In one of my favorite all-time romantic comedies, the 1972 movie What’s Up Doc, it quickly becomes obvious this is no ordinary love story! It’s a wonderfully hilarious treatment of the old oil-and-water-don’t mix relationship that’ll literally have you in stitches from start to finish.

In one scene, after becoming increasingly aggravated by Judy Maxwell (Barbara Streisand), Howard Bannister (Ryan O’Neal) finally cries out in frustration, “Why do you have to be so different!” She looks abashed for a moment, then quietly replies, “I’m sorry; I don’t mean to be so different. From now on, I’ll try to be the same.”

[Note from the Proprietor: If you’ve never seen this movie, by all means do. It’s worth it. Trust me on this.]

I said all that to ask ya this: Do you consider yourself to be “different”? (Forget everyone else’s opinion for the moment. If you’re anything like me, they will likely think you’re, y’know, insane.)

Anyhoo, I’d be willin’ to bet the farm (that is, if I had one) you probably do. To my mind (which admittedly can be a very strange place), we all like to think of ourselves as unique. But (and here’s the nub of the gist) does it aggravate you when you encounter folks who are different? Yeah, me too. Well, sometimes, anyway.

Vive le Differénce

I’ll tell ya; it never ceases to amaze me how each and every human being on the planet can be so… different. It’s true; we can separate ourselves into groups in a whole herd o’ ways – there is literally no limit . And I mean that in a good way. Really.

Take, for instance, U.S. politics (please!) I mean, you got your Republicans and your Democrats. And if that ain’t enough of a difference for you, well, you got your Libertarians, your Greens and your Independents, too. And that’s just the tip o’ the compost heap. Then there’s schools: every college or university you care to name (and more). And we all identify from different countries and home towns, don’t we? Oh, I could go on, but I think you get my meanin’, right? The fact is, we ARE all pretty different.

On the other hand…

You know how they say that long-time married couples begin to act, think, and even look alike after awhile? (Heaven help Mrs. MZM if, y’know, that last one is true!) Well, while that may or may not be the case, even so, those of us who’ve spent a lot of time in each other’s company can still be, when you get right down to it, amazingly different.

Keepin’ It Simple

Take, for instance, the curious case of Yours Truly and the ever-gorgeous Mrs. MZM. After more than 28 excitin’ fun-filled years of marital bliss (that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it) we have, in many ways, grown to be quite alike. However, in certain other ways we can still be as different as day and, er, not day. I’ll give you an example.

The other evening we decided to have something “simple” for supper (happens a lot around our house). That usually means something along the lines of, say, a tuna fish sandwich. Now, over the years Mrs. MZM, bless her sweet little well-meaning heart, has tried to stealthily slip various and sundry “extra ingredients” into the tuna mix. Thus, every now and then I’d occasionally inadvertently bite down on unexpected stuff like diced pecans, diced celery, or even diced boiled egg. (One time, it was diced grapes, for cryin’ out loud! Now I’ll admit it had a kinda interestin’ flavor, but it turned the whole thing a mite soggy. Ick.)

Well Bubba, I don’t mind tellin’ ya; when it comes to my tuna fish sandwich, I’m something of a purist, if you get my meanin’. And so (with the exception of the diced egg, which turned out to be a pretty tasty addition – and also, by the way, proving you can teach an ol’ dog like me new tricks), I really don’t like anything else sneakin’ around in there. I’m just sayin’.

Different Strokes

The upshot is, I know what to expect when it comes to tuna fish sandwiches (and pretty much sandwiches in general). No surprises is just the way I like ‘em.

BUT (and as you can see, that’s a mighty BIG ‘but’), there is still a major difference in the way the two of us prepare our sandwiches. As you can no doubt see in the photo, I like mine cut, er, properly, and she… well, she cuts hers “in a different way” (which in this case, is a euphemism for “wrong”).

Yep; the truth is out. We’re different. (sound of surprised gasp) Is that bad? Not on your life! Hey, when it comes to our differences, I say, “Vive le differénce!”

__________________

BONUS: “So,” I can hear you ask, “Which one of these sandwiches is mine, and which one is, well, wrong?”

Hey, I’ll leave it to you, my dear kind reader, to ascertain (yet another euphemism, meaning “guess”) which one of these delicious works of performance art is which.

(But if you’d like to guess, by all means leave a comment in the box – and let me know how you made your guess decision. If you know anything about me, it’ll probably be obvious. Just sayin’.)

__________________

Yee-Haw, y’all! No, wait… lemme say that again, with feeling: YEEE-HAAAW!

I’d like y’all to give a big round of applause (sound of big round of applause) for all the folks who participated in Blogapalooza! I’m tellin’ ya; it puts a tear in the eye when I see how many folks from all over the world decided to join us for this year’s event.

We also had an amazing cross-section of demographics represented this year. Folks from all over the world, published authors, university professors, home makers, teachers, reporters, high tech – and not-so-high-tech – folks; you name it, we probably had someone representing that group. (NOTE – In case you missed ‘em, a complete list of participants is here, while a list of the army of kick-starters is here.)

But naturally, that’s not the whole story. In fact, I’ve identified at least three very important lessons to be learned from the experience (not that there aren’t more, of course!) Naturally, I’d like to share a few of ‘em with you (which should come as no surprise since that’s, y’know, what I do).

First, a Few Numbers

Although some may not have realized it, this was actually the second Blogapalooza at the Zone (here’s the results of the first one), and statistically, this year’s event was nothing less than a blowout!

The first Blogapalooza had 33 entries. (Note I didn’t say “only” – hey, it was my first time; I was thrilled to get any!) This time there were 128 entries. Not bad, considering I was, well, only goin’ for 100, don’cha think? That’s a 388% increase over last year!

Not only that, but this year I asked a whole herd o’ folks if they’d be willing to help kick it off by sending me their posts early (to “prime the pump”, so to speak). Out of 62 people asked, 31 followed through and contributed their post prior to the kickoff date (Jan. 5), which translates to a 50% response rate – not bad by anyone’s standards! (By the way, no problem if you were asked but couldn’t do it. I promise you’ll not be gettin’ a midnight visit from Guido and the boys for a pep talk or anything. Really.)

OK, now for the payoff. During the course of the last three weeks, there were 1,258 outgoing links to your posts (well, not all to yours… you get my meanin’, right?) Now, divide that number by 128 participants and you get… well, lemme see now… multiply by 3… carry the 7 (hold on, I gotta get my shoes off to calculate this one)… that averages out to 9.828125 links per participant! (I’m tellin’ ya, it’s amazing how accurate you can be when you use all yer fingers and toes, ain’t it?)

Anyhoo, now on to three simple, yet powerful lessons I learned from this year’s experience.

The Power of an Invitation

One of the most interesting things I learned was related to everyone’s favorite topic: social media. The fact is, bein’ sociable is what social media is all about, right? But is it really all that valuable? Is it desirable? Is it kosher?

Well, maybe that last one is for better folks than me to decide… but on the first two, I’d say the answer is a resounding “yes”. As exhibit one, let’s take a look at what happened here.

When you get right down to it, folks contributed an entry to Blogapalooza because, well, I invited ‘em to! (Or someone else asked ‘em to.) That’s pretty much it! No money, no prizes, no book signing offers… well, you get the picture, I think. (Although a book offer does sound kinda nice, doesn’t it? Maybe one day when I’m rich and famous. Or when pigs fly, which is a far more likely occurrence.)

But if you think about it, this event is a great illustration of the (if you’ll pardon the much over-used expression) power of social media: people doin’ somethin’, simply because they were invited to take part. (Oh, sure; I’m greatly simplifying it for the sake of illustration, but I think you get my meanin’.)

Who Do You Trust?

Now, a corollary to the previous lesson is that little word we all love to hate: trust. See, folks also did what I asked because, for whatever reason, they trusted me. I don’t say that in a proud way, mind you; the truth is I’m tremendously honored that so many would do so enought to participate in this event. (Yep; It’s all I can do not to insert a line here about a bridge I’d like to sell you. But I, uh, won’t.)

Anyhoo – I think part of why folks trusted me (at least, for this) is because they believed I would do what I said I’d do: point folks to their websites. And that’s the lesson: do what you say you’re going to do. Hey, it’s a “three-fer”: plain, pithy and powerful.

Guilt Virtue by Association

One of the reasons this event was so much bigger than last year’s was through my association with the fine folks over at HighCallingBlogs network. There are over 300 (and counting) blogs in the network now, and thanks to Marcus Goodyear and Dan Roloff, I was given the opportunity to appeal directly to the membership for help in kicking things off.

What amazed me, though, was how many folks jumped aboard right from the get-go! Now that was gratifying, I’ll tell ya! And it illustrates yet another point: that some folks will trust you based on who you associate with. Because of many of these folks, we had a great start to this year’s project. And because of you fine folks, we topped my goal of 100 posts – by a considerable margin!

Yep; half the battle of getting to know new folks is knowin’ enough about ‘em to know you’d like to associate with ‘em, right? But how do you do that when you don’t know them at all. Well, you can start by looking at who (or is it ‘whom’?) they are associated with. Hey, it’s not a perfect system – and you need to be careful about judging a book by its cover (so to speak) – but at least it’s a place to start.

Kinda begs the question, though: Who do folks associate with you?

So What About YOU?

All right; enough bloviating from yours truly.

What about y’all? What did YOU learn from Blogapalooza this year? Was it worth your time? Did you make any new friends? Was it everything you hoped for? And… what about Mary Lou?

Leave a comment and let us know, why don’cha? As always, we’ll leave the light on for ya.

_____________________________

Howdy y’all!

Hey, just so ya know, a big part of the success of this year’s Blogapalooza was due to the help of some truly wonderful and generous folks! Yessir, there was whole herd o’ folks (31 in all) who volunteered to write their posts – and submit them early – just so there’d be a full week of posts already scheduled when Blogapalooza kicked off back on Jan. 5.

In fact, I want to give a special mention to Karen Hanrahan who zapped her entry to me within hours of the call goin’ out! I mean, the ink had barely dried on the email! Pretty impressive, I’ll tell ya, and it earned her the honor of havin’ the first post. (Hat tip, Karen!)

Now, to ALL my fellow writers who helped get things goin’ this year, I hereby award y’all the honorary title of “Bubba“, and salute you with a great big ol’ tip o’ the Middle Zone hat!

Here’s the list of Bubbas, in order of their appearance. To read their guest post here at the Zone, click on their name; to visit their blog, click on the blog’s name. (However, do not pass Go, or collect $200.)

• Karen Hanrahan – Best of Mother Earth
• Robert Hruzek – Middle Zone Musings
• Brad Shorr – Word Sell, Inc.
• Joanna Young – Confident Writing
• Karen Swim – Words For Hire
• Andy Cottichio – The Narrow Road
• Gina Conroy – Portrait of a Writer… Interrupted
• Dena Dyer – Mother Inferior
• Thomas Turner – Everyday Liturgy
• Red Letter Believers – Red Letter Believers
• George Angus – Tumblemoose Writing Productions
• Heidi Plumley – Moms, Ministry and More
• Lyla Lindquist – A Different Story
• Christa Allan – ChristaAllan.com
• William Tully – LOGICal eMOTIONs
• Barry Wallace – who am I?
• Mary DeMuth – Relevant Blog
• Ulla Hennig – Ulla Hennig’s Weblog
• Maria Henderson – Spiritual Birdwatching
• Dan Roloff – Ramblin’ Dan
• Lorrie – Grow Up Deep
• Rich Bordner – The Pugnacious Irishman
• Jennifer Lee – Getting Down With Jesus
• Luke Gedeon – Luke Gedeon
• Marcus Goodyear – GoodWord Editing
• Erica Hale – These Three Remain
• Lillie Ammann – A Writer’s Words, an Editor’s Eye
• Tina Howard – Spaghettipie
• Ken Leonard – A True Believer’s Blog
• Dan King – BibleDude.net
• Jean Browman – Transforming Stress and Cheerful Monk

Thanks for makin’ this year’s Blogapalooza so extra-special, y’all!

_______________________

OK; you may be wondering why the above image is upside-down. Well, that’s because (wait for it now)…

… it’s OVER! (Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Sorry.)

Yessir, as of midnight last night, the 2nd annual Blogapalooza extravaganza officially ended, and lemme tell ya folks, it was one heckuva party!

That’s right y’all; the gravitationally challenged human person of the female persuasion (and you’re free to interpret that any way you like) has expressed herself musically, and we all know what that means, don’t we? (Sound of bell) Yep, it means BLOGAPALOOZA is now history (sound of audience crying out in disappointment)!

My goal this year was 100 entries, but I’ll tell ya folks; we kinda blew the top off the ol’ Palooza-Meter over there on the right! Now that the smoke has finally cleared, the grand total came to… 128! (Sound of crowd cheering) That’s right, y’all were part of something really special here at the Middle Zone! I’m proud you folks would honor me enough to take part, just because you were asked. No prizes, no money – just honoring a request from a friend.

Now that’s social media at its best, wouldn’t ya say?

Anyhoo, without further ado (because as you know, further do would be just plain silly) down below you’ll find all 128 participants, listed in the order of their appearance here at the Zone. The post titles were all the same, of course (“What I Learned From 2008″), except the names were changed to protect the innocent to identify the author, thus: “What I Learned From 2008 – (writer’s name)”

In this list (which keeps on goin’ like the Eveready Bunny), the writer’s name links to their guest post here at the Middle Zone, while the blog’s name links to, well, their blog. Works nicely that way, don’cha think?

• Karen Hanrahan – Best of Mother Earth
• Robert Hruzek – Middle Zone Musings
• Brad Shorr – Word Sell, Inc.
• Joanna Young – Confident Writing
• Karen Swim – Words For Hire
• Andy Cottichio – The Narrow Road
• Gina Conroy – Portrait of a Writer… Interrupted
• Dena Dyer – Mother Inferior
• Thomas Turner – Everyday Liturgy
• Red Letter Believers – Red Letter Believers
• George Angus – Tumblemoose Writing Productions
• Heidi Plumley – Moms, Ministry and More
• Lyla Lindquist – A Different Story
• Christa Allan – ChristaAllan.com
• William Tully – LOGICal eMOTIONs
• Barry Wallace – who am I?
• Mary DeMuth – Relevant Blog
• Ulla Hennig – Ulla Hennig’s Weblog
• Maria Henderson – Spiritual Birdwatching
• Dan Roloff – Ramblin’ Dan
• Lorrie – Grow Up Deep
• Rich Bordner – The Pugnacious Irishman
• Jennifer Lee – Getting Down With Jesus
• Luke Gedeon – Luke Gedeon
• Marcus Goodyear – GoodWord Editing
• Erica Hale – These Three Remain
• Lillie Ammann – A Writer’s Words, an Editor’s Eye
• Tina Howard – Spaghettipie
• Ken Leonard – A True Believer’s Blog
• Dan King – BibleDude.net
• Lucille Zimmerman – Rumors of Glory
• Deb Boyken – Punctuality Rules
• Merry Mary – A Merry Life
• Kevin Martineau – Shooting the Breeze
• Jean Browman – Transforming Stress and Cheerful Monk
• Marty Gordon – The Renzntzman
• Julie Donahue – Mom Two Ways
• Ashley Weis – A Weis Writer
• Lore Ferguson – Unskewed
• John Koetsier – SparkPlug
• Lucy Nixon – Corporate Eye
• Lori Poppinga – Thoughts From the Tub and Life, Love and Laughter in a Large Family
• Conrad Hake – Leveraged Intelligence
• Peter Pollock – Rediscovering the Church
• Robert Henru – Reason 4 Smile
• Lelsie Doyle – Scripted Notions
• Karin H. – kiss 2
• Melissa Donovan – Writing Forward
• Kay Martin – Thrive Christians
• Linda Clinton – Literacy, Learning and Sharing
• J.D. Meier – Sources of Insight
• Elizabeth Howard – Letters From a Small State
• Tillerman – Proper Course
• Nichelle Strzepek – Dance Advantage
• Amber Naslund – Altitude
• Carla Williams – The Spiritual Mom
• Chris Brown – Branding & Marketing
• Michael Snell – Life by Design
• Jennifer Linkous – 12 Steps Closer
• Deanna Gernert – Soul Like a Spider
• Arun Rajagopal – Arun Rajagopal
• John – John is Fit
• Sheila Glazov – Sheila Glazov
• Jesse & Sarah Lopez – God Is Not Finished With Us Yet
• Sara Hutchinson – Unblocked
• Reeta Pindoria – Paradox of Reality: Better Thinking, Better Success
• Mark Dykeman – Broadcasting Brain
• Julie Richardson – Bloom Blog
• Jacob Share – JobMob
• Alexander Estrom – Day 8 Debate
• Steve Woodruff – Sticky Figure, Steve’s Leaves, Impactiviti and MarketingProfs Daily Fix
• Michelle Vandepas – DivinePurposeUnleashed
• Nick Grimshawe – Beautiful Summer Morning
• Anita Bruzzese – 45 Things
• Steven Norris – Thy Grace is Sufficient
• Lance – The Jungle of Life
• Aaron Unnasch – Living the Dash
• Angie Haggstrom – Freedom Freelance
• Jennifer Tidwell – Dust Bunny Hostage
• Gavin Heaton – Servant of Chaos
• Paul Merrill – My Part of Colorado
• Derrick Sorles – Business Blogging Tips
• David Zinger – Employee Engagement Zingers
• Ronnica – Ignorant Historian
• Billy Coffee – What I Learned Today…
• Adam Sicinski – IQ Matrix Blog
• Phil Gerbyshak – Make It Great Guy
• Richie Lawry – An Arkies Musings
• Kevin Lam – Impacta Blog
• Elissa Baxter – Squibblog
• Travis Stephens – Your Everyday Christian
• VickyH – Remarkable Parents
• Geoffrey Philp – Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot
• Terry Starbucker – Ramblings from a Glass Half Full
• Meryl Evans – meryl.net
• Nancy Kourmoulis – Treasures of Darkness
• Shelley Krause – But Wait, There’s More!
• Christine Sine – GodSpace
• Vanessa Rogers – Vanessa Rogers
• Cynthia Morris – Journey Juju
• Chris Garrett – chrisg.com
• Mike Shields – The Rant, Who Is The Watchmaker and Poker Riot!
• Rick Mahn – Rick Mahn
• GL Hoffman – What Would Dad Say
• Nancy Babyak – Work Life Balance Blog and PMO Training Wheels Blog
• Chris Godfredson – Experiencing Grace and Peace
• Giovanna Garcia – Imperfect Action
• Kimberlee Ferrell – Freedom Writing
• Charlie Burlbaw – Stress Management Tips
• Drew McLellan – Drew’s Marketing Minute
• Danny Brown – Danny Brown
• Scott Roche – Spiritual Tramp
• Tabetha Gedeon – Denim & Silk
• Alina Popescu – Words of a Broken Mirror
• Cindy Streams – Citystreams
• Tony Cradic – Tony C Today
• Tracy Rosen – Leading From the Heart
• Phil Gerbyshak – Slacker Manager
• Chris Dawson – cdawson
• Jacob Share – Group Writing Projects
• Janet Kaderli – Preach It Sister!
• Mary Ellen Merrigan – ProfitMeister
• Glenda Watson Hyatt – I’ll Do It Myself Blog
• Daniel Needlestone – E-Learning Experiences
• Kevin Tracy – Kevin Tracy
• Jeanne Dininni – Writer’s Notes
• David Bowles – Westward Sagas
• Brett Duncan – Marketing In Progress

Many thanks, y’all – and of course, a big ol’ tip o’ the hat to ya!

________________________

Well, the day we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived, y’all! What day is that, you say? The day they can accurately predict the stock market? Someone invent the 500 mpg automobile engine? Richard Branson is now taking reservations for trips to the moon?

Of course not, silly (well, except maybe for that last one). No, today is the official launch day of the new book, Age of Conversation 2 – why don’t they get it?

It’s a collaboration of 237 of the planet’s finest thinkers (which doesn’t seem to adequately explain how yours truly ended up in that bunch… but let’s, er, not rock the boat, ‘K?), all contributing a page into one single work.

Now, don’t expect me to give away any details (after all, we’re tryin’ to sell the books, y’know), but I will at least share the title of my particular bit of prose: “Why Join the Conversation, Anyway?”

Wanna know what it’s about? Just click on this link: The Age of Conversation. But any way you slice it, though, I’m tellin’ ya, Bubba; this is definitely a work of love!

Many thanks to Drew McClellan and Gavin Heaton for once again going way, way above and beyond in pulling this together, a “herding cats” kinda job if there ever was one! And kudos to David Armano (another fellow author), who contributed the cover graphics you see here.

So I want you to run, not walk, to the nearest computer and immediately purchase your copy by following this link. In fact, buy lots of ‘em – they make great gifts, and you-know-what is just around the corner!

Remember, all the profits go to Variety, the Children’s Charity. Last year the goal was raising $10,000, and we surpassed that by a wide margin. This year, the goal is $15,000. So help us out, why don’cha?

Of course I give a big ol’ hat tip to my fellow authors:

Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, f="http://www.thewhetstoneedge.com/">John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem.

Today we have the final installation in this week’s guest post marathon, with the anchor leg being run by none other than your friend and mine, Liz Strauss of Successful Blog (sound of crowd going wild)!

No matter what I could ever tell you, words are simply inadequate to describe the queen of relationship blogging. Back when I first began the Middle Zone, I accidentally stumbled across Successful Blog – and was so intimidated by the accumulated information, helps, and advice it literally scared me away! Luckily, good sense prevailed and I came back; I now count Liz as a genuine friend and continuing inspiration. If you’ve never visited her site, well Bubba, you’d better run, not walk, as fast as you can, and get there! You’ll understand what I mean.

___________________

Editorial Wisdom

By Liz Strauss

Her name was Connie. She had just graduated with a Masters in English. She was bright, cheerful, and a fabulous thinker. That’s why I hired her. I was pretty sure she could run the world in a year or two. I figured she’d have no problem keeping track of me and the editors on my team.

Welcome to the world of publishing, Connie.

It happened just as predicted. Connie soon charmed leery editors into letting her help with what they were doing. Even those least ready to let go of their work would look for the morning meeting to go over things with our team member. She had won them over in a matter of days. Her work had lightened their load.

I was pretty pleased that things were working out as I had planned.

I kept coaching Connie to understand that editors have trouble with letting go of details and responsibility. I kept telling her how impressed I was that she had their trust so quickly.

I was also pretty pleased that I didn’t suffer from such fear of delegation.

Then one day I was looking at a package that Connie had prepared for me. It had everything, including a formal letter with my signature… This was a bit disconcerting.

“Connie,” I said, “Could you c’mere for a sec.” She came in. I spoke as kindly as I might. “One day, I’m sure I’ll feel great about you signing my letters, but I think it’s too soon now.”

“Liiiiiiz,” she said smiling. “YOU signed that.”

“Gosh, I’m glad I didn’t get all ballistic and weird over that. It could have been really embarrassing.”

She laughed and said, “Oh, I know editors have a problem with delegation. Sure is a good thing that you aren’t one.”

I kept my editorial wisdom to myself the rest of the day.

____________________

Thanks, Liz, for giving us a glimpse of the Whacky World of Publishing. And many, many thanks to all the illustrious guest authors this week:

Karen Swim, of Words for Hire

Brad Shorr, of Word Sell, Inc.

Joanna Young, of Confident Writing

Y’all drop by their places and check ‘em out. Heck, add ‘em to your RSS readers, why don’cha? You’ll be glad you did!

To the four of you, I give you a big ol’ tip o’ the hat for sharing your wisdom with the Middle Zone community!

[Note from the proprietor: This is one of a series (I don't know how many) on stuff I learned from our backyard garden.]

Don’t you love a good romantic “boy meets girl” story? I know I do – especially when there are tanks, and maybe space ships involved. (I dunno; maybe that’s just me?)

Anyway, here’s one that happened in our own back yard. (Alas; there were no tanks OR spaceships involved, though.)

I’d like to introduce you to Phil, and his friend, Queenie. (click on the photo for a much larger and clearer view)

Now Phil and Queenie are what’cha call Split-Leaf Philodendrons. However, if you want to get really technical and impress your friends and co-workers, you can call them by their Latin name: Philodendron bippinnitifidum, a wondrously rhythmic appellation that flows trippingly off the tongue in such a way that makes you want to tap your fingers in accompaniment. (Go ahead; repeat bippinnitifidum several times in a row – you’ll see what I mean).

When Mrs. MZM and I first saw Phil, he was a nothing remarkable; just an ordinary plant in a 3-gallon plastic container at the local discount nursery. Queenie was a smaller version in a 1-gallon container. To be honest, we weren’t even specifically looking for philodendrons; we just had an empty spot on our patio to fill. And having just returned from our year in Aruba, we wanted something, you know, tropical to remind us of *sigh* paradise lost.

Anyway, after wandering around the nursery for a while, we ended up in the area where they keep the plants under that black mesh thingie. You know; for the plants that aren’t supposed to have “full sun”. We spotted Phil among the many fine specimens, and before you could say philodendron bippinnitifidum (can you hear my fingers a-tappin’?), we had him and Queenie firmly nestled in their new pots on our patio: Phil on one side, Queenie on the other.

At least, we assumed it would be a good spot. I mean, there was no direct sun, plenty of indirect light, water every couple of days or so – what more could they want? In fact, they did pretty well at first; growing a bit as they settled in. Sadly, though, over the next few months we saw dismaying signs of unhappiness. First, it was yellowish leaves; then it was droopy stems. (Don’t you just hate it when that happens? I know I do!) It almost seemed as if they had stopped growing, too.

What could be wrong? At first we thought they might be getting too much shade, so we moved them to where they could get a few hours of gentle morning sun. Fertilizer didn’t help, either. We tried everything we could think of, to no avail. Phil and Queenie just weren’t thriving on the patio.

We finally realized they had outgrown their pots (constricting their roots a bit), so we moved them into the ground. Phil got a nice spot over in the corner, while Queenie ended up near the patio. That should do the trick, we thought.

Strangely, Phil didn’t seem to do well in his new home, either. I mean, he had partial shade, good water, nice soil, and anything else we could think of, but nothing seemed to help. His leaves turned an even sicklier yellow as the stems slowly eventually drooped down to the dirt. To be honest, we thought he was a goner.

Queenie, on the other hand, seemed to perk up a little. But still, she never grew any bigger, no matter what. Fertilizer, water, you name it, she never changed. Now what?

We finally decided since Phil wasn’t doing the job we’d hired him for – which was to fill up that particular corner – well, we needed to find a larger and hopefully hardier occupant. But rather than jerk him up by the roots and send him to that great compost heap in the sky, we tried one last thing: we planted him next to Queenie.

That’s when the magic happened.

In an absolutely amazing transformation, both Phil and Queenie perked up virtually overnight! What’s more; within a couple of weeks their leaves had not only turned fully green again, but they were both standing up proudly as growing plants ought. It was the most stunning turnaround we’d ever seen.

It was obviously a match made in gardening heaven. Once we put them together, they began to grow like crazy! These days, both Phil and Queenie are prospering beautifully. And not only that, but they’re growing a family, too (if you look at the photo closely, you’ll see Phil is now a grandpa). Life is indeed good.

Now, it should be obvious to all but the most clueless that what you just read describes not only a sweet, albeit peculiar, love story. But there are at least two, and probably many more, valuable life lessons to be gleaned from this heartfelt tale as well.

The Sweet Spot

See, like us, in order to not only grow, but to prosper, Phil and Queenie needed to be in the right spot. Oh, those other places were OK; they just weren’t quite the right environment. In fact, they even seemed to hinder further growth. Not good.

We’re like that too, aren’t we? A constricting environment can hinder our own growth as well. We need space to spread our wings, don’t we? Yep; finding the right spot can make all the difference.

So you have to ask yourself the question: Am I in the right place? (And don’t forget its corollary: … Is it the right time?) If you’re not, or the timing is off (and I’ve been there, believe me!), then life can be as tough as tryin’ to rope a calf with a hair net: you might be able to do it, but it won’t be easy!

Everybody Needs Somebody Sometime

And here’s’ another thing: Unless they happen to be Triffids (and if they are, then – Run! Run for your life!), plants don’t usually have the ability to relocate themselves. Well, duh. Thus, Phil and Queenie depended on us to get them to the right spot.

In some ways, it’s the same for humans, too. Oh, sure, we work and we work, and we do everything we can to make the most of what we have, right? But when you get right down to it, is anybody ever truly “self-made”? Of course not! The truth is we all depend upon each other in an interconnected way that boggles the brain (sound of brain, boggling) if we’d just take the time to realize it.

My (unsolicited and possibly unwanted) advice? Why fight it? Don’t be afraid to depend on someone else for something you can’t do for yourself. It’s not a sign of weakness, you know. In fact, looked at from some angles, it could be a sign of strength.

______________________

Anyway, Phil and Queenie are doing fine – they send their regards. Their family keeps growing all the time. And they do brighten up that spot in the garden.

Happy Endings

Now c’mon, admit it; don’t you just love happy endings? You know; when all the strings in a story get tied together, and you’re left with a sense of completeness? Doesn’t it just make you feel good all over when that happens? When was the last time you experienced a happy ending? Care to share it with us?

Would you willingly take on a project that had all the signs of being a real pain in the tookus? That’s the question fellow Texan and business blogger Laura Spencer asked not long ago in her post, Should You Accept an “Ugly Duckling” Project?

The questions struck a chord for me (sound of F^# major-minor augmented chord) – because I once did exactly that.

You know how, especially during warm summer months – when you see the clouds building, and the breeze freshens up rather suddenly, and off in the distance you can hear the rolling thunder – well, you know pretty soon there’s gonna be a humdinger of a storm, right? Yeah, it was like that.

When my manager and I first heard about this particular project (it was only a potential project at that time), we both recognized immediately there would be serious challenges in store for whoever took it on. If I recall correctly, I think our initial conclusions went something like this: a) it’ll never finish on schedule, b) it’ll go way over budget, c) it’s critical to plant operations (increasing the risk), and what’s more, d) it’s sure to be a high-profile project.

Well as it turned out, a) it didn’t, b) it did, c) it was and d) yes-a-rooni!

The irony (which as you know means made entirely of iron) goes even farther, too. I asked for the project. Yep, sometimes I’m crazy like that.

Now, of Laura’s five reasons to prove your insanity take on an ugly duckling project, that second one, “Your chance to shine” is why I asked for it. I recognized right off it would be an opportunity to manage a “stand out” project. And Bubba, stand out it did!

Warning Signs

Now, it wasn’t a particularly complex project or anything. No new technology, or even anything fancy. At its most basic, it was simply an equipment replacement. But here’s the four main reasons why it was so significant:

Budget – Normally, our particular group managed what’s termed “small projects” – usually up to about $5 million in total installed cost. However, in this case the equipment being replaced was rather expensive, making the estimate at nearly 4 times that amount. Although it was unusual for us to handle one of this size, it said something about the client’s confidence in our capabilities, and we had no intention of letting them down. (In fact, our company handled any-size projects, including multi-billion-dollar ones; it’s just that my particular group focused on these small projects only.)

Schedule – Typically, every project undergoes a scheduling process that first determines its duration, then coordinates a start date with all the other projects going on (usually 60-75 at a time). Sometimes, though, one comes along with a fixed “need date” much earlier than normal, hence the name: “fast track”. Alas, this particular project was not only on the fast track – it was an LGV high-speed express train at that (sound of terrified scream)!

Criticality – One thing that determines the need for a fast track schedule is the criticality of the project. In this case, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, this one was almost an 11! That usually means the existing equipment is about to fail at any moment. The bad news: if it does, the plant shuts down (resulting in several hundred thousand $$$ per day in lost revenues). Needless to say, they needed the new installation, and they needed it now! (Never mind that it should have been started a year or two earlier. But it’s OK; I’m over it now.)

Scrutiny – We handled so many project at any given time, it was unusual for any specific one to be singled out for special attention. Ordinarily the only ones they discussed in the Manager’s meetings were projects that varied from expectations in some shape or form (exceeded budget by a specified percentage, critical delays, etc.; that sort of thing). But this one had a guaranteed front-row seat at every meeting, thanks to its huge size and compressed schedule. Translation: they were watching it – and me – like a flock of hawks at a groundhog convention!

OK, now you know the score; you’re probably wondering how it worked out, right? Uh, right? (Either that or you’ve already moved on to the next blog in your RSS reader.)

The Best Laid Plans…

Well, as I indicated earlier, things didn’t… quite… go as the client had hoped. Sometimes even the best laid plans aren’t worth, as they say in East Texas, a hill o’ beans. I’m telling ya, we swooshed by their original deadline like the Silver Streak on steroids. And the budget – well, suffice it to say their initial estimates turned out to be several years old by the time we got actual, you know, real world pricing.

What kept the local antacid distribution company in business, though, was the onset of winter (the project was located in a north central U.S. state). The old equipment was in pretty bad shape, with a very real possibility that accumulating ice might cause the existing equipment to collapse.

Hey, we did our best, but unfortunately there wasn’t much we could do to speed things up much; at the time, most contractors were pretty much operating at full capacity already. (You know all that faldera you hear on the news about the economy being so terrible? Not true; just look at production - it’s off the charts!)

As things turned out, though, the key to success wasn’t a matter of managing the project. Hey, we had that part pretty well covered, if I do say so myself. I mean, project management is what we do, you know?

The REAL Challenge

No, the real challenge (and what most contributed to that suave, debonair “silver-haired” look you see in my photo) was managing the client’s expectations.

See, the biggest issue was the ridiculously abbreviated schedule. Everyone on the client’s side seemed to think that just because you could make it work on paper, then hey, it’s a done deal. But as we all know, the real world has a way of jumping up and biting you on the, er, brains, you know?

Believe me, the real world had a lot to say! There were unusually heavy rains, for instance, that literally flooded the entire area for several days. (I’m not kidding; it was so deep, the construction crews threw together an impromptu dock for Noah’s Ark, just in case.)

And, as winter deepened, ice accumulations often hindered foundation work as well as material deliveries. (Our contractors even tried to send a special team to northern Canada to see if they could find a few Inuit looking for work. Just kidding; they couldn’t find a dog sled going in the right direction.)

Then there were financing issues. It takes time to release that much money from most companies’ tight little fists, you know. Several times they had to essentially shut down the project until money could be released for the next stage of construction. Sheesh, if I had been a partaker of alcoholic beverages (gave it up 30 years ago), I’d have been a goner!

But still, no matter how capricious Mother Nature acted, the client still seemed to operate on a “perfect world” scenario. Oh, well; that’s how it goes sometimes.

Amazingly enough (and to everyone’s happy surprise) the old installation did NOT fall down under the weight of ice that winter. Spring arrived, and construction finally finished, leaving only the start-up and certification tasks to be completed. After everything was said and done, the project finally managed to creak its way into operation (around the beginning of Summer).

As for me, I managed to get a kudo or two in my record for having had to manage such a difficult project. Even though we didn’t even come close to hitting the original budget or schedule (because they were so unrealistic – and it was acknowledged by the client), it still got chalked up as a success for me personally.

For example, one of our performance indicators is the Total Dollar Value of all projects managed. In my case, this one project alone pushed my tracking numbers way up there; higher than anyone else’s at the time. So, even though the project had its share of difficulties, I was given high marks just for having this project on my record.

And so it went.

So What About You?

But enough about me; let’s talk about you!

Ever faced this kind of problem challenge experience? Yup; I dare say most of us have. Perhaps it’s inevitable that, sooner or later, we’ll all have to have to learn how to deal with unreasonable expectations from a client. (And for the sake of discussion, client can also be interpreted as: boss, spouse, friend, offspring, pet – hey, fill in as appropriate here.) So here’s today’s questions:

When did you last encounter issues with client expectations? Did you end up praying for a miracle, or was there some specific way you managed them? What’s your favorite technique for managing them? How did it turn out? Any techniques that work better than others? In what circumstances are they best? Got any good tips for us here – and care to share ‘em with the rest of us?

Great news, y’all!

Finally, and after much sweat, tears, anguish and gnashing of teeth (yuck; who comes up with these disgusting metaphors, anyway?), the final 2008 Age of Conversation author list has finally been finalized! What’s more, it’s going to be even bigger and better than last year’s version: there are 237 of us this time (as opposed to 103 in the original 2007 edition).

Do yourself a favor and check these folks’ blogs out. You might be surprised and impressed by what you find:

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

Now, unlike some authors (I won’t mention any *ahem* names), I will NOT give you a sneak preview of the chapter I wrote. Nope; you’ll have to buy the book (hey, it’s for Charity, after all).

On the other hand, I can’t very well leave you hangin’ now, can I? So for your edification, I’ll let you see it as a Wordle image:

Actually, this post serves as something of a Public Service Announcement. (You know, one of those things you see on TV or hear on the radio where people or organizations publicly demonstrate they’re watching out for your welfare.)

So consider this post as fair warning: You folks up in the Chicago area (laughingly known to us Texans as “the frozen north”) – well, you’d better hide the silverware! Yep, that’s right; I’m on my way to Chicago on May 2 for the Next Big Thing – SOBCon08 (sound of women and children screaming in fear crowd cheering)!

Liz Strauss, Terry Starbucker, and the whole gang have really gone all-out to make this year’s edition of SOBCon a huge success, and believe you me, it shows! Dubbed as a “Biz School for Bloggers”, it promises to once again be the keystone event of the year:

Whether for love or money, if you blog for readers or community, you’re in the business of blogging. This conference can help you achieve your goals, faster with more confidence, and more predictably.

I must admit, I spent a lot of time trying to decide whether or not SOBCon08 was right for me or not. After all, the Middle Zone isn’t a business (it’s really more of a state of mind), and I don’t monetize it in any way, shape or form – other than the priceless currency of your readership and good fellowship. But that’s not really what caused me to hesitate.

To tell you the truth, I didn’t understand the value proposition. I mean, when you get right down to it, what is it about SOBCon08 that justifies the not insignificant cost? To put it bluntly, what’s in it for me? (C’mon, admit it; if you’re still unsure about going then you’re probably thinking the same thing.) Naturally, being the pragmatic fellow that I am, I started to wonder – just what are the benefits?

After all, even though I don’t monetize the Middle Zone, that doesn’t mean I won’t try to make money from blogging someday, right? After all, as more and more businesses turn to blogging to get closer to their customers (and quite a few other reasons), the chances are pretty good that I’ll need to better understand the business of blogging, right? Besides, we’re not necessarily talking here about hard cash, you know.

So, if you’re like me (and if you are, I offer my sincere condolences), in no particular order allow me to count the ways…

Knowledge – Like I said, knowing how to do something is never a bad thing, even if you don’t actually, you know, do it. Besides, you never know when you might be able to synthesize that knowledge into some other endeavor, right? Like my old scoutmaster always used to say, “Be prepared.”

Ideas – There’s nothing like being with a large, like-minded (yet still diverse) group of folks to stir up the ol’ creative juices! Not only will you get to hear from 200+ others, at some point we’ll be working in teams to help each other build business plans, action plans, and maybe plain old share an idea or two – whacky or otherwise – that could be useful to us and our customers. This could be worth the price of admission all by itself.

Relationships – It’s a chance to meet up with the folks we may only know electronically. At the last SOBCon, I was still relatively new at it, and didn’t really know too many people. Since then, however, I’ve forged some wonderful relationships – many of whom (or is it who?) will actually be there too. What a great way to strengthen the bonds of friendship! For me, this is probably the biggest immediate benefit. But who knows where it can lead?

Show Off – I know this sounds a bit odd, but the fact is, many of us have grown considerably during the last year. Hey, here’s a chance to demonstrate your own expertise. C’mon; take a bow, why don’t you – there’s nothing wrong with that! After all, we make money off our expertise every day, right? Besides, it gives the rest of us a chance to celebrate and encourage each other, too.

Networking – I’m tellin’ ya, ever since I realized the value of networking for life, I’ve tried never to miss the opportunity. Although in person I tend to be rather shy and retiring (no, really!), it’s something I’ve made myself do because, well, we all benefit from knowing as many people as possible. And I don’t mean just their names, either.

Hey, there’s plenty more than these few things I just listed, but I didn’t want to hog ‘em all. If you’re still sittin’ on the fence, though – well Bubba, why not take a moment to consider these five thoughts. Heck, add your own reasons, why don’cha!

I can tell you this – SOBCon08 promises to add up to one exciting event! Do yourself a favor and drop by the site and sign up. Hey, if you do decide to come, then by all means, drop me a note and let me know. And be sure and tap me on the shoulder (just look for the hat); I’d be downright honored to meet you. I’ll be staying at the Hotel 71 around the corner, so I’ll be close by.

In the meantime, to you folks in Chicago… like I said, you’d better hide the silverware!

See ya!

Instead of a regular post, today I’d like to take a moment and acknowledge those of you kind enough to respond to my question from last Monday (Busy, Busy, Busy…). In case you missed, forgot, or otherwise ignored it, I asked the question:

What do you do when you haven’t read your RSS feed for a week, and there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of entries? Do you…

• Mark them all ‘read’ and start fresh
• Painstakingly read, or at least glance, at every one
• Only read your favorites and dump the rest
• ______________ (fill in the blank)

Now ordinarily, I prefer to give every comment its own individual reply; it makes the conversation far more personal, don’t you think? Besides, you guys are worth the extra effort! Er, unless I’m swamped, in which case I usually aggregate my responses into a single comment or two.

Alas and darn; last week, as I mentioned Friday, I was suffering from a combination of factors, a sortof “perfect storm” of things that just pulled me completely under for awhile. It’s a poor excuse for not responding, I know, but there it is.

But I didn’t want you to think I was ignoring you – I wasn’t! But as your responses began to accumulate, I decided to acknowledge your contributions in a formal post instead of just the comment box. Hence this post.

I suppose one of those little poll thingies would have provided a more formal survey, but I freely admit it just seemed like waaaaaay too much work at the time… Anyhoo; I truly appreciate your contributions, and many thanks to those of you who took the time to comment!

Here are your comments (and in an experiment with color, here are my responses):

Brad Shorr – Painstakingly read, etc. Not a pleasant task, but I just can’t bring my self to ignore anything.

I must admit to being a bit, well, anal about this, too – at least, normally. But I’m simply not able to keep it up when there are this many posts to keep up with *sigh*.

Hey, Brad, do you live in my computer like Liz does? The ink on my post was barely dry when your comment showed up! Sheesh!

___________________

Chip Camden – Skim your favorites and mark the rest “read”. Give yourself a break.

Gee, Chip, that sounds nice – ‘give myself a break’. Actually, that’s more-or-less what I ended up doing. But I can’t help feeling a bit guilty. Sad, I know.

___________________

Mike DeWitt – I’m with Chip. Triage, baby! Life only lasts so long…

Well, that’s two for triage. Good way to think of it, too – thanks, Mike!

___________________

Ellen Weber – Bob, you just named a problem that the busy folks out here all share! That’s why – the onus is on you to get it right. Why so?

If you sit and read a week’s worth of feeds – the rest of us will feel the guilt when we too travel with work.

If you race through the feed to get through endless posts your brain will fill with cortisol and you be cranky with family and friends you really care about!

If you be good to you – and move past the long list (skimming briefly for vital messages) … you’ll continue to be the leader you are … to laugh at the little things … and to inspire the rest of us to do the same.

Everybody’s approach will be different – but I suspect you’ll know the best one for you! Your friends are the same ones around on the other side of such dilemmas:-)

My 2-bits – but others may have better ideas:-) Stay well, friend:-)

Ellen, I can always count on you to see through the falderah and focus like a laser on the nub of the gist! Thanks for the sound advice. As you can no doubt tell, you’ve lots of company! Thank goodness friends remain friends, no matter what, though!

___________________

Joanna Young – I have a top 10 list of blogs (which MZM is on of course) that I visit as well as read. So if I’ve got behind I’d still try and pop in and visit them but mark everything else as read. Even then if you’re pushed, mark it all as read. If there was something you were ‘meant’ to read or know you’ll find it in another way.

Of course this doesn’t apply to my blog! If you’re short of time here’s one piece to read, and if you do have a spare 5 minutes, share your 4 x 4 sources of writing inspiration (by midnight Friday). I’m sure it would make a good read

Group Writing Project: 4 x 4 sources of writing inspiration

End of shameless plug!

Methinks I see a trend developing here.

Don’t worry, Joanna; Confident Writing is at the top of my “must-read” list! And I can take a hint (not to mention a club on the back of the head!) I’m sure by now you’ve seen my 4 x 4 contribution(s) – one serious, and one just for fun.

___________________

William Tully – I’m with Joanna – have your top 10 list that are worth reading at all times, regardless of just how far behind you are. Then pick the few that you want to read out of the rest (likely the few who are #11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 on the top 10 list). The rest? Scroll baby, scroll! I just trust the brain to know when it sees something worth investigating – most goes by in a blurr, but every now and then the brain says “STOP!” simply because it noticed something good. Trust the brain… Trust the brain!!!

I hear ya, Tully – spoken like a true ‘internet twin’! Alas, that “trust the brain” thing will only work if the brain is trustworthy, and last week mine was fried! But like I said, I hear ya!

___________________

Scott – Just the faves man, just the faves.

Hey, thanks for stopping by and joining the fray, Scott. Looks like you’re in a very firm majority here!

___________________

Mother Earth – I am a just the faves kindof person and I also trust the skimming process – universe calls to attention what I need to know.

PS – I really wish I didn’t garage sale all my son’s dinosaurs…

Howdy, Karen! Gee, I can’t believe it took this long for someone to comment on that photo of me an’ the boys up there!

___________________

Ria Kennedy – I look at the titles. If something pops out, I skim the first paragraph. If it seems good, I put it aside to read later. I go through everything and just keep what I’m interested in. LATER, I put time aside to read, either a little every day or a lot at once just a few times until done.

I don’t feel guilty if I don’t read, I feel I might miss something valuable. So whatever you think might be valuable is what I would look for if I were you.

Thanks for the advice, Ria; sortof the “glance at every one” school of thought. I’ll do it if I have time, but otherwise, it’s just the “mark all as read” routine, I’m afraid. But inside, I’m sad.

___________________

Well, there you have it, folks! A great conversation, if’n I do say so myself (and you know; I think I just did!)

By the way, if you’d still like to weigh in with an opinion – be my guest! Might be enlightening to see just how many of us do the same things…

Just a quick sidestep here…

Brad Shorr is hosting a contest for a brand spankin’ new iPod Nano (or is that a ‘nono’, Brad? Bwa-ha-ha-ha!), and if you’d like to enter, well Bubba, you’d better hurry! Just drop by this post for instructions, then write your own post inspired by the cartoon. (Brad has extended the deadline to March 13th at 5 pm CST so there’s still plenty of time!)

Hey, waitaminit - I just realized that if too many of you enter then it actually reduces my chances of winning! So, here’s what we’re goin’ to do. Please; only one, or at most, two of you enter. No! NO WAIT! NOT EVERONE! NOOOOOOOOOOOO! (Sound of heartfelt sobbing…)

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program to bring you this news flash…

Last year Drew McClellan and Gavin Heaton made publishing history, producing the first-ever e-book of its kind, The Age of Conversation. Having been accidentally mistaken for a marketer, I was privileged to be one of 103 authors who contributed a chapter. (Limited to 400 words! Can you imagine me limiting myself to 400 words on anything?)

Now a hard copy of AoC sits proudly on my bookshelf, gathering admiring glances from the Beautiful, the Powerful, and the Glitterati who come to visit.

I’m tellin’ ya, it required an incredible amount of behind-the-scenes work, herding over 100 writers into line (sorta like herding cats, no doubt), cutting, pasting, editing, pulling hair, sobbing uncontrollably at the drop of a hat… But I think all would agree Drew and Gavin did a great job (even though SOMEbody changed my chapter title! *sob*).

The end result was spectacular. Not only has the book gained international attention, sales of the book at lulu.com (and hopefully, soon to be available at Amazon.com) have to date earned over $10,000 for Variety, a children’s charity. Now there’s something to be proud of!

Well, the news just broke this week, and unbelievably, these two crazy people nut jobs fine upstanding fellows want to do it again! (Sound of crowd going wild with excitement!)

And YOU are invited to help. How, you ask? Simple!

Go to this website and read all about it. And in the spirit of an election year, you even get to vote!

Kudos to my buddy and multiple WILF participant GL Hoffman over at What Would Dad Say with what may be THE definitive Entrepreneur’s list of all time (well, at least up until now, GL): A Complete List of 100 Attributes of People Who Start Companies: How You Can Be One of America’s Entrepreneurs.

[UPDATE: Thanks to a timely comment from my friend Karin, I should mention that I MEANT to say it was the "definitive list of Entrepreneurial Attributes of all time". - Thanks for keeping me on my toes, my friend!]

Although he admits up front it’s probably not necessarily, as advertised, “complete” – still, ya gotta admire this thing as a true labor of love.

And now, just for the fun of it, he’s tacked on a challenge to anyone and everyone: The Entrepreneur’s Meme!

Here are the details, straight from the post:

The Entrepreneur Meme: Deadline, Friday, December 28, 2007.

Step 1. Write a post “Another characteristic or attribute of an entrepreneur…” You can make it a short burst or comment on one of my characteristics (there are 100 of them, you must agree on at least one!!), write one yourself that I missed (lots of them) or relate a personal story that illustrates how an entrepreneur did something great. For example, when you read through my list did you think about to a specific similar thing that happened to you. Tell us about it.

Step 2. Tell your visitors what you are doing. Please put a link back to this post so they can see what you are doing. Or email me at gl@jobdig.com to let me know you have participated.

Step 3. For every link I get back, I will donate $1 to charity, up to $500. If there are not 500 links, I will round up to the nearest 100 and donate that amount.

Step 4. Tell all your friends too. Put links to them at the bottom of your posting, maybe they will join in this cause to help entrepreneurs and a charity too. Email them this posting and your own so they know what we are doing and that it is for two good causes.

___________________

To make it easier to peruse the list, I copied the entire thing to a Word file. I’m warnin’ ya now, it’s a bit long (16 pages!) so be prepared to spend some time reading through it. But believe me, it’s worth it! Even if you’re not interested in entrepreneurship, these are great skills to have or develop.

I’ve already narrowed my choices down to about three or four, and will choose one and write a *cough*cough* witty and brilliant illustration “real soon now”. But in the meantime, I invite you to join the party – and don’t forget to tell your friends, too!

Pssst; by the way, GL; it sure sounds like the makings of a really terrific e-book (hint, hint).

A while back I wrote a Public-Service article called Fellowship of the Carpool, and Other Small Groups with a few thoughts towards forming your own FotC (pronounced “fot-see”). Here’s a brief excerpt apropos of, well, nothing really:

Have you ever been in a carpool? I’m in one with three others (names have been changed to protect the guilty innocent: there’s Joe, Fred, Sherry, and what the heck, since everyone else gets a new name – call me Steve).

Well, the other day in our FotC we started an interesting discussion about technology, and I have to say, it was a particularly zany conversation. Sherry wasn’t riding with us that day so it was just the three of us: Joe, Fred, and me (Steve).

Fred instigated the whole thing as we went through one of the EZ Tag lanes at a toll gate, wondering out loud if there were any way to circumvent the EZ Tag system.

I suppose the testosterone level must have been rather high that particular day, kicking off a wild and whacky discussion about various ways we could think of to fox the sensors. (Brings to mind a list I saw once entitled “Why it’s good to be a guy”. #1 on the list: “We know stuff about tanks.” ‘Course, the words, “- or we’ll make something up” remain, er, unspoken.)

Two of the most interesting ideas included:

• Make a fake EZ Tag (the part of the system – the tag itself – that rides in your car with you). However, since this was rather too blatantly illegal, we quickly discarded it.
• Build a “null” tag that causes the sensors to not “see” your car passing through the tollgate. (Not that this would be any less illegal – just more, um, devious.) After all, the best solution would be for there to be no record of your passing. Sortof like Tiny Tim tip-toeing through the tulips.

Someone (actually, it may have been me) noted there are also cameras pointed at each lane, so even if the sensor wasn’t triggered, your license plate would still be recorded (no doubt resulting in one of those thoughtful greeting cards from our fine Men or Women in Uniform with a request for a donation).

This naturally steered the conversation toward ways to thwart the cameras. Ideas abounded. (Is that what happens when ideas bounce more than once?)

Let’s see… there’s always the ever-popular “cloak of invisibility” (who says J.K. Rowling hasn’t made her mark on the world?). The fun part about this one is that it would trigger the sensor that a car was there, but none would be visible.

Much hilarity ensued at the thought of the imagined confusion of the operators (hey, give us a break; it’s a long drive). That idea led to others, like a holographic projector that can overlay the camera’s lens with the image of an empty lane as your car passes through.

Alas and fooey, the technical challenges seemed at least temporarily too formidable to solve, so we had to think a different direction. (Well, for now, anyway. But hey, we’re optimistic about the future, so you never know…)

So we came up with a few ideas that were decidedly much more low-tech, and actually (theoretically, at least) possible. Thus were born the following (patent-pending) ideas:

• Train 10,000 chameleons to sit on the top half of your car and mimic the color of the pavement. (Hey, I did say theoretically possible.) Don’t forget to take the time of day into account so they can adjust for shadows. (See – we think of everything!) You may also need a lot of, uh, glue to keep the frisky little critters in their places. Oh, and flies – you’ll need lots of flies.
• In order to avoid talk (what would the neighbors say?) and a visit from PETA, paint the top half of your car to look like pavement. Again, don’t forget to take the time of day into account so you can adjust the paint job for shadows.
• If you really don’t like the idea of driving the world’s only Lizardmobile, or of having a truly unique paint job, how about this one? Buy, beg, borrow or steal a piece of sheet metal a bit larger than your car. Then, paint THAT to mimic the concrete. Mount it on top of your car with removable clips, and Voila! (which is French for Hey, lookit that whack job idiot silly goof!) you’ve got yourself a plan!

Just as we got to our dropoff point, Joe (our driver for the day) just shook his head sadly, saying, “Keep thinkin’ y’all…”

OK, before you go running to the authorities to alert them to a series of potential misdemeanors, allow me to point out that no actual laws were broken during the writing of this post (other than the laws of sensibility, propriety and common sense – but what the hey). However, this does serve to illustrate an important principle we can all use every now and then.

When you find yourself in need a new idea and you’re, well, stuck – hey, get help! And I don’t mean a psychiatrist, silly (at least not for, uh, this) – no, I mean get a few more brains working on it with you. The fact is, there’s nothing more powerful to give creativity a kick in the backside!

It serves two purposes.

First, they can help “prime the pump” so to speak. Ever seen or heard of “story starters”? Writers use them to help get past the dreaded blankpageitis disease. These usually consist of anything from a few word to few sentences, on virtually any subject. The trick is, once they see something – literally anything – on the page, it becomes easier to pick up and go forward.

Another great benefit: they can provide a springboard for even more ideas. For instance, you can sortof follow the progression of our thoughts in the story above. I mean c’mon – there’s no way I would could have made up half the stuff we talked about – it was too far outside my own experience (not to mention level of insanity sanity). But by playing ideas off each other, we were able to come up with far more than what we could have on our own. Works nicely that way, don’t you think?

Besides, it can be ‘way more fun that trying to figure it out for yourself. I’m tellin’ ya, the three of us made one heckuva brain that day!