Why the title?

"Pioneers take the arrows"

Oh, wait. I should be upbeat and taking arrows doesn't sound like an upbeat thing to say.

So, let me amend that statement.

It was courage and vision that led the pioneers to leave behind a comfortable, settled life and trek West to begin a new life in a new place. Many of those from the East that went West found a strength within themselves that they didn't see while they were in their old life. Instead of being one of those that just kind of went along with the others in the old life, they became leaders and visionaries in their new lives.

The sentiments of that last paragraph come from a favorite author, Louis L'Amour, in many of his books. So, I can't really say that it is an original thought from me. However, what he said is truthful.

Welcome to being a pioneer. Look ahead and ignore the "barking dogs" that give you negative opinions and comments. Louis L'Amour also spoke of the barking dogs.

In some of his stories, it was usually a father or older man telling a young boy how it was that when the Westward bound Conestoga wagons rolled through towns, the dogs came out to bark at them. His character then told the young listener that the barking didn't stop the wagons from going on to their destinations.

Following the advice of the Louis L'Amour characters, may we all forge ahead with our plans, after carefully considering all consequences and leave the "barkers" behind.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Creating a Blog Challenge

Yesterday while reading the bloggers in my “blog roll,” I came across a posting by Betty Barnes at Phoenix Once Again about a blog challenge called “The Versatile Blogger.” Betty received her “right” to accept the challenge because a previous blogger that she had been reading just put the 15 “rights” out there for the taking. By the way, Betty’s blog home address is at Phoenix Once Again and if you want to read the specifics of Versatile Blogger challenge, that posting is at Versatility.

Betty elected to put her 15 “rights” out there as free for the taking. In her comment section, I noted that it was an interesting challenge, but I wouldn’t take one of the “rights” as I felt such things should be awarded instead. Then, I stuck my foot in my mouth.

I suggested that perhaps there ought to be a challenge of writing 7 things about 7 other bloggers instead of writing 7 things about one own self. Jerry over at Waggin Tails RV  mentioned something to the fact of perhaps taking on my “challenge.” Now, it appears that I need to set some parameters for the challenge.

Another thing I suggested in that comment was that perhaps there would be no need to do the 7 blog posts of the challenge all on consecutive days, but we don’t want to drag the thing out for too long, or it may become a totally unaccomplished challenge. So, now let me set the parameters or, rules if you will.

1. The 7 posts should be done within a 30 day period.

2. The 7 posts will each list 7 things pertinent to a different blogger in each challenge post.

3. The things should not be taken from the subject blogger’s profile. However, if a thing is also within a blog posting somewhere on that subject’s blog, that it would be permissible, but then there should also be a link to that specific blog post where the “thing” was found.

4. The things do NOT have to be factual. For instance, if the challenge writer notices that the subject blogger does something regularly on their blog, then the challenge writer could write that the subject blogger appears to like that regularly done thing.

5. While it would be permissible for the challenge writer to write about 7 blogs they currently follow, it would be more of a challenge if the challenge writer chooses 4 of the 7 subject blogs to be all new ones to them.

Now, I think that 5 “rules” should be enough for this challenge so that it doesn’t become more difficult. However, I am going to add one more challenge to this endeavor. I don’t have a name for this Blog Challenge, so I will ask for ideas from those that choose to take this challenge to suggest a name. To keep it from getting out of hand, I will only accept the first 15 names that are suggested.

Then, with the name chosen, I will design an image with that name superimposed on one of my photos. When someone takes the challenge and completes it, I will try to find a way for them to contact me via some electronic source and give me their e-mail address so that I can send it to them.

Now, I just have to figure out how to put a contact e-mail on my blog’s homepage to be used. So far, I’ve not figured out how to do that. I would rather it be permanently on the homepage so that challenge participants don’t have to go searching for this original post about the challenge to get the address.

If anyone can give me a hint as to how I can put an e-mail contact “thingy” on the homepage, please let me know.

Now, let us now get onto the challenge. For my challenge writing, my 30 days will begin on June 1. With only 30 days in June, it will be easier for me to keep track of when I need to be done with the challenge. You get to choose your 30 day period to better fit your schedule. Whatever we do, let’s have fun with this and expand our horizons to take in some new writers.

DCP_5439

3 comments:

  1. You could add a gadget to your sidebar that allows text and put your email in that. I would spell it out, like barkingdogs at hotmail dot com so it doesn't get snatched and spammy.

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  2. Terry, go to http://kontactr.com/ where you can get a button to be contacted via email. I have one on both http://phoenixonceagain.blogspot.com and http://mywritingneuk.blogspot.com and it works!

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  3. Terry, gave you a mention in today's post on my blog :)

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