Tag: Blogger

Guest Posts

Getting to know the beautiful, delightful, smart and prolific writer; Amanda Eifert.

jacquelineobyikocha27 Comments

It’s an honour for Mandi to accept to do such a personal interview with me. Ever since I started blogging Mandi has been a staunch and heartwarming friendly support. Mandi, I wish you all the best in your endeavours and appreciate your hand of fellowship.

  • Introduce yourself, a bit about your background, your likes, dislikes and general outlook towards life.

Hi, my name is Amanda or Mandi as some of you know me. I am from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and have lived here all my life. I live by two gorgeous parks and off-leash trails for dogs. I enjoy walking the off leash trails. I miss my old dog and enjoy the other dogs on the trail. I also love how peaceful it is on those paths.image1.JPG

I have been on disability for over eight years now. I used to be an admin assistant in construction for a commercial development company. I became ill, not realizing what was happening to me because I had never experienced mental illness before December 2008. I left work my last day emotionally distraught, embarrassed, and not realizing I was hearing echoes after certain people talked. I would hear what someone usually said, then hear an echo of their voice which would comment and say something mean.
On December 24, 2008, I waited in the emergency with my Dad. We discovered I was experiencing a psychotic episode. I went into the hospital in January. Once I started a certain antipsychotic, I stopped hearing things. For some reason my now doctor told me when you hear things, it’s always the worst things you can think of. After, the psychosis I had a mini depression.
I have never had another psychotic episode since 2008 but now experience depression and severe fatigue. Severe fatigue meaning, I cannot mentally or physically do things for a long enough period to work or do many activities in life.
After trying countless medications and developing insomnia along with my depression, I went into the hospital to overhaul my cocktail of medications in July 2015. I’m finally, on a helpful and tolerable med called Clozapine.
It acts as an antidepressant, antipsychotic, and causes me to sleep through the night. Before Clozapine, not being able to sleep and becoming so used to sleep medications that they stopped working was miserable. Now, I have more freedom in everyday life as well and can do some exercise and concentrate better.
I’m a determined writer and I’ve been working on improving my writing for years. I have a BA in English Literature, a certificate in Residential Design, and am pursuing an online MFA at UBC for May 2017. I love being creative and imaginative in my writing; I enjoy drawing and acrylic painting at times; and I adore dogs, hanging with my friends, Netflix, scrapbooking, and yoga. I’m told I’m intuitive and thoughtful.
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I don’t like it when people push me into a corner and force me to decide something, I need time to weigh matters for significant decisions. Because of my illness, I need a bit more control over my life than some people realize. I have to plan down-time to relax and can’t do activities out of the house every day. I hate it when people are discriminative of people with mental illness or disabilities of any kind. I regret that because of my disabilities, I missed a lot of time with my best friends and are not as close to them as I would like. But maybe that’s life and it happens as a person grows older.
I’m extremely close to my family and I’m drawn to people who are close to their family too, including pets. I’m a proud Christian and would not have made it through what I have, if not for God’s grace and the love of my family and friends.
  • Tell us about your blog and your purpose for starting it. Did you have any set goals in mind when you were setting up your blog? What do you think about the blogging phenomenon itself? What has your blogging experience being? Here, you can share some links of your top posts or blog posts that you particularly like with us.
I mentioned earlier, I have been working on my writing for years now. After my mini depressive episode, I couldn’t read books such as Harry Potter and it was hard for me to even write. Daily, I increased my ability reading, starting with easier books such as the Twilight books and other Young Adult books, eventually, moving into more difficult reads such as the books I read in university English classes.
My goal with writing was to bring my writing to the point it was at in university, but I hope I’ve surpassed that goal. I had read some of my friends blogs and had a friend who blogged on WordPress. I signed up and started blogging.
In the beginning, my blog was a place to share about my mental illness and my daily life, the disappointment I felt at not being able to live and be like a normal girl of my age back then, and the classes I was taking. I also started writing for a young woman’s magazine and I enjoyed writing about these current events twenty-somethings would be interested in.
I also started taking some editing course through Simon Fraser University online. Quickly, I discovered I would never be perfectionist enough to be an editor, but I loved to write so I focused on creatively explore writing. It has always been my passion and I’ve been writing poems since I was eleven or so as stress relief and because it always felt right to me.
The editing courses were useful and I did learn when editing others work, to leave it as their own work and not completely change it as my editor for the young women’s magazine had done to my articles often. But I did need to work on my spelling and grammar and my blog and the editing courses aided me there.
At the same time, I was working on a Residential Design certificate. It was good knowledge to know had I been able to return to work, but it wasn’t my passion. I signed up for a few creative writing courses, and participated in many versions of the WordPress online courses. I started writing posts for my blog everyday. Gradually, I fell head over heals in love with writing fiction and especially, poetry.
I have made it my goal to visit www.shadowpoetry.com and learn to write using as many poetry types as I can master. Poetry always comes out the easiest for me, usually in free verse. Fiction requires more thought. Through Flashfiction challenges, through writing my own novel, and learning the whole process behind developing a novel, my writing has improved substantially, since I began blogging nearly five-years ago.
As a writer, I realize a blog is a necessary part of sharing your work with the public, by commenting, participating in prompt challenges with other bloggers, and sharing your work over social media. I never realized even a few years ago, how all these social media accounts add to a writer’s audience.
Twitter is a big one. I have many followers on there and quite a few new ones every day. I write some poetry only on Twitter and have found places to publish my poetry through Twitter. Mainly, www.spillwords.com. I also love the WordPress community. It’s so supportive and I love brightening someone’s day by telling them how wonderful their writing piece is or what it makes me think about. Critiquing is so helpful as long as it is done in a helpful and kind manner and I try to do this when I comment. I would rather in my own work, have someone be honest with me if it doesn’t sound right (etc.) than tell me it’s fantastic and lie. But not everybody likes such honesty.
  • Take us with you on a typical day spent with you. Show us a bit of your World and yes we love photos of  your pets if you’ve got any.
Honestly, my average day is not interesting. I set out with a list of tasks to accomplish and try my best. Sometimes, it’s a bad day, and I end up staying mostly in bed and sleeping. Other days, I do chores I need to around the house, make healthy meals, do twenty to thirty minutes yoga or walking, clean, comment on other blogs and read blog posts, catch up on writing for different prompts, read books or magazines, or work on editing my novel in second draft. I research a lot online, try to stay up on current events, and watch Netflix or TV at times.
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A day out, I plan ahead. I go to a festival in Edmonton in the summer; go to the mall for necessities and sometimes clothes shopping; I go for coffee and meet a friend or sometimes on my own for a change of environment; I go for a longer walk in the river valley; go to a farmer’s market on a Saturday; get my hair or nails done; attend an appointment or go to a movie; and whatever else I want to do or need to do. I can only go out every couple of days usually, but sometimes I manage two-days out at a time. I’m limited to about four-hours out at a time, unless I’m simply sitting, such as for a movie. After a while, an extremely noisy or loud place is difficult to remain in on certain days.
On weekends, I often do something with my Mom in the day. I’m pretty constantly texting friends or messaging them and connected to the online world throughout my week, but sometimes even I need a break.
  • What’s the next pit-stop for your blog’s outreach and publishing?  Any plans in the offing? You can also share some of your published works here.
Well, like you, I’ve started doing interviews of other poets and Bloggers. It’s fascinating to learn about other writers, their writing processes, how they publish their work, and to find their unique take on life and writing in general. It’s been a success for me on my blog. I was extremely pleased to have you as my first interview. Now, I’ve got a whole list of interviewees until October at least. The interviews are informative for readers such as blog followers, as well as myself.
I’ve had poetry published in www.spillwords.com and www.sicklitmagazine.com since June 2016. I continue to send out my poetry to literary magazines and journals, as well as websites which publish poetry and fiction. My goal is to have a short story in fiction published.
Fiction is harder for me as I said, but I love it. Rejection makes me all the hungrier to have it published. Even when I receive rejection emails, I’m happy a publisher/magazine took the time to reject me and often tell me what I need to work on.
I want to eventually publish my novel which is a paranormal romance. I’m working on rearranging and polishing the second draft of my manuscript. Then, I need to look at editors because as it is my first novel, I need an editor to read through the whole piece and tell me what works and what doesn’t. I think I’m going to try querying for an agent after, but I will see. There are advantages to self-publishing, but given my health, it may be better for me to have a publisher take care of editing the manuscript, doing the cover, the marketing etc.
Thanks for interviewing me, Jacqueline. I appreciate your generosity.
Here are some current links to some of my work and some photographs:
5. Interview With Marquessa Matthews – Nonfiction –https://mandibelle16.wordpress.com/2016/07/18/interview-with-marquessa-matthews/
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This is Nikki. My long-passed on pet, but as I said I miss her 🙂
Guest Posts

Meet my dear friend, a gorgeous lady who lunches with style. The one and only Diane Duke.

jacquelineobyikocha30 Comments

There are some people you meet on your passage through life and even though you’ve never seen them in the flesh, they still carry enough presence to make you feel warm.

Diane is one of such people that I’ve been comfortable to connect with all these months. She’s smart, fun, wise, friendly and has a great sense of humour. I know that one day, I’ll be lunching with Diane and a host of other lovely people whom I’ve met in this space.

Please read and enjoy getting to know Diane a bit more.

Thank you, my lady, for taking the time to have a chat and all the best with the novella 🙂

I’ve lived in one suburb of Chicago or another my whole life. I’ve been married for quite awhile now and have a big blended family of two children, three stepchildren, a grandchild, six step grandchildren and even a step great grandson!

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I don’t usually break things down quite like that, they’re just my kids and grandkids. But I daresay if you saw us all in one room, you’d be hard pressed to know who belongs to whom. There’s kind of a lot of variety in ages!

Hubby and I also have two aging fur babies, Chief and Inga. Chief is a Chow/ terrier mix and Inga is a Norwegian Elkhound. Needless to say, there are lots and lots of fur and shedding and summertime is not their favorite time of the year!

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I have a B.S. in Journalism and it was so long ago that they call it Communications nowadays! I worked at a non-profit agency in Chicago in public relations and wrote press releases and coordinated fundraisers before leaving my job to get married and raise my family.

Eventually, I went back to work, at first, it was part time jobs, then full time at a law firm back in the city. My second son was born with lots of health problems so I had to leave that job and concentrate on his medical issues, including several surgeries and therapies over the years.

By the time he was three, I started working at home as a court reporting transcriptionist for a Washington, D.C. based firm. Certain federal courts allowed audio recordings, so we would get audio tapes and transcribe them on a deadline and at first mail them back, then later used email.

When I was transcribing, I could type 120 words a minute. I did this for a number of years until I was able to quit working completely and become a Lady Who Lunches! Yes, I’m spoiled and blessed to be able to hang out with my friends and shop and vacation…

I started my blog because I really missed writing – the only writing I was doing was our Christmas newsletter. I actually started getting requests for it from family and friends. So I plunged in and started a blog. This is how I thought blogging would go: I would read books I wanted (romance and light mysteries), write a review, post it on my blog and people would follow me. I found out quickly that if I did that I’d be writing for no one but myself!

So I signed up for WP’s Blogging 101 and made a lot of blogging friends and learned a lot! Since my blog was up and running, I was lucky I had some reviews from Goodreads to repost and keep things going for awhile.

Eventually, I started to write some fiction and some articles about things going on in my life, like physical therapy, personal training, babysitting my grandson, etc. I started exploring other blogs and found how much I loved meeting other people and talking with them.

It still amazes me that I’ve made blogging friends all over the world! I’ve found blogging challenges to be wonderful fun and a great way to meet other bloggers. I’ve done the A to Z Challenge in April and the ongoing Limerick Challenge at Mind and Life Matters and am in the midst of a Kindness Challenge.

Now I spend almost as much time reading and commenting on other people’s blogs as I do writing my own!

I never seriously intended to write a book, but I think I may have been bitten by the writing bug and may start tying together some of my shorter pieces into short stories or a possible novella. We shall see what happens down the road!

My typical days are spent fixing meals when forced, cleaning the house when I have to and going to the gym to work out a couple times a week. Youngest son still lives at home, so he’s going to work out at the gym now, too.

I go to lunch with my friends and I am on a weekly ladies bowling league in the fall and winter. I don’t really like shopping, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like buying! I’m just not much on spending the whole day at the mall. I mow the lawn and garden a little, pick up dog poop in our backyard and shovel snow when needed. Pretty mundane. Oh, and Tuesdays and Thursdays I babysit my three and a half-year-old grandson.

My only published pieces were back when I was in college and in local publications. Well, I guess I had news releases published when I worked for the United Way, but I don’t have any links to those either. The pictures I hopefully attached are Chief (tan dog), Inga (gray dog) and me and Inga having some girl time!

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Thanks, Jackie, for the lovely opportunity. I appreciate your friendship so much!

Guest Posts

An introduction to my gorgeous friend Brenda Baker of Cybernetic blonde…

jacquelineobyikocha42 Comments

Since I met Brenda a couple of months ago, we’ve got on famously to such an extent that she made a decision to pitch a tent in my blogging camp as a strategic partner.

Her articles pull the writer in so much so that you follow the journey of her words and live in their nakedness. I admire her drive and I see her going far.

All the best my dear friend and thank you for accepting to step in and have a chat with us.

Rose[1]

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With one of her gorgeous daughters.

First of all, I would like to thank Jacqueline for interviewing me. I’m both honored and humbled.

Secondly, I ‘m a teacher who loves learning, writing, music and coffee.

I mostly substitute teach with replacement positions. I substitute teach by choice. It offers me the chance to see as many students as possible.

If I took a full-time position, I’d miss all the other students that I know. I’m lucky to live in the small town of Labrador City, Canada where substitute teaching is a full-time job.

I’ve known many of my students for years. They know how much I love seeing them 🙂

I started blogging last August, after a five-week road trip. I figured it was time.

I actually started my blog with no expectations whatsoever. I set up my account and just started writing about whatever came to mind.

My early posts were personal essays which are a little too formal for my tastes. It wasn’t until I wrote my first poem in October that I discovered my true passion.

When I wrote that first post in August, I had no idea how many amazing people I would meet. I love being part of the blogging community. I also had no idea how much support I’d receive or how interactive the blogosphere is.

It’s become my favorite place to be: my home in cyberspace. Bloggers rock!cute girls in the car

My life outside the blogosphere is nothing out of the ordinary. My daily routine includes work, workout, chores, blogging and Netflix. I tell students that I’m boring but consistent 🙂

Right now, I share mostly poetry through my blog. I’m hoping to branch out this summer with a fitness and music category. I’ll see what else develops. For now, I’m enjoying the journey with no set destination in mind.

Unlike some of my amazing fellow bloggers, I’ve never been published, nor have I published. I do, however, have an early poem about to be published. I’ll be sure to share when I’m notified of the date.

I wasn’t sure what post to include, but I decided on ‘Color Wheel’. A poem celebrating my belief that despite our differences, we all share a common humanity. A humanity that connects each and every one of us.

Inspired by my amazing friend Jacqueline (just sayin’) 🙂 I may start a series of poems for self-publication this summer. All in due time, right?

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

She is amazing at describing love and life in her poems. She creates such beautiful images with her words. Truly, she is a talented writer and I’m so excited to have her poetry book and to continue reading through it.

Out of the silent breath

Guest Posts

Interview with Me, Myself and I…Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha…

jacquelineobyikocha

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It’s not every day that I get to feel like a star *I’m winking* 😉

I’ve been granted a wonderful interview by the talented, awesome blogger chic, Mandi, and as the very first interview in her interview series, she did a splendid job.

I humbly urge you to peek in for a few seconds through this link while I go strut my stuff a little bit. Hey! Come on! A girl has to love herself a bit you know 🙂

Thank you.

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

From the very first poem, “Dreams,” this book captivates with passionate and perceptive words. Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha captures a broad expanse of the human experience in this book of richly layered poems.

Out of the silent breath

Guest Posts

Meet The admirable, intelligent and beautiful, Dr. Meg Sorick. My girl writer friend with a flair.

jacquelineobyikocha39 Comments

Dr. Meg Sorick is a blogger, published writer, and friend that I admire a great deal.

She’s full of motivating drive and a great sense of humour. From her limericks, stories, insights to writing, life, the fascinating series that she’s writing with fictional Kevin and so much more, her intelligence and friendliness shines through.

We’ve interacted almost as long as my blogging time in this space and I’ve totally enjoyed her support and learnt quite a lot from Meg’s writings. She’s on my list of blogger friends I would love to meet and have real face time with 🙂

The questions I asked her are: To tell us a bit more about herself, her working life, her blog and future outlook for blog and writing.

Thank you for letting us into your World Meg. We wish you well in all your writing endeavours.

Rose[1]

I am a chiropractor – thus the “Doctor” Meg Sorick. I wish the doctor referred to Time Lord, traveling all of time and space in a blue box that’s bigger on the inside! But anyway…

I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Don’t believe everything you’ve heard about Philly. We’re actually a pretty fun bunch! Despite having the reputation as the worst sports fans in the nation. But honestly, it’s only because we are really passionate about our teams! But that’s not all the city has to offer. With art museums like The Philadelphia Museum of art, The Rodin Museum and The Academy of Fine Art, the Murals Arts Project, theaters, ballet and the Philadelphia Orchestra in the beautiful Kimmel Center for the Performing arts, and the Old City with all its history, there is no shortage of arts and culture in Philadelphia. I feel privileged to have that in my back yard!

I am also a writer. Why? Because I love to read. In fact, I’m a book junkie. I need to read. I want to climb in books and live there. I want to meet the characters, walk in their shoes, fight their battles, fall in love with their heroes… I come by my love of stories and books, naturally.

My dad was a storyteller. It’s only now, looking back, that I appreciate what a vivid imagination he had! He made up a whole series of adventures involving our neighbor’s cat: Mopsy, and another one with a little old man and a cuckoo clock that always saved the day.

One day, I guess about two years ago, I was sitting in the stylist’s chair at the hair salon, touching up the blonde and reading my book to pass the time. My stylist said to me, “You’re always reading. Did you ever want to write a book yourself?”
“Sure,” I laughed. “Doesn’t every reader want to be a writer?”
“You should do it,” she said.
“Hmm,” I thought. “I should do it.” I used to write all the time. As a young girl, I kept a diary. As a teenager, I filled notebooks with poetry. When had I forgotten how much I loved it? I went out and bought myself a notebook, started making notes…

‘Workstation – iMac covered in post-it notes.’

I started blogging because everything I was reading about writing said I needed one! My first blog was on Tumblr but I soon realized that wasn’t going to be the right platform for an author. That’s when I moved to WordPress. My blog is about the process of writing, but I also post my short stories and poems. I am an avid reader, listener of music, and am often inspired by it to create my works of fiction.

I’ve been writing seriously for a couple years and have published 3 novels. In addition to sharing my experience as I write and publish, my blog also lets me test out new styles, new subject matter… All in the hopes of improving my skills.

When you start writing, your blog IS your body of work. You have what, one book you’ve just self-published? Maybe not even that! Your blog introduces you to the world. With the ability to link to all manner of social media, you are connecting to not just your potential readers and book purchasers, but editors, publishers, and agents.

I think this goes without saying, but I use the blog to connect with other writers. No one will understand your feelings and experiences like another writer. When writers share their thoughts on their blogs, it only helps the readers understand the lengths we go to in order to write. Taking that one step further, we as writers should be actively responding to and engaging with our readers.

Answer their questions, ask them for feedback, go to other blogs and leave thoughtful comments there. It’s about being part of the community! And what a wonderful community it is! I’ve made some wonderful friends and formed valuable relationships here in the blog world.

‘Jay Dog’

What is a day in the life of Meg like? I guess it depends on the day! Since 2013, I’ve been exclusively practicing from my home office. Before then I worked as an associate in a busy chiropractic office about an hour away. With my current schedule, I have much more time to devote to my writing.

I tend to get up early, scroll through the reader and check out my friends here on WP. If I’ve scheduled a post, I’ll respond to comments for a while. Then I take off with the dog, Jay for my daily walk/jog. Yes, I used to be a runner, but my old running buddy doesn’t move so fast anymore. Ah, who am I kidding, neither do I! At any rate, we both get the exercise we need.

Then, it’s home to shower and get busy writing or editing. After my husband gets home from work, I shut down the computer and try to stay off my mobile devices so he can have my undivided attention! We both finish the day reading before bed.

I am currently in the editing stage for two projects. I have the fourth book in my series: “Second Chances – A Bucks County Novel” nearly ready for publication later this month. AND this is new… Fictional Kevin and I are going to publish “Double Seduction” as a novella on Kindle, possibly with a name change. We haven’t decided yet. I’ve taken on the task of editing and formatting it to publish-worthy standards. We hope to have it ready for publication before the end of June.

In the meantime, Kevin and I have started an email sign up for anyone who is interested in hearing about our work behind the scenes and news about ongoing projects. Besides both of our independent projects, we intend to write together again, possibly a full-length novel next time! I’ve included the link below. I also included the links to My Books page on my blog and my Amazon Author page as well.

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Drmegsorick.com
www.amazon.com/Margaret

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Out of the silent breath

Guest Posts

Meet the one and only beautiful Michelle Malone.

jacquelineobyikocha22 Comments

I count it a blessing to meet so many awesome and inspiring people in this space and Michelle stands tall as one of them.

She’s full of motivating drive and inspiration. I never come away from her blog empty. It always impacts me and gives me hope.

We’ve been interacting for several months in this space and I am absolutely glad that we connected.

She’s not only a supportive friend, but she’s equally my strategic partner. Need I say more? When the opportunity presents itself in this lifetime, she’s one of those I would love to meet one-on-one.

The questions I asked her are: To tell us a bit more about herself, her working life, her blog and future outlook for blog and writing.

Thank you for letting us into your World Michelle. We wish you well in your endeavours.

Rose[1]

I’m Michelle Malone – a school leader, a blogger, and Christ follower. I have a great husband, two cool kids, and an awesome Golden Retriever.
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In my spare time, I love reading and writing. I also enjoy getting away to places off the beaten path to just reflect, relax, and recharge. My outlook on life is a positive one.

After all, anytime I wake up on this side of the dirt, it’s a good day. There are so many things to complain about, but the one thing I can be glad about is being given one more day to get it right.

The name of my blog is Two Are Better Than One. I had the name before I had the blog. It came to me as I was spending time in scripture one morning and writing a piece for my devotional.20160228_103901

The blog is my marketplace for ministering. I’m not a pastor – nor do I aspire to be, but I have plenty to share about the goodness of God if only we choose to trust him.

Blogging is really a big deal! Who knew? I still consider myself to be a novice since I’ve only been doing this since November 2015, but I’ve learned a great deal from people like Jacqueline who is so generous with her space, her feedback, and her lovely parties.

The blogging community as a whole is so warm and inviting. I never want to leave. A few of the posts that I’ve written that have really resonated with readers are Myopia and a 15-part series about faith which begins with a piece I called Train Up A Child. I actually had fun writing this one because it shows how we sometimes get off track, but God gently steers us back on course.20160210_212837

My day starts at 3:00 AM each day. Some days I lie around until 3:30. I head downstairs to make coffee and pray. I spend a little time in God’s word every morning before eating breakfast and heading out the door around 6:00 AM.

I work in a large middle school with nearly 1500 students, so I take advantage of the 30 – 45 of time without kids to respond to e-mails and check my calendar. Once they arrive, the fun begins – hall duty, classroom visits, cafeteria duty, courageous conversations, lunch for me, more courageous conversations, parent calls and meetings, and then I head home between 5:00 and 5:30 PM each day.Partnerships

Most nights I pick up something for dinner, but I cook once or twice a week. There’s just so little time to do it all. Thankfully my husband is understanding, and we appreciate our time together – whether we’re eating pizza and wings on paper plates or a home-cooked meal on the good plates.

I’m so glad you asked this question. Right now I’m just trying to grow my readership. I have three manuscripts in the works. One will be published by the end of the year, and it’s about ministry.

The second is a devotional for teachers. The third will prayerfully be a series about Daddies and Daughters. Wish me well!

Are you interested in guest posting, interview or being my strategic partner? You can contact me through my contact page above.

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Out of the silent breath

Guest Posts

Let’s get to know the enigmatic Kathy Myrman in her World.

jacquelineobyikocha6 Comments

I started interacting with Kat not long after I started blogging a year ago and I’ve found her presence a charming and calming one.

Her posts are witty, creative and inspiring. She also contributes regularly to Echoes of my neighbourhood blogging challenge.

Kathy shares in her words below, her World, her work and her love for writing, her furry friends and family.

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By day I can be found in a corporate cubicle, corresponding with and for executives, creating reports, and planning fabulous events and travel to exotic places for other people!

I live in a century-old historic home in Southwest Virginia, in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains, though my roots can be traced back to Chicago where I was born. Moving from the Midwest to the South was a bit of a culture shock.

Some people in the Southern United States, particularly rural Virginia still believe that the Civil has not been settled and long for a “do-over”.

Before I had children I did a short stint in the Marine Corps, not because I was uber patriotic. I saw it as a way to move out and get paid while training for a career. As you may have guessed, my strengths were assessed in the Administrative field.

Today, my four grown daughters, have presented me with 6 and counting grandchildren (one is due this July making it 7!) and 4 grand pups.

When we all gather for Thanksgiving or Christmas we are 16 in number. I do love having a big family and we are all very close – an added blessing!

These days I am “mom” to a house full of critters, three dogs, three cats, a tortoise and a sun conure. They keep me busy! I also like to post photos of my beautiful garden and the trees in my neighborhood, but gardening is not my thing.

I am very allergic to green stuff, especially in the Spring, Summer and Fall. So I leave getting in the dirt to my partner Traci and take in the view from my library. Which brings me to things I do love…books! Oodles and oodles of books. We dedicated an entire room to books!

I also like to paint, mostly in acrylic and I play the guitar and love to sing. When my kids were younger, we would travel from nursing homes to revivals, and even private family reunions.

I even cut a few albums of original songs back then. I peddled them out of my trunk and gave most of them away. I discovered poetry a few years later and found that I loved it.

Oh and a few more things I love…trees (yes, I’m a tree hugger!), the ocean (any type of moving water really) and faeries.

You can probably tell I am a pretty positive person. I tend to be optimistic and trusting and not a big planner. Change is exciting to me.

One of my favorite sayings is, “I don’t worry about getting lost, I just change where I want to go.”

I have been writing for most of my life. My first poem when I was around 7 was called The Purple Cow: I never saw a purple cow, I never hope to see one, but I can tell you anyhow, I’d rather see than be one!

Fast forward to the 21st century. I had done a bit of creative writing on social media, but I really didn’t feel comfortable pouring my heart out in that platform. I had signed up with WordPress a year before I actually wrote my first post.

I was so nervous about sharing my writing with anyone, inviting only a few close friends who I knew would be encouraging (it’s good to keep a few of those friends around in a pinch).

In a wild moment of abandon, I threw caution to the wind and left the site “open” to the world when I set my preferences up. To be honest, I didn’t really expect much traffic or notice. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to write or what I wanted this blog to be so it became an online journal more or less.

A place to simmer thoughts, reflections, and perceptions while also sharing a bit of photo art…my new found artistic passion. In the past year, I have discovered Flash Fiction, which I love, and of course my first love, Poetry.

I took the WordPress Blogging 101 class and by joining several challenges I have sought to improve my writing skills. I think the post that sums it all up for me is the one I wrote about my love of writing.

It’s called “A Beautiful Obsession”

Well now, I do hope I don’t bore you to tears! My typical day starts at dawn, or 6 am or so. My first order of business is breakfast for all the animals. And of course outside potty breaks for the dogs.

Then it is a shower, fluff and scoot down the road to my day job. Thank goodness for my floor to ceiling windows. As an executive assistant, I spend the next 9-10 hours at my desk working on schedules, travel, memos, spreadsheets, and communication.

In the winter, I leave after the sun has already slipped below the horizon, but in the Spring, Summer and Fall, I enjoy a ride home in the evenings with the top down on my little red Fiat car.

Then it is supper-time for all the animals, an occasional load of laundry or run to the store and finally, when everyone is taken care of, I settle in to watch an occasional reality show or read and write a bit, or both, until it’s time for bed.

I’m a light sleeper, so it’s not unusual for me to be roused at 3 am. I find that I do some of my best writing at this time. Years ago, I loved writing with fountain pens on thick paper. These days I do a lot of writing on my phone’s notepad.

On the weekends, I do chores, shopping, watch movies, get together with family, and if I’m lucky, on Sunday I catch a nice nap. Like I said…I live a rather boring life. Being artistic is what keeps me going. It helps to see the world through a quirky lens.

My art and writing are the color and life of my existence.

When I started the blog, as I mentioned, I really didn’t have any grand plans. Not much has changed. I am so happy to be here. To write, to interact with readers and to read other blogs.

I have been published in a few online and in print anthologies.* That is always a thrill! Because I am writing more, I do think about publishing a book of poetry or short stories every now and then.

I’m thinking if there is a next step, getting my collection of thoughts between the binding of a book might be a nice thing to leave behind for my children and grandchildren. I will also likely sign up for a few more of the WordPress classes. They are well worth one’s time.

Anthologies in Print:

The Circle Continues: Women Respond to Circle of Stones, Published: August 1, 2001, by Judith Duerk – Poem, “Icons” by Kathleen Hurt (nee Myrman)
Dreams for Our Daughters: A Collection of Dreams, Wishes and Perspectives for Our Collective Daughters, Published: 2000 by Bonnie Allmon Coffey – Poem: “A Mother’s Last Wish for her Daughters” by Kathy Hurt (nee Myrman)

Collections Online:

 The memory of you by Kat Myrman
On Women’s Spiritual Poetry: Women’s Spiritual Poetry Blogspot
When you ask me to pray…this…By Kat Myrman
On Women’s Spiritual Poetry:
A Beautiful Obsession by Kat Myrman
On Women’s Spiritual Poetry: I spend a great deal of time spinning

A thank you rose for you, Kat 🙂

Rose[1]

P.S. If you are interested in a guest post or interview, you can contact me.

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Out of the silent breath

Guest Posts · Interviews · Life

Have you met fabulous Raili?.. Guest Post.

jacquelineobyikocha19 Comments

Let me briefly introduce you to Raili of Soul Gifts and leave it to you to get to know her yourself.

We met during our photo 101 class and have interacted well ever since. I totally enjoy her witty sense of humour, the delivery of her vivid stories that can transport you from mirth, to wonder, to daydream and much more .

I feel honoured that she accepted to grant me an interview and responding very nicely to my nosey -pokey questions 😉

In her responses below, you will agree with me that I chose well.

Do sit back and have a read. Thank you and my regards.

  • Introduce yourself (a bit about you), background, your likes, dislikes and general outlook towards life.

Thank you, Jacquie, for so generously hosting this series of interviews with fellow bloggers. What a good way to meet and greet each other !

What a good way to meet and greet each other !

Us at home

I’m a happily married and retired woman of leisure with a 30-year career in mental health nursing behind me. Born in Finland, I migrated to Australia with my family as a 7-year-old.

My family moved around a lot while I was growing up, following Dad’s footsteps. He was a Minister of Religion to the Finnish Lutheran Community in Australia. Growing up in a Christian home gave me a strong foundation, values, and beliefs.

Married with two adult sons, I have pretty much-stayed put, moving house only once, and that was in the same city. We were DINKS (double income no kids) for the first 15 years.

Infertility imposed that on us. Eventually, after a long and arduous journey, we adopted our two boys from overseas – India and the Philippines. My husband has just recently retired too. He has his very own category in my blog – The Retired Husband. We look forward to many years of enjoying a leisurely life together. So far life has been pretty good. I wouldn’t change a thing.

This, my first post, is a tongue-in-cheek intro of myself to the world of blogging. It took a leap of faith and courage to press that ‘publish’ button the very first time! https://soulgifts.com.au/2015/08/01/hello-world/

  • Tell us about your blog and your purpose for starting it. Did you have any set goals in mind when you were setting up your blog? What do you think about the blogging phenomenon itself? Here, you can share some links of your top posts or blog posts that you particularly like with us.

I’ve always loved writing. Back in primary school one of my teachers gave me a 10 out of 10 for a descriptive essay I wrote, saying he wished he could give me more.

The best he could do, he said, was read it out to the class. Mortified as I was back then, I have never forgotten how thrilled I was deep down. Starting my own blog emerged as an itch that had to be scratched. So I plunged in the deep end back in August 2015 and got started.

Knowing nothing about blogging, it took me weeks to get it set up. And I have been tweaking it ever since! Better late than never I recently discovered WP Blogging University. It has skyrocketed my learning curve.

Why do I blog ? Because I love writing. About lots of things. From the deeply serious to the flippantly funny. Now, having spent the best part of the last 9 months blogging, there’s a whole host of other reasons too –

Meeting new people from all over the world
Armchair travelling through others eyes
Reading – fascinating words that I would not normally come across anywhere else
Making wonderful new friends
Reading the comments on blogs sometimes is so entertaining and informative
Keeps my brain alive and active with the never ending challenges and learning opportunities that seem to go hand in hand with the whole blogging experience

Here are a few links to my work –
I asked friends, readers and followers for 3 word prompt to write stories to. All in all, I wrote 19 of them –

I tell a tale about my colonoscopy experience in this one: Shat me pants

This is a two-part story in response to a prompt from the feathered sleep and a Sandbox Challenge
Voyage of Time – part 1
Voyage of Time – part 2

This is the all-time top post so far. It is about the building of our boat. There are many more boat stories in the Finally category – Boat in the Backyard

This poem was read out on the David Snape radio show recently. It is one that emerged from my Soul – Birth

This is a Dr-Seuss inspired tongue twister – Thinking puddle

The more serious side of me writes about :

Mind, Body, Soul newsletter about nurturing and growth – April 2016

Citizenship rights, equality, dignity and respect for all – Declared Insane

World free of fear – Prayer for Peace

Health and wellbeing – Green Therapy

  • Take us on a typical day spent with you. Show us a bit of your World and yes we love photos of your pets.

Sunset, view, dog

Being retired, my mornings are leisurely. We have no alarm clock in the bedroom to jar us awake. A usual morning for me starts with a glass of lemon water, reading the local paper and having a go at the crossword and scrambled letters puzzles. 

Followed by a leisurely breakfast and a bit of housework, I then head off to make the bed, have a shower and get dressed. Via my office to see what’s new in the Inbox. 

The afternoons may include more housework, perhaps a bit of time in the garden, shopping, meeting up with friends for a spot of lunch, more blog time. After the evening meal and a bit of television ( we are cooking show tragics…) I head off to the world of blogging. And bed anytime between 10pm and 1am. Throughout, I am shadowed by my faithful little four legged friend Tess. She is happiest when I’m home.

  • What’s the next pit-stop for your blog’s outreach? Are there any publishing plans in the offing?

Finnally

I am in the final throes of drafting a Circle of Friends based theme for May. In it, I will invite fellow bloggers, readers, followers, visitors to share their stories, experiences, ideas etc about what friendship means to them… there will be more to come about this very soon. As for publishing – who knows what the future holds!

Thank you, Jacquie, for this opportunity to share a little about my world and my blog.

Would you like to guest post or an interview? Feel free to contact me through my contact page or on email: JacquelineObyIkocha@gmail.com