Kicking off Blogversation 2012 — join the conversation

In the three years I’ve been blogging here, I’ve been grateful for the opportunity to write regularly and to get to know topics and people that inspire me.

Even more so, I’ve loved the chance to engage in conversations about those topics and people.

Ages ago, when I was a young newspaper reporter, writing was mostly a one-way process. Occasionally I’d write a story and someone would call to yell at me, or more happily, someone would send a thank you note. But mostly I felt distant from my readers in those pre-Internet days. Perhaps my favorite thing about blogging is the opportunity to see which posts people are reading and to get immediate feedback.

To encourage a richer dialogue and get more voices into the mix, I’m launching a project called Blogversation 2012. I’ve invited some of my favorite bloggers to join a running conversation about creativity, passion, goals, values, happiness, relationships, career and food and drink.

It’s like an online salon of smart thinking.

It’s like a virtual coffee klatch.

Every week, we’ll post two questions here on my blog.  Participating bloggers will all respond, either here or on their own blogs.

Others are of course welcome to jump into the conversation by commenting and doing blog posts of their own. With this impressive, interesting group assembled, I think you’d be hard pressed not to want to join in the action.

In their own words, the Blogversation 2012 participants are:

Kim Ann Curtin

Kim Ann Curtin, founder & CEO of The Wall Street Coach, is the resilient and insanely resourceful executive coach and adviser to today’s progressive executives and entrepreneurs. A Conscious Capitalist and professional fixer who works with leaders to stop limiting behaviors, design inventive solutions and empower them and their high-performing teams to achieve results beyond their wildest dreams.

Kim is a connector within corporate industry and has worked with some of the more interesting and successful CEOs over the past 12 years. She instructs others on how to create wealth and meaning in their lives. A facilitator of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey model and NonViolent Communication. Kim is currently writing a book on Conscious Financiers.

If she had to do it all over again, Kim would talk less and surf more.

Find Kim’s blog online at  www.TheWallStreetCoach.com. She is @kimanncurtin on Twitter.

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Lauren McCabe

Lauren McCabe is a writer who has also worked as a radio DJ, surf instructor, public relations consultant, SAT teacher, marketing director, and now, a social media strategist. She lives in New Orleans, a city driven by deep relationships, and she helps businesses build those relationships online, driving more sales, reaching new customers, and building their online reputation.

Lauren received her BA in English & Creative Writing from Columbia University and uses her major every single day of her life: from composing tweets that help businesses grow, to analyzing business plans. Study what you love, not what everyone says is practical, because loving what you do IS practical. When she’s not tweeting, Facebooking, and blogging, she’s writing about travel, work, and love, the three most important things. In her spare time, Lauren plays the harp, surfs in strange places (NYC & New Orleans), and works on her novel about mermaids.

Her blog is at http://mermaidchronicles.wordpress.com/and her Twitter handle is @mermaidtales.

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Maria Stuart and her son, Will

Maria Stuart is an award-winning journalist whose longtime newspaper position was “eliminated” for budget reasons in early 2009. After realizing her job loss was actually a liberation in disguise, she quickly became a popular blogger and Internet entrepreneur. She founded the community website LivingstonTalk.com, which has grown tremendously; in 2011, over 50,000 unique visitors read nearly 250,000 pages on the site. While delicately balancing the demands of her digital universe, her freelance writing and website building, her novel-in-progress and her home life, Stuart wonders how she ever found time for a “real” job.

She lives in Howell, Mich., with her husband, their nearly teenage son, and Ted, the hyper labradoodle who keeps her from sitting at the computer too long during the day.

You can check out her website at http://mariastuart.com. She’s on Twitter at @mariastuart.

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Amy Throndsen

Amy Throndsen, a Wisconsin-native wound her way around the western United States and East Asia as a “professional volunteer” with AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps and Peace Corps (China) and is now back in Wisconsin working for her family’s international
agricultural business, primarily responsible for heading the marketing and international sales efforts for Dual-Chamber Cow Waterbeds.

She has been a guest blogger for agriculture-focused and life-coaching blogs, and spent 2011 blogging about her 1-year journey to 1,000 running miles. Currently without a dedicated blog, she is excited about being a contributing member of the Blogversation 2012 with Colleen and company.

Find her on Twitter as @amyserves.

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Eleanor Traubman

Eleanor Traubman is the editor-in-chief of Creative Times, a blog designed to celebrate and inspire the artists of New York and beyond.

She leads Creative Conversations, a goal-setting group for women artists and entrepreneurs, and is also the arts writer for The Bank Street College of Education Alumni Blog.

Her mission? To bring people together through the arts, creativity, and humor.

Eleanor’s work has been featured in The New York Times, Time Out New York, The Brooklyn Paper, Family Circle, and Fitness, and she was listed as one of the Park Slope 100.

Eleanor is on Twitter under her blog name, @creativetimes.

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Lesley Ware

Lesley Ware is a New York-based fashion personality and teaching artist. Originally from Michigan’s West Coast, she loves all things unique and full of glitter. Her current creative interests include photography, sewing, and publishing.

Lesley has written for the DIY Business Association, Girl Scouts of the USA, Jones and CLAM magazines and the Women of Color Writers’ Workshop. Lesley’s photos can be seen on sites including The YBF.com, We Love Colors, and Essence Magazine. Lesley is also the featured model for TranquiliT, an eco-friendly fashion line.

When she’s not being creative you’ll find her spending time with her husband, stepson, and cat, Nina Bean. She blogs and posts pretty pictures at www.thecreativecookie.net.

On Twitter, Lesley is @creativecookie — not to be confused with Eleanor’s @creativetimes, we just happen to be a group blessed with loads of creativity.

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Jennifer Worick

Jennifer Worick has written or co-authored more than 25 books, including the New York TimesBestseller, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Dating & Sex. She has written on everything under the sun for national magazines, and currently writes a books column for today.com. In addition to finding her on bookshelves and newsstands, you can also check her out online at her blogs, word. and Things I Want to Punch in the Face.

Along with fellow author and publishing professional Kerry Colburn, she delivers publishing talks and workshops to help burgeoning authors get published. You can also catch Jennifer in university auditoriums and lecture halls, where she delivers side-splitting slide-show presentations.

She lives in Seattle and will be joining the Blogversation at word. She’s @jennifer_worick on Twitter.

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You can follow the whole pack of Blogversationists on Twitter in one fell swoop by following our Twitter list.

And you can keep up on the conversation by clicking up there in the upper right to subscribe to Newvine Growing. You’ll get posts delivered to you free.

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