BIKE WITH JACKIE

A baiku book in the works

2016-01-21T14:25:00.000-08:00

Rode sixty miles

Uphill was nothing but slow

It seemed all uphill

Remember these little poems? I've posted them here every now and then. Does the May blogathon rink a bell? That's when a whole gang of us writers have shared our haiku poems. Me? I write a different kind. It's called baiku, found as #baiku on Twitter, where I'm known as @bikelady. It's poetry for the bicycle enthusiast. That's me!

I've composed enough baiku now to fill a few books. So I wrote one. I pulled about 50 of these fun poems together, added some backstory about my BIKE story and information about the poetry, included writing prompts and space so readers can write their own poems, and there you have it...a book. It's done!

I'm now beginning the challenging and lengthy process to get it published. Please spread the word. And when it's out, I hope you'll buy a copy. I assure you, it will be fun, inspiring, quirky--a good read worth sharing.

Expect the best!
Jackie

Clearing the dust bunnies

2015-06-12T17:18:00.000-07:00

Pardon the dust. It's been so long since my last post, I almost forgot how to log in.

Luckily, I remembered the password, and here I am. Back on the page.

Just wanted to let you know I'm going to be posting about something called Slow Bike Travel over the course of the next few months, as I make plans to create a new blog about the Slow Bike Movement. Only I'll be focusing on travel.

If you don't know much about Slow Bike Travel, I'll tell you that it's purely about the ride. It's about the love of the ride. Just riding for the sake of riding. Whether it's to get to work, for recreation, or just to relax, the Slow Bike Ride is all about enjoyment. If you love to ride, hop on your bike. You don't have to dress in any particular style of clothing. You don't have to have the right shoes. You don't have to have a specific kind of bike. Any bike will do.

And it's most certainly not about racing.

The Slow Bike Movement is simply about the ride.

Slow Bike Travel, from my perspective, is about the places where you can enjoy that ride.

So my purpose in covering the movement and its related attractions is to help you find out where you can enjoy the ride, too.

Stay tuned!

The Prescription for Pain is Compassion

2013-09-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

I know your first inclination after hearing about yet another shooter on the loose this week, that is, if he hadn't been dead already: Kill the bastard!

Mine? Compassion.

The reason? Pain.

When I woke up yesterday morning, like you, to the news about the shooting at Navy Yard, I posted on my Facebook page that there's "too much pain in the world." Aaron Alexis is yet another example of that. Yes, of course, he's just caused so much more. No dispute there. But what can we do about it?

No pills, please. There's just one answer that I can see: Pray for compassion. Don't make this a religious thing. Make it a human thing. We had a life who'd been hurting for a long, long time. A news report today says Alexis had exhibited signs of mental illness in his early 20s. He had even complained of hearing voices and may have shown signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after 9/11; he may have taken part in rescue efforts. Several arrests followed. More than a decade later, the young man was still crying out for help, but who heard him enough to help him?

This is why stories like this drive me crazy. Here, we have a young man who was voicing his own concerns about his mental health. He was acting out, most likely cries for help. He was exhibiting behavior that, in totality, clearly shows a man in trouble and in need. Yet, he didn't find the help he needed. Why the hell not?

Can we please use this latest example of horror as the impetus to reach out. Could our government please step up with more mental health care coverage? Could our mental health experts please continue to educate us how we can recognize a person in pain and what can we do to help? Can we please teach our children that it's okay to speak up when hurting -- even if it has to do with how you feel? Can we please, now, make it okay for anyone to ask for help? And can be please find a way to provide it?

So many questions with no clear answers. And now we have so many more lives destroyed because, once again, we've failed. We've failed to recognize the growing mental health concerns our nation faces. We've failed to see the importance of funding mental health. We've failed to appreciate the need for more awareness programs regarding mental illness. And we just do not understand mental anguish at all.

If I were the one making the rules, I'd require everyone from age 15 and on to sit once a year inside a courthouse to observe. You would be surprised that the majority of cases a judge hears every day involve young men -- and women -- usually repeat offenders, in need of mental health care or drug intervention. Some of them, like Alexis, hear voices. Some of them, like Alexis, will gain access to a weapon. And who knows what will happen next?! But it might just happen in your hometown. Dare I say what you might suffer then? Were we able to require annual visits to the court house to see what really goes on inside our justice system, it might be a steady reminder of what you don't want. Maybe you'd get a clear idea of what we need to put in place. Jail time and prison time don't seem to be the answer to this kind of pain.

We have to find a way to build a more compassionate world -- one in which we reach out to the people in our community, one in which we don't look the other way. We're in need of understanding. We're in need of being heard. People are not listening to each other.

So maybe people in pain don't do the greatest job of expressing themselves. Maybe they're not clear enough. So don't look to their words to hear the pleas. Look in their expressionless eyes, at the way they carry themselves with drooping shoulders or a slower pace than normal. Look at the way they live, in a state of overwhelm. If their cries, especially the unexpressed, aren't heard, it's going to naturally turn to anger. Months? Years? If they go on unheard, that's an awful lot of boxed-up feelings. You must know, eventually, that box will open. Then out comes another Navy Yard. Only it just might be your yard.

So let's not just pop a pill in the box or turn the other cheek. Pills are a band-aid and ignorance isn't bliss in this case. If anything should be killed, it's the pain. There's too damn much pain in the world, and we can kill it with compassion. Let's start there.

Do men care about connection?

2013-03-08T10:12:00.003-08:00

I think the worst thing in the world is to be disconnected from yourself and your environment. ~Venus Nicolino in "LA Shrinks" on Bravo TV

The second I posted this quote on my Facebook page today, I was surprised to see two immediate "Likes." Why? Because they were posted by men. So, happily surprised would more closely match how I felt. Reason being: I don't always think of men in this way. In past personal relationships with male partners, half the time I haven't felt like they even understand the word, let alone agree that it's important.

If they have been connected, it's been with their jobs or their cars or their drinking buddies, but not to me or to our environment. At least, not all the time. I'd more likely noticed a disconnect.

So this was a heartening revelation to me. It reminds me to let go of gender biases. It's just like my boyfriend tells me, "I don't speak for all men. And they don't speak for me." Men, in general, are no different than women. They feel, think and believe just as women feel, think and believe. Maybe not in the exact same way, but, clearly -- I've been enlightened -- they do care about connection.

When I posted that quote this morning, I must admit, I was expecting my girlfriends to agree, but I wasn't thinking my guy friends would care one way or the other -- or notice the quote at all.

If the worst thing in the world is to be disconnected from yourself and your environment, a reverse quote might read that the best thing in the world is to disconnect from your biases. At least, that's what happened to me this morning. I have been schooled. So, thanks guys. And I mean that literally.

What life lessons have you learned?

2013-03-02T14:31:00.001-08:00

Here's one of mine:

Obstacles aren't meant to stop you; they're meant to strengthen you.

Discuss.

My first video interview about BIKE

2013-02-02T06:49:00.000-08:00

Thought you might like to watch me discuss a few brief thoughts about how I came up with the BIKE program and how I realized I could turn it into something more than just another bike ride:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPWdY64-KaY

This interview took place last year via the Author Learning Center, a subscription-based, author education community that provides tools, content and motivation to support writers. Suzette Conway, director of author education interviewed me at the American Society of Journalists and Authors conference in New York City last April.

Not bad for a first interview. Now I need to get busy and create a speaker demo--and get back to blogging, too!

I've missed you guys!

Maine Your Days Be Merry...Bright and Peaceful

2012-12-20T10:13:00.000-08:00

A winter's view while snowshoeing along the Maine Huts Trail

How to respond to grief

2012-12-15T09:24:00.000-08:00

Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. And no one said a word, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words. [Job 2:13]

Newtown, Conn. -- the best reason for gun control

2012-12-14T12:34:00.000-08:00

I have a vivid memory of when my son, as a five-year-old, and I went for a walk. His small hand wasn't big enough to hold mine, so he wrapped all the fingers on his right hand around my left pinky. That's how small a kindergartner is. They are tiny and defenseless. One man shot and killed up to 20 of them this morning in Newtown, Conn. No matter what is uncovered in the police investigation, it won't change anything. Beautiful, innocent little lives were ripped away from us, and our big hands couldn't do anything to stop it.

What do you think about gun control now?

Best #baiku ever!

2012-11-29T07:24:00.003-08:00

Riding for hours
on this seat without padding
makes my big bum numb.

More #baiku

2012-11-28T06:47:00.000-08:00

I can't help myself. For now, I'm inspired to write in verse on the blog. So that's what I'll do until I get my motivation back. Here's another #baiku, hopefully, for your reading pleasure:

Rides can serve you well
When life offers challenges
You will learn to see

During the times when you feel the least motivated, what do you do to get your mojo back?

Benefits of riding a bike -- in verse

2012-11-26T10:24:00.000-08:00

For whatever reason, my thoughts have been hijacked by short snippets of verse in haiku form. Bicycle enthusiasts call this style of poetry #baiku. I wrote three of them last week, and here are three more that I posted on Twitter. This time, I post them with titles. I think of them as healing words:

THE START
Bike trail begins
thin line embedded in dirt
can't wait for downhill.

THE CHALLENGE
Uphill I go...slow
sometimes I have to walk up
but I never quit.

A REASON TO RIDE
When bike takes you there
to paradise and then back
your life will be changed.

Inspired by poetry, 3 baiku poems

2012-11-21T09:07:00.003-08:00

I think of my bike / its two thick sturdy tires / pushing me through mud. #baiku

I live for the bike / her images around me / also the real thing. #baiku

Inspired by Trek / she pushed me past obstacles / and showed me my strength. #baiku

How to get back into the dating scene

2012-09-10T10:36:00.002-07:00

I'm working out a few kinks in my schedule and will be back with regular posts soon. But you can find me today over at grandparents.com, where I'm beginning a new blogging venture as a dating columnist. Who knew?

So far, so good. And it's been fun exploring another aspect to my writing skills. I'm working on my fourth piece this week. But today you can check out the first one, in which I offer tips on the grandparents dating scene, including advice about sex. Oh, geez. Yeah, I'm going there. LOL. The advice can work boomers of all ages, I think.

Guest blogging at ASJA.org today

2012-08-09T09:16:00.000-07:00

Hi there!

Today, I'm guest blogging at the American Society of Journalists and Authors -- a professional writers membership organization I've belonged to for more than 10 years now. Headquartered in New York City, they host an annual conference in April that's been a major part of my networking life since I started freelancing full time.

They've started a new public blog called The Word. This week, I share the benefits of in-person networking. Please stop by (click on the link above) and share your tips in the comment section. I'd love to hear what you have to say about your networking experiences -- what's worked, what hasn't, what would you like to do more of...

A moment with zen

2012-07-24T15:12:00.003-07:00

June was a crazy month. It turned upside down when my son needed my help, and I had to spend the next four weeks in Lake Tahoe doing just that. There was no question I would go, so I went. Without going into his personal business, suffice it to say, he's doing well now. Very well. And I'm glad I went. I'm also glad to be back home, getting back to work, trying to reconnect with my zen.

My zen? What is that? It's not just something I learn about twice a week when I go to yoga class. It's not just the moments of peace I might find on a trail walk or a bike ride. I know it's not just one thing. So it doesn't surprise me that I found this article today. I wasn't searching for it. I was looking for something else entirely, but this is what I found.

And this is what stood out when I read the article that also answered my question for me. What is zen?

This is what a zen practitioner in Las Vegas, of all places, had to say about that:

Imagine you're at the mall, he tells the Zen-curious. It's busy, customers bustle about. You're standing in a long line, waiting to make your purchase. In front of you is a baby in a baby carriage. The baby looks right at you and smiles.

"You have one job," he says.

Can you guess what it is? I did.

Smile back.

So simple, right? But how often do we get that wrong? How often do we ignore the smiling child, or the friendly cashier, or the man who holds the door open for you at the chain restaurant. How often do we just walk by, lost in our own mental congestion.

We're not focused on the moment. We're too busy worrying about tomorrow or what happened last week. And we're missing out. We're missing out on the baby smiles, on the friendly hellos, on acknowledging the people who seem less hurried than we do.

As I return to my office and get back into the regular routine of the work day, as I reconnect with what's missing in my food pantry or try to remember which bills I've paid and which I haven't, I'm going to take this next week to remember to stay focused on what's going on in my life right at this very second.

And this is how I'm going to practice my zen:

*Take 10 minutes in the morning to meditate. Not on anything in particular, just breathing. I'm going to get quiet for 10 minutes every morning and put my focus on the now. Just for 10 minutes. It's not asking too much.

*Not let my mind tell me I don't want to go to yoga, even though I know I will, and it always makes me feel good. Instead, when the afternoon arrives -- the time when I start trying to convince myself why I shouldn't go (I'm tired. I'm sore. I'm lazy.) -- I'm going to put a smile on my face and remind myself that I get to go to yoga in just a few hours. I am going to take that moment and change my mindset to a healthier outlook.

*Smile. When I pass that smiling baby, when I exchange money with the cashier at the grocery market, when I see my boyfriend next, I'm going to stop, focus and smile.

Those are three simple things I can do to have a moment with zen. How about you?

Hello, it's me

2012-07-23T13:19:00.002-07:00

Do you know the words from the Todd Rundgren song, "Hello, it's me?" In it, he sings,

Hello, it's me.
I've thought about us for a long, long time.
Maybe I think too much,
but something's wrong.

In case you hadn't noticed, I've been MIA for more than a month.

Something was wrong. I had a pretty serious family issue crop up and had to focus all of my time and energy on that. "It's important to me," the song continues.

"You know I'd be with you if I could."

Well, things have settled down now, and I can come back to work on the blog. I've been thinking a lot about what I want to cover in the months ahead. I've been reading several books that I'll discuss. I've taken a few trips I'd like to review. And I'll soon unveil a new business logo. My hairdresser thinks I need to explore more of my humorous side on the blog, so I'll be giving that a try as well.

Meanwhile, tell me what you've been up to so far this summer, and enjoy the link above to the song.

Stop perpetuating the 20 cent a word myth

2012-06-05T07:22:00.001-07:00

I participated in a #journchat Twitter party yesterday afternoon, when the discussion evolved into a question about expected salaries for new journalists just out of college (Sidebar: My first salary equaled somewhere around $21K to edit a magazine, and this was back in the late 1980s).

But it was the first question that led to the tweet above -- upsetting to say the least. I'll tell you why.

The moderator started us off with: "If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be?"

I said, "Wouldn't it be great to see an increase in pay? Especially from newspapers for freelance work."

To which one Britt Hysen (above), who writes for the GenYHub.com asked me what the average freelance pay is these days. I told her, "Newspapers may pay $100 for a 500-700 word story, more/less." But with magazines, I wrote, "it's getting difficult to get $1/word anymore."

That's not a good thing. Yet, from her response above, you can see she think it's a lot, which makes these numbers even worse.

Any long-time freelancer knows it's difficult to make a living as an independent journalist. You cannot do it writing for newspapers and magazines alone. Many of us find ways to diversify our experience. Maybe we write corporate newsletters, design websites, sell our photos, teach classes, offer social media to other business clients, and certainly we write books that will give us an "expert" status and hopefully higher pay, because -- and here's the clincher...

Just because you might get $1/word doesn't mean you're going to be assigned a lot of words to go with that rate. Writing a lot of words and making a lot of those dollars? That's not happening.

Where magazines used to run several long-form, narratives, they are now running shorter and shorter pieces. The "front of the book," as we call it, where all the shorts used to run, has expanded. There's now the middle of the book and the back of the book, and just a few lengthier features scattered in between. They're doing this why? You know, because readers no longer have attention spans. Technology has ruined us, we've been told. It's turning us all into victims of attention deficit disorder, or so the publishing industry would have us believe.

While I don't believe that's true -- I believe people crave full-length stories -- what I do believe is that the industry is just too cheap to pay for it, anymore. I have friends who have been writing for consumer magazines for many years, and they remember times when they were getting $4 or even $5 per every word they wrote. Now, Britt Hysen, that's a lot! That is where you could get very comfortable writing for magazines. You could actually even make a living as a magazine writer.

But these days, that's just not the case. The $1/word market used to be the minimum freelancers would strive to get. Today, we're very hopeful if we can get that. In fact, I generally don't even like to pitch magazines that pay less, because you just simply cannot pay your mortgage on .20/word. Think about it: How many words would you have to write to pay a $1,200 monthly mortgage? 6,000 words. You'd have to write 6,000 words every month just to make your mortgage. And you still haven't written enough to pay your utilities and have enough left over to eat something here and there.

That also means .20/word is not good. It's barely okay. But it is not good. It's not much better than those who would claim it's good to work for exposure. Again, that's a big N-O. Just keep in mind that "exposure" is the new "volunteer."

Also keep in mind that it is rare, rare, rare to get a 6,000-word assignment, anyway. So even the buck a word jobs wouldn't pay your mortgage -- unless you were assigned several -- because most editors are assigning jobs closer to the 500-word and less numbers. Or, they're simply paying a flat fee. I get a lot of those. $500 here. $300 there. When I recently took on a 2,400-word assignment, some of my writer friends were in awe. And so was I. I about died. And then I freaked because I was out of practice writing long-form journalism. As I said, it's assigned so rare these days. If it is, those plumb assignments go to the very regular writers that editors know well. Those of us who are not contributing writers for a specific market rarely see gems like that. So this was my happy dance moment.

But what's the takeaway? You might wonder: Why continue working in an industry that pays so poorly? What's the benefit?

We still get to choose the projects we take on. We still get to set our own hours. We get to work in piece, without office gossip. We get to enjoy a lot of freedoms working on our own. What we do not get is job security. We don't get that regular paycheck. Many of us don't have health insurance. We don't get sick days off. We work around the clock in many cases. And, really, our job is more selling than writing. But we get to choose whether we'll reel in the measly .20/word job or keep fishing for the higher-paying markets.

I choose to keep fishing, because even when I first started freelancing I knew .20/word was minimal, that it was not good. And I'll keep telling other writers that. Not because I don't think you should take the cheapo jobs. You should if you think it's worthwhile. But you should also stop fooling yourself into believing that low pay is good pay. It wasn't before the market fell apart, and it's still not now. If you can find a way to make it work for you, by all means, do it. But just don't continue to perpetuate a myth.

When all freelancers begin to stand up for higher pay -- because we work just as hard for the low-rent jobs as we do the higher-end jobs, and we work just as long, and we use the same skill sets and resources -- that's when we'll start to see rates increase to a more liveable rate.

Because don't forget: No one's in business to work for free, nor almost free. We're in business to make a living. And to make a living, you have to earn it. To earn it, you have to find clients that pay you what you're worth.

And I think you're worth more than .20/word. Don't you?

Twitter, improv and an artist date

2012-06-03T09:51:00.001-07:00

It started with a simple tweet, which I retweeted:

Then a conversation between the two of us followed:

He mentioned "bike." And I was hooked. I took the free class on Saturday afternoon. It lasted three hours and was such a blast. I returned to Twitter that evening and chatted with The Torch Theatre some more, promising to return for a class in the fall. My summer schedule is too up in the air to sign up now. But I will be back. Here's a bit of what happened in the free class. Wish I had photos...

We did the warm-up exercises where you learn how important eye contact is to improvisational acting, and also how to work together as a team. This is where you practice saying, "Yes, and..." In improv, you learn how to accept another person's idea and roll with it, in order to keep a scene alive. If you disagree or don't want to do what the suggestion calls for, the scene ends. There's no where else to go. And what is the fun of that? In general, this is a great life lesson.

For fun, try these improv games at home with your family and friends:

Zip, Zap, Zop (and other variations)
Stand in a circle. One player begins by pointing with his hands to the player on his right, makes eye contact, and says, "Zip." Now that player turns to his player on the right, points, makes eye contact, and says, "Zap." The next player then points to the player in the circle on his right, makes eye contact, and says, "Zap." You keep doing this till you're comfortable, and then you can start pointing to anyone in the circle. It no longer has to be the person on your right. It can be the person on your left or the person across from you, anyone at all. You just keep shouting out, "Zip, Zap, Zop," trying to keep up with the words and the rhythm, all the while making that eye contact so people are clear who's being called upon. It becomes a loud mess of yelling, laughing, getting confused, but eventually you get it. The game helps you practice making eye contact, maintaining a sense of focus, and accepting your role in the game.

Yes, let's!
For this exercise, be prepared to get silly. The game starts by someone yelling out some call to action. It has to start with "Let's." So it could be something like, "Let's eat pizza!" And the group yells back in union, "Yes, let's." And everyone immediately starts miming the act of eating pizza until another person calls out a different action. It could be anything. In our game, people called out things like, "Let's swim with the sharks!" and "Let's eat cotton candy!" and "Let's walk the dog!" After each request, we all yelled back, "Yes, let's!" and then proceeded to do that action. Since the stage at this theater is very small, the ten of us -- all strangers to each other -- were crowed in tightly together. It was sheer madness and a ton of fun. Lots of laughing out loud. Lot's movement. Lot's of up and down. You never knew what the next person was going to call out. But whatever it was, we said, "Yes, let's!" and did it.

What are you doing?
Here's a game that will teach you how to think fast and be in the moment. You all stand in a line against the wall. One player at the head of the line goes to the center of the stage and begins miming an action. The next person in line walks over and asks, "What are you doing?" Instead of saying what it looks like he's doing, that person makes something up that is entirely different. So maybe he's miming folding laundry. But instead of saying he's folding laundry, he'd say he's changing a light bulb. Then he leaves and that new person starts to mime changing a light bulb. The next person in line comes up to him and asks, "What are you doing?" The person miming changing the light bulb says he's doing something else. Maybe he'll say, "I'm painting a masterpiece." It doesn't matter what you say, you're just learning how to think fast on your feet and convincing the next person to commit. So that next person proceeds to "mime painting a masterpiece," when the next person in line comes up to him and asks, "What are you doing?" The game goes on and on till everyone has a chance to play at least once.

Emotion Scenes
We also engaged in some scene work with partners. In one scene game, we were assigned space on the stage for four emotions: anger, happiness, sadness, fear. Depending on whichever emotion we were going to express in the scene, we would stand in that area. The instructor called out a scene prompt (telling us who we were or where we were), and we had to take that prompt and apply the emotions to the scene. The point here was to learn how to express various emotions. You didn't have to go big, necessarily, but you did want to focus on what it might sound like, look like, and feel like to express anger, happiness, sadness and/or fear with another person on the stage. The objective was to see if you could make a connection with the scene partner. If you could make a connection with your scene partner, you could make a connection with your audience as well.

Body Parts
In one of the final scene games, we paired up with another person on stage to practice walking in peculiar ways. But first we were told to walk around the stage as we would normally. Then, the instructor told us to focus on a particular body part. So you might try walking around your home using your forehead first, or your elbows first, or your knees first. Once we did that, we were asked questions about what that felt like and which body part we might like to explore as a character. While the walking looked hilarious on stage, the resulting answers were interesting and insightful. One young man, who was told to walk around on stage using his forehead, thought it made him feel like a nerd or a scientist. When I walked around stage using my elbows, I felt at first like cowboy, and that morphed into feeling a bit bird-like. Since the elbows are more flexible and can move in more ways than other body parts, it seems like it could be interesting to explore just where such movement would take creativity.

Which brings me to my point of why I wanted to take the class in the first place...I was looking for an artist date with myself. I felt the need to explore creative pursuits in a more physical manner, something that would go beyond writing. Improvisational acting is certainly one way to achieve that.

What are some ways you've been exploring your creative spirit lately?

My #1 lesson from the blogathon

2012-06-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

It was the Buddha who said:

"Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it."

I have seen the quote interpreted also with the word "world" replaced with "work." In this day and age, with 24/7 cable news and constant access available through the internet, our cell phones and e-readers, they seem to be one and the same word.

Whatever the case may be, whatever the exact word, this quote describes what I discovered during the May Blogathon...only, it was actually a rediscovery. I came to know, once again, where my passion exists and what I must do about it. We talked last month about signs. I encountered many of them. The photo above, in fact, is one that came to me several years ago by way of an artist I met in Jerome, Ariz. I bought this painting after I saw it propped up off the floor of an empty art gallery and couldn't take my eyes off of it.

The girl is on her bike, rolling downhill, her hair blowing in the wind, not a care in the world. She is happy and free. She is me. Not literally, of course. But, in my mind, this girl on the bike symbolizes me. Sometimes, in ways I cannot explain, but the connection is present. She is part of my world, part of my passion, part of what I must share.

So if I took away anything last month that hasn't already been dissected during the 31-day blogging frenzy, it was a reconnection with my self.

Thanks to the Blogathon and my desire to focus on the BIKE, I don't think I could have accomplished anything more important than that.

What is the one thing in life you know you must do? It's that thing that sings to you in your quiet moments alone, that thing speaking to your mind when you veer off-course, that feeling tugging at your heart, pulling you back in the right direction -- even when you seem to be refusing to listen. It won't let you ignore it. What is your thing? If you don't yet know, use this month to start paying attention.

I'm at lovingthebike.com today

2012-06-02T07:39:00.000-07:00

During the WordCount Blogathon, I made it a point to connect with other bike bloggers. You can find them easily on Twitter, and I've visited Loving the Bike many times in the past few years. But when I visited a first time in May, I responded to a question Darryl, the site owner, poses for a monthly column. He accepted my response for a future column, and that day has arrived.

I'm featured in "Look Who's Loving the Bike" for June. Stop by and visit. See if you can relate to what the cycling lifestyle can do for you.

Day off!

2012-06-01T17:12:00.000-07:00

After 31 straight days of blogging, I decided I deserved a day off. I'll be back ~~tomorrow~~ Sunday with a few lessons learned from the WordCount Blogathon.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Celebrate good times, c'mon!

2012-05-31T05:00:00.000-07:00

Love high energy music like Kool & The Gang's Celebration song. It's perfect for a day like today -- our final day with the 2012 WordCount Blogathon. I know I did it, but how many more of the 250+ bloggers managed to blog every day for 31 days in May? Did you do it? Do you know anyone who dropped out? I'm sure we'll find out on June 1, when Michelle Rafter hosts the Twitter Party.

For now, let's celebrate good times and pop open the wine I won during this challenge. Lucky me, I turned out to be the 55th person who retweeted a tweet from the California Wine Club, and they shipped me this bottle of wine -- a select reserve Red Zinfadel from Kiara in California's Central Coast -- which arrived yesterday, in time for the end of the blogathon. Probably wouldn't have been on Twitter so much and won the wine if it hadn't been for the Blogathon. I love it.

Cheers!

Aside from posting your "I DID IT!" badge, how do you intend to celebrate your blogging success?

Cab or pedicab: which would you take?

2012-05-30T09:52:00.001-07:00

Did I ever tell you about my dream to become a pedicab driver?

That's right. It's been something I've thought of off and on for the past few years. It's a cycling thing, you know. I'm thoroughly fascinated with bikes of many kinds. Anyway, I took the above photo in New York three years ago, when I was there for a conference to remind me that some day I'm going to be that driver.

In my dream world, here's what it would look like:

First of all, I'll paint my pedicab a shiny blue. It's my favorite color. My handlebars will have a horn and fringe, just because that would be fun. And I'll wear a helmet when I ride -- for safety reasons, and so I don't have to do my hair. Awesome!

And here's how I imagine the getting passengers scene would play out:

ME: Hey, there! You guys need a ride to your destination?
THEM: Maybe. How much does it cost?
ME: It won't be cheaper than the Yellow Cab, but I'll be your guide, too. I'm pretty knowledgeable about the area. You need to know restaurants? I got you covered? You're looking for a boutique? I'll take you there. Just heading over to the game? I'll get you there on time.
THEM: Cool! How much?
ME: $10 per ride.
THEM: Let's go!

In the real world, however, I posted my information on a pedicab site and never heard back. I did it twice, and no word. Seriously. I was disappointed. In the real world, I probably wouldn't be strong enough to pull another adult sitting in the back seat, anyway. I could carry your kids. But who's going to let a stranger carry her kids without riding along? Yeah, I'd definitely need to train for this job.

Yes, there are a few obstacles getting in my way. Since I haven't decided how much I really want to drive a pedicab, I haven't done much to change this situation, such as picking up the phone and making a call to follow up on my pedicab driver inquiry. No, I haven't done that.

Maybe this is just a silly fantasy to live out on paper and nothing else. I'm not sure. But after I took the Certified Travel Ambassador class last year and became a CTA -- basically, someone trained to answer pertinent travel information about specific areas (in my case, Phoenix) -- I thought I'd have a leg up on the competition. I even had the pin to wear on my lapel! I thought I'd make a great choice for such a job. And then, the city stopped partnering with the CTA program officials and my leg up went down. Perhaps that's a sign -- a sign that I'm not supposed to head in that direction. And you know how I like signs...

Have you ever dreamed of doing something that seemed really outrageous? Did you ever do it? What happened afterward?

BLOG STATS: A Quick Review

2012-05-29T07:37:00.003-07:00

It's nearing the end of #Blog2012 (just two more days to go after today), and that means it's time to take a look at the stats. What's been a popular read here? How does that compare over time?

If I look at where I am this month in terms of overall numbers, traffic has picked up considerably. My number on this home page shows a 10,000 page view increase over the course of the month. Amazing! But when I look at Google Analytics, there's a 3,000 page view discrepancy to that number. So I don't know what to make of that. Regardless, I'm happy to see the increase. Whether it's 10,000 pages views or just 7,000, that's still at least 2,000 more than what this blog was seeing in April. It's a decent jump in traffic, and to me means: If you blog, they will come.

You just have to post relevant content regularly. Here's why I say that. My stats this month when you break it down by the top five posts:

The post I wrote to be in the running for the SecondAct.com story turned out to be my all-time favorite when it comes to the numbers it attracted in the shortest amount of time. It's not the post with the most sites visits over all, however, but it brought it the most readers this month, and still made the top 5 overall, which you can see from this graph below:

When I look more closely at the posts themselves, these stats tell me a few things about blogging:

_Stick to a central focus or theme.
_Tell your real-life stories and relate them back to your readers.
_Offer thoughtful insights for the reader take-away.
_Link back to other posts from your blog if they can add necessary detail to your current post.
_Keep linking back; readers do click on those links.
_Ask questions at the end of your posts to encourage dialogue.
_Visit other people's blogs so you get to know your fellow bloggers, and they you.

A few things I need to do more of to continue growing the blog and its readership:

_Find and follow other bloggers who write about self development.
_Find and follow other bike blogs that may be interested in self development using a bike.
_Find and follow other bloggers who write about working through transitions.
_Encourage more readers to sign up for the RSS feed and become regular readers.
_Continue blogging regularly and find a schedule that I can stick to for the long term.

One thing I expect to add this year: vlogs (blog posts on video).

Now that you've been blogging for almost 31 days straight, what have you learned about your blog?