Battle of the Bands

Nine years of blogging and going strong + Round 10 #BoTB Showdown ‘Celebration’

June 1, 2019 /

It’s hard to believe nine years ago today, I started blogging. I began this crazy little venture to prompt my children’s book, The Tale of Ole Green Eyes. My dreams were big to become a successful self-published author and while I barely broke even I feel I came out ahead in the end.

Years ago I created an e-format of my book through Smashwords and I reckon it’s still there doing nothing, so I thought I’d set it up on Amazon to see if things improve. *cross fingers* Anyhow to celebrate my blogging anniversary, I’m offering a FREE Kindle download of my children’s book, The Tale of Ole Green Eyes. Act fast because it’s only good June 1-5!! 

Writing for a living in the kiddie lit genre was something I wanted and while part of me clings loosely to the idea I’m uncertain when or if I’ll pursue it again but who knows I might surprise myself with a new project in the not-so-distant future.  After all, I keep saying, I want to illustrate one of my children’s stories, so the possibility remains in the back of my head.

A quick sketch created in 2017 after A2Z challenge for my children’s book, There Are Dinosaurs In My Back Yard.

For now, I’m going to enjoy the blogging community for what it is right now, a place to interact with my circle of friends with my passions for mewsic, art, photography, giggles, & random mewsing. Who knows maybe, we’ll share the next nine years together!

At the last minute, I decided to incorporate Round 10 BoTB Showdown into my blogversary celebrations. So, what’s my battle song? Well…that’s obvious don’t you think? Kool & the Gangs 80s disco hit, Celebration.

If you’re one influenced visually then close your eyes before hitting play before each song.  My featured artists today are new discoveries. I hope you enjoy my findings.

Contender #1 — Dragon

Contender # 2 — DJ BoBo

**Poll closes at noon (EST) June 7th**

 

Who gets your vote, Dragon or DJ BoBo?

Tell me which artist is your favorite rendition. There’s no wrong way to vote unless you don’t vote at all.  If you want, you can spill the beans on why you think your artist deserves to win.

You will find more awesome battles underway at some of these blog listed below (not everyone is doing the bi-monthly showdowns now) and if you’d like to be included in the fun, then contact Stephen requesting to be added to the list.

✩ai loves music✩ (Amy), Angels Bark (Michele),  Cherdo on the Flipside,  The Doglady’s Den (Debbie),   Jingle Jangle Jungle (Mary), Mike’s Ramblings,   STMcC Presents BoTB (Stephen, BoTB Manager),   The Sound of One Hand Typing (John), &  Tossing It Out (Lee)

 

Once again, please don’t forget to cast your vote for your favorite artist in June 1st Battle of the Bands in comments. I’ll be back tomorrow with more mewsic. Grab your blue suede shoes and hit the dance floor with ‘your choice song picks‘ with Monday’s Mewsic Moves Me!  X💋X💋, Cathy

35 Comments

    • Cathy Kennedy

      June 7, 2019 at 8:31 am

      Cherdo,

      Thank you, thank you! The years really go by fast, don’t they? I’m glad you got a chance to stop in to cast your vote for DJ Bobo. 😉

  • sandy

    June 3, 2019 at 3:11 pm

    wow congrats on your nine year of blogging and you are writing a book and have written a book, that’s so cool! I’m behind on visiting but hope to catch up and see what you’ve been up to

    • Cathy Kennedy

      June 7, 2019 at 8:39 am

      Sandy,

      No worries on the late visit. Look at me with my late response to your comment? We all have things to do beyond blogging sometimes. Have a good day. 😉

  • Birgit

    June 3, 2019 at 12:06 pm

    Congrats on your 9th anniversary and on the book you wrote. The drawing of the child is well done because you can imagine where he is going and looking for. I vote for Dragon which was fun. The other one made me think the Brady Bunch kids were singing it and the beat got on my nerves…Too Glee club for me.

    • Cathy Kennedy

      June 7, 2019 at 8:44 am

      Birgit,

      Thanks for your sweet words about my child illustration. I really need to get going on the sketches I have in mind for my book and just do it. It’s not going to get done until I commit to it fully. I have your vote recorded for DRAGON. 🙂

  • csuhpat1

    June 2, 2019 at 12:20 pm

    Very cool-nine years of blogging. Congrats to you. Acutally I like “Celebration” by Kool and the Gang better. But I will pick Dragon in this battle.

  • Arlee Bird

    June 1, 2019 at 7:19 pm

    Nice job with the book! I downloaded it and left a review for you. I wish you plenty of success with it.

    My 10th anniversary of starting to blog was last September so now I’m in my 10th year. My blogging intentions have changed a great deal since those early days.

    As far as the BOTB match, both versions are pretty true to the original so it’s a bit tough. However, I’m going to go with Dragon. Their version sounds less canned and I like the punch they put into their version.

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

    • Cathy Kennedy

      June 5, 2019 at 7:49 am

      Lee,

      Thank you for leaving such a lovely review of my humble little book. When our kids were small, social media wasn’t bad yet. Going to visit the grandparents allowed them time away from their usual distractions giving them a sample of how we, their parents grew up. While I love technology, I enjoy periods away from it all to not feeling pressure to check on someone’s status or leave respond to or comment on a post. I miss so much being able to spend long weekends at DH’s boyhood home where we’d sit outside around a campfire long after darkness fell watching little lanterns switch off and on in random order, or so it seemed, in flight. Burnt wood fragranced our hair and clothes which I loved and hated to wash away the scent when I showered for the evening. I long for one more day to do this again. I hope someday we will have a place to recreate a forgotten past for the next generation.

      I have your voted recorded for Dragon, my friend.

  • Mary B

    June 1, 2019 at 2:41 pm

    Dragon puts out a very 80s vibe, but DJ Bobo brought the party and gave us a reason to celebrate. Congrats on your 9 years of blogging. That’s quite an accomplishment! My vote goes to DJ Bobo

    ~Mary
    Jingle Jangle Jungle

    • Cathy Kennedy

      June 5, 2019 at 7:15 am

      Mary,

      Thanks for stopping by to play along. I’m trying to get caught up and nearly forgot about my battle. Anywho, I have you down for DJ BoBo 😉

  • Stephen T. McCarthy

    June 1, 2019 at 1:35 pm

    Major CONGRATULATIONS on your 9th Blogging Anniversary, CATHY!
    I’d love to take you up on your offer but I don’t have a Kindle. (You know me, I’m nearly as Old School as it gets, and I still want pages to turn.)

    I don’t even know how long I’ve been blogging. Let’s see… I think I started in 2008, so… I’m “up to eleven”?

    I also wrote a children’s book manuscript, and tried to get it published through the traditional route. It didn’t happen, but I think I got fairly close.

    I didn’t watch the videos. So, my vote, based solely on the audio is the first one: DRAGON. Why? Because, in the second recording, there was a certain repetitive synthesizer “beat” sound that kind of wore on me after awhile.

    Have a blessed weekend, Cathy, my friend!

    ~ D-FensDogG
    STMcC Presents BATTLE OF THE BANDS

    • Cathy Kennedy

      June 5, 2019 at 7:02 am

      Stephen,

      I used to think I wouldn’t like electronic books. I always loved the coziness of holding a book while I read aloud stories to my kiddies and I’m sure that’ll be the way I will do things with my granddaughter but for my reading pleasure then I prefer keeping my reading material digitally for easier storage and access. It’s so handy. You’ve been at blogging quite a while. That’s interesting you almost published a children’s book. You ought to try self-publishing. It’s really not that bad if you don’t mind promoting yourself. That’s the hardest part for me but some have been quite successful at it. I appreciate you taking time to vote for DRAGON in my June 1st showdown. I’m heading your way now. Have a bandtastic day, my friend!

    • Cathy Kennedy

      June 5, 2019 at 6:56 am

      Sandee,

      Thanks for voting for Dragon in my first battle for June. I’m having a time staying on top of things in Blogosphere. I’m sorry for not responding before now. Have a bandtastic week.

  • Jacqui Murray

    June 1, 2019 at 11:20 am

    Me too–started blogging to promote my books. I wonder how many of us are like that. Now, blogging is its own entity, beloved aside from my fiction writing.

  • Debbie D.

    June 1, 2019 at 10:06 am

    Congratulations on 9 years of successful blogging, Cathy! I didn’t realize you had published a children’s book. Congrats for that, as well. I’ve thought about publishing, but the whole process seems so daunting! Your illustrations would be great additions to your books. As for the battle, (skipping this one, but I’ll have something on the 15th), DJ Bobo brings more joy and exuberance to it, so he gets my vote. Have a good weekend!

    • Cathy Kennedy

      June 1, 2019 at 11:44 am

      Debbie,

      Self-publishing for me wasn’t as daunting as I thought. Mirror Publishing worked beautifully with me providing a good editing team. Loading my book on Amazon wasn’t too hard except I couldn’t manipulate my images exactly as in the printed version. The whole point of setting it up in Kindle format was to make available to my readers at no cost for the next five days. The hardcopy of my children’s books with the larger images looks much better and perhaps after the freebie offer, I can pull this copy off temporarily to work on it further. I’d really like to match up the book version the best I can if possible. Then, maybe I can make it available for free another time. 🙂

      Thanks for voting for DJ Bobo!

      • Debbie D.

        June 1, 2019 at 12:47 pm

        It would be easier with a little help. I was trying to do it all myself and then there’s the tax issue, being in a different country. 😛 Sounds like you have an excellent plan, Cathy. Wishing you much success! BTW, one of my blogging buddies has set up a fabulous blogging group on Facebook. It’s for those of us who are “Old School Bloggers” (meaning looking for social connections rather than trying to sell a lot of stuff). You’d fit right in and your blog would get more exposure. I’ll leave you the link, if you want to check it out and also send you an invite, which you can accept or decline, as you wish. 🙂
        https://www.facebook.com/groups/oldschoolbloggers/

        • Cathy Kennedy

          June 1, 2019 at 1:10 pm

          Debbie,

          I’m happy to help you with Kindle if I can, just let me know. Or, if you’re interested in self publishing then I highly recommend Mirror Publishing. I’m FB friends with the owner. He’s a nice guy. Yes, do include the FB community link and I’ll check it out. Well its time to tackle some yard work. talk to you later, my friend’n

error: Please contact me for permission to download. Thank-you!!

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