Search Results for: questions

Why DO I Blog . . . ? Uh-oh! The Deep, Meaningful Answer

February 11, 2007 by Liz

When a close friend, Chris Cree, asks me a question, like the one at the end of this post, “Why do you blog?” I have to figure out whether to respond with my default response –a deep meaningful answer.

Some questions — “What are you doing?” — don’t ask for philosophy. I find I keep more friends, and they are happier, if I sort which questions want a deep, meaningful answer and which call for information. (Hey, in the end, you can walk away, but I’m stuck listening to me rattle like an old three-wheel bicycle.)

Gosh, . . . I might have already said more than you needed to know.

[Sorry]

Why do I blog? was the question.

I have three blogs of my own and two others that I blog on regularly. I did two interviews this weekend. Why do I blog? The answer to that has grown, but the reasons haven’t changed.

Chris, you asked for five reasons. When I look out at my blogs these are the ones I see.

I blog because I said I would. When I wrote my first blog post, I made a commitment to myself to write every day. With the next blog, and the blog after, I made more commitments to myself and to anyone who reads what I write. Keeping my word is important to me.
I blog because people need a friend. For years I gave away copies of two journal-like books by one writer. I gave them to folks I knew who needed to know they had a friend. Then those books went out of print. I wanted to make a blog that would offer a place where anyone could go to find a best friend at any hour of the day. I think people deserve a safe place.
I blog because I am an entrepreneur in the 21st century. Blogging is one strategy of my business. Blogging gives my service business substance and a voice. I know that any business supported solely by print and word-of-mouth relationships is isolated and insecure. Blogging directly and indirectly supports my family. It is my credibilitiy across more than 2000 blog posts.
I blog because I value the wealth of the blogosphere. The people, the relationships, the generosity of spirit, the joy of discovery, the learning and laughter, the humanity I experience are what bring me back day after day. Who with curiosity could be bored? We’ve set the bar with words I strive to live — authenticity, transparency, trust, respect, acceptance.
I blog because I believe words can change the world. How could I walk away? Blogging is not an addiction. It’s a heady way of communicating, a meeting place for ideas where they become visible — more visible than the people who have them. I cannot turn my back on the possibility of being useful.

Nothing in my life could have prepared me to be a blogger, except everything in my life.

Now I wonder, you are each unique, Lisa, Brian, David, Tony, Chris . . . Why do you blog?

Change the World: That One Person Is Better

February 3, 2007 by Liz

A Writing Contract

People are inspiring, teaching, and reaching each other in positive ways every day. Phil Gerbyshak is smiling, sharing, serving, asking questions, learning and hugging.

Lisa at Design Your Writing Life took a virtual page Content Done Better by Carson Brackney and another from The Write Path by Diane Penna to forge a contract with herself. Lisa’s contract, like the others, is a commitment to “doing the work you love in service to those who love what you do,” as Steve Farber says.

Of course then, Lisa left a message that it was my turn.

Lisa, this is my answer and my contract.

When I was almost 18 years old, at sunrise in the Grand Teton Mountains, a young man asked me an important question about life that I had never been asked before. Somehow I knew the answer. That answer is the basis for my writing contract with myself and the world.

I will be the kind of writer that strives to keep alive the music of the language, to hold head and heart together in the words, and to write with hope and passion that one person is better because he or she read what I wrote.

I told that boy, “I’ll never know for sure. So I’ll always be trying.”

Thank you, Lisa, for asking the question.

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

______________
If you’re ready to change the world, send me your thoughts in a guest post. Feel free to take the gorgeous Change the World image up there that Sandy designed back to your blog. Or help yourself to this one.

Email me about what you’re doing or what we might do. Let’s change the world one bit at a time together. Together it can’t take forever.

Writer’s Block: Unblanking the Blank Screen

January 30, 2007 by Liz

Why the Blank Screen Is Scary

Ah, the blank screen.

The blank screen. It’s an invitation to look foolish, to be boring, to write something that we’ll regret. Some of us can use the blank screen to scare the proverbial pants off ourselves imagining how badly we might screw things up.

The blank screen reminds us that our thoughts will be there for the world to see.

A famous Guindon Cartoon said it better.

Writing is nature’s way of letting you know how sloppy your thinking is.

Fear of a blank screen, writer’s block, really is — a subtle fear of exposure — fear that people will see things in our thoughts.

Combine that fear with the idea of marring a pure and perfect white screen, and a writer can get totally ‘whelmed. (Who needs to be overwhelmed? Feeling ‘whelmed is quite big enough for me, thank you.)

It helps to know what we’re up against.

Unblanking the Blank Screen

The key to unblanking the scary blank screen is getting something on it we want to say. Some writers can type until they know what that is. I’m not one of them.

I find freewriting visually stressful. When I do that, all I see is a blank screen getting messier and messier. All I feel is me getting more and more distracted by the problem that I don’t know what I want to write.

What I do instead is look away from the menace of the vast white space. I get up and hunt down one sentence — only one — one sentence that says something I want to say. I use questions like these to help me.

What something have I learned or learned about lately?
What news have I heard that I’d enjoy adding my point of view to?
What have I read that I might want to recommend?
What pithy comment was left on my blog this week? How might I respond?
What pattern, behavior, trend have I noticed?
What question do I have that I want answered?
What skill or a technique might I teach?
What argument might I give the pro/con to?
What lesson have I learned this week? What funny story can I share?
What pet peeve or problem have I got a solution to?

The possible questions are unlimited, of course. I start with these, and look through books, cabinets and drawers, and the refrigerator while I’m thinking. The moving around and looking helps my brain unfreeze.

It’s not long before a sentence warms up to me.

I go back to my computer, and I write that sentence across the screen.

The screen is not blank anymore. I’m no longer distracted by its emptiness.

Now I can get to writing.

That sentence? It often becomes my headline. When it’s not, it’s usually my last line. Can you tell which one it is this time?

What questions would you ask to help folks unblank the blank screen?

UPDATE: IF you don’t read Joe’s post Liz Had My Idea Before Me, you’ll be missing a clever and entertaining blogger’s post.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you think Liz can help with a problem you’re having with your writing, check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Bloggy Question 35: Rockin’ Blogger

January 28, 2007 by Liz

Road Trip

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life hypothetical question. . . .

A long time friend, a rock promoter, is town with the coolest band. You’re jealous and jazzed at the same time. It’s the kickoff to the concert tour for their latest CD.

Folks have been waiting for three years. The concert has been sold out at the stadium for months now, and there you are with box seats and full back stage access. This is better than anything you and your friend pulled off in college.

You took a week off work just for the occasion.

You’re in with band. It’s like you’re with old friends during set up and sound checks. You’re no music slouch yourself. The sound guy lets you listen in on the headset.

As rehearsal moves on, you pull out your laptop and start blogging your usual blog posts for the week.

On a break, the band comes over to see what you’re doing. The lead singer says he tried blogging, but couldn’t blog and write music too. He asks you a string of questions about your blog and blogging in general.

Then the day before the band leaves town, your fine friend says, “They want you to come with. They want you to blog the entire road tour all 12 months of it — $10K/month, all expenses paid, fine hotels, great food, big cities, Europe, UK, South Africa, Singapore, Australia, Japan.

It means being out of your job, your apartment, and on the road for your life in a matter of days.

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Change the World: Share a Mini-Vacation at a Favorite Place

January 25, 2007 by Liz

Meet Me in Tuscany — the Restaurant

When I commuted to Massachusetts, I often spent the weekend there. Every Sunday I was there, a couple of friends would plan a drive to show me one of their favorite spots in Maine or New Hampshire. We called it “airing out our minds.”

Last Saturday, I got the chance to do the same with two incredible women and blogger friends, Wendy Piersall and Jessica Duquette. They drove into Chicago, and I got to share a favorite place — a restaurant called Tuscany.

The cool thing about inviting folks to a favorite place, especially if they help choose which one, is that I’m inviting them into a part of my life, and they’re saying they want to come. I get to discover my favorite place again, this time with them and through their eyes.

Jessica and Wendy brought a feeling of family and an anticipation of a night that would be enjoyed. That was perfect because I had done the same. The change of scenery, the fine company, the laughter, the conversation, the food, the wine turned a simple blogger dinner into a mini-vacation.

Three bloggers talked about our blogs, our goals, our lives. We asked questions. We challenged assumptions. We told silly stories and important ones too. I doubt that any one of us could describe the other people in the restaurant — except the lovely lady who was our server. She seemed to understand that something important was happening between close friends. That’s right, we skipped the showier, more surface, poking-around sort of talk that comes before the authentic and real part. Bloggers are good at doing that.

We shared food off common plates while we shared moments of each other’s lives. Jessica and Wendy touched my world and made it better in so many words and smiles that night.

WendyPiersall, Jessica Duquette, Liz Strauss, Chicago 01-20-07

It’s that easy to touch a life.

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

Email me about what you’re doing or what we might do. Let’s change the world one bit at a time together. Together it can’t take forever.

Jodee Bock Is a B.A.D. Blogger!

January 17, 2007 by Liz

Blogger A Day Call: Hello is Jodee there?

It was New Year’s Day when Jodee Bock left her first comment on Successful-Blog. Of course, I knew who she is. She is a friend of Phil Gerbyshak, I’ve seen her book, and I’ve read her blog. Then there it was a comment she left, that told of her burning belief in Extreme Leadership ala Steve Farber. We have a lot in common. I had only one choice then.

I called Jodee Bock up within minutes of her comment.

We spent some time talking about Steve Farber and how each of us knew him. We detailed the parts of Radical Leap and Radical Edge, his two books, that were our favorite parts. We tossed quotes at each other. We’re both teachers and we’re both invested in the study of creativity.

We discussed other folks that we had in common. It’s amazing how small the world is, yet how long it took for Jodee and I to meet.

Jodee told me of her business, Bock’s Office. We talked about the variety of projects and people that she brings together. She is a person who makes things happen.

Jodee explained how she works with clients using research from her own book, her Accerated innovation training, and ideas from Steve Farber’s books. She said that one of her favorite challenge points is the “questioning machine.” That’s a telephone recording device that when a call comes in it asks two questions — the most important questions of a lifetime. Who are you? and What do you want? Jodee said she uses the questioning machine idea often when she works with groups on creativity innovation, and leadership.

It’s not a surprise that she and I met in the comment box under a post quoting Steve Farber. Jodee Bock is an Extreme Leader. She’s also a creative, insightful person to talk with, not to mention lots of fun.

Jodee Bock knows who she is and what she wants. She has no fear of that questioning machine.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

I’ve connected with people. I’ve met with people. The people are so generous and so real, they given so much . . . — Jodee Bock

Stop by Jodee’s Blog, You Already Know This Stuff, and say hi!

Thanks, Jodee, you B.A.D. Blogger!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. Blogger? page in the sidebar.