A while back, I asked the question, “What is Your Dream?” I talked a little bit about my dream in that post, and asked my readers to do the same. I have to say, I’m amazed at the response. Everyone who commented has something they want to accomplish as a writer. Here is just a sample of the comments:
Tom Vanderwell: ” I’d like to enjoy what I do and provide a good living for my family at the same time.”
Brett Legree: “I want to write a book about my wife and children. And I’m doing it, right now - so I guess I’m living my dream.”
Kameron: “My dream is to be a full-time novelist. I’ve gotten sidetracked with other projects and interests over the last two years, but I’m refocusing on that original dream once more.”
Pamela Weir: “My dream is to add value and change one person’s thinking.”
James Chartrand: “I have a dream that me and my family will always be happy and be able to continue to pursue their dreams.”
Every comment on that post has something inspiring and interesting in it. I’ve gone back to those comments many times as a source of motivation, and I’m sure I’ll do so again. What does all of this have to do with Meme week here at The Writing Journey? I want to start my own meme: The Dream Meme.
The rules are simple:
Write a short paragraph describing your dream. What is it that you want to accomplish? Your dream doesn’t have to be related to your blog, though it can be. It can be anything - what you dream for your family, your career or anything else you want out of life.
Identify three tangible goals you can accomplish in the next year that will bring you closer to fulfilling that goal.
Describe one action - just one - that you will take, today, to work toward your goals.
Feel free to post a link in the comments back to your post.
Tag specific folks or all of your readers - however you prefer.
To start it off, here’s mine:
My Dream
I want to make enough from my writing to support my girls through college, pay for their weddings and provide for my retirement. I want to do this managing my own business and writing what I want to write, rather than working for others. As part of this dream, I want to help other writers get where they want to be, as well. I want to do all of this while maintaining high writing and business ethics standards.
My Goals
In the next year, I will:
Increase my overall income by 20%
Set aside $1,500 for each of my girl’s future
Open my writer mentoring program
Today
Today, I’m going to spend one hour after I’m done with my paying work to outline a plan for my mentoring program.
As part of Meme Week, I want to give you a link post via the Once Upon A Bloggy Night meme. Here are the rules of this one:
Make a list of blogs you read. You can use either the name of the blog, the domain name (which is sometimes different), or a mix of both.
Arrange the words into a simple story. Pad as needed to create a real tale. (The story doesn’t need to have anything to do with the topics or theme of the blogs you’re linking to, fyi.)
Use one of my “Once Upon a Bloggy Night” logos — the large one here or the small one here — whenever you post the story on your blog. (Please host the logo on your own server or your Photobucket/Flickr account — thanks! Email me using my contact form if you need help figuring out the details. I’m glad to help.)
Include a link back to this post, if you don’t mind.
Visit the site that inspired me, the Ettarose-edgeofsanity blog and let that author know you enjoyed this idea. Leave a comment on a Tuesday link love story there!
Then please leave a comment on this post so we’ll have a central place where a list of all of your wonderful stories can be found.
Help spread the word by emailing each of the bloggers whose sites you mention in your story, inviting them to join the fun.
This one was hard for me. I have more than 400 blogs in my feeds. No, I don’t read them all daily. However, I do try to read the lion’s share at least once a week. If you’re not here, it doesn’t mean I don’t read you regularly, OK? K. So, here goes:
Well, it finally happened. My brother traded his sword for a pen, bought a ‘37 Rhodester, got a job Getting Paid to Write Online, and moved away. It surprised me, because I didn’t know my brother didn’t know How Not to Write. Well, needless to say, it was hard for me to move Forward. It just wasn’t the same, playing RPGs with my sister. I became something of a spiritual tramp, and didn’t have the PoeWar to move on.
One day, I finally called my brother on the phone. “Brother,” I said, “is there any way you can Write From Home?”
“Bob,” he said, “No. you’re just going to have to get along without me.
I was devastated. Losing all hope of ever roleplaying again. So, I joined a monastery and became a Friar.
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I talked last week about creating a useful link post, and about how doing so can add value to the conversation in a niche. Is this a useful link post? I don’t know. It was fun to write, I do know that. Sometimes, you just have to write a post for the sheer enjoyment, I think.
I’ll end the Meme Theme next time with a meme of my own making. C’mon back and see what I’ve cooked up!
I’m postponing Meme week by a day, which means Thursday’s Meme will post on Friday, and Friday’s will post on Saturday. You won’t want to miss Saturday’s, it’s a good one for sure.
Why the interruption, you ask? Well, my new friend Daniel Smith, he of Smithereens blog, is having a contest called Can You Put the Wit in Twitter?
Go take a look at it. He’s even bamboozled me into offering up a prize.
It’s been nearly a month coming, so I hope my friend Sandie Law at Geeked Off will forgive me. At least it didn’t take me as long for this one as it did for Amy’s from yesterday!
OK, so here are the rules for this one:
Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’ve been tagged, and to read your blog.
Honestly, I’m hesitant to do this one. After all, I gave you 32 things yesterday, and you can also find another 7 “interesting things about me” linked from my About page. That’s way too many things. I considered a couple of cheesy options, including:
Randomly picking 8 from the 39 existing things, making them truly 8 random things.
I really didn’t want to cop out entirely, though. After all, Matt did 16 random things just to show us all up. I also thought about making it 8 relevant things, but it’s been done. I can’t even talk about my sister doing yoga, since I’m an only child.
So, what to do? Overload you with things? Not do the meme?
I think I found a solution. I’ve given you 8 random links in this post to enjoy.
———-
Here’s where I’m going to break meme form. I’m of a mind that the best memes will reproduce themselves. I hate putting pressure on anyone to do a meme, and I fear the rejection of a meme being denied. Grab this one if you want, just let me know so I can follow along.
Or, If you’d prefer not to do the entire meme, you can tell me 1 random thing about you in the comments below!
I told you yesterday that I’d give you my answer to the meme question. As you can tell from the title, I do indeed meme.
The consensus in the comments was that selective meme-ing is the best approach. I suppose I agree with that. In general, you want to add value to the conversation. Some memes add value, some don’t.
I prefer the first type, but sometimes do the second type, too.
It took me some time to come to this decision. I was worried, for a while, that doing these fun-but-silly activities would cost me readers or, even worse, cost me business. I’ve come to terms with those concerns, however.
As far as the professionalism question goes, it occurred to me: my blog is plenty personal, intentionally so. It’s part of the brand. Doing memes isn’t going to hurt my business. In fact, it shows instead that I’m part of a blogging community, and that I actively participate in the medium.
Now, some memes are silly, and add little value. Today’s is probably in that category. Tomorrow’s is, too. Hang in there, though. Thursday and Friday should be fun, and a great way to finish the week for us all.
So, without any further delay, I offer my first meme of the week. This one comes from Amy at Earnest Parenting. Amy is a good friend, who actually introduced Angie Pangie and I to the work of one of my blogging mentors, Yaro Starak. She tagged me way back in April, so I thought I’d start with her meme.
Here are the rules:
Link to the person that tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Share 4 things in these themes.
Tag 4 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
So, here we go, my lists of 4s:
4 jobs I have had
Dishwasher. My first job.
Bartender at Chi-Chi’s. Really, I mostly just operated a blender.
Telemarketer (I’m so sorry. It only lasted a week.)
Order taker for a designer clothing company.
4 movies I can watch over and over
Lord of the Rings (Considering all 3 movies as a unified whole here.)
Empire Strikes Back - Best of the series.
Casablanca. I’m a hopeless romantic and want to be Bogart.
Iron Man. By far the best comic book movie ever, bar none.
4 places I have lived
Davison, Michigan. Born and lived there until age 7.
Linwood, Michigan. Grew up there, came back after I was married. Still live there.
Marion, Indiana. College. Loved it. The perfect Midwestern town.
Indianapolis, Indiana. My favorite home. Not too big, not too small.
4 TV shows I love
Battlestar Galactica. *I* am one of the final five.
Reaper. Best new show this past season.
The Office. That’s what she said.
American Idol. A guilty pleasure. David Cook rocks.
4 places I have been on vacation
Florida. Twice in college, once with the family.
Paradise, Michigan. Great camping in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Atlantic City, New Jersey. My last great bachelor trip. I may have drank a lot. I don’t remember.
Chicago. My 2nd favorite Midwestern city.
4 of my favorite dishes
Tater Tot Casserole. It’s like Shepard’s pie. Sorta.
Player vs. Player. Scott Kurtz and his funny-ness. Beware the pandas.
4 places I would rather be now
Gen Con. Only 2 1/2 months!
Camping. This is going to be a busy summer, don’t think we’re going to get to do much.
England. My dream vacation.
On a beach. I’m not especially particular. Any one will do.
4 bloggers I am tagging
Here’s where I’m going to break meme form. I’m of a mind that the best memes will reproduce themselves. I hate putting pressure on anyone to do a meme, and I fear the rejection of a meme being denied. Grab this one if you want, just let me know so I can follow along!
Or, If you’d prefer not to do the entire meme, you can pick one or more of the “4 Things” topics above and put them in the comments.
