Comments on: FAIL: I’ve Had My Share

By: Ellen Roberts

Ellen Roberts — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:14:13 +0000

The earlier comments on why it isn’t a failure and the graciousness with which you share your knowledge are right on….so write on.

I’m curious about what you think of the current Murphy Goode dust-up?

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:23:03 +0000

Good post, and what a good opportunity to reflect. I agree with everyone whose said it in some form or another – there aren’t really any true failures, just learning experiences. Being a relatively new blogger I’m finding a lot of these my self – and I’m sure there will always be more.

Your worst mistakes are only what you make of them – if we choose to accept them and learn from them, then they’ve served us well. And perhaps having made them in effect is better than not.

I’ll be an avid follower from here on out – I appreciate the direction you’re headed, and am excited to see your continued success.

Cheers

By: Josh Hermsmeyer

Josh Hermsmeyer — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:58:06 +0000

@Jeremy,

The mark was another casualty of the delay in having salable wine. USPTO only registers marks after use in commerce.

Not too worried however. Didn’t have any plans to ever use it on a label.

Thanks for the comment!

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:52:31 +0000

Josh great post. What ever happened to “Flavor Country?” I see that the mark is listed as abandoned on the USPTO website.

By: Paul Mabray

Paul Mabray — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:16:23 +0000

This was one of the best and most inspirational blog posts I’ve read this year. Sharing your learnings and introspection after your challenges helps us all do better. Thank you and great job. When I am not on my iPhone and manage to eek out some time Ill try to add a few Mabray fails with my learnings.

By: David Mark Horowitz

David Mark Horowitz — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:21:59 +0000

I think the key was:

“Second, it required wine bloggers to write about a subject they didnâ€™t necessarily want to write about”

I know Parker’s credibility got a lot of hooplah recently and I’m Robert Parker’s Bitch was popular, but I think the initial tension surrounding bloggers-as-critics is no longer the major source of tension among wine bloggers.

Themes like managing your digital life, twitter vs. facebook social norms, editing audio/video/images, programming…might be other tensions wine bloggers are experiencing. You’re great at addressing these other tensions in your blog. Keep it up!

By: The Beer Wench

The Beer Wench — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:58:54 +0000

Josh,

This situation is most definitely not a failure. A set-back, perhaps. But not a failure.

Personally, I was extremely interested in this competition. Before I started writing The Beer Wench blog, I had originally intended on creating a wine blog. I chose not to write about wine because I was intimidated because I perceived the world of wine writers to be very prestigious and arrogant (ie: Robert Parker-esque).

This was before I befriended several wine bloggers all over the country via Twitter. Your competition almost inspired me to start – just so I could legitimately enter the competition! The reason I did not is not a failure of yours, but a result of circumstances in my personal life. (Which I am sure you may be aware of via Twitter).

I think that your project was unique and interesting. And I can’t wait to see what you will come up with next!!!

Ashley

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:45:15 +0000

No attempt is a flat fail. Even in the previous programs you mention, I would consider them lessons and not failures.

It was my pleasure to participate.

By: Megab

Megab — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:37:27 +0000

If it makes you feel any better, I actually intended to write a post for your contest this week- I failed too because I didn’t pay attention to the deadline. When I realized last night that I wouldn’t make it in time, I decided that is actually better. Now when I do write my post, it will not be for the purpose of potentially winning money-it will be because I WANT to write it- so in that respect maybe you didn’t fail after all. Also this means I won’t actually have to follow the rules if I don’t want to:)

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:28:51 +0000

Hi Joann,

Thanks for the comment!

The submissions were great. No issue there.

And I appreciate the kind words. Still, if you don’t achieve your goals, it is not unhealthy to label what results a failure. The trick is not to get emotionally caught up in it.

In fact, I think it’s more unhealthy not to call a spade a spade. If you don’t recognize where you fell short, you don’t learn. Fragile egos don’t travel well

Thanks for the comments, and good luck with the judges!