Tuesday, June 23, 2015

The First Year Anniversary for this Blog - Happy Birthday, Blog!

The "Bob Craypoe's World" blog has just turned one year old. Yes, that's right, it is the one year anniversary for this wonderful blog. 

I have taken on a number of projects throughout the last year and have written about some of them. One of those projects is the Punksters.net Comic Strip that was started this past January. It provided some inspiration for a few blog posts here. among them was what software I use and things like that.

My blog posts generally center around my various areas of knowledge, experience and expertise. Among those are music, web development, 3D art and animation and writing. that pretty much covers the bulk of my subject matter, anyway.

Some blog posts generally do better than others but that's just how it is. Overall, I am basically pleased with the response. Of course, I would always like more article views but the blog is only a year old, so I have to give it some time.

I have received over 2 million blog views on numerous sites and this is just one site that I write on. Personally, I wish those 2 million views were all on this site because this is my own blog and it would be nice if it took off like that. Maybe in time I will get as many views here, on my own blog site, as I get on other sites. 

I made 51 blog posts on this site. I don't think that's too bad considering that I still wrote for other sites at the same time and the fact that writing is not the only thing I do.

Anyway, I appreciate all of you wonderful people that have come here to read my blog. You people are truly awesome. Thank you so much. Let's hope things get even better over the next year.


Bob Craypoe, also known as R. L. Crepeau

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

You Can't Fake Adequate Communication Skills

One thing that I have learned is that you can never underestimate the advantages one might gain by having decent communication skills.; whether it's on the job, social situations or just making a good first impression.

No matter what, your skills and your knowledge can be taken with you anywhere. You could quit your current job and take your skills somewhere else, to be used in the service of another employer.

I don't know how many newspaper ads I have seen where there may have been a managerial or supervisory position being advertised, where they had stressed the importance of communication skills. I have personally held managerial and supervisory positions and let me tell you, it sure came in handy to exhibit some eloquence in the usage of the English language.

As a manager, I have interviewed job applicants. I have to say that I was more impressed by those who communicated effectively than those who did not. I also have the sneaking suspicion that others in managerial positions out there feel the same.

I read somewhere that in most cases, smarter employees perform better than their peers. Of course there is such a thing as a work ethic and you will have some smart people who may just so happen to be lazy. However, smarter people technically don't have to work as hard as others because they often find ways of working smarter rather than harder. that in turn may allow them more time to goof off, simply because they got the job done sooner by working smarter.

Whether it is fair or not, people are often judged by their communication skills. When someone speaks poor English in a job interview or misspells words on a job application, they are judged negatively as a result. They are often viewed as being less intelligent. The people or the company doing the hiring generally prefer to hire the best and brightest they can get for what they are willing to pay.

I have been doing online article writing for a number of years now and I would have to say that it has helped me tremendously in improving my own communication skills. I often write in various word processing programs that will have spell check and some will also check on your grammar. Seeing my mistakes highlighted in those programs with that little squiggly line below them brought many of my bad writing and communication habits to my attention. I would then try to slowly eliminate those bad habits; whether they would be problems with spelling, punctuation or grammar.

If someone doesn't do online article writing, they could keep a diary as a means of improving their communication skills. Some word processing programs allow you to put a password on documents, so if you put a password on your diary, you won't have to worry about unwanted eyes viewing your private thoughts. Keeping that diary will allow you to practice your communication skills and you will see many of your mistakes highlighted with that little squiggly line I mentioned above. Then you can look up your mistakes and see how you may correct them, as well as get out of the habit of making them.

Eventually, with practice, you will improve your communication skills. In some cases, it can mean the difference between getting a job and not getting a job. After getting a job, it can also mean the difference between getting a promotion and not getting one. It may even help you in social situations. maybe it will help you to write that sappy little love poem to that special someone. Remember, adequate communication skills cannot be faked.