Tag: writing

3 Things I Learned From Alexandra Franzen

Alison Chino

3 Things I Learned From Alexandra Franzen

A few months ago I had the great pleasure of sitting down face to face (via Skype!) with one of my internet heroes, Alexandra Franzen.

We had no big agenda for our conversation.

Just chat + inspiration.

We covered a lot of topics.

From writing and creativity to time management and social media.

We talked about a few road blocks I was hitting in current projects and my summer long obsession with the Enneagram.

It was a delightful hour.

Here are a few things I learned from my time with Alex.

1. If you really want to have time for writing, you have to schedule it.

Like in your calendar with red ink that indicates to you and everyone else in your life that this block of time is not negotiable. If you schedule your writing hours, then the time is yours for writing.

Now you can show up for it like a hot date.

2. You can run a successful business on the internet without maintaining a presence on social media.

Seriously.

Before I sat down with Alexandra, I had been wondering for a while if this was true. I had been experimenting for about a month with being off of social media and was trying to decide if I wanted to stay off. We talked about how there is a lot of fear mongering around making sure you keep your social media profiles constantly updated. And that it is a great tool for folks that love it.

But if like me, you have a little voice telling you that you really wish you could give it up, but you just need a little encouragement, Alexandra has got you covered.

3. Skype sessions with other creatives are a good idea.

Here’s why.

We need people to ask us the questions we don’t have to answer on a daily basis. You know, something besides, “What’s for dinner?”

We need someone to ask us the bigger dreamy kinds of questions.

And then we need that someone to hold space for us while we answer those questions.

Or to sit with us in the uncomfortable silence while we listen to our hearts long enough to answer those questions.

We see these questions all the time. 

What are your biggest dreams?

What do you wish you could do?

What is holding you back?

What are you afraid of?

Methods for following your dreams and overcoming your fears are the topic of about 1008 blog posts. Weekly.

We skim those blog posts and save them and tweet them and file them away.

But often we don’t get around to saying anything out loud.

Because no one is listening. 

Maybe the best Christmas gift you can give to one of your Arkansas Women Blogger Gals is an hour face to face. 

Just for dreaming. And listening.

What if you gifted a creative soul in your life with these same words Alexandra sent to me the day before we sat down together?

We’ll just have a delightful conversation about words, stories, and how to make a positive difference in people’s lives, and hopefully… you’ll walk away feeling happy & inspired.

You might just make her day!

PS A big thank you to Alexandra Franzen for gifting me with an hour of her time after I did her online course Unstoppable, which I highly recommend. And also big love to Paige Ray for talking me into doing the course with her in the first place. Paige has started a podcast since we did the course and she is pretty dang Unstoppable herself! 

4 Risky Ideas for Blogging

By Alison Chino

Blog Talk, Blogging Risks

In keeping with the this month’s theme at Arkansas Women Bloggers, I’ve been contemplating RISK.

And possibility.

Thinking about the risks I want to take in blogging and in life makes me excited!

So here are some ideas for taking a risk with your blog this month.

Because taking risks and having new ideas make blogging so much fun!

1. Write a public letter to one of your internet heroes. 

Is there a blog or a column you have been reading for years? A person whose ideas you could not live without? Someone who makes you laugh. Or cry.

Write them a gushing letter full of compliments and heartfelt thanks. Then publish it on your blog. 

(Bonus points if you find your hero’s address and actually snail mail the letter as well!)

2. Write exactly what your readers want.

Do you have an email newsletter? Maybe consider sending this letter out to your subscribers:

Dear beloved readers,

Will you do me a quick favor? Hit reply to this email and ask me one question you’d love to know the answer to. It can be anything!

I will use your replies as my next several blog posts.

Thanks so much for reading! 

You make blogging so much more fun!

XO

Even if you only get four questions back, that’s four more blog posts/writing prompts than you had before. 

You could also ask this question on Facebook if you don’t have an email newsletter.

3. Write an advice piece.

Is there a skill or hobby or craft you’ve been learning about lately? Even if you don’t feel like you’re an expert, you probably know more than I do. Tell me how to repair my wood floor. Tell me how to get started on quilting. Or how to narrow down the massive number of paint color choices for a room. How do I dress for an interview? Or start a podcast? 

If you’ve been working on a project of any kind over the last few weeks, you have acquired knowledge that someone needs to know. You could be the answer to someone else’s Google search!

4. Make a vlog.

Putting yourself out into the world via video can feel like a HUGE risk if you have never done it before. It also can seem daunting, but a one minute video of you doing something as simple as introducing yourself can help your readers connect with your personality. 

So dig out a cute outfit, set up your phone and give it a go! 

We want to see your pretty face.

If you’re in a rut or looking to take a risk this month, give one of these options a try.

Or tell me other risks you are hoping to take this month! I’m super curious!

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far it is possible to go.

T.S. Eliot

Every Tree Has A Story {Love Story}

Every Tree Has A Story {Love Story}
Written by ARWB February 2012 Blogger of the Month, Gina Knuppenburg of Desperately Seeking {Gina}.

Most of us learn the genealogy of our family tree early on in life. We can connect Mom to all the children of Great- Auntie Betty or name Grandma Minnie’s father’s second wife’s son. I certainly can. But what I can’t retell is the story of how the tree was planted.

I know, for sure, the story of how my parents met; at least I know the basics. It’s the details I don’t remember. Was my mom head-over-heels in love with my dad? Were they a mushy couple? Did dad buy mom trinkets and flowers and declare his undying love every Valentine’s Day? I know that I’ve asked these questions countless times and my mom patiently retells their love story each and every time.

As my grandmother’s aged and I sat with them and listened to their stories, I never thought to write them down. At the time, I never thought about a future without my beloved grandmas. It never occurred to me that the leaves of their branches would fall from the family tree and be lost in the wind.

As bloggers, we often tell stories of our day-to-day activities. We relate our lives to current events. We explore thoughts, feeling, emotions, and struggles. Good news is shared.; good fortune proclaimed. We type out goals and lists. Recipes are shared and pretty pictures pinned. It should be easy for us, then, to tell the story of how our respective family trees were started.

So, my question for you, ladies of ARWB: are you recording your {love stories}? Are you blogging about them? Journaling them? Will your children, ages from now, be able to recount the story of how their parents met, fell in love, and married {or didn’t marry…there are SO many different kinds of stories to tell}? Will the story of grandma’s and grandpa’s love be retold throughout countless generations?

Relationships change, love may fade. Marriages dissolve or never happened to begin with. Not every story will end happily ever after. Those stories need to be told, too. Not every story will have a beginning, middle, and end. Details may already be lost. The important thing is to jot down what you do know.

Need some ideas to get started?

Methods:

  • Blog about it! Be sure to print out your posts.
  • Journaling. Dedicate a notebook to telling your love story. Even if you don’t fancy yourself a story teller you can use this method. Don’t write in complete sentences. Jot down thoughts, feelings, dates, times, specifics.
  • Scrap booking. Include pictures, mementos, menus from restaurants, corsages, etc.
  • Videography. Write up a list of questions. Sit grandma, dad, mom, aunts, and uncles {or yourself!} in front of the camera and get them talking.

Topics:

  • How did you meet?
  • What did your parents and/or friends think about your new relationship? love?
  • Who proposed and how?
  • What was your wedding/first home like?
  • What did you like to do together?
  • Can your associate your significant other with a scent? sound?
  • First impressions

The possibilities are endless. Be creative. Or, don’t. How the story is told is less important than why it should be told. No matter if your family tree is merely a seedling or as tall as a California Redwood, the leaves of it’s branches should be watered, nurtured, and most importantly it’s canopy of love stories should be told and retold for generations to come.

5 Types of Blog Posts That Will Spice Up Your Blog

Written by Jacqueline Wolven of Moxie Works and Moxie Life.

Sometimes writing blog posts can seem challenging because we aren’t sure what to write. I’m not talking about writer’s block (that is a whole other post someday), but am instead talking about what kinds of posts to write. Sure, you can just use it like a Hello Kitty diary and write whatever hoops in your heart, but maybe you are trying to mix it up a bit and want to add a different spin to your blog.  Not only that, there is some science that folks click on different kinds of blog posts. So your chances of gaining more clicks improve when you mix it up a bit. Here are 5 types of blog posts that you can start interspersing into your blog:

1. How To’s

The number one kind of post that is searched on is how to do something. Really, anything. People look up how to hem pants, how to cook omelets, how to fix the dripping sink, how to dance like Brittany Spears, and on and on. There are a few ways to do the How To post that draw attention. First, you can do it straight like a recipe and just spell it out in text. That works for some people and if you are doing your first how to it might be where you start. Second, you can do a detailed photo post. This has step by step instructions. Pioneer Woman is famous for these and the visuals really draw you in and convince you that you can make that amazing Moroccan Meat Loaf. Third, step into the land of video. Video is, hands down, the most searched vehicle on the web. Show people how you do something and you will draw hits over and over. Your videos do not have to be perfect. They don’t have to have TV studio production values… in fact, it might be better if they don’t. Just shoot it and post. You will see magic numbers happen.

2. Reviews

Sure, there are a million reviews out there, but if I read your blog and I am getting to know you I want to know what you like. I am building a relationship with you and I want to know what kind of toothpaste you are into. Seriously, you might think that your reviews or ideas about products are only useful if you are getting paid to post them, but the blogosphere has allowed us all into your supply closets. So, tell me about the sheets you have, the restaurant you went to, the new spice you are using – anything that you love/hate and I will be interested. Just remember if you are or are not compensated tell me that too. I want to know if this is an unvarnished opinion.

3. Show & Tell

One of my favorite things is show and tell. I am just a grown up kindergartener. I know that. But really, if you go shopping at Sephora, unpack your little bag on video and show me what you got. I love it. Did you just redecorate a corner of your house? Show me. I love to see what people are doing. Are you working on a new work project? Show me that too. I can’t be with all the bloggers I read, but I love to peek into their lives. And the more you show the more interested I am – well, keep your pants on. I don’t want to see that.

4. A Rant

Yep. Get personal. Get loud. Get passionate. If you rant about something, anything, people will read it. Get on your soap box and tell me about what you love, hate, want to fix, think someone else should fix and you will get hits. People love to watch a hissy fit from a distance. Rant away.

5. Projects

Involve your readers in your projects that you are tackling. This especially works with projects that you do every day. “30 Days of Drawings”, “40 Kinds of Soups”, “30 Days of Photos”, etc. Whatever you are doing make a project out of it and invite other people to participate. One way to do that is to create Flickr group that allows them to post their photos which creates a community around your project. You can also link back to posts that participants are doing – creating a lot of link love!

There are hundreds of kinds of posts, but I encourage you to try one of these and see what results you get. I know that one thing that will happen is that you will post more frequently when you commit to trying something different, experience some kind of rise in blog hits, and start to find your niche. Don’t ever feel like you are stuck doing one kind of post – it is your blog and you can mix it up anyway that you want to. That is the beauty of self publishing. Now go write posts!

Jacqueline Wolven blogs at MoxieWorks: Real Life Marketing for Small Buisiness and Small Towns  and MoxieLife where she explores the beauty of living in the South and being in her 40’s.  Her passions are doing good work, zen business, gtd and living the life you create.  She left a successful career in San Francisco as the director of marketing to build  her own, personalized, studio dedicated to helping small business. What she left behind were pointless meetings, red tape, and budgets that were astronomical. What she gained was a sense of living my life on my own terms, the ability to help clients have real success, and the joy of saying yes or no when she needed to.

We Want YOU to Write for Arkansas Women Bloggers

We want YOU to write for Arkansas Women Bloggers!

One of the easiest ways for you to get involved in the Arkansas Women Bloggers community is to write for us.  We have said this before but I want to remind you that ARWB is about YOU, our members. Our goal is to provide a community where you can connect with other like-minded women.  We want you reading each other’s blogs and a great way to let everyone learn about you and your blog is to write a feature article for us!  Hopefully we can offer some answers to the questions you may be having about writing for ARWB.

Why should I write for ARWB?

In every article you write for Arkansas Women Bloggers we will provide a short bio of you along with links back to your blog.  Many ARWB readers will click through to your blog.  This helps to build your personal readership.

Guest writing for another blog can also help to build your writing skills.  When I (Julie) began guest posting on other blogs I brought my writing to a whole new level.  I became more aware of my ‘voice’ and more aware of my writing style.  I wanted my pieces to be their absolute best.  This
new found quest for ‘perfection’ carried over into my own blog and I found myself writing more meaningful pieces all around.

What can I write about?

Write about what you love. You don’t have to change your style or your preferred genre to write for us.  Write in your own voice, make it
authentic.  We are open to myriad topics but will also provide you with an editorial topic each month to help you get started.  We intentionally leave the topics slightly vague to allow you to interpret it in your own way.  You can find the list of upcoming topics in the sidebar of our website.

Upcoming editorial topics:

Handmade Holiday (December)
New Year, New You (January)
Love Story (February)

Other topics you might consider:

Photography Tips
How-to’s and Tutorials
Great Blogging Tips
Cool Apps
Recipes
And many more!

Can I publish something I have written before?

We’ve done some research on SEO and how Google and other search engines rank pages.  It turns out that duplicate content is really detrimental to BOTH pages on which the content appears.  Since our goal is to drive traffic TO your blog we have made the decision not to post duplicate content.  We will ask you to refrain from posting the content you submit on ARWB on your own blog or in any other online source.  However, each Wednesday will be Retro Wednesday on ARWB.  We will provide links to your favorite posts for others to enjoy.

How can I submit a Guest Post or a link for Retro Wednesday?

Before submitting a post, please check out our Guest Post Guidelines.  Everything you need to know is outlined there.  Once you have
completed the checklist you can email guest posts to Julie@arkansaswomenbloggers.com with the words ‘Guest Post Submission’ in the subject line.

If you would like to submit a post for our Retro Wednesday feature please email a short excerpt (300 characters or less) along with a link
to the post to Julie@arkansaswomenbloggers.com with “Retro Wednesday” in the subject line. Please be sure to also include your name and blog title. Please note that we will keep an ongoing list of Retro Wednesday posts and may not be able to notify you regarding the specific day on
which your link will appear.

Please help grow our community by writing a guest post for us! Any questions can be directed to Julie@arkansaswomenbloggers or any of our
other lovely ladies.