Blogging - why I love it

A photo from Australia by my friend Sue

Today I learned that a dear friend I never met in person, has passed away. Her name is Sue and she lived in Canberra Australia. Her celebration of life service was online and I am glad she was so well remembered. She impacted many lives on the telephone and on her blog.  https://myjustsostory.blogspot.com/

Sue had MS, and was medically retired, but it didn't stop her from volunteering to work with a Suicide Prevention service. She was extremely dependable and was known to stay on the phone with a desperate caller all day. Her blog was one of my favorite places to visit because she made photos of her garden and interesting places in her town. I learned so much about Australia from Sue. She enjoyed visiting the Roos and making photos of them. She brightened my day as she took me with her on her walks and among her colorful flowers. I will miss her. We exchanged email addresses, and once she sent me something from way over there. I am honored to have known such a caring and compassionate person.

Kangaroo, or Roo in Australia photo by Sue 

When I opened my first blog, this one, in May 2007, I had never heard of a blog, but at a NCWN Writing Conference in Winston-Salem, I stayed until the last program because I wanted to know what it was all about. When I came home I created my blog, and then set up one for NCWN-WEST, 

https://netwestwriters.blogspot.com/

That blog is used now 18 years later to tell the news about our members in western NC and bordering counties of Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

I taught a class on blogging at the Moss Library for our writers who wanted their own sites. Nancy Simpson and other members blogged for years. It was and is a good way to promote your writing.

Novelist and poet, David Plunkett, manages the blog and website for NCWN-West now.

With so many new social media places to get online, I am not tempted to join anything other than Facebook and I am not on there often. I don't have the time to scroll all day reading about 100s of others, many of them angry or simply posted news for their families.

But I try to visit my dear friends in the blogosphere often.They have been online for two or more decades. These friends leave kind and uplifting comments. We care about each other . We only allow  comments from those we approve. I like that so much better than the often hostile comments on other social media.

Well, I need to get busy preparing for my class I teach on Tuesdays. We have some unique stories from my students, one from California, and I enjoy them very much. 

Enjoy life, every day be grateful and see what you can do to lighten the load of another.