Are You Being Served?

There is a funny British comedy called "Are You Being Served?" that I use to watch every week.   I don't have much time for TV any more, but I can remember watching how those characters tried each week to offer the best customer service they could, despite all the comical blunders that may have happened along the way.

Thinking of that show made me wonder if I am serving my readers to the best of MY ability.  The purpose of this blog is to uplift, inspire, and maybe give a tip or two on how to become a stronger writer.  Am I accomplishing my goal here?

All my teenage and adult years I have been in the service industry.  I am passionate about assisting others and there is a sincerity in my efforts that others usually recognize.  When I was a manager within the retail industry I could determine whether I was helpful or not simply by looking at my customers.  Face to face contact was an easy way to know if they were getting the answers they wanted.  When I was in the finance industry I would know if I was achieving my customer service goal by the friendly connections I made over the phone.  At one point I was handling more than 20 million dollars of other people's money at any given moment and they trusted that I was serving their interests to the best of my ability.

But the internet is different.  You, dear readers, are sometimes "faceless" and "voiceless" to me so how is the best way of determining if you are being served properly?  There isn't exactly a big HELP button sitting on my blog for you to push when you have a question or need a pick me up post.  So I gauge my effectiveness in helping you by both the comments you leave on my posts and if you pass on information to your friends about my blog.

One of my favorite blogs comes from Kristen Lamb, author of the best-selling books We Are Not Alone--The Writer's Guide to Social Media and Are You There Blog? It's Me, Writer.  Yesterday her post talked about the T.E.A.M. concept where Together Everyone Achieves More.  You can read her post at http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/t-e-a-m-together-everyone-achieves-more.  I like this concept.  We are all members of a wonderful writing community and if we continue to help each other and lift each other's spirits then we ALL will be successful and achieve more.

So tell me, dear readers, are YOU being served?

I'm Not Dorothy...

This isn't Kansas and I don't have a dog named Toto.  But like Judy Garland in the Wizard Of Oz, yesterday I found myself being caught in the path of a terrible storm.  Not one of my own making, but one I had to deal with none the less.

Forces of nature are scary things.  I've survived many hurricanes in my lifetime.  Living so close to the Gulf of Mexico almost promises that you will be visited by Mother Nature's fury once in a while. But with hurricanes you have time to get out of the storm's path.  Tornados are different.  They arrive at a moment's notice and almost always leave a path of destruction behind.

Yesterday, not only did I make it through the storm, I witnessed an act of love and friendship I will not soon forget.  As I was huddled in our school's bathroom with a toddler beside me, my best friend was standing guard outside the door while a funnel cloud tried it's best to materialize in front of him.  I'm not really sure what he thought he could do should Mother Nature decide to show her power, but what a testimonial to love and friendship that he was willing to try and protect his loved ones!

It's times like these that put my writing problems into perspective.  How can I let a little writer's block get me down when there are tornadoes in my path?  The fear of failure...or success... doesn't have a chance when I realize I overcame so much fear yesterday.  With patience and the support of my friends, I will weather any writer's storm with the same perseverance I did yesterday's funnel cloud.  I know with the coming daylight there will be clear skies, and maybe even a published book or two on my horizon.  Mother Nature...don't you just love her?

Have Some Alphabet Soup

Who doesn't remember sitting down to a hot bowl of alphabet soup on a cold winter morning as a child?

There is something heart warming about dipping a spoon into all those letters and seeing what words you could create before you ran out of broth.  Well, here is your chance to recreate that moment from childhood again.

During the month of April, bloggers all around the world will be participating in the A to Z challenge.  Writers everywhere will attempt to blog daily for 26 days with a new letter of the alphabet in the spotlight on each day...i.e. day one is A, day two is B, day three is C, etc.  The lovely head chefs for this challenge are busy in the kitchen cooking up tons of fun for April and there is still time to sign up...just go to their blog April A To Z Challenge and help them reach 1000 participants by March 1st!

I post daily on my own blog so THAT part won't be a challenge.  This is, however, my first year participating and I have given myself the added challenge of attempting a "double header" of sorts and if you don't know what I'm talking about, you will just have to come back in April and find out what I mean!  ;-)

I'm busy doing my research now and even called in reinforcements to help me get ready.  I hope I can do this.  Wait, I KNOW I can do this because I feed on all the energy of this lovely writing community I am so happy to be a part of.  So who's with me?  Who will don that chef's hat with me and cook up a pot of comforting blog posts in April?

And if I'm really lucky I will join my friend, Garfield, in dining on the best bowl of alphabet soup yet...