Cherished Blogfest 2017

I am reblogging this post from the Cherished Blogfest, but this is not your ordinary reblog. Ordinary reblogs allow you add a little bit of introductory text and then WordPress controls the division, linking, etc.

I wanted more control.

As you will see, the Cherished Blogfest is tangled up with the the We Are The World Blogfest (WATWB) , in more ways than one. These two blogfests are also tangled up with me, in more ways than one.

Several years ago, I started following Damyanti Biswas on WordPress. Damyanti has been a special friend of mine almost since that first meeting. She was one of the first people in this worldwide community to encourage my writing. She introduced me to several other writers, whom she had gathered into a small group, and although I was initially afraid to join them, they have become some of my best online friends. Through their support and by their example, I have become a better writer.

Damyanti had the idea for the Cherished Blogfest, and brought it to that group. Last summer, after the Cherished Blogfest, Damyanti wanted to do something else. She wanted to find a way to highlight good news, to offset all the negative articles on the web. I started tweeting links to good news articles and tagging them with Damyanti’s Twitter handle. It helped, but it wasn’t enough. Damyanti wanted a movement.

In February, she began organizing the WATWB. She reached out to our slightly larger but still purposefully small group, and some of the members agreed to co-host WATWB. I wasn’t one of them. I was too busy, and I knew that I would be too busy until autumn. I never doubted the fact that WATWB would succeed, I just couldn’t help in a way that would be meaningful. I have participated each month, and I have enjoyed writing those posts, and in September, I will join some old friends, and some new acquaintances as a co-host.

So, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that while I was ready to skip the Cherished Blogfest for 2017, to yield the floor, as it were, to the WATWB, Damyanti asked if we could find a way to do both. Actually, her request helped us to solve two problems. Hence (here comes the reblog part):

Cherished Blogfest 2017

If you’re wondering when we are going to open the sign-up list for the Cherished Blogfest, you’re not alone. Several people have been asking. The good news is that we are preparing for this popular blogging event, but we are going to change the date. The 2017 edition of the Cherished Blogfest will take place in mid-October. The list will be active from Friday, October 13th through Sunday, October 15th.

…click to read more of this post (139 more words).