by Tish MacWebber | Mar 17, 2019 | Guest Blogging, Writing
The picture I have chosen for the title of this Guest Blog Roundup is of a teacup and saucer. It is the old china rose pattern, the same set from which I currently have a small collection of. I treasure the pieces I have now and would someday hope to be able to set a complete table. I am looking for more and also looking forward to the day when I can display them in a china cabinet. They live in a bookcase in my kitchen, currently, where I can see and use them easily.
In Cape Breton, whether you are a host or a guest, the offer is always made for tea or coffee. Your choice would then be accompanied with sandwiches or sweets, depending on the time of day it was. Therefore, it seems fitting to choose a pretty tea cup to represent the guest blogs shared here today.
Why do bloggers write guest blogs?
In early 2019, I sent out a message that I was looking to write guest blogs on other websites. As I am working on my writing continuously, I am strive towards my goals of writing full-time. Since I have now written three this year, I thought it would be nice to highlight them all together. This will allow me to showcase the new style I am learning to write in.
The new style is geared towards Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I have struggled to learn how to use it properly. It has had frustrating moments, however, I think I am starting to learn how to use it more effectively.
In other words, bloggers write to share what they have to say with their followers. When you reach out to ask about writing a guest blog, you are looking to have more exposure to different readers. Furthermore, the hopes of building your own readership to a larger following is also desirable. The host of the guest blog also wants to find more readers once they visit their website.
Another reason for me to do this is to add to my portfolio, and to write with a different purpose in mind. Here at my own blog, although it is not as personal as my journal, I strive to have that sense of a post for my readers. The minute I decide to write a guest blog for another website, it immediately takes on a different sense of importance. I often write very freely here, but when I write for someone else, it needs to look and feel professional.
Guest Blog Roundup #1
Guest Blog Roundup number one of 2019 can be found on the website of Pattimouse. Her website is a fun place to visit, with several guest blogs there to read along with her own musings. Her tagline, A glimpse into the mind of a half mad poet, sets the tone for all sorts of blogs. She shares poetry, and links for her poetry books, yes that is plural, and her work is exceptional. She has a gift for finding the correct photos to match her prose. My own guest blog, Conquering Your Inner Gremlins, would be my recommended place to start, of course. If you take the time to look around Pattimouse’s website, I am certain you will find something you like as well.
Under the name of Patricia Harris, she has published 3 children’s books and 16 poetry volumes. Her books are available in both paperback and ebook formats. Under the name of Serena Mossgraves, she has written a novel and a novella with dark and adult themes.
Guest Blog Roundup #2
When you enter The World of Shannon McRoberts, you will find an active website right from the home page. Shannon McRoberts has also written several books. Her characters are strong female leads which you can also see with her artistic representations of them. Her books are epic fantasy, with some falling within the realms of urban fantasy. She writes in several formats, including graphic novels, comics and poetry, along with her fantasy/science fiction novels.
For this guest blog, I wrote about Top Notch Writing Tips. I wanted readers to have an inside look into what an author may need to do to keep their writing fresh and to help avoid writer’s block. Sometimes we need to put aside the main work in progress (or WIP as you will see it noted in other places) for a short time. This allows author to be able to go back to work on it with fresh eyes. In my guest blog post, I explain some of the things I have tried when I need a change. I then go into some of the skills an author can learn when tackling a short story as a break from the WIP. If you read until the very end, you will find out about the plot twist!
If you are looking for a website which has vibrant colours paired with digital art and poetry, this is a great one to visit. I do hope you take the time to look around when you read my guest post there. I am positive with the variety of choices available that you will find something to check out while you are there also.
Guest Blog Roundup #3
Finally, the third guest blog roundup visits Rita’s Reading Room, you will see my third guest blog post from 2019. Not only will you find the guest blog, but her website displays books of many colours above a clean, crisp display of her blog posts on the home page. I really love the picture of the books, it is very appealing to the eye. It also suits the website title so well, a reading room would have a bookshelf filled with books.
Rita Kruger writes novels of fantasy, gothic and horror genres, challenging major themes of her own life. Her novels, Angela’s Epistles, books one and two follow the story of Angela Wright as she learns about herself. Consequently, she is making choices and changes in her life.
While I was preparing to write for this particular blog post, I came up with a title late one night while I was struggling with my own blog and the Yoast SEO editing plugin. It is meant to help me to write better blogs, but I was becoming so frustrated while using it, I had a moment. From this moment came the title How to Become a Better Blogger Without Becoming a Bitter Blogger. It also caused me to do a little more research, and you can read about what I learned when you visit Rita’s Reading Room to find my guest blog there. Again, I encourage you to go a little further into the reading room, to see what you can find.
It was a good experience.
To conclude, I will continue to write guest blogs to expand my own portfolio and improve on my writing skills. I am open to writing for different blogs, with the hope that it will allow me to pursue writing full time.
Did you choose a favourite guest blog in this roundup? What about the websites, are to going to go back to visit any of them? Are you a blogger looking for new content from a guest blogger like myself, or looking to share a guest blog here, on my website? Please let me know what you think in the comments below!
by Tish MacWebber | Mar 30, 2018 | Trust Your Gut
This week in Trust Your Gut I am going to write about defeating inner gremlins. What are inner gremlins, you might be wondering? Inner gremlins are those little voices that whisper negative things to you, kind of like the devil on your shoulder if you prefer that description. I have been doing a lot of work on myself, and this past winter I have been having a hard time. I have difficulty being active in the winter, and I also lack gumption. It could be Seasonal Depression, but it has never been officially diagnosed as such. It does seem to be related to the winter months, and I have noticed a change in this over the last few weeks. I am perking up with the sunshine. Or it could just be an elaborate excuse told by the inner gremlin.
In my journey to become a healthier version of myself, I can honestly say that it has been a lacklustre event since the fall. I have had spurts, but not a long-term plan of action. I think the plans up and talk myself out of them. Or rather my inner gremlin talks me out of them. I want to do things that make me feel better, but I just let lazy Tish win. She is a real pain in the ass. She doesn’t want to put an effort into anything that isn’t absolutely necessary, and she is a real downer. She listens to the inner gremlin and believes what it says. It makes her tired and cranky. Negativity will do that to the best of us. I know in my heart what I need to do, and I just don’t do it. I am perfectly capable of doing anything I want to. I just don’t believe it. Because the inner gremlin tells me otherwise.
Something I am preparing for in my journey as an author is an official author profile picture. I don’t let on that it bothers me. I am in pics all the time. I am morbidly obese. This is something I deal with internally. I don’t want my pictures to show the worst version of me, I want them to show the best version of me. I will take the time to do my hair and makeup, and wear the dress I picked out. I will make myself look nice. That is the plan. But the inner gremlins have been working against me for a while now.
When I moved away from home to go to university, I lived in a dorm for a few years. When I moved off campus, I started a ritual in my bathroom in the mornings. I turn on the water for the shower, and while it is heating I take off my glasses and take a close up look at my face in the mirror. I have been doing this for years. At first, I was just checking to see what I looked like that day and if there was sleep in my eyes or drool on my face from sleeping. Then I started looking and hearing the gremlin whispering, “How do I look today?” Not such a negative thought. It seemed harmless, so I never thought anything else about it.
Until the other morning.
I was taking my morning look, and I heard the gremlin whisper, “How bad do I look today?” I realized the whisper had changed, it was negative and hurtful. It was nasty. I thought to myself, wait a minute. How long has this been what I think when I am looking at myself in the morning? I honestly didn’t know.
This was the first time I had paid attention. I heard it, I recognized it, and I decided that I had to make a change in that thought process right away! I also decided that it was important enough to write about it here, to share this and try to help other people like me.
If your inner dialogue, aka your inner gremlins, are so smart that they fool you into thinking they are harmless, you are just like me. I didn’t even know that they were waging war on my self-esteem on a daily basis. But they were. And they WERE winning.
That is until they whispered loud enough that I actually heard the message. If you ignore them, or you don’t hear them, they can still do damage. They are there, whispering all the negative thoughts, sometimes too quietly to hear. Other times they do what mine did, and the change is subtle, so subtle that they can be missed. If you overlook them, that is where the danger lies, because you are not defending yourself, and you are not taking them seriously. They are nasty little buggers, and they need to be defeated. In this case, ignorance is bliss for the inner gremlins.
After I had that realization, I made a decision. It is going to take me a while to be able to say that I have conquered the inner gremlins, but I have a plan. I am going to say something positive to myself every morning as I look in the mirror. It will take me a long time of doing this to make it feel genuine, that it is real. I have to start somewhere. I hope that it will help me with my goals of becoming a healthier version of myself. I need to not just say that I am worth it, I have to believe it. This is the first step in a new direction on that path.
#TrustYourGut (Sorry it is a week and a day late)
