cliopatra’s posterous

Image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr

I’ve been mulling this over for a while, and I decided that I might try it and see how I like it.   Probably the most important advice I’ve ever read but can’t remember the source of is “If you want to be a writer, write.”

So I shall write.  I think I write much more and more often than I realize, so here is where I am going to try to start keeping track.

Today, January 12, 2010, I wrote the following:

1.  Website copy for my local Mensa chapter.

2.  A blog post for my personal blog.

3.  A paid blog post/SEO.

4.  Another paid blog post/SEO.

The plan is, if I wrote it and I can link to it, I will.  This helps me keep track of my productivity, and might provide some work samples for prospective clients.

Today I received a copy of the 2010 Writer’s Market Deluxe (the one that includes one year of access to writersmarket.com), and the plan is to start scouting the magazine markets for a series of articles I would like to write about a certain topic.  I’ve got some great ideas for the series, and I am going to start writing those this weekend, if not sooner.

I also have a couple of novels in the works, though those are just for play at this point.  I will probably do a little work on “JT” tonight.  That’s the one foremost in my brain lately.

I hope that you have a productive week.  That’s my plan.

Image by kitsunebabe via Flickr

One of the nice things about living in SWFL is that in January, it’s really not as cold as the rest of the world.  It’s not beach weather, but you still don’t have to wear socks.

We’re having an unusual spell of cold weather right now.  This morning it is 41F (feels like 34F) with a persistent drizzling rain.  I’m not planning on doing much out of the house today.

Someone mentioned at work the other day that it costs 4 times as much to heat a home as it does to cool it.  At least here it does, anyway.  I decided that was enough incentive to try and keep the thermostat low, so this morning when I woke up I put on long pants, a long sleeved T-shirt and socks.  This is WAY more than I usually wear at home.

I then started the coffee (which I don’t drink), made a cup of Earl Grey (which I do drink), then put some a new chicken recipe in the crockpot, and started a loaf of bread in the breadmaker.  In a couple of hours this house is going to smell amazing.

I’m even thinking about making some homemade blueberry muffins (thanks to the 10 lbs of organic blueberries I found in the freezer).  If the oven doesn’t keep the house warm, then maybe a 10 or 15 rousing games of Wii tennis will.

I’m thankful not to live where it is truly cold, so that I have all these low-cost and yummy options for keeping the chill away.

Image by churl via Flickr

When my favorite writers group splintered last year, I went looking for a new group.  A new one had been created from my old one, but it met too far away.

The same state association also created another group that meets in my area, but it didn’t have the same feel for me as the first one.  I then tried a different association, but it was also far away.

Most of these associations focused on book authors, something I do not believe that I am.  I have books in various stages of work, but nothing complete and I don’t know if that will ever happen to me.

I met with my friend and mentor, Lisa Wroble, last year, and she told me that she was a part of the Florida Freelance Writers Association.  I had never heard of it, but she told me about the group, and I thought it was worth looking into.

The group doesn’t have any meetings, but they have a ton of resources.  I joined online and got a (non-canned) confirmation e-mail and then a big packet of paperwork in the mail that included press credentials (!!) and the last 4 issues of the national and state association newsletters.

I decided not to renew my memberships to the other two state associations, which paid for this membership.  Already I’m impressed by what I’ve learned from the newsletters, and the amount of resources they provide.  I’ve only had the new packet less than a week.

I highly recommend Florida Freelance Writers Association.  If you decide to join, please let them know Cheryl Rushing referred you!

Cover of Voyager

In my last post I talked about the Outlander series and how, being almost finished with the second book (Dragonfly in Amber) I was simply not going to read any further into the series.

Well, damn Diana Gabaldon and her ability to suck you in, because the minute I finished Dragonfly in Amber I was dying to know what happened next.  Luckily, a friend owns the entire series and brought me over Voyager and the fourth one (I don’t know what it’s called).

Voyager has been a very easy read.  So easy, in fact, that I find myself saying “I’ll just read to the end of the chapter” but something happens that is so shocking I have to keep reading, and then it’s 2 a.m. and I have to be up for work in 4 hours.

I think there are what, 3 or 4 more books after Voyager?  I’m not sure, but I think this will keep me busy the rest of the year.

Image via Wikipedia

The new buzzword for 2010 is “natural causes”.

Brittany Murphy’s death was original called “natural causes”.  As was the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately, Johnson & Johnson heiress Casey Johnson, and Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan.

All of these people were under the age of 40, so “natural causes” just seems to be a catchall phrase first “we don’t know”.

We sort of do know, though, don’t we?  Fame, pressure, money and access to anything and everything they could ever want.

Doesn’t sound all that natural to me.

Image by hjl via Flickr

When we first moved to the house we live in now, we moved our cable service with us.  We are with Comcast, and while we hadn’t really had any problems prior to the move, I wanted to kill them during the process.

I had paid over $100 for the Season Ticket for college football in August.  We moved the second week in September, and three (3) Comcast reps assured me that the service would be included in the move.   A week later when I went to watch the game?  No service.  I was advised by that Comcast rep that because I had moved from a Comcast area to a “formerly Time Warner (now owned by Comcast)” area, I was now considered a new customer and would have to purchase the Season Ticket again, because it was not transferrable.

Except it was, because I threw a huge fit and got my way.

For several years we were on the $99 per month plan for internet, cable and phone.  When the special ran out in March of last year and my bill shot up, I called and was put back on the plan as a courtesy.  Then 3 months later Comcast sent a letter saying they were doing away with that plan and bumping me up to a higher priced plan.

I thought maybe I would take off the phone service, since we never use the home phone.  I was told by several reps that wasn’t possible, until I finally got someone on the phone who said yes, it was possible, but it would mean taking me off the bundled plan. 

Fine, whatever, just do it.  So she spent several minutes calculating, and with the lack of bundle credit, taking the phone service off the bill would save me about $2.37 per month.  So we left it alone.

She did inform me that in March 2010 my current bundle special price will end and my base price will end up being over $200, so naturally I am looking at other options.

I could always call and try to get them to keep my current plan pricing in place, but if they say no, I need alternatives.

I’m looking at PlayOn, which would mean leaving the internet and phone service in place (which is possible, though I don’t know what the price would be for that) or perhaps going with a satellite provider.  I’m not sold on satellite because we live in an area prone to severe weather.

Any suggestions?

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve spent a lot of time the past several years thinking that, as a writer, I had to write a book.  So I’ve started books.  Many of them.  I’ve signed up for NaNoWriMo and failed miserably. 

All I’ve gotten for my trouble has been a large pile of half-finished manuscripts (ok, perhaps a jump drive full of them) and a lot of frustration.  When I’ve explored the publishing process, it just seems overwhelming.

I’ve watched friends and fellow writers get published.  Lauren Conrad has been published, for Pete’s sake!

And all the while, I’ve just been paralyzed by fear.

A couple of years ago I took a class about writing, and I got interested in magazine writing.  It seemed to be a bit easier than novel writing, plus I could probably finish a magazine article, right?

Thanks to a friend who is mentoring me, I’ve got an idea on how to get my foot in the door with magazine writing.  I’ve been compiling a list of articles I’d like to write, and I’ll be looking for places to get them published in the next month or so.

Write what you know… so I am!

This past weekend I had some inspiration on a novel I had started writing this past spring.  I wrote on that for a bit, then noticed in the same folder some documents from a novel I had started in 2008.

I spent Sunday morning reading what I had written in 2008, and falling in love with the characters and the story all over again.  I’ve got some ideas for that, and I’m looking forward to putting it all together.

I might just end up writing a book someday after all.

Image via Wikipedia

A few years ago a friend recommended that I read the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.  I picked up the first book (Outlander) from the library, and was unable to get through the first chapter.  I was bored with it.

My friend was aghast that I was not as enthralled as she was by the series.  I was at a local bookstore about a year later and bought Outlander from the used section, then found it dusty, with the receipt still in it, two years later.

I slogged through the first several chapters until it got good, but even then I only wanted to finish it because I’d already invested so much time in the characters.  Normally a 2 book a week girl, this one took me nearly a month to finish.

For some reason I bought the second in the series, Dragonfly in Amber.  Despite a strong start, it is still taking me a month to read this one, and no matter how it ends I will not be finishing the series.

It’s an example, in my opinion, of how I do NOT want to write, and not something I want to read.  No offense meant to Diana Gabaldon, she’s just not my style.  Maybe I’m missing something?  She’s made a lot of money and is quite popular, so she must be doing something right.

I have been looking for an opportunity to showcase the embeddability (is that a new word?) of Google Voice messages.  I got the perfect opportunity tonight.

My dad is a goober, and I love him dearly.  He lives in Mississippi with my 13-year-old sister Scarlet.  She has no control over him, poor thing.

Anyway, this was the first message he left:

The little thing he is singing is the BC Clark Anniversary Sale jingle (if you click this link, choose the “original jingle” – it’s the best one). BC Clark is a famous old jewelry store in Oklahoma, and you know it is Christmas when they start playing the jingle on the radio. I missed it so much I have the jingle as a ringtone on my phone.

The hippopotamus song he is referring to is “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” which is my most favorite Christmas song.

Then he called back a couple of minutes later and left this message:

(I know he sounds drunk, but he swears he is just sick and getting over bronchitis. I can attest that he doesn’t drink much and is usually just goofy.)

Shortly after that call, I had another message:

I did call and speak to both of them and we had a terrific laugh over his version of the song. This is the actual song:

Voice messages posted will the full knowledge of all parties involved. Merry Christmas, Daddy!