Tag: Interview

Guest Posts

Let me introduce you to my New Blogger Friend Jenita.

jacquelineobyikocha7 Comments

I enjoy the connections and interactions that I make here in the blogosphere. Each day it I literally meet a new person and today, I share a brief introduction/interview with  a new blogger friend of mine, Jenita.

Thank, you Jenita for talking to us about yourself on such a short notice and I believe you’ll do well in blogdom 🙂

A big thank you

Hello, everyone!  I’m Jenita. I am a fairly new Blogger on WordPress. It’s been about 5 months since I started my Blog.  I am also a children’s book author.Jenita 1

I love to write short stories & poetry.

My Blog, https://huntsclubhouse.wordpress.com/ is an extension of my main website, http://huntsclubhouse.com/ that was inspired & created for children; per I’ve worked several years caring for them as a Professional Nanny.       I love to find the beauty in things.  I enjoy decorating, and I LOVE to laugh!  I love hanging out and having fun with family and friends, per it’s always a blast. I am also sort of a neat freak (slightly OCD, lol)  I do not like disorganized spaces or over-crowded rooms!

 I created my Blog to cater to more adults & parents…as well as a platform to introduce my two children’s books, “Beautiful Boy” & “Beautiful Girl”.   In addition, during this process, to my surprise, I have found myself further developing my writing with newly inspired poetry and articles, about life and other inspirational topics, I didn’t even initially plan to share. This has definitely been a growing experience.  I am also simply blown away by the numerous talent I have discovered on various blog sites…including yours, Jacqueline. It is absolutely amazing!  There is such a plethora of topics & areas to be inspired by, or educated about, across the web.  It’s truly an open buffet of content.

I think I‘d probably be considered an average blogger.  I still have a lot to learn.  I realize others may have obtained more followers or higher stats in a shorter amount of time, but ultimately, I just want people to enjoy what I write…& the more people that are aware of my content, the more can be impacted.  Here are a few of my Favorite Blog posts….

https://huntsclubhouse.wordpress.com/2016/08/03/beautifully-flawed/

https://huntsclubhouse.wordpress.com/2016/07/08/just-breathe/

https://huntsclubhouse.wordpress.com/2016/07/14/becoming-diamonds/

In between my day-to-day caring for children, I LOVE to admire the beauty of nature, going out to great restaurants, & having fun with family.

One of my goals is to continue to gain more exposure for my two children’s books, which are available on Amazon http://amzn.to/24NhCzI

I would also love to write for a larger platform to increase exposure for my writing in general, as well as for my Blog.  My desire is to reach as many people as possible to hopefully inspire & motivate. If someone can be touched & inspired by my content, perhaps it will spread & motivate them to inspire others as well.

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Guest Posts

Meet the inspiring, intriguing and warm Lady Alexis Rose.

jacquelineobyikocha22 Comments

One of my objectives as a blogger is not just to write for others to read, but to equally get to connect and know who my friends in this space are. I’ve been following Alexis Rose for quite a while now and have not only enjoyed our interactions but she amazes and inspires me with her confidence, resilience, and candour.

Dear Alexis, thank you for taking the time to indulge my inquisition. My kind regards and I look forward to seeing your continued bloom and success.Thank you

1. Introduce yourself, your background, your likes, dislikes and general outlook towards life.

Thank you, Jackie, for this wonderful opportunity to be interviewed for your blog. I have followed you since I began blogging and so impressed by the myriad of topics you cover. I have enormous respect for the ways you build community in the blogging world.

My name is Alexis Rose and I’m from Minnesota, which is in the Midwest of America. My state is called the land of 10,000 lakes and it’s beautiful. Freezing in the winter, hot and humid in the summer. I moved here when I was in my late teens and set down deep roots. I have two wonderful children, and we’re excited to see our son get married in just 5 short months. I thought I would have a difficult time being an empty-nester, but we see our kids often and have a close relationship with both of them and their significant others. Alexis Rose 1

Up until 2009 I had a good career in the field of staff recruitment and marketing. I loved my job and was getting to a point in my career where I felt as if I could exhale a bit when it came to financial security. In October of 2009 sparked by a family tragedy, I began having flashbacks, although, I didn’t know they were flashbacks at the time. I had purposely repressed my past, but when my snow-globe world was shattered, I began to piece together, for the first time, a personal history of abuse and trauma.

While learning to live with the effects of my trauma, and working with the deficits arising from the post-traumatic stress disorder, I have co-authored three inspirational books and published my memoir one year ago.

Alexis Rose 2My outlook towards life in one of hope. I am passionate about living life, not just going through the motions, however, that looks for a person. For me, it means living with my eyes wide open. I absolutely love people and human nature, I love all critters (we live with a dog and two cats) and feel best when I’m outside in any kind of nature. I think I was meant to live in the tropics because I thrive when it’s hot and humid.

2. 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.

My blog is named Untangled, https://atribeuntangled.com/

I’m an active blogger who writes about PTSD, Mental Health, Trauma, with some inspirational poetry sprinkled in along the way. I started my blog after publishing my memoir. I was told that I had to have a blog to market my book. I had absolutely no idea what a blog was, except a way to communicate with family when someone was on a trip. I had never clicked on a blog, and had never heard of WordPress, had no idea what a tag was, or how to follow someone. Last October, was the first time I wrote a post. After writing my first post, and having someone “like, and follow my blog” I began to research how to tag, find other blogs to read, and engage in the blogging world.

Now, as I reflect on the last eight months of blogging, I’m grateful for the connections I’ve made. I love to follow blogs in all genres. Although my intention with my blog is to start and keep the conversation going about PTSD, or any other chronic illness, as well as share my poetry, I’m open and excited to be followed and follow blogs that write about every subject. I love to read about other people’s interests and viewpoints. I love to see the photos, read the poems, recipes, opinions and editorials. I absolutely love the connections that blogging provides.

I am thrilled to read and write on someone’s blog or have them write on mine from all the world. It makes the world a bit smaller as we are able to connect with each other. The reality of knowing that I am responding to someone who is already a day ahead of me, by virtue of time zones is amazing to me. I am part of their past, they are part of my future and yet we are talking to each other in real time. I LOVE that!!

As you can tell, my blogging experience has been amazing. Here are a few posts to click on to get a flavor of what I post:

http://atribeuntangled.com/2016/07/25/monday-mantra/

http://atribeuntangled.com/2016/07/27/wait-what-i-still-have-ptsd/

http://atribeuntangled.com/2016/07/15/as-she-dances-the-steps-of-innocence-2/

http://atribeuntangled.com/2016/08/05/the-value-of-friendship/

3.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.

Most days start with working out, yoga, or meditating. I do marketing for two different businesses’ part-time, as well as try to market my book, and I’m only cleared to work two hours a day (part of the living with the effects of PTSD) so I divide my mornings into working. Then I take my dog, Leilani for a walk. She is my unofficial/official therapy dog and I don’t know what I would do without her. She keeps me grounded, knows what to do if I begin to have a flashback and is always by my side. I’m including a picture of Leilani and our cat, Brad.Alexis Rose 3

During the summer, autumn and spring, I try to spend as much time as possible outside, so I typically take a break during the day and spend time on our deck with the critters. Depending on the time of year, my symptoms can be a lot more prevalent, so I need to pace myself, and stay grounded. I make sure I see friends throughout the weekdays too. I have a wonderful support system of people who check on me, make sure I get out of the house for hikes, walks, lunches dates, etc.

I try every day to make time to read other people’s blogs. I believe that blogging is a two-way commitment. If I’m following someone I read what they write. It’s why we blog, so other’s will read our words. I try to engage as much as I can with comments, but I will typically always “like” someone’s post. I want them to know I am reading their words and they are being heard.

4. 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.

I love the blogging world, and I get tremendous fulfillment from writing and sharing my posts. I still have a twinge, of fear each time I hit the publish button. Will my writing be interesting to others, will my poetry and/or writing resonate with others? I’m still not quite as confident I would like to be. I write from a vulnerable and honest place, so sharing that with the world and opening myself up is really difficult, but I’m determined to keep a conversation going about living with PTSD, and I’m passionate about dispelling some stigma behind the mental and chronic illness.

I will also continue to market Untangled on my blog. I love that my book has been read not just by the mental health community but cut across all genres of readers and I believe that is because of my blog.

I’m going to begin writing another book in September. I can feel another book bubbling out of me, and I’m compelled to honor that feeling. Besides Untangled, I have collaborated on three other inspirational/spiritual books, but they are currently unavailable on Amazon. I love all my books, but Untangled is my heart. It’s my memoir, and that book has given me gifts of healing, connection, and hope beyond my wildest dreams. Here is a link to Untangled.

I appreciate it when someone purchases my book, reads it, gives me feedback, and writes reviews on Amazon. I wish I could thank each person when they buy my book. Although, because of the wonderful world of blogging I’m able to thank many people when they reach out to me after reading it.

https://www.amazon.com/Untangled-story-resilience-courage-triumph/dp/1514213222

https://www.amazon.com/Untangled-story-resilience-courage-triumph-ebook/dp/B013XA4856

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

You’ve Got To Meet My Beautiful and Graceful Friend Annie Roo.

jacquelineobyikocha6 Comments

Let me introduce you to my engaging, warm and beautiful blogger friend Roo.  She’s been a supportive presence in this space and without too much said, reading her own in-depth and candid words below, you’ll enjoy this priceless interaction.

Annie Roo, thank you for taking the time from a busy life to share more of you with us. I truly appreciate you and extend my warm regards. Jacqueline

My given name is practically a biography, so I prefer my pen name. E.V.A. Lambert is an acronym of my life’s most influential people. To friends, siblings and my younger family members I’m Annie Roo; Roo for short, but that’s another story.car jinks

Go Cubs, Go: I was born at a very young age into a rather nomadic, Anglo-Celtic, Chicago suburbs family, complete with eccentricities and most common dysfunctions. I’m now a great-grandmother and I’ve lived all over the U.S.

Can I say something here? I don’t understand why women say they’re younger than they are. When asked my digits I typically say, “I think I’m doing great for 75.” I’m not even close – yet, but saying that feels great for a few moments. Culpability is on the inquirer. Anyway, aside from some dings telling me when rain’s coming I’m vital and young on the inside.

I was already a mother of my four sons before I was 22 – one with special needs, but nobody could guess which one today. Divorced while the boys were in grade school, their dad did me a solid replacing me with a younger model, so we all got through it – mostly together. Without any other monetary support, I took care of myself, my sons and helped my siblings and our mother as best I could.760401 CnJ L boys

I’m the estranged wife of my life’s love, a crazy-gifted misfit musician, emphasis on the crazy. Starving artists the past thirty years, I now live a very full, pleasantly modest and green lifestyle on Colorado’s Western Slope with my life-long best friend. Life’s all about setting priorities and making choices.

As my five siblings can attest, “just to spite several bullies and straight-up perverts,” we overcame significant tragedy, abuse, hardships and for me, some mental disorders (yes, plural). In my early thirties, a heart attack got my undivided attention. Days prior, I had given my life and subsequently my heart to Jesus Christ. Don’t think the sequence didn’t confuse me! Seriously, blind ambition, heartache, stress (compounded by cocaine, excessive alcohol, my job) and so many prior bad choices should have killed me before then. I not only realized I actually wasn’t Wonder Woman, but clearly God had plans for me.

Days out of the hospital I quit my high 5-figure income job. I was determined to write my already amazing stories. At the time my boys were sure I’d lost it. I wondered too, but in hindsight, I see I’d actually found myself.

Writing stories by kindergarten, my 9th grade English teacher thrilled me by publishing my term essay in my high school newspaper. Seeing my brain child, the best part of me in print snared me. Writing became my favorite occupation. I was always obsessive about grammar, but now isn’t it amazing how quickly we get past that as we make friends around the world in the blogosphere?CO 1

Early on I published in local periodicals. Among my first publications was as a contributing author for Eva Marie Emerson. Along the way I have picked up copy writing for food and gasoline; happy to do what I can, wherever I am and if I get paid for it, great! My calling and passion is to write my stories well, not only for my family’s sake (to help them see why life sometimes goes slightly sideways) but also to help other mental illness and abuse survivors.

Contributing to a journalist/author friend’s blog, she urged me to blog independently. I launched my first blog in 2004 mostly as a journal. I also keyed out chapters and queries for what I was certain would make me today’s Jane Austen. We’ll see hroo n bronzeow that works out.roo bird use

During three more moves across three more states, I realized nobody seemed to notice my Facebook Notes – not even close friends. Facebook users typically aren’t ardent readers. Undaunted I dove into the deep end of WordPress. I launched What’s Next on my target date, 9/11 of 2014.

During my first WordPress Blogging U course, I met other newbie bloggers including the fantastic Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha, and other gifted writers, poets, and photographers. Even with the amazingly supportive Blogging Community and Blogging U courses, I couldn’t learn fast enough for my liking.

What’s Next met my target goal of 100 followers well within the first year and I’m growing right along with The Blogging Community. I have much to learn – always will, but I’m actually having the time of my life!

I enjoy promoting other great bloggers, sharing other blogs, and am keen on changing my theme – as soon as I upgrade my site. I’m determined to link in a Twitter account and add a Contributing Authors section. As always I’ll continue to submit chapters and queries as I blog the good, the bad and the beautiful in my world.roo glasses

“No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” Matthew 5:15, 16 (NLT)

P.S: If you are interested in guest posting, send an email to JacquelineObyIkocha@gmail.com.

Guest Posts

A Friend and Sweet Soul called Eugenia.

jacquelineobyikocha22 Comments

My dear Eugenia has been a steadfast support and friend in this space and I totally appreciate the hand of fellowship encouragement and constant interactions with her.

Her humourous outlook, Tuesday chatter and other thoughtful posts on her blog always leaves me refreshed and I am glad that she obliged my request to let us get to know her a bit better.

Thank you Eugenia for your warmth and kind spirit. It’s my pleasure knowing you.

Hi Jacqueline and thank you for selecting me for your interview. Quite flattering, I must say.

You know you asked for a bio, which the word bio is the shortened version of the word biography. I am going to do my best to compile a shortened version of my life, bio vs. biography.

My Pix

Born and raised in Orlando, FL before the mouse, meaning before Disney World was built. Disney created the opportunity for numerous modeling and acting jobs. I did a lot of modeling and had  parts as an extra in a few commercials. No big time jobs but I had a lot fun.

It was obvious I wasn’t going to eke out a living in modeling so I landed a job at an insurance company. After 40+ years in the insurance industry, I retired. This coming July 1 marks my 3rd year of retirement.

I moved from Orlando when I turned 30 and I lived from one end of Florida to the other (Tampa to Daytona Beach and Miami to Jacksonville).

Other than attending college in Fulton, MO and living in Marlton, NJ for a few years, I lived most of my life in Florida until 2012.  My insurance career, which I was co-owner of my own agency for nine years, led me to many great experiences including travels to London and several U.S. cities. It also led me to the finality of my career, via transfer to Atlanta, GA, where I retired.

Yes, there is a lot more to my story but this will hopefully serve as a petite summation of many years and experiences.  Currently, I live in Roswell, GA with my husband, Paul and our cat, Amanda. Neither Paul nor myself had children, so it is just the three of us. I must say, I am at a very happy time in my life.

The photos below are:  Amanda Panda, our Cat kid.   Canton Street in Roswell, GA, a very charming little city outside of Atlanta; and Paul and I while on a train ride in Blue Ridge, GA.

AmandaCanton1

 

After retiring, I had a void in my life. My position in insurance required a lot of writing, which it is referred to as documentation, and can be used in a court of law. So I was accustomed to writing and I am computer savvy. I thought what better way to fill some of my time than to write. I somehow stumbled on WordPress, which was the start of my blogging experience.

I believe the blogging phenomenon is fantastic! It is wonderful opportunity to be creative by expressing yourself in words, photos, and art; and the learning and sharing of ideas. Undoubtedly, the most fulfilling part of blogging is the camaraderie with others. I find the blogging community very welcoming across all platforms.

I have no set goals or visions of grandeur for my blogging. My need it to fill my time and feel useful. In the beginning, I found It took some time not to write like an insurance underwriter, meaning dry and factual with no flair. Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts – know what I mean?

Here are a couple of my own favorite publications:

https://amanpan.com/2016/04/30/you-know-2/

https://amanpan.com/2016/05/22/remember/

I also run a weekly event, Tuesday Chatter, which the intent is to have fellow bloggers share their link thus increasing their exposure.

https://amanpan.com/2015/10/27/tuesday-chatter/

My typical day begins early. I am an early riser because I enjoy the mornings. After putting myself together, breakfast, and playing with the cat, I am on my computer. I check our email and then access my favs. I spend a lot of time in beBee, LinkedIn and WordPress. I also play games on Pogo.com.

Yes, I do other things besides look at my computer all day – the usual cooking, cleaning, and shopping. My husband and I share in the household duties. Amanda, being a long-haired cat, keeps us busy.

Regarding any future plans for blogging, I don’t have anything carved in stone.  I blog as much as I can across 3 platforms: beBee.com, LinkedIn and WordPress. beBee keeps me extremely busy and WordPress runs a close second. In case you are not familiar with beBee, it is the new experience in social media. I migrated with my online friends to beBee from LinkedIn as we were not enjoying LinkedIn’s recent implemented changes.

My beBee group is made up of professionals, with many being professional writers.  I have learned a lot, published a lot and I run 4 groups (groups are referred to as hives on beBee). It’s fun, it’s fulfilling and I enjoy it. Several of my publications on beBee are not on WordPress and vice versa. And some publications parallel one another. Here is a publication that I posted on LinkedIn, WordPress, beBee and Millionaires Digest. It generated 5,000 views on beBee. I am truly thrilled.

https://www.bebee.com/producer/@franci-hoffman/you-yourself-and-you

Jacqueline, my attitude toward life has always been positive. I’ve had my share of bumps in the road and feel they are life events that make me a stronger person. My favorite type of writing is poetry, which I can be creative, whimsical, serious, or even melancholy in my reflections. You write beautiful poetry, Jacqueline, so you know understand what I mean.

https://amanpan.com/2016/06/01/life-death-and-inbetween/

Life is like a dream

It can be good or bad

It can be happy or sad

Death is like a dream

Never ending

And unforgiving

In-between is like a dream

But still remains unseen

As experiences of your being

Life may be pleasant

Death may be peaceful

No shows won’t know

In-between may be troublesome

But, isn’t it what you make it?

Wise up and don’t forsake it

-Eugenia

Well, it’s time to wrap this up and again, Jacqueline, thank you for selecting me for your interview.

Cheers!

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.

A Richly Layered and Passionate Read. Jan Cliff

Out of the silent breath

If you enjoy my works, you can fuel my creativity with a cup of coffee or a slice of cake😉

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.

pubbleme.leadpages/signup
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

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.

image004

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