Cathy is one of my new found friends here in cold Montreal.

She’s a wine connaisseur and everytime I visit, she picks out a bottle from her cellar to share with me.

She knows all about the glasses you have to use – and why – she knows regions, and grapes, and all kinds of associated wine-y stuff.

Needless to say, since we’ve become friends I’ve upped my wine knowledge considerably. Which is great because in the past I’ve always been stumped about the type of wine to order with dinner.

In fact, today I went to the bookstore and got a basic wine guide so I could further educate myself.

To be honest with you… I never imagined actually sitting down and learning about wines. But Cathy’s sommelier-like interest sparked my curiousity.

And that brings me to the main point for today’s post.

As 2007 rapidly approaches many of you will be making your New Year’s resolutions.

Maybe you want to lose weight, or drink more water, or stop cussing, or make more money.

Just keep in mind that it’s your wits – your writing – your ability to create salable material that keeps money in your pocket.

And most writers who live this life – and live it well – will confess to being prolific in many different subjects. Or at least semi-prolific. Kind of like a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none in the knowledge department.

I mean honestly if I read about the Internet and marketing all day and night I’d be both bored shitless, and an incredibly dull writer.

(So for those of you who say you’ve read every marketing ebook out there, and you’re not getting any closer to reaching your goals, now you have an idea why.)

Expanding your mind horizonally is an important act to fulfill in this game.

Your creative brain needs to absorb ideas outside of the marketing realm to really create a synthesis that excites you and your readers.

With that said, my New Years resolution for 2007 is this… to read about and/or experience 2 totally new topics every month.

Not necessarily to become an encyclopedic expert on every thing. Just to gain insight into other aspects of life that I may have never noticed.

In 2006 I did this on a smaller scale by teaching myself how to sew and do hand embroidery.

As a result, I’ve found many flaws within existing sewing manuals that I might be able to write about in my own ebook. Just the way things are explained can be horribly confusing for a novice seamstress. 

The concept of expanding your horizons is such a simple idea.

You might be tempted to dismiss it with a cursory “Yeah right, as if I don’t have enough on my plate already…”

But consider this… the curse isn’t knowing too much. It comes from knowing too little. The more you know, the more you can build upon.

Be a sponge in 2007 and grow rich,

Alexis Dawes

Filed under: YOU are the Revolution

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