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Friday, May 14, 2010

WOW: I'm a Blogger of Note

           Yes, I've been chosen as today's Blogger of Note by Sandy and Pam at Words of Wisdom (WOW) and I'm pretty darn proud of that.  My special thanks goes to Shannon of Faith, Hope, and Love  for nominating me.

           Shannon and I got to know each other as well as a ton of other wonderful bloggers during the Blogging From A to Z April Challenge.  This was an idea that I came up with in order to celebrate reaching 200 followers.  I proposed that I, and anyone who wanted to join me, would blog every day except Sunday during the month of April using the letters of the alphabet as prompts for the topics we posted.  Nearly 100 bloggers of all types joined up and we had an absolutely grand time.  We all added many more followers and learned a lot of good stuff about blogging. 

           I entered my first blog post on September 20 of 2009 with no clear idea of what I was doing, but since I was writing I wanted that writing to have some level of substance and quality.  After all, someone somewhere might read what I wrote.  Early on I declared my mission statement which in essence stated that I wanted to present the best writing of which I was capable and I began posting every day.


          Those posts of the first two months or so were barely read and perhaps even unread.  With no comments coming I began to wonder about the time I was spending writing these blog posts, but still I persisted. 

           In November I decided to organize my posting into a schedule--each day of the week would have a particular theme.  Not wanting to be caught up in a rut, I kept up an eclecticism that some may have seen as a hodge podgery of content.  For me the variety helped me maintain my interest and keep the ideas flowing--and I hoped some of my topics would begin to catch the attention of other bloggers.

           Something was apparently working as I began to see following increase and readers actually leaving comments.   I was learning the secrets of networking and I was becoming established in a blogging community.  Having set a goal for 100 followers by the end of 2009, I reached that goal a few days into the new year.  Readership was consistent.  Some of my blog content could now be found on Google.  I had established a presence.

             I have continued to plod onward, hopefully with many blog posts of substance--I try my best to make each post interesting and with decent writing.  I want to thank all of the loyal wonderfully kind readers who continue to comment on my posts and who provide me good reading with their posts.  And I do want to give credit to the guy who got me started blogging in the first place--Stephen T McCarthy whose two blogs Stephen T McCarthy Stuffs and Ferret-Faced Facist Friends are also pretty darn special blogs that should eventually be recognized by the Words of Wisdom Bloggers of Note series.

             If my Tossing It Out blog is new to you, I hope you will become a follower and continue to come back to visit.  As many different things as I post about, I'm sure I'll be talking about something that interests you.   To give some idea about what I post, I've been asked to provide links to my best or favorite posts.  That's like asking which of my kids are my favorites.  Here are some that I like:

An early post that few people read and no one commented on.  It was kind of special to me.  Feel free to leave a comment:
http://tossingitout.blogspot.com/2009/09/walking-in-dark.html


Here's one that a lot of readers enjoyed:
http://tossingitout.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-moms-dancer-photos.html

And one more that several readers seemed to enjoy:
http://tossingitout.blogspot.com/2010/01/big-box-blues.html

        Coming up on Monday May 17th I am hosting Fifteen Fantasy Island Favorites where you can post your fifteen favorite albums or CDs.   Feel free to join us if you'd like.  Be sure to add your name to the Linky list at the top of the page.

           And don't forget to sign up on Sandy and Pam's Words of Wisdom blog site.  You too can enter your own blog to be a future featured blog or you can nominate another blogger whom you feel is particularly worthy.  Thank you, Sandy and Pam for featuring Tossing It Out on your site today.  I hope you readers will stop by and thank them as well.

33 comments:

  1. That's great, Lee!!

    And you're obviously doing something right. I've been at this for years and still not quite to 200 yet.

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  2. Congratulations on your success Lee, no-one deserves this honour more than you, you have worked hard and the A to Z was the icing on the cake, it brought many people together which is what blogging is all about.

    Have a great week-end,
    Yvonne.

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  3. I am new here! I love finding new blogs from BON. I will be back later to read more - for now I have to start my day (bummer!)

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  4. Congrats! Impressive to say the least and I rarely do that! ;-D

    You are a "juggler of words" don't drop the ball and keep at it! I
    know you will be published someday!

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  5. Hello! I am a new visitor to your site from BON. Great blog! I too have gone through similar challenges when first starting out blogging back in November 2009- wondering if anyone out there was even reading my posts, and trying to figure out if my blog could stand out from the rest, but it soon caught on and I am now nearing 100 followers. I am so proud of that!

    But I feel that blogging is more than just writing to gain more followers- I write not with the intention of posting just to post, but to spread a positive message and to write about things that I am passionate about. Like you said, I hope to "plod onward, hopefully with many blog posts of substance".
    Best of luck in your blogging endeavors and congratulations on becoming a BON!
    -Vanessa from Optimal Optimist
    http://optimaloptimist.blogspot.com

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  6. Congrats Arlee! Well deserved recognition for a wonderful blogger and friend!

    Looking forward to FFIF on the 17th!

    Have a wonderful weekend,
    Lisa

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  7. Lee if you go to my post "You're the reason" there is something for you.

    Yvonne

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  8. Congratulations on ur success...really proud of being a follower of a blog which is now a Blog of note////thats awesome...keep sharing ur excellent writing with all of us...

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  9. L. Diane -- you've got all pretty solid fans and that's the most important part.

    Yvonne -- You're always there! Thank you for your continually kind comments.

    Terra- Hey! What's more important work or reading blogs? Okay, I concede-- look forward to having to stop by later.

    Ellie -- Thank you for your vote of confidence and your continued support.

    Vanessa -- you are now past 100 followers. I agree with you--I have always maintained that numbers of followers always look good but it is the actual readership that counts. Good luck with your blog as well --we can always use more optimism.

    Lisa --Another loyal follower and I thank you for being so. Yes, Monday should be interesting.

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  10. Thanks for your visit, the reason awards are flying today is I have a streaming cold and up until I figured it out I didn't know how to send an award. getting more techincal now.

    Yvonne.

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  11. That's awesome! I think you do an excellent job with your blog.

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  12. Congrat on your award. You have certainly earned it. Blogging daily is both difficult and rewarding. It is no small feat to write something, and write it well every day, especially when in the beginning no one comments.

    I have enjoyed your blog and enjoyed our interaction. Thanks for the A-Z challenge.

    Hope to see more from this blog in days to come! Congrats, again!

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  13. Happy BON day! The A-Z April sounds like it would be a great writing experience. You've made a believer out of me, I'll be back.

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  14. Yo! rLEE-b ~
    Congratulations on the recognition. And thanks for the plug you gave my blogs, McBlogBrother! It's certainly appreciated.

    (Now if I could only get you to include one or two Classical albums on your FIFTEEN FANTASY ISLAND FAVORITES list, just so I would know that these are the albums you would REALLY be taking if you were going to be confined on a musicless island for the rest of your life...)

    Thanks again for the kind words, my friend. I sed it before and I sez it again: "You da man, man!"

    ~ Stephen
    "As a dog returns to his own vomit,
    so a fool repeats his folly."
    ~ Proverbs 26:11

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  15. Lee, you've got a great blog and deserve to be a BON!! I'm also indebted -- and thank you most kindly -- because the A-Z Challenge you organized not only taught me a lot about blogging but brought me a number of Followers. I'd enter your contest but hub and I have a 'vacancy sign' out front as there are so many friends and family coming thru shortly. I've thought about your comment and your mom's name. Intuition tells me you've got a WW2 story there, no idea where, but that it's there. Maybe a dear friend named Katherine was a nurse and got killed and hearing her name is too painful. Here's to a successful contest!!

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  16. Congratulation, you have always been a blogger of note.
    Have a great weekend.....:-) Hugs

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  17. Wow, congratulations. You deserve all the recognition you get, Lee. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

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  18. Congratulations Arlee and I think it is truly awesome to be recognised as Blogger of Note and you deserve it.

    I like reading serious bloggers, bloggers who take blogging seriously. Great job Arlee.

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  19. Congratulations on being chosen as a BON! This is my first visit, it certainly won't be my last. The post on Costco just cracked me up. Every time I walk into the kitchen I see the giant jar of pretzel sticks sitting on top of the refrigerator :) And I couldn't help but comment on the music education post - this is a real hot button issue with me. If you get a chance, read my post Music for All Now. I didn't want to write an entire post in your comment section! Kathy

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  20. That's pretty cool Lee!

    I haven't had much blogging time recently, including now...my daughter is having a sleepover at our home that will begin soon, and my computer room is the room that they will converge upon, which means limited blog reading time. :(

    Anyway, Congratulations!

    I will come back again soon and check out the "favorites" you listed.

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  21. I've been reading your blog since the beginning and even commented on a few! So I think that means that I'm your favorite kid :) love you daddy.

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  22. congrats! You're a blogging success!

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  23. Okay, I'm in. I'll be there to share the 15 favs. Hope I'm not going to date myself LOL.

    Stephen Tremp

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  24. Alex -- thanks for your continued support.

    Gregg -- you do some pretty consistent blogging yourself enjoy your visits and reading your blog as well.

    Jennee-- I'll be watching for you. Thanks for stopping this time.

    Teresa -- Good hearing from you.

    Talli - Thanks

    StMcC-- I give credit where credit is due.

    Kittie -- Thanks for those kind words and look for you whenever you have the time to stop in.

    Bernie -- That's nice of you to say that.

    Karen -- and a happy weekend to you.

    Patricia -- Thanks for your continued support.

    O G -- Thank you for always being there with kind words.

    Katherine-- Hope you'll visit again.

    Kathy -- Glad you enjoyed the Costco story. Can you send me the actual link to your music post. I tried a search but it didn't come up.

    Anita -- kids can keep you busy. Come back whenever you have the time.

    Emilee -- you have always been one of my regular readers. I love you too. And yes you are definitely one of my favorite kids.

    Lydia -- success? Oooh, that sounds pretty good coming from you.

    Stephen Tremp --- Yay! It'll be great to have your input. Dating yourself? I think I'm older than you---I'll be probably dating myself even more than you.

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  25. Congrats on being the BON! I'm really impressed with your blogging disciplined. You've obviously accomplished a lot in the relatively short time you've been posting. Keep it up!

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  26. Words of Wisdom is pretty nifty. Congrats on being nominated as a Blogger of Note! I can definitely see why you were.

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  27. Here a little late, Nice to meet you. I like how you have set up your weekly writing prompts. I look forward to following you!

    Kathy over at Everyday Bliss

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  28. Congratulations arlee! Very cool indeed! :)

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  29. Thanks Arlee, for the shoutout, Congratulations on your BON Day! That is so cool!

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Lee