blogging about blogging, and when not to follow advice
You may be reading this post shortly after it was written, following the sequence of my postings, or you may be reading it at any given time (probably, but not necessarily, subsequent to my writing it). Blog posts straddle a crossroads of the immediately relevant and the timeless treasure. Emphasizing the “timeless treasure” aspect, advice to blog writers often counsels against meta-discussion of situational or sequential issues--it draws too much overt attention to something that will likely be irrelevant two weeks from now.
It’s good advice, but since when have I followed advice 100% of the time? So yes, this is a post about what this blog is for and what to expect from it. The short version: I remain E-la-stic, but there is a rhythm to my blogging.
Written by Ela Harrison
on Saturday, 16 July 2016.
Posted in Blogging, Literary Citizenship, Mindfulness
milestones can only be arbitrary
The next herb I will write about here is Monarda-- Mexican oregano--movement embodied and personified in plant medicine. Monarda my sweet-hot, my ally in this time of change and mo(ve)ment I undergo in alongside spirit with many others. But that won't be today.
Today, I'm publishing this blog's ONE HUNDREDTH post! But why so long since post 99?
Written by Ela Harrison
on Sunday, 04 October 2015.
Posted in Blogging, All About Words, Mindfulness
a tour of this blog (as opposed to a blog tour)
Happy New Year, one and all!
I'm always saying that January 1st is an arbitrary time for a new start (e.g. back in this very old post).
But it is a new calendar year (how long will it take you to remember to put "15" instead of "14" when writing the date?), and it's also a time when there's a lot of collective energy around renewal, resolution, review, referral.
Blogs are great representatives for this blend of review and resolution, looking backward and forward. Unlike a static website, a blog looks ahead and to the past, and it links and refers to and interacts with other spaces, online and elsewhere. Like the present moment, it's a portal to connection.
This particular blog is for me, of course--many things simply don't exist for me unless I write about them--but principally it is for you who are reading this. The more I follow my path and practices, the more I realize that everything I do is an offering and a gift. Here's some of what I'm offering--in 2015, today, here.
Written by Ela Harrison
on Thursday, 01 January 2015.
Posted in Blogging, Literary Citizenship, Mindfulness
process not product
In creating a blog, in performing a gong, in writing a book, in planting gardens, in the march of days, nights, seasons, there's repetition everywhere. What do you associate with repetition?
- "practice makes perfect"
- conscious replacement of memes
- focus, mindfulness, creation of second nature
- "fake it till you make it"
- tedium
- "why do I have to sweep the floor/eat/pull weeds when I'll have to do it all again later?"
- So many words I could pick for "word of the week" here ! To push against the negative aspects of repetition, I chose "rote."
Written by Ela Harrison
on Monday, 29 December 2014.
Posted in All About Words, Literary Citizenship, Mindfulness