Jamie Wallace
North of Boston
- 123 comments
- 59 likes given
- 101 likes received
Writer, marketer, mom, girl w/big ideas. Helping creative entrepreneurs find their natural marketing groove. (You DO have one!)Tweeting both biz & life. :)
Preach it.
BTW - you have one of the best smiles ever - glee, effervescence, and just the right touch of "fuck you." It's a beautiful thing.
@KenMueller Yes! "Tickled" is a sort of pinkish, purplish color - very bubbly and bouncy. ;)
Well, color me tickled! So glad you liked the idea and ran with it, and I love your take on the topic. I am anything but a purist when it comes to blogging, and I LOVE the idea of making your blog a space for fun and camaraderie. There are about a million cliche metaphors about blogs, but I think my favorite is when people refer to their blog as their "house." When people come to my house, I want them to feel welcome, comfortable jumping into the conversation, and like they are having a good time. I think you do that so well, and I'm happy to be here!
:)
@Sandi Amorim HA! Yes, it surely is!!! :)
Time is really all we have, isn't it? It IS about time that we created a healthier relationship with this, the only real currency we have.
And yet, we are so willing to waste the time we have - fritter it away in pursuits that do not bring us joy or fulfillment.
Thanks for the clever reminders. I always love a good, swift kick in the butt from you, Sandi. :)
@jennwhinnem Ain't no need, indeed. :)
Are you a New Englander now, or born & raised? I'm a north-of-Boston girl. If we're this close, we need to get together - BUB or no BUB (but, preferably with). :)
You're right about the suspicious thing being particularly prevalent in this neck of the woods. We're an 'ornery bunch on the whole. ;)
I'm learning more and more that having FUN and spreading FUN is what it's all about. I love to make people laugh or smile. I'll talk to complete strangers just to see if I can get them to grin. It makes their day, and mine, too.
Off and running - SO glad you got here & kept the party going! :) xo
@Faryna I agree that happiness is not something to be collected and hoarded, but something to be experienced moment by moment. Perhaps that is why it is so elusive to so many - we have forgotten how to be in the moment and instead live always in the remembering of the past and the anticipation of the future.
Like "balance," which is so fervently pursued by so many, happiness is not a destination, but a way of being.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
@KDillabough Love that, Kaarina! Snoopy sure has some moves, and nobody beats that smile. :) Thanks for injecting a little more happiness into my Monday! :)
@barrettrossie Yes. There's a difference between being dedicated to your work and play and approaching life with no sense of humor. I have personally found that passionate commitment to an endeavor often goes hand-in-hand with a huge dose of good humor and wit. It's a nice combination when you can find it! :)
@AlaskaChickBlog I couldn't agree more about the reality of the difference we are making. So many people all around the world are stepping back and realizing what's really important. They are deciding to be good to themselves and good to others. There's definitely a shift happening. I wish more of our media would provide equal time to good news.
@jeanniecw I couldn't agree more. Sometimes we lose sight of just what "success" is. What is it if not happiness? Wealth without happiness is not success. Fame without happiness is not success. We should start focusing on the happy part first!
@SteelToad Exactly! :)
Is @KDillabough right? Is it a last name? That was going to be my guess (though I admit, my mind went right into the gutter at first).
@rdopping There is more geek in my veins than I sometimes like to admit. ;) Always nice to hang out here at your online "house." Mine has been neglected lately due to client deadlines, but I'm hoping to give it some love for a Thursday post. (fingers crossed!)
LOVED this one, Ralph!
I'm also a big Douglas Adams fan, though my favorite quote is, "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by."
;)
When I first started out in my own business, I was that person who thought she had to have all the answers all the time. It stressed me out no end. There's no way one person can have ALL the answers. Unless, of course, you just go with the Big Question of life, the universe, and everything ... in which case the answer is always 42. ;)
It was such a huge relief to me to switch my approach up from being "girl with answers" to "collaborator with ideas."
I also reduced my anxiety ten fold by owning the fact that I didn't have to be an expert (or even competent, quite honestly) in EVERYthing, but only be ready to tackle those things that a) interest me and b) I have the skills to tackle. Just because I'm in "marketing" doesn't mean I have to know all about Google Analytics or how to navigate the ins and outs of Aweber. Both are excellent tools, but that's not my area of expertise. I play in the land of branding, content ideation and creation, and crafting rave-worthy customer experiences. I respect and value measurement and data, but that ain't where I live.
So - no need to have all the answers, but ALWAYS a big need to ask Good Questions.
And ... when all else fails ... there's always "42."
:)
Hey, Gini! I'm thrilled that you took a trip over to Storyfix and are enjoying Larry's work. The way he breaks things down has been, for me, like a whole box of lightbulbs going off. And I love the way you've translated his ideas to work with your business - very interesting! I'm going to have to play with that for my own business.
RE: your Spin Sucks concept ... I'd love to see you develop that even more into something that, as Larry says, "opens the door to a dramatic question."
I wonder - what is the dramatic question that Spin Sucks poses ... answers ... brings to light? I find it helpful to preface a concept discussion with "what if?" As in "What would happen if?" How does Spin Sucks generate that kind of question? Is it about what happens if people approach PR & marketing with a different focus? Is it about what happens when PR & marketing professionals find and hang onto their true principles? Is it about what happens when PR & marketing professionals have their eyes opened to a new world of possibilities that are couched in a "no spin" context?
What's the question you're asking ... and answering?
:)
@ginidietrich I suppose we should be grateful that we have TWO sides to our brains, but it sure can get confusing when you have to blend those two worlds, or - worse - jump back and forth and back and forth and ... well, you get the idea. ;)
One thing that is really helping me to get my head around all the intricacies of the fiction craft is reading a TON of books about the brain science behind it (Lisa Cron's Wired for Story), the inner workings of good fiction writing, story structure (love me some Larry Brooks!), and random bits and pieces from every source I can find. I read a LOT of writing blogs, but also really enjoy the Poets & Writers magazine. Finally finished the Jan issue last night and two articles gave me mini epiphanies. Good stuff!
Of course, eventually you have to stop studying and get down to the actual writing. There's a fine line between beneficial learning and procrastination. I've found, however, that the Type-A side of my brain is MUCH more cooperative if I can give it some structure to hang onto while my free-wheeling creative brain takes the wheel . ;)
Gini! How did I miss that you did Nanowrimo? Oh - maybe it's because I was trying to do it myself and fell off the internet for a while. ;)
Congrats on your 50K. I hit that goal (though it was 50K words of CRAP) in 2009, but bailed out in 2012: http://nhwn.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/nanowrimo-fail-i-blame-you-larry-brooks/
I couldn't agree more about writing fiction being so much harder than writing for business. I worry sometimes that all the blogging and copywriting I do is actually a handicap, because - although it keeps my keyboarding muscles limber - it's a completely different mindset and set of tools. What do you think?
@Lori Big :) to you.
"Can't we write for the love of putting words together in a way that makes sense and for nothing else?"
... yes, but doesn't "making sense" translate into "finding meaning?" ;)
I guess how we feel about "meaning" comes down to whether we find it hard work, or an enjoyable unfolding. Though there are plenty of things in my life that take lots of brain power (and sometimes heartache) to explore and understand, I love when the exploration is meandering and without any intended purpose. I love when the learning comes quietly and gently. It doesn't feel like striving. It feels like settling in.
Have you read Karen Maezen Miller? She wrote Zen Momma and also Hand Wash Cold. She might dispute your assumption that washing dishes does not give life meaning ;) , but you might enjoy the mental debate.
XO
Lori,
You ask the best questions, the important ones, the ones without easy answers.
I find meaning in growth, in learning, in increasing understanding. I think about it less in terms of "improvement" and more in terms of "expansion" or "deepening."
In the past, I've wondered about the purpose of my own writing, an activity I've pursued consistently in various forms since I was seven years old. Over the years, I've had many answers to that question, but the one that sticks in my head most is "to learn myself."
But, it's not just about me. It's about "learning" the world around me. About "learning" human nature and animal nature and dream nature. It's about evolving out in different directions until - probably many lives from now - I can begin to comprehend what it would be to expand my horizons far enough that they encompass everything.
Whoa. Sorry about that. I'm back now. ;)
But, kidding aside, my purpose - my meaning - comes from exploring everything (experiences, connections, emotions, ideas, stories, and so forth) and growing because of those explorations.
Thanks for asking.
XO