I started blogging for the same reason that many people do, to write down my own thoughts, share my experiences, and express my opinions. In other words, it was all about ME. I had no idea what blogging would teach me! I’m a people person, so I fell in love quickly with this wonderful new online world of creative, intelligent, and thoughtful writers and photographers. It turns out that the United States is NOT the center of the universe, as we here in the USA like to believe, at least we baby boomers. Blogging has introduced me to people from all over the world who share the same desire to connect with other humans using poems, essays, short and long stories, sometimes very personal, some humorous and light, some carefully researched articles, others a few sentences, some with their own photographs and even amazing artwork. They are trying hard to leave their unique mark on history. Every day I open my computer with expectant curiosity to see what new treasures people will share!

This is what the Reader view looks like. It shows a list of all the blogs that I follow, plus other options such as Discover and Search. You can also follow Tags of your favorite topics so that articles with that Tag in the blog description will be shown in your reader list. Sometimes you can read the whole blog right in the reader and sometimes you must click on it to read it, but then you can click the back arrow to go back to reader for the next blog. If you want to write your own blog, that will also be available from this page.  WordPress offers a totally FREE blog option and other paid options with various features. I’m currently using the Premium plan which is approximately $100 per year and has a few features that the Free option doesn’t. If you want to sign up, please use my link.

Here are just a few of the blogs I read almost daily, in random order. Explore and find your favorites!

Waking up on the Wrong Side of 50

The Word

New Hope for Dry Bones

Chelsea Ann Owens

Mark Bialczak

#Millenniallifecrisis

Fractured Faith Blog

Nowhere Tribune

Becoming His Tapestry

Dale Greene Arts

Wandering with a purpose

The Bipolar Writer Collaborative

A few things I’ve learned in my 18 months of regular blogging:

1. I don’t have to agree with everything someone says to enjoy their writing and discussion.
2. There are Christians all over the world, even in Europe and Asia and Austin! I find this very encouraging.
3. Anxiety and depression is a HUGE issue, especially in the U.S. And people are not getting the help they need.
4. Writing is easy, but writing WELL is not. Reading other blogs has shown me that my own writing has a lot of room for improvement.
5. Men and women both have a full spectrum of personality traits and emotional expressions. In other words, they defy the stereotypes.
6. Blogging is much more polite than other types of social media.
7. Many people are working towards their dream of being a published author.
8. While people express themselves differently through their unique personalities, everyone shares the common desires to be heard, respected, and loved.
9. Everyone worries about something, but not all people worry about the same things.
10. People are people wherever they live.

In short, blogging can help you travel the world and meet people and hear different viewpoints and see amazing photographs that you might not see anywhere else online. Facebook , Instagram and Twitter have their uses. But WordPress is for people who like to read and write and communicate through pictures. I also think WordPress is for smart people, but I don’t want to sound conceited. 😉 So , if that sounds like you, I hope you’ll put your Facebook scrolling on hold and spend some quality time getting to know the wonderful world of blogs!