Guest Post: Jillian, of Jillian Loves, on Blogging

photo credit: pni Such A Trooper via photopin (license)

Courage courses where it chooses to course.

It could be in voicing your heart or remaining silent. It’s there when you retreat and also when you walk up to the table of strangers and say hello, not knowing what to expect or how your life is about to change forever, potentially. But you do it.

Today’s guest blogger knows courage.

Jillian writes Jillian Loves, and once wrote Finishing is Winning. Like many of us, Jillian loves to write. Like many of us, Jillian struggles to find the time to sit down (or even lean against something) and actually get her fingers on the home keys.

Today, Jillian is here to talk about the reasons she stopped blogging – and reasons she should start again.

Please give her a warm CD welcome. And be sure to check out her blogs – both of them – when you get a chance. Also, in the comments, please share some of your owns struggles and trimphs when it comes to this affliction we call blogging.

Would You Do Something Bold for Love? I Just Did.

One of my blogging friends once made a bold move for love.

You might know her. She’s April, and she writes a beautiful blog called Stories of our Boys. In The Boldest Thing I Ever Did for Love, she tells the tale of how she bent the Southern guide to dating etiquette like an aluminum can and changed her world forever.

(I won’t ruin the ending – go see it yourself.)

April’s words gave me thought, and I socked away her link for the right time. Here we are, a month from Valentine’s Day, an itchy holiday to many on which bold moves are most likely to happen.

Guest Post: Cassie, of Secure Thoughts, on Parental Control Tips for Holiday Gifts

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Grace sprung for her own tablet recently.

She justified the purchase – and also a llama keychain made from real llama fur and a tiny Peruvian blanket – as good investments, the kind of thing she could pass down to her kids someday. (I love this idea.)

One thing I need to pass down to my own kids: A plan for cyber security, not just for the content she can access, but to protect her accounts online.

That’s where Cassie comes in. She writes for a website called Secure Thoughts. No, this isn’t a site that safeguards my dreams of pizza buffets with Katlyn Carlson. It’s Internet security for everyday people. You know, like you and me.

Guest Post: Mo, of Mocadeaux, on Plethora

The search for the right word can sometimes be like this.

This one time, Grace thought she’d become famous.

All it took was a parade. We’d talked in church about joining the Pride Parade a few years ago. Grace heard keywords – parade … ride a float … matching T-shirts! She was stoked. So I explained what the Pride Parade meant.

She remained stoked.

We didn’t end up walking. She went off with the grandparents that day. The conversation happened, though. When I wrote about it, today’s guest poster, Mo of Mocadeaux, chimed in on the CD for the first time.

Go Ask Daddy About Oafs, Sponge Years and Celebrity Breakups

“Laterz, Barack. Let’s kick it again sometime.”

“How in the world was I ever a student?”

In the midst of a work post, the utter stubbiness of my attention span – and ability to comprehend anything not about food, soccer or Star Wars – couldn’t be ignored. “They didn’t have as much stuff for you to learn back then,” Grace piped up.

“And they didn’t have all the ways we could learn stuff back then.”

Immediately I saw myself in my sabre-toothed tiger jumper, all Paleolithic-like in a schoolhouse like the ones on Little House on the Prairie. Oh, these kids.

Guest Post: Olympian Leo Manzano, on The American Dream

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Seems like there’s lot of hurdles in these upcoming Summer Games.

Only some are on the track. Headlines about doping, violence, killer mosquitoes and more steal the Olympic glare from the attraction we tune in for most: The competitors. To me, the Olympics has always been a treasure chest of stories, just waiting.

Today’s guest post comes from an Olympic athlete I’m honored to have here.

Leonel Manzano carried two nations’ flags during his victory lap in the 2012 London Games. A Mexican immigrant, Leo won the first American track and field Olympic medal since 1968. His performance came to symbolize the American dream to me.

Guest Post: Jenn Crowell, on Pragmatism

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You know you’re cool when your blog URL is your actual name.

That alone isn’t what makes today’s guest poster cool. Jenn Crowell, of, you guessed it, JennCrowell.com, has written three critically acclaimed novels: Necessary Madness, Letting the Body Lead, and Etched On Me.

If you read Seventeen magazine, you might have seen her byline (I won’t judge.)

She’s here today taking on the Wednesday Word Challenge from Deb Runs. This is crazy. It’s like one of those three-team trades they used to do in Major League Baseball. So yes, Jenn’s here on Coach Daddy to take part in Deb’s Challenge.

Guest post: Diana Tierney of Creating Herstory, on Women We Wish Could Have Blogged

photo credit: Carrie Fisher cracking up between takes via photopin (license)

Somewhere between A and Z, I found Diana Tierney.

In the random road map of discovering new blogs through the A to Z Challenge, I clicked on Diana’s blog, Creating Herstory. Diana discusses and celebrates women who make history. As father to three who might someday, I have an interest.

With a book in the works, Diana writes a blog about women you don’t know and a few you do. Diana reviews books and also connects to any of us who write with a section called My Writing Journal.

Diana’s here today to highlight five women in history she wish had blogs. Can you imagine? I also picked the lead art today of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia. For me, she was the first kick-ass diva I’d encountered. And then there’s Rey (below).

Guest Post: Elle, of Elle Sees, on Beauty 🙈

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It’s good to branch out.

I’ve done this blogging thing for a few years. I couldn’t really find my man tribe, because, well, they’re not there. I’ve gravitated toward the moms out there. I’m like the Navajo scout who helps lead the white man around in the wilderness in a Western movie.

I’ve accumulated friends of all ages, lifestyles and writing styles. Sundry genres.

Even beauty blogs. I felt strange, at first, yes. Like, when I walk into one of those mall lotion stores all by myself. But then, I’m just myself. I’ll comment on something dumb like the name of a lipstick or how I don’t know foundation from rouge.

Go Ask Daddy About Shocking Tech, Spazzy Muscles,and Statistical Prowess

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I’ve had the worst luck with law enforcement lately.

I’m a police advocate. If I behave, I’ll have nothing to worry about. Police are there to serve and protect. It’s a tough job. These men and women put their lives on the line for people they don’t even know – and for people who don’t respect them, in some cases.

I drive the speed limit, and limit my road rage manifestation to squirting windshield wiper fluid on people who tailgate me.

On the way to the park a few weeks ago, a state trooper pulled me over for failing to change lanes when he was on the side of the road. I passed a slower car on the right on a two-lane road, and this officer’s car (and another) was parked well off the road. I wasn’t even sure anyone was in them.