If you were peeking inside my parsonage windows right now, you’d see me sitting at my bar counter in front of my computer. The truth is, I follow the sun!  Up until about 4:00 in the afternoon, I like being in the kitchen because that’s where the cheeriness is!  I do adore the sunshine.

The reason I’m sitting here is to write my post for tomorrow’s blog.  I typically like to write the next days’ post in early to mid-afternoon.  I can write it, then schedule it to post first thing in the morning.  Most mornings it’s up at 6 a.m.  So if you take a peek, that’s where you’ll find me in the afternoon.

As I sit down to write today, I am thinking about many that have told  me they don’t have a clue how to “follow” my blog, or how to leave a comment.  So thought it might be helpful  to give a little tutorial about how to do those two things.  Are you ready?

My first suggestion is to open another window and bring up my blog again.  Use this post to read the directions, then go to the other window to do it.  If that’s confusing to you, don’t worry about it! 

How to follow a blog:
 Perhaps you’re wondering why you would want to follow a blog.  On this blog, you can receive email updates on my posts.  It also gives the author (me) and other people an idea of who is reading.  It is truly an encouragement to me that people are following, and it can encourage others to read also.  So, to follow, you simply:

1. Scroll down to where the widget says, “Followers”. You’ll find this over on the right hand side fairly near the top.
2. Click on “Join this site”.
3. It will say, “Sign in using an account you’ve already created.”  If you have a Google, Yahoo or Twitter account, then you simply sign in.  If you don’t have an account in any of those places, click on “Create a Google Account.”  It’s free and painless.  It won’t harm your computer.  Just follow the directions.
4. When you’ve finished with the Google account you can now join a blog’s following.  You can click to join publicly, which means your picture you’ve provided will pop up on that blog, (or just your name if you have no picture), or you can follow privately.

How to leave a comment:

1. Click on “Comment” at the bottom of a post.
2. On the right hand side of the page is the space for you to enter your comment. Type your comment in the box.
3.  Beneath that are the identity options. (Some of these may not be available, depending on other blog’s settings.)

   The options are these:

   •Google Account: Your display name will appear, along with a link to your profile and your photo (if you have one) You’ll need to type in your google account and password.
   •Open ID – Not exactly sure what this is – but for now, don’t use i•Anonymous: No identifying information is displayed. The comment is credited to “Anonymous” without a link.Name URL – I believe this allows anonymous comments.       A personal note – be a woman of character and only leave an anonymous comment if you’re not saying something negative.  If what you’re saying is true, own up to your identity.  Even if you don’t have a Google or Yahoo account, you can sign into Anonymous, then type your name at the end of the comment.  =)
4. Sign in to the identity of your choice.
5. You can click “Preview” if you want to read your comment before you publish it.
6.  Click “Publish Comments”
7. If it would happen to not want to publish it (and this can happen and be frustrating), I’ve heard that if you sign out of the blog it may send your comment.  That sounds illogical, but they say sometimes that’s what you need to do.

So, what do you think?  Was this helpful? 

From my parsonage window,