HTML Code for Tweet This Sentence

Follow me over to Tiffany's Place:

I created a tutorial for Tweeting a Giveaway Sentence for a contest.

I promise it's not hard, just a couple steps and you will have the HTML for a sentence that can be clicked and directly tweeted by your giveaway entrants.

I think we can safely call it a "Twitter Twute". Let's Make the World Cuter!

Making The World Cuter

Hi GoodNCrazy Peoples!
I am so excited Carissa is letting me take over her blog for a day!

Let me introduce myself.
I'm Tiffany, you can call me Tiff.
I blog at Making the World Cuter...

...and I take pictures at Pumpernickel Buttons. Photography.

{YAY My IRL friend Tiff Hewlett -you can find her on twitter as @TiffHewlett - is going to TUTE you! Yup... she is over there 'making the world cuter' day after day and she agreed to help make MY GoodNCrazy world cuter too! Here's how she's going to make YOURS cuter....!}

The Candy Bar Cake Gift Wrapping!

Ever need help figuring out what to do for those people on your holiday present list who are hard to shop for and you end up buying them a gift card?

You have them on your list, am I right?

Last year I searched the internet for "hard to buy for people ideas" and I came across Candy Bar Cakes. How cool! I thought it was a good idea until I looked at the price. Hello... $40!

Could I still get a good gift certificate and figure out not only how to make a candy bar cake, but also use it as the wrapping for my gift card, instead?

I'll show you how I did it!

From last year...

Other ways to use the Candy Bar Cake Wrapping:

• Jewelry
• Movie
• Video Game

Please see the full tutorial here for making your own super cute, make your gift world cuter, candy bar cake! My husband and I whipped one up last night in about 30 minutes, and had a blast making it (we only ate a few...). You can make this in time for Christmas, and think how much more tasty and fun getting that gift card will be when it's wrapped in all this sweetness!

"Thanks for having me Carissa, it was fun!"

You're welcome Tiff, thanks back atcha... and thanks for keeping me up so late at Bookclub last night!!

Artist Dabbles In Social Media: Shares Her Collage

Guest Post:
Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson

I met Elizabeth @sthilairenelson when she asked for help getting the HTML code for a Tweet This button on her blog. After a little back and forth I peeked at her site and her art gallery and was absolutely BLOWN away by her work. I asked her to write a guest post.. mainly so I could claim to have some of her art on my site!! WOW.

"I am a collage artist in Orlando, FL. When you think of collage, you probably think of abstract combinations of printed materials, personal mementos, photos, etc.

My style of collage is different. I hand-paint all different types of art papers, old book pages, maps, and found papers, then I use those materials in collage. I treat every torn bit of paper like an individual brush stroke, and I use them to create what I call a "Paper Painting"."






In order to sell my work, I have to be good at marketing. I utilize social media in an attempt to spread the news about my art (my blog, my website) to people who are friends, or friends of friends.... who never heard of me before!

I do not sell my work on Facebook or via Twitter, those venues are better left as ways to raise awareness. I find the best way to introduce my work to as many people as I can is to utilize social networking through FB and Twitter. Plus it is a postage FREE way to do that!

When I post to social networking sights, I always try to draw people into my blog: Elizabethsthilairenelson.Blogspot.Com Where I offer small collages up for sale, provide a link to my website and monthly newsletter, list workshops I am teaching, and talk about my collage process with photos of work in progress and new work.

I find that using social networking to draw people into my blog and my website helps me with sales, and even better with potential exhibition opportunities.

Please visit my blog, leave me a comment, or even subscribe!

Blog Well Done: Chris Perrin

My good pal and fellow Twitter junkie Chris Perrin of the foodie site: Blog Well Done guest posts today! I can say from personal experience on more occasions than I have fingers that Chris has helped me out with a recipe or baking dilemma... he's like my personal Twitter Chef! From brining Turkey, to veggie sloppy joes, to lime flavored rice for a women's group of 50 he's helped me each time and I'm totally grateful!

"I think I was born ready to cook. Then again, maybe I just learned to love it at an early age."

My father was a wonderful cook, able to turn simple things like dried pasta, tomatoes, hamburger, mushrooms, peas, even Brussels sprouts into things I wanted to eat.

By the time I was in the third grade, I, too, wanted to take simple ingredients and make my own meals. My hope was that I could make everyone as happy as my dad’s food had made me. As an adult, I look back at many of those experiments, and all I can do is apologize to my family (again). They were so good to humor me…

Still, I did learn a lot while making those … dishes. First, I learned that salt should not be added to pasta sauce by the cupful. Very important! I learned the proper ratio of chocolate chips to pancake batter is not two hundred to one. On the other hand, I did learn how to brown and wash ground beef and I learned that soy sauce packs a lot of great flavor as long as you don’t drown your food in it. (It took me a while to learn that last part, actually.)

All of this culminated in what would be my signature dish from the third grade until high school. It’s a simple meal and it was easily within my culinary skills as a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grader. While it’s not going to trick anyone into thinking it’s gourmet cuisine, this is a dish any kid can master and use as the basis for creating their own signature dishes.

Ingredients
1 package spaghetti
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons salt
1 pound ground hamburger
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 can sliced mushrooms, drained
1-2 bags frozen veggies (peas and broccoli work well, as does corn)
3 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions
First, bring a pot of water to boil with the garlic powder and salt. Add the pasta and let it cook.

While the pasta is cooking, get out a skillet and brown the hamburger with the oregano and black pepper over medium heat. Once the hamburger is browned, drain any excess fat and add the rest of the ingredients. Cook until the frozen vegetables are warm.

Add the pasta back in and stir to coat. If all of the soy sauce has been absorbed by the meat, add another splash or two so some gets on the noodles.

Where to Go From Here
So this recipe is very simple, but it tastes pretty good and it’s fairly healthy, especially if you don’t add too much soy sauce (I used to have a step in the recipe for draining excess soy sauce. To this day, I still have a tendency to add too much.)

The first thing I recommend parents do with this recipe is have their kids try different veggies. Each time they make it, the kids can change which ones they use and maybe try something new each time. Kids are a lot more likely to try something new if they have cooked it, grown it, picked it out, etc. So let the kids have some input into what new veggies they try and they may just pick out something they would never try otherwise.

This dish transitions really well into both Italian and Asian pasta dishes. The spaghetti noodles can become lo mein noodles and the hamburger can be chicken, pork, or shrimp. Or keep the spaghetti noodles and make meat sauce or dump the meat entirely and make an olive oil veggie sauce using freshly chopped vegetables from a salad bar.

The main thing is that whatever changes a family makes to the recipe, they keep cooking it together. Cooking skills last a lifetime as do the memories of spending time as a family.

So get out there, cook, and enjoy!

Got a question for Chris... need some ideas for an upcoming pot luck? Tell Chris I sent you... enjoy!

photo credit: SereneJournal

Tooth Fairy: Speaking On Writing and Social Media

How totally cool is this? THE Tooth Fairy is Guest Writing on GoodNCrazy today!

I first tweeted across Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt while she was tweeting under her @ToothFairyNews handle.. I thought? HUH? THE Tooth Fairy is on Twitter!?? I HAVE to meet her... And while checking out Sheri's website, and blog I realized she is an amazing and accomplished author of several books including:

You Think It's Easy Being The Tooth Fairy?

I absolutely obsessed and had to buy 3 copies in order to have one for my kids as well as copies for the cousins (I was on my way to Utah to visit...) So I chatted her up on Twitter and get this! She LIVES in Utah... and agreed to sign my copies of the books!

Even better for you? She agreed to write a post for you today! I love her thoughts on social media and self promotion (writing or otherwise)...

~~~

When Carissa asked me to do a guest blog on an aspect of writing, I wasn’t sure what to chat about. But then I decided to go with the question that’s been on my mind 24/7:

How do I harness available technology to self-create my web presence?

Yup, that’s right: I’m talking about grabbing all that digital data by the horns and making it serve my goal of selling more books.

What? You thought I relied on my publisher’s markety mucks to do that? Yeah, well, maybe if I were Stephanie Meyer or J.K. Rowling! The reality for most writers, however, is that they must spend at least half of their writing time on promotion, whether they self-publish or allow traditional publishers to birth their book(s).

Gone are the days when a business (yes, we writers need to think of ourselves as business-persons!) could rely on business cards and newspaper ads. Today, no web presence = no business. And, in case you haven’t noticed, the web is poised to take over whatever aspects of our lives it doesn’t already have in its digital-streaming hands.

Bottom line: if you’re not tapped into the Net, you’re invisible. Nada. Blanko. Zip. Don’t believe me? Then consider the power of Facebook and LinkedIn. “Out of sight, out of mind,” as a wise person once said.

So think of any time you spend cozying up to the Net as a necessary investment. An investment that puts power into your hands. While the following suggested tools are slanted toward writers, the info can be used by anyone seeking to build an online presence. Hope you find it useful!


Critical Promotion Tools for Authors:

1) Website. Get one, particularly one registered in your domain name. This makes it easy for your fans to find you.

Of course, a blog may do nicely, if you don’t feel the need for a full-blown website. I currently use Blogger for my tooth fairy blog, as Blogger is fairly simple to learn and use. However, I’ve heard more than one person say that WordPress is better suited for business websites, as it allows more creative freedom in format and content presentation. The good news, however, is that if you start with Blogger, you can switch over to WordPress without losing any content.

And know that you can use either platform and hide the fact that it’s not streaming directly from your website. Basically, you reroute the blog address by making a change in the blog settings. So when my new interactive (Web 2.0-based) website is up (my current site is so Web 1.0!), my blog will stream from my website’s homepage. Then I can stop promoting the blog as a separate entity. Yay!

Tip: If you want to fully understand the differences between “Web 1.0,” “Web 2.0,” and even “Web 3.0,” some of which is already being used by Amazon and other retailers, check out this really good article.

Tip: be sure to register your website(s) and blog(s) with Google, Bing, Open Directory, and Yahoo. But don’t overlook social networking and bookmarking sites such as Digg (http://digg.com) and Technorati (http://technorati.com) and StumbleUpon (http://www.stumbleupon.com). Two other important sites are Plaxo (http://www.plaxo.com) and QAlias (http://www.qalias.com). And get yourself one or more stat trackers, so you know how searchers are finding you and what they’re reading on your site(s). Several I can suggest are Statcounter (www.statcounter.com) and eXTReMetracking (www.extremetracking.com).

2) Facebook account. Even if you decide to limit your “friends” to just those people you know well, you don’t want to miss out on this great marketing tool. Set up a Fan Page that promotes your book. One cool marketing trick: create “Post this to your Facebook” buttons that link to content on your website or blog. That way your friends are helping you to market!

3) Twitter account. Frankly, I think there’s a whole lot of unnecessary twittering going on, but if you have audiences you want to reach, it’s a neat communication tool. You can twitter about your book signings, blog interviews, even your awards -- but be sure to build your community first. Hard-sell on Twitter doesn't work. And remember: it’s not the size of your Twitter audience that matters, it’s who those people are. So have a plan in mind when you follow tweeters. Do you want to reach moms? Grandparents? Or specific professionals, perhaps? One group I am definitely interested in chatting with is dentists. But I am ruthless in deleting followers I don’t want to do business with. I instantly delete anyone who offers to get me “400 instant followers” if I click on some link. I also delete the gals who offer to show me their "sexy" photos. OY!

As you will quickly learn, there are a TON of softwares that have been developed around Twitter. Twitcam (http://twitcam.com) allows you to stream video. Twitpic (http://twitpic.com) and Twitgoo (http://twitgoo.com) allow you to share photos. And Twazzup (http://www.twazzup.com) helps you to quickly search Twitter to find info that other users have tweeted. They're just the start of your Twitter options!!!

4) So find the tools that keep your technology in hand. To be honest, I get burned out if I have to keep logging into Twitter and Facebook. So I use Seesmic (http://seesmic.com/), which allows me to simultaneously see both of my Twitter accounts, as well as the Facebook homepage. Specific to Twitter, it allows me to send out RTs (retweets), as well as track my DMs (direct messages).

Another site, Ping (http://ping.fm), allows you to update 40 social media sites (with more on the way), which makes it a very handy tool. But be aware that each site has its own "rules" for acceptable posting frequency. Obviously, you can tweet a good deal without upsetting anyone, but you wouldn't want to post more than, say, once a day on LinkedIn -- or risk alienating your contacts. Acceptable Facebook frequency lies somewhere between the two.

Hey, will you do me a favor? Pop on over to PolkaDotBanner, an online marketing site for writers, and read an interview in which I share a few other marketing secrets. Be sure to vote! Thanks!

~~~

Sheri Bell-Reholdt can be found on her website and blog and LinkedIn. She has written several books and recently her first humorous children's picture book, You Think It's Easy Being the Tooth Fairy?, is enjoying great reviews and steady sales. 15,000+ copies sold!! Currently, she's peddling her middle grade novel draft Junk Lot Jive, and working on a book about spy codes.

Your Camera Wants You To, Seriously!

Do you ever take a look around a photography blog and wish you could take dreamy pictures like they do? Here's a quick explanation about lighting from Bonnie who is the professional photographer behind the lens at Bonnie Loves Pictures Photography.
Let her show you the light...

Auto or manual settings...
What's the difference anyway?

—Photos and post by Bonnie of BonnieLovesPicturesPhotography and blog.

"My hubby works from noon to 10:00 pm. When he comes home at night, I’m usually on the computer editing pictures and our three-year-old son is asleep on our bed (I know, but it's the only place he’ll sleep, okay!) Usually I have the closet light on and it shines just enough light on my son stopping the whining about how dark it is in my room. Just so you know, when he doesn’t stop whining, I bribe him by telling him if he sleeps in his own room, I’ll buy him a HUGE Spiderman night light. —It never works, btw.

On this particular night, my son fell asleep with his Darth Vader costume on, INCLUDING the hard, plastic mask. My husband and I had a good laugh and then a picture of course!

• Exposure: 1/8 sec
• Aperture: f/1.4
• ISO speed: 1600
• Focal length: 50 mm

I have no idea why the only way he could sleep was with this costume on, but look, I’m tired, I’m busy, and if he wants to wear a costume to sleep, I'm all for it! This first picture is interesting because I was able to:

• control the amount of light entering my camera (aperture)
• determine how long my camera sensor was exposed to light (shutter speed)
  
• choose the camera sensor for the light available (ISO speed)

I was able to capture a shot that truly looks like it was taken in the dark, with just a little closet light shining on my son. Let me show you the exact picture, with my camera on Auto.



It looks like I hauled my bed outside in broad daylight, forced my poor child to lay on it and pretend to be asleep, all so I could take a picture for this blog post. I didn’t, I promise. I had my camera on Auto and the on-camera flash went off. Good thing my son didn’t wake up, I tell ya.

If you have a camera that came with a good sized manual in the box, you probably have a camera that has different settings and modes. If you already know this and do this on a regular basis, then let's get your photog on!

Now if you have a camera with these different settings, but you’ve never dared try them out or learn what your camera can do, I ask you to go and learn! Discover what beautiful things you and your camera can capture when the two of you know each other better.

Your camera wants you to, seriously.

Church Chat: My Good Friend Marvin Speaks

Where do I fit in this mosaic world of many religions?
I often think about that. Do you?

I've had several conversations with my pal and resident blogging grandpa Marvin D. Wilson. And hands down my favorite thing about this great all around guy/blogger/writer/dad/grandpa is that he's basically open to listening to any and all religious ideas. When was the last time you were able to have that kind of a conversation with someone? People often want to talk about their own religious ideas, but not so much to just listen to yours? Please visit his site: The Old Silly's Free Spirit Blog for more Marvinisms!

I think he's pretty much done it all. The good the bad the ugly and everything in-between... Seriously.

Recently I read two of his novels: Owen Fiddler and I Romanced the Stone.
And especially from reading the biographical Romanced the Stone: I'm beyond impressed with the depth and understanding Marvin shows for any and all. I asked good ole Marv if he had any thoughts to share on his view of world religions.. I give you: Part I (See Part II as well)

The Zen of Christianity

As a self-described “non-religious, dogma free, maverick spiritualist Christian with a Zen Buddhist background and a firm believer in the Law of Attraction,” I often get asked,

1. “How does your earlier Zen training affect and/or influence your current Christian beliefs, practice and experience – if at all?”
And-

2. “How do you feel about the New-Age spirituality – the Law of Attraction – The Secret? Is humanity on the right track, or are we abandoning the scriptures and trying to ‘figure things out’ on our own, becoming a godless race of self-aggrandizing egotists?”

For today’s post I’ll answer the first question. The short answer is that the Zen training helps my Christian practice. It deepens it. I studied formally for four years under a Korean monk, a certified Zen Master, Venerable Samu Sunim. I will tell you this. That man was more Christ-like than the majority of the professing Christians I’ve known in my life. He held no prejudice against people of other religions, races, colors or ethnic backgrounds. He loved everyone equally and unconditionally. He was a free man, who lived with his students communally, just like the early Christians. He held no real estate, had no possessions other than his monks clothing, had no money other than what was donated to him without his asking, all of which he turned over to his Sangha. He enjoyed reading the books of the famous Trappist Christian monk author, Thomas Merton, and found profound spiritual value in them. One of his suggested books for his students to read was a Christian story of enlightenment through prayer titled, The Way of a Pilgrim. He would even sometimes quote the words of Jesus in his Dharma talks.

I’ve never heard a Christian minister or teacher dare to give any credence to any author from another faith, let alone the spiritual founder of one. Most of them seem to be afraid to admit there was any truth in the teachings of any other avatar than Jesus. My all time favorite Christian author, C. S. Lewis, was well read in all the major world religions, and he found a great deal of truth and wisdom in them. He wrote, and I agree with him, that if there were no common correlations, no cross-over of fundamental truths contained within Christianity and the other major spiritual paths, he would have to ultimately doubt the validity of his chosen faith.

But back to my Zen teacher. Best of all, he taught me how to meditate. How to quiet the internal dialog – that incessant continuous brain-rambling on and on and on in repeat loop mode that keeps us distracted away from (and unable to hear) the voice of God. Most Christians I know don’t know how to do this. And then they wonder why only the gifted ones, the prophets, the anointed ones, can hear the voice of God. Everyone is spoken to by God. You just have to shut up and listen!

When I first converted to Christianity, that happening due to a powerful spiritual experience I had, a direct meeting with the Christ (I write about this in I Romanced the Stone), it was at a little fledgling ministry in Saginaw, Michigan, a church called Shiloh’s Lighthouse Ministries. I joined the congregation, a (to me at the time, considering my past experience with Christian churches) strange collection of people from all walks of life - different races, ages, ethnic backgrounds, economic statuses, and backgrounds, all coming together for one purpose, and that was to draw closer to God and be enlightened with the Truth. The truth of the love of Jesus, the free gift of God’s Grace, and the divine human birthright, the empowerment to be one with God. But as I grew familiar with the church’s constituents, I became aware of something.

Very few of them knew how to “be still and know that I am God.” (Psalms 46:10) Wonderful people, don’t get me wrong - big hearts, loving, striving to be good, wanting to become all they can be in the light of God, but so full of useless crap inside their everyday heads. Melodrama junkies. A lot of Christians (I’ve known in my life) are so internally noisy - filled to the brim with their own thoughts and melodramas. They don’t have the foggiest idea how to sit still and let the sound of God speak to them through the whisper of the wind through the trees or the lap of the waves at the beach or the tap tap tap of the pellets on the rain-soaked window. Many contemporary Christians use loud beat music with Christian lyrics to get empty, get wiped out, get depleted of their daily thoughts and concerns, in order to be able to sit still after an hour of praise and worship music and hear the Word of God with a clear undistracted mind.

Well, that’s fine for Sunday morning (or Saturday or whatever day your particular sect holds regular weekly meetings on), but what about Wednesday afternoon at work? How are you going to hear God tell you the best way to respond to your jerk boss who just chewed you out for something you didn’t even do? Will you be still and peaceful and hear the little voice? Ain’t happening. Your gonna get pissed off and lose your faith! I’m speaking generalities, of course, there are many, many well-grounded spiritual Christians these days who carry their inner-peace and the love of Jesus with them 24/7. Just not enough, in my opinion.

So I started a meditation class for Christians. That’s just me – I try to help. I call the class, “Sit down, Sit Still, Shut Up, and Listen.” Christians need to learn how to meditate. It’s not a substitute for prayer, mind you; it’s a means of deepening your connection with God. That’s another post I’ll write one day. And by the way, Buddhists need to learn how to pray, also. But that too is another post.

Please read part II: Christianity and the Law of Attraction


image credit: zeevveez
note: post contains affiliate links

Blogging Relationships; Jenners Guest Posts

I am excited to introduce you to Jenners!
She writes/blogs/dreams over at: Life With A Little One And More and she shares on Her Book Blog as well!

I only recently 'met' Ms. Jenners, and you know how simply reading a comment from someone tells you more about that person than looking inside their medicine cabinet? That's how I felt about her. I clicked over to her blog and SO was not disappointed! See her 100 list (you know how they can be long and boring and...long..well I loved her's so much I stumbled it!) Now please read this post and go comment on HER blog!
~~~~~~~~
When Carissa asked me to write about blogging relationships, I wasn't really sure what to think. But once I started considering the subject, I realized that blogging has brought me a wide variety of invaluable relationships that have enhanced my life in ways I never anticipated when I started blogging six months ago.

Since I started blogging, I think I've located about 15 "separated-at-birth" sisters. Amazingly, some were born almost 25 years after my birth! Now... either my parents have kept some major secrets from me for years, or blogging has allowed me to connect with women with whom I feel such an amazing kinship that they fill the space in my life where I had always wished a sister would be. (And yes, I am aware that is an amazingly awkward sentence. Sorry.) For the record, I have two "real-life" brothers. And although I have nothing against them, I've always longed for a sister. The instant closeness that I've felt with these women has amazed me. Although we've never met in real life, I feel a definite connection to them. We seem to share a similar worldview, sense of humor and values -- almost as if we were raised in the same household!

• Being a mom, it has been wonderful to find fellow moms who have the same doubts, fears, struggles and problems that I have encountered. I'm not the only mom who doubts whether her kid is eating healthy enough! I'm not the only mom who feels like an outcast at the playground! I'm not the only mom who hides out from her kid in the bathroom and reads magazines! Blogging has helped me realize that my experiences as a mom are not unique but universal -- and nothing could be more comforting.
  
  
• Being a reader who is married to a non-reader, blogging has connected me with people who are as excited about books as I am. The quality of my reading has increased dramatically since I started blogging, and I credit my fellow "book bloggers" for this increase in quality. When it was just me picking my books, I often had a lot of "loser" books. Now, I'm being exposed to a wider variety of books -- ones I'm sure I would have never come across if it wasn't for blogging. And best of all, I can write about my lridiculous love of Edward in the Twilight books, and I know I'm not alone!
  
  
• Being a wanna be writer, blogging has helped me find a supportive community of like-minded people who inspire me to keep writing. Their positive feedback helps me overcome my doubts and fears of writing and keeps me going when I'm tired or uninspired. Participating in Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop has been such a positive experience for me. It has challenged me and made me write in new ways. It has boosted my confidence in my own writing abilities and given me an incredible supportive community. There is nothing like blogging to get instant feedback on your writing. And there is nothing like writing on a regular basis to help you hone your skills. When I first started blogging, I used to struggle for hours to find the words I wanted. But now that I've been writing 3 or 4 posts a week, the writing is coming more naturally and feels more normal. And I feel like I'm finding my voice as a writer as my blog has developed over the months.
  
  
• Being a lifelong nerd, blogging has provided me with a social outlet that is based more on my personality and internal qualities rather than my external, physical qualities. I love that you don't have to show your face to be a blogger -- some of my favorite bloggers have faces that are unknown to me and that is OK because I feel I know their "insides," which counts more than outward appearances. Blogging allows you to focus on WHO a person is rather than what they look like. And for me -- a socially awkward, relatively unattractive person -- this is a real boon. I can't even tell you how much my self-esteem has been boosted since I started blogging!
  
  
• Blogging makes me appreciate all the good things I have in life. I've come across some amazing, sad, tragic and horrible stories since I started blogging. I feel so much empathy for these bloggers who are going on in life despite such obstacles and tragedies. It makes me believe in people, realize how lucky I am and how life can change in an instant. So many times I've felt "There but for the grace of God go I." I've had my fair share of difficulties in life and struggled to get to the place where I am now, but reading about the lives of other bloggers who are facing seemingly insurmountable heartache and pain make me appreciate my life and not take it for granted. And when some bloggers disappear from blogland with no explanations, I worry about them. I hope they are OK. And I wish them the best the universe can give them because they have touched me.

In short, I've found so much more from blogging than I ever expected. Although my husband scoffs at me sometimes ("You don't even KNOW these people," he says), I beg to differ with him. I feel you can get to know a person intimately via blogging -- perhaps more intimately than their own "real life" friends. It is kind of like the classic relationship with a bartender -- you can open up about your true feelings because you know you don't have to see them again or face them the next day. Blogging gives you that "safe" place where you can reveal as much or as little as you want about yourself and your life. You can be a wide open book or hide behind anonymity while your secret self tells your innermost feelings. Although my own blog tends to be on the more light-hearted and "shallow" side, I have opened myself up to other bloggers in ways I didn't expect. When a blogging friend wrote about postpartum depression, I felt comfortable sharing my own experiences with her. When a blogger talked about divorce, I shared some of what I experienced during my own divorce. When a blogger wrote about financial hardship, I shared some of the issues I had in the past. As much as you want it to be, blogging is a two-way street, which makes it incredibly rewarding and personal. So thank you, blogging world. You've enriched my life in ways I never anticipated, and I hope I've brought some of the same to your lives. Long live the blog!


~~~~~~
And long live comments! Time to head over and tell Jenners hi from all the GoodNCrazy readers, thanks everyone! Talk about someone I would oh so love to meet in person!

I linked this up at Tuesday Tribute's New home.