I finally found the list of subscribers somewhere in the Stats page. By that time, I swear, I was about to have a stroke! It is not the fear of losing readers but losing friends…your comments keep me going.
You see, I am a work-from-home Instructional Designer by profession.
The job itself is lonely since I just keep looking at the documents trying to decide how to best design them for the maximum impact. And I am working from home, so my only connection to my colleagues is via once-a-week virtual call which often gets cancelled. I do have a joint family, but not everyone understands the rumble inside my brain! 🙂
Your messages keep me afloat. Since you all have a creative streak, it is like having our own Writer’s Club. You remind me that I am more than the work I do. I joke with you. I often reply to message not directed to me and it makes me smile.
So, losing all of you is not an option. I just realised that I don’t thank you all enough for standing by my side through all these years!
Not sure how it happened but somehow I have lost all my 500+ subscribers–well, at least I can’t see anyone of you on my list. It seems that WordPress has been busy as usual!
If you think my blog is worth it, could you please subscribe back? 🙂
Also, please forward the message in case some of my old followers are seeing your posts.
I recently had a minor wrist injury and due to lack of enough leave (1.5-2 months typically for minor ligament injury), I had to return to work from home. I could not move my wrist or type without wincing. Since typing was 60% of my job at that point in the project (I create trainings for adult learners), it was impossible to work.
My supervisor was sympathetic, so he helped me in the best possible way. He showed me the Dictate feature in MS Word. It is a small mic in the submenu.
You can just click it and begins speaking. It will type whatever you speak. Once you are done speaking, click the mic again and it will stop. It easily understands Indian accent, so I believe it works for others as well.
There is small downside, the typed material is not perfect. You will need to edit it, add punctuations, fix spellings. Also, it picks up all the close by voices, so it picked up my daughter as she told me about her day on the side. So, I had to delete that part. But it is still infinitely faster than typing every word.
Also, most smartphones provide the same feature on WordPress. If you open WordPress on phone (go online to your WordPress account or use the phone application), your typing pad will show a mic on the side. Just click it and speak. Click it again once you are done. The result is not as good as MS Word. The first two may be unrecognizable, but if you give it a few tries–go slower, emphasise your words correctly–you will be able to get a decent result on third or fourth try. It is just editing then.
Those of you who have followed me for some time must have noticed that lately, my posts are less and farther between than ever in the past. It’s not that I am out of juice…just out of energy. My househelp had to leave suddenly and I haven’t found a replacement.
I am not sure how many of you can truly understand the place of househelp in an Indian household. Losing one is akin to losing a hand and both legs.
If her husband is ill, an Indian woman will be concerned. If you tell her that her maid is unwell, she will be hysterical. She will cry her eyes out and blame her husband for all her misery while washing utensils in the kitchen or kneeding the dough, as if he’s the only one who eats. And while washing clothes, she will pray for her sons (even six-months old…or rather, especially six-months old) to grow up quickly and get married so that there will be someone to help in washing their clothes. If it is a daughter, she will try to help, keep getting in the way and falling over the spilled detergent, increasing the size of laundry. Then, the woman will wish that she would grow up and stop helping.
A house without househelp is a complete chaos. Mountain of utensils keeps toppling over. The mop gathers dust and clothes gather in piles all over the house–piles of washed clothes, piles of dirty clothes, piles of clothes okay to be worn again and so on. The family winds its way around these hillocks, trying to find space enough to place their feet.
Visitors are returned from the door on the pretext of COVID to avoid potential embarrassment due to the lack of space to sit, since all chairs are covered with clothes of varied level of privacy. Husbands might have to sleep in a sitting posture if the clothes on the bed are not dealt with, until a replacement is found.
With my househelp gone for a month, I am now looking for a spot big enough to sit so that we can sleep. If not, one of the hillocks will do…
Author’s note: I have always loved To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I never tried to dissect the love to understand why until recently. When I was reading it for the nth time, I realised…
The book sketches innumerable characters from a small town, I am not into documentaries and the entire thing should have been absolutely boring and I shouldn’t have been able to distinguish between characters. But I love it. The character sketch is woven into story and narrator’s interactions with them. It brings out not just the physical traits but the entire personality. Here are couple of excerpts.
“We lived on the main residential street in town—Atticus, Jem and I, plus Calpurnia our cook. Jem and I found our father satisfactory: he played with us, read to us, and treated us with courteous detachment.
Calpurnia was something else again. She was all angles and bones; she was nearsighted; she squinted; her hand was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard. She was always ordering me out of the kitchen, asking me why I couldn’t behave as well as Jem when she knew he was older, and calling me home when I wasn’t ready to come. Our battles were epic and one-sided. Calpurnia always won, mainly because Atticus always took her side. She had been with us ever since Jem was born, and I had felt her tyrannical presence as long as I could remember.”
“Dill was a curiosity. He wore blue linen shorts that buttoned to his shirt, his hair was snow white and stuck to his head like duckfluff; he was a year my senior but I towered over him. As he told us the old tale his blue eyes would lighten and darken; his laugh was sudden and happy; he habitually pulled at a cowlick in the center of his forehead.
When Dill reduced Dracula to dust, and Jem said the show sounded better than the book, I asked Dill where his father was: “You ain’t said anything about him.”
“I haven’t got one.”
“Is he dead?”
“No…”
“Then if he’s not dead you’ve got one, haven’t you?”
Dill blushed and Jem told me to hush, a sure sign that Dill had been studied and found acceptable.”
Also, the author was not in a hurry to give away everything at the beginning. It is almost half way through the book when you realise that Calpurnia is black and Dill’s character sketch waits until we are a couple of pages through with him.
In middle of all the confusion that encompasses my life, I missed a very important milestone: 400+ followers! Also, 14K views! Wow…there was a time when I had 3 views for one year…all my own.
Thank you, dear followers, for reminding me everyday that my blog is there for a reason: You! It is meant to show an upside down view of life, give voice to beings who often go unheard and spark a conversation. I had stopped giving political opinion last month because it hurt some very important people in my life but I still write about everything else under the sun, as long as it has the potential to stir a healthy conversation.
Sometimes, I do feel out of juice though until I see a photo, hear a story, read a word that makes my brain do somersaults until something spills out that is worth telling a story.
So, if you have a topic or a word around which you want me to weave a story, just leave it in the comments. The offer is open to anybody and anytime. You can throw the word in, in the comment box of any of my posts. I’ll pick up and see if I can weave something. It might take a few days…or weeks…months even, because my brain does its own calculation while I sleep, and churns out something almost perfect at unexpected moments, but it will surface, eventually.
So, give me inspiration, dear readers. I write for you.
Thank you again for following me. Keep posting comments whenever you feel like it, even if to just say, Hello!
Some where in the middle of my back injury and, later, neck injury and, office work, I missed a couple of very important milestones: 500 posts and 350+ WP followers. YEEEEEEEEE!
I can also boast of 12 K views and nearly 5600 visitors. Thank you!
Your love has humbled me. I wish I had ways to allow everyone to comment on my blog and not just WP followers. As I always say, Every comment matters. It shows me ways to improve. So, let me know if you don’t like something. I don’t mind an open discussion. I am ready to be converted to your ways of thinking as long as your point can buy me in.
Just let me know. Keep following, keep reading so I can continue writing for you. 😀
This is a basic publishing aid meant to help people create posts while using WP app on their phone. I am sure, most of you have already figured out the process, but in case you haven’t just follow these steps to publish the post.
(Note: The screenshots were taken randomly from two different sites I own over a period of three months. So, you may find some inconsistencies. Please bear with me.) 😁
Your main WP App main screen will look something like below. I have covered the logo, site name and WordPress address here since the site is not ready to go live yet.
1. Click Posts (highlighted in orange).
2. Click the red + sign to add a new post.
(The tabs on the top contain the following items:
Published: List of your published posts in order of Chronology
Drafts: Drafts that you haven’t published, including anything you wrote and forgot to save before closing the application
Scheduled: Drafts you have scheduled to post in the future
Binned: Posts/Drafts you have deleted)
3. Type the Title of the post (you can change it later, if needed), and add content. If you have a block editor, which is now the default editor in WP, every time you click enter, you will get a new block.
4. To add various items to the post, like heading, quotes, images, videos, space and separators, click the highlighted + sign at the bottom of the screen. Then, select one.
5. Once you believe that post is ready to be published, click the three dots at the top right, and select Post settings.
6. Select Categories. It is not mandatory, but it helps your audience later when you have, say 30+ posts. You can simply add some major category names to your top menu and the audience can find your posts easily by clicking them. You can add/change category even years after publishing, if (God forbid 😁) you feel like it.
7. Select the category.
If you are new, the page is probably blank, or does not have the required category. 😎 To add a new category:
Click the + sign at the top right.
Add a category name. Keep it generic, short and easy to understand.
If you wish to place them under one of your existing categories, click the down arrow next to Top level.
Select the parent category from the existing list.
Once you have selected the category, click the back button at the top left.
8. Select Tags.
9. Select the tag. If you need a news one, type a new tag. You can separate two tags with a comma. Do not add space. (Feel free to disregard the advice of your editor for a change, as I have. 😎)
Once done, click the back button at the top left.
10. To select the publishing time:
Click Publish.
Click Time and Date.
Either select Immediately; or select appropriate date, and click OK; then, select appropriate time, and click OK.
11. Click PUBLISH, and then, PUBLISH NOW.
Note: If at any point of time, you feel the need to stop writing and close the post, click the three dots on the top-right, and select Save. It will save your work on WP site online.
If you reopen the WP App and see Local changes message below a post, it is because you closed the application without saving it. Just open the post settings and click Save.
If you see the Version Conflict message below the draft/post, think of the last time you worked on the post.
If you worked via the mobile, click Remove Web Version.
If you worked directly on the website, click Remove Device Version.
After one year and three months of the rebirth of my blog, I can finally boast of worthy achievements. I am 400-Posts old. Most of them stories, in one way or other–love, hate, memories, nature, politics…things I stand up for.
And I can boast of 290 followers.
Well, in all honesty, I have 1 follower on Twitter (Thank you, Pete!), 38 on Facebook–family and friends who love me enough to support me even if I have an empty page, but still… And 246 on WordPress! Wow! I never thought so many people will deem me worthy. So, thank you! I hope I am living up to your expectations.
It have been trying to deliver a post a day. It is a difficult target considering I am considerably new at story writing and have a child who hasn’t started school yet. But I have crossed the one year mark and am still delivering, which means a lot to me. And you, my friend, are reading! Which means a lot more! Thank you for embarking on this quest with me.
I would like to remind you that I love sharing guest post. So, if you have something that you want to be read by my audience, please share with me and I will be happy to share. Please look at the guidelines to learn more.
As Instructional Designers, we design instructions. We create courses about how to do certain things, may be run a software, mobile phone, or a crane… To ensure that learners remember the said instructions, we make them easy, and at the same time, interesting and strong, and professional. Formatting words correctly plays an important role in the process.
Have you ever wondered why a certain line you wrote sounds different than you intend? Somehow it sounds, sharper and angrier? Why the person you sent an email to never saw the link you shared? Or why they are suddenly avoiding talking to you?
Have you been using CAPITAL letters a lot? Or may be boldfaced it with an underline?
Read through the lines below to see the effect of each formatting.
You may leave now and need not come back. (Statement of fact?)
…
You may leave now and need not come back. (Order?)
…
You may leave now and need not come back. (Order?)
…
You may leave now and need not come back. (Angry order?)
…
YOU MAY LEAVE NOW AND NEED NOT COME BACK. (Shouting?)
…
The same sentence sounds different in our mind when formatted differently. While you may be using different formatting to bring certain actions to people’s notice, they may read it as an angry order or shouting. When not meeting a person face to face, people find it difficult to interpret their mood. Make it easier for your audience to understand, by following the formatting rules.
Use boldface only to highlight certain words not the entire line.
Use underline to show it is a link.
Avoid boldface and underline at the same time.
Use ALL CAPITAL letters where you want to sound like shouting. (I’d prefer it to be happy shouting, like YEEEEEE! But I leave it up to you.)
To bring certain actions to notice, just add a boldface ‘Note’. e.g. “Note: Get this done on priority.”
Please note that ALL CAPITAL is considered both unprofessional and difficult to read. I avoid it all the time, only resorting to it when the shouting out loud emotion cannot be captured otherwise. Even then, I use it only for certain words for emphasis.
I hope it helps. Let me know if you disagree through comments.
This is an invitation to all blog writers. If you love to write, or live to write, or write to live, or write for a living, please be my guest. If you’d like to publish a post on my site, please send it to me on my email ID: shailygrwl@gmail.com
Working alone can get lonely sometimes. Be my partner in crime.
Some facts about my site:
Fish in the Trees complete one year this June. It gets around 550 views per month and has 220+ followers as of now. I post around 3-4 short stories, poetry and random thoughts per week.
To publish your post on my blog, please note that the post should be:
In English or Hindi, since these are the only languages I understand. If in another language, please add translation in Hindi or English.
In 1000 words or less, and/or one picture.
Rules:
The piece must be something you wrote.
It could be fresh or already published on your site or another.
I will not edit it except if there is a grammatical issue.
Do not share a graphic post. Using obscene/violent language or theme is a strict “No”.
You hold the copyright.
Modus Operandi:
Do not send a link to the post (if already published)
Fish in the Treesis my alter ego. It stands for my unique position as a true Gemini. (Ever saw that horoscope picture with two people looking in different directions? That’s me.) I have always been looking in two directions or more–trying to see both sides of the coin, skewing my perspective like a fish-eye lens. I have a traditional small-town upbringing, but am plagued with question-itis (the habit of asking pain-in-the-ass questions) and conform-o-phobia (the fear of conforming with status quo). My blog follows suit.
It makes both of us forever misfits, like a shellfish in the trees.
Fish in the trees only had five posts till mid-last year, all of which I deleted. On the night of 15th June last year, I decided to rebirth this site and moved in stuff from my earlier site Fly on the Wall (that no one read). Since then, I have written every week, twice a week, daily… Yup! I’m that crazy!
Now after one year, here are 10 posts that I am proud of…okay 18…It is rather difficult to pick your favourite child, and I have over 300.
It has been around eleven months since I started this blog. At 290 posts, it is a little less than a post a day. Most of these posts are accompanied with amazing free pictures from Unsplash.com.
What I never tell is that nearly half the times, the stories are photo-prompt.
A lot of times when I am struggling for an idea, I go and check the website, save some pictures with photographer credits. And let the idea stew…After, say a few seconds or may be a couple of months, I reopen the photo and bingo! I have a new story!
So, I wanted to thank Unsplash for the awe-inspiring and story-inspiring images. I would encourage all of you to use this website to make your site look even more amazing.
No payment is required.
Crediting the photographer is not required, but still I’d do that to encourage photographers.
You can download low resolution pictures from the download option to save site space.
Please note that I get no money from the site to advertise for them. But I can never thank them enough.
This is an invitation to all blog writers. If you love to write, or live to write, or write to live, or write for a living, please be my guest.
Working alone can get lonely sometimes.
I love company. Be my partner in crime.
My offer: My site gets 500+ views per month and a variety of readership from around 40+ countries, majorly from India, Australia, UK, Ireland, USA, Spain, Nigeria, Malta and Pakistan. The story with a link to your site is a chance to woo my 150+ followers to check and follow your site.
Challenge: Write an engaging post:
In English.
In around 100 words (10 lines) and/or one picture.
In one of the following genres: Poetry; Story; Memoir; Random thought.
Rules:
The final verdict on whether the post will be published on my site lies with me. I am not very picky but I share only what I enjoy.
The piece must be something you wrote.
It could be fresh or already published on your site or another.
I will not edit it.
Do not share a graphic post. Using obscene language or theme is a strict “No”.
I just wanted to celebrate a moment of small victories. Fish in the trees now has 150+ WordPress followers! 😁
Wooohoooooo!
I also crossed the mark of 250 stories a couple of weeks back. 😎 (My ‘poetry’ is simply ‘stories with rhytm’.)
To think that I had never written stories before, except for English language assignment, I would have considered this feat impossible 10 months back when I started this blog. 😊
It calls for a celebration. In the spirit of the worldwide lockdown, I am sharing food online (Vegetarian only). 😇
New Year just got better! I was just notified that this blog has received 1000 likes!
I had never dreamt of reaching this goal when I started off. I had just hoped that someone somewhere might read it someday.
The best part is that there is a small but steady stream of people who read it, which is beautiful in itself.
I have also found some great friends, on WordPress and outside because of this blog. We critique each other’s work, share daily tales. I thank Almighty for bringing it all to me.
100 followers on WordPress! What a wonderful New Year present! I want to thank all my WordPress followers. 🤗
Our current stats stand at 2700+ views, 1100+ visitors, 197 posts, 19000+ words (average 97 words per post), 918 Likes, and 280 Comments—all in 7 months! Which is AWESOME! I bow down to you, O Mighty Reader! 🙇♂️
Why having you around means so much? Because you are not following me out of the obligation of being family or friends. You genuinely liked my post and decided that I was worth your time. So, thank you! 🤗
Just so that you know, my only follower at home is my two-year-old daughter. 😋
I also want to thank anyone who chose to read my posts, even if they decided that they were not good enough to follow. You give me a reason to improve. Feel free to critique my writing on comments section. You can challenge or discuss the issues I raise through my stories. Let me know if you don’t agree, and we can agree to disagree. 😉
I love hearing from you! 🥰
Thank God it’s Friday, so I am celebrating tonight! Wish to join? 🥂 There is Pizza 🍕, Tacos 🌮, Noodles 🍜, and Donuts 🍩 on the menu (so that I can cover several continents in one go, just like my readership 😉).
I wanted to thank the team of Unsplash.com for the free images I have been using recently. They have turned the look of my posts around and I am forever grateful.
For all bloggers out there, please check out the site. It is free, effective and easy to use. Crediting is also not mandatory but helps show your appreciation for the wonderful photo artists out there.
Disclaimer: I am not getting anything for promoting this website except satisfaction.
Short Stories | Fish-eye Perspective 