Red Shoe Blogger: A Manifesta
Let’s mash up reality and assume that Dorothy wrote The Wizard of Oz and it is a memoir told through the lens of pharmaceuticals and it is to be published next year.
Dorothy has written a great book: part trippy fantasy, part freudian/jungian/wonky archetypical therapy, part love letter to friendship, and a prefeminist, feminist, post-feminist meditation on the nature and power of femininity wrapped in a trendy, little-dog-carrying, hot-shoe-wearing package.
It is Sex and the City meets Eat Love Pray meets Little Red Riding Hood, on acid. It is a journey. It is a great book. It must be read.
Dorothy knows this. She feels it right from her soul to the soles of her ruby red shoes. She can see the future: a movie. Musicals. The talk show circuit. Oprah. Much money, much love, much conversation, and a place in popular imagination.
It can be all of these things, not because she promotes the flying monkeys out of it – which she will, and absolutely should do – but because it offers a watery answer to our thirsty, questioning souls: you are the author of your own affair.
(Plus there are weird scary creatures who learn to love each other and grow as twisted, maturing moral entities and we all know that stuff sells. I hear a little book called Twilight is doing quite well these days.)
So this book should sell. It needs to sell. Dorothy wants it to sell.
Even more than that, Dorothy wants it to be read, to land, to take root, to grow, to inhabit, fertilize and animate our popular imagination.
If I was Dorothy – and I am – I would start a blog before I even started writing the book. I’d go all Seth Godin and build a tribe on Twitter. I’d find my people. I’d give them somewhere to find me. I’d get on the cluetrain. I’d Oprah. I’d firestart. I’d listen to Leo Babauta when he says he doesn’t believe in SEO. I’d make friends. I’d work the aich-ee-double-hockey-sticks out of ProBlogger and spend serious time with Outspoken Media. I’d figure out the lessons learned by our pantehon of blog gods and best-selling writers. I’d figure out the mechanics of demand and distribution and audience and I’d build it and they would come. And if they didn’t come, I’d go get them and then hug and pet and feed them because that is the purpose of promotional tricks and lassos and rodeo ponies and hoopla.
But I would only do that if, like Dorothy, I had something wizardly to offer: the journey. The passion. The learning. The love. The living. The lessons. The magic. The really, really great content. Please.
And this is what exasperates me about the ‘blogging and social media for money’ superhighway. So many times I follow the yellow brick road laid by an enterprising blogger who’s working the system – rocking the comments, manufacturing controversy, guest posting, paper-training SEO, tweeting – and when I get there and pull back the curtain…nothing. No wizard. No magic. No message. Just a lot of mechanics and whirling buttons and a robotic, soulless special effects machine.
Honestly, that’s what a lot of problogging and blogs and social media enterprises are looking like these days. It is turn-key blogging. It is execution unsparked by ideas. It is a waste of time and tweets and it won’t make you money.
Straight up: I LOVE money. I want money. I make money and you should, too. I want you and Dorothy and every other problogger out there to have as many tiny dogs – more! – as you and your minions can carry.
I just want you to make that money from selling wisdom, truth, experience, art or sparkly scarlet maryjanes (and if you are, I’m ALWAYS in the market for red shoes, so please put me on your mailing list).
I want you to make an offering. I want you to have something to offer. I want you to be a Red Shoe Blogger. I just made that up.
A Red Shoe Blogger is not blogging exclusively for money.
A Red Shoe Blogger has a mission and is animated by passion and all the tips and tricks and hacks and tools and tweets are harnessed in service of that divine, cosmic, helpful, genuine, meaningful objective.
That mission is Home.
So this is what I want from all the Red Shoe Bloggers out there: I want you to buck the system, or work the system, but know that the system is not a slot machine that will pay off if only you keep pulling that arm and never ever run out of nickels or take a pee-break.
Success is not only about the systems.
The home address of success is passion, talent (let’s be honest), creation, contribution, collaboration, conversation, and community.That is where hot sweaty abundance and cold hard cash reside (FYI, they’re totally a couple) and I wish more bloggers lived there too.
Because, after all, there’s no place like home.
___________________
Red Shoe Blogger was my first guest post for ProBlogger in October 2009 – and, as I tried to say yesterday, it is my manifesta and my mission.
image credit: Jennifer Longaway
About the author
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Is it wrong that I am more than just a little turned on here? Yeah, didn’t think so.
What’s getting me is that the ‘universe’ (yeah I read you a lot) is preparing me all this positivity in neat little bite sized pieces, tailor made to order for me. And I haven’t even got to the part of the drive thru where I give my order yet. Hell I’m not even sure what drive thru I’m going to hit yet. But dammit its gunna be tasty when i do.
“The home address of success is passion, talent (let’s be honest), creation, contribution, collaboration, conversation, and community.”
#Agree, #Agree, #Agree
These are principals that I practice daily. I am so glad that I am not going to be playing with myself anymore.
#ThingsThatISayThatSoundBetterInMyHeadThanTheyDoInText
-J
[Reply]
Kelly Diels
replied:
on May 21st, 2010 at 10:09 am
@John C Davies, oh I don’t know, that sounded pretty fine to me.
(I might be predisposed to enjoy these kinds of extended metaphors. Maybe.)
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I love that title! Red Shoe Blogger. Hawt.
I may be no-where with my blog in terms of SEO, or even readers, for that matter (I’m pretty sure I don’t have any yet), but my heart and my passion and every ounce of my wisdom, talent, and hope goes into each blog post I write – and I think I’m only getting better. I just want to create, share, and inspire all those things and people that I find beautiful. And you inspire me.
Thank you.
[Reply]
John C Davies
replied:
on May 21st, 2010 at 12:41 am
@April, April, you have at least one reader…This I know for sure.
Nice to meet you btw.
-J
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Kelly Diels
replied:
on May 21st, 2010 at 10:12 am
@April, and here’s the deal, April: the stuff you’re doing is the hard part – creativity, imagination, heart, soul, meaning.
So the other things – SEO, promotion, traffic-building – are easy, compared to that. They’re simply effort and execution.
And this is what I think: your art deserves to be seen. Learning the boring tools of promotion and optimization (Dave would hate that I used that word) is doing proper service to your art.
Because art needs an audience. It deserves one.
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How bloody marvelous and hear, hear sister. I will now have ‘somewhere over the rainbow’ as an earworm all day but that is no bad thing.
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Kelly Diels
replied:
on May 21st, 2010 at 10:12 am
@Genna, my children can stop, drop and roll with that. I hear that song a LOT, at full volume. LOVE.
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‘Turnkey blogging’ – great phrase, along with all the other great phrases you have in this post. I was only discussing this a few minutes ago with a friend, how we think we have to follow the success path laid out by the ‘great’ in our business, but find ourselves falling short somehow.
I once had some superb red leather pixie boots – I loved them! Other people weren’t so keen, but I thought I looked cool and trendy. Ohh, I wish still had them, they’d be a great aide memoir for my blogging career.
[Reply]
Kelly Diels
replied:
on May 22nd, 2010 at 8:53 am
@Jane Bradbury, I once wrote a piece for ProBlogger exhorting people to be nice to their clients and have respect for their audiences. I said that if you’re wondering why no one is buying/reading, this is possibly the missing ingredient. Love.
Brian Clark (Copyblogger) commented that, in fact, lots of people are successful by being in-your-face and obnoxious. (I’m paraphrasing wildly) His point? The magical, mystical ingredient that is often missing is this:
be unique.
And that’s the part of the formula we don’t talk about very often – because how do you teach “unique”?
But I think unique might be easier than we think. Nobody can be Heather Armstrong or Penelope Trunk or Naomi Dunford, because they’re themselves. Extravagantly.
And that is the lesson.
No one can be you. So package THAT up and sell it. Or write it. Or do whatever you need to do.
Now sally forth and pour yourself into it.
xo
[Reply]
Jane Bradbury
replied:
on May 23rd, 2010 at 9:21 am
@Kelly Diels, I’m sallying, I promise!
You’re right, you can’t teach unique, but I do have an idea of how to try, or at least, give someone a push if they’re stuck.
I’d best get to work on it!
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Love it. May all the curtains be pulled aside.
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Wow, just wow. Thanks Jane for pointing me at this post, and thanks ‘Dorothy’ for writing it. I’m going to find my red shoes, today is going to be a wonderful day.
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Kelly Diels
replied:
on May 22nd, 2010 at 8:55 am
@Ruby Rynne, and you’re RUBY.
Ruby shoes, baby.
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Looks like there’s a Dorothy in every one of us.
While I don’t go for the name Red Shoe Blogger, I definitely go by its principle , enriching our existence with your very original spirit – too many bloggers really lost the fire – the magic they can create – let’s not let that happen to US !
[Reply]
Kelly Diels
replied:
on May 21st, 2010 at 10:14 am
@Mars Dorian, the fire is where it is at. Oh yeah.
Suddenly I want to sing kumbaya…
But this is eternal: storytelling is in our DNA. This is how we know each other and our people. This is how we think .
Let’s do it well.
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I remember reading this piece for the first time on ProBlogger and thinking, “Wow! I gotta read more.” So I guess October 2009 birthed another Cleavage fanatic.
And today, all these months later, the piece still rings fresh and wise. I think it needs to go on the calendar for re-publishing every 6 months or so, to remind us bloggers why we’re doing what we do.
thanks for the red shoes Dorothy – and for showing us the way home.
[Reply]
Kelly Diels
replied:
on May 21st, 2010 at 10:15 am
@ami | 40daystochange, I’m so glad that’s how we connected, because I ADORE the gorgeous bits of wisdom you sprinkle around here in the comments.
I might do that…repost every six months…you’re so clever, baby.
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Thank you for writing this.
Perfect. Just. Perfect.
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Kelly Diels
replied:
on May 21st, 2010 at 10:15 am
@Christine (Blisschick) Reed, THANK YOU, even more, for saying that.
xoxo
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Oh so to the point. I am blogging because I always wanted to write. I had a career. I earned six figures. Whoopee. I want to write – and I’m willing to build a platform. Heck, I like the platform part. But I am not willing to compromise on the writing. Please keep saying these things to help me keep the slightly warped and very glittery red faith.
[Reply]
Kelly Diels
replied:
on May 21st, 2010 at 10:16 am
@LPC, I like your style. Let’s keep the faith (especially the red, glittery kind).
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Oh, Kelly! I am not a blogger, I am even new to reading blogs, but reading this makes me wish that I were a writer! This is so beautifully written, SO well-crafted that I had to go back and immediately re-read it! I echo your call for passion, for meaning behind WHATEVER it is that we all do. CANNOT WAIT for the book!
[Reply]
Kelly Diels
replied:
on May 21st, 2010 at 10:21 am
@Jami, the WHATEVER is the key. Whatever it is that you’re great at, that you love to do, that only you can do the way you do: we need that.
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I love this piece. It’s very inspiring. But it’s also making me feel like I’m doing it wrong, lol. I am so lost. I think I need to get help from you and Dave.
[Reply]
Kelly Diels
replied:
on May 21st, 2010 at 10:17 am
@Kathleen O’Connor, oh honey, you know where we are – talk to us!!! We LIVE for this stuff.
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*click* *click* *click*
Erm, hi. Lol, love the title and the analogy; seems like a great idea.
[Reply]
Kelly Diels
replied:
on May 21st, 2010 at 10:20 am
@Heather, clickity click click right backatcha. xo
[Reply]
Heather
replied:
on May 21st, 2010 at 10:30 am
@Kelly Diels, Well you DID say Dorothy xP
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Yep. Totally.
http://aronetworking.com/2010/03/good-and-evil-in-the-online-garden/
[Reply]
Kelly Diels
replied:
on May 21st, 2010 at 10:20 am
@Kelly, what you wrote here:
“I want to hang with really deep thinking, sexy, spiritual, funny bleeding hearts. How about you?”
YES ME TOO.
Because otherwise…what’s the point? Can’t we bored at The Day Job or on the sofa?
Bored is easy. Bored is boring. And boring is pointless (and unsustainable, methinks).
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I used to know a biker who wore bright red, ostrich cowboy boots. Politically incorrect, but MAN did they get attention! I want some of that magic.
Passion and relevance to your people are what keep them coming back. Keep teaching us and we’ll have a Red Shoe Blogger Parade.
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Kelly, thank you. I’ve been feeling really stuck about my blogging journey, wondering if it was for me, which is how I found your latest series. Something about all the military metaphors among my favorite bloggers (Chris Guillebeau builds Empires a la Caesar and Alexander, Adam Baker has a militia…don’t get me wrong, I’ve gotten some great advice and inspiration from reading them, but for my own blogging journey, I couldn’t relate, for personal reasons).
But this, the Red Shoe Blogger Parade (as Sanford above says), this I can do, this I passionately want to do! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
[Reply]
Lianne
replied:
on May 21st, 2010 at 6:08 pm
@Elle B.,
Amen, Elle, a-fucking-men.
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Hear, hear! Although I can’t help but wonder if I’d be slightly less enthusiastic if I was, in fact, making more money. Actually, I’d be MUCH less enthusiastic, mostly because I’d be whiling away my hours rolling naked in said money, just for fun.
But I digress. I said “F*ck the system” this year and just started doing my own thing without trying to SEO the shit out of my whatnot. I wrote an e-book, I made it fiction, it has a horrible cover (on purpose…really!) and I made the whole damn thing free. I’ve (mostly) stopped checking my numbers and just started reminding myself why I love this stupid blogging thing so much anyway.
And THEN I got this e-mail from a reader that told me that my writing is what made her pursue her dream. And I was all like, “Um, what?” and then I bawled like a baby. So yeah, gimme my red shoes and let me sing my heart out from a barnyard, cuz that’s where it’s at.
Capital G Great post.
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Kelly. This. Is. It.
When I see all the emphasis on SEO and monetizing and all that I think ….. ooooo I’ve got a lot of learning to do (thank goodness for the Dave Doolins of this world). And then you casually strutted past all of that and landed on the content.
And I thought to myself…well I think I’m on the right track on that. My blog started with the sharing my goods: the daily photo, and has, due to your encouragement, grown into something much more personal, and I hope compelling and enchanting, even.
I have big plans for this. Again, thanks to your (and Dave’s) encouragement. Once I do some building & change it over to WordPress, etc, and launch it(aiming for June 9. OMG, did I just put that in writing??) that I’ll have to have a brainstorming (more like a tornado) session with some very key people… Especially you … to expand my product line, find ways to work with partners, and, well, make some Money!
I can hardly wait. There’s no place like home!
Hugs and butterflies,
~T~
[Reply]
John C Davies
replied:
on May 21st, 2010 at 2:00 pm
@PicsieChick, Open Outlook. Calender. JUNE 9 2010… oh its a Wednesday. New All Day Event. “Check out http://www.picsiechick.com for a new post” Save event. Annnd Done.
See you then!
-J
[Reply]
PicsieChick
replied:
on May 21st, 2010 at 2:46 pm
@John C Davies, ACK!
Do I really have to have something that will take you ALL DAY?
H&B
~T~
[Reply]
Kelly Diels
replied:
on May 21st, 2010 at 7:33 pm
@PicsieChick, amazing. love to be a part of this – and I know that you’ve got good people in your corner, like Amanda and Dave. Smart, that, because both of them do so much more than meets the eye. Amanda’s a designer and an up-and-coming writer (and force to contend with). Dave’s so much more than SEO – he gives me great tactical (and strategic) business and blogging advice AND he studies this writing thang. I trust his eyes and his judgement. And yours, too! Because I KNOW the people you’ve frogmarched – or butterfly-flitted – into action. woot woot.
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Right on the money(sorry)there Kelly.
If there is money to be made someone will make a formula and sell it. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. That’s how we as a group progress. Someone figures it out by trial and error then codifies it so those that come after can have an easier time of it.
That is how Mozart did it. He left us with great road maps. But black dots on a sheet of paper are not music.
The English alphabet has 26 characters. It is up to each one of us to use them to create our own music.
I have been thinking about just this subject the last few days. Thanks for stating it so succinctly.
@Sanford-I wasn’t into the Red Shoe thing until you mentioned the red cowboy boots-Now we’re talkin’
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Loved this piece. Been following your blog for awhile, since my pal Ms. Writing Roads speaks about you non-stop, but I believe this is the first time I commented. I love money to but I love the passion and fulfillment that I get from blogging and whether I make any money or not it fulfills me in a way that I could have not imagined two years ago. I follow the pros and glean advice from them and I love what you said about looking behind the curtain…I think you have to take what you need, what you can and make it work the best we can, replication does not guarantee success. Bravo for your manifesto – love it.
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Kelly,
Had a meetup with Dave Doolin and all he did was rave about writing better and how well you do it. That was a lovely piece and it truly grabbed me more than Dave’s preaching. I have been in denial about the difference good writing (or better writing) can make. I have been overwhelmed with the technical site and as you suggest have been lead down a less productive path. I don’t think you can ignore the technical side altogether but the balance is important. And, by the way, weren’t they ruby slippers?
[Reply]
kellydiels
replied:
on May 23rd, 2010 at 5:42 pm
@Ralph, thank you so much for telling me this. I’m delighted to hear a little second-hand, sideways praise (I will take it ANY way I can get it!).
The technical + the art = success. In my opinion. Once you get the envelope right (the tech side), then you can pen the love letter…and send. And, hopefully, have it received.
Yes, they were ruby slippers. But I don’t wear slippers, I wear skyscrapers.
thanks for stopping by, Ralph.
[Reply]
Dave Doolin
replied:
on May 23rd, 2010 at 7:12 pm
@Ralph, “raving”? “preaching”?
Hrm…
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Yesterday someone asked me, once again, if I was making money on my blog. I explained that I didn’t start my blog to make money. I started it as I was leaving Corporate America for the wilds of authorentrepreneurship. I wanted to write about how my life was changing and what I saw as I started to build a reader base for when my novels are published. If I make money on my blog that is icing on the cake.
I do admit that I found myself subscribing to a number of blogs that offered suggestions to increase SEO, write blogs that get read, blah, blah, blah. They are boring me. Yours is not!
I love what you wrote! In fact I think you should design a red shoe blogger widget. I know I would add one to my blog!
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this really made me stop in my tracks!!!! great post!!!
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[...] Being lost – or, as Dave Doolin called it, ‘homeless’ – is temporary and essential. Ask any wanderer. Ask a cartographer or an explorer. Ask a man who won’t stop at the gas station to ask for directions because he’s building a map in his head. Ask myths. Ask Ulysses. Ask Dorothy, who followed the yellow brick road and still exclaimed “There’s no place like home!… [...]
Kelly:
A friend who is a bigger cheerleader for me than I can be for myself sent me this link. I will print this out and tape it on my door, my mirror, my refrigerator, my t-shirt. I only have about six people I know about who read my blog because it is a wrenching situation almost every time I put myself out there. So, I don’t promote. I don’t use my name (too complicated, too personal given my day job). But, my friends don’t comment on the blog either, they just tell me how much they were moved. So, no real “traffic”. And then I wonder, “what’s the point.”. But, deep down I KNOW there is a point. So I continue on.
But, it’s time, to notch it up and come out of the dark. Just this week I started to link two of my blogs to one another. One is words. One is pictures. So this piece is exactly what I needed. I THINK I have the important stuff down. I’m passionate about what I’m writing and shooting. I feel it is well crafted. Now, to conquer the the rest of the “who is reading and how am I making money off of it” part. And maybe, just maybe it will free me in more ways than one.
Thanks, YOU ROCK.
PS. My red shoes would most likely be sparkly rubber shoes you just slip into as I write about my garden as metaphor for my life, my journey, my love affairs.
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