Porch Posts

Blog = Front Porch? What?

At a writers’ workshop in Lancaster, PA, on a recent windy April Saturday, the presenters offered that equation. Just as the front porch is the first place a visitor might sit and chat in my home, they said, my blog is the first place that a new visitor to my online house might get to know me.

I spent the first few minutes daydreaming about how I’d fix up my real front porch this spring—visions of petunia baskets and hibiscus dancing in my head. And then, I started listening to Lisa and Alison, and felt empowered to start my presence as a writer with this pretty easy step: a blog.

So welcome! And please visit again. I plan to talk about many things, my writing projects included, but as I talk, I’ll be inviting you into the other rooms of my house, to give you back story, to build a friendship with you, and to hear what you have to say about issues that matter to both of us. Being a grandma, writer, high school teacher (I love teens and pre-teens), community and church participator, earth lover, dog lover, eternal question-asker, and lover of bright colors, I have lots to put out there.

You will meet gifted people on my blog. Let’s start with the two women who presented in Lancaster: Lisa Bartelt and Alison McLennan. You can meet Lisa at: https://lmbartelt.wordpress.com/ and Alison at: http://alisonmclennan.com/ Both are women of faith who candidly share their struggles and write with grace. I thank them for sharing the image of front porch as blog. If you ask them, they might extend that metaphor for you, as they did for us writers, into house layout = parts of ourselves.

You can read my first published children's story by going to my home page, and on May 24, my second story goes live at alfiedog.com. Ya'll come back, now!