Rebecca Jo Anthony

Blogger Recognition Award

From what I understand, the Blogger Recognition Award is a way that bloggers are spreading the word about other blogs that they enjoy reading and fellow bloggers they appreciate connecting with. I like finding and reading other blogs, and this seemed like fun to write, so I’m grateful I was given a chance to participate. 🙂

Rules

I’ve been informed that there are rules to this thing that’s going around.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is this:

  1. Write a post displaying your award.
  2. Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
  3. Give a brief story of how your blog started.
  4. Give two pieces of advice for new bloggers.
  5. Nominate 10-15 bloggers who you believe deserve to be recognized.
  6. Let the nominees know they have been nominated.

(Again, that’s “should you choose to accept it.”
I don’t want to inconvenience anyone, so if I’ve tagged you, and you are unable or would prefer not to participate, please do not feel obligated. You don’t even have to explain yourself. No hard feelings.)

Thank you, Sandy!

The blogger who was kind enough to include me in this thing was Sandy, the author of the blog Sunday Morning with Sandy.
(Click here to see her post,
or check out the rest of her site at SundayMorningWithSandy.com)

Sandy is an inspiring lady who writes some of the most honest pieces I’ve ever read. Some of her posts contain very personal stories, which I think take amazing courage to share, and that can be both an encouragement and a comfort to other writers who may have their own pain that they don’t yet have the courage to talk about.

She also has a page on her site called “Ask Sandy” open to anyone who wants to ask her a question about anything! (Never personally used this, but when someone is generous enough with their time to offer advice to strangers, it’s worth noting. How cool is that?)

In case you need any other reason to support Sandy, follow her so that she can get some ad revenue. It’s for a good cause! (Leukemia and Lymphoma)
You can read more on what she has to say about that on her blog’s About page.

Again, thank you, Sandy! ❤

My Blogging Story

The seed for my blogging journey was planted a few years ago, during a conversation with my husband.
I’d always had a tendency to prefer written communication instead of verbal, because I’m a very anxious person who needs a lot of processing time and time to lay out my ideas and words exactly the way I want it to come across. Because of that, I seem very shy in public, and I’m the most awkward person in any given face-to-face conversation. It’s only hours later, that I have ideas, think of anecdotes that prove my point, or even have anything nice to say at all.
One day, I was doing one of my patented delayed rants at home with my husband, finally articulating what I’d been stewing over for days. That devolved into several rabbit-trail stories, and at some point, he said, “You should start a blog.”
I was instantly embarrassed at the idea, and snapped, “What? Why? No.”
He answered, “You have a lot of ideas and stories, but you don’t talk about them outside of here. I just think some people might find it interesting.”
I turned the idea over in my mind for awhile, wrestling with the opposing urges of wanting to be a writer, and not wanting to have a public persona.
I ended up starting an anonymous blog, because of stage fright. (What is it called when it’s not on a literal stage? Page fright?) The logistics of keeping myself completely anonymous got to be very complicated, and limited my story-telling so much (too many potential identifying details), that I slowly abandoned that blog.
Eventually, I bit the bullet and started this blog, writing real stories, with real names and places, from my real IP address (yes, you can hide that), and occasionally even real photos. I was nervous for awhile about the idea of people I know in real life finding my blog. (Actually, that does still make me shake, and holds back my creativity just a bit, even though I do think there are a few readers from my family by now.) But, this time, I wanted to stick to it, so I even make sure that periodically, I write a post that’s just an update on my household and life, so that there’s something of interest for the family if they happen upon this blog.
I also wondered for awhile what my niche was supposed to be, but I didn’t find it, and I’ve pretty much decided that I’m okay with running a blog on no particular topic. That’s where I am right now.
So, that was a brief summary, but if you want to know more of my backstory, I wrote about it on my About page (or click here).

Ideas for Bloggers

This is the part where I’m supposed to give “advice,” but I honestly feel not qualified enough to suggest that any of my advice would be any good, so here are a couple of ideas about blogging that I’ve found work for me… and if any new bloggers happen to see this, maybe you’ll try these out, and see how it goes for you:

  • Unless your blog is part of an aggressive business plan, take all the expert blogging advice with a grain of salt. (Is that the right expression? It sounded correct in my head before I typed it, and a quick Google search shows the results I would expect, but suddenly, “grain of salt” is starting to sound strange to me. The more I think about it, the more wrong it seems. Oh no.)
    As I was saying, take those pro blog-growth tactics with a dust-sized chip off of a block of sodium chloride, because too much salt is bad for your health and will probably cause uncomfortable bloating. But also because your blog is for you, and if you’re trying too hard to gain followers, you may end up with fake followers, or interacting with the kind of crowd you don’t want anyway.
    And that’s if it works.
    What if it doesn’t even work? Then you’ve wasted precious time and energy doing weird things you don’t want to do.
    For example:
    1 – SEO keywords
    If you cram your “above the fold” area with buzz words, most of us can tell. And readers don’t like feeling pandered to. It makes us feel gross, just like too much salt. (Look, a “grain of salt” call-back!!)
    2 – frequent posting
    Sure, blogging every day gives your following something to expect, if you have a following. But if you’re just cranking out content because you have to, because the Blog Gurus say you should, but you don’t really have something meaningful to say, it seems to me that your readers are going to get bored (at best) or possibly annoyed, and feel angry about the amount of spam in their inbox/feed.
    Even if you manage to fake your way through the daily posts, and your content is engaging enough that your readers don’t mind consuming all of it, that writing schedule will burn you out fast.
    3 – leaving comments on other blogger’s sites just to get attention
    I don’t even know what to say about this one. It’s just plain slimy.
    Plus, I imagine that using that kind of deception would make you uncomfortable. (Just like the salt bloating!)
  • Don’t take it too seriously. (Again, this is assuming that your blog is not a business, or a requirement of your job.) This is something I’m still working on overcoming myself. I’m always terrified of making a mistake, but sometimes I’ve spent way too long on a single blog post, waiting for it to be “perfect” when it never will be. It’s a waste of time. Another part of this is being worried what others will think of your material. What if your post is stupid? What if no one gets it? What if it’s too boring? What if it’s too intense? (Yeah, all of these are a few of the worries I have.)
    The reality: It’s probably not as bad as you think it is.
    And, even if it is bad, guess what happens? Nothing.
    People ignore it. I promise, no one but absolute jerks go out of their way to share and trash a bad post just so everyone can know it’s bad.
    Very few people may have even noticed it in the first place. If the subject is boring or unrelateable, people will either not read it at all, or stop very early.
    …So, very little to lose from an occasional flop. But a lot to gain from getting out of your head and just writing your truth.
    My best posts have always been the ones I’ve written with little to no planning, on subjects I’m most passionate about. When I try too hard and overthink it, my writing just isn’t as good.

Nominations

In no particular order:

This is not a completely exhaustive list, but I am completely exhausted, so I think it’s time to wrap this up.

I always enjoy finding more blogs to read, so if you come across this post, and you know of any good blogs I didn’t mention here, please let me know!
If you feel comfortable linking a particularly good post in the comments so more people can see, that’s even better!
(Even if you’re showing me your own posts! No shame! 😉 If you comment with a link to the post you’re most proud of, I’ll be so happy to check it out!)

In case you couldn’t tell, I was very proud of those “grain of salt” jokes that came to me on a whim! I hope that wasn’t too much. 🙂
(If it was, please don’t be too salty in your complaints!)
😉

On that subject, writing the “advice” section of this post got me thinking of a lot of other ideas and opinions I have about common blogging advice. Maybe I’ll dedicate an entire post to that in the future.

Just a heads-up to regular readers:
I know it’s typical to see one bi-weekly post from me, but I’m planning on posting a quick survey tonight or sometime this weekend (depending on how long it takes me to figure out SurveyMonkey). A very quick survey. The quickest of surveys.
A one to one-and-a-half question survey.
I hope you’ll take it if you have the time.
If you will, be looking out for that!
Thanks!

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facebook.com/love.logic.lunacy

…or you can find me on Twitter: @RebbieJoAnthony

To anyone visiting this blog for the first time, you can click here to read more about me.

Thank you all for your support!
Have a great week! ❤

Published by Rebecca Jo Anthony

I'm a reader, a writer, a crafter, and a generally unqualified mess with a bit of a caffeine addiction. I also have ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, and Anxiety, but I don't let those challenges stop me! (Usually.) Oh, I'm also a parent, trying to figure out how to successfully create a decent, functioning, adult human out of what is currently a button-pushing, cute, defiant, sweet, hyperactive little boy. I like cats. And dogs. I'm bad at socializing, and I also don't know how to properly finish a personal description. Ummm.... There. That's it. This is the end of my description. Squirrel!

12 comments

  2. Thank you so much for your very kind words, Rebecca! I really like the way you write because it reads like I sound in my head- if that makes any sense. For example, I too google expressions because suddenly they don’t sound right even though they are … lol. You give THE BEST advice so I think you should definitely do a post on this. “So, very little to lose from an occasional flop. But a lot to gain from getting out of your head and just writing your truth.” This could be my mantra because my blog is my therapy. So many times I worry about that, but you are soooo right! This is why I enjoy reading your blog because it’s like having a fun conversation because it is so real. I am so glad I found your blog and going to visit those others because I am guessing that the way you write if you like them, they really must be good. I could go on and o, but this is supposed to be a comment – not a blog. xo

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      • I do too, but then I hear from some of my friends, that it is their favorite. The ones I sweat out the most, seem to be the ones that everyone likes the best so I think we should stop second-guessing ourselves and go with it – like you said! So what if it flops ..

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  3. Wow, I am so humbled by your comments! Thank you so very much! I haven’t posted much in a while as I’ve been dealing with that online stalker problem (and IRL) and have been trying to determine what to do. My blog is my outlet and I don’t want to give it up but it felt like I may have no other choice. You’ve inspired me to keep doing what I enjoy, and to keep waving from the chaos. Thank you so very much for reminding me that life is too short not to do what brings you joy. I love reading your posts!

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  4. Thank you so much for the nomination and the compliments! I’m a lot like you, full of things to say at home but super quiet in public. ‘Page fright’ made me giggle! 🙂 Yep, have that too at times. Hoping today is kind to you! 🌼 I will respond to this, and I’ll let you know when I do.

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