My suggestions

As the Writer's Lounge goes through administrative changes, I want to wish everyone good luck.

As a member, I would recommend something.

Things that need immediate attention:

1.Contest is over.The red and green notification  needs to go away.

2.Amity is already selected for November.She needs to be added to the list and december/jan contests need to be held simultaneously and finished before march.

These two are immediate needs.It makes the lounge look old and not well maintained.
No one visits tardy areas...

I would suggest voting be done if members would prefer a newer blog skin and reader friendly color for the skin.
I would also suggest, administrative duties be held in rotating basis for 3 months each time.This would prevent lot of politics here and be a better run blog.


Shraddha @The Self Love project

Reincarnation

One Single Impression Prompt - Reincarnation


I follow Krisna Conciousness (ISKCON)

Every one sings

'Happy Birthday to you
May you have many more'

We sing on birthdays

'Hare Krishna to you
May you have no more births'

But

when i see my little girls playing
i wish to be a little girl too
not any girl mind you....
only if i could be born in my family again..
be my daughter's grand daughter?
that would be perfect!

I do follow Krisna Conciousness
But being that little girl
is very tempting too!

Photo courtesy :Central Asian at Flickr


Shraddha @ The Self Love Project

From womb to an incubator

One Single Impression Prompt - Departed

I was 25 weeks into my pregnancy
My twins were thriving inside my womb
On that day of january i got the bad news
My cervix was too short
Twins were ready to depart from my womb

The shock of it is hard to explain
My fear is palpable in its memory still
I was too far in pregnancy to get the cervical stitch
Complete hospital bed rest
Drug called Procardia did the trick

It was late January now
My marriage anniversary day
It was the day we found out
Cervix had started funneling
It had started to open from inside

Introduction to NICU was inevitable now
What is NICU?
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

The days passed by
One day at a time
Hospital was our home now
Every day of pregnancy was a blessing

We made it till 32 weeks
32 weeks and 7 days
Cervix was still doing great
Thank you Procardia!
But i developed hypertension
High enough to indicate start of preeclampsia!
We do not want that..
If left untreated it can progress to toxemia
Mom can have seizures and stroke!
So Cesarean was planned
And my twins really departed from my womb

They departed from my womb
and went to an incubator
It is a best artificial womb
Helps maintaining temperature
Prevents from infection
Lets the little one live

I am thankful to researchers who developed incubators
This precious artificical womb is a life saver
They departed from my womb
As it was not a safe place any more
The research let them live
We are thankful to core

Things can even be better
Even more little preemies can be saved
We all can help
Spread awareness
Donate for this important research





November is Prematurity Awareness Month.We can all spread awareness and donate for more research.



Repost from The Self Love Project

Sorry for all the reposts last few times.Next week i will do an original post.

Prematurity Awareness Month

Carry On Tuesday Prompt

He lay there in arms of an angel
Angel who carried him for 25 weeks
Angel who loved him with all her heart
All he knew was the love of those arms
All he knew was the comfort of that womb

If only we could have prolonged the pregnancy
Perinatologist thought
If only we could have saved the baby
Neonatologist thought

May be they could..
If the right research is done
We all can help
Open your hearts and donate for such research

November is Prematurity Awareness Month



Repost from my blog @ The Self Love Project

Happy Halloween

Some photos captured by me of our Halloween festivities..








yep! its really tinker bell...


Ok if you are tired of Halloween stuff by me!Please brace for one more post..about shadow shot sunday and then i am done for this year!!!

Repost from my blog @ The Self Love Project

Theta Mom Thursday

As a mother of twin girls, let me tell you, taking time out is hard.
If everyone in the house is down with fever, and cough, it becomes even more difficult.

Inspite of this, i managed to take out time for myself on sunday for 2 hours.
We had called cleaning services, after all the Diwali fun, to clean up the house.
Hubby took the girls with him during that time to be away from all the harsh chemicals cleaners use.
Someone had to be in the house, so i stayed back.
I used the time to get organized.
I organized things which i never get the time to do usually. It gave me a sense of power and control.
Let me tell you, basement in our house is hubby's territory.So to be able to go to a walkin closet and have complete control over its stuff is difficult in our house.
I also kept all my diwali stuff in one place.

I hope that i do not come off as a dork but that is what i did and felt good about! lol!

Shraddha

Thank you to all who have already joined google friend connect
at my blog The Self Love Project.Do take out time and check out my blog.I have added some cool plugins yesterday and if you follow, i always follow back!

Happy Diwali

One single impression prompt - Conquer

Happy Diwali to all my family and friends
Do you know the story of Diwali?
It was when Lord Ram
Conquered over evil Ravana
It was the time
He came back from 14 years of exile
His return home was celebrated as 'Diwali' by all.



Its five days of glorious fun
First day is Dhan teras to prepare for it all.
Second day is Naraka Chaturdasi to start lighting the lamps
Third day is Diwali for all the celebration
Fourth day is Annakut to continue the feasts
Fifth day is Bhayiduj for brothers and sisters to strengthen their bonds



What is the meaning of this all?
Its triumph of good over evil...
To celebrate the inner light that lies with in us all

Flickr"]

If there was no demon to conquer
What will be Diwali for?
If there was no darkness
What will be the lamps for?




This is a repost from my blog today @ The Self Love Project
Do take time to visit my blog too, i have posted there after longest time...

Thoughts..

Photo by Mckayasavage

True honesty to the self brings the power to bring about change. To be honest is not just to be truthful. It is more to be honest with the self. The one who is honest with the self constantly has the aim of bringing about a change for the better. Each situation is used as a chance for the betterment of the self. So there is always the aim not to repeat the mistakes that are committed once. When we are honest with ourselves we are able to feel the constant progress and experience the happiness of moving forward under all circumstances. We have the power to understand the situation, not just from our point of view, but more in a detached way. So we are able to understand and accept whatever the situation holds for us and learn from it humbly.

~ Brahma Kumaris, Mt Abu.

Santa? Already?

Diwali is round the corner

Halloween is end of the month..


BUT

we are singing Jingle Bells in our household..
Fireplace is being checked every minute to see if Santa is coming down!

WHAT?

Yep!Let it snow!Let it snow!Let it snow!
We already had our first snow of the year today!

Blogging 101

This blog post is my advice for everyone who blogs.

1.Getting subscribers

The way to get subscribers is networking.
If you are a new blogger, best way to mingle with like minded bloggers is through memes.

Basically you have to participate in the meme,link up your blog through the Mcklinky and go and visit others blogs who have linked up.
With in no time, you will see some very nice comment luv.

Here are some memes i am mentioning:

For poems:

My most favorite is
One Single Impression
I try participating each week.
The poets there are very friendly, encouraging and sweet.

Others are
Totally Optional Prompts

Memes for Poems/ Stories/short piece/blog post etc

Sunday Sribblings

Heads or Tails

Carry on Tuesday

ABC Wednesday

Three Word Wednesday

There are some more very easy memes to participate

One very high yield is

Wordless wednesday is at several blogs..
@wordlesswednesday.com
@5 minutes of mom@Go Graham Go
@Jolly Mom@Momspective@Smart Cents Mom

All you need is a fun picture on your blog and you are ready to mingle...try this ..it is very high yield..

There are more...phew..

Wordful Wednsday

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

Random Tuesday Thoughts

Theta Mom Thursday

Six Word Saturday

2. Backlinks

Ok so now you have mingled and done the preliminary networking( yeah! preliminary...you have not reached twitter yet? have you?)

Now you get all excited and start linking up every one on your blogroll.
Mentioning them on your blogposts.
Giving and getting awards.

Jeez...
Slow down folks

Go to Google Blog Search

search for link:http://www.yourblogname.com/

How many links show up?
Very few?

there is a subscription option there..
subscribe it to your reader
this way whenever you get a backlink, you will know.

Do not try with yahoo webmasters and other folks as they show up 'no follow' backlinks too.

What is 'no follow'
well that is a html tag that webmasters use so that when google bot is evaluating your website for pagerank...it will not follow the link.
Yep! we humans can follow.It might even be indexed on technorati but it will not be followed.
Too many external links are not good.
On the other hand too many inblound links are awsome!


You can learn all about how to add no follow code here.

Some people add no follow tag as a meta tag but i feel that is very dangerous as nothing ,absolutely nothing, is ever followed from your website.I do not think, you want that!Hence doing it with each individual link is better.

3. Frame of mind

It is very important to know.. why are you blogging?

I wish that i had figured it out myself.
I have not.
My aim till this day remains to monetize my blog.
I want to be able to do reviews, giveaways and run ads on my blog.
My problem is the theme of my blog.
I am yet to figure out whether to have one blog and add everything there.
Or have three seperate blogs like i have now!
But from what i have seen of successful bloggers, they have it figured out hence they are so successful.

4. Technorati

Technorati is now not as popular as before but people still like to claim their blogs there.
Also technorati does not recognize 'no follow' tags hence if you link up someone on your blog post, it shows up as a blog reaction at technorati and people LOVE blog reactions.
Also technorati top 100 blogs are reflection, of what themes are popular nowadays.
What widgets and plugins one must have on their blog.
We do not want to look old and haggard , do we?

5. Sidebar

Do you still have blogroll on your sidebar?
Look around..
How many 'in' people do?
They set up 'i stalk them' or 'linky love' pages and put them up as seperate pages..
why?
Because when you have a list of blogoll on your side bar
Google identifies it as a link for each new post.
yes...EACH?
Think of how many external links you must have generated?
Now you know why you have 0 pagerank after 2 years of blogging?
good for you!!

Ok now if you go to my group blog , you will see it as a sidebar blogroll.
But if you go to my personal blog , you will not see it!

Why?
Because that is the entire purpose of the group blog! to give everyone linky love!
BUT my peronal blog is very stingy me!
I think 10 times before adding a follow link there.

Ok so you will say..hah! she has page rank 0..
that is because i shifted to wordpress.org in mid august.
i write very few posts there.
we are supposed to write 1 0r 2 a day to get high page rank.
But that is ok...slow and steady wins the race!

WOW!this was probably my longest and most honest post!

PS:Hi weirdo stalker!How are you?Hope you went to a Psychiatrist and joined Alcoholic Anonymous!I hope you realize , your delusionally made PS does not exist?

The Stalker and Me

I think all of us must have seen the Lion King, but did you catch the lion king 1 1/2?Its about Timon and Pumbaa.As the story unfolds it takes us into some some scenes from The Lion King seen from Timon and Pumbaa's perspective.Its pretty funny! Watch it if you haven't already.

The same analogy applies to my experience here at Writer's Lounge.

As i shifted my blog (TSLP) from wordpress.com to wordpress.org , i was lucky enough that followers followed and with in few days traffic was good too.
I wanted more.
How to develop page rank?
Have back links!
My aim of joining Writer's Lounge was simple.Write a post and link it up to my blog and get a backlink.

My first poem was Expectations
I wrote a Post Script telling that my dad followed Ken Keyes
I always write a post script.
You can check my personal blog.

With in a short period I wrote my 2nd poem 'twins'.
Immediately after that i got my first 'stalker card' to leave Writer's Lounge.
I sent it to administration but they just told me to ignore it.
I was not very pleased with the reply.
I was all set to write a scathing blog about it all, unfortunately the moon light contest started.The rule was not to submit anything other than related to contest.
Let's Just say i was pissed!Mad , really, very very mad.
I wanted to write about the stalking cards!!!
So i wrote the poem Anonymously
I forgot to add the post script initially.
Not a single person from 200+ members commented.

The very next day , when i was not angry anymore and refocussed on getting backlinks...i wrote poem Stars
Here I added a Post Script letting people know i am not talking of my own experience.It made me realize that i should have done so for 'Anonymously' too, hence i add there "PS:views of a creepy guy"!!

This made the stalker very very angry.He left his usual guard of sending cards which would hide his IP.He actually visited TSLP and left a threatening comment.
Also de-abbreviating PS in his sickly manner.
I thought ...wow! calling him 'creepy guy' really got to him.
I was all set to send his IP to the cyber safety groups for banning.(i realize he must be sending it from a cyber cafe but with IDs being checked these days everywhere, it would not be long before he was caught.)
Unfortunately my co-blogger unknowingly deleted the comment.

Around the same time i added my photo to my profile.
I guess that or i do not know what, stalker realized i am not his PS.
He never sent me any cards or abusive comments again!

As i participated more and more at Writer's Lounge, it kinda grew on me.
I could feel the sadness. I could feel that it was something magical before.
I also realize that eveny one is very happy with PS's return.

Welcome back!!

I came for backlinks and i found very warm sweet group of friends.

And the alcoholic, depressed stalker that lives here....'come to me' (at TSLP)..i will show you some legal maza!!

One Single Impression Prompt - Descent

From The Writers Lounge


Halloween is celebrated on Oct 31st each year!
Ugh! the words are not seen clearly here.
PLEASE Click on the photo to read the words

One Single Impression Prompt - Colors

Like the changing colors of seasons
We are making changes too
To appreciate all the colors of life
We are letting go of….
few things in our life too!

TV has been deemed broken
No fairy can fix it for you
My twin girls are exasperated
But they will learn soon

Colors that had faded from life
Are again being added
Some artwork together
Some reading of books together
Some family time
Are being added to the menu

Yard needs care
We need to go ride that cycle too
That lovely radio
Needs to be switched on
Yahoo ‘little kidz tunes’
Rocks on!

That closet needs to be organized
Summer clothes need to be put away
Lord Krishna must be wondering
Where his devotee went away
Need to start chanting again
When and why did I stop?
I need to give up waste
And color my life again.


Shraddha

Face of psychosis

One Single Impression Prompt 82 - Fog


This fog of ignorance
Denies me to understand
Where is that thin line that divides
Spiritual awareness from psychotic tendencies?

Image by Zenilorac at flickr

Don’t get me wrong
I am a seeker
Don’t get me wrong
I am a believer

But too many cases I have heard
Where psychosis takes an ugly turn
There were no divine messages from TV
Nature was not telling anything at all
Did you connect dots that were irrelevant?
And set up yourself for a free fall?

Photo by Nyki_M

This ugly truth of Psychiatry
Baffles me
Disturbs me
I want to understand the subject
Understand it more deeply
I want to see that thin line
And understand
When it’s a disease?
Or
When someone is touched with angels?

I have myself felt the bliss
When in touch with nature
But I do not want
This silent thick fog of ignorance to engulf me
To consume me in ‘spiritual materialism’
I want to stay open
I want to stay alert
I want to increase my ‘spiritual quotient’
But I want to understand Psychiatry first.

Shraddha @ The Self Love Project

Six Word Saturday

Please vote for Moon Light Contest

As I participate for six word saturday!I thought why not use it to pitch for my vote at the contest.

My poem is Memories of a Romance!

Thank you!

Shraddha@The Self Love Project

Other fun blog posts i enjoyed in today's 'six word saturday' meme

Quintessentially Quilly

Magical Mystical Teacher

MelissaB

Drahdrah

Letter

Prompt @ Carry on Tuesday

He had got the phone call already
He knew she was dead
She wanted to be a soldier
Fight for her country
So she did
But she was dead now
Two babies in his arms
And
That letter that she had written
.... for his birthday
It had come by post now....
That letter sat before
him, unopened,
propped against a coffee mug



Photo by Nukeit1 at Flickr

Other Cool blogposts that i liked in this meme

Anthony North

Swapna

BryAntics

Gemma

Tattoo

Sunday Scribblings Prompt - Tattoo

I have no Tattoo
Its so permanent
It scares me away
I can never have it
Its not for me
No way
Yes!Laser can remove them
But I have no money to waste
Its not for me
No way


Photo by Ste3ve at Flickr

I do LOVE Henna Tattos
They fade away
That's more my style
They never over stay
I had the best for my marriage
It was so dark and pretty
When i look at the pictures
I wonder if that really was me

Photo by Alhowat at Flickr

Shraddha

I co-blog at The Self Love Project with April

Want to be a guest blogger? Join my Circle of Friends

Memories of a romance

One Single Impression Prompt 80 - Romance

All those years ago
On a night like this
You had touched my heart
You told me that I was your love
I could feel it in your words
I could feel it in your eyes
Hope of a bright future
Shimmering though the moonlight




So much time has passed
Life has evolved
No matter how many differences
No matter how much of a plight
When I think of that day at Dona Paula
That day with the shimmering moonlight
I know in my heart
We will find our way
No labyrinth can keep us away.


Shraddha

Word count : 96

I co-blog @ The Self Love Project with April
Follow me on twitter @ selfloveblog

Waiting

I wait..
I wait for you..
In this eerie moonlight
thinking of you..
Didn't you say?
you miss me too?
Why you are not here?
Why is it me alone?
I feel depressed in this cold wintry night
if you think this is romantic
you are not very bright!!

Shraddha@theselfloveproject

rain song

Bollywood! you rock
all the movies
and all the jazz
simply cool
simply the best

I like best
all the rain songs
all the clouds and all that rain

such romance
such bliss
Sridevi was definitely the best
she was my favorite



sridevi who?
baccha log will say?
that will make me feel
old and grey
but then i will switch on my favorite rain song
and i will feel young again!

Shraddha@theselfloveproject

Word count: 72