Joystory

Friday Forays in Fiction: Let Me Tell You a Story

2012-02-03T01:00:00.000-08:00

And So It Goes
by Charles Shields

Let me tell you a story about a storyteller and a story about a storyteller. No, I did not say that twice by accident. I am to tell the story about my encounter with the review copy of a biography about a writer of stories.

Still confused?

Me too.

So it begins in November when I (the storyteller) get an email from a web publicist offering me a review copy of And So It Goes by Charles Shields, (the story) the biography of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (the storyteller) I was excited by this as I am a Vonnegut fan.

Now I had just recently downloaded a Kindle for PC ap and started reading ebooks on my netbook, rediscovering the joys of reading stories long enough to get immersed in them and loose track of time. Because of my visual impairment normal books with normal sized print cause eyestrain after less than thirty minutes and during those minutes I am constantly adjusting the position of the book, the magnifying glass or the 3X reading glasses I wear over my prescription glasses, and my limbs, shoulders, head and seat. Quite frustrating and the result has been my gravitating more and more to reading online which tended to be blogs and news rather than novels even though I had many online public domain books bookmarked and had dozens of txt or pdf books on my netbook.

I had downloaded the Kindle for PC in early November after being invited into the Premier Virtual Author Blog Tour for December and needed it to open the books. Once I had it and experienced reading in it that first evening I was hooked and began downloading free Kindle editions as fast as I could find them, starting with classics. I started with Jane Austen to be precise, downloading every one of her novels. In just a few days I had over a hundred. I now have over five-hundred and the balance has shifted to Indie authors. Shortly after this I downloaded Calibre so I could start collecting public domain epub from sites like Project Gutenberg. I now have over 2000 ebooks in my Calibre library. Yeah I do tend to go to extremes. And I digress.

With my enthusiasm for ebooks burning hot I decided to ask if I might have an ebook copy of And So It Goes and was sent to Net Galley to get it. There I had to sign up first and in the process got excited about finding a site where I could ask for review copies and not wait to be offered. But my enthusiasm for Net Galley has cooled after what happened since.

I couldn't figure out how to get the Kindle version so had to accept a version to be read on Adobe Digital Reader which I first had to download and install. And once I downloaded And So It Goes and got it opened I discovered it was a pdf and thus would not word wrap which means that when I enlarge the font to my comfort level the lines are so long I often have to scroll sideways and even when I don't my eye (only my right eye can still read) gets lost on the way to the beginning of the next line.

That happens as well with tree books and is one of the factors preventing immersion into the story and is why I so much like being able to control the length of the line as well as the size of the font. So of course I was disappointed but I was determined to read it anyway. I kept it opened on my desktop and dipped into it when I had spare minutes such as waiting on downloads or my sister's reply during our chats. But I had to give priority to the three blog tour books for which my post dates had been set for the second week of December. And of course NaNo took precedence over even those until November 30.

And then the first week of December I got the flu.

With all of that converging on me in early December (and let's not forget the Xmas gifts I was crocheting) I did not make much progress in the Vonnegut bio before mid December but then it went to the top of reading priority. Meanwhile I had been dipping into a few of his novels and other writings to refresh my sense of him as a writer and storyteller and of the human being that reveals. I still set more store in that sense I get of the person behind the words than I do in biographies or even autobiographies. One is information the other is soul. Do I need to say which is which?

Between December 14 and December 24 the bulk of my reading time was devoted to Vonnegut. You could almost say I was immersed. Then on December 23 Ed presented me with the key to our own trailer house two doors down from his parents where we had lived since 2001. The 24h and 25th were devoted to family holiday functions. And on the 26th we began moving our stuff. Since we were doing that on foot with the help of a dolly that took most of the next ten days. And before I'd even finished emptying the room we had lived in for ten years let alone finished unpacking in the new place I had to start packing for my trip out of town.

It was my mom's 80th birthday on January 3rd and a big family bash was planned and I'd promised to be there. I had planned for it to be a relatively short visit this time though. My stays at Mom's since her broken hip and stroke in 2008 have tended to be over a month and except for the first one in which I stayed almost 6 months to help my sister during Mom's initial recovery the visits have averaged about six weeks. I wanted this one to be under three as I was understandably anxious to return to my new home and enjoy all the benefits of a home of my own for the first time in over ten years.

But when my sister called to make the arrangements for coming to pick me up I realized she was having a particularly hard time and I offered to stay longer. She asked for a month. She picked me up on January 6th (because of illness in the family Mom's bday bash had been postponed) so I expected to come home the second week of February but since then my stay has been extended again as the weekend of the 18th my sister has a 3 day engagement with an organization she's involved with that works with troubled kids for whom she occasionally provides respite care So now the plan is to take me home the following weekend. The 25th.

Meanwhile a few days before my sister picked me up in Phoenix I had finally had a moment to relax and thought to open the Vonnegut bio only to discover it was locked against me with a notice that my 55 days had expired. I must have missed the fine print somewhere as I don't remember being aware of that deadline. Add the fact that Net Galley provides only pdf to the fact that there is apparently a kill switch on the books and my enthusiasm for them has cooled considerably. Part of the fun of reviewing books, and not a small part, is getting to keep the books!

I immediately got on the library catalog and got in queue for it but deactivating my hold and setting it to reactivate in late January. Then a week or so after I arrived at Mom's I emailed the publicist to explain what had happened and apologize and promised to have my review up in late February, assuming I got my turn with the library copy by early February.

I never heard back from her so I thought 'There goes that professional relationship'

Then last weekend I was on my library account online and discovered both the Vonnegut book and the new Stephen King book which I'd also been in queue for were waiting for me at the Phoenix branch. Arrrgh! I had forgotten to reset the hold activation and it had kicked on January 24th. Back to the end of the line I would go! Was I going to have to buy a copy so I could fulfill my obligation.

Then Tuesday morning an email from my husband informed me that the Vonnegut book had arrived the day before. The publicist had gone ahead and had one shipped to me. But there is over 500 miles between us now so how was I going to read a 500+ page book and write a review between the night of February 25th and the last day of February. 3 days? Not going to happen. The thought of emailing another excuse to the publicist made me cringe.

So I got on the Longview library catalog to see if their copy was available for my sister to check out only to find they don't even have one. Can you see my jaw fall? Then I tried the Vancouver WA library system for which my sister also has a card and found one. Now, when my sister orders a book through the Vancouver library they are sent to the closest branch for her to pick up and that is Woodland 20 miles south. She usually has occasion to travel to either Vancouver or Portland at least once a week but she said that she had no current plans to go that way again before the 18th except for her orthodontist appointment the very next day which did not allow time to have the book sent to Woodland if she ordered it that night. She offered to pick it up at the branch it was at since that branch would not be too far out of her way.

So Wednesday night she brought it home with her.

Holding it in my hands I am daunted by its size and the smallness of the font. It is hard to feel that way about big books while remembering how it felt in the days when seeing me lugging around big fat books or hunched over one reading was more than normal. It was iconic.

I have had to start it over for although I am remembering the material as I re-read it I can't remember much of it before I pass my eyes over it again. I guess, between the flu, Xmas, the move, the time spent at Mom's and the three books I read for the blog tours since the last paragraph I read in And So It Goes has crowded it out.

I am all set to get back into it though. I even dressed up one of my crocheted bookmarks with a long folded over ribbon special for it. That way I can put the crocheted section at the place where the main text ends and the Notes begin so I can easily find the Notes when referenced in the text. Then one ribbon will mark my place while the other marks the daily goal. I haven't set that goal yet but I imagine it needs to average more than thirty pages per day.

And so it goes.

Big Kindle Boogie - One Day Left

2012-02-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

http://bigkindleboogie.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/BigKindleBoogie

There are 10 Kindle Fires up for grabs. And to top it off the winner of the first drawing also gets $500 donated to their local public library. As bad as I want a Kindle Fire (any Kindle actually) I would be more thrilled to see that money go to our Jackson County Library System which continues to struggle like a transplant patient on life-support ever since the six month closure in 2007. So I love that these guys are adding that grace note to their boogie.

I have downloaded all of my copies of the 75 books. Those I didn't already have from the Kindle Fire Giveaway Scott Nicholson participated in with two other inde authors a couple of weeks ago. The books among them that I'm the most excited about aren't the novels and short story collections but rather the non-fic books on writing, self-publishing, being an indie author and all that entails including promotion. So even if you think the genre of story these guys write is not your cup of tea but you are an aspiring writer yourself you might find those books helpful.

I am participating in these events and the virtual author blog tours of the previous two days posts as part of my investigation into the inde option for publishing my own stories. I believe it takes more than reading books about it. Watching someone who made it work in action is worth a thousand how-to manuals. And as I've discussed here before, self promotion is a very alien concept to me because of the way I was raised to believe that it was the equivalent to bragging which in turn was evidence of prIde which was a sIn. Note the big fat capital 'I' in the middle of those dirty words. Evidence, see, that when you put your big, fat, selfish self into the middle of something you are standing on a slippery slope on the edge of the abyss and nothing good can come of it.

I learned that before grade school and fifty years later still can't shake it. Even after eight years of blogging.

Funny thing is tho, whatever in me generates that anxiety and self-disgust surrounding efforts at calling attention to myself does not translate to feeling disgust with others I'm observing in action doing the very thing I can't seem to allow myself to do. I even have vicarious joy in watching them succeed as I cheer them on. That seems to indicate to me that this is not a core value of mine but rather something more like a Pavlov response.

So I wonder if I were to create a pen name and instill an alter ego in it and publish and promote under it would my 'I' feel free to cheer on it's alter 'I' and allow it to succeed?

OMG my brain hurts.

Actually if I had my druthers I'd rather give my alter 'I' all the baggage of the 'self=sin' paradigm and write under my own name. Which BTW means 'joy reborn'.

OK so this post went places I never intended. Only the pic and the first paragraph was planned when I opened the draft and I almost clicked on publish but then thought to say something about the free books. This is what happens when I start typing after being awake over twenty hours--just hit 36. Which is probably why I do it so often. 24 to 44 hour wake periods are to me what alcohol is to the drunk--a form of self medication that lowers anxiety and inhibition.

I wish I could bottle whatever it is that floods my brain sometime after twenty hours awake and take a swig upon waking.

Hot Chocolate - Blog Tour

2012-02-01T03:00:00.000-08:00

Hot Chocolate
by Dawn Ireland

This cozy mystery is a raucous romp. A light, quick read, it is laugh-out-loud funny all the way through except maybe for the scene when the murder victim is discovered and the scene when the murderer declares themselves tho even those two scenes have elements of slapstick visuals incorporated into them.

The plot is quite masterfully constructed and kept me guessing right up to the moment the culprit was revealed and that is not easy to do as I've read or watched so many mystery stories I often figure it out well before the halfway point.

Where the story truly shines though is through the characters of which there are many yet each one is fully rounded and uniquely eccentric.

There are the three Alcott sisters, Madge, Lila Mae and Dorthea, ages 55 to 60 something heiresses to a bazillion dollar global chocolate company and their 90 something father who lives with Dorthea, the youngest.

Then there is their staff: Dorthea's histrionic male housekeeper, Lila Mae's divine cook and her uncle Tito, a shaman/guru. And central to the story, Bambi, the elderly father's day nurse and her husband Jimmy.

There's the family lawyer and his wife and their addict niece. There's Houston police detective, Chance who is also Dorthea's beau and his two investigators. There are several of Jimmy's employees at the bowling alley, Bambi's parents and Jimmy's aunt and Lila Mae's astrologer.

Food itself is nearly a character in the story and several of the recipes featured in scenes are included in full at the end of the novel.

As the story begins Dorthea has confessed she can no longer manage their father's care and the sisters develop the plan with the help of their lawyer to place him in a ritzy assisted living home and provide Bambi a generous severance package. But when Jimmy learns the Alcotts have let Bambi go he is infuriated and hires a shyster to sue the family for wrongful termination. That suit is dismissed as frivolous and an angry Jimmy drives his wife home from the courthouse. Dropping her off at their mobile home park he returns to work at his bowling alley.

Bambi wakes in the wee hours to find Jimmy is still not home and later that morning Jimmy's employees, arriving at work, find him dead on lane five. The murder weapon is an item Chance recognizes as something belonging to Dorthea.

I mustn't go further as beyond this point only spoilers abide.

This novel could almost sit on the shelf beside the biggest names in mystery without blushing. I have only two beefs with it and only one of those is definitely related to writing quality. The other might be if looked at one way but is possibly a personal bias.

The first is the abundant use of descriptive words and phrases to substitute for the simple 'he said/she said' in dialog. Often when characters opened their mouths they snipped, spat, spewed, fired off, fumed, broiled, wailed, pleaded, squealed, tittered, chimed, extolled, relayed, instructed, quipped, hissed, snarled, gushed, roared, thundered, whined, sputtered, squeaked, and oozed.

There is nothing wrong with a moderate amount of this stage direction but it gets annoying when overdone and especially when the words chosen do not jive with the mood or action of the scene. Then the reader is jarred out of the story to do confused double takes and left with incongruent images to contend with. I found it most annoying when, during scenes where eating played a big role, words were spat, gushed, broiled, oozed or spewed. And there was a whole lot of eating going on throughout.

My other beef which I own may be wholly personal bias was what seemed to me to be a huge imbalance between the descriptions of the high class environment inhabited by the Alcotts and the rest of the settings. Whenever one of the Alcott sisters was on scene there would be a whole lot of itemizing of everything they touched or laid eyes on from clothing, furniture, wall hangings, and carpeting to handbags, jewelry, bedding and cars often with brand names and price tags included.

Whereas settings such as the police station, bowling alley and trailer park were given bare-boned descriptions--quite serviceable actually as it was enough to place the reader without intruding--that juxtaposed against the gushing over the ritzy homes and belongings of the Alcotts gave the impression that it might be the author and not just the three aging Alcott princesses who deems everything and everyone not of high-society unworthy of attention.

But the saving grace and the thing that belies that assumption is the development of Bambi's character after her husband's murder. This seeming air-headed bimbo truly stepped up and evinced a moral integrity that topped everyone else's except possibly Chance. She was blossoming and showing potential for and willingness to grow outside her comfort zone that none of the Alcott sisters seemed to have carried beyond their adolescence.

But as I said I am biased. I live in a trailer park. And I find it one of the most interesting and stimulating environs I've ever spent time in and inhabited by the most intriguing people. But then I've never been anywhere near a neighborhood like Dorthea's.

Giveaway:

I'm authorized to giveaway one ebook copy and since it is ebook that means this is open internationally. The ebook is available in several of the most popular formats.

This drawing will be open until February 14, 2012. As usual I will be using random.org to choose a winner.

Enter by leaving a comment expressing interest on this post along with your @ so I can contact you.

Extra entries can be had by:

Following Joystory on Twitter if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Like Joystory's page on Facebook if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Tweeting once per day (leave the tweet's url in a comment here)

Add Joystory feed to your reader. if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Following Joystory on Networked Blogs if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

For each one you do leave a comment here with the identifying url and/or your username. Remember leave a separate comment for each task as the individual comments will be the entries that I assign numbers to in the order they are made.

www.dawnireland-writer.com

Dawn Greenfield Ireland has been writing stories since attending summer camp around the age of seven. To date she has five completed novels (science fiction and contemporary), 15 completed screenplays (one optioned in 2009) and as many scripts in various stages of completion. Dawn is the author of two award-winning self-published books: The Puppy Baby Book (hardcover) and Mastering Your Money (print and eBook). Many of her screenplays have won awards. She spends her days editing and formatting engineering documents as a senior technical writer.

Follow the tour for more giveaway drawings, author interviews and guest posts:

http://www.virtualauthorbooktours.com/

Joy StoryFeb. 1 Review and Giveaway

Chocolate & MimosasFeb. 2 Review

Chocolate & Mimosas Feb. 3 Author Guest Post

Cafe of Dreams Book ReviewFeb. 3 Review

Debbie’s Book BagFeb. 6 Review and Giveaway

Butterfly-O-Meter Feb 7 Review

Butterfly-O-Meter Feb. 8 Author Guest Post

Butterfly-O-Meter Feb7-14 Giveaway Hop

My Life Feb.8 Review, Excerpt, and Giveaway

Books and Quilts Feb 9 Review and Giveaway

Books and Quilts Feb. 10Review and Giveaway

From the TBR PileFeb. 10 Author Guest Post

This Miss Loves to ReadFeb 13 Review

Culinary CoziesFeb. 14Review

Culinary Cozies Feb.15 Author Guest Post

Socrates’ Book ReviewsFeb. 16 Review and Giveaway

Cheryl’s Book NookFeb. 16 Interview

Cheryl’s Book NookFeb. 17 Review

Books & Beyond Feb 20 Review

Books & Beyond Feb. 21 Interview and Giveaway

WV StitcherFeb. 22Review

Curling Up By The Fire Feb 23 Review

Curling Up By The Fire Feb. 24 Author Guest Post and Giveaway

Book Loving MommyFeb 27 Review

Book Loving MommyFeb. 28 Author Guest Post

To Read, Perchance to Dream Feb 28 Review

To Read, Perchance to Dream Feb. 29 Interview and Giveaway

The Firelight of Maalda - Blog Tour

2012-01-31T03:00:00.000-08:00

The Firelight of Maalda
by Melissa Douthit

This is Book 2 in the YA trilogy The Legend of the Raie' Chaelia (rye - kale - ya). I discussed Book 1, The Raie' Chaelia, and its two prequel short stories in last Tuesday's post so I won't retread that ground here.

The adventures of Chalice and Jeremiah continue in The Firelight of Maalda as they make their escape from the ancient underground city where they had taken refuge with the entire community of Bransbury whom they had rescued from captivity in Book 1.

Chalice is introduced to her father's side of the family and learns what it means to be daughter of the True King. She chafes under the imposed 'princess lessons', and she and Jeremiah are separated by space and social convention as he must stay in quarters on the opposite side of the city from the royal quarters and they must endure the shocked reactions from both their people at the fraternizing between the royal princess and the country bumbkin. But it is not just class it is also a racial divide.

Chalice learns the burdensome secret kept by her family for thousands of years. The secret sought by the False King who had deposed her father and exiled him. The secret is thought to be a powerful weapon and in a sense is.

Chalice also discovers the significance of the obsidian stone and dagger given to her by the Chinook race in Book 1. The stone had been stolen from her by the men who had kidnapped her on behalf of the False King. Now the False King's men had also figured out the purpose of the stone and were on their way to the islands of Maalda where they would use it to awaken and enslave the enchanted race of 'dragons' to use them as weapons to subjugate the peoples of the world. Chalice is the only one who can prevent this and she must set out from the city with her royal guard, her trusted friends and her wits to rescue the stone, her father's ship and the dragons.

The book ends on a terrible cliff hanger. Literally.

Well I am going to just quote myself from last Tuesday's post since the following is something I said while talking about the trilogy as a whole:

This fantasy trilogy has a lot going for it. It is well plotted and the world building is extraordinary. The science under-girding it is impeccable The main characters have depth and personalities that come alive on the page. The dialog is more than competent with different characters having distinctive voices.

That said, there are a few areas that could do with some polishing. The pacing within the scenes is often choppy with action and dialog being interrupted for too long with large chunks of description. The information imparted at these times is interesting, even fascinating, and it furthers the plot and/or world building so it is not that it is fluff or filler just that it jars one out of the flow of the story.

And as with the first book, this one needs a good line edit. But in spite of these flaws it is a fun story to read and I am champing at the bit to get my hands on Book 3. Not only that, I hope there will be another trilogy in the future set on this world.

Giveaway:

I'm authorized to giveaway one ebook copy and since it is ebook that means this is open internationally. The ebook is available in several of the most popular formats.

This drawing will be open until February 12, 2012. As usual I will be using random.org to choose a winner.

Enter by leaving a comment expressing interest on this post along with your @ so I can contact you.

Extra entries can be had by:

Following Joystory on Twitter if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Like Joystory's page on Facebook if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Tweeting once per day (leave the tweet's url in a comment here)

Add Joystory feed to your reader. if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Following Joystory on Networked Blogs if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

BTW if you wonder why bother entering a drawing for book 2 when you haven't read book 1 well you can download or read it and both prequels for free at Smashwords for a limited time as part of the promotion for The Firelight of Maalda.

Mellisa Douthit has the science background that qualifies her for the exquisite world building in this trilogy. With a degree in Computer Science she currently works as a scientific and mathematic programmer for the Army Corp of Engineers in Salt Lake City. Previously she has worked for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, NASA Ames research Center, Lawrence Livermore National Lab and Naval Postgraduate School.

At this time she writes on the side but her dream is to shift the balance the other direction making programming the side job while writing full time.

Melissa is holding a contest on her web site for a free Kindle during this promotion. She says:

Contest - Free Kindle
Enter a drawing and win a free Kindle by answering the following question:
What is the title of book two of the trilogy, The Legend of the Raie'Chaelia?
To answer the question go to this link and fill in the information (place answer in Message field):
http://melissadouthit.com/contact-me-2/
Contest ends March 10, 2012. Winner will be announced March 11th on Melissa Douthit's Blog.

Follow the tour for more giveaway drawings, author interviews and guest posts:

http://www.virtualauthorbooktours.com/

Butterfly-O-Meter Jan 27 Review

I'dRather Be At the Beach Dec. 21 G Dec. 21

Butterfly-O-Meter Jan. 28 Guest Post

Butterfly-O-Meter Jan 27-31 Giveaway Hop

Joy Story Jan. 31 Review and Giveaway

Hywela Lyn Feb. 1 Review

Hywela Lyn Feb. 2 Interview andGiveaway

PeekingBetween the PagesFeb 3 Review and Giveaway

Everything to Do With Books Feb 9 Review

Reader Girls Feb 9 Review, Guest Post, andGiveaway

Life LongLearning Feb. 10 Review and Guest Post

Darlene'sBook Nook Feb. 10 Guest Post and Giveaway

Jagged Edge Reviews Feb. 13 Review

Jagged Edge Reviews Feb. 14 Guest Post

WinterHavenBooks Feb. 13Review

Books Ahoy Feb 14 Review andGiveaway

ThisMiss Loves to Read Feb 15 Review

ThisMiss Loves to Read Feb 16Guest Post

Tessa FromThe Bookshelf of T.B. Feb 16 Review and Giveaway

Confessions of a Readaholic Feb 17 Review

The Wormhole Feb. 20 Reviewand Giveaway

Book Nook Club Feb. 20 Review

The Book Faery Reviews Feb 21 Review

The Book Faery Reviews Feb 22nd Interview and Giveaway

My Book Boyfriend Feb. 23 Review and Interview

To Read, Perchance to Dream Feb 27 Review

To Read, Perchance to Dream Feb 28th Guest Postand Giveaway

It's Monday! What are You Reading?

2012-01-30T16:07:00.000-08:00

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Share what you (are, have been, are about to, hope to be) reading or reviewing this week. Sign Mr Linky at Book Journey and visit other Monday reading roundups.

This past week and for the next week or two my reading line up is all ebook review copies for self-published authors. Two of them for blog tours set for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and a third for a blog tour set for the first week of March. All three of those are for Premier Virtual Author Book Tours and will feature giveaways. The fourth is open ended and casual but I don't want to keep the author waiting too long for my response so I'm hoping to fit it in between the second and third tour.

I have begun seeking out self-published ebooks for review as part of my research into taking my own stories that route.

The two books slated for blog tours this week are:

For Tuesday (tomorrow)

The Firelight of Maalda by Melissa Douthit which is the second book in a planned fantasy trilogy, The Legend of the Raie’Chaelia. I was given the first book, Raie’Chaelia, and two prequel short stories as well to get me up to speed but the review/giveaway of one ebook copy tomorrow, Tuesday, January 31st, is for this one only.

The Firelight of Maalda: A story that unites the real with the fantastical and turns science into magic …

Chalice and her group leave Barenthren to travel to Portalis. There she and her friends discover the beautiful city, its people, its history, and its secret that has been kept hidden for thousands of years. During their stay, they learn that Dar’Maalda has the Firestone and that he plans to use it.

What is the Firestone and what does Dar’Maalda plan to do with it? What are the Naezzi? What does the title, The Firelight of Maalda, really mean? And … what is the secret of Portalis, the secret that has been guarded so jealously for so long – so jealously, that many have given their lives to protect it?

In The Firelight of Maalda, the second novel of the trilogy, The Legend of the Raie’Chaelia, you find out. It is a tale of intrigue and wonder where two opposite worlds collide in an explosive journey that leads Chalice and her friends to the dark islands lurking just beyond the horizon of Ielieria, where the Firelight of Maalda sits … and waits.

I posted a review of the first book and the two prequels last Tuesday.

I have now finished The Firelight of Maalda and hope to have my review/giveaway up before dawn Pacific Coast time or as soon after midnight as I can manage.

Hot Chocolate by Dawn Ireland, is a mystery novel and I think is what is know as a cozy a mystery which I'm basing on the blurbs like the one below but I could be wrong. My review/giveaway for one ebook copy is scheduled for next Wedensday, February 1st.

Meet the middle-aged Alcott sisters: Madge, Lila Mae and Dorothea, heiresses to the Alcott Chocolate fortune and mavens of Houston’s elite River Oaks.

Madge ambushes Lila Mae with Dorothea’s manipulative plea: she can’t care for Bernie, their 92-year old father, any longer. Lila Mae explodes in a hissy fit—she had warned Dorothea years ago that they should put Bernie in an assisted living center.

Robert, Lila Mae’s astrologer, warns of impending problems and he’s rarely wrong.
The sisters call a meeting with Walter Branson, their solicitor. They discuss Bernie’s nurse Bambi Chaline, a blonde bombshell who looks more like a hooker than a nurse.

Arrangements are made for Bernie to be transferred over to Lake Sides Assisted Living Center in the Uptown Galleria area and a severance package is drawn up for Bambi.
Jimmy Ray Chaline, Bambi’s bowling alley husband, is enraged that Bambi was let go. He hires ambulance chaser Mark Slade to file a lawsuit for wrongful termination.

The suit is thrown out of court further fueling Jimmy Ray’s rage. Bambi had been more than satisfied with her bonus, letters of recommendation and praise from the Alcott clan.
When Jimmy Ray fails to return home from the bowling alley that night, a series of events unfold that shocks the entire Alcott family and their extended members.

I finished this just before midnight last night and hope to have the review/giveaway up between midnight and dawn Pacific Coast time on Wednesday morning.

Both of these novels are more than passingly competent and worth the read so if you like either YA fantasy or cozy mysteries you might like to stop by and enter the drawings. I'll also be posting the links to the other giveaways on the tour.

The March 7th blog tour review/giveaway is for Finding Katie by John Smith author of the ebook Delayed Flight which I reviewed for its blog tour last month.

From John's email:

Finding Katie is about a very wealthy and very sheltered Preston Meadows who lives his life protected from even the hint of harm. His world is safe and secure until someone kidnaps his sister, Katie. Against his parents’ wishes, Preston sets out on his own to find her. Preston works hard to blend in with the “regular” people roaming the streets of Dallas – but the real world is zany, insane, full of danger and filled with ruthless criminals. As I mentioned, it is a comedy filled with mystery and romance.

The forth one which has no deadline but which I am very excited to read as I've read and enjoyed several by this author is, Her Frozen Wild by Kim Antieau. Kim is an author who has gone the self-pub ebook route after being published by the traditional press several times. Her material is often heavily influenced by folklore and fairytale from many different cultures and emphasizes the female archetypes. Every one I've read has had a strong female lead.

I started this last night within the hour of finishing Hot Chocolate, thinking I was just setting it up on my Kindle PC to sit on the taskbar in place of Hot Chocolate which had been sitting there all week which had taken the place of The Fires of Maalda which had taken the place of its previous installments. Basically I've been keeping an ebook live on my taskbar since mid November when I first downloaded the Kindle for PC and Calibre for reading the free epub found on most of the sites archiving public domain materials. So for over two months now I've had an ebook sitting open on my taskbar for those moments when the impulse strikes to read for awhile and I was just setting up the next in line. Or so I thought. But an hour later I was still reading and I had used up the time I'd set aside for putting up this post.

Now, knowing it is sitting there is like having those books open inside my textbooks or on my lap under my desk when I was supposed to be doing class work. But I'm both the sneaky 'student' and the 'teacher' who has the power to confiscate the book. Except in this case the balance of power tends to favor the 'student' who has little fear of tho at least still some respect for the 'teacher'.

All of which is by way of saying that the story is so gripping that I'm having a very hard time resisting its pull in spite of the commitments I've made to others depending on me which today includes both authors in the blog tours and my sister who needs a bit extra help from me with Mom this week because of various appointments outside the house. She is depending on me to have dinner made by 6pm today for example. Which gives me an hour to get this posted and visit a handful of IMWAYR participants. Then after dinner and its cleanup I must devote several hours to prepping the review/giveaway for tomorrow before I can be allowed to immerse myself in this story again:

Scientists in the Altai in Siberia uncover the 2,500 year old frozen mummy of a tattooed priestess. This mummy has the same genetic material as American archaeologist Ursula Smith whose mother disappeared in Siberia 30 years earlier. Ursula travels from the U.S. to Siberia to unravel the mystery of the “lady” and meets Sergei Ivanovich Polyakov, a Russian doctor who graciously invites her into his home. After they become lovers, she discovers Sergei has the same tattoos on his body as the tattooed lady. He tells a disbelieving Ursula that they have met before and she is destined to save the ancient People, considered as devils by some and shape-changing gods by others. A shaman takes Ursula to one of the sacred timeless caves where Ursula’s mother vanished. When Ursula allows the shaman to tattoo her, she is thrown back in time where she must unlock the mystery of the People and their link to her past in order to save them and Sergei—even if it costs her her life.

Sunday Serenity #268

2012-01-29T20:21:00.000-08:00

Clips of Harry

I'm still having bouts of homesickness. They say laughter is the best medicine. I've been taking my medicine by streaming 3rd Rock from the Sun. Am in mid season 3. I try to limit myself to 2 episodes per day but find myself sneaking in that third one.

Clips of Dick

Sally and Tommy play Monopoly

Presenting a Web Wonder: The Public Domain Review |

2012-01-28T22:00:00.000-08:00

The Public Domain Review |:

'via Blog this'

This website is a treasure trove of cultural curiosities and wonders culled from that vast and ever-growing conglomeration known as 'the public domain'--the works and the artifacts whose copyright has expired and thus are now free to view and use by any and all.

Archivists and librarians, universities and museums, the world over have been busy creating electronic archives for electronic copies of their collections of public domain items--images, texts, film, audio, sculpture etc. The Public Domain Review is a journal cum blog in which articles written by aficionados of the arcane share tantalizing tidbits about the works and their creators and the milieu in which they were born.

Does that sound dry and somber? Well take a look at this selection of article titles:

ROBERT SOUTHEY’S DREAMS REVISITED
THE MEMOIRS OF JOSEPH GRIMALDI
PETER THE WILD BOY
STORIES OF A HOLLOW EARTH
BUGS AND BEASTS BEFORE THE LAW

CHRISTOPHER SMART’S JUBILATE AGNO

IMAGES: KITAB AL-BULHAN OR BOOK OF WONDERS
TEXTS: URIAH JEWETT AND THE SEA SERPENT OF LAKE MEMPHEMAGOG
FILMS: THE THIEF OF BAGDAD
AUDIO: THE VOICE OF FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
AUDIO: SANTA CLAUS PROVES THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS
IMAGES: WORLD WAR II FROM THE AIR
FILMS: THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI
TEXTS: THE ECCENTRIC MIRROR

On Writing - 8 Quotes & an LOLcat

2012-01-27T21:47:00.000-08:00

All writers are vain, selfish and lazy...' ~George Orwell

Life can't ever really defeat a writer who is in love with writing, for life itself is a writer's lover until death - fascinating, cruel, lavish, warm, cold, treacherous, constant. ~Edna Ferber, A Kind of Magic, 1963

You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write. ~Saul Bellow

Fiction, imaginative work that is, is not dropped like a pebble upon the ground, as science may be; fiction is like a spider's web, attached ever so lightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners. ~Virginia Woolf

Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book your composition of yourself is at stake. ~E.L. Doctorow

The writer who possesses the creative gift owns something of which he is not always master - something that at times strangely wills and works for itself. ~Charlotte Bronte

I think it's bad to talk about one's present work, for it spoils something at the root of the creative act. It discharges the tension. ~Norman Mailer

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath

On Reading - 5 Quotes

2012-01-26T21:14:00.000-08:00

“It is not true we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.”—S.I. Hayakawa

“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.”—Victor Hugo

“Sit in a room and read—and read and read. And read the right books by the right people. Your mind is brought onto that level, and you have a nice, mild, slow-burning rapture all the time.”—Joseph Campbell

“Literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourses of my book friends. They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness.”—Helen Keller

“Once I began a book, I couldn’t put it down. It was like an addiction;

I read while I ate, on the train, in bed until late at night, in school,

where I’d keep the book hidden so I could read during class.

But I had almost no desire to talk with anyone about the experience I gained through books and music. I felt happy just being me and no one else.” —Haruki Murakami

My Sunbeam's Gone Missing.

2012-01-25T20:39:00.000-08:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures,
and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

I'm feeling like this today. I think it is mostly homesick. I'm hoping it is not another virus coming on. I've another two or three weeks here at Mom's before going back to Phoenix OR. There is plenty to keep me busy. Busy helps keep the sad at bay.

Anyway I put in over twelve hours between the two posts for Monday and Tuesday so I'm putting up an easy one tonight. I want to get back to the book I'm doing the giveaway for next Tuesday. And maybe I'll sleep early tonight. Sleep deprivation could explain this mood too.

The Legend of the Raie’Chaelia -- A Review

2012-01-24T20:18:00.000-08:00

A week from today I'll be hosting a giveaway on the blog tour for an ebook copy of Book 2 of Melissa Douthit's fantasy trilogy The Legend of the Raie' Chaelia (rye - kale - ya). To prepare for my review of The Firelight of Maalda, I was sent as well Book 1 The Raie' Chaelia and two prequels, The Journey Begins and The Vanishing. So I thought I would say a little something about them that might help prepare the ground for next week's review of The Firelight of Maalda.

As The Raie' Chaelia opens we find young Chalice traveling alone on horseback in a forest nearing the destination her grandfather had directed her to the night her hometown of Canton had been overrun by the False King's army. But when she reaches the town of Branbury it is eerily empty as is the homestead of her grandfather''s friend who was to instruct her on where to go next and explain to her the secret of her parentage. Her grandfather had promised from her early memories that when she was old enough he would tell her and had planned to do so on her 18th birthday which had still been some days off at the time their town was invaded.

While exploring the empty house of her grandfather's friend she is interrupted by an intruder that turns out to be Jeremiah, the youngest son of the household and a young man she remembers as having spent part of a year living in Canton when they were very young. They had had a fast friendship at that time and it took little time for them to settle back into that camaraderie. From that moment on the two are virtually inseparable. They set out to find and rescue Jeremiah's family and friends who had been taken captive by the False King's men.

On their journey they traverse a high mountain pass escorted by a member of the Chinooks another sentient race who live there. They see exotic animals and spend the night in one of the fabled underground cities where their ancestors had rode out the ice age several thousand years ago. They meet up with an old man named Ben who claims to be a friend of Jeremiah's father and to have been on his way to meet Chalice to escort her to safety. But Chalice refuses to go with him as long as Jeremiah's family and friends remain captive so Ben is obliged to help them with their mission first. A mission that carries to the end of Book1.

Come back next Tuesday for my review of Book 2.

This fantasy trilogy has a lot going for it. It is well plotted and the world building is extraordinary. The science under-girding it is impeccable The main characters have depth and personalities that come alive on the page. The dialog is more than competent with different characters having distinctive voices.

That said, there are a few areas that could do with some polishing. The pacing within the scenes is often choppy with action and dialog being interrupted for too long with large chunks of description. The information imparted at these times is interesting, even fascinating, and it furthers the plot and/or world building so it is not that it is fluff or filler just that it jars one out of the flow of the story.

The manuscript could do with a good line edit as well. There are a number of sentences scattered throughout with missing or extra words, the kind of thing that happens when editing or rewriting a sentence and either leaving behind or removing a word or partial phrase unintentionally. This is the kind of thing spell checkers can't find and they are also very difficult for the author to spot as we tend to see what we expect to see on our elebenty-third read through of sections we have rewritten uncountable times. Fresh eyes are needed to catch these and the author can only get that by setting the manuscript aside for several months. I know whereof I speak.

The two prequels have the same issues but the biggest issue I have with them is that they are separated from The Raie' Chaelia at all. Maybe it is a matter of taste or maybe someone thought it made Book 1 too long but I would have preferred the stories in them had been incorporated into the beginning of the first book. Not only do they introduce the two main characters and the settings that they are catapulted out of into their adventure but there is information that speaks to character motivation and experience that is crucial to understanding or believing certain events in The Raie' Chaelia and The Firelight of Maalda. I can't be more specific without giving spoilers.

In The Journey Begins we are introduced to Chalice and the idyllic town of Canton in which she had grown up. We learn of her unique talents and skills and glimpse the core of her character. We come to love the town and people in it along with her and thus are devastated along with her when she is ripped from it unwillingly and thrust into her adventure.

In The Vanishing me meet Jeremiah and experience the bucolic life of Branbury in which he was raised and which, though grateful for it, he is champing at the bit to leave in order to see more of his world and fulfill his desire to travel and learn. This story ends with Jeremiah's return from a long solo hunting trip to find his family's homestead abandoned and an intruder in his father's study.

Mellisa Douthit has the science background that qualifies her for the exquisite world building in this trilogy. With a degree in Computer Science she currently works as a scientific and mathematic programmer for the Army Corp of Engineers in Salt Lake City. Previously she has worked for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, NASA Ames research Center, Lawrence Livermore National Lab and Naval Postgraduate School.

At this time she writes on the side but her dream is to shift the balance the other direction making programming the side job while writing full time.

Be sure and return next Tuesday for the blog tour and my giveaway/review for The Firelight of Maalda. Which if you'll excuse me I'm off to finish.

BTW if you wonder why bother entering a drawing for book 2 when you haven't read book 1 well you can download or read it and both prequels for free at Smashwords for a limited time as part of the promotion for The Firelight of Maalda.

It's Monday What Are You Reading?

2012-01-23T23:49:00.000-08:00

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Share what you (are, have been, are about to, hope to be) reading or reviewing this week. Sign Mr Linky at Book Journey and visit other Monday reading roundups.

This week my reading line up is all ebook review copies for self-published authors. Two of them for blog tours set for next week and a third for a blog tour set for the first week of March. All three of those are for Premier Virtual Author Book Tours and will feature giveaways. The fourth is open ended and casual but I don't want to keep the author waiting too long for my response so I'm hoping to fit it in between the second and third tour.

I have begun seeking out self-published ebooks for review as part of my research into taking my own stories that route.

The two books slated for blog tours next week are:

The Firelight of Maalda: A story that unites the real with the fantastical and turns science into magic …

What is the Firestone and what does Dar’Maalda plan to do with it? What are the Naezzi? What does the title, The Firelight of Maalda, really mean? And … what is the secret of Portalis, the secret that has been guarded so jealously for so long – so jealously, that many have given their lives to protect it?

In The Firelight of Maalda, the second novel of the trilogy, The Legend of the Raie’Chaelia, you find out. It is a tale of intrigue and wonder where two opposite worlds collide in an explosive journey that leads Chalice and her friends to the dark islands lurking just beyond the horizon of Ielieria, where the Firelight of Maalda sits … and waits.

Meet the middle-aged Alcott sisters: Madge, Lila Mae and Dorothea, heiresses to the Alcott Chocolate fortune and mavens of Houston’s elite River Oaks.

Madge ambushes Lila Mae with Dorothea’s manipulative plea: she can’t care for Bernie, their 92-year old father, any longer. Lila Mae explodes in a hissy fit—she had warned Dorothea years ago that they should put Bernie in an assisted living center.

Robert, Lila Mae’s astrologer, warns of impending problems and he’s rarely wrong.
The sisters call a meeting with Walter Branson, their solicitor. They discuss Bernie’s nurse Bambi Chaline, a blonde bombshell who looks more like a hooker than a nurse.

Arrangements are made for Bernie to be transferred over to Lake Sides Assisted Living Center in the Uptown Galleria area and a severance package is drawn up for Bambi.
Jimmy Ray Chaline, Bambi’s bowling alley husband, is enraged that Bambi was let go. He hires ambulance chaser Mark Slade to file a lawsuit for wrongful termination.

The suit is thrown out of court further fueling Jimmy Ray’s rage. Bambi had been more than satisfied with her bonus, letters of recommendation and praise from the Alcott clan.
When Jimmy Ray fails to return home from the bowling alley that night, a series of events unfold that shocks the entire Alcott family and their extended members.

The March 7th blog tour review/giveaway is for Finding Katie by John Smith author of the ebook Delayed Flight which I reviewed for its blog tour last month.

From John's email:

Finding Katie is about a very wealthy and very sheltered Preston Meadows who lives his life protected from even the hint of harm. His world is safe and secure until someone kidnaps his sister, Katie. Against his parents’ wishes, Preston sets out on his own to find her. Preston works hard to blend in with the “regular” people roaming the streets of Dallas – but the real world is zany, insane, full of danger and filled with ruthless criminals. As I mentioned, it is a comedy filled with mystery and romance.

The forth one which has no deadline but which I am very excited to read as I've read and enjoyed several by this author is, Her Frozen Wild by Kim Antieau. I hope to get to it this week but the first two above take priority until my reviews are prepped. Kim is an author who has gone the self-pub ebook route after being published by the traditional press several times.

Scientists in the Altai in Siberia uncover the 2,500 year old frozen mummy of a tattooed priestess. This mummy has the same genetic material as American archaeologist Ursula Smith whose mother disappeared in Siberia 30 years earlier. Ursula travels from the U.S. to Siberia to unravel the mystery of the “lady” and meets Sergei Ivanovich Polyakov, a Russian doctor who graciously invites her into his home. After they become lovers, she discovers Sergei has the same tattoos on his body as the tattooed lady. He tells a disbelieving Ursula that they have met before and she is destined to save the ancient People, considered as devils by some and shape-changing gods by others. A shaman takes Ursula to one of the sacred timeless caves where Ursula’s mother vanished. When Ursula allows the shaman to tattoo her, she is thrown back in time where she must unlock the mystery of the People and their link to her past in order to save them and Sergei—even if it costs her her life.

Sunday Serenity #267

2012-01-22T21:46:00.000-08:00

I spent much of the afternoon and evening reading in my Kindle for PC. I took a few breaks to play Word on fb but kept coming back to the novel whose review/giveaway is scheduled for January 31. A second review/giveaway is scheduled for the following day. There are two more review copies waiting in line for after that.

I have been actively seeking out self-published ebooks to review as part of my research into the world of self-publishing in the digital age as I prepare to take that route myself.

Below you see my Kindle for PC open to the Library in category Review Copy. The first four seen there are the four mentioned above but in backwards order.

Winding Down

2012-01-21T23:44:00.000-08:00

I have whined frequently over the last three years--since the beginning of my crochet obsession--about the bulk of the balls of thread I have to carry around in projects, store when awaiting their next project and pack up and schlep along with me for my months long visits at my mom's.

I'm finally doing something about it. I had taken a few of the big fat tubes before. Usually ones that were involved in a project and already half gone. But now I'm going to make it the rule rather than the exception as I've finally solved one of the issues holding me back--how to attach the label containing color name and lot number. It is one thing to have done it with a color involved in a project. It is quite another to do it to the entire collection of several dozen colors.

My solution was to cut the pertinent section of label out (see in center of tray in top pic) and then fold it into a ring sized tube. Then string the thread thru it and make a big loop about eight to ten inches long. Then lay the middle of that loop across the middle of a packing peanut and wrap it around pinning the end in place. Then continue wrapping the thread around the peanut creating a ball while holding the label on the loop out of the way.

It is tedious but so worth it when I can cut the volume of my project kits by more than half as shown in this picture where it turned a bulky two ball project into a purse or pocket project.

Winding the thread off the tubes is a project I can do while watching video, or listening to podcasts or audio books or even visiting with family. It can even be very soothing and meditative to do while just day dreaming.

Open Mic Night at The Electric Bean

2012-01-20T22:25:00.000-08:00

Jeremy Jones @ The Electric Bean
on Open Mic Night in Longview WA

Jeremy Jones was one of the entertainers to take the stage at The Electric Bean's Open Mic Night here in Longview WA this evening. I understand he wrote the songs he sang. I quite enjoyed them. His fb page, which I linked to his name at the beginning of this paragraph, says that he attended Mark Morris High School which makes him a fellow alumni tho I'm sure many years after me :)

I'm here at The Electric Bean with my sister Carri just hanging out listening to music and drinking coffee at this family friendly Internet cafe in Longview WA. I wish I had something like this available near me in Phoenix OR for NaNoWriMo in the month of November. One had to go south to Ashland or north to Grants Pass for artist friendly hangouts with WIFI access. Especially if you want to hang around longer than it takes to drink your coffee and not have to keep ordering in order to 'rent' your table.

Well I guess I need to wrap this up now as I've nearly used up my battery and didn't bring my power cord. Besides it is almost 11PM.

Words Rock

2012-01-19T20:40:00.000-08:00

Mom and I played Scrabble last night. Fun. We didn't keep score as Mom's stroke induced aphasia is still a factor and the purpose of the game was mother/daughter fellowship not competition. Besides playing word games is one of the things her speech and other therapists recommended after the stroke three years ago. She has come a long way since then.

IMHO her plays are better than good--80 years or no, stroke or no. She kicked off the game with SCHWA. I bet you have to look that one up.

I love word games. Forget games, I just love words.

Stop SOPA, PIPA, OPEN

2012-01-18T23:01:00.000-08:00

Today's strikes and blackouts across the internet, calls to congress and various efforts to spread the word and educate an oblivious populace about the implications of these laws for their daily web activities has had an effect. Word is several of the congress persons intending to vote yes on SOPA and/or PIPA have backed down. But now another one called OPEN had been proffered, co-sponsored by my own Oregon Senator, Ron Wyden. I had really expected better of him, having seen plenty of evidence that he was Internet savvy and understood the implications for the economy if not civil rights.
I confess I was one of the oblivious just a few days ago. It was the following video posted on fb that got my attention and explained it to me:

Imagine a day without YouTube.
Imagine a day without facebook, Twitter, Google, Blogger, Wordpress, Wikipedia.
Imagine a day without LOLcats!!

Criminal Minds Marathon

2012-01-17T20:38:00.000-08:00

I've been having a Criminal Minds marathon since Friday night, watching between three and five episodes per night. The DVDs belong to acquaintances of my sister so can't go home with me. I had seen only three or four episodes before this and those two or more years ago and all from the middle of season 1 and which I barely remembered more than a few images from.
My favorite characters are Spenser Reid and Penelope Garcia. Most of the comedy relief seems to involve one or the other of them. And a show like this needs comedy relief or the brutality of the criminal minds they must get inside would be too intense and overwhelming.
As it is I find my eyes flinching away from the screen often. I find getting inside the minds of villains difficult which is why so many of my stories stall when they walk on stage.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day--Quote

2012-01-16T20:19:00.000-08:00

Martin Luther King Faith Quote - Quotes - Pictures

I will honor Martin Luther King today by sharing one of my favorite quotes of his:

Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.

This is something I find very challenging. I tend to want not only to see all the stairs but to have built them myself-- i.e. meticulous planning and preperation. To take that first step towards a goal when I can't see all the steps between me and the finish line provokes overwhelming anxiety.

I wonder if MLK would have taken the first step if you had seen that moment on the balcony first.

Sunday Serenity #266

2012-01-15T20:09:00.000-08:00

Merlin

I'm missing my fur baby. I hear he is ecstatically chasing the windows in our new home to watch the snow falling.

It snowed a bit here in Longview WA last night as well. And briefly this afternoon. There is a better than 60% chance it will snow some more overnight. There wasn't much left of the half inch or so we got over the last 24 hours as of the time it got too dark for me to see out the windows.

A good time to dress warm and curl up somewhere cozy with a good book.

Blunder or Wonder--Quote

2012-01-14T22:07:00.000-08:00

'A man of genius makes no mistakes; his errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.' ~~James Joyce

This is another principle I need to take to heart. Fear of mistakes is most often at the heart of the procrastination issue I discussed in Thursday's post. I must get it into my heart (my head already knows) that mistakes are not monstersl. But if James Joyce is to be believed, it goes beyond that. Not only are errors not fatal they can be the catalyst of wondrous possibility.

Some Sister Time

2012-01-13T22:02:00.000-08:00

My sister took me to The Electric Bean, an internet cafe in Longview this evening. We'd thought to enjoy their usual Friday entertainments--open mic, bands, concerts--which often last past 10pm. But the band had finished up early and the crowd had thinned so they were preparing to close in ten minutes as we walked in.

Carri went ahead and ordered our coffees. She got decaff but I braved a fully caffinated Breve. At 9pm!!

While she was doing that I sat down at that table you see in the pic above and got my netblook out of my bag which I'd brought especially so I could get on Facebook and announce my status as beein @The Electric Bean. I had never done that before--gotten on fb from a public place and announced my location.

Shortly after that Carri asked a young lady wandering around with a camera if she could take a picture of the two of us with my camera with the mural in the background that Carri had painted a couple years ago. A better picture of the mural taken shortly after it was completed is re-posted below.

Carri and hung out sipping out coffees until ten after 9. Nobody was rushing us out. But as soon as it looked like they were done with the closing cleanup routine Carri ushered me out to the van.

We intend to return next Friday for open mic.

If Not Now, When?

2012-01-12T22:57:00.000-08:00

The theme of this quote, which if I remember right is from the Talmud, has come up for me today at least half a dozen times. I'm thinking I'm supposed to take notice.

I was organizing my workstation here at Mom's this evening and in the process checking all the pockets of my netbook bag and found a card containing the code for downloading 15 free songs into my iTunes ap. My sister had given it to me last summer and I'd put it in that bag as the most logical place, intending to take care of the download when I got home. But I never lay eyes on it again before today.

I showed it to my sister and asked her if it was still good and she read the fine print and discovered it had expired at the end of September.

Now if I had taken the few minutes (under an hour anyway) to do that download the day she had given me the card I'd not only have the music on my netbook but have had the opportunity to enjoy it any time over the last 5 months.

Earlier that day I'd moved a persimmon, one of my favorite fruits and a rare treat, setting on the counter beside the sink out of her way and put it back in the fruit basket my mom had taken it from when she brought it to me while I was making our lunch the other day. I'd set it on the counter then intending to eat it after my sandwich but had then decided to 'save it for later'. That was three days ago.

Carri then asked me about the persimmons she had given me when they passed through Phoenix OR on their way home from Gerber, CA where they had spent Thanksgiving with Mom's side of the family. I told her that of the four I'd eaten two but there had still been two in the fridge when I left and that I'd meant to bring them with me for fear they would not last for the month I'd be gone.

There had also been a nice bag of fresh greens for salads and wraps that I'd left in the fridge which will definitely not still be good by the time I get home.

So this got me to talking about how I am always saving the treats and the fun stuff and other things I'd really like to have or do for 'later' and quite often they go bad (if they are eatable) or expire, get lost, or otherwise become unavailable or unusable. My sister asked why I thought that was. Is it because I feel unworthy? I said I don't know. I don't think so. It's more like I feel I have to earn it by completing a duty first.

That's a version of 'unworthy' I guess.

But that doesn't really cover it. Often I've created an image in my mind of the ideal circumstances under which the item or activity should be used or performed and those circumstances never come about. Maybe it is needing to finish a chore first but it could be thinking I need a certain sized slot of available time, another food item to combine with the one sitting in the fridge or another color of thread for that special crochet project, or books I own being trumped by library due dates, or, and this may be the one most often true, wanting to put off as long as possible the moment that good thing is gone.

Speaking to that last one is the little rectangle of chocolate I found inside an Altoid box when packing up our room for the move the week after Xmas. It had to have been from before the summer of 2010 when I'd cut sugar out of my diet. It had been my habit to save the last rectangle until I got the next bar. And since I stopped getting the bars...

Not long after that conversation with my sister she came in Mom's room where my workstation is to tell me that her son is reading Snow Falling On Cedars and asked if I'd ever read it. I said no but that I'd wanted to for a long time and even owned a copy. Yep, owning it is like a guarantee I won't get around to reading it. All those library due date, review copies, blog surfing...

She had left the room before I remembered that the copy I had now was the second one I'd acquired, the first having been either sold or left in storage when we left the Silicon Valley by bus in 2001. And that brought up images in my mind of the hundreds of books I'd sold or left behind that summer that had set on my shelves for weeks, months, years or decades which I'd not gotten around to reading.

Then images of my manuscripts and notes for my stories and poems that had been left behind in storage that year came up. Which reminded me that I'm still not protected against loosing the work I've done since then because I've been procrastinating backing up the files on my netbook. Why? Because the files are so disorganized and I picture getting them organized first, eliminating duplicates and creating a logical hierarchy of folder with filenames that don't mystify.

But the memory of loosing my digital files in 2001 because they were on the hard drive which couldn't travel on the bus and of how I didn't have hard copy to take with me either because I'd been such a miser with the ink and paper not wanting to print until I had something approaching a final draft--not quite there yet but close--gave me a frisson of fear as I realized that little had changed. Still no hard copy of anything that is not semi-polished and still many months behind in backing up the files on the netbook in case something happens to it.

Really! I must get over this aversion to backing up or printing files that are in some form of disarray. It's better to have saved the mess than to loose the treasures buried in it.

Thinking about my creative writing files also got me to thinking about how many stories I have in progress and in mind and how little time I've given to them in the last year.

I returned to my workstation to finish cleaning out that bag after discovering the music card had expired. And in one of it's pockets I found a little card with the saying featured in the pic above on it.

If not now, when?

I'd put in there as a reminder to make my creative writing a priority.

But finding that card immediately after discovering the music card had expired which had been the last of several occasions today that principle had grabbed my attention? Spooky isn't it?

I think I'm gonna go eat that persimmon now.

Epic Kindle Fire Giveaway

2012-01-11T22:01:00.000-08:00

Besides the four Kindle fires and a fist full of gift cards these four sponsoring authors are pricing the Kindle editions of many of their novels at 0.00 between today and Friday.

There are some hoops to jump through but very reasonable to expect them to get value back for this awesome chance to win great gifts. Some of the hoops are found at Epic Kindle Giveaway and a few more at Ereader News Today

Between the four authors they will be giving away over 30 Kindle editions of their books. And for these there are no hoops to jump through other than to be there during the hours the book's price is set at 0.00. Ereader News today will be announcing the bundles of free ebooks twice a day and posting the announcement on facebook

Or you could check the author's pages at Amazon.com every day through Friday:

J. R. Rain

Aiden James

H. T. Night

Scott Nicholson

Ah, the Joy of Books!

2012-01-10T22:47:00.000-08:00

I spent an hour today on the Longview library catalog ordering books on my sister's card for her to pick up for me later this wee. I still hope to have a visit to the library itself before I leave town but there is no room on this week's agenda for it.
Earlier today on fb someone had shared this video and I began to plan immediately for it to be part of today's post. I had hoped for this post to go up in the afternoon but I was unable to view the video all the way thru as it kept stalling out after ten seconds or so and either the page, shockwave or the browser itself would crash. It wasn't until that had happened over a dozen times and also with three other videos that it dawned on me that I'd not restarted my netbook since before I left home last Friday. I only hibernated that day seconds before walking out the door. I can't remember when the last restart had even been.
So the restart cured the problem and when I finally got to watch this video a few minutes ago I was in awe and watched it several times. I guess you could say it brought me joy. I wish I could have been there to help handle the books for this stop motion gala. I love handling books.
Well I had another laid back day that included reading, watching videos, surfing fun stuff, visiting with family on and off line and I'm starting to feel rejuvinated.

Vegging

2012-01-09T23:11:00.000-08:00

Today I allowed myself a very laid back day. It was the first day since the middle of October when I did not feel I had something urgent pressing in on my--a deadline, a project, a commitment, and illnesses (mine or other's)...

I can't really say that I was being a couch potato as the picture implies as compared to three weeks ago when I was still living most of my hours in a small room I am a great deal more active. But I did do a lot of sitting and staring at the wall, I read, I watched a video, I surfed fun stuff online, I visited with my Mom for hours, I fiddled around organizing what will be my computer work station for the next month, I played Word with Friends on fb with my sister, Jamie, while chatting with her, I made lunch for Mom and myself while my sister, Carri, was off helping a friend move.

I had promised myself a day like this as soon as Mom's bday bash was over. I thought of it as a single day for recharging and then jumping back into the work for upcoming deadlines, projects, commitment (let's hope no illnesses)...

But I don't want to return to the frazzled state I've been in for several months. I want another day lie today tomorrow.

And I'm thinking I can have one and still accomplish much toward those commitments. Much of the reading I did today was for a review/giveaway in a blog tour I'm participating in in February. I am participating in two which means reading two books but one of the boos is a sequel and the author provided Book 1 as well which I started shortly before Xmas and am nearly finished. If it hadn't been for all of the urgent commitments I could have read it in a day or two but reading had to go low on the priority list as prepping Xmas gifts and Mom's bday gift, three blog tour reviews, the flu, and moving into a new place while packing for a trip all took precedent. Now, for a few days, I am free to read, play, watch videos and other fun relaxing things.

But I'm not really going to be a couch potato as one of those fun and relaxing things I plan to do is bounce on the mini-tramp. Another is go to the library that was the one I grew up with, the one where I had my first library card.

Sunday Serenity #265 Family

2012-01-08T18:46:00.000-08:00

Mom's 80th birthday bash-- the whole family
counter clockwise: Mom, Jamie, Rob, Carri, Joy

Mom's birthday was actually the 3rd but we celebrated with friends and family today.

Examining Joy's gift

This was what I stayed up all night putting the finishing touches on and even crocheting from scratch one more bow. I tried for hours to sew the fastener onto the back of a flower and had to give up. Was going to give her the bows and flowers loose and figure it out later but Carri got her glue gun out and got all of the flowers and one bow done before we had to leave.

The sweater was actually one Mom already owned but it has not been in her dresser since 2004 because Carri accidentally bleached several spots of the dark navy while trying to get out a stain. She and I had been trying to figure out some way of covering those spots up in a decorative fashion. Our first plan was to embroider sweat pea vines all over the grid like it was a trellis. I blogged about this in 2009 at the time calling it the Sweat Pea project or sweater. But I could not find a thread or yarn that worked with the lace weight cotton yarn of the sweater nor could I figure out how to embroider on a fabric that would not keep its shape.

Then last year I got the idea of sewing buttons over the spots and scatter a few more around as well. Almost went that route last spring but around the same time I encountered crocheted flowers in online patterns and tutorials and realized they would serve the purpose. So I looked for thread that was compatible and soon discovered that the bamboo crochet thread size 10 was not only the same size as the yarn in the sweater it was a compatible texture

Joy's gift--the flowers and bows. Not the sweater itself.

The sweater is folded so you can't see all of the flowers pinned on it. There are five flowers and one bow pinned on and five more bows awaiting their pins to be attached. I'm also going to be adding a green and a white flower and a white bow. I may even add a set of larger flowers--with three rows of petals. Am also considering trying size 10 cotton thread so I can do a set of bright color. Aunt Lydia's Bamboo only has whit, pastels and earth tones

They are detachable so they can be removed before the sweater is washed. Which means they can be pinned onto anything headband, jacket, scarf, coat, bag....

Opening Carri's gift

Carri's gift was hand made too. She bought a set of plain solid color hair combs and hot-glued on the tiny seashells she'd pick up on the beach in Hawaii during her visit there last month

Carri's gift

Beyond Thought

2012-01-07T23:00:00.000-08:00

Beyond Thought by Diane Ong
(yep, another Ong. Can't get enough.
I would like a poster of this one for
the closet door of my new office)

I don't have time to think. Just do. I have to be ready to leave for Portlant OR where we're holding Mom's 80th birthday bash in less than ten hours. It is already looking doubtful I'm going to get to sleep before either.

Last minute. That's me.

So gotta get busy tucking tails, sewing buttons in center of flowers and pins on back of flowers and bows and if there is a couple of hours to spare and I'm not desperate for sleep I'd like to make two more bows and two more flowers--in white and pastel green.

Here is a pic from a previous post of the bows and flowers:

Sisters on the Move

2012-01-06T23:30:00.000-08:00

Sisters by Diana Ong
(two Ong's in two days do you get the feeling i'm liking Ong's art)

My sister, her friend and I had a safe and enjoyable 300 odd mile drive from Phoenix OR to Longview WA today, arriving in town about 8:30> We all chattered the entire way.

Then once at my mom's I got to visit with her for nearly an hour before she had to go to bed. I shared the pics of our new house with her. Then my sister and I visited some more while we snacked--some more--and then she haeaded to bed. She'd been up since 4am but I'd been up since 10am Thursday and am still up. Still wired.

But I need to unwire and get some sleep as my sister is taking me to get a hair cut tomorrow afternoon (actually as I write this it is already Saturday--and then she is going to color my hair again in preparation for the big bash in honor of Mom's 80th birthday being held on Sunday.

And somehow I have to find the time to put the finishing touches on the flowers and bows I crocheted for her--tucking tails and sewing on pins to turn them into broaches.

What Happened To the Time?!

2012-01-05T22:57:00.000-08:00

Time by Diana Ong

I've spent the last 13 hours packing and concurrently putting order to the mess that is a move into a new place. I am determined not to leave chaos behind to come back to four weeks hence. Besides I had to unpack all of my clothes from the bags we moved them over here in in order to find what I wanted to pack for my trip to Longview.

My sister is going to be here in less than twelve hours and she wants me ready to have my stuff packed into the car so we can hit the road. She is making the round trip in a single day and will be leaving Longview in about fiver or six hours.

Meanwhile I've still got so much to do I'm thinking sleep may have to wait until I am in the car.

I have finished packing clothes. And am pleased to say I left the clothes I'm leaving behind in good order in the closet.

I have packed the HABA (Health and Beauty Aides) except for very last minute things.

So basically what is left is what i consider the fun stuff--the crochet/craft stuff, the reading/writing stuff, the netbook stuff. But it is also the stuff I tend to get distracted by allowing myself too much dithering and fiddling and fondling.

Well talking about it won't get it done.

A Future in Bloom

2012-01-04T21:32:00.000-08:00

Today I spent another six hours over at my in-law's house doing laundry and working on the room we moved out of last week, packing up miscellaneous stuff and cleaning. Among the things I found today and brought home with me were these two glass roses. The blue one was a birthday gift from my sister and the purple one an Xmas gift from my sister-in-law. Both in the first couple of years we lived in that room and both of them were packed away in bubble-wrap and cardboard and tucked away in safe places awaiting the day I was able to display them without fear of breaking them.

There are several more such items I've still to discover among the boxes we've moved over--a set of white flannel bedding, some candles in decorative holders, a trio of ceramic snowmen, wine glasses, coffee mugs. All nice little touches for making a house a home that had been tucked away along with my dreams of a home of my own for most of a decade.

They are going to have to wait another month to be put to proper use as Friday morning I'm leaving so spend a month at my mom's in Longview WA. I have one more full day to spend in my new home and will be spending it packing which I haven't started yet as I needed some of the clothes still in the laundry bags over in our old room.

So by this time tomorrow I need to be packed all but the very last minutes items and at this minute I'm not sure how I'm going to manage as I'm so stiff, sore and tired I fear I may have to crawl back to the bedroom and if it follows the pattern of the past week the day after each of my days of packing and cleaning in that room has been worse than the evening after.

10 Ways to Harness Fear and Fuel Your Writing | WritersDigest.com

2012-01-03T23:07:00.000-08:00

Forms of Fear by Diana Ong

10 Ways to Harness Fear and Fuel Your Writing | WritersDigest.com:

'via Blog this'

It's that time of year again, when setting goals for the coming year is uppermost and many minds. For me one of the major themes of those goals each year relate to my writing. And one of the issues I always have to face regarding my writing is the fear. I've long known that fear is at the root of both my biggest bugaboos: procrastination and perfectionism. Both being ways of avoiding putting my work or myself out there to encounter judgment.

In this article, I learned nothing I'd never learned before but yet it was a good refresher on the theme, reminding me that fear of fear or avoiding that dreadful feeling of fear is often at the root of our behaviors that sabotage our dreams and goals.

But most importantly I was reminded that fear is itself not the enemy. Fear is just intent on keeping us safe and with a healthy respect for it we can harness its energy while refusing it the driver's seat. Feeling the fear and doing it anyway is courage and when we tackle those things we fear the most and succeed the least little bit we grow in confidence.

Dishwasher Oops!

2012-01-02T22:03:00.000-08:00

Can you believe this night marks a fell week since our move into our new place. It had been over ten years since I had a home of my own to run. It shows in some of the oddest ways.

Last night, after Ed had gone to bed, I loaded and ran the dishwasher. Since there wasn't much in the way of dishes from meals I filled it up with the second half of the set of china our neighbor gave us. And since there was a couple of somewhat goopy pans I set the cycle for 'pots and pans'.

Or so I thought.

about twenty minutes later I came out of my office where I'd been on the computer and my nose was assaulted with a strong smell of something hot and electrical. I hastened to shut off the halogen lamps in the living room but that didn't lessen it so I walked into the kitchen sniffing and it was strongest by the dishwasher so I opened it and then did a walk about the house sniffing. The heat was on and blowing air thru the vents so the smell was being moved around the house but it was still strongest in the kitchen but was no lessening.

I was fairly sure now it was the dishwasher and since the landlord and his friends had been working on it the day we moved in there was no telling if something might have been put back wrong. After all last Thursday night the dishwasher had fallen out of its cubby when I pulled the rack out to unload it. What else might have gone wrong. It was the hose and not the wiring they were working on but still.... My imagination was going wild.

I couldn't finish running the load of course nor did I want to go to bed while Ed was still asleep in case something was still going to happen with it. Suddenly I was very uncomfortable with the thought of leaving my computer (which contains the only copy of hundreds of pages of manuscripts and notes) at one of the house to sleep at the other end. Suddenly I was remembering the comfort of sleeping with my netbook less than an arm's length away and easy to grab up in case of emergency.

So for the first time since we moved in, I stayed up until Ed got up. I had been laying down 3ish most mornings and waking 10ish when the sun lit up our bedroom. So it was almost eight before I got to sleep and I still got woke up by the sun at 10 and also by the sound of voices and men working as the landlord and his friends were cleaning up our carport, sheds and back yard of the mess the previous tenant left behind. I managed to get back to sleep with a blanket over my eyes and slept until noon.

About an hour after I woke up, I decided to unload the dishes in the dishwasher, thinking they had run thru the cycle since it was on dry when I opened it. But oddly there was a gritty feel to them and a few I had to rinse before putting on the shelf. And then I discovered a really dirty ladle and then noticed that the soap box was still latched shut.

So I closed the dishwasher to get a good look at the dial and after a few confused moments I think I figured out what happened.

I had to get on my knees to get a good look thru my bi-focals which I had not done when I set it last night. For a brief moment I thought the dial was pointing at 'light/china' but then realized I was looking at the wrong end and then the thought hit that that was probably what happened when I set the dial last night. And since i set it for 'pots and pans' it must have actually been pointing mid rinse cycle. If so it had run half a rinse cycle with no water and then half a dry cycle.

No wonder it smelled hot.

So Ed ran the dishwasher again while he was making dinner (yes, he's our main chef as food prep his his joy) and could monitor it and it ran without a hitch and no odor of burning he noticed. I ran it again after dinner, reloading the same china dishes I'd taken out this afternoon.

I think I'm going to have to put a bright sticker on the right end of that dial and another one on the 'normal' line so I can see where to aim it without getting on my knees. The view of the dial in that picture is the best one I've had.

Sunday Serenity #260 Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-01T17:46:00.000-08:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

May blessings be upon you and yours and may they purrlifurate like kittens.

Moving Books

2011-12-31T23:11:00.000-08:00

Today we went back over to my in-laws to continue packing up the room we lived in for the last ten years. The focus today was books. I had estimated 5 to 7 of the apple boxes Ed had brought home from where he works so had unpacked eight of the boxes we brought over on Monday. They were quickly filled up and Ed had to bring back the lids from a few of the boxes still at home on one of his trips over with a dolly load of full boxes. I also had a few boxes left in the room over there and one folded box stored behind the entertainment center that served well once my FIL taped the bottom up for me.

In the end we brought home 11 boxes of books and 6 boxes of misc plus a hanging clothes bag and a few smaller bags and shoe/boot boxes. And 4 book shelves.

Once home I was faced with wiping down a rag dampened by cleaner all of the shelves before moving them in the house. And then shuffling the boxes and shelves around in the room until I had a configuration I could live with at least overnight for once I lost the window light all I have in my office is one desk top Ott lamp.

Now I can barely move after sitting still for five minutes.

I have decided that I want my desk to bisect the room from where the window is on the end wall and have all crafts on the closet side and all reading//writing/computer on the other side. Eventually I want the 'desk' to be a board the size of a door but I will have to wait a few paydays for that.

So for now I put the two desk-height bookshelves in place where they would support that large board and laid a small board--the shelf out of the entertainment center) across them.

We didn't move the entertainment center over yet and it is going in my office too. For more storage for books and crafts. Ed has to take it apart to get it out of the room and put it back together in this room.

If you haven't picked up on it, the bulk of the stuff in that room that was not clothes, bedding or electronics was my books and crafts and writing/office supplies and all of that will be going into my office which is (maybe) a tad bigger than that room--that room shared by two adults and a cat (from 2001 to 2007 it was two cats) which also contained a standard bed.

So, with a good 50% of the volume of stuff in that room now in this room it is no wonder I'm already starting to feel a bit crowded here in my new office--my office that is really an office and not also a bedroom and TV room. But at least I am sitting in an actual office chair and not on the bed and wonder of wonders I can walk out the door two paces behind me into a living room that still has room for a blind lady to dance.

Merlin At Home

2011-12-30T21:18:00.000-08:00

I unpacked eight boxes and two drawers today. One of the boxes contained Merlin's toys which had been packed away for years as there was no longer enough room in our room for him to play.

I'm afraid I overwhelmed him by pulling them all out and tossing them onto the floor and the mini-tramp. He was like a kid with ADHD going from one to the other but ultimately always more interested in the bag or the camera in my hand than in the toys I was tossing or nudging at him while trying to get some got shots of him playing.

I was unpacking the apple boxes we packed on Monday in preparation for packing up my books over at Ed's folks house tomorrow. Will also be doing laundry while there and more cleaning in that room. There is more than just books and shelves left of there. I want to get as much as possible moved out tomorrow as I don't want to have to go back again for anything but cleaning the bare room.

I was supposed to have left today for my two week trip to Longview WA to visit my family and celebrate my Mom's 80th birthday but that trip was postponed and extended. I am not leaving until next Friday and will be staying a month to help out my sisters.

Well this is going to have to do it for tonight's post. I'm feeling about like Merlin looks below. The sun in our room woke me after only four hours of sleep this morning and I worked all day at unpacking and cleaning. I also worked out gently on the mini-tramp this afternoon after hooking up the boombox and tuning in a radio station playing Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. My feet got too happy for the floor so I got on the tramp. Stayed on for two or three songs and only got off because of a cramp in my thigh.

playing

Crocheted Black Rose

2011-12-29T21:05:00.000-08:00

I took a little break from the unpacking and organizing in our new place to sit and listen to my news podcasts while crocheting on this rose which I started on Christmas day. It was one of the items intended for my niece's gift bag. One of the reasons I was so late starting it was that I'd been practicing the methods and testing the patterns I found online with lighter colored threads. But none of the patterns I found made a rose in size 10 thread any bigger than an inch and a quarter across and I was picturing at least three inches. So I had been working out in my head ways to use the concepts in the patterns to enlarge it. I will share my method at the foot of this post.

I had elected to make several smaller items rather than one large one like a shawl or afghan so I started a bunch of things and had none of them finished Christmas morning. Many were at least as far as off the hook but still needed those finishing touches.

A black bow barrette the length of my hand from wrist to fingertip with a vintage button attached to middle band still needed its middle band crocheted and wrapped and then to be sewn onto the barrette. That was finished just before we got in the car to head for the family gathering.

Four of the bookmarks still needed their ribbons selected and woven in which was done early that afternoon.. A fifth bookmark is still on the hook.

A black headband with lime green ribbon is still on the hook.

A hairpin lace belt in a variegated greens and gold ribbon thread isn't even on the hook yet. I am still having trouble doing hairpin lace being such a newbie at it and didn't want to start working with that difficult thread until I could do it right with easier thread. So by a week into my flu I'd already let that one go.

The black drawstring bag needed its sides sewn up and the drawstring with vintage buttons for ends strung. I used slip stitch to crochet the sides and had that done before leaving for the family gathering Sunday afternoon and had the drawstring woven in by the time we arrived but there were glitches as the decorative edging I used for the drawstring would not hold a knot and it took me another hour after arriving to figure out a solution.

Once there I had to ask for a private place to keep working and ironically that was my niece's room. She even served me dinner in there which I only nibbled at occasionally in my frantic haste. The black and mint green candle doily still needed the outside row with black beads crocheted on and I was still working on that as presents were handed out and opened. And *blush* I stuck it in the gift bag without tucking the 8 tails.

Because I was so late getting everything finished I was unable to get the usual photos of the finished projects. I've asked my niece to do that for me and will share them as soon as she sends them to me.

_______________________

Here was my method in plain English instead of pattern speak:

The approximately 1 inch roses called for a beginning chain of 50 something so I chained 150 to triple that. (leave a long tail for sewing the bottom once rolled)

Row 1: single crochet all the way back across the chain.

Row 2: chain 3 then skip two single crochet and do 2 double crochet plus 2 chains plus 2 double crochet in the third stitch. Do the same in every third stitch until you have 50 of these 'petal bases' then for the rest of the row switch to triple crochet. Same pattern: 2 triple plus 2 chains plus 2 triple in every third stitch to end.

(I think if I make another of these tho that I will switch to quadruple crochet for the last 12 petal bases in order to raise the height of those petals on the outer layer. Either that or use the quadruple in the first 12 petals on Row 3, triple in the next 12, double in the next 12 and half double to the end. The latter would take more thread tho.)

Row 3: chain 4 and crochet 11 triple crochet into ea of the 2 chain spaces for the first 13 petals. Then switch to double crochet for the next 25 petals and then use half double to the end.

When fastening off you can leave another large tail for sewing the rose onto something if desired.

Roll up the strip from small to large keeping the bottom edge even sew bottom edges with long tail. I haven't done this yet and as I rolled I had the thought that I should be tacking it occasionally as I rolled and not wait until it was all rolled to start. I may have to unroll and start over in order to do that as I'm afraid I will not catch all the edges and then the rose will be easily deformed with any handling with petals sliding up out of the middle or out the bottom.

I'm not sure of the exact size (using size 10 cotton thread) as I can't measure it as I haven't yet found my rulers or measuring tape in the packed stuff. It covers the palm of my hand and I'm sure it is at least 3 inched across and possibly a bit more but definitely less than four.

Our Dish Bonanza

2011-12-28T23:52:00.000-08:00

My in-law's neighbor (and thus ours for the last ten years) gave us a set of dishes today. Ceramic. Cream with pink roses and gold rims. Pink handled silverware to go with. I'm still not sure of the setting number. There are eight tea cups but an empty slot like one is missing. But only six dinner plates and, I think bowls. I'm still confused because I've not unloaded the whole box. I want to unload them directly into the dishwasher but it is full.

Now all we need is a table to set. :) We're supposed to be getting one from the landlord this weekend.

While I was milling about the kitchen pulling out the full setting pieces to set up this shot, Merlin was dogging my feet like a just hatched duckling. I kept trying to get a pic of him but he kept walking out of the frame by the time I could press the button.

But finally by backing up in circles and figure eights until he was confused and I was dizzy I managed to catch him. His doggedness exudes off him in this shot. You can see how determined he is on following my feet.

My Sister's Excellent Adventure

2011-12-27T22:23:00.000-08:00

My sister got to go to Hawaii this month. If I had been given the choice between moving into my own home for the first time in then years or going to Hawaii I might have paused before choice...for a very long time.

But I'm sure I would have come to my senses and opted for the home.

Meanwhile I get to dream over the pics she took while there. It was a working visit not in any sense a vacations. She went over as an aide working with troubled kids.

I don't know any details about these pics I just liked them and filched them from her fb album.

Home Again, Home Again

2011-12-26T22:51:00.000-08:00

A Temporary Workstation in my new office. Where I am sitting as I type this.

The other end of that room--behind the chair.

The Living Room. I have to move the office chair out here when I watch TV or eat dinner as the extent of our livingroom furniture is in this picture

Our bedrrom. My side of the bed. There's our Merlin on the foot of the bed. I didn't see him there when I took the picture as the room looked like a black cave to me and I trusted the flash to give me something useful. Ed was already asleep

To give you an idea of what we are schlepping from there to here and what we have been living in for the last ten years:

Ed's side of the bed in the room we shared since August 2001

My side of the bed over there in summer 2009.
I had crammed much more books and
craft stuff into that space since then.

We still need to move all of the books and the shelves they are on. The entertainment center and boxes and bags of non-clothes stuff out of the closet.

Also left three large bags of laundry I still need to do. We are going to have a dryer courtesy of our landlord but no washer for awhile.

The TV sitting precariously atop an
entertainment center a bit too narrow for it.
There was about ten inches between the foot
of the bed and that entertainment center

I won't even try to describe what was under this bed when we move it out of there today. You might be eating as you read this. The bulk of my day was sorting the garbage from the good stuff.

It had been 2008 the last time I cleaned out from under the bed and a lot of stuff had fallen between the mattress and the shelves to either side and if it wasn't worth moving a ton of stuff to retrieve it it stayed put. And other stuff shoved under from the foot until it was so compact under there Merlin could no longer get under the bed.

I found two of Ed's lighters. A crochet hook. dozens of pennies and a few other coins. A fork from my MIL second best set.

Most of the books and shelves seen in these pics will end up in my new office which is a room about the same size as our room over their. So this space i am sitting in tonight that feels so roomy might not feel that way once all those shelves are in place.

Sunday Serenity #259 Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T02:00:00.000-08:00

The Night Before

2011-12-24T22:59:00.000-08:00

Is always hairy. Still got too much to do before we leave for the big family gathering tomorrow. I probably won't sleep as it is so I can't spend hours on a post tonight. So I've captioned a new Xmas related LOLcat and added a couple I captioned for previous years.

Our big move day is scheduled for Monday which means two more nights in this room and I'm probably not going to sleep at all this night. Too many stitches yet to stitch...

Home Sweet Home

2011-12-23T15:38:00.000-08:00

Ed presenting the key to our new place after returning from cashing his check and paying the new landlord this morning

After 10 years and 9.5 months we will be moving into our own place next week. I can't begin to put into words what this means to us.

Later we walked down past two trailers to see our new place together for the first time. Ed had seen it several times this past month but I was either not awake or not well enough to make the walk.

The shade tree behind the carport in our back yard. I've forgotten what it is.

The shade tree's gift! They're about 8 inches deep over half the back yard. This will be one of Ed's chores that go towards our rent. There is lots of work to do inside and out and that is what made the price right.

This is near where Ed wants to put in a small garden next spring

The front porch looking towards back fence

The front door.

The front room taken while still standing in doorway

Standing inside my office looking out at front door

Standing inside my office doorway looking across front room at kitchen

Ed fell in love with this tile work done by our landlord. I don't blame him. It is gorgeous.

The left side of the kitchen. Taken while standing against back wall.

The left side of the kitchen

The hallway. Kitchen to left. Ed's office door just past thermostat on the left. Pics of that room did not turn out. Back door across from his door. Bathroom next to his room and laundry room across from bathroom. Master bedroom at end of hall.

Tiny tub! But all ours and the room is well lit which is huge plus.

Laundry closet. I may be a few months before we get machines tho

Master bedroom. I'm standing with back to large closet that covers the length of the room. That shade tree is directly across from the window. The door to the hall to the left

Standing on the edge of the kitchen floor looking towards opposite wall of front room. Front door and door to my office in view. That monster on the floor is the air conditioner which will be moved out onto the porch or into the shed before we move in. We will need it next spring!

Storify with Social Media

2011-12-22T23:55:00.000-08:00

Storify

This is an interesting concept. Storify is a site that allows you to collect multi-media items from many of the social media sites into a single coherent 'story' that you can share via email, fb, blog embed and more.

Whether you wish to tell the story of your year for a holiday newsletter, the aftermath of an earthquake or severe weather, the protests in Cairo, London or Oakland, the breakup of a marriage overheard in a fast-food restaurant or a top ten list on any theme, you can collect the relevant tweeets, youtube vids, fb photos, and more, add comments and post on Storify then share.

I'm anxious to experiment with this but I have no time for it before mid January.

The example I'm sharing here--of a delivery of a computer monitor being made by a toss over a fence and the repercussions after the recipient of the monitor posted a video of the incident that went viral--I chose because it is tangentially holiday related and loosely related to my husband's job on the shipping docks of a major catalog retailer so besides personal horror stories I've heard a number of Ed's job related ones. I would not single out any one service either as the blame is spread almost evenly among them.

Writers and Their Kitties

2011-12-21T23:55:00.000-08:00

Writers and Their Kitties

cheeseburger.com had an interesting post the other day featuring pics of authors with their cats. There must be more than a dozen but only three or so are featured on the front page. You have to click the 'more' to see the rest. It is worth it if you are into either writers or cats. Among them are Twain, Faulkner, King, Capote and Gaiman. I would have embedded the post as usual but I couldn't choose the pic that way and I wanted Joyce Carol Oates who is near the top of my lists of fav writers and most influential to my own writing.

As for the cat who had the most influence on my writing--sleeping inside my jacket when I typed in the wee hours of cold nights, sleeping on my shoulder as I read in the easy chair, performing antics that got written into scenes--that would have been Gremlyn, my Siamese/Tabby/Abyssinian cross who never got bigger than your typical six month old kitten. We were constant companions form August 1993 until I lost her on St Patrick's Day 2007. And I mean 'constant' literally. She was never far and often in actual physical contact. Even riding on my shoulder as I walked around the house and sleeping in my (at the time very long) hair. She followed me around crying for me to sit down to be her bed. She carried on reciprocal conversations with me that were often as inflected as human dialog. I'd lost all the pictures taken of her and of us together in our 2001 move and no more had been taken before she died. Sometimes I'm startled by how much I still miss her. Other times I'm stunned to realize I've gone days without remembering her.

Update on Jamie

2011-12-20T23:30:00.000-08:00

About ten days ago I posted about my sister, Jamie, being in the hospital and enduring complications. She is home now. But instead of trying to tell her story here I'll just leave the link to her blog's fb page where you can follow her story in her own words.

Be warned, the pictures she posts of her trach and incisions are graphic and not for the squeamish.

Smashwords

2011-12-19T19:06:00.000-08:00

I had to download some review copy books from here today and then spent hours exploring and downloading free books, short stories and samples. Not everything is free of course. On most things it is possible to read online or download a sample that tends to be 30% of the complete book even if it is a 300 page novel. The theory behind that is that most people investing in a hundred pages of a story will pay to see how it ends.

I joined as I am thinking about putting some of the stories I've already posted on Joystory in snippets on here as free ebooks to make it easier for anyone interested to read them beginning to end. It might also serve as promotion for future novels once finished which I could sell via Smashwords. Based on what I've seen today, I like the atmosphere and attitude at Smashwords better than Amazon.

It is free for authors to publish ebooks and they get over 80% of every sale.

I'll just drop the info direct from their FAQ:

What does Smashwords offer authors?Over 30,000 authors around the world collectively publish and distribute over 78,000 ebooks with Smashwords. Smashwords makes it fast, free and easy to publish and distribute your ebook to the world's largest ebook retailers and mobile phone apps. Authors control the pricing, sampling and marketing of their books, and receive 85% of the net sales proceeds from their works (70.5% for affiliate sales) for sales at our Smashwords.com retail operation, and authors earn 60% of the list price for sales though our distribution network of retailers including the Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo and the Diesel eBook Store.

I have got to get control of my obsessive collecting of free ebooks that started in late October. I've now got over 2000 which is ridiculous as even at the improved speed that reading ebooks gives me I couldn't read them all in under a decade as it is unlikely I'd be able to maintain a book a day pace which would still take at least 6 years! I'm a hopeless hoarder.

In the case of the classics tho, I just like knowing they are there for the whim that may take me. Many of them I have read tho decades ago. And then there is the nostalgia factor for those children's classics I read as a child or YA.

Ah, well I might as well accept I am who I am. Collecting ebooks seems one of the less malignant of my hoarding proclivities.

Sunday Serenity #258

2011-12-18T18:34:00.000-08:00

My sister Jamie introduced me to this this morning. I got the impression she has taken it as a personal anthem upon getting home from her ten day stay in the hospital yesterday.

I kind of needed it myself as this virus is kicking my butt and discouraging me as to how far behind I've gotten on all my projects.

The sun will rise. Yes. it always does.

Wonderfalls

2011-12-17T23:55:00.000-08:00

It's always the ones I love that get cancelled before the story plays out. Quirky, eccentric, surreal. A 20-something named Jaye living at Niagra Falls, is given Delphic messages from inanimate animals--stuffed, drawn, plastic, wax, etc. and when she obeys events work out for the best for all involved. Of course Jaye is always misunderstanding the meaning of the cryptic commands and trying to fulfill them inappropriately. It is funny, charming and full of wonder.

I just discovered this show via Netflix DVD and have watched all but two of the 13 episodes this week. I would have watched the last two as well but got sleepy as has been happening a lot this week because of the virus. Then I slept until midnight and by the time Ed and I got dinner prepped and cleaned up he was ready for bed and I couldn't watch the last two episodes on the TV in the room. I have the option of pulling the disc out of the player and taking it in the living room but that room is an icebox as the heat has been off since 9pm.

I could also play it on my netbook. But I think I will leave it where it is and wait for Ed to wake up (if I even last that long myself) for I have plenty of other options--things I could or should be doing that are already within reach of where I sit. One of which is the full set of Bones Season 6 discs from the library. I could also stream Netflix or watch some of the weeks of accumulated new pods. I list video options first as they are things I can do while crocheting which is one of the 'shoulds'. So next in line would be audio books of which I have several out of the library and several more onboard my netbook.

But I also have dozens of ebooks on board of which one is a review copy--another of the 'shoulds'.

I could also continue work on the file organizing and maintenance on my netbook. I've been plugging away at it over the last several months. Have finally got everything I wanted off the old laptop hard drive which can now be reformatted to serve as backup for my personal files, ebooks and music

I could also perform the same organization tasks on my fiction writing files. Or better yet I could write in them. Haven't written anything put posts since NaNo ended so that is another strong 'should' as letting it slide too long makes getting started again harder. Watching Wonder Falls this week though has made my fingers tingle for the keys. My ideas aren't related but something about the show has inspired me. It sets a certain tone that draws me and which I'd like to emulate.

Whoever the idiots were who decided to cancel it have no business in show business as they have no idea when they have a great thing. I wonder what they were making room for when they pushed it out. Probably more American Idolatry or Brainless Bachelors and Babes surviving without hair product on breezy beaches.

No Access

2011-12-16T23:30:00.000-08:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures,

and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

I was unable to get online all Friday evening and unable to resolve the issue sometime after Ed got home which was 1am. It happened again a few minutes later and since I've no idea what is causing it I can't be sure it won't happen again so I'm going to post this as is while I still have a connection.

Yarning

2011-12-15T23:30:00.000-08:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures,

and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

I'm seeing yarn and thread everywhere. Eyes open or closed, awake or asleep. With Xmas closing in (and the birthdays in January) and my several fiber art projects still far from finished I'm a bit panicked so it is no wonder it invades my dreams. I did get a few small things off the hook but I can't call them finished until tails are tucked and seams are sewn and this and that attached. Many will need to be laundered and blocked as well. I think as usual I bit off more than I could chew. But I didn't count on being sick for a week either.

Meanwhile, the ideas for my stories are flooding in and I can't take time to do more than jot a word or phrase down. I guess I should have been crocheting more during NaNo. Then maybe I'd have had more success with the novel and also not be so far behind on the fiber art gifts.

So as I ply the yarn with hooks and needles into gifts my mind plies memories and images into yarns and as I tuck tails in the this that and the other I'm plucking tales out of the ether.

Youth and Other Fiction by John M. Cook: Review and Giveaway

2011-12-14T09:21:00.000-08:00

Youth and Other Fiction
by Jonathan M. Cook

Youth and Other Fictions
by Jonathan M. Cook

This was a very difficult story to read. Difficult because so disturbing. And I'm no stranger to disturbing nor even shy of courting it. I've talked at length before of my fondness for Stephen King and how it once caused me to defy the edict of a Christian pastor from whom I was receiving free consultation regarding a severe depression in my mid twenties. When he demanded that I forswear any further contact with Stephen King stories and in fact insisted that his continuing to work with me depended on my willingness to run past him all of my encounters with media from books and magazines to movies and music and agree to stay clear of anything he did not approve, I did not return for another visit nor to another service at his church.

I believe instincts I was unable to articulate at the time were at work in that decision and a few months later I was enrolled in college and reading more challenging stories than Stephen Kings' and infinitely more disturbing--Tolstoy, Kafka, Poe, Dostoevsky, Camus, Mann, Goethe, Shakespeare... And it was during those 2.5 years that I began to be able to articulate that instinct that protected me from turning my mind over to the men in white coats with straight-jackets and a cell with walls padded with cotton balls.

What I could not articulate then has evolved into the meaning behind the subtitle of this blog: Story is my joy. I believe that story is how we encounter the world, each other and our selves. I believe that story is how we discover meaning in our lives and that it is through story that we explore the questions most relevant to making our lives about more than the biological requirements for staying physically alive. And though I respect all types of stories and the roles they play I believe that stories that disturb have a special role to play in showing us our true selves, holding a mirror up to our soul and making us look at the shadow we wish to deny. I believe it is necessary to look straight at and acknowledge that shadow before we can integrate it and live our lives with integrity.

That is all by way of preamble for my strong recommendation for reading John Cook's Youth and Other Fictions. It is hard to talk about this story meaningfully without giving away too much that needs to be left to unfold in the proper order. This is the kind of story that would lend itself well to being dissected in a college lit class. I'm sure Mr. Cook was striving for literary and in my estimation has hit that mark.

I will do my best to provide a synopsis that doesn't give too much away while still providing an answer to the question what is this story about and why should I care?

Youth and Other Fictions is divided into two parts approximately in half. The first part is confined to the point of view of high school senior Greg in the late 90s who is bullied and alienated from his peers and we are privy to his innermost thoughts as they become more and more disjointed and we are forced to watch helplessly as he encounters his own shadow but instead of integrating it is possessed by it and sets out to exact revenge on his tormentors--the students, the school, the town and life itself. He enacts a Columbine type shooting at the school leaving many dead and wounded before shooting himself in the head in the presence of the one boy he considered a friend, his last words a demand that Jason carry on and complete his mission.

The second part of the story is Jason's and begins ten years later as he returns to the same high school as a temp English teacher in the months before the tenth anniversary of the tragedy. He finds the town of Freedom has both staked its identity on that tragic event--welcoming the media interest, allowing the story to be told to the nation and world from many angles and in many formats even serving as extras in a made for TV film--while at the same time repressing the story among themselves, refusing to look at any shadow but the shadow that was Greg and acting as if Greg's actions had arisen in a vacuum and thus no cause that had originated outside of Greg's mind had played any role. Because of this refusal to look at the truth there can be no integrating and thus no integrity. Hypocrisy, arrogance, and ennui abound from boardrooms to class rooms. The shadows are festering and brewing another tragedy.

http://jonathanmcook.com/

Giveaway:

I'm authorized to giveaway one ebook copy and since it is ebook that means this is open internationally. The ebook is available in several of the most popular formats.

This drawing will be open until Dec 31 2001 As usual I will be using random.org to choose a winner.

Enter by leaving a comment expressing interest on this post. Extra entries can be had by:

Following Joystory on Twitter if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Like Joystory's page on Facebook if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Tweeting once per day (leave the tweet's url in a comment here)

Add Joystory feed to your reader. if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Following Joystory on Networked Blogs if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Google +1 this post

TourHost: Dateof review: (GP)GuestPost, (I)Interview, or (G)Giveaway?

Butterfly-o-meterBooks Dec.1 GP & G Dec. 2 (G will be separatepost that week)

FrugalExperiments Dec. 2 G Dec.2

Motherof Insanity Dec. 5 I & G Dec. 6

Carabosse'sLibrary Dec. 7 G Dec. 7

ACasual Reader's Blog Dec. 8 GP & G Dec. 9

Fromthe TBR Pile Dec. 9 G Dec. 9

BookZone Dec. 12 IDec. 12

Reviewsby Molly Dec. 13 I Dec. 13

TellySays Dec. 13 G

JoyStory Dec. 14 G Dec. 14

ThePhantom Paragrapher Dec. 15 GP& G Dec. 16

Sugarpeach Dec 16 None

HopelesslyDevoted Bibiophile Dec. 19 GP Dec. 20

http://www.virtualauthorbooktours.com/

Too True

2011-12-13T23:55:00.000-08:00

My life feels like this at times. Hurry up and wait. Meanwhile distract yourself by chasing the bouncing light or be mesmerized by the spinning light. But especially time on the internet has been like this lately. It takes three times longer than it should to get tasks done. Meanwhile in an effort to make use of the waiting time I switch to an 'on board' task and thus distracted forget to return to the original task. I end up with ten tasks begun and none finished.

I'm also considering the possibility that I'm too addicted to the distractions online, which is why the things in the rest of my life get so neglected. Duh. You thinks so?

Well it became an issue especially during NaNo. And looking back over the last year, I realized that a significant element in the 'writer's block' I'd been suffering was the temptation of the internet. Being so intimately a part of the very same tool with which I write it is hard to set appropriate boundaries between using the web and getting writing done. Sometimes I kid myself by calling it research but research without boundaries becomes a distraction itself.

I'm seriously thinking about creating another desktop dedicated to the act of writing and only writing. By setting it up as tho for a child with no administrative permissions with access to the net and to certain applications denied, with only a handful of directly related icons on the desktop. No games, no ebooks, no browser.

Getting Into the Spirit

2011-12-12T23:30:00.000-08:00

Between my sister being in the hospital and this virus I'm fighting it is hard to tap into the Christmas spirit. Two of the things helping me do that are the 25 days of Catmas at cheezeburger.com and the 25 days of free Christmas MP3 songs at Amazon.com.

At icanhascheezeburger.com they present the calendar image which you must click on to see the image of a cats or kittens in some holiday related context. The image comes up in the builder all ready for you to caption it.

Try it, click on the calendar:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures,

At Amazon.com there is a page where the links to the free songs are accumulating. I just discovered this one today and was glad to find that the twelve songs presented since the 1st are all still free so I can still collect them all. I stopped to prep this post which by the way too me hours because my browser conspired with whatever dark spirits have been haunting me and when to the dark side, deciding to spend five minutes loading pages then reloading them for no reason and finally crashing taking half of this post with it.

Ah well, I'm sure I'll find that uplift which prompted the theme of this post again as soon as I load a few of thhose songs and listen to them. Click on the caption of the image below to go collect them yourself:

Amazon 25 Days of Free Xmas MP3

Even my blues were penetrated by a grin and a giggle by this GIF

Sunday Serenity #257

2011-12-11T23:02:00.000-08:00

Soup and sleep have been the essence of my Sunday. Chicken noodle soup was the only thing that appealed to me earlier today. The only thing that didn't elicit a gag reflex to think about.

I have slept nearly twenty out of the last twenty-four hours. And it must be doing some good as I'm feeling better. Not great but better than yesterday. The main symptoms left are a sinus headache, dizziness and deep fatigue. And a hint of a cough that I'm hoping doesn't develop into more.

Absorbing Dreams

2011-12-10T23:34:00.000-08:00

I'm could really use a box of tissues big enough to sleep in. Or at least one tissue the size of a bedsheet.

Ed and I have both succumbed to the annual pre Xmas bug. He brings one home from the dock every year courtesy of the truckers.

Praying For My Sister

2011-12-09T23:17:00.000-08:00

Jamie took this pic with her cell from her hospital bed on Thursday

My sister Jamie, is in the hospital again. She went in Wednesday morning at the University of Washington hospital in Seattle for a procedure, expecting to be home again by Thursday afternoon. But once again there were complications. I don't feel free to share details without checking with her first and I haven't had any contact with her since the wee hours of Wednesday. But here is the FB page for her blog where she has made public some of the back story and you can follow up when she is able to start posting again.

Prayers for her would be appreciated.

Meanwhile I'm missing her most during these hours as the late night hours are when we often chat online or play Words with Friends on FB.

Thinking of you sis. And praying.

Laughing Through Life By Connie C. Wilson: Review and Giveaway

2011-12-08T01:27:00.001-08:00

Laughing Through Life

by Connie C. Wilson

The simplest way to characterize this little book is to compare it to the humorous personal essays of suburban family life that Erma Bombeck was famous for. But that doesn't quite cover it. These short pieces cover the gamut between the personal and the professional life of a working writer, teacher and mother (and now grandmother to the adorable toddles gracing the cover of her book) and those times when the tasks of those roles converged as when she took her teen daughter and friends along with her to the political conventions in 2004 or the Dave Mathews Band concert which she attended as journalist.

There are a number of these I think warrant a 'beverage spew' alert as they are not safe to be reading in front of the computer while drinking hot coffee. One of them at least I would slap three of those suckers on and that is 'Mrs Malaprop Lives' which is a series of misused words and phrases Wilson had collected from various souses including her own students. But then I'm a sucker for humor based on language--puns, malapros, riddles and such.

Wilson did not cover the political conventions as an unbiased journalist tho. She is primarily an opinion piece writer and does she have opinions! Let's just say she was not that fond of the letter 'W' in 2004 in spite of it being the first letter of her own last name.

Giveaway:

I'm authorized to giveaway one ebook copy and since it is ebook that means this is open internationally. The ebook is available in several of the most popular formats.

This drawing will be open until Dec 29 2001 As usual I will be using random.org to choose a winner.

Enter by leaving a comment expressing interest on this post. Extra entries can be had by:

Following Joystory on Twitter if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Like Joystory's page on Facebook if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Tweeting once per day (leave the tweet's url in a comment here)

Add Joystory feed to your reader. if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Following Joystory on Networked Blogs if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Google +1 this post

http://www.conniecwilson.com/

Laughing Through Life By Connie C. Wilson Tour

TourHost: Dateof review: (GP)GuestPost, (I)Interview, or (G)Giveaway?

PageFlipperz Nov. 28th I &G Nov. 29th

Satisfactionfor Insatiable Readers Nov. 30 G

SheTreads Softly Dec. 1 GP Dec. 2 (GP done)

Carabosses'sLibrary Dec. 5 G

RuthiReads Dec. 6 G & I Dec. 7

Joystory Dec.8 G

ReadMore Books Dec 9 none

ALife Sustained Dec. 10 G

Stacy'sBooks Dec. 12 I & G Dec 13

BookZone Dec. 14 G

Emeraldfire'sBookmark Dec.15 GP Dec. 16 (GP done)

http://www.virtualauthorbooktours.com/

Hoping

2011-12-07T22:55:00.000-08:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures,

...the stats work in my favor today.

My sister is in the hospital for yet another stretching out of a scar tissue infested throat. I've lost count of how many of these she has had in the last two years but it is the one the summer of 09 that always looms in the imagination each time since then for that time complications nearly took her life and she spent a month in the hospital recovering--most of that in ICU.

She was to go into surgery at 11AM Pacific Coast time for a one hour procedure and it is now more than twelve hours later and I haven't heard a word. The silence on her fb feels ominous as she is constantly updating and commenting on friend's walls.

Have you noticed how hard it is to tell the difference between praying and fretting from the outside? Today it feels just as hard to tell the difference from the inside.

Delayed Flight by John J. Smith: Review and Giveaway

2011-12-06T02:00:00.000-08:00

Delayed Flight

by John J. Smith

They were childhood sweethearts. Then a father's command separated them. 20 years later they meet in an airport awaiting their delayed flight. Will they finally make the connection or has their only chance taken off long ago?

Jared and Veronica were deeply in love as teenagers but then a confluence of jealousy, lack of self esteem, and lies tore them apart. Heartbroken, they each ended up in disastrous marriages that ended badly.

Then the week of Christmas 20 years later they were each in a DC airport awaiting a flight to Dallas. Jared was returning from a business trip and Veronica on her way to visit her college student daughter for the holidays. Snow and ice storms at both airports delayed the flight for hours and a meddling waitress who seemed to know more than she had a right too, orchestrated their conversation in a way that reminded me of Monica in Touched by an Angel.

Once in Dallas they went their separate ways again with Veronica promising to maybe call him before she headed back east and maybe have coffee or brunch. But almost immediately that maybe became even more ephemeral when Veronica's daughter, Jeri starts gushing about this wonderful man, her boss, that she thinks would be the perfect match for her Mom.

I can't say much more without giving away plot surprises

Cross a Touched by an Angel episode with a Nicholas Sparks novel and your favorite Christmas Miracle story and you have the essence of this sweet love story. This would make a good Hallmark or Lifetime channel movie. The characters are full bodied and interesting. Even the secondary characters. In fact I was so intrigued by that eccentric waitress, Max, I wish she had a whole novel to herself. The writing style is somewhat less mature than Sparks' but it shows much promise and I hope to see more by Mr Smith in the coming years.

Giveaway:

I'm authorized to giveaway one ebook copy and since it is ebook that means this is open internationally. The ebook is available in several of the most popular formats.

This drawing will be open until Dec 27 2001. As usual I will be using random.org to choose a winner.

Enter by leaving a comment expressing interest on this post. Extra entries can be had by:

Following Joystory on Twitter if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Like Joystory's page on Facebook if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Tweeting once per day (leave the tweet's url in a comment here)

Add Joystory feed to your reader. if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Following Joystory on Networked Blogs if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Google +1 this post

John J. Smith

Delayed Flight Tour Schedule

TourHost: Dateof review: (GP)GuestPost, (I)Interview, or (G)Giveaway?

Luxury Reading Dec. 1 G& GP Dec. 2

Butterfly-o-meterBooks Dec.5 G Dec 2-6 hop

Joystory Dec. 6 G

ChrisRedding GP (ExcerpTuesday) Dec. 6

Moonlight LGleam's Bookshelf Dec.6 G & GP Dec. 7

Dragons Den Dec. 7 None

PageFlipperz Dec. 8 G & I Dec. 9

ThePhantom Paragrapher Dec. 12 G & GP Dec. 13

Carabosse'sLibrary Dec. 13 None

Book Him Danno Dec.15 I& G Dec. 16

Reviewsby Molly Dec. 16 GNone

From the TBR Pile Dec.20th G Dec. 20th

I'dRather Be At the Beach Dec. 21 G Dec. 21

http://www.virtualauthorbooktours.com/

Yikes.

2011-12-05T22:50:00.000-08:00

I'm still working on my review for the blog tour which I'd hoped to have ready to go by midnight. That's not going to happen but here's hoping by 3am my time to catch the east coast wake-up hour.

Sunday Serenity #256

2011-12-04T04:00:00.000-08:00

I've just watched several videos and read several patterns online on how to crochet a rose and I've settled on this one for my first try. Except that I'm going to be working with size 10 crochet thread.

The last several days have been all about crochet for me and I've been focusing on two things--to finish as many of the small projects I've had on the hook for weeks or months and to learn as many new tricks as I can. Also to finalize all Xmas gift plans.

I seriously need to get batteries in my camera so I can post pics of the new things I've got going.

Public Libraries Turn Up The Volume (Literally)

2011-12-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

Oh shush kitteh. You b stuk in tyme warp.

click for article -->> Public Libraries Turn Up The Volume (Literally): 'via Blog this'

There seems to be a new trend in some library systems. Especially the bigger metropolis area ones. And that is to have less 'hush' and more media mashup. Among the changes from the library ambiance I remember from the 60s is story hours for small children that include singing and dancing, media rooms for teens that have video games to play, movies to watch, and video equipment for them to make and edit films. Some libraries even have coffee bars and allow food and drink and conversation a la cafes.

In other words the library is morphing from that silent sanctuary for study and self-absorbed reading into something more akin to community centers.

Apparently there is controversy about it. Isn't there always when new ways challenge old ways?

I for one am all for anything that maximizes the use of the libraries. Here in the Rogue Valley OR several years ago we had a six month closure of our 15 branch library system for lack of funds and when it reopened the hours for most branches were cut back by half or more. My branch is open only three days per week for a total of 24 hours. Even the large Medford branch was cut back to 24 hours, tho they spread it over 4 days. And when the libraries reopened it was without most of our beloved and experienced librarians. The job of running them was given over to an out of state company. And at Medford the few times I've been back since the closure in 2006 I saw more security guards than I did librarians and the whole atmosphere of the place was more like a prison than any library I'd ever been in before.

Maybe if the library system had been catering to a wider audience, if more people had depended on the system for services they couldn't get elsewhere--like a place to congregate and feel welcome and at ease, a safe place where their kids would want to hang out--just maybe there would have been enough votes to keep the funding.

Libraries all over are in jeopardy of loosing funds during these severe economic times and it is just now when things are so bad in the economy that we need them the most tho it is hard to imagine needing them any less when times are good. It is just that they are depended upon by the job seekers for access to job listings and use of computers and internet, for would be entrepreneurs for aid in finding all the info they need to start a business, for classes on how to maximize job hunting efforts, write successful resumes, and conduct oneself on interviews.

What do you depend on your library for? How would it impact your life to be without it?

33 Years Ago

2011-12-02T04:09:00.001-08:00

The Day After Dithers

2011-12-01T23:55:00.000-08:00

It's the post NaNo doldrums. I have sooooo much on my agenda in the next three weeks. 6 to 8 weeks really. But I can't think past Xmas yet tho I will need to soon as I'm leaving for Longiew WA on New Year's Weekend for a week or two visit.

But first there are the Xmas fiber art gifts to be concerned with. Also my Mom's 80th Bday on January 3rd. And the 3 Virtual Author blog tours I'm participating in in the next two weeks with accompanying giveaways. The first on the 6th. And a fourth review copy review that should go up before New Years.

Today tho I gave myself a little bit of veg time. I watched the first half of season 3 of The United States of Tara over my wake up coffee. 6 episodes.

Then I pulled out my bags and boxes of thread projects in progress to rummage through them and get my bearings. At one point I had my lap and legs covered and Ed's side of the bed on my right and the area next to the bed on my left. I bet that was an interesting sight. Head and shoulders breasting a rainbow surf of fiber.

After a bit of fiddling with this and that I settled for a time on the mini-diaper bag I'm making for my new 3rd cousin (grand-daughter to my cousin) which doesn't need to be finished before I leave for Longview but its concept needed to be proved to insure I don't waste more time putting in stitches that will have to come out again. Like the hairpin lace fiasco the week before Thanksgiving this diaper bag project also had to be unwoven when I discovered the circle had three to five twists in it. I not sure how that happened but my best guess is that I twisted the chain and the evidence took all of two rows to manifest itself.

The second time I didn't work the first row directly into the chain but worked a row of single crochet before slip stitching the ends together. It was much easier to keep that strip flat and to tell top from bottom. This project is using a new stitch. The Catherine Wheel. I'm working it in Aunt Lydia's Bamboo size 10 in White and Coral and possible some accents of green and brown. I'm thinking the brown mostly for the bottom to avoid using white where it will get the most contact with grungy surfaces but to justify that there should be an accent or two of brown elsewhere.

I wish I had batteries in the camera so I could have shown a pic of the twisted version and now of this one which is looking good as I approach the end of row three (counting the row of SC) and can see no twist in the nascent tube--an unintentional Mobius Strip--as before. I'm anxious to see the bag grow--I think I made the circle bigger this time around--but I decided I needed to set it aside and start working on an Xmas project. But every one I thought of was missing something--something not yet bought in a couple of cases but mostly it was thread colors that were still on the hook with other projects.

For example my Kelly green was involved in the bright zig zag bookmark pictured above that I began last June!!! The same week I began the pink, purple and peacock zig zag and the primary color block and the black and white zig zag. None of which are completed yet. To get the Kelly green freed up tho I had to free up the red, yellow and blue that was in use for the primary color squares bookmark.

Both of those bookmarks were in the exact state seen in the picture above tho that picture was taken last summer in August. The PPP zig zag has progressed since then and is nearly long enough to suit me but it wasn't in play today. I set about finishing the primary square first and making those last three squares took less than an hour! And just as Ed got home from work about 11pm I was starting the last stripe of Kelly green in the zig zag. The green stripe at the top in the picture is the last stripe before the middle red stripe after which I began a mirror image of the first half.

I'm All Worded Out

2011-11-30T17:12:00.001-08:00

NaNo Writing Buddies

2011-11-29T23:59:00.000-08:00

Less than 24 hours to feed my words into the verifier.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

2011-11-28T21:46:00.001-08:00

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This week, after the NaNo finish, I will be busy finishing up the reading of and prepping reviews for the three virtual book tours. that I will be participating in in December And in each one I'm honored to be offering a giveaway of an ebook copy of the book.

The drawings are open internationally. The dates of the tour for each are listed below above each book's cover. The links in the image captions take you to the book's amazon.com page and the author's web page.

Mark your calenders and join the tours.

December 6

Delayed Flight
by John J. Smith
They were childhood sweethearts. Then a father's command command separated them. 20 years later they meet in an airport awaiting their delayed flights.

http://www.writersalcove.com/

December8

Laughing Through Life
by Connie C. Wilson
Personal essays ala Erma Bombeck.

http://www.conniecwilson.com/

December 14

Youth and Other Fiction
by Jonathan M. Cook
The first half is a lead up to a terrible school shooting in the POV of the shooter. The n the story jumps ahead some years as the shooter's best friend returns as a teacher.

http://jonathanmcook.com/

http://www.virtualauthorbooktours.com/

Sunday Serenity #255

2011-11-27T22:18:00.001-08:00

The First Stitch by Francis Day

I got a brief visit from my mom and sister today. They were traveling through Phoenix on their way back to Longview from Gerber CA where my Mom grew up and where they spent Thanksgiving. I wish my camera had batteries and I could have gotten a pic of the three of us for this post. Instead I went looking on art.com for images to reflect family, mothers, sisters etc. Found a bunch and tried to pick just one but I couldn't choose among these three.

The sewing theme was major during our visit as I shared with them several of the new crochet projects I've started since I was there last summer.

I will be going up New Year's weekend to celebrate Mom's 80th birthday on January 3 with my family.

Sister by Karen Tribett

Young Mother Sewing by Mary Cassatt

I just adore Mary Cassatt's art!!. I used to have a poster of one of her Mother and infant portraits.

Starting To Look Doable

2011-11-26T23:49:00.000-08:00

Four more days of NaNo and I'm at 42288 which leaves me 7700 or so to go or 1900--well closer to 2000 word days. Doable but I'm so ready for this to be over.

As for quality? UGH. I had to change my font to white on a white background so I couldn't look and be tempted to constantly backspace and second guess.

Pardon me if my posts are little more than LOLcats or YouTube over the next several days. Unless i get batteries for the camera so I can post pics of the crochet. My point is more pics less words here so more words there.

Calibre--ebook Library Manager. Free!

2011-11-25T23:55:00.000-08:00

Every since I got the Kindle for PC I've been going crazy downloading free ebooks. If I'd limited myself to Kindle format only I might have been OK with the managing system on the Kindle ap but I started collecting from other sites than Amazon and in other formats. The formats included TXT, HTML PDF and EPUB but I had a problem with EPUB in that my computer had no application able to open the files and there were books I could find only in EPUB format and besides downloading an EPUB was a matter of seconds to have the book on my computer and ready to read whereas there was issues with all of the other formats.

TXT format was OK as I could read in any text ap. My preference being Whiz of course. I would always copy/paste the text out of Notepad into a WhizFolder document which I could turn into a hyperlinked file with a table of contents and have plenty of space to make my own notes. But that was time consuming and I had to hunt down the metadata myself if I wanted it--bookcovers, author, title, publisher, tags, etc.

HTML limited me to reading online unless I wanted to copy/paste the text into Whiz. But HTML books were split up into chapters and thus there could be anywhere from 5 to 50 separate open-copy-paste-fix format issues tasks to get the whole book. I did this for the complete plays of Shakespeare and for Proust's Remembrance of Things Past and both took me hours. It was worth it as I enjoy reading and annotating ebooks in Whiz but the tedious chore that was had me hesitant to do it very often.

PDF is nice in many ways but it won't allow me to word wrap to a narrow column which is essential for me for faster reading as due to my lack of peripheral vision my eyes tend to get lost traversing back to the beginning of the next line when those lines are longer than five words.

One of the things I discovered the week I started reading in the Kindle for PC was the by enlarging the font and narrowing the line I could more than double my current reading speed with tree books of regular font for which my speed has fallen to 20 pages an hour at my peak before eyestrain drops it even further. On the very first day with the Kindle for PC I found myself reading forvan hour without noticing any eyestrain and when I checked how far I read I found it to be 25% of a 255 page book. Which works out to 63 pages.

It has been over 15 years since I averaged above 60 pages an hour. Ten years ago I was at 50. 20 years ago at 60 to 70. In highschool and through my early to mid 20s I pushed 100 pages an hour for most fiction. It has been very frustrating to loose the speed and the ability to read for long hours without eyestrain. Reading on the computer screen has given that back to me. That is probably why I found myself spending more and more time on the computer and reading news and blogs online.

So when I encountered a EPUB I couldn't get in other formats I decided it was time to figure out what I needed on my computer in order to read EPUB documents. A quick Google search brought me to Calibre.

Not only could it open EPUB documents in its viewer it could convert them to the Kindle format, PDF, HTML, and many others. And if that wasn't enough it can manage a large ebook library, sync with reader of your choice, and download news from around the world.

All of that and it is FREE!

Here's a few of my free ebook sources:

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T20:51:00.001-08:00

Me, senior year high school, November. This was a senior Home Ec project in which I prepared a whole Thanksgiving dinner for a crowd. My teacher came to evaluate. We combined the event with a housewarming as we had just moved here in September and with a church potluck as the construction at the church precluded it being held there. The potluck part was desserts and salads and beverages. It looks so serene but there was a frantic fuss below my feet as a busted pipe was flooding the basement where several long tables had been set up for the expected crowd.

Mom made the outfit I'm wearing for an 11th grade project in Colonial American History in which my cousin's 2 yr old Sarah dressed in a nearly identical outfit joined me in demonstrating children's interactive nursery rhymes from the era. There was also a big white sunbonnet to go with both or our outfits.

And yes, for those of you who have seen this over there, I totally cribbed this from what I wrote in my Facebook album. Was just too beat to try to say it all again fresh. We just got home from our family Thanksgiving get together and since festivities began at 2pm I had to get up at 11:30 after only three hours of sleep. (Ed's swingshift messes with my sleep schedule) I woke with a headache, had to jump right into getting ready to go without my zone over coffee while waiting for my Focus taabs to kick in hour. Then a major social occasion in a crowded poorly lit (for my RP eyes) room. My nerves are as frayed as the first several feet of that thread I've been practicing hairpin lace work with.

Arrgh that sounded whiny. And ungrateful. In spite of everything I listed above I enjoyed myself, enjoyed the visits with my niece, nephew (the one who lived with us his last two years of high school in the late 90s) and grand nephew (9 years old and another reader in the family). The food was excellent and I am grateful to all of the cooks and grocery shoppers and kitchen cleaners. None of which I contributed to--the shopping and clean up because of my eyesight (lack thereof) and the food mostly because I don't have my own kitchen and my MIL's kitchen is not organized or lit to accommodate my eyes. Ed shopped for and made his savory bread pudding which has been a hit at every family thing for five or six years now so we didn't just mooch off the rest of the family.

Well I need to either get busy with something (NaNo novel, review book reading, Xmas crocheting) or better yet just crash and get a good sleep before starting fresh in the morning. Sleep is the best cure for the whiny whether it manifests in a 50 week or 50 year old.

United States of Tara

2011-11-23T22:51:00.000-08:00

Well I just discovered another TV series to binge on. I've had Season 1 of The United States of Tara in my Netflix DVD queue for a year and finally sent for them.

I watched all eight 20+ minute episodes on disc 1 today. I was blown away. It was difficult not to put in disc 2 but I had to be firm with myself as I discovered I can't crochet while watching this. I can't take my eyes off the screen for two reasons--there is too much info in facial expression and body language and they talk too fast for me to catch everything so I have to have the captions on.

I did a little research before starting this post and discovered the series has already had its finale. Apparently this Showtime original Emmy winning hit series lasted only three seasons.

I put it in my Netflix queue because I've liked John Corbin ever since he played the DJ in Northern Exposure. He plays the husband of Tara who has multiple personalities. They are parents of two teens and live a fairly sterotypical suburban middle class lifestyle--except for Tara's inner menagerie that is. And though I am still entralled by John Corbin, it is Toni Collete as Tara who keeps my eyes glued to the TV. The talent she displays in portraying multiple fully embodied characters is astounding. But she could not WOW us with the acting if the writing wasn't astonishing.

When I saw Stephen Spielberg's name in the title credits on the second or third episode I was at first surprised as this isn't the kind of thing I'd associated with him but surprise morphed instantly into 'Ah, no wonder it's so good.' I do believe if i'd known of his involvement it wouldn't have taken me a year to send for the discs.

Two of Tara's alers--the teenage T and the dude Buck--have potty mouths. As does Tara's own teenaged daughter. It is difficult for me to listen when the languages get nasty. I still have a bit of tthe sensibility of the fundamentalist I once was--my inner Alice. Alice is a Tara alter who is an uptight, prissy 50's style housewife (shades of Brie from Desperate Housewives) and in one of the mother/daughter encounters between Alice and Tara's daughter Alice literally washed the girl's mouth out with soap, slapping a palm full of restroom dispensor liquid soap into her mouth. I was both horrified and applauding.

With two more discs at home and a forth one on the way I'm going to be seeing a lot of Tara over the next several days. But I will also be rationing it to those times I can't crochet like over my wake-up coffee while I wait for my eyes and brain to focus and my motor skills to return and after a few hours of crochet or typing when my eyes and motor skills have gone on strike.

A Measure of Blues

2011-11-22T21:53:00.000-08:00

So, that pretty cruise blue bamboo hairpin lace project pictured in yesterday's post? All gone baby.

I got it off the loom and worked one whole side of the loops crocheting together bunches of four and got a quarter of the way up the second side when I realized two things: the apparent mess was not apparent, it was not going to smooth out and tighten up and look like this once both sides were finished; and I had half a layer of thread on the tube--not enough to finish the side.

I think what happened was that I missestimated the width between the poles on the loom and set them half an inch too wide which made the loops too big to be filled by the called for eight stitches so the whole thing looked loose and sloppy.

I considered taking out the double crochet and going back over the loops with fewer and smaller stitches purposely making a lacier look but two things bothered me about that: I didn't have a pattern for a different stitch and I'm too new at this to improvise; and I was daunted by the thought of sorting out those loops again once I'd removed the stitches.

After discussing it with Ed I was inclined to agree with his observation that I could probably remake the loops faster than I could sort them out. Picture 3/4 inch loops sticking out of every stitch on both sides of a strip of single crochet and that's about what you have when you remove the strips from the loom. It resembles a pole dancer's boa.

So when I returned to my workstation (urm bed) I took one more brief look at the mess and then picked up the nearly empty cardboard tube and started winding the thread off the strip back onto the tube while watching a video taking care not to watch what I was doing so I wouldn't feel too sad.

Hours and hours and hours of work down the tubes Or rather, back on the tube while my eyes were glued to the boob tube. Chalk it up to learning I guess.

Speaking of learning: I'm ready to admit that the learning curve for hairpin lace is too steep for me to expect to get proficient enough quick enough to do any of the larger sized projects I had in mind for Xmas and Bday gifts in the next couple of months. If only I could have bought the loom and started practicing when I first started drooling over the images of hairpin lace on the crochet sites and blogs. Want to see what I saw? Try this: Google images: hairpin lace