I Have False Teeth – and I Love Them!

These are my false teeth. And I love them.

These are my false teeth. And I love them.

 

Wanna know a secret?

Yeah, thought you might… 😉

Okay, here goes.

When I was 22, I had all of my teeth removed, and got false teeth.

Nope, I’m not kidding!

Wanna know why?

Okay, I’ll tell you. I did promise you last week that this week I’d share a personal, embarrassing story. Telling you all that I have false teeth certainly qualifies, doesn’t it?

Do I really have false teeth?

Yes, I really DO have dentures. The funny thing is that I’m pretty happy I have false teeth now.

You see, when I went to the dentist oh so long ago, my teeth were in rough shape. In fact, my dentist told me that I could undergo several root canals and keep my teeth for possibly a few more years, but that I would have to get them all removed eventually. I decided to forgo the root canals and have all of my teeth removed that year. I’m so happy I did this, too!

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Roadblocks and Why I Prefer to Blog Instead of Writing My Book

Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.netFreeDigitalPhotos.net

There is no doubt about it: I LOVE blogging. And writing. Reading, too. And basically anything that involves words, including doing crosswords and playing Scrabble. But I really, really love blogging.

In fact, I prefer it to writing my book because of the emotional pain I avoid. This is my biggest roadblock to writing. It’s not that I can’t write (I totally can!) but that I’ve been choosing not to.

I’m specifically alluding to my memoir book (still untitled) that I’ve started but have been ignoring for the past while; a few months, actually. I’m almost at the point where I don’t think I’ll ever finish it. It’s currently at about 15 000 words. How can I finish it when I don’t put forth the effort?

Now, for all you writers out there, this may seem like an old familiar story. For me, it’s usually not; I generally like to get things done. (Well, most of the time, I do.)

When it comes to writing lengthy pieces, we often feel like we’re facing a brick wall. Yet bloggers crank out thousands of words on a weekly basis. So why aren’t we writing and publishing books? Especially in today’s new self-publishing age? Read More

Alexa Rankings, Readership Stats, and My 1st Year Blogoversary!

one year blogging badge

Surprise! Yes, you’ve just been invited to my surprise party! I’m posting today to “seize the moment” and to celebrate my blogoversary. Happy 1st Blogoversary to me!

YAY!!! I’m so excited! So excited, in fact, that I:

  • created my first year blogging badge using PicMonkey. Like it? 🙂 If you want one like mine, let me know. I’ll see what I can do for you. 😉 (Just shoot me comment or an email. I can customize yours just for you!)
  • am going ahead with a newsletter
  • gave my blog a bit of a face-lift
  • am seriously considering to moving to my own site
  • couldn’t wait until Friday to post this!

I’m also feeling better from my recent surgery, too (sort of), so to kick off “the new me,” I’ve assembled a post I have been looking forward to doing for a while, even though blogging was the furthest thing from my mind the last couple of weeks.

Did you notice the NEW!!! widget yet? 😉

I hope so, and I hope you’re all signing up for it. I’m not making any promises here, but I do plan on giving away a few copies of my ebook, 20 Blog Post Must-Haves, which received a great review on Social Media Just For Writers. Given that I have not actively been trying to market this book, I’m happy it’s becoming a bit more known. I also plan on giving away some copies of my upcoming ebooks, too, so if you’re interested in those, make sure you sign up for my newsletter, as these opportunities are only going to be available to my subscribers, who will always get the “inside” scoop on things!

And thanks to Jeri, one of my comrades, for writing a great guest post on Molly Greene’s blog about Mailchimp. 😉

Hey. All this is getting me sidetracked. Uh, er, um . . . where was I? Oh yeah. Rejoicing! 😉

Happy ‘one year’ to me, happy ‘one year’ to me, happy ‘one year,’ happy ‘one year,’ happy’ one year’ to me!

Ok. I know I cannot sing. Sorry about that. 😉

Movin’ on.

Now that I’m now one year plus into blogging, I figured I’d reveal some stats to celebrate my one year blogoversary. You know, I can still remember the first time I got comments on this blog – what an amazing rush that was! (Confession: I still get a rush when I get them! I LOVE comments!)

Back in January of 2013, I began this blog. Mistakenly, I was under the impression that no one would want to read my posts and that I would essentially be keeping an online journal. How wrong I was! As it turns out, there are quite a few people in this world who care about what I have to say (sometimes!) and with all the guest posting I’ve been doing, I’ve been gaining readers each month, too. This makes my heart light and happy. 😀 Read More

Operations Suck. Period.

This is Princess (Prinnie) comforting me after surgery...

This is Princess (Prinnie) comforting me after surgery…

THIS IS A ‘TRUE TALES TUESDAYS’ POST

Last week, as most of you already know, I had surgery. Since I’m not even getting my bandages changed until Thursday, AND tomorrow marks the day I published my first post EVER on this blog, I thought I’d do something different today. By the way, I’m still in pain, and it just isn’t in me to blog much right now.

In fact, I wanted to do something special for my one year blogoversary (it’s tomorrow), but I just don’t have it in me to make a big production of it. Well, that’s a lie. I actually just created something special for Friday. Yep, I’m featuring myself this Friday! The post I was going to run this Friday has been pushed back to next Friday. So I’m getting back into the swing of things, finally. Since my surgery, I haven’t wanted to do much other than lay around and let Princess comfort me. I guess she knows how I feel; I took care of her for quite a while when she had problems.

Before I gross you out with some pictures, let me tell you that I’m actually rather disappointed with 2014 so far.

All of my plans are going down the drain this month. I’ve been depressed, sick to my stomach, and generally hate having obligations to live up to when feeling this way. I kinda screwed up, too, last week, when I had my post published on Carol Tice’s blog. Things went awry and I tried my best to fix them. I succeeded, to a point, thanks to many of you who left me a comment as a result of me sending out an email. Thank you for making things better for me. You have no idea how much I appreciate the fact that you took the time to read my guest post and comment on it. And read my email. You guys (and gals) are just the BEST! 😀

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Time Management: Strategies Aid In Increased Guest Posts

In my attempts to become more productive and make better use of my time, I’ve been doing some reading, some planning, and some goal-making for my upcoming year. This largely resulted from past failures as well as the post I wrote last month, Overcome Writing Failure With a Personalized Writing Plan. This post has introduced me to quite a few new people, many of whom are writers and authors. (And bloggers, too!) 🙂

Planning has never really been my “thing” but it’s useful. The strategies I’ve been using and the tips that I’ve learned have helped me increase the amount of guest posts that I’ve been writing (and getting published!) and I wanted to let you in on a few sites and introduce you to a couple of people who can help you if you are struggling with planning this year. Read More