How I Got Here
The Process, Jan 12, 2016
Reblog and revision of my very first blog post of 2 words, “Believe“, March 8, 2013.
I wanted to write. I knew people were blogging. I wanted to do that too, but I was afraid.
I had no idea how to get into the blogging world, but I opened the blog, called it “Ann’s Blog”, and let that one two word post sit there for quite some time. The theme I had was Twenty/12. I did not know what to do, had not yet met Opinionated Man and several others who would show me what blogging was supposed to be. That blog is still sitting there in cyberspace.
Somehow, I’m not sure how, I made another blog with a name I had used before in different places, “Ann’s Corner” to mean a place of sharing and caring. The theme was Twenty/10. It felt more like my own spot now.
I had lots of posts over in Facebook, so I began to transfer them, starting with 2 sets of posts, in June of 2013. One was a devotional sort of “series” called “An Attitude of Gratitude“, which involved recording for 30 days things which had caused me to be thankful. I transferred 10 of them in one day.
The other “series” was a month long story of time spent with my Mom, who was bedridden and expected to die. This set was called “A Journey with my Mom“. Originally, it was written while I was home in Scotland, to share with friends, for ongoing prayers for my Mom. Now I thought it might help someone else going through the same thing.
These were posted over a few days. Neither of them brought much traffic to my blog pages. They were just sitting there, inactive, for the most part. I was not sure how to move forward.
I reposted a series I had begun but not completed called “30 Days of Proverbs“. It was a challenge to myself to record my thoughts on the book of Proverbs as I read it (I still need to complete this set on Proverbs). I now had 90 or so posts and it seemed no one was responding. I did not know how to widen the net. In my mind, WordPress was missing a chat/messaging system, a way to relate to other bloggers.
It was shortly after that I began to take a serious look at other blogs and how I could interact by reading and commenting. I was in awe of others with a huge amount of readers and wondered how they did it. I learned about “following” and I did that when I found something I liked. I got some reaction in reciprocation. At last! I had a foot in the blogging door! I had some relationships opening up. I still missed the immediate connection of a chat/messaging feature, though!
I found this amazingly successful blogger calling himself “Opinionated Man“. He was writing an intriguing and challenging blog called “Harsh Reality”. If you have not yet found him, do yourself a favour and connect with him here:
His blog, “Harsh Reality” had a place to introduce yourself and to meet people, called “Meet and Greet“. I joined that immediately and garnered a bit more interaction with other bloggers.
I noticed OM had instructions on HOW to blog, so I began to pay attention and follow some principles he outlined. They WORK!!!! Jason C. Cushman (Opinionated Man or OM for short) is an amazing character who is willing to help all kinds of people get their foot in the blogging door by investing his time and his instruction in others.Thanks for your tireless efforts, Jason!
Through him, and his connections, I also found some free blogging courses, Blogging 101 and Writing 101, which really helped with ideas and connections. My stats increased during those times due to widened exposure.
So, I am here. I’m officially a blogger, writing, or at least planning my writing, most days. Thanks to OM, Linda G Hill, Idiot Writer, The Honking Goose, Julia Manuel, Lucky Otter, Be Like Water, ChrllRobb, Insanity Bytes, Linda Lee, Thumbup, Cdog5, A Time To Share, Notewords, Chewing Crayons, Deanne (I knew I shouldn’t have started listing!) and MANY others (TOO MANY to list here, but you know who you are!) who put a fire under me, so to speak, and got me moving in the right direction.
As of today, January 12, 2016, I have 598 posts, 377 readers, and 9,231 hits on my blog. My current theme is Suburbia, and I am enjoying it very much. A friend said the front page is like a store with everything out on the shelves for you to see and browse. I hope many people choose to “shop” here!
I think I’m coming along, slowly, but surely, in this world of blogs and bloggers, all the way from those first two words, “I believe“.
I’m excited!
I’m delighted!
Thanks, everyone, for your input, not matter how large or how small! A “like”, a comment, a word of encouragement, some advice, a reblog. It all helps and is much appreciated. I hope y’all know that 🙂
Ann ❤
38 comments on “How I Got Here”
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Ann's Corner 
Reblogged this on HarsH ReaLiTy and commented:
I appreciate your kind mention and that you included me with such a great list of bloggers! Each of those people are creative, supportive, and awesome in their own way! You also bring your own light to the blogosphere and that is what it is all about! Thanks for the awesome post! -OM
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Thank YOU 😉 😀
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Looking for the Reblog button again. I suspect as soon as I post this comment, it will show up!
Let’s see!
Peace, love & trust in the process,
Sherrie
Sherrie Miranda’s historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador:
http://tinyurl.com/klxbt4y
Her husband made a video for her novel. He wrote the song too:
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Yup, I was right! What’s up with that?! 😉 ❤
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Not sure?
Were you trying to reblog? 😉
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I don’t see a reblog, but thanks for the link. Does that go to a book you wrote?
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Thanks for the kind words Ann!
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You are most welcome 🙂
My pleasure indeed 🙂
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Jason is phenomenal, kindness personified in helping other people. When I first started blogging, I sought his advice and received, as you know, many valuable tips. I’m so glad you are enjoying your blogging now, and I am looking forward to your future posts.
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Thanks!
Nice to meet you 🙂
Will be visiting your blog soon 🙂
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Congrats!
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Thanks!!!!! 🙂
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Ann, I have practically quit blogging after reaching over 400 bloggers. My last year’s blog posts are pitiful, just and excuse to say I’m still alive! This is in part because I seem to generate very few comments, and even fewer conversations. There must be an art to that, besides reading, following and commenting on others’ blogs. Did any of your courses address this? I enjoyed blogging immensely, except the lack of sleep, comments/conversations and the time sucking away my writing time for the “book!”
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Awe…..
I did get ideas and inspiration from these courses. I did not complete either but the beauty of it is that you can always get in on another one and try again.
I found that spending time interacting at other people’s blogs, liking, commenting and reblogging, is what helped me the most. I don’t know of any other way yet, except that I have linked my blog page to Facebook and also linked it to publish to Twitter. I did not mention that in the post, but it has definitely helped.
I hope you don’t give up! Perhaps a break is all you need 🙂
Ann
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Thanks, Ann.
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Hi Ann. I may try a class then. I have done the other things that helped you. Probably I just haven’t really written very much. I was afraid that perhaps I was writing in a manner that didn’t invite the reader to comment, or that just wasn’t what people are interested in. More recently, I decided to jump in and start another blog, this one directly related to my work, which helps me not only “write what you know,” but also flows with my day. I don’t have to switch gears to write about personal things if my head is still in work-related things. Anyway, just stopped by to say hi, and to thank you again for your feedback!
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You are most welcome!
I enjoyed what I read at your blog already. Maybe you can provide a link to your new one?
Thanks!
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I hope you stick with it Joan!
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I will, OM, good to hear from you! I was watching TED talks the other night and selected “funny.” Instead I got a funny but INSPIRATIONAL talk, in which the audience was teased about all the reasons we will never have a great career, ie., our dreams come true. Apparently I have too many excuses for achieving my writing dreams! Of course nothing helps more than that old reverse psychology. . . and a bit of HarsHReaLiTy!
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Reblogged this on KCJones.
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Thanks for the reblog! 🙂
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Wow! I don’t know what you are thanking me for, but you are very welcome. And thank you!!
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Thanking you for frequent input. It’s encouraging….. 🙂
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Oh! Okay. That made me smile.
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Wonderful post, Ann. I found you via Harsh Reality so yes, it does work! I am now following and look forward to more of your thought-provoking posts!
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Thanks! Glad you are here 🙂
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You are welcome, Ann and I am pleased to be there too 🙂
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Reblogged this on My Daily Musing.
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Thanks! 🙂
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My pleasure, :).
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Reblogged this on sherriemiranda1 and commented:
This is One Blogger’s Journey. We all have our own journey. I don’t keep track of my followers. Nor do I look long at how many people saw my blog post, though today, it showed me how many posts per day. I’d rather see the original stats of how many saw my post, even though each post goes onto FB, TW, LI, etc. & I have no idea how many people see them there.
Mostly, blogging helps me keep writing, though, like someone below, I also should be working on my book, the prequel to my debut novel.
I posted a lot of reviews for a few weeks. That helped me understand why many people don’t post reviews.
All in all, I would say, blogging is a form of pouring your heart unto the page. I learned that some people will take your heart & stab it with holes. But OM (I just learned from Ann that his name is Jason Cushman) also taught me that it doesn’t matter because there are many people out there that get a great deal from what you say, so we need to ignore the detractors. They go away if you give them no attention. That is a cool thing I figured out.
So, let’s continue on our writing journey with the hopes that as time goes on, we may help more and more people to express themselves in print (even if they never show anyone what they wrote). 😉 ❤
Peace, love & happy writing,
Sherrie
Sherrie Miranda's historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador:
http://tinyurl.com/klxbt4y
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Ahah! You found the button! (I know sometimes I can’t find it either, and have to open the page in a browser. I’m usually on my phone)
Sneaky thing, that reblog button!
Thanks so much for sharing my little blogging journey!
Much appreciated!
Ann
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Hello Ann, I found your blog through Opinionated Man and I wanted to come and say hi and to check out your site. Congratulations on your increased blog stats what a great achievement!! I look forward to reading your posts. ~Steph
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Thanks so much!
I will check out yours too! 🙂
Would love you to “sign” my guestbook 😉
Thanks!
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You’re welcome. 😀
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It’s funny as soon as you replied I read this post where you have mentioned it’s called suburbia. 😋 I myself am new to blogging and want to learn its ropes. I will look into its courses, that you mentioned above. I too am following OM. He has great blog and great following. Hope one day I can make something like your blog of my quillandparchment. 👌🏻👍🏻
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Thanks for the encouragement!
I enjoyed my short visit to yours, and will be back to look again later. I just got news of a grandson just born!
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You’re most welcome dear. You deserve it. And thank you so much for your support. Many many congratulations to you for the little one. 👍🏻 hope he brings joy to you. My blessings for him. 💋 Sorry for the late replies. Was lil unwell. 😊🙏
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