GBE2: The Truth

When I first met my third graders last week, the four of us played a game to get to know each other. One person states two true facts and a lie. Then everyone has to guess which statement is NOT true.

One darling little boy knew the adorable young girl all too well. After she said she had a cat, he said, "Yep. She does!"

I told him not to answer these out loud or he'd ruin the game for everyone else; so when she said she was a good artist, he smiled from ear to ear and shook his head, "Yes."

Kids can be so truthful, but their truthfulness worked in my favor when someone passed me in the hall and wished me a happy birthday. "How old are you?" The kids asked.

I told them I couldn't say it because it's one of those zero ages, and it's an "F" word.

One little girl said, "I know! You're forty." Got to love her.

Here are my:
 

Two Truths and a Lie

(1) I was born in Memphis.

(2) I have a rare blood type.

(3) I've written five novels.

  

Can you guess the lie?

#GBE2: The Blog–One Year Ago

One Year Ago

One year ago, I'll bet you had never heard of "Catch My Words." Although I started this blog in July of 2009, my posts were infrequent and ignored. In reality, my blog didn't actually take off until the A-Z Challenge in April 2011. Last year at this time, I'd received under three-hundred hits total and had as many followers as I could count on one hand.

I also posted sporadically. Looking back to last year, I had posted once in August and once in September. The September post, an editor's writing contest, received zero comments. After that, I didn't post anything until November–Colonoscopy This too received zero comments, even though it used a slight bit of humor. If no one reads my post, is it still funny?

Now I post about three to four times a week and get over 200 hits each day. My latest stats show 8,791 hits in August, which was more than I received in 2009 and 2010 combined. One day in August, I received a record number of hits: 529. Since then, I've broken 400 many times.

Click here to learn more.

My traffic just about doubled once I joined Entrecard. If you're not a member, you should check it out!

And of course I love votes on the Picket Fence. Thanks!

Following Blogs

When I first joined the world of Twitter and blogging, I was hesitant to follow anyone's blog because I didn't understand what being a follower meant. Thinking my inbox would be jammed with spam, I avoided following blogs. But now that I've clicked many "join" buttons and have a follow button of my own, I know the truth: Following a blog means basically nothing. By clicking that little button, you've told the blogger, and anyone else to visit, that you like the blog . . . or maybe you want to win something they are giving away. That's it. No e-mails or spam. If anyone should bother you, click unfollow. It's easy.

So why do I care if you follow my blog? Here's why: I hope to join the ranks of published author one day. As someone with novel writing as an aspiration, I sometimes send queries out to agents and editors who are known to search the internet to find out about potential clients. If one should happen to come across my blog, it looks good to have a lot of followers, frequent posts, and even some comments related to the posts. That's it. No spam, and I promise not to bother you; so please, won't you click the follow button? I'm at twenty-four followers and want to grow.

Thanks! Followers Rock!