Submission deadline is TODAY, January 24th, 2017, at 23:55 PST. Submit now!
Voting opens at 00:05 PST tomorrow and ends on Tuesday, Jan 31st at 23:55 PST. To read all the poems and vote, click any of the links previously given for this #NewEra poetry contest-challenge linky party!
Participants should remind their followers, beginning tomorrow, to go read and vote on their #1 Favorite poem for this challenge theme. Submit, Vote, Win… that’s how this linky party works!
I joined my first meet and greet over at Dream Big, Dream Often who had reblogged from Lessons from my Daughter. There were only 4 simple rules, and I am not one for rules, the less the better and I modify when I must. In this case, I modified only the “reblog” by creating my own post and pinging the originators, otherwise I stuck to the rules… this time.
The Rules
I am not big on rules but here is how I see this going.
1. Like this posting.
2. In the comments, introduce yourself, put a link to your blog (if you have one) and put a link to a blog you enjoy reading.
3. Reblog this post so more people can see it and share their blogs.
4. Come back and discover new blogs.
I promise to visit every link posted in the comments or pingbacks and I will read your posts, like or comment and, hopefully, find many great blogs to follow!
My introduction read as follows:
“My name is BriannaLouise Memee and my blog is Memee’s Musings. I can be found on WordPress, Facebook, Tumblr, Blogher, Pinterest and Twitter. Last year was full of tragedy and life changes… it’s a familiar story: Blogging helped me to become whole again.
“My tagline remains as true today as it did when I began: “Thoughts about life, death and the world around me.” Memee’s Musings is not a blog that rotates around my personal pain although you can find it weaved within.
I host a once monthly linky party for poets, #memeespoetryparties. I advocate for domestic animals on Saturdays, post my favorite quotes on Wednesdays, share gratitude on Thursdays and feature guest bloggers on Sundays. While on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays you can find postings about anything from what his happening in the world around me to mental health to random thoughts to poetry and flash fiction.
“Although you won’t find any parenting advice, book reviews or recipes on my blog (unless they are proffered by guest bloggers) I view my blog as a smorgasbord of delights which I hope you will enjoy as much as I do!
“I am amazed by Allison’s poetry found at: People, Things and Life.
“I am inspired by Chris at: Surviving the Spector.
“I find community through Ember’s life shares on Brighton Bipolar.
“And AuthorSBMazing challenges my imagination, inspiration and writing growth with her Finish It! events on her blog: Author S B Mazing.
“I hope you’ll love what you find on my blog and value what you find on the blogs I am suggesting!”
It’s your turn, just do it!
☀ Memee
I love it when I see people linking up to my linky parties!
So you like the idea of my poetry party but think it is probably beyond your scope of ability to actually participate. The truth is, in fact, that it is remarkable easy to add a link, but extremely time consuming to put a linky party together and spread the word around, which is why I feel thankful for every single link brought to my punchbowl each month. I get an email telling me when a new link has been added and I feel a burst of excitement and an energetic surge of satisfaction knowing that I am helping them to find new, inspiring blogging friends, increased traffic and, I hope, it generates an excitement in them as well.
You see, I find there are a ton of people writing poetry on the Internet but no real spot where they can come together and meet, share and inspire one another. And that is the hole I have been trying to fill ever since. Please take a look at this wonderful infographic made my Rhondaa over at Oombawka Design. It shows you all there is too linking up: You add the link to your post, you supply your email address, and you choose your thumbnail. It’s that simple! Continue reading
That’s right, poets, you’ve heard me. This is your last call for submitting your original #summertime blues poetry. If you really want to make an impression show up before that submission window closes. Once it does the doors will be locked and the windows sealed, even a secret code won’t let late arrivals into the party. So don’t delay you’ve only got 1 day and 8 hours left to make it to Memee’s party platform. Votes for best poem will be cast July 26th-30th.
Between July 26-30 use the link below to cast your vote for the best poem.
Maria is the customer support person over at Inlinkz, the linkup hosting site that I use for #memeespoetryparties. And today she once again found the answer to my linky party problem. She is always super quick about getting back to me when I submit a ticket. I find that with most tech companies I will receive an automated response that says they will get back to me within 24-48 hours. Not so with Maria at Inlinkz. Within 15 minutes of my request she had already begun investigating the situation and initiated troubleshooting with me.
I like Maria!
The first time I had a party snafu it was brought to my attention by my poetic friend and partygoer Jarrod. I wrote about that problem in The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat. And I wrote about its resolution and my gratitude to both Jarrod and Maria for helping me to overcome my first linkup snafu in #memeespoetryparties — Solved Problem!
This time the problem took more time to resolve, but she got it done. It turns out that it DOES MATTER what type of link you are trying to utilize for the linky party. Apparently there has been an increase in spammy links by way of WordPress shortlinks and so they have therefore been blocked from the Inlinkz site. So, if you wrote a slamming poem for #summertimeblues be sure that you’ve used or will use the permalink (super long link in your URL bar) or your submission will not be visible to others and therefore will garner you no new followers and no votes. I do not want your enthusiasm for participating to lead to disappointment so be sure you are not using the shortlink when you try and upload your poems. Thanks!
I made several new goals for this next blogging year July to July which I’ve listed in Registered, Enrolled and Attending. The first goal I listed was to create a successful linky party for poets of all ages, languages and skill levels to share with and inspire one another. And to do that, it means work harder at getting the word out, and trying to make it more streamlined. Getting the word out, that just means more time on my end and more help from you. But as for the streamlining, that’ll definately take time and patience. I tend to be long winded and as I have a pretty steep learning curve in all things computer.
Everything in life has a learning curve and when it comes to anything computer or math related I am usually way behind that curve. Inlinkz receives tens of thousands of new links every day and their customer service totally rocks. And Inlinkz makes hosting a linkup as easy as I can imagine it being. So regardless of whether you are hosting a linkup or trying to participate in one, the Inlinkz customer service staff is ready to help resolve the issue with fast, friendly and successful results and the Contact Us button is super easy to find. (Bonus points for Inlinkz!)
Maria is modest. I told her I was writing this post and she said, “Thank you so much, but I just try to make it as painless as possible for all parties involved and keep track of any bugs that may surface in the process :)”
Well, Maria, that’s why you are an asset to Inlinkz and that is why I appreciate you and the company you work for!
Bloggers, if you think you’re ready to begin your own blog hop or linky party click the image below to get started!
And lastly, and maybe most importantly, I’d like to thank Lori Hamilton of ChronicInk for drawing my attention to this most recent poetry party snafu. Without her being the kind of Commenting Commenter I’d asked for, I would not have known there was a problem to be remedied. So, Lori, thank you so much for speaking up, not giving up, and working with me to get it working. Your patience is so appreciated! This is a new event, but it is one that is close to my heart so thank you for helping me to iron out that unforeseen knot!
The world of blogging, at least for me, tends to roll over into real life. I guess that is what happens when a person decides to blog without a primary focus for material. When I began blogging nine months ago I chose the tagline, “Thoughts about life, death and the world around me.” I was, after all, blogging out of my need to recover from multiple personal losses in a period of three months. Needless to say, I was doing a LOT of thinking and not much sleeping.
Now I am feeling like myself again, for the most part. I mean, I feel like my old self (except for the occasional stream of tears running down my cheeks) but I am a happier, stronger, more confident self who manages to sleep well once I get around to turning out the lights. I have discovered a talent I never knew I had and now use the voice I had been suppressing from “the world.” And while I continue to blog about my thoughts on life, death and the world around me I have also come to use my tiny blog as a forum I can use to advocate for animals (because they cannot advocate for themselves) in my Seeking Love Saturdays posts. I am exploring the art of storytelling with Memee’s Supershort Stories! and host a monthly event entitled Memee’s Poetry Parties. My life as a blogger expanded and exploded though my readership continues to flag.
When I first decided to begin a blog it was because I knew from my teen and young adult years that journaling always helped me get out the toxic emotions and learn how I was really feeling about the situations occurring in my life. I knew that was an effective tool for me. I also knew that my mind flies when my fingers are on a keyboard and so blogging seemed the perfect fit And, it is! I was fortunate in that shortly after I began blogging I discovered that WordPress actually offered free classes on how to get started and so I registered, enrolled and began attending Blogging 101 just days after designing my blog. Wow, the universe was on my side, finally!
However, when Blogging 101 ended I watched and I waited eagerly for blogging 201 to begin. And it was like watching a teakettle… nothing happened. I found myself waiting in the blogging world for days, for weeks while, in the real world life marched forward so much so that when Blogging 201 did begin, my Freshman classmates moved forward and I had missed the registration deadline. Not once, but twice (at least). Which may be why I have under 250 followers while my Freshman classmates seem to shine with their thousands. Or, at least, that’s what I have been telling myself up til now.
And here is where I find life and blogging overlapping again. I have been talking about “going back to school for 3 years now, but life happened and school did not. And then, within the same week I found myself registering and now enrolled in school as well as registered and enrolled and as of today, attending Blogging 201! Wow, when the universe gives it gives big which I am especially grateful for considering 2014 was a year filled with the universe taking away BIG TIME.
So now here we are, Day-1 of the Blogging 201 course and our assignment is to set 3 goals for ourselves. Interestingly enough, in the real world class begins next week but we already have assignments to work on. One of which is setting short and long term goals for ourselves and sharing those goals with our classmates for support as well as accountability. Blogging World mimicking real life again and on the very same day! I won’t go into my real world goals here today, however, here are my 3 blogging goals:
1. Create a successful linky party for poets of all ages, languages and skill levels to share with and inspire one another.
2. Develop my fictional writing with the intention of expanding my imagination and ability to spark personal inspiration.
3. Build a larger audience so that I can educate more people about mental health, advocate for the lives of animals and entertain or inspire others while continuing to utilize blogging as a tool for better awareness and understanding of myself and my feelings, thoughts and actions.
Photo credit: venspired / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND
Sitting on the rock, his feet dangling in the water. It was the place he could relax, where all the pressure was lifted off his shoulders. He wished, he could share it with her though. While his eyes scanned the ocean he wondered where she would be right now, what she was doing and whom she was with.
Caroline was never far from his thoughts. From the very first moment he caught her smile, heard her laugh, he was smitten. Such an old-fashioned word, “smitten,” but it fit. For Caroline, he did not feel the great pang of lust that had mislead him toward doomed relationships with tragic women. Caroline was different than any woman he’d ever known and when it came to thoughts of Caroline really all he wanted was just to hold her hand, have long talks, laugh, smile, share… and maybe if he was really lucky, make a life together, not today, but someday. Continue reading
