This is the end of daily blogging (at least for now). It's been fun coming up with content every day, but I need to cut down for a little while and replenish my stock.

But good things are coming in September, including weekly visits from Karina Fabian as part of her blog tour for Mind Over Mind. There will also be more advice, book reviews and whatever craziness I figure isn't too crazy to share.

Want to try daily blogging? Sign up at National Blog Posting Month and let loose. By participating throughout August, I saw an increase in subscribers and traffic.

How Networking Works…and Doesn’t

Successful networking is not like winning the lottery but more akin to a long-term investment strategy. If you start networking to find clients and make money, you don’t understand what networking means. 

Four successful businesswomen—Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Dotsie Bregel, Tracy Lynn Repchuk and Viveca A. Stone—share their networking experiences and insights. Be sure to take plenty of notes along the way. There won’t be a quiz, but no doubt you will be tested. 

WHAT ARE YOUR REASONS FOR NETWORKING? HOW HAVE THEY CHANGED OVER THE YEARS? 

Dotsie Bregel, founder of BoomerWomenSpeak.com and the National Association of Baby Boomer Women: “I am a networker by nature and really don’t know how to go about life without it. I’m forever connecting people whom I believe can be of some type of encouragement/help to one another.” 

Tracy Repchuk, President of the Canadian Federation of Poets and author of The Poetry of Business: “Originally my reasons for networking were to meet people I could sell to. Over the years I realized this was one sided. Now I network to find out what other people are doing, are they happy, do they need help, maybe I can provide them with what they need. I listen to their needs, care about them, and hope that I am someone they would like to get to know better, and let me assist in any way possible.” 

Viveca A. Stone, founder of GetReadyForLove.com: “Networking is the fastest, easiest, and most satisfying way to be successful and get ‘the job’ done. In school collaboration is generally considered ‘cheating.’ As the youngest child I grew up feeling the need to ‘prove myself.’ These two experiences stood between me and my networking success for many years. Originally I found myself in a job for which I was completely unqualified. It was technical, aggressive, and fast paced. To succeed I had to network and build a team. It took six grueling months for me to combine the right mix of buyers with the right mix of sellers. I plunked myself in the middle and treated them well. From there the business exploded. Now when I find myself returning to my comfort zone of going it alone—which also corresponds to overworking and an empty bank account—I recall that experience and refocus on what matters most—networking and building successful teams. Success is sweeter when shared and obstacles are so much easier to overcome when shared with a team.” 

Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won’t and founder of the Authors’ Coalition: “Networking equates with success. I once thought that if someone else gave me a hand that somehow diminished my own accomplishments.  Now the process of giving others a boost and allowing (yes, even sometimes asking!) others to give me a boost is the way I do business. By the way, business equates with life. It is part of one's life, after all.” 

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT NETWORKING? 

Carolyn Howard-Johnson: “See above.”

Dotsie Bregel: “People will say no. I’ve yet to experience this.” 

Tracy Repchuk: “Misconceptions include: waste of time, boring, not the type of people for my product/services, things such as this.” 

Viveca A. Stone: “Networking kind of sounds phony to me. It makes me think of all those ‘networking’ events I attended in my twenties for which I was ill prepared. Was just listening into an interview yesterday about ‘Testosterone Free Marketing’ and the difference between men and women. Maybe those events felt phony to me because they seemed like distasteful social events—I didn’t go into them with the right frame of mind or objectives, i.e. I want to meet so and so and discuss such and such.” 

HOW HAS YOUR CAREER BENEFITED FROM NETWORKING? 

Viveca A. Stone: “I’ve made great friends and colleagues to work and play with. We all have different talents—some of us gather and build great networks—some of us inspire success ‘wind beneath the wings’—some of us are great at starting projects—some at ending them. My career would be nowhere without my friends, colleagues, and networks.” 

Carolyn Howard-Johnson: “There isn't a way that it hasn't. We may be captains of our own barks, but we always need a compass and a sail.” 

Dotsie Bregel: “I’ve grown two wonderful Web sites and met tons of incredible women who are willing to go the extra mile for one another. My approach is always ‘what can I do for you’ because I like to help others.” 

Tracy Repchuk: “Without people/networking, you don't have anyone to communicate to, work with, find out about, and help. Getting together with others is a healthy way to enjoy what you do, let others know about it, and meet some fantastic and interesting people along the way.” 

Writing in Absentia

Many things keep us from writing. Family. Friends. Work. Play. Distractions abound.

When it comes to blogging, we also have to contend with unexpected power outages from time to time. Such may (or may not) be the case today. Hurricane Irene (a doozy of a storm regardless of current classification) is making its way through eastern Canada. As such, I may (or may not) be without power right now.

Not one to let a little Act of God interfere with my commitment to daily blogging this months, especially with August so close to ending, I'm writing this on Sunday and scheduling it for Monday.

Does your blog service have a scheduling feature? Besides stormy weather, it's great for vacations, business trips and other absences. If your blog service doesn't sllow for scheduled posts, find a different provider.


PS: Now back to Carole Lombard in Twentieth Century (1934). John Barrymore already stuck his finger up his nose. I can't wait to see what happens next!

Off the Shelf: William B. Hamilton's At the Crossroads

William B. Hamilton loves to talk--about history in general and his books in particular.

I had the pleasure of speaking with him in 2004, in conjunction with the release of At the Crossroads: A History of Sackville, New Brunswick. We no sooner settled in at one of the Waverley Inn's breakfast room tables than he launched into a lengthy account of the background behind his book. By the time he finished, he already answered most of my main questions.

Hamilton's interest in history stretches back decades. Through teaching and writing, he believes in a "backward into history" approach that he first introduces in his 1974 book Local History in Atlantic Canada. In essence, one must "start with the local community then work out in concentric circles to the province, the region, the nation, the world" in order to gain a personal perspective on broader issues.

That approach is evident in At the Crossroads. The smallest of dots on the world map, Sackville nonetheless reflects numerous global events through its story. Hamilton deftly weaves accounts from the Age of Sail and two World Wars, among others, but he's the first to admit the task wasn't easy.

"How do you cover almost four centuries of European settlement, before that eons of Mi'kmaq inhabitation, and get it all in readable fashion and in form that the average person can muster?" he asks before diving into the answer. "Very early on I decided that I would not try to write a comprehensive history of Sackville. People try to tell too much. You've got to be brutally selective. So I hit upon the idea of three basic themes.

"One was the crossroads analogy beginning with the Mi'kmaq, the century of French/English conflict for the isthmus because of its strategic location, then you move into the later period with the establishment of the Post Road, the railways.

"Theme two is the marshlands and the impact of the marshlands. That's what brought the first Acadian/European settlers. By the beginning of the 19th century--I'm borrowing a phrase here from Harry Thurston--you have the largest hayfield in the world.

"The third theme starts in 1839 and it's the founding of the Mount Allison institutions. They came to Sackville for two reasons: one was location [and the other] was the Yorkshire Methodists. They were interested in education, they were literate, [and] they wanted to make sure that their future generations had an education. They also wanted a Methodist clergy."

Hamilton also believes that Canadians, contrary to popular opinion, are interested in their own history--you just have to put it in front of them. So he writes. From textbooks and guidebooks to columns and lectures, Hamilton puts our history before us and asks only that we read and understand.

Other books by William B. Hamilton:

Local History in Atlantic Canada (1974)
The Macmillan Book of Canadian Place Names (1978; revised 1983)
The Nova Scotia Traveller: A Maritimer's Guide to His Home Province (1981)
The Quest for a Regional Identity (1984)
One County One World (1992)
Place Names of Atlantic Canada (1996)

Unicorns & Roosters: The Good Old Days of Canadian TV

There was just something so Canadian about growing up in Canada in the 60s and 70s, before cable TV became part of our landscape. Sure, we had Sesame Street, just like the Americans, but we also had non-Henson puppets on Mr. Dressup and The Friendly Ghost. No one was cooler than Jerome the Giraffe grooving on his mouth organ.

The Forest Rangers provided plenty of adventure to balance out more educational fare. So what if the show propagated the myth that Canada was one big wilderness stretch? We tuned in each week to see what kind of trouble those brave kids would get into.

We heard plenty of music, too, thanks to Tommy Hunter, Don Messer and The Carlton Show Band. Whenever the Irish Rovers, "Them unicorns looked up from the rocks and they cried", I cried, too. No matter how many times I heard "The Unicorn Song," I prayed for a different ending.

Over the past few years, we've started seeing a resurgence of Canadian programming. Da Vinci's Inquest proved that a successful Canadian show could be set in Canada, and Flashpoint has continued that premise and gained a strong following south of the border.

That's good. But none of the new shows can recapture the magic of watching Rusty the Rooster pull a library out of his bag.

Becoming a Writer

I became a writer when my thoughts became too personal for a diary. No surprise, since my parents did not believe in privacy for children. And they saw me as a child, even in high school. Instead of acting out like so many my age, I learned to craft the illusion of fiction.

My early poetry read like encoded diary entries. I could write anything and, if questioned, claim I made it all up. Blooming crushes and broken hearts echoed inside me, growing to such a cacophony that I had no choice but to release them. Disjointed thoughts turned to rhyme, and the din to rhythm. The world made a bit more sense against a white backdrop.

Not that I really thought of myself as a writer back then. That distinction belonged to the professionals. I assumed that making a living at writing took all the fun out of it.

So I plodded ahead, untrained and untried, churning out one insipid poem after another. My friends got hooked, coming back for regular doses of Harlequinesque poetry. But I knew I could do better. At least I hoped so.

Maybe that's when I truly became a writer--the moment when I thought to reach beyond my limited experience and into the unknown. It wasn't enough that I should learn to write. I had to learn about everything. A dollop of psychology. A smattering of sociology. And plenty of field work.

I discovered a fascinating world outside my imagination, full of fabulous characters just waiting to be penned. Like the man on the bus who shook out his hat every three minutes. And the woman with pencils sticking out of her coifed hair. I dubbed her the street geisha. A few of my silent friends found their voices in poetry, like the swarthy man in black who loped past my appointed spot at the coffee shop. Others spoke out through fiction. "Sweetapple" was my favorite, another patron of the Metro Transit system. He looked worn out by living. I wanted to know why, so I invented his biography.

A different sort of reality hampered my creativity several years ago. Faced with corporate downsizing, I chose to make the leap to a new employer and more challenging work. Climbing the learning curve left little energy for writing. But the words inside my head wouldn't stay bottled up for long. I returned to my first love, poetry, then branched out to short essays, knowing that fiction would return in its own time.

When did I become a writer? It's been an ongoing process, full of fresh insights and challenged perceptions. Writing is a lifelong education. If I ever think I've mastered the craft, then I'll know I missed a step along the way.

Build Your Next Website with Promo Divas

I wanted to let you know about my friend Lori's new business. Promo Divas offers web design with promotion. The Promo Divas will work with you to get your website set up and you can participate in regular promotions through the site for no additional charge. The rates are quite reasonable, and they've sweetened the deal with introductory discounts. 

Promo Divas does websites for: 

*Businesses

*Wedding galleries

*Families

*Authors

*Non-Profits 

No adult-oriented or rated-R sites, please. 

I can earn $10 if you sign up and use my name and e-mail. (Even better, you can pass on the word and earn $10 as well.) Just go to promodivas.com and check out the packages. Sign up and, during the checkout process, put the following information in the "notes" field: 

Betty Dobson

bettydobson(at)eastlink(dot)ca 

After nearly 10 years with the same web host, I'm planning to make the switch to Promo Divas myself. The features are appealing, and the price is right! 

If you have questions, you can e-mail Lori through the website. Thanks so much!