Saturday, October 25, 2008

Ups and Boos

Everyone I know is writing about Halloween on their blogs. I guess I'm getting a little old. Maybe just old in 'spirit' (how appropriate). It would be a good time to brush off a little paranormal fun though. Sadly, I just haven't had time to write fiction lately. It's good in the financial sense because my other writing has been keeping me so busy and that actually pays off. On and up-note though two of my novels were accepted to publicbookshelf and I was offered payment for non-exclusive rights to put them up for electronic viewing on their site. They have 90 days from when I signed the contract to put them up. They pay when the stories go live. I'm excited about that.

Losing Track of My Office

I have been doing so much lately that I forgot to check on my actual supplies and found myself searching for something as simple as a rubber band this morning. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I don't work 'in' my office very often anymore. It seems hard to believe because I used to spend all day in there. Now I spend all day in the living room on my laptop. It's time to head on over to the office supplies center. Luckily for me that's a 'short trip' too. I can do it right from my living room too. Convenient and much cheaper.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Depression is Funny?

This is hilarious. Now I know why I have trouble writing comedy--I'm always in a good mood. Apparently the more depressed you are the funnier you are. LOL Erma Bombeck must have always beend depressed because she was funny as heck.

Old fashioned mail

Even in this electronic age there are times when writers have to rely on postal mail to get manuscripts, scripts, and other writing work to their destination. It does surprise me when some places still insist on paper submissions. For those times it helps to have ways to manage supplies. I have a cabinet full of various sizes of cardboard and paper bubble packaging. I used to go through an entire cabinet full of packing materials every six or seven months and had to refill the cabinet. Thanks to electronic submissions of most things now the last time I had to refill that cabinet now was four years ago. I did notice last week when I had to dig through it for a bubble wrap envelop big enough to send a script out that is starting to get a little low and it is probably time to think about re-supplying it. I guess some companies like to have a foot in the past. Really I think some of them are just too cheap to print out various things that come by email. I can understand that for unsolicited submissions but when things are requested you would think they would prefer email and opt to spend the few extra dollars to print the material out.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Modern Romance

Getting a modern facelift to an old genre

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Toys with a Purpose

With a new baby coming I feel even more compelled to kind of spoil my current grandkids than I usually do. It's easy for them to get a little overlooked when mom is preganant. With them so far away I have to content myself now with just sending them things but I still do it. I prefer learning types of toys whenever I get them things so that they can have fun but it is still productive. Even when I was a kid I prefered toys that had a purpose, or did something. I can't wait until they're old enough for really big learning toys like the radio controlled airplanes I used to build.

New Baby New Things

New babies are wonderful. My daughter is expecting .. again. There are so many things that have been improved even just since my last grandchild was born. I get excited researching new things like the Stokke Tripp Trapp which is actually a new type of baby highchair made egronomically and so that their feet don't dangle it is very unusual looking at first but the idea of it really makes sense. I wish Nicole wasn't as far away as she is. I was with her for all of her childbirths as a coach (her hubby was there too but she wanted me and it was amazing) and I won't get to be there for this one. Unless... road trip maybe? Long road trip, but worth it.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

A Guy Can't Catch A Break

Can the average guy compete with romance novel men?

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Wangethi Mwangi Provides The Facts and Only The Facts in Kenya

Newspapers shape the opinions of their readers so media outlets that are governed by political interests or parties often bias their views and influence their readers in a way that is loaded with propaganda.

That is what makes independent media companies such the National Media Group and its Daily Nation newspaper so vital to the social health of Kenya. The editorial director Wangethi Mwangi is an independent thinker who supports no particular agendas. It is truth first and that is the way it should be.

Along with fellow paper staff Joseph Odindo and Linus Gitahi Mr. Mwangi and the National Media Group help keep things open and real for the people of Kenya.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Before They're too Old

I always wanted to take my kids on one of the Disney vacations you see in commercials. Even way back when my kids were little they had those commercials but there was never the money. Now that I have grandkids and money I would really like to plan a trip with the entire family to Disney World. The GK are old enough now to really enjoy it too. I think this winter we're going to make a trip down to Orlando and have a ball before they grow up and its too late. That sure happens fast. I blinked and my kids were grown.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Writing From Home

Paperback writer had a post on her blog about virtual writing. It really is out there and there really are many legitimate companies to work for. I do it all day long and make decent money at it. I write about everything from diet pills to motorcycles. In fact I've had hundreds of motorcycle articles in this past month and made thousands of dollars. You think you need to be an expert? I didn't know a thing about motorcycles, but I knew how to do the research about each one and how to make them sound cool, and even point out any shortcomings they had with a bit of a flair and viola... expert. The real reason to point this out is that so many writers think it is all a scam. There are plenty, believe me. Learning how to spot a scam is an important part of learning how to work online, but the opprotunities really are there and truthfully they are rather abundant. If you want to make money writing and working from home, it can be done. Check it out.