blogging « TheRealSharon's Blog

{March 1, 2012} Back to the Drawing…I mean, Writing Board

I say writing board, because I can NOT draw to save myself. Seriously, give a newborn a crayon and a piece of paper and whatever they manage to scribble out would beat what I can draw!

But anyways, I am BACK! I know I have been away from my blog for way too long and I do miss it. I am still working on my 12 in ’12 journey and as you will soon read, my 3rd month goal should help me get back into the swing of things around here. But first, an update on months 1 and 2!

Month 1′s goal was to drink more water. I can say that I have been doing VERY well with this. At the most I will drink about 2 sodas a day, but mainly I have been sticking to just one and the rest of the day I just drink water. I want to stick with this because I think it’s a lot better for me and hey, it would be nice if filling myself with water could benefit my hunger pangs, ya know? I had a virus a couple weeks ago and it just lingered on forever and ever, not sure if it was the sickness or just my drinking more water, but at my doctor’s visit for the virus, I had dropped 4 pounds out of nowhere. Not sure if that number has gone down anymore or stayed, but I was happy to see it. Now if only it can KEEP going down!

Month 2′s goal was working on my depression and I HAVE been, but honestly, the path has been really rough, because LIFE and sickness got in the way and made it harder to focus on things I needed to. I have been working on trying to be more positive, but I think Month 3′s goal will help more.

For this month, I want to get back into blogging regularly, like I did all last year. Yea, OK, maybe that’s not very original, but I have noticed that getting away from blogging has taken away one of the biggest ways I cope with depression AND how I keep in contact with the people I care about. I miss using my blog as an outlet and reading other blogs. I think I have been kind of overwhelmed with getting back into reading them, because I am just SOOOO behind and I feel like it will take me a year to catch up. I think my best avenue will be to just start with the most recent posts of people I was following and get back into the routine and not worry so much about everything I missed. I would really love to read ALL I missed, but I think people will understand if that might not be an easy task to do.

So here I am, back in the blogging world. Next week I will restart my www wednesday letting everyone know what all I have read since the last one. I will return to doing Five Question Fridays and then blogging whatever comes out in between those times. I still plan to do posts like Mirthful Monday was but they may just be on whatever days I feel like posting them instead of just on Monday’s. Sorry I have been gone for so long and I hope my readers are still out there and I’m not just posting to the crickets!

Have a great weekend,

TheRealSharon

{January 17, 2012} Sometimes you got to take…

A blogging hiatus. I didn’t expect to take one so soon after posting about it being so hard to NOT blog, but nevertheless, I did. The past two days I haven’t blogged due to just plain NOT feeling up to it and I could have posted a little tiny bit of nonsense just to make myself not feel guilty, BUT I decided against it. I would rather miss a day or two, if need be, then take up a post with “filler” material just to keep away the guilty feelings.

The truth is, I DO feel guilty for missing two days. At the same time, I think I deserved to take a short hiatus, just as everyone deserves to now and then. The idea of missing today too, just made me feel as if I was giving up on my blog, though. And that’s the last thing I want. So I decided to get myself to the computer and blog today!

It seems strange to switch to a completely different topic now, so I will just stay with the topic of my blog. I’m keeping WWW Wednesdays and Five Question Fridays because I love doing those, but should I keep my Mirthful Monday? And if I do, should I change anything about it? I love having different themes and sharing jokes, cartoons, quotes, etc. that I find to fit the themes, but I wonder lately if I should add some diversity. Say, for instance, maybe share a personal story that made me happy or a story I read somewhere that made me happy? Share GOOD news from the world instead of the bad news that seems to fill the media more and more these days? And have the jokes and quotes every once in awhile too?

Or should I make Mirthful Monday a shared thing where I have a different topic or theme every week and everyone that chooses to join in has to find something happy to share that matches that topic? What do my followers think? I would love to hear some feedback.

For now, I will leave this post with those thoughts in mind.

{January 14, 2012} So hard to not post now

Why is it that now that I am done with my daily post challenge, I have a hard time with the idea of missing a day?
Here it is 11:30 at night and I have been watching the clock tick away the hours, knowing I haven’t posted anything. There’s nothing wrong with me missing a day at this point, but I find myself feeling guilty when I think of not posting today. So, what’s the deal?
Am I now so used to posting daily that it’s as much of a habit as eating and sleeping is? If I have to miss a post eventually, will I end up filled with guilt? I don’t know and I guess it’s not the worst thing to have become a habit in my life. If only this water challenge could take effect as well as my blogging challenge obviously had. Have I been doing well with drinking water? No, I haven’t. I want to automatically blame not feeling well as to why, but honestly, that would be a cop out. I have water bottles available to me. There’s no excuse for me to not grab one more often. I know my problem is simply that I am choosing to grab soda instead. Bad Sharon!
Looks like this year’s challenges are starting out harder than last years….Will I be able to suck it up and drink the darn water? And when I do, will I get to a point where drinking water is like blogging has become for me?
Only time will tell.

P.s. Anyone know where I could buy glasses in which I can view the future?

{January 12, 2012} I made it!

It’s official! I have now completed my Postaday 2011 Challenge. I have posted daily, without missing one post, 365 days in a row!
So, what’s next?
More blogging, of course! I will not be going for a daily challenge in 2012, however I do want to continue blogging daily. I’m not going to consider it a challenge or obligation, because if I am really sick or unable to post for some reason, I don’t want to have to throw out a mediocre post to just full in space. I feel like I ended up doing this in 2011 a few times and I disliked having to do so. At the same time, posting daily was more about fighting procrastination for me, sticking to a goal, and recapturing my love for writing, so even the short posts helped me. In the end, that was all I could ask for.
This year, I want to dig deeper into my writing, challenge myself to new heights with it and hopefully uncover more of the true me through this process. I also hope to catch up on the blogs I follow and come up with a plan of how to stay up to date with your blogs and comment on a regular basis again.
I hope all my followers will stick with me on my journey and are as excited as I am to see what’s in store in 2012!

{December 1, 2011} First Day of December

It’s December and in just a few weeks, I will have family in that I haven’t seen in a year…some that I haven’t seen in over 2 1/2 years! I am so excited! In fact, the excitement is so great that it’s hard for me to focus on anything but the holidays. It’s not just me, either, that seems to be going through a hard time with keeping up with their blog and everything else. It’s just a very hectic time. But I only have 41 days left until the date I originally started this post-a-day madness and then I will be able to say I did it. I haven’t decided whether I will continue a post-a-day through 2012 or not…I am very conflicted about it actually. A part of me worries that after doing it for a whole year, I may end up back to hardly ever blogging, but at the same time, I feel like I might need to cut back from doing it every day so I can shift the focus to other things in my life. I would love to hear opinions on whether my readers would like to see me continue daily or they think I should cut back to 2-3 times a week or even weekly.

Apparently today was also National Pie Day….but since I’m not a big pie lover anyways, the only reason I knew this was by looking it up.

Here’s a little poem to get you into the holiday spirit!

This section is a Christmas tree:
Loaded with pretty toys for you.
Behold the blocks, the Noah’s arks,
The popguns painted red and blue.
No solemn pine-cone forest-fruit,
But silver horns and candy sacks
And many little tinsel hearts
And cherubs pink, and jumping-jacks.
For every child a gift, I hope.
The doll upon the topmost bough
Is mine. But all the rest are yours.
And I will light the candles now.
- Vachel Lindsay

{November 6, 2011} Dedication to 2 of my fellow Bloggers!

Yesterday, I announced the winners of my Weekly Photo Challenge Quiz as Eliz and Dayle and today I am dedicating this post to them and their blogs!

First up, Eliz of Mirth and Motivation!

I have been following her blog for seven months now, almost as long as I have been doing the Post a Day Challenge. Her blog is a perfect mixture of laughter, inspiration, gorgeous photos and insightful information! The other day she asked when are you happiest, and reading blogs like hers is definitely one of the times when I AM the happiest. In honor of the joy her blog brings me, I thought I would highlight some of my favorite more recent posts of hers. I definitely recommend that you check them out!

In Reflections: Accept your own beauty, she talked about how beauty WAS truly in the eye of the beholder and how to become aware of how beautiful we really are. On October 24th, she posted a variety of short stories that made me think, made me laugh, made me cry, then laugh yet again! In On Writing: Is There an App for that?, she made me think on technology and if it really DOES help my writing or not, but she also made me laugh at the title. Her humor post on limericks had me rolling around laughing and also straining my brain trying to come up with a witty one myself! Her photo challenge on Sunsets had my jaw drop in awe but if you check out her posts daily, you will see how amazing her photos always are! One of my all time favorites for photos was when she went to the Met to see an Alexander McQueen show, definitely a post you MUST check out!

If you’re not already a follower of hers, go check her blog out! You will NOT regret it!

Next, we have Dayle from I shall be a toad!

She is participating in a Community Network Meme with me, hosted by Tom Baker, that I invite you ALL to join! I haven’t been following her as long as Eliz, but it feels just as long. Way back in April, I was researching information about tanning online and came across a post she did on Commentarista.com against tanning. I left a comment on the post because I agreed with it, never expecting to actually hear a response and definitely not expecting the girl who wrote it to read my blog. I mean, I thought it was one of those blogs where people are paid bloggers and they don’t have time to actually respond or read yours, you know? But she did respond and she read my blog and she liked my blog. From there, she gave me her wordpress information and I started reading her blog on here. From the beginning, it was evident that we had different backgrounds and different religious beliefs, but the amount of stuff we have in common is phenomenal! She is an amazing writer whose words I feel I can relate to, no matter the topic, and it’s always a joy to read her posts. Here are some of my favorite posts of hers that I am sharing with you! PLEASE do check them out for yourself!

Her traditions are different from mine, as I said, but also very beautiful. In her Halloween post, she talked about her Samhain traditions and her way of honoring the dead. In The power of words, she expresses why we shouldn’t use the word retarded and speaks about her late aunt who she was named after while telling a beautiful story of love and acceptance. During Banned Books Week, she highlighted daily books that had been challenged. She celebrated the beginning of Autumn with thanks and an old poem with beautiful imagery. In her post, 46 cents, she took a writing prompt and brought tears to my eyes. And in one of my favorite posts by her, she shares her vulnerable side in a way that was extremely relatable and heartfelt.

I just picked a few of the many posts I loved by these two bloggers. It is my hopes that in reading the ones I picked out, you will come to the conclusion I once did: That they are both wonderful women who have amazing blogs!

______________________________________
Giving Thanks Day #6: Today, I give thanks for blogging and the many friends I have made through it!

{September 29, 2011} I Guess I’ll Share

Recently, one of my blogging friends(Dayle) introduced me to an idea she got from another friend. The idea was “Saturday Sharing” where you do a post sharing some of your friend’s favorite blog posts of the week and link to them. Well, today is obviously NOT Saturday, BUT I liked the idea and my mind has failed to come up with any ideas today, SO I have decided to share some posts with you.

I’m not going to promise I make this a weekly thing and join Saturday Sharing officially, though. We will see what happens….

Since this is a Thursday, the posts I have picked are from the week of 22nd until today, the 29th.

Mrs. Piglet in Portugal announced the arrival of her new grandson this past week, Congratulations! This is her second grandchild of all and second also this year!

Miss Whiplash shared with all her readers 20 holiday complaints which were both utterly shocking and rather entertaining.

Marilyn over at Communicating Across Boundaries did an amazing post on Accent Angst that really made me sit back and think on how one’s accent can cause you to be treated. A very mind opening read indeed!

A new blog I just started reading by Tinkerbelle86 had an absolutely laughter inducing post on Inventions that I really recommend to those needed cheering up.

I’d like to give another shout-out to Dayle who has been posting daily this week on Banned Books Week. I invite you all to read each post starting from the beginning!

If you’re in the mood to watch a video about cows being rounded up by remote control car, head over to the Everyday I see a cow blog for a real treat!

And last but not least, Judith did a great post today that made me thankful to live in America and I am sure after reading it, you too will feel the same!

(There were plenty more good ones I read this week, but I just wanted to pick a few for now)

{April 7, 2011} Planning a trip procrastination style

Tomorrow morning I leave for the weekend with my mom on a sort of business/fun trip. My family is a member of this insurance group and every year, each lodge or area sends a couple people as representatives to different places. Apparently, they have meetings where they talk about the insurance plans and this big banquet. We’re going to be staying in a hotel above this huge mall so in our spare time, we can go window shopping or for real shopping….if I actually had a bunch of money. Guess it’s good I’ll be with my mom. LOL

The meetings sound incredibly boring and I hope they don’t last too long. I’m just tagging along to keep my mom company and to have fun staying in a nice hotel and looking around a huge mall for the weekend. Going on a trip anywhere and my procrastination clash, though. I have so much yet to do and I am basically just starting NOW to get ready.

I am one of the unlucky ones who only owns a desktop computer and so is my mom, so other than my cell phone, I will be away from a computer until Sunday afternoon. Of course, this means I will have to have at least a couple blogs already done and scheduled. Drafting blogs is not exactly something a procrastinator is good about but I do have one that is close to completion that I started yesterday…..so a little less work to do. Now to plan a couple more, pack, look up directions, make room on my DVR…..etc, etc, etc.

I am aiming to actually get to bed at a decent hour tonight since for the next few mornings I will have to be up at an ungodly hour. Ungodly hour meaning before 7….ugh! I am a night owl…..NOT an early bird by any means. But I will make it, I always do somehow.

Thank God for my to do list. After forgetting important things one too many times in my past, I have started making a to do list with all I need to do listed and EVERY item I need to pack. Even those obvious ones like my purse and my cell phone. You would be surprised what you can forget in the heat of the moment…..So enjoy my pre-drafted blogs this weekend and sorry if it’s kind of cheating. I hate feeling like I am cheating by having them already done, but I still did them…just early!

Now off to finish my to do list as quickly as possible and maybe I will have some interesting stories to tell when I return from my trip!

{February 6, 2010} A new start

So this is me….This is the place I can put all my thoughts, ideas and emotions that are constantly running through my head.

Believe me, there have been a lot…Apparently, getting married does not lessen the thoughts either, not that I ever thought it would, I just never imagined that at this point in my life, I would be starting my own blog. And now that I sit here at my computer, typing away, looking at all these new technical aspects of blogging, I feel overwhelmed. BUT I have to keep typing because for the past few days, all these words have been running through my head saying sit down and write me down! It almost feels like my head will explode if I don’t do a blog and start telling my thoughts……

I have to admit something here…Ever since I was younger, I have felt overlooked. Obviously, I was there, walking around right in front of everyone, but yet I felt even when a person was listening to me, they were never really hearing me, truly getting what I was saying. I guess me blogging is a way for me to maybe get people to listen…..Listen to the real me that has always been there under this outward facade, but no one is really seeing me….they are only seeing this outward appearance that doesn’t define who I am, it just masks it.

Does everyone grow up wanting strongly to just be heard? To feel that they are important? That they truly matter in the big scheme of things? Sometimes I feel that I want this so much that if I am not heard, I will die one day with all these words wasted and flowing out of me as my last tear drops fall….. Did I mention I hate writing?….Yea, physically writing with a pen or pencil just drives me insane…..but something about typing on a keyboard feels like a great big release. Yet I know that getting my words out on paper or even in this blog will probably look like one great, big mess to you….I will never pretend to be a skilled, literary writer. My blogs may look just plain sloppy, but then again, maybe something in my thoughts will get out there to someone….maybe it will inspire, maybe it will make someone think, maybe it will just pass the time….whichever way it reads, I hope no matter what, that for once in my life I, Sharon Lynn Lane Hughes, can make myself heard.

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