233. The Waiting Game

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Waiting. We all have to wait for things in life. Some are harder to wait for than other. Right now what am I waiting for you may ask? For my high speed connection to go live. I went out today and purchased the modem and have the service activated in store. Now all we need is for the store to send the activation order to my new internet provider, which is also my cable television provider, so getting me on should be simple. Once the store transfer the order from their database to the cable company's computer.

They say that will be done within 24 hours, so I am waiting. It might go live tonight, but more than likely tomorrow. I'm impatient. I want it now. I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve, and I know I won't get much done until the connection goes up. I've been wanting this for years, but it took forever for the apartment building I live in to be wired for it, and then it took even longer than that to talk my family into making the jump. Today, my dad said to me as we walked out of the store, "why didn't we do this sooner?" I just stared at him for a moment, and then I got in the car.

I never made it to my blog yesterday. I was feeling a bit under the weather, and I had a lot on my mind. I've tried to figure out how I'm feeling exactly these days into words, but when I try its difficult. I feel things changing again, and I'm not sure what to make of it. I'm letting the thoughts percolate for a bit, and I'm sure I'll come back later on tonight or tomorrow. I'm just so anxious right now waiting for the high speed to go live. Everything is up and connected. All I need to do is have the company to give me the go ahead, install the cable company software, and I should be good to go.

Before I forget! I have selected a new Blog of the Week! Check out this week's selection on my sidebar. This week we have the blogging headquarters of Hohmann-Becker Production company!

I hope you're all well. I might be back later.

232. Cold weather and highway robbery

Monday, November 28, 2005

Well somehow it has gotten very cold here. You would think living in the desert of Arizona means we're hot year round, but that isn't the case. We had our first winter freeze warning yesterday. Temp dropped down to 32 degrees, which is nothing for some people, but for people that live here in Arizona where he can get up to 120 degrees in the summer months, a drop down to 32 is cold. It didn't even go above 60 degrees today, and my hands are even cold. When my hands get cold, it gets hard to type a bit, but I can't wear gloves, so I just deal with it. Right now my weather bug tells me that it is 58 degrees outside. BRRRRR!

For the past month, I've been trying to find out from Best Buy how much it would cost me to renew the warranty of my desktop computer. Can't believe it's been three years since I bought it, but it has. I'm not ready for a new one. I figure I have a year or two left on this one, and then I'll look into an upgrade. I'm also pondering buying a laptop as a secondary system once things get more situated pay wise. After a month long run around with my trying to call them, and the people there telling me story after story about why they can't give me a quote for the renewal I was finally given one today. They were supposed to call me back last week with it, but they didn't.

Well, I'm telling you right now the price is outrageous. It is almost a third more than what I paid for my plan when I bought the computer, and now they won't do in home service. I'll need to take the computer in. Plus, they only offer a two-year or a three-year plan. The three-year plan is almost double what I paid for my original three-year plan. I'll pay it. Just because if this computer dies on me again like it did a year ago, it'll be covered another couple of years, but I'm still not happy with the cost.

Good news is that sometime in the near future, I'll be jumping onto high speed. I've looked into things, and I think we'll be going to look at modems and services in the next few days. I'm hoping to get the service installed sometime before Christmas, but it might be sooner than that. I really can't wait for that. I've got some writing thoughts bouncing in my head at the moment, but I'll leave those for later. My hands are cold, and I have some television to watch. Fans of Grey's Anatomy check for my review of last night's show up on my review site. I'll have one up in a few hours for tonight's episode of Surface!

231. Some useful software finds

Sunday, November 27, 2005

I'm on the tail end of my second football game of the day, but I while sitting here at the computer, I did a check for new software. It started off as me installing some software I hadn't installed since my most recent total system restore. I install the basics, and then install programs as needed.

Today, I installed Adobe Acrobat 7.0. I had downloaded the file months ago, but I hadn't upgraded from the Acrobat 5.0 that came installed on my computer. After installing today, I took a look around some of the program's features, which I hadn't done before. I usually just start the program and open the PDF file. Well while looking around things, I found two features that I wasn't aware Adobe Reader had - one of them being the ability to save PDF as text files. I had been using a separate software program to do that task, but it was an imperfect solution. The resulting file had so many errors. I'm hoping the same isn’t the case with Adobe.

I also noticed a read text aloud feature. Now, I never knew that Adobe could do that. I plugged in a file, and it started to read. This will definitely make things easier, and more time efficient. Instead of sitting here reading page after page, I can have the pages read to me. This will definitely make things faster for me reviewing as well. All you have to have installed is the Microsoft Agent and Text to Speech engines. You can download more voices as well. This site can tell you if you have the software needed installed, and if you don't let you download them.

Once Adobe was installed, I checked out some other software. I noticed that Word Web, a freeware dictionary and thesaurus program, has been recently upgraded from version 3.03 to 4.0. This file can sit in your system tray just waiting for you to use it. It can be set to use with your MS Word and for those that use the Rough Draft Writing Word Processor, Word Web works directly from that program as well. Check for the link to the free download near the bottom of the Word Web website.

A few other software programs I use that I think others might want to look at are Essential PIM, Slim Browser and Writer's Block.

  • Essential PIM comes in a freeware version and a pro version. The program has several features that make it the calendar and information organizer for me. It is small, and loads on your computer small. This makes it ideal to leave running in your system tray. I have it load at start-up for me. It has a calendar, to-do list, notes and contact manager. All of it can set to back-up every single time you minimize to a folder of your choosing. I have mine back up to my secondary drive in case of computer problems. If anything happens, my back up is still there, and waiting for me to reinstall the main program. You can import your contacts from Outlook or Outlook Express quickly and easily. I just did this today in fact. I use the Notes section to create files for the guidelines for all my up-coming submission calls, which are in my calendar. So many look for a good way to organize their lives, especially writers. This program makes it easy for me. For even more features, there is the Pro version, but I find all I need with the free version.
  • For those that like the tabbed browsing you find in Fire fox but are unable to use that program for one reason or another, I offer a solution, Slim Browser. This browser is a small download, and it uses the same engine your Internet Explorer uses. It has tabbed browsing, the ability to save your login passwords to sites, and even password protect that login information so no one else can use them, and a bunch of other great features. I've had little to no problems using this browser, and I have tried Fire fox. It didn't work like I wanted it too, so I'll stick with this one.
  • Writer's Block is a new program I've found for writers. I haven't had much time to play with this yet. It has a built in word processor, browser, journal and generators for almost anything you can think of. The word processor is a bit on the basic side, so I will stick with Word or Rough Draft, but I like the generators, and the program is free, which makes it definitely worth a look.
What programs do you use on your computer? Anything writing related or at least makes the computing experience easier for a writer, like Slim Browser or Essential PIM? There are others I use, but I'll leave those for another time.

I've made some more recent additions to my sidebar. As some of you might have noticed, I've added some sponsored advertising to my sidebar. I use a number of these sponsors on my review site, so I grabbed a few that thought might be of interest to my readers here, with some sponsors only appearing on this site. One of those sponsors being Fiction Wise, an e-book provider I recently discovered. The site has many books for download, and more are added on a weekly basis. Some are even available for free. I've also updated my blog links to include blogs for those blogging writers over at the Abolute Write Water Cooler. Check them out! This is my Blog of the Week's last night, so if you haven't checked it out, do so. It will then move to the Past BotW list!

Have a lovely Sunday night everyone. I need to go break up a catfight, so I'm off!

230. Finding our way ...

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Do you ever feel closed in, stifled, unhappy with the world around you? Something is wrong, but you can't really figure out exactly what it is no matter what you do or how long you think about it? You just know you're not happy, and you don't know how to fix it. Well, finally you figure it out, and you really can't fix it because that means doing something that is really impossible to do.  Then you try to figure out a way around it, a way to make things work. You try things, but you really don't find that all important key to happiness.

I've been in the state for the last few weeks. Things have been so unbearably busy with my writing lately, that some days I feel like I'm always doing something. I'm always busy. If it isn't writing, I'm promoting any way I can. Sometimes I feel I spend more time promoting my writing than actually doing it.

Sometimes I feel like I'm spinning my wheels, and it will never really happen. I won't make a go of this and be able to make a full time living from it someday. Doesn't have to be tomorrow, a month from now, a year from now or even five years from now. What I want to be able to see is a steady climb of progress with each day, week, month or year that passes.

I want to share my words with the world because it is only when I do that I am truly happy. When I can't write fully I'm not happy. The past couple of months my fiction writing has truly not been there, and that has made me unhappy. I love to write, and when I began writing it was in fiction. The nonfiction came later, and that was out of necessity to somehow make a living from the thing I love doing most in the world.

Since I decided to focus more on this blog rather than my other journal, I've felt like this weight of unhappiness has lifted off my shoulders, and I've felt a bit happier. I truly don't know how long it will last, but I want it to last. I want to write more fiction wise too. I need to get back into that. I've missed it.  I'm just learning you need to take things one day at a time. Things will happen. I'm just impatient!

I hope you're all well out there in blogland. Don't forget to check my Blog of the Week. I'll be choosing a new one on Monday night!

229. Progress Report

A quick report before bed. Wrote a page and a half just now in my one currently untitled work in progress. This one is a bit of a ghost story with some erotic romance thrown in. The total word count for the manuscript is currently at 7,765. I think I wrote close to 400 words tonight. I also reformatted the file and did some spell checking and editing for errors. Now I'm off to bed. I think I'm liking posting to my blog whenever the mood strikes. It's a bit freeing.

228. A Black Friday memory

Friday, November 25, 2005

I never understood why they call today Black Friday. To me it is just the day after Thanksgiving, a day like every other day of the year. When I was younger, I used to brave the crowds with my mother each and every year, but when she passed on back in 1995 I just didn't feel like it anymore. I lost the desire for a lot of things when my mother passed on. The holidays just seem like another day to me.

Earlier I was sitting here thinking about today, and I was reminded of a day after Thanksgiving trip I took back in the early 90s. My mother and I had ventured out to brave the mall like so many others, but even with the holiday the mall was even busier than usual. I asked a couple of people why the mall was so crowded, and I soon learned that the then newly elected President of the United States, Bill Clinton, was making a special trip to the mall that day. I told my mother, and she grew very excited.

Even though we lived in Los Angeles, and she had lived there her whole life, she became excited whenever she saw anyone that remotely be considered a celebrity. This just wasn't any celebrity though. This was our new President. She wanted to meet him if she could. I told her it would nearly impossible, and by this time she was already very ill, so the hours she would need to stand in line would be impossible. We had planned a quick trip with lots of rest that day.

Well, she was adamant. She wanted to meet Clinton. We found a place to stand in line to wait, but an hour she just couldn't do it anymore. I pulled her out, and we looked for a store to sit and rest for a bit. We found one that happened to be on the route Clinton was taking through the mall, and the owner allowed us to come in and sit. I explained our situation to the man, and he was kind enough to let us both stay in the store until Clinton walked past. We then stood in the doorway, and he shook both our hands.

My mother was so happy. In over her fifty years of life by the point, she had never been so close to someone so important. She died a couple of years later, and I know that was one of the most special moments in her life. It didn't matter to me that it happened to the both of us, even though meeting a President is a very important thing. It was the look on her face, and how happy it made her that made the moment important. That Friday was anything but Black.

227. Some changes are coming ...

Well the food has been had, the family has been spent time with, and the Thanksgiving 2005 holiday is now in the books! Now we're looking at Christmas and then the New Year, and then my thirtieth birthday will be here, and wow … where does the time go everyone? This year has just been moving very fast, and I'm shocked to see the holidays already here.

Some of you that regularly stop by here probably noticed the new look for my blog. With the passing of Thanksgiving, it was time to make the blog here ready for Christmas. I like the new look, a little brighter than my Thanksgiving layout. I also made a few more small changes to my sidebar. Whenever I get bored or lazy, I seem to tune up the sidebar here or on my review blog.

I just finished eating dinner. Leftover turkey turned into turkey chili. Yummy. We still have so much leftover from yesterday. The brother was in charge of our turkey this year again. Dad had bought a seventeen-pound bird for us. We originally had two more people coming, but they decided not to the day before Thanksgiving. More for the three of us! I was in charge of the stuffing, and I've mastered that art.

Did I happen to mention that the extent of my brother's and mine cooking expertise is boiling water for spaghetti? Dad made the mashed potatoes, and we sat down to a lovely dinner around four in the afternoon. Topped it off with some pumpkin pie, and the day was perfect. Even if I did wake up at 9am, and who knows when the last time I did that was?

It's been quiet this week, so its been giving me a lot of time to think about things, this blog being one of them. As I've mentioned in the past, I've had a journal on one or another of the journaling sites since 2001. My current journal is over on greatest journal, and it really hasn't been getting much attention as I used to.

When I started this blog, I wrote in that journal every single day, and some times many times a day. Just as thoughts came to my mind or I heard of things that interested me that others might also find some interest in as well. As time passed, I started writing in my journal less and less, and my attention focused here on this blog. I never thought this blog would still be here nearly nine months later, but here it is, and this blog is now my online home for my thoughts. My home and center is no longer with the journals I've had on that one site.

This blog is a bit different than my journal. This blog is public, and my journal was hardly ever public. I tried to make it public, but that experiment didn't work very well. Some of the people on greatest journal aren't all that nice, and they seem to have this ugly habit of mocking others for their own entertainment value.

We see this on blogs too, but for some reason it is more prevalent on the free journaling sites that offer all these little features such as icons and friends lists. It becomes a competition of who has the most people on their friends list, who has the best icons in their journal, or even worse who icons who. "Oh no you can't icon her because I icon her, and she's mine!" Yes, people actually do that, and I've even fallen into the trap and done it myself. I smacked myself and stopped.

I sometimes find myself wanting to come to my blog and post when I find something interesting or I have some odd thought that comes to my head. Sometimes even late at night after I find some sudden burst of inspiration and find a muse to write in one of my works in progress. I stop myself though because for some reason I've trained myself to write in here just once a day. I gather all my thoughts or try to in any case, and write them in here all at once. Sometimes I forget things I wanted to say, and then I'll remember it later on.

So I think I might be making a bit of a change. Not sure how it will work. I'll still have daily entries, except for Sundays, like I've been doing. However, now I might pop in more than once a day. If I have something to say, I'm not going to stop myself and wait for the next day. If I find a link in the blogosphere, a story in the news that grabs my interest, a woohoo I wrote something that isn't television related or just any other random thoughts I'll just come in as I please. It might even be on a Sunday, but those days will not have big flowing entries - like this one. I ramble so much at times! My friends tell me they love my rambles, but sometimes I wonder if they just say that so I'll stop rambling!

Well, right now I'm stopping them. I need to go write up the new movie releases for my Media Village blog. I might pop up here again in a bit. I have some more thoughts percolating in my brain.

226. Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 24, 2005

I hope all of you that celebrate this day are having good times with food, friends and family. I just wanted to post wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving once again. I should have a new layout up on this blog within the next 24 hours, so keep an eye out for that. And for you blogazoos out there, here is a new gazoo!

225. The day before Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Oh wow! I am being so unbelievably lazy today. Maybe it’s the before the holiday week sluggishness. I know tomorrow and Friday are going to be slow days. I won't have much I have to do writing wise. Tomorrow I'm cooking dinner with my brother, but other than that my weekend is going to be very long and very unproductive. I think I might pick up some of the slack on my fiction work. I haven't written anything since the two and a half pages I wrote last week. Been a bit on the busy side, but I'm getting things done, and that is the important thing.

Today I had a pleasant surprise in my mail. The latest from Maria Isabel Pita. I had reviewed one of her books back in May for Romance Divas, and they sent me her next one, and then this one just out of the blue. I can't wait to read this one. It's a collection of erotic romance novellas called Cat's Collar. The book comes in just over 600 pages, and I know it's going to be good. Pita has fast become one of my favorite authors. The book in the mail was truly a wonderful surprise!

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I'm not much one to be big on holidays anymore. Not like when I was younger, but I am thankful for many things. I'm thankful for the amazing people I have in my life, both my family and friends. I am thankful for my health, and the health of those around me. I am thankful for the two little brats I call cats that bring me constant joy. I am thankful to have a gift for the written word that allows me to connect with so many others by sharing it. I am thankful for all of you that stop by my blog and leave me comments when you feel the desire too. I am thankful for each morning and each sunset that mean the coming or ending a day in which I was alive and I was able to spend time with all those that I love.

Happy Thanksgiving to each and every single one of you. May you have a day spent with family and friends. I don't believe I will blog tomorrow, so I will see you all back here Friday.

Fans of Bones and Supernatural can check for my latest reviews from tonight's episode on my review site. I'll have a review of tonight's episode of Lost up later tonight. Check back for that.

Have a wonderful night everyone.

224. And we're tracing ...

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Do you ever wonder why certain people enter your life? Is it fate or destiny? Or is it just the way things happen. If you go left instead of right one day, are you taking the chance of not meeting someone that might have some huge influence in your life? The term destined or soul mate is something we see, especially when it comes to romance novels, but does it really exist? Are people meant to be in your life? Not only lovers but friends too. Is there such a thing as forever, or are things meant to be forever and always changing? Are things supposed to be fluid? If things stay always the same will things get stale like food does in the refrigerator after a few days?

Not sure where all this is coming from. I sat here and stared at the blank space in my Microsoft Word, and I didn't know what to say. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and usually thoughts such as these would go on my personal journal where I can lock it away from a majority of the world and just allow a few to see, but lately I really haven't felt much like writing in that journal because it really hasn't been feeling all that personal.

I have a small group of people I've met here online that I talk to semi-regularly. Lately though I've been feeling quite disconnected from them. I can count on probably less than the fingers on one hand that I feel some kind of connection to at the moment, and it isn't really anybody's fault we all don't talk as much as we used to. Things get crazy busy and people lose touch. It happens here in the world, both online and offline.

I have some people in my life that I've had in my life for years, and I'd love it if they were always in my life, but sometimes things change, people change, and they end up drifting apart. Is it natural for this to happen in life? People may come and go, but there should be a reason for it shouldn't there? Are people meant to be in your life at a certain point and time to teach you some lesson of life? Once you learn it, are they then supposed to leave it?

This entire train of thought sort of goes along with my post from yesterday about the solitary life of a writer. Over the years, I've had people come and go in my life. I've lost friends both the easy way and the hard way, and sometimes it makes you wonder if it would just be easier to be alone. As a writer, I usually am fairly content living with my own words and creations. Loneliness does strike from time to time, but those moments do end up passing. I'm usually content to entertain myself using my own devices.

If things are always the same will it get old and stale? Do we need things to be constantly changing to liven it up some? Or if things are always the same will they be comfortable? Comfortable like an old pair of jeans you've had forever and fit you like a second skin.  I think I might be rambling now, but I've just had a lot on my mind lately.

Last night, I updated my traffic exchange review. I added some new information for Blog Explosion, added one new service, and I also removed two because I've decided to discontinue using them at this time. The two sites I've stopped using are the surf for cash sites I had listed E-Profit Surf and Auto-surf.biz. Some recent changes I've heard about, and some problems I've had with my sites being listed have prompted me to stop using the sites. The site I added is called Surf Wizard, and bloggers especially might want to take note of this website exchange. You can check for my traffic exchange review here.

I'm always trying out different site exchanges to get traffic to my sites. There are a few others I use quite frequently on my sidebar that I plan to add to my review at some point. Just today I joined one called Easy Free Traffic because they are currently giving new members 60,000 free credits. One credit equals one hit to your site. They do ask you to surf at least 5-10 sites a day, but that would take mere minutes. I just signed up this afternoon, but my sites were enabled for use in the system almost immediately. Shouldn't hurt anything to try it with the free credits.

For fans of Surface, I have a full review of last night's episode up on my review site. Have a great night everyone.

223. A solitary life

Monday, November 21, 2005

Writers seem to be a breed of people all by themselves. Writers live more in their heads creating the worlds of people that don't really exist outside their own minds. Some find it harder to deal with the rest of the world because even when they aren't writing, they are still thinking and more often than not their thoughts are centering on the next page, chapter, or story.

A writer's mind never seems to quit. It is always working, and that sometimes makes it difficult for the writer. I've heard writing is a very solitary profession, and I never really understood how so until the last few months. Writing isn't easy. The only way the writing will get done is if you plant yourself in your chair in front of your computer or with pen and paper in hand and write. Write all the time. There are so many writers out in the world. So many that won't ever sell a book or have their own byline.

For some that doesn't bother them because they aren't writing for any of that. Others want that, and it will never happen for them. For every published author, there is probably ten times that number that is unpublished. Probably even more than that. I've never really looked.

Sometimes planting your butt to write means you can't do other things. Sometimes you'll have deadlines or schedules you must adhere to. That may mean you can't go out to do that one thing you want to do that day, but instead wait until another day. Sometimes that means you can't sit at your computer hopping blogs and forums or talking to your friends via email or instant messaging programs.

Back in August, I made a conscious decision to pull back from some of the extra stuff I was doing throughout my days. I knew if I was going to do something with my writing, whether it be nonfiction or fiction, I needed to focus and get it done. I needed to apply myself, and I might even have to give a little in hopes of getting a lot. I started my review site, and then I picked up the position over at Media Village. My position at Media Village will pay me, but my review site is all me. All on my own time and doing. The only pay I get for that is comments and some random clicks to my site sponsored advertising, which doesn't add up to much.

I lost some friends. I became a bit unpopular among people I used to be close to, but I knew that I had to do it. I didn't like doing it. It was a tough choice. Focus on my career and me or spend hours a day talking to all these people that I adored but were taking up way too much time that could be used writing. My days are so quiet now. It is a bit lonely and solitary. I can count on one hand the number of people I talk to on a weekly basis, and I can count on less than that the number of people I talk to on a daily basis online.

My hours are spent writing and promoting my sites – all three of my sites, which include this blog. Many writers only have their website and blog to promote. I have three blogs that all need promotion. My work is paying off though.

I just found out today that my blog Thoughts from the Couch is now considered a HOT blog by Media Village, which means it is one of the best blogs on the site. I began my blog with the site the last week of September, and I thought it might take some time and work to obtain that status, and I've now reached it. Now I just need to keep it there. A writer also never stops working, improving or writing. The work of a writer is never done.

I've chosen a new Blog of the Week! This week we have Sir Dirge Thinking, a news blog with one man covering the news of importance in computers. I know a lot of writers like to keep up on computing news since we're on our computers so much. He covered the Sony scandal, and he also has some other stories recently posted that may be of interest. Check the site out!

Fans of Grey's Anatomy can check out my review of last night's Thanksgiving themed episode over on my review site. Tonight is Surface, and I'll have a review of that show up on my site after the show airs.

Have a great night everyone.

222. A now rare Sunday post

Sunday, November 20, 2005

I never made it to my blog yesterday. My allergies decided to pick yesterday to act up, and I was also working on the layout for my review site. I tried a few different designs before deciding on one, and then I customized just for my site. When it was all said and done, it had taken several hours because for some reason it wasn't work right at first. Then once it was up, I needed to work on the sidebar a bit to lessen the load time for the site some. I didn't get to do much of anything else last night. No writing to speak of.

I have caught up on some of the things that needed doing over this weekend. Turned in both my assigned November interviews back on Friday, and I also just tuned in my latest book review for Romance Divas, so that should be posted sometime soon. Last night, once the site revamp for my review site was complete, I posted a review of The Skeleton Key.

Today is sports day. The morning was taken over by football, and the afternoon was as well. I just switched over to Nascar from the Colts/Bengals game, which has been amazing game. My best friend is a Tony Stewart fan, so I decided to check in with Nascar because if he does well, he will win the year. I'm not sure about Nascar all that much, so it is one of those things I watch in total and utter confusion. I know it is important to her, so if I throw in a little extra support behind her man then that is all that matters. And ... he was just announced winner as I sit here typing this.

Do you watch sports? If you do, which ones? Nascar just ended its year. Football is deep into its season, but basketball and hockey are just getting started. Baseball will return in the spring. Do you have a favorite player? For me, I'm definitely the most in love with football. I play fantasy football each week with my brother, and I don't really know if I can pick one team.

My local team here, the Arizona Cardinals, has disappointed me. I hear the Saints might make the move to Los Angeles next season, so I might root for them. Being born and raised in L.A., I often support those teams. As for football players, I enjoy Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner, and I will always have a special place in my heart for Jake Plummer. As a Sun Devil alumni, he'll always be one of my favorite quarterbacks.

I'll be choosing a new Blog of the Week in the next day or two, so check back for that, and if you're a member over at Blog Explosion look for my blog and place a bid. If you don't make it for this week, keep an eye for it for another one.

Have a great night everyone.

221. Grabbing muses ...

Friday, November 18, 2005

I really need to start doing this waking up before noon thing. I just get so much more done! Yes, another early day for me today. Went to bed last night at 5am after writing two and a half pages. Yes, I was able to snag one of my muses to write. I had an idea for a scene to add to one of my stories yesterday afternoon, and I was able to get some down by hand. I'll type it in sometime this weekend.

I grabbed the first muse I could, and I blinked at him, then I stared for a moment, and then I was like … what's your name again? Yes, I forgot the name of my main character in one of my WIP's . It'd been so long since I looked at my manuscript. I was lost for a moment, so I had to go dig out my manuscript file on my computer to find the name.

All was well though, and I did write two and a half pages. I'm going to try for more later on tonight. I still write best late at night when it comes to my fictional pursuits. I am hoping these muses start being a little more forthcoming. I have at least two of my WIP's that are still active in my mind, another idea I'm pondering on starting, and two WIP's I have on files that I'm not sure where they are going, but they are far enough along that I would feel bad abandoning them.

Last week, I talked about Sony's new CD protection system and how it was causing problems for some users. Well, apparently Sony has backed off from the new protection system, and is offering to exchange CD's for new unprotected copies. Seems to me it would be nice if Sony gave you the CD for free, especially since they opened up your computer to hackers and might even have caused damage to some computers with CD drives possibly being disabled by the software. Seems only fair to me. Sony did receive a lot of pressure to do even this bare minimum of recalling the CD's for exchange. A lot of that pressure is said to have come from bloggers. EDIT: Here is a full list of CD's with copy protection. Check here to see if you own any of the CD albums in question so you can exchange them.

Fans of The O.C. and ER can check out my reviews of both shows last night on my review site. Have a great night everyone!

220. Just five more minutes ...

Thursday, November 17, 2005

I'm sure we've all done it at one time or another. The alarm goes off and we slam it off with the words just five minutes. Then those five more minutes turn into ninety more minutes somehow, and then you're up and running late. Well, that is what happened today. I've decided to try getting up at noon every day because it seems things just move easier with less stress. Since I go to bed nearing 6am, which gives me six hours of sleep. That should work for me.

So today I set the alarm to go off at noon, and when it went off I woke up, but I didn't stay up. I looked at the clock next, and it was 1:35, and I jumped out of bed. I need to do better at not saying five more minutes. The afternoons and the evening hours while my shows are on seem to be the busiest for me. Not the times they are on, but directly following I am off writing my reviews of that night's episode. I've got that down to a science now, especially since the shows I review are spread out over different nights of the week. I might add one or two of the new mid-season shows to my line-up, but I'm waiting to see about that. I need to see where they fall time wise.

I keep playing with my sidebar on this blog. I've added a few things. Links to songs I'm listening to, what I'm watching, and the like. The song downloads work through iTunes. I changed the movie to The Skeleton Key, which I watched last night. Great movie. I should have my review of the movie and DVD up on my site at some point this weekend, with it appearing on Blogcritics as well some time after that.

Speaking of reviews, my review of last night's episode of Lost is up on my review site now, and I'll have reviews of tonight's The O.C. and ER up later tonight if all goes to plan. This day has just gotten away from me. I have a bit to catch up on over the weekend as well. I need to write up my two interviews for ERRW and continue reading my assigned book for that site as well. Also need to write-up my book review for Romance Divas as well.

So much to do. Just got to breathe and get it all done. Have a wonderful night everyone!

219. The sexiest man alive ...

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

I've been up for hours already. I actually woke up pre-noon today. Yes, when one goes to bed at 6am every morning, noon is normal. I am not even able to function without at least six hours a sleep a day. I was going to say night, but I don't sleep at night, so that wouldn't make sense now would it?

I don't even remember when it was that my sleeping pattern got so out of whack, but it happened, and some mornings I'm heading to bed just as the sounds of birds chirping and the sun is beginning to rise.  Some people might think that's crazy because I don't have a particular reason for staying up to all hours of the early morning. I just find the quiet nice, and when I'm actually working on my fiction … imagine me glaring at my muses here … those night time hours are the times I have the most productivity fiction wise.

Today my brother decided to wake me up before noon though because I had a package waiting for me. I love getting stuff in the mail that isn't just your normal everyday junk stuff. This was a DVD though. Good stuff. I had requested The Skeleton Key through Blogcritics about a month and a half ago to review, and when the movie came out yesterday I had begun to wonder if I would receive the DVD. Well, it came by Fed Ex this morning, and I plan to try to watch it after I review tonight's extended episode of Lost. Last night I reviewed Supernatural and Bones, so fans of those shows check out for my reviews over on my site One Couch Critic.

Today it was officially announced whom People picked for this year's Sexiest Man Alive. It is actor Matthew McConaughey. I just posted about this over at Thoughts from the Couch with a nice yummy picture of the man himself. He happens to be one of my favorite actors, and I've watched a lot of his movies. He seems to do well whether the movie is either comedic or action packed - a very versatile actor. I asked this question over on my other post, but I might as well ask it here as well. What do you think of this choice by People? There are so many hot men out there these days. A list of them comes to my mind – Josh Holloway from Lost. Brad Pitt is always a winner. Sigh there is so many men! I am sure picking one for this special twentieth anniversary edition of the sexiest man alive was difficult for the people at People.

Where does the time go? I feel like I just woke up. I'm off. Have a wonderful night everyone!

218. All I wanna do ...

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Last night I took a small trip down musical lane. I love music. I have songs for everything. I love all types of music too. If I like a song, it doesn't really matter from what genre it is, I just like it. Well last night, I put on one of my old mix CD's, and I found Black Hole Sun. This song takes me back to college, and more specially freshman year. I remember my boyfriend at the time was obsessed with this song, among many others. Hearing certain songs can automatically take me back to that time period and remind me of him.

I listened to that a few times, and then I went digging through my CD's looking for other music from that same time period, and I finally pulled out my Sheryl Crow CD, and I just turned it off. I've been listening to All I wanna do on repeat since last night. Now I've moved on to my Bryan Adams CD because a friend mentioned him last night as well. This song is just in my opinion amazing, Star. All I wanna do is just so fun, and it has a great message too. It made me start to think some.

The song is all about having fun and living life to your fullest. We're all really busy with our lives, and what we do on a daily basis. We may have full time jobs on top of our writing endeavors. Some have children on top of that, and then you know those little things called significant others. At times it can be all too much. My own life has been quite hectic the past couple of months too. Someone, I believe Barb, over on the Absolute Write message board said swamped seems to work for me. Well, I wish it would work just a bit better because I'm not getting certain things done. I know I'm behind on my book reviewing responsibilties and I haven't woke up my fiction muse yet.

Life is busy. Everyone's life is busy, but that doesn't mean you can't find some way to make things fun. Even if it just five minutes where you stand in the middle of your singing along to your favorite song. For those five minutes you aren't sitting at your computer staring at the screen. You're doing something different, something you enjoy doing. Not saying that we all don't enjoy writing, but you know variety is the spice of life. What do you do for fun when all you have is a short amount of time to spare? Whatever it is, do that next time you feel yourself getting stressed and frustrated. It will make the stress ease up just a little bit. What difference is five minutes going to make?

Two quick television notes. As I suspected Night Stalker was canceled. CSI was just too much to go up against. The show's creator posted about its demise on his blog Sunday, and official word came down from ABC last night. Check my review site for a recap of last night's Surface! Have a great night everyone!

217. Busy Monday and Blog of the week!

Monday, November 14, 2005

Happy Monday everyone! Another week has begun. How are those out there during Nano? The month is almost half done. How are you doing? Let me know! Monday is by far one of my busiest days, and I actually slept in today a bit later than normal, so I was behind schedule. Came down with something right in the middle of Grey's Anatomy, and I didn't feel all that great during the rest of the night.

Dad came in from work this afternoon, saying he has a cold, and now it looks like I might be joining him. I'm trying to figure out if I have actually have one or if I only think I have one because he does. You know how that works right? One person gets sick, and the rest of the house follows or at least thinks they are sick too. I'll probably know by tomorrow. It has been colder here. It hit 55 here last night, and I had to bundle myself all up to keep warm.

I had a nice quiet Sunday. I really love the weekends because everything is just so much calmer and slower paced on the weekends. There is no need to rush. My weekend ends though with the airing on Sunday night's episode of Grey's Anatomy. Last night's episode was really great, and I loved it. I was frustrated with the ending, but I think I'm just way too involved with that show. I have a full recap and review over on my review site, so check that out! Tonight is Surface, and the previews for this episode really looked great. I'm excited to see this episode, and I'll have a review of it up sometime tonight.

I have chosen a Blog of the Week for this week! This week we have a personal blog of one man living in Singapore. He uses his blog to discuss many topics. His blog caught my eye when surfing last night when he spoke of the death of WWE star Eddie Guerrero, which I also covered today over on Thoughts from the Couch. Check it out on my sidebar!

I need to go do some bloghopping, so I'm off. Have a great night everyone!

216. Blogging thoughts

Saturday, November 12, 2005

This morning I woke up to check my email to find an email from someone that had stumbled across my blog at some point today. They were appalled by my writing and mentioned some spelling errors in my last post made yesterday. I went to check, and yes there was a typo or two. Actually the same typo made twice, which I quickly fixed. Somehow spell check didn't catch the error. My latest habit seems to be my typing a ' whenever I see an s at the end of a word. I'm not even sure when I started doing it, but it is a new typo for me, and I usually catch them with spell check or reading over.

Well, I didn't catch it yesterday, and someone else did. With our blogs, we try to put our best foot forward at all times, but with daily entries sometimes we mess up. We're not perfect. Just the other day in Kelly's blog, she talked about blogging and how difficult it can be to keep a blog fresh and exciting. I've been blogging here since March, but I've had an online journal since July 2001. My early entries in my journal make me roll my eyes and laugh. Back then the purpose of my journal was the same as it is now. To meet other people that share a similar interest. Back then, that interest happened to be popular music and in one group in particular. Today the interest is much different and professional.

We want our blogs to become a reflection of who we are, and editors and others may come across our blog. They might not expect perfection in our blogs, but blogs riddled with errors will definitely give them the wrong impression. What I'm learning is that spell check doesn't always catch every little typo. It should, but it doesn't. There are some things only an eye can catch, but even then the eye might not catch them until hours later. Sometimes you don't even realize it.

I love my blog, and I love writing in it every day. It's my way of sharing my life with others. I know I might not always write about what people want to read about, but what I write about in here are the topics I happen to think about at any given time the day I write my entry. That does happen to be a lot about television, but television seems to have made its way into every part of my life.

In yesterday's comments Kelly asked about Night Stalker. This isn't one of the shows I cover on my review site; so let me give you the 411 here. Night Stalker is on ABC Thursdays at 9/8c. It stars Stuart Townsend and Gabrielle Union. Two name actors. It is a remake of a 70s classic of the same name. This show follows one reporter as he reports the news for a small paper in LA. He always seems to find the stories that have some tie to the supernatural. The show has a bit of an X-files feel to it, and it is definitely a scare fest on a weekly basis. Bad news here is the show isn't doing all that well in the ratings. Only 3.9 million viewers tuned in this past Thursday, and the network has yet to pick it up for a full season. I enjoy this show a lot. Good actors and acting. Scary plots too. I just don't know how long the show will last with the terribly low ratings it is getting. We will have to wait and see shall we?

I've made some minor changes to my blog sidebar again, repairing things and moving them around a bit. For those Blogazoos out there, here is a gazoo. If you stop by this blog tonight, don't forget to check my blog of the week. The space there will be open tomorrow for a new blog, but I have decided to start keeping up the links to past blogs of the week for a month past their week.

Have a wonderful night and Sunday everyone. I'll see you back here on Monday, unless I'm drawn back here for some reason before then.

215. And the weekend arrives ...

Friday, November 11, 2005

I don't know what it is about the weekends but things just seem to slow down a lot, and I just don't feel as much pressure to get things done as I do during the rest of the week. I know I have things that need to get done, but things just seem to move at a slower pace once the weekend arrives. Entertainment news and television programming also seems to slow a bit on the weekends so I have time to focus on other areas of my writing life. I have some authors to research this weekend for my November interview commitments over at ERRW, and I need to continue to read the book I'm reviewing as well. I need to write up the review for my Romance Divas sometime in the next few days as well because I want to get that out. That book is nearly read, but the last novella in the collection is really dragging and confusing me. So that one is taking me a bit to focus on.

I also just applied for a DVD reviewer position at an online magazine, so I'll wait to hear back on that. Something I've noticed that not many publications looking for nonfiction work get back to you if you don't get the job, and sometimes even if you are one of the ones they are considering you don't hear back from them for weeks. You almost forget you even applied, and then you receive an email, and you're left trying to remember what position it was. The ones you never hear back from though bug me a little bit. How hard is it to write an email to let someone know they weren't right for the position. Even a mass emailing is better than nothing in my opinion. Depending on the writing job postings for that week I usually send out one or two a week. If I find time to peek at them. Things have been crazy lately, so I haven't been able to do a lot of things lately. Things really need to calm down. I'm getting better organized though. Developing a system of doing things so that everything ends up getting done that needs to be done each day. What can wait til the next day I push back if necessary.

Last night, I reviewed The O.C. and ER, so if you are fan of those shows check those reviews over on my review site. A busy Friday for the networks because three shows got the ax today. Next season we won't see Arrested Development or 7th Heaven return. Freshman show Kitchen Development. I have a story on the FOX comedies up now. Check later on tonight for my news piece on 7th Heaven.

Have a wonderful night everyone. I'm off.

214. Headaches are no fun ...

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Last night, I was sitting at my desk having a perfectly fine time, and then all of a sudden I was struck by this horrid headache. Like literally from one moment to the next. So I signed off and called it a night. When I woke up this afternoon, I walked into my living room and I got really dizzy. Then my headache returned. I feel okay now, but I think I had a mini migraine. The pain wasn't there in a great amount, but I had all the other symptoms I have with migraines, so maybe it was a little bit of a warning to take things easy. The weekend is almost upon us, so I might take it a bit easier this weekend since it seems the stress of the last week or two is finally starting to catch up to me.

In other news, while I was surfing around I noticed more news on the Sony copy protected CD problem I talked about a few days ago in this blog. Turns out hackers have already figured out how to use this software put onto computers by Sony CDs to do bad things to your computer. Sony is already having problems with people being upset about the addition of the software and the problems it can cause a user with their computer on its own, but now hackers are learning how to use this feature. This will only allow more backlash for Sony BMG. If you want to read more about this new problem, there is an article here. I know some of the other blogs had mentioned the Sony incident in the last week, so I figured I'd update everyone.

Okay now about last night's Lost. I am so not happy with them killing off Shannon, but from what I'm reading killing her off was the most logical because there really wasn't much they could do with her character. Poor Sayid though. I hope he slaps Ana Lucia upside the head for being trigger happy. I have a full recap and review over on my review site here. Tonight we have new episodes of The OC and ER, so I'll have reviews of those up later on tonight. Night stalker is also new tonight, and I'm excited to see that show as well.

Have a wonderful night everyone. I'm off.

213. Hectic days

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

I really figured things would start to pick up in November, and I really wasn't wrong on that front. As a television reviewer, the weeks are hectic in any case during the season, but you add in sweeps months and things just go insane because all of the shows are new, and that means I'll have seven full reviews to write each week. It was eight, but I've cut one because the show has just completely lost me this season. Things were so hectic yesterday, I never even made it here. A lot was going on in a lot of different areas of my writing, so I decided to focus on those things.

The holidays are fast approaching, and I'm looking forward to them this year because it looks like I'll start getting paid by then. Merry Christmas in deed. I'm also looking to upgrade from dial-up to high speed sometime between now and Christmas, so that should make things move faster for me online as well. I'm just so used to dial-up. I'm used to waiting for pages to load, but I've noticed that it is starting to slow me down a bit. I could probably get a lot more done in less time once I make the jump to high speed. Plus, what I've noticed a lot of freelance writing positions require you have high speed access in order to telecommute, so that should open more doors for me as well.

As for my fiction, I've been mulling over this one idea for a couple of weeks now. I actually started it one night a couple of weeks ago. And when I thought of it, I realized it was similar to an idea I've had for six months now, but I've never been able to write it due to time. Time is still a factor now, and I really don't want to push it.

The last few days Kelly about organization and goals. I know I'm not doing all that well right now because my fiction is lacking at the moment, but I am writing. I set a goal for myself of one thousand words a day. An easy goal for me when it comes to my nonfiction pursuits because between my two sites I usually write at least double that, and in some nights triple that. Then I have nights where I barely make it. Those usually fall on the weekends, so I don't worry about it too much.

Once my fiction muses wake up, I might set a separate goal for that, somewhere between 250 and 500 words a night. However, I would take into consideration what else I'm doing that day. A night like Tuesday, Thursday or after the new year like Sunday, where I have two long show reviews to write I know it might not be possible to meet my fiction goals. If my fiction muses weren't so unbelievably silent right now I'd be writing more. A lot more, and my mind just spins with it all.

For fans of Surface, Bones, and Supernatural head on over to my review site for full recaps and reviews of all three shows. Tonight is Lost! I'm excited for its return. Although I'm a bit sad to hear who they are rumored to be killing off on tonight's show. I won't spoil it for anyone that doesn't already know, but yeah I'm not happy!

Have a wonderful night everyone! I'm off!

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Tuesday, November 08, 2005

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212. A busy Monday

Monday, November 07, 2005

Monday's always seem to be busy. Even if you aren't doing all that much during the day. Things just seem to drag on a bit too. Perhaps that is because it is the start of a new week. Although I feel my week starts on Sunday night because that is when my review week begins. I seem to have things finally down to some kind of rhythm. I am getting a set routine down, and if my muses were actually cooperating with me, I would probably be able to get some fiction writing in, but my fiction muses are sadly completely and totally silent. I've tried, but there is just nothing going on in my head. I'll get flashes of things, but when I sit down to go ahead and follow through with them there is nothing there, and that is just very frustrating to me. If I was doing Nano this month, I'd be screwed. No doubt about it, but since I'm not I don't have that added pressure on me.

Dad came home with his new car today. Well, his new used car today. brother and him are going through it to see what needs fixing because the dealer said within 90 days they would fix everything. Nice 2 door Chysler with all the little bells and whistles. Even has a CD player. It just has some miles and a few years on it, but this won't be my dad's final car. He is already looking at when his credit improves so he can buy a totally brand new car. Today, he finally was able to also pick me up Batman Begins on DVD rental, so I'll be watching that tonight. I've heard a lot of good things about it, and my one friend is totally obsessed with it, so I've been wanting to see it since it came out. I just happened found it available since it came out. Now I have it, so once things are done tonight review wise with Surface, I'll be popping in that DVD. Monday's are a quiet TV night, so I'll be able to enjoy it, especially since Surface is on so early for me. Speaking of reviews, Grey's fans can find my review of last nights episode over on my review site.

Dad also brought dinner home, so I'm off. I hope you all have a wonderful night!

211. Why am I so cold?

Sunday, November 06, 2005

I'm freezing, and I check the temp on my desktop weather program, and it says it is 81 here, and I'm still cold. Oh well. Such is life. I never made it here to my blog yesterday, so this is the now rare Sunday post. Things have been a bit hectic lately, so I called a virtual mental health day because I needed it. I've been under stress, and I'm starting to feel like I'm spinning my wheels a bit. I'm not making as much as I would like from my writing. I know it takes time, but I want it now. Not five years from now. I also know all good things come to those that wait, but I'm getting tired of waiting.

Everything just seems to be building. Things have been crazy in every aspect of my life. Brother got a new job which he starts tomorrow. He would have started during the week, but him and dad were still working on getting him a car. They were still sharing after the one dad had was repo. Word of advice: Never have your car repossessed. Technically, it shouldn't have been because we had worked out a deal with the creditor, but it was still taken, and it still showed on my dad's credit report. It will take a couple of years to fall off, and with it on his credit report banks won't touch him with a ten foot pole. After a month and a half of trying, we finally found him one. A used one, and we had to pay cash for it. There goes a chunk of the savings. Good news is he will have the car here tomorrow afternoon. If all goes according to schedule.

Then I see the holidays are fast approaching, and soon after that comes January and my birthday. This year isn't just any birthday though. It is the big 30, and I'm looking at my life and what I have done and I just expected to be further by now. It's just a bit depressing really. I know I'm still young, and I know I didn't choose the easiest of path's to walk down. Writing isn't easy. Breaking into the writing market is really hard, and I'm trying. One area of my writing seems to be moving a bit faster than the other, but it still isn't as fast as I would like. I never have been patient, so that side of me is coming into play now. I also miss my fiction efforts, but my muses seem to be totally and completely silent. Hopefully, they will return soon.

This morning before I went to bed I turned on the news. It is what I do every morning before crawling into bed. Th computer is off, and I'm just winding down from my day. This morning I tuned in and saw the devastation in Indiana from last night's tornadoes. There is so much going on with Mother Nature. So much devastation and loss of life since this summer. Sometimes I wonder if we somehow pissed her off. Then you see a movie about to air talking about the weather causing the end of the world, and you have to wonder what producer thought that one up. I'll catch what I cam just to see what the movie is about, but I'll be watching Grey's Anatomy tonight! In case you're wonder what movie I'm talking about, it is CBS' Category 7.

In the past couple of days in the blogosphere, I've noticed that people are warning others about this new thing Sony has done to copyright its CD's. They have added a little software program - spy ware - that automatically installs itself on your hard drive, the minute you put the CD in your drive. If you remove it, it will disable your CD drive. You also can't use any Sony rips in iTunes. Sony and Apple don't seem to play well in the marketplace, so Sony has made it that mp3's won't rip in iTunes. They want you to use your Windows Media Player.

Now, I don't buy as many CD's as I used to. I started to come to the conclusion that most CD's I only end up liking three to four tracks out of the twelve usually on a CD, so I download. Money is tight you know? Now the CD's I have bought, I do put in my computer, and I do rip songs onto my hard drive to play on my media player's play list. I currently use Winamp. I've been lucky because I haven't had this software program pop up yet. Sony seems to be the first to do this, and from what I can tell it might cause a bit of a boycott when it comes to their products. They shouldn't be able to put any kind of spy ware on your computer. I can see trying to protect their music, but not at the cost of someone's computer, especially if the person bought the CD already. They should be able to rip tracks from the CD to put on their computer if they own the CD. Just my thinking. This just a big buyer beware! Not all CD's with this kind of protection are labeled, so be wary of Sony products for the moment. As a writer, I know my computer is way too important to lose. To read more about this from the blogosphere check here and here.

In other news, my newest book review for Dust and Violets, a paranormal m/m erotica romance, is up over at the ERRW, you can check that out here. Check out my review blog for a new DVD review, 2005's The Amityville Horror. Also check out my new blog of the week everyone. This week's blog renter from Blog Explosion is Southern Gal Goes North. She is a humor writer that has been published in several publications. Check out her blog for her writing and views of life as a southern gal now living in the north, just like the blog name says. Check her out on my sidebar!

Have a great night everyone.

210. Eye opening numbers hah

Friday, November 04, 2005

I didn't think I'd make it here today. I'm feeling a bit under the weather, and I have a lot on my mind. I wanted to pop in real quick to share a little amusing story. Well, it is amusing to me in any case. This morning when I came online, i went to check my site's hit counters, and my eyes grew wide and I sat there in shock. Somehow in the hours between 6am and just a bit afternoon, my sites had over 1000 hits. I had no idea why, and I started to investigate because I'm so not used to those type numbers, not even on my review site. At most that has gotten 500 hits in one day, so that doesn't surprise me anymore. Well, after a bit of searching around, I quickly discovered the source - a new hit exchange I joined yesterday. they had a deal with giving 5,000 hits for those that joined yesterday, so I decided to put my sites up on there exchange. Well, the 5,000 hits were added this morning, and used ail this morning. No pause feature or a way to hold them back and allocate a few at a time as most exchanges do. So my sites were seen A LOT this morning.

Speaking of traffic exchanges, I added another blog exchange to my review this morning Blogmad. I received my second newsletter from that site last night, and I tried to log in. I couldn't, so I emailed the admin address given on their site. I didn't expect to hear back until today sometime, but within 20 minutes I heard back, and over the course of the hour the help desk figured out the problem, and I was able to get into the site. This site is in pre-launch at the moment, but I have a good feeling about them. Check them out on my review here. Speaking of reviews, I have reviews of both last night's ER and OC on my review site. Check those out by using the link on my sidebar.

Ghost Whisperer is about to begin, so I'm off. Have a great night everyone.

209. Making a change ...

Thursday, November 03, 2005

As writers we all work any number of publishers, publications and websites. These may change as you move on in your career, and you might stay with one publication or publisher throughout your writing career. However, sometimes you need to make a change, and sometimes that is hard to do. You might not want to do it, but in the long run of things, you know at some point a change will need to be made. We've all had to go through this at one point or another.

I've had this happen to me over the last couple of months. I've been with one site for a bit of time now, and I've learned much from my time on that site. I've learned things I've applied in both my own site and my work over at Media Village. However, I knew at some point, my time with that site would have to come to an end. At the very least temporarily. I won't say the break is permanent because things can change in the future. This has happened today. With some recent developments, I knew a change would need to be made, and I made it after a lot of thought, consideration and consultation. I think the break will save me future stress and frustration, and I will be able to return my focus elsewhere. Possibly towards my fiction. I'm hoping to pick things up on that front soon. Tonight will be a bit busy, but the weekend should be a bit slower. I'll see what I can manage then.

Tonight sees the return of one of my favorite shows following the forced hiatus for baseball, The OC. I talk about the earlier episodes and what I hope is to come briefly in my post today over on Thoughts from the Couch. If you are a fan of The OC, check that out here. ER is also all new tonight, so I'm pleased to have both shows back this week. I'm curious to see what they both have in store for us with new cast additions this season trying to stir things up.

Where does time go? I need to be off. Have a wonderful night everyone.

208. All about me

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Ellen had this little meme on her blog so I snagged it. I received my Star Wars Episode III DVD in the mail today, so I've been watching that all day. I went through the DVD looking at the deleted scenes, the easter egg and now I'm watching the movie before I head back to bonus disc to watch the documentaries. For those Star Wars fans, I posted about how to find the easter egg on this DVD over on my media blog here. I have reviews of last night's episodes of Bones and Real World on my review site here.


1. First name? Regina
2. Were you named after anyone? Not that I know of
3. Do you wish on stars? Yes.
4. When did you cry last? I cry over television shows, and I know I sniffled over last Friday's Ghost Whisperer.
5. Do you like your handwriting? No, I don't.
6. What is your favorite lunch meat? Turkey
7. What is your birth date? January 16th
8. What is your most embarrassing CD? New Kids on the Block - Greatest Hits
9. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you? I honestly don't know. Sometimes I feel I'm not very good of a friend to have.
10. Do you have a journal? I have this blog and a personal on greatesthournal that is rarely updated now.
11. Do you use sarcasm a lot? I tend to.
13. Would you bungee jump? Never
14. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? No.
15. Do you think that you are strong? At times
16. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Rocky Road
17. Shoe Size? 7
18. Red or pink? Red.
19. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? My insomnia
20. Who do you miss most? My mom
21. Do you want everyone you send this to, to answer? If they want to.
22. What color pants and shoes are you wearing? I'm actually not wearing pants at the moment. I am wearing a long dark blue button down Maui shirt.
23. What are you listening to right now? Revenge of the Sith is on my TV right now. HEE!
24. Last thing you ate? Taco Bell burrito I had for lunch.
25. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? I'm not sure.
26. What is the weather like right now? It was 90 today in Phoenix.
27. Last person you talked to on the phone? UH other than sales? I don't remember. Probably my friend Jason.
28. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Eyes.
29. Do you like the person who sent this to you? I grabbed it from Ellen's blog, and she's lovely.
30. Favorite Drink? Coke.
31. Favorite sport? Football
32. Hair Color? Brown
33. Eye color? Brown
34. Do you wear contacts? No.
35. Favorite Food? Pasta
36. Last movie you watched? I am watching Revenge of the Sith right now.
37. Favorite day of the year? Christmas!
38. Scary Movies Or Happy Endings? Happy endings.
'39. Summer or Fall? Fall.
40. Hugs OR Kisses? Both.
41. What Is Your Favorite Dessert? Chocolate cake.
42. Who Is Most Likely To Respond?
43. Who Is Least Likely To Respond?

44. What Books Are You Reading? The Vampire Sextette anthology
45. What’s on your mouse pad? I have an optical mouse, so no mouse pad.
46. What Did You Watch Last Night? Bones, Real World
48. Favorite Sounds? My cats meowing to me.
47. Favorite Smell? Apple Cinnamon
50. Favorite animal? Cats
51. What’s the farthest you’ve been from home? Virginia
52. Do you have a special talent? I don't believe so.

If anyone wants to take this meme, feel free. I hate tagging people. Have a wonderful night everyone.

207. Happy Nano!

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

For some of you out there in the writing world, November means Nano, and I wish you all participating this year the best of luck. I've taken part the last couple of years, but I didn't do that well. I write too slow fictionally to be successful in Nano. My best word count fiction wise for a month was 10,000 words, and I was so drained by the end of the month. For October, I did write over 55,000 words. Now before you look at that and look at me and ask why I'm not doing nano. Those 55,000 words were not in one project or story. That is a compliation of the word counts for all my articles for last month. Between my media blog on Media Village and my review blog, words seem to add up quickly.

Things actually dropped off the last week of the month. Som wouldn't think so, but a lot of the shows I cover over on my review blog were repeats the last week. Everyone is gearing up for sweeps period, which starts up on Thursday. Tonight we see the return of Bones. In just under an hour in my time zone in fact, and I am so glad this show is back. I was just getting into things when the show was put on hiatus for the baseball playoffs. OC returns on Thursday, and the previews for what's ahead have me really excited.

I meant to be earlier, but I started playing around with one of my websites, and I got lost. Before I knew a quick change that shouldn't have taken much more than fifteen minutes ended up taking me nearly an hour. I also updated my traffic exchange article with some more information a bit ago. I really want to dig back into the fiction this month. I am feeling a bit bad about how badly things went the month of October fiction wise, but I know I was writing, and I was doing it daily. That helps me feel a bit better. It wasn't like I hadn't written anything last month. it wasn't a matter of not writing, but finding time to do all the writing that I wanted to do. I know it really is no excuse though. I still feel bad. So hopefully the muses come out to play for a bit this month. I am crossing my fingers.

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween. Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 
 
 
 
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