Cate Russell-Cole's Blog, page 46
January 12, 2013
The Power of Paper
We rely so much on the convenience of computers and mobile devices, that it is easy to forget how disjointed, isolated and expendable they can make us feel. Please watch this very short video, then follow the link below to use your writing skills to change lives.
Join the movement: http://www.moreloveletters.com/
Filed under: Writing Tagged: Caring, encouragement, Hope, human contact, inspiration, letters, stress management, support, writer, writing
January 10, 2013
Pinning Down Success
In 2012, I wrote a blog post declaring: “this year, I have taken a new approach to new year’s resolutions. Instead of writing a list of goals, which I ultimately never get to fully achieve, I wrote a list of words which represented what I wanted out of my life. Life has a habit of taking us places we never thought we’d be and I would like to be more consciously open to that. Plus I will try not to fret if it goes pear shaped in places!”
A month or two later, I found out I couldn’t function without a list of goals! I needed something in writing, which was a marker of where I wanted to be by the end of the year. In hindsight, I did capture the spirit of the words, but by October, I was fretting as my goals had gone pear shaped! Yet again, I made that classic mistake: I set too many goals and I fell short with three projects. Pacing myself was one of the great lessons of 2012!
This year I am going to set a limit to the number of my writing goals. One visually creative project, one book to be written, plus two essential business maintenance goals. That’s it. Anything else I find time for is a bonus!
The experts say to keep your goals prioritised, simple and small in number. We are encouraged to reach our goals and dreams by making small changes, or taking small progressive steps… not by embarking upon an exhausting revolution! Small changes are the ones that stick, avoiding failures and regrets.
We all tend to overload ourselves with activity and then fall down in an exhausted, disgruntled heap. Instead, slow down and build your confidence one area at a time. To maintain a healthy work – life balance and allow yourself days off. If you can’t afford that time, at least take a thirty minute break for yourself once or twice a week. Use that time how you like and don’t feel like you’re being selfish or cheating! You’re not.
Logo and excerpt Copyright Wellness and Writing Connections
Trying to do everything will quite often trip you. Our society needs to learn to slow down as a whole. Achievement takes time as it involves learning and we all absorb new information at our own pace. Getting there is meant to be a journey, not rush hour! As writers, we will thrive if we learn to wait and strategically move forward when we know we have the energy, confidence and resources.
Pick a small handful of great goals; work on them, then add another if you can. Be kind and gentle on yourself.
“Wellness and Writing Connections” on Facebook makes a great point about goals. (http://www.facebook.com/WellnessWriting) To quote the page author, “Writing a list of the things we would like to see more of in our life is a common theme in resolutions. What if we also make a list of things we want to leave out?” What if your major goal was to resist things that pull you down emotionally? That can make a massive change to your quality of life. What if it is to gently pull back from a bad friendship and set yourself free from it’s poor influences? Sometimes knowing what you don’t want is as important as knowing what you want.
This article / blog post is Copyright Cate Russell-Cole 2013. All rights are reserved Internationally. You may not reproduce it in any form, in part of whole, without Cate’s prior written permission. That includes usage in forms such as print, audio and digital imaging including pdf, jpg, png etc. A fee may be requested for re-using her work if it is for a commercial venture. Link sharing and Pinterest pins are most welcome as long as Cate is the attributed Author.
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Filed under: Creativity, Writing Tagged: challenge, change, discovery, failure, goals, inspiration, problem solving, resolutions, revolution, small steps, stress management, success
Comparing Crazy
Wow, it’s been awhile since the Wordbitches have been here. But rest assured, we’re still here. I know…you were worried.
But, it’s the new year, and we’re back, baby!
Speaking of the new year, have you set your writing goals for 2013? I did this year, but it took awhile for me to get there. Ultimately, it was a good exercise and I do believe that sharing goals with trusted people can really help keep us accountable.
A very valuable and timely blog post from Elena on comparing yourself to other writers. This is a must-share.
January 8, 2013
Written Acts of Kindness Award: Janet Camilleri
This is an extra special award for me today and for her as it is Janet’s birthday… Janet Camilleri is a friend who I have had the pleasure of supporting for a few years now.
Janet is one of the gutsiest people I know. She had a vision to start an Australian magazine for Christian women; and with her own resources and a handful of supporters, she did it. Quite often the hard way. Janet has had many challenges to overcome in her life. She has attacked them with the same determination, and is an incredible speaker on overcoming depression and fulfilling God’s calling on your life. I am very proud to know her. She is an inspiration to me.
You can read about Janet’s story and visit the Footprints Magazine for Australian Christian Women website here: http://www.footprintsaustralia.com/ Links to the Footprints blog and e-zine are also found on that site.
Janet, please take this badge below and use it as you wish. The rules for passing this Award on are very simple:
You are welcome to give it out as many times as you like, but it is only to be given to a maximum of one person per blog post. If you wish to give multiple rewards, please space the blog posts by at least a week so the sincerity is maintained.
Introduce the person; say how they encourage, help or inspire you; then link to their work and/or social media profiles. There may be a specific post you wish to link to which helped you. It’s up to you.
Please publicise your award post to Twitter or Google Plus using the hashtag #writtenkindness so that others can find and follow the award winners. You are also welcome to add your Award recipient/s to the Hall of Fame which is on this link.
Filed under: Awards Tagged: Written Acts of Kindness Award
January 7, 2013
Writing Rocket Fuel: Achievement
Every Monday I will be posting an inspirational quote, or link/s to a great resource to get your week started with a positive attitude. This week, we’re starting with Jim Rohn on achievement.
“Goals: there’s not telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There’s no telling what you can do when you believe in them. There’s no telling what will happen when you act upon them.” Jim Rohn
Filed under: Rocket Fuel Tagged: Writing Rocket Fuel
January 6, 2013
Support for Writers With Demanding Lives
Whether you write memoir, fiction, are a blogger, poet or feature article writer, join us for A Round of Words in 80 Days. It is starting today!
I started ROW80 last year and it’s the most helpful group I have had the joy to join. I helps me set goals, stay on track… and keeps me honest if I am too tempted to slack off! I have gotten a great deal of benefit and enjoyment from the company of the incredibly supportive ROW80 writers.
ROW80 has four rounds which will take you right through 2013. It is the writing challenge for people who do have a life! It is for every genre; friendly; inspiring and allows you to set your own, flexible goals which give you space to breathe!
If you can’t start this Round, you are welcome to begin late in the Round, or you can commence in April, July, or October. There is a two week break between rounds, no fees, no obligatory sign-up and no spam!
The ROW80 page is here: http://aroundofwordsin80days.wordpress.com I will look forward to seeing you.
Filed under: Life Story / Memoir, Writing Tagged: blogging, creativity, goals, growth, Indie publishing, inspiration, motivation, passion, resource, ROW80, success, writer, writing, Writing Challenge
January 5, 2013
Writing Tip #2--Writing is Pain, Learn to Take a Hit
Reblogged from Kristen Lamb's Blog:
Want to be a writer? Expect suffering. Lose your illusions and embrace pain. Writing is not always a glittery unicorn hug, and we don’t get what we wish for, we get what we work for. This profession is not for the faint of heart, namely because 1) it’s hard 2) it’s often under appreciated 3) great writing requires us to expose our soft tender parts and hope no one carves them out with a spork.
Hard to take, yet sound advice worth passing on. Kristen is a must-follow.
January 3, 2013
2013 Free Calendars for Writers
It’s nearly the end of the working year and my brain is feeling sleepy… so here is something bright to wake you up if you’re feeling the same way.
These 2013 “year at a glance” calendars are .jpg files which can be printed as A4 size, or as small as you can while still able to read the numbers. To download, click on the thumbnail below. It will take you straight to the malware-free, virus-free files. You won’t be assaulted by ads, pop-ups, made to sign up, or any and other Internet insanity.
The “AND” is bigger than usual in the “keep calm” series. I don’t want you to forget the next part! No matter what, just keep writing whether it feels like award winning work or a mess. If you push through, you’ll get there.
If you prefer Steampunk, there is a free 2013 Full Steam Ahead calendar on my web site. It is a 1MB download from the bottom of this page: http://www.virtual-desk.com.au/steampunk/graphics.html
Feel free to share them. Cheers!
Filed under: Writing Tagged: 2013, 2013 calendar, calendar, free, freebie, keep calm and keep blogging, keep calm and keep writing, Steampunk, year at a glance
January 1, 2013
Tell Your Future What You Want People to Know
Heart Breaking Decay: Christian, Caroline, Willie and Garside rest here, next to their son Peter and his wife Rose. Their headstone is fine, but nearly unreadable.
This week we have been doing family history research on ancestry.com for an old friend. It’s been a wild journey, which wound up with us in a local cemetery trying to do what we could to love and restore a plot that isn’t even our family… but, the two babies and their parents still matter! To give someone love was a great feeling, no matter who they are. Caroline and Christian would never have dreamed at in a century, two strangers would spend two hours in summer heat trying to find them, and would want to know their story.
If there is one thing I have learnt, it’s please, put in photos, hobbies, occupations and details into your genealogy records. Make your memoir legible and keep it on a CD Rom or something that will stand the test of time. (CD Roms and DVDs have a life of 50 years. Give them out liberally. Someone will be interested one day, and will transfer them to the next format available.) My friend hadn’t seen my Grandfather’s war medals until I found copies online. She had no idea he had them, or where he served. He was a swordsman in WWI, then went into Naval Service. Her other ancestors came to Australia to escape a war, we didn’t know that either, but it makes her parent’s deliberate emphasis on spelling the surname correctly (not like the enemy side spells their equivalent) understandable. Oddly enough, they probably didn’t even know why their parents had taught them to do the same. It was three generations back.
After a little cleaning and some love. We’ll get a better vase etc. soon. The concrete is just crumbling, soon it will be unsalvageable without major repairs that will remove its historical authenticity. In line with Danish tradition, and in memory of my friend’s family, we left coins to pay the Ferryman.
Graves and their inadequate plaques do not last forever, whether concrete, marble or bronze. One grave had been through three major floods. There was nothing left, not a marker on the row or any sign of the past. Just a long stretch of grass. If you don’t tell your story and capture the stories of the loved ones around you, they will be gone. It’s impossible to piece people back together. All you have are dates, facts and presumptions and the frustration of never knowing.
Tell your future what you want people to know and make it come alive.
–ooOoo–
If you know anyone who is interested in the Hansen, Peel, Corneby or McLachlin families in Australia, please send them to these family tree pages. We’re hosting them on our log in. You must be an ancestry member to access the information. (My apologies if I have spelled any of the surnames wrong.)
Queensland Hansen Family Links from Denmark
Hansen – Corneby – Peel – McLachlin Tree going back to Britain in the 1700s and Denmark in 1800s.
This blog post by Cate Russell-Cole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share and adapt it.
Filed under: Life Story / Memoir, Writing Tagged: Ancestry.com, autobiography, biography, Corneby, Denmark, family, family history, Genealogy, Hansen, memoir, Peel, writer, writing
December 30, 2012
Where to Promote Your Blog
As we count down to 2013, the next few days will feature the most popular posts of this year. Enjoy!
This post is an ongoing directory of promotional communities and directories for bloggers.
I have been slowly bookmarking various communities and directories for bloggers as I have been reading through other people’s blogs. It’s a frustrating process, particularly when you dimly remember there was a badge you wanted to check out and you can’t remember where it is, or the source code behind the badge doesn’t work! So I wanted to put everything I have found together in one spot so everyone interested can benefit.
All the links below will open in a new window to take you to the page, plus I have left them in text form so you can print this post off or save it as a .pdf Please note: I don’t use all these services, so I don’t know if they are good or bad. Use is solely at your own risk.
A word of wisdom, many of these directories want to know what your RSS feed is for your site. If you don’t know, try RSS include. https://www.rssinclude.com/
If you want to promote your site, you need as many options as possible: join by email, allow WordPress and Blogger Follow buttons, RSS feed, Networked Blogs, Google Friend Connect. Everything you can get your hands on. The more ways you have to connect, the more followers you will get. I get so frustrated when I see email sign up only on blogs. I need more options! My email is too cluttered for posts to be noticed.
Don’t forget to add your Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google + and other social networking details so people can find you. It all helps. I know it looks scary, but many of these options are just copy and paste their code. You don’t have to be a web developer.
Blogging Communities
Triberr: (Wants money/bones for you to make connections.) You collect Karma points here. http://triberr.com/
Bloggers: This community is thriving! http://bloggers.com/
We Blog: Blogging Community on Facebook that shares posts freely http://www.facebook.com/groups/240976049268613/
Compassion Bloggers: partnering with bloggers to help children (Christian initiative) http://compassionbloggers.com/get-involved
Blog Catalogue: for reading and promoting http://www.blogcatalog.com/
The Blog Frog: http://theblogfrog.com/
She’s Connected Social Networking Site are advertising that they do blog promotion. Haven’t tried it yet. http://www.shesconnected.com/
Love All Blogs: http://loveallblogs.com/
Blog Directories
Add Your Blog: http://www.addyourblog.com/suggest-listing.php
Blogalicious: this is a blog promoting other bloggers with new posts on Wednesdays. Takes ages to come up in my browser, but it’s a treasure trove! http://blogaliciousblogs.blogspot.com.au/
Review’d: similar to what I am doing here. http://reviewd.blogspot.com.au/ They are also on Facebook.
Fuel My Blog: add their widget to your blog to get votes. http://www.fuelmyblog.com They want bloggers as reviewers too, so look for opportunities there.
You Say Too: “boost your revenue, exposure and readership.” http://www.yousaytoo.com/
Buzzerhut: will list your web site and/or blog but… you have to have their widget on your site and I can’t get mine to work on WordPress. I have emailed them for help. If I hear back, I’ll let you know. Blogger sites should be no problem at all. http://www.buzzerhut.com/
Bloggapedia: http://www.bloggapedia.com/ (Appears to have ceased operation as of September 2012.)
Top Blog Area: with free blog tools and statistics. http://www.topblogarea.com/
Blog Hub: http://www.bloghub.com/
BlogNotions: only takes technology, marketing, business and industry blogs. http://www.blognotions.com/
Liquida: you can submit a blog here. http://www.liquida.com/
Bloglovin: http://www.bloglovin.com/
Blog Carnival: Submit a blog entry. http://blogcarnival.com/bc/
Promote Blog Commercial Service: http://promote-blog.com/ (This link is only here as a courtesy as they retweeted my post. Personally, I don’t pay for services. That is your decision. I have no experience with them so don’t know what the quality of their service is like, neither am I responsible in any way for your use of their service or what occurs from your use of theirs: it is at your own risk. It is your decision. I am not liable for your experience with this business or any other services/people/users behind the links on this blog. Isn’t it sad that we now have to put in disclaimers like this. Let’s build a friendlier world and treat each other with decency and respect.)
Blog Engage: another commercial service I haven’t used. http://www.blogengage.com/blogger/
Add your blog posts to sites such as Stumble Upon, Reddit, Digg etc and set your blog to have the share buttons available so others can add your pages.
Says Her: A Women’s Blog and Twitter Search Engine, http://saysher.com/
On Top List Blog Directory http://www.ontoplist.com/blog-directory/
Devotional Christian Blogs: http://devotionalchristian.com/blogs/
Faithful Bloggers (Christian): http://faithfulbloggers.com/
Other Interesting Publishing and Promotion Ideas
Scoop It allows you to publish web magazines which you can use for promoting your work in an attractive manner. This is a cost for use service. http://www.scoop.it/
Paperli offers a similar service where you can promote your work or web pages you wish to pass on, in the form of a newspaper. http://paper.li/ I have had my tweets published in other people’s papers, which has given me promotion. I am unsure if there is a cost. The site was down for maintenance when I checked it.
Responsible Web Users
Take the pledge and add a Blog With Integrity badge to your site. http://www.blogwithintegrity.com/
If you are sick of spammers, hackers and weirdos on the web, you may also like to join the Pledge Of Responsible Social Media Users on Causes. http://www.causes.com/causes/570107-pledge-of-responsible-social-media-users They have a badge, which again isn’t WordPress friendly. It will be fine on Blogger.
This blog post by Cate Russell-Cole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share and adapt it.
Filed under: Freebie or Competition, Writing Tagged: author, blog, blogging, community, directory, growth, Indie publishing, problem solving, promotion, resource, search, support, writer, writing
