Editorial Calendar Planning

I’ve been working on my editorial calendar for this blog.  First I wanted to be sure to incorporate my three words — Explore, Become, Serve. An editorial calendar is defined by Wikipedia as: Editorial calendars are used to define and control the process of creating content, from idea through writing and publication. An individual or…

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Start Small

I woke up today and realized yesterday was not a nightmare.  It really happened.  All those kids were shot and killed.  CNN had an article that said the shooter was “quiet and reserved”.  First he killed his mom, who was a teacher but not at that school, and then he went to that school and…

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Blog Action Day: The Power of We

Bloggers around the world today are posting on Blog Action Day.  it started in 2007 and the global topic today is The Power of We. I believe in thinking global and buying local.  I live in a community of 10,000 people in my entire county, and our livelihoods are dependent on residents buying local.  This…

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Transparent – maybe not always.

I was going to tell you the story of my estranged brother.  However, is this a story I really need to share?  No, it’s not.  It’s a story for my family, not a story for the public. How many of us tell all of our stories in order to be truly transparent?  Is transparency always…

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Comment Please

I just spent about 10 minutes reading a few blog posts.  One was particularly poignant and I started to post a comment on Facebook where the writer had originally put the link. Then I stopped and remembered how important it is to the blogger that you comment ON THE BLOG. I went back, and put…

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A Garden View

The birds outside my window make the leaves of the trees wiggle in the sunshine.  I see flashes of yellow finches and happy go lucky barn swallows flit and fly here and there.  There’s a beautiful old bench, with plenty of room to sit.  See the white flowers, and the red tree?  I can’t see…

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Saturdays are made for reading

“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.”- Confucius Saturday mornings belong to me.  Of course these mornings start about 5 am and go until 9 ish – or until a prior appointment is made.  I drink coffee at home, listen to…

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Need Ideas? Conduct a Quest!

Barbara Winters is joyfully jobless, and one of my favorite people to listen very close to.  Today she is guest blogging for us.  You can follow her at www.joyfullyjobless.com During the Middle Ages, knights set out in droves in search of the Holy Grail. Many of these quests lasted for years and, as you may…

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Midwest Maybe

Ben Milne from Dwolla said at the Social IRL Conference on Thursday you can contribute in a positive or negative way. Are you someone who complains a lot? You’ll find that negative attracts negative and you’ll soon be surrounded by negative people. Jason Freed from 37 signals taught him that the concept of recognizing bad…

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Locals Weigh In on #TravelMidwest

Many people have weighed in on the conversation with National Geographic on why they should visit Iowa in their trek across the United States.  Here’s just a few comments received from blog posts, facebook comments and twitter.    But none of the glitz and glamour found in the big cities feeds my soul like quiet…

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