Posts Tagged ‘writing’

Top 5 Articles You Should Read Right Now

Tuesday, January 8th, 2013

Bangs & a Bun

I’ve been reading a lot of great stuff on the net recently. Just when you think the internet has become nothing but cat videos and pictures of food, some excellent wordsmith pops up and restores your faith in the art of the written word. I love coming across articles that give me plenty of food for thought and I have revisited the following articles many times, drawing on their wisdom or just marveling at how well written they are. So, naturally, because I love you guys (group hug?), I thought I’d share the links here so you too can benefit from their greatness. You’re welcome.

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Posted in life | 5 Comments »

Five Things New Bloggers Should Know

Thursday, August 23rd, 2012

This coming November, this blog will be five years old. I didn’t know what it would become when I started it, but I knew I wanted it to be the driver behind a career shift for me. It has most definitely been that. I was very clueless to the ways of the blogging world five years ago and was figuring everything out as I went. On reflection, had I have known some bloggers at the time, some advice would’ve been useful. So if you’re just starting out blogging or are fairly new to the scene, here are some things I wish I’d known when I started:

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Posted in life | 21 Comments »

Christmas Cheer

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

It’s December 1st! That means I can finally start talking about Christmas! Woo hoo! Yes, you may very well be surprised to find that I love Christmas. Sure, I hate the music, but aside from that, I heart the Crimble season. I’m not so bothered about the gifts (though I do love the thrill of finding the perfect thing for the perfect person), it’s more about family, food, that warm and fuzzy feeling. Lights, decorations, how people are a bit nicer, all that good stuff.

Last year, I talked about how much I love writing letters and how I channeled that into sending Christmas cards to my blog and Twitter followers. And guess what? That’s right amigos! I’m gonna do the same thing this year! So, if you like Christmas and cards and receiving things in the mail, then email your name (and Twitter name if relevant) and address to bangs@bangsandabun.com and I’ll send you a card. Simples!

Last Christmas, I ended up sending about 50 cards to complete strangers and I loved it. I’m not having a big Christmas this year so it’ll bring me mucho joy to be able to spread good tidings and whatnot to others.

So, what are you waiting for? Send me your address already!

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Posted in life | 7 Comments »

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

I love to write. I love writing things down. Often, I have to write things down and then type them up – that’s just my process. But I thoroughly enjoy the feeling of putting pen to paper. I love nice stationary. I love how when I write in a notebook, the print shows through on the other side of the page and it feels all crispy. I love the smooth glide of a nice pen.

I used to love to write letters. My beloved grandmother, who passed on to go party in heaven in 2004, was my penpal. We wrote to each other all the time, mostly about complete nonsense, but it didn’t matter, because it was our nonsense. Her passing left a huge void in many ways, one of which, was not seeing envelopes with her handwriting on my doormat anymore.

Last week, one of my friends put her address in her Facebook status update and said ‘I await your Christmas cards.’ It all seemed a little jokey, but I asked her if that was her real address, because if so, I would totally be sending one. She said it was. That sparked an idea in me.

I sent out a message on Twitter saying if people like receiving mail, send me their address and I’ll send them a Christmas card. After a few replies asking if I was serious, slowly but surely, addresses started to trickle into my inbox. By the end of the day, I had 31 people to write Christmas cards to.

Of those 31, I have met only two of them in person. Like so many bloggers, so much of my life is online. And I’m fine with that. Over the past couple of years, as I moved all over the place, these complete strangers have become a part of my life. They read my blog, talk with me on Twitter, one even sent me a playlist she’d made to cheer me up when she knew I was going through a hard time. These people, though most of us have never met, are my friends.

I love receiving mail and I figured other people love that feeling too. In an age where birthday wishes are now posted on people’s Facebook walls, I want to go back to putting pen to paper. I want to spend time in gift shops picking out the right card for someone. Every now and then we have to unplug and go old school.

I hope that when these people receive the cards I sent, it makes them smile the way my grandmother’s letters did for me. If so, mission accomplished.

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Posted in life | 16 Comments »