Friday the 13th--Blogger's Down and Now Back Up!

Wouldn't you know it? Right in the midst of a blogathon, where participants must blog 31 days for the month of May, my blogging platform shuts down for maintenance. Not only that, but it loses my last post, the one I wrote on May 12. I just checked; it's still missing, not even in the draft form. Wondering if I'll be able to find it on my Twitter page. But then, I'm not sure if I posted the link on Twitter yesterday.

Okay, well, I'm not deterred. I posted my post on Facebook, and just now transfered that over here, back on Blogger, now that it's fixed. Figured that would be any minute now.

Yeah, well, I didn't wait. I took action on my own. Someone suggested starting up a new blog on a different platform, but I didn't want to take that route. It seemed too drastic and distrusting of Blogger, and since I've been using Blogger since 2007 with nary a challenge (save for this one), I put my trust in the program. And it worked. Expect for that missing post. But now I'm back to writing about joyful living, and all will be well.

Positive thinking and all that.

So here's my Friday the 13th post--and a message to you. It's short. It's sweet. It's to the point:

If things look bleak in front of you, look elsewhere--because sometimes we need to be sidetracked.

When we change things up, that's what keeps us on our toes. It's all good. Don't you think?

Five favorite books

Today is the first "theme day" for this year's blogathon. The group (more than 150 bloggers, I understand) is supposed to write about "five favorite books." Since my theme for the month is about joy, today's post features five favorite books that bring me joy. In no special order, they are:

1)  Holy Bible (King James version, because I like accents, and this one lets you play around with that)

2)  Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein (because I love his fun-loving, childish poetic voice)

3)  Backroads & Byways of Arizona (because I wrote it, duh)

4)  Anything written by Edgar Allan Poe, but mostly the short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher," (He's the only "mystery" writer I've ever enjoyed. His words keep me on the edge, and I love the imagery. His work brings me joy to the extent that it works my imagination--always a good thing.)

5)  The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron (just read muy blog, and you'll know why)

What are your top five?