Blog Post | But I Smile Anyway...

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I Love Ya, Tomorrow! #BloggersBash

18 May 2018 50 Comments

by Ritu in #bloggers bash, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #bloggers bash, #bloggersbash, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Excited

One more sleep to go!

“What for?”

Seriously? you didn’t know? It’s the BLOGGERS BASH tomorrow!

This is one date I anticipate with ants in my pants. It’s like I’m a child at Christmas, counting the days/sleeps until I get to see everyone again!

Last year was just amazing, with not only the chance to meet so many familiar blog faces, but to also connect and interact with new ones too!

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And it was a WINNER Of A Day for me, when I carried home the Best Overall Blogger award for 2017!

I’d baked like a dervish the night before, transporting baked goodies via the train to the venue, and got there in plenty of time, and well, what can I say, it was just amazing!

This year is no different. I have been baking, carrot cakes, and this time I have attempted flapjacks – hope they are okay!

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But actually, this year is a little different.

Yes, I shall be sat at the edge of my seat when awards are announced, but I was also asked to be a guest speaker this year, talking about how to time manage my blog as a busy working parent.

I have written my ‘speech’. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, I hope I don’t stand there reading off a page! And I also hope I don’t go off at a nervous speed, and finish withing 3 minutes, thereby throwing the whole day off Schedule… I’ve been given half an hour for talk and questions…EEEK!

And my Hubby Dearest will be by my side, (or the bar!) to support me this year too, which I am delighted about. Blogging has become such a huge part of my life, I want him to see just how much it means to me, and others!

Oh, and before I forget, I got my special nails done too!

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Right, I need to go and pack now, so look out for a Bash related post in the next few days, letting you know all about it!!!!!

Wish me luck Peeps!!! ❤

May 17– Flash Fiction – Property

18 May 2018 29 Comments

by Ritu in #CarrotRanch, Fiction, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #CarrotRanch, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Charli Mills, Flash Fiction, Foreigners, Property

Charli’s prompt this week:

May 17, 2018, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story about property values. Perhaps its a home, business or pencil museum. What makes them go up or down? Go where the prompt leads.

Them foreigners!

“This neighbourhood is just going to pot!” Sue looked out of her front room window, staring at the new arrivals on the street. “Seriously, I mean, that is the fourth family of foreigners to move in here in the last few months!”
She turned towards her husband. “Jake, I do think we need to seriously consider our options, you know darling. Property prices are plummeting because of them. Have you seen the litter? And the cooking smells?”
Jake looked up from his accounts. “Really, Surinder? Have you looked in the mirror recently? And stop calling me Jake, it’s Jagjit!”

https://carrotranch.com/2018/05/17/may-17-flash-fiction-challenge/

#WritePhoto – Avenue

17 May 2018 42 Comments

by Ritu in #WritePhoto, Fiction, Poems, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #WritePhoto, Avenue, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Burial, Cinquain, Death, Flash Fiction

Sue’s #WritePhoto Prompt this week:

Edith looked down the avenue of wooden sentries to the solitary, blossom-covered tree at the end.
Twenty years ago, she’d planted that with her young family, it was like nature’s headstone.
A reminder that he was there, waiting for her when her time came.
It would be like walking down the aisle to her beloved once again, but this time she’d be carried in a box, and lowered to the ground.
Her children had already been instructed to plant another sapling there, next to her Peter, so they could grow old together, if not in life, but in death.

#writephoto

https://scvincent.com/2018/05/17/thursday-photo-prompt-avenue-writephoto/

Monday Meh! Post Bash-Blues #BloggersBash2017 #ThrowbackThursday

17 May 2018 80 Comments

by Ritu in Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, grateful, Monday, Post-Bash Blues

It’s Monday… again.

Comes round so fast, doesn’t it?!

And I’ll be back to my usual routine, after a pretty epic weekend,

Saturday, as you all know, saw me win a rather prestigious award at the ABBA’s, and my, was I high on the achievement, the compliments from my other blogily, the sugar in the cakes…!

Then came yesterday.

And I sunk.

Oh, the exhaustion! I don’t know where it came from, but once it hit, it manifested itself fully, and I was prone on the sofa for the best part of Sunday!

I guess I had been on a true adrenalin rush on Saturday and needed to come down, so to speak!

Posting about my Post-Bash Cold Turkey blues to other bloggers on the Facebook group, it appeared that I was not alone! ( I promise, I put nothing unusual in the cakes! Can’t speak for His Geoffleship though ;P )

I guess the enjoyment we all got from the build up to the event, followed by the excitement of the actual Bash, was more draining than we had expected!

Of course, seeing as I was laying low all day, I had plenty of time to browse blogs, read posts, answer the huge amount of comments that had flooded in… and I truly felt humbled.

This Blogosphere is a wonderful place. The support everyone has given, the congrats, the excitement from them. It really makes me wonder why?

Why me?

I’m not that special. I’m just your average working mum, who likes to talk and write.

I don’t give fantastic practical advice on blogging/writing/money-saving etc. I don’t profess to be an expert on anything (except smiling – I’m good at that!). I’m not endorsed by anyone. I may have a book out but I’m no Poet Laureate. It’s taken me 17 years to write 15,000 words, and my WIP is still not finished…

And yet you all still voted for me.

What makes a good, all-round blogger?

Well, what I have had said to me over the last 48-odd hours is maybe something for us all to take into consideration, so we may all be Best Overall Bloggers, going forward.