April Review and What’s Next

Now that April’s busy challenges are over and we’ve had a couple days to breathe and calm down, let’s take some time to reflect on the month as a whole, and celebrate all we accomplished.

This year I really appreciated the array of content, and readers’ comments in conversation with my content. Here are some of my favorites:
Favorite Sites I Visited:
Deborah Weber: “A Logophile’s Ludic musings”
Lightning Flash: Allison’s twisty-fun flash fiction inspired by Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary
Mainely Write: Donna Smith’s watercolors and poems
Silvia Writes: comparing writing and running
Tao Talk: Lisa’s tour of the plants in her yard

Where I learned something new:
Deborah Weber’s new to me word, “Labdanum” inspired me to search out a candle with labdanum which I found in this Happiness candle on Amazon. I ordered it, and it smells nice.

I had never heard of The Earl Grey Orphan Scheme, and found Jennifer Jones’s posts at Jones Family History very interesting.

Favorite comments on my site:
I loved the reactions to the Visuospatial Reasoning test:
“I’ve always been so bad at spatial reasoning and that type of tests. And volume too, as shown when I try to fit X amount of leftovers into a container better suited for Y, haha. But now I’m inspired to really test myself. I already do word puzzles and riddles for my brain, so why not train myself in this way, too? It certainly has practical applications!”

– Allison
https://lightningflashwriting.blogspot.com/

“I found this fascinating. I’ve never met a spatial reasoning test I didn’t fail spectacularly. But now I’m wondering if I’ve literally just accepted I’m unredeemably bad, and that perhaps I could actually make some improvement.” ~Deborah Weber https://deborah-weber.com/blog/

“Actually, I got in an argument over a test such as this. Spanning three days. I brought in actual blocks (the wooden kind toddlers get, with the letters on them) to prove my point. The look on the administrator’s face was awesome. Nothing came from it, mind you. But at least I know I was right and I could prove it.” ~ J Lenni Dorner (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZchallenge Blog of Author J Lenni Dorner

And Lisa from Tao Talk’s comment on Depth of Knowledge—
“I’m thinking of areas where I feel there is depth of knowledge, and in all cases, it has been the mind and the physical doing of a thing the integrates depth into one’s being. I don’t think it can be only a cerebral exercise.”
—resonated with me and motivated my organization of my posts into Mind, Body, and Soul in my Zenith post.
Post I wrote with the most looks and likes (readers’ favorite):
Most Views: Depth of Mary Oliver’s Poetry
Most Likes: Depth Through Mindfulness
Most Comments: Seeing Depth with X-rays

My favorite post I wrote: I really enjoyed writing most of my posts, but I think discovering The Topoi which led me to Excellence Cluster Topoi was my favorite. So Deep Questions would be my favorite post.

My favorite resources: I discovered so many great resources as I was exploring and learning. Here are some of my favorites that I will continue to reference as this year of depth continues.
Favorite websites:
Coursera course, Artful Practices for Well-being
Excellence Cluster Topoi
Matter Port: virtual tours of museums – this was a NaPoWriMo resource, I love 3-D virtual museum tours like these.
JSTOR: I get really excited when I find original source material on JSTOR like the original Deep Image poets’ journals.
Favorite books (all links are Amazon Assoc. links):
Of all the books I referenced in my posts, my old Merriam Webster’s Dictionary (Tenth Edition) is my absolute favorite. I love that book. Online dictionaries are convenient, but just not the same.
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Man and his symbols (1964) conceived and edited by Carl G. Jung
Books I bought inspired by my own posts(all links are Amazon Assoc. links):
The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
Fear by Thich Nhat Hanh
Unblock Your Creative Flow by Madhu Bazaz Wangu

Though it feels good to focus on all the good and fun favorites, we find depth in the comparison of the good with the bad, so here’s a look at the least favorites:

My post with the least views: Depth of the Noosphere
My post with the least likes: Depth of Knowledge, and Depth is Recondite tied
My post with the least comments: Depth is Recondite

The post I liked the least: Depth is Recondite

The post that was the hardest to write: Depth is Recondite

There were tons of great R words I could have chosen, but Recondite was one of depth’s definitions, so I went with it. However, other than being a new-to-me word, I really didn’t have much to say about it. I liked the quote I found, but as a post overall, I didn’t find a lot to say. I really like the room in the video, but that doesn’t add to the meaning of recondite and it’s relation to depth. With more time and effort, I think I could have done better with Recondite. Or maybe it is what it is.

This year I did things differently than I have in the past. I downloaded the A to Z participants list and methodically clicked on every site, making notes of which ones were really participating, what the content was, and when I commented. I think this led to a stronger feeling of community and less frustration.

Unlike previous years where my focus was more on poetry and National Poetry Month, this year I felt more connected to the A to Z aspect of my posts. Both the Napowrimo and PAD Challenge sites use Disqus for posting and I don’t enjoy it. I like going to people’s personal sites to comment and interact.

I had been contemplating changing Writober to Disqus or something like it, but instead, I’m going to create a sign-up form like A to Z’s so we can all know who’s participating and interact that way.

This morning as I reviewed and reflected I was reminded of an exercise I did for novel revision called a character web. I thought it would be fun to create a web of connection for my A to Z posts. Using the Mind, Body, and Soul categories I created in my Zenith post as color coding, I examined how I think the different aspects of depth I discussed from A to Z connect.

Wow was that an exercise in mindfulness. Staying with my content was like staying with the breath way past both feet falling asleep. I think and feel it was worth it. I discovered that almost every aspect of depth I wrote about connected with mind, body, and soul. The ones that didn’t inspired me to ask deep questions, I wouldn’t have thought to ask before.

Did any of my posts inspire your deep questions? Would you like to share them in the chat? This whole year (and maybe more) is about depth, so I would love to hear what resonated for you, and what you’re curious about.

Thank you everyone for reading and interacting with my posts this April. I didn’t feel like I was talking to the depths of the void; I felt like I was on a journey of discovery with the noosphere.

I’m still trying to figure out the best posting schedule when not posting every day. As I deepen, and explore more deeply, these posts will take more time, but I also want to provide content often, so I think twice a week is possible. What are your favorite days and times to read this kind of content? Or is once a week, or twice a month more your speed? Please let me know in the comments.