Tag Archive | blog posts

Fast Stats

May23

Ah, we’ve almost made it to the midpoint of the year. Hooray! I’ve been doing pretty good with keeping up on my reading and writing goals.

Ready? Set? Here we go!

  1. Since changing up my prose writing away from trying to do a novel I’ve not only written but have also submitted a few short (flash) pieces. I think I’m up to 4 submissions, with 2 more in the wings. One I’m waiting to open up and the other I still need to write.
  2. I’m still (mostly) writing a poem a day. There’s maybe a  few days when that didn’t happen, but there are also days when I wrote more than 1. I’m pretty sure that it will even out in the end.
  3. On my reading goal, so far I’ve read 194 new books. This is not counting all the re-reads I do. I enjoy reading 😃. Most of the time, the television is background noise.
  4. This is just an odd stat: I’ve DNF’d almost as many books as I finished. 132 to be exact. I just thought it was funny.
  5. I have been participating in the Ladies of Horror flash challenge and loving it. My most recent submission can be found HERE

That’s it for today, my Lovelies! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

A Bookish Birthday

Mar24

So we celebrated my birthday with lunch and a Barnes & Noble trip yesterday. Loved it. Lots of fun!

B&N Birthday Haul

Originally, this post had a slightly different title. And a very different subject. I was so mad at a magazine I wrote a rant piece. Then I took a deep breath. I retook the picture and removed the original picture that had the magazine I was irked with. I have deleted SEVERAL paragraphs worth of my annoyance with that magazine.

The reasons I changed it up are varied:

  1. I had the ability and time to flip through the magazine before purchase. If I had done so, I wouldn’t have bought it.
  2. It is highly unprofessional as a writer to post that sort of angst against any market.
  3. We don’t yuck someone else’s yum.

Just because I don’t see the value in that magazine, doesn’t mean that someone else won’t. It might be the best thing someone else has ever read. Or written for. Just because it isn’t what I was expecting when I didn’t even do the bare minimum while at the store (flipping through it) doesn’t mean I should do a rant post on it.

And just like that, common decency is born.

With so much access to social media, it’s easy to get it all out and hit the button to send our rants out into the world. But should we?

What would happen if we just moved on? This isn’t anything dangerous. No one’s gonna die or get hurt if they read that magazine. It’s not spreading misinformation. Ranting about it would be like  debating chocolate cake versus strawberry cake.

I like strawberry cake better.

Fight me.

Yah, I didn’t think so. I also don’t care for most frosting. That just means I can scrape it to the side and let you enjoy it.

Thank you for visiting my almost Bookish Rant.

Goals check up

Apr5

Well, apparently I had no need to worry about the blip of only a few books in January that were read. Because I read an obscene amount in March. Ripped through several author’s entire back list too!

I’ve been blogging more regularly this year, too. Looks like I’m hitting 3 times per month every month. Not great, but so much better than the years previously that I’ll take it.

I’ve been writing more, too. Sometimes I’ll start and stop. Or play here and there. Flash and poetry are what I’m currently completing on a regular basis. But I am writing. And submitting.

One of the best things for my writing was showing up  for a writing date with Rie. It isn’t about being held accountable. It’s about having someone you can shoot a text to really quick– hey, a short female name that doesn’t start with an M or is Lily?? And get a response. It’s not being or feeling so alone in the process. Forwarding opportunities that might fit the other one’s story, feedback, heck just being “there.” We are states away, but technology is a wonderful thing. Just knowing someone is there for an hour a day, Monday through Friday with me… It’s a beautiful thing.

Now, I’m off to go write more in my silly little story. I’m calling it that because right now I’m writing it just for me. It makes me happy to write it. 

And that is enough.

For today, making myself giggle is enough.

Cheers!

Momcation

Jun19

I haven’t been by myself in a house for an extended amount of time in… Years. I always have my son (15) or my dad (95) around or coming back. It’s wonderful. I love my family. But….

I used to love living by myself too. I’ve always kept myself occupied– readings writing, television. I’m not one that gets bored and stays bored. The quiet is a friend of mine- it allows a moment of reflection, a deep sigh.

Thanks to Caltrans and my Best friend I just had that. A glorious Sunday through Thursday morning where I stayed in a house all by my lonesome. Caltrans closed the freeway that I need to get to work. (Not a work vacation, alas). My BF is travelling, and offered her house. I have to tell you….

It. Was. Glorious.

I wrote and sent out cards. I didn’t cook ANYTHING. Frozen all the way. And after work, I went to the real happiest place on earth, Barnes and Noble, and bought many wonderful magazines. One was brand new to me, called Oh, Reader and I read every single article in it. Which has inspired me– to do magazine reviews. Share what I’m loving. Maybe a few book reviews in there too.

The fact is that I miss blogging. I miss sharing the things I love, and boy do I love books and magazines!

I love my family. Of course I do.

But I missed myself, and didn’t even realize what had been missing in my life was ME.

Writer’s Brain

Aug10

Hello, my lovelies. I have a post up on the MMP blog today, which can be found here. In it, I tried to show how my writer’s brain works… the way we start with “What if” and keep it going, hopefully all the way through a story.

But Writer’s Brain can also get us into weird situations. Like, for instance, when I’m having a perfectly lovely conversation with my self, or my character, and it happens that I’m saying it out loud, in line at Walmart. Or while pumping gas.

Sometimes we look at the world differently. There’s a tree that grows over the road near here, and to me it looks exactly like a dragon head, ready to snatch up a car and chomp on it. While driving down another road, a common sight is great big stacks of hay, partially covered with a blue tarp. A giant’s bed? Yes, I believe so.

Writer’s brain rears its head in the most fascinating ways. What’s your favorite?

Oh, and go read that blog post! Tell me what you think of it 🙂

I’ll be back tomorrow with a review on Brandy Purdy’s latest historical.