#they’re about to invent new ways of divorce you’ve never even heard before

[siderains]

yay who is ready for a new round of cherik fighting nasty for what they believe while simultaneously yearning in a bit of grief for each other in the most brutal deadly scenarios ever??? :)

[bearpillowmonster]

Top 15 Animated TV Series!

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In a similar fashion to my top 15 movies and games, I came up with a list of animated series. With that 3D or 2D is acceptable and anime doesn’t count because it’s its own type of thing and isn’t the same as cartoons (and potential for another list) Again, no particular order, let’s do this!

House of Mouse: I said no particular order but this is number 1, no lie, it does everything it needs to. You have a crossover event of all the Disney characters at the time in a club. It’s a cartoon character about cartoon characters trying to handle the establishment and watch cartoons...it breaks every wall, it’s something I almost wish was updated just so we could see a new generation of cartoon characters together.

Rugrats: What can I say? What can’t I say? This as well as All Grown Up and the movies it started just click, something about the characters and breaking it down to a child’s perspective is soothing to me. 

Avatar: the Last Airbender: A lot of these I’ll admit, I have nostalgia for, but at the same time, a lot of these I didn’t watch until I was older, this is one of them. I knew this existed and watched a few episodes, I liked the concept but never truly got into it (partially because of the live action movie) I thought they were just running out of ideas when they gave Aang hair...then I watched Korra. That’s right, I watched Korra before this too and I liked it, naturally I came back to it after everyone said this was so superior, I was like “Yeah alright sure.” I saw the whole thing and I must say...it’s considered a masterpiece, I realized just how superior it is pretty quickly and I started feeling so sad that the live action movie was like it was but you’ve heard people complain about it to the end and back so you don’t need to hear it from me, nor do you need to hear that I like it, I know that you already know that it’s good.

Infinity Train: I was around when they launched the pilot and it got popular, I liked it and was down for more but everybody acted like it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, I wouldn’t go that far...Then it came out and it was, but don’t say “Oh I knew it was going to be that good.” You COULD NOT tell from that pilot alone just how good it was going to be, that was just a taste to get you interested. I like the darker tone and themes it’s not afraid to shy away from such as divorce and loss, I can personally really connect to that.

Recess: I usually take a break after a season of something because I’m afraid I’ll get tired of it and leave it for a year but during all 4 seasons of this, not once did I get tired of it. I liked how the episodes were more compact to fit into a shorter episode. This is another one I didn’t like until I got older, it just grew on me and hit that 12 year old spot (which I’ll get to in a little bit and I was actually in late high school by the time I watched this so...) I mean it’s called recess for crying out loud!

Tron Uprising: It just isn’t a list without Tron on it, is it? It’s only natural that Uprising would be here. I can’t say that I was hooked after just the first or second episode but that’s because it builds you up, each episode gives you more interest than the last and ends on a bit of a climax that left Tron fans in a despair that season 2 was canned. However I can say that even though we all wanted to see Tron turn into Rinzler, what we got was about as good, something we didn’t even know we needed. #TronLives #FlynnLives

The Replacements: One of the wild cards of this list. I remember being fascinated by the idea, just replacing people, but each episode had a valuable lesson that maybe these people don’t need replaced and some problems are sometimes best solved on your own.

Miraculous Ladybug: If you’re a fan then you know, if you’re not then let me explain. I was dating someone at the time and they said they got deep into Miraculous Ladybug, I was like “Are you joking?” and of course they weren’t. I thought it was just Chat Noir as a boy toy and average girl power nonsense that I’m not interested in. She said to just watch it. I did. Oh boy I did. I’m probably more of a fan than that girl ever was now, I wait patiently for the next episode, seeing leaks drives me nuts, I start screaming and cringing and jumping up and down during an episode. I can’t say I’ve had another series get more of a reaction out of me than this because I want to see Adrien and Marinette get together so bad and the way they tease just makes me feel like Swiper “Aww man” but at the end of the day you still get a good action cartoon with good characters that make you feel attached. Look at the chemistry they have, Marinette (Ladybug) likes Adrien but just sees Chat as a friend, Adrien (Chat) likes Ladybug but just sees Marinette as a friend. They don’t know each other’s identities and have to learn to like the other half of that person, it’s genius. All my previous thoughts before watching it were wrong, just because they’re in skin tight suits, doesn’t make it some souped up kink of a fan service. Just give it a try, I don’t care what it looks like, it’s what’s on the inside that matters.

Big Hero 6: The Series: It was either this or Lilo and Stitch: The Series, I have a soft spot for Baymax so I chose this. I’m almost done with season 2 and it’s solid, I would argue that this should be content included in the sequel, the canon as a whole, this is something that carries on the story in an interesting way, if only it was given a little more love and attention but hey sometimes underdogs are the best.

Dexter’s Lab: I wanted to pick one of my late night shows, the stuff that came on around 8-9 as a kid, this was one that I liked. I always kind of had an inventive side to things and this was that come to fruition. 

Spectacular Spider-Man: This is one of the best art styles I’ve seen, done by Sean Galloway, it has a pleasurable atmosphere and design to these characters that we already love. This takes stuff and plays around with it, they dabble in a little bit of everything in a measly 2 seasons and somehow make it some of the best in Spider-Man history.

Sofia the First: Another wild card that I knew people would question. A Disney Junior show though? As much as it pains me to say it, yes...a Disney Junior show. Sofia is just a girl in a village doing alright then she becomes a princess overnight, now she has to figure out how to do it right, so much to learn and see. It’s all right there in the opening theme, it has the crossover element of some of the famous Disney princesses while building on Sofia (Ariel Winter) it’s interesting to see her adjust to her new life and these new people, and yes it’s past my generation but my sister watched it and now I can’t get it out of my head. The music is actually really good as well as some of the fantasy elements, I can’t help but compare stuff to it. It may say Disney Junior on the cover but dee down it’s just another show, similar to the Dragon Prince actually, except not as keen on squashing creatures, they skip that part which in my opinion makes it superior (yeah I said it).

Regular Show: I said earlier about the 12 year old spot, well this is it. It’s very much something that 12 year old me would like, it’s got weird jokes, cool characters, awkward romance, what’s not to love? Me and my friends would reminisce about the episodes (especially that coffee one) then when my parents would walk in they would be like “What even?” especially with Muscle Man, a whole character based on ‘my mom’ jokes instead of ‘your mom’. It’s just enough weird without going into adult swim territory.

Ben 10: Alien Force: Yep, ACTION. CARTOON. It was either this or the original but when I got into the first series whenever ‘Race Against Time’ came out, I still missed quite a bit so I had to catch up. I was there for the whole thing whenever Alien Force came out and I would consider it just as good, Ultimate Alien was still good (maybe not as high) but I came to that late to the party because Alien Force seemed like it was on hiatus so I kind of forgot about it and then Ultimate Alien comes out and I thought it was just a new Alien Force I missed, turns out I watched all of Alien Force and it was technically a new series. It also introduces a majority of my favorite aliens, Spidermonkey, Echo-Echo, Rath...

Phineas and Ferb: What? You think I wasn’t cultured? I was there when this came out in 3rd or 4th grade and people were getting those Subway toys, we were all like “104 days of summer vacation so 104 episodes?” Nope! We were all bamboozled, this was one for the generation because of the amount it introduced and by the sheer worth that it went on past that original 104 and was still good. It’s iconic, it’s crazy, it’s inventive, it’s...Ferb. Then they came out with Across the 2nd Dimension and had Slash!?! Like it’s a phenomenon at that point.

I’ll give an honorable mention to Sponegbob for being Spongebob...thank you.

[sanjaysethi1]

How Numerology can help you find the perfect job for you

Your Life Path number can tell you which career will make you happiest.

Did you know that the secret to a perfect career lies in one single number? We won’t blame you for taking this with a grain of salt (or consider it wacks doodle baloney with a side of crazy sauce) but many people truly believe that the study of numbers can unlock the knowledge of your destiny.

What in the world is Numerology?

For those who have never heard about it before, it is the belief that there’s a divine, mystical relationship between numbers and the projection of life and all life events. And apparently, your Life Path number is one of the most important numbers in the whole Numerology scene.

What in the world is a Life Path number?

Let’s get ostentatious for a moment: by revealing certain qualities, characteristics and fundamental traits of who you are, this special number can predict which job is perfect for you. It’s believed that your Life Path number can tell you which path you are walking on during your life; it represents your natural abilities and character.

Amazing, right? Our team couldn’t contain our excitement either! So we’ve done the research, summarised it for you, and now you can choose a career that’ll make you happy – you’re welcome (insert winking emoticon here).

Where can you get one?

Calculating your life path number is so easy – especially if you have a calculator – that we’ve added it all the way at the bottom of the page. Congratulations to all those who were able to do basic math. Your reward: The Amazing Revelation of what your dream career should be! (Or just, you know, lots of fun).

Unnecessary Disclaimer 1: phoning the editor claiming that it’s too early for maths is not allowed.

Unnecessary Disclaimer 2: Read this at your own risk. Careers24 shall not be held liable for any life-changing decisions based on these results.

Life Path Number 1

Characteristics:

As a natural born leader, people see you as a source of motivation. You like to plan ahead and organise your own goals and have quite an inventive spirit.

Type of career:

You’ll thrive in an environment where you can function independently and autonomously. As the perfect leader, you are able to work in a team but you'll do much better on your own instead because it can be hard for you to compromise sometimes, especially if you strongly believe in your ideas when working on a particular project. You aren’t keen to always do things the way things were always done, and rather choose to blaze new trails.

You’d appreciate having a high status and being recognised by others for your achievements. People often look to you for guidance and you revel at the idea of being the authoritative figure.

Careers to pursue:

You have a good sense of direction and will no doubt excel as an Entrepreneur. Other opportunities for self-employment are as a contractor, craftsman, farmer, and freelance photographer or graphic designer.

You should also consider jobs in the military, law enforcement, as an executive, sales manager, politician, TV or radio producer.

Read More- Numerology Can Reveals Your Love Life Deepest Secrets- Know How

Life Path Number 2

Characteristics:

You’re quite fair and can easily see both sides of any situation without any bias. You need to interact with others is huge which is okay since you genuinely enjoy listening to other people’s life stories. You’re also probably the one who co-workers run to for sympathy or when a dispute needs settling.

Type of career:

Make the best of both your social and negotiation skills, as well as your diplomacy by working in a helping profession. Remember, you’re good at working in teams, bouncing ideas off others, and also incorporating their ideas, combining it and turning it into a masterpiece.

2 are also quite creative and good with calculation. With such a busy brain you’d have a hard time adjusting to a career that has a fixed routine.

Careers to pursue

You should pursue a career where you can channel your sensitivity and mediation skills. You’d be a great diplomat, lawyer, minister, politician, teacher, counsellor, caregiver, doctor or nurse. Your social skills indicate that you’ll also enjoy being a bartender, waiter, physiotherapist and even a matchmaker.

Life Path Number 3

Characteristics:

You possess a natural artistic and creative ability. People must’ve already told you that you’re good with words and have a high energy level. It’s no secret that you have great social skills and like careers where days are unexpected and somewhat unconventional – anything with a little variety.

Type of career:

You should fight for a career where you’re able to entertain others, travel and interact with diverse cultures and people. If you’re simultaneously able to express your beliefs then you’ve hit the jackpot!

Careers to pursue:

If you have musical, artistic and/or comedic talent then please do yourself a favour and choose music, TV, or theatre. Alternatively, you can do advertising or journalism. Only pursue an academic path if it's in a field where you’re able to interact with people, e.g. psychology, psychotherapy, biology, pharmaceutical and medical sciences.

Life Path Number 4

Characteristics:

You have the most amazing organizational skills. Your attention to detail is envied. And your disciplined and down-to-earth nature means you'll do in well with a repetitive schedule.

Read More- Discover solution for your zodiac thrust with Dr. Sanjay Sethi (Gold Medallist) Astro – Numerologist

Type of career:

A career that offers a predictable and steady schedule is what suits you best. You will work hard to secure a stable income.  You’re happy with receiving detailed instruction with a set routine on how to complete your tasks. You would never resign half way through a difficult or boring assignment – never.

Chances are that you’ll excel in an organisation that has a clearly defined hierarchy, with clearly defined job roles. If you’re about to go for a job interview, you should brag about your organisational ability and strong work ethic. This and the fact that you’re able to help others get organised too. You really are a very valuable asset to any company.

Careers to pursue:

You’d make the ultimate engineer, industrialist, financial planner, and efficiency expert. Your organisational skills mean you’ll thrive as a project manager, while your self-discipline makes you an excellent accountant and lab technician.

Read More- What Are The Remedies For The Evil Eye In 2020? – 5 Steps

Life Path Number 5

Characteristics:

The amazing thing about you is that your inherent persuasive skills. You’ve got a knack for communication, a love for travel. All that, coupled with your desire to live life to the fullest... yes, we know, you do get bored easily.

Type of career:

A career that allows you to explore the world and interact with people from different cultures is best for you. Capitalise on your excellent communication skills and your ability to sell by writing, teaching or doing something in marketing. Presenting ideas to the public is something you’ll do quite well too.

Don’t be surprised if you find yourself in multiple careers. You’re probably already a serial job hopper, and it works for you. Try a career working with facts and logic since you enjoy it so much – perhaps dabbling in science, computers or research is just what you need.

Careers to pursue:

You can be a jack-of-all trades and master of them too! You'll excel in advertising, radio and various writing and verbal communication fields, e.g. public relations and marketing. You are not ideally suited for a 9-5 job and fair better in freelance, contract or consulting work. Many 5s are stuntmen, firefighters and construction workers as they often pursue high-risk ventures - and it's no surprise that they're natural gamblers.

Life path Number 6

Characteristics:

As a 6, you believe in harmony and unity. Your compassion and desire to be of service is a driving force in your life. You’re often attracted to teaching or healing and you have a special gift for selecting beautiful things.

Of all the numbers, you are said to be the most loving.

Read More- What is the Vedic astrology chart! Are they reliable?

Type of career:

You have an eye for beauty and have a creative flair. But it’s your compassion and your dire need to be of service to others that will define which career makes you happy. You love working with others, and you love working as a team.

You will also probably be stay devoted to one career path for a very long time.

Careers to pursue:

Use that compassion for life as a counsellor, nurse, hostess, rehab professional, paediatrician or even divorce attorney. Your eye for beauty is perfect for the fashion industry, graphic design and interior decorating. Or you can opt to spread your love by devoting your time to a charitable organisation, an NGO or social work. Even if you want to run your own organisation, you’ll be a successful business owner too.

Life Path Number 7

Characteristics:

You are a problem-solving dreamer; excellent at analysing all kinds of things and discovering deeper reasons for why the world (and everything in it) works the way it does. You have a natural healing ability which is great because you are particularly interested in listening to people’s problems.

Type of career:

That problem solving nature you have leaves you with plenty possibilities. You can follow your literary interests, complete an advanced degree, or stay involved with an academic institution. Your love of research and knowing about the world means you should pursue a career that allows you to find the answers you seek - and get paid while doing so!

Read More- Basic Numerology- Calculate Your Life Path and Destiny Numbers

Life Path Number 8

Characteristics:

8s are described as the philanthropists among the numbers. You are extremely ambitious and power, authority and business workings are appealing to you. As a bonus, you are in truth actually comfy with fame and public appearances and usually present yourself well. Secretly, you have a desire to be regarded as an expert in your field.

Type of career:

You would prefer to work for an established businesses and that’s great, because you’re perfectly suited for a life in corporate.  Choose a profession that allows you to climb that corporate ladder - you’ll no doubt work hard and deserve each and every promotion. If you play your cards right, you’ll reach that high status and powerful position in good time.

As one who shies away from risk taking activities, your colleagues will take comfort in knowing that you’ll follow the tried-and-true methods of the company. According to those you work with, you are the go-to person who knows how all things work. Please be careful and try not to sacrifice your personal life on your way up.

Careers to pursue:

Your hard work means you’ll be happy in accounts, finance, medicine, stock trading, pharmaceuticals, or surgery.

Other professions that’ll leave you satisfied: banking, law, psychiatry, investor, financier, and life coach.

Life path Number 9

Characteristics:

You’re known to have a healing nature, and probably describe yourself as artistic and creative. You have an urge to make a positive difference in society, and care deeply for the well-being of others. You are a humanitarian at heart and wish everyone nothing but success.

As a natural born volunteer, you can sometimes be self-sacrificing.

Type of career:

Opt for careers that have to do with religion or spirituality and other humanitarian professions. You’re a great leader and a great teacher - take advantage of this. Make sure you’re able to stay within industries that ensure you’re able to help others in need. Your compassion and need for social justice is your biggest motivator, so best you do something that feeds into this.

You may have noticed that you are attracted to occupations that require diplomacy with a strong sense of justice.

Careers to pursue:

Writer, painter, psychic reader, musician, volunteer, human resources, social work, immigration attorney, civil rights activist, coach, and legal researcher. Go on, do the good you're destined to do!

How to calculate your Life Path number:

Your Life Path number is the sum of the numbers in your date of birth.

Have the calculator? Good. Please proceed to write your birth date out in numbers and add the digits until you have a single digit. Keep reading if you’re unsure (or a bit slow) and need an example. Not to brag but explaining stuff is kinda our forte…

If you’re born on 15 October 1989, this is what you need to do:

Month: October is the 10th month of the year. 10 is reduced to 1 (1 + 0 = 1).

Day: The date of birth is 15. 15 is reduced to 6 (1 + 5 = 6).

Year: The year of birth is 1989. 1989 is reduced to 8 (1 + 9 + 8 + 8 = 26, then 2 + 6 = 8)

Now add the resulting single-digit numbers: 1 + 6 + 8 = 15, then 1 + 5 = 6

Your Life Path Number is 6.

Article Source: https://careeradvice.careers24.com/career-advice/job-hunting/find-your-perfect-career-with-numerology-20150821

[elizadoolittlethings]

Toby Hadoke’s adaptation of Nigel Kneale’s The Road aired on October 27 to great acclaim. Here, Hadoke talks about the necessary alterations for the story, as well as its tributes to the first production…NB This portion of the interview contains major spoilers for The Road. If you’ve not heard it yet, do so now!

Do we know if Nigel Kneale ever considered The Road as a radio script? It’s clear that what Brian Hodgson and the Radiophonic Workshop did back in 1963 was what he was after from the start – it was never going to be a big visual thing.

One of the big comments I got back from [Radio 4 Commissioning Editor] Jeremy Howe when we first pitched it was: “How is this going to work with the climax relying on a juxtaposition of the sound that we can hear and the visuals of the characters in the time period they are in, and the incongruity of hearing those sounds laid over the image of the people in that period clothing?”

He was quite right about that. Charlotte Riches who’s produced it has been a great advocate of mine and done pretty much everything I’ve done for radio; she’s an extremely experienced producer, and is brilliant and very hot on scripts. She said that the edit on the final five minutes of the play was the biggest and hardest job she’d had, and she’d produced hundreds of hours of radio drama. She gave herself a five-day edit on this because she knew this was going to be a biggie.

When you can see the pictures, you know where you’re supposed to be looking; when you’re listening on radio you have to create the points of view and it’s difficult to go, “Are we now with the haunting, or are we still in the woods, and those in the woods can hear the haunting?” On telly, we can see the people who can hear the haunting listening, so we have an anchor. On the radio, you go, “Why are we suddenly with the haunting?” It was really confusing to work out where the listener’s point of view was.

They say the pictures are better on radio – but when you need to create a very specific one, it has to be much harder. I think it works – there’s a lot of very clear audio cues placing us in the period before we get the stuff that’s out of place. Therefore we know the juxtaposition has to be doing something. In the radio version you’re giving us all their reactions through the haunting…

We had to keep cutting back to them. In the original, the haunting is just a series of fractured sounds, whereas in ours, it was Charlotte’s idea that we needed a narrative in the haunting to follow. We have a mother and a lost daughter character in the haunting who are entirely our invention, so we have a little mini story to follow within the haunting itself, otherwise we weren’t quite sure if it wasn’t going to be too fragmented and too confusing to follow.

All the dialogue in the haunting is entirely new, and we planned that quite hard… apart from the object that you can hear that is taken from the original BBC tapes. Although the play doesn’t exist, I had a bit of a brainwave. I dropped Mark Ayres an email and said, “I don’t suppose in your hall of records for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop the sound effects for The Road exist?” and he said, “I’ve got a tape here that says The Road.” He’s a superstar and sent me what was there, and we seeded a couple of bits in just because it’s a play about sound travelling through time, so why not have sound from the original play travelling through time to us? I thought that was nicely appropriate and a nice nod to the great people who went before us.

The original version was post-Cuba with the threat of nuclear holocaust very present – did you consider changing what the tragedy was that caused the haunting or did you want to keep it as close to the original as possible?

Unfortunately Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un came along and Putin as well in a sense – so I think a nuclear holocaust is something that’s still possible, and I didn’t think there was anything else it could be. It needed to be the present day, sure, but although we’ve got them listening to the news on the car radio, I didn’t want it to be too specific. Although it’s intended very much that the day of the haunting is the day that we’re listening to it – it’s happening to us – I thought it would sound a bit hokey if I embedded it too much in the very present in terms of our immediate references.

I think it would have worked in the 1980s when the BBC very kindly did a nuclear holocaust season and they showed The War Game, and Threads was on. I remember it was the first nightmare I ever had – I slept in my sister’s room because I watched The War Game and it scared the shit out of me. It was a real threat – I lived in the countryside, and my mum still lives there; there was a radar dome on the hill and we’d always talk about that if there was a nuclear attack, they’d take out that radar dome so we’d be in the fallout anyway. We wouldn’t escape by being in the country.

It definitely was a present and terrifying threat and I just think there’s nothing else that would quite match it. The world could be wiped out by flood or famine, but I don’t think that gives you as visceral a kick.

The big difficulty we had was with one of the sounds: I thought we should have one of those nuclear sirens going off, but I made some enquires. I asked a couple of MPs and Andrew Smith (who wrote Full Circle for Doctor Who and is a former police officer), as well as Tom Harris, the former MP, about what would happen in the event of a nuclear holocaust, and the consensus was that sound is now outmoded. That alarm wouldn’t happen.

The argument, though, was people still associate it with a nuclear attack, and we should use it but in the end Charlotte made the decision not to. I would have been comfortable using it, because it’s a really useful shorthand. We didn’t, and I think that helped to divorce ourselves from the 1960s setting, but it did mean we did not have available to an aural shorthand that says immediately, “There’s a nuclear bomb!”

So you have to find a way of doing it in the dialogue without having someone say, “I always thought I’d die in a nuclear war!” Or, “Look Jane, here’s a warhead!”

The mother and daughter bit sells that – as they’re describing the cloud. The bit that’s haunted me [and still gives me goosebumps when I transcribe this a few weeks later] is the mother saying, “Close your eyes and make a wish.”

That’s the bit that Charlotte really loved; she said when she read it she got chills down her spine. That’s nice because I wrote that bit!

The actors in the haunting include some quite well known actors, and the girl is the daughter of the producer. Nigel Kneale’s biographer, Andy Murray, is in there somewhere – he lives round the corner from me.

How much of the 40 minutes up to the haunting did you have to rework for radio, and how much could you keep scenes intact?

Unlike [Matthew Graham’s radio play of] The Stone Tape – which I thought was very good, but was a very different retelling of the story with new characters etc. – I felt we had a slight responsibility to present the play that we cannot experience because the tape was destroyed. In the shadow of Nigel Kneale I am humbly shrouded – I had no desire to go, “And what is Hadoke’s take on Kneale’s work?” This is very much my attempt to bring the brilliance of Nigel Kneale to a current and wide audience.

There are some brilliant lines in there, but by the very nature of radio, there are changes. On telly, if you have someone talking to somebody else for two pages, you can keep cutting back to the other person for their reactions to remind you they’re in the scene. You can’t do that on radio. Some of Charlotte’s notes would be – “Jethro speaks here, he hasn’t spoken since page 32, we need to bring him in beforehand, even if it’s to drop off a drink or cough, or something.”

There were various practical things: when we get to the woods, the cart gets stuck on a knot, and that’s just to bring us into the scene. A lot of that is Charlotte’s producing experience, creating the picture for the listener.

The big thing that we brought in to it was because the scenes were quite long – which they can be on television, and certainly could be on television in 1963. For this we needed all the stuff in the woods between Big Jeff and Lukey. In the teleplay it starts off with them setting up and then they bugger off pretty quickly. In this, the stuff with Big Jeff and Lukey and Tetsy that we keep cutting back to is largely mine, setting up the ghost story and having more of the history of the haunting cut with the philosophical discourse. It was felt that we needed to have a bit more toing and froing and to get in the wood location, where the climax takes place, quite a lot earlier. Most of the stuff between those characters, and the stuff about the bones, was all new just to have a bit of a mystery around the haunting.

I had fewer characters at my disposal so I had to roll a couple into one. In the original there’s a character called Sam, played by Rodney Bewes, who is Tetsy’s sweetheart and they’re in the woods. I think it was Charlotte’s idea we roll them into one, and Sam’s the dog now!  And it gives Tetsy a bigger role now.

There was a whole big team of guys helping the Squire and in my first draft I’d written lots of grunts, and cries of “You up there!” We just pared that down to Big Jeff and Lukey who do all the factotuming, because a big load of extras grunting is great on television to fill the picture but on radio it’s not particularly helpful.

In terms of the characters and the main thrusts of their arguments, the dialogue has been tweaked here and there, but large chunks are 100% Kneale. It was already great, so why mess with it?

How involved with the casting were you?

This is the great relationship I have with Charlotte – she knows I’m an acting geek. I didn’t know you could do this until we first did a play together; she said, “Who do you think?” and I suggested a few names… and they were all in it!

We were originally going to do this in Manchester and we were going to use all local actors for the supporting parts, which I’m passionate about because I think the BBC should use more local actors when they’re recording in a place. But because we’d got Mark Gatiss it looked like we’d have to do it in London, and if we were going to be in London, and it’s only a day [recording], we decided to aim high!

We batted a few ideas back and forth. I suggested Hattie Morahan straightaway just because 1) she’s a brilliant radio actress and 2) her dad directed the original which again I thought was a beautiful tie in to the past. Charlotte knew Hattie because she’d done loads of radio. I hadn’t known their connection. Hattie was a yes pretty quickly.

Mark I mentioned was a fan in the pitch – but I didn’t ask him if he’d be in it until we got the go ahead. He was definitely the first person to be contacted, before I’d written the script but after the commission. It then depended on his availability. We were on standby for quite a while – you can’t cast until you’ve got a date – but then we got a date finally from Mark and we moved pretty quickly.

Knowing we had Mark early on we knew would bring people to it – audience-wise and cast-wise. Actors know they’re going to be in a production that people are going to want to take some notice of and if it’s got the nod from somebody who can pick and choose their work, that helps.

I wasn’t 100% certain Mark would want to do it, because he tried to remake it and wasn’t successful so I thought he might be pissed off that somebody else had. He’d also done a readthrough of it on stage a few years ago, so maybe he’d played the part and got it out of his system. He’s always been very nice to me when I met him, so the approach wasn’t totally out of the blue and I thought he wouldn’t tell me to piss off, he would let me down gently. That’s the fear when you get in touch [with actors] out of the blue: you don’t want them to be rude to you, but I knew from my limited experience that Mark wouldn’t be mean, so I went for it.

Francis Magee is a brilliant actor and an old mate of mine and I wanted to give him a job – not that he needs one! He never stops working! I love him to death and I could just imagine him as Lukey so I suggested him.

I worked with Colin McFarlane years and years ago; he’s got a brilliant voice. I suggested him.

We had a few names in the frame for Big Jeff and then Emily, the production assistant, suggested Ralph Ineson because she always wanted to work with him. I said, “Go on offer it to him. It’s a little role at the bottom of the credits, he’s not going to go for it…” and he said yes. I wasn’t going to argue with that – he’s got the perfect voice for a tall Northern man.

Tetsy was quite hard to cast – Susan Wokoma was the only part I didn’t cast. I’d not worked with her before but she’s very much of the moment and brought a very different energy to it. She was Charlotte’s suggestion.

Then Adrian Scarborough – we had loads of ideas for Sir Timothy and there was an actor in the frame who couldn’t do it. It’s a potentially very boring part because he’s slightly stiff and credulous. I needed somebody who was able to bring a slightly different energy to it. I thought of Adrian whose work I’d always liked – I’ve seen him on stage a lot. He’s an interesting left field idea so I suggested him and Charlotte went, “ooh let’s try him”. I thought he’d be good but he’s even better than I thought. It’s a tricky part and he’s made it really sing. I’m  really happy with what he did with it.

Has this whetted your appetite for more Kneale adaptations?

It’s really helped me with my Quatermass book because [Nigel Kneale’s widow] Judith Kerr came to the recording. I’d been trying to get in touch with her to talk about the Quatermass book, but I’d never been able to get past the agent. She came to the recording of The Road, she was delightful, I chanced my arm and said I’m doing a book on Quatermass. I took her for dinner, and she took me round to the house. She’s got the Thing from The Quatermass Experiment out of a plastic bag in the corner of the office; she took me up to Nigel’s office where there’s a Martian sitting in the corner and gave me access to stuff I had no idea existed.

[Added October 29] Have you been pleased with the play’s reception?

I’m staggered – the response had been amazing. I mean, I knew there’d be a small coterie of people like me who would be keen on it (but then they might have hated it because it’s not 100% the original, so even they were a worry!) but the response has been huge. We trended on Twitter! And loads of people who knew nothing about the play before have got in touch to say how great it was an how floored they were by the ending. Someone even Tweeted to say it’s got his 11 year old son into radio drama which has made me overjoyed!

And then last night I got an email from Judith Kerr saying how much she enjoyed it and that “Tom would have loved it.” I’m not afraid to say that got me a bit emotional. So job done. It’s been a totally thrilling experience from start to finish and I’m very lucky to have had this opportunity.

The Road is available to listen on iPlayer. Read our review here

The first, spoiler-free, part of this interview explains how Toby came to adapt The Road

Photos from the recording (c) Toby Hadoke and used with kind permission.

[hetmusic]

A conversation with Strong Asian Mothers

Strong Asian Mothers are a London trio consisting of Kalim Patel, Josh Stadlen and Amer Chadha-Patel and over the past year, their music has been blowing up online, thanks to a mixture of pure energy, creative madness and numerous genres influences. Of course, the HumanHuman community had a head start thanks to The Undscvrd who unearthed this alternative project two years ago following a support slot for past successful discovery Jungle.

The band recently released their debut EP, Lynx Africa, which includes singles “Out Of Love” and “The More That I”, plus newer cut “Stay Down” and “Megabucket” that was resurrected from a previous project. If you like music to move to, then you’re really going to like Strong Asian Mothers.

Would you like to introduce yourself and what you do in the band?

Kalim: I’m Kalim Patel. I sing, I play keyboards and I shake a bit of tambourine.

Josh: I’m Josh and I play drums and that’s about it really! We all produce and songwrite in equal thirds as well, so I’m also a producer and writer.

Amer: I’m Amer, I also play keys and tambourine. I also play samples on the SPD and a cymbal.

K: A single cymbal.

A: Singular! I dance and sing for parts of the songs as well when I’m not playing anything.

Let’s talk about your band name, which is rather brilliant in itself and rememberable to say the least. Tell me, what’s the origin story behind it?

A: So, Khushi [Kalim] and I grew up together and both of our mothers and a lot of our friends’ mothers were part of a group of young, gunslinging, Asian women in London, either divorced or single or slightly left-field of the norm in the 80s and 90s.

J: Independent women.

A: Independent women, yeah! We grew up in a group of wild, free-thinking children with wild, free-thinking Asian mothers. It was a solid matriarchy. When we formed the band we decided to honour that by naming it after them.

K: It was his girlfriend who came up with the name.

A: My Suki came up with it, yeah.

K: From the first moment I heard it, I was like “yep!”

It’s good that she’s finally being credited!

K: She’s been credited in every interview!

A: And they cut it out every time.

That’s about how you two met, but how about all three of you?

J: Kalim and I went to sixth form together. We used to play in a rock band, and we were doing that for about seven years before we cottoned on to the fact that it wasn’t going anywhere. We stuck with it for quite a while, but yeah, when these guys started up Strong Asian Mothers, I wanted in! When we were in our old rock band The Mercers, there was one summer where we were going to do this hip-hop project. We planned to write four or five hip-hop tunes and then - rap! It was going to be a joke, like a parody, but then…

K: That’s how some of the best things begin, as a parody.

A: That’s how this band began, as a parody, we’re not a real band!

J: So then I did a remix of “Fat Bottomed Girls” by Queen, played it to Kush and Amer and they were like, let’s play this in Strong Asian Mothers. Then they asked me to play for them, and that was that!

I can imagine working as a trio involves plenty of compromise, but have there ever been any clashes over what you wanted the band to sound like?

A: [Laughs] every day!

K: That’s part of what makes us who we are, it’s the collaboration.

Yeah, and you said that you each take a third of everything.

J: Well, not always. We don’t always try to make sure that everyone has an equal third in every single song. We all write equally and for any song that is mainly from one of us, there will be another that is mainly from someone else. It all evens out. Yeah, there are clashes, but it’s healthy clashes.

A: I think we made a commitment to be part of a project where everyone is equally represented, so whether someone is a songwriter or someone is a frontman, it’s all irrelevant because every single thing that comes out of this project represents all three of us. It becomes a question of signing everything off as a trio, so even if Kushi writes a whole song, whether we’ve had any influence, we then decide if it’s something that actually represents us in a way that we want it to. I think that makes it better, because we only bring stuff to the table that we feel is appropriate. That comes from knowing these people for like fifteen years and more!

“I think we made a commitment to be part of a project where everyone is equally represented, so whether someone is a songwriter or someone is a frontman, it’s all irrelevant because every single thing that comes out of this project represents all three of us.”— Amer from Strong Asian Mothers

I guess that collaboration is why people might struggle to pin down a genre, because there’s so many different influences.

A: Yeah, definitely! But we love that.

K: Definitely, definitely.

J: All three of us have our own passions, especially music that we’ve grown up with and love. Amer in particular has the most ridiculously vast taste, like metal, which Khush and I don’t really like, but Amer loves it! Whereas I grew up listening to jazz, so I have this perverse jazz side of me that occasionally rears its head. Khush likes Top 40 pop music.

K: Yeah, I like the Now That’s What I Call music hits. Number 24, 97… you know all the legends like Britney, Christina Aguilera, Boyzone.

A: [Constant laughing] yeah, yeah, we’ve all got pretty eclectic tastes.

J: Amer definitely has the most eclectic.

A: It’s not a skill, it’s a flaw. This is not a competition!

What do you guys think about the music industry’s need to label and categorise everything?

K: It’s think it’s sick, man! I love that shit. Actually we did get a good genre description the other day.

A: From The Most Radicalist.

K: Hip-hop alt-pop. It rhymes as well! I think that’s the only genre I’ve ever heard that I’ve been satisfied with.

A: Yeah, we’ve been described before as alternative pop or chill electro...

I think it’s quite far from chill!

A: It’s very far from chill electro! On that subject, I think it’s kind of sad that everything has to be pigeon-holed, but everyone sees that for what it is.

J: I think it’s fine, because ultimately people are listening to the music and the genre that you’re labelled with becomes immediately irrelevant.

A: We usually just make up a new genre for every song.

K: We once told a group of people we met that we played “armchair stack”, which was just a phrase that we had invented. They were like, “we love armchair stack!”

A: Why did we invent that...? Oh yeah, we had loads of amps on an armchair once, so we made up armchair stack.

K: From that day on we lost faith in human nature.

A: What would you call us if you had to describe it?

If I had to… alternative dance-pop. Maybe!

A: Alternative dance-pop, add it to the list guys!

I find it really interesting, because so many bands seem to hate genre labels these days, but it’s good to see that you’re just embracing it and saying “give us whatever you’ve got!”

A: Yeah, we’ve only had one that has summed us up, and the other attempts haven’t quite. I think that’s because we know our sound is kind of all over the place, but in a good way, so nothing can really hurt us. It’s like if someone was like, “they’re goth clash!”, we would just be like, “Er, okay.”

J: I just don’t think it matters! If you feel that strongly about it, then maybe that’s because you have some kind of insecurity about your music being generic.

K: Burned up!

A: Woah, Josh is bringing the fire to the fans!

K: No, no, it’s exactly the thought that went through my mind as well.

J: For example, if we were making music that was quite derivative of Mumford and Sons and people were saying it sounds just like that, then I would be pissed, because I’d be like “oh it’s true, dammit!”

K: Yeah, or if you’re making indie-rock and everyone was only saying indie-rock, then we wouldn’t want to be that. I always find it quite interesting, just any attempts to put any genres on us. It doesn’t really bother me.

J: Also, most importantly, I don’t think it ever affects us and the way that we look at our music.

A: I was going to say, and it’s kind of a cliche, that we literally write most of this stuff for ourselves. That’s literally how it started. At no point we were like, “this is going to be a hit, so we’ve got to go in this direction with it.” It’s hard enough for us three to say it’s done, so by that point, it is whatever it is. There’s loads of tracks that clash with each other, but it works.

“At no point we were like, ‘this is going to be a hit, so we’ve got to go in this direction with it.’”— Amer from Strong Asian Mothers

You’re writing this project for yourselves, but have you been involved in other things before?

K: Oh yeah, well I’ve got a solo project, called Khushi Music.

A: Khushi’s coming back in a big way by the way. I’ve heard the new material, it’s utterly inappropriate for our band, but it’s great for him.

K: And Josh produces...

J: Yeah, I do a little bit of production for other people. I have a solo production project in an embryonic state, that will probably never be played to any other human ears. Other than that, there was The Mercers, that indie-rock band we used to be in. I also used to do session work as a drummer for other artists.

A: I’ve mostly been in wedding bands. I’ve played in like three wedding bands in my life, and they’ve all been amazing! I’m actually a filmmaker, that’s my job. I’ve been doing that forever, that was my career path, but music was always my passion. I’m also an actor, I’ve been in a lot of things, like small bit parts and commercials. Basically, fingers in pies.

K: He’s also a phenomenal DJ! AKA Chocolate Susan.

I haven’t noticed these little nicknames!

K: Yeah, so I’m K9, Khaotic, Kali-P, K-Twizzle.

A: They’re all variations of hip-hop names. Our wannabe hip-hop alter-egos! [Towards Josh] here we have Rogan Josh, Josh Posh Beats, J-Dillaworth.

J: That’s because my middle name is Dillworth.

A: I’m Chocolate Susan, Amer-change-your-life, Amer-millionaire.

K: Do we have to go on with those?

I think I’ve got enough! Strong Asian Mothers has been going for longer than your online presence would suggest, as two years ago, you played with Jungle. How did that come about?

K: I think that was just through our booking agent.

J: That’s decent knowledge by the way!

A: Yeah, on HumanHuman the first post is like two years ago talking about the Jungle gig and they’ve been tracking us since then.

So, what was it like to play with Jungle?

A: Well, we actually played after them.

J: Yeah, they were supporting us, technically.

A: They were amazing and we loved it, but then we had to go on after them which was terrible because they took all their lights away, so we had to go on a really empty stage and play not as famous music. It was really fun though.

Well more recently, we’ve been hearing “The More That I” and “Out Of Love”, but do you have a favourite track from the new EP?

J: “Stay Down” for me, personally.

K: There’s a video for “Stay Down” with a fifty-piece choir in it which we’re really happy with. There’s also a song on the EP called “Megabucket”. [To Josh] so, “Stay Down” is your favourite?

J: I think so, although “Megabucket” has a special place in my heart because it was originally a song that was played in a different band a lifetime ago. I used to play in a jazz hip-hop fusion band.

Did it have a name?

J: Erm, yeah… it had a name. We were called the J H Collective and we had a rapper and horns and it was jazzy.

K: Josh is a recovering jazz addict.

A: Can you say which famous people were in your band?

J: Yeah, we had Michael Kiwanuka playing guitar for us, Mark Crown who now plays trumpet for Rudimental, and rapping we had Jack Hughes and Street Journalist, who is now an actor in the Lion King on the West End. But yeah, “Megabucket” was one of that band’s favourites and it became something much better. It has found it’s home and it’s a beautiful thing to see that track released into the world finally.

A: You were so happy with that. It’s like nine years old that song. I think “Megabucket” is my favourite too.

I would say that my favourite is “The More That I”.

K: Mine too.

Yeah! Well for me it comes down to how the words add to the overall rhythm of the song, they’re snappy. I was wondering, does one of you take the lead with lyrics, or is that a collaborative process?

J: At the moment, most of the vocal content is from Kalim, although we’re all branching into writing vocals and lyrics, but Kalim has the most experience as a singer. [To Kalim] sorry, I’m speaking on your behalf!

K: It’s fine. On that point, it’s a funny thing for us because having being influenced by so much hip-hop, but feeling it might be awkward for us to rap… In “The More That I”, there’s an influence in terms of the importance placed on rhythm in the melody.

A: In “Out Of Love” too. It’s basically secret rapping.

“Out Of Love” is a song that seems to be about a break-up and all the feelings surrounding that. Why do you think that music so often comes back to this idea of falling in love, falling out of it and everything in between?

K: Because in our sheltered Western lives, it’s the most intense thing we will go through.

Woah, that is one quote right there!

A: That’s it, cut it there!

J: Anything you add to that is going to be an anti-climax.

K: True, true. It’s really easy to put down the feelings of love, but it is an intense thing that we all go through as human beings.

A: It’s also a really easy thing to feel comfortable to write about, because you know that people will understand. It’s a human feeling, and that transcends all creed, race, religion. You’re not putting too much on the line by singing about a subject that everyone can experience.

K: I guess it’s also different from a classic break-up song, which are like “oh fuck, my heart’s broken, I miss you.” I guess this is celebrating the other side of break-ups, which can be quite liberating and energizing. It can be a new chapter and a new lease of life if you’ve left a relationship that you felt was no longer right for you. There’s that side of break-ups too, which isn’t that commonly talked about.

To move on to something a little less intense, how on earth did you convince your mums to do the Mothers Interview?

A: Our mums, and this is something we learnt from the interview, they represent us quite easily, a little too well, and that was an embarrassing revelation for me! My mum couldn’t fucking wait. Straight on there, she was like “oh yeah, I’ll do that!”

J: I was absolutely convinced as soon as the idea came up that there was no way I was going to get my mum to do it. Since I’ve known her… [laughs] which is most of my life! She’s always hated having her photograph taken, but as soon as I mentioned it she was really up for it and she ended up being a star! She was amazing.

K: She’s an undercover comic genius!

J: What was the amazing quote? I think it was when the video came out and we shared it on Facebook and my mum saw it, she showed my dad because he doesn’t have Facebook.

A: Then she sent me a private message!

J: Yeah, she sent it to Amer, she didn’t even tell me! She sent Amer a private message saying… [starts laughing] my dad’s called Godfrey by the way, as a prerequisite to this story.

A: Josh’s mum messaged me saying, “Love the video. Thank you so much! Godfrey is tickled pink. You’re brilliant. Shout out to Amer Chadha-Patel and his tight swags.” [all three burst out laughing]

I also really, really loved the debate over plug-ins!

A: That was a last minute thing, so the way we did that is that we interviewed ourselves, transcribed the answers and gave it to our mums to just be us. We only gave them couple of things to talk about, but they ended up getting into an argument anyway!

It was pretty convincing! On that point, how do you think things like plug-ins and digital audio workstations are affecting the sound of current music?

K: In many ways it democratizing it, because otherwise it means you have to wait until you have loads of money behind you to get into a studio.

J: It levels the playing field, doesn’t it? Everyone is now releasing music in the same way.

K: As long as you can afford a laptop, because that’s not everyone, but it’s definitely more than can afford a studio. It also gives people more time to experiment and play around with sounds, because in a studio you have this fixed time where you have to write music mainly in the rehearsal room or on the run. Whereas now, you can construct it bit by bit and experiment. I think it’s an exciting new chapter.

A: It’s also teaching me to respect simple songwriting, because there’s so much on offer that I can kind of freak out with all the plug-ins and we have so many samples. You just have to remember that as long as the chord progression is good, and the lyrics and melody works, then everything else is just filler. You have to start with something good. I was listening to Q-Tip the other day, who I really love, and thinking this is so simple and really good. Or I’ll get in the car and I’ll be listening to J-Dilla with an amazing drum production and a really simple guitar line, and the only thing on top of that is vocals. In comparison to our music, it’s so simple! That is totally achievable with what we have, without any need to go as far as do. Learning to reign it in a bit has been the most valuable lesson for me. I can go fucking mental! And I have done, there’s so much stuff on my computer that’s just not for anybody. It’s basically the ramblings of a madman who likes metal and hip-hop.

J: As a production-based trio, it can be overwhelming and you can become obsessed with becoming a really technically accomplished producer and learning all the ins and outs of your DAW. You can get really hung up on that and it can become really problematic, because you stop focussing on what’s really important and start trying to sound like Flume and produce like Hudson Mohawke. I was recently reminded by a friend that the most important thing is to have really strong core content. The source material that you’re working from, whether that’s a really strong sample or chord progression or melody or vocal idea, that’s the most important thing and everything after that is filler.

A: On the flipside, and as the least technically adept musician in this band, I have an instinct for music and I really like it and I can write chords, but I’m not the best musician, but I’ve been able to get very, very far with DAWs. I’ve been able to achieve stuff with my computer that is remarkable for someone who can’t actually play music very well.

K: That’s a good point, because it’s also enabled me to do things I couldn’t have, because I’m not a technically advanced musician either. There’s a long-running condition in popular music of not technically advanced musicians just doing their thing, but it gives them their own style.

A: Like Michael Jackson.

K: Well, not really, he was a very technically advanced singer.

A: But he couldn’t really play any instruments, but he would write whole songs in his head. Imagine what he would have done if he had Logic!

I think it was really interesting that you’ve all said you have to find a balance between technicalities and sticking to your original goal. Referring back to the Mothers’ Interview, Amer’s mum outlines your aim as “to form a band where you could play at a party with relative ease and people would dance regardless of knowing it”.

A: You’re quoting my mum!

K: That’s the genre label we want, dance regardless.

Has that goal been achieved?

K: We’re on the way to achieving it.

A: No, I think we achieved it. I think we achieved it very early on, and we’re on changing our tune a bit. This band started with a few hip-hop beats Khush had written and a few instrumentals from me that we thought would be good to put on a backing track and then we could just take some top-line melodies and a couple of keyboards to play live. At that point, the sole aim was to make music for parties. We had no idea what we were, we would just dance along! That was the essence of dance regardless. Since then we’ve grown exponentially as actual songwriters.

J: I don’t think that’s our sole ambition anymore, to turn up at a venue and make people dance.

So, you’ve gone past the initial goal now?

J: Well, I think we’ve just adjusted what we want. That’s still definitely an important angle, we don’t want to turn up to gigs and play music that doesn’t move people in a physical way. I don’t think we’ll ever write any kind of music that doesn’t achieve that, but our aim includes other things now too.

A: That will always be an element of our songwriting, for the foreseeable future. We’re not likely to go in and write an acoustic song. Well, we might do at some point, but we’ll know if it’s right or wrong for the project, because we might not be defined by the idea behind the band which is to play boisterous party music.

For my last question, where can people go dance along to your music next?

A: We’re doing Secret Garden Party on the 22nd of July. Also Bestival, Cirque Du Soul, El Dorado Festival.

K: Anyone who lives in Beirut, we might be playing there too.

https://humanhuman.com/articles/interview-strong-asian-mothers

[hottytoddynews]

Tad Wilkes, aka Moon Pie Curtis

Oxford singer-songwriter Tad Wilkes is living proof that good things come to those who wait. Some just have to wait a good while longer than they ever imagined.

After more than 25 years of honing his craft and polishing his riffs in local bars and cafés, Wilkes has scored his first win in a national competition, beating out more than 600 fellow tunesmiths for first place in the prestigious bimonthly American Songwriter Lyric Contest, sponsored by American Songwriter magazine.

“I still don’t really believe it happened,” said Wilkes, a longtime journalist and the Oxford-based editor of Hotel F&B Magazine.

Wilkes’ winning entry, “Be Good To Your Woman,” will be featured in American Songwriter’s upcoming March-April issue. It will also be one of six finalists for the magazine’s grand-prize competition at the end of 2018.

“I’ve entered their contest a few times in the past, but I never placed or anything,” Wilkes said. “You’re going up against songwriters from all over the country and maybe internationally. I had actually submitted a different song to the previous issue and didn’t get anywhere. I’m not even sure why I decided to submit another one. It was only a $15 fee, and I figured I could spend that. But I had no hope that I’d win.”

Wilkes received a new PRS acoustic guitar and a Sennheiser microphone, but the real prize is the exposure—including a Q&A interview with photographs—in one of the music industry’s top magazines. Recent issues have spotlighted acclaimed artists like Willie Nelson (the January-February cover subject), Chris Hillman, Kenny Chesney and Nicky Mehta of The Wailin’ Jennys.

The magazine’s lyric contests are judged by some of the leading songwriters in the business, including Charlie Worsham, whose album, “Beginning of Things,” was named one of the “25 Best Country and Americana Albums of 2017” by Rolling Stone; Grammy and Oscar nominee Allison Moorer; Taylor Goldsmith, the frontman of indie rock band Dawes; and Austin-based Slaid Cleaves, hailed by Rolling Stone as “Americana’s most underappreciated songwriter.”

“These are all songwriters’ songwriters,” Wilkes notes.

Like a lot of those masters of the craft, Wilkes’ own musical style defies easy labels. It owes a little bit to the likes of Guy Clark, John Prine and Kris Kristofferson and a lot to no one you’ve ever heard before. Peppered with raunchy wit and piercing self-deprecation, his songs manage to be intensely personal and universal at the same time, filled with longing and laugh-out-loud one-liners. Even the saddest and sweetest of his songs will make you guffaw when you least expect it.

His debut CD, “Enter the Fool,” released in 2015 and co-produced by his good friend and former songwriting partner Joshua Cooker of the Nashville-based Captain Midnight Band, features both a comedic paean to sexy soccer moms in yoga pants (“Your Mama and Them”) and a snappy, bluesy-rock rumination on the bitter aftermath of a failed marriage (“It’s Called Divorce”).

“Enter the Fool” is available for purchase at Apple Music and on Spotify.

The cleverly metaphorical and immensely catchy “Be Kind, Rewind,” meanwhile, portrays a doomed romance in terms of Hollywood artifice:

Remember the opening credits We were both billed as stars The director yelled ‘action’ And we made out in my car But somewhere in the second act The storyline went south Some hack writer put some crappy dialogue In my mouth It all came out And I don’t even know what I was talking about

It’s a style that Wilkes has been fine-tuning since he was a teenager. “In high school, I made up what I would call novelty songs—silly, juvenile kind of stuff,” he recalled. “Songs with titles like ‘Booger on the Bronco’ and ‘Eatin’ Dog Food.’ My friend Ayers Spencer and I had a band called The Dingleberries—I sort of dragged him into it.”

At Ole Miss, Wilkes and Cooker went on to form the hard-partying band Cardinal Fluff and began taking songwriting more seriously. “Josh and I started writing songs together—even though they were still funny, they were real songs,” he said. “We were serious about being funny, sort of like Frank Zappa. I got my first real acoustic guitar at that time and then started listening to old country music and writing my own songs.”

Delving into the roots of what would later become known as the Americana genre, he immersed himself in the works of country- and folk-music storytellers like Prine, Clark, Steve Goodman, Jerry Jeff Walker and Willie Nelson. He also absorbed a lesson or two from another master raconteur, his own father, the late Dr. Thurston Wilkes. “He could tell a joke better than anybody,” Wilkes recalled. “From my dad I think I learned to add a little humor to complement the darkness and the deep thoughts—or what qualify as deep thoughts for me, anyway. Like George Carlin or Richard Pryor, he chose every word carefully, knew how to put each word in exactly the right place with the right emphasis. The first line of any song is the first impression, so I always believed in having a great first line. You add a little humor to see if they’re paying attention. That’s what my dad would do—he would throw some off-color joke into the conversation just to see if you were listening.”

Wilkes’ father, Dr. Thurston Wilkes, known for his hilarious off-color jokes and anecdotes, influenced his son’s songwriting style.

In Cardinal Fluff, Wilkes invented an off-color persona of his own, a bewigged, madcap character called Moon Pie Curtis, a name that he still performs under today (minus the wig and the wacky wordplay), while Cooker re-christened himself Captain Midnight. Cardinal Fluff lasted six or seven years, performing hilariously dirty-minded ditties with titles like “Position Impossible” and “Proud Totem.” But the bandmates parted ways when Cooker moved to New Orleans and then to Nashville, where the guitar-slinging Captain Midnight still fronts his own jam band and describes himself as “an internationally ignored superstar … (and) the world’s only purveyor of waterbed rock-and-roll.”

Wilkes, meanwhile, opted for a quieter, more domesticated life. “I thought, ‘Well, I want to have a family, so I should have a real job and keep living in Oxford.’ Songwriting was something I could still do here whenever I wanted. I figured it’s not like being a stand-up comic where you have to live in L.A. But, while that’s technically true, your chances of success in songwriting are much lower if you don’t live in Nashville and you’re not networking and co-writing and working with other musicians every day. I don’t think I really appreciated the magnitude of that at the time.”

Not that he has any regrets about opting for the joys of hometown domestication. He and his wife, Amy, have two adorable young daughters, and, in addition to his job with Hotel F&B, he founded Roxford University, a unique music school for children that offers both individual lessons in various instruments and a live-performance track, giving kids the experience of starting their own bands and putting on concerts twice a year.

In the meantime, Wilkes’ songwriting and musicianship have continued to evolve and mature. “Be Good to Your Woman,” the song that won the American Songwriter contest, was inspired by a piece of advice given to him years ago by his grandmother on her deathbed. “She had heart disease, and even breathing had become painful for her,” he said. “One day she told me, ‘Make sure to be good to your woman because they think real deep, and they hurt real easy.’ That just stuck in my head for years. But it’s hard for me to write a song like that—something that’s so heavy and deep. That was a tall order.”

The last thing Wilkes wanted to write was some maudlin, cliché-ridden tear-jerker, so he took his time with it—a lot of time. “I thought the first version was the best song I’d ever written,” he said. “That was about 10 years ago. Then, I realized the second verse was throwing the whole vibe off-course. It reflected my own distinctly male point of view, and that wasn’t what I wanted the song to be about. I knew I had to redo it. Looking back, it’s probably a good thing that I put so much thought into this one song, making all those revisions. I guess I always thought somebody would hear it eventually, and I wanted it to be perfect.”

“Be Good to Your Woman” will likely appear on Wilkes’ next CD, which he plans to cut with Cooker later this year. Although Wilkes, in his Moon Pie Curtis gigs, usually plays solo and unplugged, full studio instrumentation and Cooker’s sure hand on the production side bring glossy new life to his tunes while preserving the raw, throbbing ache that lies just underneath the wryly funny lyrics.

And winning the American Songwriter contest proved that Wilkes can still get his songs heard in Nashville without living there.

“It means that I haven’t been wasting my time doing some silly creative endeavor all these years,” he said. “I don’t feel discouraged about writing songs anymore. Now I know I’m not just doing it for myself.”

By Rick Hynum

The post Oxford’s Tad Wilkes Wins National Lyrics Contest with American Songwriter Magazine appeared first on HottyToddy.com.

[transformingyourlives]

Facing Down Fears That Limit You

Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, named six ancient fears that limit your success if they continue not confronted. The first step to successfully prevailing over them is first to recognize where they're limiting you.

In his timeless success book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill names six basic fears that you should heedful of, before they haunt your business development initiative or even personal life steps you take. He calls them "ghosts"—disturbing creatures that actually appear real. Actually though, he suggests that they are actually imaginary. Let’s go over all six of the fears using quotes from Hill. I want to thank my friend and advisor Mark Newfield for whipping me into reading this book about 8 years back.

 The fear of poverty or failure

"Now, why anybody should be afraid of poverty in a great nation like this where opportunity abounds on every hand is more than I can understand, but I do know that the vast majority of my students have to be treated first for the fear of poverty. They have to be made success-conscious, and you'll never be successful at anything until you become success-conscious. You have to get over the idea of self-limitation."

Napoleon Hill published Think and Grow Rich in 1937 as a response to the changes brought on by the Great Depression. Millions of people were suddenly unemployed, and people's worries, monies and other wise, were at an all-time high. Hope for some people was a thing of the past. Things were indescribably worse than they were in the last economic downturn here in the US. As a coach I have found that today, people in our society don't fear poverty as such, but rather fear simple failure—of risking something and coming out worse off that before—is their major underlying issue. Mr. Hill encouraged people to develop a "success consciousness"— he describes it as the practice of visualizing their wealth in their own minds before it has actually arrived in their hands. Failing to do so leads a person to fear poverty or fear failure—that paralyzing mindset where you repeatedly think or say things like, "I'll never have enough money for retirement," "I'll never have enough clients to make a decent living," "I'll never be able to unroll a new marketing plan," or "I'll never be any good at cold-calling." Take it from me; those thoughts become a self-fulfilling prophecy leading into a downward mental spiral and the very failure that you so fear.

Coaching Question:

1.   Do you have a success consciousness or a poverty consciousness?  …Be honest….

2.   If you do have Mr. Hill’s poverty consciousness, how would your practice be different if you could replace it with a success consciousness?

 The fear of criticism

 "You're lucky indeed if you've come this far in life, all of you or any of you, without having suffered from the fear of criticism, the fear of what 'they' will say. And I have heard so many people say, 'Well, I'd do so-and-so if it weren't for what 'they' will say,' and I have never yet found out who 'they' were. 'They' are entirely imaginary beings, but you'd be surprised how powerful 'they' are. 'They' stupefy enthusiasm. 'They' cut down your personal initiative. 'They' destroy your imagination. And 'they' make it practically impossible for you to accomplish anything above mediocrity."

In my experiences as a coach, this is the most common fear holding my clients back—the fear of how other people will, or might judge them if they do what you want to do –like succeeding fabulously in their own business—rather than being just another average guy with a desk and a phone. These dark judgments often come from well-intended family members and friends who want to protect them from trying something out of their comfort zone.  Sometimes it’s their personal Gremlin who is at the core of the message.  Regardless, what's interesting about the messengers is that they have most likely never taken on anything challenging themselves—if they don't think they themselves can do it, they tend to discourage you. Many people don’t like others to go beyond their own personal limits.

Coaching Question:

1.   How has the fear of criticism from others held you back?

2.   How would your practice be different if you were able to shed those fears and wholeheartedly pursue your dreams?

 The fear of poor health ("excusitis")

"The doctors know too well what that fear does. It results in a condition known as hypochondria, imaginary illness."

Napoleon Hill focused on an imaginary illness, but the truth is that we often invent handy excuses justifying our dodging doing the things we fear to do. It's easy to fall victim to ‘excusitis’:

"I don't know how to talk to affluent people." "I don’t have enough time." "I've never been much of a writer; I can't write that article."

The next time you catch yourself thinking, saying, or doing something like this when contemplating taking action, stop yourself. Just stop.  Take a moment and consider whether you're just reacting to fear.

Coaching Question:

1.   Do you make excuses instead of doing tough but necessary tasks?

2.   What tasks would you take on if you knew you could not fail?

 The fear of loss of love

"Jealousy doesn't require reason. It can be just as violent or just as destructive where there is no basis for it as where there is a basis, but it is a motivating force."

Indeed jealousy is destructive and it can be disastrous to those not secure in their relationships, but I want to expand the definition of the fear of loss of love for this article.  I want you to consider that it can also include concerns about losing the approval of loved ones if you aren’t successful in your work. You're coming from a weakened and negative place if you're always trying to please others; fearing you will lose them gets you no where fast. And in fact, you almost guarantee your own failure focusing on acting out approval seeking ways of being, rather than creating both a positive mindset and a clear plan for success in chosen business. Just imagine for a moment how this might affect your relationships with clients. Will you decide to tell a client only what he wants to hear instead of the truth, what he needs to hear, out of fear that he might drop you for another advisor?  Really?

Coaching Question:

1.   Whose approval do you fear losing?

2.   What do you have to accomplish to gain your own approval?

 The fear of old age

 "I don't know why men and women should be afraid that they're going to dry up and blow away when they get to that nice, ripe old age of 40 to 50. The real achievements of the world were the results of men and women who had gone well beyond the age of 50, and the greatest age of achievement was between 65 and 75, so I don't know why one should be afraid of old age, but nevertheless they are."

 How do you hear people say, "I can't believe I'm xy years old!" Translation: "Buddy, I'm getting up there! I might just be past my prime. I fear that time is running out for me. Where did it all go?" I'm of the philosophy that age is only a number—As long as you are learning, laughing, and loving, you’re young. I personally try and keep a relaxed attitude about the coming years—I have all the time in the world to get better. Besides, I have no control over that part of my life…so why fret over it? My thought is I'll be that much more experienced as time goes by. In this way, I'm always aware that if I keep learning, my best is yet to come.

Coaching Question:

1.    How old do you feel?

2.   What would you tackle if you didn’t feel the

     limitation of time?

 The fear of death

 "It's the rarest thing in the world to find a person who hasn't at one time or another been afraid of dying."

I learned over time to not spend much time thinking about death because, frankly, I'm too busy living. From a work standpoint, I think this fear is about the death of anything: The end of your business or a bankruptcy, the end of a job or getting fired, the end of a relationship through breakup or divorce. Going through those kinds of traumatic experiences doesn’t kill you, but you certainly can get that panicky feeling that they will.In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill states:

"Every adversity, every heartache, every failure carries with it the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit."

Everyone who's ever had big successes has had equally big disappointments, losses, and rejections. Want they did different though, is they used them as motivation to get back up and go at it again and again until they won. So in the above-mentioned "deaths" you have the opportunity to be reborn. You have the opportunity to achieve even greater successes; a new career, a solid relationship, they are just past where you look. Keep moving and you will find them!

Coaching Question:

1.   What "death" do you fear?

2.   If you lost that fear what could you achieve in the next 6 months?

 Closing the Circle:

I hope that some of these thoughts and images have helped you realize that the six ‘ghosts of fear’ don’t have to be all that spooky. When you begin by committing yourself to becoming the successful person you were destined to be, despite their interference, you take the first step to achieve your goals. Heck, you can behave like it's Halloween all the time, knowing that those ghosts that confront you aren’t as spooky as you once thought.

Give it some thought; it’s your fabulous future out there waiting for you.

SEE A LIFE COACH IN BATON ROUGE

Frank Hopkins is a life coach in Baton Rouge who is certified as a Professional Coach (CPC) by the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC). Frank has helped numerous people to go through emotional change in a way that is positively transformative. You can see Frank's other website, www.frankhopkinlifecoach.com on line as well.

[laurendcameron]

20 Ways to Be Just Another Mediocre Blogger Nobody Gives a Crap About

A troubling thought, isn’t it?

You’re slaving away at your blog, but you can’t help wondering if you have a shot in hell of getting anyone to read it.

What makes you any different from the millions of other bloggers hoping for attention?

You’re all doing the same stuff. Cranking out posts, messing around on Twitter and Facebook, leaving comments on popular blogs — you know, the usual.

But nobody gives a crap. Readers have seen it all before. You’re not offering anything new, so why should they hang around?

Good question. And the problem is, you don’t really have an answer.

Most of the time, you feel like you’re stumbling around in the dark. You can’t tell what’s working and what’s not. It feels like a big, never-ending guessing game.

Maybe you came here to find some answers. Maybe you’re hoping I’ll tell you what to do.

But I won’t.

Not because I don’t want to, but because sometimes you can’t understand what to do until you first understand what NOT to do. So, let’s start there.

Here’s a big, fat list of ways to be a mediocre blogger. How many are you guilty of?

1. Tell Stories

People love stories, but that doesn’t mean you should tell any. Here’s why: telling a boring story is worse than not telling any stories at all, and unless you’re trained in storytelling, yours are pretty much guaranteed to be boring.

If you doubt me, go to a bar and tell a story to someone in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. If everybody in the bar stops talking to listen to you, you’re a good storyteller. If they don’t, you suck.

And almost everybody sucks.

2. Be “True to Yourself”

Let me guess. Tried-and-true marketing techniques just don’t feel right to you, so you’re scrapping it all in the name of authenticity?

Well, I’ll be damned. I must be psychic!

No, the truth is everyone feels that way in the beginning, and everyone has to do it anyway. To get good at something, first you have to follow proven techniques and screw it all up, and then you learn, and then you follow proven techniques and do it correctly, and then one day, when you’ve been doing it a long time, and you’re a freaking master, you invent your own techniques. Promoting your work is the same process as learning to play the piano.

If it feels inauthentic, it’s not because there’s something wrong with the technique. It’s because you’re doing it wrong, and you need to keep practicing.

3. Build Your Twitter / Facebook / Google+ / Pinterest / LinkedIn Following First

Here’s your thinking: the reason you’re not getting any traffic is because first you need to build your following on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, or [ insert your social network here ]. Once you start getting some traction, then you can promote your blog, and the traffic will start flowing free and easy.

Heh. Wrong.

Yes, social networking is important, but you know what’s even more important? Focus.

By dividing your attention between so many different places, you’re pretty much guaranteeing you won’t do any of them well.

My advice: ignore social networks entirely in the beginning. Wait until you have 1,000 blog subscribers before you even think about building up a following somewhere else.

(And if you want to know how to get that first 1,000 without spending a nanosecond on Facebook or Twitter — here’s a clue.)

4. Write Short Posts

In my opinion, no beginning blogger should be publishing anything under 1,000 words. And really, 2,000 words should be your goal.

Why?

Three reasons:

Readers perceive long content to be more valuable. They’re more likely to bookmark it, share it, and link to it.

Most other bloggers are too lazy to write long content. If you’re willing to put in the effort, you’ll stand out.

There’s some good evidence that Google prefers long form content. And giving Google what it wants is smart.

The bottom line: stop writing short posts. Or at least intersperse them with much longer content.

5. Give Common Sense Advice

Do you believe in preaching good old-fashioned common sense?

If so, I worry about your chances, because common sense is boring. Readers have already heard it so many times they tune out the minute they even catch a whiff of conventional wisdom.

“But… but… common sense is what they need!” you say. My response: it doesn’t matter. If nobody is paying attention to you, you can spout all the truth in the world, and it won’t do anybody any good. So, stop writing posts that make people want to stop listening.

6. Insist on Originality

The opposite of common sense is also dangerous.

Some writers also get so obsessed with being original that they become incapable of ever publishing anything. And when they do happen to stumble across an original idea, it’s so strange and foreign to the reader that they can’t even follow it.

The better approach: find ways to approach old topics from fresh angles. It’s a lot easier, and it’s a lot less risky.

7. Be Polite

Do you hold back from asking influencers for links because you’re worried about bugging them? Or worse, do you hold back giving your readers the truth because you don’t want to offend them?

Well, newsflash: real bloggers fight for their ideas. There’s no need to be obnoxious, but you can’t go around squeaking out requests for help and dancing around hard truths.

You have to demand attention. You have to take stands. You have to be totally and utterly shameless.

The world already has enough cowards. So please, don’t be another one.

8. Write “When You Can”

For a lot of people, finding time to write is like packing a suitcase.

You put in all the important things first, close it to see if everything fits, stuff in more things, check it again, and so on and so on until there’s no more room. Whatever doesn’t fit gets left behind.

In life, those “important things” that get scheduled first are your job and family. If you have any room left, you stuff in friends and relaxation and whatnot. And then, at the very end of the list, you have your writing.

Because it’s the last to be scheduled, it almost always gets “left behind.” Not because you want to neglect it, but because your life is already full to bursting, and you just can’t find the space for it.

The solution: schedule it first, not last. Make it one of the “important things” you put in the suitcase first. Believing you’ll find time for it otherwise is just delusional.

9. Worry About SEO

Speaking of delusional…

Lots of people see blogging as a way to get search engine traffic. Find a keyword you want to rank for, publish a post around it, and a few months later, you’ll have all the traffic you can handle.

Right?

Wrong.

Getting search engine traffic isn’t about keywords. It’s not even about blog posts. It’s about creating something so amazing everyone talks about it and links to it.

So do that. You can worry about SEO later.

10. Start Multiple Blogs

In my opinion, it’s pretty much impossible to build a popular blog in less than 10 hours a week. If you want to grow quickly, tack on an additional 10.

Say you have two blogs. 2 X 20 = 40 hours a week of work to grow both of them quickly.

Are you willing to dedicate that kind of time? Do you even have that much extra time in your week?

If not, pick the blog that’s most important to you and jettison the rest.

Otherwise, you’re not blogging. You’re just dabbling.

11. Search for the Perfect Domain Name

Blogs are like living things. They evolve. Even if you found the perfect domain name today, you would hate it a year from now, because the focus of your blog will change.

The better solution: pick a domain name that’s good enough and go with it. Sure, changing it later is a headache, but never having a blog because you’re such a damn perfectionist is an even bigger headache.

Pick it. Register it (affiliate link). Move on.

12. Show the World How Clever You Are

Got a clever domain name? A clever headline? A clever post?

You’re probably pretty tickled with yourself, right?

Well, I hate to break it to you, but cleverness almost always backfires. People won’t get it. Sure, they would understand if they spent a few minutes thinking about it, but they’re in a hurry, and there are a gazillion other blog posts to read that don’t require so much thought.

Instead, be clear. Don’t make people figure it out. They’ll reward you by coming back.

13. Try to Be Seth Godin

Every once in a while, I’ll give a student some advice, and they’ll respond with, “But that’s not what Seth Godin does!”

*strangles student*

Think of it like this. Let’s say you like to play a little US football.

If I handed you a helmet right now and pushed you into the middle of a professional game, how do you think you would do?

I’ll tell you how you would do: you would get your ass handed to you. Those guys are genetic freaks who have prepared their entire lives to do battle with other genetic freaks. You’ll never be able to do what they do, no matter how hard you try. In fact, even trying could be deadly.

It’s the same thing with Seth. He’s the blogging equivalent of a 350-pound lineman who can run a mile in under 4 minutes. In other words, he’s so freakishly talented he can do things nobody else can.

So, stop trying to copy him. You don’t have his kind of talent, and if you did, you wouldn’t want to copy him anyway. The whole thing is just silly.

14. Wait Until You’re in the Right Frame of Mind

This one is so tempting.

You’re feeling tired or frustrated or [ insert your negative emotions here ], and you think, “I’ll never be able to write like this. I’ll just stop and come back when I’m in a better frame of mind.”

The truth?

You’re procrastinating. You’re scared of how difficult it is to express your thoughts, and you’re using your emotions as an excuse to quit.

It’s understandable, but that’s not what good writers do. Good writers write.

It doesn’t matter if they are tired. It doesn’t matter if they are going through a divorce. It doesn’t matter if their kids are screaming. It doesn’t matter if they’re sick and dying in the hospital. It doesn’t matter if terrorists drop a nuclear bomb on their hometown.

They write. End of story.

15. Agonize over Your WordPress Theme

It’s the same issue as searching for the perfect domain. You’ll never find it, and even if you do, you’ll hate it later. So, pick something good enough and get on with your business.

You have 15 minutes. Go.

16. Wait Until [ Insert Freelancer Here ] Can Help You

Are you waiting for a graphic designer or programmer or copywriter or WordPress specialist to help you with something?

Well, stop. If you’re ever going to get anything done, you have to refuse to wait for anyone. Ever.

A lot of times that means doing without. You might have to give up your fancy theme modifications or custom logo or WordPress plugin. Sure, they would be useful, but do you really need them?

No. You need to get off your lazy butt and stop procrastinating.

17. Use Free (Or Cheap) Hosting for Your Blog

Can you get by with it?

Sure.

Should you get by with it?

Not if you can help it. Here’s why:

At some point in the future, you’re going to have a problem with your blog. It’ll get hacked or slow down or just disappear mysteriously, and you won’t know what to do.

If you have a free or cheap host, you’ll be on your own, and you’ll waste days or even weeks trying to figure it out. At the end of it all, you’ll realize how foolish you were to skimp on hosting and move to a premium host like WP Engine (affiliate link) who fixes stuff for you when it breaks.

Or you can be smart and just do it now. The choice is yours.

18. Build Your Rss Subscriber List

You didn’t get the memo? RSS is on life support, and it’ll die any day now.

Smart bloggers stopped depending on it a long time ago. Instead, we get our readers to subscribe via email.

So should you.

19. Publish Great Content — in the Wrong Place

Is great content important?

Sure.

Should you create as much of it as you can?

Absolutely.

But should you publish it on your own blog right now?

Probably not.

To explain why, imagine if Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech to an empty room. It’s one of the greatest speeches in history, no doubt, but without an audience, without anyone to hear it and spread the word, it loses power.

Great content works the same way. Before you have an audience, publishing it on your own blog is a waste of time.

You’re better off publishing it as a guest post instead. Borrow a blog that already has a huge audience and use it to funnel those readers into your list.

Then, once you have a small group of dedicated followers, really ramp up the content on your blog. Just not before.

20. Give Up

After reading through all these mistakes, you might feel like, “Well, damn. I’m just a screw-up. I might as well quit.”

But you shouldn’t. Here’s why:

We’re all screw-ups.

In my first three years, I made every mistake on this list. Every single one.

Not only did all my blogs fail, but I was banned by Google, my first guest post was rejected by Copyblogger, and I got so carried away bragging about my interview with Seth Godin he had to ask me to stop. Looking back, it’s horrifying how many mistakes I made.

But I’m still here.

I learned from each failure. I got advice from smart people. I mastered the craft.

Listen to other popular bloggers, and you’ll hear the same story. Over and over and over again.

It’s not a coincidence. That’s how success happens. You live and learn.

If you’re guilty of some of these mistakes, it just means you’re still in the beginning stages of the journey. Take your licks, do your best to learn from them, and never, ever lose faith in yourself.

You really can do this.

There’s nothing wrong with you.

Just.

Keep.

Going.

About the Author: Jon Morrow is the CEO of Smart Blogger. Check out his new blog Unstoppable and read the launch post that went viral: 7 Life Lessons from a Guy Who Can’t Move Anything but His Face.

from Lauren Cameron Updates https://smartblogger.com/mediocre-blogger/

[richardrobertsimsuccessblog]

20 Ways to Be Just Another Mediocre Blogger Nobody Gives a Crap About

A troubling thought, isn’t it?

You’re slaving away at your blog, but you can’t help wondering if you have a shot in hell of getting anyone to read it.

What makes you any different from the millions of other bloggers hoping for attention?

You’re all doing the same stuff. Cranking out posts, messing around on Twitter and Facebook, leaving comments on popular blogs — you know, the usual.

But nobody gives a crap. Readers have seen it all before. You’re not offering anything new, so why should they hang around?

Good question. And the problem is, you don’t really have an answer.

Most of the time, you feel like you’re stumbling around in the dark. You can’t tell what’s working and what’s not. It feels like a big, never-ending guessing game.

Maybe you came here to find some answers. Maybe you’re hoping I’ll tell you what to do.

But I won’t.

Not because I don’t want to, but because sometimes you can’t understand what to do until you first understand what NOT to do. So, let’s start there.

Here’s a big, fat list of ways to be a mediocre blogger. How many are you guilty of?

1. Tell Stories

People love stories, but that doesn’t mean you should tell any. Here’s why: telling a boring story is worse than not telling any stories at all, and unless you’re trained in storytelling, yours are pretty much guaranteed to be boring.

If you doubt me, go to a bar and tell a story to someone in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. If everybody in the bar stops talking to listen to you, you’re a good storyteller. If they don’t, you suck.

And almost everybody sucks.

2. Be “True to Yourself”

Let me guess. Tried-and-true marketing techniques just don’t feel right to you, so you’re scrapping it all in the name of authenticity?

Well, I’ll be damned. I must be psychic!

No, the truth is everyone feels that way in the beginning, and everyone has to do it anyway. To get good at something, first you have to follow proven techniques and screw it all up, and then you learn, and then you follow proven techniques and do it correctly, and then one day, when you’ve been doing it a long time, and you’re a freaking master, you invent your own techniques. Promoting your work is the same process as learning to play the piano.

If it feels inauthentic, it’s not because there’s something wrong with the technique. It’s because you’re doing it wrong, and you need to keep practicing.

3. Build Your Twitter / Facebook / Google+ / Pinterest / LinkedIn Following First

Here’s your thinking: the reason you’re not getting any traffic is because first you need to build your following on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, or [ insert your social network here ]. Once you start getting some traction, then you can promote your blog, and the traffic will start flowing free and easy.

Heh. Wrong.

Yes, social networking is important, but you know what’s even more important? Focus.

By dividing your attention between so many different places, you’re pretty much guaranteeing you won’t do any of them well.

My advice: ignore social networks entirely in the beginning. Wait until you have 1,000 blog subscribers before you even think about building up a following somewhere else.

(And if you want to know how to get that first 1,000 without spending a nanosecond on Facebook or Twitter — here’s a clue.)

4. Write Short Posts

In my opinion, no beginning blogger should be publishing anything under 1,000 words. And really, 2,000 words should be your goal.

Why?

Three reasons:

Readers perceive long content to be more valuable. They’re more likely to bookmark it, share it, and link to it.

Most other bloggers are too lazy to write long content. If you’re willing to put in the effort, you’ll stand out.

There’s some good evidence that Google prefers long form content. And giving Google what it wants is smart.

The bottom line: stop writing short posts. Or at least intersperse them with much longer content.

5. Give Common Sense Advice

Do you believe in preaching good old-fashioned common sense?

If so, I worry about your chances, because common sense is boring. Readers have already heard it so many times they tune out the minute they even catch a whiff of conventional wisdom.

“But… but… common sense is what they need!” you say. My response: it doesn’t matter. If nobody is paying attention to you, you can spout all the truth in the world, and it won’t do anybody any good. So, stop writing posts that make people want to stop listening.

6. Insist on Originality

The opposite of common sense is also dangerous.

Some writers also get so obsessed with being original that they become incapable of ever publishing anything. And when they do happen to stumble across an original idea, it’s so strange and foreign to the reader that they can’t even follow it.

The better approach: find ways to approach old topics from fresh angles. It’s a lot easier, and it’s a lot less risky.

7. Be Polite

Do you hold back from asking influencers for links because you’re worried about bugging them? Or worse, do you hold back giving your readers the truth because you don’t want to offend them?

Well, newsflash: real bloggers fight for their ideas. There’s no need to be obnoxious, but you can’t go around squeaking out requests for help and dancing around hard truths.

You have to demand attention. You have to take stands. You have to be totally and utterly shameless.

The world already has enough cowards. So please, don’t be another one.

8. Write “When You Can”

For a lot of people, finding time to write is like packing a suitcase.

You put in all the important things first, close it to see if everything fits, stuff in more things, check it again, and so on and so on until there’s no more room. Whatever doesn’t fit gets left behind.

In life, those “important things” that get scheduled first are your job and family. If you have any room left, you stuff in friends and relaxation and whatnot. And then, at the very end of the list, you have your writing.

Because it’s the last to be scheduled, it almost always gets “left behind.” Not because you want to neglect it, but because your life is already full to bursting, and you just can’t find the space for it.

The solution: schedule it first, not last. Make it one of the “important things” you put in the suitcase first. Believing you’ll find time for it otherwise is just delusional.

9. Worry About SEO

Speaking of delusional…

Lots of people see blogging as a way to get search engine traffic. Find a keyword you want to rank for, publish a post around it, and a few months later, you’ll have all the traffic you can handle.

Right?

Wrong.

Getting search engine traffic isn’t about keywords. It’s not even about blog posts. It’s about creating something so amazing everyone talks about it and links to it.

So do that. You can worry about SEO later.

10. Start Multiple Blogs

In my opinion, it’s pretty much impossible to build a popular blog in less than 10 hours a week. If you want to grow quickly, tack on an additional 10.

Say you have two blogs. 2 X 20 = 40 hours a week of work to grow both of them quickly.

Are you willing to dedicate that kind of time? Do you even have that much extra time in your week?

If not, pick the blog that’s most important to you and jettison the rest.

Otherwise, you’re not blogging. You’re just dabbling.

11. Search for the Perfect Domain Name

Blogs are like living things. They evolve. Even if you found the perfect domain name today, you would hate it a year from now, because the focus of your blog will change.

The better solution: pick a domain name that’s good enough and go with it. Sure, changing it later is a headache, but never having a blog because you’re such a damn perfectionist is an even bigger headache.

Pick it. Register it (affiliate link). Move on.

12. Show the World How Clever You Are

Got a clever domain name? A clever headline? A clever post?

You’re probably pretty tickled with yourself, right?

Well, I hate to break it to you, but cleverness almost always backfires. People won’t get it. Sure, they would understand if they spent a few minutes thinking about it, but they’re in a hurry, and there are a gazillion other blog posts to read that don’t require so much thought.

Instead, be clear. Don’t make people figure it out. They’ll reward you by coming back.

13. Try to Be Seth Godin

Every once in a while, I’ll give a student some advice, and they’ll respond with, “But that’s not what Seth Godin does!”

*strangles student*

Think of it like this. Let’s say you like to play a little US football.

If I handed you a helmet right now and pushed you into the middle of a professional game, how do you think you would do?

I’ll tell you how you would do: you would get your ass handed to you. Those guys are genetic freaks who have prepared their entire lives to do battle with other genetic freaks. You’ll never be able to do what they do, no matter how hard you try. In fact, even trying could be deadly.

It’s the same thing with Seth. He’s the blogging equivalent of a 350-pound lineman who can run a mile in under 4 minutes. In other words, he’s so freakishly talented he can do things nobody else can.

So, stop trying to copy him. You don’t have his kind of talent, and if you did, you wouldn’t want to copy him anyway. The whole thing is just silly.

14. Wait Until You’re in the Right Frame of Mind

This one is so tempting.

You’re feeling tired or frustrated or [ insert your negative emotions here ], and you think, “I’ll never be able to write like this. I’ll just stop and come back when I’m in a better frame of mind.”

The truth?

You’re procrastinating. You’re scared of how difficult it is to express your thoughts, and you’re using your emotions as an excuse to quit.

It’s understandable, but that’s not what good writers do. Good writers write.

It doesn’t matter if they are tired. It doesn’t matter if they are going through a divorce. It doesn’t matter if their kids are screaming. It doesn’t matter if they’re sick and dying in the hospital. It doesn’t matter if terrorists drop a nuclear bomb on their hometown.

They write. End of story.

15. Agonize over Your WordPress Theme

It’s the same issue as searching for the perfect domain. You’ll never find it, and even if you do, you’ll hate it later. So, pick something good enough and get on with your business.

You have 15 minutes. Go.

16. Wait Until [ Insert Freelancer Here ] Can Help You

Are you waiting for a graphic designer or programmer or copywriter or WordPress specialist to help you with something?

Well, stop. If you’re ever going to get anything done, you have to refuse to wait for anyone. Ever.

A lot of times that means doing without. You might have to give up your fancy theme modifications or custom logo or WordPress plugin. Sure, they would be useful, but do you really need them?

No. You need to get off your lazy butt and stop procrastinating.

17. Use Free (Or Cheap) Hosting for Your Blog

Can you get by with it?

Sure.

Should you get by with it?

Not if you can help it. Here’s why:

At some point in the future, you’re going to have a problem with your blog. It’ll get hacked or slow down or just disappear mysteriously, and you won’t know what to do.

If you have a free or cheap host, you’ll be on your own, and you’ll waste days or even weeks trying to figure it out. At the end of it all, you’ll realize how foolish you were to skimp on hosting and move to a premium host like WP Engine (affiliate link) who fixes stuff for you when it breaks.

Or you can be smart and just do it now. The choice is yours.

18. Build Your Rss Subscriber List

You didn’t get the memo? RSS is on life support, and it’ll die any day now.

Smart bloggers stopped depending on it a long time ago. Instead, we get our readers to subscribe via email.

So should you.

19. Publish Great Content — in the Wrong Place

Is great content important?

Sure.

Should you create as much of it as you can?

Absolutely.

But should you publish it on your own blog right now?

Probably not.

To explain why, imagine if Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech to an empty room. It’s one of the greatest speeches in history, no doubt, but without an audience, without anyone to hear it and spread the word, it loses power.

Great content works the same way. Before you have an audience, publishing it on your own blog is a waste of time.

You’re better off publishing it as a guest post instead. Borrow a blog that already has a huge audience and use it to funnel those readers into your list.

Then, once you have a small group of dedicated followers, really ramp up the content on your blog. Just not before.

20. Give Up

After reading through all these mistakes, you might feel like, “Well, damn. I’m just a screw-up. I might as well quit.”

But you shouldn’t. Here’s why:

We’re all screw-ups.

In my first three years, I made every mistake on this list. Every single one.

Not only did all my blogs fail, but I was banned by Google, my first guest post was rejected by Copyblogger, and I got so carried away bragging about my interview with Seth Godin he had to ask me to stop. Looking back, it’s horrifying how many mistakes I made.

But I’m still here.

I learned from each failure. I got advice from smart people. I mastered the craft.

Listen to other popular bloggers, and you’ll hear the same story. Over and over and over again.

It’s not a coincidence. That’s how success happens. You live and learn.

If you’re guilty of some of these mistakes, it just means you’re still in the beginning stages of the journey. Take your licks, do your best to learn from them, and never, ever lose faith in yourself.

You really can do this.

There’s nothing wrong with you.

Just.

Keep.

Going.

About the Author: Jon Morrow is the CEO of Smart Blogger. Check out his new blog Unstoppable and read the launch post that went viral: 7 Life Lessons from a Guy Who Can’t Move Anything but His Face.

20 Ways to Be Just Another Mediocre Blogger Nobody Gives a Crap About

[annegalliher]

20 Ways to Be Just Another Mediocre Blogger Nobody Gives a Crap About

A troubling thought, isn’t it?

You’re slaving away at your blog, but you can’t help wondering if you have a shot in hell of getting anyone to read it.

What makes you any different from the millions of other bloggers hoping for attention?

You’re all doing the same stuff. Cranking out posts, messing around on Twitter and Facebook, leaving comments on popular blogs — you know, the usual.

But nobody gives a crap. Readers have seen it all before. You’re not offering anything new, so why should they hang around?

Good question. And the problem is, you don’t really have an answer.

Most of the time, you feel like you’re stumbling around in the dark. You can’t tell what’s working and what’s not. It feels like a big, never-ending guessing game.

Maybe you came here to find some answers. Maybe you’re hoping I’ll tell you what to do.

But I won’t.

Not because I don’t want to, but because sometimes you can’t understand what to do until you first understand what NOT to do. So, let’s start there.

Here’s a big, fat list of ways to be a mediocre blogger. How many are you guilty of?

1. Tell Stories

People love stories, but that doesn’t mean you should tell any. Here’s why: telling a boring story is worse than not telling any stories at all, and unless you’re trained in storytelling, yours are pretty much guaranteed to be boring.

If you doubt me, go to a bar and tell a story to someone in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. If everybody in the bar stops talking to listen to you, you’re a good storyteller. If they don’t, you suck.

And almost everybody sucks.

2. Be “True to Yourself”

Let me guess. Tried-and-true marketing techniques just don’t feel right to you, so you’re scrapping it all in the name of authenticity?

Well, I’ll be damned. I must be psychic!

No, the truth is everyone feels that way in the beginning, and everyone has to do it anyway. To get good at something, first you have to follow proven techniques and screw it all up, and then you learn, and then you follow proven techniques and do it correctly, and then one day, when you’ve been doing it a long time, and you’re a freaking master, you invent your own techniques. Promoting your work is the same process as learning to play the piano.

If it feels inauthentic, it’s not because there’s something wrong with the technique. It’s because you’re doing it wrong, and you need to keep practicing.

3. Build Your Twitter / Facebook / Google+ / Pinterest / LinkedIn Following First

Here’s your thinking: the reason you’re not getting any traffic is because first you need to build your following on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, or [ insert your social network here ]. Once you start getting some traction, then you can promote your blog, and the traffic will start flowing free and easy.

Heh. Wrong.

Yes, social networking is important, but you know what’s even more important? Focus.

By dividing your attention between so many different places, you’re pretty much guaranteeing you won’t do any of them well.

My advice: ignore social networks entirely in the beginning. Wait until you have 1,000 blog subscribers before you even think about building up a following somewhere else.

(And if you want to know how to get that first 1,000 without spending a nanosecond on Facebook or Twitter — here’s a clue.)

4. Write Short Posts

In my opinion, no beginning blogger should be publishing anything under 1,000 words. And really, 2,000 words should be your goal.

Why?

Three reasons:

Readers perceive long content to be more valuable. They’re more likely to bookmark it, share it, and link to it.

Most other bloggers are too lazy to write long content. If you’re willing to put in the effort, you’ll stand out.

There’s some good evidence that Google prefers long form content. And giving Google what it wants is smart.

The bottom line: stop writing short posts. Or at least intersperse them with much longer content.

5. Give Common Sense Advice

Do you believe in preaching good old-fashioned common sense?

If so, I worry about your chances, because common sense is boring. Readers have already heard it so many times they tune out the minute they even catch a whiff of conventional wisdom.

“But… but… common sense is what they need!” you say. My response: it doesn’t matter. If nobody is paying attention to you, you can spout all the truth in the world, and it won’t do anybody any good. So, stop writing posts that make people want to stop listening.

6. Insist on Originality

The opposite of common sense is also dangerous.

Some writers also get so obsessed with being original that they become incapable of ever publishing anything. And when they do happen to stumble across an original idea, it’s so strange and foreign to the reader that they can’t even follow it.

The better approach: find ways to approach old topics from fresh angles. It’s a lot easier, and it’s a lot less risky.

7. Be Polite

Do you hold back from asking influencers for links because you’re worried about bugging them? Or worse, do you hold back giving your readers the truth because you don’t want to offend them?

Well, newsflash: real bloggers fight for their ideas. There’s no need to be obnoxious, but you can’t go around squeaking out requests for help and dancing around hard truths.

You have to demand attention. You have to take stands. You have to be totally and utterly shameless.

The world already has enough cowards. So please, don’t be another one.

8. Write “When You Can”

For a lot of people, finding time to write is like packing a suitcase.

You put in all the important things first, close it to see if everything fits, stuff in more things, check it again, and so on and so on until there’s no more room. Whatever doesn’t fit gets left behind.

In life, those “important things” that get scheduled first are your job and family. If you have any room left, you stuff in friends and relaxation and whatnot. And then, at the very end of the list, you have your writing.

Because it’s the last to be scheduled, it almost always gets “left behind.” Not because you want to neglect it, but because your life is already full to bursting, and you just can’t find the space for it.

The solution: schedule it first, not last. Make it one of the “important things” you put in the suitcase first. Believing you’ll find time for it otherwise is just delusional.

9. Worry About SEO

Speaking of delusional…

Lots of people see blogging as a way to get search engine traffic. Find a keyword you want to rank for, publish a post around it, and a few months later, you’ll have all the traffic you can handle.

Right?

Wrong.

Getting search engine traffic isn’t about keywords. It’s not even about blog posts. It’s about creating something so amazing everyone talks about it and links to it.

So do that. You can worry about SEO later.

10. Start Multiple Blogs

In my opinion, it’s pretty much impossible to build a popular blog in less than 10 hours a week. If you want to grow quickly, tack on an additional 10.

Say you have two blogs. 2 X 20 = 40 hours a week of work to grow both of them quickly.

Are you willing to dedicate that kind of time? Do you even have that much extra time in your week?

If not, pick the blog that’s most important to you and jettison the rest.

Otherwise, you’re not blogging. You’re just dabbling.

11. Search for the Perfect Domain Name

Blogs are like living things. They evolve. Even if you found the perfect domain name today, you would hate it a year from now, because the focus of your blog will change.

The better solution: pick a domain name that’s good enough and go with it. Sure, changing it later is a headache, but never having a blog because you’re such a damn perfectionist is an even bigger headache.

Pick it. Register it (affiliate link). Move on.

12. Show the World How Clever You Are

Got a clever domain name? A clever headline? A clever post?

You’re probably pretty tickled with yourself, right?

Well, I hate to break it to you, but cleverness almost always backfires. People won’t get it. Sure, they would understand if they spent a few minutes thinking about it, but they’re in a hurry, and there are a gazillion other blog posts to read that don’t require so much thought.

Instead, be clear. Don’t make people figure it out. They’ll reward you by coming back.

13. Try to Be Seth Godin

Every once in a while, I’ll give a student some advice, and they’ll respond with, “But that’s not what Seth Godin does!”

*strangles student*

Think of it like this. Let’s say you like to play a little US football.

If I handed you a helmet right now and pushed you into the middle of a professional game, how do you think you would do?

I’ll tell you how you would do: you would get your ass handed to you. Those guys are genetic freaks who have prepared their entire lives to do battle with other genetic freaks. You’ll never be able to do what they do, no matter how hard you try. In fact, even trying could be deadly.

It’s the same thing with Seth. He’s the blogging equivalent of a 350-pound lineman who can run a mile in under 4 minutes. In other words, he’s so freakishly talented he can do things nobody else can.

So, stop trying to copy him. You don’t have his kind of talent, and if you did, you wouldn’t want to copy him anyway. The whole thing is just silly.

14. Wait Until You’re in the Right Frame of Mind

This one is so tempting.

You’re feeling tired or frustrated or [ insert your negative emotions here ], and you think, “I’ll never be able to write like this. I’ll just stop and come back when I’m in a better frame of mind.”

The truth?

You’re procrastinating. You’re scared of how difficult it is to express your thoughts, and you’re using your emotions as an excuse to quit.

It’s understandable, but that’s not what good writers do. Good writers write.

It doesn’t matter if they are tired. It doesn’t matter if they are going through a divorce. It doesn’t matter if their kids are screaming. It doesn’t matter if they’re sick and dying in the hospital. It doesn’t matter if terrorists drop a nuclear bomb on their hometown.

They write. End of story.

15. Agonize over Your WordPress Theme

It’s the same issue as searching for the perfect domain. You’ll never find it, and even if you do, you’ll hate it later. So, pick something good enough and get on with your business.

You have 15 minutes. Go.

16. Wait Until [ Insert Freelancer Here ] Can Help You

Are you waiting for a graphic designer or programmer or copywriter or WordPress specialist to help you with something?

Well, stop. If you’re ever going to get anything done, you have to refuse to wait for anyone. Ever.

A lot of times that means doing without. You might have to give up your fancy theme modifications or custom logo or WordPress plugin. Sure, they would be useful, but do you really need them?

No. You need to get off your lazy butt and stop procrastinating.

17. Use Free (Or Cheap) Hosting for Your Blog

Can you get by with it?

Sure.

Should you get by with it?

Not if you can help it. Here’s why:

At some point in the future, you’re going to have a problem with your blog. It’ll get hacked or slow down or just disappear mysteriously, and you won’t know what to do.

If you have a free or cheap host, you’ll be on your own, and you’ll waste days or even weeks trying to figure it out. At the end of it all, you’ll realize how foolish you were to skimp on hosting and move to a premium host like WP Engine (affiliate link) who fixes stuff for you when it breaks.

Or you can be smart and just do it now. The choice is yours.

18. Build Your Rss Subscriber List

You didn’t get the memo? RSS is on life support, and it’ll die any day now.

Smart bloggers stopped depending on it a long time ago. Instead, we get our readers to subscribe via email.

So should you.

19. Publish Great Content — in the Wrong Place

Is great content important?

Sure.

Should you create as much of it as you can?

Absolutely.

But should you publish it on your own blog right now?

Probably not.

To explain why, imagine if Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech to an empty room. It’s one of the greatest speeches in history, no doubt, but without an audience, without anyone to hear it and spread the word, it loses power.

Great content works the same way. Before you have an audience, publishing it on your own blog is a waste of time.

You’re better off publishing it as a guest post instead. Borrow a blog that already has a huge audience and use it to funnel those readers into your list.

Then, once you have a small group of dedicated followers, really ramp up the content on your blog. Just not before.

20. Give Up

After reading through all these mistakes, you might feel like, “Well, damn. I’m just a screw-up. I might as well quit.”

But you shouldn’t. Here’s why:

We’re all screw-ups.

In my first three years, I made every mistake on this list. Every single one.

Not only did all my blogs fail, but I was banned by Google, my first guest post was rejected by Copyblogger, and I got so carried away bragging about my interview with Seth Godin he had to ask me to stop. Looking back, it’s horrifying how many mistakes I made.

But I’m still here.

I learned from each failure. I got advice from smart people. I mastered the craft.

Listen to other popular bloggers, and you’ll hear the same story. Over and over and over again.

It’s not a coincidence. That’s how success happens. You live and learn.

If you’re guilty of some of these mistakes, it just means you’re still in the beginning stages of the journey. Take your licks, do your best to learn from them, and never, ever lose faith in yourself.

You really can do this.

There’s nothing wrong with you.

Just.

Keep.

Going.

About the Author: Jon Morrow is the CEO of Smart Blogger. Check out his new blog Unstoppable and read the launch post that went viral: 7 Life Lessons from a Guy Who Can’t Move Anything but His Face.

[sandranelsonuk]

20 Ways to Be Just Another Mediocre Blogger Nobody Gives a Crap About

A troubling thought, isn’t it?

You’re slaving away at your blog, but you can’t help wondering if you have a shot in hell of getting anyone to read it.

What makes you any different from the millions of other bloggers hoping for attention?

You’re all doing the same stuff. Cranking out posts, messing around on Twitter and Facebook, leaving comments on popular blogs — you know, the usual.

But nobody gives a crap. Readers have seen it all before. You’re not offering anything new, so why should they hang around?

Good question. And the problem is, you don’t really have an answer.

Most of the time, you feel like you’re stumbling around in the dark. You can’t tell what’s working and what’s not. It feels like a big, never-ending guessing game.

Maybe you came here to find some answers. Maybe you’re hoping I’ll tell you what to do.

But I won’t.

Not because I don’t want to, but because sometimes you can’t understand what to do until you first understand what NOT to do. So, let’s start there.

Here’s a big, fat list of ways to be a mediocre blogger. How many are you guilty of?

1. Tell Stories

People love stories, but that doesn’t mean you should tell any. Here’s why: telling a boring story is worse than not telling any stories at all, and unless you’re trained in storytelling, yours are pretty much guaranteed to be boring.

If you doubt me, go to a bar and tell a story to someone in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. If everybody in the bar stops talking to listen to you, you’re a good storyteller. If they don’t, you suck.

And almost everybody sucks.

2. Be “True to Yourself”

Let me guess. Tried-and-true marketing techniques just don’t feel right to you, so you’re scrapping it all in the name of authenticity?

Well, I’ll be damned. I must be psychic!

No, the truth is everyone feels that way in the beginning, and everyone has to do it anyway. To get good at something, first you have to follow proven techniques and screw it all up, and then you learn, and then you follow proven techniques and do it correctly, and then one day, when you’ve been doing it a long time, and you’re a freaking master, you invent your own techniques. Promoting your work is the same process as learning to play the piano.

If it feels inauthentic, it’s not because there’s something wrong with the technique. It’s because you’re doing it wrong, and you need to keep practicing.

3. Build Your Twitter / Facebook / Google+ / Pinterest / LinkedIn Following First

Here’s your thinking: the reason you’re not getting any traffic is because first you need to build your following on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, or [ insert your social network here ]. Once you start getting some traction, then you can promote your blog, and the traffic will start flowing free and easy.

Heh. Wrong.

Yes, social networking is important, but you know what’s even more important? Focus.

By dividing your attention between so many different places, you’re pretty much guaranteeing you won’t do any of them well.

My advice: ignore social networks entirely in the beginning. Wait until you have 1,000 blog subscribers before you even think about building up a following somewhere else.

(And if you want to know how to get that first 1,000 without spending a nanosecond on Facebook or Twitter — here’s a clue.)

4. Write Short Posts

In my opinion, no beginning blogger should be publishing anything under 1,000 words. And really, 2,000 words should be your goal.

Why?

Three reasons:

Readers perceive long content to be more valuable. They’re more likely to bookmark it, share it, and link to it.

Most other bloggers are too lazy to write long content. If you’re willing to put in the effort, you’ll stand out.

There’s some good evidence that Google prefers long form content. And giving Google what it wants is smart.

The bottom line: stop writing short posts. Or at least intersperse them with much longer content.

5. Give Common Sense Advice

Do you believe in preaching good old-fashioned common sense?

If so, I worry about your chances, because common sense is boring. Readers have already heard it so many times they tune out the minute they even catch a whiff of conventional wisdom.

“But… but… common sense is what they need!” you say. My response: it doesn’t matter. If nobody is paying attention to you, you can spout all the truth in the world, and it won’t do anybody any good. So, stop writing posts that make people want to stop listening.

6. Insist on Originality

The opposite of common sense is also dangerous.

Some writers also get so obsessed with being original that they become incapable of ever publishing anything. And when they do happen to stumble across an original idea, it’s so strange and foreign to the reader that they can’t even follow it.

The better approach: find ways to approach old topics from fresh angles. It’s a lot easier, and it’s a lot less risky.

7. Be Polite

Do you hold back from asking influencers for links because you’re worried about bugging them? Or worse, do you hold back giving your readers the truth because you don’t want to offend them?

Well, newsflash: real bloggers fight for their ideas. There’s no need to be obnoxious, but you can’t go around squeaking out requests for help and dancing around hard truths.

You have to demand attention. You have to take stands. You have to be totally and utterly shameless.

The world already has enough cowards. So please, don’t be another one.

8. Write “When You Can”

For a lot of people, finding time to write is like packing a suitcase.

You put in all the important things first, close it to see if everything fits, stuff in more things, check it again, and so on and so on until there’s no more room. Whatever doesn’t fit gets left behind.

In life, those “important things” that get scheduled first are your job and family. If you have any room left, you stuff in friends and relaxation and whatnot. And then, at the very end of the list, you have your writing.

Because it’s the last to be scheduled, it almost always gets “left behind.” Not because you want to neglect it, but because your life is already full to bursting, and you just can’t find the space for it.

The solution: schedule it first, not last. Make it one of the “important things” you put in the suitcase first. Believing you’ll find time for it otherwise is just delusional.

9. Worry About SEO

Speaking of delusional…

Lots of people see blogging as a way to get search engine traffic. Find a keyword you want to rank for, publish a post around it, and a few months later, you’ll have all the traffic you can handle.

Right?

Wrong.

Getting search engine traffic isn’t about keywords. It’s not even about blog posts. It’s about creating something so amazing everyone talks about it and links to it.

So do that. You can worry about SEO later.

10. Start Multiple Blogs

In my opinion, it’s pretty much impossible to build a popular blog in less than 10 hours a week. If you want to grow quickly, tack on an additional 10.

Say you have two blogs. 2 X 20 = 40 hours a week of work to grow both of them quickly.

Are you willing to dedicate that kind of time? Do you even have that much extra time in your week?

If not, pick the blog that’s most important to you and jettison the rest.

Otherwise, you’re not blogging. You’re just dabbling.

11. Search for the Perfect Domain Name

Blogs are like living things. They evolve. Even if you found the perfect domain name today, you would hate it a year from now, because the focus of your blog will change.

The better solution: pick a domain name that’s good enough and go with it. Sure, changing it later is a headache, but never having a blog because you’re such a damn perfectionist is an even bigger headache.

Pick it. Register it (affiliate link). Move on.

12. Show the World How Clever You Are

Got a clever domain name? A clever headline? A clever post?

You’re probably pretty tickled with yourself, right?

Well, I hate to break it to you, but cleverness almost always backfires. People won’t get it. Sure, they would understand if they spent a few minutes thinking about it, but they’re in a hurry, and there are a gazillion other blog posts to read that don’t require so much thought.

Instead, be clear. Don’t make people figure it out. They’ll reward you by coming back.

13. Try to Be Seth Godin

Every once in a while, I’ll give a student some advice, and they’ll respond with, “But that’s not what Seth Godin does!”

*strangles student*

Think of it like this. Let’s say you like to play a little US football.

If I handed you a helmet right now and pushed you into the middle of a professional game, how do you think you would do?

I’ll tell you how you would do: you would get your ass handed to you. Those guys are genetic freaks who have prepared their entire lives to do battle with other genetic freaks. You’ll never be able to do what they do, no matter how hard you try. In fact, even trying could be deadly.

It’s the same thing with Seth. He’s the blogging equivalent of a 350-pound lineman who can run a mile in under 4 minutes. In other words, he’s so freakishly talented he can do things nobody else can.

So, stop trying to copy him. You don’t have his kind of talent, and if you did, you wouldn’t want to copy him anyway. The whole thing is just silly.

14. Wait Until You’re in the Right Frame of Mind

This one is so tempting.

You’re feeling tired or frustrated or [ insert your negative emotions here ], and you think, “I’ll never be able to write like this. I’ll just stop and come back when I’m in a better frame of mind.”

The truth?

You’re procrastinating. You’re scared of how difficult it is to express your thoughts, and you’re using your emotions as an excuse to quit.

It’s understandable, but that’s not what good writers do. Good writers write.

It doesn’t matter if they are tired. It doesn’t matter if they are going through a divorce. It doesn’t matter if their kids are screaming. It doesn’t matter if they’re sick and dying in the hospital. It doesn’t matter if terrorists drop a nuclear bomb on their hometown.

They write. End of story.

15. Agonize over Your WordPress Theme

It’s the same issue as searching for the perfect domain. You’ll never find it, and even if you do, you’ll hate it later. So, pick something good enough and get on with your business.

You have 15 minutes. Go.

16. Wait Until [ Insert Freelancer Here ] Can Help You

Are you waiting for a graphic designer or programmer or copywriter or WordPress specialist to help you with something?

Well, stop. If you’re ever going to get anything done, you have to refuse to wait for anyone. Ever.

A lot of times that means doing without. You might have to give up your fancy theme modifications or custom logo or WordPress plugin. Sure, they would be useful, but do you really need them?

No. You need to get off your lazy butt and stop procrastinating.

17. Use Free (Or Cheap) Hosting for Your Blog

Can you get by with it?

Sure.

Should you get by with it?

Not if you can help it. Here’s why:

At some point in the future, you’re going to have a problem with your blog. It’ll get hacked or slow down or just disappear mysteriously, and you won’t know what to do.

If you have a free or cheap host, you’ll be on your own, and you’ll waste days or even weeks trying to figure it out. At the end of it all, you’ll realize how foolish you were to skimp on hosting and move to a premium host like WP Engine (affiliate link) who fixes stuff for you when it breaks.

Or you can be smart and just do it now. The choice is yours.

18. Build Your Rss Subscriber List

You didn’t get the memo? RSS is on life support, and it’ll die any day now.

Smart bloggers stopped depending on it a long time ago. Instead, we get our readers to subscribe via email.

So should you.

19. Publish Great Content — in the Wrong Place

Is great content important?

Sure.

Should you create as much of it as you can?

Absolutely.

But should you publish it on your own blog right now?

Probably not.

To explain why, imagine if Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech to an empty room. It’s one of the greatest speeches in history, no doubt, but without an audience, without anyone to hear it and spread the word, it loses power.

Great content works the same way. Before you have an audience, publishing it on your own blog is a waste of time.

You’re better off publishing it as a guest post instead. Borrow a blog that already has a huge audience and use it to funnel those readers into your list.

Then, once you have a small group of dedicated followers, really ramp up the content on your blog. Just not before.

20. Give Up

After reading through all these mistakes, you might feel like, “Well, damn. I’m just a screw-up. I might as well quit.”

But you shouldn’t. Here’s why:

We’re all screw-ups.

In my first three years, I made every mistake on this list. Every single one.

Not only did all my blogs fail, but I was banned by Google, my first guest post was rejected by Copyblogger, and I got so carried away bragging about my interview with Seth Godin he had to ask me to stop. Looking back, it’s horrifying how many mistakes I made.

But I’m still here.

I learned from each failure. I got advice from smart people. I mastered the craft.

Listen to other popular bloggers, and you’ll hear the same story. Over and over and over again.

It’s not a coincidence. That’s how success happens. You live and learn.

If you’re guilty of some of these mistakes, it just means you’re still in the beginning stages of the journey. Take your licks, do your best to learn from them, and never, ever lose faith in yourself.

You really can do this.

There’s nothing wrong with you.

Just.

Keep.

Going.

About the Author: Jon Morrow is the CEO of Smart Blogger. Check out his new blog Unstoppable and read the launch post that went viral: 7 Life Lessons from a Guy Who Can’t Move Anything but His Face.

from Julia Garza Social Media Tips https://smartblogger.com/mediocre-blogger/

[hottytoddynews]

Tad Wilkes, aka Moon Pie Curtis

Oxford singer-songwriter Tad Wilkes is living proof that good things come to those who wait. Some just have to wait a good while longer than they ever imagined.

After more than 25 years of honing his craft and polishing his riffs in local bars and cafés, Wilkes has scored his first win in a national competition, beating out more than 600 fellow tunesmiths for first place in the prestigious bimonthly American Songwriter Lyric Contest, sponsored by American Songwriter magazine.

“I still don’t really believe it happened,” said Wilkes, a longtime journalist and the Oxford-based editor of Hotel F&B Magazine.

Wilkes’ winning entry, “Be Good To Your Woman,” will be featured in American Songwriter’s upcoming March-April issue. It will also be one of six finalists for the magazine’s grand-prize competition at the end of 2018.

“I’ve entered their contest a few times in the past, but I never placed or anything,” Wilkes said. “You’re going up against songwriters from all over the country and maybe internationally. I had actually submitted a different song to the previous issue and didn’t get anywhere. I’m not even sure why I decided to submit another one. It was only a $15 fee, and I figured I could spend that. But I had no hope that I’d win.”

Wilkes received a new PRS acoustic guitar and a Sennheiser microphone, but the real prize is the exposure—including a Q&A interview with photographs—in one of the music industry’s top magazines. Recent issues have spotlighted acclaimed artists like Willie Nelson (the January-February cover subject), Chris Hillman, Kenny Chesney and Nicky Mehta of The Wailin’ Jennys.

The magazine’s lyric contests are judged by some of the leading songwriters in the business, including Charlie Worsham, whose album, “Beginning of Things,” was named one of the “25 Best Country and Americana Albums of 2017” by Rolling Stone; Grammy and Oscar nominee Allison Moorer; Taylor Goldsmith, the frontman of indie rock band Dawes; and Austin-based Slaid Cleaves, hailed by Rolling Stone as “Americana’s most underappreciated songwriter.”

“These are all songwriters’ songwriters,” Wilkes notes.

Like a lot of those masters of the craft, Wilkes’ own musical style defies easy labels. It owes a little bit to the likes of Guy Clark, John Prine and Kris Kristofferson and a lot to no one you’ve ever heard before. Peppered with raunchy wit and piercing self-deprecation, his songs manage to be intensely personal and universal at the same time, filled with longing and laugh-out-loud one-liners. Even the saddest and sweetest of his songs will make you guffaw when you least expect it.

His debut CD, “Enter the Fool,” released in 2015 and co-produced by his good friend and former songwriting partner Joshua Cooker of the Nashville-based Captain Midnight Band, features both a comedic paean to sexy soccer moms in yoga pants (“Your Mama and Them”) and a snappy, bluesy-rock rumination on the bitter aftermath of a failed marriage (“It’s Called Divorce”).

The cleverly metaphorical and immensely catchy “Be Kind, Rewind,” meanwhile, portrays a doomed romance in terms of Hollywood artifice:

Remember the opening credits We were both billed as stars The director yelled ‘action’ And we made out in my car But somewhere in the second act The storyline went south Some hack writer put some crappy dialogue In my mouth It all came out And I don’t even know what I was talking about

It’s a style that Wilkes has been fine-tuning since he was a teenager. “In high school, I made up what I would call novelty songs—silly, juvenile kind of stuff,” he recalled. “Songs with titles like ‘Booger on the Bronco’ and ‘Eatin’ Dog Food.’ My friend Ayers Spencer and I had a band called The Dingleberries—I sort of dragged him into it.”

At Ole Miss, Wilkes and Cooker went on to form the hard-partying band Cardinal Fluff and began taking songwriting more seriously. “Josh and I started writing songs together—even though they were still funny, they were real songs,” he said. “We were serious about being funny, sort of like Frank Zappa. I got my first real acoustic guitar at that time and then started listening to old country music and writing my own songs.”

Delving into the roots of what would later become known as the Americana genre, he immersed himself in the works of country- and folk-music storytellers like Prine, Clark, Steve Goodman, Jerry Jeff Walker and Willie Nelson. He also absorbed a lesson or two from another master raconteur, his own father, the late Dr. Thurston Wilkes. “He could tell a joke better than anybody,” Wilkes recalled. “From my dad I think I learned to add a little humor to complement the darkness and the deep thoughts—or what qualify as deep thoughts for me, anyway. Like George Carlin or Richard Pryor, he chose every word carefully, knew how to put each word in exactly the right place with the right emphasis. The first line of any song is the first impression, so I always believed in having a great first line. You add a little humor to see if they’re paying attention. That’s what my dad would do—he would throw some off-color joke into the conversation just to see if you were listening.”

Wilkes’ father, Dr. Thurston Wilkes, known for his hilarious off-color jokes and anecdotes, influenced his son’s songwriting style.

In Cardinal Fluff, Wilkes invented an off-color persona of his own, a bewigged, madcap character called Moon Pie Curtis, a name that he still performs under today (minus the wig and the wacky wordplay), while Cooker re-christened himself Captain Midnight. Cardinal Fluff lasted six or seven years, performing hilariously dirty-minded ditties with titles like “Position Impossible” and “Proud Totem.” But the bandmates parted ways when Cooker moved to New Orleans and then to Nashville, where the guitar-slinging Captain Midnight still fronts his own jam band and describes himself as “an internationally ignored superstar … (and) the world’s only purveyor of waterbed rock-and-roll.”

Wilkes, meanwhile, opted for a quieter, more domesticated life. “I thought, ‘Well, I want to have a family, so I should have a real job and keep living in Oxford.’ Songwriting was something I could still do here whenever I wanted. I figured it’s not like being a stand-up comic where you have to live in L.A. But, while that’s technically true, your chances of success in songwriting are much lower if you don’t live in Nashville and you’re not networking and co-writing and working with other musicians every day. I don’t think I really appreciated the magnitude of that at the time.”

Not that he has any regrets about opting for the joys of hometown domestication. He and his wife, Amy, have two adorable young daughters, and, in addition to his job with Hotel F&B, he founded Roxford University, a unique music school for children that offers both individual lessons in various instruments and a live-performance track, giving kids the experience of starting their own bands and putting on concerts twice a year.

In the meantime, Wilkes’ songwriting and musicianship have continued to evolve and mature. “Be Good to Your Woman,” the song that won the American Songwriter contest, was inspired by a piece of advice given to him years ago by his grandmother on her deathbed. “She had heart disease, and even breathing had become painful for her,” he said. “One day she told me, ‘Make sure to be good to your woman because they think real deep, and they hurt real easy.’ That just stuck in my head for years. But it’s hard for me to write a song like that—something that’s so heavy and deep. That was a tall order.”

The last thing Wilkes wanted to write was some maudlin, cliché-ridden tear-jerker, so he took his time with it—a lot of time. “I thought the first version was the best song I’d ever written,” he said. “That was about 10 years ago. Then, I realized the second verse was throwing the whole vibe off-course. It reflected my own distinctly male point of view, and that wasn’t what I wanted the song to be about. I knew I had to redo it. Looking back, it’s probably a good thing that I put so much thought into this one song, making all those revisions. I guess I always thought somebody would hear it eventually, and I wanted it to be perfect.”

“Be Good to Your Woman” will likely appear on Wilkes’ next CD, which he plans to cut with Cooker later this year. Although Wilkes, in his Moon Pie Curtis gigs, usually plays solo and unplugged, full studio instrumentation and Cooker’s sure hand on the production side bring glossy new life to his tunes while preserving the raw, throbbing ache that lies just underneath the wryly funny lyrics.

And winning the American Songwriter contest proved that Wilkes can still get his songs heard in Nashville without living there.

“It means that I haven’t been wasting my time doing some silly creative endeavor all these years,” he said. “I don’t feel discouraged about writing songs anymore. Now I know I’m not just doing it for myself.”

By Rick Hynum

The post Oxford’s Tad Wilkes Wins National Lyrics Contest with American Songwriter Magazine appeared first on HottyToddy.com.