I always appreciate feedback and I was happily surprised again when Carol Hopkins nominated me for the Blogger Recognition Award. She, of course, received this herself and she deserves it. You’ll find some wonderful reading on her blog. Describing her blog, she says: “I write my blog to express ideas and opinions that just refuse to stay inside me.”
That’s a great reason for writing!
The Rules:
- Thank the nominator, and publish a post on your blog about receiving the Blogger Recognition Award. Make sure to provide a link to the nominator’s blog in your post.
- Give a brief story of how your blog started.
- Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
- Nominate 10-15 other bloggers for this award, and inform them of their nomination.
Writing History:
My history of writing started a long time ago, before the days of blogging. I had been reading quite a few best-selling books at the time and one day I got up and said to myself, I can write a book as good as these. So, I set out to learn about the freelancing life.
I wrote for magazines, newspapers and journals in the ‘90s. And since I was in the medical profession, I was writing a lot of editorials on health care, as well as publishing some original nursing research.
Some of those articles caused quite a stir and my employers set about a plan to be rid of me. Their plan failed. But faced with limited options to keep advancing in that profession, I ended up going to law school. It seems my writing help spur a change in careers.
I like to say that I got mad and went to law school. 😊
And while I was in law school, I became the editor-in-chief of one of the law school journals, the one about environmental law. Some more good experience.
I didn’t become aware of the blogging world until the 2000’s, and when my daughter was shipped out to fight in Iraq War Number 2 (Operation Iraqi Freedom) in 2004, I started my first blog, which you can imagine was quite political. I let that one die off as I realized continuing, once again, had career implications. Not pleasant ones.
Up until last year, I had put my writing on hold. Until retirement arrived and I could no longer be threatened with the loss of a job for having expressed an opinion. Even well researched and objective opinions were unwelcome by my employers.
I started my blog on WP for a few reasons. One of the main ones was to simply get back into writing on a regular basis. Motivation. The blogging community expects words to read. A little bit of external pressure helps keep the wheels moving. Another, of course, was to hopefully get better at it. Finally, I simply have stories I want to tell, and I hope the readers will like them.
As for Advice for Other Bloggers:
First: Write! Just start writing stuff. Lots of stuff. Your first drafts don’t have to be good, but they give you something to edit, and that’s where I think a lot of the magic happens. At least it does for me there.
The Hemmingways of the world did not produce great manuscripts every time they sat down at the keyboards. They just sat at the keyboards a lot.
Great authors have had more rejections than published pieces, they just kept trying. That’s how you get better. So write, write, write, write. Even if it’s just for yourself and even if you don’t put it on your blog.
Next: Then go ahead and put it out there and listen to the feedback. Adapt, adjust, improvise, improve. Your going to have to get the reader’s perspective at some point and take any comments and suggestions seriously.
And I would add to this one – read. Read, read, read, read, read. See how other people write, and what good writing is. It will help you expand your abilities.
Along with this, use the dictionary and the thesaurus to learn new words. Expand your vocabulary so you’ll be able to describe things in your writing. Remember you are painting images in the reader’s mind. Readers don’t want dull words bouncing off their heads, they want to see, feel, hear, smell and touch what it is you’re writing about.
Nominations:
Lately, I’ve been breaking the rules on awards, just because, and I haven’t given out nominations. So today I’ll break my own rules about not following rules and I’ll nominate a few other blogs.
No one who is nominated is bound to participate and there is no timeline for participation.
I’m going to nominate all of the blogs I mentioned in my post, “Shuffled – ‘Here’s Looking at You Kidd’.”
Waking Up on the Wrong Side of 50
and,
I assure you this list does not contain all of my favorite blogs. I’ve nominated many others for past awards. But I have to end this piece somewhere. 🙂
In Metta
Thank you!!
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You are welcome! I look forward to reading your post 🙂
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💗
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Congratulations 👏👏👏 🙂
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Thanks so much!
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Congratulations, well deserved.
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Thanks so much !
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❤️❤️❤️
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Congratulation and Thank you !!!
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Love your photography !
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Always interesting and fun to read another’s backstory. Congrats on your nomination and thanks for mine, much appreciated!
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You’re quite welcome !
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You have led an interesting life – lots of fodder to write about! Looking forward to more, more, more! 🙂
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❤
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Thank You so Much and I’m loving discovering all new (to me) interesting Blogs to follow …
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You are welcome! And the Awards are definitely a great way to discover new blogs 🙂
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Congratulations,well deserved and if course thank you for nominating me.💗
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Thank you ! And you are welcome! 🙂
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I was so interested on your uptake considering Dr.Perry’s post on NPD (The New York Police Department), that I just had to rush right over here and see what you’re all about. Lol! I got my wish 🙂 Your comments on blogging technique are invaluable, potent, precise and experience rich! Looking forward to all the attention you can give me! Lol!
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WOW congratulations and thank you so much!
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You’re welcome! Well deserved!
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Harold, thank you so much for your kind nomination. I am still catching up but, I am extremely grateful for your recognition. Keep up your wonderful writing!
Back soon.
Gone for Tiffin!
R.
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You’re quite welcome. Well deserved. Catch up when you can. Hope your recovery is going smoothly.
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Congratulations! 🙂
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Thanks so much !
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