Communati.com

I can feel an addiction beginning. It started slowly. I signed up for Communati. Then I left the page open permanently in Firefox (with so many tabs to choose from, what’s one more?).

Then I found myself doing something I hadn’t done in a year. I kept going to recent posts and recent comments to see what was new and to check if any of my old friends had shown up.

Now I am blogging when I should be working. I remember this well, and I know it will work itself out eventually. In the meantime, I’m going to try to make sure my newfound blogging addiction doesn’t get me fired. And of course, I’ll be spending plenty of time on this site.

SHH

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I have come across a blog entry elsewhere that has a good list of resources in the form of academic courses and lectures available via podcast. Even if you are not yet a regular user of podcasts, I think you will find the instructions there easy enough to follow.

I have subscribed to several of the lectures. I tried to subscribe to 2-3 others that were no longer available. I am pleased to have managed to get those I did subscribe to, so I will be satisfied with that for now.

On another note, I have been maintaining another blog called poetically challenged at blog.com. From time to time, I try to post opportunities for publication there. Most are poetry-related, though some are also looking for nonfiction or short stories. All are a more literary bent. Often, I try to post notice of upcoming contests. I am sorry to say that I do not update it as consistently as I should, but I will try to be better about it in the future.

Hope those prove to be some useful resources for someone.

Visit firstwriter.com for some more resources

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When I was a little guy, my mom would have some sort of snack for me when I got home from school. She baked cookies or cakes or brownies. She liked to make pudding, even in the days before instant pudding was available. And it was one of my favorites. Sometimes we had butterscotch, sometimes vanilla, sometimes tapioca, but my favorite was chocolate.

One day when I got home, Mom was her bedroom changing my baby brother’s diaper. But that was okay, because there was a bowl of chocolate pudding on the table in the dining room. I put my lunch box down and took a big spoonful. That is when I discovered that there was actually strained spinach baby food in the bowl! I spewed it out, literally. The yellow wall in front of me was splattered with the yucky concoction! I had a time that afternoon cleaning that yellow wall. But I learned not to take a bite of something till I knew for sure what it was!

Sometimes wishes come true.

When Gracepub introduced me to WritingUp.com in 2005, I was amazed. She told me about how great the community was and if I wanted to get the word out on my media projects, WU was the place to go. I have to admit—I procrastinated getting there, but once there I could only think–Gracepub was absolutely right. (Gracepub, wipe that smirk off your face!)

The sense of community, camraderie, and genuine friendship shared by WU writers was incredible. It was like friends who had grown up together since they were little kids. I don’t need to tell you that. You know what I am talking about. And the intellectual exchanges between authors was astounding. Comment threads ran like marathons. I remember thinking, “Wow, I wish I had thought of something like this.”

I was absorbed reading blogs when I should have been writing them, but I couldn’t help myself. With almost every click, I found another blog that filled my mind with all sorts of possibilities, and enthusiastic entertainment. I looked at other blog communities, the Big Guys and well, they just weren’t like this one.

Recently, I tried to log in at WU. At first, I thought my browser had crashed or maybe my ISP went wonky because I couldn’t log in. Having recently made the dramatic move from the PC to a Mac, I thought that might be the core of the problem. I gave it a rest for a while, turning my attention to completing a deal for providing internet content to GoFish.com and coordinating the launch with them.

Weeks passed and I tried WU again. Gracepub filled me in with what she knew about the WU situation. Turned out my Mac was okay after all.

WU wasn’t.

So, an opportunity presented itself, and on May 27, 2007, Communati.com was born. (Let me state here for the “official record” that henceforth Memorial Day weekend 2007 shall be remembered as Communati.com’s birthday, and will be celebrated annually on this weekend.) ::fanfare music::

Wishes do indeed come true.

Good morning! Thanks to WordVixen for pointing me in the direction of this site. I was just thinking the other day that I was suffering WU withdrawals, and then I find this place. Man, it’s good to see you guys!

Hi Everyone,

Jason Parker (aka writeway at Writingup) was inspired by my health articles on writeniche, where I got a lot of attention from writing diet tips and health articles so he recently started a new community forum called
hotdiets.net.

It’s a new community that looks like it is a great place to share information. I’m helping him with the site launch so am just giving the site a plug here.

Anyone who would like to stop in and contribute to the conversation would be more than welcome.

Cheers,
Dana
Hot Diets

Yesterday I was so excited to sign up here at Communati. I was thrilled to see so many familiar faces, even under different names! I went around reading and commenting on many of the new blogs I’d read. I loved seeing them all.

Today, as I perused back through, I realized that none of my comments had shown up from my blog rounds yesterday….I wondered why. Until I commented on one today. Today I actually took the time to look at what I was doing instead of racing round and round to each blog I wanted to visit. Ah, I saw the problem.

First, type in the comment, then PREVIEW it, then hit submit!! ok, ok, I can read, but I guess in all my excitement yesterday, I just previewed all my comments and never actually submitted a one!

So, I’ve enjoyed all of you folks new blogs and the posts you have added so far. I am not going back to re-do all my comments on those posts, but I’ll start paying better attention and commenting on things from here on out.

Great to see everyone here!!

**another learning experience–I just found out that a TAG is required to submit a post entry**

I am new to this site but can see many cyber friends here. I have been absent from the scene awhile just to let you all know - I have posted this on my other blogs.

My eldest son has had mental health problems for the last eight years - mainly because his heart was broken after a messy divorce and problems gaining regular access to his children.

Two weeks ago he went missing and after a couple of days the police turned up to say they had found some articles of clothing along with some papers on the river bank. The currents in the River Derwent near us are tough to say the least. We lived in hope for a week.

Last Saturday they recovered my son from the river and I had to go and identify him on Sunday. I am still hoping to wake up from the nightmare. There has to be a full inquest with toxicology reports etc. They will issue a temporary certificate next week so that we can lay him to rest. He was thirty nine years old. His brothers, sisters and children are devastated. I can’t begin to explain my own feelings only to say that no mother should ever have to bury her child. I ask for all your prayers.

suejeff

Sometimes they come, sometimes they go
Sometimes it’s fast, sometimes it’s slow
Sometimes I feel I’m in my power
Sometimes I tell myself I’m in control…
I think I’m in control.

When I reach my very bottom I’m such an empty soul.

I look around, I see the signs
I tell myself that I’ll be fine
If I close my eyes maybe it will change
If I close my eyes maybe I will walk the line…
I never walk the line.

When I reach my very bottom it’s such a lonely time.

Time it comes and time it goes
Rivers run and rivers flow
So many things I’ve yet to learn
So many things I’ve yet to know…
Think I’ll head on down the road.

And when I reach my very bottom, it’s oh so cold.
And when I reach my very bottom, it’s oh so cold.

deorre

This is almost creepy similar. But the first thing I checked to see if I like Communati or not was can I highlight without having to move my mouse two lines higher than the text?. I realize that everyone had many of the same pet peeves about good ole WU- but mine was different. I couldn’t highlight to copy without “highlighting” several lines above what I wanted. Very irritating when I wanted to visit a website that was in text rather than a link.

Happy day, I can highlight! I’m sold!

Anyway, since the mass exodus I’ve begun blogging quite a bit. Hopefully that means that I’ll be able to participate in the discussions here a bit more as well. I don’t think that I’ll be abandoning my other blogs any time soon, and I don’t often post duplicate content, but the lure of an easy-to-use-blog combined with a webmaster who’ll actually pay attention is too much to pass up. Add in many old friends and mentors and you’ve got a good thing going.

Thanks!