I remember the day I was brave enough to start this blog. I was so damn excited, I couldn’t contain myself.
And, then I remembered back to the days I started my other two blogs. The first one still gets read, at random moments. And the 2nd one, well, it is this one, just a domain name switch.
That in and of itself was a feat I don’t want to repeat. No way…well, maybe? Nah, not for now.
Despite the moments when I’ve felt so incredibly lonely and so lost and wanted to give up.
It’s tough out there – There are a lot of budding blogging writers/bloggers. The skies the limit on how many show up on a daily basis.
I’ve been freed by the process of writing/blogging. It’s been exciting to take the risk to share thoughts and feel happy when I receive some comments shared by others. As an introvert, that’s an accomplishment as well.
And I’ve even emptied a refill on a pen! Writing…and hoping to find moments of joy as a writer.
I adore those followers and commenters who don’t look down on me. Nope, at least I hope they don’t. Their feedback warms my heart!
I’ve written a lot of words and posted a lot of pictures. And I’ve had fun while I’ve been at it. For the girl back in high school who was told, “You’ll never be a writer.” I say, “Eff you, Mr. 10th-grade EnglishLit/Composition Teacher – I have the right to write, so there, I shall do just that.”
Yep – today, I decided…”H*ll yeah, I’m gonna keep on blogging, right here on this blog.”
I hope you’ll stick around to see what’s next now that I’ve renewed my domain name…………
Post inspiration – Writing from my heart
PS – Have you read that book by Julia Cameron? Or the Artist’s Way? Have you ever pursued a dream that someone told you not to do?
Wow, if teachers knew the hurt they could cause! Or the tenacity they were creating–so you could prove that jerk wrong! I’m glad you’re writing, and creating, and blogging!
That was back in the day when they thought they were guiding us. 😉
I appreciate your encouragement, it warms my desires to create and revives that little girl who took the ol’ teacher’s harsh words to heart.
Shelley, I love your posts about blogging. They are just so inspiring! I want to write a post about a similar topic, but then I think “Nah! I’m still a newbie. I am certainly not the person to be giving blogging tips.” I sometimes got down when I looked at my stats and they were not where I thought they “should” be, so I quit looking at my stats. I never click on them, because I really don’t care. I’m just having fun.
You are a great writer, so there, Mr. Jerk English Teacher Who Should Not Be Allowed Around Kids! I am so sorry you had such a negative encounter with a person whose job it was to inspire you, not put you down!
Aw, thank you, Laurie – I appreciate your words of encouragement. I think you should write a post about it. You’ve learned things that I don’t know and I could definitely learn from you. Or maybe what you would’ve done differently had you known ____. You’re a great writer, and very inspiring, so go for it and see where it takes you!
Thank you – Mr. Jerk ETWSNBAAK was a prize – unhappy guy who thought he would spare those who didn’t fit the mold. It was the thing to do. After all these years, I think I’m finally ready to let go of that negative message :-)!
Yes, definitely. Let go of that negativity!!! Thank you for your kind words.
🙂
I have The Artist’s Way on my shelf and keep meaning to start it. Glad you decided to stick around. Proving someone wrong is so satisfying, isn’t it?
I started the AW, but haven’t been devoted to it except for the morning pages. Maybe in July-Aug I’ll stick with it. Yes, proving someone wrong, or proving to myself I can do something is very satisfying! 😉 Thank you for your encouragement to keep on keeping on!
I’m glad your staying around Shelley, you are one of my favorite blogs! 😎
Thank you, John – ditto to you! And I’m thankful you’re on Instagram, I enjoy being able to see your photos way before I get around to stopping at your blog to read more of the story about them!! 🙂
Of course, I’ll stick around. 😊
Thank you, Dan, I appreciate you! 🙂
Wow. Teachers can make all the difference sometimes. One way or the other. My HS English teacher was the one who gave me the most positive feedback. So I guess I was lucky. I’m glad your are continuing your blog. And that 3 pages a day – impressive!! 🙂
Yes, I agree. I wish teachers knew how much of a difference they do make. I can tell by your writing that you were encouraged – you have a gift! Thank you for sharing your thoughts – I appreciate all of your comments and quick wit!
I am surprised at how quickly 3 pages flow onto the pages. It’s a stream of consciousness – never show anyone what you write. It’s a fun process that has really made a difference for me in clearing my thoughts. Give it a try and let me know what you think :-)!
You may have inspired me to try the 3 pages habit. Maybe I’ll start with 2 pages lol. It sounds like what I used to do in a journal, but…better! (is “random” to focus on the day ahead or worries or what?…apparently I am looking for a direction if you don’t mind).
Thanks for your kind words about my writing. I do appreciate it 🙂
I’m positive you can write 3 pages – I thought it would be impossible, but within 20-30 minutes everyday, I can do it! The ‘rules’ according to Julia are: Take 3 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 paper, start at the top of a page and for 3 pages describe how and what you are feeling right now. Begin where you are – physically, emotionally, and psychologically. Write about anything and everything that crosses your mind. It’s all free-form, no edits. Be petty, critical, whining, scared, excited, adventurous, worried, happy, just WRITE. Keep your hand moving and simply hang out on the page. When you’re done with three pages, stop and put away the notebook and go on with your day.
Yes, the teachers that make the nastiest comments stick with us, don’t they? DH had a math teacher that said something that intimidated him for years. I wonder why we don’t remember the great things our teachers said as easily.
Glad you’re sticking around…I’ve barely just discovered you. And you have inspired me to dig out some old Julia Cameron books and kick myself in the butt to write more. 🙂
Yes, it is interesting how we remember the negative comments. I did have some great support those years, so I need to focus on those thoughts more!
I’m so glad you found your way here to my blog and that you’ve found some inspiration too. Julia’s books always inspire me – happy reading/writing to you :-)!
I’m a domain name junkie….over the years I’ve had probably 40-50 different domains registered at different times. Right now I have at least 20…some won’t be renewed, some are for sale, some just redirect to a live domain.
And, that is my favorite pen!! I have half a dozen of those scattered between the house & the RV.
Oh, my, how do you keep track of all those domains!?!
I love the pen – I only have the one, but I love writing with it. 🙂
Good thing you rose above that snarky comment and dismissed that criticism – teachers should encourage you to pursue a dream, not discourage you. I’d go back and produce your blog title and say “have a look!” I can’t say I’ve pursued a dream that other’s discouraged me from doing so.
Thank you, Linda! Great suggested tweak to the blog title! It is kind of fun to prove someone wrong – what dream have you hidden that needs reviving? Do you think about it when you’re walking? You could blog about it too!? 😉
My only dream is one day to take some art classes – I loved the pastel and charcoal sketching class I took as a teenager and I really enjoyed it. My parents had hoped I could foster an interest in drawing and bought me some sketchbooks, drawing how-to books, pastels and charcoals, but I got busy with school in Fall and I never got back into it. They are downstairs. My mom bought me a hardcover art book called “A Sketchbook of Birds” and told me one day to try to draw like that and I hope I can and will make a post about it – I have the book on the coffee table – this is the book that I found on Etsy:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/626749839/a-sketchbook-of-birds-1979-hardback-1st?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_c-books_movies_and_music-books-art_and_photography_books&utm_custom1=7d680520-da72-1f88-8b23-0000217fb69f&utm_content=go_1843970635_69278976386_346429112069_pla-353214762859_c__626749839&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIr7q01YGV4wIVFrjACh2x0Qq2EAQYBSABEgJIJfD_BwE
Yes, do it – get the book out, sketch some birds, and make that dream come true!
I am looking forward to that day when I can have hobbies again, even to read. I start to question how many hours are spent online sometimes and away from the pastimes I once did and have fallen by the wayside. Yes, when I do want to learn more about sketching I will use that book first. Last year there were two women painting at Heritage Park. They each had a set of watercolors and a sketchbook and I wrote about them in a post. One of the women was very chatty and let me watch her painting the flowers and the other one was kind of annoyed. I thought it might be fun to try it – you may have seen this post when I passed along the petting farm pics awhile back: https://lindaschaubblog.net/2018/07/28/christmas-in-july/
Yes – go for it! My daughter is doing the same thing – check out her post, too. https://www.quitesprout.com/fieldnotes/ Sorry for my delay in responding, your comment went to my pending ones due to the link. I love your post, what a fun day you had. The artists found a great place for inspiration.
Yes they did – no problem … I am quite behind in Reader right now, but will stay behind and read as I can. I was h*ll bent on finishing all comments/Reader every night, sitting more hours, so have decided I must not do that. I just got on this computer and lights are flickering – looked outside and a lot of swooshing going on – trees swaying. Hope we don’t lose power – none of my shortcuts are here – have to find weather and figure out how to bookmark it. Will look at your daughter’s link.
I hope the storm wasn’t too bad!
We had several pop-up thundershowers – nothing bad, but overnight was to be the big front that would cool things off. Shut the A/C off, pulled computer plugs – still waiting for the *&^% thing – if it doesn’t come soon bringing the nicer weather (cool and no humidity) I will head out and walk at the store.
When you make it through July, you’ll be so happy!
I sure will – this last month has been one for the ages for many reasons. It was beautiful and cool this morning – Robb was driving back from the cabin, so I took my time and did 6 miles – I hated to come inside.
Yes, it has. YAY – glad to hear you took your time and enjoyed the walk. Good for you!
Today was gorgeous too – got 5 1/2 miles today. Must make up for lost time Friday. In my flurry of bad karma, I forgot to add my month-end miles, so I’ll just wait until the end of July and hopefully the total will be more impressive!
Yay! That’s great!! Yeah, wait, you’ll be impressed with how much you did get to walk when the # is bigger!! 🙂
Yes, I’m going to add up the end of this month – I totally forgot about it at month end due to my finger smashing on 06/28. I noticed just this morning how late the sun is getting up because today we were having a sunny day. Don’t notice so much at night, but yes, a minute lost every day as we creep toward Winter – ugh.
Don’t say WINTER! 😉 We have the hot days of July and Aug, the beautiful Sept and October and hopefully into Nov to go!!!
That is right – Fall is also my favorite season (when weather was normal). We have some seasonal weather then Wednesday another heat wave like the last one. It was pretty bad today – I don’t know how the outside workers do it.
Yes, Fall is wonderful. Hopefully, today will be better for you. It was lovely here, so that weather is on its way to you!
Yes, we had your nice weather today – much cooler and no rain. The weekend okay but a small shower and then Monday now we’re in the sauna bath for the entire week. If it gets really hot, I will just walk at Meijer … the store is big and I’ll just walk laps around the entire store. rather than lose the steps. Hang out at the Klondike freezer to cool off. 🙂
Yay – hope you enjoyed the reprieve and had a nice day. I love how resourceful you are – don’t eat too many Klondike bars though! 😉
Thank you – that may be the way to go this week Shelley- 90s all week and humid and stormy in the afternoons. No, I just gaze at the Klondike bars wistfully.
We had 90 degree weather yesterday and storms all night. Heat and storms go hand in hand. Stay where it’s cool!
Yes, it is finally raining now … it took all afternoon for the front to reach here and we are having storms too. I likely will be shutting down soon because they are supposed to arrive with high winds. It is going to be nasty all this week, 95 with a 105 index on Friday and similar weather for the weekend. I’ll have to plan a long shady jaunt.
Just visited Sarah’s link – I wonder why I didn’t get an e-mail about it – I’m behind in e-mail now too. She needs lots of supplies!
Thank you for stopping by Sarah’s link. I don’t know why you didn’t get an email. I should see if I got one? Yes, she needs lots of supplies so she can draw every day. I did send her a lovely care package of all the supplies she had left behind from college when she moved to her new home. I’m a resourceful mom. ;-)!
Good for you – that was a surprise for sure. Nope, didn’t get it by e-mail. I even checked SPAM. Next time you get one, please alert me and if I didn’t get one, I will go and re-follow Sarah.
Will do – thanks for letting me know!
My comment might have flown into cyberspace Shelley – if that’s the case let me know and I’ll redo it ok?
It just needed approval with the link you shared! All is well!
Oh that’s right – I forgot and you do have the note on your site about it. I looked around for a recipe for the flaming cheese, and this one was comprehensive and fun too – go for it!
Thank you!!!