Tag Archives: blogging

Gratitude

Posted on July 14, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

The last few days I passed 500 likes, 250 follows, and am approaching 200 posts. It is hard to believe. In March I had a handful of likes, about 10 followers, and posted intermittently. Blogging is a virtuous circle. It is humbling. Is anyone reading? It is statistically irrelevant. But, once you get into a rhythm it is uplifting and life honouring.

Part of my growth was and remains a supportive community, but we do not see each other face-to-face. Community involves sharing in ways that show the soul of people. I am grateful to find a place where I can do just that

I thank each of you who takes time, reads, and responds. You helped bring transformation in my life as a blogger, learner, and a person.

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Posted in Community, Reflective Moments, Writing and tagged blogging, community, creativity, learning, life-long learning, writing. Bookmark the permalink.

Reading and Blogging

Posted on June 26, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

I love to read a good book. I feel I have conversation with the author. As Carl Sagan suggested, I hear the voice of the author. It is the same with blogs. Each time I read a blog, look at its pictures, or both, I feel I am listening to the person share something special about their life with me and the world. Blogs break both the shackles of time and space.

I am grateful.

One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person -perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millenia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time.

~Carl Sagan

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Posted in Mindful Life, Reflective Moments, Writing and tagged blogging, Carl Sagan, literature, mindfulness, reading, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

What Has Blogging Done for Me?

Posted on April 13, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

I went back and checked my first blog posting of February 2011. Blogging began as a tentative venture and, at times, I felt apprehensive, unsure of my writing and topics. Over time, there is a different feeling in my writing, perhaps simply finding my voice in this medium. The Internet provides a new forum for publishing. We can publish and then edit.

The reversal of publishing and editing roles was a challenge. I want a high quality product when I post for others to read. In those early months, some people advised me that just being out there and taking the risk to be less than perfect was enough. That goes against the grain for me. Recently, I explored and read other blogs with regularity which pushed me to look at other people’s postings and ask questions. Were other bloggers posting with little concern for grammar, spelling, and clarity of message? The answer is an unequivocal, “No!” I toured, read, and saw others’ passion and was impressed with the professionalism with which they approached blogs featuring everything from text to mostly visual to all points in between.

I felt I had something to offer and the blogosphere served a purpose. I enjoy both learning and traveling. It is affirming and energizing to read others’ entries, communicate on them, and receive responses. Pictorial essays people provided took me back to my childhood in Northern Alberta, reading encyclopedias for fun. Even a die-hard hockey fanatic would not venture out when it was -50 degrees below zero with a wind chill. In a pre-TV and computer era, books served as a window to the world. Blogs with pictures of faraway places i.e. Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Yosemite take me back to the living room in Rycroft reading an encyclopedia and exploring the world.

I am enjoying blogging and I think, most of the time, I am finding it a space that fits my communication. On those occasions, when I slip into dull, pedantic, or obtuse writing, point me back to this cartoon.