Author Archives: lydias

I’ve been a blogger for many years now. During this time I’ve noticed that some topics seem to do really well in the blogosphere because of how timeless and versatile they are.

Earlier this year I shared a list of topics I wish more people would blog about. I kept thinking of more things I’d love to see my favourite bloggers tackle after I published it, though.

This post is an update to the one I posted back then.

Who knows? Maybe this will become a series one day!

Open Letters. I’ve sent out a handful of open letters on this blog. They can be used to thank people that you’ll never actually meet or to talk about issues that you’ve noticed in your community. While they can be used for unkind reasons as well, that’s never why I’ve used them.  I’d compare them instead to the short anecdotes that are often used in the first few pages of a nonfiction book to introduce the audience to the main topic of that chapter. Zooming in on a particular experience can be a friendly way to talk about a problem or bring something up that isn’t discussed very often.

Surveys and polls. I absolutely love filling out surveys and polls, especially if the person who put the survey or poll together eventually tells their audience what the results were.  There is something fascinating about seeing all of those numbers straightened out into tidy graphs and charts.  It doesn’t matter if you’re asking people to vote for which paint colour they’d like to see brighten up your living room or who we’re hoping will win the next election. If you post a survey, I will cheerfully fill it out before haunting your blog until the final tallies are shared.

Unusual events. This could be anything from an unexplained mystery from your childhood to a boldly creative photograph to a truly bizarre news story that sounds like it belongs on Snopes. I enjoy unusualness in almost any form. There’s something to be said for sharpening your mind by paying attention to things that don’t seem to make sense at first glance.

Questions, hypothetical or otherwise. I like thinking about possible for the answers to them even if that process is as simple as a quick roll through my imagination or a trip to Wikipedia to see if I remembered a certain fact correctly.

Book, music, movie, and TV show reviews. As an author, I know how important reviews are for those of us who rely on word-of-mouth marketing to find new fans. Reviews also matter to fans themselves who haven’t decided what they’ll buy or rent yet. I rely on them heavily when I decide what to buy. No, I’m not swayed by a single excellent (or negative) review. There have been many times, though, when a streak of reviewers that all have similar things to say have made the difference between me buying something and deciding to give a different author, musician, or show a try instead.

What kinds of topics do you love seeing pop up on the blogs you follow?

Here is this week’s list of comic strips, essays, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web. I added this photograph to today’s post because I’m mesmerized by it.

Jesska vs. Her Brain & Insomnia. Who else does this occasionally?

Why Kindle Books Aren’t Evil via EllieFirestone1. It amazes me to think that some people are still suspicious of ebooks.

Can an Outsider Ever Truly Become Amish? I have never once had the urge to join the Amish. This article was a truly fascinating peek into the lives of people who do want to do this, though.

5 of the Best Industrial Style Bathrooms via mywarehousehome. This recommendation is a little off the beaten path for my Suggestion Saturday posts, but you have to check out the photos in it. They are incredible. I want a bathroom like that!

Are You a Morning Person or a Night Owl? This quiz will tell you for sure. My results say that I’m definitely a morning person. Out of a possible 86 points, I scored a 79 in favour of waking of early. That’s pretty strong.

From Why I Don’t Buy Organic, And Why You Might Not Want To As Well:

My problems with institutional organic are not at all about its founding ideals or about organic farmers, but rather about organic’s self-imposed limitations and about the ethics of a sub-set of its promoters.

From Are You Worried About Making a Mistake via aford21:

Have you ever worried about putting your work out there because you might make a mistake?

People will judge, unsubscribe from your email list, leave terrible reviews, and make you wish you’d never started?

What have you been reading?

The longer I use my Apple Watch, the more I’m convinced that it’s something anyone who has an iPhone should buy.

In all honesty, I was a little skeptical of the idea of a smart watch this time last year. While I loved the thought of tracking my workout and general body movement statistics more accurately, I wasn’t sure if I’d actually use the watch enough in other areas of my life to justify the cost of it.

Now that I’ve had mine for almost a year, I’m surprised at how much I rely on it.

By far my favorite part of owning this watch is the Health app that comes preinstalled on it. This is something I suspected would be the case a year ago, and it turned out to be true.

There is something incredibly satisfying about seeing the exercise minutes, calories burned, and standing hours rings grow throughout the day. Often I’ll walk in place while watching a TV show in the evening in order to burn those last few calories and make all three goals for the day.

The badges you earn for a perfect week in any or all of these categories are highly motivating to me. This won’t have the same effect on everyone, of course, but it is something to keep in mind if you also like getting cheerful messages when you complete a goal.

It’s interesting to check my heart rate every once in a while. I’ve learned that my resting heart rate can be as low as 55 or 60 beats per minute. Sometimes I play a game with myself where I see how low I can get it to go if I completely relax every part of my mind and body. It’s amazing to see just how much something as simple as a stray thought or a tense muscle can affect your heart rate.

Reminders are another feature of this watch that I’ve come to use every single day. I’ve set them for everything from daily routine stuff like taking medication to one time reminders about the time and place for that medical appointment I set up months or even years ago. It is really nice to have that prompt when you booked that optometrist appointment two years ago and you can’t for the life of you remember if it was for 3 pm on Wednesday the second of the month or  2pm on Thursday the third. I have a pretty good memory, but stuff like this is easy to forget after a couple of years!

It’s also been nice to have instant contact with my spouse when we’re spending some time doing separate things. If one of our phones is muted for some reason, we’ll still feel the tap of the watch on our wrist when we get an iMessage. This has come in handy for us more than once.

On a silly note, I’ve also come to love sending my husband my heartbeat or a drawing every once in a while.

In fact, I think I’ll send him one now while I publish this post!

I don’t think I’ve ever shared anything from the Elders React series on this blog before. Elders React is a Youtube show about a group of older people who share their thoughts on modern pop culture. Every episode covers a different topic, and most of the ones I’ve seen were extremely funny.

This particular episode is about Rihanna’s two music videos for her song “Work.” One of the seniors in this video – I won’t say which one – reminded me of how my dad used to react when his kids blared music that he didn’t understand. Sometimes he’d imitate the singers or rappers we were listening to. At other times he’d start dancing in the living room in beat to the music.

I thought of this memory as I watched that guy struggle to understand today’s music.

Oh, and a fair warning: this includes PG-13 content.

There have many loud noises coming from a neighbour’s home today. Their place is being renovated, so my spouse and I have been hearing the sound of hammers tapping the wall, tools being dropped, and all kinds of thuds and crashes that I can’t identify.

Look at the lemur on your left if you want to see the kinds of faces I’ve been making when the banging suddenly intensifies.

This is one of the few things that I genuinely dislike about living in the city.

It’s completely necessary noise, of course, but it’s also distracting when I’m trying to write. I wish I could go wrap their walls in some kind of sound-proofing material until the renovations are complete.

Until then, I’m wearing ear plugs and trying to plan my schedule in such a way that I get regular breaks from all of the sounds leaking through the walls.

I’ve also been trying to figure out what some of the most jarring noises are. Did one of the tradespeople over there pass out from breathing paint fumes? (I sure hope not!) Are they playing some kind of game that involves throwing every tool they own on the floor to see which ones bounce? Is someone challenging a colleague to a tap dance competition? Have they decided to rip out a wall or three? Did an angry dragon follow someone to work today, and is it trying to start another war with humankind? If so,  which side is winning?

The possibilities are endless.

How do you deal with distractions when you’re working?

Here is this week’s list of comic strips, poems, essays, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

Fantastic. I love this way of looking at the world.

My Sweet Lady in Pink via jdubqca. The imagery in this is so crisp and clear. It felt like I was watching a short film instead of reading words on a page. Nicely done.

It Starts with a Bandaid via eralbertson. What a smart way to live. Incidentally, I do carry a spare bandaid with me at all times in case anyone needs one.

Anger Is Not My Brand via SarahMadisonFic. What I liked most about this post is how balanced it is. I definitely don’t like spending time around people who find reasons to be angry about everything, but I am also put off by people who appear to be hiding their true selves. It makes me feel like I can’t be honest with them when I’m genuinely struggling with or dismayed by something.

Witnessing Witnessing from the Outside. This was such a good essay. Sometimes it’s hard to explain all of the reasons why witnessing is so irritating, but the author did a great job of breaking everything down.

From What Is a Robot, Really?

 The human-machine relationship is rapidly evolving as a result. Humanity, and what it means to be a human, will be defined in part by the machines people design.

What have you been reading?

This is the story of how a group of sand soldiers attempted to defend their home from a dangerous enemy.

Like most of the short films I share on this blog, it has no dialogue. Feel free to watch it with the background music turned off if you prefer.

Dear Beverly,

I discovered you when I started attending public school in the fourth grade after being homeschooled for several years. Ramona the Pest was my first introduction to your books, and I soon read every single Beverly Cleary book that I could find at my elementary school and the local public library.

Your stories ignited my imagination. It wasn’t until a few days ago that I discovered that I never read some of them as a child. This will be remedied soon, though, because I can’t wait to rediscover some of the first characters I ever remember wishing I could meet in person as well as hopefully meeting some new friends.

Not only have I remained an avid reader as an adult, I’m also an author myself now. I wonder how many other young fans of your work have grown up to do the same thing?

A recent news article about you stirred up all of these happy memories. I hope you have a wonderful 100th birthday next month!

Sincerely,

Lydia Schoch

Here is this week’s list of comic strips and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

Polio Summer and Polio Summer II. This story made me shudder. I can’t imagine living with that kind of fear year after year.

Well-Practiced Douchebags. While I’m not at all a fan of the term douchebag, this was a fantastic explanation  of why some people create so much social chaos and who should be blamed for it.

Bride of the Rose Beast. I’d never heard of the original fairy tale before, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying this updated version of it.

How (Not) to Make an Easter Nest with Toddlers via SillyMummy88. This is one of the funniest things I’ve read in a long time. No, I will not be trying it with any of the toddlers in my life. Haha.

Achieving Normal Life via lifebyd4limbs.What life is like for a personal trainer who has had both of his legs amputated.

The 7 Don’ts of Social Media Etiquette for Bloggers via thatchamdad. I’d argue that these rules also apply to everyone else  online. Having good online etiquette is just as important as being considerate and polite offline.

What have you been reading?