Silent Sunday

38/365 Dusk at the Three Craws
38/365 Dusk at the Three Craws flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

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Anti Spam Poem

Today’s Daily Create asks us to visit Kevin’s blog and make a poem out of the anti-spam words that you need to enter in order to post a comment.

Amusingly, Kevin has moved his blog to a new home over the last few days, and the new blog doesn’t ask for these words. So I stayed with the old one and refreshed the page a few times to get this:

Felt chop?
Pleats do.
Bidder ha?
Shrews mew

Well, that’s better than some of my own attempts to rhyme!

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Silent Sunday

Winter sun


Winter sun flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

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Easy Writing

Nearly there


Nearly there flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

People often tell me that they wished they found it as easy to write as I do – because, they think, it’s obvious that writing comes naturally to me. And, actually, they’re right – I do find writing easy. Whether I’m typing at a computer or (more often) writing with one of my many fountain pens, I don’t have a problem getting words onto paper.

What is much more difficult is letting go of those words. Often, once I’ve written a blog post I don’t think it’s worth publishing – because I write in order to understand what I am thinking, and once I know I don’t need it any more, and I don’t think anyone else will find it interesting. Other times the words I have written don’t feel like the right words to publish – probably because I was ranting to myself as I was writing (which is good, as it helps me to write the frustration and anger out of my head).

So, yeah – writing’s easy. But writing the right words – that’s harder.

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Silent Sunday

The Trossachs from Ross Priory

The Trossachs from Ross Priory flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

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Burns Night

Burns night
Burns night flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

Burns Night tonight, so that means haggis, neeps and tatties. N is cooking, and we’ll break with tradition and open a bottle of red wine to go along with it. Slàinte Mhath!

Some Folk hae meat that canna eat,
And some can eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
So let the Lord be Thanket!
Selkirk Grace

25/365 Slainte Mhath
25/365 Slainte Mhath flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

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The KISS approach to blogging

Tiny clanger

Tiny clanger flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

Reading Jim’s recent blog post earlier got me thinking. I half typed a comment, but then Teams started lighting up with notifications and before I knew it I was engrossed in the day job. Anyway, I digress.

While I admire those who can write long, complicated blog posts, as Maren says, and Taylor notes, it’s fine to post short blog posts. So to add to the slogans for our bloggers anonymous self-help group, I’m suggesting the KISS approach to blogging. Readers will no doubt be familiar with the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid – or Keep It Simple Stupid) and this approach riffs off that. I suggest that when starting out blogging, or trying to kick start your practice, you use the KISS approach. What does this stand for? Well, when I first had the idea, this slogan came to mind:

Keep It Small, Stupid

But, of course, there can be variants. Maybe you’d like to think of it as:

Keep it Stupid Small

or maybe you prefer:

Keep It Small (and) Simple

Whatever. But just remember, small is beautiful.

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Nomad Blogging Machine

Well, it’s official – I’ve got the badge.

Blogging badge

Now I’d better keep on blogging. Inspired by Alan’s plugin I started to think of quotes about writing that I could use to explain why I blog and my thoughts turned, as ever, to Laurel Richardson.

I [blog] because I want to find something out. I [blog] in order to learn something that I did not know before I [blogged] it. I was taught, however, as perhaps you were, too, not to [blog] until I knew what I wanted to say, until my points were organized and outlined.” (Richardson, 2000, p. 924)

And then I remembered a passage from Virginia Woolf – how perfect is this?

“So long as you [blog] what you wish to [blog], that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say.”
Virginia Woolf, A [Blog] of One’s Own.

To be continued …

Richardson, L. (2000). Writing: A method of inquiry. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 923–948). Sage.

Woolf, Virginia (1935). A Room of One’s Own. London: Hogarth Press p 159

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Tree silhouettes

One of my favourite things about winter are the trees. I love looking at their silhouettes on the skyline – when I draw back the curtains as the sun is rising over the local school

Knightswood sunrise

Knightswood sunrise” flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

and when I trudge up the hill to university, and pause to catch my breath

Southpark St

Southpark St” flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

They decorate my view like a fine lace, they frame my photos like witches’ fingers. I am transported back to early childhood, and my mother reading to me from books with beautiful illustrations by Arthur Rackham (I wonder, from time to time, which books these were – too late to ask her now).

Solitary trees are majestic –  I imagine them dancing in the sun unseen, waving in the winter breeze, stopping still as they sense a pair of eyes admiring them

The view from Tir na nOg

The view from Tir na nOg” flickr photo by NomadWarMachineshared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

My city is covered in trees – so many that sometimes I do not even notice them until I look back at photos I have taken.

355 Scotstoun Exchange

355 Scotstoun Exchange” flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

So however much I love spring, with the promise of warmer days, I look forward to winter, when the tree silhouettes will dance for me again.

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Silent Sunday

16/365 Morning sun

16/365 Morning sun” flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

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