Oooooh la la! Talesfromthemindofchristian Has Nominated Me For The Bloggers Recognition Award

I am delighted to have been nominated for The Bloggers Recognition Award by the Super-Blogger Kristian as you can see from his post below:

https://talesfromthemindofkristian.wordpress.com/2018/07/22/the-bloggers-recognition-award-nomination/

Kristain who is the creator of  TalesfromthemindofKristian needs hardly any introduction because he has established himself as a consistently creative writer with an exquisite taste in music and a great sense of fun. I know many like me appreciate his support and encouragement.

The Rules:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
2. Write a post to show your award.
3. Give a brief story of how your blog started.
4. Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
5. Select 15 other bloggers for this award.
6. Comment on each blog to let them know you’ve nominated them and a link to the post you created.

How my Blog Started:

Stuart, from Croydon, was the one who made me take the plunge.  There is a story there, but I am not willing to share it. He is someone who helped me out through a rough time.  Let’s just say Stuart is someone I care for a lot, and I really hope he knows that.  No…there will not be a post about Stuart. Yet in a funny way, I would like him to know I am still inspired by him.

That might not sound very interesting to you without any details! Let me pad it out a bit.  I have been writing very long letters and e-mails to friends for years. So I am well into the habit of writing long waffling accounts of my gallivanting up and down the country on various projects, and including all the lurid details of what I ate for lunch and relating an array of emotions I had along the journey.

Due to circumstances, Stuart and I started to keep in touch more and he encouraged me. I wrote page after page.  He was kind and said he looked forward to coming home from work and catching up with my long e-mails.

Stuart said: “YOU SHOULD START A BLOG”.  I thought that was like mum telling me to go and try out for some television singing competition and stand in front of Simon Cowell. In addition, I did not really know what a blog was. I had not seen them for myself.  I thought it was a glorified version of Instagram.  I had never used Facebook or Twitter or all the social media networks.

I also thought it a bit odd to write something strangers would read.  All my letters and e-mails have been to friends and family I know and love. So it was easy to know what to talk about, what they will be interested in, what they will find amusing or meaningful.  How on earth do you know what to write to complete strangers?

I was afraid that anything I wrote and published would be ignored or criticised.  I enjoyed writing, I didn’t particularly want to invite a dish load of negative feedback.  That was the last thing I needed.

So…to say the least I did not have very high expectations of blogging!

Another friend with whom I had shared a selection of short stories and my one poem encouraged me to publish these.  My friend was already publishing their work online and helped me to set up a WordPress site. According to WordPress we published my first post River on the 19th April 2018, which means it is just over three months I guess.  If you have not had chance to glance at River yet, please have an ickle look – it is a poem I wrote as a teenager and I am very fond of it.

I must admit, I have been enjoying it far more than I ever dreamed I would.  I have looked at hundreds of other blog-sites which have given me ideas about formatting and has encouraged me to experiment a bit with WordPress options.

Well, three months later, I can say that blogging has exceeded all of my expectations.  I am really enjoying this.  I am glad to say I have had lovely feedback and more support and encouragement than I ever imagined. It is fun to keep in touch with other bloggers. One thing I know I need to do more is to keep looking out for new bloggers to encourage them to enjoy blogging and also to direct them to:

 https://swimmersweek.wordpress.com/

https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com

https://meetthebloggersblog.wordpress.com/

https://thelittlemermaid09.wordpress.com/2018/07/01/tea-party/

…and to keep promoting the  word and picture prompts that other bloggers have set up. These are at the center of a lovely blogging community which was gutted to lose the Daily Post provisions but determined to keep going because we are enjoying this.

It seems likely that I am going to keep going with this blogging business for a bit longer while my circumstances allow it. It is helping me on a personal level…I try to have lots of lighthearted posts but also I have used some to talk about some very difficult subjects for me…and it really has helped.

Advice

• Support other bloggers.  Don’t be a prima donna…be part of the chorus.
• Make the most of the avenues to connect with other bloggers (some of which I mentioned above) other bloggers will be looking out for new bloggers, friendly bloggers, fun bloggers…it’s a bit like a party with a bunch of complete strangers interacting.
• Be friendly!  Just like at the party mentioned. Be polite, be nice.  Don’t be critical, just because their work is not your cup of tea.
• Enjoy it!  Enjoy the writing, enjoy getting to know the different WordPress features and enjoy the contact with other bloggers.
• Statistics are sometimes encouraging and sometimes discouraging…but your own enjoyment and enthusiasm and effort will motivate you and prompt others to keep coming back because they want to acknowledge your efforts.

My Nominees:

I am pleased to be able to nominate fifteen great bloggers who have supported me and whose blogs are full of exciting posts:

SalGallaher

The Flawddess

Word Hunter

Hankerings

Phyllis Rogers

pagesandpugs

mommylifeelevated

Airsickmoss

Cadie Mclendon

3sistersabroad

Georgia Choate

Francesco Marchetti

Stefania Giannetto

wideeyedwanderingspoonie

Proscenium

There we go…fifteen wonderful bloggers who have supported me and have fantastic posts on their own blog-sites.  I have enjoyed your work so far and have high expectations of more to come!

https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/07/28/expectation/