13 Tuesday Feb 2018
Posted in Bloggin Noggin
Friends: WHL is on hiatus while I work on several fiction manuscripts that I have in the works. I really miss this blog and the world it creates/allows. I plan to return.
In the meantime:
16 Wednesday Nov 2016
Posted in Bloggin Noggin, Writing Life
Tags
The spark.
I’m biking, walking, working, showering, and suddenly there’s a voice. It’s my voice, but not. It’s Whole Heart Local.
Ideas spool out. Emotions, snippets, funny asides. In my head, a dialogue that I don’t quite direct. Mostly, I listen. Mostly, I feel it out . . . a blog post is born.
I write what I hear. Listen more. Worry some (though not nearly as much as when engaged in writing fiction), and consider possible repercussions. I edit, then post.
To some this might sound like magic. Just another writer/artist out there, myth-talking my process. Others know this process well -they flirt or fight with their own versions.
For me, there is a type of magic, but more an experience of wonder and gratitude. The effort can be delicate, sensitive to disruptions. Which is why, WHL posts recently dried up. Too much on my plate.
When I’m not writing for WHL, I miss it. There is a satisfaction that comes with getting a blog post just right -unexpected spelling errors, spacing issues, left-out conjunctions, and all. The imperfect perfect that I stretch for.
Am I back on task with WHL? Nope. Fall was just as event, activity, and responsibility heavy as last spring and summer. But it still speaks to me, WHL. I race to capture the words –whether I’m biking to work, showering, reading, whatever.
As long as it speaks, I’ll try to keep listening.
06 Wednesday Jan 2016
Posted in Bloggin Noggin, Librarytour, Writing Life
For the first time in my (admittedly selective; and I don’t manage the selecting) memory, I’m juggling four major writing projects and this blog, which is a long-term effort in its own right. It’s a curious feeling like, at any moment, one project will tumble, ripe from the tree, and some force will pluck it up, cart it off. Well . . . one can hope. And work. And see what happens.
Learnin’ from the good ‘uns
05 Tuesday Jan 2016
Posted in Bloggin Noggin
As told, WordPress.com stats ‘helper monkeys’ (why not helper hamsters? honey badgers?) prepared a 2015 annual report. Very nice of them!! Also, Wednesday-postdays are now where it’s at. See you then.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,600 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 27 trips to carry that many people.
30 Wednesday Oct 2013
Posted in Bloggin Noggin, Learnin'
Tags
Summer’s end, as part of the work plan that sets the tone for another year (my ninth) as a community worker, I made a secret goal: be calm.
It’s a new strategy.
Fall in the city of universities is crazy. Probably it’s the constant influx of the youthful energy that keep Boston and environs hopping from September to December. I’m throwing events out the window, there are so many festivals and friend-gatherings and work responsibilities. Years of flat-out running have trained me to expect that, once fall hits, I’ll loose my keys, wallet, time, name.
What I’m trying to tell you, friendly reader, is that while I was able to carve out time to work on my novel, Whole Heart Local has been autumn’s freshest victim. I’ve been amassing blog topics, writing posts in my head on my bike commute, and carting my camera from event to event. I’m keeping half of the bargain of good blog care-taking.
Hoping to catch up with the other half soon . . .
26 Monday Aug 2013
Posted in Bloggin Noggin
A big, cheerful THANKS to all who participated in the Whole Heart 200th Post Celebration Giveaway. Chosen by random, Jasmine Laietmark is the lucky winner! She will receive tea from Lala Earth and a little somethin’ extra from Jamaica Plain’s popular KitchenWitch.
14 Wednesday Aug 2013
Posted in Bloggin Noggin, Writing Life
My internal writing critic, like most, is full of doom and gloom. It declares things like: you’ll never be a prodigious writer. Authors don’t make enough cash to live on. You don’t know what you’re talking about.
This kind of inner talk has a dangerous dampening effect on, say, novels, poems, plays. But blogs, and more specifically Whole Heart Local? Meh.
When my critic says scornfully, with unsurprising frequency: nobody reads your blog. They don’t care what you have to say.
I reply, currently: beh.
I read WHL. And love it! And so appreciate the opportunity to plan for, dream about, and write it, still, 200 posts later. And to celebrate, we’re hosting a giveaway, WHL and me.
Lauren Murphy, herbalist, strong-lady (rumor has it she can lift 600 lbs with her LEGS,) master cheese-maker (no kidding), and good friend, will be debuting her new herbal line Lala Earth this September. Through her enormous generosity, WHL is giving away loose-leaf tea with the theme of love. And if THAT weren’t enough, I plan to pair it with a small treat from one of JP’s wonderful, local businesses.
Lala Earth herbal tea: evidence of tastiness. Add sun and water. Kapow!
On to the giveaway. All you gotta do is leave a comment. That’s it! One comment, about any such subject as your heart desires. Or “hi!” That’s nice, too. The winner will be chosen by random on Wednesday, August 21.
Luck, friends.
04 Monday Mar 2013
Posted in Bloggin Noggin, Community
Tags
Recently, I joined Twitter.
It was a deeply-considered decision. After all, an important aspect of whole hearted connectedness, to which I prescribe, is thoughtful engagement with that which you already own. The web platforms where I spend my time and finite energy daily are myriad and, over the years, Twitter had seemed to me a shallow offering. A hummingbird’s game -flitting here and there for sweets, rarely making the kind of contact that leaves an impression. Then, suddenly, I discovered the website’s potential usefulness at work. So I held my nose, and I jumped.
I’ve been merrily sharing, watching the number of my so-named followers creep up. However, it’s strange to put things out there and rarely hear back. Part of me feels, why bother if only ten people have access to the tidbits of news, events, ideas that excite me? But then clicking that “tweet” button is easy. So I do it anyway and chalk it up to “learning” the “culture” of Twitter for the sake of professional and personal growth. For now.
Here are two items I recently “tweeted” that I feel could use a bit more air before they disappear into the drawer forever.
1.) An intern at Boston’s popular and accomplished Food Project blogs about his world-widening experience on the T.
2.) Creating art for the New York Subway with illustrator Sophie Blackall:
01 Friday Feb 2013
Posted in Bloggin Noggin
In studying the art of blogging, I have a fuzzy memory of reading how important (and polite) it is to acknowledge and thank visitors and blog-subscribers. I thought: oh, yes, of course! Then promptly forgot. For, oh, I don’t know, two years.
Folks who’ve been so kind to stop by WHL and spend a little time in my world. Friends-to-be who’ve left thoughtful comments. Family and friends-of-old who have sent words of encouragement. THANK YOU.
Mine might be the voice behind WHL, but you are the reason I’m here.
07 Monday Jan 2013
Posted in Bloggin Noggin, Learnin', Writing Life
Tags
It’s like someone took hold of 2012 and shook it hard. Catapulted right through that year. There were some beautiful moments, and some hard moments.
Looking back at my 2012 Resolutions and Goals
Resolutions
Goals
Goal for this blog
Secret resolutions
Lets go forward.
2013 Resolutions
Goals
Goals for this blog
And while we’re on the topic, I’d like to introduce you my friend Josie Bray of Simple Steps to Wellness blog, who shared a terrific idea about feeling our way through a successful year.
So what are you working on?
