I am feeling physical and mental pain. My body is like on needles with pressure in the back of my head. The other pressure is inside my head. Here are some blogging stats.
With the challenge half way on, I reached a total of 310 posts on my WordPress blog EW Emma’s Writings over the last three years. The most favored post of the challenge seems to be Day #3 “Thoughts on fear in the wake of Paris attacks.”
Prague horloge on the Old Town Hall by “I love Czech Republic” group
However, I did manage to write post for Day #15 of the 30 Day Content Challenge by Learn to Blog “On the art of interviewing.”
Maybe that’s why I have that pressure inside my head. Now, I am playing catch up for Days #7#8#10#11 and #12. I just wanted to let go of those missed days, but then I read a post by Pittsburgh Grammy that she is catching up and today is the day to do it. I too want to reach a total of 30 daily posts. Thank you for inspiring me.
More about feelings of a writer and an artist.
Sometimes, I just plain feel numb, listless and drained. On other days I am overwhelmed by ideas, and I have to sort through them. I categorize them and organize them in my head. I don’t know if it depends on the weather, on how I slept or didn’t sleep or what I eat.
Experts and psychologists say writing is therapeutic when it’s not under pressure and when you write for yourself. Blog can serve as an electronic diary and for most of us it is an e-diary. You can freely express yourself without any censorship. You might be the only person reading your own post, but it’s still satisfying. The bonus is if others are reading as well, that is if they know about you.
The challenge bumped up my readership and following greatly to 612, and it increased the following on Facebook and twitter. Plus I wrote a Children’s Book for Josephine. I will keep adding pages to it sort of like posting.
I am very happy so far with the results writing this halfway through the challenge.
Note to my regular readers to avoid confusion. I am participating in a 30 Content Challenge by Learn to Blog. The posts show my views on this world including my own, as well as my varied experience, so they do dovetail well with the overall purpose of the blog EW Emma’s Writings.
I must say that I find the 30 Day Content event challenging to come up with a post a day. I draw inspiration from everything around me including events that are happening in the world.
Day #3 post titled “Thoughts on Fear in the Wake of Paris Attacks” is so far my favorite to answer Bradley Will’s question. I have yet to go through other people’s posts. It’s a lot of posts. The event has great participation. It trains regularity, consistency and the mind.
This morning I pondered the questions to ask of a prospective employer at an interview tomorrow, as well as my answers to their questions. I applied for a public relations/marketing position.
I did research on the company on Glassdoor reviews. I found the website very helpful. That’s why I am sharing this. The link to it is www.glassdoor.com/job/
Then go to reviews and interviews.
Spiral staircase at the Dali in St. Petersburg, FL
You will find out things that you would never find out from carefully written company websites. Once a candidate posts a review, the company cannot take it down. Both the reviews and the interviews were honest, written from the heart as the candidates meant it. And they came from all over the world.
They called the interviews easy and the team outgoing, more like friends than bosses. For now, I’ll bypass the reviews until I write my tomorrow Blogging Day #16. I have interviewed hundreds of people for stories from all walks of life, so I am comfortable asking strangers sometimes difficult questions.
I came up with the following questions to ask:
1-What is branding awareness through interactive marketing?
2- What kind of campaigns do you conduct?
3-How do you find clients?
4-What kind of experiential marketing techniques do you use?
5-Can you explain the collaboration technique?
6-Why do you have an orange logo? That question comes from the fact that I own an orange Dart.
Why an orange Dart? Because I like different things. Maybe they are the same way.
Now, my answers to their questions:
Which of the three do you have: work ethic, student attitude, positive attitude?
After reading the reviews it became clear to me that the correct answer is work ethic.
Why do I want to work for them, if they ask? I spent a lot time pondering this one. My son Jake suggested this question based on his own three-part interview experience.
Well, our goals match. What goals? To match the consumer to the brand and to use collaboration in marketing. I like that. I’ve always been for collaboration and innovation.
Why am I the best person for the job?
Because I am unique. We each are unique and have different skills and capabilities. I have experience and I always love what I choose to do from retail, writing to blogging.
Will I continue my blogging business Emma Blogs, LLC?
Of course I will. I love everything about it: creativity, design, writing, feedback, newsletter design, the challenges and helping others to learn to blog.
Fallasburg, MI- I love everything about the Fallasburg Park and the village: the Covered Bridge, the Flat River, the house museums. It truly takes you back in time, away from the fear of technology, from the fear of the unknown and much more.
I live approximately three miles away from the park and I do social media marketing for the Fallasburg Historical Society. The park and the village serve as a major venue for many regional events such as the Fallasburg Festival for the Arts in the fall, the Fallasburg Bazaar and the upcoming Christmas in Fallasburg traditional party on Dec. 12 at 6 p.m. Please join us to celebrate the season.
A note to all. I am participating in a 30 day content writing challenge by Learn to blog. All posts reflect my views on today’s world including my own.
This morning I woke up to a Facebook post that made me cry from Czech homeland. It was from Radhost mountains in Czech Republic. I’ve been to the Radhost mountains many times even though I am a bad downhill skier, but the area has grown close to my heart.
Plus we got our first snow in Michigan yesterday.
I want to share the beauty of Radhost with all my friends.
Radhost mountains in Czech Republic.
Cyril’s chapel
Friends at Radhost.
Copyright (c) 2015 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
A note to my regular readers. I am participating in a Content Writing challenge by Learn to Blog. The posts show my views on today’s world including my own. I hope you enjoy all of them as part of stepping up my blogging.
Hastings, MI- Today we celebrated my girl’s second birthday. Josephine Marie Palova was born to a multi-cultural family. My son Jakub Pala is Czech and he is married to his American sweetheart Maranda Palova.
Josephine party
I am in awe how much they respect each other’s cultures. Maranda took on the Slavic name Palova instead of Pala. Jakub wants to keep the Czech language for his daughter Josephine. He speaks to her in Czech every evening after work.
He asked me if I could give her a book in Czech. Now, that’s a problem here. But, I am a problem solver. I got up this morning before the birthday party and started working on a simple book in Czech for Josephine.
A book for Josephine in Czech.
I firmly believe that Josephine will be fully bilingual, which is my son’s dream. I used simple sentences and clip art and I will keep adding pages to the core book and growing paragraphs as she grows.
I was most definitely inspired by the blogging challenge to do this. The group pulled me out of my depression. Thank you.
We had a great time at this multi-cultural party. Maranda and Jake were awesome hosts in their new home. I am so proud of both of them. They represent the best in the millennials.
Thank you for being great hosts and great children.
Lowell, MI-It is a nasty dark November day out there and I am facing a full day of writing without knowing what I am going to write about. I usually drive to Murray Lake to regroup my thoughts.
But, today it is just not working. I am supposed to write a column for the Ionia Sentinel-Standard, and I just finished it. It’s about tweeting.
Maybe I should write about the chaos that’s happening in the world. My daughter Emma Palova-Chavent lives in a wine village in Fixin, France. They just moved from Dijon.
A tear for France.
She often visits Paris to shop. I visited with her in 2013. It will never be the same city since the terrorist attacks.
I fear for all the European countries and the USA. We live in a world where no one can feel safe anymore; not in a theater, on a plane, at a school or at a football stadium.
Violence and evil are unacceptable in any society. Humanity and kindness must prevail along with peace.
We cannot move forward in violent times. I consider myself to be a creative person. I cannot watch all this destruction or talk about retaliation. Violence bears only more violence.
I don’t know the solution to all this, but definitely not more violence. Progress requires peace and life without fear.
We should be working on fighting against hunger and illnesses, on education, arts and not war on terror.
We should be challenging ourselves like this content challenge by Learn to Blog.
Lowell, MI- The “Fallasburg Today” blog with the Lovecraft theme by Andre Nores is up and running with three initial posts, a Facebook page plug-in and a twitter page @fallasburg.
The Fallasburg Historical Society (FHS) is celebrating 50 years of historic preservation of the 1830s village founded by John Fallass.
I consider it a sign of times that the quaint pioneer village nestled in the northeast corner of Kent County is now marketed on WordPress and on social media.
New interpretive markers at the Fallasburg village.
In an effort to bring awareness to the village, the FHS president Ken Tamke and the board asked me for some technology help last week.
I share their passion and love for history and I live three miles away from the Fallasburg Park. And I love nature at its best.
I embraced the project with fervor because of the dates of the upcoming First Annual Village Bazaar set for Sept. 19 and Sept. 20.
We had a good start: a Facebook page with 245 likes, a website www.fallasburg.org and the excitement of all.
I did the twitter first and then the blog and connected all that. My unifying theme has been “bringing the village alive” so the name “Fallasburg Today.”
Today, there is a live discussion on Facebook and twitter is starting up. People and other organizations like Whites Bridge Historical Society are interested in what is happening at the Fallasburg village.
They are sharing the posts on Facebook and tweeting.
I am a deep believer in progress otherwise we would still be walking and living in caves.
Lowell, MI- Leigh Ann Dickey aka Coach Leigh Ann founded Soulpreneurs.co two weeks ago to further pursue her dreams. She is a registered respiratory technician residing in Gainesville, Georgia. Dickey is a freelancer for Learn to Blog and she works with 100 clients in web and blog design.
Coach Leigh Ann Dickey started up Soulpreneurs.co
Emma: When and why did you start blogging?
Leigh Ann: In the spring of 2013 when I had joined the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and lost 35 pounds. I just hit 40 and I wanted to share my story.
Emma: Where did you gain your online expertise?
Leigh Ann: I am self-taught. I have 12 years of website coding experience and I took some WordPress classes. I took a Learn to Blog class in 2014 because I wanted to master WordPress.
Emma: What do you feel was the biggest challenge in the beginning?
Leigh Ann: Determining your niche. I went all over the place. I was posting and sharing, and I started my design business, Coach Leigh Ann.
Emma: So, what do you suggest to WordPress newbies or any blogging newbies? Where should they start?
Leigh Ann: It starts with ourselves, knowing what we like to do all day long.
Emma: What do you like about blogging?
Leigh Ann: I enjoy the process of creating. It plays into my geeky side telling the story.
Emma: What kind of satisfaction do you get out of blogging?
Leigh Ann: It’s natural to get that feedback and I enjoy helping people. Blogging has changed me. It helped me pass obstacles in life and I relate that to overcoming obstacles in business.
Emma: Many newbies worry about analytics. How do you feel about it?
Leigh Ann: Until your blog is fully functional and you have an opt-in page to get emails, you don’t need to worry about it.
Emma: What do you suggest bloggers use for analytics once they’re ready with an opt-in page and the launch of a product?
Leigh Ann: Definitely a WordPress jet pack plug-in that shows where the comments came from.
Emma: What about Google Analytics?
Leigh Ann: Google Analytics is much more involved. Jet pack is more newbie friendly.
Emma: Now the big one that concerns most bloggers not just newbies. Let’s talk about monetization of blogs. Can we make money on blogging?
Leigh Ann: Monetization is complicated. It entails keyword blogging using AdSense and getting that SEO. The best way to make money is with info publishing, creating your own products and services.
Emma: What do you think about affiliate marketing?
Leigh Ann: It’s a good idea to partner with others to promote their product or service along with yours.
Emma: What is the recipe for success? Be it monetization, increased traffic or SEOranking?
Leigh Ann: The best model now is to have a combination of things; blogging, having an affiliate in combo with your own products and services. Affiliate linking is a good way to make money.
Emma: What is the best way to promote your niche business?
Leigh Ann: Building a following on social media so people recognize you as an expert in a certain area.
Emma: Specifically what social media would you recommend?
Leigh Ann: Start a Facebook group not a page, join other groups of like-minded people.
Emma: What helped you get ahead?
Leigh Ann: I did market research inside the Facebook group and that helped me develop products and services.
Emma: Tell us about your most recent venture, Soulpreneurs.co.
Leigh Ann: I launched this membership site because people are hungry for information. It delivers automated info on regular basis. It took me two weeks to solidify my ideas on it.
Emma: How do you balance out your regular job and your online business?
Leigh Ann: I have critical thinking skills with quick decision-making from my RRT full-time job that I can apply in my online business.
Emma: How many hours a week do you spend on your online business?
Leigh Ann: 20 hours promoting and developing the websites.
Emma: Where should newbies start?
Leigh Ann: Create a checklist of what needs to get done now to get the results you want. On the side you list things you want to do. First you find hosting, then create an About page and have the e-mail subscribe or opt-in page.
Emma: What are your short-term goals?
Leigh Ann: To gain social recognition for design. I also set a financial goal to develop a new product each month to keep people interested.
Emma: What are your long-term goals?
Leigh Ann: Teaming up with Clark Hosp of Learn to Blog to offer live online interactive training focusing on WordPress next month.
Emma: What is your biggest accomplishment in blogging?
Leigh Ann: I work with over a 100 clients and I have the Soulpreneurs membership site.
Emma: What do you attribute your success to and what do you recommend to others:
Leigh Ann: To the mentors that I follow and my determination. I have a relentless spirit. I will keep trying until I have success. Stay focused on one path until you get a result and then you can redirect and follow through.
Emma: What keeps you going?
Leigh Ann: Lots of coffee, seven to eight hours of sleep, downtime away from the computer, eating healthy, moving my body and time with my friends.
Emma: What makes you feel good about yourself?
Leigh Ann: Any type of feedback.
Emma: What keeps you motivated? What do you suggest to others who feel like giving up?
Leigh Ann: Having a plan of action. It may be making money online and you might have to get a real job. Go back to why you started doing this? For me personally it was sharing my story.
Stay tuned for more blogging tips and advice coming to EW Emma’s Writings.
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