Thoughts and Tales…A Lifestyle Blog with a Zing.
Is it that I’ve become flea-bitten, cynical and jaded with time? I love love and romance and totally admire the couple, but the pomp and pageantry of the upcoming royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan barely cut through the hectic haze of my life at present and the reality of my bills. Am I the only one?
Through thick veneer of forgetfulness
and fragile memories worn by age,
thin slivers of deep-seated love
seeps through his fingers
to highlights her days.
©
Jacqueline
The Daily Post
SQUAWK!! This is the silent shrill angry animal sound that has been recurring in my head of late. It seems like my life has been going down the river of late, tossed and tumbled like a flotsam from one tedious occurrence to the other and from three flu-bitten grumpy children to a flu-croaky, grunty husband and now it’s my turn, after nursing them and I must say, I sound pretty croaky. I think my croakiness is more like husky and sexy 😉
Groan! For the last couple of weeks, my blog has suffered as well and I’ve been bingeing on sugary stuff – I comfort eat when I feel low and even though I know it’s not good for me, I still do it. I hiss in disgust at myself but that still doesn’t stop me from gobbling a pack of biscuit chased down with a glass of juice. Meow! I feel like a bad kitty and have avoided the scale like a plague.
On the bright side, silent twitters also ring in my head happily ‘cos I just got a moonlighting part-time coaching job at an institute to prep students for English IELTS/TOEFL exams. I must say that I enjoy the weekly interactions and after 3 hours of teaching the rudiments of grammar, reading, writing and speaking, I come out feeling totally gratified. If the truth be told, this is something that I would do for free – but I need the funds badly.
Okidokey, let me moosey off now and get ready to bleat it – I have a tutoring session this morning with two young and funny Algerian kids who are learning English. See you later alligator 🙂
P.S. Dear Linda, I think I’ve managed to fit in several animal sounds with today’s SoCS prompt – sMOOth – though I suspect that there are many more waiting to be let out.
You were afraid
to live your dreams,
and you buried them
in the place you believed
they would be safe;
now everyone who goes by
sees a forest of possibilities.
#Buried dreams
©
Jacqueline
Bubbles of elusive dreams
are burst
by pin-pricks of harsh reality
©
Jacqueline
Maturity, are the days
when we enjoy each other
in comfortable silence;
not worried
that our lack of words
means that
we are breaking up.
The pain was sharp and astonishing.
Dreamy wedding night illusions
induced by copious pages of Mills and Boons
shattered with vigorous thrusts.
©
Jacqueline
Who binged on Mills and Boons? Well, I did. I read tons of them and more and had many rose-coloured dreamy visions of married life…the rude truth is that the pages of a book tell huge lies 😉
If you want to get your teeth into the best hot dog in Times Square, are you going to go to the vendor that has no one queuing up their cart or are you going to the chap that has twenty people standing in line? Exactly. It’s called social proof and it is a surefire way to tap into the psychology of people. But it’s not just hot dog vendors that can use this marketing tool; it’s something we bloggers can use to encourage people to read our words, subscribe to our blogs and follow us on social media.
So, without further ado, here are some pretty genius ways you can add a dollop of social proof to your marketing strategy and encourage more people to buy into your brand – whatever that is.
You must have come across an online publication, newspaper supplement or Instagram account where someone with influence takes over for a day or so. They might play magazine editor for a special edition, they might do a guest post on a blog or take over a brand’s Insta-stories. Whatever it is, having an expert or influencer takeover is a great way to tap into the followers and embrace the halo effect.
Another super awesome way to create social proof is to highlight a milestone by showing a bunch of gratitude towards it. Perhaps you just reached 10,000 Instagram followers, or 5,000 Facebook followers or a 20,000 blog subscribers – reaching a milestone like this is cause for celebration, offers you a chance to say thank you and, best of all, let’s other people know you are worth following.
The moment you come across a blog that shows they have a social media following of tens – or hundreds – of thousands of followers, you automatically click the ‘like’ or ‘follow’ button. Why? Because there has to be a reason why so many people are following them and you don’t want to miss out on it. The best way to achieve this kind of following is organically, but a great way to get a head start is to buy cheap Instagram followers. It’s not cheating, it’s just embracing the fact that perception is reality. Distinction.
User-generated content is the secret weapon used by so many brands, bloggers, influencers and everyone else and that’s because it helps grow a following to record numbers in almost no time at all. A great example of a brand that loves user-generated content is Fairfax & Favor. It’s the backbone of their marketing strategy. The way it works is simple: you repost user’s posts by encouraging them to use a branded hashtag.
One of the most amazing ways to boost your social proof is to get your blog endorsed by industry leaders or well-known brands. We’ve all been on a blog and noticed a section titled “as seen on” followed by a load of logos you recognize: Cosmopolitan, Huffington Post, Daily Mail etc. That’s the aim right there.
My prayers,
you are stuck on the ceiling board.
I look up, intently at the white rectangles
eyeing the invisible patterns of my earnest supplications;
that never quite made it past my rooftop.
My prayers,
why are you not getting past the ceiling board?
Is it because in the midst of saying it
I was thinking what sauce I must make for the day
would meatballs or fried chicken
appeal more to my hungry fold?
My prayers,
why do you fail to soar
could it be that the landlords brick and mortar
are far too hard and impenetrable?
I must have a word with him
‘cos he needs to use heaven proof material.
My prayers,
once you leave the space in my heart
do you roam the void trying to fill the vacuum
or do you travel faster than the light of speed
heaven bound where Angels receive you
then file you away in ‘to do files’?
My prayers,
I have no idea where you go
no do I truly know where heaven is,
but what I know is that at some point in time
each word of prayer I ever offered
will be waiting there to meet with me.
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
Mama said to me, baby,
it’s always a waste of your time pulling others down
‘cos you’ll end up beneath them.
©
Jacqueline
a cooking pot and twisted tales 