Shannon's Blog: Minding My Own Business

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. -Ralph Waldo Emerson Did you feel life pick up speed his week?  I know I did. My inbox flooded with loudspeaker announcements of sales, as every store I've ever shopped at tried to grab a piece of me.  Yikes! Whether or not you're in the thick of things already, we're all close.  It's the last week of November after all. The time when to-do lists surge out of control. Parties and concerts abound.  We burn through our reserves of Vitamin D. I'm on high alert. As a small business owner, my biggest risk to my productivity isn't a computer virus or a power outage.  For me, it's the common cold and flu. Have you ever tried to write when you're sick?  Sinuses aren't the only thing that clog - inspiration does too. And it's hard to be creative when you're sleeping. Starting now, I'm keeping extra special watch over my well-being. That means paying attention to hand-washing. Stay...

"From a little spark may burst a flame."   - Dante I made a stomach-turning discovery this week. I've been watching my readership sink over the last five weeks since Thanksgiving.  And although I've always approached my readership stats with a sense of curiosity,  they've been pretty deep in the basement lately in a way that's been hard to explain. Do I have spinach in my sentences? Rather than taking it personally, I assumed people had gotten busy with Halloween, followed by that nuisance of a time change, caught a quick breath over Remembrance Day, and then swan dived into the early and persistent pressure of the jingle jingle.  Who has time to read this time of year? But this week I discovered it was all my fault after all.  I took for granted my default social media settings.  Instead of posting for the world to see, the last couple of weeks, my blog posts have been inadvertently locked up in a me- only viewing party of one. Rather tha...

We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.   -William Faulkner, writer, Nobel laureate I am taking time this weekend to remember those who serve and those who have served to protect our peace, democracy and freedoms. Especially, I've been reflecting on freedom: What does freedom mean and how can I honour freedom in a free country like Canada? Here are a few ideas: 1 - Seek Knowledge Knowledge is power. I think of countries where getting an education is still so difficult, especially for girls and women,  especially for the impoverished, and how lucky I am to have access to so many free learning resources, both formal and informal.  Whether I want to find a better soup recipe, or learn a new language, or find out more about how my car engine works, I can do it!  It can be as easy as going to the local library, museum or nature centre.  Or could be as involved as signing up for a continuing education class at the loca...

Design is the silent ambassador of your brand.  -Paul Rand, art director and graphic designer My business cards are ready! Earlier this summer, I mentioned that just at the moment my business name had crystallized, a friend reconnected and offered to help with a logotype and card design.  What luck!   We met over donuts and discussed at length my business name and the kind of work I hoped to do.   At this point, it's important to know I have a very limited capacity for spatial visualization.  So my thoughts about how my card should look were particularly open-ended.  I wanted my cards to be approachable. Open. Calm.  Maybe a pen? But, as it turns out, a spatial deficit doesn't stop me from having strong opinions.  Hey! Why are you laughing?! I liked that. But not this. What about moving this over there? No - never mind, that's wrong. Can I see...? And this is where I salute Marleen Kiral, Commander-in-Chief at A lmo stronaut...