Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

Hi and welcome to the Readers’ Café – a place to gather and to share. Come take a break from the shopping, preparing and stressing, and join us around the warm, crackling fire.

There’s eggnog, mulled wine and other yummy goodies on the table. Please help yourself. Then sit back, take a deep breath and feel your worries melt away. Join in the conversation by posting comments below. We’re a friendly bunch; no need to be shy.

Hit your internet browser’s REFRESH button to see new comments as others join in the conversation. All that I ask is that you respect others and keep it relatively family-friendly. Also, keep in mind that this is a public space, so share what you feel comfortable sharing publicly.

Feel free to share your:

• Holiday survival tip
• Favourite holiday memory
• Favourite holiday recipe

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

If you enjoyed this post, consider buying me a chai tea latte. Thanks kindly.

From age two to ninety-two, we all know these fun lyrics:

Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
had a very shiny nose.
And if you ever saw him,
you would even say it glows.

All of the other reindeer
used to laugh and call him names.
They never let poor Rudolph
join in any reindeer games.

Then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa came to say:
“Rudolph with your nose so bright,
won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?”

Then all the reindeer loved him
as they shouted out with glee,
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer,
you’ll go down in history!

But, how many of us see the valuable lesson here?

Rudolph is teased and ostracized because he is different. He is excluded from reindeer games for the sole reason that his nose glows bright red. How heartbreaking is that?

In the classic Christmas special, a dejected Rudolph and his elf friend, mocked for his dream of becoming a dentist, head out to find a place of acceptance and happen across the Island of Misfit Toys; segregation at its finest.

It takes the fog to come down for the big guy (possibly the employer) Santa to realize the value in a bright, shiny nose. And that’s the point when Rudolph is duly recognized for his unique ability, giving us the Christmas story that we know and love.

But this story leaves me thinking about the other parts of the story – the bits that didn’t make it to the song. I am left wondering how many other reindeer before Rudolph were discarded because their unique ability or talent wasn’t valued. However, I am comforted in believing that discriminating practice will not be repeated when Rudolph and his reindeer friends retire and new flying reindeer are chosen to pull the sleigh. After all, believing everyone is welcomed and accepted is part of the magic of Christmas!

Rudolph teaches children young and old about the importance of valuing diversity and inclusion. Without this reindeer’s different coloured nose, Christmas was surely doomed to be cancelled that foggy night. With him, that lesson went down in history!

If you enjoyed this post, consider buying me a chai tea latte. Thanks kindly.

For my young-at-heart readers:

Right in the middle of the produce aisle, Frosty gets caught picking his nose.

If you enjoyed this post, consider buying me a chai tea latte. Thanks kindly.

(Photo credit: Steve Woods)

For the past several months I have been campaigning to win the opportunity to be paid to Blog for a Year (site is down at the time of writing this). During this time I have discovered new ways of using social media and related technology to spread the word. Some ways are more effective than others.

Here are the strategies that I have tried to date, with a few lessons learned:

1. Use established networking groups to begin spreading the word. With one of my networking groups, I did a weekly mini newsletter with an accessibility tip along with current contest results and a reminder to vote. This way I was contributing something of value to a group where I was already known, liked and trusted. Several members then spread the word to their other networks or posted to their blogs.
2. Start a fan club on Facebook. This may sound a wee egotistical, unless an enthusiastic supporter begins one on your behalf. This is an effective way to send out regular messages with updates and reminders to vote. The key is to not bombard fans with messages. Also, joining the group is the only action some members take, so the group needs to relatively large to have a measurable effect.
3. Add a PS to email signature block. This is a no brainer! However, with some email messages, it is appropriate to delete the PS.
4. Add a PS to blog broadcast. For four individuals who aren’t familiar with RSS feed readers, I use AWeber to email new posts to subscribers. With every new post notification, they are reminded to vote.
5. Create a YouTube video. The video adds another medium to the campaign, enabling individuals to get a better feel for what they are supporting by seeing how I blog. It also gives other bloggers something interesting to post on their blogs.
6. Ask supporters to change their homepage to the voting page or, if using Firefox, add a new tab. This is a brilliant strategy for reminding people to vote daily. The challenge is having people actually do it.
7. Use Twitter. When I first began tweeting, I envisioned a tweet to vote being spread far and wide, and gaining several hundred, if not a few thousand, votes in a matter of hours. Obviously I was a naïve tweeter and, after several attempts, had my knuckles wrapped for being spammy. I then set up a separate Twitter account for the sole purpose of driving votes. People know that when they decide to follow @bfay. Building up a following mass takes time. Twitter isn’t the instant strategy that I thought it would be.
8. Use Facebook’s FunWall to spread the message. Again, use this sparingly so not to annoy people.
9. Use Facebook’s status line. Changing my status line regularly puts updates and reminders into my friends’ mini-feeds.

In addition to what I have tried, other enthusiastic supporters have offered a various suggestions, including befriending people on Facebook who have large number of friends and asking for their support. This strategy may work for some people, but, personally, I don’t have chutzpah to try this. Similarly, others have asked people to befriend me to support my efforts. Although I appreciate the gesture, I’m realizing this is diluting my friends’ list because these friendships are not based on a mutual interest or connection. It’d be better if these kind people offered their support by joining the fan club.

As with any campaign, the strategies used reflect upon your personal integrity and reputation. One misused strategy could mean more harm than good in the long run.

Running a successful campaign means trying various strategies and finding the right to balance to keep the campaign running smoothly…until the voting site crashes…then what do you do?

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Dec. 17th update: The Blog for a Year site is back up! Please resume voting daily until New Year’s Eve. There’s a ways to go to reach first place!

If you enjoyed this post, consider buying me a chai tea latte. Thanks kindly.

Hi and welcome to the Readers’ Café – a place to gather and to share. Today I invite you into my home for a special, extended Readers’ Café so that readers in far away lands may join us.

Today we celebrate a birthday of sorts: my baby, my book I’ll Do It Myself is one year old. Exactly one year ago today, my thirty years of dreaming, planning researching and writing became reality when seven boxes of books were delivered. Opening that first box and laying my eyes and hands upon what I had created, I can only imagine that is what giving birth is like.

This past year’s journey with the book has been awesome! Copies have been mailed to readers across Canada and the United States, and to Britain, New Zealand, Australia and even Chile! Copies are also available from Celebration Christian Store and Black Bond Books, another childhood dream come true. Meeting people along the way on two successful virtual book tours, plus two book signings in Las Vegas – I am truly amazed and am sincerely grateful. Thank you.

Please help yourself to food and a beverage of your choice and make yourself comfortable. Then sit back, relax and join in the conversation by posting comments below. Feel free to ask questions about I’ll Do It Myself, share your favourite passage or to mingle with fellow readers. Don’t be shy. Hit your internet browser’s REFRESH button to see new comments as others join in the conversation.

If you enjoyed this post, consider buying me a chai tea latte. Thanks kindly.