Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Blog Popularity?



In case you haven't noticed Blogspot has changed things about their lay out. The one thing I like the least is that you can see how many people have viewed your blog daily. I feel like it has become a popularity contest... but I don't like that. I shouldn't be writing this blog  just to get popularity.


I have never been a person for popularity. I have always worn clothes I like rather it be hoodies and jeans and now working full time I feel like I dress like the classic librarian (cardigan and skirt combo). I don't read books because they are popular and the music I like ranges so I have no idea whats popular currently. So why should it matter when it comes to this blogs. Blogs are about writing and getting followers. The number of followers= popularity?

I started writing this blog to share my story with my friends and family. I used this blog as a little oasis but over the last few months I pushed myself to write every day (not always my finest writing). I did it at first to use it as a creative space but some how it got twisted (in my brain) to get followers. But I felt my writing was not getting better it was just becoming streams of thought no real structure. And I think it shows.... the post I loved writing got a lot more views and the ones that were off the cusp and no structure got fewer views.

Not that it should be about viewership... but I shouldn't be wasting my time writing and your time reading if I don't truly enjoy what I am writing. So I will try to be better.

I am going to try to go back to my roots for this blog. I want to write about what inspires me or my writing rather it be a picture I found or a quote I like or blog from one of the many bloggers I follow. I want to share my story more from what is going on in my life to what I am writing. I have loved this summer writing about books I was reading to the movies I saw. In a few days I will be in class so I can keep you posted on cataloging and historical research (fun times right?). I just want to get back to why I loved this blog... an oasis not an obligation.

I need to follow two inspiring author's words...

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."

-Dr. Seuss (found at Goodreads.com)

Try to stand still inside all of that and hear your own voice. It's yours and only yours, it's unique and worthy of your attention, and if you cultivate it properly, it might just make you a writer.
-Jennifer Donnelly

I know there more about being yourself but these are the authors that came to mind.

Thanks for reading
-Blaire

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Currently Reading

I found out about this book through a blog I follow Austenprose.com. She was having a give away contest and I actually won a copy. I thought this book would be interesting to read as I myself am trying to write a story with kind of the Sense and Sensibility plot line (for my story click here)... so I really wanted to see how another author did it. And I have entered contest before but never won so I doubted I would win but surpisingly I did. YEAH!!!

After I finished The Wild Rose I was trying to figure out what book to read. Unfortunately all my books were in boxes. So I couldn't get at them. Then when I moved the first night I opened my boxes to seek out a new book to read. I didn't know what to read, I have a long list of books to get through. I decided on this one not only because I wanted to see how another author tackeled the Jane Austen classic plot but also I know soon I will be in class with not that much time for fun reading so I liked the idea on reading a new book book but with I plot I knew and loved.

Goodreads.com says this...

Daphne Rivera and her sister Gabby could not be more different.


For fifteen-year-old Daphne, the glass is always half full, a dab of lip-gloss can ward off a bad day, and the boy of her dreams—the one she's read about in all of her beloved romance novels—is waiting for her just around the corner.

But Daphne’s older sister Gabby wishes Daphne would get real. In Gabby’s world, everyone’s out for themselves, wearing makeup is a waste of time, and boys only distract you from studying before they break your heart. The only boy Gabby trusts is her best friend, Mule, who has always been there for her.

Both Gabby and Daphne are still reeling from their parents’ divorce, though in very different ways. While Gabby will never forgive her unreliable father for failing her mother, Daphne idolizes her daddy and is sure that everything would work out fine if her cranky mom would just let him back into their lives.

When a crisis leaves the girls and their mom homeless, help comes from an unexpected source, and both girls are courted by surprise suitors who shake up their views of the world. Suddenly the glass isn’t so clearly half empty or half full . . . and love seems a lot more complicated than they ever could have imagined.

An Interview with author Jennifer Ziegler can be found at Eve's Fan Garden .

My New Neighborhood

I have had more one previous "sorry post" but since I started trying to write every day I hoped I would not write another "sorry post".... but I feel it has been a week since I have been on here.  :(

If you have been reading my blog you know I have been going through a move and right now at my home I still don't have Internet. But I am happy to say I am unpacked and that makes me very happy because now I feel like I am in my new home. My cat is still getting used to this new place but I am sure soon she will be owning it. 
Victory Garden with Prudential building in background.

Though I have been working around the clock I have made time to explore my new neck of the woods. I have walked through the Fens or the Fenway (for those out of town). Yes it has the same name as the baseball park but its a park like a garden not park like a baseball field. There is this part of it called the "Victory Gardens" started in WWII but still exist today as little individual gardens for people of the city to use their green thumb. Even though I don't like fall because that means winter is coming I can't wait to see the fall foliage here.


On another one of my walks around I also found a garden called the Riverway. It had lots of cool trees. One that drooped so low I imagined Emma and Mr. Knightly from the Miramax 1995 version (my favorite),minus the cars and the shopping area behind it. It was still very beautiful and fun to discover new places. I took my notebook their and got some writing done on my story, which felt like a nice break from my busy weekend. This is another place I look forward to walking around here with the fall foliage.
Found at Inkwell Inspirations

I am loving my new neighborhood and can't wait to spend more time exploring it.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

September

Tomorrow is the first of September... it's time to move, time to start school again, and time to prepare for fall. But as I was putting up the September calander in my office (dry erase) I wondered what colors to use. I didn't want to use pure fall colors because September feels more like a time of transition. So I actually googled "September Colors" and I got a range of colors. From blue, red, purple, green, golden orange, maroon.


I found these color templates Pomegranate and Patchouli a fun artsy blog with lots of pictures and fun quotes.

















So even though fall might be coming embrace color still...pleaes people don't just go to browns and blacks now that calander has flipped.


Sorry if I don't post tomorrow I will be moving tomorrow.... can't wait for this experience to be over.
This is my cat from over the weekend making sure I take her too.