Taking a break from CC to work on my blog

[Antonia]

Hi everyone! I'm taking some time off from CC to focus on my blog, something I've been wanting to do for a while. I had started it a few months ago, then got so busy with CC jobs that it seemed I never had energy to work on my own stuff. Then a couple of private clients said they wouldn't need anything for a bit and I thought, #$% it, I'm sick of writing articles for other people anyway!

The blog is a source for people who want to do what they love while traveling around the world, whether they're digital nomads or full-time RV families. It's at http://www.aNomadsLot.com/. As you can tell it's still in the early stages (I don't even have an About page yet) but I would love to get your first impressions and opinions.

Elizabeth, I know you're on a similar journey--I just peeked at your lifeafterhighschool and wow, has it come a long way! It's looking really polished and I love all the new content.

[Celeste Stewart]

Awesome! It's always smart to follow your passions and I'm sure you'll do well blogging nomadically. Just don't forget to schedule some CC time, too

I know what it's like: The cobbler's kids don't have shoes, right? So, get those kids some shoes. . . It's good for the soul (couldn't help myself with the bad pun, but yeah, writing for ourselves really is good for us and we all should make time to do it).

[LaLa]

My first impression is that you've got an amazing blog!

[CRDonovan]

I like your blog, Antonia. Very interesting.

[Elizabeth Ann West]

Hi Antonia!

Your blog is awesome! Where do you get pictures from? That's been the hardest part for me, finding images to go with the blog posts. I took a short hiatus from my blog to write for C-C, and a little bit of fiction writing.

Right now, I am so focused on real life because my stepson is coming to live with us for a year. It's been a CRAZY summer, and that's putting it lightly. So I have to get him enrolled in school, etc. Writing will come in the fall, I think.

[Antonia]

Thanks everyone! Elizabeth, here's how to get awesome pics to use on your blog for free:

1) Go to http://www.flickr.com/search/advanced. This is Flickr's advanced search page.
2) Type in your search term.
3) Scroll down and check the checkbox for "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content." This is important, because you only want to see pics that you can legally use for free.
4) Hit Search...
5) Where it gives you three Sort options at the top, click on Interesting. This is the other really important part.

And there you go--you should now see the cream of the crop laid out before your eyes. If you have a user account you can sign in, but you don't have to have an account. (I like to so I can "favorite" pics to use for later.) I'm sure most people have used Flickr before, but the key is to search Interesting within Creative Commons; otherwise, it's time-consuming to separate the wheat from the chaff. (I just used two cliches in a single paragraph!)

Here's the page that explains what you are allowed to do with Creative Commons pics and how to give attribution:
http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

Hope this helps!

[PeggyTee]

Amazing blog, Antonia, congratulations! I love the Around the World article, about how much it costs to travel across continents. People always think that travel costs an arm and a leg, but it all really comes down to all the things you noted - how you decide to travel, where you go, what you eat and what you do. In the end it's about choices.

Are you planning on tweeting your blog? Might be a good idea to create a twitter account just for your site and tweet new entries as you post them.

Congrats again!

[Jaye]

Lovely inspiring blog Antonia. It's bringing back wistful memories of my previous existence as a nomad, in my life before kids, mortgage, settledom (is that a word?). Miss that feeling of 'where shall I go next!' You have got my feet itching - Anyone want to rent a house in the west of Ireland?!!

[Evelyn]

Count me in, Jaye, if I can bring my dogs and my gardens. Oh, and my husband, almost forgot about him.

[Antonia]

Peggy, I did set up a Twitter account but haven't done anything with it yet--well actually my WP theme sends out tweets automatically, but nobody knows about them! LOL. On my to-do list...

Jaye--Ireland is one of the places my husband and I have talked about visiting! We're also playing with the idea of buying a house in India and renting/sharing it as a writer's retreat while we travel around. How fun would it be to trade houses for a few months?

[Jaye]

Evelyn - don't worry about the husband - you can have mine.

Antonia - fabulous idea. India is top of my list of places to revisit - suppose I will have to bring the husband along after all! Seriously though, keep me posted on that one - you never know...!