Transition of Thoughts

Weaving thoughts into words

Tag: Blogchatter

#AtoZChallenge 2021 – Theme Reveal

#AtoZChallenge 2021 - Theme Reveal

This is my 5th attempt at completing the A to Z Challenge. I managed to finish it last year and hope to do the same this year as well.

So what is the AtoZchallenge? 

This is a challenge where you blog daily during April except Sundays and each post is based on a particular theme and corresponds to the sequential letters of the alphabet.

So what is my theme?

This time I would go with Microfiction and Poetry. For those who know me or my writing, you would have realized that over the last couple of years I have moved my blog primarily towards writing a variety of short fiction and poetry.

This includes six word stories, ten word stories, 55 word stories, 100 word stories, 5 sentence stories, haikus, quadrilles and much more. And this is what I aim to continue for this challenge as well.

Looking forward to virtually meeting a variety of bloggers throughout this challenge.

AtoZChallenge 2016 (Topic: Microfiction) – https://transitionofthoughts.com/category/atozchallenge-2016/

AtoZChallenge 2017 (Topic: Travel) – https://transitionofthoughts.com/category/atozchallenge-2017/

AtoZChallenge 2018 (Topic: Photography) – https://transitionofthoughts.com/category/atozchallenge-2018/

AtoZChallenge 2020 (Topic: Microfiction) –
https://transitionofthoughts.com/category/atozchallenge-2020/

 

Photography: Creativity brings happiness

The last few months have been nothing short of a nightmare for millions across the planet first with the coronavirus and then with the ensuing effects on the economy, poverty and more.

Many of us have been extremely lucky and privileged to be able to pursue our interests and also do things which we kept delaying for a long time. And this has given me nothing but utmost happiness.

I have been blogging since 2009. But for the last few years, my blogging frequency had dipped quite dramatically due to a variety of factors including me just being plain lazy. But just as the pandemic struck, I began the April A to Z Blogging challenge which involved me blogging everyday in April except the Sundays. And since then I have just continued on and on.

Photography: Happiness

Some statistics – 279 out of my 1093 blog posts have been published since April 2020. My Alexa blog rank has jumped from 870,000 to about 80,000 odd. My subscribers have increased. The bounce rates are low and the time spent on my website at about 13 odd minutes is at an all time high.

Photography: Happiness

In this period, I also published my first solo e-book of short stories on Blogchatter – An online blogging platform which connects a variety of bloggers and writers. The dream to publish a book had always been there but I guess I just wasn’t taking the steps to make it a reality. My next goal is to get it up on the Amazon Kindle Store as soon as possible.

I guess the pandemic has taught me that anything is possible if one has the will power and determination to stay at it.

Linking to Lens-Artists Challenge #110: Creativity, A Photo A Week Challenge: Happiness

Book Review – Heroes of Kindness

Book Review - Heroes of Kindness

I have also wondered how so many of us are excited to read negative news time and time again. I guess it’s not because we want something bad to happen. But instead negativity seems to simply attract people more than positive acts. Positivity just seems par for the course. I knew that Dr Roshan had been writing about acts of kindness since quite a few years. And that’s why I wanted to download this book from the Blogchatter Library.

The blurb goes like this:

Imagine a newspaper filled only with positive stories. Have you ever seen one? Neither had the author Roshan, which is why he decided to create one himself. Heroes of Kindness showcases 50 acts of kindness and compassion by real-life individuals, acts that are guaranteed to bring a smile on your face and remind you that, perhaps, the world is not such a bad place after all.

The book has a simple title and cover page which goes well with the overall theme of what you are about to read. I like how Roshan mentions on the cover page “50 acts of kindness that will brighten your day”. It surely did brighten my evening.

These acts of kindness are from random people across the world from all walks of life such as doctors, shopkeepers, autorickshaw drivers and more. Each of them did something good without thinking of what they would get in return. With each story you smile or even cry happy tears in the end.

Read More

Dread: My first solo e-book of short stories

I have always been very observant about whatever happens around us. A lot of my short stories and other forms of micro fiction over the years have always been based on what I have seen and what I feel may happen. The ability of humans to survive all odds and come up trumps is what keeps me going.

Each of the five stories in this e-book is based on my thoughts and experiences of the way humans survive in difficult situations.

There are so many of us who work late at night, don’t we? Haven’t we ever felt nervous on what could happen? A safari sounds like an experience of a lifetime. But what if things go awry? If you are on the way home and suddenly run into a tragedy happening around you, how would you react? Do you just run away? We all wait for that perfect holiday with our family. But what if the perfect holiday turns into a perfect nightmare?

Read More

Journey to a self hosted blog

Blogging Journey to a self hosted blog

Blogging Journey

It’s been 7.5 years since I began blogging. When I started my journey, blogging was just about penning down my thoughts and feelings. It simply felt like an online diary where I could rant about anything and everything under the sun. It’s taken lot of hard yards on the road to a self hosted blog.

Slowly, I realized the importance of comments, shares, likes, having a social media presence and so on. It was all about making oneself heard. Blogging was no more a pastime among a select few which was the case in the early 2000s in India. It seemed as though almost everyone was rushing to open a blog. But then, more than 90% of them remained dormant after a few posts. In this clutter, one had to make an effort to be heard and seen.

Read More

3 blogs I am thankful for..

Thankful Thursday

Over my 7 years 0f blogging, I have more often than not realized the fact that blogging is not just an individual activity. While each of us writes on his or her own blog and the thoughts are personal, blogging communities and events play a strong role in helping build a community spirit. Why do we need a community spirit? Whether its exploring different writing prompts, learning the tricks of the trade from experienced bloggers, co-authoring books and articles and more, for bloggers the acronym BFF has become ‘Blogging Friends Forever’.

There are numerous blogs which I do take out time to read. Though I do admit that I am irregular in the sense that I may read many posts at one time and then would come back again only after a few months.

While it was difficult to narrow down my list from the numerous ones I read, here goes 3 (or I say 4) of them in no particular order.

Parul Thakur (http://www.happinessandfood.com)

Parul writes on a variety of topics which includes issues faced by women, travel and photography, gratitude lists, food posts and more.

I love the way she articulates her thoughts about any topic she writes. She has a lucid writing style and doesn’t hold back in calling a spade a spade. Her posts also reflect how observational and thoughtful she is. All in all her posts are a reader’s delight.

Read More

I want to take my blog to the next level #Blogchatter

Evolution of a young plant

Source: http://homescope.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Plant-Growing.jpg

I was tagged by Jaspal.

I think of my blog as a growing plant. For growing to the next level, a plant needs water, minerals and nutrients. In the same way, a blog needs dedication, commitment and time to get more views, comments and likes.

I now tag Kala.

I want to take my blog to the next level with Blogchatter

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén

%d bloggers like this: