Travel has taken up most of the last two months. This means the blog has slowed down.
I usually take a social media hiatus for the last week of the year, so I suppose I’ll see you all in the new year now. Another 10 days to go, and the calendar would say 2019. Next year, I’ll be posting a few interviews and guest posts that have waited a while. I’ll post about Project WHY, and another fundraiser for this wonderful little nonprofit that has my heart.
In the meanwhile though, I’ll read blogs, and books, and do a lot of thinking about life and suchlike.
It is the season of giving, and in its spirit, I want to make this comment section a festival of giving till we hit the new year: tips, jokes, advice, anything that you want to share with the world.
My gift to you, as always, is this space. My blog is more about you than me, always has been, always will be.
My request : in the comments, drop me some wisdom, a story, a joke, a smile.
It could be a book you read this year which might do me some good or cheer me up. It could be one of your blog posts (don’t worry, I shall rescue links). It could be a piece of life advice.
Or just tell me you were here, and what you were thinking of, when you saw this post. I’m here, listening, learning, smiling along.
You have a great blog. Would you like to share your story on “What You Blog About”
what motivated you to start this blog ?
Although, I don’t get to read your post as often as I should, I do enjoy them all. You are an inspiration to those of us trying to get this writing thing done correctly. You have such valuable information and are very talented and creative. Just thinking of creating such a place for others to join together truly shows your great character and love for others. I hope 2019 is becoming the year you envisioned it to be.
Many blessings!
Your neighbor, Cheryl
“When you are truly inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project… your mind transcends its limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world! Then those dormant forces, faculties and talents inside you become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” Patanjali “
I love your blog! Thank you for following BrewNSpew.
Hi Damyanti! Best wishes and blessings for 2019, from me.
ah! I hope your 2019 is filled with surprises and the wonder of a child. Discovery of things mundane to be revealed as a treasure 🙂
Happy New Year!
May 2019 be filled with joy, peace and fulfilment!
Keep having loads of creative fun!
Thanks for your support!
????
My gift to you – I still hope you will read my short stories!! Your comments and critique will be so valuable!!
AJ, Thankyou for the wishes! I’ve had a poor reading year but I hope to get to your stories in 2019!
Would you mind leaving a link to them? That way, others can pick it up as well?
Have a lovely, joyful new year.
I’ve learned never turn down a writing project without thinking it over first. Something that sounds impossible might just be what I need to grow as a writer.
Brilliant advice, thank you. I might have needed it exactly at this moment as o struggle with a piece.
Have a great 2018, and Thankyou for your visits!!
I hope that the new year will be the best year of your life. May all your dreams come true & all your hopes be fulfilled! Happy New Year!
Thanks so much, Rachna and wish you a wonderful year ahead, as well.
You are a wise woman but I still make an audacious attempt to drop a piece of wisdom from almost a decade old post. Never fight with an idiot …. https://sumandebray.blogspot.com/2011/01/never-fight-with-idiot.html.
As to what and where, I am in Doha in a quiet office on the first day of the new year. Presently things are a bit slow down here and thought of roaming around in the blogosphere for a while. The weather here is pleasant although the winter is alluding us this year … well I mean alluded us the last December.
A story to share … I was amazed to discover how kids think. couple of weeks back there were a couple of visiting choir children travelling with us and I was eaves dropping as they chatted while I was driving them to the beach. My daughter was complaining that women has to do all the works while the men rests. Well that might be a common complain but surprised by the logic of her argument, It seem that the problem is because God made Adam first and then thought of Eve. Had it the other way around then women could be here before and boss around men …. have a great year ahead!
One more thing … you have posted a gorgeous photo of yours ….. it appears mightier than the nib too…
Thanks for the share, your thoughts, and the compliment.
Thankyou also for visiting and wish you a great year ahead.
Wow! Who is that gorgeous! Beautiful beautiful photo, Damyanti! I don’t have any particular wisdoms or jokes to share at the moment, but I would recommend you to get to know me better, as I am a delightful company with so much nuggets of wisdom and humor sense that people can’t get enough of. 😀
Hope you are having a good time. Wishing you a wonderful and happy 2019. ❤️
Thankyou! I can already see that you’re good for my self-esteem, so please expect comments, replies, chats, DMs, phone calls, visits!!
Lol, kidding.
On a serious note, here’s to a wonderful new year and thanks for your support.
Nice post Damyanti….:)….I can share with you one of my posts which I came up with to give myself some inspiration, I hope it will do the same to you too….here it is… https://mydailyjournalonline.com/expectations-and-acceptance-two-sides-of-the-same-coin/ ….. and one thing I must say after visiting your site after quite a long time, you are looking beautiful in your home page picture you have put up……Happy New Year and best wishes..
Thanks Anindya, for the share, and the compliment!
I hope 2019 is a great year for you.
Same to you 🙂
My gift to you…and anyone else reading this comment.. is a new book from author Shawn Smucker, Once We Were Strangers. This tells the remarkable story of a friendship found by Smucker and an immigrant Smucker meets at his local mission services center. The two men develop a strong friendship despite their religious differences (Smucker is a Christian; his new friend is a Muslim). It is funny, warm, loving, educational, and more. A great 5-star read!
Sounds like an excellent read and a book in touch with the times. Will add it to my TBR!
It is great reading and learning from you and so many that put forth great thoughts to feed our hearts and minds!
Dearest D,
Your post has been so inspiring for me that I can’t begin to thank you enough, for being my little impetus to take a social media break too, this time of the year.
I book marked this post of yours and have returned today to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’m also detoxing myself from social media starting 26 Dec to early 2019. Though I know it won’t be easy, as I’ve signed up for work that now entails me to handle their social media. But I’m going to keep it as low key as I can.
I’m also using this time to reflect, rejuvenate and spend time with my father who is visiting and plan the new beginnings ahead. I’m also taking time off to read blogs and books and soak in some wispy winter sun. The girls have vacation too, so time to nurture them as well.
It’s that time of the year when even nature hibernates and returns rejuvenated, and what better time for us to do the same, than this.
You have a lovely break and hope to speak to you once you are back in the groove. Take care and stay warm and blessed! ♥️?♥️
The break was excellent for me, I read a lot, caught up on lost sleep, and got nurses back to health. I plan to make my social media time more efficient this year— let’s hope my efforts match my ambition!
Take care of you and it was lovely chatting with you yesterday! Hope you feel better soon—let me know if the recipe helped.
When I came here the first thing that I noticed was your gorgeous photo..you are looking classy and elegant in this photo and I kept staring for few seconds. I really appreciate your efforts for ProjectWhy. I am sorry I couldn’t meet you this time around but hopefully someday. Have a great year.
Missed you at the Mumbai meet! Maybe this year, if I can make it?
Thanks for your kind words about the photo: all credit goes to Natasha Chanda Acharya who took the photo.
And Project Why has done more for me than I can ever do for them: working with them is an amazing, healing experience.
First of all….super cool look of your blog with that super cool shot of yours! You look GORGEOUS!!<3 <3
Umm..I don't have any joke to share, but, I wish to tell you what a pleasant meeting we had! Frankly, I always was in awe of you. "Damyanti Biswas is this hot shot writer, whose posts are classy and I am sure, so is she as a person!" was what I always thought of you. (Yes, am guilty of being judgemental sometimes! ) So, when we were to meet, I was a tad bit nervous, wondering if I would be able to speak in your presence! But, all of that melted away when we met…and I was blown away by your down-to-earth attitude, your simplicity and your cool-ness….made me so glad I met you and you are nothing like what I had imagined! Just goes to prove that impressions can be deceiving.
Stay the way you are, D, you lovely lovely girl! And, may you have a fabulous new year!
Loads of love!
Have a wonderful holiday season!
:snowflake: ❄️
Wishing you and your loved ones peace, health, happiness, and prosperity in the coming New Year. Thank you for your kindness and caring.
I could tell you a story of how my heart broke. About my niece asking where her dad is and when he’ll be back. How we don’t know the answer because, even though he’s a second-generation citizen born on this land and served in the military, he has been missing since he went to visit a sick relative the same day an entire section of homes suddenly became empty. A few of the residents have been found, deported. But some, like the brother of my other half, no one seems to have an answer. I don’t talk about it much online because one never knows how that will turn out. So, my other half and I have done all we can to keep our niece well, which isn’t easy with her cancer. But today, this holiday, has made it all the harder.
None of that is very merry. Let me try to do better.
Two elves walk into a bar. The third elf ducks.
– J
What a lovely picture you have there. You are a beautiful woman with a sense of direction and a very kind heart. I’ve been blessed to have read your work this past year. Happy New Year 2019.
May time reveal a new story each day, and may every story bring hope, wisdom, and peace to your life, I pray.
Have a blessed new year, and preserve that radiant glow!
Hi Damyanti. I wish for you a New Year filled with love and fulfilment and good health.
I also offer you my ‘best book’ suggestion – one that many people talked about, and I wondered if it would live up to the hype: ‘Normal People’ by Sally Rooney. It is written in quite a plain style, but somehow it cuts to the heart of how people are. I thought it was beautiful.
xx
One of the gifts I got this year was the opportunity of meeting up with blogger friends. I love putting faces to names . And a book I really enjoyed reading this year was ‘Forty Rules of Love ‘ which I’m sure you must have read !
Great new photo!
My joke: What is gas laughing?
Answer: HeHeHe
Hi Damyanti,
As an animal lover I thought I’d share with you the name of a wonderful organization I stumbled across this year. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is a wildlife conservation group dedicated to protecting endangered animals – particularly elephants ?- in Africa. Be sure to check out their website to learn about the incredible Orphan Project and read their Keepers Diaries to learn how the animals came into their care. Very moving (though often sad) and inspirational! Best of luck in the New Year!
Hi Damyanti, love your new photo! I’d like to share my favourite book with you. It’s Phantom by Susan Kay. It’s a biography of Erik, the title character of The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. I revisited it this year, used to read it regularly in my teens. Why I love it? It’s the story of a man, who gets abuse from the minute he was born. And even though, this destroys him, love saves him at last. It doesn’t warrant him a happy ending, but it enables him to come to peace. I love this beautiful message, the novel makes me cry whenever I read it. If you do have the time and it feels right for you, please go ahead and have a look.
Zaza
Happy New Year, Damyanti! I love your new photo. I don’t post comments as much as I’d like because so often I’m reading blogs on the fly, but you are never far from my thoughts. May 2019 bring you much success and especially good health!
Reading this, I thought of a post I out up in my blog, titled “i didnt think i was fat”. Its sure to put a smile on your face. https://allthingsameena.com/2018/12/07/i-didnt-know-i-was-fat/
I can suggest you, dear Damyanti, to give a look to my last published novel “The Annwyn’s Secret”…
https://annwynsecret.wordpress.com/
In the blog to see what’s about the story/plot.
If you like this idea, I may send you the english version.
Let me know Claudine
Hi, Damyanti, have you read Eye Can Write by Jonathan Bryan? Truly inspirational. I reviewed it https://suestrifles.wordpress.com/2018/09/13/what-i-read-in-august-2018-part-2/
While I am not usually one for videos, this made me smile. It’s a Xmas Dogtivity
https://youtu.be/HCalIMr8W1E
Just wanna wish you loads of love and luck on your journey and thank you for intertwining with mine!! Blessed be my friend!
All the best to you and yours! This year saw the end of one project and the beginning of another. I am going to try traditional publishing next year so I’m working on steeling my spine for the long haul and the rejections. But I keep on writing!
Thankyou! All the best for your trad publication journey–I’m going through the mill, so please feel free to reach out if you need anything.
Keep writing, definitely, and all the best!
I appreciate that! Thank you! ?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours! If you enjoy love poems my second book of poems has been published On the Wings of Love https://www.amazon.com/author/rasmaraisters
Thanks for the book link! I’ll get it, and hope others do, too! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours, as well.
I was curious to read this post after your intriguing title. Now, it makes perfect sense – or perfect presents. So, here’s my gift:
I recommend the novel that took me by surprise this year – The Ragged Edge of Night – https://rolandclarke.com/2018/11/08/the-ragged-edge-of-night-a-review/. It wasn’t my usual fare – though I read historical fiction – but it was the characters that drew me in.
Blessed Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Thanks, Ronald, and thank you for the recommendation! Have a Merry Christmas and a blessed new year.
I’m in awe of all your charitable good works! May 2019 be even more successful in this regard. Wishing you, your family and everyone the happiest of holidays. Cheers!
I don’t do any charitable good works, Debbie–it is all an attempt to feel less useless in the world. I get surrounded by darkness only too often, as we all do, and helping with Project Why is my way of staying useful, of adding to light, not darkness.
Happy holidays to you and yours, and sending you warm hugs. Thanks for your long and consistent support of this blog–means the world to me.
I wish you the best in 2019. I drew a campaign poster on my blog for 2019 and I want to share with you. I hope some part speaks to you! https://i2.wp.com/catherinelanser.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2019_campaign_poster_lanser.png?zoom=1.3312500715255737&w=528&h=656&ssl=1
Thanks for sharing this, Catherine. Wish you happy holidays and a lovely new year!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts about the beginning of the new year… “No one can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending” Maria Robinson
Hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday, Christmas and New Year filled with love and happiness…. 🙂
“It is not easy to find happiness within ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.” Agnes Repplier
Happiness doesn’t need to be found. It is a state of mind, and a choice (a supremely difficult choice at times!)–these holidays, I choose happiness!
Wishing you lots of warmth and happiness, too; may you have a Merry Christmas and a blessed new year.
I wish, your family and all the wonderful WATWB folks a successful 2019. Enjoy your festive break – see you (bloggingly) in 2019.
Thanks, Frank, and thank you for being such an active member of the WATWB family!
i’m wondering how my time flew so fast. So yes just 10 more days left for another new year.
I wish that as this year comes to an end it also ends all the difficulties and as the New Year dawns it brings all the successes and happiness for you and your family. Be happy, keep wandering and blogging.
Thanks, Ayushi. Time flies as we grow older, so we need to slow down and pay greater attention to our surroundings!
Thanks for your lovely wishes, and may the new year bring you all that your heart desires! Happy holidays!
Can i send my life experience here ?
Wishing you, your readers and families, the joy and love of the season. May all your wishes come true.
Thank you so much. We need more joy and love around this world, a lot of warm hugs and smiles. Wishing you all of this and more, and thanks for dropping by, Barbara!
I have nothing to give other than love to all of you. Hopefully my small gift will grow among your readers. Happy Holidays to you!
As we all know, love is the biggest gift of all, and in the giving, multiplies.
Lots of love and warm wishes to you as well.