Battle of the blogs

One thing I learned during Project Grace 2010 is that people have their preferred method of reading blogs. For example, some sign up to have them delivered into their inbox, others follow the link via Facebook and many will go directly to the blog site. This consequently affects how people interact. The email subscribers will reply directly to me, Facebookers will write on my wall and blog site visitors will comment below the post.

At the time of setting up Trailing Grace, my husband had been using Posterous, which I discovered could autopost to a vast array of popular social media sites. “Perfect!” I thought, “I can write one blog and have it posted in several places and thus increasing the chances of potential followers”. My plans for world blog domination were coming into play. That is until I realised what a NIGHTMARE some of the sites can be.

I have spent a ludicrous amount of time fixing up messy, glitchy, buggy HTML code (I feel like I have adopted half a dozen cute puppies that ended up doing poop in every room of the house!). To the untrained ear, this might sound like I know what I’m doing – but I can assure you that I do not, hence the nightmare (I am referring to cleaning up the HTML code, not puppy poop). 

In view of all of this and being several weeks (if not months) short of launching my official website, I invite you to follow, subscribe, or bookmark my most preferred blogging platform – Blogger. I created Project Grace 2010 on Blogger and found it very user friendly and relatively bug free. What you see is what you get, thus eliminating the frustration of trying to figure out why text, images and YouTube embedded videos become corrupted and refuse to look like what you saw when composing your work. It’s enough to make you drink!

The other downside of having so many sites is that the comments are scattered like ashes – so it’s difficult to get a community going… and I LOVE communities. So below I’ve made a brief statement of what I think of the blog site, as well as including some of your comments.

Blogspot (Bought out by Google some time ago and is very user friendly. It’s my favourite):

“Congratulations Grace on the new journey! Loving the name of the blog/ project and the many interpretations and incarnations it allows. I haven’t read ‘eat pray love’ yet, but am now inspired to do so. I actually read your 3 blogs backwards and have many thoughts spinning in my head… not only turning 40, but then the arrival of a new year has me once again full of questions, anxieties, self doubts and a sense of failure. Forever feeling you as the Ying to my Yang, I am jumping on board with you- well side saddle really- and following your trail (Hansel and Gretal style hoping there’s a wonderful lolly house at the end and we can destroy the nasty witch!) as I try to work through what may just be the Universal Human Condition. Lots of love, Jaala xxxx”

Posterous (while it’s clever that it can auto post to many sites, the blogging function is cumbersome with buggy code and the inability to preview your work before posting):

“welcome to the world TrailingGrace” – Pat

“i’m so excited & i just can’t hide it! whoo hoo go you trail blazer you!” – Liza

“congrats” – Garrie 

“Congratulations on your new journey! I look forward to following you as it unfolds. I can relate to so many of your thoughts/feelings/ideas. Your spirit is inspiring!” – Kira

WordPress (I found this to be the MOST frustrating. Very buggy. I’d make changes, click save and it would go back to what it was in the beginning. Despite following the instructions, I could NOT embed my YouTube video yesterday. Nearly drove me to drink!): 

“Wow Grace. This is a fantastic extension of project Grace (which I was very sad to see the end of). I am definately along for the ride on this one. Count me in. x D”

“Fueled by Champagne. New T shirt coming soon. Will work for Champagne ;-)”

Facebook (I LOVE Facebook, and use this to guide people to my blog. It is currently set to WordPress but I plan to change that pronto!)

Jessica wrote: “I love it Grace! Love the name, the logo, the ‘coincidences’ – it’s all positively inspired!! And while you said it was exactly 9 months, it was exactly 10 – which is a full term baby anyway!!!” xxx” 

Liza wrote: “Love the new blog title. I feel like i’m trailing/following your adventurous life along with you. I keep thinking why the hell isn’t anybody publishing your work, you should be at the top of the best seller’s list. Well, you are published to a audience of millions. The web. Its just a matter of time before your captive audience multiplies. I know i’ve said this many times before but you are such a talented writer. My heart sings and weeps with your words. Love it love it.”   

Leeanne wrote: “I agree totally with Liza’s comments. Your blog is part of my daily enjoyment. Always insightful, brutally honest and sometimes inspiring. Love your work Leeanne xx” 

I also use Xanga and Tumblr (I prefer the latter), however they have not had any comments (and I’m okay with that).

So before I get myself into a bloggy big tangled mess, I will spend some time consolidating.

Until tomorrow, be bold and nip things in the bud before they get out of hand.

Grace xx

The Emperor’s New Clothes

Patrick surprised me with a bag of assorted new gym clothes this afternoon, which I must declare I just LOVE. I was quick to put a set on and go outside to do today’s training – iPhone in hand. 

It wasn’t long before the virtual film was rolling and I shot a YouTube video announcing my delight over this fabulous gift.  During my session, I felt I needed to say more (me? really?) and shot a second video that explores self worth and how it drives my decisions to purchase cheap, crappy gym gear.

Two videos was obviously not enough for one day, so I hit record again to capture something that has taken me aback. I explore the depths of self abuse and speak openly about my own battle with beating myself up. It’s probably my most honest account about this subject and the act of speaking so openly about it has me feeling free. The video I am referring to is embedded on this page below (email subscribers, please click here).

If you or anyone you know suffers from persistent self abuse, I hope this video shows you that you’re not alone. It’s horrible pattern that needs to be healed I hope that by trailing grace, we can all reach a state of peace.

Until tomorrow, if you’re feeling itchy – don’t stop scratching till you’ve got the spot (that’ll only make sense after watching the video below, so go on – click play).

Grace xx 

http://www.youtube.com/v/dS4H4csXvnI?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

Eat Pray Love and the genesis of Trailing Grace

When was the last time you wrote an email or blog post and just as you were about to send it, you browser said “Aw Snap”?

AW SNAP MY AR$E! – I AM FURIOUS! (can you tell with all my caps and exclamation marks?).

My eyes are popping out of my head, so I’m just going to type it again in dot points:

• Last night I worked around the clock building the foundations of a social media skyscraper, and retired to bed after 7am this morning
• When I roused, I promptly went for my run and just as I’d finished I filmed this YouTube video below, which explains 1. how Eat Pray Love was the genesis of Trailing Grace and 2. why I’m wearing an ugly grey sweat tank top
• I then spent most of the day weaving my social media tapestry and, just like all new handycrafts, I made more mistakes than taking steps forward.
• Grrrrrrrrr
• I am in the midst of a steep learning curve, of which patience is one thing I’d better learn before anything else (if only I weren’t so impatient about learning patience, then I wouldn’t be so irritable.

It’s after midnight and I’m absolutely certain that I heard my bed beckoning me. I have taken the last sip of my celebratory Champagne (the one that I traded for organic orange juice on New Year’s Eve) and my shoulders are relaxed and eyelids feel like lead. So without further ado, I bid you adieu.

Until tomorrow, when you need to muster up some patience – start with a deep breath (and imagine bashing the crap out of the thing that pi$$ed you off. In my case it was Google Chrome – NOT HAPPY JAN!)

– Grace xx

A new year, a new decade, a new blog…

Project Grace 2010 was a sacred journey for me. My daily blogging practice had become an integral part of my day; an important ritual that had me feeling complete and worthy – something I had long strived for. My original plan was to end the project on November 3rd, my 40th birthday, however it seemed premature to conclude it then. Yesterday marked the end of 2010 and somehow, it felt sacrilegious to extend the project further. Therefore on this New Year’s Day, 01/01/2011, I declared Project Grace 2010 complete.

What followed was a hollow emptiness. I felt the need to continue with my daily blogging by creating something that did not have a ‘use by date’. Alas, Trailing Grace was born.

So where did Trailing Grace come from? I virtually hear you ask. Well, the seed was planted on September 30th when I was watching the ‘Eat Pray Love’ episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show (I loved the book and was interested in learning about the movie, especially as I was in Bali at the time of filming in 2009). Oprah was having a D&M (deep and meaningful conversation) with Julia Roberts and author Liz Gilbert that became particularly interesting when they talked about being true to yourself and finding your life’s purpose (my perpetual quest).

Oprah came out with the words “we are all born into this world trailing grace” and my mouth dropped. It was one of those ‘Twilight Zone’ moments complete with the ‘de de de de, de de de de’ theme running in my head. I felt that the universe had sent a message that was meant for me and only me, much like the time I read the Celestine Prophesy. The words resonated, speaking to me like no other. It’s that metaphorical jigsaw puzzle piece that one stumbles on whilst vacuuming on top of the pelmet boxes – so totally unexpected, so totally thrilling. “Thank you Oprah” I whispered in my mind and before the show had finished, I had compulsively registered the domain name trailinggrace.com.

Once registered, I questioned my sanity for I had no idea (or vision) of what it would become. All I knew is that I loved the name, it came from the mouth of one of my greatest inspirations (next to Gandhi) and it made me chuckle (I’m a dog in the Chinese horoscope and Trailing Grace was like an ‘in’ joke between me and the universe – let’s just say it has something to do with me chasing my tail). For three months, I let the domain name just sit there completely untouched and without a clue about what I would do with it… that is, until today.

So… at this late hour, please excuse the emptiness of the website and the crudeness of the social media pages (Blogger, WordPress, Xanga, TumblR, Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo, MySpace, Picassa, FlickR, Facebook, and Posterous). As you can see, I have been busy – though some may argue that ‘fanatical’ is a more apt term. Whilst it may appear that I am positioning myself for world domination, I can assure you that it’s only global propagation that I am interested in. Well, at this stage at least 😉

Tomorrow I will commence the daunting task of weaving this all into one beautiful tapestry, which will somehow be the fabric of the official Trailing Grace website – how very exciting.

Until tomorrow, know that the sadness of an ending is consoled by the excitement of a new beginning – and not all impulsive purchases are bad.

Grace xx

PS. I could have interpreted the broad availability of ‘Trailing Grace’ to mean that it’s a crap name. However I like to think that it really was a gift for me, and only me – sent by the universe and delivered by Oprah. I love a good story and that one suits me just fine.