MN Blogger Conference….its really happening…..

Perhaps this is my attempt at a live blog??  First time I ever heard that term was in the keynote address………
Well it’s finally time for the conference…..already 11:15am, wow time does fly when you are having fun!!!  Below I’m going to post key things I take from each session and at the bottom a random slide show of photos I take either on my phone or xoom.

Taken from the keynote address – Five rules: 

No blog plan is plan to fail
Adapt and thrive
It’s not all about you…..writing bout others, interview,  guest posts
Ask, recognize and repeat …recognize those who help you.
The end is near let’s get started……..when you think you’ve run out, you’ve just begun.
AND “Content is King Creativity is Queen”

Now I am in my first break out session on photography, definitely learning a lot.  Learned that the pics below are definitely snapshots and not good photographs.  Also learning lots about lighting in photos and how to tweak a point and shoot (cheap) camera.
These are just a few great tips taken from this session:

TIPS FOR IMPROVEMENT

slow down
get out and practice
shoot often
change-up your perspective
make mistakes
learn from mistakes
get feedback from people other than family and friends

Ok, break out session #2…..15 Essential WordPress Plugins.

It is now evident, I’m clueless at this blogging game……..who’d have known there was a difference between wordpress.com and wordpress.org??  Note to self: Google this…….and while there, Google how to add plugins to your blog, oh yeah and what exactly do plugins do??  LOL well I sorta know, and I know I need some, but I think first I must get a wordpress.org account??  HELP………I am not going to add the key items taken from this session as I am taking EVERYTHING from this (when I get the presentation from the presenter).

I think one thing I am definitely learning from this entire day is that I need to quit my day job to be able to fully understand all that I can achieve with my blog…..hahaha!!

LUNCH ~ Taco Bar, it was nummy!!  Of course I had just cheese and meat, but I was adventurous I mixed chicken and beef, LOL.
Then I went to get my free head shot taken, made my donation to Read Indeed.  I am super excited to see my picture later in my email!!  I’m sure I’ll be using it on here and twitter etc.  Please check out @glimpsesofsoul and http://glimpsesofsoul.com/   as Mandy donated her time and skill to the people at MNBlogCon and her skill is really amazing.

Breakout Session 3 – Scene and Story how to make your writing sing

As I explained in my blog yesterday,  I am NOT a writer……I am an accountant, and as for my creativity, writing, etc. that’s at the level of the creativity possessed by most accountants……I’m analytical, I like for ‘certains’,  1+1=2, etc.
But I am working to get better, to ‘make my writing sing’, I want people to want to read it, to enjoy reading it.
Taken from this session:
Write to the senses of sound, sight and touch.  Make your writing ‘human’ make it sing to your readers.
These are the two pieces I wrote in the class, the first was to be of a childhood memory, the smell, the sounds, etc.  And the second was to write of a person of significance in your life in their element!!!  First stating the keywords and building on them.  PLEASE feel free to comment if either of these pieces ‘SING’?

PIECE #1:

Sugar bread                  
Ouma
distinct smell
maroon paint

We’d go over to Ouma’s flat in Yeoville, she was the caretaker there, and for John and I the building was an adventure waiting to happen, stairs up and down, an elevator that scared you, the maroon paint on the ground and steps always amazed me, who’d paint the ground?? 
Enter Ouma’s flat, the distinct smell of Ouma’s would hit you.  She never had much and never asked for much.  When I was a kid, to go to Ouma’s house was always a treat, she was herself, she was her own person and she loved us.  We could do as we please, within reason of course.  Watch TV shows and movies we weren’t usually allowed to, swear as much as we liked, and when we needed a snack, when our tummies were rumbling Ouma would always offer up ‘sugar bread’.  Sometimes the sugar bread came thick with Rama margarine and the sugar piled on top.  Other times the bread would be topped with a few drops of water and the sugar dumped on top, sticking to the bread.  Either way we’d be so excited to eat it…….I mean a kid and sugar, YES PLEASE!!!!!  After a while she didn’t need to offer us this treat, we’d run in the door and say SUGAR BREAD PLEASE?!?!

It wasn’t until years later, until my Ouma had passed away and I was an adult that I realized that this treat, the treat John and I LOVED was created by poverty.  My Ouma was not a well to do person, she had a hard life, she lived with nothing, and therefore expected nothing.  My Ouma created this treat because we’d go over there and she’d have nothing else to eat.  The times we got Rama margarine on the bread is when she had margarine to put on the bread, the water is when she’d run out of Rama.  But no matter what the reason was, all those years ago, I LOVED SUGAR BREAD, and I’ll always cherish the memories I have of sharing this amazing treat with my Ouma. 

PIECE #2:

Mom
couch
TV
sleeping

When I think back to the time I got to spend with my mom before immigrating to the united states I have an uncountable number of memories, my mother was and still is my very best friend.  But this piece calls for me to describe that one place, the place she was in her element.
It’s her living room, the furry carpet at your feet and the slightly beaten up blue couch to sit on.  Although I’m sure there was more laying down then there was sitting.  It’s her and I, it’s any night of the week, we’re watching TV, who knows what it is on, it really is not important.  It’s the sitting there, talking, talking about anything and everything.   As the night passes, the talking gets less and less, are we watching TV more?  Probably not…….we’ve now progressed to the ‘fall in front of the TV’ mode of our night.  My mom always on my right, she’d start to lean, her eyes getting heavier, this must have made her head heavier too as she started to lay down on the couch, the comfy yet beaten up blue couch.  Then I too, although I try to fight it, give into the sleepiness that is consuming me.  I lean over to my right, and I lay my weary head down to rest on my mother….and there, just like that, as comfortable as either of us will ever be, we SLEEP!!!

Breakout Session #4 – You may have already written a best seller

This session is about how to take what you’ve already done in your blog and turning it into a publisher work.  Whether that be via self publishing, micro publishing, etc.  I sure don’t think this will likely happen to me, but it is interesting hearing someone else story and having the seed planted in the back of mind should I one day feel I am ready to do something like this I’ll at least have some knowledge of where and how to start the process.  Interesting to find out that Craigslist is a good place to find an editor!!

Taken from this session:
Resources for self publishing:
publishing sites
the domino project
tribal author
the loft (locally in MPLS)

The conference is now complete.  I feel tired, but I don’t care!!  The conference was all I hoped it’d be and then just a bit more!!
I have learned more then I think I can truly wrap my head around, but I am going to take some time to let it sink in and I hope to be able to use it to better my blog (for my six readers), which is exactly what I had hoped I’d get from the day spent down here at the Midtown Exchange.

Thank you to the organizers of the conference and to the sponsors!!!  I definitely will be back again next year!!!

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