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Fandango’s Flashback Friday — March 31st

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Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of your earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year.

How about you? Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year? You can repost your Flashback Friday post on your blog and pingback to this post. Or you can just write a comment below with a link to the post you selected.

If you’ve been blogging for less than a year, go ahead and choose a post that you previously published on this day (the 31st) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on March 31, 2018.

Time to Write — Baby It’s Cold Outside

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“Come on, hurry,” Veronica called out to her husband.

“Why, again, are we doing this?” Tim asked.

“I told you. It’s for my blog,” Veronica said. “Do you ever listen when I’m talking to you?”

“Yes, I listen. I just forgot what you said.”

“But you just asked me why I needed my camera,” Veronica said, “and I told you I have to get some pictures for my blog.”

“So what is your post about that we need to go out in the freezing cold?” Tim wanted to know.

“It’s in response to a photography challenge,” Veronica explained. “We’re supposed to post pictures that reflect all four seasons. I already have some that I took when we were at Virginia Beach last summer. And remember when we were in New Hampshire last fall and I took those stunning pictures of the autum leaves?”

“Yeah,” said Tim.

“And for spring I’m going to use one of the pictures I took of the cherry blossoms on the Potomac during our trip to DC a few years back,” Veronica said.

“So now you need a shot to show a wintry scene,” Tim said.

“Exactly,” said Veronica. “I was thinking of something artistic, like bare, snow-covered branches contrasting against the deep, blue sky. That would really depict winter well, don’t you think!”

“Can’t you just use one of the pictures from that week we spent skiing at Taos? I know you have pictures from that trip.”

“Yes, but I just wanted something unusual, unique, and interesting,” Veronica said. “And we are here in Montreal, aren’t we?”

“Fine,” Tim said. “But let’s make it quick, okay? Because baby it’s cold outside.”

Written for Rachel Poli’s Time To Write prompt, which is no longer around, although Rachel has a different blog these days.

Rory’s Morning Dawdler — 02/15/23

Fandango8 Comments

Rory, the king of questions, also known as the Autistic Composter, has come up with a new series of questions that he calls “The Morning Dawdler.” He poses four questions three times a week, questions he says are “inspired by life, humor, conversations and observations, town life, blog posts, writers, gardening, news stories, television, entertainment, and human curiosity, and so on.”

Here are Rory’s four morning dawdler questions today.

If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be and why?

I’d be a giant Redwood tree. Why? Because Redwoods are the tallest trees on earth, reaching more than 350 feet high. Nice view, huh? And Redwoods can also live for thousands of years.

Name 5 uses for a stapler other than stapling.

  1. Paperweight
  2. Weapon to throw at a coworker who is annoying you
  3. Musical instrument in the percussion family
  4. To attach things to walls or bulletin boards
  5. In a surgical setting, to join tissue together to close a surgical wound.

Do you believe in tipping for good service received and do you think that tipping makes for a better service?

I assume this question is about financial gratuities and not a tip of the hat or which horse to bet on in the fifth race at the track. In that context, yes, I do tip for good service and I believe that the prospect of a tip can lead to better service.

Do you have a blog to write or do you have a blog to socialize only and which one could you survive without if one was taken away?

I have a blog to write. The socialization aspect of blogging is icing on the cake. I started my first blog in 2005 and until I migrated it over to WordPress and discovered a vibrant community of bloggers, my posts generated minimal social interactions.

As to Rory’s question about one being taken away, I’m not sure how to answer it. If the socialization aspect of blogger were taken away, I would still write blog post with no or limited socialization, just as I did for nine years between 2005 and 2014. But if the writing aspect of blogging were taken away, what’s left? No writing, no blogging, right? Maybe I’m not understanding the question correctly.

Blogging Insights — Definition of Blogging

Fandango14 Comments

It’s Monday and Dr. Tanya is back with her weekly Blogging Insights prompt. She provides us with a quote about blogging or writing and asks us to express our opinion about said quote.

This week’s quote is from Michael Coniff. I Googled Michael Coniff and there are quite a few, but I think this quote probably came from the Michael Coniff who is a writer and producer.

“Blogs are whatever we make them. Defining ‘Blog’ is a fool’s errand.”

I think this quote is accurate, but I also think, if one is going to take a stab at defining what a blog is, the better question is how to define a good blog. So I’m going to give my opinion about what attributes make a good blog.

  • Posts should be well written, with a minimum number of typos, misspellings, and usage, grammatical, and punctuation errors. Proofreading is a must!
  • Post should engage the reader by being compelling, interesting, and, if appropriate, witty.
  • Posts should inform or educate, but in an entertaining way.
  • Posts should be easy to read. No post should require a reader to go to the dictionary or thesaurus to understand what the writer is saying.
  • Posts should tell a story, even if it’s non-fiction, because stories get the reader engaged.
  • Posts should have some visuals, like photos, videos, drawings, or something that illustrates or amplifies the text.
  • Variety is the spice of life, they say. I believe that a good blog demonstrates variety in the posts, from prose to poetry, fiction to non-fiction, serious or humorous, or anything that keeps the reader from getting bored by the same old stuff post after post.
  • Bloggers should post on a consistent basis, whether daily, weekly, or even monthly. Unfortunately, when it comes to blogging, out of sight, out of mind.
  • And finally, the best posts, in my opinion, are those that demonstrate that the blogger has a passion for writing.

What do you think constitute a good blog?

Fandango’s Flashback Friday — July 22nd

Fandango15 Comments

Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of your earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year.

How about you? Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year? You can repost your Friday Flashback post on your blog and pingback to this post. Or you can just write a comment below with a link to the post you selected.

If you’ve been blogging for less than a year, go ahead and choose a post that you previously published on this day (the 22nd) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on July 22, 2017.

May Your Life Be Filled With Likes

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An irritating tap, tap, tap on his shoulder awakened Stanley from his dormant state. Without opening his eyes or looking up, he practically screamed, “WHAT?!”

“Stanley, you’re asleep at your desk.” Stanley sat up abruptly upon hearing the voice of his boss. “Are you not getting enough sleep?” his boss inquired. “Are you ill?”

“No, no. I’m fine.”

“Then why are you sleeping at your desk?”

Stanley let out a deep sigh. “I have a wife and kids who are always demanding my attention. I have a dog and a cat that need to be tended to.” Stanley looked up at his boss and continued. “I have books to read, TV shows to watch, meals to eat, personal hygiene to take care of, and sleep to get.”

“Yes, Stanley, we all have those demands on our lives, but you also have this job,” the boss said. “And we need you to be awake and alert when you are here at the office. We need you to do your job.”

“But I also have my blog,” Stanley said, plaintively. “I have posts to write, comments to respond to, and other bloggers’ posts to read and comment on.”

Stanley’s boss couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“So I stay up late most nights,” Stanley explained. “Sometimes the whole night,” he continued, “to keep up with my blog.”

“I can understand that, Stanley, and I appreciate your honesty,” his boss said. “So I’ll tell you what. I’m going to make it easy on you. You’re fired. This way you can spend all the time you need to pursue your blog, which is clearly your priority.”

“What? Wait! No!” Stanley wailed in protest.

“I’ll have Helen from HR call you, Stanley’s boss said. “May you life be filled with likes, Stanley.”

This post was written for today’s one-word daily prompt, “Dormant.”

What Were We Thinking?

Fandango47 Comments

Our grown daughter didn’t understand. “What were you thinking? You finally had the freedom do fo whatever you want to do, but not anymore.”

Our grown son said, “You have two grandkids. Your decision will cut into the time you could otherwise spend with them.”

All good points, but despite those truths, on Thursday my wife and I adopted a rescue dog. She’s a 13 month old Labrador Retriever mix, although we don’t know what the other part of the mix is. It’s been a long time since we had a dog this young. Our last rescue dog was five when we got her, and she was quite mellow. Our new girl is, in a word, rambunctious.

Our previous dog was crate trained and she happily slept in her crate all night long. No so with with our new little girl. She decided that spending the night on our bed and crawling all over us was where it’s at. Hence, our first night with our new gal was, shall we say, sleepless.

She’s mostly housebroken, but this morning she did have one accident (so far, the only one). And while she knows commands like “sit” and “down,” others like “come,” “stay,” and “leave it” are not recognized words in her doggy vocabulary. So a lot of training is a first priority.

We’ve trained dogs in the past, but it’s been a while. So when a friend recommended this book…

…I ordered it from Amazon. It will arrive on Monday, and our goal will be to have a well-trained, obedient dog in about five weeks.

And one last thing. I haven’t spent much time on WordPress since we picked up our pup on Thursday due to time spent trying to train and teach her a few things, giving her sufficient playtime to burn up some of that puppy energy, and taking her for very long walks, which is good for her and good for me. I suspect that this focus on our new family member will continue to be the case at least for the next few days. Hopefully I’ll get back into the swing of things with respect to my blog soon.