New blogs

My blog is not very old, but I remember the first few posts. I was excited and nervous about having my words read.

I have seen a few new blogs recently and I think for those who want to get their blog going, get some traffic to it,  it’s daunting.

If you have a new blog, or even not so new,  put your link in the comments and we can have a look at them.  We might find a few that we have things in common with.  I think that blog finding is like mining. You have to find the gem that suits you and your taste.

Show us your new blogs.  If I come across some, I will put them here too.  If you have an established blog, but find a new one you like,  show us.

Quote overload

Have you noticed there are so many inspirational quotes floating around.  Almost everything that Emerson ever said was gold.

Sexy Bald Man reminded me of a great one.   “A home for lost sentences.”  Helena Bonham Carter said this about her husband, Tim Burton.  She said he was a home for lost sentences.  I would love to be such a home and so this one sticks with me.  There are so many more.

I believe in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick. I believe in pink. I believe happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and… I believe in miracles ~  Audrey Hepburn.  She does say profound things. Happy girls are the most pretty. Have you noticed that?

I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together. ~ Marilyn Monroe.  She was a lot smarter than she let on.

Then there is my favourite. The one I tell my son and myself often.  He has this stencilled across his ceiling so he wakes to it every day.  ~Your life is an occassion. Rise to it. ~  Edward Magorium

I think it’s best to limit them to just a few, otherwise quote overload happens. Just a few will do.  Of course you must have one that you’ve made yourself.  Mine is  ~ Often the dark is the thing that you need.  Light is overrated. ~   Kate.

Yes, I’m a little in love with this store.

What are the ones you fall back on?

Moving bodies

Good friends will help you move. Great friends will help you move bodies.

Do you have that saying in your part of the word?

I have three people I would move bodies for.

Sexy bald man. He’s the person who brought sanity into my upside down world.  He hunkered down and did the hard work of putting me back together again. He is beyond patient and kind. I know he looks dangerous but he’s actually very nice. I love him. I would move bodies for him.  He would move bodies for me.

 

The wee beastie known as my son. Adorable doesn’t quite cut it. He’s a smarty, a bit of a nerd,  but he’s also sporty. He’s one of those annoying all round kids.  I was part of making him;  the very best thing I have ever cooked up. Sometimes, when he falls over, as 10 year olds do, I say  careful, I made that.  He laughs. I’d move bodies for him.  I’d never ask him to move bodies for me but he’d get in there with a shovel and probably want to perform the autopsy.  He’s a bit macabre like his mum.

My twin brother.   We endured miseries together, tough times, hungry times, cold times. He’d move bodies for me. I’d move bodies for him.

 

Not that any of them are going to ask me to stow a body but you know what I  mean. I would by the way…..stow a body for them.

Who would you move bodies for?

Saving Scrivener!

You all know this symbol right?  It gets your heart beating a little faster doesn’t it. Your neurons are firing with ideas, I can hear them from all the way over here.  It’s the wonderful Scrivener icon. I love it. I know you do too. It’s brought organisation to our lives. Everything we need contained in one place.  I know, I know, you still have your folders, and your notebooks and your blessed whiteboards, but Scrivener is a god, admit it.

I like using it. It’s easy and for a non tech person like me, that’s essential.  But I have a problem and I am hoping the experts among  you can help me.

How do I save effectively with out getting back ups that make no sense.  The names I have given the chapters do not transcribe when I pull  them out of drop box  ( which I love btw.)   I need to save religiously as I lost a good amount of work recently.  How can I do this? Help!!!

Something written, something read.

I’ve not done this before;  posted actually writing. I’m a tad nervous. 

I  sent my mother away. There is no clear memory of events, no particular incident but I am sure I was the catalyst. It wasn’t a physical thing. No  naughty act or deed led to that particular moment.  It was inside of me,  you see.  She saw the rot and mould and found it too much to bear in a daughter, so she  left and who can blame her.  Much of my childhood was spent trying to solve the puzzle and if I succeeded in this quest, she would return. I can envision her now, walking down the gravel drive, through the doors and resuming her day as if nothing in between had taken place. No movement distrubed, no plant overgrown. She and I, as we were, before I sent her away.

I scoured the  graveyard by the church  for her name but it was not among the dead.  Gravestones where traced with my small fingers, letters learned in a macabre reading lesson and although she did not lay among the dead, my body  mourned her as if she were.  Not so my imagination. I brought her to life again; reincarnating her into perfection and creating a mother that was beautiful and mysterious. I  repeated these stories until they were real in  mind and heart and bubbled from my mouth like truth.  The reality receded behind a curtain and fantasy took the stage.

At university I told the joyful lies of a happy childhood spent in the idyllic countryside with loving parents and teasing bothers, but the smells of home, the devilish memories came to attack the fairy-tale in my dreams and assaulted me with truth. The sounds were awkward against my made up euphony, and the sights were dark instead of light as truth hugged me in its course embrace and forced me to remember.  She was gone, and I  sent her away.

Moving inspiration

I’ve been thinking about movies that have a  novelists theme since seeing the wonderful Midnight in Paris.

Lend me a hand and we can compile a list of movies to watch.

One of my favourite movies   You’ve got mail.

Misery, a fantastically scary movie.

Secret Window. Johnny Depp can do no wrong in my book, but this wasn’t everyone’s favourite.

Miss Potter was a sweet tale and I loved it, but not the actress. I felt she was too squiggly for Beatrix.

The Shining.  Mr King knows all about tormented writers.

Wonder boys didn’t do well but I enjoyed it.

Mrs. Parker and the vicious Circle.  A so so movie but the subject makes it worth watching.

My Brilliant Career. A fabulous Australian movie, and a must see for the writer.

There are so many more.  what are some you’ve watched?

The humble Whiteboard

Progress in black and white.

It’s amazing how handy these things are.  Ugly, but handy.  I have one to jot down ideas that I need to weave in and out of my WIP and close plot holes that are big enough to fall in.

They also add to my stationary addiction.  I love the erasers and pens. There are some fantastic whiteboard markers on the market and I think I have all of them in every colour. There are even whiteboard sheets for those who have no room for the traditional sort. You can easily make your own with contact.

At first I found the temporary element of whiteboards terrifying. What if someone rubbed it out?  There was no permanent record and my brilliant idea would be gone forever, smeared onto an eraser.  Slowly I have come to trust that I can use the idea and then rub it out, ready to be replaced by the next best thing. It’s like a staging area.

There is also the magnetic appeal. Don’t worry, I’m not dating my whiteboard,  but I can pin notes up and take them down or move them around.  I know I have this feature on my lap top with various excellent programs but there is something organic about having this live board in front of me.

I’m rather visual. Having the whiteboard has been a real shift in organisation for me. I a simplification if you like. Of course the organiser in me has me using different colours for different purposes.  I like it so much I brought another.

Have you used the humble whiteboard and has it helped, or do you prefer something more tech based?

 

Miss Peg-o-Leg’s Guide To Excruciatingly Correct Comment Etiquette

Reblogged from Peg-o-Leg's Ramblings:

When navigating the rocky shoals of comment etiquette, even the most grizzled WordPress veteran may find him or herself adrift.   Commenting rules are, by and large, unwritten.  This makes them no less real.  The unwary commenter risks breaking one of these rules and getting a bloggy smack upside the head so hard their kids will be born dizzy. 

Fear not!  Miss Peg-o-Leg is here to guide you in the gentle art and exacting science of the effective comment. 

Read more… 1,174 more words

If you've ever wondered about the minefield of commenting, here is your guide.

Professional headbutt

I went to the dentist this morning to have an old filling replaced.  For a doctor, I’m not very fond of medical procedures, and the dentist isn’t my first choice for a morning out. This isn’t unsual. Many doctos don’t mind giving but aren’t fond of receving treatment.

My dentist is a  lovely man, very gentle, but this morning I saw his new partner,  whom I’d not previously had the pleasure.  She was nice enough and got to business very quickly which I like. I was laid back and in went the anesthetic which immediately made me feel  faint.  I asked what was in it and she said just a usual. While I had my head between my legs, feeling my blood pressure drop quickly  I asked what’s the usual?

She looked at my file. “oh, you’re a doctor.”

I could have given her a headbutt at this point if I were not busy groping for a cool pack and breathing through my nose.

She mumbled off the names of the mix she uses  and I nodded with my head between my legs  – not easy let me tell you.  In the mean time the nurse had fetched my usual dentist  and I have to say he has a much better chairside manner. He reminded her that my file outlines the mix he uses because too much epinephrine doesn’t mix well with some  medication I am on.

Hello -  you didn’t read my file.  WTF

All was well in a few moments and she was happily drilling away, probably wanting  to put the drill up my nose from being put in her place  but I mean seriously  – read your patients file.  That’s basic.

It was all finished and the affable nurse handed me my coat. As  I was walking out I heard the dentist  say to the nurse,  I hate doctors as patients,  think they know everything.

I didn’t say anything but wanted to. I wanted to tell her that one particular component of her “special mix”  is known to reduce blood pressure in one in every 25 people.  I wanted to tell her that informing your dentist of your medication is part of being a good patient so they can make the right decisions about anesthesia – a pretty important thing one would think.  I wanted to tell her a lot of things, but I didn’t.  I just reminded myself to make sure I get my usual dentist next time.

Have you ever wanted to give someone a professional headbutt?  Not because you know more but because they should be doing their job and  some courtesy would be nice.

 

No mother’s day

 

Did you know that today, one thousand women will die in childbirth?  Over 500,000 women this year will die during pregnancy or giving birth. These numbers are conservative as many deaths are never reported. Something that we in the developed world take for granted is a healthy mother and child, a birth plan, a celebration of life,  but for women in the developing world, giving birth is dangerous. When a woman dies in childbirth not only does she lose her life, but her children lose a mother, her husband a wife, her family an income.  Imagine your family without its mother.  I can. I grew up with out a mother and its not ideal.  For a child in poverty it can mean a death sentence for her other children. 90% of these deaths can be prevented with simple supplies.

Today, I not celebrating mother’s day.  I am supporting no mother’s day, in honour of all those mothers who did not survive childbirth.  Having given birth in a clean, safe environment, I can not imagine the horror of having to do so in conditions far less sanitary without the very basic supplies and with out the knowledge of what infection can do to a healthy woman. Imagine giving birth for the first time, alone?  Imagine giving birth for the first time on the side of the road because the walk to the nearest hospital was just too far?

Today there will be no presents, no posts ( this was written on Friday,) no party.  We will make a donation to a local charity that provides birthing kits to mothers in developing countries. I am sure there is such a charity where you live so if you can spare $20 you’ll be giving a gift to a mother to be.  Her life. If you live in Australia,  the birthing kit foundation is a fantastic charity to support. The villages who receive these kits and training say they are more valuable than money. They have reduced the incidence of mother and child deaths by 90%.

I wish all the mothers a wonderful day.