Friday, March 1, 2013

March 1st...I Am Ready! (I hope....)

To the “many” followers of my Family Trove blog I need to explain that I will be posting one blog a day for the month of March. I have committed to do this through the Slice of Life Challenge. I am sure some of the blogs will not be family stories, so if I veer off the topic of the blog name, please understand. Also, please forgive me for not posting for many months. It has been a sad and emotional year for our family and I hope this challenge will help me get back into blogging stories.

I am not sure what to write for my first blog for the Slice of Life. (Visions of Dexter sailing out to sea on his boat 'Slice of Life' carrying body parts to drop into the ocean comes to mind...but I digress.) This is all new territory for me and I have doubts on whether I will be able to fulfill this challenge. Of course, I know that I am not alone in this feeling, so I won't use it as an excuse to stop here and spend the rest of the afternoon playing Words with Friends. My friend, Cathy, has urged...or more like nudged me to commit to this. Fears of disappointing her are persuading me to give it a try.

What is the worst that can happen? Will I not be able to write 31 entries? Will I become so obsessed with writing that I ignore my other responsibilities? If I can't think of a topic will my husband wake up at night to find me growling at the computer trying to break through writer's block? But must I think of the negatives! I could open up my creative thoughts that seemed to have retired when I did four years ago. Maybe I will have a great following of readers, waiting every day for my blog to be posted....well, even one follower would be a plus. Maybe I will write something that will inspire someone else, or cause a chuckle, or bring a tear to the eye.

So, now that I have decided to commit to this challenge, I have to figure out how to post it right, using the Slice of Life URL...or whatever that is. (My husband just told me, “uniform resource locator.”) I will need the assistance from my computer programmer husband, Ray, to instruct me on how to do that. Once I know how...the rest will be fun...stressful...rewarding? Probably all the above. I am excited to read the other blogs and write comments and looking forward to any comments I might get.

The time is here! March 1-31...I am ready! (I hope...)

13 comments:

  1. Oh Jackie, this will be fun, you will figure out how to link and the rest will be a piece of cake, no computer programmers needed. I promise. If I figured it out, you can too. You never know what words will inspire someone reading, and there will be readers. The comments will make you keep writing, so put away the what if's and stay the course. This will be fun.

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  3. This my first year as a "Slicer" too, and I am both excited and overwhelmed by the challenge. I look forward to it though, and think it will push all of us writers out there. Good luck and have fun!

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  4. Hi Jackie. This is my first year as a "Slicer" and my first entry on a blog. I look forward to reading your writing. I am a bit nervous for many of the reasons you name. It will be a good experience--for all of us with our different reasons.

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  5. Welcome! This is really lots of fun! I've been here three years and the conversations about writing and life have been so valuable! Have fun!
    I have made a note about how to publish your link that may be helpful for you:
    When you link to Slice of Life, click on your title for the day’s post, so you get to that post only. Then copy and paste the unique url to just the post for the day. This one should be linked like this:
    http://familytrove.blogspot.com/2013/03/march-1sti-am-ready-i-hope.html
    Let me know if you need help or it doesn’t make sense to you, by replying here, or by emailing me at djtsmith at gmail dot com

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  6. Welcome to this wonderful community. Yes, you will wake up sometimes in the middle of the night with ideas for writing. And sometimes I did ignore other responsibilities, but slicing is so much fun! And yes, you'll be inspired all month long by other slicers. It can become a bit of an obsession, but after March things calm down.

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  7. Welcome! March tends to go by faster because of the slicing challenge, and it looks as though you have many stories to share with us.

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  8. Yeah! So glad you joined us. I just read a few of your older posts. I love all the stories about your family. You gave me some ideas for future slices.

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  9. Welcome. Your worries, fears, concerns, questions about this challenge are all so familiar - last year was my first year and I was petrified - but I DID IT and it was one of the best experiences of my life - which is why I am back. You will figure it all out and have a lot of fun as well. My biggest fear this year is that I'll shirk my other responsibilities - including enough sleep. This happened last year and caused for some unneeded stress. But I won't let all that stop me. Looking forward to reading more from you. Again - welcome.

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  10. Hi, Jackie. Tomorrow after you post your slice, click on the name you gave that post and it will take you to the page where all you see is that one post and not today's post too. When you are there, highlight the url in the address bar, copy it and paste it in the Two Writing Teachers/Slice comment area. You are so close!!! You are still copying the general blog url familytrove.blogspot.com. You need the title part of your post to be seen after it so it will look something like this:
    http://familytrove.blogspot.com/2013/03/march-1sti-am-ready-i-hope.html. Don't give up! Fortunately, people can still see what you have posted and make comments, so don't worry about that!

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  11. The machinations of the writing mind are ever fascinating. Your inside voice shone through here for me. Just float with the current and everything will be fine. Welcome...

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  12. Jackie,
    I'm so glad you have taken the challenge. I love reading your stories. You write with such heart. Besides, it will be nice to have someone going through this roller coaster event with me. We'll cheer each other on.

    Here we go!
    Cathy

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