Three Years and Counting: Blogging and Birthdays, #TBT

So, here’s the thing: Blogging –
Everybody’s Doing It,
at least according to Brevity Magazine.

But, you know what, so what! I like it. It’s helped me grow as a writer, take first steps and chances for exposure, possible ridicule from which to learn and grow from, and has produced wondrous connections with readers and other bloggers/writers,
starting with this one.

I started out with this blog, afraid to be a writer, like the post I’ve just included speaks about.

And here I am, three years into it, and I love having this space that is mine to say what I want to say.

I’ve been writing down several quotes of a particular kind lately. I’ve been using them for motivation to keep trying new things and striving for more for myself.

This is a big year for me, but I am trying really hard to hold onto the proper amount of perspective in my life.

I started the year 2017 on a high note, in several ways, but now I am marking three years here and I like to think on where I was, one year ago and then one year before that, when this blog felt like the huge step to be taking, as
I left my twenties and entered my thirties.

Last year I rounded up all the posts from the previous twelve months of
1000 Voices Speak For Compassionlove/
that I’d written. I thought it would be a nice way to commemorate two years of having this blog.

For my one year anniversary before that,
I gave thanks.

So, now what? Where am I with Her Headache? Where am I headed?

I blog less here during the week these days. Monday through Friday I often use Facebook as a blog of sorts instead, one where I write shorter things, reflections and observations. I am writing a lot of other things now and it’s still sometimes tough to decide when to write a particular piece here or if I should save it for possible submission or publication elsewhere. It’s nice having this space to come and write and share my thoughts, but I’m learning that sometimes it’s best to hold onto an idea and to find a different home for it, one that may help me grow as a writer, somewhere else.

My weekends are still for blogging:

I finish sentences on Fridays,

write stream of consciousness stuff on Saturday,
and
participate in the sharing of song lyrics on Sundays.

Of course, I still feel strongly about writing down the things I am thankful for. I use that as my weekly checkin point.

I can see how much I’ve achieved here, when I look back to a year ago, and I like having that perspective. I don’t know what 2017 will bring, though my plans are in the works. I do hope I will be able to look back at those, whatever they may turn out to be, from this position, in 2018 and beyond.

Spotlight Saturday, Holiday Addition: Down but Definitely Not Out

It’s almost winter and do you know what that means?

Yes, Christmas and New Year’s Eve, of course.

But it also means the dreaded body aches, chills, headaches, stuffy noses, and sore throats.

The jolly merry old illnesses and colds of the season.

Other than the movie review I posted the other day, I have taken a few blogging sick days, after being pulled down this past week with a pretty nasty cold, first of the season.

What are the odds I will be able to knock the number of these down from last year, from three to just one?

Happy Holidays to me. At least I should be back to my old self by Christmas.

Anyway…it has been quite the week for me, on a more positive note, with a list of the blogs I have been featured on lately. Also, my chosen story in a holiday short essay contest, and an interview I recently did with a fellow blind travel blogger/writer.

I hope you enjoy and feel free to check out any or all of the blogs and websites I list below, both for the work I’ve done and for those who have hosted or been interviewed by me.

***

I have met a lot of interesting people, bloggers, writers over this past year or so. One in particular is a visually impaired writer and traveler from Australia who was kind enough to feature me on her travel site back in the summer. Glad to be returning the favour I asked her if, I could interview her on my new travel website and here it is:

Interview with Maribel of Touching Landscapes

Next, sticking with the travel theme, I received my second chance to showcase my travel writing skills, with a guest post I wrote for a blogger, writer, and traveler who has just recently updated and consolidated three or so separate blogs into one. I thought the highly personal reason for why I hope to one day travel to the birthplace and the French village of Louis Braille and check off an important item on my WanderList would be the perfect fit for her newly put-together website:

Louis Braille – The French Inventor That Changed Blind People’s Life

To cap off that Friday full of guest posts and coming up on the end of the year, I was once again mentioned in a end-of-the-year round-up of a fellow blogger. She runs a style website for blind and visually impaired women and I contacted her earlier in the year. We spoke and from there she featured me on her Fierce Friday series, followed by me interviewing her for my blog a short time later. Well, now she has included me in the midst of two extremely talented visually impaired women of whom I look up to, a writer whose book I reviewed a few months ago and the talented writer and traveler whom I mentioned above:

Fierce Fridays – The Year in Review #1

I woke up feeling like crap a few days later, to a message that my holiday themed essay had been chosen. I still felt like crap, but this announcement made me smile in spite of that crap. A blog all about brevity, called Brevity and I didn’t think I could be that brief. Check it out here:

Sweet Sounds of the Season

And finally. I was thrilled when I discovered I was listed as #24 on a list of Bloggers to watch for in 2015:

42 Bloggers You Want to Meet in 2015

***

Thank you Sylviane, first for the guest post opportunity and to showcase what I am all about over on my new travel blog, and now this. What a pleasant surprise.

Thank you Brevity Magazine for picking my essay to be included in your Holiday Smiles contest and on your blog.

Thanks Stephanae for remembering me in your end-of-the-year review and for all the support you’ve given this past year.

And thank you Maribel for also giving me and my dream to write about travel a chance and for agreeing to be included in my Fellow Wanderer interview series on my new blog.

I hope for more blogging success both here and on that new site in the coming year and I wish for only good things to come to all these women who have given of their time and their talents.

This holiday season I have much gratitude for the opportunities shown to me by the generous bloggers and others who have shown me love on their own blogs and websites lately.

Happy Holidays to all who I may be blessed to have reading this, here and now.