And Our Contest Has a Winner
Last month, I announced a contest to name a new website I was planning as a tribute to my recently departed Mom, Lucile I. Burke, and her poetry.
And We Have a Winner
Lines from the Heart Website
LinesFromTheHeart.com – a name suggested by Virginia. Actually, a lot of good names were submitted, and it was hard picking just one. I’d sit down and look at the list of submissions and wonder if I could just put up a couple dozen sites, one for each domain name. I waffled and I wavered, I scratched my head and I scratched my… arm.
Then I came to my senses, shook myself by the scruff of the neck and issued a small ultimatum. It went something like, “Hey Burke, you know all the choices. You have them right in front of you. So just sit your ass down and pick one. You’ve got 10 minutes.” So I did. And I’m happy with the choice.
One important consideration was ease of spelling. I learned from past websites that a hard-to-spell name can be a traffic killer. In addition, the connection to subject matter had to be fairly obvious at first glance.
Several of the entries satisfied those two criteria, so this immediately narrowed things down. Then it was just a matter of remembering Mom, looking at her pictures, repeating the domain names out loud, and intuitively sensing what seemed to fit her and the poetry she wrote.
Lines from the Heart kept rising to the top.
So now the website is up and I’ve even posted a number of Mom’s poems already. I invite you to go and browse around Lines from the Heart, read and enjoy.
Oh, and the winners are:
….. 1st Prize – Virginia
….. 2nd Prize – Laura
….. 3rd Prize – a tie between Jon and Dixie
In addition, every person who sent me a suggestion is also receiving a couple of runner-up prizes, because I appreciate their help.
By the way, Jason, the email I sent with the download links to your prizes bounced back to me – they said the mail was bad, so it may have been misspelled. If you’ll contact me with an alternate email address, I’ll send that message with your links right away.
I should also mention that I’ve got more contests and other cool things planned, so please be sure you’ve re-subscribed, using the form at the right side of this page. If you’re not on the new mailing list, you won’t hear from me any more after the end of this month (4 more days as of this writing).
And now, in closing, another really big “Thank You” to everybody who participated in the contest to make it a success.
Cheers from warm and smiling Thailand,
Charles
Related Posts:
Beautiful name and beautiful website, Charles. Ceil’s poetry seems to have become increasingly insightful in her later years. There are a lot of gems in there. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.
Cheers from Japan.
Bob
Thanks for the kind words, Bob. Glad you and Reiko are enjoying the site. How’re things in Japan this time of year?
Wow! This is a goldmine! Lots of food for thought here. Looks like I won’t be at a loss for article ideas for some time to come.
My only regret is for your mom. Like many writers and composers, it’s too bad they didn’t live to see the fruits of their labor; the hundreds leading to millions of lives that their work will eventually touch. Then again, I’m sure she is enjoying this fact from a much better place!
Thank you so much for sharing your mom’s work with us, Charles!
All the best from Toronto,
Russ
Lovely autumn weather here in Japan right now, Charles. I’ve always felt that autumn is the time when Japan is at its most “Japanese.”
Keep up the good work from warm and smiling Thailand!
Bob
Russ - I used to think that Mom’s most impressive talent was her intriguing titles. As you say, you could probably just adapt from them – and nothing else – and have a lifetime’s worth of article starters.
Bob - I hope you both are not so busy this year that you’re missing the chance to go out walking and kick through piles of autumn leaves. Even at my age, there’s no more fun sound than this. In Thailand, there isn’t any autumn. The leaves fall year-round but at a much slower pace – one here, one there – so they seldom pile up like they do there.