Anniversary

Some of you may remember the time when I was trying... oh, was I trying... to form a good, active online group, but with no success, until................

Rochelle Browncreated the group The Share-Care-Prayer Club

I just needed to find a really good, reliable host site.

That was four years ago today, and The Share-Care-Prayer Club is still going strong, with over 700 members.

I'm not bragging, but I most definitely AM thankful.

Three Years Ago Today

Remember this post from this day in 2014?

Well, I'm very thankful to say that
the Share-Care-Prayer Club is still
going strong after three years.

Update On The Share-Care-Prayer Club

When I started The Share-Care-Prayer Club on May 14, 2014, I

had no idea how things would turn out.  I had several online clubs in the past, but they were secular, and didn't last long due to one problem or another.

1: Invasion by trolls that got out of hand.

2: Lack of members.

3: Host site began to require mobile phone numbers.

So I wouldn't have been all that surprised if The Share-Care-Prayer Club had also flopped... but, thank God, it didn't.  Far from it!  There are now more than 600 members.

Oh, and if you go to the link, please click on the Prayer Support tab on the top of the page. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found there!

Combining Two Things I Love

It has been very well established on this blog that I love

clubs.  I believe I've also mentioned that I love old-time

radio shows.  Well, I've just joined

I know that it says Mystery Theater, but there are many genres.

I expect to have hours and hours of listening pleasure.

New Book Group (I'm at it again!)

Once again, I've set up a book discussion group. 

I think of it as a club, but that is because I love clubs!

Childhood Favorites

The Club Book Book Club

Blogging about clubs as I did this week made me decide, despite former flops, to make another online book club.

The club is called The Club Book Book Club and focuses on books, both fiction and nonfiction, about clubs.  This includes children's and YA books.

There are no set monthly readings.

All Kinds of Clubs

Those of you who've been following this blog know that I like clubs, and I enjoy reading about clubs.

There are so many different kinds of clubs.
There are religious clubs.
There are book clubs; many, many book clubs, some official, and some unofficial.  Many of these clubs are dedicated to a particular genre, time period, series, or author.  These are the book clubs I, myself, belong to, listed alphabetically.
Awestruck BOOK Club
The Betsy-Tacy Society
Friends of the Chalet School
Richie Rich Comics Fan Club
There are clubs whose member share a common heritage.
There are clubs for people who collect certain items.
There are clubs dedicated to certain crafts; for example, knitting.
There are clubs dedicated to a particular place.
There are clubs dedicated to a particular time period.
There are theater clubs.
There are clubs dedicated to charitable works.
There are fan clubs.
There are garden clubs.
There are study clubs.
There are clubs for animal lovers.
There are environmental clubs.
There are singing clubs.
There are travel clubs.
There are clubs whose members simply get together for a meal and some friendly conversation.
And so on.
(Or course, there are also clubs that combine two or more purposes.)

There are several ways in which the individuals can keep in touch with each other.  It all depends on the size of the particular club.
There are intimate clubs, consisting of just a few members, close friends who meet at set times, and who see each other quite often outside of the club.
There are clubs, national and international, with local chapters.
It is, of course, not possible for all of the members of such widespread organizations to know each other personally, although they can correspond on their computers.  And speaking of corresponding, there are correspondence clubs,
whose members keep in touch by letter and, nowadays, by e-mail.
There are clubs whose members "meet" regularly in chat rooms.

And, of course, there are online clubs (without chat rooms) whose members keep in touch by posting, and responding to, messages. New online clubs pop up every day. Some succeed, and some flop, as I have learned by personal experience!
It took me awhile, but I finally put together a successful club which is still active!
The Share-Care-Prayer Club

And thus, with that shameless plug, endeth this post!

At Last, A Club that Actually WORKS!

I've learned a few things about forming an online club through trial and error.  Mostly, I must admit, through error!

One mistake was in trying to have the same club in different places.

Another was in starting a club, or group, on a host that kept asking for my mobile phone number when I tried to log back

in.  I do not have a mobile phone, because the circumstances of my life make it unnecessary.  Or, to put it in a less pompous, high-falutin' way, I just plain don't need one.

And perhaps the biggest mistake of all was when I tried to change this blog into a club, with a clubhouse.  That, too, did 

not work, so I've changed it back into just a blog. I have, however, kept some of the "rooms," so it wasn't a total waste

of time.

So, finally, I went to this Catholic social network, which I'd actually discovered more than a year ago on "Life on the Rock",

and which I already belonged to, and I became ACTIVE.  I joined several groups, and I also started one, which I've named

The Share-Care-Prayer Club.  And, thank God, this club is actually ACTIVE!!!

Lest Anybody think I've Given Up On Forming Clubs...

Rochelle Browncreated the group The Share-Care-Prayer Club

I just needed to find a really good, reliable host site.

An "A-Ha!" Moment

I wanted to set up a really successful online club for awhile now, but it just didn't  work out.   I also wanted to spruce up this blog a bit; maybe (probably!) because I've started reading Dandi Daley Mackall's "Blog On!" series again. 
And then it came to me that I could do both!  (The "A-Ha!" moment).  Instead of setting up a new club, I could enhance this blog by turning it into a club.  I could even have a virtual clubhouse by making a few new blogs, naming them
"rooms", and linking all of them to each other.  
The club members would be me (of course!), and anyone who commented, or had previously commented, on any post here.
So I made the new blogs... and added a doorway!
So what sort of things do I plan to post here, in the Main Room, now that this is a Club?
Exactly the kind of things I've always posted here.
WELCOME TO THE CLUB!

Books Read in the Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with a #

"Born Catholics"

compiled by F.J. Sheed

[non-fiction]
{Sunday Book}  

 "The Woman's Club: A Practical Guide and Hand-book"

by Olive Thorne Miller

[non-fiction]

(free Google book)

{carried over from last week}

"Jerry Todd's Up-The-Ladder Club #

by Leo Edwards

[children's fiction]

(openlibrary.org loan)

{carried over from last week}

"Don't Call Me Katie Rose"

"The Winds of March"

by Lenora Mattingly Weber

[YA fiction]

{carried over from last week}

"John of Pudding Lane" #
by Mabel Leigh Hunt
[children's fiction, historical]
(openlibrary.org loan)

"Daddy Long-Legs" #

by Jean Webster

[fiction]

(free Kindle book)

"Dear Pen Pal" #

by Heather Vogel Frederick

[fiction]

(Kindle book]

{carrying over into next week} 

"Richie Rich Summer Games"

[comic digest]

(openlibrary.org loan)

appropriate, since I recently joined

Richie Rich Comics Fan Club



You may have noticed by now that I often have several books "going" at the same time!

Books Read in the Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with a #

"In A Great Tradition
Tribute to Dame Laurentia McLachlan,
Abbess of Stanbrook" #
by The Benedictines of Stanbrook
(I am very glad to have this book.  Rumer Godden
wrote in In This House of Brede: "All of the characters
in this book are imaginary, but many of the episodes
are based on fact; some are taken from the life and
sayings of Dame Laurentia McLachlan and Sister Mary
Ann McArdle of Stanbrook Abbey."

"In This House of Brede,"
by Rumer Godden
[fiction]
{Sunday Books}

"The Imitation of Mary In Four Books" #
by Alexander De Rouville
Revised and Edited by Matthew J. O'Connell
[devotional reading, Catholic]
(one chapter a day; more on Sunday)

"The Honest Dollar"
by Dorothy Simpson
[children's fiction]
{carried over from last week}

"A Sundae With Judy"
by Frieda Friedman
(children's fiction)

"Here's Lily!"
"Lily Robbins, M. D.
(Medical Dabbler)"
"Lily and the Creep"
by Nancy Rue
[children's fiction, Christian, Protestant, no denomination specified.]

"A Difficult Term for
the Chalet School" #
by Lisa Townsend
(fill-in)
"The Chalet School and the Island"
"Peggy of the Chalet School"
by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
(children's fiction)

"You Can't Eat Peanuts in Church
and Other Little-known Laws"
by Barbara Seuling
[nonfiction]
(openlibrary.org loan)

"The Clubwoman's Manual"
by Kate M. Monro and Isabel S. Monro
[nonfiction]
{carrying over into next week}

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
by Mark Twain
[fiction]
(reading online)
Started on Saturday; reading for my
online book club
{carrying over into next week}

The Wayback Book Club

Check out the WaybackBookClub, available on:

Facebook,  Blogger, Google, Yahoo
 ProBoards