Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Hope everyone is having a great end of year celebration, in whatever way you celebrate. The January Guide is almost finished and over the next couple of days it will go live. Then I will catch up on details and get a running start for the year 2013 and whatever new adventures await.

Sincere thanks and bright blessings to everyone, everywhere. There is a great an exciting future awaiting those who believe they can capture it. Go get 'em, Tigers!

Jim

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Live from New Site, it's Celtic Guide!

I jumped ahead and posted next year's site yesterday. Hey, if the world ends this weekend I didn't want all my hard work to go unseen.  :)

It's the same URL or domain name  -

celticguide.com

Now I need to finish up the January issue and it is going to be another great one. With Christmas in the mix, I suspect I'll be down to the wire on it, but it'll go live one way or another, most likely on the 27th or morning of the 28th of December.

We have gone to the dogs in this issue - I mean literally, we have a number of great photos our readers have sent in of Celtic-types of dogs, plus "Dog On It," we have a Gaelic explanation of that old Cowboy phrase, and a bit more.

We have an article on perhaps the oldest stone carvings in all of Scotland, some of the oldest in all of Europe, from the East coast of Scotland. We have some words on the beginnings of Iona as a spiritual site, and much more.

Your Guide will be waiting for you to kick off the new year. Meanwhile it's about family, and spirituality, and looking back at another year. Blessings to all.

Jim

Friday, December 14, 2012

Website almost finished!!!

I have our new website just about done, although I can see me adding to it on a regular basis, over the years. I have sent a sneak peak to our authors and close supporters to get their thoughts. Already, two have provided a similar comment, and I addressed their concern immediately.

I am so proud of the Guide and of all the great volunteers, and now I am growing proud over the new and very attractive website. In addition to access to all past issues, and all new issues, there are links to our Social Media sites, to the websites of many of our authors, and a very nice little section for free Celtic music.

Anyone who plays and records Celtic music, and has a tune with no copyright issues, is welcome to send it to me via an MP3 file.

Down the road we may start a Celtic Guide store, where my authors can display their wares, their books, their services as lecturers or whatever comes up. This may take a while to do, as I am still trying to get January's issue of New Beginnings ready to publish. Some articles are finished, some are sitting on my computer waiting for me to work with them, and some are promised and expected in the email shortly. It will be another great issue, no doubt.

I never pretend that we cover every single facet of any monthly theme, and yet we often get interpretations of the theme that surprise us and make for great alternative reading.

Kudos to all my authors, to the tens of thousands who have hit on the main site, the Facebook site, the Pinterest site, or even this blog.

With all the emails and hits and postings and support I am receiving I truly feel like we have built a community over the last year, and I mean "we" not me.

Happy Holidays if I don't get back this the blog before then . . . and stay tuned for another great year!

Sincerely,
Jim McQuiston

Thursday, December 13, 2012

My bad.

In November's story about my hero Andrew Jackson I mistakenly wrote that the Cherokee lost in the Supreme Court. I realized my mistake just last night while doing research for another article, for another publication. They won. Jackson's answer was to let the court enforce their decision. What I believe he meant was that unless there was some resolution to the frontier massacres on both sides, they would continue and maybe the Supreme Court should saddle up and ride to Tennessee and Kentucky and stop the bloodshed themselves. Of course they would never do that.

I don't ever go back and change an issue of Celtic Guide, except for a few tweaks occasionally made in the first few days of posting, where small changes are requested by the authors. However, in this case I did not want this mistake to be out there for however many years we are able to keep this magazine going, and so, in this case I made the correction.

January is building nicely with some out-of-the-ordinary interpretations of "New Beginnings" for the January theme. Also, a fair amount of the new website is built, although there will be much more done to it next year, AFTER we get through the crunch of the holidays, the website building and the creation of the January 2013 issue.

Themes for February, March and April are "Celtic Ceremonies," Celtic Saints," and "Celtic Freedom."

The Ceremonies theme came about by special request from a Floridian who performs Celtic weddings. The stories can be about any type of ceremony, from coronations and knightings, to weddings and funerals. I am sure there will be surprises.

The "Celtic Saints" theme was prompted by St. Patrick's Day in March.

The "Celtic Freedom" issue was prompted by National Tartan Day, which is April 6th.

So the general direction is laid out. There will be pitfalls and brush to clear, along the way, but a team of well-intentioned, knowledgeable authors will help us find the best path  forward, as any good Celtic Guide would.