It's Friday!

Hello Blogglings!  Clearly, this blogging on Wednesday thing is not working out for me... I'm trying to decide if I should just skip Wednesdays and go with twice-a-week blogging, or if I should re-schedule it.  Thoughts?

In other news, my house is almost finished!  For those of you who don't know me in real life, I've been living under construction for, well, a long time.  I've been living out of the basement of my house, waiting for the contractor to finish the work that was supposed to be done on June 16.  (Go on, look at your calendar and do the math.  I'll wait.)  Yeah.  Two months later.

But tonight, the painter finished upstairs!  And tomorrow, I'm moving my bed!  I'm very excited about this.  Have I mentioned that I'm not a fan of basements?  I mean, they're fine for hanging out and watching movies in the heat of the day in the summer, but they're also a haven for all the creepy things, and I can't wait to lay down to sleep without wondering if the spiders will stay in their corners.

And in even more news, go visit Colby! There's a new video up!  You should watch it!

I might be an idiot.

Or maybe I'm just sleep-deprived. You see, in the past week, I've been trying to switch over my cable service, so I haven't had Internet access at home. I can't blog from work (not only is personal internet use frowned upon, many sites are blocked). So what did I do? Nada. I didn't blog.

Today, however, I remembered that my phone, being an iPhone with an unlimited data package, could get online. D'oh. Let's blame this little lapse on being really freaking hot in the past few weeks, and being preoccupied with my sister's pregnancy. Which is now done! She has a beautiful baby girl! So I'm busy being an auntie this week ;)

I'll try to have some photos up, and I'll do my best to a) get my cable sorted and b) remember that I can post from my phone!

Oops.

Let's just say that yesterday did not quite go as planned... Sorry about missing my usual post!  Life got a bit in the way.

Anyway.

If you're reading my blog directly rather than through a reader, you'll notice that I've changed my look.  I got a comment on Wednesday that the old layout was hard to read. I hope this is better!  I'll probably do something a little snazzier in the future, but for now, you should be able to read my posts more easily.

In other news, I'm about to go off and do some heavy lifting - it's spring cleaning time at the community theatre where I volunteer, so we're emptying out the basement, cleaning, then refilling it.  Believe me, it's necessary.  At this point, no one really knows what's down there at all... It's kind of scary.  So wish me luck!

And if you don't hear from me Monday, it's probably because the theater rats ate me.  Or the ghost got me.  One of the two.

Where do I go?

I've been busy today!  I added the "Links" section to my blog, so you can see the places I visit when I'm surfing the web.  The thing is, while I have close to a hundred blogs that I check out on a regular basis, I rarely comment on any of them.  It's not that I don't like what I see - on the contrary!  I love what I see, and I keep going back for more.

Unfortunately, it seems like most bloggers post either during the day (while I'm at work), or at night (while I'm asleep).  There's nothing inherently wrong with these times (she says as she types tonight's blog at 11pm).  Because I work in a medical office, we've got a fairly tight internet policy.  While I can get away with reading one or two blogs for fun while I catch up on the latest medical news, I can't read all of the ones I want, and I certainly can't wander off and comment on them.  When I do get a chance to make comments (usually after work), a lot of what I wanted to say has already been said, and I hate to comment with something like, "Yeah, I agree with Mr. X!"

What does all of this mean?  Well, it means that the awesome people that I admire probably have no idea who I am.

Except for Lisa and Laura Roecker. They know who I am now.  *squee!*

Do you know who they are?  You should go check them out!  Now!  Go!  I'll wait here until you get back.

Welcome back!  Did you have fun over with LiLa?  I'll bet you recognize the book below (since you clearly followed my directions and went to visit their blog!).

I went out and bought this book just after it came out (on March 1st).  Turns out, I wasn't the only one. Another friend of mine, who is friends with Lisa and Laura on facebook, posted a photo of herself buying the book at our local bookstore, and I commented on the photo, saying that I had bought it, too.

Next thing I know, I wake up the next morning with a friend request!  How cool is that??

Really, though, I think it's more than a little awesome that someone (well, two someones) that I have been admiring for months thought it would be a good idea to contact me.  And it certainly doesn't hurt that they're uber-talented.

I'm planning to start (and finish) The Liar Society this weekend.  I would have started it the same day I bought it, except I had three other books in progress, and that's my upper limit for multiple-reads.

Oh, right, there was one more thing!  The new list of links is a work-in-progress, mostly because I follow so many blogs that I can't stare at the screen long enough to put them all up at once.  Because it's so long, I don't think that many people will just go to that tab and start looking at all of them, all at once.  So what I'm going to do is, every week or so, post a blog about these other blogs, and why I follow them.  That way, you can a) get an idea of what they're about and b) get a bit of an idea about what I like to read.

Until next time, blogglings, have a nice weekend!  And don't forget to visit Lisa and Laura Write!

A WhoIe Pile of Celebrating! (and a little ick)

Merry Christmas, blogglings!  (I've totally decided to call you all 'blogglings.' If you wish to register a complaint, do so now or forever hold your peace.)

No, I'm not late, I'm part Ukrainian - Merry Christmas to everyone who uses the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar.  I celebrated the same way my family has celebrated for many years: I made pierogies for dinner!  I went all out, too (relatively speaking).  I boiled them, then fried them in butter and onions, and served them with kielbasa.  Mia may or may not have partaken in some kielbasa as well...

Also, happy 700th blog post!  It's crazy to think that I'm coming up on the three year mark for this blog.  Yikes!

Also also, happy 81st follower!  And because I ended up with 75 followers before the end of 2010, I will soon be having that bigger giveaway that I promised - keep your eyes open for more details.  And for those of you who commented way back in October, I haven't forgotten!  I will be reviewing a story soon for Franchise, I swear.  I just need to get a few more things finished before I can set aside the time to properly review it.  I feel that I need to put more effort into reviewing something that I've been asked to review than I do for a book that I randomly decided to pick up, if that makes sense.

Of course, life wouldn't be life if there wasn't some blah to mix in with the yay...  (TMI coming up!)

I wasn't going to make any resolutions to lose weight this year, but two factors have made me change my mind.  First, my sister is getting married, which means I'll be wearing a bridesmaid dress in front of people, so I want to look passable.  Second, when I squatted down to pick something up from the floor this evening, my pants split.  Ugh.  So it's time to start working out again.

Also, I've caught some sort of plague (hey, I'm a writer, I can call it a plague if I want to - a 'cold' is far too common), and it's making me cough a lot.  Tonight, I coughed so hard, I threw up in my mouth.  Ew.  Can I please be well now?  On the bright side, a new place never feels like home until I've thrown up there, so now my 'new' apartment doesn't need the descriptor 'new' anymore!  (And yes, I realize that's one of the craziest requirements for 'home' that exists.)

Not feeling it

I sat down to work on tonight's fiction, and nothing happened.  I stared at the screen, and nothing flowed.  I think there are a few things at play here:

1. I've been mentally revising for the last few weeks.  I really do need to get it down on paper, but I'm working and reworking on both Partners and Happily Ever After.  
2. Meliora wants to play again, but I don't know what to do with her.  I condensed several short fiction pieces into a story called Fog Rolls In, but the character of Meliora is bigger than that - I think that she needs a full-length novel.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure of what sort of plot to use, so that's simmering, too.
3. I got a Shiny New Idea on Sunday while I was in the shower.  I really want to start playing with it, but I don't want to start a new project yet.  Why, you ask?
4. Mercury is in retrograde.  No, I'm not generally a big follower of astrology, but in general, when Mercury is in retrograde, you're supposed to be better off finishing outstanding projects than starting on new ones.  Which leads us to -
5. I've got a lot of other stuff on my mind that needs finishing.  Not only do I desperately need to edit Partners and Happily Ever After, I need to finish my mum's Christmas stocking (which will totally not get done for Christmas - I've been spending about three hours a night on it, and I'm only a third done), I need to finish my sister's Sekrit Surprise Present, I need to make a few more Christmas cards for people who have sent me cards (but I'm not complaining about that - please, send me more non-bill mail! I love it!), and a list of other craft projects about a mile long.  Oh, and cleaning up the apartment so my holiday guests don't have to sleep on a pile of dirty clothes.

So you don't get any fiction from me today.  :(  But feel free to go back in my archives and poke around!  Maybe check out the horrible-ness of the "Take Five" series.  I think that may get revisited soon, too.

Fun with Statistics!

Thanks to the stats feature on Blogger, I can tell you that:

• I have FIFTY followers! Cool!
• My blog had 27 pageviews yesterday.
• My most-viewed post (with 336 pageviews) is this one.
• I have had 925 pageviews so far this month, up from 770 in September
• The most popular referring URL is twitter.com, followed by this one (I don't get it.)
• The most popular referring site is Google
• The keywords that lead to my blog most often are "something to write about," followed by "peacock feathers" (Seriously, I don't get it.)
• 72% of my readers come from the US, 8% from Canada, and 6% from the UK
• I also have readers from India, Vietnam, Russia, Australia, Finland, Taiwan, and Moldova

Of all of those numbers, I'm most excited to see that I have 50 followers!  Just the other day, I noticed that I had 45, and I wondered if I could get to 50 before the end of the year - I guess I have my answer!  That's more than double the number of followers I had four months ago.  On June 23, I got super-excited to have ended up with 25 followers, and I gave away some stuff.  Granted, only three people commented on that post, so I didn't give away much, but still...

In honor of all of you awesome people reading what I've written, I want to do another giveaway!  If you leave a comment on this post before midnight on Sunday, October 31, you can have your choice of one of the following:

• A Tuesday fiction story with your name (or the name of your choice) as the main character
• A crocheted critter (hamsterbean, plot bunny, or other creature) of your choice, mailed to you as soon as I manage to finish it
• A review of a book/novella/short story of your choice (your own work or one you're thinking about reading) posted here on an upcoming Sunday.

Just leave a comment and your choice of prize!

Also, if I make it to 75 followers before the end of the year, I'll do a big giveaway - real books and/or movies and/or snacks and/or other cool stuff!

A Change in the Plan

If you've been following my blog, you probably know that I've got a schedule: Tuesday is fiction day, Thursday is writing about writing day, and Sunday is crafting day.  I've talked to a few people, though, who have mentioned that they don't really read the Sunday craft posts, because they don't fit with the rest of my blog.  And you know what? I realized that they're right.

I have another blog, Confessions of a Yarn Whore, that I have neglected for a while.  This weekend, I copied my last few crafting entries over to that blog, which I consider my craft blog.  I've decided that I'll still blog about my crafty stuff, but I'll do it over there.

That leaves Sunday open.

I thought about it for a little while, and I've realized that there's something that goes along really well with writing - reading!  So on Sundays, instead of filling you in on my craftiness, I'll share a bit about what I've read each week.

And if you really want to keep up with my crafting, follow me over at Confessions of a Yarn Whore, or just click the link at the bottom of every Sunday blog!

***

Want some crafty goodness? Check out Confessions of a Yarn Whore!

Update, as usual on Sunday

Not nearly as much done as I would have liked, but my mind has been elsewhere this week. I did manage to finish the bag for my cards. It's made of a yarn called "Panda Silk" and it's really soft. I think I'll use this yarn for other projects in the future.

I've finished another 10 or so squares for the picnic blanket, so it's progressing nicely. A few more weeks, and I'll be ready to start assembling it. That, of course, will take several more weeks. But it will get done. And, with any luck, it will be finished around the time that it starts to cool off enough to have picnics again. After all, 102 degree weather is not really picnic weather.

I'm also nearly done TL's MadHatter Dice Bag :) It will definitely be ready for delivery the next time I see you, buddy.

Just a reminder, if you want to get some goodies, all you have to do is comment on this post! You know you want it... I'll keep checking for comments for a few more weeks. Thanks again, everyone, for following my posting.

25 Followers!

YAY!

That's right, I've now got 25 followers! Thanks to all of you for making me feel special. :) Even more fun, it happened on my dad's birthday, so double-yay!

As promised, I have a selection of fun stuff for all of you (or at least those who are interested).

All you have to do is comment on this post with your choice of stuff. If it's something that requires delivery, I'll contact you to figure out how to get it to you.

Your awesome options are:

1. A hamster bean! The most lovable little critters around, with feet that look like Cheerios.

2. A crocheted bag! Much like the dice bags that I've made before, the bags are about 3" in diameter, and about 5" tall. If you need something larger or smaller, I can accommodate it fairly easily.

3. Your name (or a name of your choice) featured in one of my Tuesday fiction pieces.

I hope to hear from lots of you! Yay!!

(Also, I'll check this post for a couple of weeks, in case you're off doing the summer thing and read it late!)

Dude! I've got 20 followers!

I just checked my followers box, and there are twenty of you! Yay!

It feels like I should celebrate...

Since it's Sunday, my day of crafty updating, I have an idea.

When I hit 25 followers, I will put up a post with the exciting news. If you comment on that post, you will get a piece of crafty-goodness for yourself! I'll have two or three items to choose from. There will likely be hamster beans (since I can't get enough of them!), those awesome knit dishclothes, maybe a hat, maybe a gift bag... if you have any suggestions, let me know!

So recommend my blog to your friends, and let's get 25 people following me, so I can give you stuff! Yay!

Censorship

I've been thinking a lot lately. Since last week's post, I've been thinking about my blog. I like writing in my blog. I like that my mom can keep tabs on my life, even though we're hundreds of miles apart. I like that my friends, as spread out as they are, can keep in touch with me with the occasional comment. My blog, while not overly personal, is still a personal thing. I haven't done any sort of marketing or advertising to spread my name around the internet, if only because I feel as if I haven't really done anything yet to deserve that. Someday, maybe, I'll use my blog as a professional communication venue. Until that time, however, it's just a personal blog. It's a Blogspot blog, for pete's sake! When I'm pseudo-famous enough to have a publicized blog, I'll shell out a couple of bucks for my own domain name. :)

In any case, I've been thinking, not only about the purpose of my blog, but about censorship. As a writer, the subject of censorship is a very sensitive one. I don't want anyone to tell me what I can or cannot write about. I spend my days working for other people, watching what I say, and how I act. When I write, I just want to write. I understand that, in some cases, it's necessary to have at least a modicum of censorship; as I mentioned, my mom reads my blog, so my posts always keep that in mind. Believe me, there are things that my mom doesn't want to know - I've watched her stick her fingers in her ears and say "LALALALALALA!" when a conversation takes a turn towards uncomfortable topics. (Sorry, Mom, but you're a great example here!) In that way, I censor myself. I went back to a post I wrote last week and deleted a sentence that was just tempting fate - I should know better than to brag about work that's not even done. In that way, I censor myself. More than once, I've got back and edited a post that was written in anger because I had time to cool down and think things through. In that way, I censor myself.

There's a difference, though, between censoring what I say because of who my intended audience is and censoring myself because of people who may venture past my blog out of the blue. I write towards my intended audience, or for myself. I don't write for EVERYONE. There is no way to be able to please everyone, and I've learned that the hard way. Believe me, it's not even worth it to try.

I went back and looked at the blog entry that's caused the kafuffle (yes, kafuffle - I like that word). For a few moments, I considered simply deleting it and removing the source of conflict, because I don't like conflict. Then I thought about it some more. The post was, in itself, not offensive. It, like many of my posts here, was about writing. I'm a writer, whether I'm published yet or not, and I like to think about my craft. I decided to leave it up, because it is not my responsibility to make everyone happy. If you make the choice to read my personal blog, you're going to have to deal with the fact that you're reading my personal opinions. If you are unhappy with anything that you see here, I am sorry that I couldn't please you. Perhaps some of the blogs I follow, listed in the right-hand sidebar, might be more to your liking. If you choose to never visit my blog again, I won't be upset. I probably won't ever know.

Seriously?

Someone was directed to my blog, read an entry, and got offended. Or was told about my blog, misinterpreted content that they did not actually read, and got offended.

And I'm kind of frustrated about this.

I have tried very hard to make sure that, while however informative/entertaining/honest/whatever my post is, it's also considerate. I am on the Board of Directors of two separate organizations at this time, and I have also been a University instructor, so I am very well aware of the fact that anything I say or do may be held against me. That's why, when I was teaching, I stopped going out to the bars where students tended to hang out - I didn't want anyone to think I could possibly be construed as even considering doing anything inappropriate.

These days, I continue to pay attention to things like that. When I am sufficiently affected by something I see/hear to write about it, I'm careful about how I do so, especially when I know the people who are involved in whatever the thing is. I don't want to offend anyone, or put the Boards in a bad light, or come off looking like a jerk.

It's clear, though, that people will misinterpret all sorts of things, and there's nothing I can do about it. So what should I do? Should I stop expressing myself to avoid hurting the feelings of people who may or may not actually ever read my blog? That seems ridiculous. No, I'll continue on as I have been. If you're offended by what you see, then go read something else. I KNOW that I'm not the most interesting thing on the internet.

Five Hundred!

Wow... this is the five hundredth post in this blog! Not the five hundredth this year, of course, since I only post once a day, and, well, even in a good year, there aren't five hundred days...

It seems momentous, and at the same time... not all that impressive. I mean, I've had this blog for almost two years, and while I've been really good about posting this year, the previous year was not so special. I had planned to use this blog for fiction as much as anything else, and I've ended up being far more personal than I had intended. At the same time, I've done a good job of keeping myself satisfied with the level of privacy - I didn't go blabbing about my vacation plans until I got home (unlike the idiots out there who get themselves robbed).

If I had realized earlier today that this was #500, I might have planned something a little more special, but since it's three minutes until tomorrow, I think I'll just smile to myself, and plan a bit more of what I'm going to do on December 31 - after all, if I make it that far, I'll have made my goal!

I don't do mornings

And yet, here I am, again. Huh?

This morning-posting thing has really caused all sorts of confusion for my poor brain! First of all, the poor brain isn't entirely functional before 8 or 9 a.m. at the best of times, and definitely not without at least a little bit of caffeine. Second, because my poor brain isn't entirely functional, I have a hard time remembering each night whether or not I actually posted that morning, so I have to come back and check.

So why am I doing it?

Because I'm not a morning person at all, and if I let myself crawl back into bed after letting the dog out, I'll go back to sleep and I'll miss my ride to work. And that would be a bad thing.

But I still want to go back to sleep.

Approaching 300/100

Two landmark type numbers coming up - 100 consecutive posts this year, and 300 total posts in this blog!  Wow.  I write a lot of random crap.  So I want to do something to celebrate, but I don't know what.  Suggestions are welcome (hint hint).    However, it's going to fall in the middle of the run of Sound of Music, which means I'll be sleep- and internet- deprived... perhaps it'll be a video blog.  *tries to think of any span of time when she might be able to do this*

In the meantime, some poetry.  Keep in mind that I am not a poet, but every once in a while, a little poem demands to be let out of my brain.  I think it's nicer to have free-range poems, rather than caged ones, so I let it out.  

Seventy-five

I'm going seventy-five

in the slow lane

Trucks speed past

and make me wobble

I step on the gas

trying to keep up

Little blue hairs

are speeding by

Nothing that I was taught

applies on the interstate

Speed is relative

so is the law

I'm going seventy-five

in the slow lane

And life's still

passing me by

Last night with both folks

Tonight's post is shorter than I would have liked, but that's because I have better things to do!  Tonight is the last night that both of my folks are in town, so we're hanging out and being a family - and that's got to come before my blog.  Mom leaves tomorrow, and Dad leaves Thursday, so it'll be a few more days before there's any high-quality blogging... but I won't be away!  I've still blogged every night (even though last night was an offline, post-posted blog), and I don't want to blow it!

I swear, I had a great idea!

Another one of those days where I should have blogged earlier in the day, when I had the brilliant idea...  I swear, it was going to be an awesome blog, about something that was pertinent to my daily life, but something that was a bit quirky, and not entirely ordinary.

But I can't remember it now.

So I'll just give you my good news:

The resolutions are going well! 

- I've blogged every day

- I finished a yellow baby blanket, and I'm almost done the blue and white scarf, which means I can start Charlotte Rae's baby blanket soon!  And while it's great that I've finished projects, the most important part is that I haven't started anything new yet, even though I can taste the end of the second one.  Go willpower!

- I've lost about a pound so far, which is good, but more importantly, I've been getting at least a little bit of activity in every day, either on the Wii or walking around while shopping (I like window shopping).  

- I've read one book, and I've grabbed another to start tomorrow at lunch. 

All in all, a successful year, so far.

Puppy-related delays

When I resolved to blog every night, I assumed things like being tired, or having no internet, or being out at rehearsals would be the reasons that I would have short, sucky entries.

It turns out, having a dog sitting on my arm is another reason.

Mia has decided that she wants to put her butt on my left arm, and her head on my right shoulder.  She’s not a big dog, only about 8 lbs, but that’s enough to be uncomfortable.

So tonight, I’m going to have a short blog, then go lay in my bed and knit, because when I’m laying in bed, she prefers to be under the blankets (and out of the way of the knitting).  Tomorrow, I think I’ll give her a Kong before I blog.  Tonight, she’s just too cuddly.

Feeling Random

For Christmas, I got the complete series of Friends on DVD, so, of course, that's all I've been watching.  (Have I mentioned that I don't have cable?)

In any case, I just watched the episode where Rachel tells Chandler that she had a raunchy dream about him.  Ross reacts badly to this, and Chandler apologizes with, "I'm sorry, it will never happen again.  I was very drunk and it was someone else's subconscious."  (I LOVE that line!)  This got me  to thinking... is it wise to tell someone that you've had an erotic dream about him/her?  I think, in some cases, it can go fairly well - the someone is amused and teases you mercilessly until something new comes along.  In other cases, well, it might result in this awkward tension between you and the someone, and cause all sorts of unpleasant moments.  I don't think I've ever told anyone about a dirty dream I've had about them... I've told other people, because it amuses me that most of the men who show up in my raunchy dreams turn out to be gay, but I've never told any of the ones who were actually IN the dream.  Has anyone out there tried this?

In unrelated randomness, I tried writing my blog this evening, around 6, and it just didn't happen.  Nothing came out.  I stared at the screen.  It sucked.  Apparently, I can't write before 9pm, unless I'm sneaking in writing time during work hours.  Strange.  When I become a world-famous author, I think I'll end up staying up all night, and sleeping all day, just so that I can always be awake during peak writing time.

And in another unrelated random thought, one of the gals at work almost convinced me to buy another puppy today.  But then I thought of Mia, and as much as I would like for her to have a friend to play with, I'm not ready for another puppy, and she's not ready to share my attention.  So I stayed strong!  Barely...

Finally, I've had a link open in my computer all week for this site that sells bookplates, because I love having bookplates in my books, and I've finally found a company that sells the bookplates that I got years ago when I joined the SFBC (Science Fiction Book Club - like Columbia House for SciFi/Fantasy).  But I haven't purchased them yet, because I keep forgetting to bring my credit card upstairs.

Tomorrow,  I think I shall produce fiction!