Thursday, January 11, 2018

MY FIRST BLOG OF 2018



Today I’m starting my first blog of 2018, my 6th year of blogging with Writers Who Kill, and my 318th blog over those five years of blogging.


This monuments is for my great-great grandparents & my recent ones.

In my first blog I wrote about becoming a writer and what led up to it. I wrote 39 blogs that year. I wrote about Valentines for Vets, The Girl Scouts, Creating Characters, Happy Father’s Day about my father, of Graveyards and Gravestones,, A writers retreat at Seascape,.







One of my son John's graduation pictures.


I wrote about Life Changing Events which was about the death of y 18 year old son to cancer,

















Shari, Me, Paula and Jim in the back.

 And every year  I wrote about Malice Domestic with input from other Writers WhoKill embers who went, too, and so many other blogs, too.

In other years I wrote about writing a journal, poetry, and my Catherine Jewel Mystery Series. I interviewed a few writers: Amanda Flower, Casey Daniels, Shelly Costa, and Judy Hogan. I wrote about self-publishing, and wrote reviews of books I’ve read and thought were worth writing about like Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver. I belong to two book clubs and wrote how important they are in reading books I might not have otherwise read...I’m an avid reader with a house full of books. In 2017 I read 90 books in all and 87 the year before.

My grandmother on a Canada vacation.


I wrote a blog about ghosts and whether or not they’re real, and got a lot of comments on that blog. I wrote about family members who meant a lot to me and had passed on like my brother, father, and a special and funny grandmother.

I also wrote about people who died that I admired like Pete Seeger, John Muir, The Car Talk guys after Tom one of the two brothers died, Leonard Cohen, Woody Guthrey, Robert Frost, Herman Melville, Charles Dickens, Paul Robeson, Elie Wiesel, and probably others, too.
I wrote about actually finding a real body in the woods one November morning. That blog probably ot more comments than any of my other blogs.





My beautiful sweet Maggie.

I wrote about cats, dogs, getting my first horse and other critters like butterflies, ants and skunks, and maybe others, too.











My sisters & me at the Lincoln Museum on a camping trip.

I wrote about giving back by delivering Mobile Meals, visiting a morgue, vacations I’d been on each year, and yes, I wrote about writing, too, and why I like writing mysteries.
I’ve been asked why I blog every week, and yes it is hard coming up with new ideas for blogs every week, and I have to admit a few times I used a blog from that first year of writing a blog because there are so many new members of Writers Who Kill, and those from the beginning probably wouldn’t remember a blog that was five years old. Still I enjoy writing blogs and my fellow bloggers on Writers Who Kill and don’t plan on quitting anytime soon.

Do you enjoy blogging?.



11 comments:

  1. Nicely done, Gloria. What an impressive list of blog topics, and great pictures too.

    I do enjoy blogging. It's a switch from fiction (or the day job of dry legal pleadings) and a great way to connect with other writers and readers. The enjoyment of writing and reading them is increased by the comments on a topic. More than once I've been grateful for an expanded point of view, or an introduction to a new author.

    The sheer writing aspect of a weekly blog sounds daunting. There was a time when I did blog weekly and monthly on this and another blog. My biggest fear was running out of material. Strangely enough, all that blogging bred more blog topics. Do you find that to be true?

    I'm looking forward to many more years of blogs from Gloria Alden.

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  2. Blogging on WWK has allowed me to share different aspects of my writing and my life with our readers. It's also allowed me to become a part of a community that supports mystery authors. Since I live much of the year far from physical writing groups, WWK has helped form an important support network for me.

    ~ Jim

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  3. I do enjoy it! And I especially enjoy being a part of this blogging and writing community with you. Congrats on your blogging journey!

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  4. Kait, I've enjoyed reading the blogs of my fellow bloggers as much as writing the ones I've written even though sometimes I feel I'm running out of new ideas.

    Jim, I've always learned so many new things from your blogs. I always look forward to reading them.

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  5. I enjoy your Maggie and gardening blogs best, and marvel every week how fully you live each day. Wishing you another healthy year of blogging!

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  6. Tina, I've enjoyed having you as a member and your blogs, too.

    Margaret, if you ever come up this way, I'd love to have you visit me and meet Maggie the sweetest dog I've ever had and even though I left my gardens go last summer because of the weather and being sick, they still look nice, And I've enjoyed reading your blogs, too, and the beauutiful cards you send me.

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  7. Gloria,
    You've led such a rich life, you've had many wonderful topics to blog about. I like to blog when I've an important subject on my mind.

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  8. Ditto what Jim said! But thank you, Gloria for writing about your rich life. I love your animal stories. Maggie looks great in a big red bow. Love it. We're glad you are blogging with us.

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  9. I'm looking forward to a new year's worth of your friendly, informative blogs!

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  10. Thank you, Marilyn. It would be easier for me, too, if I had an important subject on my mind. I enjoy your books.

    Thanks,Warren. I'm just glad I got my internet service back. I enjoy reading about these books from the past that you do reviews of.

    E.B. I'm glad you asked me to blog with this group, and have enjoyed the blogs of the original bloggers, and the mew bloggers who came on over the years. Yes, I've had a rich life, but I've had my sad times, too, I just don't let them take away the good things in my life. the good parents I had, my children, grand-children and my large extended family, and all the friends, and my good health with no problems except for the occasional achy knee during bad weather.

    KM, I just hope I can keep them coming. I look forward to seeing you at Malice this spring, and I hope you continue your Jesse Damon series. I miss him.

    Thanks, K.M.

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