Tag: blogging

Six Years Gone & the Blog Goes On

ARTifacts, The Creative Process, Uncategorized

Happy birthday dear blog, albeit two months late.  Although I have not been as attentive to you these past two years, let me tell you how much you mean to me…

Thank you for being the virtual scrapbook of my adventures, musings, and ramblings.  Thank you for providing a platform for my essays and poetry and for connecting me with other like-minded people.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity be my own publisher and editor.  Thank you for making me a better writer.

I may not get to complete memoir in my lifetime, but you are there as my proxy.  You are an essential thread in my life and for that I am grateful.  In the coming years, I will strive to be more focused and more timely.  May I also acknowledge my dear readers for their commitment to reading the meanderings of my mind.

Now, let’s blog on, shall we?

Tune into my other blog onesweetearth.blog on sustainable living.

Artwork by the author

Why I am Still Blogging After Four Years

The Creative Process, Uncategorized

My WordPress account just renewed.  Here it is- my fourth year and I am still at it.  My first post was on Jan. 4, 2017.  I started blogging during the aftermath of the 2016 election.  At that time, I thought I could not survive the chaos, but here I am, bruised by events but not defeated.  I am thankful for the companionship of my pen which has acted as a lightning rod, keeping me grounded during difficult times.

When I write down the bits of my life the unremarkable becomes remarkable. Those bits become a pathway back to myself when I get lost. Writing combs the tangled strands of my thoughts back into an orderly fashion. When I share my writing with others in a blog post it’s like leaving footprints in the universe to perhaps help others on their journey.I have shared poetry, personal stories, opinions, artwork and photography. It’s been a hodgepodge of myself.

For the most part, my blogging is a weekly practice, a Sunday morning ritual that affirms my existence. I have no master plan or theme as is advised.  During the week I try to pay attention to what pops into my mind worthy to blog about.  It’s an intuitive process.  I don’t fret about topics.  I write for myself but I’ve noticed that the posts where I stay truest to my own sensibilities get the most readers.

If you are reading this post, I am grateful for your time and attention.  It’s gratifying to have readers from all over the world, sometimes from countries that I have never heard from.  Today I have had readers from India, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Indonesia, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mauritius, and Malaysia. I have met some great blog friends and hope to connect with them in person some day in the non-Covid future!

If you are not a writer, I encourage you to write a few words a day.  It doesn’t have to be good- but if you make it a daily practice, you will improve.  It’s a journey worth pursuing.  If you choose to blog- go for it. It’s much more meaningful than Facebook Meanwhile, see you on the blogosphere!

Alanna also blogs about sustainablility on onesweetearth.com

The Darkest Time is Before the Dawn

Poetry, Uncategorized
Courtesy Getty images

November 2016 when our current “Toddler in Chief” was elected president was a dark time for the United States. We have continued our plunge into more darkness since then. The only good thing that came out of it for me was that I started writing- copiusly. This blog was born soon after in January of 2017. I knew nothing about blogging but just started to blog because I had to. Some 412 followers later I went back to some of those original posts when I had no readers, let alone any followers.

These two poems still apply now, when George Floyd, a black citizen was brutally murdered by a police officer for no reason this last week. The resulting protests and violence is a symbol of our country having enough- of racism, inequality, Covid 19, and the policies of our 45th president. Out of the ashes comes new beginnings. Let’s hope it’s soon.

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Continue reading “The Darkest Time is Before the Dawn” →

I Don’t Have Anything to Write About Today

The Creative Process, Uncategorized

IMG_3645I don’t have anything to write about today but say, you should really see the Hawthorne tree in the driveway bursting forth into a blaze of magenta blooms and how about those pie pan size exploding pink peonies on the kitchen table that Mary brought over as a May Day treat from her garden, eye-catching saffron-colored bundles of stamens and pistils in their midst.IMG_3644

I don’t have anything to write about today but the blaze in the woodstove on this chilly May morning cheers me, as well as the news that Raymond saw a pair of scarlet tanagers in the trees by the west fence line!  I haven’t seen tanagers in years around this place- so exciting to know they are still around.  They must be migrating through. I wonder where they go? And darn, wouldn’t you know that we have a pair of ground squirrels that moved in and are making a fine Swiss cheese mess of the yard along with the huge party of voles living below ground.

branch-387101_1920I don’t have anything to write about today but wow- all of a sudden the lettuce is big enough to pick in the garden along with some kale and chard and even a few snow peas to throw in the evening’s salad and I’m so excited about the flower seeds I started that are almost ready to plant.  The vegetable garden will be so colorful this summer!

Back to birds, the black-headed grosbeaks returned to the feeder and will probably stay to nest in the yard.  Oops, the hummingbird feeder is empty.

Gotta go.

 

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Also blogging about living sustainably and making nature your friend at One Sweet Earth

The Art of Launching a Second Blog

The Creative Process, Uncategorized

people-1839564_1920
IT’S A BLOG!!

Now, why would I want to do that to myself? Like building and maintaining a blog with almost weekly posts isn’t enough of a responsibility? The short answer is that I have more to say about an entirely different subject than this blog on my personal meanderings can handle. My new genre is on how to take action to preserve the health of the planet in the age of climate change and other environmental degradation.  This form of activism is by making small lifestyle changes.

I started chipping away on the concept of my new blog “One Sweet Earth” in late 2019 with the hopes of a New Year’s launch.  That was wishful thinking as I forgot how daunting building a new blog can be.  Selecting the right theme, how to build a menu with categories and pages is daunting enough without wrestling with WordPress’s new block editor.  Then there’s writing content and in this case illustrating it. A good portion of “One Sweet Earth” is in my sketchbook.

Continue reading “The Art of Launching a Second Blog” →

3rd Blogaversary

The Creative Process, Uncategorized

why-i-started-to-writeThree years ago I started this blog to promote my artwork because that’s what “everybody” said you should do. (See “I was supposed to be Blogging About my Artwork”) I had no idea how to start a blog, nor post, and what do I write about??  I started anyway and when I got a “Like” and a “follow” on my first post I was stunned that someone actually enjoyed what I wrote!

Three years in writing a blog post is a weekly ritual.  In the process, I’ve developed a love of writing and have gotten several pieces published along the way.  It’s become a meditation of sorts, thinking about what’s been important to me in the week to share. The practice of blogging keeps me grounded.  Some posts are better than others.  Showing up is the important part. Originally I thought it would be more of a show and tell of my visual art process. My intuition told me to do otherwise and as a result, my artwork has taken a more back seat.  This really is just a blog about me on the creative journey we call life.

Then there’s the takeaway from reading the blogs of others.  I’ve gained a lot of perspectives just from reading about the experience of fellow bloggers and commenting on their posts.

Putting up this blog was a creative risk. Every time I post is a creative risk.  But it’s with those risks we take we grow so much! Ultimately the most important thing is that my personal expression satisfies myself.  I still don’t know exactly what I am doing but that is what makes it such an adventure.  If you have been toying with the idea of starting your own blog, just do it.  There are so many tutorials right on WordPress to help you on your way.

Soon to come this year is a second blog dedicated to tips on sustainable living.  Also, I will be including some of my artwork on the bottom of posts just in case anyone is interested. Stay tuned….

Tea Time
“Tea Time” Ink, watercolor, & colored pencil

 

The Gifts of December

Poetry, Uncategorized

“the comfort of reclusion, the poetry of hibernation”
― Marcel Proust, Swann’s Way

This is a bit of a holiday card to all my readers.  I am going on a “blogcation, a bit of a hibernation you might say to immerge after the first of the year refreshed with new ideas and new direction.  In this 12th month, the time of pause, I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season and a rejuvenating New Year!

Alanna

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Beyond the sparkling lights

Apples hang in winter’s chill

Red ornaments on leafless branches

That brighten the sleeping orchard

A flutter of chickadees gather about the feeder

Giving me pause to cherish

The gifts of December

 

A Conversation with the Universe

Poetry, Uncategorized

Recently I met for coffee with a friend that needed help starting a blog on WordPress. startup-594090_1920 (1)After building the “infrastructure” of the site we talked about content and posting.

This got me to thinking about the intent of my blog and how I go about finding ideas for my posts.  Originally I was motivated my blog was to promote my artwork but blogs tend to evolve on their own (see I Was Supposed to be Blogging about My Artwork).  After 2 1/2 years of blogging my posts range anywhere from the creative process to what is going on in my personal life.

When I was a young woman embarking on my life’s journeys I wrote pages of heartfelt letters to friends miles away (see  Letters to the Universe).  That process gave me so much mail-1923198_1920perspective on my life and the world at large. Letter writing in our busy digital age seems to have become a tradition of the past.  I miss them. Unconsciously, I think my blog has become a series of letters written to the universe. I have no idea who might read my posts. The important thing is that I write them and send them off.  It makes me pay attention to my life- a sort of a writing meditation. I’ve been a bit inconsistent as of late. We’ve had some health challenges in our house making blogging more difficult to fit in. Life happens.  You do what you can do.  Continue reading “A Conversation with the Universe” →

I was Supposed to be Blogging About My Artwork

The Creative Process, Uncategorized

Two weeks ago I received a message from WordPress…..

“Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com.  You registered with WordPress.com two years ago.  Thanks for flying with us.  Keep up the good blogging.”

This gave me pause on the passage of time and where I’ve come since I originally set up my blog.  Having failed to embrace other social media-Instagram and Facebook with enthusiasm to promote my art, the advice out there said: “you need to blog about your artwork.”  Okay, I thought, let’s give that a go.

Up went my first post, The Artist Demystified” on June 4, 2017, not really about my art but it was a start.  I was stunned to get one “Like”  and then double stunned when I received a “follow.” Wow, somebody read and identified what I wrote.  Then I found the WordPress Community Pool and the Weekly Photo & Writing Challenges (now extinct and sorely missed).  Then I found other bloggers and that I really liked to write and share my writing. Then I found (again) that I really hate self-promotion just for self-promotion’s sake. 

Now I’ve officially let go of the idea that my blog exists to promote my artwork since I really wasn’t doing that anyway.  If someone wanders over to my Etsy shop and purchases something, fabulous, but that’s not why I’m here.  Blogging has become a grounding force in my life

This is pretty much a blog about sharing my thoughts and experiences with others.

May my writing spark some resonance in my readers and bring forth some smiles through this process which I so enjoy.

I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE BLOGGING ABOUT MY ARTWORK

You know, make a splash

With Google Analytics

Get followers

Boost sales on Etsy

 

I was supposed to be blogging about my artwork

But then I discovered blogging as an art form

Blogging just to blog

Sending my words out into the universe

To maybe catch hold on the edge

of some other celestial being

 

I was supposed to be blogging about my artwork

And then I discovered other bloggers

With their words that fed me

And then found a hold

In my celestial body

 

I was supposed to be blogging about my artwork

And then I discovered that I just liked to make art

…… not so much the selling 

So I think I will continue to make

And I will continue to write

For no other reason than it feeds my soul

Letters to the Universe

The Creative Process, Uncategorized

old-letters-2238537_1920I was not an English major.  My heartfelt essays in high school often came back redlined, oblivious of the content.  My love of reading and journaling came from the only English teacher I liked, Mrs. Geselschap from my junior year.  She let us read what we wanted and often suggested great books.  The journaling habit continues to this day.

I could always write decently when required, yet it was not something I chose to do, especially majoring in the natural sciences.  So I’ve wondered as I have become a writer in my 60’s, with words oozing from my core, where did the ability to express myself in poetry and prose come from?

Continue reading “Letters to the Universe” →