Gratitude

I’ve found that anytime I begin anew that I am more productive, creative, fulfilled and successful if I begin from a place of gratitude.

The year two thousand twenty one is fresh, so there is no better time for me to put a new foot forward toward bettering myself. I hope to be a better husband, better friend, better real estate agent, better painter, better blogger and better person in the coming year.

So I choose to start with gratitude. Being that you are reading this on this here blog thingy called Fearsome Beard, why not begin with it.

You don’t need me to tell you that twenty twenty has been a dumpster fire of a year. However as all years go, there are milestones that happen. Yes bad shit happens but so does good.

Fearsome Beard passed the milestone of ninety thousand views for the first time in our 6 year history, 94,267 views from 28,724 visitors. Both of these numbers were all time highs. All time highs thanks to you my dear readers and also thanks to blogger buddy referrals.

Our number 1 referring blog was  I Should Be Laughing with 2,855 referrals, coming in at number two is Bosguy who sent us 2,319 referrals and to round out the top three we received 1,165 referrals from Riding On . Thank you to the three of you and all of the many other wonderful Blogger buddies I have who send readers my way by including Fearsome in their blogroll and linking back to this blog. Without the support of other bloggers over the years Fearsome Beard wouldn’t have become the important part of my life that it has. Appreciate all of you I do.

While we are on the blogger buddy gratitude train I simply must thank UrSpo over at  Spo Reflections as he introduced me to blogging and walked me through the process of registering with WordPress and right into my very first post. I cannot be grateful to blogger buddies without mentioning three special ones I met many years ago in the comments section of UrSpo’s blog who are  Anne Marie ,   Sassybear  &   Erik all who have been readers and supporters of Fearsome since our first week.

Most of all I want to thank you, each and every one of you who clicks, reads, follows, likes and comments right here on our blog. Fearsome and I are humbled. We hope that we at least bring a smile to at least one face per day. Each and every smile in the world makes this world a better place.

Fearsome and I love our journey that is our life and we are happy and most grateful that you are a part of it.

Blogiversary

Fearsome Beard’s blog started with this POST on June 1, 2014.

Thank you dear readers for 6 years, 3,444 posts, 337,950 views and 114,715 individual visitors. Thank you dear blogger friends for your inspiration and support. Thank you dear SPO for introducing me to WordPress and opening a new world to me.

Cheers to our future! The best is yet to come.

Sex dreams

What is a blogger to do when said blogger wakes up in the middle of a dream in which said blogger is having sex with another blogger that said blogger has actually met?

Any advice?

Blogger Buds

Fearsome & Spo

Sometimes we get the honor of spending time with our mentors. I had the honor of having dinner Friday evening with not only a mentor but a good friend.

After many years of reading and commenting on his blog, it was our dear UrSpo who encouraged me, and showed me how, to start my own blog.

Spo, I had a great time and look forward to our next meeting.

In the mean time my dear friend, safe travels on your way home today.

Smooooooch!

Blogger issues

Hello all!

I use WordPress.

Blogger eludes me.

I have a blogger account and used to be able to comment on Blogger Blogs. Along my blogging way I’ve been able to comment at times as myself on blogger and then sometimes not. Issues were occasional.

Now it seems I’m completely locked out of blogger. I can read the blogs but cannot comment. At least not as me. If you have blogger and allow anonymous comments I will identify myself in my anonymous comment. If you don’t allow anonymous comments please know I still read but am no longer allowed to comment on your blog at all.

Hopefully I’ll find resolve in the future, but for now it is what it is.

Hugs!

 

Challenge day 14

With today’s read I realize that some of this will need to be bit off in small doses. As I’ve confessed before I never made it past high school English. I also confessed that I was the teacher’s pet my senior year. If you are capable of reading between those lines I hope you understand that to be 11th grade. I think I squeaked a C out of that 11th grade English class.

Todays read pages 173-180, section 6 of the chapter On Writing.

“Description is what makes the reader a sensory participant in the story.” It’s important to remember that it’s not only ‘how to’ describe but of ‘how much to’. One can only learn by doing. Reading helps this skill.

Begin with a visualization. End by translation what you see to the page. The trick is finding the happy medium. It’s also important to know what to describe. Remember the writer’s main job is telling the story.

Description begins with the writer’s imagination and finishes with the reader’s.

A writer needs to be able to open all of his senses. A writer then needs to remember it’s all about the story.

Stephen then gives us an example of a description that is just enough to help the reader sense the scene to before getting to the story. It was at this point my lack of further English education slowed me down to realize I need only bite off what I can chew. He introduced me to the simile. In other words he mentioned it and I had enough wits to know I needed to stop and find out what one was.

Simile? Thank goodness for google. A simile is a figure of speech comparing two unlike things that is often introduced with like or as. Examples being ‘cheeks like roses’ or ‘expression as cold as ice’.

While reading up on similes I realized that they are similar to metaphors. Oh shit…time (at age 54) I finally found out what one of those is, so I google on. A metaphor is a direct comparison between two seemingly unrelated subjects. For example ‘all the world’s a stage’ or ‘drowning in money’.

Ok so what is the difference in a way this yearning mind can understand?

A simile compares two subjects, compares as to describe. Take ‘cheeks like roses’ which helps me to picture rosey, or pink, cheeks. It doesn’t make me actaullly picture roses in place of cheeks. The cheeks stay cheeks, just pink in color.

A metaphor equates two subjects. The example ‘all the world’s a stage’ helps me see the world’s as a stage. The two are equated and I can see one as the other. Or onto the other ‘drowning in money’ where money isn’t being described, but is equated with drowning in a way I can see the money actually swallowing or overtaking.

There I may not have these two down perfectly, but at least I may now grasp a basic understanding.

Oops!

Given all the life changes of recent, add in the travel plus that necessity called work and what happens? I forget important things. Important things like a blogiversary.

Yup. Fearsome Beard turned 4 years old on June 1, 2018 and I forgot.

Hopefully next year I’ll remember!