Orange light lit up the windows bright like the day.
Peeking through the curtains late that night,
there before my eyes was a truly evil sight.
My kin and his friend tied to the massive schoolyard tree.
I did not know then who these masked men might be.
White hoods and robes, with burning torches, glowed.
They slashed them both until arms heavy slowed.
No more energy did they have for more blows.
Both white and Black bloodied skin and clothes.
Released from the ropes, they both fell to earth.
White robes kicking what they thought of their worth.
The kin stayed hidden for weeks till fine.
Then he and his Black friend hung out by the schoolyard sign.
Being friends with another color back in 75,
was not the best idea if you wanted to stay alive.
As a teen in the South, you live your own mind.
And to most, there’s only one kind.
An autobiographical poem. I don’t mean to take on the Black Lives Matter as if it were something that has happened to me. This experience is what imprinted me what hatred and evil does and how wrong it is to look at or treat anyone different than another person. That’s why I shared this.
HERE is some of my recent poetry related to Black Lives Matter to scroll through.
“Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses.” Ann Landers
How did your love begin? If it didn’t start with some level of friendship and has lasted, I think you are fortunate. My personal opinion is like Ann Landers said. Friendship, fire, good, bad, humanity. There you have it.
Would be nice if things were that simple. The truth is when love first enters the picture it’s never simple. Oh, it may appear so, but unless there has been a foundation set, there are going to be some major obstacles at some point.
Remembering no person is perfect is important. We all make mistakes. We say that now, when we think of ourselves with weaknesses, but think about if the other person had a moment of weakness, how forgiving would you be? Think about that as your weaknesses begins to take form. Would you forgive yourself?
I was looking at that word perfection up there. Have you ever met the perfect person? Were they perfect looking? Did they have the perfect attitude? No? Right. Perfection means a lot of things to a lot of different people. Perhaps perfection is less than what another person things of perfection, or maybe it is greater. I’ve been thinky lately. I thought I would share.
Sharing a real story the way only my friend author Claire Fullerton could.
Many of you have been visited by Claire and if you haven’t you will. And if you think the name sounds familiar, it should. She’d probably truly go Southern on me and like, shoot me if she knew I put her picture and one of her book covers on here, but I thought that might remind some of you about her. She was my number 1 Contemporary Read of 2015. I loved her book so much I made her become my friend.
She uses her talents as a Southern style writer, and talks about her finding out one of the ladies in her her lifelong group of friends has breast cancer.
This is not a sad story in anyway. It’s about friends and their breast cancer survivor.
I am one of the many women who have been touched by breast cancer through the diagnosis of a dear friend. In this case, by my childhood friend in Memphis, whose name is Tama. I wrote a 1st person narrative about what it means to support a friend going through breast cancer treatment, and it appears on Shirley Kiger Connolly’s blog on breast cancer ( she, herself, is a survivor.) The piece appears after Shirley’s own post. I thought I’d share this with you all.
I am a breast cancer survivor. It’s been eighteen years since the day of that discovery when I found myself having to take it all in, then to find myself in the midst of a number of surgeries, radiation treatments,a prolonged chemotherapy regime, hair loss, nausea, and a plethora of diagnostic tests and biopsies to follow with…
I’ve been working on my Romance novel and thoughts as I lay in bed last night, attempting to go to sleep, led me to impressions. Just so all of you are aware, my brain works in odd ways and chases what some in the world call rabbits. Rabbits are something you want to see, perhaps catch, even just for a photo, but will take you far away from where you once were.
For me, rabbit chasing has always been a philosophical adventure.
As I lay there thinking about one of my characters the idea of that person’s impression on others rattled around in my head. Then I began wondering about the kinds of impressions are made.
Where I ended up next is beyond me.
Some impressions are like the impressions you see as you walk along the beach in the evening. The footsteps you travel along beside with the deep heel, shallow toes and slightly kicked up bit of packed bits of all the things that make up that sand. You think about how interesting they look, wonder who made them, how lonely they look alone in their single file. Come the next morning you return to the beach and find that after a night of sleep the impressions are gone. They have been washed away by time and by nature.
Some people are like that. They pass through your life without leaving but a momentary impression. There was nothing in the impression to stay with you. A single file of footprints in an evening beach will be seen again, and not made by the same person, on a beach far away.
Then there are the impressions in your backyard. A frame was set up—the right mixture of materials of dry to wet—smoothening of the cement—patience for the cement to set up just right—then you are brought out as a child and your feet and hands are pressed into the wet but firm cement. You are now set.
Time was taken to make that impression. Time was taken to set it firmly in place. Care was taken to make certain everything was just right in order you would be a part of that world for as long as possible. There would be no overnight washing away of these prints.
I thought about impressions this morning during a conversation. The impressions we leave with our children. Those impressions are like an artist with a chisel. With each strike we leave our mark—our impression—on their minds, hearts, lives. Do we leave the impression of always being there and loving them and doing what it takes to get it ‘right’ or instead do we reinforce the impression of not caring, not being bothered to do something, thinking of ourselves first?
“The mind is like a sheet of white paper in this, that the impressions it receives the oftenest, and retains the longest, are black ones.”Julius Charles Hare
With each strike of our hammer into the chisel we set our impressions in place with our children and with those we interact with. What impression do you want to leave? Do you care what impression you leave? Have you sat back and thought about the impression you have made, are making, will leave?
This was written for my #BeWoW (Be Wonderful on Wednesday share) and for the Writer’s Quote Wednesday hosted by Colleen Chesebro ofSilverThreading.Com. Click her site link if the Writer’s Quote Wednesday does not have a link in it directly to her post for the day yet. You simply ping back to her post or copy and paste your link there. You do the same with your #BeWoW posts to here if you have one. Not familiar with a ping back? Click here to find out how.
Much Respect-Much Love
Ronovan
Ronovan is an author, and blogger who shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer though his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge and the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known as LitWorldInterviews.WordPress.com.
Week 61 was for the words Wine & Tears. I came up with the prompt words from a spur of the moment thought I had in a melancholy mood and I shared it on Twitter. I liked the way the words turned out after reading them the next day and they became the starting point for the example or opening Haiku of the Challenge. Laughter can do miracles. It’s my go-to for any situation and usually works to get people I know into a better frame of mind and realize all is not lost or hopeless or as bad as they think.
The Closing Haiku
With a wine red nose,
The clown made the people laugh,
While tears flowed inside.
Click Here for the Image version I created today and posted earlier.
Everyone, please try to visit all the poets you can for a show of support. Also share this Review in whatever way you can in order for all to get as much Social Media coverage as possible and perhaps be visited by someone new.
If you have been keeping up with the links in the Challenge comments in order, after you check out the new this week section, why not try working your way up from the bottom. That way you may visit people you’ve never met before.
New to the Challenge this Week:
NEW! Shelly Faber:No Rest For Me | My Red Wine Diary. Yes, that’s the name of her blog. Is that like so appropriate? “I look forward to sharing this precious practice. My stories, poetry, and thoughts relate to experiences I have learned from, and feel privileged, to be a part of, in my personal, and, professional life.” That is from her About page, but what did it say her career profession was? Click here to find out. Very interesting. Seriously. @ShellyFaber
NEW! Alice:Fade the Pain | Boomerang Zone. So the Haiku title is mine, and it is a take on the words she used in the Haiku. Funny. I did a take on her words when she did a take on my prompt words. Okay, maybe not that funny, but loved how this was put together. Great words. I like it when different words are used in great ways. By different I mean not the usual everyday words. Alice has been here before, but it has been a while and it was not quite as formally done as this, so it’s an offical welcome time here. “I am a Dutch non-practicing lawyer/human rights defender. I work on unsolved homicides, wrongful convictions, and assist other human rights defenders and attorneys when requested. This is my personal blog.”Notice she said that it’s her personal blog. Seriously check out the rest of this about page entry for her other blog and why it was named one of the Top 100 Blawgs by a certain American Association. I kid you not. Click here to check out the About.@Vidocq_CC
NEW! Colette B. Wine along | The Wishing Well. Ha, a play on words AND RHYMES! “‘The Wishing Well’ (previously Bedressed, then Bubblicious) has come a long way during August’s Blogging101 course and I’ve enjoyed the journey. There’s still a long way to go, but now we’re travelling in a well-equipped jeep rather than a saddle-packed donkey. As with any vehicle, there’s re-fuelling needs, maintenance checks / tasks and undergoing some hopeful improvements and further learning progression.” And that’s just the beginning of her About page?
First to Arrive This Week:
Faith Unlocked:Come Taste the New Wine | Faith Unlocked. If there had been any other type of message in this Haiku I would have been surprised. I was only waiting to see how it was done. And there was no disappointment. And 32 other people agreed with me. @FaithUnlocked
TJ Paris:Early but Too Late | La vie est trop courte pour boire du mauvais vin. Yeah, I know, the blog title is a mouthful, but if you think we have a hard time saying it, try it with a mouth of Early 21st Century Cake. As for the title? I came up with that from not only the Haiku but the description of the photo used. As always you know we’re going to get something creative from this entry. Entry #2In Vino Veritas. Looks like TJ has begun Writing 101 through Blogging U. Will be interesting to see what he comes up with. @Roccoco_a_GoGo
Annette Rochelle Aben (Best Selling Author, Radio Show Host):Fond Memories | Annette Rochelle Aben. That’s my title for her Haiku and I’m sticking with it. I just hope PETA doesn’t get hold of this one. Annette will have some ‘splainin’ to do. Click the Author link for Annettes books on Amazon and the Radio Show Host link for just ONE of her shows. @YouAreTheExpert
Judy:Bad Blood | Edwina’s Episodes. The title I gave this week is implied somewhat by the Haiku. I get a sense of initial conniving followed by realization. As I pondered a title friendship came to mind and the colors in the image used, and a take on the prompt words and that led me to Taylor Swift’s song Bad Blood. There is a story behind the song about friendship. @EdwinasEpisodes
Carol:Affair to Forget | Mama Cormier. Two Haiku that one reader noted was an affair in two Haiku. Thus I decided on the title. For me it would have been Moutain Dew cola at Taco Bell instead of the setting in the image she used. 🙂 @Carol_Cormier
Ritu:Dutty Wine Glass | But I Smile Anyway. Well, I learned a new song today. Now I am trying to picture Ritu in the one of the Haiku she wrote. If I tried that I would so not be able to move ever again. (still picturing…) @PhantomGiggler
Kat:Buzzin’ | Like Mercury Colliding… So with a prompt like tears and wine do you really need an explanation of my title for this Haiku?
Alka:To drown in Wine and Poetry | Magnanimous Words. That title would make a great blog title . . . and I didn’t come up with it. 🙂 All Alka. Now who in the world would think of creating an image like that is beyond me, but it worked. I didn’t know they drank. But now I do. @girally
Sue Vincent (Author): Rosé | Daily Echo. Have to say, this lady has a following. People loved this Haiku. Very nice use of the prompt words. Very poetic, as it should be. Nice. Click the Author link for Sue at Amazon and her many books.@SCVincent
Janice:Heart Torn | Ontheland. I think this one does a great job of playing with the words. This could be about romance broken, love lost, or a musician’s life. @ontheland1
Jen:Twisted Vine | The Secret Keeper. Very nice. Bit of mythology with a two meaning Haiku structure. The painting shared goes well with the Haiku created, and fits the prompt words perfectly. @occultguardian
Steven:Vineyard | Ramblings of a Drabbling Mind. Quite poetic with the words this week. I know poetic in a Poetry Challenge should be a duh thing but sometimes the offerings are very poetic. I would explain it but the more I read it the more the words begin to jumble. 🙂
Clarence:Taste of Wine | Prairie Chat. Clarence has been letting his inner romantic out lately. He doesn’t disappoint this week.
Sandra:View | Wild Daffodil. Combining the two challenges she likes to do, this one and Bluedaisyz Weekly photo challenge, we get a amazing photo that goes perfectly with the Haiku. I just hope they made it back okay. Nice to see where you’ve been as long as you can still make it to where you’re going. 🙂
Denis1950:Sunset Over Wine | Haiku Hound. Okay, the two Haiku are great. But when you put your photos of those sunsets of over the bay with those boats masts silhouetted…WOW. Great combinations all around.
Amy:Recovery | Haiku of a Homeschooler. I enjoy those Haiku that have a deep personal meaning. When the author shares that meaning and allows you to enter into that world of emotion with them, it is something special. This is one of those. The title is mine, but the Haiku gave it to me. @me_the_seeker
Meredith & Martha:Wine brings forth the truth | Meredith’s Musings. As you know, if you are a regular, we have four Haiku this week from our Angels. The one title is mine to somewhat sum up the feel I get from what they shared. First there are Frivolity & Lachrymose from Meredith and then Red, Red, Wine & Obloquy from Martha. You know, when you need a dictionary to read the Haiku you know you are in over your head. 🙂 The ladies went all out this week. @Meredithlbl
R Todd:Watercolor Ponies | A Flash of Fiction. This is the day for videos inspire or Haiku inspire video selections. A very sad Haiku. I may be dropping into a depression bout now. Read on at your own risk, unless I take a break. @psibrone
Shida:Another Option | 876Lover. I think this may be what they call Jamaican Rules. Not sure why but I want to say her blog theme or layout has changed since she first joined us. I’ve seen it like this before but I like the color and all. @realrebel_r
Becky:Peace Like Wine | Becky G? Oh, That’s Me. Nice twist here. I like those peaceful inspiring Haiku, especially when doing the review. (And now while doing it and my boy “B” ‘playing’ his trumpet he just got on Friday.)
Elizabeth:the solution | Tea And Paper. Ah, nice. Makes me wonder if it would make it worse. 🙂 And I wonder that because of some of the other Haiku I’ve read, but it seems like most of them would agree with Elizabeth. @Teandpaper
Geoff Le Pard (Author):The Problem Solver | TanGental. At first you think, “Oh no, he got it wrong.” Then you are like he suckered us. But he’s an author, so what do you expect. Click the Author link to go to Amazon.@geofflepard
Maylian:For Tears and Wine | Personal Self Perfection. Two Haiku this week. You know, I’m not sure why people are talking so much about wine causing or curing tears in their Haiku this week so much. 🙂
Serins:Turn With the Wind | Serins Sphere. Poetic. (If you haven’t picked up on it by now, that’s a big compliment from me.) Very good use of the prompts and phrasing. Very image inducing. @SerinsSphere
Shailzaa:The Plunge | Fewunsaidwords. You know, if you think about it, after this is over with, The Plunger might end up being appropriate. 🙂 Oh I slay me sometimes. And you people thought I had lost my sense of humor this week. Hrmph.
Vashti Quiroz-Vega (Author):Happy Tears | The Writer Next Door. Nice story behind this one. 🙂 She even managed to plug her debut novel The Basement. Check it out on Amazon by clicking the Author link above. @VashtiQV
Colleen:Sutter Home | Silver Threading. You know, I wonder what the yesterday is referring to here. Could be wine or tears. Very well done. Check out Colleen as part of the LitWorldInterviews team by clicking here to see her book reviews.@ColleenChesebro
Florence:Woman as Wine | Meanings and Musings. Well, Florence is afraid people will think she is a drinker, when she’s not. She can’t touch the stuff really. But this Haiku seemed to me more about woman than wine. At least that’s how I read it. Check out Colleen as part of the LitWorldInterviews team by clicking here to see her book reviews.@FTThum
E. Rawls (Author):Singing Dwarf & Crucified | Rawls E. Fantasy. Two for the return of the one called E. or Rawls. or maybe Rawls E. Hmm Rawlsy. Rowdy Rawlsy. Stop me now…please. Seriously. Okay. I’m good now. Check out Bleeding Hearts, a collection of short stories, poems, and riddles, at Elizabeth’s Author page on Amazon by clicking the Author link above.@VChronicles_
Juliette:More Vino Please | Battered Wife seeking Better Life. Two Haiku this week. She said her first one isn’t a proper Haiku, but I don’t see anything wrong with it. I think she tells a story of many lives in our Challenge without even knowing it. She would be surprised. @BWseeingBL
stu06bloc9:Drops Holy | Pitter Patter Poetry. A deep entry this week. Not only as far as placement but in meaning. I think people will take away several thoughts about this one. And the closing Video. You didn’t think I could do these prompt words and not use this video did you?
Much Respect-Much Love
Ronovan
Ronovan is an author, and blogger who shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer though his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge and the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known as LitWorldInterviews.WordPress.com.
They come and go, sometimes without our even knowing it. The social connections, the tangible next door friend and the stranger a world away who friend in a click and are gone in another. Do people disconnect on a whim or is it for a real reason? What has the ease of Online Social Interaction and Disconnection done to us socially as a society and perhaps even morally?
Thinking about things like this puts a knot in my stomach I can’t get rid of until I sort it out through words. Admittedly when I have someone disappear from my social network of “friends” I don’t always ask why. I know the coming and going is a part of the world and of this modern way of forming connections. But sometimes I do wonder.
On Facebook you must deal with people you’ve allowed into your circle of reality. When those people decide to drop you, then you wonder what happened. There is no explanation and thus the knot in the stomach begins. And dropping is the feeling that one may feel.
“What did I do?”
That’s the question that comes to mind first. For me my online social connections are my lifeline. When I lose one it rattles me somewhat and I dwell a little bit.
For someone like me, when someone, especially a female, decides to no longer be a friend you then wonder that very question above. Then you wonder what has been said. I’m a pretty appropriate guy when it comes to online social communications. Maybe in the past I’ve had moments. You would have to ask that old me. Like the one from a few days ago. That’s about how far some of my memories go.
Those social contacts keep the memory lines open. A lot of people don’t realize it but for some of us we may visit various social platform profiles in a rotation to keep people familiar to us. For a memory problem sufferer it can be important. A disconnect can throw things haywire in a major way, especially for someone who is sensitive and has actual feelings.
What has easy detachment brought about in society?
For one there is a lack of working through a problem. A person now unfollows a person and the argument or discord is over. Or it is as far as the un-follower is concerned.
In the celebrity circles it’s an easy way to get publicity and start a celebrity feud to drive up public interest in yourself. Pick the popular flavor and attack them and people will then take notice of you if you have begun to slip in notoriety. VMA awards anybody?
But for the rest of us it is more than a platform. We may have thousands of “Friends” or “Followers” but we have a lot in the offline world, the online world may at times be like a phonebook of all our old and new friends. Facebook is like that for me.
With the not needing to finish a conversation, or work out a situation, society is slowly becoming less and less able to resolve conflicts to the needed end. They still float around and build up into a frenzy. You can look at society and see how things spread like wildfire but no one ever took the time in the very beginning to try to stop it from happening—they went straight into the fire.
When once we had the chance to think overnight and arrive at some common sense we now have people go off onto Twitter or Facebook and speak emotionally.
I mentioned morality.
The ease of online sharing of EVERYTHING with ANYBODY has brought about many problems, even its own show—Catfish. If you have one person you share something with because of distance, I get that. Some relationships are separated by miles because of many reasons. And I do believe there are cases where online capabilities has made for some relationships to stay close and survive instead of drift apart during times apart.
But online has given some this sense of power and invulnerability that one can say and do anything without repercussions. They carry that over into offline life and you can see in society how some things spread and get out of hand. When certain agencies need social media experts just to do their jobs properly I think we have a problem.
I am thankful for online social connection. But I do have problems at times with the Disconnectors. But I suppose we all do it at some point. It’s easier than facing someone and telling them whatever the problem is. If you ever get disconnected by me, put it down to a memory thing. I pretty much stay connected to everyone. Well, unless you are like an uber-jerk. You know who you are. Muahahahahaha.
(Um, that last part was a joke people. So stop thinking it was you I was talking about. Paranoid much?)
There of course is the idea of Ease of Social Connectivity leading to Societal Disconnect. That’s another topic my thoughts are circling around and I may discuss another time.
What do we do?
Keeping a protective barrier is one idea. By barrier I mean have emotional security checks in place people need to pass through before entering that real “Friend” circle. Not everyone will hang around but using our mind and not heart will protect that heart. Yes, I know…sometimes that heart is going to take over. And sometimes it will be correct. But with the majority, treat your heart and self like you would treat a child in your care and who you would allow them to be with. In other words, Guard Yourself by taking your time in who you let into your private circle of true friends and remember that social network is like social anything, it’s just an every now and then thing. Just like social drinking though, it can get you in trouble.
Oh, and write a lot about a lot of things. That always helps. I mean who can socialize when they write all…the…time. I’m looking at you, and you know who you are.
Much Respect
Ronovan
Ronovan is an author, and blogger who shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer though his blogRonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge and the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known asLitWorldInterviews.WordPress.com.
Sometimes you start to blog, not having blog tips as warnings, you are all excited and you do things to your blog or that involves blogging that ultimately end up being traps that are like quicksand. They drag you down and deplete you of energy as you work to pull yourself out of what has happened.
What you do with your blog is ultimately up to you, because you want your blog to BE you. It represents part of you that you want to put out there.
Today I want to cover 10 things, traps if you will, that will cost you time, cause you weariness, and create misery. Knowing these things ahead of time might be able to save you. As a blogger now, you can maybe head these things off before they get out of hand. Or if you’re neck deep already, perhaps these 10 tips will give you a start on figuring out what has happened to you.#1 Sidebar Craziness or Widget Weary
Whichever you want to call it, those sidebars with all those widgets can have side effects you never thought of.
So crowded no one can see what’s there.
So many graphics it slows loading of the blog page down.
Your page looks like an ad for everything, even though you’re not selling anything. Big turn off.
But does that mean sidebar widgets are bad? Of course not.
If you’re advertising something, go for it, like authors want to get their books out there. But some advice to authors: Switch up those images and their order. Maybe even change the side of the screen your sidebar is on. Why? It makes return visitors look around for what might have changed.
The same thing goes for book reviewers or people who have guests on their blogs.
But if your blog is geared toward images, then widgets won’t make a difference.
Remember, graphics on a blog slow it down loading and slow loading may lead a reader to do one of two things.
Leave because they clicked you on impulse.
Leave because they think something is wrong with your page or their browser and then they’re gone.
One thing about your Widgets you may not realize is that many are never even clicked on. I moved my Widgets to my footer areas and I am still working on their order. But my main goal is to make them useful ones. Which ones do I think are most useful?
Most Recent Posts
Most Popular Posts
About.me
Follow me
Search
Those are off the top of my head. Why am I not going to look for other Widgets? Because those are the ones I remember, which says a lot to me, and look for on other blogs. For some blogs the only way I can find their posts is by using their Most Recent Posts Widget.
#2 Image is Everything, or so your Blog says.
Yes, I am still on images. I try to go minimal with images in my post these days unless I’m just having a moment and decide to go crazy. We all do that at times. That’s fine. Images is a sometimes food. Wait, that’s cookies. I warn you, I’m very visual media oriented today. Weird quotes may show up at anytime. Forgive me in advance.
But regardless, keep in mind that many or most of your Widgets are never clicked on. I like the Most Recent Posts and perhaps the Favorite Posts Widgets. Of course you want a Follow Me Widget and a Search one. Notice these are not graphic intensive and are useful.
A tip about Images: Keep in mind how large your image is in reference to how much storage space it uses such as 250 kb or something like that. The larger the file, the more time it takes to load. Sometimes you need to use high definition image. But then there are times you can optimize your image size and still have great definition. Visit 5 Image Things to Know for SEO for more information about this.
#3 The “I want to be cool” blog moment.
We’ve all done it. Okay, so I’ve done it several times. We do these crazy color schemes and then the possible results begin.
People are scared and run away, okay they click away.
People can’t read because of the color scheme. Check out what color blind people can’t see. A tip here. If you have links make sure to underline them and possibly bold them to signify they are links. Most people understand underlined words signify a link is in those words.
The look doesn’t match the content. By this I mean the feel you have created just doesn’t fit.
Your theme style, color and header need to match what you are promoting. Promoting? Yes, you are promoting your posts, as in you. Will my current theme, layout and everything work for what I am promoting? Maybe, maybe not. I experiment. That’s one thing those of us who for some odd reason think we can give blogging tips do, we are the experimenters. I even have a test blog where I play around with themes to see what they look like and can do.
#4 The Following Frenzy
Yes, we follow, follow and follow even more. For some it’s a trick to get followers and for some it’s a reflex in following people in return. What do you end up with?
If you are WordPress then you have a Reader so full you can’t get through everything.
You have so many “friends” you can’t make any FRIENDS.
You get caught up in the needing to get more and more followers as the Following Frenzy engulfs you.
If you’ve fallen into Follower Frenzy spend 10 minutes each day cleaning up that Follow list. (I might actually take my own advice.) Also you can make sure to follow those ones you really do like by subscribing to their email notifications until you do clean up your list.
#5 I’m Gonna Be Better Than That Guy
Competition in blogging is a thing. You may experience it for a brief moment. Once you do believe me when I say that your readers will notice and some might get turned off. There was a time, prior to two years ago when I had a concussion that brought some reality to my world, when I was competitive. It worked for the big job I had way back when, but for life in general, blogging specifically, it just doesn’t work for me.
Most bloggers are not here to, or at least don’t start out to, be some guru or god of blogdom. Sure, we all want to be read and be popular to some extent but in the beginning we all have that little bit of reality, until we begin to see followers happen and the comments and then we see someone else like our blog who is sort of competition.
They aren’t. You just keep writing, write honestly, and write well.
#6 No One Really Likes Me (Insert Frowny Face, Tear.)
We don’t get the views each day, the follows, the likes. We begin to think no one likes us. We visit blogs and we think how much better our posts are than those. We wonder why no one likes us.
You’re new. Be patient.
Veteran blogs sometimes put out content that is perhaps not as well done as their usual content. Why? Time. Goofiness for the day. Lack of inspiration after blogging for so long.
Don’t worry about them. Don’t WORRY about anyone, including yourself. Just keep writing, write honestly, and write well.
#7 But I HAVE to post because my readers will miss me.
Man, this is a tough one, for new and veteran bloggers alike at times. There is this sense of responsibility to our readers. We think they are just waiting for us to post something and if we don’t they may never visit again. Um, do you do that to blogs you follow? Chill dudes and dudettes. I’ve been in the hospital, been sick, had a laptop go down and people still find me, and they still return. Why? I think in part because I’ve built a community that have my blog in common and met through my blog. Did it happen overnight? Nope. It takes time. Patience. What do I do to build a community and keep readers?
Just keep writing, write honestly, and write well.
#8 Size Matters! BIGGER IS BETTER
We discover how to change the font size and we go crazy at first. It’s not a good thing. You should really only use a different sized font for a heading of a section/topic. Think of how I have been using font size in this article. I know sometimes we will use all sizes of fonts, but make that a rarity. Looking at a page full of every size of font imaginable gets eye weary. Also by using your font sizes in a uniform way throughout your articles, you somewhat train your regular readers to know what to expect. And you do need those section headings at time to break up long passages of text.
#9 My Writing Is Amazing and I am an Original and need not worry about standards.
Have you run across those blogs where the entire thing is one paragraph and about 700 words long? Punctuation is by accident? Capitalization happened because of auto-correct somewhere along the way? Do you know how many times I return to those “I am an Original”?
I’m not saying don’t do it that way. If that’s what you are wanting to do and are going for a certain atmosphere, go for it. Some make a success of it. But it takes a certain type of writing to make it work. For most blog readers, they want to click and be able to read and have a pleasant experience without having to figure out what in the world or how in the world they are reading.
#10 I have to write like this because they expect it.
No, I’m not referring to #9. This is about writing about certain topics or in certain styles. There may come a time in your time blogging that you no longer want to blog about whatever it is that got you started. You have two choices.
Start another blog.
Or just start writing what you want to on your current blog.
I’ve written about just about everything here on Ronovan Writes. But then I did choose a good title for the blog to be able to pull that off. I have hits and I havemisses and misses and misses. I’m not trying to build a blogdom here.
I simply write what I feel like writing in that moment.
That is the greatest blogging tip you will ever get from anyone. That’s not a brag. That’s telling you like it is. If you write things you don’t care about you are faking it and faking it can be picked up on quickly by blog readers. Some people write about blog tips every day. That’s something they find fascinating. I couldn’t do that and keep it sounding real. Well I might, if I had broken this one down into one per day.
That’s it for me today. 10 things bloggers get trapped into at some point. 10 things to watch out for and avoid. Avoid those traps and you’ll have a pleasant blogging experience for a long time to come.
This article goes somewhat hand in hand with another of my articles I wrote sometime ago called How to Survive the Blog Life. It’s the number one article on my blog.
Much Respect-Much Love
Ronovan
Ronovan is an author, and blogger who shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer though his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge and the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known as LitWorldInterviews.WordPress.com.
Today is a good day to be blogger. Why? Because I’m using my brand new laptop.
Okay, so it’s a pretty good day. This whole Microsoft whatever I am using and Windows 10 has me all messed up but I’m working on it. It took me forever to move an image on my screen with this trackpad without the buttons of my old Toshiba. Well, that is until I remembered I had a touch screen laptop. (And I just figured out how to highlight all the stuff on my screen so I came back and added this.)
Yes, the laptop has arrived. All shiny and new and thanks to all of you who helped out. Money was raised through a fund started by Florence of Meanings and Musings and through a couple of bloggers extra was added to help get something that would work well for me, last a while, and help me with some of my health problems in the use of the machine. Seriously, that touch screen is a blessing. I want to remind everyone that none of this was my idea. Even the computer picked out was not my idea. But people have my best interest at heart and know what I need. And I trust those who do.
I want to thank all of you who donated and/or spread the word that led to those donations. I’m not going to mention any names because future folks in need will end up knocking on the door of those poor soft-hearted souls when perhaps my need came along at the right time when they were able to help.
With the amount I was given I came in $2.74 under that total with a laptop, a new headset to use for recording vlogs that I have wanted to do, and had it shipped quickly so I could get back here in full force as soon as possible. Don’t worry, the headset was not an expensive one.
That amount was beyond anything I ever imagined. You foolish, kind-hearted people. I don’t know what to say other than thank you. Those words aren’t enough for what you’ve done. Other events of late would have made it impossible for me to have acquired anything on my own and the doing the short snippets of blogs with a tablet and relying on old posts I had in my draft folder was difficult. Big guy…itty bitty working space. I wear at least a size 14-15 ring if that tells you about my fingers and a tablet screen.
Many people don’t trust people online. They don’t believe them, they don’t understand how people that have never spoken to one another and in some cases never even seen a picture of each other can be friends and do more than their own at home friends and family would.
Be yourself.
Be honest.
Be kind.
Help others without expectations.
“Good character brings good friends.“~Ronovan
If that thought is true, I must have the best character around.
Much Respect. Much Love.
Ronovan
Much Respect-Much Love
Ronovan
Ronovan is an author, and blogger who shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer though his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge and the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known as LitWorldInterviews.WordPress.com.
A short message today, for obvious reasons to the usual suspect of reader friends.
Doing without is an experience we all say we wouldn’t wish on anyone. I was thinking about doing without my laptop, not in a drastic or tragic sort of way, but with how my mind works it rambled to other places.
Going hungry, sleeping in a car, going without the love of a parent. Sometimes those experiences allow you to understand others better. Those moments in your life humble you and ground you. No, I don’t wish anyone to go through those moments either.
But for those who have?
Embrace whatever the experience, no matter how difficult and use it to help others, even if that help is simply doing the hardest thing there is…being a friend.
“A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.”~Bernard Meltzer
I wasn’t going to reblog this because it felt to be self serving. But Wyatt has now been chased off the net by another blogging community. This is who Wyatt is and I am very upset he is leaving. If he reads this I hope he knows he can contact me by email so we may stay in touch, that is if he does leave what he has built. The reblog shows one the sides of Wyatt that I think we helped him feel comfortable enough to share with us. You can visit the link below to read why Wyatt is leaving us. I wish there was a way to talk him out of it. I had become fond of our exchanges and enjoyed seeing what that mind came up with for my challenges. Each week Wyatt’s Amazon link to his books will appear on the Haiku Review moving forward. Along with the images of the covers. https://finaletoanentrance.wordpress.com/
You know, sometimes you begin writing and things happen. I opened up the post this morning to write an article, ended up beginning a poem, a lyric poem, then as I went to the Chorus it occurred to me, what else is there to say? I think my message is clear. I think it is received. And love can be love as in friendship as well.
Sometimes we write and write because we lock ourselves into the constraints we see in place in a type of writing. Truly what you write is what you write and how you feel. What you end up with is the type of writing you end up with. Criteria? Never do that to yourself. Write. Write from the heart and people will know. Write from a form or checklist and people will know.
There are a lot of things you cannot be taught in life. Okay, so that is an opinion of mine. I don’t think you can be taught talent. The talent that you have can be brought out of you, but if you don’t have that ability in you to begin with then you cannot eventually do it simply by someone showing you how.
You may be taught Algebra, but when you leave the classroom it is gone. You must constantly study it in order to pass the test.
There is one thing you can be taught.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.~Philippians4:4-7
Patience can be taught. I recently had a conversation with a lady about how when writing a book you needed to be patient. You want to rush that book to an agent, a publisher or self-publish, but the truth is you need to be patient. You need to allow for that work to grow and mature. take your time to find everything that needs your attention. I compared it to raising a child.
You would not want your child to be set before the world weak because you did not have the patience to feed it properly because it didn’t want to eat what it needed. You would not put your child out there without the best you could give it. Even if that best is not as good as what someone else has it still is as good as they have. Keep that in mind. Your best is all you can do, therefore it is just as good as what anyone else does as their best.
We need patience in all parts of our lives. Especially with children. Our children are like little adults to us at times. We know how smart they are. We know what they know and are capable of. Then they do something that is, well frankly is very much a 6 year old thing to do.
One thing to remember, above all else about your child, is they are the age they are for a reason. They are growing and maturing and no matter what WE think they can do, they are still children.
Friendships are the same way, relationships as well. Both are children that we know what they are capable of but with our being slowly developing them, we need to remember that in a relationship or friendship that is only two weeks old, there are going to be things that are going to be trying to us.
You know what your moods are. Your relationship person does not. You have to learn and you need to be patient.
Books, children, relationships, even your own new found hobbies all require patience. Maturity may never happen in some situations, but sometimes they won’t and weren’t meant to. Be patient and accept that relationship for what it is. And if your book doesn’t mature, be mature enough to recognize it and move on to another one until YOU are mature enough to come back to it and nurture it along to becoming that mature published novel.
There are times in my life I die a little, but then you smile. You never try to be something other than you. I long so much to spend time with you for just a little while.
There are rivers, forests and a continent between us. I would walk through them all if I thought the moment was right. Do my questions, my thoughts, my sharings cause a fuss? Please tell me now before I continue too much and send you into a flight.
Oh the friendship we have is more than I ever imagined anything could be. If but for an accident I would not know things or be things or even have seen. Is there a reason for this irresistible feeling that draws me?All I know is that you are so perfect and so wonderful I call you a queen.
Take these words and do as you will. Don’t worry because I am simply sharing them here. I have no intentions of trekking across lands and through hills. But know that you are the one I hold most dear.
More than likely some of you are looking at those three words and thinking of sports. As they came to mind sports did not. But they apply just as readily. If you follow college football in the U.S. of A. and like your team mascots in the feline variety with stripes and/or confusingly have a mascot that isn’t even your actual team name mascot, you perhaps do not see inspiration in loss today. But never fear, the other teams are inspired by your losses. Your teams have done a fine service to canine fans everywhere.
from wikipedia
For me, as I write this, I am thinking of Autumn here in the United States and the loss of the leaves as they fall from the trees. I see them outside my window as the wind blows and they look like brightly colored snowflakes. Very large brightly colored snowflakes.
This time of year brings a bit of a feeling to me. Nostalgia? I wonder if it is possible. Even without memories I can think of, somehow I believe they must be buried inside somewhere because I get this feeling of brisk mornings outside as I go into the school building and late afternoons waiting to play football on a Friday night. The skeletal like trees barely hanging on to that last cheerful bit of color are just like my football team in school and any possible lead it ever had . . . give up dear tree, you are going to lose it.
Sometimes I wonder if those are memories or things I’ve read about and learned lately. But leaves falling from the trees here now are like worries falling away, or dare I say it, the loss of friendships.
We spend time in agony as we lose a friendship for whatever reason. We drift apart. We don’t connect any longer. We perhaps don’t communicate in the right way. For me, I literally lose the memory of a person that was a friend. And often times it’s really no fault of either friend.
I’ve learned a lot this past year, and one is to push through loss and look at how I can go forth because of that loss. Yes, because of that loss.
Have you ever really noticed what people do with leaves? They put them in scrap books and press the leaves to save them, like photograph memories. Some even take leaves and press them into clay to imbed the pattern of them so that memory will be forever in a work of art. Some rake up the leaves and have their children jump into a big pile and have fun. Those old friends are useful, even if no longer what they once were. Each leaf falling to a new purpose somewhere else for someone else.
I recently read an article that said you should mow over those leaves and give the nutrients back to the earth, the grass, like mulch instead of raking them up. I am not sure about mowing over my lost friends. I think that would be illegal somehow. And I am not really into Chianti and Fava Beans.
I use losses as a way to put feelings into writing scenes in novels, writing this article for my blog, and in truth perhaps freeing up a bit of myself for other things. Yes, freeing up time. That is a rather sad thing to think about. For a writer time is something rare. As a friendship somehow begins to crumble there is a lot of time put into thinking about it and feeling about it.
Don’t feel guilty about thinking of something like ‘now I have time for . . .‘ It’s okay, think it. It doesn’t mean you care about that friend any less. You simply are accepting what has happened, putting it into perspective, and finding something positive to take from it.
Let those negative thoughts of what you have lost go. Move on. Push through. Use any cliche that works for you. Just do it. Just beat it. It’s on like Donkey Kong. Once you pop you can’t stop.
Inspiration in Loss. I am using loss to inspire me to fulfill my dreams. To not waste time because things really can be and are lost in a moment. You have a dream, a goal, then go for it.
Every inspiration and every drive for a goal is lined with beautiful leaves.
Inspiring times are those not so easy.
Inspiring times are those that make you feel queasy.
Inspiring times are ones are perhaps not of your making.
Inspiring times are, however ones for your taking.
See y’all next time,
Ronovan
You can follow me in all those places noted on the side over there if you like. If not, hope you pass this way again.
There are a lot of things that we want. How many things do we need?
I sit back and look at the need situation of the house at times and wonder, literally, how did the needs get to this level. There are difficult decisions to be made in life. Wants and needs are big decisions.
“11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”-Philippians 4:11-13
“7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”-1 Timothy 6:7-8
Financially we want a lot. We say we don’t but our lifestyles contradict, even for those who live at the lower range of lifestyles. The Bible also says not to ever owe anyone anything. When you owe you put yourself in a position of weakness, for one. But also you put yourself in a position of putting your beliefs or ideals in jeopardy.
What do we need?
Food, clothing and shelter? Thoughts are running through minds at this time about needing a job to have those things. Yes, you need a job. What job do you need? How much food and clothing do you need? How much shelter do you need? What job are you too good for?
I ran into the problem when job searching of being over qualified for everything. I simply wanted a job that would make ends meet. I knew what needs there were, but they were more than the needs I should have had. We say we live at our bare minimum, but do we all do that?
What do we need?
Friendship? There is only one friend we ever can have that will never do anything against us. Why then do we mourn not having friends? Why then do we fall into friendships that are not good for us?
It’s not about what we need any longer. It’s about what we want. I’ve slowly come to a realization of returning to need in aspects of my life. Imagine the satisfaction. Imagine the relief from a great deal of mental and emotional grief and pain. I enjoy the friendships I have. I am now very selective in those I hold close to.
One thing to learn about friendships is to let them be friendships. You don’t have to make them be these soul bonding experiences. Be friends. Enjoy them. Enjoy them for what they are and for the time you have them. No, I am not saying count on them no longer being a friend. I am simply saying enjoy being in the moment.
Wants and needs. Two very difficult words to differentiate when you make those difficult decisions.
We all need to be content with what we need. It would make the whole world a lot better off.
New girl in town, Mackenzie and local girl, Kira are best friends forever, and then there is Ramon, a crush and ex-boyfriend in a small California town. The three send us on a trip of real teen life and feelings mixed with some unexpected surprises along the way with a group of vandals and thieves thrown in who make their attacks personal. Who has it in for these three friends? This story is told in an authentic teenage voice as Mackenzie Fairbanks recalls that particular summer before her senior year in high school.
Highlights of the Book
The book flows well taking the reader from one chapter to the next. It is an absorbing read, well written…
Everyone, please visit my very first ever Guest Blog. Amanda of insidethelifeofmoi was kind enough to let me share something from my heart. Please go and check it out and follow her blog if you are not already doing so. She is very engaging with those who comment and is a very sweet young lady.
Much Respect,
Ronovan
ronovanwrites 