You’re scared to death of Twitter. IT FREAKS YOU OUT! No worries. You don’t really have to be there to use it. Just have an account and let WordPress do the work for you. Here’s how to connect Twitter and WordPress together.
Automatically Sending your new Blogs to Twitter
By: Ronovan
Be logged into Twitter.
Go to your Dashboard in your blog
At the bottom you will find Settings, hover over this and a box will appear, click Sharing in that box.
OR
If you click Settings a box of options appears below it and you can choose Sharing there.
You will see various social networks to link to. Choose any you like. For now click connect beside Twitter. Then accept it asking you to connect.
Difficult, huh?
Now whenever a blog of yours posts it will go to Twitter as well, or should, it is technology after all.
Bonus Tip
You’ll notice in the Add New Post section, where I am typing this now, that on the right side where you have the Publish button there is a Publicized: Edit Settings option. If you click Edit you can customize the message that will appear with your Twitter announcement of your blog post. I sometimes put in the hashtags I want to use, you know the #Blogs or #Photography things you see sometimes. You don’t have to go to Twitter to do anything.
Also when you click Edit you can uncheck any of your authorized connections you don’t want the article to Publicize to. Like I don’t always want mine to go to facebook.
Sometimes things come out of the blue. For me most of the do. Yes I can make a joke or two. But I only will get by with a few.
One of those out of the blue moments occurred when I received this particular Very Inspiring Blogger Award from Be Inspired. In all honesty from the site I believe I will be enjoying digger deeper into what is to be found there. Then on top of that to know who nominated this particular site makes it even more interesting, StantonSunshine.
I encourage you all to visit both sites to see why they received their nominations. I don’t think it will take you long.
1.Thank and link to the amazing person who nominated you.
2.List the rules and display the award.
3.Share seven facts about yourself.
4.Nominate 15 other amazing blogs and comment on their posts to let them know they have been nominated.
5.Proudly display the award logo on your blog and follow the blogger who nominated you.
I’ve decided to do my seven facts a little different than usual. Since this is the Inspiring Blogger Award I wanted to share some facts that I hope might inspire someone reading. And if you do go to my page and read my work, just know some of it is just getting things out of my head to get rid of it. That’s the great thing about writing, getting rid of the clutter.
The Facts:
After high school I didn’t go straight into college. I worked for a few years at various jobs. Once I was ready, I was ready. I made the Dean’s List and all of that type of thing. I mention this because some people feel pressure to immediately go to college or some feel that it’s been too long to go to college. You’ll know when.
I didn’t have the greatest biological father. A lot of people can say that. For some it may pretty much destroy their lives. I ended up with a great step-father, who I refer to as my father now. But as a result of those early years I have a love of children, not necessarily wanting to throw myself into the middle of a bunch of 1st Graders, but I love to see happy kids. Whenever I would work in a classroom of young ones the inevitable would happen . . . the lap time. Of course I would then stand up the rest of the day. I know I may look like a big teddy bear, but there are some things you just have to be aware of these days. But I’m good with kids even though I say they’re not my specialty in the education field.
The first girlfriend I had basically was using me to make her ex-boyfriend jealous. It didn’t last long. I wasn’t happy about it, but as time went by I realized some people aren’t worth the memories.
Prayer works.I know it does because I’ve seen it in action. People say things happen by coincidence. No, not so much. I’ve prayed specifics and they’ve happened. I’ve prayed for things doctors have said would never happen, and they happened. I know God doesn’t always answer us the way we want Him to, or sometimes people don’t realize the answer has been given, but it’s there. I didn’t become a comic book artist. Does that mean God didn’t answer that prayer? No, it means He said no, or it might even be a ‘wait’. But I turned to writing.
I am drawn to those who need help in some way. It doesn’t start out as such but somehow over time I discover I am in a new friendship for a purpose. Again, I don’t believe in coincidences. I may help that person to the point of mental and physical exhaustion, but I will help them. And I know that the friendship will probably move on and away at some point but I like to hope I leave the person in a better way than when I stumbled upon them.
I was about three months away from being diagnosed as diabetic when I had a fall that changed my life. I was already on high blood pressure medicine so add being diabetic to that and wow. But the doctor was giving me a chance. After the checkup I then had the fall. There was nothing I could do with my life at that point but I knew somehow that I needed to lose weight. At the next checkup after the accident I was no longer prediabetic, and I no longer am on high blood pressure medicine. I set my mind . . . no, I changed my mind to know I could do something and I did it.
I have Fibromyalgia and Migraines, along with Osteoarthritis. I’m in my early 40s. I face a future without the ability to work, and judgments of people who see a healthy me and wondering why I am a lazy bum. I blog. I share whatever comes to this odd mind of mine and somehow some of it speaks to some people. I can stop when the pain gets too bad. I don’t get paid in money, but I feel I have worth. As for being a lazy bum? It’s kind of funny. I would kind of like to wander around their home one day unannounced and see how perfect their home is and their life is. The people that count in my life understand me and that’s all that matters.
What makes some qualify as an Inspiring Blogger to me? I believe for one I have to be able to connect in some way to the person behind the blog. There also needs to be something more than just talent. I look for sincerity behind the mirror that is my laptop screen.
These are in no particular order:
Brett of Brett’s Future-A recent addition to my family of Reader Friends, Brett and I share some similarities, partly being of comparable age and insanity of having done the corporate world angle to now venture into the world of words.
Hannah at Inked Roses-I met Hannah during Writing 101 for Blogging University. I have to say that I’ve seen her comment and pop up from time to time around my blog and there is always a sense of honesty in her likes. I enjoy that. Revisiting her site for this award I am blown away by her storytelling. Her Writing 101 material is dead on and she shared things in a way I couldn’t. A great writer with a delicate touch. I want that, but I’m heavy handed and plodding. I admire her. I want her to do more. I want to see what else she can do. That wanting inspires me. Know what I mean? If you don’t want more are you inspired?
KiwiBee at Snap Thoughts-Life is an adventure for this young lady. I admire her exploring her world. Looking at her blog more for this award I am more inspired than when I first selected her. An American in Paris? No, try South Korea. From Wyoming to South Korea? Read her About to find out. I love journal entry style she uses, and the photography of the country she now lives in. Her and her fiance also have another blog together Korea Bound that I am about to start looking into.
Dazzling Whimsy– I’ve followed her blog since she began and the inspiring part is how it has become a bright and shining spot to escape to. Her photography is of everything around her with beautiful flowers and daughters, and yes the daughters are little girls with brown and or hazel eyes. So of course I was sucked into that world. Take a look at her articles and you see a Mom who loves her kids and apparently does everything possible to give them the best life she can. Who isn’t inspired by that? Also she doesn’t just share a photo she also gives a story behind it. I like that for an occasional change if the is a real story to tell. She has the stories.
I am supposed to nominate many more, but over the course of time I’ve been through many and I follow so many blogs that it’s difficult to keep all of them sorted properly. My apologies but at times the combination of concussion recovery and Fibromyalgia take their toll and now is one of those times. I will nominate others at another time perhaps once things are better but for now I believe I have given quality blogs for you to take a look at. They are different from each other and I believe you will find enjoyment with each.
The Daily Prompt today asked about a musical instrument. It surprises me sometimes where a few words in print can lead you back to another life.
My bio-father was a musician, that is to say when he wasn’t doing other things for money. He recorded at Sun Records in Memphis, TN. Yes THAT Sun Records. And yes he was a truck driver. No, he wasn’t Elvis. But he was from Tupelo, MS. He was a drummer and singer primarily.
I don’t know if I ever heard him sing for certain. I had his record once until I smashed it into a million pieces and threw it away.
I’m told I would be placed on the side of a pool table and shoot pool as an infant and entertain the people while he performed. But things are passed down from one generation to the next. For me, I have rhythm. I can keep a beat without a thought.
Everything became a drum when I was tiny. Both sides of my family were musical. My maternal grandfather was a singer as well. Both musical men ended up leaving their families.
I was discouraged greatly in regards to music. I guess maybe it was because musicians were associated with wandering men in my family, or bad men. Now I write words to songs that I cannot put music to. I hear it in my mind but cannot put it to paper.
With my concussion and the results I cannot listen to music any longer. I guess finally they’ve won. No more music possibilities for me. I still write songs, but they are poems now. The reader can make their own music to match what they feel.
I never look at the bad as bad. You can always use it for something good. Sure, it’s bad for you but you can use that experience in life to help someone else. It only stays bad if you let it stay bad.
Everyone stop by Ways of Life and give a congrats and help her on her way to the next 100, 500, 1000. Wait a minute. She’s going to have more than me. Never mind. Stay right here and ignore this. Hrmph.
About two month ago, I decided to start a blog. I wasn’t even sure how to write/ post an article at first. I had almost no hopes that anyone would be stopping by my blog. But that was then and now this happened!
This is such a humbling experience. Along the way I had the opportunity to interact with some truly talented people. There are so many wise, humorous and brilliant people on the blogosphere and I get to learn so much from them everyday.
This is the incentive to get me working even more hard on my blog. All my followers and fellow bloggers are extremely dear to me and so are their opinions. I want to get as much input from my followers as to what kind of content they expect and/or want me to work more on as possible. Every suggestion will be greatly appreciated.
Tags for Blogs isn’t easy. Or is it? You have a great article but no one comes to pay you a visit. Why not? You didn’t send out the invitations. I am going to make this pretty simple. Using a restaurant as an example to give you Blog Tagging Tips so that your Blog Articles will be friendlier to SEO or Search Engine Optimization. Think Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
Welcome to Restaurant RonovanWrites.
Please look at my Menu on the right which I call Categories
Please select a Dish from the Entree List of Poetry, Writing, or any other Entree you would like.
The ingredients can be found at the bottom of each Poetry,Writing, or whatever dish you like as the Tags.
Restaurant RonovanWrites isn’t a big deal to people. It means nothing. I need to have what people want. That means a nice menu they are looking for. An example would be Poetry. Okay so I have the dish but what are the ingredients in the dish? Some people want veggie tacos, some beef, pork, or chicken.
How will people know what you have unless you tell them?
So your dish is Poetry and now you need to tell the customer what is in the Poetry you are serving. You created the dish. You know what is in it, the feelings and descriptions. Those are your Tags.
If I have a poem about my Migraines that are very bad, my Tags might be; Migraines, Pain, Headaches, Suffering, Anger, Darkness, Personal, Depression. I normally also put in Poetry, Writing, and Creative Writing, and I if I am using a personal Photo I add Photography. Blogs is also a good Tag to use.
There are those who use just a few Tags, but in truth as long as you don’t go over say 10 or so, I think you’ll be fine.
Now when a Search Engine reaches out it will see your Tags and the Category. Your Title is also important. Make sure to only capitalize the important words, the proper words. And also use key words in the first paragraph or so of your article. If you notice during some of my articles I have the images about a paragraph down, at least the first image. This is why. Search Engines don’t read Images but they do read something the various descriptions you put in the images when you load them. More on that subject another time.
I want to explain something quickly. I haven’t been overly active in really trying to pull people into my site. I know how things work. I mainly work on creating. A lot of what I create does not lend itself to SEO or Search Engine Optimization results. If you are writing articles like this then you should use everything you can. For my poetry, I’m not going to write the first lines of my poetry so Search Engines will like it more.
Poetry comes from anywhere and everywhere. Not very helpful sounding is it? Let’s say you are eating cereal one morning at the breakfast table and you hear a clink in the kitchen of glasses. The sound triggers a memory, you are drawn back into childhood. A feeling comes over you of the spoon growing larger as you shrink back into childhood and become seven years old again.
Cold milk with floating Os
Clinking glasses in the sink
Shrinking tiny fingers
Pulling mind back to think
Oh those yesteryears
So simple way back when
They bring a smile to my face
Every now and then
Admittedly that’s not my best work, but as quickly as I am writing this piece today I am creating it without stopping and just letting the thoughts flow. I did not have an idea for the cereal or anything when I started typing this article. I might would go back and tweak this a bit to be better but for now I wanted you to see what can inspire a poem. And words don’t have to be beautiful stand alone words, or rhyme. By that I mean these poetically sounding words. They can just be ordinary words, which are what most of my work is.
Ordinary words touch everyone. You can understand one of my pieces instantly. That’s not to say mine are better than another persons, I just want you to know that just because you don’t think with those words doesn’t mean you cannot write poetry. You can write a poem in everyday words, and then look up synonyms and have fun with it.
Now I want to go into a recent poem I wrote and how it came about to show you the process. I dislike calling it a process because I really don’t have one. I think instead I will call it the creation of the poem. Even in my writing of this article I just let the words flow and go with it. Instead of correcting the use of ‘process’ I explained it and then created a new way of expressing my work. This is how poetry works as well.
The poem is Truth in a Picture. I needed a pick me up piece to do. I wanted to write something happy and full of life. For this I usually go to photos, sometimes of friends online but sometimes just wandering about the web. I wandered. I looked up some art paintings and happy did not happy.
The colors caught my eye, then sadness. There’s no doubt the woman is beautiful, but then you see more.
After the glimpse of color I saw the eyes and how they looked vacant and broken. It reminded me of pictures I have seen of female friends where the smile doesn’t reach the eyes.
That’s when the poem began, or perhaps it began as soon as I saw the eyes.
Thoughts came to me of what if I were the woman and knew what a man was thinking as he saw me looking beautiful but inside I didn’t even care because I knew the truth.
What if I knew why I looked the way I did? What if I knew this was my mask, my disguise?
Happy didn’t happen.
I’m not a long form poem writer very often, not that this is a long poem at all. I usually get my thoughts out as efficiently as they come to me. I looked at the painting and then closed my eyes and typed. I remembered the eyes, the nose and the lips. I thought of how makeup and lipstick are paints of disguise. I thought of how the paint attracts attention to disguise the harm caused by attention. I imagined her thoughts at each of his thoughts.
I then thought of the flip side of that and what the woman was underneath the pain and what the paint covered up. I altered the picture to show what was underneath.
Sleep circles and bruises. The colorlessness a woman feels . . . the lifelessness. I took each of the previous thoughts and made them the truth from her side.
The reaction to the poem has been encouraging in the honesty of it. I was asked how do I know what women think. My replies never really captured my thoughts. I don’t know that I do know what women think, I just know how I feel about something and then I put it into words. Somehow in this piece I contained an anger until after I was finished. The anger would have turned it into a much different piece. I’m not sure I could have written that piece.
I tend to tell a story in my poems, be it my autobiography or some societal thing that plagues my mind. I do try to have fun with it at times, but that is rare. Write what comes out of your fingertips. Let your mind take over, let your heart set the tempo, and get out of the way.
Neha, rhyme mistress and word wizard of ForgottenMeadows allowed me to be involved in this Virtual Blog Tour. Why and how she put me down as one of her choices for involvement I will never know. I’m a strange man in a strange land.
What can I say about Neha?
Her words are aloe,
Soothing broken and lost souls,
Is her magic gift.
Her poetry is varied. You never know what emotion she will pluck out on any given day, but you know it will happen. But is it her poetry that gets you? I have found the person behind the words is what makes the difference to me. Through exchanged comments and communications I find that her words fail to capture what she is. What can come close is when she opens up her site to allow others to contribute and grow as artists by joining together to create a montage masterpiece under her watchful eye. Wordsmith? Yes. Heart and much more? Definite.
Before you must suffer in my answers regarding my writing and creative process you get to enjoy the TALENTED of this show. How do you choose just three from hundreds of people you follow? I had criteria in my mind. Talent, activity, as in enough to keep them on my mind, and fascination with their passions. To me if there is no passion behind production then it’s pointless. There are many that could have been on this list, but I believe those reading this will agree with those I chose.
Mara says this about herself-“I’m apparently not happy enough to nag real people around me and feel compelled to invade also the virtual space. ” “I’m a bad photographer and worse poet, which doesn’t prevent me from sharing my creations with complete strangers.”
From those words above there is obviously modesty inside of Mara as well. Her photography is unique in that it captures more than your traditional postcard picture art you might see from some. There is life in her photography that even she is not aware of. Her eye and talent naturally finds it and I sometimes even am inspired to write a poem. I look forward to her revealing how her process works.
Oscar is . . . inspiring. Yes, he’s an author, but he more than just writes about what he loves he also brings it to life and encourages it. “I have worked with at-risk Native American youth in New Mexico for nearly ten years. My passion is two fold: creative writing and empowering Indigenous youth.” For more you must read his About page. There is so much more there.
I chose Oscar because of his passion, his writing, and his spirit. He’s not just an award winner, a scholarship winner, he’s also real. I want to find out how he does what he does. His inspiration is obvious once you have read about him and experienced his site. But I want to know how he takes that inspiration and then turns it into art.
“If you dream upon a dream, it’ll come true. I always identified with this particular song lyric/inspirational quote, because if I hadn’t worked as hard as I did, I wouldn’t of gotten so far in life.” And that is Megan. Megan is another inspirational author with books being published soon. Her true story is even more amazing than her creations. But you’ll need to read more about her to discover it all. It’s all in her site. She’s very honest and sharing of her world.
Again I want to know how one so young has been able to accomplish so much. Megan is the best example of write and don’t sweat your life. Just keep writing and get the story done. She’s taken bad and turned it to good. Girl after my own heart.
I mainly work on the content for my blog. I greatly enjoy the outlet it gives for my life. Most of what I write, even poetry, is autobiographical in nature.
In regards to works I would like published someday I have a YA adventure novel about a girl and her brother that I need to revise part of and then get into editing. But one work I really would like to attempt is transforming a Paranormal Detective novel I’ve written to include more personal feeling from how I am now. Then there is another book I have that is based on my experience with amnesia but used in a fictional adventure/thriller manner. I have no idea where that idea came from.
I have decided to buckle down and complete the YA adventure revise and editing process. This means perhaps a little less time blogging but then with me who knows. 2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I think I try to bring character realism in regards to emotions, conflicts and the like to the story more than just actions. Even the action that takes place says something about the person because of reactions, choices, and consequences. Is that different from everyone else? I don’t know, but it’s me.
I sit down with each scene and action and decide on the believability of it within the abilities of the character. Even with paranormal, fantasy, or science fiction I attempt to ground as much of the actual aspects of the characters in reality in order for the reader to connect, and in all honesty for myself to connect as well.
I don’t necessarily write for popularity but for release of thoughts and feelings I have. Descriptiveness of environment and setting is less important to me than characterization. I think I look for the reality behind the fiction.
3. Why do I write/create what I do?
For my blog I write to rid myself of pain and thoughts. The pain is the physical results of Fibromyalgia and Migraines, not necessarily some emotional trauma, although those two plus amnesia do have some impact on how I see things. I just wanted to make that clear. Sometimes it’s humor or my creations, but depending on the physical trials I am going through I find poetry especially a great outlet.
As for my novel work I believe my reasons have changed over time. At one time it may have been to be a popular writer but now it is too create a place that reflects who I am in the main characters and hopefully make a connection with readers in a way that will make them think. I believe every story has a reader waiting for it to touch and in a way heal. 4. How does my writing/creating process work?
For my poetry I sit down to an empty page, close my eyes and begin to type. Whatever is coming to my mind at that moment I just keep my eyes closed and type the words and descriptions that come to mind. I get out of the way of my mind and heart and just let it flow. Even if it is dark or angry, I let it go. I never sit down to purposefully create a dark piece. Never. I think my mind looks at something and sees what’s behind the image, or imagines what is behind it.
After that first stage I then open my eyes and see if there is something there to share. I sometimes sit down and so want to write a sunshiny piece and end up writing about pain. But somehow a few people might say they find it beautiful and I don’t really understand, or they find comedy in it. I just thank them and close my eyes for the next piece. I tell others that every piece you write has a reader waiting to find it, so don’t be afraid to share it.
Try it yourself. Just close your eyes and begin to type. As you do your thoughts will begin to form into a single line and become a message. Just keep typing until you cannot any longer.
Sometimes I will write a poem about a photograph I see as an escape from the darkness of some of my poetry. It is a much needed reprieve.
As for my novel work it is much like the poetry in that I let the characters write the story. I have an idea of who the main characters are and a basic idea of where I want it to go, but ultimately the characters determine what happens. I don’t force myself to stay on a path to my original intent. I may love a character when I create it before I start but the story ends up having that one be the one people won’t like, even I don’t like, and I go with it. I can’t change it. I have even had the main love interest end up changing within just a few chapters of beginning a project because the two people weren’t connecting.
I also put more and more of me in my work of late. At least I think I do.
Depending on the type of novel there may be a lot of research beforehand, especially if there are historical aspects that tie in with characters or the direction of the novel, such as action/thriller that involved things from WWII that affected current events.
If you made it this far, the wow. You made it through the wilderness and out into the sunshine. I want to thank Neha once again for including me. I never imagined to be involved in something like this. I do hope you all visit those above and see what I so miserably and poorly attempted to explain.
So men, she wants you snipped. You are thinking, “Uh uh”. Short of divorce or breaking up with said female desiring the snippage what are you going to do?
I came up with 10 things that will help. Some may only work if married because a wife by the point where a vasectomy is an issue is probably at the point of ‘whatever’ when it comes to things you do. Any ladies reading this know what I mean. (Men if your wife or girlfriend ‘likes’ this article, email me for other ideas.)
Some of these are just ways not to have sex and others are ways to make things stop before that “Gorilla Grunt” thing men do. Either way you don’t want to end up with the babies.
#10
Whoopi Goldberg Naked
I know it sounds desperate but in all honesty that’ll withdraw the cannons and the . . . umm . . . ammunition very quickly. There is a drawback to this method. Don’t use it too often or every time you start having sex you will start thinking about Whoopi Goldberg and eventually throw Ted Danson in there too. You’ll be impotent for the rest of your life. (Admittedly, in her early career Whoopi had it going on. Just saying.)
#9
Not ignoring the back pain
This is simple and real one. For years you’ve fought through the pain because, well you know why. But now you have no choice but to admit the weakness. Again, don’t use this too often or you end up at the doctor’s office and going through MRIs and therapy sessions.
This is the easiest for men to do. It’s a natural part of us not to want to bath. If not bathing is not something you want to go through, don’t use the deodorant. After one whiff of you she’ll never want another hamburger from McDonald’s again.
#7
Remember
If you have children just remember how many sleepless nights you had and how many times you let that baby barf on you instead of spinning it around to face a room just so it wouldn’t get upset and the carpet didn’t have to be cleaned. What? Am I the only one that did that? There is no experience like the feel of barf on the neck and eyebrows. But the boy didn’t get very upset and he appreciates it now. (Note: This is one way the woman will get you to shower to overcome #8.)
#6
Bringing out the Handcuffs and the Vaseline
Now for some this might actually backfire, so be careful. If you aren’t really certain then don’t do it. You decide which way would gross her out more; smearing on your own pale paste body or asking her to smear it on herself while you watch. The handcuffs are the scare tactic part to push her over the edge. Understand the downside of this though, she’s going to wonder one of two things; 1) you’ve been watching porn movies or 2) you have lost your freaking mind.
Now we enter the Desperate Zone.
Men, only do this if you are willing to live with the results. I will not be held responsible for any attorney’s fees, medical expenses or anything else that comes from these ideas. If explanations are really needed for each of these ideas then you may require some professional help. Just go ahead and have the Vasectomy along with the Psych Ward admittance. Two for one deals are popular even in hospitals these days.
#5
Telling Her Anything is Women’s Work
All men know what this does to a woman. If you don’t then you are a pig and jerk. (Sorry for diverting from the humor.)
#4
Insulting her mother
Even if she doesn’t like her mother, always remember only she can insult her while you nod for support. You cannot start the insulting . . . unless it’s for very desperate reasons.
#3
Discussing your Playboy subscription during Sunday School class at church or in front of any of her friends
She may not even care that you have a subscription, but she doesn’t want everyone to know it. It makes her feel like either a) there is something wrong with her, or b) like you’re a complete jerk. We all know which one is true.
#2
Talking about how hot her sister/cousin/best friend/or if your girlfriend her daughter is
Yeah . . . I think the picture speaks for itself on this one.
#1
Calling her an ex-girlfriend’s name
Unless you decide to always date women with the same name, you may end up slipping on this one anyway. But the use of this when the lights go out will result in instant celibacy.
I doubt there are any of my Friends reading this that would actually need to use any of these, but I hop you were entertained. And those ladies that may have actually read, men wouldn’t really do this . . . you think?
The Daily Post Postaday asked what taste would I give up. That’s easy.
I would give up the taste of Blah. I wouldn’t want to taste Blah any longer. You put that spoonful of something in your mouth and . . . Blah happens. Food is an experience to me. Satisfy the taste buds and you satisfy the human.
Taste a truly delicious home grilled steak, or stuffed squash blossoms, then go to McDonald’s. Blah happens. Oh you think it was good before, but then you realize it is all disguised pink mush Blah. Give me spice, give me life, give me truth. Do not give me MSG and fakery.
This is going to sound strange to start off talking about making Twitter Lists before some of you even have Twitter but believe me this is when you want to know. Otherwise you will end up putting out a blog article asking people to let you know if they have Twitter so you can put them in a group AFTER you already have hundreds or thousands of people to sort through.
By starting now, early on, you can put them in a group as you add them. In other words . . . you’ll do it the easy way.
Creating a Twitter account itself is simple in that all you need is your name, email, and a password. The signup process walks you through the steps.
Today I want to talk about the Twitter Lists options.
First up: Why?
You want to add your Followers or the people you Follow to certain lists based on what they are to you.
Examples:
Friends
Bloggers
WordPress Bloggers
Agents
Publishers
Photographers
Just Cool People
Good for RT Info
You can see there are various things you can come up with. Basically whatever helps you to remember. Also each time you create a List you get to add a description just in case you forget the reason for the group.
Second: What?
Once you have a List what do you do with it?
This is what I do with it so for any Twitxperts out there bear with me, I know you have your ideas.
I use my WP Bloggers list to find my WP Blog Friends and ReTweet (RT) any of their things that look cool to me, even just basic Tweets. People love personal funny sometimes over information article Tweets. It gives people a bond to you.
I use it to keep tabs on Literary Agents/Publishers to see if they have anything going on like a Tweet Pitch of your Manuscript (MS) coming up. Sometimes they will say for these two hours Tweet a Pitch of your MS. You have the 140 characters to use, part of which is the lit handle name. Go ahead and work on a pitch so you are ready now.
I use it to keep track of my Friends from school or home.
And I use it to actually see WordPress blogs that come out. With so many people I follow, the Reader in WordPress can be difficult, but on Twitter I can easily see who has put one out recently, if they have Twitter attached to their blogs.
And you can put those Companies that Follow you in a List along with those who want you to pay for Followers. Just so you have those annoying people out of the way.
Third: How?
So how do you set up a list and how do you actually use them? First off there will be those who tell you about TweetDeck. TweetDeck will allow you to set up all sorts of things, but for me, I like just clicking on a List and seeing what I see. I may go into TweetDeck in another article, but for now I will stick just with what Twitter itself does. Just give me the basics. I like basics.
Step #1
You are logged into Twitter and now you see in the top right corner, as of the writing of this article anyway, a little round Gear shaped icon. This is the ‘Settings and help’ icon. Click this and you will see a drop down box open, click ‘Lists’.
Step #2
You are now on the Lists screen and you should see on the right a box that says ‘Create new list’, click it.
Step #3
A box should now be on your screen with a ‘List name’ field/box and a ‘Description’ field/box. Type in the name of your List. You can also fill out the ‘Description’ if you like. I don’t always do that part. Once you have done this part you will choose if you want others to be able to see your List or not. So you choose ‘Public’ or ‘Private’ under the ‘Privacy’ section in the box. In all honesty I don’t want people to see my WordPress Friends list because I don’t want them using it to spam them for followers or with Tweets/messages about products.
Finally click ‘Save List’ at the bottom of the box.
Step #4
You want to add your Followers or those you Follow to a List.
Go to a person and click the ‘Gear’ on their page. You will see ‘Add or remove from lists’.
A ‘Your Lists’ box will appear and you will just check which list(s) you want them to be in.
Then click the ‘x’ to close the box.
Step #5
To use your Lists just go to your ‘Gear’ and click ‘Lists’, just as you did in Step #1. Not only do you create Lists here but you also can see all of the ones you have made and the number of people in each one.
Then click the List you want to see. You could just stay on this list the entire time you are on Twitter for the day and only see Tweets from those people.
Maybe one day you just want ‘Inspirational’ Tweets because you need a pick me up. Make an ‘Inspirational’ List.
And remember, people can be in more than one List. I have a WordPress Friends list that everyone that follows me and has a WordPress blog, or that I follow for that matter and has a WordPress blog is in. But some of those may fit into other areas. I may put some into a list like ‘Great for Editing Information’ or ‘Photography’.
You may be thinking “Why the bother, why not just look at all the Tweets?” You will want to support people on Twitter by following them, but you may not like their Tweets. You could just have a ‘Yes’ List and a ‘No’ List. One to view and one not to. That simple. And you can change the person from one to the other any time you like.
Plastic Rings and Latex Things & The Side Effects of Therapy
by: Ronovan
Hello to my Faithful and perhaps some infrequent Flyby Friends of the Lost Mind. We are gathered here today to discuss . . . Therapy!
No, don’t run, don’t hide, and do not DENY!
I see you with your Krispy Kreme donuts. That . . . is NOT . . . therapy. Or is it?
Therapy is defined as ‘treatment especially of bodily, mental, or behavioral disorder’.
Oh my. Look around my little site and you will find much disorder, won’t you? I keep meaning to organize things but cannot seem to remember to do so. I would winky smiley face but I don’t have the strength. My right index finger is sprained. I may have to use the naughty middle finger instead. Perhaps I need a Krispy Kreme. For my Friends of Foreign firmas that are terra, that IS how the company actually spells the words. Don’t hate the spelling, eat the cake . . . the donut or doughnut if you want to really drag it out—whatever just eat the freaking pastry!
Do you take headache medicines? Did you know there are side effects? Do you ever read them?
“This may cause rash, itching/swelling (especially of the face/tongue/throat), severe dizziness, trouble breathing.”
And that’s just for Tylenol, and not even all of the possible ones.
I have to take medicines for my Fibromyalgia and my Migraines. Yes, I capitalize the M because they have earned it. If I don’t do so they then remind and demand it. But these medicines say they may cause pain in the joints or muscles and cause Migraines. Oh and of course possible death. Perhaps that is just their covering themselves from any oopsies.
So where am I going with all of this?
There are controversial therapies for treating all sorts of things. To relieve migraines and other such head ailments they once drilled holes in the skull. Of course then there was using leeches for those who were anemic.
(My apologies but I just could not bring myself to show the leeches. I am freaking out thinking about it.)
Now there is a balloon therapy for releasing your worries, pains, and hurts caused by either other people or just life in general. I learned about this on my friend Amanda’s site, Inside the Life of Moi, a wonderfully entertaining and tasty fare you really must partake of. Nom nom nom.
(Please remind me never to type ‘nom nom nom’ ever again for the rest of my days. Thank you.)
On this particular occasion Amanda became more serious than usual and shared a personal experience where she tried the balloon releasing suggested by a friend. This was after she resisted stabbing the innocent pain bombs as they floated around her. You really need to read the article. I may be explaining it incorrectly. I just know there were balloons and possible stabbings involved. Is it possible to band aid a balloon?
Upon reblogging said article I received replies about what the releasing balloons does to wildlife and the environment. Of course neither Amanda nor I would ever wish for any living creature to be harmed in any way. Amanda was merely saying people needed to let go of what ails them in order to heal. If she had for a moment thought an article such as hers would cause her intelligent readers to storm the stores for balloons and helium tanks to harm the planet, she would not have published said article.
Thus we come to a side effect of the balloon therapy, wildlife endangerment. There are plenty of sites that will give you all the details, but just know that latex isn’t good for wildlife. Choking of course is one side effect.
It reminds me slightly of the movie Happy Feet when the penguin voiced by Robin Williams has the six-pack plastic ring holder caught around his neck and then he ends up almost choking to death because of it. For a cartoon where you knew there was no harm you may have laughed. I didn’t laugh, but I have become or have always been a bit sensitive about certain things in film.
In real life the penguin would have died. Is that a pretty picture to you? Funny?
“Ronovan, oh Ronovan,” I can almost hear some of you say. “Why are you writing all of this drivel and randomness?”
Therapy. I was hurt by the response and a feeling of being attacked. These hurts were the side effects of being nice.
“So don’t do it again.”
Oh but I will, and you know I will. But as Amanda suggested, I’m letting go. I’m putting my hurts and pains down in words, placing them in the blogosphere, and letting them go. What will be the side effects of that?
If I Reblog someone then THEIR blog article will be looked at instead of mine.
I guess some look at blogging as a competitive thing. Personally, I blog to write and enjoy the company.
First, if you are new to blogging or looking in to blogging as something you want to do, you may want to know what Reblogging is.
Reblogging is when you read the post someone has written and you enjoy it to the point you want to share it with your own readers. If there is a button on the screen that says Reblog then you can click that button and normally type a message in a field that pops up. Then you click enter or send and part or all of the post will appear on your blog with your message at the top to introduce the post to your readers. Some Bloggers even Reblog their own Posts.
Why are the reasons you would ReBlog a Post?
You really like an article.
An article inspires you.
The article is informative for your friends.
A friend is on vacation and you want their blog and name to continue to be seen in the community.
You want to help a new blogger by sharing their wonderful work with my friends.
Always do an honest Reblog. If you don’t like it, don’t do it.
Now for how to Reblog properly.
What, I don’t just click Reblog?
You can, but if you really want to do it right you need to take another step.
This is what I do when I see a blog article and realize I am going to Reblog.
Step 1
I go ahead and pull up my Posts page in the Dashboard.
Step 2
I click Reblog on the other person’s post and type in something appropriate as to why I am Reblogging the article.
Step 3
After I have Reblogged, I refresh my Post Page in the Dashboard section and there is the Reblogged Post.
Step 4
I copy and paste the Tags from the original bloggers page into the Tags on the Reblogged post, click Add, and then click Update.
Why do I do this?
Sure, by Reblogging some of my Friends that are not the other persons Friends will see it but with the Tags included the article will be in the WordPress Reader for people a second time and maybe draw attention.
In all honesty, in the marketing world, sometimes it takes a person seeing something 19 times before they will take true notice of it or do something about it. No, I’m not going to Reblog a post 19 times. But if you see an article you like Reblog it. Maybe other people will do the same and that’s a few more times it gets passed around and those search engines can find them.
This doesn’t take but a minute of your time, and if you truly enjoy something, then do it. You do two things with your blog;1) You have fun with it, and 2) You provide your Friends with the best and most relevant thing for them you can. Sometimes that best is something from someone else.
That’s all for this Blog Tip.
For a related article click here to go to Blog Tip: Links to Blogs and Articles-How To and Why. You will leave this page by clicking the link that is embedded in the word here in the previous sentence.
Much Respect to my Friends and to those passing by.
Men, we think we have them snowed. You know all of our little ways of doing things, but we don’t. Nope. Women know. They know when you’re walking through the store and you shake that leg trying to get a muscle cramp out that you’re either a) trying to get the underwear back in place, or b) trying to get some other things in place.
Don’t yell men. I’m not giving away trade secrets. I haven’t given out the secret handshake yet.
But men, it’s time to give up the delusions.
Here are 5 things women know we’re doing:
#1
You’re not scratching your nose or rubbing your nose. No matter how fast you do it they see the thumb slip inside that nostril. They know.
#2
They know you aren’t behind a car with some faulty exhaust system when the smell hits after Taco Bell. Next time just the Tacos and not the additional Nachos Belle Grande.
#3
You don’t check for your wallet that many times. They know you’re scratching your butt.
#4
They know you are going to check out the waitress. You know you are going to check out the waitress. DON’T check out the waitress. And yes that means the other waitress a few booths behind the woman you are with that you are checking out while you pretend to be thinking about a question your lady asked you. We’re not that deep.
#5
They know what the word ‘fine’ means. They know it doesn’t mean yes. It means the same as ‘whatever’. In other words they know that you don’t want to do whatever it is but you are agreeing to it just so they will stop talking about it.
Life could be so much simpler, guys. I don’t really know how, but it could. Yes, the nose hair causes things to itch. Trim it. Tacos? Take something ahead of time or eat less than some small states. Butt itch? Use some powder or lotion. Waitress checking? Stare at the table or your woman. The word ‘fine’? Well there’s no solution to that one. No matter what we come up with they’ll just know.
Until next time, peace out and don’t pretend to stretch so you can smell if you forgot deodorant . . . or need it.
Unsung Hero: The Stay at Home (And Single) Mom by: Ronovan
I read an article by my friend Barbie over at B’s Words called Stay at Home Loser. Just when you get caught up in your own world of problems someone smacks you in the face with a world of more of them, and really some that are worse.
Sure I have problems of misconceptions about my health, but Barbie’s article just really brought a subject to mind that just . . . well . . . wow.
I’m going to focus on the Stay at Home Mom here, although this could apply to Stay at Home Dads too. And I don’t intend to take much time as I want you to go read Barbie’s article and get raw honesty on the subject.
What do I see the Stay at Home Mom as being:
• Character builder
• Manners teacher
• Respect teacher
• Human teacher
• Kindness teacher
• Love teacher
• Equality teacher
• Sharing teacher
• Reading teacher
• Writing teacher
• Responsibility teacher
• Safety teacher
• Relationship teacher
• Smile builder
• Laughter builder
• Face making teacher
• Walking teacher
• Riding bike teacher
• Look ways before you cross teacher
• Hold my hand teacher
• It’s okay to be you teacher
• How to forgive teacher
• It’s okay to make mistakes teacher
• Clean up your mess teacher
• How to make a sandwich teacher
• Singing teacher
• Psychiatrist
• TV and media specialist/monitor
• How to hug teacher
• Dietician
There are a lot more things that a Stay at Home Mom is but there are just the ones that quickly came to mind aside from the cleaning things they go through, (Not wanting to think of laundry, dishes, or diapers, thank you very much). I don’t see Loser on the list. These are just my view from the outside.
Please share what some of your definitions of a Stay at Home Mom. But before you answer, go read Barbie’s article and maybe leave your definition there instead. She inspired this article, give her the great words back.
A truly influential blogger nominated the RonovanWrites site for this award, ObscuredDreamer. She really is influential in many ways, and does so much good for people. I just write and get out of the way of myself, where she actual goes out of her way to help people.
Much Much Admiration and Respect
Here are the guidelines for acceptance – really very straightforward.
To accept this award, the awardees must do the following:
1. Display the Award on your Blog.
2. Announce your win with a blog post and thank the Blogger who awarded you. Do not lump this award with any other award in a “basket”, “bouquet” or “collection” etc., I would rather you didn’t accept the award.
3. Present 10 deserving Bloggers with the Award.
4. Link your awardees in the post and let them know of their being awarded with a comment (or a pingback).
5. Include an embedded video of your current favorite song (YouTube has almost everything, just copy and paste the link into your WordPress editor). If a video is not possible you can embed a SoundCloud track.
In no particular order, but I always mean to put them alphabetically, here are my nominees. Each is influential in their own way and for their own reasons, both to me and their many other Followers.
Oh . . . you linked to this other great site for us? Thank you so much. Now I will read things on their page and since this one opened up in the place of your page I will completely forget about returning to read the rest of your article. Have a nice day! Love, your faithfulest follower ever. xox smiley smiley winky winky
There are two thoughts on the idea of how to do links. To have them open up in the current window or in a new one. This will show you how to do it in a new window. This also shows you how to create what is called a Ping Back.
But WHY is it sooooo IMPORTANT to some to have links open in other tabs or windows?!
I think you can agree that your blog is the most important blog to you. Sure you LOVE other blogs but you put a lot of time into yours and you want people to at least finish you article before they totally lose interest in you and go off wandering the world of other blogs.
Linking to other blogs in your articles is a GREAT thing to do, especially if they are legit, honest, relevant links. I’ve begun to do it more often lately as I’ve found articles out there that inspire me to write on certain subjects or that just fit what I am writing. I have even went back in and edited an article to link back to another article I found.
But some bloggers want to make sure that when the reader clicks on the link that it opens in a new window.
They want their article to remain there present for them to see and remember. Not something they have to remember to click the back arrow to get to.
What if you have important information later in your article, or a link to something YOU have?
If you don’t know how to link back to a page here are the ‘How To’ instructions. If you do know how, here are the instructions anyway and a reminder of where the box to check for opening in a new window is.
You are in your Posts section of the Dashboard on WordPress (Other Blogging Platforms will be different, but it should all be similar in nature.) and you are wanting to link an article.
Step One
You need to highlight the words you want the reader to click on in order to open the link. The words can be anything. Notice in a lot of articles you read it says click here to do something. Well the URL does not say ‘here’. They are doing what you are doing now by going through these steps.
Once you’ve highlighted the words you then go to . . .
Step Two
Click the icon that to me sort of looks like a weird paperclip. It’s circled in red above.
Step Three
Here you paste the URL in from the article or Blog you want to link to in the ‘URL’ field.
Then you click the box next to ‘Open link in a new window tab’.
Finally click ‘Add Link’ in the bottom right corner of the box.
Now when anyone clicks the link in your article a new window will show up to read that article in while leaving your article available to them to read.
You do the same thing when adding a link. an URL to an image. Click the image and then the paper clip link thing. Exact same process.
WARNING!
If you Reblog and the person is just reading in the Reader window the links don’t go to a new window it seems. But if they click on View Original then they work fine.
ronovanwrites 