with Brett Farmiloe, Pursue the Passion 2007 Hit the Road July1.

The books are arriving and one book has already been reviewed. I’ll bring another with me next week. Meanwhile, I’ve also worked with two new authors — helping one get his concept in line with his purpose, and and another getting permission to connect her with a small publisher.

The folks in question had a sense of how a book is made and what to expect from their investment. If you want to be a book author, you should know what they do.

Perception versus Reality

It seems everywhere we look another blogger is becoming an author. In the world of the Internet, this literate population of authors here are soon to be the norm that car drivers are in the 3-D world. Or at least, that is a large enough aspiration to give that perception. People want to write a book because they believe

• books make people experts
• books make relationships happen
• books make people visible and famous
• books are a marketing tool to sell other services, especially speaking
• books generate sales while you sleep
• books make great bonus gifts
• books make a great platform to express who you are

All of these book facts are indeed reality. However, the scope of each is often misperceived. Few people make more than a few thousand dollars from a well-sold book. The problem is that often new authors are lead to believe that the items above mean more and greater things than they actually might mean.

The most important qualities of any book are that it is readable and that it gets where people can and do read it. A book that isn’t read cannot do what little the list above promises it will do for you. For each item in the list, add one of these phrases: if it sells, if people read it, if people know that.exists.

Author You Are Often the Market

With digital media, getting a book made for sale is easy. Selling it is the book for a profit once it is made is not. It’s an author beware world when it comes to self-publishing. Though folks may offer top notch services for your manuscript, if they are charging you to do so or, if they are not providing a serious marketing channel that puts your book where readers will see it. Then as an author you need to be aware that YOU are THEIR market. By entering into such a deal, you have changed your role from author to publisher, because you have now are in the business of marketing and selling books too.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be offering a view into services that offer to help independent authors get books made. We all need to know the differences and options before investing in a relationship. All book are not created equal, and it’s not a good book if no one ever gets a chance to read a word.

Liz Strauss has been making books since the 1980s. She writes for Successful-Blog.

Title: GUST: The “Tale” Wind of Office Politics
Blogger/Author: Timothy L. Johnson
URL: Carpe Factum: Products
Get this Book: Gust Product Info at Amazon

Before I read the business fable, GUST, I knew that office politics existed. I had determined I couldn’t avoid or resist being part of the “body politic.” What I didn’t have was a clue about how it worked, nor had I really tried to make sense of it.

This book did both for me. Inside this book, you’ll find

• Three key things people manipulate and fight over in organizations — Resouces, People, and Information
• Three kinds of politicians, and how to handle each one
• Six core motivations of political behavior
• Uses (and misuses) of influence in an organization
• Hows and whys of strategizing an appropriate response to a political situation
• Considerations of timing, passion, and support into your political actions
• Executives’ roles in influencing (and correcting) office politics
• Assessments for determining how political your organization really is.

At times the story bends to fit the content. It needs to — no company is quite that dysfunctional all at once – AND that’s what gives this volume a place in my top drawer. Every office politician I’ve ever met is in it and Tim Johnson offers a way to handle each individual . . . um er . . . colleague’s needs with finesse. GUST is worth picking up. just for that.

Read this post for guidelines to submit your book for review.

It’s no secret that I’m from publishing or that I have a feeling for writing and books. I don’t hide the fact that I spent my early career, teaching kids how to get meaning by decoding words in type. Books combine so much I care about teaching, learning, thinking, communicating ideas. The best ones have photos, illustrations, maps, and diagrams too.

It’s enough to make me swoon. When you’re stuck somewhere, a good book can take you anywhere.

And so, with great enthusiasm and, in celebration of the book, Blogging Tips That Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging by Lorelle VanFossen, I’m pleased to announce the SplashPress IndieIndependent Blogger Book Quest here at the Blog Herald.

Because Not All Books Are Created Equal

We all know that not all books are created equal. Some have big-name authors. Some have big-name publishers. Some have big-dollar marketing plans. Other books are written after work, after dark, after the kids are put to bed. Those last books are slightly harder to bring to market. They often have a harder time reaching their audience.

So many of them are great books. A great book without an audience still doesn’t get read. That’s worse than sad.

Yet readers hardly have time to read the thousands of books published each year that make it through the rigorous hoops that publishers set. What chance does an independent publisher or a brand-new author have to get read? Changing that is what the Independent Blogger Book Quest is about.

The Independent Blogger Book Quest

Every week, I’ll be reviewing a book published independently — without the backing of a major publisher. In keeping with our mission at the Blog Herald, the books will be about blogging, business, and the work of online professionals.

I have a first few books already selected for review, but don’t think that your business or blogging book can’t be a part.

If you’re interested in having your print book or ebook on blogging or business considered, please follow these submission guidelines.
Send an email to liz [at] splashpress.com
Include the following information.
Subject Line: Independent Blogger Book
Name of the book
Name of the author
General Topic:
Short summary of the book: 500 words or less
Date of publication or first availability to the public

Don’t forget to include your contact information so that I can reach you to ask you to send a copy of your book. . Allow a week or two to get back to you about your submission.

It’s time that we started talking about the great books that bloggers write.

Liz Strauss, a publisher and founder of SOBCon, writes about books, ideas, writers, and changing the world at Successful-Blog.

The next 12 city blocks or so were directly toward my destination, but I had to come to a full stop for a stop sign every two blocks. At last, I would arrive at the final right turn, go one block and start search for parking place. Rock star parking was available if I got there before 7:30 a.m.

When I visit that company on the Internet, I click a link.

At that company, I worked in educational publishing. Among othr things, we revised a 60-year-old writing program with too many revisions to return it to its original passion and purpose.

Two weeks ago in a D.C. meeting, a friend shared this story with me. On an international journey, my friend found himself next to someone from another educational publishing company. The two talked about the future. The man said his corporation believes that in 7 years they will be done with textbooks. Selling traditional textbooks to US and UK schools will be history.

I’ve had three students email me for permission to quote one of my blogs in a paper school. . . .

The information on my blog wasn’t in their textbooks.

When I first got to the Internet, I unconsciously tried to give everything a place, north, south, east, west. Being visual, I still find myself, thinking about people’s blogs and websites on a map of the world in my head. But that’s only half of the story.

Like any 3-D company — building and people — that I might drive to, the Internet is a place, but it’s also the people that live, work, and play every day here.

However, we have to remember that the two Internets — the place and the people — don’t sit on a world map or follow 3-D rules as the two companies in the physical world we are used to. Doc Searls says it well in his notes on the wrap up summary by Karim Lekhani at the Internet & Society 2007 Conference.

Facts of life in the new networked environment are radically different than those in the physical world. There are new rules around abundance and scarcity, among many other variables. Many methods of control that work in the physical world do not work on the Net, or work in flawed ways — and in fact insult its nature. Yet the two worlds coexist and coincide. It is essential that we understand the networked world on its on terms, and not just on terms borrowed from the physical world. This will take awhile.

It will take awhile and some getting used to. We’re learning. We don’t know.

When I was small, they promised a new world in this 21st century. Some of it happened decades ago. Some of it just happened. Some never will. What I was really looking forward to was the flying cars.

The flying cars are unlikely.

When I drove home from that company in Chicago, I had to take a much more complicated route. It’s much simpler hitting the back button on my browser.

Who needs flying cars when you can meet almost anyone, almost anywhere with a click from a computer?

Will I still be here when the Internet is finally formed?

Liz Strauss, lives inside your computer. A founder of SOBCon, Liz writes about relationships, conversations, and the changing Internet at Successful-Blog. Most folks wouldn’t be surprised to find a flying car parked near there.

I imagined the panel and the audience in the conference room. I thought, “It’s not often that people get to see subjects — other than politics and religion — that would be equally as dividing.” Very soon after the planning discussion, I caught myself picturing the panel. I was filled with knowing that circles for the sides of the panel placed in a Venn diagram would hardly touch. It was hard to foresee that folks would be persuaded to be any closer in outlook.

Two very different world views — one informational, one relational. Each point of view defines the experience differently. Static or dynamic, take your pick.

This elephant is standing on the web.

What is a link? Is a link clicks and traffic and Google rankings? Or does a link represent that I know you, that I’ve read your content, that you’re relevant and of value to me? Is a comment conversation or something I can buy or rent?

We’re living in two Internets. It looks much like the companies we find in the world of brick and mortar. One is about places, information, and data. It’s the buildings in which people work. The other is about people, relationships, and conversation. It’s the people who work in those buildings. One is a structure. The other is social.

A blog post yesterday at confused at calcutta reminds me that we have trouble bringing software and people together.

Something about what he said there made me think about the glazed look people used to give me when I first spoke about any aspect of software as a service. To many people, software is a noun and inanimate as well; to many people, service remains a “doing” word and closer to a verb despite being a noun. And this separation of service from software seems to create a whole series of problems in people’s minds.

Reading that, my mind hears the “Cluetrain Manifesto.” I think of the opening of Daniel Pink’s book, “A Whole New Mind.”

The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind — computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind — creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning maker.

Are you of a new mind? Can you make meaning, create and empathize without revealing something personal?

In the 80 million blogs, maybe you see only the tech blogs, new niches, the tech values being found in databases. Feedburner sold to Google for $100million. Maybe you’ve noticed the wealth of blogs about positivity, personal development, and finding your passion.

Maybe you’re not paying attention.

I’ll put it out there anyway . . . is it about surfing the net or about going deep? If you go deep, are you deeply into information or relationships?

What value has information without relationships?

Liz Strauss writes information about relationships at Successful-Blog.

Authenticity and transparency by definition require self-awareness and a loss of false modesty. Those two conditions underpin communication undermine our comfortable notions about who we are. The old ways we saw ourselves and the old words we used to describe us no longer work quite so well. They’re too misleading, self-deprecating, or just not really who we are.

Once we get the hang of it, authenticity and transparency free us to be honest without self-consciousness. The old fear of boastfulness or self-promotion is gone, because we are self-expressed. Learning to communicate in a blogging culture of such values could make any blogger a better person. It’s done that for me.

Learning to communicate authentically is a critical life skill. Authenticity and transparency build relationships. Relationships are the currency of success in society. Relationships are everyone’s business and every business is relationships.

The magic about this is folks are taking what bloggers have learned back into the real world. See this point from a list that Penelope Trunk developed for Guy Kawasaki. It’s from a list on workplace myths and the truths that debunk them.

There is no magic formula to having a great career except to be you. Really you. Know who you are and have the humility to understand that self-knowledge is a never-ending journey. Figure out how to do what you love, and you’ll be great at it. Offer your true, good-natured self to other people and you’ll have a great network. Those who stand out as leaders have a notable authenticity that enables them to make genuinely meaningful connections with a wide range of people. Authenticity is a tool for changing the world by doing good.

Then move on to the wisdom of less is more offered by Steve Roesler.

If we’re going to consider authenticity as a success factor, then we need to acknowledge:
1. What we think we should be — but we are not.
2. What someone else told us we should be — but we are not.
3. What we think others want to hear that we are — but we are not.
4. What we think we can become — but we know we cannot.

Blogging leads us to know who we are. It must, if we become authentic. Authenticity by it’s very nature is about humility and acceptance of our transparent selves.

This is world-changing action taking place from the inside out of each individual. If I want to change the world, what better place to start than in my mirror?

Liz Strauss writes and talks about changing the world at Successful-Blog.

I kept hearing echoes of The Cluetrain Manifesto.

A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies.

The people in that room had great brains attached to their hearts. They spoke about their passions. They asked and answered questions. They participated. They conversed.

Oddly enough, I didn’t hear a negative word said. Negatives weren’t needed. Somehow, we knew that negatives require defending, but positives move things forward.

It was sharing.

People can make such progress when they’re not worried about being criticized for their ideas. That’s the power of respect.

They said these things and more.

I think what I loved best was the DEEPENING of the dialogue and the relationships.
How cool that you were the catalyst in creating this dynamic event of some of the most genuine people I’ve ever met! –K

I went for the people — the hugs – and of course also to pick these incredible minds. I got my fill of the latter and was left wanting lots more of the former. –-E

. . . .the reason why we accomplished so much business was BECAUSE there was so much love in the room. Imagine if all business worked that way… think what could get done. –T

I had the time of my life and learned SO much from everyone there.
The selflessness of those attending was striking…no agenda other than to help each other tell our story to change the world.
Period.
…and we did. –T

A bunch of bloggers, in a meeting together for a day and a half, had a conversation. They found a way to teach and learn, to share information, and to communicate with authenticity and transparency . . . in the real world.

Imagine that.

We can change the world.

Liz Strauss writes about changing the world at Successful-Blog and folks who hang out there participate.

That’s called flow. It’s the feeling of optimal experience.

Almost everyone has been there.

What most people don’t know is that it’s been studied and, if you understand it, you can make it happen more often. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi has worked decades on the psychology of happiness, creativity, and fun, but he is most known for his study of flow, optimal experience.

Wikipedia says this about Dr. C’s work.

. . . [in] Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Csikszentmihalyi outlines his theory that people are most happy when they are in a state of flow—a Zen-like state of total oneness with the activity at hand and the situation. The idea of flow is identical to the feeling of being in the zone or in the groove. The flow state is an optimal state of intrinsic motivation, where the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing. This is a feeling everyone has at times, characterized by a feeling of great freedom, enjoyment, fulfillment, and skill—and during which temporal concerns (time, food, ego-self, etc.) are typically ignored.

In an interview with Wired magazine, Csikszentmihalyi . . . described flow as “being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”

In the groove, in the zone, time slips away; action follows action naturally. It’s as if what we do is what was meant to be. It’s exhilarating.

Did you ever notice that you get in the zone when you’re perfectly prepared for a task — one you’ve been waiting for? When it’s “bring it on” kind of task, you’re likely to jump into a flow state.

Flow happens when your skills are matched to the challenge before you. If the task is too easy, you’ll be bored. If it’s too hard, you’ll have anxiety.

Match your talents with your challenge and you’re more likely to be in a flow state.

Some folks also believe that mindfulness meditation, yoga, and martial arts seem to improve a person’s capacity for flow.

Flow is an amazing feeling. Optimal experience. I was having one when I wrote this. Now you know what I mean when I say I’m jazzed. Really.

Wanna jam on an idea or two?

Liz Strauss writes at Successful Blog — where she’s often jazzed about writing and thinking curious thoughts.

if you see this, the content is stolen.

That page is now a 404.

Elliott Bäck is the same guy who developed a plugin called HashCash to circumvent spammers.

So why would he develop Autoblog, a plugin that is a content scraper?

While I can perfectly understand Elliott’s motivation for writing this plugin (learning more about RSS) I think releasing it was a bad, bad, bad idea. I’m sure a plugin like this can have it’s legitimate merit’s but I personally feel it’s blatantly obvious that it’s number one use will be the thing we’ve all learned to hate: splogs on which we’re going to find OUR content with ads placed all around it. said Marco van Hylckama Vlieg, freelance developer & designer on his blog, The Net Is Dead, last July.

I’m a teacher. I can understand that learning is a great reason to develop the Autoblog plugin. I’m good at math too, but I can’t get to the calculation that explains why it is good for humanity to release it for use. Can you? What possible reasons could a guy have? Money? Ego? Am I missing something?

As a writer, I’ve always taken the idea of owning my work seriously. As a publisher, I’ve always understood that no one can copyright an idea. As blogger, I’m tired of seeing people steal what my friends and I have spent our time working on, tired of watching sploggers toss ads up alongside our work to make their money.

I’ve been hit by Autoblog sites more times than I can count. One site actually ran ads for Autoblog under a blogroll of more than 10 of my friends who were also being scraped. It took a front page post on my blog called, “Is This Guy Stealing Your Content Too?” to smoke out who was behind the scraper to get that blog closed down.

These days, the irony is that Elliott Bäck has his own problem.

To whom it may concern,
I act on behalf of myself, and am the exclusive owner of the copyright works in question, that is, all of the content and design of my website and blog network, found on elliottback.com and its subdomains. Browsing a server on your network, 217.160.106.16 and the URL www.hotblogstoday.com, I find unauthorized copies of the ElliottBack network material which infringes on my rights as copyright holder . . .

Every little kid knows, if you play with matches, you might get burned.

Liz Strauss writes at Successful-Blog where folks talk about the ethics of what we do.

Then I gently tucked him, and said “Sweet Dreams.”

As I went to the door, he said, “Mom, there are mountains in that state.”

I said, “Yes, you’re right. There sure are.”

I heard my little boy say, “Don’t look that way,” as he pointed left, “and walk that way,” as he pointed right.

He was telling me to be looking in the right direction to navigate the mountain.

I promised not to, gave him a kiss for his concern, all of the while wondering what exactly he had in mind. . . .

What’s looking in the right direction when we’re blogging?

Some folks look up. They are always looking at the blogger that they admire. They hardly take their eyes off the blogger they hope to be. Some try to that blogger’s walk and that blogger’s talk in any way that they can devise. That shows itself in the form of a design and a writing style that is almost the same as their hero’s, a good try . . . but why would I wamt to read another version of the hero’s blog when I can read the real thing – the one and only original?

Some bloggers kook left and right. They spend their time in the wayof the folks in the fifties “keeping up with Joneses.” They want the latest fad. Whatever widget, template, bell, or whistle, whatever idea, tool, or social network is the latest thing, they’ll be right there. These early adopters are so forward thinking that I have to run to keep up with them. Sometimes I’m just too tired to run while I’m reading. So I click on to something more my speed.

Some bloggers keep their heads down. They only look at what they write. Every word they type is perfect — is painfully and carefully crafted. They’re going for work that’s more than perfect. These bloggers want to decimate the competition. Their posts are true and tight. The words develop the ideas and even express the blogger’s thinking and insight. But these bloggers are wrapped in who wrote those perfect posts — themselves. When my turn comes, I find no room for me to get a thought in edgewise.

The bloggers who know where to look are looking at the folks who are in the comment box. They are looking at their readers the ones who quietly pick up their feeds. They do that by listening to the response. They listen to the words and the white spaces in the dialogue that comes after every post which they write. These bloggers hear the movement that occurs person by person as they look at their stats. They wonder about the readers behind the numbers? They wonder what would make a person like me do that? And often they come right down off the posting box to ask.

Those bloggers who know where to look, don’t spend a lot of time asking questions, such as these;

• Who else do you read?
• Who is my competition? Are they better than I am?
• What is your favorite article that I wrote?

Great bloggers know that these questions are looking in the wrong directions.

Bloggers, who know which direction to look, ask questions more like these:

• What do you like to read about?
• What interests you?
• What ways do you read my blog?

How can I make it easier for you?
They know that looking in the right direction isn’t up or down. It isn’t right or left. The right direction isn’t with our heads down. Bloggers looking in the right direction are looking right at you.

You are the only ones that count. What do you want from what you read?

I never did find out whether my young son was worried about whether his mother was going to walk into the mountain or fall off of a cliff.

Liz Strauss writes at Successful-Blog, where she’s always looking to her readers to find out how she might know how to best serve them.

“Researching is much easier, because no one can help you write.”

That’s really the problem, isn’t it?

No matter how we look it. No matter how much we read and research it. At the end, at the start, it’s me alone with my thoughts and hopefully, something to say. Anyone can watch and critique. Some can offer direction or guidance, but no one can be my voice. No one can do my writing.

I come to this blog with a writer’s ego and a writer’s self-doubt. The ego is what makes me brave enough to put the words where folks can read them. The self-doubt is what makes me curious and more centered in the folks who read. The ego makes me reach for expression. The self-doubt makes me listen for sense and meaning.

I hate writing. I love having written. — Hugh Prather, Jr.

Quote after quote tells the story of writers who know that they have to go it alone. Every blogger worth his or her blogging salt knows the same thing.

Yet we do it. Why do we do it? We have a secret.

It’s more than the momentary thrill of a finished writing piece. We might have started out thinking it was about the writing, but that’s only part, and that’s where it changes. I’m from publishing so I know of what I speak.

When I write for print, once it’s published, the event is over.

When I blog, once it’s published, it’s often the beginning. A conversation can start. It can last for hours or pick up again days later. The thoughts I wrote get answered. They get reflected, reformed, and reignited. Sometimes they get interpreted in ways I never expected and I find myself amazed. I find myself totally engaged in a discussion that takes the idea to places beyond, filling in nuances and broadening the spectrum. The folks who “comment” add insights, draw conclusions, analyze and synthesize the thinking. The speak in the realm of logic and emotion with equal fluency and flexibility.

I come for the company – Tony D. Clark.

Every day I return to my blog and I write. Often I’m still there until the wee hours of the next morning. No one can help me write. . . . but you can take the thought wider and deeper with the authenticity of your experience. That’s the Blogger’s Secret.

Liz Strauss writes and blogs at Successful-Blog, where all of her readers are in on the secret.

In another glance, it’s easy to see writing is socially dynamic. We record our lives. We announce our plans. We write sadness and sympathy. We spell out love and loneliness. We describe our achievements and failures in detail and drama. Most of all we talk to each other. We talk around the world without a sound.

The longer I am a blogger, the more I discover how much we’re connected to each other by relationships. All of the words I write link me closer to the readers who read them. As we discuss our responses to each other’s thoughts in the comment box, we get linked more closely. I found myself once this week, calling a blogger friend to remark on a post. Once more my words have connected me to another person and the people around him.

I met this man directly on my blog and got to know him. I have met most of the people who visit his blog one by one in a similar way. He’s met most of the people who visit my blog one by one that way too.

People who’ve read The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference call me a connector and a maven – one who links like-minded people and one who gathers and shares deep information.

One who links like-minded people and one who gathers and shares deep information, that sounds the definition of almost every relationship blogger I know. We are connectors and mavens at the tipping point of communication.

Bloggers are just beginning to figure out the depth and breadth of the medium in which we are playing and working. The brilliant idea of Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers so well defined and described by Seth Godin underscores the exact importance of relationships in every business and every life. When Seth talks about marketing, he often uses a metaphor of dating – also known as having a relationship. All business is relationships. Everything people is relationships.

Blogging is the tipping point of communication because no other form of communication has been so immediate, so interactive, so far-reaching and so ready-made for relationships. And it’s adaptable to any schedule — even the cell-phone won’t wait around until you are ready to take that call. Relationships that fit into our time and space to make them. It’s what Tony D. Clark said to me just last week.
“The whole thing changes when the world is your community.”

We are connectors and mavens at the tipping point of communication able to make relationships with people all over the planet. We are just beginning to figure out the depth and breadth of the medium in which we are working. With the relationships we are making and the information we are gathering. If we set our minds in the same direction, who’s to say that we can’t change the world?

Liz Strauss writes about Changing the World at Successful-Blog, and will be meeting with some of the most outstanding relationship bloggers at SOBCon07 on May 11-12.

The post where I landed was entitled, The real reason nobody reads your blog. Who could look without reading a post named that? Then he started right out with a question that has been problem in my life.

To those of you who have emailed me lately, asking if I have a moment to have a look over your blog and offer some suggestions for improvements, I have to sadly decline. Unless you’re happy to pull out the checkbook. I don’t want that to sound mean, I just want to keep my priorities in order.

You see, I’m a relationship blogger, I really like to get to know other bloggers and I like to help them out. Apparently the word has gotten around that I’m like that. The reason I think that way is that I get messages daily from bloggers who say something like

I just got to your blog today. Would come you visit my blog to give me some advice?

I’d like to say a few words to everyone who writes me a note like that.

I’m a relationship blogger. If you’d like me come over as a friend and do things that friends might do, I think it would great if we were friends before you invite me first. That just seems to me the way it should work.

I’m a relationship blogger. I only have three kinds of time. I have time I spend with my friends and family; I have time I spend working so that we can eat and enjoy our lives; and I have time that I can give to the folks in the community. That last chunk of time I like to give to people who know a little about me and what I’m about and who give me a chance to know a little about them.

I’m a relationship blogger. I invest in relationships. I know time spent with good people is time I’ve invested well. Picking out good people is easy. They are the ones who take time to figure out that I’m not sitting around waiting for a random email to come asking for my help. It’s my experience that random emails rarely come in search of relatonships.

I’m a relationship blogger. I don’t blog for traffic or stats. I don’t blog for links or ranking either. Yeah I check those things, but I don’t write based on what I find. I blog from ideas that readers give me, or that occur to me when I read my comments. I blog for the people who are reading my blog. My blog reflects my relationships with them.

Relationships are the key to everything I do on my blog. They are what got me here to the Blog Herald. They are what makes me glad to open my blog each day or as Alister said in his post.

Here’s the real reason why nobody reads your blog:

• it’s not the content, assuming your writing good meaty stuff;
• it’s not the inbound links, assuming been diligently submitting links back to your blog here and there and everywhere;
• it’s not the consistency, assuming you write a half-decent blog post more or less every 36 hours;
• it’s not the readability, assuming your blog doesn’t have red text on a black background;
• and it’s probably not the SEO, assuming your blog is not extraordinarily badly constructed and promoted…

No, it’s probably none of those things, the things most people blogging about blogging carry on about endlessly.

The real reason why nobody reads your blog is this: massively successful blogging is about establishing and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships. It’s all about who you know. Really!

It’s not a coldly, calculating “who you know.” It’s warmly, welcoming your readers so that they can be folks you know well. Relationships are stronger than links for traffic.

Relationships are everyone’s business and business is relationships.

Liz Strauss writes about relationship blogging and changing the world at Successful-Blog.

This week I talked to a man in Nairobi. He’s working to save the last 700 mountain gorillas. I spoke to a young man in New Jersey who made his first business cards about his is first ebook cover. I helped a woman in Singapore who’s becoming a healthcare professional.

I’ve realized something.

We starting to live online. We don’t just leave comments. We don’t just pass disjointed sentences in chat rooms. We talk about dreams for the future. We talk about how to make the world better. We tell stories. We commiserate over our faults and share our glories. We give support in emergencies. Sometimes we even tell our deepest feelings.

We feel fine.

Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar saw it long before I did.

They captured real people talking, thinking, sharing feelings in real time on the Internet. How much closer to reality can you get than that?

Real people answering back.

Every day I see my friends. We talk. We think. We share our feelings.

I say I live inside their computers.

We are in virtual reality.

Liz Strauss, writes her thoughts and dreams, and tells stories on Successful-Blog.

I spoke to the folks on the steering committee about the problem, and Chris Cree, who writes on Successful Blog as well as his own SuccessCREEations gave me this advice.

Don’t call yourself a blogger. People don’t know what that is. Call yourself a web publisher.

Chris pointed out this comment that Kent Blumberg made in the comments on his blog.

When I tell people I write about leadership, strategy and performance and have published over 150 articles on my website, they go, “Wow!” When I tell them I blog, they look for someone less weird to talk with.

Chris even wrote an article on his own blog about what the comment means.

These two guys packed a whole lot of wisdom into my thinking about myself as a blogger. Here, I’ve been an International publisher for over two decades. I’m a pretty darn good thinkier, but I hadn’t got to where they had.

I had gotten stuck on the word blogger, and it had the potential of getting in my way. If anyone could say she was a web publisher, I sure could, but I hadn’t thought of it. They had.

The next day, when I talked to that vendor, I was not only compelling and reasonable, I was confident and nice. We ended the conversation sitting on the same side of the proverbial table. That vendor now cares as much about SOBCon 07 as we do.

Blogging makes a lot of “unlikely heroes.” Those two guys, Chris and Kent, are are just two of mine. I have a feeling I’ll be telling you about a few more.

Who are your blogging heroes? Have you stopped to look?

Liz Strauss writes about thinking and heroes at Successful-Blog.