View from the Front Porch - Page 160 of 169 - Award-winning Author Judythe Morgan

25 02, 2013

Eight Things I’ve learned about blogging

By judythemorgan|2013-02-25T07:20:12-06:00February 25th, 2013|Monday Motivations, Uncategorized|2 Comments

I celebrated my first blog-iversary yesterday. (Isn’t that the coolest word my fellow WANAmate, Liv Rancourt, made up?)

Today I want to talk about eight things I’ve learned about blogging over the last year.

1. You don’t have to be an expert on something to blog.

Be yourself.

Write as if you’re sitting on the front porch talking to your best friend.

2. Blog often.

It’s a cliché, but blogging is like gardening. Think of your blog as a plant in that garden.

For a garden to thrive, you must tend to the plants daily. And water.

If you only water a plant once every two weeks, it will shrivel. Unless, of course, your garden is a cactus garden and then maybe water once a month will work.

It doesn’t work for blogging.

A blog needs lots of consistent attention to thrive and grow.

3. Change things up.

Unless your blog has a very specific target market, offer a smorgasbord of content.

But maintain consistency. If you normally blog on Mondays, don’t skip.

Your readers expect certain things on certain days.

For example, guest blogger posts from Chicken Wrangler Sara about life on the Miller Farm on Fridays.

4. Try your best to spell words correctly and use proper grammar.

I have misspelled words and posted typos over the course of the past year. Not on purpose, though. I happen to be my own worst copyeditor.

I’m never offended when someone catches a mistake. You shouldn’t be either.

I thank them profusely and sing praises for the day they were born.

That’s the beauty of electronic publishing. Mistakes are easily fixed.

WordPress provides a handy button called edit for fixing the mistakes when a reader emails alerting me to a typo.

5. When writer’s block happens, push through and blog anyway.

Sometimes the muse hides and no amount of pressure can coax her out of hiding. A what am I going to blog about? panic creeps in.

You can’t let it stop you from blogging.

Grab a chocolate bar or a handful of M&Ms. (It helps!)

Then head over to YouTube and do a topic or word search.

Or do a Google topic or word search for graphic images.

No words necessary when you post videos or graphic images.

That’s what I do and those posts prove to be some of my most popular blogs.

6. Let your topics set themselves naturally.

I’m talking about the writer’s pantster vs plotter argument for bloggers.

I started out with a plan for what topics to post on what day. (I tend to be a little on the OCD side that way.)

Didn’t work.

Instead I’ve discover I’m most comfortable rambling about the same things I’d talk to my friend about. (See #1 above)

7. Treasure every person who takes time out of his or her day to stop by your blog.

Respond to their comments.

Acknowledge their tweets or FB comment about your blog post.

Tell ‘em you love ‘em. Regularly.

8. Relax and have fun.

It isn’t only about vast numbers of readership.

Whether you have a small group of regular readers or zillions, I found that if you blog like nobody’s watchin’ (kinda like dancing like nobody’s watchin’) – you really can’t go wrong!

Me blogging when I THOUGHT no one was watching except Toby. He’s the humpback whale looking object reflected in the mirror.

Now you go blog and join the fun.

24 02, 2013

Blog Anniversary

By judythemorgan|2013-02-24T07:30:11-06:00February 24th, 2013|Blogging Anniversary, Uncategorized|19 Comments

WordPress.com dates my blog origin from its creation, but I count the first blog I published as the beginning.

That was February 24, 2012, which makes today, February 24 2013, my one year blog anniversary. HAPPY FIRST BLOGGING ANNIVERSARY to me.

It’s been a fun year.

Anniversaries mark accomplishments. Today I’m celebrating 4,200 views, 425 comments, twenty shares, and many blog friends.

My original plan was to blog every day. I managed less than one hundred. You can read that very first blog, here.

No procrastination for me next year, I plan to double the number of posts, which, I hope, will mean more comments and followers.

As a special thank you for sharing in my successes, I’m offering a FREE Kindle or Nook copy of THE PENDANT’S PROMISE to one lucky commenter today.

The book blurb:

For twenty years, Lily Johnson’s life, albeit a life of lies, is good. Then her daughter falls in love and her world is turned upside down.

Her daughter’s fiancé turns out to be the godson of her daughter’s biological father–the Green Beret Lily thought died in Vietnam.

When they meet face-to-face, the years melt away and old passion returns. Only he believes she betrayed her promise to wait for him. And, Lily’s convinced revealing the truth would mean losing her daughter and the only man she’s ever loved.

Can the smoldering flame of love be re-ignited, or have there been too many lies?

The winner will be drawn on Monday, February 25^th and notified by email so be sure you include an email contact with your comment.

Thanks for visiting the front porch during the past year. I hope to see you again next year.

22 02, 2013

Chicken Slumber Party

By judythemorgan|2013-02-22T07:17:59-06:00February 22nd, 2013|Friday on the Miller Farm, Guest blogger, Judythe Morgan blog|1 Comment

A guest blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I have previously mentioned how the adolescent roosters resemble adolescent boys, i.e. chest bumping.

Now that the roosters are no longer around, I have noticed how much the hens resemble adolescent girls.

Without the imminent danger of the roosters forcing them to band together in self-defense, the hens are now picking on each other. The “pecking order” phenomenon is especially observable at bedtime when each hen has her spot on the roost.

However, I have seen some of the older hens chasing the younger ones around the chicken yard. This usually happens after I have thrown some kind of food.

I keep telling them “Be nice to each other. You are all you have.”

They aren’t listening – any more than adolescent girls listen.

Last night the hens were making all kinds of racket. Rachel, who had shut the coop door, was concerned that something was posing a threat.

The sounds were reminiscent of the possum ordeal so I walked out with the flashlight.

The minute the chickens spotted me, they got quiet.

It reminded me of a girls’ slumber party. All manner of noise comes from the room, but as soon as mom enters – silence.

With the hens, I could at least go back inside knowing they were safe. You never know what girls at a slumber party are going to do.

19 02, 2013

Do you use weak passwords on-line?

By judythemorgan|2013-02-19T06:48:59-06:00February 19th, 2013|Uncategorized|12 Comments

A weak password is one way your computer can be compromised according to computer security experts at Webroot.

I taught computer literacy for nine years. Computer and internet security was one component of that class. I use what I considered strong passwords.

Yet my email account was recently hacked. It was embarrassing and annoying, but at least I was in good company.

Six e-mail accounts belonging to members of the Bush family were recently hacked with some of the contents posted online. For the full account, read here.

After the Bush episode, most computer users recognize that hacking could happen to ALL of us. After personally being hacked, I am more convinced than ever that no one is immune to a hacker.

If you have weak passwords, you are at even higher risk. I offer these tips to making your password stronger.

AVOID dictionary words.

Password cracking programs contain a dictionary filled with commonly used dictionary words which means your Harriedme201 is crackable in mere seconds.

AVOID names.

All of us like to use pet names, favorite book characters, actors or actresses names, or names of places we’ve been. Hackers always look for these. Again easily crackable.

AVOID using any part of your email account as a password.

This is a hard one to follow because, as professional writers, we all want name recognition. What better way than using our name at our namewebsite.com as our email address. Experts tell us we are asking for trouble without a strong password.

Wt4e-79P-B13^qS is an example of a strong password. So how do you create a STRONG password?

USE a minimum of 10 characters in your password. Best are passwords with more than 15 characters. Why? The more letters the harder to crack.
USE uppercase, lower case letter, numbers, and special characters randomly throughout your password. Be creative. Don’t substitute obvious symbols for obvious letters, i.e. 1 or ! for the letter L, @ for A, etc.

Here’s a chart of useable special characters acceptable for password use.

You can also use emoticons smiley faces such as these to create a strong password:

For more ways to change your weak password, check out this site.

Once you have your strong password, follow these suggestions:

USE a unique password for each site you visit. It’s a daunting task-creating and memorizing multiple passwords. However, it is the smartest way to avoid being hacked.
CHANGE your password at least twice a year. Better: change it every 45 to 90 days.
GUARD your passwords. You can use password programs or create your own method, but decide how you’re going to keep up with your passwords and begin keeping track.

Edie Melson has some excellent ideas for safeguarding your passwords. Check out her blog here.

Will using a strong passward prevent hacking of your accounts? Maybe, maybe not, but following these tips can’t hurt.

YOUR TURN: Are you using a weak password?

15 02, 2013

Advantages to Raising Chickens

By judythemorgan|2013-02-15T06:45:30-06:00February 15th, 2013|Friday on the Miller Farm, Guest blogger, Miller Farm Friday, Uncategorized|2 Comments

A guest blog from Chicken Wrangler Sara

There are advantages to raising chickens. They get food and water and sometimes grass, and they are happy.

Humans, on the other hand, need many things.

Last Wednesday proved the last. It’s my usual my day to clean the bathrooms and mop the kitchen floor, but that didn’t happen for three reasons.

Beekeeper Brian called at 8:30 to ask if I could bring him his ID, which he had left on the dresser. Not a problem – I had something to drop off near his school anyway.
Then Rachel texted and asked if I could meet her at the band hall at 10:50 with her jacket. OK, I could still get some things done at the house between taking the ID and taking the jacket.
Then Matthew texted – “Can you go by Thorn (music store) and pick up some drum sticks?” By this time, I was a little frustrated so I told him I would have to see.

After a bit of thougt, I decided taking care of family was more important than a clean bathroom.

As I left the house to make the deliveries, a woman was putting a flyer on my mailbox for a maid service. Rather ironic, it seemed to me considering I really wanted to be at home cleaning house myself.

Instead, I was off delivering things to my humans…

Beekeeper Brian his ID,
Rachel her jacket,
and drumsticks to Matt.

This morning as I fed the chickens I thought about how simple it was to take care of them.

Chickens don’t need IDs.
Chickens don’t need jackets.
Chickens don’t need drumsticks – they already have them.

However, not one of those chickens said “thanks, sweetheart” or ‘Mom, you’re the greatest.”

I realized while there are advantages to raising chickens, they do not outweigh the advantages of raising a family.

14 02, 2013

Love words are in the air today – Ten quotes you can use

By judythemorgan|2013-02-14T17:58:30-06:00February 14th, 2013|Judythe Morgan blog, Uncategorized, Valentine's Day|6 Comments

I hope you read my Valentine blog on Monday and you have already gifted your someone special with a homemade valentine today.

In case you need some love words to use before the day is gone, here are ten of my favorite Valentine quotes.

• I have never met a person whose greatest need was anything other than real, unconditional love. You can find it in a simple act of kindness toward someone who needs help. There is no mistaking love. You feel it in your heart. It is the common fiber of life, the flame of that heats our soul, energizes our spirit, and supplies passion to our lives. It is our connection to God and to each other. -Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, The Wheel of Life

• “kisses are a better fate than wisdom.” -e.e. Cummings
(I love any of e.e. Cummings words. I mostly love that he doesn’t capitalize.)

• “Grow old with me! The best is yet to be.” -Robert Browning

• “A bell is no bell ’til you ring it,
A song is no song ’til you sing it,
And love in your heart
Wasn’t put there to stay –
Love isn’t love
‘Til you give it away.”
-Oscar Hammerstein, “You Are Sixteen” from the film Sound of Music

• “For twas not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart.
Twas not my lips you kissed, but my soul.” -Judy Garland

• “True love never lives happily ever after – true love has no ending.” -K Knight

• “Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, delight the heart. And they both take practice.” -Nora Roberts

• “For you see, each day I love you more. Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.” -Rosemonde Gerard

• “Love is the force that ignites the spirit and binds hearts together.” -Unknown

Lastly, no blog on love words would be complete without the words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “How do I love Thee?”

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

11 02, 2013

Valentines are the Mirror of Romance

By judythemorgan|2023-01-29T09:47:40-06:00February 11th, 2013|Judythe Morgan blog, Valentine's Day|1 Comment

As a romance writer, I love February 14th. St. Valentine’s Day is THE romance day of the year. To me, valentines are the mirror of romance.

According to legend, Saint Valentine was a real priest who lived in 270 A.D. He provided Christians with sacraments outlawed by the Roman Empire such as marriage.

Saint Valentine is also said to have cut hearts from parchment, giving them to the soldiers and persecuted Christians to “remind them of God’s love and to encourage them to remain faithful Christians.”

And thus began our custom of giving cards and reminders to loved ones on February 14th. Today, the Greeting Card Association estimates one billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year.

The first mass-produced valentines appeared in the 1840s. Esther A. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” used “scrap” to make elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons, and colorful pictures. The American Antiquarian Society in Worcester holds a large collection of her valentines.

If you read my blog often, you might remember that I have an ephemera holiday postcard collection. I shared some of my Thanksgiving cards. Here are my favorite Valentines. While not as elaborate as Ms. Howland’s, I love the way these cards speak of romance.

Valentines tell others of our love. Homemade valentines are extra special. I found this wonderful site, www.neoformix.com where you can create your own heart-shaped tokens of love.

If you’d like to create a heart-shaped design with special words, click on the heart to go to the site. You have time to come up with the perfect token of your love.

YOUR TURN: How will you show someone you love them today?

8 02, 2013

Puddle jumping, bee stings, and dachshunds

By judythemorgan|2013-02-08T07:15:29-06:00February 8th, 2013|Friday on the Miller Farm, Guest blogger, Miller Farm Friday, Uncategorized|6 Comments

A guest blog from Chicken Wrangler Sara

Bella, dachshund chicken watcher extraordinaire, has keep life interesting around the urban farm for the past two weeks.

First, a bee stung her on the foot. This would not have been a big problem except that she somehow acquired Beekeeper Brian’s allergy to bees. Rachel took her to the vet where they gave her Benadryl and made sure there were no other symptoms.

Bella slept off the effects of her bee sting encounter in her favorite chair.

Then a few days later, I was at lunch with Beekeeper Brian when Rachel called asking me to meet her at the vet ASAP. Bella was shaking all over and drooling – symptoms that looked like a seizure.

Since Marv, our big dog, has suffered from seizures most of his life, Rachel is well acquainted with doggie seizures. I left immediately, but a road closure cause somewhat of a delayed.

In my directionally challenged world, another (read different) way is always longer and in the wrong direction. I only know one way to get places, and since the road I knew to go down was blocked, I had to find another way. And, of course, I had to stop for every red light along the way.

I desperately wanted to get to the vet’s office in case something happened to Bella. While Beekeeper Brian and I were in Colorado last summer, Rachel had to take our chocolate lab to the vet for the last time. I didn’t want her to be in that position again with Bella.

When I finally rushed into the office, Rachel and Bella were sitting in the front room waiting for me to pay.

Bella was fine. The vet determined she swallowed a bee (I added another verse to the song – I know a dumb dachshund who swallowed a bee).

With the Benadryl, Bella slept soundly in her favorite chair.

She now has her own bottle of Benadryl in the kitchen cabinet.

This week she has managed to avoid the bees, thankfully. She did run under our bed instead of into her kennel one night. We could not coax her out until the next morning. Never did figure out what that was all what.

Then yesterday I walked the dogs after it had rained all morning, Bella managed to find every puddle to walk through. Her puddle jumping reminded me of my small children days – the puddles as well as the frantic trips to the doctor.

I’m afraid while the children outgrew their frantic trips to the doctor and puddle jumping, Bella will never outgrow this stage. Fortunately, she is very cute and so we tolerate her idiosyncrasies.

Don’t you agree?

28 01, 2013

The book’s finished so why am I sad?

By judythemorgan|2013-01-28T09:51:39-06:00January 28th, 2013|Monday Motivations|17 Comments

I finished Love in the Morning Calm, the prequel to The Pendant’s Promise and turned the manuscript over to the editor.

Now I’m sad.

I know I should be happy. IT’S FINISHED.

There is a sense of relief and exhaustion considering the amount of energy and focus required to “birth” this particular novel. I’ve been working on Lily and Alex’s love story for years.

My very wise book editor suggested I split the original manuscript into two books, which added a year to the writing process, but keeping the tale as one book would have made James A. Michener’s multi-generational works look like short stories.

Really, I am excited that I’m finished.

Except for this lonely feeling that keeps creeping in–sort of like postpartum blues.

Sigh.

I found comfort in knowing I had Lily and Alex’s romance to resume every morning and think about at night.

I already miss the arguments trying to persuade them to follow my outline. Then sometimes settling for something close to what I planned, but perhaps better and more interesting.

Other authors have shared that they experience the same sluggishness, a lack of motivation, and energy when they finish a book. I know my feelings will subside. Lily and Alex have, after all, found their happily ever after.

It’s time to do the next thing — start a new manuscript. I began that process this weekend.

I’m looking at two quotes as the new story’s theme. One fromTruth About Forever a Sarah Dessen novel: “There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment.”

The other from Lao Tzu: “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”

Once my new friends, Darcy and Andrew, and I have done that dance of the first 50 or 60 pages they’ll begin to talk to me then my real work will begin.

I can truly bid Lily and Ace farewell.

YOUR TURN: Do you get the postpartum blues when you finish a book? What do you do about it when you do?

25 01, 2013

Goose eggs, adolescent roosters, and bullied hens – Miller Farm Friday

By judythemorgan|2013-01-25T07:00:00-06:00January 25th, 2013|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday, Uncategorized|3 Comments

Welcome our very special Friday Guest blogger, Chicken Wrangler Sara and another tale from the Miller Farm.

Adolescent roosters are some of the most horrid creatures on earth, which makes putting them on death row much less traumatic for me. However, their imminent demise does nothing for the poor hens they harass until they reach a size large enough to eat.

One poor hen, named Whitey, has been jumped on so many times I believe her right leg is broken. #2 Daughter Rachel and I found her trying to get through the fence and under the shed.

Enter Chicken Wrangler Sara wearing her chicken rescue cape.

Future nurse Rachel decided Whitney should spend time in the Miller Chicken Infirmary until her leg healed. She reinforced the sides of a wooden crate, gave Whitey a bath (yes, you read that correctly, she bathed a chicken), then put the clean hen in the crate in her bedroom.

Then Future Nurse Rachel went out of town leaving me in charge.

This is not the first fowl to be in the house. Remember, we had two rescued roosters who were much kinder than any roosters we have right now.

Eventually I moved Whitey to the garage where she spent the night.

In the morning, I set her out in the yard (while the dachshunds were inside) and cleaned her crate. Marv, our big, old lab mix, found this change in the routine very interesting.

Whitey ate some grass and hobbled around a bit. Before I left to volunteer at the food pantry, I returned her to her crate in the garage and secured the dachshunds inside the kitchen.

In the afternoon, Whitney spent more time outside in the yard although I’m suspicious that the roosters have spotted her. They lined the fence watching with great interest.

Fortunately, they cannot get over the fence so Whitey is safe.

I considered splinting her leg, but wasn’t sure how to go about it. I wasn’t keen on researching how to set chicken legs – cooking them maybe, but not setting them.

In fact, one of my piano students asked why we didn’t just eat Whitey. I explained that we don’t eat any of the chickens we have named.

Just can’t do it.

Not only do I have to keep an eye on Whitey, with Rachel gone, I must turn the goose eggs in the incubator three times a day. I forgot. When Beekeeper Brian got home from work, he turned them. Since they can’t tell time, he assured me they would be fine.

We’ve decided I may be Chicken Wrangler Extraordinaire, but I’m no Mother Goose.

Future Nurse Rachel and I have also started walking the four dogs. We each take two dachshunds and provide entertainment for anyone driving down the street along with exercise for the dogs and ourselves.

Since Rachel was not home this afternoon, I took all four dogs on my own. After fighting twisted leads and pulling dogs, I’ve decided I could probably drive a bobsled now.

Tomorrow Rachel returns. I will be so happy to have her assistance with dachshunds and goose eggs.

Sunday the roosters go to death row. Whitney will return to the hen yard and be safe.

By Monday, the Miller Chicken Infirmary will close and life will return to normal – whatever that is.