One of my most favorite parts of the journey I've taken in the last several years is all the great new people I've gotten to meet, on-line and off-line, who share similar interests.
One of those people is Lori Randall Stradtman who I heard speak last year at BlogWorld. Lori is an expert on social media and is currently writing a book entitled, Online Reputation Management for Dummies. Who won't want to read that?
I was honored when Lori invited me to be on her radio show, Literary Social. Which is where I am today. So stop over and listen for a bit. I get to dish with Lori about self-publishing, selling, The Secrets They Kept and going for what makes you happy.
p.s I dare you to be able to figure out which voice is from New York City and which from Georgia!
http://literallysocial.net/2012/02/28/author-joanne-tombrakos-dishes-on-the-secrets-they-kept/
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
The Signs
The signs are there if you stop long enough to pay attention. For my advice on how to know if its time to leave your job, please click here to read my first of what I intend to be many, articles on The Huffington Post.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Good Enough
I admit it. I watched the Whitney Houston funeral Saturday afternoon. I even hit record in case I missed something. I'm not sure what drove me to turn it on. Probably the same thing that has driven me to watch other televised memorials. A morbid curiosity to uncover how a life filled with so much potential could end so soon. Or perhaps just the writer in me that never tires of story, true or fiction.
In any case there I found myself. Lying on the couch with a cup of coffee tuned to CNN.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who was surprised that Kevin Costner was invited to speak. What surprised me even more was the depth of what he said and the clues he gave to what went wrong.
Whitney, he told us, was worried about being good enough. Which upon first hearing makes me laugh. Inarguably she had one of the most legendary voices of our time. How could she not know that she was good enough? How could she even worry about it?
But she did. With all of her fame and her celebrity status she worried about the same things we all do. Doubt and fear transcend race and socio-economic status as does that question of being good enough.
Smart enough, thin enough, fast enough, strong enough, talented enough, lovable enough, to be deserving. The prize could be the record contract, the book deal, the guy, you fill in the blank.
Her fears of being enough seemed to lead her to a dependence on alcohol and drugs as a way of coping and that led to her untimely death. For many of us, our fears of being good enough lead us to not even try for our prize.
We all saw her genius and talent, yet she worried it wasn't enough. Maybe in her reflection we can see our own.
In any case there I found myself. Lying on the couch with a cup of coffee tuned to CNN.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who was surprised that Kevin Costner was invited to speak. What surprised me even more was the depth of what he said and the clues he gave to what went wrong.
Whitney, he told us, was worried about being good enough. Which upon first hearing makes me laugh. Inarguably she had one of the most legendary voices of our time. How could she not know that she was good enough? How could she even worry about it?
But she did. With all of her fame and her celebrity status she worried about the same things we all do. Doubt and fear transcend race and socio-economic status as does that question of being good enough.
Smart enough, thin enough, fast enough, strong enough, talented enough, lovable enough, to be deserving. The prize could be the record contract, the book deal, the guy, you fill in the blank.
Her fears of being enough seemed to lead her to a dependence on alcohol and drugs as a way of coping and that led to her untimely death. For many of us, our fears of being good enough lead us to not even try for our prize.
We all saw her genius and talent, yet she worried it wasn't enough. Maybe in her reflection we can see our own.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
The First Step
The first step is so @##**/ #\ hard. Anyone who tells you it's not, is lying. Especially when it comes to the really important stuff. The stuff that is going to make the big differences in your life. The stuff that you know is for your own good.
I've taken a lot of first steps so I speak from what I know. Historically before those first steps, there is seemingly never-ending talk about whatever it is I want to change. Sometimes to the point where even I can't listen to me anymore. I've become so miserable and so repetitive going on about what is not right and what I want to change and that I am going to do something, someday soon, that I've bored myself. It's usually just about this point that I make a move. That is, when I haven't waited long enough for the Universe to intercede.
That's what happened when I was downsized in 2008. I knew I was done with 9 to 5 corporate life long before the pink slip, but I was too scared to do anything about it. I didn't like where I was but it felt awfully safe and comfortable to sit still and not take that first step down an unknown road.
Intellectually I knew that once I pointed my toes in the new direction and lifted a foot I wouldn't be able to stop moving. That's what happens when you are on the right path. It is as though a great gale force of wind is at your back propelling you forward and there is no stopping you.
Think about what happens when a baby takes their first steps. They struggle, they fall, they lose their balance as they attempt to do what they were born to do. But once they get going there is no turning back. They are, literally, on their path.
2012 will be a year of big change for us all. According to the numerologists, it is a 5 year which translates into fearlessness, change, joy and freedom. So my questions to you:
What will your change be this year?
What will you take your first step towards?
And because I am so passionate about change and about people living lives they love, and because I know from my own experience how hard it is to move towards that, I have created something brand spanking new. I am offering a 75-minute, one-time consultation in which we will explore what exactly is stopping you from taking your first step to whatever is next for you.
Is it your fear of success or failure, of money or lack of time?
Do you think its too late to make a change in your life?
Do you believe you don't really deserve to earn money and be happy at the same time?
Do you know you want to do something different but haven't a clue what that is?
It's what I like to think of a baby step before a big adult step.
I've taken a lot of first steps so I speak from what I know. Historically before those first steps, there is seemingly never-ending talk about whatever it is I want to change. Sometimes to the point where even I can't listen to me anymore. I've become so miserable and so repetitive going on about what is not right and what I want to change and that I am going to do something, someday soon, that I've bored myself. It's usually just about this point that I make a move. That is, when I haven't waited long enough for the Universe to intercede.
That's what happened when I was downsized in 2008. I knew I was done with 9 to 5 corporate life long before the pink slip, but I was too scared to do anything about it. I didn't like where I was but it felt awfully safe and comfortable to sit still and not take that first step down an unknown road.
Intellectually I knew that once I pointed my toes in the new direction and lifted a foot I wouldn't be able to stop moving. That's what happens when you are on the right path. It is as though a great gale force of wind is at your back propelling you forward and there is no stopping you.
Think about what happens when a baby takes their first steps. They struggle, they fall, they lose their balance as they attempt to do what they were born to do. But once they get going there is no turning back. They are, literally, on their path.
2012 will be a year of big change for us all. According to the numerologists, it is a 5 year which translates into fearlessness, change, joy and freedom. So my questions to you:
What will your change be this year?
What will you take your first step towards?
And because I am so passionate about change and about people living lives they love, and because I know from my own experience how hard it is to move towards that, I have created something brand spanking new. I am offering a 75-minute, one-time consultation in which we will explore what exactly is stopping you from taking your first step to whatever is next for you.
Is it your fear of success or failure, of money or lack of time?
Do you think its too late to make a change in your life?
Do you believe you don't really deserve to earn money and be happy at the same time?
Do you know you want to do something different but haven't a clue what that is?
It's what I like to think of a baby step before a big adult step.
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