Reflection: Noteworthy Accomplishments of 2005

There's so much I want to accomplish in this life that my schedule is always overbooked, which at times results in my feeling overwhelmed, a sense of frustration, a bit of self castigation and most of the time--self doubt.

One of my goals for this past year was to trust God more and live in the present. Looking at my improved sense of self-worth and mental stability, I believe I accomplished that goal.

So with nary a "shoulda, coulda, woulda" thought (in no particular order) I pridefully yet humbly present my noteworthy accomplishments for 2005!

• A new mini bio:
  
  D.S. White Her motto: I am who I am by the grace of God A strong black woman, Dee has realized forgiveness is essential to achieve the peace she has sought all her life. She has come to terms with the angst of her birth and realizes even her name has purpose in God's eyes. She's real enough to admit that some of her limitations in life were self-induced. She's not ashamed to admit she's not perfect, and at times may need to be lovingly reminded that "it's not about you!" But she prays she will always surround herself with people who will hold her accountable to the need to have and show compassion.
  
• Participation in NaNoWriMo in November 2005. Although I did not win (complete 50,000 words), I got almost halfway there with a total of 23,000 words which is approximately 77 pages! This from a woman who in November of 2004 could not conceive of participating.
  
• Blogging - More of a discovery than an accomplishment, but listed here because it facilitated my confidence to participate in NaNoWriMo. It also served as a tool to make new friends all over the world. With it I was able to reconnect with friends here in the US of A and my family in Trinidad. Its semi-anonymous feel, aided my quest to be a voice in bringing a few key issues to the forefront and last but not least an open platform to share my testimony.
  
• At the request of a homie I met on BP (see, it does have redemptive qualities…LOL). I realized another gift I didn’t even know I had--songwriting! In an awesome marriage of two of my gifts, (writing and singing), I penned my very first lyrics “Believe in Me”. Now those of you, who know my story, will realize that these lyrics are directed at myself as much as to anyone else who has ever doubted the validity of God’s Love or their worth as a person.
  
  Curious? *Click here to listen to a rough version (and I mean rough, because it was recorded at the tail end of an all-nighter in the studio).
  
• Publication of one of my short stories/articles, “Choices: To Do or Not to Do…The Ex” in the relationship section on SisterDivas Magazine Website.
  
• Obtaining an awesome Christian Editor, who resides in Canada, but with the aid of the internet and USPS we make it work! Don’t you just love technology!
  
• Official start of planned monthly mother/daughter activities for my daughter and I. To think, at twenty, she still wants to hang out with her moms! I must have done something right!
  
• Creation and successful maintenance of six individual blogs and one compilation of all my blogs.

P.S. I’ll probably add more as I think of them, but these are those that have come to mind, thus far.

*NOTE: For safety purposes, this preview link will be removed shortly, so get your listen on ASAP.

Rentals in Review

Please join me in welcoming this week's "Blog of the Week" renter, snlash of Mystickal Incense & More Blog. Don't be shy, skip on over to the sidebar, click, browse and comment! Oh and while you're there, would you let her know that with her double rental, she's earned herself a premium spot for a month on Dear Abbyliqua? Thanks.

When BlogExplosion instituted its “Rent My Blog” advertising program I wasn't quite sure how it was going to work out. I mean, would anyone want to rent my blogs or would anyone rent me a space on their blog?

New to the idea of blogging it was precious and maybe even a little scary for me. But nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I've since relaxed and take things less seriously, but I do want to acknowledge my renters past and present in order of appearance:

Mike of Ramblings and Rhetoric led the way, followed by writer Jeremy Shipp of Haunted House Dressing, then by Tara’s Living with ADD Blog, then Jeremy of Haunted House Dressing returned for two back-to-back rentals by, followed by A Shellbug’s Life, The Blogging Boss a/k/a Eric, followed by another writer, Dana, of Southern Gal Goes North, OneManBandWidth, Dariana of Wild Horses & Winter Dreams, Becky of Joyful Mother and Jon of Jon's Journal on Police Pursuits.

So there you have it...the renters of 2005. Please take a moment to visit them.

That's More Like It! (6)

Tuesday, March 25, 2003:

I checked BV to see if I got any notes. Only two notes, not up to BP standards, but it will do.

The first note was from Jagman (not a bad name) so I opened it. He is from Maryland, (ok a plus), 5’ 10’1/2” tall, (another plus), no pic, (cancelled out the other pluses).

He wanted to know why I was on there and why am I single.

An old pro on fielding that question by now, I responded by telling him, I was single by choice. (Hmm…a cheating fiancé and a cheating husband?) I replied that I’d dropped the zeroes and was holding out for a hero.

Right away he responded and made it clear that he is looking for someone and isn't prepared to do the phone/email thing for any length of time. He also wanted to set up a meeting.

Although gratified by his straightforward attitude, it was a little scary and off putting. I’m not one for too much B.S. or flattery, but a little wouldn’t have hurt! Aside from his inferred compliment by asking me what am I doing on that site. His compliment quota is in no danger of being reached.

I am a contrary mess, aren’t I? I don’t trust effusive compliments, and this brother is doing everything I say I prefer…so what’s the problem? It’s just a feeling I have.

Oh wow! V8 moment, he didn’t mention anything about his beliefs and I was so busy focusing on the lack of compliments I totally missed that.

You’re slipping girl. Priorities, remember?

Christian male equals fewer headaches. Say it with me now, Christian male equals fewer headache! Okay.

To Be Continued…

Just joining us? Here's what you've missed so far: Synopsis, (1), (2), (3), (4) and (5)

My Way of Saying Thanks!

Springboarding off of Guppyman’s idea to have a Christmas sale for the rental of space on his blog, I've come up with my own way of saying thanks to my all my renters of 2005 and especially my TOP six renters!

Thanks to BE’s wonderful stats. I can tell who's rented my blog and how often. I'm going to tally up the stats of the six blogs I have listed at BE and the top six renters will be featured in my sidebar as "Blog of the Month" right above the "Blog of the Week" spot from BE for the month of January, 2006.

I will post and notify the owners of the top six blogs. I will also rank my blogs in order of performance from most traffic/unique hits/clicks to least traffic/unique hits/clicks so that the top ranking blog will go to the top renter and the second ranking blog to the second frequent renter and so forth.

And to all other renters you will each be mentioned in my recap of the year post due out by 12/31/05.

Thanks again, it was wonderful having you all as tenants!

Holiday Lonelies?

The holidays have a way of making those of us who are single, painfully aware of our state of singleness. Some of us are single by choice, some by circumstance and others by lack of what they would consider "good candidates".

It is to the latter group I address the following excerpt* from an email I received, the points made therein put a different perspective on our possibilities and bear thinking about as we assess what we've accomplished for the past year and plan our goals and strategies for the upcoming year.

Playmate vs. Lifemate

In our quest for happiness we must be sure that we don't settle for a Playmate when God has a Life mate waiting for us. Sometimes this is a hard distinction to make. Playmates are tricky. They are so much fun to be with that even the smartest of us will be fooled into thinking this has to be our Life mate. Worse yet too many of us attempt to make a Soul mate out of a Playmate.

The danger of this is that later, after years of playing we will meet our Life mate, but it may be too late then. We may have already made a Life mate of our Playmate and created life-long bonds (emotional, children, etc.) Or we may have been hurt from playing so hard that we are in no shape ourselves to be anyone's anything. How can we distinguish between the One, and just another one?

First, we must be open with ourselves about who we really are and what our heart yearns. Only you and God know what is truly in your heart and mind. Only you and God know what will make you truly happy and whole.

In order to find your Life mate you have to know yourself, first.

You must be willing to listen to that inner voice. And that voice might be telling you that the nerdy person with whom you enjoy talking and sharing your thoughts, could be him. Or what about that friend who is always willing to go the extra mile for you when no one else will.

Oh no! He's too short or too tall, balding or too hairy, and on and on? Just too ordinary looking for me! Then there's that girl who makes you feel so special when you 're around her, but she doesn't match that ideal you have conjured in your head. She's too tall, not slender enough, not light or dark enough, not shapely enough, not attractive enough, and on and on. She just couldn't be for me! So what if he or she doesn't look like Denzel Washington or Halle Berry!

He or she is going to treat you like the jewel that you are. Stand by your side when things are rough and respect you during those rough times and not judge you, but help uplift you.

Not only that, his or her heart and yours will commune in ways you never imagined possible! In order to heed that voice, we have to put on the back burner our own superficial thinking. Could it be that your inner desire is for a truly genuine person with a good heart? If you enjoy playing, stay on the playground. There are plenty of Playmates out there to occupy your time.

But don't spend too much time playing or you may play your life away. Eventually the playing loses it appeal and your heart begins to crave a deeper, more meaningful connection. Your heart begins to crave your Life mate.

*The original article was titled Playmate vs. Soul mate. I changed it to Playmate vs. Life mate because I firmly believe that the only soul mate we can have is God.

Twice the Fun! (5)

Friday, March 21, 2003:

Flush with the results of my newfound “popularity” I decided that if they loved me on BP why not try Blackvoices (BV) as well? One site great fun, two sites twice the fun! I uploaded my jean and sweatshirt photo (the cause of my new found popularity) copied and pasted the content of my BP page (including the business Ad) right into BV.

As I waited for my picture to upload, I reflected on the budding friendship with ShutterTwo as a result of my hello. We emailed each other back and forth on BP and through our communication; I’d learned a bit more about how BP operates.

After clearly defining the friendship parameters, it seemed as though we both felt comfortable enough to keep it real.

I asked him about his experiences on BP and heard about his stalker babe, who obviously hadn’t checked the stalker handbook beforehand. She was caught in plain view hanging outside his apartment. He also warned me about the perverts and deviants (a bit late, I’d already seen a sausage on cam, which had traumatized me for a whole week, and made me think twice about this online dating business, but that’s another story).

When I expressed my disappointment at the brevity of responses I received, after the promising and only note I’d received from Tenrag. (No I didn’t tell him his name! That’s just between you and me). Pickings had been slim. That’s when he mentioned that my Driver License photo, which I’d thought looked pretty decent, looked like a mug shot.

He also suggested that I substitute the jean clad photo I had at the bottom of the page, for that picture. Since he is a male and I’m trying to attract, a male. I took his advice. Good thing I did, too!

Finished loading the pic, I minimized the window and began updating my website. This took about four hours and during that time frame I clicked the BV window to check for notes—nothing. What--they don’t like me over here? No matter I’ll just log onto BP where they LOVE me!

To be continued…

Just joining us? Here's what you've missed so far: Synopsis, (1), (2), (3) and (4)

The LuLu Blooker Award

I know I've just been full of changes and news and no posts lately, but this is the last one...I promise.

I've entered this blog into The Lulu Blooker Prize 2006. The Lulu Blooker Prize is the world's first literary prize devoted to "blooks": books based on blogs or websites.

Awarded in three categories:
Fiction • Non-Fiction • Comics



What, exactly, is a blook?
A blook is a book with content that was developed in a significant way from material originally presented on a blog, web-comic or other website. This material includes the website's characters, themes, ideas or outline that ends up getting published as a printed book.

The full dictionary definition of a blook is as follows:

blook n. blook. A printed and bound book, based on a blog (cf. web log) or website; a new stage in the life-cycle of content, if not a new category of content and a new dawn for the book itself. cf. The Lulu Blooker Prize, ("The Blooker"), a literary prize, founded 2005, for blooks. [der. Eng. book, a bound collection of sheets of paper; blog (abbrev. web log, an internet journal, diary or personal website)]

Why this blog and not one of my others? Well...I guess because you guys have consistently voted for this blog on BlogExplosion battle of the blogs and at 137 this is my highest ranking blog. It also seems to appeal to both men and women which is always a good thing in terms of a book.

So I need to get these posts organized into some kind of format and printed via Lulu.com and three copies mailed out by January 30th, 2006.

Doable...I think.

Here are blooks already submitted

Here are the rules.

Here's the FAQ

Here's the entry form

What are you waiting on? Join me!

More Changes - A New Host!

Well people, I've given myself an early Christmas gift.

As of December 8th, I moved all of my blogs and my marketing website on over to SiteGround.com.

Although a scary endeavor and fraught with thought of all I don't know about downloading and running nifty programs like Drupal, wordpress, Viper Guest Book, ZenCart and more, between their customer service and my buddy Eph2810 who was also doing the same thing, I made it through.

All in all, thus far it's been a fabulous gift, but don't just take my word for it, click the banner below to find out more for yourself!



Singing as she wanders away from the computer,

“So bring us some figgy pudding
so bring us some figgy pudding
so bring us some figgy PUD-DING!
And a cup of good cheer!”

Change is a Coming

Good Morning Folks,

Hope this post finds you well. Just a quick announcement to advise that I’ve changed subscription service from Bloglet to Feedblitz.

Not only does the Feedblitz poll more than once a day, (which gets your updates to you on a more timely fashion), but it also retains most of the formatting so that your feed doesn’t appear as one huge paragraph, (which I personally find off-putting).

It also doesn’t pull my drafts and send them out before I’ve completed my thoughts and edited my post (as it did to me on Friday past…arghhh).

Another difference is that Feedblitz’s email arrives with an attachment and would appear as follows:

FeedBlitz [FeedBlitz] There are 2 new posts in "I’m not getting older, I’m getting better…honest!"

If you have any problems receiving your updates, please do advise and have a blessed day!

Peace,
Dee

The Entrepreneurial Spirit Revisited

Okay people, as y’all know, I’m a former bookstore owner and as such…I’ve still got waaaay too many books lying around my apartment and storage room, just gathering dust. Looking at my bank statement and looking at the books, I decided that it made no sense to hold on to them. So welcome to my clearance sale.

Just to get the ball a-rolling, I’ve listed a mixture of old, new and in-between items at Amazon.com beginning at $0.20 up to $39.50 which will also be listed on a new blog I’m in the process of creating.

Why the blog and Amazon you ask? Well, I utilized Amazon for its quick uploading and wide customer base. Unfortunately, a cost goes with that ease of loading and wide customer base. $0.99 per item sold as well as a 15% commission on the sale price.

The way I see it, the blog will take longer to upload the items, but when all the work is said and done, it will be a better proposition from your point of view, because the prices of the items will be 15% lower.

Take a look around, if you see anything you like, email me or post a comment. Let’s see if we can help each other out. Oh and did I mention? Subscribers will receive an additional 10% discount.

Oh and since the books would have been making zilch on the shelves, I'll find it no hardship to donate my usual Tithe of 10% as well as an additional 10% for the Mission Fund.

Be sure to tell a friend...

Peace,
Dee