Author: jacquelineobyikocha

A wordsmith with a vivid imagination, an eager mind and a burning desire to carve out tales. As I journey with my muse to that land of all possibilities and self discovery, I hope my personal evolution will serve as a beacon of inspiration for anyone who chooses to stop by.
Blog

LAUNCHING OUT!

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After so much dawdling and tardiness, I’m finally launching my new self-hosted blog, The Art of Beautiful Expressions.

Many weeks have passed since I purchased the domain name, started the site though very slowly. With each day that passes by, I realize that not only has my delay become dangerous, but it’s a hindrance to the growth of my new blog baby 🙂

Why another blog?

I have several ideas that I want to explore and my current blog A Cooking Pot and Twisted tales is quite chockfull with this and that.
I needed other avenues to write on other things, to write about writing, photography, the spoken word, blogging etc. To share bits and pieces of my experience, tips, know-how and also to learn from others.

I choose to self-host this time around because I plan, hopefully, to be able to face my writing career fully and maybe earning a bit from my site will help to pay those hard to ignore bills. To be honest with you, I am getting to a point where I no longer want to do just anything to pay bills, but to do the things that I love and hopefully as my site grows, as my learning grows, with the passage of time, the possibility of making reasonable income will also arise.

It’s not an easy call to chase after one’s dreams at times, but with a pragmatic approach, it’s doable and one of my dreams is to get to the level of working full time for myself. It will take sacrifices to get there, but hey, nothing good comes easy.

This is a learning curve for me. The Art of Beautiful Expressions is far from being a perfect site yet, there’s a lot of tweaking to be done, a lot to write on, a lot to learn and a lot of growing to do, but I’m going to take it a day at a time and put in my best each given day.

Please, do join me now and again, peek in to say hello and by all means, I hope that you will SubScribe. I believe that there’ll be bits and pieces of useful this and that. Thank you for your support.

Jacqueline

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My Thinking Corner

Tuesday Trickles – My Thinking Corner

jacquelineobyikocha5 Comments

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When we begin to feel guilt for failing in doing certain things, it’s a good indication that we are possibly overloaded.

It’s often better to cut out trivial chores and pastimes here and there and face the vital stuff until we are able to get it together.

It’s also okay to be kind to yourself when you fall behind. No! You don’t have superpowers 😉

Some days I’m stuck, not knowing what to write – I guess that’s why 50 blog post ideas and activities to beat the bloggers’ block is great, but I also realized that it’s okay not to be fully optimized in my thoughts every day. Some days, my brain just wants to be chill.

Jacqueline

Every Tuesday, I share snippets of thoughts that I call ‘My Thinking Corner.’

I would like to invite you to participate. The challenge is quite simple. You can check this link for more details.

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A Click A Day

Let’s Make A Call – A Click A Day

jacquelineobyikocha18 Comments

Times have changed so much that telephone booths are almost becoming relics now that everyone uses a mobile phone.

I remember years back at home in Nigeria when the phone booths were far and few in-between and the queue as long as half a mile – maybe I exaggerate on the length, but you get the idea – and everyone waited patiently to take their turn to make that phone call.

Friendships were struck on these lines, quarrels picked and fights were fought when someone appropriated the phone for too long. All in all, it was an interesting time.

Nowadays, everyone is bent over their piece of gadget and hardly say hello again.

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Rononvan's Weekly Haiku Challenge

Love – Ronovan writes weekly haiku challenge

jacquelineobyikocha13 Comments

When I saw Ronovans’ prompt for this week’s haiku, ‘heart and petals,’ my romantic thoughts drifted to love. I am a die-hard romantic realist – whatever that means. Ha, ha 😉

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Heart-shaped petals
on pristine sheets
honeymoon is underway.

You laid petals for me,
my heart you captured
with actions of pure love.

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Short Stories

Finding Pleasure Again

jacquelineobyikocha16 Comments

Eyes shaded from the morning sun that made them hurt after a while, Richard allowed his gentle, trained guide to lead him down the footpath for a walk.

His heightened sense of hearing could pick up the various sounds far and near – the Seagulls calling to each other, the crashing sound of the waves hitting the banks, a loud honk from a shipping vessel, the slapping sound of a jogger’s trainers, his nostrils picked up different smells in the air, from the fragrance of the burgeoning flowers to the fishy smell of the seafront not too far from him – Richard smiled in pleasure .

It has taken lots of therapy to get to this level of acceptance and to begin to find little pleasures in life again After the accident, adapting to his limp and the sudden loss of his eyesight after 50 years of perfect vision has been a tough call, but for once, he felt happy to be alive again.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

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Thank you, Louise, for the photo and Priceless Joy for hosting this charming platform where we unleash our stories:-)

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Blog

50 BLOG POST IDEAS AND ACTIVITIES TO BEAT THE BLOGGERS BLOCK.

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Blog Post Ideas, Activities, Beat Bloggers Block, Photography, Writing, Info-graphics, Google Trends, Inspiration, Motivation

So you’ve started a blog, but coming up with fresh ideas to publish is a challenge? You are certainly not alone. It’s a challenge that most bloggers face especially given the fact the for your blog to succeed, great content matters.

Without engaging content, you will not keep your audience’s attention and this ultimately leads to blog dormancy and failure.

Based on my experience of as an author of a blog that has run for only 18 months and in that short while, has over 1,800 published and well-received posts, I’ve compiled a help list of blog post ideas and activities that you can bookmark and refer to as often as you need to and this list is more than enough to keep you busy for a while depending on your publishing frequency.

Now, let’s quickly go through them.

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Featured Blogs

Featured Posts – Share Your Post Links

jacquelineobyikocha

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‘PLEASE KEEP SENDING IN THE LINKS.’ 

Today’s featured blogs posts are:

Do step in and show some love.

I’m brand new I could use many adjectives to describe this post, but I’ll just stick to empowering and liberating 🙂

Apple Carrot Muffins Scrumptious and easy to make. My children will love it 🙂

Millions of Masks How many masks do you hide your pain behind? How real are you? A profound poem.

‘Do you want more eyes on your words?’

Well then, add your LINK INTO THIS LOOP.

Comments are disabled here to keep the loop tidy. Any comments or link you want to send can be added through the link in the post.

Thank you for your understanding and regards.

‘We create a cohesive community when we come together. 

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Mundane Monday

The Wooden Image – Mundane Monday

jacquelineobyikocha6 Comments

Mundane Monday Challenge is created to find beauty in almost everything.

The challenge is simple. Find beauty in everyday mundane things, capture the beauty and upload the photographs.

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It’s just an old, odd piece of wood that I saw while taking a walk. It could be classified as dead and rubbish but I had this pull to pick it up. I like to work with my hands on wood or pottery. It has a way of calming my mind.

An image of a polished piece, with a carving, popped into my head, but I resisted and continued with my walk.

I felt that it would just lie in the pile of things that are eyeing me to do them, just like my basket of unfinished knitting and I decided this year to stop all the ‘start and not finishing’ projects as much as possible.

Now, for the past two days, the image meant for the wood has been taunting me that I wonder if I should go and find that piece of wood?

Jacqueline

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A link to my neighbours/Community

Just a Little Note to Give You a Virtual Hug

jacquelineobyikocha36 Comments

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All good things that surround us are sent to us for a reason and these includes blog friends.

The friends we form in this place validate our talent and craft. Their feedback is precious and their support is like a backbone that helps you to stand tall.

Yes, I do get warm fuzzy feelings when I see all the Gravatars with the beautiful faces of humanity on my page. I may not have met you physically but believe me when I say that I feel you. I appreciate your presence and your support.
To all my recent follows, I say welcome and thank you for choosing to follow this blog. Feel comfortable in this space. In as much as it’s my blog, I’ve always loved being part of a community, so it’s ours.

Without your presence, my ramblings would be to the empty wires of the bloggily. In this space, we have monthly blog parties and they are always the bomb. Please do feel free to join our parties and I believe we shall be having one in a week’s time.

I’ve received loads of nominations and awards over the past few months but due to the daily exigencies in my life, I never seem to get to publishing an acceptance, secondly, I believe that it would be bothersome to inundate my readers with an award post every week. A warm thank you to all those who have thought me worth bestowing an award. One day, I am going to publish a mega huge blog with all the plaques hanging around my neck.

Now to that warm virtual hug, wherever you may be right now, feel that thread of fresh air/wind, a whisper of kindness, they are my virtual arms extended in fellowship.

Thank you all and have a pleasant Sunday.

Blessings,

Jacqueline

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Guest Posts

Meet Robin Baldwin and Her Gorgeous Family

jacquelineobyikocha24 Comments

I simply love getting to know folks better in this space. I keep thinking that one day in the near future, there’ll be a facetime opportunity to meet with all those whom I’ve connected with over these past months of blogging.

When you interact with someone for a while their warmth seeps through their words and Robin is one of the lovely souls I have been interacting with in this space and I believe in connecting my friends. Please, I implore you to take a bit of time to visit her blog and say hello.

Thank you, dear Robin, for sharing bits of you with us 🙂Image result for images to thank you flower

 

 

 

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A bit about me

My name is Robin Baldwin. I was born and raised in Southern California, where I still live. I have a Bachelor’s degree in business and a Master’s degree in mass communication. I am a senior manager at IEEE Computer Society and have worked there for 21 years.

I have been married for 19 years to my amazing husband, Michael. He is a wonderful life partner and father to our daughters.

I am a Christian and believe in the power and beauty of God. I converted to being Catholic about a year after my daughters were baptized at our church. So spirituality is an important theme in my poetry.

I try to have a positive outlook on life whenever possible. I treat others like I want to be treated and I always want the underdogs to win.

A bit about my blog

On my blog, you will find thoughts, mostly poems, about what’s going on in my life through the views of the various roles I assume in any given moment: mom of twins, wife, daughter, friend, manager, woman, spiritual seeker.

I’ve written poetry on and off throughout the years since I was a teenager. In the last several years I’ve been busy working and parenting, but lately, I’ve found small windows of opportunity to write. It has made me want to write more, so I decided to start a blog as a creative outlet.

I have been amazed at the generous support and love this blogging community gives. It keeps me motivated to keep writing.

One of my initial poems for my blog is at https: My Table

I also write a lot about my daughters, so this is my most recent post about when my husband and I decided to let our twins room in separate rooms for their class field trip: These Girls

How I keep motivated with blogging

I keep writing about the things that matter most to me. Seeing the likes, comments, and follows really helps!

What’s your most challenging moment in your blogging journey so far?

None so far and Yes, I would totally encourage others to blog! Especially if you ever wondered if you have what it takes to be a writer. The feedback from this wonderful WordPress community is empowering.

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My typical day

I am up by 6:30 am to get ready for the day. Then I wake up my girls up and get them going for school. I take them to school and then go to work. I usually have several meetings each day either with my team or with colleagues to discuss various projects we’re working on.

After work, I meet up with my family at home where we have dinner together (my husband is the cook and makes fabulous meals!). While the girls finish homework, my husband and I try to catch up on each other’s days.

In the near future

I don’t have any specific plans for my blog other than to continue to keep nurturing it by posting at least a couple of times per week, visiting other blogs, and participating in blog parties like the ones you host each month.

However, my next goal in writing is to submit to poetry publications. And, now that I think about it, some day in the future I might publish a book of my poetry.

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