“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.” - Cyril Connolly

Part of running a blog is promoting it. It is easy to cross the line from promoting into spamming. At that point most bloggers also lose track of the content in their blog, they run out of time, energy and passion for it. They can get content from other sources: free content online, guest bloggers or quick content like quotations used as a whole post. Some bloggers will also steal content. At this point there is very little of yourself in the blog. It is just a business, a means of harvesting money from the Internet. If that is what you want to do wouldn't getting a second job be a lot more effective? Why make pennies when you can make dollars?

Blog, if it is still your passion, if you still balance your writing and your promotion. Blog if you still love the creative aspect of writing, styling your blog with images and HTML. Promote your blog, but schedule your time for it. Don't lose track of the content you are promoting.

I never really believed in the power of workshops until I did a few. Being in that two day workshop about the self employment program and becoming self employed made me really feel it was something attainable and I really could change my life. Now the glow has begun to tarnish and I'm back to being me again. I want another workshop.

So, I have decided to follow some advice I wrote for writers a couple of years ago. I will create my own workshop. Here are some quotes offered at my workshop, just to get me started.

First some humour:

George W. Bush: 'One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.

Now the inspiration:

The only thing in the world you can change is yourself and that makes all the difference in the world. - The Cher

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power. - Alan Cohen

The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become. - Charles DuBois

In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. - Eric Hoffer

If you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it You just do it one step at a time. - Marian Wright Edelman

It's not so much that we're afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but it's that place in between that we fear . . . . It's like being between trapezes. It's Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There's nothing to hold on to. - Marilyn Ferguson

There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in travelling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position, and be bruised in a new place. - Washington Irving

This is my star inspirational quote for this workshop, such as it is:

Some men see things as they are and say, "Why?" I dream of things that never were and say, "Why not? - George Bernard Shaw

"People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents."

Andrew Carnegie was born on November 25, 1835. (Scottish born American industrialist and philanthropist. 1835-1919).

This is a good quote to keep around for starting up a business. I may print it out and stick it over my monitor. I surely do need all the help I can get.