Categories
Contests

July GWP Days Two and Three

With thirteen more entries over the last two days, things are moving right along for the July Group Writing Project, and of course all our entries are of the highest quality! Today we have a wide range of thanks for everything from hugs to hair color. So read, comment and enjoy!

And don’t forget to submit your entries before Saturday!


I’m grateful to my mother for working so hard to establish family traditions. Everything from nightly dinner together and monthly dinner with our extended family to crafts throughout Christmas has not only given me wonderful memories but helped me to build a relationship with all of my family.

I know my mother did this deliberately (of course). I didn’t realize it, though, until I heard her talk about how hard she worked to establish these family traditions. We got to know each other, stay involved in one another’s lives and build relationships with my sisters that I know our friends envied. (Somehow, though, that relationship always seemed to manifest itself by quoting television commercials in unison, which is hardly enviable, but still.)

I suppose I don’t really need to thank my mother for this, since I’m sure she doesn’t feel underappreciated in this aspect of our lives—she’s already been able to reap rich benefits from our family’s traditions.

Thanks, mom. I’m looking forward to seeing you tomorrow! Or, as Cookie (Monster, not Brooke) would say: “Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha! Oh boy, oh boy!”

Don’t forget to submit your entries!

Categories
Contests

July GWP Day One

We’re off to a bit of a slow start for the July Group Writing Project as far as number of entries, but the caliber of entries is way up there! All of our wonderful entries today detail the complicated relationship they’ve had with their mothers at some point—and all of them found something to value from that relationship. Today’s entries:

Read and comment—these thoughtful entries deserve it! And don’t forget to submit your entries to the Group Writing Project on the theme of “Thanks, Mom.”


This is a rather random thing that I actually think about quite a bit, especially now that I’m a mother myself.

Thanks for making us eat our vegetables, Mom. No, really. We’ve all grown up to be pretty good about eating our veggies. Granted, I don’t know if we’d eat Brussels sprouts or eggplant, but my sisters and I have developed a love for cucumbers, green beans and broccoli.

Part of the reason I appreciate this so much is I now appreciate how tough it can be to get your kids to eat vegetables. Hayden actually eats almost anything with enough persuasion—the hard part is working them into your family’s diet. So I really admire my mom for always making sure we didn’t just have meat and potatoes (or spaghetti or any other meat/starch combination) on the table.

Thanks, Mom.

Don’t forget to submit your entry and spread the word!

Categories
Contests

July MamaBlogga Group Writing Project

This writing project has ended. Please view the full list of wonderful entries at the July GWP Finale, and subscribe to MamaBlogga to find out about the next group writing project!

After May’s Group Writing Project and June’s Group Writing Project were such a success, I’m excited to do it again. So, as promised, this week is the July MamaBlogga Group Writing Project!

The theme for the June Group Writing Project is “Thanks, Mom.” We’re writing about things that we’re grateful for that our mothers did for us. I’m hoping that these entries will be encouraging to one another as mothers as we struggle with doing things for our children that they just don’t seem grateful for, but feel free to go in any direction that appeals to you.

Even if you don’t choose to participate, please encourage others to participate—even non-mom bloggers can write on this topic! I’d love to get as many entries as possible because there are a lot of moms out there who deserve (and need!) to hear this gratitude.

  • Your post can take any form as long as it reflects this theme—this includes anything from serious to sarcastic, addressed to your mother, a mother figure, your mother-in-law, etc.
  • You can participate with a blog post, a podcast, a video, a page on your website, etc., etc. If you don’t have a website, contact me and I’ll be happy to publish your entry here on MamaBlogga.
  • Only NEW posts (i.e., posts have not been published prior to 23 July 2007) are eligible. Posts must be submitted through the submission form before Saturday, 28 July 2007.

Why participate?
There are lots of reasons to participate! All entries that meet the guidelines will be listed and linked to here on MamaBlogga. This an opportunity for you to discover new blogs (and for others to discover yours!). Last week, I came up with five ways to get the most out of the GWP.

And, of course, there is one more incentive: one lucky post author, drawn at random, will receive a $30 gift certificate to Amazon.com (to be announced Monday, 30 July 2007).

Finally, we’d appreciate it if you linked to this post or to the guidelines/submission form on your entry post so that others can learn about the project and participate.

Now get writing!

Categories
MetaBlogging

Take advantage of MamaBlogga

What I’d really like for you to be able to take away from MamaBlogga is a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment in motherhood. But on a more superficial level, I can also help to improve your blogging skills—and give you some links, too.

What does it take to get link love from MamaBlogga? Not a lot, actually—and you don’t even have to e-mail me begging for a link. Once you’ve made 10 (approved) comments on MamaBlogga, the “nofollow” tag is removed from your name (and, I think, any links you put in your comments).

Naturally, we wouldn’t want that to be abused, but I do want you to be able to take full advantage of (“leverage,” if you like buzz words) this.

Make the most of your comments
Once you’ve made your 10 comments, every comment you make on MamaBlogga is a real link back to your post. And as long as you use the same e-mail address, you can change the URL you’re linking to—which is handy if you have a post on the same topic that you’d like to share. Some guidelines for doing this:

  1. Add value to the conversation. No, I’m not asking for you to link only to PhD level posts, but if this is an opportunity to get visitors to your site, do pick a good post that’s on the same or similar topic as the post you’re commenting on. And say something in your comment other than just dropping a link.
  2. Brand yourself. Put the name of your blog in the “name” box. You can put it along with your real name (I usually comment as “Jordan (MamaBlogga)”) if you want. This builds up recognition for your site.
  3. Please don’t stuff the “name” box with keywords. Thanks.

Make the most of other opportunities
Of course, the easier way to get a link from MamaBlogga would be to enter the Group Writing Project next week!

To take full advantage of the Group Writing Project:

  1. Think about your post title carefully. Is there a term you’d like to rank better in search engines for? Does it work in the title and text of your post? Use it!
  2. Republish the final list—you have my permission. This helps to spread the link love to all the participants. The more people that republish the list, the more links we all get!
  3. Barring that, link to your favorite entries. Again, spreading the link love often comes back to help you.
  4. Pass the word along. During the project, tell your blogging friends about it. Ask them to participate (or at least mention it on their blogs), and maybe republished the final list. (Plus, especially for July’s topic, I’d love to see lots of responses to this universal theme!)
  5. Comment like crazy. I’m still impressed by Karen of PediaScribe, who created a Google Alert about the MamaBlogga Group Writing Project and commented on many of the entries before I could! Comments can get people checking out your blog and eventually maybe even linking to you (as I mentioned earlier this week).

Hope to see your entries next week!

Categories
Contests

June Group Writing Project Extra

We had one late post submitted to the June Group Writing Project. So, the grand total of entries is now at 40. Hurray!

You know what to do!

For the full list of entries, see the June Group Writing Project Finale

Categories
Contests

June GWP Aftermath

Another announcement today: Hayden is 17 months old now!

The official part of the June Group Writing Project is over (good thing, too, since it’s July now). However, I’m still accepting late submissions.

A few people, like OpinionMom and MommyZabs, have started copying the final list of entries. If you want to do the same, please do! Spread the love. But be sure to attribute that list to MamaBlogga (that’s M-a-m-a-B-l-o-g-g-a. One word, no spaces. The first M and the B are capitalized. I am a bit of a spelling nazi). One quick way to do this is to visit that post, go to View>Source (or just hit CTRL+U if you’re in Firefox). Scroll down to the list, highlight from <ul> to </ul> and copy and paste. Voila!

Also, a question: would you like to know the GWP topic in advance? If so, how far in advance?

Finally, thanks again to everyone who participated! I hope to see you all next time around.