A Strange New Day for Me.....

I started out by BLOGGING here. No one could have ever convinced me I'd BLOG anything anywhere, but here I am.

Then I became a Squidlet over on SQUIDOO. No one could have ever convinced me I'd be making SQUIDOO lenses, but at latest count I've made ten.

Hmmmm. Then someone invited me to join FACEBOOK. I thought no way, no how, but now I'm on Facebook gathering friends and joining groups.

I said in a previous blog post that I don't TWITTER. Never say never cause now I'm a TWEEP on TWITTER.

Slowly and gradually, people I like have been dragging me kicking and screaming into the 21st century. You can hunt me up on FACEBOOK or TWITTER if the mood strikes. And I'd really be thrilled if you'd leave comments in the guestbooks on my lenses on SQUIDOO. I'm not a very accomplished lensmaster but my heart is in each Squidoo lens I make. The topics vary:

• http://www.squidoo.com/economylessons is about my grandparents and their life as documented in My Name is Esther Clara.
• http://www.squidoo.com/beckslovelessons is written from Beck's point of view. Beck is the main character in The Alley of Wishes.
• http://www.squidoo.com/friendsoftheheart is a testament to my long time friends. (This one is mentioned above as part of a contest to commemorate International Friendship Month.)
• http://www.squidoo.com/laurelspersonal-philosophy is just what the title implies.
• http://www.squidoo.com/kentuckymountains features photos and prose about the years I lived in the Kentucky mountains.
• http://www.squidoo.com/litbits tells about my writing experience from first book to last.
• http://www.squidoo.com/homelessinamerica features personal experience with and concerns about the homeless population.

OK enough of blowing my own horn. I'm not sure if blogging, squidooing, facebooking, and twittering has helped enhance my reputation as a person or a writer, but they've been interesting and new experiences.

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP MONTH

I decided to join the International Friendship Month contest sponsored by Gypsy Owl over on Squidoo. I thought this was a wonderful way to memorialize my friends. My friends are a blessing, every single one of them whether new friends or old. The main problem was whittling down the list. I have long time friends and computer friends, writer friends and relatives who are friends. For the purpose of this contest, I decided to focus on long time friends.

Anyone not registered with a username and password on Squidoo won't be able to vote for me in the contest. But you can go to my page and leave a message if you want to. No pressure. :)) You can find my friendship page at the following link:

http://www.squidoo.com/friendsoftheheart.

Gypsy Owl is a kindly and helpful Giant Squid over on Squidoo. Giant Squids have 50 or more lenses (pages). This is a designation I'll never reach. I'm happy being what I call a Squidlet, making lenses about the people, places, and things that bring joy and meaning to my life. The friendship contest lens can be found at the following link:

http://www.squidoo.com/Lens-Contest. You'll find some interesting and heartwarming lens links there.

With all the bad, awful, unbelievable news we see around us, heartwarming and kind lenses in this contest are a welcome change.