Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds.
February 3 question – Blogging is often more than just sharing stories. It’s often the start of special friendships and relationships. Have you made any friends through the blogosphere?
I absolutely have made friends through blogging. I may not have met these friends in person, but I look forward to seeing their names in my email box and sometimes in conversation at my own blog places. Some I also get to party with on other social media platforms! Others have sent me personal notes when they sense through my words a need for encouragement, or for check-in’s just like a good friend who hasn’t heard from you for awhile. Every blogging friend I categorize as a special friendship.
Have you made any friends through blogging?
The awesome co-hosts for the February 3 posting of the IWSG are Louise – Fundy Blue , Jennifer Lane, Mary Aalgaard, Patsy Collins at Womagwriter, and Nancy Gideon!
Exploring in Our Writing
Today I am also at Inscribe Writers writing about how our writing explorations may take us on unexpected trails.
My 12 year-old granddaughter was quick to strap on her snowshoes while I took longer, fumbling wrapping the rubber straps around my snow boots. A few steps over packed snow in the parking lot took us into deeper snow on a path scattered with lodgepole pines and spruce trees. Ahead opened up to the 22 kms of the frozen waters of Maligne Lake, the largest lake of the Canadian Rockies. We hoped the lake was frozen. It had been a mild winter thus far, but the lady who’d rented us our snowshoes said the 45 minute drive up the winding Maligne Lake Road was worth the time for the best conditions for snowshoeing in Jasper National Park.
As my granddaughter ran ahead onto the lake, her snow shoes leaving tracks in the deep snow, I wondered if Mary Schaffer would have explored this area on a similar winter weather day. It was during a gruelling summer back-country trip in 1908 when 47 year-old Schaffer, along with her Nakoda First Nations travel companions, found Maligne Lake. Most likely she was also the first white-woman to float upon Maligne Lake’s waters. She also surveyed the lake for the Geographical Board of Canada and now a hiking trail that loops the lake is named in her honour . As I sped up my steps to catch up with my granddaughter, my metal snowshoes light and my hands warm in my synthetic gloves, I wondered what drove Mary Schaffer to endure the thick forests, valleys and mountain passes full of treacherous trails, wildlife and biting bugs that summer?
What drives any of us to endure the hard to reach a goal?
Continue reading HERE
Oh, it looks refreshing but cold. I’m a Canadian living in Mexico. I haven’t seen or felt freezing snow since 2013. I still shiver when I think of how cold it is up there. Haha. After work today, I’m going to the beach! Very few people will be there. Happy IWSG day, Lynn!
Oh wow, Joylene! Where in Mexico? I know there are a lot of Canadians that do head to Mexico especially over the winter months.
Was she out there alone? That makes it even more amazing.
I know I found your blog well over ten years ago, maybe more. We’ve visited off and on ever since.
Yes, we did meet in those beginning days! You’ve been consistent while I’ve moved around a bit! Now I’m getting to know the IWSG. I’m so glad you stay connected, Diane. I hope one day to see you at a Comic Con or similar convention! She wasn’t alone but snowshoeing very fast!
Lynn, as for blogging friends, I count you among my group of friends. I enjoy our conversations and your wisdom (and your photographs!!). I’ve met some amazing people in the blogosphere that I would never have had the privilege to meet IRL.
Your thoughts about Mary Schaeffer and Maligne Lake are fascinating! 🙂
You are among my group of friends, Jeanne! You are part of the reason I keep on blogging! I also enjoy meeting some of your other blogging friends through your link-ups!
A lovely post, Lynn, about blogging and the one thing, more than any other, keeps me blogging… the friendships. When I started blogging, I never expected to be so rewarded for the efforts. And a sunny wintery scene with the granddaughter. How fun to be exploring together. I don’t wonder why Schaffer explored the area. It sounds beautiful. <3
The area is beautiful, and I am grateful to live only 4 hour drive away. Yes, I agree. Friendships keeps us blogging.
Nice to meet you Lynn. The truth of your words is that I see familiar names on your comments–Diana and Diane. This happens often, as though we’re all in a group, chatting. Love it.
I hadn’t though of it that way, Jacqui. In a group chatting…so true!
I assume you and your granddaughter didn’t fall into an unfrozen lake if you’re here to tell about it! I get a lot of encouragement from bloggers as well.
I’m curious about your description of “creative non-fiction”. What is that? Memoirs? More?
No, we definitely did not fall in! 🙂 We also stay closer to the edges. Creative non-fiction is like personal essay, however with more story-telling elements. You’ll see them often in literary journals or collections. I like writing them as then I can explore descriptive writing more than any other writing genres. But there isn’t that large of a readers market as proven by, too, that you were not sure what it was! But that’s okay!
Oh what a gorgeous photo of Maligne Lake, Lynn! I’ve only seen it in the summer. Thanks for sharing the information about Mary Schaffer. And, oh yes, I’ve made wonderful friends through blogging. Who knows where that drive comes from? Sometimes it just doggedly putting one foot in front of another. Other times it’s passion.
I love that photo. I’m so far from snow here in Brisbane.
I love the friends I’ve made through blogging 🙂
I guess you are far from snow, Lynda, especially as it is summer there, too. I hope to get to Australia and Brisbane one day!
I always did want to go snowshoeing and/or cross-country skiing. Unfortunately, I never got around to it when I was in better health, and it wouldn’t be wise for me to try it now.
Oh, how fun to share this adventure with your granddaughter, Lynn. Lovely photos! I love the encouragement you give us through Mary Schaeffer’s example of determination and perseverance. Love and blessings to you, my important online blogging friend!
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Lynn, I’m so grateful to have you in my life. Your words and photographs inspire, calm, and soothe, Every visit is a treat!
Bless you!