Todd Lyden

Seriously, there are times when I wish I weren't so jaded about the state of what happens on the internet. Here are the results when you run that sentence through Google:  https://www.google.com/search?q=I+wish+I+weren%27t+so+jaded+about+the+state+of+what+happens+on+the+internet.&oq=I+wish+I+weren%27t+so+jaded+about+the+state+of+what+happens+on+the+internet I ran that same sentence through several FREE online plagiarism detectors. Thankfully, Quetext did not find a copy. Searchenginereports was 100% clean. Even NoPlag.com came back ok. Why do I ramble about this? Because I have found yet one more example of "re-worded" plagiarism of one "business consultant" of another's work.  I won't tell you where I found these examples, but based on the dates of the sites, this paragraph came out first in 2015:  "The definition of success is a very personal one. It’s unique to each individual and only they can know if they’ve reached it. Unfort...

Second in  the #Reverb10 series: Writing. From  Leo Babauta:  What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?  I'm going the cheap route. Nothing. I dare say EVERYTHING you do contributes to YOUR writing. Sure, the question implies that you can prioritize your life and cut something out like a dead limb. This might be true for a lot of people. And YES, I can prioritize, but cut that limb? I don't think I can see it. There are moments of slackadastical behavior I have no doubt that I could eliminate, but who doesn't need down time? There are moments of sheer do-nothing, but those usual involve my kids- those aren't going anywhere. I am sure I could crystalize some truly WASTED seconds, but I doubt it would RADICALLY improve my writing. Would it any more than reading a myriad of blogs, newspapers, magazines, books that I enjoy? Probably not. Would it any more than the radio I enjoy listening to? Probably not. If you can elim...

I haven't loved everything he is written, but I do like how he handles himself. Here are four quick lessons on fighting  writer's   block  from  Damon  Lindelof . Let me talk about them real quick. 1. Find inspiration elsewhere Obviously, what I am doing here. Read things, watch things, talk to people. Ideas and inspiration can come from a myriad of sources. I would suggest just experience life and be ready to notice. That is something that probably needs to be learned. "Go back to the same well." 2. Create Deadlines We all did great work when we were pressed for time in school didn't we? That last minute push. Do it to yourself, not even to schedule, but to enforce the idea that you MUST get the writing done. 3. Collaborate When You Can What a luxury for a TV writer, but the rest of us don't have that, do we? Find them! Use FB or Twitter to link up with someone to act as a sounding board. Let them read something and get ideas or seek...

Thank god for folks like Stanford aka @pushingsocial . I was reading this  latest nugget  over at his  site  as I struggled today. I've got three unfinished posts that  just  weren't ready. At least for me.  I think something like that fish Dory from "Finding Nemo"- " just   keep swimming,  just   keep  swimming..." I like his three phrases (words) of advice on generating great content. 1. Don't try to be a  thought leader . Definitely none of that here, right? I've written since middle school for papers, for fun, for graded school projects. Now I am fairly sure I am litera lly  just   writing   for me. And that's not a whine. I am fairly sure I'm not going to sway folks into thinking much of anything, but I will try to share information and MAYBE generate a stray thought or two per Stan's advice. 2. I will disagree slightly with Stan on his second point. Mind you, we are not  writing ...

This is probably going to rub some folks online the wrong way: to start messing around with social media including Twitter, Facebook, etc does NOT require a strategy. From Wikipedia: Strategy refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. How many people first got on Twitter or FB, worked on a Wordpress blog, or finally figured out an RSS feed with ANYTHING resembling a strategy? Did you REALLY have a plan of action with a particular goal in mind? I still don't and no doubt it shows. Everyone is saying that in order for a small business or someone breaking into the "blogging for money" racket they MUST have a strategy. Now, I'm sure there are plenty of social media gurus/pundits/bloggers who would say, "But Todd, I don't think everyone needs one when they start." Of course, these are the same folks that have ads selling such things as "How to Become the Social Media Rockstar of the Universe" or are giving away...

How do you tell someone that their baby, their blog - the thing they put time and energy into- just does not work somehow? Doing this for over a month now, I have been reading a lot of other folks blogs as evidenced by my prodigious sharing of links (that's a joke). I judged debate for many years and learned how to be as tactful as possible to tell people why something they thought they were doing right didn't work for me. Mind you, that was me. It was also one time and one place. Blogs are semi-permanent- almost as if they were our children. Fly away little blog post, do what you will in the world and don't get beat up too much by all those mean readers! So how do you tell someone that the design is heinous? That ads placed ALL OVER THE PLACE are beyond off-putting? Let's look at some advise. Here is some generic advice for giving criticism. The gist of this one: do not criticize in public. GREAT advice for bloggers. The reality is we probably can deal...

Image via Wikipedia Well, I made it to thirty days of blogging . Somehow I managed to make the last one coincide when I would be out of town. I have a few ideas on the backburner, but could not get to them over the past two days due to work travel. What have I learned in thirty days? 1. Writing makes you think better. 2. Writing makes you think creatively. 3. I missed writing but apparently not thinking better or creatively. 4. You can write without an audience. 5. An audience can literally just be yourself. 6. Take your time finding what you want to say, but once you know what it is just say it. 7. Blog writers are EXTREMELY forgiving when it comes to spelling and grammar. 8. Blog writers probably ought to be more discriminating. 9. Finding folks who share similar ideas rocks. 10. Not trying to use a blog to sell crap is rewarding. I think I can keep up this pace. I am going to keep trying month by month to do AT LEAST a post/day. You will notice (which I don't suppose anyone will...

Sarah Harris of Zen College Life wrote a piece over at Tycoonblogger .  She spoke to finding new sources for blog posts and invoked George Washington - that's enough to get me to listen.  I've been thinking about this and spoke with Brian Landi over at his blog, bits of business, about this. One thing I have found key is to make sure I can capture the notion, idea, or kernel before it disappears.  Everyone suggests keeping a journal or something to write on, but personally I have my cell phone to be the best. I send myself a text to my email to remind me or if driving, as I suggested in a recent post, I happen upon something that I felt worth sharing. That's the REAL key isn't it? Finding something worth sharing- on another lazy Sunday (especially before Labor day ), I've used other blogs to find something worth sharing.  Nothing wrong with that! Related articles Enjoy Your Labor Day; We're Back Tomorrow [Announcements] (lifehacker.com)