Message to Fuzzy, left on his voicemail:
Hey, Fuzz, it's me.
Now, I need to tell you something, and you need to promise not to yell.
You know how the Alpha guy reminded us to refill the pool?
Well, I did…except…
I kind of over-filled it.
I kind of over-filled it a lot.
Specifically, I overfilled it enough that the deep end is sort of, well, overflowing.
And the raft managed to beach itself:
Love you!
Bye!
TJ of Zazzafooky asked me some questions, which I'm answering here.
David Sosnowski
* * * * *
I always enjoy a good vampire story, so when I saw Vamped staring at me from the library shelf, I had to take it home.
In this alternate future, the only humans left are farm-raised for uber-rich vampires (all the others have been vamped already), and a single box of Count Chocula goes for several hundred dollars on ebay. Then Marty, an eighty year old vampire, and the person who was responsible for the vamping of the world, finds a five year old mortal child on the run from one of the farms, and instead of killing her, or vamping her into a Screamer (as other child-vamps are called), he decides to raise her as his daughter.
Plot twists and romance are woven through the story, but the parts that I enjoyed most were the descriptions of societal changes – grocery stores selling mainly bleach and laundry detergent, and apartments built without toilets, for example.
Queen Noor
* * * * *
I borowed this from a friend about a month ago because she seemed to really enjoy it, and I wasn't disappointed in the least, though I did take forever to really begin reading it, which is rare for me.
In most respects, this is a fairly straightforward tale of the way an American girl named Lisa ends up being Queen Noor of Jordan, and that part of the book was interesting enough. But the first-hand explanations of the political, cultural, and social climate in that part of the world, from the early seventies to today, was really what gripped me.
The events are all well-known to most of us.
The perspective is new, and interesting.
Michele asks, “Why do you blog?”
In all honesty, there are some days when I look at the WRITE screen in WordPress and think, “You should be working on stuff to submit somewhere, not playing at journalism,” but the thing is, despite my love of the written word, and despite all the best intentions and a small fortune invested in spiffy looking blank books over the years, I'm really bad at keeping a personal diary. I blog, at least in part, because having an audience, no matter how small, makes me accountable to some external force.
Then, too, there's my Productivity Rule: I must do ONE PRODUCTIVE THING every day. Writing in a paper journal doesn't count, but a blog entry does. I'm not sure why. I guess it's the accountability issue again.
So part of why I blog is that I'm not disciplined enough to keep a normal diary.
But the other part is that these unedited glimpses into my daily life are a form of connection to other people. I've had so many interesting conversations, as a result of writing here, or following a thread elsewhere, and it's helping me to be less shy.
And I really am basically shy.
Truly.
And then there's the “writing practice” reason. Even if I'm not working on something specific, throwing some words on this virtual page helps me improve my writing skills, helps spark ideas for things that I CAN submit to actual literary journals, helps me find new directions, and new ways of saying things.
Mostly, though, I do it because it's fun.
I'm in a bit of a pissy and ranty mood today, so it's been a challenge to come up with items for the Happiness Challenge, and yet, I've managed to find two.
First, I'm happy because I have friends who not only listen, but actually try to help, when I'm in pissy and ranty moods.
Second, I'm happy because I posted a piece of flash-fiction on a critique board. Openly inviting critique is somehow different than posting to my own blog, though, I'm open to critique on anything at MoonChilde.com, as long as said critique is constructive.
Maybe it's post-thon burnout, but about the only thing I'm even happy for today is that I don't have a formal schedule, so could take a nap at 1:30 that ended up lasting four hours.
Oy.
I'm uninspired. I'm tired. And I'm not going to push myself toward new and cool content for a couple of days.
I've received the email confirming the total funds that you all helped me raise for Habitat for Humanity's Women Build program – when I added in the matching funds, the total came to $906, which is pretty damned cool, when you consider that my original goal was $500. Thank you for that. (It also included all your email addresses).
Sometime tomorrow, you'll be receiving an email from blogathon.org with donation instructions. If you have any trouble at all please email me.
People have asked if I'll be doing this again next year.
The answer is, “Hell, yeah!”
(A note to the people to whom I made pledges: I'll be doing those at the end of August, because that's the best time for our budget. Just so you know.)
TreeSurfer asked these questions of Zazzafooky, and I liked them, so I'm blatantly stealing them, and providing my own answers. Yeah, I'm evil that way. :)
Note to Self:
Your spiffy new computer glasses do absolutely nothing for your eye strain and headaches if you do not take them out of the box and wear them.
That is all.