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Author, Carole Ste-Laurent, Contemporary Romance, Epiphanies, Glob, Gloria Richard, Humor, M&M, Maggie, Seth's Blog, Sherry Isaac, Writer, Writes
GLOBOPHOBIC RELIEF POST
by Gloria Richard
My Glob. I think B-L-O-G. My fingers type G-L-O-B.
Until I become glob savvy, until I create a glob identity, until I write a glob article without mind-numbing angst, I choose to let the word stand as typed. I believe it’s a subliminal message from the Cosmos.
A Get-Your-Act-Together message.
But, how?
How do I cross to the Enlightened Side–the side occupied by fellow bloggers who whip out an article (or two or three) each week with apparent ease?
EPIPHANY NUMBER ONE
Sherry Isaac, my CP, writing buddy, friend, author of STORYTELLER, and fellow MAGGIE finalist (shameless PIMP alert!) forwarded an article—Seth’s Blog: Talkers Block. I had an epiphany when I read his short pep-talk to the nail-biting muse within.
I do not suffer from Talker’s Block. I often speak without benefit of a fully engaged brain. Sadly, I have no delete key when unguarded nonsense spews from my mouth.
The highly technical term for this phenomenon is Brain Fart.
My b-l-o-g is my voice in cyberspace. It is not War and Peace. It is not a thesis. It is not a stage for a Miss Cyber-verse competition.
I will settle for Miss Congeniality and (of course) World Peace.
EPIPHANY NUMBER TWO
If I write it, they may visit. If they visit, they may like it. If they like it, they may follow.
Today I choose to write it.
“Write what?” I ask myself.
“Anything. Write about anything that pops into your head. Just stick your toe in the free-writing water and give it a swish.”
EPIPHANY NUMBER THREE
I have no big toenails.
Okay, this is not an epiphany to me. It’s a topic. Go with me here.
A quick reread to this point left two phrases dancing the hokey-pokey in my brain. “Stick your toe into free-writing water” and “brain fart.”
The topic invented itself. PLUS, I have widgets of wisdom to share. Consider it a public service announcement.
Do not accept a podiatrist’s final appointment on the final workday of the year. If you take that appointment, and arrive to find office staff sipping champagne from plastic stemware, go home, soak your toes and add “fix toes” to your New Year Resolutions.
If you choose to stay with the podiatrist, accept the valium drip, plastic glass
of champagne and local anesthesia. You can better justify your “Hmmm? I
suppose,” acceptance of the tipsy podiatrist’s advice to remove your big toe nails (and kill the root), so you will never again suffer from ingrown toenails.
There I’ve done it. I’ve written about nothing and something in less than an hour.
Bonus! My topic has an HEA. I recently discovered a salon experienced at constructing fake toenails. I now get ten cute tootsies with my pedicures. For the record, they will not prorate pedicures based on the number of nails painted.
I know. I’ve asked.
EPIPHANIES FOUR through SIX
Do not name your new toenails. It makes saying goodbye painful. Fred and I found Ginger floating polish down in my bath water. Fred rarely breaks into spontaneous dance. When he does, I look like a horse pawing the ground with one hoof. Worse. I snort.
Take or find a topic-specific picture. Make something up. Put yourself out there. Leave no fear untouched.
Edit and post the dang article before you find your mind.
Dear Gloria. I will look forward to reading all your globs and epiphanies as they are far more interesting than a continual onslaught of thesis paper blog posts I sometimes read (or write). When I was little, Carol Burnett was my comedian. I think I just divulged my age there. Anyway, today my favorite people are the ones who can make me laugh. I am very happy to add you to this list. Glob on!
Brinda! I was just about to email you. Your series (see the previous post, gang) shot the stats way up there. You ARE great. I read ahead (as I said) and saw you planned to recommend regular themed posts. Since this site may one day become my web, I plan to name my GL..BLOB…GLOB…BLOG (<====I let this stand as typed, seriously) BETWEEN THE SHEETS of paper. So, I decided to use that as the "theme" for my FRIDAY posts.
Brinda Berry will be back next Wednesday for round two in her PIMP MY WEB PRESENCE series. Check out S'MORE for a link to her site. TONS of good info and fun posts. Brinda, I'll email you off loop to find out how to order signed copies of your book for Christmas presents (and for me). A child lives within.
While I have you here, Brinda, how did that ECOPRESSED advert sneak onto the site?
Also, WOO HOO! The auto-feed to FB and TWITTER worked. Happy dance emoticon needed.
Gloria, and Brinda,
The Cosmos is indeed at work. Gloria and I introduced Carole St-Laurent to Carol Burnett last week with the comedy sketch to end all comedy sketches, Went With the Wind. (We’d visited Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta days before, with Sharon Clare). At the airport awaiting my flight home, what did I find? A Reunion magazine issue. Inside, a chat with cast members Carol Burnett, Vicki Lawrence and Tim Conway.
And now, Carol Burnett fan confessions.
Gloria was antsy the dress she picked for the Moonlight & Magnolias Gala. Lo and behold, after an afternoon of window shopping, she found the perfect frock.
No, there was no curtain rod.
This is getting weird. Have all the stars been aligning as well? I think that I was meant to meet Gloria. 🙂
LOVE it when a plan comes together. Yes. Just like the stars aligned when I met Sherry through a Margie Lawson on-line course (Defeating Self Defeating BehavioUrs). We weren’t class “partners”, but recognized a mutual sense of humor. Stayed in touch after and were best friends before we met in person at a Margie Lawson IMC. And, now we met you.
The Cosmos indeed has aligned some stars here… When Gloria read her glob the first time, both Sherry and I burst out laughing. Tears and tears of laughter. ‘Cause it’s one thing to read Gloria’s epiphanies, it’s another to HEAR them.
And yes, I confess I had never seen Carol Burnett in action. I’d heard her name though, does that count? Thanks to YT, I saw the elephant, and heard Went with the Wind.
Sherry, Gloria, Sharon, we have to keep taking pictures so we can reminisce next year at our Moonlight & Magnolia Reunion…
Glo – this is great! Two words of caution – 1) don’t fix your self to glob deadlines – you are hilarious all the time, but only should share when you feel like it. Otherwise it will be drudgery. 2) Always enjoy the moment – you deserve it!
Hey, Bill. Thanks for subscribing. I know I’m far from a rocket scientist, but I counted 34 words of caution. Don’t let it get to you. I know you record golf scores for yourself all the time. SO! What is your handicap again?
Oooh! MUST promo Back9Network, b/c it’s a creative concept for company incentives and golf fanatics. STILL haggling with my FB page to get you up there. I’m FB impaired. That’s why I have Brinda helping me with her series. Until I unlock the secret, I’ll add the link to faves under my S’MORES tab.
For the record, my fave Tim Conway/Carole Burnett sketch (which we also introduced Carole to) came from Mama’s House — when he did the ad lib bit about the siamese twin elephants. Kashnort!
From globbing to Carole Burnett, love the topic hop. I still have those globby days on my blog. Days when I think, why did I ever start this? But it gets easier every time you hokey pokey into the water. Kudos Gloria for dancing on in!
Thanks, Jessica! I needed to get past blogger’s block. I spent far too much time crafting my blogs. I got perilously close to having to choose: write a blog, or write a book.
One blog article per week on whatever topic strikes my mood? Easy-peasy now. After putting my TOES on the net, there’s not much to fear. And, if I don’t come up with a good topic, I’ll sling a quote out there and see if anyone wants to bat it around.
I give a whole new dimension to brain F%$t … day I say the word? I am a compulsive over-talker and loved your ephiphanies. Keep up the good work and the blog of it all will come to you 🙂
Woo-hoo! So glad you visited, fOIS in the City. Have I subscribed to your blog? If not, color me…hmmm…red and purple. Yup. Red for not remembering and purple for giving myself a virtual knock on the noggin. Ouch?
Woo-hoo! A fellow over-talker. True story on my toes. When I discovered The Salon, I walked back to SBUX for my next writing session. But, I didn’t go quietly. I stopped at the counter to tell the baristas ALL about the great discovery. Which, of course, led to questions about the missing toenails. Which, of course, led to my retelling of the history behind my nail-free toes. When I turned to rejoin my laptop (Huey), a man sat at a table nearby–staring. “Why do I suspect that was TMI for you?” I asked.
He just shook his head. So. That’s how “talkers block” and “brain f*&t” came together for my glob. See? I did it again. B-L-O-G.
Very cool delivery to my email! Wahoo! Great topic. You are scaling the socil media mountain with ease my friend.S
Hey, Susannah! Thanks for stopping by. I didn’t post my ROW80 updates yesterday. I got too busy trying to reach said goals. Next post will be Wednesday with the Brinda Berry series. I have no clue what I’ll write about in BETWEEN THE SHEETS of paper on Friday. I’m letting that problem toodle about unfettered in my subconscious.
Gloria, you should be a writer! Now I know why you write funny books. By the way, your toe nails looked fantastic at the conference. No one would ever know. We all have something about ourselves we’d like to hide, or some things. Since I want to hide mine, I won’t mention them here!
Wow! I SHOULD be a writer, shouldn’t I? And, bwahaha on your secrets. You’ll reveal them to me when you least expect it. Will I write about them? Depends on how desperate I am for a topic. You have been warned.
I’ll cover your true identity, tho–Bertha Higgenbotham.
I love how there is a band-aid on one of your toes!
We seem to be kindred spirits on this one. I also have never been left speechless and yet when I started out, each of my posts was like writing a term paper!
This is a new calling for me and since I was a newbie to the whole writing thing, I started out reeeeeeally slow. I used to make tons of spelling errors and I went to Catholic school! I still am not a fast writer. Typist? Super fast. Thank God I never run out of ideas!
Great post!
Susie! You popped in to visit! I’m honored.
The reason there’s a band-aid on one of my toes is because Ginger (the fake toenail on that foot) fell off in the bath water. Poor Fred followed about a month later.
At least Fred and Ginger made it through the Georgia M&M Conference together.
You are the BEST for hosting this hop. LOVE IT!
I’m most definitely a globber, Gloria, of epic proportions! I have yet to write a post about fake toenails though, but I’ll take inspiration from anywhere! 😀 I agree with the write about anything part!
Tom, so nice to meet a fellow globber! The world needs more of us. Thanks so much for the follow on my GLOB. I will be over to visit you.
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