Tag Archives: blogging

Blogging Break

Hi All! I have mentioned in a few posts that I am takign a blogging break. Well, this post is the official notification :) If you don’t see posts by me for a couple of weeks, don’t worry that I am laid up someplace or celebrate that I have finally taken the hint and left. No, as Arnie said, I’ll be back.

I may read a few posts in the next day or two and will possibly even answer comments, but don’t expect it.

Anyway, hope you all have a couple of good weeks!

(No, I am not going to the Moon ;) Just put up a random photo…)

Changing Web Presence Part 2

A couple of weeks ago I told you about some changes to my blog and other web pages. The big thing, of course, is changing the blog to its own domain to get rid of the advertisement.

I also talked about updating some other web sites. I did finish the first part of the updates, but didn’t say anything because of the release of The Old Mill.

Well, that is now past, so time to link talk about my web presence :)

After looking through it all, I discovered that I have quite a few sites! Each has its own function.

Blog (this site). Almost daily updates with stories, poems, photos, drawings and just plain talk.
Trent’s World Web Page. A static web page about my creative side. It is a good place for galleries and links to other sites.
Author site. Pretty basic. Just links to my books for now.
Amazon author’s page. My page on Amazon.
YouTube. This is where I share some of my music. It is mostly recordings by me and most of the music is music I have written.
Instagram. I do little here, but will occasionally post photos from my phone. 90% of posts are to get the image to my personal FB page ;)

So that makes six web sites! This one is, of course, the most important, but I am going to try to maintain all of them.

If you have time, I’d like you to visit a couple of galleries on my Trent’s World Page. The first is just drawing and painting in general. the other is figure drawing, i.e., nudes, which is why I kept it separate.

Carrot Ranch Sue Vincent Rodeo Classic

I’ve always been fascinated with ancient sites.  When I visited the British Islands, I put things like Neolithic stone circles, Bronze Age tombs and Iron Age hillforts at the top of the itinerary.  Sure, I visited Roman ruins, went into old churches (which are great), explored castles (the more ruinous the better!) and played tourist at places like the Anne Hathaway Cottage, but it was the ancient sites that held my attention.

When I started blogging, I soon discovered a blog that often posted about ancient sites in Britain.  Yep, an immediate follow!!  Of course, I discovered a whole lot else after following the blog for a while.  There were personal posts and poems, stories and symbols. Even talk outside of Britain of my favorite city, Paris, but as part of the blogger’s personal history.

I also discovered the blog’s owner, Sue Vincent, the center of one of the largest chunks of the blogging community that I belong to and interact with.  Her weekly writephoto challenge is one of the best out there. Some of my best fiction was inspired by Sue’s marvelous photos in this challenge.

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If We Were Having Coffee on the 6th of February, 2021

Hello and Welcome! Come on over and I’ll get you a mug of very strong dark roast, a piping cuppa tea or some hot cocoa. I know it’s a little cold out here, but not frigid and no wind. And it is also sunny! We had some snow this week, so it is very pretty. Oh, were are we? Some of you may recognize the photo as being from New Hampshire.

OK, start with weather. The deep freeze finally broke, but we have only gotten above freezing a couple of times and tomorrow it will start to get frigid again. There are no temperatures above freezing in the forecast and by next weekend we will be back to highs in the teens F (highs around -8 C). There is also supposed to be snow every other day, typically a few inches (maybe 10 cm) each time. It is so odd that winter was very late, but when it arrived, it arrived with a vengeance. Three weeks (or more) in a row with only three or four days above freezing? Ouch! But the last few years have been odd.

OK, this week was mostly the same as usual, and I want to zip through it. Exercise, walking dogs, no running (:( ), work, making sure book is ready to go, working on web sites, reading, etc. Typical.

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Changing Web Presence

Some of you may have noticed, but very recently my blog has changed address from trentsworldblog.wordpress.com to trentsworld.blog. Yep, I finally broke down and decided to get off of the free version of Word Press. I have been meaning to for years, but I had been trying to figure out how to use my other site. In case you haven’t guessed, I have a web site at www.trentsworld.com. Right now that site does little besides tell you to visit my blog (here), but I plan on changing it and turning it into a true “author’s web site”! My original thought was to convert that into my blog, but I have decided to keep the two separate.

Just letting you know that there is that name change in case you are linked here. The old name still redirects to the new name, and I am guessing will continue to redirect for the foreseeable future, but who knows? Some day the old links might produce errors. Also, checking it from a dummy site I have for testing, I have run into a few quirks. Nothing major or show stopping. If you see some odd behavior, that might be it.

Since I’m paying for it, I might start using some of the more advanced features. in other words, I may give the old place a face lift. At the very least you might see small changes, like the absence of advertisement…

Yes, this is a “nothing post”. On the other hand, maybe you were one that saw those quirks.

Have a great day!

(It was only a few months ago that I discovered how many ads people see when they visit from outside of the WP community. A huge amount! Hopefully the place is more inviting now :) )

Unintentional Break

snowdrops-2020

Yes, I am alive!  For the last three weeks I have only done my Smile posts and I think one other post.  I have also almost completely stopped reading blog posts.  This was not an intentional break!

Work has been, and continues to be, completely insane.  A huge amount going on.  I do a lot of my blog-reading on breaks, so if no breaks, no reading.

I have also been very busy editing The Old Mill.  If I am in front of my computer for non-work related reasons, I have been editing, not writing new posts.

Daylight Savings Time has thrown me for a loop, worse than usual.  Part of it that every animal in the house seems to want to sleep right on top of me every night, so I have been getting about half as much sleep as usual.

I try to spend as much time outside as possible.  There have been some weekend days that I have been outside for 6 hours (not straight, over the day), which might seem like a lot until you realize that I spent 18 hours inside on those days! Continue reading

Blogging Break…

windowI was planning on taking a blogging break over Thanksgiving, since I will be traveling, but I sort of started it early… I haven’t been able to read many blogs in the last few days and missed posting on Tuesday.  OK, I can start early, no problem :)  I will be on and off over the next couple of weeks, will try to keep up with comments and the weekly smile, but won’t be around as much as usual.

See you all in December!

Six Years

Dabble - Sketch by Trent P McDonald

On Monday evening I received a notice from Word Press that it was my blog’s anniversary, “blogaversary”. It was on November 11, 2013 that I put up my first post. My first post was awful.  I thought of a blog like an online magazine with “articles” instead of as social media with “posts”.

I had no idea what I was going to do when I started. Over the years I have had many photo posts, “compassion” posts, smile posts :), posts with my original drawing and painting, music posts, personal experience posts, coffee-shares (starting in early 2014!), etc.  Just a wide variety of random things. An eclectic blog.

One thing, though: three of my first ten posts were book reviews.  Also in my first ten was an inspirational piece that pushed towards creativity. Between posts #10 and #15 there were three other posts about writing or creativity (total of 4 of 15) and post #15 was my first short story that I posted here. Posts 20 and 21 were also short stories. Little did I know that I would eventually post hundreds of stories, several serialized novellas and three serialized novels! OK, 3 1/2 including “Frank” ;) Continue reading

The Weekly Smile for the 4th of November, 2019 #weeklysmile

weeklysmile2a

Hi all! I had a lot to smile about this week! My favorite holiday was on Thursday! My birthday was on Thursday! (Not that I like getting older ;)  I spent time on Cape Cod. I am finally able to charge my plug-in hybrid car on Cape Cod since I finally had a car charger installed at the new place (no outdoor electric) (I can’t tell you the relief it is to charge the car down there again!). And this morning I saw that I was an honorable mention for Colleen’sweekly poetry challenge.

There was, however, one smile bigger than the others :)

On Friday I was reading through blogs on my Reader. I am always behind in my reading, but I like to try to keep up with my favorites. I’ve met a lot of great people through blogging. besides reading some great work, the friendships are what keeps blogging from becoming a chore.

Anyway, I came across a post by Penny Wilson.

No, I won’t tell you what it is, you have to go read it ;) Go, go read it now…

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Blogging Break

Osprey

Some of you may have noticed that I have been mostly missing the last week or so.  I have been away and kept very busy.  Typically I blog through my end-of-June stay on Cape Cod, but this year we had family and so I didn’t have much time.

And then there is the week coming up….

I will be traveling to Ohio, visiting family.  I will not have much opportunity to even look at blog posts let alone post anything.  I will try to answer comments on an almost daily basis, but I can’t promise anything.

I should be back to the blog on Tuesday, July 9.  I’m sure it will take a few days to get back into it!

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week and I wish my American readers a Happy Fourth of July!