Writing My Life

Now and Then

Tag Archives: Blogging


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… maybe you’re wondering why I’m posting EVERY day …

And maybe you’re wondering why every title includes the “maybe” word.

Well, wonder NO more.

Reason #1: Not exactly like National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), the “knock-off” site, NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) promotes posting every day. While November is the BIG promo for NaBloPoMo, the organization does invite bloggers to respond to a different theme for every month.

This month, the theme is MAYBE, and for some unexplained reason, it struck a chord. I hated the word when I was a kid because it was a way my parents had of putting off a decision:

“Mom, can I sleep over at Diane’s?”

“Maybe. We’ll see. Let me think about it.” (Three ways to say “maybe.”)

“Dad, can I sleep over at Diane’s?”

“Maybe you should ask your mother.”

When I became a mom, however, my 4 boys soon learned that when Mom said “maybe,” it usually meant “yes.” But when Dad said “maybe,” it was a “no,” unless Mom could work her magic on him.

Reason #2. WordPress.com, my publishing platform of choice, is also sponsoring a post-a-day OR a post-a-week challenge. I opted for the weekly route because I WAS pretty good about posting that often. BUT life got crazy all around me, and I was lucky to publish every 10 days.

Now that things have calmed a teeny-tiny bit, I thought posting every day would get me back in the writing groove, and it has.

Reason #3: During my “I’m-too-busy-to-blog” weeks, dozens of writing ideas haunted me. WordPress sends me writing ideas every day, along with Plinky. But I don’t really need writing ideas as my life is crazy enough to generate topics that attack me from every direction. I realize, however, that if I don’t get them in print fast, I’ll forget. (I’ve been dying to post that PooParty blog!)

I also have dozens of pictures I want to share. April was a bit of a travel month, and so I know you are waiting with baited breath to see my Bryce Canyon and Albuquerque shots!

Reason #4: Blogging often builds up readership. While that isn’t the main reason I do this, it is still a thrill to learn that someone enjoyed what you had to say about something – even if the topic is poo.

Reason #5: I just love to reflect and to write. End of story.

Until tomorrow, rbs


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after 383 days and 108 posts, am I a bona fide blogger?

AVATARS by the HALF-DOZEN

I didn’t know what to write, but I started anyway. Now, over a year later, I’ve posted 94 entries and 14 pages, equaling 108! If I divide that number into 383 days, I learn that I averaged a post every 3.5 days for just over a year. ADDITIONAL division (is that an oxymoron?) indicates I added about 9 entries month  to seasons. Now the question is this: Am I a bona fide blogger?

When I launched my blog on April 29, 2009, I read some data about how long the average person lasts before bailing out of the blogosphere. I can’t remember how long that definitive time is, but I think I’ve passed it. And I hope I’ve posted often enough to be considered a practicing, dedicated, determined blogger. Are there criteria out in the blog world that defines such web loggers? If so, are longevity and frequency of blogging the deciding factors, or are there more?

I remember one time I missed out on an award that co-bloggers (cobloggers? coggers?) bestow upon one another. In order to receive the recognition, the writer had to post quality and frequent entries. My new blogging friend sent me a message saying that she would have passed the honor onto me, but she didn’t think I posted often enough. I was okay with that because she posted often and surpassed my efforts. Her message actually inspired me to write more because I WANT AN AWARD, dang it!!

Actually, I started writing more because I LOVE BLOGGING/WRITING/CREATING/COMMUNICATING/ REMEMBERING/REFLECTING/and LEARNING! To commemorate this blogging milestone – which is a little weird because this post doesn’t honor the year date or the 100th post or anything like that (I zipped right past both of those occasions! Duh!) – I think I should look back over the past 383 days and 108 posts to examine what I’ve discovered about blogging and about me.

  1. It is ridiculously hard to come up with a creative name for a blog. good times AND seasons is the latest in a long string of ideas. I started with the site’s address, The Sixth Season because I had turned 60 and saw each decade as a season of sorts, but then I was reminded that if that was the case I was actually embarking upon my 7th season. Duh! I’m still not satisfied with the good times … title, but I DO love the Ecclesiastes reference.
  2. Post titles are also hard to create, AND they are really important because a catchy title can attract readers AND might be enough to “get featured on ‘Freshly Pressed'”! I think one of my best post titles is “hair-i-tic” but it better fits one of my pages, and so now I have “hair-i-tic” and “hair-i-tic 2 ~ a PLEASANT hair-raising experience” – a not-so-great title.
  3. It is VERY difficult to create a unique blog that continually features unusual, entertaining posts. I tried to come up with something few, if any bloggers, had thought of. My first idea was Needing Naomi, a blog site dedicated to mothers-in-law because, like stepmothers, I think m-i-ls get a bad rap. But I couldn’t think of a way to sustain the idea without getting in trouble with my own daughters-in-law, and I do that enough without writing about it. Until some INCREDIMAZING idea hits me, I’ll stick with remembering, observing, and reflecting – boring, I know, but right now, it’s all I’ve got.
  4. It’s VERY hard to be creative, and when I try too hard it blows up in my face. When I first started my blogging avocation, I struggled with writing ideas, and thus came up with some very strange ones. Here are a couple:
    1. …  time to dislike … (a post about voles. Yes, v.o.l.e.s.)
    2. …a time to embrace – love in the spring … (a post about worms. Yes, w.o.r.m.s.)
  5. I’ve also learned that you can NEVER guess what will attract readers. The most popular entry I posted is “… a time to ramble …”. I’m not sure why 1,539 people have clicked on it. Could it be links to David Letterman and Sarah Palin? Or references to Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee? Or a silly discussion about old-fashioned slang terms or outdated hairstyles? Could I be riding on the popularity of Ann Cannon’s Deseret News column or her blog because I quoted her? Could it be the tags I listed? Not many visitors left comments, so I am really IN THE DARK!

Well, there SO many more things that I have learned – like how to use a camera so I can post pix on blogs – but the 2 BEST lessons I have learned are …

1.) there are an unbelievable number of good writers in BlogWorld! I am constantly impressed with the humorous, insightful, descriptive, and entertaining writing available in blogs throughout the world. And they are written by everyday people like me, but more talented. A-FREAKIN’-MAZING! My hats off to the multitudes of bloggers out there who light up this sometimes dismal world. I LOVE YOU GUYS!

2.) There are lots of terrific people I’ve met through words and photos posted on web logs. I feel a real kinship to several, and although I’ve never squeezed their hands in greeting or seen their flesh and bone bodies, I admire these people. They inspire me, impress me, entertain me, and make blogging more rewarding than I ever imagined. And whether or not I’m a bona fide blogger, I’ll keep on because it is a big part of my life now, as are the friends I’ve met via this unusual route.

Thank you so much!


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… cell phone post AND what I read tonight …

Note: I used a desktop computer with a human-sized and ergonomically-correct keyboard to revise  and edit this “cell-phone” post. These additons are typed in this GREENISH color; whereas the original text , composed on the Lilliputian keyboard, is  typed in traditonal BLACK.

Oh, and if you click on the movie title links in this post, you’ll see the trailers for these oldies but goodies. Don’t miss ’em! They are GREAT!

Something new. I’m trying to update SEASONS from my G1. Couldn’t do it without a teeny keyboard! I promise this will be a short entry.  (Because I had to type with chunky thumbs on bitsy keys!) 

The great thing about this “ap” is that I can add in something on the spot if I do or see anything exciting, interesting, crazy, or wonderful – yeah, like that will happen. My life is NOT all that exciting or crazy, but I think it is interesting AND wonderful. (Most of the time – let’s be realistic here!)

Typical Friday Night Action

It’s Friday night and what am I doing? Watching TV – Ghost Whisperer. Wait a minute! G.E. just changed the channel to an old Clint Eastwood movie. Ghost Whisperer turned weird this season when the producers decided to fastforward the characters’ lives 5 years. Don’t know

Hangin' out with G.E. watchin' TV & stuff.

 why exactly, but I think it had something to do with Jennifer Love Hewitt’s husband’s body-swap.

While that idea worked in the comedy All of Me – starring  favorites Steve Martin & Lilly Tomlin – it was just silly in GW. The dying body her Hewitt’s  dead hubby jumps into couldn’t have been a 1st choice. And I’m sure Jennifer was disappointed as well: “Is THAT the ONLY near dead guy, you could find, Honey?” And viewers were reminded of that sad comparison every time the body-swapping hunk, played by Dan Conrad, stepped in  front of a mirror where a reflection of the inferior sub shows up.

I always wonder why producers make strange changes like that.

  • Did Conrad take a leave-of-absence to have a baby?
  • Was there a contract dispute?
  • Couldn’t he and Hewitt play nice together?
  • Was Conrad in rehab?
  • Was Conrad’s character ticked off when Jennifer’s character spent too much time with the Gary UNmarried guy?
  • Did viewers revolt when producers tried to kill off Conrad’s character so they had to resurrect him?
  • Were there limitations with a firefighting character in comparison to yet ANOTHER doctor character?
  • Are you thinking I’ve spent way too much time thinking about this show – that my sons have labeled an “old people show?”

 The Eastwood movie G.E. is watching is The Outlaw Josie Whales with Sondra Lockheart – or is it Sandra? What did Clint ever see in her anyway? She wasn’t even a very good actress. Wonder where she is now – who cares? (Chief Dan George co-stars in this movie and is absolutely adorable! I know where HE is now – the happy hunting ground! And a cute little old actress, Paula Truman,  plays a gramma that outshines the Beverly Hillbillies’ Irene Something-or-Other. Her character HATED Missourians – much like early-day Mormons disliked those “ruffians.”)

Guess I’ll finish this “phonY”– this was supposed to be a play-on-words – experience and start reading my book. (I did turn to Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – which has been described as Gladiator meets Project Runway. (But I think it’s more like SURVIVOR meets Project Runway.)  Friends, this Young Adult author can write , and write best sellers, she does! While I haven’t read her Pretties and Uglies series, I was totally engrossed in Games! There are romantic elements that make you think of Bella, Edward, and Jacob, BUT the writing and the plot truly OUTSHINES Twilight. AND teen girls who enjoy Shephenie Meyer’s series are LOVING Collins’ newest works.

Last epiphany – if I ALWAYS used my cell phone to blog, my posts would definitely be shorter IF I could resist revising and editing on my desktop!