Okay, before I get started — a grateful thanks to many of my Twitter family who just got me through my first Twitter meltdown. I had made a promise when I started, to follow anyone who followed me. I was warned, “that’s crazy talk.” But being the cockeyed optimist I am, I did not heed. I refused to start my relationship in Twitter-Ville being cynical. Well, some slimy goofball did in fact spam me. And not just any old kind of spam…even an ‘anatomy enhancement’ ad would have been better then the nature of this spam message–which BTW was disguised as an official Twitter message.

See, I welcome all new followers with a sincere and simple message—“We don’t count followers, we follow people who count.” And I meant that and still do. But, with one click from this company, suddenly all my followers, yep – all 1, 425 – of them got repeated tweets supposedly from me, to join up to increase followers. The was an exact contradiction to what my followers and I stand for. What Mr. Greedy Company did not realize, however, is that we at CLowell are smart, loyal and supportive of one another. They mobilized immediately. They knew me so well and they knew this would never come from me. They then spread the word that Mr. Stupid Company could not in fact, be me! Busted! So I spent hours with my sister shutting everything down and starting over. But it was my dear Twitter family who came to my rescue–refusing to believe that I’d contradict myself for more followers. They sent me a lot of twitter love and soothed my embarrassed and outraged ego. So thank you all. We’re up and running but this time, I have to change the rules. I will follow no one soliciting any kind of business of any kind. So don’t bother especially in Direct Message. I will go to each and every site to verify that potential followers are only interested in the social community we all pride ourselves on. I learned something valuable — about the bad side of Twitter.  After all it is a public forum – don’t let it happen to you!

Ask CL Poll

And we’re walking… now, we are still requesting that you take the poll in the previous blog below when you have time. It concerns the development of our new web series, “Ask Christopher.” Be honest and candid because it’s been enormously helpful thusfar. We want to create a show you want to watch. When we feel we have a good cross section, we will announce the poll results. You can reply below or tweet me @Clowell on Twitter.

Small Web Site Changes

You will also begin to see small changes to this site as well. Nothing drastic yet, but we want you to begin to feel comfortable asking me your lifestyle questions here in 300 or less characters in a new box we’ll provide versus using the message boards. These will then be considered for answering either here or on our new web series.

Ask CL Advice Column (not the new series)

To get the ball rolling, we’ll begin posting my popular advice column, which is printed in a variety of papers, nationally. Yes, it is indeed, on which our new original web series of the same name, will be based. This will help familiarize you with my Q and A writing style and the broad range of lifestyle questions I’m prepared to answer. In short, if it’s under your roof, it’s fair game!

Until next time,

CL

Okay now on to content (a little at a time) for our new web lifestyle series. For those of you who have not seen any of my five different TV series, none followed the HGTV formula until, perhaps the last and current show called Work That Room, on the Fine living Network. Story arcs and homeowner profiles, conflicts and ‘surprise’ was their mandate, which has done well for FLN’s specific demographic of duel-income profession households.

However, it will NOT be considered as format option for this new Web series. So for those who are watching that show and had that concern (which many Twitterers did) have no fear. Our new series will be driven primarily by viewer questions (mobile text, emails and social networks) with easy, budget solutions that everyone can afford — much like our past series. We feel its time to get back to what I’m calling The New Lifestyle Basics on all levels. So here goes:

Note: this poll will be ongoing!

Twitters and viewer mail comments are as follows what do you think?

• I feel disconnected from the HGTV formula and they all seemed to look alike now.

How about you? Yes or no?

• I don’t care as much about the TV homeowners as I do about universal ideas that I can use in my own home.

How about you? Yes or no?

• I like Christopher’s “Seven Layers of Design,” and would like to see his updated version of it.

How about you? Yes or no?

• I don’t have time to do big projects with construction. I’d rather see small concepts that require almost no construction and even less tools.

How about you? Yes or no?

• I miss going shopping in stores with Christopher he always sees great stuff I would walk right past. I find these field trips to affordable stores in my neighborhood, helpful.

How about you? Yes or no?

• On Twitter I love to see Christopher’s nightly menus and they always sound so great. I’d like to see him do a little more casual in-home entertainment segments with a focus on easy and stress-free!

How about you? Yes or no?

On the topic of Guests:

• I like it when Christopher interacts with guest. I would not mind one guest per show if they were interesting.

How about you? Yes or no?

• I liked Christopher’s guests from time to time, but don’t think they are necessary. I’d rather just Christopher teaches us what he knows.

How about you? Yes or no?

Okay, that’s a good start that would really help us. We want to get it right and produce a show that you’ll love. Answer us by leaving your comments here, email us at viewer mail or leave your comment on Twitter!

Thank you all!

CL

Those following me on Twitter have heard the news that we’re developing a new web-only lifestyle series. I’ve just been polling many for your opinions on how to shape our new series to make it fun, informative and easy for you to access. We also want all our fans to be apart of this very important decision-making process. We want you to honestly share your views in a way that’s never been more direct, and immediate.

So for those of you who have not yet joined us on Twitter, I urge that you do—especially now. Look me up under @Clowell. I would have used my full name there- but by the time I joined Twitter, Christopher Lowell was already taken so if it’s not Clowell-it ain’t me (LOL). Several continue to question if I do my own tweeting—the answer is absolutely! My staff would never let the amount of misspellings go out as I often do, but that’s all part of the charm I suppose. Many of you, through Twitter, also now have the ability to privately Direct Message me too. We are building a great community of people on Twitter who I know you’ll love.

Our new web lifestyle series will finally allow us to produce original programming, direct to you, without any of the media filters that can often make getting what we want to the screen difficult. We are doing this as networks are scrambling to redefine themselves, ironically, in the very same way they did when I first came to TV in the early days of cable even before HGTV had it’s sea legs. So I’m in trailblazing mode once again. We have a tremendous amount of work to do getting this new series up and running, but now while we’re in development mode, this is where all the important decisions will be made. We not only want the experience to be easy for even the most computer illiterate, but for the rest of you we also want our information to be able to travel through all your mobile devices where you often really need us-out in the world and in the stores!

Not only do we want you to have the ability to access me and great ideas but now on-demand. We also want to connect you to all the important resources on the web that we love, and in some cases, great sites that I already contribute to as well.

Some of you may remember that we began this process a year ago. We did, but felt it was still too early. But now with the mushrooming of social networking, we feel it’s time to address what we truly believe is the next real frontier and the future venue for solid how-to programming. It’s kind of back to the future.

In my next series of blogs and on Twitter, I’ll be asking you detailed questions about everything from content you want to see, elements from our old series that you miss, even how long you’d like to see each segment, how often, daily, weekly etc. My sister, as usual, will be organizing your responses here as well as through Viewer Mail, and I’ll be doing the same via Twitter. So lets here from you. As with everything we try to do, it’s your input that always makes it better because the show is after all for you!

Thanks everyone. Let the games begin…knowing that WE can do it!

CL

Last week I decided to check out my local Farmer’s market here in Santa Fe. I felt if I believed in supporting local sustainable members of my community, then it was time to meet them. At the edge of our little town is a section called the Rail Yard. It’s a new project full of artist lofts and shops and is marked by the water tower, below. The vistas of railroad tracks disappearing into the foothills of snow capped mountains is magic.

Inside the Market is it’s own world. Offering everything from assortments of various chicken egg – kind of a multi-colored sampler – to heaps of locally grown greens and some of the best looking breads that I’ve seen in a long time. Yum. Home made soaps, jams, cheeses and crafts intermingle with farmers, soothsayers, musicians and holistic physicians with their remedies – you can’t find that at your local supermarket! Sure you pay just a little bit more, but you also get to meet the people who live, work and contribute to your community.

Across the street is the weekly artist fair. One Frank Osborne has wonderful yarns which he spins himself – from raising the goats and sheep right on through to spinning on the spool—now that’s a full and direct circle.

Now that I’m hooked I’ll be there a lot. I guess my point is this; farmers markets are not just a place to get stuff, they have become the new churches of communities—the pulse where villagers gather and exchange not only their home-grown goods, but their home style advice, generosity of spirit and an out stretched welcoming hand.

Until next time!

CL

Note about the last blog…
First of all thanks to many of you for your response to the last blog. Many of you are responding far more via twitter now and through direct messages to me there as well.

I risked posting the writing from my dear friend as coming off ‘self serving’ but was more moved by the fact that George Ahearn, a political powerhouse and deft business adviser and a conservative Republican, felt moved to post his thoughts after our recent phone conversation. So while his focus was me, I felt the real focus was him. We part political ways often but basic American principles of decency and fair play and our constitution we do share. And I wanted to show how two people with often opposing views can debate with honor and surprising results. I wish our country to do the same more often. And there are more people via Twitter who have taken it upon themselves to write about me as well. I will continue to post those here as well for the very same reason. Okay, nuff of that!
A little housekeeping…
I know that many of you come to my site for design inspiration. That kind of information is often not part of my blog but part of the NEWS section where a lot of my home design writing often from other companies is mixed in with PR stuff and news video- and in our archives–but we’re in the process of a redesign very soon which will provide lifestyle content far better organized by your various interests. With all that has happened the last year, we’ve just been waiting for the political and economic dust to settle before putting finishing touches on some of these projects. Plus, even more importantly, we’ve been waiting for various media platforms to streamline and become more easily available to everyone—this will be key, too, for much of our new content in the very near future. Content-wise we’re good to go. Formatting across the various media platforms so you can easily see it, has been the ‘waiting game.’
New shows…
I know many of you have become disenchanted with a lot of the new how-too shows that permeate the airwaves. You tell me so all the time. Because of network structures today, it’s difficult to get on air what viewers really want. The food channels have figured out the formula, but when doing a show that requires full on interior design, the recent mandates set by network advertising departments has made getting resources to you more difficult. They have a way to go before they understand the new home viewer and what they really want. Even on Work That Room, we had to work under many new restraints which were never there before. So don’t shoot the talent or production companies—it’s just how things are right now. In the meantime, I am in development with a new series and as soon as I’m at liberty to talk about it, you’ll be the first to know. Organizing the sponsors, media platforms and outreach mechanisms has been our recent focus. When all’s in place we’ll be once again providing great lifestyle content in a far more direct way to you all. It took my team and I a long time in the early days of cable, to even get how-to programming into national markets—this is no different. So hang in there!
Twitter questions…
Lastly, many of you have asked some very pointed business questions in the very public forum of Twitter. If I don’t answer them or am vague, it’s because it’s premature based on much of the above. I know many of you are curious but being a national brand, we have to stick to strategies, calendars and concepts that guarantee our longevity and roll out with new projects with the kind of on-target timing necessary—especially today. Meanwhile lets continue to get to know each other and strengthen our human and social bond!

Later,
CL

Here’s a letter from a dear and knowledgeable friend that continually advises me with great wisdom. His blog is found at http://conservativesideas.blogspot.com

“You Can Do It” America

Thinking objectively in this crazy world these days is an awesome chore. We have the main street media that bombards us every day with information that is purported to be news but contains nothing more than slanted headlines designed to give the reader a bias before he even reads the article and then spins the article to match the headline so you get their version of the “news”. It seems that the editorial pages spill over to the front page. The sports page is only where I get the facts. Somebody won and somebody lost! Except when you read about Tiger Woods, where it looks like everybody lost (or won), depending on your perspective.

All this is counteracted by talk radio and the dueling cable news network’s which give you their version in sound bites, video clips, and interviews with people that agree with them. There may still be pundits and news reporters that try to give you objective analysis with no spin, but they are a dying breed.

Last night my wife and I called Christopher Lowell, the celebrated designer, who is a good friend and confidante. The moniker “designer” is a misnomer for Christopher, who really is a philosopher, writer, motivational speaker, and an expert in consumerism, marketing, lifestyles, and a forecaster of future consumer trends. You may remember that Christopher Lowell was a pioneer in the early days of cable with the “You Can Do It” approach to interior design and has written 6 books on the topic. This is before cable got on the reality craze and he got off the train.

Christopher now resides in Santa Fe, NM and is working on new marketing techniques using the Internet, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. Obviously, he has a sizable following and an active Twitter network and mentioned the political questions, anger, and fear in many of the messages he gets pertaining to the antagonism and partisanship that now prevails in our society. Christopher is an apolitical person and very sensitive to what is happening to his friends and fans as a result of this economic crisis.

In one of his recent blogs http://www.christopherlowell.com/interactive/blog/?p=1258 he talked about all the good people he meets who are working their tails off for the benefit of their community, city, and town, regardless of what’s going on in Washington. This is the backbone of “American exceptionalism” which we see going on every day regardless of race, religious beliefs, or political inclination. People who wonder why there are others out there who want to kill us and our culture and why they have to send their sons and daughters to a faraway place across the globe to defend our freedom.

Christopher bemoaned, “if only we can hear their stories instead of shows about the kooks and the anger fringe, we will come together regardless of political preference”. Christopher, you have the right idea and I know you will give your followers the right advice because you have no political agenda and you love your country. America needs to buy in to your motto “You Can Do It”.

It’s amazing to me that for so many people, Twitter has become a race for followers. Even my own web people try to get me to boost my own numbers by going for quantity versus quality. I know for them it’s a business and I respect that. But just think about it…ten years ago, if I could even list fifty people I knew– much less instantly communicated with—it would have been unbelievable. Today it seems that if you don’t have over a thousand followers, you’re somehow considered unpopular? Give me a break. It’s like standing in front of the microwave screaming “HURRY.”

Twitter should remove the public followers log altogether—making it a level field that encourages people to follow because of good tweets versus the popularity contest it can so often become. I follow people who only have three followers total – and I have experience real friendship like getting a real letter from them. There are many who direct message me where real conversations and friendships blossom. I think about them during the day and even worry about them when things don’t always go right.

I have worked hard with my sister’s help to use Twitter as a real communication tool. Many years ago she started an international pen pal club through snail mail that lasted years. Can you imagine? It was unbelievable—letters poured in from all over the globe. Now and then, as a graphic artist, I’d help her lay out her little newsletters way before computers. It was a very time consuming labor of love and a means to experience others cultures. In short, it was like the first Twitter. It’s no wonder she’s loved my so many through our viewer mail right here on this site.

For so many years on TV and from the stage, people never had the kind of access to me that they and I’d wanted. In autograph or book signing lines they had to wait and wait– only to get three seconds with me to tell me how we’d inspired each other. They had to condense their life stories into 140 verbal words just to let me know that we shared a bond, or that they suspected there was far more to me then interior design—like it was our little secret. I loved that and still do. It is an honor and should be treated as such. I can do a personal appearance and draw 5,000 people or do an in-store meet and greet with only fifty people—the experience is the same. In fact the smaller the crowd the more time we get with each other. Ones value is not measured by the numbers of bodies but by the effort people take to truly connect and stay connected. A lesson a few Twitter-ers should heed.

Recently I said as much in 140 characters and low and behold, my followers were right there! What we share as a group is a real intelligence, curiosity, love of home, food, life, humor and regard. I’m constantly working hard to keep my ‘followers list’ clean. Sure I’ll follow anyone who follows me, but will ‘unfollow’ the second I see abuse of the public forum that it truly is. See, me and my brand already make millions of impressions all over the continent every week, and not by accident, shock value or a pithy tweet—but by earning it through hard work and maintaining trust–not giving into fads or trends or the need to be the biggest and greatest. Those who communicate with me via Twitter now know this too. There are even some who didn’t even think it was actually me tweeting LOL. You can be sure that in fact it is. So to all of you who show me great things, share you’re lives honestly with me and say good morning and good night now and then…I thank you. Keep sharing and I’ll do the same!

Later, CL