Friday, September 11, 2009

Thing #5 - So many books, so little time

STEP INTO MY OFFICE . . .
(just move something and have a seat;-)


Here I'm trying to learn how to post a picture from Flickr's "Creative Commons". After finding a picture in Creative Commons (the only Flickr photos that can be used on my own blog page), check lower right column to be sure it's permissible. The click the little blog picture over the photo. (Clicking on the picture will automatically take you back to the original Flicker page where more information about the picture is available.)
dianneb

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Stephen Carter and Dianne


Stephen Carter and Dianne
Originally uploaded by AABDGRL
At the National Book Club Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, this past August, 2009, I had the pleasure of meeting Stephen Carter, author of Emperor of Ocean Park, New England White, and Palace Counsel. I asked him if the underground organization made up of wealthy black men who influence congressional and presidential elections was real, he said,

"I'll tell you what I tell all the CEO's, Congressmen, college professors, and heads of state when they ask, which is this: It's only fiction."

Flickr

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

To Flickr or not to Flickr

In order to review all the things "Thing#5" asked me to review, I would need a couple of days. There is a lot of encouragement here to sign-up with Flickr, that won't let you sign-up without listing you birth date?!?. That makes me uncomfortable. I'll need to revisit this to determine how to post a picture from my computer.

Thing # 4 - My Struggle

This has been a struggle for me, but I think I now have a handle on how to post my URL on the Tracking Log, create a new blog entry, and access by blog page. (After creating my first blog I went off for long weekend and returned to my blog page and drew a blank.) I think, I'm ready for Thing #5.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Thing #3 - Getting Started

Hello,

This is my first blog site.  I set it up to satisfy the 23 Things requirement. 

Prior to setting up this blog, I saw a video about the 71/2 Habits of Life Long learners.  First the film explained what learning is, then how we learn, and then reviewed what our past learning experiences might have been.   After reviewing what some obstacles to learning might be, the video got into the 71/2 habits of life long learners. 

The video was a fantastic message about learning that I wish everyone could have access to.  I felt fortunate that almost all the things on the list of habits were things I do all the time anyway.  Anyway, if I keep this blog going later it will be to service me and my book lover friends.  I've already created an introduction below.
***
Welcome to BOOK CLUBS HEAVEN. This blog site has been created as a place for book club lovers, members, leaders, or book club wannabees to share ideas, good book titles and/or challenges encountered while engaged in the book club experience.

The idea to create this blog page grew out of a breakout session at the August 2009 National Book Club Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. A woman from the audience asked if someone could help her learn how to formulate questions she could use to stimulate discussion at her meetings. I answered her question, siting a book on conducting book club discussions that I found in the Rockville Library back home in Maryland. The woman pushed a slip of paper into my hand with her e-mail address and asked me to e-mail the sample questions from that book to her.

Before the day was over, 20 more people who had attended that session had also given me their e-mail addresses so they could get a copy of the questions as well.

After returning home and sending copies of the questions, along with the title of the book and the author's name, to all that had requested them, I received so many e-mails back thanking me, asking other questions (one group asked if they could visit one of my book club meetings), and telling me to stay in touch.

The experience reminded me of my own thirst for knowledge about book clubs years ago when I was trying to start one. For those who have attended or lead book club sessions for years, doing so seems as easy as unlocking a car door. However, to new comers, there are a million questions that, if left unanswered, can cause the club to fail.

I decided to try to form some kind of an information exchange for all those people who e-mailed me whereby we could each ask questions and get answers back from those who may have already dealt with that problem. Now, at the same time, work was slow on my job, so I decided to get started on my "23 Things" an on-line learning program. Well you can pretty much figure out the rest. The idea for the blog page "Book Clubs Heaven" was born, once I reached "Thing #3" and had to create a blog page:)

So if you're in a book club or want to be in one, I hope you'll visit this page often and contribute whenever you can. Your comments and contributions will always be welcomed. Y'all come back now, ya' hear?

DianneB