blog
Songs can tear us apart and then apologize; build us up. Music has the power to heal. Within its crescendos we cry and inside its lyrics we soar. These are the songs’ stories that show the power of music, specifically when it comes to figuring out who we are and where we fit in with respect to our personalities.
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Keyword research for blog writing
Day 17 of 30-day blog challenge. Read day 16: “The shape of a heart” One thing that I think makes me particularly tuned-in to keyword research as it applies to blog writing is the fact that I earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. More than just having taken (and passed) the classes, the reason I even enjoyed psychology as a discipline involved wanting to know what makes people do the things they do. Though I decided not to pursue an advanced degree in psychology, my love for understanding human nature has switched to applying it to consumer behavior. Sort of. What is keyword research? I don’t presume to…
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The shape of a heart
This is day 16 of 30-day blog challenge. Read day 15: “Dedicated hashtags on Twitter” So, my heart is swelling quite a bit because I’ve been unable or unwilling to write poetry much over the last handful of years. I can admit that purging the negative feelings and pain felt much easier in poems. My happiness felt too big to let out; I feared sounding cheesy or trite. My pain I knew well. It fueled my creativity and allowed me to express the things I needed to get out. But, I’ve been carrying this poem around for a few weeks. Lines emerging here and there. And I wanted to…
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Inspirations to keep going
This is day 14 of 30-day blog challenge. Read day 13 “Social media strategy” We all have those days where our heads ache, we’re overwhelmed and just plain tired. Being stuck inside and trying to focus with the entire family around is difficult. Humans are creatures of habit, and cabin fever affects me as much as not being able to stick to my routines. When moments, days and weeks where I have trouble focusing come around I often resort to a few classics to re-inspire myself. I’ll post them in no particular order so I can keep plowing through this 30-day blog challenge, despite having a headache and…
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10 ways to improve your social media marketing overnight
This is day 7 of my 30-day blog challenge. Read day 6: “Abandoned Addiction” Your business needs more than a Facebook Page to be active in social media marketing, and it certainly needs someone more experienced with setting up marketing strategy than your Millennial neighbor. Just as you need a plan for your business, you need a strategy for reaching your potential clients and consumers. Marketing for the sake of marketing accomplishes little, so if you don’t know where to begin with setting up social media, here are a few tips that you can put into action immediately: 1. Have a plan and set S.M.A.R.T.…
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Abandoned Addiction: thoughts on finding Hoffman dead with a needle in his arm
Day 6 of my 30-day blog challenge. Read day 5 “The benefits of a blog calendar” George Willis Jr. grew up and became the mighty Lester Bangs before dying from a heroin overdose, with a needle still sticking out of his left arm. I didn’t want to write about Philip Seymour Hoffman. My heart has just been so heavy. I want to share my thought process in discovering this loss, and why I am writing about it. I have a hard time ( it’s pathetic really) distinguishing people’s faces. I often joke about it, but my husband worries if something is wrong my ability to perceive. …
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The benefits of blog calendar
This is day 4 of my 30-day blog challenge. Read yesterday’s “Why we don’t even own a microwave” I thought yesterday about the topics I might choose to blog about today. I considered blogging about my pet peeves when it comes to blogging (some of which include numbers in headlines and poor grammar that comes from typing a blog directly into a post–like I am doing now). I didn’t plan when I woke up this morning to write a stream-of-consciousness post, but as I checked email and social media from my phone this morning I did read Sara Crawford’s blog of the day from yesterday. Apparently,…
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Tips on starting a free blog for your business
Day 2 of my 30-day blog challenge, read day one: 30-day blog challenge Tips on starting a free blog for your business A friend of mine asked me Friday about what it costs to start a blog. The short answer is that it’s free, but not really. I’ve previously tackled the question of “How long does it take to build a business?”, but if you’re starting out your blog by thinking about where you can save money and cut costs for your business, you should take a second to examine your goals. Why do you need a blog? Of course I think EVERY business…
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What 30 days of blogging can do for your career
30 days of blogging, beginning now. I’m a big believer of blogging, and I recommend custom content for every one of my friends when they ask what tools best benefit their small businesses. What 30 days can do If we’ve learned anything from Morgan Spurlock, it’s how much things can change in just 30 days. The Super Size Me movie caused McDonald’s and other fast food restaurants to change their marketing as a result of the negative publicity Spurlock’s health crisis conveyed! As an entrepreneur and an enthusiast of pursuing your artistic dreams, I’ve decided to engage in a test to see just how much difference…
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An open letter to Stomp and Stammer’s Jeff Clark – The Ria Wars
By Ellen Eldridge More and more people are wondering what members of the media think about expressing their personal opinions in print—and, well, anything they want from the mildly offensive to the outrageously inflammatory. Facebook posts arguing the right to post whatever the author wants and as often as the author wants exist in surplus in my newsfeed—and I keep scrolling because I agree. To each his own and I’d rather just stay out of it. I’ve been quite content to keep the bulk of my political and religious feelings to my close friends and family—the writer and journalist I want to be centers on building people…
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The problem with perfectionism
I’m proud of people who claim to be perfectionists, and I know well I’m one of them. But the problem with perfectionism is procrastination–leave a comment if you think I’m wrong. These great ideas flood my brain and my hands quickly type or write them onto lists. I have more blog calendars than I care to count. My perfectionism hinders my thoughts and confines them to Word documents and pieces of scrap paper because I just know that if I sit on the idea until I have the time (cue uncontrollable laughter), then I will create triumphant blogs and share thoughts that readers won’t be able to stop…
