#SOSS - A F4Thought Special

#SOSS - A #F4Thought Special

As you all know we took a break from Food for Thought this past week to allow us to begin again on Tuesday 24th September with a new schedule. The last 15 weeks of hosting F4Thought has been incredible and we have been overwhelmed with the support you’ve all shown us and your willingness to get involved. 

Each week we feature a spotlight post, or three if we get above 25 entries to any given prompt. Choosing those spotlight posts each week wasn’t always easy because quite often we really loved more than one post. Also because we take turns in choosing we don’t always have the same favourites. So May came up with a fabulous idea that would allow us to share more of the posts we loved.

F4TFriday #113 - The Why of Blogging

#F4TFriday #113 The Why of Blogging

#113 - The Why of Blogging

Thank you to everyone who was inspired to share their thoughts on the prompt chosen by Swirly - ‘Rituals.' It’s interesting to see the various aspects of life where we all embrace rituals, or in some cases how folks don't place importance on rituals. We got beautifully varied perspectives and we loved it. The spotlight post this week has been chosen by the talented Cousin Pons. Let me hand you over to him...

#112 - Spotlight Post

Spotlight Post by Cousin Pons

Thank you to all nineteen writers for your posts on the subject of Rituals. I have been taken on an emotional journey through posts containing pain, suffering, joy, elation, sadness and moments filled with humour. For some rituals and routines are the bedrock of their lives and for others they are the habits, which rumble along, almost unnoticed. It was difficult to choose. So many excellent posts. I loved Mr More's and some of the others were very moving and my eyes are still full of tears of laughter after reading Nero's entry.

The post I would like to put in the Spotlight is Rituals and Memories by Swirling Fire. I have always been interested in memory and the tricks it can play on us. Swirling Fire describes, in her very matter of fact way, how her well structured and ordered day, was suddenly thrown into a sickening turmoil by the arrival of a text just before she went to work. It was an innocuous text but the timing of it precisely mirrored a dreadful one she had received years earlier.

“It took me to the exact second of receiving a mindWizard text in the past, it was early in the day, before work, and timed the day before a long pre-arranged weekend together. Coldly Informing me that he had a new woman. We would not be communicating in future. I had also spent money on new lingerie, outfits, turned down work bookings, looking forward to spending time with him. It never once crossed my mind the sentiment was not reciprocated. The tidal wave of manipulation and hurt was a full body blow that I couldn’t calm. Why my mind creates these painful synapses needs to be explored and worked upon. It’s an unkind unhelpful reflex.” Read More...

Prompt #113 - The Why of Blogging

F4TFriday #100 - Landmarks

 

This is the 100^th Food For Thought Friday prompt. If you'd asked me when I started this meme if I ever thought I'd manage to keep it going this long, I would almost certainly have said "no". That it has kept going so long is, in the main, down to the support of those of you (59 of you so far) who have provided contributions week after week to the questions that I and several others have set. So, I would like to offer sincere and very heartfelt thanks to those that have supported and contributed.

This is, however, to be the last prompt that I will be setting. Sadly I no longer have time to devote to this project. However, all is not lost. The lovely May (@May_Matters) of Sex Matters, and Floss (@_floss_84) of Floss Does Life have kindly agreed to step in and take up the reins to keep this meme alive.

F4TFriday #98 - Spread A Little Love

 

The sex blogging community is, above all, a community. We discuss topics that people find difficult to be open about, we promote body/sex/self positivity, we share our experiences, our hopes and fears, and we do it in the knowledge that our fellow bloggers do not judge us.

Having said that, scratch the surface of any blogger hard enough and, underneath you will find a regular human being, who has their own particular tastes and likes.  Part of what makes this community so great is its diversity; the range and breadth of content from contributors is such that there is something out there for everyone to enjoy.

So, in the interests of sharing some love and support for the community of which we are part, we would like you to do something a little different:

F4TFriday - 2018 In Review

As we said last week, there's no question this week, but we're keeping last week's link up open so you can still add to it with details of your festive frolics and seasonal shenanigans if you want to.

First of all, we would just like to say a huge

THANK YOU!
to the 37 bloggers who have contributed a staggering 236 posts in response to the 47 prompts that we have run this year. Your contributions have been fantastic and we simply couldn't do this without your support.

Of those 37 bloggers, 28 of you joined in for the first time this year; with the remaining 9 bloggers rejoining us after our period of hiatus. I am sure everyone has enjoyed reading each other's contributions this year and we are looking forward to seeing what everyone dishes up for us in the year ahead.

Our top 10 contributors accounted for an astonishing 164 posts (a very apt 69% of the total...), so we would offer extra special thanks to the following bloggers for going above and beyond:

• Kilted Wookie - @Kilted_Wookie
• Marie Rebelle - @RebelsNotes
• Moist Musings - @MoistMusings
• dommewithdogs
• submissy - @5ubmissy
• Julie (Master's Pleasing Bitch) - @MPBjulie
• Witty - @PuppetPanpan96
• Miss Scarlet - MissScarletUK
• kisungura - @kisungura
• Wriggly Kitty - @wriggly_kitty

Like many in the blogging community, we were shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of M of Cammies On The Floor earlier this year. M was a long time supporter of this site, a fantastic blogger and an all round wonderful human being and she will be greatly missed. A number of bloggers wrote tributes to her, and if you wish to do so, you can read them here. That particular link up is still open, so if you would like to add your own tribute, please feel free to do so.

So, whether you are a contributor, a reader or if you have suggested a question, all that remains if for us to say thank you yet again for your support, and to wish you health, happiness and health in the coming new year and beyond.

F4TFriday #75 - Being Thankful

 

It's not a holiday we celebrate in the UK, but yesterday was Thanksgiving in the US.

As the year begins to draw to a close, and the holiday season looms ever closer, this is often a time for reflection.

So, this week, all we want to know is:

What are the things in your life that you are most thankful for?

PS: If there's a question you'd like us to ask, feel free to contact us via the suggestion box or on twitter

F4TFriday #70 - Brick Walls and Inspirations

 

A few weeks back, we asked you about how you got started in the blogging community. While starting a blog is a big step, keeping it going can, at times, seem a daunting task.

In the early days of your blogging career, you may be bursting with ideas that you want to explore and set down as you find your voice and style. Later, as you become more established, things may level off and you are comfortably able to keep your blog ticking over.

Sometimes, however, things get trickier; the ideas run out, the imagination fails, you hit a creative brick wall. It happens, as they say, to the best of us.

With that in mind, what we want to know this week is:

Where do the ideas for your content come from?

How do you get inspiration? Who or what inspires what you post?

How do you decide  what to share, and why?

Once again, I am indebted to the wonderful Marie Rebelle, author of Rebel's Notes and host of #WickedWednesday (aka @RebelsNotes) for providing the inspiration for this week's question.
 
PS: If there's a question you'd like us to ask, feel free to contact us via the suggestion box or on twitter.

F4TFriday #66 - Starting Out

If you participate in this meme, the chances are that you have a blog. Within this community, some of us post photos, some of us write fiction/poetry, some of us share our thoughts and feelings on a range of topics. Quite frequently, many of us do a combination of all of these. In doing so, we become part of and contribute to a rich and diverse community who discuss topics that others may shun, frankly and freely; supporting our fellow bloggers without judging; accepting that another person's drives and desires may be entirely different from our own.

Taking the plunge and starting a blog can, however, be a scary thing; not least because the topics we discuss are frequently those that others consider "taboo". Bearing our soul is seldom easy, and by nature of the topics we write about, the things about ourselves that we share are some of the most intimate aspects of our lives and run deep to the heart of who we are.

It will soon be that time of year when Molly and Kinkly start asking for nominations for their Top 100 blogs, and many other bloggers start producing their own lists of their favourites. This week, however, as a means of celebrating this wonderful community of ours, we want you to think about your own work, and so we are asking:

How did you first become aware of the blogging community?

What made you decide to take the plunge and join in?

How did you decide on the type of content you would share?

Have you achieved the goals you wanted when you started blogging and have these changed over time?

What have been the most positive aspects of being a blogger?

Have there been any negative aspects of being a blogger?

PS: If there's a question you'd like us to ask, feel free to contact us via the suggestion box or on twitter.