Tag Archives: Blog

Versatile Blogging Award

23 Sunday Oct 2011

Posted by in Blogging, Personal

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Just when you thought it was safe to give up blogging… along comes Granny Dog to nominate you for the Versatile Blogging Award! While it’s been one of those time poor weeks where even the basics of life, like eating and sleeping, jostle for their allotted times – it’s easy to ask, “What can I do without?” A daily commitment to blogging inevitably comes onto the radar. But then again, as a teacher and a pastor, communication is my stock in trade and it deserves at least as much consideration as rest and nourishment. So thanks Granny Dog, for rattling my cage! These are the rules should you be nominated. Of course, whether you decide to abide by the rules is up to you!

  •  Thank the person who gave you the award.
  •  Include a link to their blog. Here’s how.
  •  Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
  •  Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site.
  •  Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

Seven things about myself that I haven’t made transparent already? Well, here goes:

  1. I’m third generation Aussie on my mother’s side, fourth on my father’s.
  2. My father’s people arrived from Cornwall in Moonta, South Australia, in 1853.
  3. I have lived in South Australia, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia.
  4. I have travelled to Jordan, Israel, Greece and the USA.
  5. USA states I have visited – California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia.
  6. I aspire to travel with my church team to Zimbabwe in 2012 for a fraternal visit to supported churches and relief work and sharing of ideas and skills.
  7. I would like to travel again to the USA and enhance my training in teaching the Enneagram, a powerful pastoral/spiritual tool that I have been using.
Fifteen sites to which I would now offer the Versatile Blogging Award? Well there are 12 in my blogfeed and I will have to seek out 3 to add. In no particular order:
  1. coobarietwo  –  my sister is not a habitual blogger, but this is a travel journal climaxing at Kitgum, Uganda, where she and her husband, Des, have just finished working for three weeks in support of an orphanage, hospital and school developed in response to the armed struggle there. So keep blogging, sis, now that you’re home
  2. bwinwnbwimusic – a thoughtful journey involving one person’s pilgrimage, philosophy and music
  3. The Holy Irritant – I have great respect for church folk who think outside the box. Holy Irritant is one.
  4. Kate Shrewsday – I have never come away from Kate’s blog without learning something interesting or simply being won over by her knack for story-telling
  5. If Darwin Prayed – evolutionary spirituality & the path of Christ. I met Bruce Sanguin earlier this year and have continued to enjoy his reflections.
  6. A Feather Adrift   – a favourite daily read of someone whose daily homespun commentary on things of and beyond US politics keeps me both informed and entertained.
  7. Love vs.Goliath – the ongoing story of a compelling intercountry marriage that has negotiated Australia’s Kafkaesque immigration regime. Puts a human face on the acerbic refugee debate.
  8. The Go Between God – thoughtful, incisive essays on local current affairs and discussions from a faith perspective by my colleague and predecessor at Wembley Downs
  9. allaboutwordswa – a fellow Sandgroper simply blogs about her life in a simple and winsome fashion. A good friendly read.
  10. So Far From Heaven – from deep in the middle of Texas Hill Country, Old Jules writes his blog with a prose that is deeply musical.
  11. The Christian Left Blog – while the title may alienate some it attracted me. Its content is more radical (grass-roots) than left, and that suits me fine! Some fine commentary on the OWS movement right now.
  12. Call To Radical Discipleship – my nephew’s blog. He is innovative,entrepreneurial and compassionate and writes transparently about the projects to which he is summoned.

Well, I’m looking for three more. When I ‘ve found some, I’ll fill in the blanks.

Reflecting on Postaday2011

20 Sunday Mar 2011

Posted by in Blogging

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Let’s blog on blogging. Day eighty of meeting the WordPress “write a post a day” challenge has so far left me unphased. Sure there are times I’ve had to scratch around a bit to find something to write about, but, even on the deadline, something has usually appeared, even if quite innocuous. Surprisingly, the stats show that these are the posts that receive the most hits. Ironically, the most carefully polished and well argued posts receive little attention. One of my biggest surprises is the daily number of hits continuously received by a reference to a news report on geothermal energy in Perth from December 2009. Some of my more self-indulgent posts, like my recent agonising over whether to get an e-reader are also rating comparatively well.

Blogging gurus have often advised to keep blog themes and subject matter confined to a narrow field of interest in order to gain a dedicated following. I have gone in the opposite direction. This blog is similar to aiming a shotgun at a shed and firing off, hoping that some pellets might hit something. It has been far ranging and diverse – probably inviting one-off readers according to whatever tags are searched. No matter – large audiences are not the only reward of blogging. For me the delight is engaging the act of casting one’s bread upon the waters and waiting for whatever returns.

This is a minor blog in the crowded blogosphere, and it has nevertheless led to some interesting connections and conversations from places in the world that would otherwise have remained rather obscure to me. Wisdom has come from unexpected quarters and this is reward enough in itself.

So will I make it through with a daily post to December 31, 2011?

Let’s see what happens tomorrow.