Tag Archives: Blogging

My Writing Space

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Guilty Pleasure

My Writing Space

At present I do not have a separate room where I do my writing. I sit at our kitchen table and write on my laptop. I do have a couple of open rooms in the house that I could convert to a physical space for myself to write. These were my kids bedrooms. One still contains some of my daughters furniture and other belongings.  At some point in the near future I envision setting up one of these bedrooms for myself.

For so many years when my kids were growing up I did not have a space for myself in the house. I often thought how nice it would be to have a room to use as an office or just for my own space. Maybe it is because I have gotten so used to not having a room of my own that I haven’t set one of our bedrooms up for myself yet.

The environment can be less than ideal in a shared space like the kitchen. My husband often works at home. He can be going in and out of the room and talking to me. There have been many times when I get pretty irritable about being interrupted when I am on my blog. Especially when I am writing and organizing my thoughts. If the radio is on with music or news this can be another irritation. On my own I work in the quiet.

Space for writing is not just physical. It is psychological as well. It is taking the time out of the day to sit down, ponder and allow the creative process to begin. I need to carve out the time every day for myself to be creative in this way. To make a writing space in my day and in my life.

katgotyourtongueThis post is for the writing event on Kat’s blog Dandelion Fuzz. The event is open to all interested bloggers. Click on the link for more info.

Silver Threading Writer’s Quote Wednesday-Perfectionism

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images Perfect is the enemy of good via wikipedia.org with text added

” Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor…”  What do you think? Does perfectionism get in the way of getting started or stop you from finishing or publishing your post? The image is of a diamond with natural flaws. Diamonds without flaws are very rare.

 

|Silver Threading|

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Writer’s Quote Wednesday is a weekly blogging event hosted by Colleen at Silver Threading. For more information check out her blog by clicking on the link for Silver Threading above.

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

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The Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award:

I am honored and Thank you Prajakta of An Armchair Perfectionist for nominating me for this award. Prajakta has a lovely blog that includes poetry, fiction and self-expression about life and her life in India.

Rules: 

  1.  Provide the link to the person who nominated you.
  2. Add the reward logo.
  3. Answer the questions your nominator has asked.
  4. Nominate 5 other bloggers and let them know via comments.
  5. Ask your nominees 5 questions.

My questions from Prajakta:

  1. A superpower you wish you had. Besides being able to heal what is wrong with the world like pollution of the air, land and sea and human suffering, I would like to be able to travel the world and drop in on some of the sisterhood and see all the great sights I have dreamed about.
  2. Do you believe in ghosts? Any experiences? I think there could be spirits in the world. I have read stories about people leaving a sign for their loved ones to find to let them know they are all right. After our cat Angel died I thought I saw here running into the living room. I would be happy if she was at peace somewhere in our house.
  3. Who is your most favourite person in the world? I don’t know, pretty hard to say. There are many people I admire very much: Gloria Steinem, Anne Lemott, Elizabeth Warren and after I publish this I will probably think of someone else.
  4. Introduce a great plot twist in the world we live in. Suddenly all people who are making wars and killing people for religious or political differences will be struck with the realization that we are all connected and every human whether man or woman has rights to be free and pursue their own destinies without anyone dictating to them how they should live or what their role is in life.
  5. Link up your best/favourite post from your blog. Well I do have over 100 of them but this was a short fiction I attempted: The Chronicle of Aine Part I.

I nominate these wonderful people for the Sisterhood of World Bloggers Award: ( I wanted to pick people outside the US with whom I feel a connection or sisterhood)

LucileDeGodoy  for a visit to Amsterdam and a lovely blog about current topics, beautiful photos and proverbs. Lucile is very warm , gracious and writes thoughtful comments and responses.

LINDAGHILL for a visit to Canada. Linda has two blogs that include her fiction writing and she is a wonderful host of One Liner Wednesday and Stream of Consciousness Saturday. She is very welcoming and encourages us to read each others posts and she always comments on everyone elses.

Flaming English by Anna Nolan  for a trip to England and some humorous lessons in grammar. Anna is very sweet and friendly as well so don’t be intimidated by the word grammar.

Hariod Brawn at contentedness.net  to Glastonbury England and an interesting blog about spiritual and philosophical topics. Hariod is very supportive and thoughtful of other bloggers as well.

Capsule Creations another blogger from England who is an independent and modern young woman who likes to share some interesting and entertaining glimpses into her life and has been warm and gracious with her comments and responses.

My Questions for You:

1. Who in the world would you like to meet?

2. Where in the world would you like to travel or do you have a favorite place you have already been?

3. What kind of trips do you like the best? By car, boat, train or plane?

4. Do you think letter writing is a lost art and do you like to receive letters?

5. What woman do you most admire past or present?

 

Hope you enjoy and thanks sister bloggers of the world!  ❤

The Holidays are Coming So Why Do I Feel Like a Grinch

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Here we are swiftly heading toward Hanukkah and Christmas.  I don’t get as caught up in the holiday celebrations so much lately. Why is that? I think my way of wanting to celebrate has changed. I realize that I celebrated the holidays for my kids when they were living at home. I still like to make Thanksgiving. I really like Thanksgiving. I think it engenders feelings of family warmth and togetherness for me more than the other holidays.

Now it is just me and my husband here in the house. The empty nest. Both of our kids are adults and making their own lives. We will be seeing them and spending time with them which is very nice. They both have their own ways of celebrating with their partners.

I don’t feel like decorating the house. It seems like house decorating could be rated on a scale. Some people really go all out and have their yards and houses covered with decorations and lights. I imagine the interior of their houses might look like a holiday craft magazine layout. Then on the other end of the scale is me. No outside lights or decorations and nothing on the inside of the house as of now. I noticed there are other neighbors who do not put up lights outside as well. I wonder if it has to do with religious differences.

My husband did not grow up with Christmas celebrations in his home or lights outside so he does not care and does not miss anything if I choose not to decorate. My son and daughter-in-law do have a Christmas tree and my daughter usually doesn’t for environmental reasons.  We all do exchange small gifts.

I don’t feel like making anything for Hanukkah either. We will probably light the menorah. We usually go to my son’s or to one of my sister-in-laws for Hanukkah gatherings.

My grinchy-ness could be that I don’t feel the need to decorate my house and make so many preparations in the past few years because my family has grown up.  Now I can take a break and enjoy being the guest at their houses.

I know I am fortunate that my kids are not too far away. My son lives nearby and my daughter is in the same state. We will be seeing both of them over the holidays. There are people who do not have families or their kids close by and that has got to be hard for them or they could be estranged.

If you have an empty nest it may be that the holiday celebrations have shifted to your kids homes as well. Or if your kids are too far away how have you decided to celebrate the holidays?

 

The Harmony and Peace Award

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Harmony & Peace Award

I want to Thank Fourth Generation Farm Girl for nominating me for the Harmony and Peace Award. She has a lovely blog about her life on a beautiful farm in Virginia that has been in her family for 100 years. I encourage you to check it out.

This award was created by the  Idealistic Rebel

~IN HER OWN WORDS~

“I created this new award to celebrate all those who promote Harmony & Peace, and who add Love & Beauty to the world through their Blogs and through their lives. Their Positivity makes the world a better place for all of us.”

~The Rules~

  1. Give this award to seven bloggers who have added Harmony & Peace, Love & Beauty and Positivity to the world you live in.
  2. Let them know that you nominated them.
  3. Acknowledge the blogger from whom you received this award
  4. Display your award on your blog, because you have earned it!
  5. Continue to live in Harmony & Peace

My nominees are:

Dandelion Fuzz

Kat promotes community among bloggers by hosting KatGotYourTongue every week. All are welcome to participate.

An Armchair Perfectionist

I always enjoy Prajakta’s posts. I met her first on LindaGHill’s Stream of Conciousness Saturday.

River of Life Flows

I admire Teresa’s ability to take any daily prompt and make something creative out of it that relates to her life in Singapore.

Silver Threading

Colleen has a lovely blog and has won several awards. I appreciate that she also hosts a weekly blog event Writer’s Quote Wednesday. She is welcoming to everyone and encourages us to read each others contributions.

Loving Me too

JoAnne’s tag line is Ongoing Lessons From a Recovering People Pleaser. I can relate. She writes some peaceful blogs about being good to ourselves and finding balance.

Not a Punk Rocker

This blogger has many interesting and witty takes on things. I think you will enjoy her posts. Humor helps to promote peace and harmony don’t you think?

Mark Bialczak

I met Mark when he was the leader of our group of bloggers during NaBloPoMo with  our Nano Poblano group. He is always very kind and supportive of other bloggers. Definitely promoting Peace and Harmony.

Well these are my nominees and I hope you will check them out. Now I think I must be on my best behavior because of this award. I hope I will continue to promote the values that got me nominated for it to begin with.  🙂

 

Meeting Sensitive Santa

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So many parents enjoy taking their kids to meet Santa at the mall and getting their pictures taken. It is such a common event this time of year. The lines of kids with their parents waiting to take their turn sitting on Santa’s lap. Waiting to tell Santa what they want for Christmas.

For some children and their parents this is a major challenge. What most people take for granted as an easy holiday season activity the parents of children with autism find to be almost impossible.

These parents have the same wishes for their children as all other parents. To participate in all things that other children do. To be able to sit on Santa’s lap and get their pictures taken and be able tell Santa what they are hoping for on Christmas.

Children with autism are often very sensitive to noisy, crowded and over stimulating environments. It is hard to them to wait patiently in lines for long periods. So their parents must often give up on them ever doing something other parents think of as a normal thing to do around Christmas time.

I read a story in the LA Times by Hailey Branson-Potts about a place in Northridge, California, called Rock The Spectrum Kid’s Gym, that has found a way to make Santa accessible to kids with autism. I have a link to the article here:  Sensitive Santa   The story is very touching as it describes the kids’ reactions when they were able to approach Santa in an environment that was comfortable for them.

I wonder if anyone else has heard of this being done for kids with autism in other places? I think it is a great idea and could easily be copied. What do you think?