Tag Archives: memory

On Blogging Ideas: An Abundance Of Creative Choices…

“Mankind is not a circle with a single center but an ellipse with two focal points of which facts are one and ideas the other.” Victor Hugo

On Blogging Ideas: An Abundance Of Creative Choices… Blogging freedom

A few months ago, Erica, one of our Daily Post coordinators had asked a question in a post; Inspiration that ClicksAside from the Daily Post, where do you go to find tips and fodder? I thought about it at the time, and the usual gamut of ideas flashed in my head. As bloggers, we tap into myriad sources for our blog posts; from life experiences to creative outlets and even news reports. But now and again, even the most creative amongst us hits that wall and writer’s block sets in. It is to those moments that prompts can come in handy. As I thought about this, it occurred to me to put together some of the wonderful resources for blogging ideas that have floated by me this year. In addition to the usual ones we are familiar with, like our Weekly Photo Challenge, Plinky, and Soup Pancake, I’ve chosen a few new ones, and I’ve also included some of the blogging prompts created by my fellow bloggers. The list isn’t exhaustive so do suggest any I missed and I’ll add them. Here we go:

Weekly Photo Challenge: – A weekly Photo Challenge with a specific theme assigned usually on Friday. Last week – Friendship
Plinky – Every day a new prompt is given (like a question, or a challenge), and everyone gets a chance to answer. Example What energizes you?
Soul Pancake – Calls itself The place for you to Chew on Life’s Big Questions.
Picture The World Project: Do you have a captivating image that reflects a nation? They would love to showcase one of our photographs on a country of our choice in their gallery. (Madhu shared this one).
Bucket List Publications – Lesley Carter is accepting submissions for articles and bucket lists. She picks winners to experience one of the dreams on their bucket list; they make it happen.
Friday FictioneersMadison Woods offers a blog writing challenge  – 100 words of flash fiction (short story). The latest is here.
100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups – Julia at Julia’s Place offers a weekly prompt for a short writing exercise – latest is Week 45.

“Ideas are the mightiest influence on earth. One great thought breathed into a man may regenerate him.” William Ellery Channing

On Blogging Ideas: An Abundance Of Creative Choices… Anonymous blogger, not.

When we are feeling creatively bored, venturing beyond our comfort zone or even our blog niche is not a bad idea. We can be anonymous or public but one thing we all share is our need for creative blog ideas. Recently, my surfing led me to This I Believe: an independent, not-for-profit organization that engages youth and adults from all walks of life in writing, sharing, and discussing brief essays about the core values that guide their daily lives and LOOKBOOK.nu: the largest online community dedicated to showcasing member-uploaded “street style” photography – non-members can draw daily fashion inspiration. What I love about This I Believe is that in addition to submitting our short essay for publication, (see guidelines) we can get blogging prompts/ideas too. Here are some more:

MamaKat’s Writers Workshop: – a weekly opportunity for us to participate in a writing activity and make new friends.
On Problogger.net, Darren Rawse runs a great blog tools/tips site. In a recent post, he offers: The Only Blog Post Idea List You’ll Ever Need – 20 Tips on what to blog about.
A-Z Alphabet Photo Challenge – Frizztext of Flickrcomments offers a Tuesday photo theme where you introduce one photo from your own archive with a letter keyword. The letter X is the most recent.
SUNDAY POST: The Making – Jake at Jakesprinter offers a weekly photo theme for creative inspiration. Latest is Water -H2O
Share Your World – Cee of ceeslifephotographyblog has a weekly challenge where she posts 4 questions and you answer them. The latest is Week 27.
Weekly Image Of Life – Blogger buddy, Island Traveler, started a Wednesday photo of the week prompt and each week he’ll provide a theme on what image to take or share from your previous photo archives. Latest is Happiness.
Where’s My Backpack -Friday Travel Theme – Ailsa of Where’s my backpack? started a Friday Travel Theme photo challenge and her latest is Oceans.
Alphabet Photo Challenge – Anita of anitamacphotos is starting a travel by the alphabet photo challenge . Join in the fun with them!

“Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.”  Helen Keller

On Blogging Ideas: An Abundance Of Creative Choices… Stay curious.

Sometimes, I come to my blog with absolutely nothing to say.  Then, I putter around; I look at prompts, old posts, other blogs, and something eventually catches my interest; a poem, a quote, a story, a news report, anything really, and I’m off and running. Some days it flows and on other days it’s slow. Staying curious is important.  Some fellow blog friends offer weekly prompts or opportunities to build community through writing and I shared several above. If there are others you’d like to add, feel free to include them on this week’s Thoughtful Thursday/Friday Blog Hop. I’m reviving an old prompt idea I offered last year, and it’s an easy way to connect with other bloggers and read/like their submitted post… or learn about a prompt. This is also terrific for those of us who want to get more Facebook page LIKES. In addition to a submitted blog post, you can also add your Facebook page for more LIKES, your Twitter page for more Follows, and your Networked Blog for more Friends. The key is to reciprocate. Do same for others.
Thoughtful Thursday/Friday Blog Hop


Did you join our new Blog Hop? Read the SIMPLE rules below; ✿♡✿Add any blog post you’d love more Likes or comments on or any post you wish to share on a prompt you run or write!✿♡✿
STEPS/RULES: The rules are easy peasy.
♥Add your post to Linky #1,
♥Add any other social media page/blog (if you have one),
♥Leave me a comment or question especially if we haven’t already met,
♥Click on the links above your post and visit as many fellow blogger posts as you wish,
♥Check in periodically to connect with new folk or change your submission
♥Like and/or comment on their post, fan their Facebook page or any others listed
♥Feel free to let them know you’re from our Thoughtful Thursday/Friday Blog Hop ~ they will return the love
♥and spread the word.
✿♡✿Thank you All!✿♡✿
Optional: Get the InLinkz code You can create a blog post and add this link to your blog if you’d like to invite others to join in. Again, this is a very simple community building blog hop to do and don’t hesitate to ask questions for clarification. Here are some other blog hops for your perusal. Blog Hop 1, Blog Hop 2, Blog Hop 3, Blog Hop 4, Blog Hop 5, Blog Hop 6, and Blog Hop 7. More below!

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Musings: Memories Of May…

“Men are April when they woo, December when they wed. Maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives.” William Shakespeare

Musings: Memories Of May… The Iris is May’s flower

Musings: Memories Of May…  The Iris is May’s flower.  White Japanese Iris

1 May Day
5 Cinco de Mayo
8 Iris Day
9 Lost Sock Memorial Day

May swept in on a cloudy Tuesday announcing its arrival on the eponymous May Day, during a New York Severe Weather Awareness Week. For the next 30 days, it offered plenty to do and celebrate during what I found to be a pretty hectic and challenging month. Had I known that, in between some pretty heavy duty celebrations, there were some fun May holidays like Eat What You Want Day on the 11th, Dance Like a Chicken Day on the 14th, and National Macaroon Day today, the 31st, perhaps it might have felt a tad lighter. The Iris is May’s flower. Above and below are several holidays observed in May.  What memories do you hold of this month? Did you celebrate any of them?

“The world’s favorite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May.” Edwin Way Teale

Musings: Memories of May … The Iris is May’s flower

11 Eat What You Want Day
11 Twilight Zone Day
13 Mother’s Day
14 Dance Like a Chicken Day

We anticipated Mother’s Day with great expectations and, for some, with mixed emotions… Will the day go well? Will the flowers and gifts arrive DOA? As much as it’s a day of showing appreciation for moms around the world, all that advertising and the inevitable frenzied last minute buying and selling puts a dent on pockets and egos. Those who knew of the Food Feast holiday got to eat plenty of what they want on the 11th and more on the 13th. Perhaps the rest of us could have enjoyed dancing like chickens or spent a day watching reruns of  The Twilight Zone on the requisite May days…

Beneath the apple blossoms I go a wintry way, For love that smiled in April Is false to me in May.” Sara Teasdale,

Musings: Memories Of May…

23 Lucky Penny Day
26 International Jazz Day
28 Memorial Day

These three distinct holidays (above)  gave me something to think about. I love picking up lucky pennies on the street, so a day dedicated to the penny was great. Jazz gives me plenty of comfort and we needn’t have waited till the 26th to celebrate it. Memorial Day brought back memories of war and an appreciation for the sacrifice made by the brave men and women we lost in countless wars. Throughout the month, blog relationships ebbed and flowed; some blogging friends disappeared, and a few others bid good bye to the process by terminating their blogs… May was full of finality; a clearing for June. More below…

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May Day: Thoughts & Poems…

“He who labors diligently need never despair; for all things are accomplished by diligence and labor.”  Menander of Ephesus

May Day: Thoughts & Poems... May Blossoms

May Day: Thoughts & Poems... Poster by Hugh D'Andrade via occuprint

Excerpt from May-Day by Ralph Waldo Emerson(1867)
Wreaths for the May! for happy Spring
Today shall all her dowry bring
The love of kind, the joy, the grace,
Hymen of element and race,
Knowing well to celebrate
With song and hue and star and state,
With tender light and youthful cheer,
The spousals of the new-born year.
Lo love’s inundation poured
Over space and race abroad

Happy May Day! I can’t believe we are already in a new month with goals to accomplish and high expectations for a warm and sunny spring. While we might see May as the height of spring, May 1 is an ancient Northern Hemisphere spring festival and holiday. It is celebrated in many cultures with a special festive ceremony or parade to welcome the fullness of spring. It is also the Feast of St Joseph the Worker, the patron saint of workers; hence its tie to labor and the world of work. In the USA, May Day is a day to honor the labor movement, Spring and another important holiday, Law Day. According to Wikipedia, Law Day “is meant to reflect on the role of law in the foundation of the country and to recognize its importance for society.” What ever our grand plans are for spring or the month of May, I’ve gathered a few poems that honor both May Day and the month of May… What goals do you have for this glorious month? UPDATE: ***I’ve added some posters curated from Occuprint.org. They showcase gorgeous global art from the occupy movement. Check out the posters!

“Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.”  Thomas Jefferson

May Day: Thoughts & Poems...

May Day: Thoughts & Poems... Poster by Marx Aviano via occuprint

May Day by American poet Sara Teasdale (1884 – 1933)
A delicate fabric of bird song
Floats in the air,
The smell of wet wild earth
Is everywhere.

Red small leaves of the maple
Are clenched like a hand,
Like girls at their first communion
The pear trees stand.

Oh I must pass nothing by
Without loving it much,
The raindrop try with my lips,
The grass with my touch;

For how can I be sure
I shall see again
The world on the first of May
Shining after the rain?

As I read up on May Day, I found out that in many parts of the world,  May Day is synonymous with International Workers’ Day, or Labour Day. It was also viewed, in the Celtic tradition, as the end of spring and the beginning of summer. Another important tidbit I found is that May Day is considered a cross quarter day because it is halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice.  Many of the celebrations we find include fertility celebrations, a cleansing and releasing of the energies of  the months gone by, and re-affirming and planting new seeds for the months ahead. What mental motivational seeds have you planted for the next six months?

“Don’t knock the weather: nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.” Kin Hubbard

May Day: Thoughts & Poems...

May Day: Thoughts & Poems... Poster by Rich Black via Occuprint

The Humours of May Day by Anon (1770)
What Frolicks are here
So droll and so queer
How joyful appeareth the day
E’en Bunter and Bawd
Unite to applaud
And celebrate first of the May

I find that once May kicks in, I begin to plan my summer and get-togethers with friends and family. Another important event to cherish this month is the 61st annual National Day of Prayer which will take place on Thursday, May 3, 2012. We can use a portion of that day to reflect, regroup, and extend our prayers and best wishes to our friends, family and all in need of a prayerful heart. What plans do you have for May? More poetry below…

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