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December is a month of celebrations and a chance for the co-authors to take a brief blogging break as we turn our focus to our families during the rest of December. The rest and reflection always helps us start the new year with a renewed sense of passion and purpose.

A class hub can make all the difference for digital writing and learning!

A fire tore through the home of one of our co-authors last night. It is my hope you will be able to help her and her family out as they cope with this tragic event.

One way to become a community of writers is to leave thoughtful feedback.

My time at the New York State English Council (NYSEC) Conference through snapshots!

हिंदी ब्लॉग लेखन पर कुछ टिप्स जहां नेट की दुनिया में , सोशल मीडिया में फेसबुक, गूगल प्लस, ट्विटर छाया हुआ है वहीं blog  और blogging के लिए हिंदी ब्लॉग टिप्स की जरुरत पडती रहती है. लोग ब्लॉग को न सिर्फ मनोरंजन या कमाई  के लिए लिखते हैं बल्कि ये करियर भी बनता जा रहा […]

The post हिंदी ब्लॉग टिप्स appeared first on Monica Gupta.

Today is Labor Day so it feels like an appropriate time to temporarily sign-off since I'm expecting my second child later this month.

How can we nurture our own writing lives once the school year begins? 5 ways to help us keep writing.

When I think about what I first want my students to know, what matters most to me as a teacher of writing, more than capital letters or topic sentences or punctuation, I want them to believe they have ideas worth sharing and stories worth telling. I want them to know their voice matters and their words can make a difference. I want them to believe they are writers, right now, whatever their reading proficiency, whatever their language background, whatever their home circumstances. WE ARE WRITERS HERE. We all matter, we all belong, we all can and should write.

Digital tools can transform your teaching by allowing students to have a writing community beyond the classroom walls, be innovative, make meaningful connections to other writers and students, have more resources readily available, and have true, authentic reasons for writing.

We're delighted to welcome two new writers to our #TWTBlog Co-Author Team.

Some of the most influential pieces of writing that have tugged at my heart and live in my soul are blog posts. As we planned this blog series on mentor texts, a lightbulb flashed above my head: Why not create a collection of mentor blog posts to help me improve my own writing? Why not create a similar collection for my students, to share with them possibilities and craft moves they could try, too?

Some of the most influential pieces of writing that have tugged at my heart and live in my soul are blog posts. As we planned this blog series on mentor texts, a lightbulb flashed above my head: Why not create a collection of mentor blog posts to help me improve my own writing? Why not create a similar collection for my students, to share with them possibilities and craft moves they could try, too?

After nearly three years of being outstanding collaborators on Two Writing Teachers, Anna Gratz Cockerille and Tara Smith have decided to transition from co-authors to contributing writers. To find out why and what that means, please read their words in this post.

So you may have noticed... I stopped writing for a while.

Stories. Books. This blog.

I completely stopped writing everything except for day-job-related minutia and a few other important bits.*

When I started my writing journey during the summer of 2007--yes, almost nine years ago now--I had big dreams. I thought I would be able to conquer the world and find some kind of fame as an author. I was trying to escape some very sour realities at the time. The first year or so after my second son, Max, was born challenged me like nothing else had in life. If you need details, they're all here in the archives of this blog.

I had started writing with big dreams, and reality intervened. I played the agent game with my first book and garnered more rejections than I care to count. It wasn't a very good book and my query letters sucked, too. I started writing short fiction and found I had a taste for it. Goals evolved. Someday, maybe, I would qualify for a writers' group. I set my sights on the HWA and became an affiliate member.

And I wrote another book or two, played the agent game again and even came just a little closer.

What if I could become an active member of the HWA? It would only take three professional sales...

I published more stories than I should have, some of them mildly embarrassing in hindsight, but they are all my progeny, ugly or not. The rejections piled up, but so did my little black ribbons--those publications I chased and chased and finally caught. Some of them are defunct now, Nossa Morte, Necrotic Tissue... I finally made the pages of Shimmer. I sold my first two professional rate stories to Shock Totem and the HWA's Blood Lite II anthology.

And then my third son was born and my wife committed suicide. My writing sputtered to a stop. It's all here if you want to dig. It's all here to read and process--right in the archives of this blog.

But what you will not find is how I lost my writing way. Chasing publication in honored magazines and anthologies made me a better writer. I cared, once. My first wife's death didn't end my writing career. I did.

You see, once upon a time, there was a gold rush. Ebooks happened in a big way. Self-publishing happened. Money sang a siren song not unlike that which led a deluded young writer during my first year. I no longer wrote for the right reasons.

Here's a hint: it's not about money. It never has been, and if organizations like the HWA expect professional pay to be a gatekeeper in the active society, it isn't because that pay means more than the commitment to achieve that pay. Members should care that much about their craft. The writing--the stories--are everything.

I've written a little since then. I've dabbled. I published a few stories a year or so back and sold my third professional rate piece. I could be an active HWA member, but I'm not. I've always needed a goal in front of me, not behind. I need that distant shore, something to chase, something to make me better again.

And I found it. The stories are there. I just need to tell them, right.

My son asked if I still blogged. Here's your answer--and I don't even know if blogging is something one does anymore.




*you can ask Kim about the asterisk

Travel bloggers have different ideas on what they've done to set themselves apart--meet 14 travel bloggers who share their branding secrets. Travel writing and blogging is an enormous field--Google brings up 399,000,000 results for the term "travel blog" alone. Travel writers who try to cover it "all" end up with a little bit of content to suit a lot of people a little bit of the time. That translates into few regular readers.

The post 14 Travel Bloggers Share their Branding Secrets appeared first on Linda Aksomitis.

ब्लॉगिग की दुनिया और मिसेज सेठी टवीटर, गूगल प्लस, फेसबुक के बीच ब्लॉगिंग अपना अलग ही स्थान बनाती जा रही है और बहुत  महिलाए ब्लॉगिंग में आगे आ रही है..!! ब्लॉग बनवाने के सिलसिले में एक अपरिचित महिला ने सम्पर्क किया. महिला ने बताया उनका एक बेटा है. अभी वो कालिज में है और सारा […]

The post ब्लॉगिग की दुनिया और मिसेज सेठी appeared first on Monica Gupta.

Ranking of my blog in search Engine आज गूगल सर्च करते हुए मैने अपने ब्लॉग monicagupta.info पर किए गए Reviews  और Stat पढे.. !!!  ये भी पता लगा कि कितना alexa rank कितनी है और ट्रैफिक कितना और कहां कहां से आता है ….  

The post Ranking of my blog in search Engine appeared first on Monica Gupta.

What is Google Adsense गूगल एडसेन्स क्या है    जब भी हम कभी जब ब्लॉग या इंटरनेट से आय कैसे हो कि बात करते हैं तो सबसे पहले हमारे जहन में Adsense का नाम आता है क्योकि सब पूछते हैं Adsense तो होगा ही पर हमें पता नही कि आखिर ये Adsense होता क्या है […]

The post What is Google Adsense appeared first on Monica Gupta.

Your Attention Please Housewives Good News गृहणी,Home maker, House wife होना इतना Lucky होगा सोचा ना था … जी, आपने बिल्कुल सही पढा है.House wife होना इतना Lucky होगा सोचा ना था .. आमतौर पर हम यही सोचते हैं कि  House wife यानि एक ऐसी घरेलू महिला जो बिना मान सम्मान मिले पूरा दिन घर […]

The post Your Attention Please Housewives appeared first on Monica Gupta.

My Experience and Blogging ब्लॉग़ ने मेरे लेखन को नई दिशा दी …. खासतौर पर लेखकों के लिए ब्लॉग क्यों जरुरी है…. पहले समय में लोगों के पास घडी नही हुआ करती थी पर उनके पास समय ही समय था और…. आज…. घडी हर किसी के पास है पर समय नही … ऐसी busy लाईफ […]

The post My Experience and Blogging appeared first on Monica Gupta.

Benefits of Blogging Best Benefits of Blogging आमतौर पर हमें ब्लॉग़िग के बारे में ज्यादा जानकारी नही इसलिए हमे इसके फायदे भी नही पता पर जितना मैने देखा और पढा है अपने अनुभव के आधार पर आप से Benefits of Personal Blogging  शेयर कर रही हूं ब्लॉग़िंग़ के फायदे ब्लॉग़ बनाने के मैं आपको फायदे […]

The post Benefits of Blogging appeared first on Monica Gupta.

What is Blog and Blogging How to start a Blog ब्लॉग को लेकर हमारे मन में ढेर सारे प्रश्न हैं. मैं आपको, अपने ब्लॉग के जरिए सारी जानकारी विस्तार से देने का प्रयास करुंगी ताकि आप भी अपना शानदार ब्लॉग बनाए- अपनी पहचान बनाएं.  ब्लॉग क्या है ब्लॉग यानि ‘BLOG’  web + log बना है. […]

The post What is Blog and Blogging appeared first on Monica Gupta.

Way to Relax Mind आज की busy life में हम Relax होने के तरीके खोजते रहते हैं ताकि दिमाग किसी तरह से stress free हो जाए इसलिए How to relax our mind  या stress free life जैसे टाईटल ही खोजते रहतें हैं. आईए जाने कि आज के ई युग में  रिलेक्स कैसे हो रहे हैं. आज […]

The post Way to Relax Mind appeared first on Monica Gupta.

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