Mar 7, 2012
Around the blogosphere orbits Wordless Wednesdays: promoting the picture without the thousand words. Well, I’m a writer, not a photographer, so that’s sort of out of the question for me. Let alone, I just really like explaining details of things.
So here’s my semi-wordless contribution of the things that have made me smile recently:
1. This gorgeous photo of Lizzie Cat. In full screen, it’s absolutely stunning. This sized-down version doesn’t begin to show how cuddly and affectionate she is with me.
2. My attempt at making ganache. So I didn’t get the measurements of cream to cocoa just right, and it didn’t set properly. But the flavors… ohmagosh, the flavors! Can’t wait to try it again soon.
3. My post, Davy Jones is Dead, was featured on BlogHer.com. The death of Davy brought back so many wonderful memories and conversations with old friends that it’s a bittersweet experience. 
4. My Meal Memo in a Jar post has been a great way of planning meals this month. It’s taken a lot of stress off us, and added fun to our eating endeavors. 
5. The first meal we made as a result of the Meal Memo Jar.
6. Grape Hyacinth that mysteriously appeared in my front yard. Last week I saw a few grassy patches. Three days ago I saw the first bloom. Today, there are patches and blooms abundant, so beautiful to look at!
7. Spring has started! Look at the tiny leaf buds on my Fruitless Mulberry tree. They sprouted overnight, and I can’t wait to see them bloom into vibrant green leaves!
There have been so many more great moments but I don’t have photos, just memories. My best ones are when Julie called me last night just to tell me her husband asked the family to join hands and pray for me and Dot and for me to get a job. We pray for each other’s families daily; but for her to make a special call just to let me know… it was really touching.
Morning coffee at Mom’s has become a staple, and that is one thing I will really deeply miss when I start working again. My mom is my other best friend.
I loved Andrea’s email this morning to let me know she was having trouble commenting on my blog. I love her daily blogs (Quiet MOM-ents and (MOM-enclature). If she lived down the street, I just know we’d be true friends in real life.
These are but a few of my favorite moments of late. What’s yours?
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
Feb 13, 2012
Five minutes of typing whatever. Why? Because today I woke up sick. sick.
Stuffy nose. Very sore throat. Headache. Body aches.
In other words, I’m utterly miserable. *Insert sad face sympathy here*
It could be the “bug” that’s going around, or it could be allergies, or it could be both. All I know is I’ve done zero writing today… but my Castleville kingdom has been extremely productive.
So Dot and I have spent the day catching up on weeks’ worth of DVR’d television shows: NCIS, Once Upon a Time, Grey’s Anatomy. At one point I told her to take the remote so I wouldn’t have to. She asked, “Are you going to take a nap?” I profusely shook my head adamantly. The next thing I know it was over 90 minutes later. So, yeah… I took a nap.
I’ve had a Pinterest account for about a month now, but just the last few days I really started paying attention to it. I didn’t get what it was all about; look at pictures and click “like”. What’s the big deal? Until… I started to collect pins. Until I created Boards like “My favorite TV shows”, “My Dream Home”, and “If I Could, I Would…” Until I started realizing how many wonderfully creative ideas my friends have, and now someone else thinks they’re my ideas.
I haven’t read for three days and I’m going crazy. First it was all the great warm weather that allowed me to do yard work and birdwatch, and now it’s because my brain doesn’t want to. I only have 45 pages left to finish a book I borrowed from my mom. She’s a speed reader. She can read two or three books a week if she sets her mind to it. I can’t. Even if the only thing I’m doing is reading, it still takes me too long to read. But I have my reading list for 2012 which allows for one book a week, three books a month. That gives me one week to either catch up or read something unplanned. Since I’ve read 6 of the 7 Narnia stories already, I have room on the reading schedule to read two extras before the end of the month. I’ve decided to finish the Narnia series and this one from my mom.
The next set I’m going to read will be Anne Rice’s Song of the Seraphim series. The plot is connected to the Mission Inn in Riverside, one of my favorite places ever. When I win the lottery, I’m going to stay there often. And write best sellers. And have a suite named after me. There’s only two in the series, which means I have room on the schedule for two more in March.
Dot and I spring-cleaned the Narnia room yesterday. We threw out old stuff, donated stuff we no longer want, and cleaned everything we’re keeping. It didn’t take that long, because I keep that room really clean. It’s my favorite room in the house but I don’t spend much time in it. I should. Maybe I will. Starting tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow, who’s doing what for Valentine’s day? I was going to take Dot and my mom to see An Affair to Remember at the local theater. But that’s prob’ly not going to work out so instead we’re planning to just get a nice pizza dinner and watch it at home.
I don’t do much for Valentine’s day. I always forget to decorate for it. Because I’ve just undecorated the Christmas stuff. So I forget that a few weeks later it’s time to get into storage bins again. And I don’t have much to decorate with. Except I think I might at least put out a few candle holders that I like. I should do that soon, yeah? Like, maybe, today? Now? Hmmm….
I wish all my fellow bloggers knew how much they mean to me. Just reading other blogs really inspire me. There’s Andrea, Jenn, Ann, another Andrea, Megan, Dani, Brittany, Chelsea… I always feel really bad when I don’t have time to comment on every single post. Because I know the effort I put into each and every post, so I know they do the same. And they deserve to be appreciated.
And now my time’s up.
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
Nov 18, 2011
1. Movies will never be as good as books.
2. Friends are as important as family.
3. There’s more to life than a paycheck, or lack thereof.
4. However, a paycheck can make life a little easier.
5. God is in control. Always.
6. God may not provide in the way I want, but always in the way I need.
7. Some of my most important friends are the ones I haven’t physically met yet.
8. It’s always colder in winter. This should not be news.
9. Laptop chargers are awesome.
10. Social media should not be a place to publicly vent a private matter.
11. Books are best in hardcopy.
12. Deep red is one of the best colors ever.
13. Classical music will never go out of style.
14. Christmas Spirit should be year-round. Christmas decorating, apparently, should not.
15. Thanksgiving is an attitude, not a day.
16. I may not be perfect; but I’m the perfect Me at this moment in time.
17. Chocolate covered orange jellies are bliss.
18. Crescent rolls are very versatile.
19. Midnight movie premieres are incredibly fun.
20. The morning after… notsomuch.
21. Blogging is a job.
22. Sometimes this job doesn’t pay enough.
23. Sometimes this job pays bonuses.
24. My child will always be my child, no matter how old she gets.
25. My mommy will always be my mommy, no matter how old I get.
Nov 16, 2011 |
My blogging experience over the past two years has taught me some valuable lessons and given me great insight.
It can be (and for the serious blogger/writer, should be) considered a job. Accordingly, I need to approach it as such. That means I keep at it, even when I want to call in sick or take a personal day. I show up, I put in a good amount of time and effort. And when the situation calls for it, I go above and beyond the norm. Maybe this means finding a hot topic to discuss, or just a new writing style to try out.
I used to think blogging was for wanna-be’s and cheaters. No way am I putting my writing out there. On the internet. For everyone to see, and, you know, steal. No. Stinking. Way.
But then I got sucked in. A few friends were blogging, so I checked it out. Oh, okay. It’s like an online journal that you share. With strangers. Yeah. That’s not intimidating.
Facebook gave me my first taste. I started posting Notes, and getting some responses. Hey. This isn’t so bad. And I felt… valued. Like what I said was important to someone else. And it was. How do I know this? Because. They left comments. Saying what I said was important. Huh. That worked out nicely.
Over a year ago, I started my first blog. It went nowhere. I had five followers ~ all friends. And not a clue about what I was doing. I mean, I loved writing. And sharing little life-stories. But it wasn’t growing, and neither was I. It atrophied. And I was a bit embarrassed.
So last April I tried again. I thought I had this Blog-as-a-Job thing figured out: I had a clear goal, a direction, a theme. I knew what I wanted to focus on, and how to focus. It was a mainstream blog idea. It should have done fine.
It didn’t.
Because I didn’t.
Because I still had no clue what I was really doing.
It was like being made office manager when I didn’t even know how to answer the phones.
But little by little, staying in the deep end that I had thrown myself, I learned how to swim. I read other blogs. I googled ideas. Most importantly, I received an immense amount of counsel and assistance from two professionals: Keri and Erik, distant (as in, physically far away) friends who, through the blessings of the instant internet, have been available to answer all my questions and help me out accordingly.
I soon realized my blog had its own idea of what it wants to be. Well, you can raise a child but you can’t control them… so my blog and I grew together. We branched out, tested some waters. Stepped out of the swamp of chaos and into the cool, refreshing oasis that is now Frankly, My Dear…
And it’s working. Because I treat it like work. In the past three months, my dedication to my blog is superceded only by my love of writing (I miss you, Meg!) and cooking. I giggle every time one of my unsuspecting friends suggests I remind them of “Julie and Julia”. I’m just waiting for that literary agent to notice my blog and call me up with a book deal. (I’ve got tons of ideas, and some are even finished.)
So. Blogging is my job. I put in hours every day. I count other blogs as coworkers, and check in regularly. I look at the want ad’s: those blogrolls that list other blogs I might be interested in. I’ve found quite a few. It’s fascinating how many blogs there are. For any and everything.
I look at formats: do I have too much? Not enough? How can my content improve? And I get ideas. I get links. And now I’m getting Likes.
Readers are the currency of blogging. I know I’ve written a good post based on how many “likes” it gets, how many “shares” and “posts” and “tweets”. (It never ceases to amaze me that the ones I think are going to be popular, aren’t so much; but there are other ones that just take off and surprise me!)
For a few weeks now, I’ve seen my blog grow. In content. In design. And lately, in readership. Every time I get a new subscriber, it’s like getting a pay raise. It’s like a floral delivery and a chocolate cake all rolled into one. It’s like saying I have something worthwhile.
And while I’m not trying to be narcissistic about it; being a writer, you can’t help but have a bit of that. Because if I didn’t have faith in myself and my writing, how on earth could I possibly put it out there for everyone else? Yet, I always say, a writer is only as good as the readers allow. And getting new readers is that acknowledgment that I must be finally doing something good. (And now, for some strange reason, I’m singing the song, “Something Good” from The Sound of Music). But that’s actually how I feel: perhaps in the past I screwed up, perhaps I’m not all I once thought I wanted to be. But here, on my blog, you accept me. And you make me feel okay about being who it is that I now want to be. So I just want to thank you.
All of you.
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote.
