My first thoughts about blogging were: ” Who do you think you are and why would anyone want to listen to what you have to say in the first place?” I have no earthly idea, but I am going to step out into the footlights anyway.

My day job is as a scientist. This fall I got more involved with Twitter. I swear my vocabulary doubled the few months after I got serious on Twitter because I had been stuck in a scientific writing rut.  As such, part of my fear of blogging was that I was so used to doing technical writing that I would be boring and dry. If you want to know how to put widget A into slot B, I’m your gal. No boys, do not contact me regarding this matter. Aaaanyway, I had paired my photographs with poetry, mostly micro poetry like Haiku, for years. I had always wanted to combine them but did not have a platform. Many were in the form of a text to my husband so they were getting lost in the ethernet. Turns out Haiku work well on Twitter because of the 140 character rule. Then I started following the *right people on Twitter and everything fell into place. But more on that later.

* people I connected with, usually creative and/or humorous

The Echo Part:

Echoes stands for the echoes of my past dancing around in my head. Sometimes the echoes are of tears and sometimes they are of laughter. I prefer to listen to the laughter as a coping mechanism. Part of the reason I am on Twitter and am now blogging is to try to quiet these haunting echoes through humor and sharing. Oh, and I have a little Green Cheeked parrot named Echo who snuggles when he’s not focused biting me. Hmmmm, sounds relatable, see “Why I am the Luckiest Girl in the World”.

The Dancing Part:

Dancing is an echo of my former self (for the most part I have stopped due to catastrophic injuries) and yet dancing still infuses everything I do. Music has a profound effect on me. It pierces through my being and goes right to my core. If I’m focused on an important task, I cannot listen to music because I will start to choreograph movements in my head.  Much to my friends and colleagues dismay, I have been known to break out into dance at random times in random places. Nothing in my life makes me feel as connected as when I am dancing full body and soul with complete abandon. I also have, at any given time, a sound track in my head. Gunmetal Geisha talks about her experience with this quite eloquently in her blog: “The Moment of Melting”. The first time I read this I had a visceral reaction in understanding that I am not alone with this characteristic.

Why Blog:

We’ve all lost something whether it be a person, an ability or something intangible like our innocence or youth. Loss is the common thread of humanity. However, not to bum anyone out, I also think my life is a laugh-riot. This past September I came to know and fall in love with a few expressive, creative folks on Twitter, most of them through following Alfageeek. Some of them have blogs. I am in awe of these folks. They make me cry and laugh but most of all they make me think, see (REDdog at Shed Reflections, Alfageeek, Gunmetal Geisha, Aussa Lorens, Cursitivity, Siren Whispers, The Woman Formerly Known as Beautiful) and if you are not already following them, I highly recommend it.  Even while they intimidate the hell out of me they inspire me to find my voice. With each of these bloggers I find a common thread that I can relate to through my own personal experiences. I don’t really feel I have anything new to say about life that hasn’t already been said before, but I can offer my bent perspective. While I like the challenge of 140 characters on Twitter, sometimes as Alfageeek says “For When 140 Letters are Not Quite Enough”, he is right, they are not always enough, hence the blog. Like most of you, I’m laughing to keep from crying. I never take myself too seriously and that has also been my motto in life. I find the funny side to every situation and sometimes even laugh inappropriately, similar to Aussa, see “I Almost Died on Thursday”). Another bent attribute is my penchant for putting a sexual spin on most anything. My brain always has one foot in the gutter. I find this aspect of my personality amusing. You have to really know me before I will let you see this side (unless you are on Twitter). On the surface I come across as a very serious, nerdy, ice princess (not to mention my dislike for touching) while in reality, most of the time the chances are good that on the inside I am thinking like a horny 14-year-old boy looking for trouble. Hopefully as I become more comfortable with this “blog thingy”, I may show more of this side to my personality. So Dancing Echoes it is. Besides, Humping Echoes was already taken.

The Double REDdog Dare:
I had contemplated a blog for a while. Over Christmas break, on my birthday actually, I set up a WordPress site and set it to “private” while I worked out the details and put on my “Big Girl Pants”. I figured it was now or never. The birthday clock was ticking (I am older than any of the bloggers I follow). I was following REDdog at Shed Reflections and really liked his stories. I was so impressed with the creative concept of his “origins of his nickname” piece I asked him if I could take his “personal bestowing of a nickname” quiz even though I was a bit late to this party, see “A Liddle Bitta Straya Goes A Long Way”.

Low and behold I got this email:

Howdy,

The WordPress.com user REDdog (username ‘reddog766’) requested access to view your private site at https://dancingechoes.com/

“Hoooly shit!” I said to myself, “How did he find me?” In my stupidity, I thought I was registered as a reader only, not a blogger. Since my new blog site was set to “private” I thought I was flying under the radar. Silly girl.

Then the following correspondence ensued:

Dear Reddog,

I will gladly grant you access to my site once I am up and running. I have my site private because I am just now setting it up and I don’t have anything posted. I also have a bad case of chicken shit. I fear I have nothing to say or that I can’t keep up with the likes of you or the other bloggers I follow and admire. So, if I get my act together and courage up, you will be the first to know because you already believe in me, even before I do.

Regards,

C

His reply:

G’day C,

Thanks for your reply, much appreciated. It’s okay to be chicken shit, I think that must be a normal thing when we start out, I didn’t think I had anything to say when I started either…still don’t…which probably explains why I haven’t written much lately. Anyhoo, for what it’s worth, I reckon you could just start with whatever’s on your mind today and go from there. In fact, you could write about not having anything to write about and I bet you’d have an entire post before you know what’s happened.

Anyway, I made contact because I’m always curious when a new follower turns up out of the blue. Like, how did you find me? And, why would you bother following? It’s an interesting world the blogging community.

I wish you luck and look forward to being one of your avid followers forever and ever.

Respect REDdog

So without further adieu, time for some recognition and shameless, well-intentioned brown-nosing.

A special thanks to REDdog: http://shedreflections.com/, I got my nickname, go see A Liddle Bitta Straya..) and I’m holding you to your promise. Not sure how I found you since this rabbit hole has taken many twists and turns but I think it was from a reference or comment in one of Aussa’s blogs.

A special thanks to Alfageeek: http://alfageeek.wordpress.com/, You are the center of this crazy vortex in finding the smart, funny, creative, inspiring people. I have absolutely no idea how I initially connected to you on Twitter, but I am sure glad I did.

An inspirational thanks to:
Aussa Lorens: http://aussalorens.com/
Gunmetal Geisha: http://gunmetalgeisha.com/
Siren Wispers: http://sirensong1208.wordpress.com/
Cursitivity: https://cursitivity.wordpress.com/
The Woman Formerly Known as Beautiful: http://thewomanformerlyknownasbeautiful.com/

There are many other amazing bloggers I follow that I have not mentioned here but this chicken shit thanks you too. My blog is no longer set to “private” so it’s time now time to go lay this egg.