blog stuff

Which Blogging Princess Are You?

May 14, 2013 by Amy 24 Comments

I ran into this article on PR Daily which compares Disney princesses to the life of someone in PR.

While I’ve never been in PR circles, I have two girls and know the Disney Princess world well.

I couldn’t help but think about this in terms of blogging, so I just have to ask: which blogging princess are you?

princess images courtesy of Disney

Ariel – You’re ready for your blogging legs and want to be part of the blogging world. Everything is whozits and whatzits and widgets–they’re all confusing and exciting at the same time.

I wanna be where the people are
I wanna write
Wanna write those blog posts
Posting around on those
[What do you call ’em? oh, blogs!]

Oh wow, I’m so tempted to rewrite that whole song—come on, bloggers, one of you should totally do it.

Jasmine – It’s a whole new world! You’re on your carpet and up, up and away! You’re in love with your newfound hobby of blogging and you couldn’t be happier. Someone could put a whole kingdom at your feet but all you want is time with your blog.

Belle – You’re not Belle unless you love books and it shows in your writing. Belle isn’t swayed by whatever or whomever is popular in the blog world. You don’t mind standing up for what you believe in and see people for who they really are. You could care less if your blog ever gets popular–your fairytale is spending time with words and authentic people.

Rapunzel – You’re creating, creating, creating in your bloggy tower. You have your hair thrown down and are waiting for others to climb up and find you. You look out your tower window at night and dream of the days people will find you and you get your fairytale.

Cinderella – You’ve got cinders on your clothes from all the years of hard work. You’ve put up with naysayers along the way. But, it’s all paid off because you have your fairytale–you’ve found readers who like you for who you are and hope to spend the rest of their lives reading your words.

Sleeping Beauty – You’ve got a blog but sometimes you forget you do! You let it sleep for months at a time but you have hopes one day you’ll really wake up to your fairytale blogging life.

Merida– You’re not scared to let your hair down and take care of business like the big dogs. Forget the cutesy header and sidebars. You have a site, not a blog. You write articles, not blog posts. Watch out world, she’s a writer!

Tiana – You work hard for your dream to have your blog as a business. You attend lots of conferences and webinars and “affiliate marketing” should be your middle name.

Mulan – Watch out! You have WordPress and you know how to use it. You’re the techy geek with all the blogging tools in your back pocket. Your friends know to go to you for the how-to.

Snow White – You’re fairest of them all. You have quite the devoted following but that’s because you know how to work well with others and treat people with respect.

OK, what blogging princess am I missing and how would you describe her?

I tend to think I’m a bit of a Belle, Cinderella and Rapunzel. Oh, and maybe Mulan. I just read this list to Emma and Lexi and they said I was definitely Belle and Mulan and definitely not Sleeping Beauty. Well!

I suspect many of us are a mix but with which do you identify most?

See? How much fun was that?? Share it with your blogging friends, Disney lovers and your daughters—I think they’ll love it too.

Welcome to AmyJBennett.com

April 8, 2013 by Amy 24 Comments

Welcome to the launch of my new blog home, AmyJBennett.com! I am so excited to have made this jump and so glad you are here!

First, we have a little housekeeping for our new home. Here are some things you’ll want to know:

Everything that was on Permission to Peruse should be moved over here. All links pointing to amyjbennett.com should automatically forward to this site.
If you subscribe in email, you do not need to resubscribe but you will see a new title and a new look.
If you subscribe in RSS, you WILL need to resubscribe to http://feeds.feedblitz.com/amyjbennett. I need to apologize because I thought it would be seamless for you but it’s not.
Like the new Facebook page. I’m most nervous about this since it means I’m starting from scratch. I’ve added incentive (and celebration) for you to go to the page and like it. There is a new tab on the Facebook page that says Giveaway. You have to like the page to see it. Just click there, enter your email and you’ll be entered to win one of FIVE $5 Starbucks gift cards. Share it with your friends—I’m sure you have a few that would like a free cup of coffee!

OK, housekeeping done!

I spent the last year or more wrestling with blogging. After 10 years, I laid it on the table with God and said here, do you want my time elsewhere now? He’s handed it back to me every time I’ve asked.

Given that, in the last 9 months or so I’ve spent a lot of time with several different mentors of sorts which has all led to this leap.

I now have a clear vision of why I’m blogging.

While I have so much to learn, I finally believe that I am a writer.

I’m excited to continue creating community with you.

I feel like God is doing something new and has great plans.

The name and design change are just an outer reflection of what has happened behind the scenes.

Here are some key inputs that have made a difference:

Blog critique by Christin Slade. Christin did a great job giving feedback on how I could improve my design.
The Allume conference absolutely was key in helping me give myself permission to be who I was.
I joined Jeff Goins’ Tribe Writers group last year and learned so much about writing and building a tribe.
I reached out to Anne as a mentor and her input has been vital.
I completed 4 weeks of e-coaching with Holley Gerth and I can’t even begin to tell you how valuable the brand guide and growth plan we produced has been—actually, I do want to tell you about the growth plan this week. Without doubt, her coaching was a turning point. Her books You are Already Amazing and You’re Made for a God-sized Dream are also fantastic resources and would be great for someone who might not be able to do the e-coaching—God totally provided that opportunity for me.
After meeting with Holley, I formed a small Advisory Board of faithful, long-time readers who could come alongside me and help plan. What a difference this has made.
The many, many cups of coffee with friends, blog posts, podcasts and books I’ve consumed that I can’t even begin to list.

If there is one thing I have learned it’s that you can’t be a blogger on your own. You have to have the courage to ask for help and be willing to learn from others.

My biggest hope is what has always been there but is now reflected in the new tagline—that we can share life together and grow alongside one another. I want you to feel like the two of us are sitting down for coffee every day and whether we laugh or cry or just share silly stories that we’re encouraged by one another as friends.

Thank you for showing up.

I think it’s time I reintroduce myself. I’m Amy J. Bennett and the “J” is for Jo.

Don’t forget to resubscribe and enter the giveaway on the Facebook page and I’d love to hear a hello in the comments today! Please do let me know if you encounter any issues while you settle in.

Five Minute Friday: After

April 5, 2013 by Amy 4 Comments

Eleven years and it’s time to say goodbye. We’re on the cusp of before and after of my blogging life. “Before when I was Permission to Peruse,” I’ll say.

I’ll have fond memories. I remember still being on sabennett.com/wp and writing my first post about hating ice in my cup (which I still do hate). I remember clearly brainstorming names, thinking about how it was my journal but I was letting people in. Permission to…to what, I asked myself. Permission to Read My Journal didn’t really resonate.

I’m an alliteration lover so I looked for something that started with P. I settled with “peruse” because I was–giving people permission to peruse my words, my journal, my life. And for eleven years, I extended that permission, choosing to share my words publicly.

And then something happened in this last year.

I’ll be forever grateful for Permission to Peruse because I’ve realized I wasn’t just giving you permission to peruse but also me. Writing here has helped me grow and change and find myself in a lot of ways. It’s time to be that me that I found–to live in the after as Amy J. Bennett.. Thank you for being the biggest part of that. I’ll be forever grateful.

Linking up with Five Minute Friday

God-clippings: How I Use Evernote to Hear God

February 21, 2013 by Amy 5 Comments

Do you ever find the same word or theme suddenly pops up everywhere? In blog posts, in TV shows, in quotes, in songs, in sermons—sometimes you just can’t get away from it, whatever “it’” is.

Don’t ignore those “coincidences”. I tend to think that’s God beating us over the head with a lesson of some sort.

My lesson right now? My word? Control.

Truthfully, I never thought of myself as an over-controlling person, but I definitely think God has some things to teach me.

I don’t want to miss one little thing God is trying to show me, so I thought I might share how I’ve started collecting the pieces of the puzzle.

For you savvy readers, I just create a folder in Evernote and stuff them all there and then revisit.

If that makes no sense to you, let me explain.

Evernote.com is a lot like Pinterest You gather items from all over the web and organize them into folders called Notebooks.

While Pinterest is great at organizing visual data publicly, Evernote is great at organizing text-based data privately.

First, you should set up an account at evernote.com

Then, make a Notebook for your word, or theme.

At this point, you can create a New Note if you’d like. Let’s say the sermon on Sunday spoke directly to your word or theme, you could create a new note with the sermon’s title date date and then type in the applicable notes.

However, as an avid blog reader, what I’ve found most helpful is the Web Clipper.

Web Clipper is an extension for your browser so that a little Evernote button shows up in your toolbar and then you can use it to clip items to your Evernote account.

You can see the extension here on my toolbar.

When I find a sentence I want to clip from a blog post, I just highlight like so:

Then click the Evernote button in your toolbar. A box pops up and lets me pick which folder to save it in.

Then, when I’m ready I can log into my account at Evernote.com and see what I’ve clipped.

In a twist of irony, I just wrote all that and realized that might come across as controlling. Ha! Well, I just tend to look at it as PASSIONATE. So there. I’m looking forward to what God is teaching me and hope to share some time in the future.

Do you use Evernote? What are some other great uses for it? What’s your theme or word right now?

(in)RL Conference: Sign Up Now—for FREE!

January 14, 2013 by Amy Leave a Comment

Last year I “attended” (in)courage’s first (in)RL conference. I have attended in quotes because it was all online. Or, at least it was for me.

The idea is everyone watches from home on Friday and then on Saturday, small groups around the ~~country~~ world meet and watch the rest of the content together.

I signed up at the last minute last year—actually 20 minutes after it started! I couldn’t make it to a get-together Saturday but watched all the content from home and it was such a blessing.

Registration for this year’s conference on April 26th and 27th starts TODAY!

The best part of (in)RL is that it’s FREE.

AND if you register today, you get a copy of (in)courage 365 Daybrightener while supplies last (US residents only).

AND everyone gets a copy of the eBook: “Best of the Beach House 2012.”

This year they’re taking a closer look at what it takes to stay rooted in community when sometimes just walking away would be so much easier and tons more convenient. Women share stories of how they’ve chosen to stay through hard marriages, challenging parenting, worthwhile friendships. How choosing to stay has freed them more fully and unexpectedly than if they’d cut and run.

I will definitely be registering today and hoping to make it to a meetup on Saturday. Scott is working that weekend so I don’t think I can host but I’m eyeing the Cornelius meetup so I can finally meet Tracie—check out her blog if you don’t read it already, love her!

Check out the trailer for (in)RL below

#2 Dear Me

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In September, I wrote a letter to my 16 year old self. Writing to my younger self was healing and connecting.

Dear Me

#1 Hope for Mommas

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One of my favorite and most shared post of 2012 was to my fellow mothers, handing out encouragement for when you’re just over potty training and breastfeeding.

A Post for the Mommas

Thanks so much for reading and sharing. Any other posts you’d like to see for 2013? Let me know!

Permission to Peruse Popular Posts and Series

December 10, 2012 by Amy 1 Comment

Exciting things are happening around here. You’ve been awesome readers and we’ve had some really good responses to some recent posts. In an effort to help some new readers around, I’m trying to clean house a little–straighten things up, organize a few things.

I’ve done two things recently, one of which I should have done a long time ago and this a Popular Posts page.

You can check it out here. If you have a minute or two to spare could you stop for a moment and think about one of your favorite posts here and let me know? I’d love to add some readers’ favorites.

Another thing I’ve one is add a Series page. Many times, I write on a theme for many days. Like, did you know I cooked through The Pioneer Woman’s first cookbook and blogged most of it? Or did you want to read the history behind Blood:Water Belt? Or perhaps relive the days of Friday Night Lights fandom?

I’ll be adding more to these but I thought it was a good way to bring together some similar posts rather than relying solely on categories. Please let me know if you can think of anymore series you’d like to see listed.

Both of those new pages are listed on the top navigation menu for future reference.

And finally, I’m excited to tell you I’m working on a little blog facelift that should be coming your way soon! Thank you SO MUCH for being awesome readers!

Attention, Permission to Peruse Subscribers

December 3, 2012 by Amy 2 Comments

Two posts in one day! I have a little bloggy business I need to address quickly. If you are subscribed from a reader or from email, I need you to pay attention!

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If you’re not subscribed, please let me fill you in. You can get my posts in your email inbox every day by putting in your email address on the form in the sidebar under “Subscribe By Email” —>>>. You can subscribe in a reader like Google Reader by clicking here.

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After hearing Darren from ProBlogger at Allume, I finally made the decision to switch from Feedburner to FeedBlitz. There are rumors flying around about Google’s free FeedBurner service disappearing. While others have refuted it, they’ve had issues in the past and don’t offer some functionality Darren suggests. That said, I’ve converted and it may take some work on your part to stay subscribed!

For those of you reading through email, you may have already noticed a little different look to the emails but otherwise, the migration should have been seamless. If you’re not getting emails or want to, use the “Subscribe by Email” form on the sidebar.

As for RSS subscribers, it’s supposed to be migrating RSS readers for those subscribed to the site but if you’re subscribed to Feedburner directly (likely) then you probably need to update your subscription! I’d love for you to switch over to email but if you’re a Google Reader fan like me:

Let me say it in big letters:

Switch your subscriptions from

http://feeds.feedburner.com/PermissiontoPeruse

to

http://feeds.feedblitz.com/permissiontoperuse

If you’re not sure what feed you’re subscribed to in Google Reader, here’s a quick tutorial:

Log into Google Reader
On the top right, click on the Settings button on the far right
Click on Reader Settings in the drop-down menu
Click the Subscriptions Tab
Scroll down to Permission to Peruse. If it doesn’t say “http://feeds.feedblitz.com/permissiontoperuse” underneath, please delete that subscription and then click this to resubscribe –> http://feeds.feedblitz.com/permissiontoperuse

To my subscribers, THANK YOU for letting me into your inboxes and readers.

blog stuff

Which Blogging Princess Are You?

Welcome to AmyJBennett.com

Five Minute Friday: After

God-clippings: How I Use Evernote to Hear God

(in)RL Conference: Sign Up Now—for FREE!

Top Ten Posts of 2012

#10 What I Wore Wednesday

#9 Together for Our Good

#8 On Planting Seeds

#7 Amendment One

#6 Love Does

#5 Advent Season

#4 Royal Blue Shoes

#3 iPhone Help