Happiness Lies in the Joy of Achievement and the Thrill of Creative Effort

Happiness Lies in the Joy of Achievement and the Thrill of Creative Effort

Happiness Lies in the Joy of Achievement and the Thrill of Creative Effort

I’m often asked by people, “Why do you blog?” I think that the statement from today’s FortunateBluFrog fortune sums it up so well. I started blogging because I didn’t feel that my “real” job allowed me enough creativity. I had worked as a web designer prior to going corporate. I loved being able to create images and really enjoy the work. I applied to be a graphic artist at my current place of employment but the fates and the people I interviewed with said that I’d be much more suited to the implementation division. Implementation meant that I would work with customers to get them up and running on the software after they had purchased it. This actually was a very enjoyable job, I got to travel everywhere and meet many interesting people and work with them one on one. But I didn’t feel creative at all.

Put Your Heart into What You Create

On my 1st day at my job another person told me that I should always have a camera with me because I was going to see so much. He was so right about this and I took a camera with me on every single trip. I already had a camera with me and when I became inspired by Christopher Williams in 2005 I started my Photo-A-Day Project. I am nearing 4 years of it I am so happy that I took the time to blog and express creativity each and every day.

You are Sociable and Entertaining

You are Sociable and Entertaining

You are Sociable and Entertaining

I like to think of myself as sociable. I spend time meeting people online and I also take that offline and meet people. Earlier this month I put on Blogs, Brews and Belly Laughs and met some very interesting bloggers, some whom I had spoken with online and some I’d never met before. Being sociable isn’t too hard for me. I really enjoy it. However entertaining, well, I’m not too sure about that.

Are you Sociable?

Being sociable online takes time. Sure you can hang out on twitter all day and RT tweets from other bloggers. However, do you take the time to visit other blogs and leave comments. For me comments are the single largest measure of whether or not my blog is doing well. If people take the time to leave me a comment on a post then I know I made a connection. If you are going to be sociable online then you are going to need to make the effort and make that connection with other bloggers and also your regular readers.

Do you respond to your comments?

Do you take the time to engage those who took the time to connect with you? Responding to comments is something that you can do easily. In my daily routine I get a comment I respond immediately. Don’t let the comments back up either because once you engage your readers you need to stay engaged.

Entertaining?

I don’t think that I am too entertaining. I’d like to be more entertaining though. I’m thinking of taking the plunge and attending and participating in the Speed of Thought Players: Scary & Fast comedy workshops. We’ll see.

Wondering where the FortunateBluFrog Is?

Every Fortune can’t be about the Frog man, gotta give it a rest once in a while. But the frog is not gone. Just missing today.