Soulful Sunday: 4th NaBloPoMo Favourite Blog Posts: Mine and Yours

Photo by Roberto Kaplan

It seems that Forecasting my Foggy Bloggy Future was my favoured post this past week which surprised me, and yet I suppose it makes sense. Followers of my blog may especially be curious as to where I am going with my blog(ging) for various reasons.

I had hoped that my inspired poem and its reverse mirror image - A New Angle on 'You' or is that 'Me?' ;) - would achieve first position. However, that post http://www.xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2014/11/a-new-angle-on-you-or-is-that-me.html tied with NaBloPoMo Social Media Challenge at http://xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2014/11/nablopomo-social-media-challenge.html.

Now, onto a number of blog posts I enjoyed this past week, in no particular order (except possibly date wise going backwards) are as follows:

Laurel Reagan's very short post but with a long title, Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 56 + 100 Happy Days – Day 72 at http://www.alphabetsalad.com/todays-gratitude-list-linkup-no-56-100-happy-days-day-72/ on enjoying life: forget everything else, just zentangle! At least for her! ;)

Shailaja Vishwanath's Pushed to the brink- #Five sentence #Fiction with a witty mother-in-law! http://www.shailajav.wordpress.com/2014/11/23/pushed-to-the-brink-five-sentence-fiction/

Shilpa Garg's post on Toilet for Babli, though a sad read, is important to help those in an important and basic need for sanitation, women and girls particularly: http://www.shilpaagarg.com/2014/11/toilet-babli.html

Carol Grahama's post, Were You Born With It? was an interesting take on selling: http://www.batteredhope.blogspot.ca/2014/11/were-you-born-with-it.html was a delightful read on how to sell and how not to, a post within that post! ;)

Pixie wrote Peter's Treasure, a short nonfiction story which was a suspenseful read, at least for me: http://www.mytakeoneverything9.wordpress.com/2014/11/23/peters-treasure/

Roshan Radhakrishnan's post, Year 10 - Happiness is the Path at http://www.godyears.net/2014/11/year-10-happiness-is-path.html was inspiring as a blogger. I was SO excited by his post and felt inspired by it; however, I hope I do not have to wait 10 years to be recognized for my writing aptitude! ;)

SanchLivingLife's post had a different viewpoint on this important topic: Eliminate Violence Against Women #WhiteRibbonDay at http://www.livingmyimperfectlife.com/eliminate-violence-against-women-white-ribbon-day/.

Rajlakshmi H Boruah's post Sunrise at Huskisson, featured a lovely sunrise that I would have loved to see perhaps as a video as well: http://www.shutterbug-rajlakshmi.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/sunrise-at-huskisson.html

Nisha Sanjeev's post on I am too precious! was a refreshing read; http://www.nishasanjeev.blogspot.ae/2014/11/i-am-too-precious.html. I absolutely loved what she had to say including her powerful statement at the end.

Inderpreet Kaur Uppal's post Nurturing My Child’s Explosive Potential For Change at http://www.womensweb.in/2014/11/happy-india-childrens-ideas/ I found an inspiring post for children and mothers alike.

Aditi Kaushiva's post, Each Morning Beckons, her gratitude poem at http://www.makeitbeayoutiful.blogspot.in/2014/11/each-morning-beckons.html

Tulika Singh's endearing post, Pigeon mums don't quite make the cut was an amusing post on motherhood: http://www.obsessivemom.blogspot.in/2014/11/pigeon-mums-dont-quite-make-cut.html

Shailaja Vishwanath's important post on Would you write about your pain? http://www.shailajav.wordpress.com/2014/11/28/would-you-write-about-your-pain/ rendered views between fiction and non-fiction writers: no surprise there at least for me! ;)

Rajlakshmi H Boruah's first attempt on a short piece of fiction, Drabble - Oh No !! at http://www.destinychildosheen.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/drabble-oh-no.html was a delight to read.

Nabanita Dhar's post on To Do or Not To Do... at http://www.nabanita-blacknwhite.blogspot.in/2014/11/to-do-or-not-to-do.html#.VHmNa2eVZac probably because I can SO relate! ;)

Carol Graham's post The Best Gift ..... Ever was a tender touching story about an unusual gift that made her day and her Christmas! ;) Read http://www.batteredhope.blogspot.ca/2014/11/the-best-gift-ever.html for details.

Nabanita Dhar's post on I've Spoken..It's Your Turn Now! on a clean India offered some practical ideas and solutions to an environmental issue: street litter! http://nabanita-blacknwhite.blogspot.in/2014/11/ive-spokenits-your-turn-now.html#.VHnXmTGUdtg. Something about the following lines that she wrote in particular that I bolded appealed to me: "...this campaign for a cleaner India. I quite like it you know and it's about time we do something about it. After all cleanliness is next to Godliness, isn't it?"

I sure do hope you get a moment to enjoy these posts! Or rather, did you get a chance to read any of these them? ;) And did you find them as enjoyable as I did?

Smorgasbord Saturday: 4th Week of NaBloPoMo

Photo by Roberto Kaplan

Below is a review of my posts this past week which were a potpourri of topics - from blog titles to a social media challenge, to a different perspective on an inspired poem to my future blog, and TV and non-fiction bloggers: such a mishmash as usual! ;)

Monday's post, Favourite Headline/Blog Post Title? featured some of my favourite blog titles as I can't only choose one! Considering some of the comments I received, I think my readers and I were on the same page about that! ;) Check out some of these titles at http://www.xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2014/11/favourite-headlineblog-post-title.html

Tuesday's post, NaBloPoMo Social Media Challenge was an idea to revolve social media on the theme of kindness: http://www.xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2014/11/nablopomo-social-media-challenge.html

Wednesday's post was entitled A New Angle on 'You' or is that 'Me?' ;) Yes, a wink is a part of the title and I love how this blog site now can understand or rather take my wink and possibly - sometimes? - heart-shaped symbols! Woohoo! ;) This post was a different take, a reverse, a mirror image of my inspired poem that came to me a number of years ago: http://www.xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2014/11/a-new-angle-on-you-or-is-that-me.html

Thursday's post, Forecasting my Foggy Bloggy Future was an aim at predicting my future behaviour regarding blogging. I think I would need to look into a crystal ball to determine what fate lies ahead! ;) Read http://www.xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2014/11/forecasting-my-foggy-bloggy-future.html for some ideals that I have in mind. ;)

Friday's post TV and Non-fiction Bloggers is a take on being a cast member for a TV show, and possibly on bloggers who write non-fiction like I do! ;) OK, well I wanted to tie the latter in somehow! ;) See http://www.xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2014/11/tv-and-non-fiction-bloggers.html featuring some attractive men! ;)

Thank you again to all of you who read my posts and especially those who commented on my posts this past week.

What post would you most favour of mine this past week, and why?

P.S. Blogging friends, you may be interested in my post tomorrow ...

TV and Non-fiction Bloggers

Picture from clipart

The writing prompt for NaBloPoMo today is, "If you could be a cast member on any television show, which one would it be? Tell us about your character."

I admit, I haven't watched TV for a long time, except a few movies two Christmas seasons ago. I actually am not sure if I know how to operate the fancy gizmo black box that accompanies it!

And when I turned on the channel station, I was flabbergasted: how many channels?! Whoa, no wonder ADHD is on the rise! Ok, just kidding, but seriously, why THAT many?! That's crazy!

When I was a little girl, I think we had started off with three channels and of course that grew over time.

My favourite show as a child was Walt Disney on Sunday evenings often featuring Jodi Foster as the primary actor on a lot of shows.

Especially as a youngster, I did watch tons of cartoons and shows. Some of my favourites included Picket Fences, a brilliant drama based on controversial cases involving the town's sheriff and judge ending up in court. According to google search, "An aging sheriff tries to keep the peace in a small town plagued by bizarre and violent crimes." Read here for some of the issues they covered: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picket_Fences. I found it an excellent program to stimulate thinking.

I also enjoyed Ally McBeal, a legal comedy-drama TV series featuring love and infatuation relationships amongst lawyers. According to Wikipedia,

Ally McBeal is a young attorney who joins a prestigious law firm with a highly sexual environment and whose staff includes Ally's ex-boyfriend. The series contains fantasy sequences, flashbacks and voiceovers to reveal what Ally is really thinking. Many episodes contain an appearance by singer Vonda Shepard, who performed the show's theme song.

Interesting they didn't mention the unisex washroom! ;)

What I loved most were the special effects, animated and comedic in nature, as well as hearing Ally's thoughts. That show I considered my laughter therapy for the week.

Here are some of the characters dancing in the washroom pre-show to Barry White's deep and sexy voice - listen to the beginning when he talks: ;)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1-9vw8cUi8

And here is a video clip of Episode 1 with a taste of some special effects: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lJcvWfmItk

And then of course there were shows that I loved due to certain characters, ahem, had a crush on one of the main actors. For instance Noah Wyle in ER (short for Emergency Room) as follows:

And also Eric James McCormack in Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years and also some episodes of Will & Grace.

I think I would love to either be a patient seen by 'Dr. John Carter' (played by Noah Wyle) on a regular basis or be the love interest opposite 'Clay Mosby' (played by Eric McCormack's) antagonist character. ;) Ooh la la! ;) ;) (that deserves a double wink!)

On an aside, in my post Envy AND Kindness: What a Combo! - http://xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2014/11/envy-and-kindness-what-combo.html - I mentioned some of my favourite 'characters' online known as fiction blogging writers or the like (whatever they call themselves), whom I met through a few blogging challenges.

Now I would like to feature a number of non-fiction bloggers who are also extremely gifted and talented in their writings, in no particular order: Corinne Rodrigues, Vidya Sury, Usha Menon, Carol Graham, Amy Bovaird, Francene Stanley, Judy Yaron, Penny McDaniel, Rajlakshmi H. Boruah, and Asiya Fathima (aka Asma Feroes).

Perhaps one day I can be a 'cast member' on my non-fiction blogging friends' posts - I have so far at least on one! - or likewise on mine! ;)<3

Forecasting my Foggy Bloggy Future

Photo of fog taken by me

NaBloPoMo's writing prompt today is, "Where do you see your blog in one year? Five years?"

So that means I have to look into a foggy future to forecast my blogging fortune does it? ;)

Okay seriously though, I can only speculate what might occur as life just loves to throw curve balls at times! Did you notice life's circumstances are never linear? ;)

A few years ago, on April 25th 2011 to be exact, or at least when I wrote a brief post entitled, Blogging Switch, http://www.xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2011/04/blogging-switch.html, I was considering some changes to my blog.

I had considered changing my blog name from 'Xpress Your Essence' (as 'Express'... was taken) though I was fine with that. At the time, I was playing around with the terms 'express' or 'expression' or 'expressive' for two main reasons: I had graduated from an Expressive Arts Therapy program and love and appreciate the expressive arts, and self-expression is important to me. I think it is for everyone, though may be unbeknownst to various people.

Another possibility I was thinking about at the time was changing my blog site, i.e., from Blogspot (now called Blogger?). Readers, please note that I would love your feedback on this, i.e., those of you who have transferred from Blogspot (or Blogger) to WordPress in particular, and if not, then those who use WordPress or another favourable blogging site. Please keep your comments succinct, perhaps in point form if need be.

Contemplating a different possibility would be a second blog; however, there are pros and cons to this (as with everything in life). ;) For example, one post could be targeted towards my vision (what I used to call 'dream') and anything related to that such as music and similar forms of expression. The other might be a mishmash of topics such as this blog has become.

I may consider a different path, though I enjoy blogging - I had at one point declared that I wanted to be a professional blogger, when I learned what it entailed, I had a slight change of heart. Read Me? Professional Blogger? And You? for details: http://www.xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2014/11/todays-post-is-nablopomo-prompt-with.html

However, for the reasons listed in Talented Thursday: Blogging AND...?!, I write about my juggling acts, or rather responsibilities: http://www.xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2014/09/talented-thursday-blogging-and.html...that, well, keep me busy and not necessarily able to post every day ad infinitum! ;)

However, I would love to enjoy the success that fellow blogger Roshan Radhakrishnan experienced. Did he blog daily? I would have to check! ;) However, he stuck at blogging for seven years before he published a few stories and that increased over time.

Godyears, the name of his blog features a post written a few days ago on Year 10 - Happiness is the Path: http://www.godyears.net/2014/11/year-10-happiness-is-path.html

I think he could teach me and others a few tricks or rather tips about blogging. Perhaps I can ask or interview him (if he will allow me the opportunity) so I can pick his brain if I am to keep at this.

On the other hand, I may end up writing a which will take time. One, I have already written - a young children's storybook - and I am looking for either a hybrid publisher or to self-publish it. Another book or two I have yet to write. See Books inside Me? at http://www.xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2014/11/books-inside-me.html.

These are some ideas that are floating around in my mind right now. Which actions I will pursue and take within one year and five years...well, time will tell. I'll let you know how things go as best I can, or else you will find out for yourself. ;)

However, I am open to ideas and suggestions. Feel free to let me know; however, again keep as succinct as possible. Those of you whom I know, feel free to FB me. Thanks kindly! ;)