challenge ideas observations writing

Defusing Confrontation

It’s Indepence Day in the United States. Historian Heather Cox Richardson has a marvelous newsletter to mark the occasion, one that reminds us to live up to our highest ideals in this country, rather than sink into our lowest manifestations of a society. We haven’t been doing a good job of reaching the ideals of life, liberty, equality, or the pursuit of happiness lately. There’s a sliver of people who would rob the majority of…

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Mindimooye

When it comes to writing, there are some articles that take a while to develop, sometimes months, sometimes years, because there are pieces missing that you sense are missing, but you haven’t yet found them. Such is the case with today’s blog post. In December 2020, I made a note about “Moms as social glue – keeping families together across space & time.” This is something I’ve seen in my family, particularly on my dad’s…

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Without Obligation – Now with Email Subscriptions!

One of the aspects of blogging that I love is the ability to constantly fuss around with how it looks and functions, something that WordPress allows me to do with relative ease. Well, I’ve been fussing again recently. I had been looking for years for an easy way to allow people to subscribe to my blog posts via email as they publish. It’s the way I like to get blog posts from writers I follow.…

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Writing Nook – Now With Pencils!

When I transformed my book giveaway box into a Writing Nook last month, I struggled with whether to add some sort of writing implement. I’m using the Writing Nook to give away blank notebooks in several sizes, index cards, and books about writing. I mentally went back-and-forth on whether to include pencils or pens. I prefer pens myself, but with our very cold winters (24 below zero was a constant for two weeks this past…

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Thoughts on Blogging in 2021

I am creeping up on my 15th blog anniversary, come September 8, 2021. Fourteen-plus years! I can’t believe it’s been that long or that I’d still be in love with this format after all this time. (Here’s where I started.) Periodically over these years I’ve done a bit of naval gazing about the topic of blogging, usually triggered by something I’ve read. Such is the case with this post. I recently read a great blog…

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