When I took a speech class in college, I learned a new word that I loved to say: extemporaneous. I loved to say it, and what it meant scared me to death. To be extemporaneous means to ad lib - to speak (and presumably, to speak intelligently) without a chance to prepare, at the drop of a hat. Another Merriam-Webster definition says "happening suddenly and often unexpectedly and usually without … [Read more...]
Blogging for Business with Judy Dunn
Between 2002 and January 2009, the blog search engine Technorati had indexed as many as 133 million online blogs. With the estimated number of blogs doubling about every six months, some sources that index blogs report numbers as high as 400 million - and that’s in English language blogs alone. Since the first blog debuted in 1994, the medium has evolved from the virtual diary read ‘round the … [Read more...]
Give Your Fear the Finger!
OK - you're probably thinking, "Beth, really!? The finger?!? Seriously?? That's so not... YOU!" I blame this one on my friend, Leif. He's my partner-in-crime for our "Improv for Introverts" workshop. This blog's title was one of several possible tag lines we had brainstormed for the workshop. Rather than decide on the tag ourselves, we offered up a variety of ideas for feedback from our first … [Read more...]
“Whoops-a-Daisy!”: Not Just For Kids
Mistakes are the portals of discovery. ~James Joyce Have you ever held back from doing or saying something because you were afraid you were going to make a mistake? Lots of thoughts come to heart and mind when I think of the word "mistake": regret, embarassment, fault, missed opportunity, failure. And when the Random House Dictionary defines a mistake as: an error in action, calculation, … [Read more...]
I TRIPLE-Dog Dare Ya!
What's the boldest thing you've ever done? During the past two and a half years, I've done lots of bold things: moved across the country trained for a new career started my own business hosted a retreat, held workshops and regularly laid bare my soul in this newsletter And in spite of these challenges met, I was brought to my knees this past weekend... by... a … [Read more...]