Many thanks to Alicia for nominating me today for the Blogger Recognition Award!  Please check out Alicia’s blog livepulchritudinously where she chronicles her life and interests as a college student in Chicago.

Rules for accepting the Blogger Recognition Award include:

• Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
• Write a post to show your award.
• Give a brief story of how your blog started.
• Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
• Select 15 other bloggers you want to give this award to.
• Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them and provide the link to the post you created.

How I started blogging:

Writing had been either the central focus or a large part of every job I held over a 40-year period, jobs that including journalism, civil rights investigation, and teaching.  When I moved from teaching full time to teaching part time in 2012, I began blogging almost “on a lark”.  I didn’t expect to have any followers, and I didn’t know how long my blogging efforts would last. That first blog now features my photography more often than my writing, and I have added two additional blogs, with followers from around the world.

Two pieces of advice to new bloggers:

I feel quite sure that almost anyone who has been blogging awhile will give similar pieces of advice:

1. Follow blogs that interest you and “like” and comment on posts.  If someone finds your blog and comments on a post, be sure to reply to their comment.  I have found a wonderful community of international bloggers here on WordPress, and everyone is kind and supportive.
2. Blog regularly according to whatever schedule best suits your preference. Remember that you have followers who look forward to your posts, but also remember to nurture your own voice and create your own unique blog.  In the end, we blog not to satisfy expectations of followers but as the creative expression of our unique interests and lives.

Nominating others:

Oh my goodness, if I had to choose 15 other blogs to nominate for this award I would tear my hair out trying to choose.  I follow a large number of blogs, and I think they’re all terrific!  Here are 5 blogs, each with 300 or fewer followers, that I really enjoy:

kazegadway, working among Native youth and the homeless in Albuquerque, NM

Blue Ranchu, custom art and fiber

jayspeakblog, the life of an expatriate American ( who happens to be my aunt) living in Nice, France

Land of Lovings, poet’s wife, mama of five, hippie, craft junkie extraordinaire, maker of many things

Borderline, physician with Doctors Without Borders who currently works in a Delhi slum