Tuesday, April 15, 2014

It Just So Happens...

Read more slices at
Two Writing Teachers


The other day I noticed someone made a comment on my very first post - my blog birthday - which just so happens to have been almost a year ago.  Intrigued, I went back to inquire.  Here is the story.

Back when I was a blog stalker, I would travel from one blog to another, losing my way in the process.  Sometimes I felt like I needed to be more like Hansel and Gretel and leave a breadcrumb trail.  Some blogs I would bookmark or remember, others were lost in my memory.  It was during this time I stumbled onto Memoirs from the Belly.  

I left a comment on this blog which just so happened to have been on the day after my first post.  On this particular post, she wrote about how she originally started her blog to promote her writing business.  She received very little traffic and became discouraged, so she stopped writing for almost a year.  For some reason that day, she had come back to her blog and realized she was writing for the wrong reasons, hence the title, "What's the Point?"  She realized she had stories to tell, and that was why she wrote.  It didn't matter if no one read them, because they were written for her son.

I had just started my blog and was of course questioning myself.  Who is going to read this?  Why did I think I could write?  I don't know a thing about blogging.

Here is my comment to her on April 30, 2013:

I just came across your blog, and your writing and story are beautiful! I have cautiously entered the world of blogging and am very unsure of what I am doing. Your words about how who sees my blog is not as important as to the reason why I write. Thank you for your "inadvertent nudge." Maybe I can do this after all.

It just so happens in that one year, she wrote one post, and had one comment - from me!

It just so happens that one year later - in April 2014 - she reads that comment which I wrote in 2013, and finds me.

Of course I returned to her blog to "catch up" on her life.  She has a beautiful little boy and the stories of her journey are about heartache, joy, life, and relationships - true slices of life. 

A year ago, she gave me a nudge, made me think about who I was writing for.  She is back to writing, so now it is my turn.  I encouraged/invited her to write a Slice of Life.  She said she had heard of Two Writing Teachers but had never participated.  I was thrilled when she said she was going to give it a try this week.

I hope that today I will run my eyes down the list of slices and see her name.  If you have the time today, please find her blog, read her stories, and give her a nudge and encourage her to write with us.

Maybe she will then say, "It just so happened..."

Note - she did write her first slice!  Please visit her here.


11 comments:

  1. Pay it forward, always, right, Leigh Anne? Great story to pass along. I will look!

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  2. Hi Leigh Anne! Such a beautiful post; it brought tears to my eyes :-) Thank you for helping to rekindle my interest and passion in blogging! I just posted my first slice, thanks to you :-)

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  3. It's that one little comment that helps to make this writing all worthwhile. Your encouragement has made a difference to many of us. So glad that you have continued writing throughout the year! Thanks for the reminder to stop by those slices that we haven't visited before.

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  4. Awesome story! I love the little connections we can make in this world!

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  5. Happenstance happens for a reason. So cool how she came to read your comment from so long ago. Thanks for the link. :-)

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  6. We all need a nudge now and then. I know I did. It is true that it doesn't matter how many or how few read what we post. The important thing is to write.

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  7. What a great story! Talk about paying it forward. I'm gonna check now. By the way totally relate to being a blog stalker and the need for breadcrumbs! Great images.

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  8. We never know when our post or comment is just what someone else needs. Sometimes we forget that the words we write are just what we need.

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  9. Thank you for always being so encouraging and welcoming to me. I definitely agree that starting out is uncomfortable as you doubt what to write/who will even read it.

    Thanks to you and some other encouraging bloggers, I look forward to sharing my experience with new friends and to reading their experiences too.

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  10. It's a small world in the blogosphere. What a wonderful community --- and beautiful story.

    Cathy

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