Last week I issued an invitation for y’all to write a guest post here at the Middle Zone. Several folks have stepped up to the call, and I hope you’ll consider it too.

Speakin’ of guest posts, I thought I’d give you a list of the various and sundry places around the Web where I’ve sneaked a post in unawares had the privilege to be a guest writer. In case you didn’t know about, or just flat missed ‘em, here they are, in no particular order:

Published Down Under at Pete Aldin’s Great Circle:

How I Won the War on That Stupid Pipe

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Published at Brad Shorr’s Word Sell, Inc.:

One Key to Successful Sales – and Life

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Published at the SOBCon Blog:

What I Learned By Eating Pizza From the Wrong End First

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Published at G.L. Hoffman’s What Would Dad Say:

Sometimes You Just Need a Little Help

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Published at Scrambled Toast, also the brainwarp brainfreeze brainchild of Brad Shorr, and featuring fellow conspirator George Angus, who writes over at Tumblemoose Writing Productions:

Double-Take

Something Missing?

When Good Words Go Bad

When the Conversation Turns Ugly

Yes, But is it Art?

Name That Thing!

New Contest: It’s a Sign!

Sure, But Would You Wear the T-Shirt?

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Published at Joanna Young’s Confident Writing:

Standing Tall in Your Community

Three Keys to Powerful Writing

Two Simple Steps to Writing With Authenticity

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Published at Rosa Say’s et. al. Joyful Jubilant Learning:

How to Learn Something From Anything

What Do You See?

The L8, Gr8 Number 8

Just Hangin’ Around

A Hill o’ Beans

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Published at Liz Strauss’ Successful Blog:

Choose the Ending

Try One More Time

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Published at Vicky Hennigan’s Remarkable Parents:

Easy, Fast & Free Photo Editing

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Finally, there was this 3-part series that actually appeared in 3 different places:

Dead Ends, Part 1, published right here at Middle Zone Musings

Dead Ends, Part 2, published at Scrambled Toast

Dead Ends, Part 3, published at Confident Writing

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Whew! I had no idea it was that many! But this was a good exercise for me, anyway. Now I know where I’ve been…

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Have you ever thought to yourself, “Gee, I’d sure love to write a guest post for Middle Zone Musings”? If so, then you’re playin’ my song! (If, on the other hand, you’re thinkin’ to yourself, “Now why in tarnation would I want to do that?” then read on…)

The fact is, whether you’re a newbie or an old hand, guest posting is a great way to gain exposure (Eek! Not that kind of exposure, silly!), spread your wings, and introduce yourself to new folks. And getting to know each other is, after all, the heart and soul of social media, right?

There’s a First Time for Everything

I remember my first guest post like it was yesterday…

‘Way back when I was just a newbie, wet-behind-the-ears blogger (almost 3 years ago now – practically pre-historic times in blog years), I simply wrote about this and that; y’know, mainly just learnin’ the ropes. I found plenty of other blogs to read, began to get to know a few folks, and even started leaving comments here and there. It was a heady time – bein’ “out there” like that!

Hey, it wasn’t without its rewards. After about six months or so, I managed to pick up a grand total of about, um, 5 readers (starkly testified by that little Feedburner chiclet over there in the sidebar). Man, was I tearin’ it up, or what? Still, I have to admit to wonderin’ now and then if “this blog stuff” was worth it or not

Then one day, a fine upstanding member of my vast army of, er, fan asked me to write a guest post. Really? Me? Man, I’m tellin’ ya, it was like… well, it was like the sun rising on a cloudless morning, fresh drops of dew on a bright yellow daffodil, that morning bowl of Rice Crispies when you first pour milk over ‘em and they start to Snap, Crackle, and, y’know, Pop!

As a matter of fact, it was my Down Under friend Pete Aldin, who asked me to participate in his group writing project and submit a guest post. So I threw caution to the winds and wrote How I Won the War on That Stupid Pipe.

Actually, it was kinda fun to think, just like that, my pointless bletherings pithy prose would be seen by an entirely new group of folks. I’m tellin’ ya; I was inspired!

The Forum is OPEN!

OK, like I said up top, I’m lookin’ for folks who would like to write a post for the Middle Zone. If you’d like to be a guest writer here (or at least think you would), then I’d like to hear from you.

What do I have to do, you ask? Hey, glad you asked!

Since all we do here is tell stories “about lessons learned from life”, then all you have to do is tell a story about something you learned from… well, pretty much anything. You get to choose the topic. You can be serious or silly, prolific or pithy, ridiculous or rambunctious; it’s up to you. Also, length is not an issue, long or short.

And, although I’ll naturally screen ‘em (hey, I’m not a complete whack job), there’s pretty much only two rules here: 1) keep it rated G (ultimately, it’s determined by yours truly), and 2) be nice. As for editing, I’ll try to keep it to a minimum, and will only do it in a way that makes you look better. Promise.

If you’re interested, then let me know by sending me an email. (And if we don’t know each other yet, then by all means, introduce yourself! I promise I won’t bite. Very hard.)

Guest Posts So Far

The truth is, as much as I enjoy posting elsewhere, I truly enjoy having folks guest post here at the Middle Zone! (And it’s nice to have the occasional day off.) If you’d like to join ‘em, you’ll be in some fine company, I’ll tell ya!

Here’s a list of who’s posted here at the Zone to date:

Confessions of a PDF Addict, by Chris Garrett

What I Learned From Balloon Animals, by Karen Swim

My Slapstick Moment on the Slopes, by Brad Shorr

Obstacles in Your Path, by Joanna Young

Editorial Wisdom, by Liz Strauss

Just When They Think You’re Smart, by Brad Shorr

The Year I Learned There Really is a Santa Claus, by J. Sewell Perkins

What I Learned From Kevin Eikenberry, by Kevin Eikenberry

Why not throw caution to the winds and join ‘em? I’m waiting to hear from ya!

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Image: Keyboard – blur, by striatic

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When this showed up in my inbox from fellow Bubba and Internet extraordinaire Chris Garrett (yep; the co-author with Darren Rowse of Problogger: Secrets to Blogging Your Way to a Six-figure Income), hey, it was a blessing indeed!

Chris reveals a little about himself while contributing a practical tip for those of you who love to download free stuff. (No need to raise your hand; we’re all guilty of this one, I bet.)

A tip o’ the hat to ya, Chris, for being brave and coming clean!

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Confessions of a PDF Addict

My name is Chris Garrett and I am a PDF addict.

OK, there are probably worse addictions, but I really need to own up to this one. You see, I am addicted to downloading free ebooks and whitepapers from web sites, which is not that bad on its own. The problem is I don’t read them!

Rather than helping my productivity, these books, whitepapers and reports are actually causing a problem in that I flit from one free gift to another with an endless list of stuff I need to get around to. That is while ignoring all the paid stuff I have sitting around gathering dust.

I once met a lady who was addicted to downloading and cutting out coupons and vouchers but never used them. She said it was the thrill of finding them that excited her, it didn’t matter if they got used. I think I started to become like that.

There is so much educational material out there, so many great resources, that no sooner have I downloaded something that seems interesting, I have found another equally compelling freebie and I am downloading that. I never sit down and consume these things, they just clutter up my hard disk, and so I never actually learn anything from them.

I worry I am becoming the “MTV generation” that we were warned about – attention span of a gold fish … ooh! shiny!

So I have come up with a solution, and luckily it does not require 12 steps.

1. Only download anything that will absolutely definitely help with a current challenge
2. If it does not match the criteria of #1 then bookmark it (I bet you never go back to it)
3. Most free reports come with a stream of emails – if you don’t get value from the first two then unsubscribe
4. Read the PDF immediately – no delays
5. Implement what you learn as soon as you learn it – if you do not implement you are likely to forget any lessons gained

With this new system I am much more productive and actually making use of all the glorious free stuff that I come across – try it yourself!

Chris Garrett blogs at http://chrisg.com and ironically also writes for Cogniview, a leader in PDF conversion tools.

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By the way, if YOU’D like to write a guest post for the Middle Zone, talk to me! Remember, as it says up there on the label, “it’s about lessons learned from life”.

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[Note from the Proprietor - This is a pointer to my entry for this month's What I Learned From... groupwrite project - which happens to be published as a guest post somewhere else this time. The topic this month is Community, and you're invited to join us! Just click on that link for details.]

Hey, this post marks a first for me in that it’s a kindof two birds with one stone sorta thing. Or maybe three. Guess it depends on how you look at it.

• Over at Confident Writing, Joanna Young’s theme for the next month or so is on the subject of Community. Naturally, it’s something to which I wanted to contribute a thought or two.
• Joanna also happens to be conducting a writing seminar in Sardinia (a small island off the coast of Italy), so she put out a call for guest posts to fill in while she was gone.
• Finally, in an amazingly serendipitous twist worthy of the Middle Zone, Community also happens to be the topic of our current What I Learned From… groupwrite project.

OK; got it? Three powerful reasons to write about Community, right?

Suddenly it hit me (sound of dull thud); what could better than meeting all three needs with one single post! Why, that would be finer than a frog’s hair; am I right? Man, am I a genius or what? (Don’t answer that!)

Anyhoo – my post is titled “Standing Tall in Your Community“, where I reveal a little-known fact about myself and share a technique that helped me get out of my own shell ‘way back when. You’ll find it over at Joanna Young’s site, Confident Writing – drop on by and say Howdy!

Don’t worry ’bout a thing, folks; I’ll still be here when you get back. Hey, I’ll even leave the light on for ya!

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If one eats pizza from the round end first instead of the pointy end, could it mark the end of life as we know it? That’s the Question Of The Ages: Is there, in fact, a “wrong” way to eat pizza?

The reason the question comes up at all is because of a little-known incident that happened at last year’s SOBCon08.

Now, if we can color you intrigued by the above introduction – well, you’ll have to pop on over to the SOBCon blog to read the story. All ya gotta do is follow this handy link.

Don’t worry; I’ll still be here when ya come back!

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Photo: Blogging Buddies, by Joanna Young

Yours Truly, Joanna Young & Brad Shorr @ SOBCon08

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For today’s adventure you’ll have to take a little side trip to Scrambled Toast, the brainchild (or is it brain warp?) of fellow wordsmith Brad Shorr of Word Sell fame and fortune. Well, at least fame, anyway.

You’re familiar with the fact that culture, language, or even whether you’re a PC or a Mac can affect the way you perceive the world around us. Well, this time I contemplate how something as simple as one’s specific location can dramatically alter how we perceive a message.

Drop on by and join me, won’t you?

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The other day my buddy GL Hoffman sent me an email inviting me to be a guest over at his site, What Would Dad Say. It just so happened I was right in the middle of writing yet another Sidewalk Series post, and coincidentally enough it just happened to fit right in with the general theme over there.

Naturally, I jumped at the chance to escape the box for a bit.

What’s it about, you ask? Well, it’s about this tree…

Oh, and I give you 5 things I learned about job hunting in today’s world. (Along with a story, of course. What would I do if I couldn’t tell stories? I’m tellin’ ya; my head would probably explode!)

Hey, why not jump on over the GL’s place and take a look? And don’t forget to say “Howdy!”

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Photo: Need a Little Help, by Robert Hruzek

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