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If you are not your worst critic, you can be sure that someone else will.
Read your material with a critical eye.
Look for the weak areas.
Look for topics that you have neglected.
Try to find holes in your logic, your explanations, your conclusions.
It can be hard to be critical of your own work. After all, you wrote it, you polished it, you put a little bit of sweat and tears in it. It's your baby.
But is it your best? Can you do better?
If you were sending you work to a publisher, you can bet that you would hear plenty of criticism. They wouldn't be trying to tear you down. It's their job to critique each author. It's the author's job to take the criticism and use it to create better manuscripts.
Can you do better?
Of course, you can.
If you try.
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Maverick Money Makers: The Club -- as seen on CNBC, CNN, FoxNews, CBS News, Readers Digest, etc.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Blog Idea Lists: Drew Stauffer "How to Get Ideas (For Blog Posts
Drew Stauffer wrote a very good post named: How to Get Ideas (For Blog Posts). It is posted on his Alibi Productions - Website Promotion Online Marketing blog.
Mr. Stauffer likes to get ideas from questions from his readers. When he does get writer's block, he heads off to the forums to see what people are talking about. That is great advice.
Your readers can provide you with enough material to write more articles than you can shake an Internet stick at. Look at the comments on your blog. What blog post are the readers talking about the most? What part of that blog do your readers focus on the most? Hey, if your readers are talking about it, they would probably love it if you revisit that topic again.
Read his article twice. You don't want to gloss over anything.
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This post is one of a series of blog posts about other sites and blogs that have "Blog Idea Lists." To help you find them, each post in this series will be labeled: Blog Idea Lists: xxxx. For example, this post is named: Blog Idea Lists: Drew Stauffer.
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Mr. Stauffer likes to get ideas from questions from his readers. When he does get writer's block, he heads off to the forums to see what people are talking about. That is great advice.
Your readers can provide you with enough material to write more articles than you can shake an Internet stick at. Look at the comments on your blog. What blog post are the readers talking about the most? What part of that blog do your readers focus on the most? Hey, if your readers are talking about it, they would probably love it if you revisit that topic again.
Read his article twice. You don't want to gloss over anything.
...
This post is one of a series of blog posts about other sites and blogs that have "Blog Idea Lists." To help you find them, each post in this series will be labeled: Blog Idea Lists: xxxx. For example, this post is named: Blog Idea Lists: Drew Stauffer.
...
Buy Steno Drills
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Blog Idea Lists: "I Help you, Blog" by Philip Liu
Philip Liu writes a blog called: I Help You, Blog. One of his posts is: 101 Great Posting Ideas That Will Make Your Blog Sizzle.
His suggestions tend to be most helpful for those who blog on the technical side of life, but if you are a little imaginative, you can associate his ideas with your blog, no matter what kind of blog you have..
For example, his third idea can be converted from "Write a tutorial," (which is a great idea for a technical writer) to "Write about how you shop, change a diaper, catch a fish, take a walk, wax your car, etc.," which is a great idea for the personal blogger. It's really the same idea applied to different situations.
As a bonus, Mr. Liu has provided links to blogs that have used his ideas.
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This post is one of a series of blog posts about other sites and blogs that have "Blog Idea Lists." To help you find them, each post in this series will be labeled: Blog Idea Lists: xxxx. For example, this post is named: Blog Idea Lists: "I Help You, Blog" by Philip Liu.
...
Buy Stenography Drills
His suggestions tend to be most helpful for those who blog on the technical side of life, but if you are a little imaginative, you can associate his ideas with your blog, no matter what kind of blog you have..
For example, his third idea can be converted from "Write a tutorial," (which is a great idea for a technical writer) to "Write about how you shop, change a diaper, catch a fish, take a walk, wax your car, etc.," which is a great idea for the personal blogger. It's really the same idea applied to different situations.
As a bonus, Mr. Liu has provided links to blogs that have used his ideas.
...
This post is one of a series of blog posts about other sites and blogs that have "Blog Idea Lists." To help you find them, each post in this series will be labeled: Blog Idea Lists: xxxx. For example, this post is named: Blog Idea Lists: "I Help You, Blog" by Philip Liu.
...
Buy Stenography Drills
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Blog Idea Lists: Sharon Housley
Sharon Housley wrote a nice article named: Places to Get Ideas for Blog Posts.
Most of her tips have to do with -- duh -- places that you can get ideas for blog posts. A few of her ideas are suggestions about what type of blog you can create.
Ms. Housley does have some technical tips that not everyone can utilize. Do you know what Usenet is? Can you find your website's "long tail?" Some of her tips talk about stuff like that.
On the other hand, most of her tips are easy to understand and easy to use. It's a good solid article.
You can find her article on this page of RSS Specifications.
...
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Most of her tips have to do with -- duh -- places that you can get ideas for blog posts. A few of her ideas are suggestions about what type of blog you can create.
Ms. Housley does have some technical tips that not everyone can utilize. Do you know what Usenet is? Can you find your website's "long tail?" Some of her tips talk about stuff like that.
On the other hand, most of her tips are easy to understand and easy to use. It's a good solid article.
You can find her article on this page of RSS Specifications.
...
Steno drills CDs
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Blog Idea Lists: Intro
There are many sites and blogs that have lists of blog ideas or ideas on how to look for blog ideas. Some are quite original. I will begin posting links and a short description of each worthy site/blog that I find.
To help you find my posts on Blog Idea Lists, the subject line of each post will be "Blog Idea Lists: xxxxx. The "xxxxx" will be replaced with the subject of that particular post. Just search for "Blog Idea Lists" and you'll find my posts.
...
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To help you find my posts on Blog Idea Lists, the subject line of each post will be "Blog Idea Lists: xxxxx. The "xxxxx" will be replaced with the subject of that particular post. Just search for "Blog Idea Lists" and you'll find my posts.
...
Stenography practice drills
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Think outside the box
Let's try an experiment. Tell your child to draw a picture of a house.
Most children will draw a box for the basic shape, and then draw more boxes for the windows, doors, and obligatory chimney. Eventually, they add a roof and a couple of fuzzy lollipop trees in the front.
Most children will do that.
But not all.
I am in awe of the child that starts his/her house by drawing a circle, a triangle or other shape. And they don't stop there. Some houses float or move. Some look like letters, animals, trees, birds. Some have impossible bends, fantastic heights, or architecturally questionable shapes.
A child who can "think outside of the box" has a gift that most of us have discarded.
I want to be that kind of child again.
This blog is about becoming that child.
If you can beat the "box," you will never want for ideas again.
Most children will draw a box for the basic shape, and then draw more boxes for the windows, doors, and obligatory chimney. Eventually, they add a roof and a couple of fuzzy lollipop trees in the front.
Most children will do that.
But not all.
I am in awe of the child that starts his/her house by drawing a circle, a triangle or other shape. And they don't stop there. Some houses float or move. Some look like letters, animals, trees, birds. Some have impossible bends, fantastic heights, or architecturally questionable shapes.
A child who can "think outside of the box" has a gift that most of us have discarded.
I want to be that kind of child again.
This blog is about becoming that child.
If you can beat the "box," you will never want for ideas again.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Why Your Blog Sucks Sewer Water
If you don't know your faults, you aren't very attentive. The rest of us can see them. Why not write about them on your blog?
Now, let's not have any unnecessary flagellation. You aren't looking to belittle yourself. Simply contrast what people see as your weaknesses with the opposite quality, which is usually a strength.
For instance, I am not an organized person. I don't like what I perceive as dull, boring details. On the other hand, one of my strengths is that I can produce competent work in the midst of chaos.
For this blog, chaos works. I write when I want, and I write about what I want. I frequently have absolutely no idea about the topic of my blog before I actually begin to type it out. I very rarely have writer's block, and I find that a stream-of-consciousness mentality works very well for me on this blog.
So I don't mind telling you that I have trouble with organizing my schedule, my writing, my life. I view that as inconsequential on this blog. My posts do not relate to other blog posts. They stand alone, and a lack of organization is not a flaw on this blog.
My biggest strength is that I am the opposite of organized. I can pop out an article any time I want. I can beat writer's block nearly every time, and I think my lack of organization helps on this blog.
I have just started a site, To Make A Site, that explains in simple terms how to start a website. On that site, if I was going to admit to my faults, I would admit, not to a lack of organization, but to being inaccurate or incomplete in my writings. Sometimes to be technically perfect in an explanation of websites and the Internet, you have to use words or phrases that would be beyond my target audience: absolute beginners. So I choose to give simple explanations that may fudge on the details, and I wouldn't mind telling my readers that I do so.
My strength on that site is that I can take technical mumbo jumbo and turn it into understandable, straightforward instructions and explanations. For instance, if you follow my easy directions, you can submit your site to Google in about ten minutes from the time you begin to read my instructions. It's pretty simple. My readers may not get the same fully detailed explanation that you find on other sites, but I guarantee that they will be able to submit to Google in short time with no confusion. Click here for the instructions to submit to Google.
In this post, I mentioned two faults: lack of organization, and incomplete or inaccurate writings. I also told you why those two faults are not real faults. If you examine things carefully, you will see that my qualities are the opposite of those faults, and my qualities are why you should be visiting my blog and my site regularly.
So what I really did was write a promotional article for myself and disguise it as a blog on my faults.
What are your faults? What are the opposites of those faults? They are probably your best qualities. Mention your faults. Then push your qualities at your readers.
Now, let's not have any unnecessary flagellation. You aren't looking to belittle yourself. Simply contrast what people see as your weaknesses with the opposite quality, which is usually a strength.
For instance, I am not an organized person. I don't like what I perceive as dull, boring details. On the other hand, one of my strengths is that I can produce competent work in the midst of chaos.
For this blog, chaos works. I write when I want, and I write about what I want. I frequently have absolutely no idea about the topic of my blog before I actually begin to type it out. I very rarely have writer's block, and I find that a stream-of-consciousness mentality works very well for me on this blog.
So I don't mind telling you that I have trouble with organizing my schedule, my writing, my life. I view that as inconsequential on this blog. My posts do not relate to other blog posts. They stand alone, and a lack of organization is not a flaw on this blog.
My biggest strength is that I am the opposite of organized. I can pop out an article any time I want. I can beat writer's block nearly every time, and I think my lack of organization helps on this blog.
I have just started a site, To Make A Site, that explains in simple terms how to start a website. On that site, if I was going to admit to my faults, I would admit, not to a lack of organization, but to being inaccurate or incomplete in my writings. Sometimes to be technically perfect in an explanation of websites and the Internet, you have to use words or phrases that would be beyond my target audience: absolute beginners. So I choose to give simple explanations that may fudge on the details, and I wouldn't mind telling my readers that I do so.
My strength on that site is that I can take technical mumbo jumbo and turn it into understandable, straightforward instructions and explanations. For instance, if you follow my easy directions, you can submit your site to Google in about ten minutes from the time you begin to read my instructions. It's pretty simple. My readers may not get the same fully detailed explanation that you find on other sites, but I guarantee that they will be able to submit to Google in short time with no confusion. Click here for the instructions to submit to Google.
In this post, I mentioned two faults: lack of organization, and incomplete or inaccurate writings. I also told you why those two faults are not real faults. If you examine things carefully, you will see that my qualities are the opposite of those faults, and my qualities are why you should be visiting my blog and my site regularly.
So what I really did was write a promotional article for myself and disguise it as a blog on my faults.
What are your faults? What are the opposites of those faults? They are probably your best qualities. Mention your faults. Then push your qualities at your readers.
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