Write on the World has a whole new look!

If you come here often, you were probably in for a bit of a jolt when you stopped by today. I’m teaching a WordPress blogging class right now at my local community college, and I got a little jealous when I saw the fresh, clean templates my students were using as they built their blog sites yesterday. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but I finally decided it was time to update my blog site. It’s still a work in progress, but you have to start somewhere!

Creating WordPress blog posts in Microsoft Word

A sample picture that I attempted to add to this blog post in my Word blog post editor. It turned out that I could not even copy and paste the images from Word but had to double back and insert them from my WordPress editor.

I recently returned to blogging after a bit of a break and was surprised to find that my WordPress editor had changed in many ways that I so far do not appreciate. So this morning, I am doing a little experiment in creating blog posts using Microsoft Word. To start, I opened Word and clicked on: File –> New –> Blog Post. I am now typing this post directly into Word’s blog post editor and will test out the various functionalities to see if I like the way it publishes to my blog. (I also noticed that I have the option to open this document in Contribute, but that is an experiment for another day.)

Unfortunately, what I dislike most about the WordPress editor updates are related to how the editor interacts with my Zemanta plugin. Equally unfortunate is the fact that moving to Word will not fix this issue, as it does not appear that I can download a Zemanta Add-In for Microsoft Word. (If I am incorrect on this, would someone please inform me of how and where to obtain the Ad-In so I can get it? Please and thanks!) So, if I am going to be dependent on Zemanta for images and related content, I will likely have to add these by going into my WordPress editor and updating the post after I have published it. If you have found a way around this or know of a better way of doing this, please share in the comments below.

2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for Write on the World.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 13,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House,

Keeping tabs on my online activity

This picture has nothing to do with tabs. Zemanta suggested it. I thought it was pretty. There you go. | Coloreando en Amistad (Photo credit: PatWH)

Author Charlotte Rains Dixon recently ran a blog post in which she listed all of the tabs she had open on her internet browser. I thought it was interesting to see what all she has open for research and such, so I thought I would do a “my tabs” post of my own. So, these are the tabs I have open in my browser at this time:

• Gmail: self-explanatory, I think.
• The My Tabs blog post that inspired this post.
• Facebook: Always open. How about you?
• YakTale: A writing acquaintance mentioned it yesterday, and I’m deciding if I want to submit some of my short stories to the site since no literary journal will ever publish any of my short stories. Or would it be better to publish them myself, as eBooks?

Want to do me a favor?

Here’s a screen shot from the blog that is sponsoring the award. Go check it out!

Do you enjoy this writers blog? If so, do me a favor and go nominate my blog for the 2013 Top 10 Blogs for Writers contest. I need at least two nominations in order to be considered for the award and would greatly appreciate your input.

Thanks!

Mandy  🙂

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Where have I been all this time? –And- My thoughts on STUFF

My dad looks a little sleepy in this picture, but I look good, and he’s not online to see it and complain about it, so here ya go. I got my Master of Arts in English with a concentration in creative writing from Mount Mary College on May 18th, 2013.

Hello there. I’ve been MIA from my blog for some time now. I hope you all didn’t miss me too much. This may turn into a long, rambling post with little to no point. I hope you don’t mind.

So, where have I been? First of all, I made it to graduation and crossed the stage on May 18^th. I may now officially refer to myself as Mandy Webster, MS, MA. Wow, look at all those letters behind my name! I also got an A on my creative writing thesis (go me!) Graduation and all that goes with it is part of the reason why I’ve been largely absent from the blogosphere.

I was also wrapping up all seven of the courses I taught this semester (or quarter depending on which school I was teaching at.) Needless to say, after teaching seven courses and writing a thesis in one semester, my house was a bit of a wreck. Since graduation, I’ve been on a cleaning streak that has completely distracted me from all things academic.

What went down on Wednesday?

Image via Wikipedia

Seriously cheesy title today. Seriously. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. I won’t let it happen again.

Well, I’m not making any promises.

OK, “So, what did go down on Wednesday anyway?” you’re probably wondering. (Or maybe not, maybe I’ve already lost you.) I teach 2 courses on Wednesdays; Communication Technologies and Business Communication. And, I thought Comm Tech was fun yesterday. I mean, sure it could have gone a bit more smoothly, but this is the first time I’m teaching this course, and I still have a lot of kinks to work out.