The “Why Blog?” Party

This Holiday break, while recovering from stomach flu, I read JK Rowling’s new book, Silkworm (published under her pseudonym, Robert Galbraith). Has anyone else read it? In it, the author is less than kind in her portrayal of bloggers. Heck, she is less than kind about publishers and agents as well. One of her characters observes that we need more readers and less writers.

I rethought blogging, now that I’m nearing my two year mark. Am I a writer who would be better off stopping and being a reader? Then my blog received an award and I was asked a series of questions about how and why I blog. Do I think it’s going to do me or my career any good? Those are good questions. I’m not a traditional blogger, in that I don’t usually write vignettes about my life and family, but I do put myself in my writing, always. We all have our reasons for blogging. Some of us have health issues, and we are isolated inside our houses. Some of us are poets, and we all know how rich poets are…. Not. Some of us are just starting out, and hoping to learn as we go. Continue reading

A Fairy Tale Year!!

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Somehow, without my noticing, I have reached my one year blogoversary. WordPress let me know, and I was actually surprised. I’ve hardly noticed the year passing, I love the WordPress community and publishing. I even find myself thinking about attending BlogHer, although the likelihood is low, given my three kids need my time.

I started blogging without much clue, just putting stories up to make it easier to get copies to requesting beta-readers. Over the last year, I have been welcomed by other bloggers, who have become friends, you know who you are! To take a snapshot of progress, friendly fairy tales has 1379 followers and 36,293 hits since June from 103 countries. I have published nearly 50 fairy tales and over 110 poems. That averages about one story and two poems a week. I have had such fun sharing and hearing back from readers of all ages. I counted up all the likes laboriously some day after I passed 10,000 total and not since. No idea how many like I have now, as WordPress is keeping that knowledge pretty tight these days, but I know I have 8,123 comments. Holy Mackerel! Thanks WordPress, for all the information you do give, it’s more than I can process most days.

I have also collected well over a hundred awards, and I have even more thanks to share for these: Continue reading

Santa is Coming to Town

Ho ho ho! I’ve been to the North Pole, and when Santa heard that you’ve all been naughty and/or nice, he decided you needed some presents! You might prefer a rainbow loom, chocolates, plane tickets to Tahiti, diamonds or the new Beyonce CD, but I’m afraid all I can afford to fit through the internet wires are these little treats. Each and every one of you bloggers should take a present, if you want one, with my good wishes.

Continue reading