Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Thanksgiving Special – #WritingCommunity #2022 #Gratitude by Sally Cronin

I appreciate that officially we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving on this side of the Atlantic, but we are, within the blogging community, a global family who ignore lines drawn on a map that determine nationality. I thought this offered me the opportunity to thank special people who have made a difference to both my blog and me personally not just on one day a year, but every day.

As I approach my tenth year of blogging in 2022, I know that there is likely to be quite a bit of change in my life on a personal level, certainly a house move, and although not likely to be too far in mileage terms, it does represent a lot of work before, during and after moving which is likely to be time consuming. It also means that I may be offline for extended periods of time.

We moved into this neglected former B&B five years ago, with an overgrown garden that stretched over the back of the house, warped wooden floors and broken appliances. It needed new windows throughout, front door, complete redecoration inside and outside, new carpets, bathroom fittings, boiler and radiators.

We have finally finished the landscaping of the garden this last month and are just about to do a redecoration inside to freshen the place up before putting on the market.

Whilst I will be sad to leave this house that has become our home, I will be even sadder to leave behind all my feathered friends they have brought us so much pleasure.. although I hope to make many more wherever we end up.

My husband David is 70 in January and I follow a year later. We don’t feel we are becoming old and doddery, but physically we need to pace ourselves. Especially if Covid and regulations permitting, we can finally knock a few destinations and reunions off our bucket list. With less time before us than behind… we need to make the most of every minute.

I also have some offline projects that I would like to complete next year and so there will be some tweaks to the blogging schedule. My intention is to still provide an effective platform for authors, with promotions for new books, my own reviews and special features and the cafe and bookstore will become the Smorgasbord Bookshelf in the New Year.

There will also be music in the Breakfast Show already prepped and ready to go, with some repeat of columns on Travel from Debby Gies and I will be resharing the Cook from Scratch series that I co-hosted with Carol Taylor a few years ago.

Blogger weekly will go out at the weekends.. sharing recommended posts.

I will be sharing more podcasts aired during the week with book reviews and on occasion short stories. Looking forward to developing that more as the year progresses.

I will continue with the funnies in one form or another.. and the odd afternoon video.

Flexibility is the key word for 2022 and later in the year once we have moved and are settled there may be more changes to the schedule.

I will post more details on the changes before Christmas, but in the meantime I would like to take this opportunity to thank some amazing people who contribute to the blog on a regular basis, and also to those who have supported in so many ways. Sharing posts on social media and their own blogs and in particular commenting, which always delights me, as one of my aims was to create a watering hole for people to intereact with each other.

An amazing group of contributors who bring their expertise and talent to the weekly line-up.

William Price King – American Jazz singer, musician and composer has been writing the Music Column for the last seven years. This year The Breakfast Show every Tuesday hosted by the two of us has been showcasing the hits of the 1960s onwards.

Blog– IMPROVISATION – William Price King on Tumblr – Buy William’s music: William Price King iTunes – Facebook – William Price King – Twitter – @wpkofficial
Regular Venue – Cave Wilson

Carol Taylor living in Thailand following along career in the catering industry who has written the Food and Cookery Column for the last four years. In 2021 Carol brought The Green Kitchen to Smorgasbord with a wonderful mix of food, recipes, sustainability, conservation and commonsense..

Connect to Carol – Blog: Carol Cooks 2 – Twitter: @CarolCooksTwo – Facebook: Carol Taylor

D.G. Kaye – Debby Gies – Non-fiction and memoir author who loves to pack her suitcase and take off to warmer climes and wrote the Travel Column for two years before sharing her wise words on relationships in 2020 and 2021.

Read all the reviews and buy the books: Amazon US – and: Amazon UK – follow Debby: Goodreads – Blog: D.G. Kaye Writer – About me: D.G. Kaye – Twitter: @pokercubster – Linkedin: D.G. Kaye – Facebook: D.G. Kaye – Instagram: D.G. Kaye – Pinterest: D.G. Kaye

For the last two years author Daniel Kemp has permitted me to share his funnies from his facebook page in the Open Mic Night…

Daniel Kemp, ex-London police officer, mini-cab business owner, pub tenant and licensed London taxi driver never planned to be a writer, but after his first novel –The Desolate Garden — was under a paid option to become a $30 million film for five years until distribution became an insurmountable problem for the production company what else could he do?

In May 2018 his book What Happened In Vienna, Jack? became a number one bestseller on four separate Amazon sites: America, UK, Canada, and Australia.

A selection of books by Daniel Kemp

Read the reviews and buy the books also in audio: Amazon UK – And : Amazon US – follow Daniel: Goodreads – Website: Author Danny Kemp – Facebook: Books by Daniel – Twitter:@danielkemp6

In the last year it has been entertaining to have another Open Mic regular join the comedy team..Author Malcolm Allen

About Malcolm Allen

The author was born in London UK and experienced a challenging childhood, leaving school with no academic qualifications at the age of 15. He had mixed fortunes in his early working days but managed to secure a job in the banking industry at the age of 19. During a period of 32 years he enjoyed a demanding and successful career in London, the pinnacle of which was becoming a Company Director at the age of 37. Following a life changing experience in November 1998 he emigrated to Perth, Western Australia in September 2001, relocating to his current home in Melbourne, Australia in November 2015.

Buy the books: Amazon US – And:Amazon UK – And: Amazon AU

Thank you for all the kindness and support…. you are all amazing.

I know how much time it takes to visit, like, comment and share on social media and really appreciate every single moment you spend here on Smorgasbord. Because of that support, the blog has reached thousands of people across the world over the last ten years. Something I could not have achieved on my own. By sharing posts such as the Cafe and Bookstore, you have helped hundreds of authors reach a wider audience of potential readers, which in turn has helped me develop this platform to promote both them and their books. You have offered friendship, expertise, debate, new ideas through guest posts and comments and I consider myself to be very privileged.

Apart from reading, writing and tequila…. music is a key element of my life I am grateful for, so I hope you will enjoy….ABBA.. Thank you for the music.. and everything else I am grateful for in my life on and offline.ABBA 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the kindess and generosity you have shown me over the years and I hope you will continue to accompany me on this adventure for many more years to come.

 

Wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving wherever you are around the world Sally