Win a free copy of Arianna Huffington’s book, On Becoming Fearless!
In a panel at BlogHer 06, Arianna Huffington, of the Huffington Post, offered to send people at the conference a free copy of her book, On Becoming Fearless, if they emailed her. So I did. I just got it yesterday, so I can’t review it yet.
The offer’s still up at her virtual book tour but it might be over by now. (You can also read a free excerpt from the book.)
But if it’s too late, don’t worry - Kelly Leonard, of Hachette Book Group USA, gave me copies to give away!
I’d like to try a contest for the remaining four copies I have. Here’s the deal: there are many fears about blogging - some real, some imagined. But we blog anyway.
I want to hear from other bloggers about one fear that they had about blogging and why they didn’t let it stop them. To have a chance to win a free book (I’ll even pay postage myself) leave a comment on this post about a blogging fear, and why that didn’t stop you.
The four comments that I think are the best will win a copy of the book.
You don’t have to leave your real name, if you don’t want to, but do leave a real email address (that doesn’t get published and will be kept confidential) so that I can notify you if you win.
The contest will run until midnight, Sunday, August 27th. Eligibility will be determined by the time stamp on the blog comment. This blog is running on US Eastern Daylight Time (same time zone as New York City). That’s currently Greenwich Mean Time - 4 hours. Here’s a link to the World Time Clock’s current time in NYC, if you’re interested.
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=179
So what do you think? What is one of your fears about blogging? And why did you decide to blog anyway?
As a bonus, here’s one of mine: that no one will enter the contest! It’ll just look so pathetic. But I did it anyway because I want to see what happens. So step up, say your piece, and maybe win one of our fabulous prizes.
Technorati: virtual book tours blogher06
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August 26th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
We’re only allowed one blogging fear? I could list plenty! Hope this isn’t too long.
When I started my first blog (Sodaware::Blog), I wasn’t really sure of where I was going with it, so it drifted between software and productivity. Earlier this year I decided to separate the productivity stuff into another blog. I was going to give it a generic name, and not really link myself to it personally, because I was apprehensive about putting myself out there. I’m quite a shy guy, and the idea of publishing a website under my own name was quite scary. I didn’t like the idea of opening myself up and exposing my personality.
I decided to ignore my fears, and registered the domain “philnewton.net”. It got off to a good start, but I’ve let it lie derelict over the last month. Not really what I wanted, but every time I start writing, the nagging voice of fear stops me from publishing.
So does the story have a happy ending? It does, actually.
Over the past few weeks I’ve loosened up quite a bit on my other blog, and started to let my personality show through. The results have been far beyond what I expected, and I’m really enjoying what I’m doing! I’m already starting to feel this enthusiasm drift into my new blog, and ideas are coming to me far easier than before. More importantly, I’m feeling much more confident about letting the real me show through. It’s a very liberating experience!
So, after all that rambling, my message is this: Don’t give in to the fear of exposing your personality, because your personality is what makes your blog worth reading!
August 26th, 2006 at 4:28 pm
Thanks for the comment, Phil! You saved me from my fear (although Huffington says in her book says that we shouldn\’t rely on others to save us from what we\’re afraid of).
I agree about showing your personality. That, to me, is the appeal of the blogs I read regularly.
September 4th, 2006 at 11:17 am
[…] Well, due to underwhelming response, the contest is over. I’m not sure why the lack of response — I have a few guesses: […]