Blog Exercises: Blogging Loss and Grief

Loss is a part of life. This year, I’ve lost friends, family, and pets, and some days the sadness permeates everything. Other days, we laugh and smile. As with all things, in time, the balance between sunshine and dark shifts the scale towards sunshine. Grief is often best when shared, at least during the earliest […]

Blog Exercises: Blog Your Favorite Song

It all began the day I found That from my window I could only see A piece of sky. I stepped outside and looked around. I never dreamed it was so wide Or even half as high. The time had come to try my wings And even though it seemed at any moment I could […]

Blog Exercises: What I Did This Summer

It’s September and many schools have started classes all over the world. Two weeks ago, I moved boxes from long-term storage out into my studio to start sorting through them, then deadlines and distracts won my attention, and there they sit, staring at me. Guilting me. With five minutes to wait for a program to […]

Blog Exercises: Before the Blog

While researching memes for one of these blog exercises, I discovered a fascinating meme called Before the Blog. Started by YA Litwit, and not updated by the author since 2011, it is a meme designed for writers inviting them to review and recommend books from their past, “books you’ve read and loved BEFORE you started […]

Blog Exercises: If You Don’t Make Mistakes, You’ll Never Learn

I’ve long believed that if you aren’t making mistakes, you aren’t learning. That philosophy is part of what these blog exercises are about. I want you to stumble. I want you to destroy your site. I want you to make a mess of everything because that is how you learn. How did I learn what […]

Blog Exercises: What Story Would You Want to Hear Told?

I’m in a local writer’s group that meets once a week to test our mettle in creative writing. I have to share with you a prompt from last week that haunts me still. A prompt is a topic used to inspire creative writing. Anything can be a prompt, but a well-formed prompt in the right […]

Blog Exercises: What Story Should I Share?

One of the challenges of family history blogging and many other narrative forms of blogging is to decide what story to tell and how to tell it on your blog. The same applies to the life story or tale you wish to share on your site. Let me take the example of one of my […]

Blog Exercises: Memorial Moments

Today, the United States celebrates Memorial Day (not the movie). The day is dedicated to remembering those who died while serving in the United States military services. Originally known as “Decoration Day,” the holiday started after the American Civil War (1861-1865). While the dates are debated, the first Memorial Day observance as a holiday was […]

Blog Exercises: Fall in Love with Words

There are certain clues that tell you how much a restaurant will cost. If the word “cuisine” appears in the advertising, it will be expensive. If they use the word “food,” it will be moderately priced. However, if the sign says “eats,” even though you’ll save money on food, your medical bills may be quite […]

Blog Exercises: Who Changed Your Life?

This is one of the special Blog Exercises this year, a chance to really celebrate who you are and those who helped make you. As we travel through life, people change our lives on a daily basis as well as for a lifetime. Today’s exercise is focused on those who stepped in your path and […]

Tips for Blogging September 11 Ten Years Later

Over the past few weeks I’ve listened, read, watched, and pondered a quilt of stories around the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001, as the world celebrates/honors/remembers the event 10 years later. There are first hand stories of those who were in the buildings, rescuing people or escaping; stories by watchers, waiters, victims, […]

Stories of Our Journeys: The First Step Begins With You

One of the projects I am most proud of being a part of is the brand new Stories of Our Journeys produced by Bitwire Media as part of the Making My Life Network. Working with the incredible Kym Huynh, Stories of Our Journeys is a dream come true. Two years ago, Kym and I talked […]