Quotations Weblog

I’m sure this quotation was meant to mean, touch your customer emotionally, but my first instinct was the physical interpretation. It’s true. If you physically touch people, they respond positively as long as it is a minor touch, not some personal-space intruding touch.

Either way, you have to reach your customer. Don’t just tell them that you exist. Tell them how you’ll help them exist.

For more customer oriented talk, see Kathy Sierra’s website:

Creating Passionate Users

Michael and I are going to be in Austin, Texas for SXSW. While we’re there, we wanted to allow our readers to have a chance to meet us, so we set up a reader meetup at the Sunset Valley Barnes and Noble:

Location: Barnes & Noble – Sunset Valley
5601 Brodie Lane Suite 300, Austin, TX 78745 Google Map
Phone: 512-892-3493

Date and Time: March 9, 2006 6pm-7pm

Please RSVP using Upcoming.org so that we don’t feel like we’re going to be waiting at the bookstore all alone:

• Upcoming.org: Starling Studios Reader Meetup at Barnes and Noble Sunset Valley (Friday, March 9, 2007)

We are going to hang around for an hour, gathering readers and then we are going to let you pick a restaurant where we can eat and hang out for longer if you want. We are really interested in what we can do to make The Quotations Page a better place to be. What are you interested in? What bores you? How can we help you? Come with ideas and helpful hints because we’re all ears!

This quotation is ruthless. Ideas like this can stop you in your tracks. If you have ever wanted to write a novel, don’t let G. K. Chesterton scare you away. Don’t worry about writing a bad novel. Do it! Write your bad novel! Then write another one. There are some authors who have made an entire career out of writing bad novels.

The “truth” that Chesterton is talking about is one thing: you are a WRITER. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have been able to finish that novel.

So, stop trying to write the perfect novel, short story, poem or even email. Just write it and FINISH it.

Anyone who has read The Ballad of the White Horse knows not to take anything that Chesterton says too seriously.

“What’s the matter?”

“I don’t like to be the one to tell you these things, but you don’t watch the news…”

Now, I’m panicked. What the hell happened?! “What happened?!”

“There was some guy in Trolley Square and he shot ten people before the cops shot him.”

We live within walking distance of Trolley Square.

“He killed some people in Cabin Fever.”

“Which one is that?”

“You know the pink store right across from Tabula Rasa?”

We browse at Tabula Rasa EVERY time we go to that mall.

“I thought you didn’t read the local news.”

“I don’t it was on CNN.”

“Did they kill him?”

“Yeah, an off-duty Ogden cop shot him.”

“So they don’t know why he did it?”

“No…”

Our flags are at half-mast, but something about the shooting bothers me. When there is a gang-related shooting in West Valley, the flags don’t go at half-mast. Why?

For more information: Salt Lake Tribune – Trolley gunman was 18, wielded shotgun and handgun

What if this is all there is? What if this IS paradise?

My fatalistic view of the world doesn’t allow for a post-mortem heaven, so I really feel like this life is all I’ve got. That puts a pretty heavy load on me because if this is all I’ve got, then I don’t have a bliss waiting for me after death. I’ve got to make life blissful before I die. I don’t even want to wait until retirement. I have to make life blissful now.

There are little things that make life blissful for me every day. Here’s my list:

• Receiving email from friends.
• Sending email to friends.
• Reading interesting weblogs.
• Playing video games both alone and with friends.
• Sleeping.
• Eating good food.
• Seeing pretty things, whether they’re in art, nature or serendipity.

What kinds of things make you happy? Are you doing enough of them? Remember, that paradise is exactly like where you are right now… only much, much better. You have the power to control the much, much better.