blog posts

Round ‘em up! Weekly blog roundup

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 2 Comments

There were so many good blog posts this week around the blogging community and I’m excited to share them with you on my weekly round up. As usual, I’ll provide a link to my blog posts from the past week or so as well, but this week I want to focus on some cool bloggers I follow or have discovered.

Pete at Lunch Break Fiction does it again with The Gift. Do yourself a big favor. If you aren’t following Pete’s blog yet go over right now and “click” follow. You won’t regret it. It’s full of touching, awesome, engaging short stories.

Manitoba Mom, hanging out up there the frozen Canadian tundra (just kidding about it being frozen. I think.) always gives me a lot to chew on and think about, in a fun and entertaining way, mixed in with some deep thoughts as well. This one about five tips on how she plans to manage the cold winter months coming up in January and February is one I can relate to because I struggle terribly with keeping my sanity in the winter months. We’ve been lucky to have a stretch of warmer days but the darkness is still here and I know the cold will soon make its return.

For His Purpose wrote about developing patience with people who are sometimes difficult to deal with and I could absolutely relate to this, especially since I used to work with people daily when I worked for smalltown newspapers. For this post, she’s been dealing with a particularly challenging person in her personal life, and again, I can completely relate to struggling to show a person like this the love of Christ, when all we really want to do is run screaming away. (I have a feeling I might be that person for other people  . . . hmmmm).

Bettydraper offered this lovely post about the day she became a Christian and how it ties into the real meaning of Christmas so perfectly.

I’m pretty sure I already shared links to some of Our Little Red House’s 12 days of Christmas craft posts, but just in case, here is another one. What ingenious ideas she’s had or gleaned from others over the years to recycle objects and turn them into beautiful Christmas ornaments or decorations. She offers other unique craft ideas throughout the year as well.

The Feet of A Messenger offered this look back at 2019 and how much she’s changed and grown in 2019 and also how far she still has to go. Trust me, I could relate to this (as you know by reading some of my more whiney blog posts earlier this year.)

I’ve also been discovering some new fiction writers who blog serial stories, or short fiction pieces, this week which is exciting for me since I’ve been blogging my own fiction since May.

I bumped into BeetleyPete who is in the midst of a serial story about a murder mystery. I’m heading back to the beginning to catch up on this one since the parts I started to read intrigued me already.

I’m also intrigued by Rachel Smith’s fiction and can’t wait to delve into her stories this week.

As for my blog posts in the last week or so:

So what have you been up to on your blog and otherwise? Read or write any good posts you would like to share? Leave a link in the comment section and I’ll share them in my next Blog Roundup (which I hope to make a bi-weekly post, or weekly if I have enough posts to share each week).

Lisa R. Howeler is a writer and photographer from the “boondocks” who writes a little bit about a lot of things on her blog Boondock Ramblings. She’s published a fiction novel ‘A Story to Tell’ on Kindle and also provides stock images for bloggers and others at Alamy.com and Lightstock.com.

 

 

 

Catching up: What was on the blog last week and some favorite posts from other bloggers

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 19 Comments

It’s very possible you have a life beyond the blog world, like I do, and may have missed some of my posts and some great posts by some other bloggers the past week or so.

I thought I’d compile them in a list for you, in case you are lazy, like me, and don’t want to scroll back on the blog or search the web for the posts of others. Oh wait, maybe I’m not that lazy since I’m compiling this list for you. *wink*
On the blog here last week:

Sunday Bookends: House selling, snowstorms and rediscovering art

This just got real (more about house selling)

Faithfully Thinking: Is it true God only blesses you if you give money to the church?

Creatively Thinking: Like Breathing Again

Fiction Friday: A New Beginning Chapter 5

Some of my favorite blog posts from other bloggers last week included:

Love at First Light from Pete at Lunch Break Fiction. It’s such a sweet short story about . . . well, you’ll have to read it.

I read two posts this week about anxiety that I could completely relate to. The first was from Jenni at Housewife Hustle entitled Coffee Talks: Confession of a Scrooge Mom.

The second was A Letter to the Church about Anxiety and Depression by A.E.I. Writes, in which she reminds the church they aren’t doing the best job when it comes to helping those with mental illness. Trust me. I can relate to this.

This post by Alethea’s Mind about a group called anSpoken that helps people of all walks deal with their pain and not feel ashamed of the tough times they have walked through, but especially those who feel their church has judged them because of situations they have faced that were not in their control.

I absolutely loved this post, Waiting with Jesus, by BettieG but I love everything she writes. What a sweet, Godly woman with a chronic health condition that she has let bring her closer to God.

The Manitoba Mom Blog wrote about Why You May Feel Sad at Christmas and I can say I could relate to just about all of the reasons and how to deal with them.

So how about all of you? Any favorite blog posts of your own or others? Let me know in the comments.

 

 

 

 

 

Some favorite blog posts from the blogosphere

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 12 Comments

I’ve been making a list of blog posts I’ve really enjoyed for probably a month now, but haven’t taken the time to sit and write a post to share them, so I’m finally doing it today! Hopefully, you will find some new favorite bloggers from the list.

I really enjoyed this thoughtful post that Running Half Empty wrote about a homeless man she met and helped recently.

He was so grateful that someone cared enough to stop. I gave him some money. How much or little is irrelevant. I just wanted to check on him. We swapped names. His is Bill. He had beautiful, piercing blue eyes. Mesmerizing. He asked me to take off my sunglasses so we could see each other. I did. That eye-contact and smile at each other were lovely. Not some fairytale bond until the end of time. Just two people seeing each other. Metaphorically. We spoke for a minute, and I went on my way.

 

This post from motherrealist at I Didn’t Want to Be A Mother about the myth of “making time for yourselves as mothers” was a winner for me.

“Make time for yourself” is my second-favorite parenting advice. It comes right after “Enjoy the moment and don’t stress about the little things like housework, etc.”

Hah.

The problem with making time is that I haven’t achieved that superpower yet. The problem is that, last time I checked, there are still 24 hours in each day. The problem is that I have to care for the physical and emotional needs of human beings and the house they live in during 56 of those 24 hours. I’m already over-booked.

 

I always enjoy Michelle’s DIY craft posts at Blessings By Me and I was excited when she put up a Fall DIY roundup post on her blog last week. I have marked a couple of the projects down to try with my kids in the next couple of weeks.

Brittany from Ordinary Extraordinary Mom always makes me think and she definitely did with this post about Walking in Faith, even when we think we heard God wrong!

You clearly heard the call.  You did everything you felt God led you to do.  You prayed. You believed, and you walked in faith.  Then it all fell apart.  Life went from bad to worse.  It did not work.  You failed.  God failed you, after you did what you know is precisely what He asked you to do.

Now, here He is asking you to walk in faith again.  He is asking you to answer the call again.  He is asking for blind obedience again, and you are unsure you are willing to take the risk.  You doubt that he will come through.  You are scared, and you are discouraged because “last time…”

 

I am enjoying Kat’s series on motherhood on her blog The Lily Cafe. She’s been writing about how she and her husband decided when they wanted to be parents and then the process of getting there. In this post, she talked about the timing of motherhood for her had to be “perfect.”

I also enjoyed this post by Thom at The Immortal Jukebox entitled: Linda Ronstadt, Mike Nesmith, P P Arnold : Different Drum

A new discovery this week was Phil Cobb’s blog. He’s an author and wrote a post entitled “Me and Billy the Kid” about his job as a freelance journalist. Since I wrote for newspapers myself, once upon a time, this one interested me.

What about you? Have you stumbled onto some blog posts you liked over the last week or month? Let me know in the comments!

My all-time most popular blog posts so far – or things that make you go, “uh… okay?”

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 6 Comments

Have you, if you are a blogger, ever looked back at your most popular blog posts and thought “that one? Really? Why?” My blog is not very popular. Most days I have two visitors – my dad and my husband. I continue to write because I figure I need to practice my writing skills and because – why not? I don’t really have a life so blogging gives me something creative to do.

I understand why two of my three most viewed posts are popular but there was one that had me scratching my head – primarily because I had no idea where the traffic to it was coming from for a few days.

I posted a post about David Phelps, a singer who is simply phenomenal, and within a few hours, it had over 200 views. I couldn’t figure it out. It seems the blog posts I spend the least time on receive the most traffic, attention or comments. If I spend several days or a couple of weeks crafting a post – crickets.

71YtS+gGgDLThe views for the David Phelps post were coming from Facebook but Facebook said I had very few views on my blog page and the only person who shared the post was my dad. One person liked it on his page. I finally decided there must be a fan page on there that shared it and after some digging, I found the David Phelps fans Facebook group and yes, indeed, someone had shared my post. No one from the group commented on the post, but for some reason, a bunch of them clicked on it.

I guess I need to write about David more often if I want to increase my blog traffic.

As for my other three popular posts, they were both related to farming and the struggles farmers are facing today.

The first is The Heartache is real as family farms start to disappear

And the second is The Farm.

The third was about a local (to me) farmer: Tell Me More About . . . . Mark Bradley

The first was shared about 1,000 times on  Facebook and I’m glad it was. I believe it’s important for people to understand the issues facing farmers today. I truly believe so many are clueless to the fact we will soon be without any small family farms, especially in our area of Pennsylvania.

So, how about you, fellow bloggers: what have been some of your more popular posts and could you figure out why they were so popular?

I’ll leave you all with another David Phelps song – who knows maybe I’ll get some more hits on my blog. Seriously, I enjoy his music and listening to it helps me relax (well, until he hits a high note!)