Tag Archives: blogs

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Celebration and Promote-A-Blog Fest!

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Today, just in time for my favorite holiday, Halloween, I am pleased to announce that I now have 1000 WordPress followers on this blog! (Don’t pay attention to that count over there to the left that says I have 2000+ followers because that also includes those who follow me by email and are not all apart of the WordPress community) I am humbled and in awe of all of you who have followed me and continue to support me.

Please visit my 1000th follower – Wee Ditty

And now, in celebration of this awesome news, I would like to open my blog up to you, my followers.

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Today, you can promote your blogs here at A Whispered Wind. It is time to post links to your blogs and/or your friends’ blogs. If you have something you’ve written on your blog that you wish others to read, post a link. If you’ve read something on a friends’ blog that you’ve enjoyed and want others to read as well, post a link. Know someone who’s just starting out at blogging and has only a few followers, post a link. Have something special planned on your blog for Halloween, post a link. Hell, post as many links as you’d like. Mingle with others by visiting their blogs too! And to insure that this gets around to as many people as possible, please REBLOG this on your own blogs and post a link on Twitter and Facebook to get the word out. Help me help YOU!

Let’s get out there and promote our arses off, share, mingle and CELEBRATE with me!

And for your listening pleasure while you visit my blog, some nice creepy Halloween music:

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Book Review – All Good Stories by Linda G. Hill

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Linda G. Hill‘s All Good Stories is a light-hearted novella. It is fast-paced, quickly moving the reader from scene to scene with each new chapter. For a quick read, the characters are well-developed, well-described and unique. Linda tells a story within a story within a story. When you read it, you will know what I mean (and you definitely want to read it!)

The two main characters, Xavier and Jupiter are long-time friends. Xavier runs a book store and Jupiter is a writer and works in a gym as a receptionist (near the end of the novella). The other characters are Bob the Blogger, Gloria the waitress, and Harry the Horrible. Xavier and Jupiter’s lives are intermingled with the other three characters in what turns out to be a hilarious, off-the-cuff, near-disastrous story-line. The twists in this story keep you reading and the strange, mega twist in the last few parts of the story will leave you in awe of Linda’s talent as a yarn-spinner.

You won’t find any spoilers here. You must read this one for yourself. It is a delightful, hysterical tale that can be read within an hour or two. Well worth the time!

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Rating: 5 Stars

To Purchase: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Amazon AUS | Kobo

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Three Days, Three Quotes Challenge – Day 3

The lovely Valerie over at Life and My Insights has nominated me for the Three Days, Three Quotes Challenge. Thank you, Valerie. I am humbled and honored for the recognition.

The Rules:

  1. Three quotes for three days .
  2. Three nominees each day (no repetition).
  3. Thank the person who nominated you.
  4. Inform the nominees.

Day Three’s Quote:

I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart. I am. I am. I am.
~Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath’s work has inspired me since I was 13, which is when I first read The Bell Jar. It wasn’t until I re-read it in my late teens though, that her words began to sink in and make sense to me. This quote helped me through a very dark period in my life and remains a favorite.

Nominations:

As many know, I do not do the nominations part of these challenges. So many of my lovely blogger friends here on WordPress have nomination/award-free blogs and I respect them for that choice. So as always, I will say… if you want to join in on this lovely challenge, snag the rules, share your quotes and link back to my post so I can read your quotes.

Thank you, my lovelies, for joining me during this challenge. I hope you found my choice of quotes inspiring.

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Three Days, Three Quotes Challenge – Day 2

The lovely Valerie over at Life and My Insights has nominated me for the Three Days, Three Quotes Challenge. Thank you, Valerie. I am humbled and honored for the recognition.

The Rules:

  1. Three quotes for three days .
  2. Three nominees each day (no repetition).
  3. Thank the person who nominated you.
  4. Inform the nominees.

Day Two’s Quote:

“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

I love this quote because it reminds me that sometimes we become too enamored with the words we write, even when those words may not fit our narrative or be quite right. King gives us permission to slaughter those words without remorse. I will admit though, I don’t kill AND bury my darlings. Often, I just copy and paste those darlings into a file that I keep in case those words ever fit somewhere else more appropriately.

Nominations:

As many know, I do not do the nominations part of these challenges. So many of my lovely blogger friends here on WordPress have nomination/award-free blogs and I respect them for that choice. So as always, I will say… if you want to join in on this lovely challenge, snag the rules, share your quotes and link back to my post so I can read your quotes.

See you again tomorrow for the final quote.

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Three Days, Three Quotes Challenge – Day 1

The lovely Valerie over at Life and My Insights has nominated me for the Three Days, Three Quotes Challenge. Thank you, Valerie. I am humbled and honored for the recognition.

The Rules:

  1. Three quotes for three days .
  2. Three nominees each day (no repetition).
  3. Thank the person who nominated you.
  4. Inform the nominees.

Day One’s Quote:

“Thou art to me a delicious torment.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson from Essays and English Traits, on Friendship 1841

There is just something so darkly savoring about this quote. Relationships often feel like this ~delicious and tormenting~ at the same time.

Nominations:

As many know, I do not do the nominations part of these challenges. So many of my lovely blogger friends here on WordPress have nomination/award-free blogs and I respect them for that choice. So as always, I will say… if you want to join in on this lovely challenge, snag the rules, share your quotes and link back to my post so I can read your quotes.

See you again tomorrow for another quote.

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Liebster Award

I’ve been nominated by the lovely Sandra Yeaman for the Liebster Award. Actually, she nominated all three of my blogs at once. I am deeply honored and humbled by her kind words.

Sandra is a fascinating woman who, in her own words, “has been writing her story and her journey from young woman seeking adventure to a mature woman who found her mission.” Her A2Z posts are filled with the amazing places she has lived and/or visited.

The Liebster Award is given to bloggers by other bloggers. This is a way to recognize great fellow bloggers for their work and to promote their blogs and our blogs as well.

LIEBSTER AWARD GUIDELINES:

These are the guidelines to keep this award going when you decide to accept the award.liebster-award

  1. Display an image of the award and write about your nomination.
  2. Thank and link the person who nominated you for this award.
  3. Answer the 11 questions prepared for you by the blogger who nominated you.
  4. Nominate 5-11 awesome bloggers who you think  deserve this award, and create 11 questions of your own for your nominees to answer.
  5. List these guidelines in your blog post.

MY ANSWERS TO SANDRA’S QUESTIONS:

  1. What book(s) are you reading now? Currently, I am reading the following books: Amber Wake: Gabriel Falling (The Tazor’s Adventures Pirate Tales) by Ronovan Hester and P.S. Bartlett, The Oracle Philon 2 by Jerry Kubicki, and The Raven – The Secret Chronicles of Lost Magic by Aderyn Wood.
  2. Who else do you think would enjoy reading [them]? I’m not sure. They are all different genres. So, I guess anyone who isn’t limited to just one genre. 
  3. Which author would you like to write your life story? Probably Stephen King. Why? I think he could capture my darkness well.
  4. Name three authors you would like to invite to dinner. I would say Ray Bradbury, Lisa Jackson, and Stephen King. Why? They represent my three favorite genres – science fiction, thriller/suspense and horror. It would also make for some fascinating conversations.
  5. Summarize your life in three sentences. “I suffered. I endured. I overcame.”
  6. What was the last book you read that kept you up late into the night to finish? Wow, it has been so long since I’ve had the luxury of reading a book long into the night to finish it. I read so many books at once, that I generally schedule them each night for 2-4 chapters each night. I cannot recall the last time.
  7. Have you read a book recently you decided was a waste of time? If I think it might be a waste of time, I don’t even begin it.
  8. What’s your favorite genre? Science Fiction Why? I love the possibilities, the world-building, aliens and the technology.
  9. What genre haven’t you read much of yet? I’ve probably read just about all genres. Contemporary Romance is my least favorite.
  10. What would be a good title for your autobiography? A Delicious Torment
  11. What’s the title of the next book you plan to begin reading? I’ve promised to review Soul Retrievers by David Burton, will begin it mid-May

MY LIEBSTER AWARD NOMINEES:

Most everyone who knows me here in the blogiverse know that although I happily accept all awards that are issued to me, I do not do nominations. My reason for this is that many of my favorite bloggers have award-free blogs and I do not wish to violate their decisions. So as usual, I will list 11 questions and anyone who wishes to answer them can consider themselves nominated. Snag the badge, display the rules, answer the questions and link back to me so I can read them. Or, if you’d prefer, just answer the questions in comments.

MY QUESTIONS FOR BLOGGERS:

  1. What brings a smile to your face? Why?
  2. You’ve just settled down with a few close friends for a lovely evening. What do you talk about?
  3. What is your favorite beverage? Why?
  4. Who is your ‘dirty little secret’ (that one celebrity you don’t admit to watching, but never miss anything they are in)?
  5. What are you grateful for? Why?
  6. If money were no object, where would you live? Why?
  7. The love of your life just gave you a present. What is it?
  8. What do you daydream about?
  9. What is your birth order? Do you fit the stereotype?
  10. If your life was a book, what genre would best represent it? Why?
  11. Would you rather have a lot of acquaintances or a few close friends? Why?

 

 

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Blogger Recognition Award

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I’ve been nominated for the Blogger Recognition Award by the lovely Brooke @ theutopianuniverse. Thank you so much, Brooke. I am humbled and honored and graciously accept your nomination.

The Rules:

  • Write a post to show your award
  • Give a brief story of how your blog started
  • Give two advice notes to new bloggers
  • Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog
  • Select 15 other blogs you want to give the award to

I think I’ve told the story about how A Whispered Wind came about before, but I will tell it again for my new followers. A Whispered Wind is actually the title of an unfinished novel that I was working on eons ago. When I began it, I was in the flow of it full force. Then I had a serious bout of depression. When I recovered from that depression, I could no longer get back into the voice of my MC. It sits now on a shelf awaiting the day when I may or may not get back to it. So why did I chose to use the title of an unfinished novel? Good question. I love the way the words sound together. I used to post my poetry and short fiction on another site, but I had a falling out with some of the writers there and decided to just create a blog to put my work on. I was currently working on that novel and thought that maybe I would post it on here too. That never came about, but I have been pretty much actively blogging here on A Whispered Wind since.

My best advice for new bloggers:

  1. Make your blog easily accessible to other bloggers. You can do this by adding the following widgets to your blog: Follow Me by Email, Search, Calendar, Archives, Categories, Tags, Social Media. You can add other widgets too, but the above should be on every blog to make it easier for your followers to follow you on other media (if you want that kind of thing), find your stuff, and go back through your blog for your older material.
  2. Chose a theme for your blog, be it a personal journal, writing blog for your poetry or fiction, your hobbies, or just interesting facts that you have knowledge about.
  3. (yes, I know it said 2, but I just have to add this!) Be consistent! This goes for not only posting regularly, but answering your comments and visiting those who follow you as often as possible. The blogosphere is a community and if you want followers, you have to give as much as you take.

As for nominations, I nominate EVERYONE! You are all phenomenal and I enjoy all of your blogs! So consider yourself nominated, grab the badge, follow the rules and link back to me so I can read your answers.

 

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Hump Day Poetry – Week 4

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Hump Day Poetry is a weekly poetry blog-share every Wednesday. Here’s how you can join in

The rules:

1. Write a poem (any type of poetry, even for other challenges) You have from Wednesday to the following Tuesday to link up!
2. Grab the badge and display it on your blog to show your support.
3. Link it to my poem of the week with a pingback or by leaving the link to your poem in comments.
4. Visit other bloggers’ poetry for that week. Like, leave a comment, and share! (Please try to visit as many other poets as possible. Keep the community love flowing!)

Note: to create a pingback, simply include the url of this post somewhere in your post. Please check my page to ensure your pingback has posted. If not, it is either awaiting moderation, or the pingback failed (happens sometimes!). To ensure your post is seen, you may want to just add the link to my page. I would rather have duplicates than not get to read your poetry!

Click HERE for further information. And now for my poem of the week….

 

My Anchor
~for Lisa D.

O my dear friend
how I long for days’ past
when life was carefree
our greatest struggles
just to fit in
these years as outcast
have hardened me
worn me to bone
a masked skeleton
only your devotion
keeps me here
prevents Death
from his conquest
O how easily I could drift
lose my way upon the sea
you are the anchor
that keeps me safe
my darkened soul
lifted, lightened
by your touch

©2016 Lori Carlson. All Rights Reserved.

 

Happenings in the Wold of Poetry

Check out 48 Writing Contests in March 2016 – No entry fees (note: poetry, fiction and non-fiction contests)

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Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

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My lovely friend Annette has nominated me for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award. I am deeply honored by this. Annette has become an important part of my life and I am blessed to know her. She has offered some questions and I will do my best to answer them.

  1. Why do you blog? I blog because I desire to share whatever I create with others, to enjoy others’ works, and to make good friends.
  2. Do you hope to accomplish something with blogging or do you just enjoy it? Actually both. I wish to create a network with other writers and I enjoy blogging.
  3. Where do you live? A small railroad town in S.W. Virginia
  4. What are a few of your top books? The House of Breath by William Goyen, The Ender’s Game series by Orson Scott Card, my entire Stephen King collection, The Mars books by Kim Stanley Robinson, and my collection of poetry books by a variety of poets.
  5. How about movies? What are your favorites? Oh dear, where to start. My all time favorite movie is The Breakfast Club. Some of my other faves are Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Pretty Woman, City of Angels, Eat Pray Love, Dr. Zhivago, all of the X-Men movies, all of the Iron Man movies, and tons of classic movies from the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s.
  6. What could you not live without? Air, water, food, clothing and shelter. Seriously, I could do without everything else.
  7. How would you hope to be described? Eccentric, odd, loving, compassionate, and friendly.
  8. What is your soapbox? Racism, bigotry and ignorance.
  9. Where would you like to retire? I already am, somewhat, but if I had my druthers and apparently with this question, I do, it would be somewhere in coastal Maine.
  10. What do you do for work/day job/etc.? I am disabled, but I am also a writer.

As for nominations, this is the only part of these awards that I do not participate in. So many of my blogging friends do not accept them and I don’t want to push this on anyone who wouldn’t want to participate. So, instead, I nominate anyone who wishes to participate. Snag the award banner and answer the above questions and if you would be so kind, link back to me here so I can read your answers.