Well… It took me a while, but I have nothing to write about today. I swear that I am not being lazy, I even googled “overcoming writer’s block,” but nothing seems to relate to how I am feeling. The most annoying thing about this whole incapacity to come up with a good theme is that I really want to write, I really want to register this day. However, nothing comes up; nothing is substantial enough to deserve a blog post…

What you do when you have nothing to write about? Do you have any hidden spreadsheet where you keep track of your ideas? How to overcome writer’s block?

If you’re a novelist and is experiencing a writer’s block, this fun site might come in handy.

Day #34: Writer’s Block is a post from: MadameHeringer.com

                          

I am finally getting everything together and submitting a 75-word official abstract that summarizes my thesis project. After six months of over thinking and over planning, I am finally happy with my final proposal and confident that my research will showcase my passion for online marketing and audience research.

I know that you’re curious about my MA project abstract, so here it is:

Connecting to Understand will explore social media as a storytelling tool and suggest future developments to transmedia storytelling. This project will develop the story of a twelfth grader who decides to fight against bullying in her school by sharing her thoughts on her personal blog and social networks. This experiment will attempt to create a community around an interactive story, explore transmedia practices in order to give life to its main character and analyze the impact of cross-platform promotion in audience engagement.

After seven months in Toronto, great things are starting to happen both personally and professionally. Moving isn’t too hard if you are excited about the challenge. I certainly am!

Day #33: I’m Getting Somewhere Now… is a post from: MadameHeringer.com

                          

The nicest part of the #366blogproject is to revisit my previous blog posts and pictures. Here is January 2012 through my eyes:

I am using the My 365 iPhone app to keep track of all my pictures. Are you doing a similar project? Add your link to the comments and I’ll add it to this blog post

January 2012 in Pictures is a post from: MadameHeringer.com

                          

It took me almost three decades, but I am finally understanding that multi-tasking is not my thing. I know that it sounds sexy and I fell like a super woman when I am jumping from one tab to the other, socializing on Facebook and Twitter while writing an article. It’s just not for me anymore. It just became impossible to write relevant research while finding pleasure in social media. It’s a shame, I know…

However, after having a super productive day while fighting a stomach flu, I realized that single-tasking is my thing. I actually get to have more time to enjoy some guilty-free social media time and really connect with people. When I am doing something, it feels that I am really there instead of super worried about the report that I need to write or article that I need to read.

Are you a multitasker? How do you do it? Have you been considering single tasking as a more productive way to deal with your workload?

Read more about single-tasking here.

Day #32: Multitasking vs. Being Productive is a post from: MadameHeringer.com

                          

Canadian advertising legend Terry O’Reilly came to RTA tonight to talk about his passion and work in the industry. As a big fan of his radio show, Age of Persuasion, I confess that the event has been on my calendar since the beginning of the month and I was counting the minutes to see Terry talking about his new CBC radio show Under the Influence. The wait paid off, and the two-hour talk followed by a panel discussion with RTA students Lama Balagh and Erica Shaw, Dr. Charles Davis and John Girardo really inspired me to not only think creatively but also strategically.

I live tweeted the whole session and you can check out the discussion here.

Terry didn’t agree with me when I commented on the lack of diversity inside ad agencies and in the creative produced in Canada. However, I’d love to see him saying yes to this question:

What do you think? Will Terry accept it?

To be continued… (I’m hoping!)

Day #31: Terry O’Reilly at RTA School of Media is a post from: MadameHeringer.com

                          

Earlier this semester, I came across a very interesting article entitled Learning from the Trickster: Classroom as Contested Terrain by UNBC Professor Fyre Jean Graveline. The idea of the Trickster has been haunting me for weeks now. For those who are not familiar with the figure of the Trickster, in aboriginal culture he is the spirit that motivates change. It’s still unclear if the Trickster has a defined code of conduct, however, I believe that this First Nations’ figure has a lot to do with the role of writers in our society.

“The Trickster is evident in some form in every Aboriginal culture and is responsible for the changes that took and are taking place in  the world,” says Professor Graveline. In western culture, journalists are required to perform exactly the function of the Trickster. As a society, we often expect that news reporters act on our behalf bringing to light accurate information that will move us in the right direction. That’s the reason why the term “investigative journalism” is one of my pet peeves. In this day and age, it’s hard to understand a “lazy” journalist who is satisfied with revamping a Reuters or AP article. Journalism in its essence is investigative and there is no need for rebranding. It’s impossible to keep Tricksters on track when they are more interested in promoting themselves or forget their role in our world. Some will blame the industry, some will blame the Trickster, but at the end, it’s a chicken and the egg discussion.

However, journalism school allowed me to meet some great Tricksters. Even though I didn’t pursue a career in journalism, Arthur Dapieve’s comment on his own role as a columnist at O Globo stayed with me. It was a end of the semester corridor type of conversation, I was about to graduate and was asking Dapieve about his weekly column. He interrupted me when I was about to complement him on his work and said:

You know, Veronica, I actually write for people who don’t like my work. I learn more from them!

After eight years of blogging, I agree with his statement. I’ve learned much more from readers who disagree with me and step on my toes. I feel like a real Trickster, hoping that my ideas will generate change sometime, somewhere…

Day #30: Writers Should Be The Contemporary Tricksters is a post from: MadameHeringer.com

                          

Cineplex is currently experimenting with Toronto-based interactive mobile app TimePlay during its pre-show. Today was the first time that I had the chance to play with it. The app seems to be a great tool to make Cineplex’s pre-show more interesting to its audience and maybe get the movie-goers sitted earlier.

The hook is simple. During the pre-show the host invites the audience to connect to a wi-fi connection called TimePlay, open their browser and download the app. The good news is the app is available for iPhone, BlackBerry and Android devices, however, the host also provides a phone number that you can call if you can’t do the download. Once it gets close to the end of the pre-show, the host walks the audience through the app set-up and briefly explains how it works.

TimePlay is still in the testing phase here in the TGA and if it goes well, access will be extended to the rest of the country. Between the Ford Focus and the Canon Powershot ad, I’d pick the latter because a coupon seems more interesting than just picking a character. However, I’d be all over an ad that gives me both the interactive experience and a special deal

As an advertiser, I’d be interested in the backend data and how the audience is interacting with the ads. Moving forward, TimePlay could be a very interesting platform if it had the ability to connect to social platforms and be used to identify and reward brand ambassadors in the audience. I hope Cineplex is thinking about it as we speak

Learn more about TimePlay at Cineplex.com.

P.S.: Haywire is a great film. It’s awesome to see a female lead kicking some ass for a change!

Day #29: Interactive Pre-Show with TimePlay is a post from: MadameHeringer.com

                          

First day off in a long time. Today I followed Arianna Huffington’s advice and gave myself a break. Sort of… I spent the whole day working on the new version of the blog designed by Marcio Bomfim.

Stay tuned!

Day #28: Lazy Saturday Before a Busy Sunday is a post from: MadameHeringer.com

                          

Let’s face it, feminism is still a tabu. Most of us decide to not openly declare themselves as feminists because of what “other people” will think about us. Apparently, pointing out a sexist comment or saying that the (fill the blank) industry is still a “boy’s club” means that we are setting ourselves up to fail or denying the whole feminist movement. Didn’t you want to be like us? is a common question asked by dudes. When they don’t ask about it openly, you know that they are rolling their eyes when you start talking about equal opportunities in the workplace. I know, you know that and because we know, we decide to pretend that everything is good and there is no need for change, right?

I grew up thinking that feminism was dead. Bras were set on fire and men and women became equal. It was a done deal and there was nothing else to discuss. Women are allowed to vote and have jobs therefore, the future had arrived. I always felt that there was a strange invisible force trying to keep my criticism away. Surprisingly, the feedback often received came from women. Role models that I tried to emulate who thought that by denying they were secretly working towards a more balanced world. As a millennial woman, I think that it’s safe to say that my generation grew up watching three distinct group of women: the ones that work, the housewives and the working moms who somehow where able to balance the personal with professional life.

Growing up with a working mom was bliss. I can’t remember one audition, ballet presentation or year-end play that my mother wasn’t present for. I have no idea how she did it, but she did. Probably that’s the reason why I have this weird notion that men and women are given exactly the same opportunities. The first time that I watched Sheryl Sandberg speaking about fighting for the corner office I felt ashamed. I remember every single time that I pretended that an idea wasn’t stolen or my opinion was ignored. Suddenly, I felt like I never fought for the corner office and often was to grateful for any position that was offered to me.

Having I said that, I truly believe that there aren’t more women in leadership position because there aren’t enough feminists in the world. If there were more women sharing their experience, more women would be at the corner office and more men would realize that marriage is about partnership. The day that we allow little girls to play with more than dolls and little boys should be taught to be respectful and considerate, we will have made a commitment to raise the best generation ever seen. Hopefully, these boys and girls will be playing together and will have strong men and women to aspire to.

“Women can’t be 50% of the population and a special interest group.” As said by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon in the video above, women are not victims, they are survivors. We create jobs and run the economy during the toughest times. We believe in people when nobody else does and we reconstruct countries when there is no hope. Why are these women unknown? Why aren’t they sharing their knowledge with others? In my opinion, it’s because there aren’t enough women interested in applauding other women’s success. If we were not so afraid of being labelled as feminists, we would be cheering each other and endorsing our victories. If we can do it for the dudes, why can’t we do it for ourselves?

Please, I beg you, become a feminist. Learn more about the barriers that we face and do your best to grow your professional network with professional women like yourself. Endorse a female colleague, mentor a junior female professional. Your coworker or junior associate need as much inspiration to fight for the corner office as you do. My version of feminism acknowledges the curent barriers, but also sees that recommending and encouraging fellow professional women goes a long way.

Day #27: I Became a Feminist (and so can you!) is a post from: MadameHeringer.com

                          

When I started the #366blogproject I knew it would be hard. I knew there would be days that I would think about giving up. However, I didn’t predicted that in only 26 days I would naturally change my routine to accommodate writing a blog post per day. I hoped to see it happening after three to six months, but I am impressed to see that it happened earlier. I went from procrastination to content creation mode really fast. It’s true what they say, it only takes commitment to achieve your goal!

Having I said that, why is different this time? I have written blog post before promising to be loyal to my readers and write more often. Why is it working now?

If you have been a project manager before, you know that establishing clear goals and ways to measure success is crucial to keeping your team motivated and your project on track. The #366blogproject is no exception. I am committed to writing an inspired blog post per day and my success is based on publishing the post everyday before midnight. However, the definition of success can change along the way. In my case, the #366blogproject resulted in more traffic and blog subscribers as well as new offline interactions.

I know that it’s early to celebrate the “success” of the #366blogproject, but I thought I should share this experience with you before you give up on your New Year’s resolution. If I can still motivated after 26 days of blogging, you can stick with your plan too!

Read more:

Your Life Your Way by Tia Sparkles

Day #26: What is Success? is a post from: MadameHeringer.com