Tag Archives: Blog

I received The Versatile Blogger award!

Posted on January 22, 2012 | 22 comments

It is always nice to receive positive recognition and appreciation, isn’t it?

It was seven weeks ago (yikes! has it really been that long?) I learned that I was the recipient of a blogging award, given to me by a fellow blogger. That’s how most of them work.

This is my second Versatile Blogger award, but my first one is no longer prominent, it was moved to My Awards and Badges page because of the theme I was using. This one I will stick right on the front page for awhile.

You can read about my first one HERE. Laura Best gave that one to me when I was in desperate need of the encouraging boost it provided me – and didn’t even know I needed it. This second one serves as encouragement to keep on, even when things in my life get complicated and time for writing is harder to find.

There are rules to be followed for such awards, this one has three, so here goes:

Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog.THANK YOU, Renee Johnson! I do appreciate it. Check out Renee’s blog: http://writingfeemail.wordpress.com
Reveal 7 things about yourself.

1. Thirty-five years of marriage and I love my beloved more now than ever. The trick is to never give up when the going gets rough.

2. I have always made my home in Nova Scotia, and love this beautiful province!

3. I love being able to access the Internet because of all the contacts I have made/am making and all I have learned/am learning that are helping me in my writing pursuit. Some of my dearest friends I have never met in person yet.

4. I love hilarious laughter and making people laugh.

5. I love the ocean – my healing place – the sounds, the smells, the awesomeness, but even though I love the water, I do not swim.

6. I’m discovering another good reason to never grow old is to be able to “think like a kid” when writing for children.

7. I am discovering my love of writing but have yet to mine the depths of what I can do, who I really am as a writer. Perhaps this is something about me we are discovering together .. you and I .. as time goes on.
Nominate and link to 15 bloggers. Then be sure to let them know! Now, this took me lots of time to choose people who have not already received this award and are deserving of it. First, I wondered how I would find fifteen, but then it was so hard to narrow it down! I hope you will visit each one, because they all have something great to offer, being writers. And even if you are not a writer and this would not interest you .. please check them out. They have more to say than just about writing, they are smart, creative people.

1. This Kid Reviews Books – Erik is a ten-year-old you will want to meet

2. Sue Harrison – a successful author and wonderful person with a diverse blog, including the sharing of her writing experience

3. Catherine Johnson – a Canadian writer of children’s stories, who also loves to write in rhyme

4. Diane Tibert – a talented writer here in Nova Scotia

5. Jamie Dement – one smart cookie who writes great stuff

6. Darlene Foster – Canadian author of adventure series children’s books

7. Sheri Swift – finding joy in the journey as an author

8. Linda Cassidy Lewis – author of newly released book

9. Donna Martin – focused on encouraging and inspiring other writers

10. Denise Bruce – enthusiastic children’s writer

11. Julie Hedlund – writer, great helps on her blog, creator of writing challenge for 2012 ( 12×12 in 12)

12. Shelli Johannes– Market My Words – great blog with loads of writing information

13. Jennifer Kearbey – aspiring author who makes me laugh on her blog

14. Linda Leinen – writing from a lifetime of experience and experiences

15. Rob Sanders – provides a daily guide to picture book writing

22 Comments

Posted in Miscellanea, Preambles to Writing, Writing

Tagged author, award, Blog, bloggers, versatile blogger, writer, Writers Resources

To blog or not to blog .. is that the question?

Posted on August 6, 2011 | 4 comments

I have not been posting to my blog as regularly as I had hoped because of family obligations, but still I try to keep at it. This past week I was thinking about writing, in particular “blogging” —

There are hundreds – no, thousands! – of blogs out there to read, thousands of blog artists sharing their thoughts, ideas, talents, rants, advice, art forms, humour …

It’s a wonderful way to share, vent, contribute, advertise, hone skills, meet people, reinvent oneself. It’s also a sure way to reveal one’s lack of skill, talent, intelligence, tact, and common sense.

Blogging is an expanding sense of community, a way to connect with others while building one’s platform – one’s identity and presence in this world, or at the very least – on the Internet.

A quote I found which also follows along nicely with my last post about laughter is by William Saroyan, a writer known for his stories celebrating the joy of living in spite of poverty. He said, “The most solid advice for a writer is this, I think: Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.”

For some, a driving force in life is writing, for others it is the reading of wonderful stories that stimulates their lives.

So, my questions to you are as follows:

Do you agree with William Saroyan’s advice? Or do you have another quote or word of advice to share with me?

If you have a blog, why or why not?

Why do you read other people’s blogs, what do you look for?

How has the blogging world impacted your life, or has it made much of a difference at all?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

4 Comments

Posted in Preambles to Writing, Writing

Tagged Blog, blogging, reading, William Saroyan, Writing

Do you blog or are you a frequent blog visitor instead?

Posted on February 25, 2011 | 16 comments

I’m excited! I have been watching my Blog Stats steadily climb, and sometime this morning it reached the amazing total of 3000. In fact, at the time of this writing it is at 3003! That means that there have been 3003 visits to my blog! Not 3003 visitors, because most are repeat visits by some people who come back again and again – which I love to see. And not all visits mean a comment has been left, nowhere near that many on my blog – not even counting the spam that has been caught and blocked – but when I get to 1000 valid comments I will have to celebrate somehow.

Now I know that for many bloggers that number (3000) is a drop in the bucket, but for me? That’s a lot of visiting, don’t you think? And I have YOU, dear reader, to thank for that. 🙂

SO, my questions to you today are:

Do you like to keep a blog of your own, and does it matter to you if you get many comments?
Or are you a frequent visitor to blogs, not interested in maintaining your own but loving to read what others have to share and then leaving your comments? (If yes, do you have favourites that you follow or do you keep searching out new blogs?)
Or, do you prefer to just visit and not say anything … until you leave me a comment today in answer to that last question? 😉

I LOVE to hear from you! When I started blogging it was with a certain amount of trepidation but now I don’t think I could NOT blog, I’d miss it and you too much. So, leave me a comment? 🙂

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

16 Comments

Posted in Miscellanea, Preambles to Writing, Writing

Tagged Blog, Blog stats, Blog visitors, blogging, Comments

I’m posting more often in 2011

Posted on January 11, 2011 | 6 comments

Have you challenged yourself yet for 2011?

I want to post to my blog more often this year, so in 2011 my goal is to post at least once a week. Hopefully I can keep that up. So far this year I have posted three times in eleven days, this being my fourth. I’d say that I’m off to a good start, wouldn’t you? 🙂 The challenge is to keep that up when there are many other things to take me away from blogging.

WordPress came up with the “experiment in blogging motivation” and made the suggestion of posting every day or every week. Every day would not be wise of me to commit to, it was fun during NaNoWriMo but with that challenge not going on now I will not be trying to blog daily. But, I think I can do it every week with encouragement and reminders. WordPress set up The Daily Post as an aid to the community of bloggers with similiar goals to help us along the way. There may be ideas there that I can use for when I need them.

If you already read my blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments and likes, and come by on a regular basis. I appreciate your interest.