Tag: facebook

re-jiggering

Facebook is not so subtly reminding me that I haven’t posted for a week. (People who are on Facebook are cordially invited to “like” the Top of JC’s Mind page here.)

I had made the mistake of making a plan for the last week. After getting daughter T on the plane to Hawai’i to visit daughter E, I was going to spend a lot of time writing, both here at Top of JC’s Mind and in continuing work on my poetry collection, in anticipation of needing to take a writing break beginning on the 17th when Nana was scheduled to have a diagnostic heart catheterization, part of the continuing saga of the fainting episode in April.

As often happens, life laughs at my plans…

The day after T left, Nana developed shortness of breath and wound up in the hospital with a diagnosis of congestive heart failure. Fortunately, treatment improved her symptoms a lot and she was able to head home within 24 hours. Unfortunately, the episode precipitated  a further delay in the heart catheterization, now pushed back to August 31st.

Not much writing got done in the last week, but I am tempting fate and re-organizing.

I’m pleased to report that I wrote a new poem this morning to fill a hole in the first section of my collection. The poem is about Nana and her father, so it was nice to be able to talk to her this morning and gather some more information that I needed.  I have sent her a copy to review and will plan to workshop it with my poetry group when next we meet.

Yay! I managed to accomplish something in my plan!

And I am writing this post!

Two things!

Crossing my fingers that things will stay calm in the coming days  so I can get some more creative time in before my planned break beginning August 31st.

Or, if something does come up, I’ll just re-jigger again.

I’m really getting quite good at it…

 

 

FB testing

My SoCS post did not automatically distribute to my Facebook page, so I am doing this post to check to see if I fixed the problem.

But, while I am posting, I may as well put in a plea for those of you on Facebook to like my page. Just use the link above. I promise that I don’t post so much that it would litter your newsfeed…

Thanks so much!

JC

beyond the “like” button

Last July, I wrote this post about the need for an empathy button on social media.

Amazingly enough, Facebook has recently implemented an expanded menu of option beyond the old “like” button.

Yay!

I realize this has nothing to do with my little post, which did not go viral and lead to a social media wave demanding a change.

Still, I’m hoping that other social media will follow suit.

Okay, WordPress. Your turn.

Poem and Art by Lorrie Lane

Lorrie Sandel Lane and I met at Haven House at Smith College. She was the class following mine. She studied English and studio art, but has made her career as a painter.

We have some commonalities in our lives. Lorrie married a few weeks after I did and celebrated her 33rd wedding anniversary earlier this year, as B and I did. We both named our firstborn daughters Elizabeth. And we both turned rather unexpectedly to poetry in our fifties.

I want to share a painting and poem of Lorrie’s today. It was posted on her literary page on Facebook, which is available to “like” as well as her art page. (See, I engage in shameless promotion for other people, too.)

Enjoy!

header

I just updated my header image, partly because Jay Dee of “I Read Encyclopedias for Fun” is doing a series where he writes about blogs of those who comment on his blog frequently. Which I do. And I’m trying to not be totally embarrassed when he has to say that my cover image is grainy and doesn’t appear to be anything recognizable.

Anyone who visits here knows that I am not good with images, despite my attempts to improve. I have trouble taking photos, enhancing, cropping, sending them to the right site, and more, but I was determined to at least get a new header image that was clearer, so I grab my iPad and went in search of a spot to take a close-up of the top of my head.  I chose an art quilt that hangs on my living room wall as a backdrop, and took several shots, not the easiest thing to do when you are purposely holding your device above eye level.

Then, the fun of customizing began. I like my theme and don’t want to change it, but the header image is recommended to be 1600×220, which is difficult for me to get to from an image that is 640×480. (I can hear all you photographers out there chuckling.) After several attempts, I did manage to get a new header image saved. It’s…okay. I wish my tagline showed up better, but at least the image itself is clearer – and perhaps even recognizable as the top of my silver-haired head.

At the very least, I know I didn’t violate anyone’s copyright by sharing their image when I shouldn’t have.

Please comment with any opinions,advice , or encouragement you want to share.

– JC with the silver hair

Update:  I managed to finally put a header image on the Top of JC’s Mind Facebook page. It is similar to the one here, but not the same shot. Check it out (and consider liking my page if you haven’t already)!

Calling people from around the world!

A few days ago, I re-blogged this post: https://ireadencyclopedias.wordpress.com/2015/08/08/reaching-out-to-the-world/
from Jay Dee of I Read Encyclopedias for Fun. He is trying to get comments from as many countries as possible. So far, people have responded from USA, Canada, UK, Germany and Ireland. Let’s help him expand the list!

Here’s how you can help:
1) If you are from another country – and I know I have regular visitors from India and Australia – please click on the link and leave a comment, telling Jay Dee where you are from.
2) If you have a blog, are on Facebook, tweet, or engage in any other social media, please consider sharing the link with your followers. There are handy sharing buttons at the end of the post or you can copy and post the link yourself.

Let’s see if we can get visitors from dozens of countries for Jay Dee! Thanks!

500(ish) followers!

The most popular topic among bloggers is blogging! I admit that, while I read a lot of posts on blogging, I don’t often write one, but today I will because I have reached 500 followers for Top of JC’s Mind!

Or at least, 500ish. The numbers are a bit squishy. The number following through WordPress is 389 with email, Facebook, and twitter followers pushing the number up to 500. That means that some people who follow me on more than one platform are double or triple counted, but….

Let’s just say 500! Yay!

I want to take this opportunity to thank all my followers, especially those who visit regularly. There are even a few who comment regularly; thank you for keeping me from feeling as though I am talking to myself.

I also want to thank all the blogs I follow – all 750 of them. Some I get daily or weekly digest emails and visit frequently; others I don’t get to very often. You have all helped me to learn about blogging and gifted me with beauty, humor, poetry, stories, travelogues, photos, thought, and heart.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart and the Top of JC’s Mind,
Joanne

The Blog Post Share Project – Share the Love

Jay Dee is helping out other bloggers by encouraging us to share each other’s work through social media. Are you ready to help out in this way?

Jay Dee's avatarI Read Encyclopedias for Fun

I was thinking yesterday, I’m usually giving blog posts I like a comment and a like. I get plenty of those myself on this blog. But there are other ways to show your appreciation to blogs and bloggers.

So, how about this? Whenever you see a blog post you like, don’t just like it. Leave a comment if there’s something you want to say, of course. But why not use social media to help get the word out to others about that post? At the bottom of each post in a blog, there should be buttons you can click on for various social media. Twitter is great, if you use it. Why not pin it on Pinterest? Or how about share it with your friends on Facebook? Or even Google+? If you think the post is really, really good, you could even share it on Reddit.

So, this is what…

View original post 59 more words

I feel for you

I think WordPress, Facebook, and other social media should institute a new button.

When someone has written a beautiful post on a difficult, tragic, or emotional topic, I don’t always feel qualified to comment, but want the writer to know that I have read the post and that I sympathize with them. I sometimes hit the “Like” button, but it always feels a bit unsettling. I don’t “like” that they are grieving a loved one or that they are dealing with chronic illness.

I want a button that says “I hear you.”  “I feel for you.” “You touched me.”  “You are not alone.” “I don’t like what you are going through, but I am thinking of you and sending you good thoughts.”

Anyone else with me on this?

How to suddenly increase followers

I’m having one of my try-to-learn-to-be-a-better-blogger afternoons. I actually managed to get my publicize links connected.

Next, I was doing some work on my widgets and realized that it suddenly said I had 169 followers, when I thought I had 113. Then, I realized that my follower number now included my (tiny) twitter following and my (slightly less tiny) Top of JC”s Mind facebook page followers. I think my small non-Wordpress email followers don’t get included in counts at all, other than in my heart, where I love you all!

I guess if I really want my number to jump, I can connect my personal Facebook page instead of my public page. I have about six times more FB friends than I do followers for my page. LOL

I did decide to finally list the number of followers in my sidebar. I had hesitated to do so because I was afraid that people would not want to follow or comment on a blog they knew was so tiny. If I notice a drop-off in traffic, I can always hide it again!

Just in case anyone wants to expand their ways of following me, the WordPress follow button is near the top of the sidebar to the right. The email follow widget is just below.

My Facebook Page for Top of JC’s Mind is here: https://www.facebook.com/topofjcsmind. I invite you to like my page if you are on Facebook.

I admit that I find twitter a challenge. I have difficulty containing myself to 140 characters! Those who love to follow on twitter can follow me, though. I’m @btmum.

Maybe next time, I will actually work on exciting things like finally adding a photo of myself!