Use What You Can

The weekend has gone by in quite the frenzied blur. I wanted to make a couple of acknowledgements first and foremost.

Shannon A. Thompson was kind enough to let me guest blog on her site. Feel free to read the passage here. Shannon is vastly growing as an established author and poet. I encourage you to check out her work and buy her book. I’m currently reading it in the free moments I find (granted few and far between).

Jennifer Sullivan was referred to me by a good friend when we were briefly discussing a photo shoot she did (props Nicole). Jennifer’s studio, Dakota Love Photography, is starting to get traction and I encourage anyone in my area looking for pictures get in touch with this woman. She’s super friendly, creative and was a blast to work with doing a couple of head shots for me.

Both of those wonderful people allowed me into their lives one way or another. Shannon let me ride the tail end of her wave and got me a few more fans along the way. Jennifer was gracious enough to take her time and effort during the week to help me out as a friend of a friend.

For this, I encourage any writer, artist or entrepreneur to keep these little things in mind. If you can help someone out, do it. If you have an opportunity, take it. Shannon and Jennifer helped me, but it’s a symbiotic relationship. Shannon had a wedding and needed a little space to fill from fellow authors in her absence, plus it draws in my fans to her site as well. Jennifer was needing some more head shots for her portfolio (I must say, I can clean up nicely). Plus, I feel more connected to helping either of those two out in the future if I have more fans, business to drive Jennifer’s way, etc.

Try it out and do the same. Help an author in need if you can. Do feature posts. Reblog, like, comment or start following people you can connect with. Every little stat I see encourages me to do more and do it better.

So, lastly, thank all of you for taking any amount of time from your busy days to look at the words I post. You make me want to become the best version of myself and I can’t reflect enough appreciation for it. Also, I have a new pic donning my home page.