IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The 2024 OFFICIAL MASTER LIST: https://tinyurl.com/w54yupwe

Sunday, March 31, 2013

#atozchallenge: About Arlee Bird

   
Arlee Bird's First Birthday
Arlee Bird many years later
     Since I didn't do my about me post yet, I thought I'd slip in quietly on this Easter day and do my quick little turn at a few of the questions.


"Where do you hail from?" (D.G. Hudson)  -- I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, where I lived for the first seven years of my life.   But I feel like East Tennessee is my home.
 
"Have you ever wanted to be a rock star?" (Alex J. Cavanaugh) -- Oh of course!  I've fantasized about this since high school and still imagine it now and then, though now I think more country than rock.

"Would you rather have your own personal sailing ship or spaceship? What would you name your ship?" (L.G. Keltner) --  Since I have a bit of a fear of water and don't take too well to being out in open water, I'll probably go with the spaceship.  Although I guess being in airless space is a somewhat scary thought as well.  It is kind of exciting to imagine though.  My ship would be named "Imagination".

"Favorite childhood memory" (Tina) -- I had such a great childhood that it's really difficult to single out any favorite childhood memory.  I guess this is why I like writing memoir--I like remembering and telling the fun stories.   My favorite memories would probably be related to fun times at home and with family.

"How do you use those HTML tags .. and I've yet to learn about the signature line too .." (Hilary Melton-Butcher)   -- I've been a huge proponent for the signature link and the HTML tags.  They are so handy to direct people to specific links I want them to see and to my own blog.  It's so much quicker to visit blogs if I have a link that takes me right there.  I just hate that WordPress, other systems, and often the other bloggers mistake a link in a comment or the signature link to think the comment is spam.  I really have a strong distaste for spam and spammers.

"Describe the last Halloween costume you wore." (Nicole) --- Many years ago when my kids were still in school and before I got remarried, I dressed in old green coveralls, sprayed my hair green, and put on green make-up and went out with my kids.  When people asked what I was supposed to be, I answered, "Broccoli".   Why do some people find broccoli to be so scary?

"What's more important, space exploration, or under-sea exploration?" (Matt Conlon) -- That's kind of a tough one as they are both fascinating frontiers.   I love the idea of forging on into the outer reaches of the universe as well as a concentrated study of our own solar system.  So much adventure!  But on the practical side of what could be more immediately useful and accessible to us I'd have to put the priority on sea exploration.  It will be probably be easier to access the resources of the sea before what's in space.  I hope we don't give up on either.

Coke or Pepsi?" (Mina Lobo) -- Funny how things can change.  In the 80's I had a clear preference for Pepsi, then somewhere along the line I started preferring Coke.  Maybe they had the better sales?  

"If you could sing any song with the artist who wrote/performed it, what would it be and with whom?" (Tracy Bermeo-A2Z Mommy) -- What a strange experience this would be!  I'll go with "Living for the City" with Stevie Wonder and I'd want to do a bluegrass arrangement of the song.  I wonder if Stevie would approve?

"How old were you when you realized your passion for writing?"   "Who inspired you to write in the very beginning?"    "Who inspires you now?" (Magical Mystical MiMi)--  My mother inspired me to tell stories when I was perhaps five or so and my father inspired me to write when I was about eight.  Writing and reading have been passions since I was young.  Now my writing inspirations are Flannery O'Connor, Cormac McCarthy, and many great bloggers out there.

         Happy Easter to all!   And now let the Challenge begin!



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Friday, March 29, 2013

Blogging is a VERB



And then we blog…

We write. We edit. We post.

And then we blog…

We socialize, network and engage in the community.

Blogging in a bubble is like cooking without eating the meal.

And then we blog…

We read other blogs, meet and get to know other bloggers, join and participate in blog hops.

See what I mean? We blog.

Dishes can wait. We’re blogging. Blogging is a verb – an action word that requires participation.

Making it hard for active bloggers to comment on your blog is like doing the dishes when you’re entertaining company. Sure, you can get away with it, but why would you be so rude to your guests?

On that note, here’s a brief list explaining why some people might not comment on your blog…

  • It takes too long to find your post. As serious as I am about blogging, there’s one thing I know to be true. Blogs are blogs. When I get to your page, I don’t want to click another link to read your post. I’m sure it will be very interesting and all that, but reading your post isn’t about giving you page views. It’s about reading what you wrote on your blog.


  • You wrote a friggin’ novel! Again, it’s a blog…especially when we’re all hopping around like flying trapeze artists, hoping not to miss any step (or blog) along the way during some of these gigantic blog hops. Save it for your ebook already, and post a blog post, without apologies for writing more words than I could write in a week. (And I write a lot of words every week too!)


  • Avoid misleading your audience by title or post. If your title promises to give a how-to on peeling oranges, I’m probably not going to want to read about dealing with grumpy co-workers. I’m certainly not expecting to anyway.


  • Check your ego at the post. Um, I’m sure your post will be great, but I’m not coming back to see what you wrote about something in two or three days, just because you were too busy to write your post for today’s blog hop. As much as you want me to appreciate your busy blogging schedule, it would be nice if you would appreciate mine too. Remember, blogging is a verb.


  • Skip the hoops already and make it easy for people to comment on your blog. I’ve commented on your blog time and time again. Yet I still have to fill out my name, email and website every time I visit you. At what point will you acknowledge my effort to leave you nice comments? I spent several minutes reading your post and now I can’t find where to leave a comment. Make it easy. Put the “Post a comment” at the bottom of the post (along with sharing tabs), just in case you said something my friends might want to read too. Captcha – think I said it all in this post on the subject.


It’s only a few days til we’re all in a mad rush to post and comment on well over 1,000 blogs in the A – Z Challenge blog hop. Hey, we’re all in this together and blogging is a verb!

Here’s to a successful A – Z Challenge for all!

M. J.

Photo credits:  Blog – commentskkkkk; Cortega9, CCA; blog iconoiiiiiii, Cortega9, CCA; Blog (1), Cortega9, CCA

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Do I Have to talk about myself?: Co-host Damyanti

As a writer, I always thought I could hide, stay incognito, but the current publishing scenario won't stand for it. I've been blogging a few years now, but I usually try to keep writing and reading at the forefront and myself in the background. So, I'll take this post as practice, and try to talk about 'myself', my least favorite subject of conversation.

1."Where do you hail from?"
India.

2."When writing, do you prefer to compose your first-draft by hand, on your computer, or using Morse Code?" 

 By hand, if it is a short story, on the computer if it is a novel.

3."Where do you go to "Get away from it all"?"

  Pick up an absorbing book.

4. "Would you rather have your own personal sailing ship or spaceship? What would you name your ship?"
 Spaceship. I've been on ships and haven't liked them much. If the spaceship resembles those in Star Trek, all the better.

5. "Name a book that didn't meet your expectations."
 Solar by Ian McEwan

6. "What makes life worth living?"
 Life itself. Only thing worth living for.

7. "Do you know how to 'Gangnam Style?'"
 Nope, and I hope never to have to learn.

8."What items could you typically have in your pockets?" 
 Keys, Phone.

9."Cake or pie?"
 Pie, sometimes. I like soups and salads, and all manner of healthy cuisine.

10."Coke or Pepsi?" 
 Neither. Water, every time.

Whew, that's 10 questions answered, all done and dusted! 
I can now go back to being A to Z challenge co-host, and ask you to make sure you stick to the AZ calendar, comment on as many posts as you can, turn off the captcha, and share your A to Z Challenge posts on all manner of social media. The A to Z Challenge is three days away, and I wish you all a fun and productive month of blogging in April!



Wednesday, March 27, 2013

April … WhenThe Following Should Be Easy



       It's "ASK ARLEE" day at TOSSING IT OUT, but I was given one question that seemed better addressed at the A to Z Blog.   Since the question primarily concerns the WordPress blogging platform which I am not too familiar with, I turned to one of my A to Z Ambassadors who blogs at WordPress.  In this post Judy from Raising the Curtain will address the topic of following blogs.

Let's Be Friends

The start of the Challenge is just around the corner and you’re ready. Your posts are prepared or well under control and you can’t wait to start the interaction.  You start scoping out a few of the blogs in the Challenge sign up list, get excited when you find a few quality ones and decide to follow them so you can keep up with their Challenge posts.  But hang on, these blogs are on a different blogging platform to your own and despite searching high and low on the site you can’t locate an easy follow mechanism. So you leave feeling slightly dejected, promising faithfully to come back manually to the blog… and you never do.

Sounds familiar?

One of the cornerstones of the Challenge is interaction and you want to make it easy for your readers to follow you, no matter on what platform they blog. Don’t let that follow slip through your fingers, especially after you have done the hard part with quality content.

Following Blogger to Blogger is easy through Google Friends Connect and the internal blogger follow mechanism. Following WordPress to WordPress is also easy through the internal WordPress follow button.
But what about following WordPress to Blogger or Blogger to WordPress?

Here’s a few suggestionsthat might help you capture that inter-platform follow.

For Blogger Users:

1.       Make sure you have a prominent RSS feed subscription feed button. WordPress users can import your blog’s URL into their WordPress reader.

2.       Even through you may not like to receive blog posts by email, others might. It’s my preferred blog capturing mechanism and a lot of the time blogs don’t have an email subscription capability. You might want to consider adding that capability.
3.       As Google Friends Connect can no longer be accessed by WordPress.com users consider linking your blog to one or more alternative follow platforms, such as Networked Blogs (http://www.networkedblogs.com) or Linky Followers (http://www.linkyfollowers.com/login/default.aspx). Each of these sites acts as an intermediary between blogs and their followers, a sort of blog clearing house. Networked blogs has a Facebook interface and can also be linked to your blog’s Facebook page if you have one. If you decide to use one of these, make sure the platform’s follow badge is placed in a prominent position on your blog.
4.       An alternative to Google Friends Connect is Google +. If you have a Google + blog page or a personal page, make sure your Google + follow badges are placed on a prominent position on your blog and that your blog posts are posted to your Google + page.

For WordPress Users:

1.       All of the above applies to you too, except for Google Friends Connect which has now been discontinued and in any event the script was not permitted on WordPress.com.

2.       Make sure that you have the grey WordPress Follow Me button option turned on. It will allow readers to follow you through an email subscription no matter what page of your blog they are on. Mine appears at the bottom right of the screen and jumps around with each page.

The Challenge is a great opportunity to break out of the confines of your blogging platform and invite other bloggers into your world. You never know, they might even stay for dinner the follow.

Good luck to all the Challenge participants and may you all have a fulfilling and followsome April!

Judy

        Thank you, Judy!  Please be sure to stop by Judy's blog to visit, comment, and by all means follow.

         Are there any other follow methods that you might suggest?


This post entered by Arlee Bird 

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Quick Note to A-to-Z Participants

Hi there!

In order to insure that everyone gets to come along on equal footing during the A-to-Z Challenge, and to make sure you have someone specific to go to should you have any questions, each co-host is assigned a certain number of blogs to attend to.  Now, we all try to visit everyone, but this way, each person will get visited by at least one co-host and will be able to contact their co-host directly in case of questions.

We want to be sure you know who to go to, so you will receive a single email from your co-host at the beginning of the challenge.  It will just be an introduction and welcome, along with your co-host's contact information.

Your emails will be BCC'd, so your email will not be given out to your fellow participants.  Only your co-host will have that information.  In order to insure it doesn't turn into a spam-fest, be sure to reply only to the co-host if you have a question; don't hit "reply all."  However, do feel free to ask your co-host anything, and don't be afraid that you will be bothering us...you won't! 

Ultimately, we are here to support all of you.  This should be fun.  Yes, we're challenging ourselves, but if you take it too seriously, it just won't be fun at all.  Enjoy yourself, and ask your co-host if you have a question.  Let's make this the best A-to-Z yet!

May you find your Muse.

Shannon L.
The Warrior Muse