bloggers – Page 4 – Sydney Aaliyah Michelle

My Weekly Update – A Story, An Attack & Accolades

Published on May 20, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah MichelleLeave a comment

I hope everyone had a great week. I sure did.

A Story

I wrote a little 500 word story for the Writer Wednesday Blog Hop and received some great feedback. It just warmed my heart to have people I respect compliment my writing. Makes me believe I might be doing something right. Two comments I wanted to share with you all because they are still making me smile:

“A fictional character has just stolen my heart.” – by the greatness that is Tameri Etherton

“Good voice.” – by Randy Lindsay

Thanks to you both for making my week.

I have something a little scary planned for next week.

An Attack

Ok. Not really an attack, but I did get into a two comment debate with the movie reviewer at Love Your Movies. He has a really great blog on movies and the movie industry. I really love the way he describes a movie from a personal perspective.

Apparently he did not agree with my opinions in my post on The Greatness of Peter Berg and Battleship The Movie. My word choice of “innovative” to describe Peter Berg as a director particular struck a cord with him. A few other points were exchanged as well. You can read for yourself, but I did stop the debate with the “Ok, I get it. I just don’t agree. You have your opinions. That is why you have your own blog,” statement. Whether he is still following me or not, I am not sure.

But, it did get me thinking. First, what about my blog site with its flowers, love of movie quotes and all around praise and support of my fellow writing and blogging community garnered in anyone the need to debate my opinions. Especially about a movie. I am not auditioning to take over for Richard Roeper.

Second, what is appropriate when commenting on someones blog. I’m not saying I don’t like a good debate. I am a former lawyer and love to argue and can articulate and debate the merits from both sides with the best of them. But, there is also a time and place.

Finally, is there a point when you go to far. I could have come back with a scene by scene comparison of the differences between Friday Night Lights and Varsity Blue (I might still do that in a future post. Good idea.), but what purpose would it have served. Or, is it my duty to defend my point to the end of time. That isn’t really the point of why I do this.

What I have concluded is that I will welcome any and all criticism, comments and suggestions. I would prefer the criticism be about something I am trying to actually get better at, namely my writing.

I will answer any and all comments and try to stay as positive and polite as I can. After all, the tag line of my site is Happiness, Passion, Love & Faith.

Love and light to you all, dammit!

And Accolades

Thank you to my new followers. I am so happy that you have joined the scene:

Cinema Wolf – Great movie review by Colin Carman
Little Grey Box – Musing from an Australian living in London
Ink and Paper – writing advice from Kara Skinner
Horror Writer DKW – Author site for Dalton L. Fluker

-I also had a few new follower by email and some that don’t have websites. Thanks to you all as well.

Blog Love

See the full Blog Love list on Twitter!

The Weeks Schedule

Monday – Kreativ Blogger Award Duties and Tag Your It – this is a new one.

Tuesday – Movie Quotes

Wednesday – Writer Wednesday Blog Hop

Friday – Random Blog Post

Sunday – My Weekly Update

My First Blog Award – The Versatile Blogger

Published on May 8, 2012May 22, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle13 Comments

That’s me. I am so excited. This just made my month and I want to thank karensdifferentcorners.wordpress.com for the honor.

This award came at the right time. I was feeling a bit torn between doing this, which I love and doing what I am paid to do. I could be happy just writing and blogging and all that entails. But then again, I have to eat, too. Receiving this award just reinforced my decision to try harder to find the balance between the two. Or, I could win the lottery or marry a rich man that’s an option, too. With that out of the way, it is time for me to fulfill my duties as a “The Versatile Blogger” award winner.

The 15 coolest blogs:

7 things you probably don’t know about me:

I have a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, but I don’t practice law. I just can’t sit in a room for 12 hours a day looking at documents unless I actually wrote them.
My favorite city in the world is London. It is the first foreign country I ever went to and 16 countries later, it is still my favorite.
I ran the Hong Kong 1/2 Marathon in 3 hours, 58 minutes and I really hate to run. But, I did finish the 1/2 marathon and crossed the finish line at the same time as the winner of the full marathon. He did start two hour after me and ran twice as far, but we finished at the same time. That’s how I like to tell the story.
I have recently decided after seeing The Avengers that the character of Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey, Jr. is in my top 5 favorite characters of all time. Other four: Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean), Hans Solo (Star Wars), William Thacker (Notting Hill), Maggie (the Cat) Pollitt (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)
I have a secret crush on Chef Michael Voltaggio, Luke Wessman (tattoo artist), Robert Downey, Jr., Ryan Gosling, and Troy Aikman. Not so much a secret anymore.
If I could live at home for a month and then in a new country for a month and alternate that for the rest of my live, I would be in bliss.
I really want to compete on So You Think You Can Dance. I am not a professional dancer, nor do I have any desire to be. I just think it would be so fun to be on that show.

Just a few more things you might already know:

I live in China
I love to sing, but can’t carry a tune
I don’t ever want to be famous
I love to travel
I love my family
I have the words Love, Happiness, Passion & Faith tattooed on my wrist to remind me how to live my life.

Sign Me Up for The Next One

Published on May 7, 2012May 7, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle18 Comments

AOL 4881 — This is how I felt after completing the challenge.

I really enjoyed the A to Z Challenge. It was the first writing challenge of any kind that I participated in and it taught me a lot about myself and how I write.

Top 5 things I learned from doing the challenge:

I learned that I must have some sort of emotional reaction to what I am writing about in order to write it well. I can love it or hate it. Something. Anything. When I take the emotion out of it, it just isn’t as good. Probably why I hated writing term papers in school. My theme was on Australia. I adhered to this theme for the most part. I had a couple of deviations because I wasn’t feeling the topic I previously picked and a couple that were a bit of a stretch from the theme, but for the most part, I adhered to the theme throughout.
I learned how to use the features of WordPress better. The schedule a post feature was a big help. I was able to schedule a couple of posts ahead of time when I knew I would be busy or when I was traveling.
I learned that there was I lot I could learn from other bloggers. I visited about 500 different sites during the challenge and was able to see what I liked on others people’s blogs and what I didn’t like. From how a blog looked, to what the post looked like and how the photos were used, I paid attention on what blogs made me want to stay or come back and which ones made me click the next button. I go a lot of great examples of what I liked and few examples of what I didn’t like.
I learned that I enjoy being a part of the A to Z challenge group. Writing can be a pretty isolating endeavor. It is nice to be a part of like-minded individuals with a single goal in mind. Not like a cult, more like a play group.
I learned that finishing the challenge was a motivation for me. Finishing anything motivates me. I have much more confidence about my writing now and I actually am pretty funny;)

I am excited about the next challenge and will definitely participate in the A to Z challenge again next time.

See my other A to Z Challenge posts, here.