[Note from the Proprietor: In case you're wondering what it's all about, well, we're smack in the middle of BLOGAPALOOZA! Hey, you're welcome to join in the fun if you like! All ya gotta do is click that cute little link and read all about it!]

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Guest post by Jeanne Dininni who writes over at Writer’s Notes

Blogging at Writer’s Notes during 2008 has brought me so much enjoyment, so many satisfying relationships with fellow bloggers, and such a host of valuable lessons that I’d never trade the experience for anything in the world. Though 2008 was my second year of blogging, so many fascinating things were still waiting to be discovered, as I continued developing my blogging voice and enjoyed the privilege of interacting with all the wonderful people who have shared their thoughts and insights with me in comments.

The following are the posts I’ve learned the most from during each month of 2008 and the reasons why:

January: Writer’s Notes Blog Is One Year Old Today! resulted from my realization of just how important community is to the success of any blog. On my first blog birthday, I therefore decided to distribute “birthday” gifts to all my commenters to show them how much I appreciated them. Recognizing the value of their contribution to the Writer’s Notes conversation during my first year of blogging by handing out these gifts felt great!

February: Keys to Overcoming the Writer’s Fear of Failure was inspired by a cartoon that Brad Shorr at Word Sell, Inc. graciously let me use to illustrate this post. This particular post grew out of several hard-won lessons I’ve learned about the feelings of insecurity that can so easily stalk the writer and some positive, proactive things we can do to combat them.

March: In Conventional Writing Wisdom: It May Be Conventional, But Is it Wisdom? I explore some lessons learned about a few common writing conventions which we often follow blindly, without realizing that at certain times and in certain situations, heeding these rules may not be our best course of action. Many of my readers agreed, and this post received an unusually large number of comments.

April: Inspiration Series, Part 1: People Positive and Negative was the outgrowth of my developing understanding of the positive role that even negative people can play in the creative process. It’s quite a freeing feeling to realize that, once our negative experiences have been properly dealt with and their valuable, albeit painful, lessons learned, we can draw inspiration from even our most unpleasant interactions with those individuals who have little desire to provide it.

May: Penning What I Learned From…A Whole List of Things That Impact My Writing (one of Robert’s always-inspiring 2008 WILF group writing projects) taught me a great deal about just how many things in life inspire thoughts which either directly or indirectly impact our writing-many of them things we wouldn’t, at first glance, think of as having anything at all to do with writing.

June: My post, What About Plagiarism, was the result of an eye-opening experience I had with stolen content. In this piece, I share the lessons learned through my experience, in the hope of arming other writers to combat this widespread problem whenever it affects their work. I was also reminded, through this unsettling situation, just how effective Google Alerts can be in pointing online writers to instances of unauthorized posting of their work, which they likely would never locate otherwise.

July: Motivation to Write: Is There a Magic Formula? is the post I chose, in Joanna Young’s Simply the Best group writing project, as my very best post of 2008. Originally published in June, 2008, as a guest post for Michele Tune’s blog, Writing the Cyber Highway, this piece explores various sources of motivation, sharing some of the helpful tips and methods I’ve learned for tapping them.

August: Writing my post, Women’s Stories Sought for “HandPrints On My Heart” Anthology, was an exercise in sharing a wonderful market I’d found for my own work with my readers. I discovered just how rewarding it felt to be instrumental in helping two of the bloggers I know place their work in this inspirational publication. (In fact, I’m sure the very friendly, pleasant, easy-to-work-with editor/creator of this project-Marlene Moore Gordon-is still accepting submissions, just in case you’d like to send her your story. Marlene plans to turn HandPrints into a series, so she’ll likely have an ongoing need for submissions.)

September: My post, MZM Group Writing Project: What I Learned From…My Friends, was, of course, the result of another of Robert’s monthly group writing projects, which always encourage me to explore life-lessons I’ve learned along the way. And what a rich reservoir of learning this topic was, as I pondered the many gems of wisdom that friends impart to us as we walk the path of life together.

October: Age of Conversation 2 Launches Today was the culmination of my participation in a rewarding opportunity to have my writing published while raising money for charity. A collaborative effort between 237 different bloggers, AOC 2 represented a massive effort, conceived and coordinated by Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton to address some of the issues inherent in the age of Internet communication, while at the same time raising funds for Variety Children’s Charity. Through this project (as well as AOC 1, which inspired me though I didn’t actually participate), I learned that a little work done by many can help raise thousands of dollars for a worthy cause, while providing each participant with a real sense of accomplishment-along with a published essay!

November: Through my post, Dream or Destiny Contest Winner, Interview, and Open Forum, I learned just how much readers appreciate getting the inside scoop on writing and publishing from an honest-to-goodness published author-in this case Lillie Ammann-as I interviewed her about her recently published novel, Dream or Destiny. I also learned that, even more than this, readers appreciate the opportunity to engage one-on-one with a writing professional who has generously offered to answer their publishing questions and does so graciously and in great depth.

December: My last-minute entry into the Cell Phone Users and Abusers contest, hosted at Word Sell, Inc., was a post entitled, The Cell Phone: Both a Blessing and a Curse. While a great deal of real-life experience with such individuals went into the writing of this post, I’d have to say that the main lesson I took away from the exercise was the knowledge that if one ever hopes to win a prize, one must be sure to enter the contest. It turned out that I did in fact win one of several $100 prizes awarded in this contest. (Other prizes were a $500 grand prize and several $50 prizes). That certainly helped make this a post worth writing!

These are some of my lessons learned at Writer’s Notes in 2008. And now, as I enter Year Three of blogging, I can hardly wait to see what new lessons 2009 will bring!

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Jeanne Dininni is a freelance writer, editor, and blogger at Writer’s Notes, who does her best to inform, inspire, and encourage writers to follow their dreams of success.

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[Further note from the Proprietor: Hey, if you're interested in having your own "best of 2008" posts highlighted right here at the Middle Zone, then by all means, click on this link: (BLOGAPALOOZA: What I Learned From 2008) and read all about it! BLOGAPALOOZA will be open for entries from now until Sunday, January 25.]

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