Peter Fletcher

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This does not end here

March 18, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

The word Grit on a concrete path

Giving up is not an option. Image: Daniel O’Neil http://www.flickr.com/photos/juggernautco/8313368411/

Is this the night my blogging challenge comes to an end? Is this the moment when the words dry up and I say it’s all too hard? 

No, because I’m writing.

And what counts is that I’m writing something, anything. What counts is the number of times I hit the publish button. What counts is that I don’t give up.

Would I like to be writing a gripping story or a witty opinion piece? Sure. But that wasn’t the challenge.

The challenge was to publish a blog post every day.

I’ve done that.

And I’ll do it tomorrow and the next day and the day after that. I’ll do it every day until the last day of this year.

Then I’ll look back and say a quiet well done. I’ll look back on virtue developed through personal discipline. I’ll look back to look forward once again.

For this challenge is helping me to be both a better writer and a better thinker. I’m sharper and more focussed. My words have become the steel honing the knife of my mind.

No, this challenge is far from over. It’s only just begun. 

If you can’t write clearly, you probably don’t think nearly as well as you think you do. —Kurt Vonnegut

Filed Under: Personal Tagged With: blog challenge, Blogging, daily blog, dailypost, peterfletcher, writing

Some tough love that’s stoked the fire inside me

February 24, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

A fire in a dumpster

Sometimes feedback can seem harsh but it  turns out to be what’s needed to stir up the fire within. Image: Ben Watts http://www.flickr.com/photos/benwatts/4087289013/

If you’ve read this blog at all this year you’ll know that I’ve set myself a challenge to write a blog post every day for 2014. It’s the end of February and I’m already tired from the effort. Instead of curling up on the couch with a good book, I tap away at this keyboard forcing out words that feel as dry as the Gibson Desert.

But I’m nothing if not an optimist.

So I get to thinking, if I’m going to write something every day, why not write a book!?

In round terms I’m writing 500 words each day so by the end of the year I’ll have written over 180,ooo words. That’s enough words for a couple of books and have a third in the pipeline.

But I kind of get the impression that my writing really isn’t up to scratch to get published.

I’m especially aware that my posts have no theme. One day I’ll write about goal setting, the next about dealing with negative people, and then I’ll write something introspective…like this post.

I decide I need some help so I decide to employ a writing coach.

I make a call and explain my idea. He says that he usually assesses manuscripts and helps writers make their work better. Helping someone write a daily blog post isn’t really his thing.

But, he says, he’ll give it a go. I give him the address and wait about a week.

An email arrives. It goes as follows.

From reading some of your blogs it’s obvious that you are both adventurous and a very successful entrepreneur.

Nice, I like this guy…so far.

But at first glance, it is difficult to know what this blog is really about. What is its soul centre?

Yes, I know that. That’s why I called. I can’t work out what it’s about myself.

You like to share enthusiastically about yourself — your favourite music, books etc. And you write very well in the blog format (never a paragraph of more than three lines). But there’s very little depth to anything you share: why do you like something … what does it mean to you, what effect has it had on you?

Now we’re starting to get–well, not personal but–serious. He’s right though, I don’t let on about what stuff means to me. I don’t tell people what effect it has on me. He’s onto something here.

Frankly, there is nothing new or unique or truly insightful about anything I have read so far. There are no meaningful insights that an assiduous reader of blogs could not read somewhere else. This does not make for prime material for a book; not unless you take fifty thousand words of blog copy you have already written and construct it into an ebook for selling on Kindle/Amazon.

So what is your objective in publishing a book? To further which business? Real estate or business coaching or to tell your story? Do you have a good story to tell?

Bear in mind that, though your blog is interesting and eminently readable, the fundamental question in this business is… would people be prepared to pay to read this? That is the bottom line of all writing.

It’s nice to know that it’s “eminently readable” but the hard truth is that no-one would pay for it. Still, I’m not sure about his definition of the bottom line. My best writing was the book I wrote for Rita for our 20th wedding anniversary. The bottom line there was to shed tears of joy together as she ‘discovered’ it in a shop window. You couldn’t write me a cheque big enough to replace that moment.

That said, I take his point–if you’re going to write a book for commercial purposes then it better be good enough for the punters to want to fork out the dough.

So what, if anything, would you like me to do exactly? I cannot choose what you should write; only you can do that and that choice comes out of the heart far more than it comes out of the head.

And there’s the problem, right there. He can’t choose what I should write and neither can I. It’s as though I’ve got something inside me that wants to burst free but when I open my mouth there’s nothing. No sound, no words. Just blankness.

To get me through the blogging challenge I write that which catches my eye, something that makes me curious.

The best books are those about the writer’s journey: a story about yourself—your life, how you got to where you are now – the hard lessons you learned along the way.

So I respond via email.

“Identifying a theme is precisely why I’d like to work with you. I struggle with deciding what it is that I want to write until I’ve actually written it. In many ways the writing helps me clarify my views.

“A prime example is this post about the ethics of shark culling. It wasn’t until I’d written this post that I’d formed the view that it was a political stunt.
“My goal is to self-publish a book for two reasons: self-satisfaction and self-promotion. A book would give me a body of work I’m proud of and it would also give me the opportunity to promote myself as an author.”
It struck me as a reasonable proposition. If I’m a published author I’ll get more speaking gigs. Speaking gigs pay well. Happy days.
Then the response came back.

This time around I got into The Ethics of Shark Culling which was okay but pretty bland and much the same as other articles on the general topic of the preservation of species. From there I went to Tell Me: What do You Stand For? which didn’t really say anything fresh or new and then to Five Ordinary People who Inspire Me which was much better and had some bite and more of a unique point of view (POV).  That’s the area in my view you should be pursuing rather than (frankly ) Mickey Mouse philosophy.  Your background may be a fertile area for recounting stories which can develop the moralities to which you aspire. Most great lessons are imparted through story — called parables in the holy books. [Hyperlinks added]

Well, it’s nice to know at least one of the three were on the right track. Mickey Mouse philosophies? Ouch. I’m not sure what that term means exactly, but I think it means a philosophy that’s pretty close to worthless.

He continues.

Turning to your last paragraph. As you are a guy who clearly espouses ethical standards, I’ll tell you the truth. Your reasons for wanting to publish a book are pretty shallow. No writer is ever fully satisfied with what they have written: there are no ‘good’ writers – there are lots of bad ones while the rest of us are trying to get better. And as for self-promotion – that’s a ‘How To’ Manual.

And double ouch. Not only are my philosophies close to worthless, I’m now shallow. On the self-promotion thing, I suspect he’s right. And that’s what I was thinking of writing – a ‘How To’ Manual – something that someone could read and learn something from.

But, being proud of a book is something all together different, he claims.

In order to be proud of a book it has to be a good book and no writer ever produced a good book easily. A good book is analogous to raising a child of whom you are genuinely proud: you don’t do it over night; it takes a lot of effort and you suffer a lot in the process. And one book is not a ‘body of work’; an oeuvre is three or more.

OK, so I’ve never raised a kid so I don’t know how hard that is…but I get the idea. It’s hard work. Still, this guy isn’t finished.

The self-promotion angle is, frankly, the kind of thing that hustlers and corner-creepers indulge in. You have plenty of people like that in your business… and so do we. You write a book because you have something to say; something burning inside and you want as many people as possible to read it. That’s what drives you to rewrite it four or maybe five times.

And there it is – same problem, different words. And can I say it again. I don’t know what it is I want to write. Yep, I get the whole burning thing, I really do, but no amount of fire in my guts is going to make words come out. Maybe some black, acrid smoke, but no words.

If you are going to write a book, Peter, I would exhort you to do it for the right reason. If it’s good enough it will get past the gatekeepers in publishing (of which there are many) and be published by a publishing house. Then you can genuinely call yourself an author and be proud.

Yep, I’d love to be proud, I’d love to write a book but I’d also love to pass the first step–knowing what it is I want to say.

And if you’ve read this far, please don’t leave a comment about how nasty the guy was. If there’s a fire inside I’ve just had someone stoke the embers. Sure, he used a pitch fork to do it but it had the right effect.

Now, to bed.

Filed Under: Personal Tagged With: Blogging, goal setting, goals, writing

Why I write this blog

January 31, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

Michelle Foucault

Writing is a technology of the self. Image: thierry ehrmann http://www.flickr.com/photos/home_of_chaos/


I was asked today why I write this blog. It’s a good question.

Here are the best reasons I can give you right now.

  1. It gives me a place to reflect, like I’m doing now.
  2. It gives me an opportunity to show leadership. I tell clients “get things out of your head and onto the web.” This is me doing just that.
  3. Writers write. One day I’ll write a book. If I’m to be a good writer I need to write more. By going public on a commitment to write something every day I’m holding myself accountable for being a better writer.
  4. It gives me an opportunity to clarify my ideas. Knowing I’m writing to an audience makes me think things through in more detail.
  5. It forces me to stop thinking and just do. Having a deadline forces me to make my mind up and get something – anything – written. Even if it’s not great at least it’s something. Something is better than nothing. For someone who’s a perfectionist it can be a tough ask somedays.
  6. It forces me to be clear about my motivations. Like I’m doing here.
  7. It allows me to express my fears and imperfections. Not that I can’t do that privately but there’s something courageous about speaking my truth to an unknown audience.
  8. It builds my profile. The traffic on this blog has increased substantially since I started writing every day.
  9. It’s a “technology of the self,” as my favourite philosopher puts it, a way to structure and document the activity of looking after the soul.

Taking care of oneself became linked to constant writing activity. The self is something to write about, a theme or object (subject) of writing activity. This is not a modern trait born of the Reformation or of romanticism; it is one of the most ancient Western traditions.(Foucault, p.27)

  1. It’s a way for me to reflect on what I learn. Rather than simply reading something this blog makes me ask “so what?” Knowledge through action becomes clarity and wisdom.
  2. It’s a form of gymnasia, a way to test myself both physically and mentally. The discipline of blogging every day takes as much effort as exercising every day. The benefit of that discipline shows up in more mental strength and a greater endurance to cope with what life throws at me.
  3. It gives me a place to record what I’m learning. I did this throughout my uni studies and find it useful to go back through my old notes.

The conclusion? Don’t expect too much from this blog. It’s a work space, a place where you’ll catch a glimpse of what makes me tick, what’s caught my attention, and what I think is important right now.

These aren’t fully formed thoughts. Rather their notes, reflections and resources I find useful.

Footnotes

See how the numbering above is separated by a block quote. Well the trick to starting the numbering at a number other than 1 requires a tiny piece of code that you can read about here. Like I told you, this is a place to record what I’m learning.

Foucault, M. (1988). Technologies of the Self. In L. Martin, H. Gutman & P. Hutton (Eds.), Technologies of the self. Massachusetts: Massachusetts Press.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: Blogging, Michel Foucault, self-writing, technologies of the self

What do you do with your hard-earned thoughts?

January 5, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

Victoria Bitter ad
To paraphrase the old VB ads:
You can do it on a train, or even a plane.
You can use a phone while you’re on your own.
A hard-earned thought deserves a good quick blog.
As a matter of fact, I’m blogging now.

Maybe my poetry will never win a Griffin Award but that’s not the point.

The point?

The point is that publishing to the web is easier than ever before. You don’t need to be a tech head or have magical skills. Nor do you need to write War and Peace.

What’s helpful is to have an idea that’s worth sharing, a willingness to share it in it’s most raw form, and a passion for contributing something of value to your tribe.

Key stats about this post

  1. Time taken to complete: 11 minutes
  2. Completed on: iPhone 5
  3. Time spent thinking about beer: 9 minutes

Your thoughts?

Filed Under: Daily blog Tagged With: Blogging, mobile blogging, publishing

10 blog post ideas when you’re stuck for blog post ideas

January 3, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

It’s day 3 of a 365 day blogging challenge and it’s already getting hard. As I type this it’s 10pm. Our dinner guests have just left. Sadly, while we we were chatting and having a laugh together, I was acutely aware that I still had a blog post to write!

Being that we often do this on a Friday evening I’ve decided to make Friday’s a day to quickly share an infographic.

Infographics are great because they convey information in a way that’s easy and quick to digest.

I found this little beauty on Slideshare where you’ll find lots of wonderful slideshows and infographics on topics ranging from conversation to contraception.

This one is about blogging and it provides 10 ideas when you’re out of ideas. They’re ideas that can be recycled at a moment’s notice. For example, a product review is pretty straight forward. I’ll probably use that to write reviews about CRM (customer relationship management) software.

Anyhow, it’s getting late. Here’s the infographic.

10 blog post ideas when you are stuck for blog post ideas from BizzeBee

Filed Under: Daily blog, Marketing Tagged With: 365blogs, blog post ideas, Blogging, infograpics, slideshare

Blogging from an iPad

April 13, 2012 by Peter Fletcher

Our cute dog and cat
I’m writing this post on my iPad. Why? I want to check out the experience using that and the WordPress iPad application. So far so good.

Of course the keypad on the iPad is far from ideal. It makes typing a little slower and, for me a little less intuitive. It’s a but harder to get into any sort of writer’s rhythm. That said it’s not too bad.

To make life a little easier I’ve attached a Bluetooth keyboard. It’s much better to type on although mistakes must still be corrected using the touchscreen. It’s a fair compromise.

Saving the post as I go is quick and easy. There’s a save button at the top right corner of the screen that allows me to save a local copy on the iPad.

Adding an image isn’t quite so easy. For a start the can only be sourced from the a photo album on the iPad. That’s not so bad but there’s no way to edit the image. The only alignment option is left-align so centering isn’t possible. It’s hardly ideal. Another problem with inserting an image is to wait for it to upload. Tapping back into edit mode too early causes the image to be lost. Adding another one in proved too difficult so I abandoned the task. On top of that as I saved this section the app fell over for the second time. Footnote: after it fell over I had another go and succeeded, this time I inserted a large image. It will probably be too big for the page.

What’s not available on the iPad is access to any of the rich features of the WordPress dashboard. That includes access to creating post thumbnails – a feature of this WordPress theme – and customising the SEO options.

I usually add a Tweetmeme button on my posts by adding the Tweetmeme

Tweet

. If this works a green button will display to the right of this paragraph. If not then you’ll see the word tweetmeme inside two square brackets.

What the iPad/WordPress app combo is good for is taking notes at a conference. Saving locally is a big plus because it avoids problems with losing notes as a result of a lost internet connection. In that sense it’s similar to using Evernote, only Evernote has lots more options.

One glaring omission is I can’t insert a hyperlink using an editor. It has to be done manually and that involves knowing a little HTML and how to insert a hyperlink.

As with many fledgling applications it’s important to save early and often. As I typed that last paragraph I lost some work when a dialog box popped up asking if I needed help with inserting a link. My first attempt at using it failed, the second worked.

My next task is to publish this post and share it on Facebook and Twitter. If you hear screams from Perth’s southern suburbs you’ll know it didn’t go according to plan.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: Blogging, iPad, technology

Why Posterous isn’t the way to manage a corporate blog

April 19, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

Paper with "word" in the upper left corner

Tweet

I make no secret of my dislike of Posterous. It’s not that the Posterous system sucks. It doesn’t. In fact it’s a great way to take notes and keep thoughts in order. I use it on and off. But how it’s used it as a shortcut version of social media that sucks. As a corporate blog it sucks. As a way to curate content that represents a corporate brand it sucks. As a way to interact and create conversation, which is what social media is all about, copying and pasting stuff to Posterous sucks.

I’m not for it. Never have been, never will be. And I’m not on my own. Says James Dunaway:

DON’T republish other authors’ work. This will quickly get you labeled as splog (spam blog) or content farm. All your blog posts should be original work. It’s perfectly acceptable to respond to another blog post with your own, just make sure your site links back to the original post.

Note that James says responding. That’s what I’m doing here. Using what he said, then adding my perspective. It extends the conversation that James started and takes it in another direction. But it doesn’t simply grab a chunk of his work and copy it to my post.

Maybe I’m being idealistic. Perhaps I’m becoming plain ornery. But I’m backing my judgement on this. And I’m glad to have guys like James in my corner.

Photo: Maria Reyes-McDavis

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: Blogging, Posterous

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About Peter

Speaker, trainer and coach. I write about living, loving and working better. Love a challenge. More...

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