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I had to take a break from blogging for a few weeks, due to needing to deal with a financial emergency. I have managed to begin to recover the situation now, and I am glad to be back here to say hello to all of you.
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I missed the connection with all of my lovely followers, and the gentle clicking of the laptop keys as I watch the words flow out as if they have a mind of their own.
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Words can have magic and power. They have the power to inspire and uplift. And they have the power to destroy and crush.
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image from PINTEREST
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Some people wield words to brag and give the impression of importance in the grand story of their lives.
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Others use words to manipulate and to lure unsuspecting victims to their demise.
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Still others, simply seek to reach out for that elusive human connection, and to convey compassion and deep meaning to the readers.
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And some writers seek to entertain, to delight and bring laughter and inspiration to their readers.
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.image source PINTEREST image source PINTEREST
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While others see writing as therapy and a way to discover and express the thoughts both hidden and exposed.
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No matter what, words are a tool that are used by each person in their own unique way. We are all connected in the universe and part of a greater humanity.
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The feelings and experiences of one person, can be felt and related to …by someone on the other side of the world.
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Blogging is a way for us to hang onto our humanity, in a world that continues to get more technical and where people spend more time staring at screens than they do into the eyes and faces of other people.
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What are the things that matter the most to all of us? What are the questions and the puzzles that we seek to solve?
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What are the emotions and thoughts that arise from the farthest reaches of our subconscious, when we lay in bed at night?
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Let’s see what you have to say.
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Write your thoughts and feelings down. See them flow out from your fingertips and onto the laptop screen.
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.image source PINTEREST
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Whether you be new to blogging, or a seasoned practitioner… your voice is needed by someone who is waiting to read just the very words you are about to write.
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There is a heart and a mind that is needing to hear just the very thing that you are about to type. So get blogging and keep those thoughts flowing !
GentleKindness 
Well said. Welcome Back 😉
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Glad all is back to how it should be in your life. Great post!
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glad you are back and so true )
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Powerful words!
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These words get to the heart. I once shared my blog by email to a friend that way they can see all posts.. Their response was well written if you want to entertain, but not for me. I felt disappointed and hurt and then I realize that the reason that I do not have that many followers maybe that no one takes me seriously! But your post helped me understand now to each his own. We are word makers let us make words and let them think or not about them! Now to your wisdom!
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The ways I got followers…
1. Spend 30 to 60 minutes a day ( or every other day) searching tags that are related to whatever kind of thing I am tend to post on that particular blog (blogs that I don’t already follow)…click like on their posts…( so I search WordPress tags for mental health, poetry,domestic abuse, spoken word, women…it depends which of my blogs I’m trying to get people to find)
2. Open the “like” feature because people follow blogs that they can click like on
3. About 45 to 60 minutes a day reading posts from people who have clicked like on my blog…and click like on theirs
4. Respond to comments (which I know you already do)
5. Post links to posts on other social media…Facebook Twitter Tumblr
6. Make sure I use enough tags when I post things so people can find them when they search certain tags
Most of my followers are bloggers that wrote about similar topics. Because I post a few different kinds of things on my main blog, I might spend one day reading poetry blogs by finding those blogs in the tags.
Another day I search mental health blogs.
To get followers is time consuming and most of them are not people were friends with…at least not before they start following us.
I would recommend setting your blog so people can click Like…because most people have no time to leave comments but they want to let you know they stopped by.
Some people will read your blog regularly…but not officially “follow” it…so you can’t tell if they are reading it or not..unless you open the Like button.
I read about 2 x the number of blogs I officially follow. I just can’t “follow” all of them because there are too many.
There have been times when I spent 2 hours a day just interacting with other blogs…some that I found by searching tags related to what my blog posts…others were people who had clicked like on my posts.
Without having the Like feature , you cannot tell who is reading your posts unless they comment. About 1 out of 10 or 15 people comment…as far as I can tell.
So there are 9 to 14 people you can’t interact with because you don’t know they visited. But if you could know who was there, then you can go over to their blog and read their posts and click like.
Many people will read and click Like first.
Then if you go over to their blog, they will come back again to yours.
After a few interactions they are more likely to Follow you.
It’s kind of a dating dance. People enjoy the ettiquitte of the dance.
And without the Like feature on your blog, people get discouraged…because they can’t let you know they were there…and a lot of people have various reasons why they don’t want to, or have time to comment.
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Your input has lot of informative steps I plan to follow. Thank you so much! E
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You’re welcome. Its hard to find time to do all of it. But sometimes you can dedicate one week to focus on it.
Then a few days here and there.
Unless you feel uncomfortable opening up the comments, then that wound be the most effective step to take first.
I love your poems and read your blog pretty often. I always feel bad that I can’t let you know I was there visiting. And I can’t always think of something to write as a comment.
I just think people feel better to let you know they stopped by. At least it’s not like YouTube where people can leave a thumbs down.
I never really thought that feature was necessary on YouTube. If someone doesn’t like the video , they can click away and watch something else.
The thumbs down opens up opportunities for trolls to thumb your video down…especially abusers who don’t like me exposing their methods and teaching people how to recognize them early.
So WordPress has more class than that. And just has a like. ..not a dislike…..which I like….LOL
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Welcome back! I’m glad to hear you are fine now!
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Well stated – and welcome back!
🙂
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