Just Juggle ( #AtoZChallenge )

Sometimes I just juggle, not for practice to become better, but to momentarily take my mind off something or just to see if I can still do it.   I can...




Just Juggle

       Just a few years ago or so I put some juggling balls in my living room.  They remain there tucked among stacks of CD's and DVD's on a media shelf.  I figured they were better stored there than out in a plastic tub in the garage along with some of my other juggling gear.  At least if they were close at hand I'd be more apt to juggle now and then.

        Every now and then I'll pick them up to toss them around.  Juggling can have a therapeutic value of sorts, helping with concentration and focus or just allowing for a rhythmic lull akin to the beating of my heart.  And I suppose juggling might be good for the heart since it is a form of exercise.

         Then once again comes the metaphor--juggling as life.  We're always juggling elements of life.  Work, friends, family, country, God... 

          So much going on with us as we can juggle in so many patterns and variations.  At times it might seem a wonder that we can keep so many things going when we look back on that metaphorical juggling act somewhere in our past.  Other times we might drop everything, left in a scramble to pick it all back up.

        Maybe having been a juggler in a theatrically professional sense might have some bearing on my ability to have dealt with a lot of balls flying in the air of my life.  I get less flustered by the unexpected things that come my way as I get older.  Or maybe it's all just a matter of age and experience.  Others I have known had a lot worse things happen in their lives than I have and managed to get back on their feet.  Others didn't.

         It might just be that all of those who make it are all pretty good at metaphorical juggling.  And maybe a good many of those survivors happen to be able to actually juggle three balls.  For those of us who can, I say, "Just juggle". 

         What have we got to lose if we don't?   Maybe everything.


         Do you find yourself in an overwhelming juggling act in your life?  Can you actually juggle multiple objects?   What activity do you like to do when you need to calm yourself or get focused?

What To Do When You Can't Focus

A photograph of a Massachusetts Bible Society colporteur from the MBS archives. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What To Do When You Can't Focus

       The answer is simple.  What do you do when you can't focus?   You ramble.   Of course--why not?  Sometimes you just want to sit back and flip through the channels and not watch anything in particular.  Not me, but you.  Okay--me too.  I'll admit it.   There are just those times when I can't seem to focus and my mind is everywhere but in the here and now.

In a Hurry

       On my desk I have a Random House dictionary and a Bible in a small stack of books.   Both of these books are similar in color and size.  One recent Sunday morning I was heading off to church and--you guessed it--I grabbed the dictionary instead of the Bible.   During church I wasn't able to keep up with the Bible references in the pastor's sermon, but I did learn five new vocabulary words.

Planning Ahead

         I was thinking about preparing all of my blog posts including A to Z posts for the next 5 years.  Oh, great!  Now I'll never get any writing done.  If I kept doing this though and scheduled everything far in advance, I could die and no one would even notice I was gone.   Of course I wouldn't be commenting or responding to comments, but maybe everyone would just assume I had become senile and rude.  I guess it would look kind of suspicious though.   Would you keep reading and commenting?

Bridges

       The Covered Bridge in Philippi, West Virginia was built in 1852.  I used to drive through it now and then when I would travel that part of the country.   I'm not sure why I suddenly thought of this, but isn't it strange how random thoughts will enter your head, seemingly from out of the blue.  Maybe some of those thoughts are like bridges spanning from one thought to another and those weird little thoughts don't mean much of anything unless you start dwelling on them.  I guess if you end up writing about those random thoughts it's kind of the same as dwelling upon them for a brief period.   And since I brought the subject of the bridge up I guess that deserves a picture.

The Philippi Covered Bridge (1852) spans the Tygart Valley River at Philippi, West Virginia, USA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What's in the News?

One of my recent blog posts was featured at NewsOK, the digital edition of the Oklahoman newspaper in Oklahoma City.  My thanks to Darla Lindauer for the recognition.

Have A Nice Day!

        Isn't it kind of weird when someone says to have a nice day on a blog?   What if you're reading this at night?  What if things have really been going bad for you and then you read some weird blog post?   Then the blogger says, "Have a nice day!"  Maybe you just want to reach into cyberspace and wipe that "Have a nice day!" smiley face grin off my face.  Oh yeah!   Well maybe I'm not smiling and I'm all grumpy and stuff.  Or maybe I'm just typing obliviously away and thinking of bridges in West Virginia and other such strange nonsense.

        Maybe I'll just stop here.

         What do you do when you can't keep your mind focused?   How many Bibles do you have in your house?  How many dictionaries?   What's your favorite bridge?   Have you ever crossed the Philippi Covered Bridge?   If not I guess you'll cross that bridge when you come to it.

Related articles

• The Bible is to be Understood
• Observations of Perceptions:
• Back home in Indiana
• Covered Bridges of Kentucky Part I

Focus

Marketing Viral (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     

           One of the biggest marketing mistakes is lack of focus.  If you don't know exactly where you're going and how you're going to get there you can waste a lot of time and resources getting lost along the way and perhaps not reaching your destination at all.

         First you have to decide exactly what it is you want to market.  Is it your book, a product, a service, a belief?    What is the exact thing or component you want to sell?   What is the ultimate goal beyond that specific thing?

        If you're an author, your current book may be foremost on your mind as it well should be.  But is that book the most important thing you want to consider?  If it's the only book you ever plan to write that may be the case, but if not you might want to think about the next book and the ones after that.  The current book is the frosting on the cake and you the author are the cake.  You are the real substance of what you should be marketing.  Establish your brand so you become more recognized than your book so that when subsequent books come along the reading public will come to attention because it's your book

        After your product and the core of your campaign is established begin to focus on who your target audience is.   If you start an advertising campaign where you just start spending money randomly without any clear thought process involved, you may be wasting a lot of money trying to reach people who don't care.  In other words if you are trying to market an extraordinary new automobile accessory you may fall flat if you buy a booth at a bead show.

        An example close to home for me is the A to Z Challenge.  When I came up with the idea in 2010 I had a week to get people interested.  I started posting my idea on my own blog every day in order to reach the few readers that I had at that time.  I then began to leave comments on other blogs with a note to lure them to my blog posts.  Within the week I had 100 bloggers signed up to join me.  That was the key:  I had an idea that seemed like a pretty good one and I focused on reaching out to the bloggers who I thought might be interested.   In the third year of the Challenge, with the help of a dedicated team of bloggers committed to this Challenge and many other bloggers interested in being a part of something big, we've turned the April A to Z into an established event.   My focus combined with the added focus of others resulted in success.

        Dreams are where successes start, but focus is the fodder that fuels the flame.


A bunch of F words in one blog title:

For my F tribute I'm breaking my own rules for a blogger who's always breaking the rules--and besides they're my rules so I can break them if I want to.   Stephen T McCarthy's blog may be political, politically incorrect, and always well-written, but Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends is always focused.  I attribute my beginnings in blogging to Stephen T. McCarthy.  He may not have entered his blog in the A to Z Challenge in 2012, but he is here in spirit and often in comments.  Thanks for your continued inspiration and support my Friend.

I'll also recognize Munir who faithfully has been visiting my blogs and leaving comments for quite some time.  Her blog is aptly called Focus.

Related articles

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• Become An Entrepreneur And Make Money Blogging (blogpronews.wordpress.com)
• Promoting Your Services on Your Blog (foodstaycation.com)
• How to Become the Most Productive Blogger on the Block (lifehack.org)
• Why Your Marketing Isnt Working - Selfish Marketing [Fraser Hay] (ecademy.com)
• How To Build Your Brand And Sell More Books (personalbrandingblog.com)
• Why Your Book Isn't Selling (amarketingexpert.com)