2008

happy-new-year.jpgWishing all of you a year filled with happiness, good health and success. May this be the year all your dreams come true.

I won’t be making resolutions this year. They usually last a week and a half, and then I feel like a dismal failure 😥 So, instead of making useless promises to myself, I’m going to “try” to meet some goals I’ve set for myself. Just try. Was it Yoda who said “there is no try; there is only do?” He would be horrified if he heard my plan, I’m sure. Sorry, Yoda.

One of my goals is to blog more regularly, if I can find blog-worthy topics to write about, that is. That means I have to actually get out there and not live such a boring life. Ooh, that’s two goals 🙂 Okay, the list is getting longer.

What about you? How will New Years Day 2009 be different than today?

The results

I didn’t win the Chase the Dream contest, but I’d like to thank all of you who took the time to cast a vote. It was such a nice surprise to even be nominated that it has inspired me more than I ever thought a contest placement could. And even though I didn’t win, both an agent and an editor have asked to see more of this project, which is really exciting. If you’d like to read the winners’ entries, click here.

Meanwhile, I suppose I should start Christmas shopping one day soon. The big day is going to be here way too soon. 😮 How about you? Are you finished buying? Wrapping? Baking? Or are you a procrastinator like me?

A brand new blog

Do you know how to build a website? Install WordPress? Promote yourself? No? Then let me point you in the right direction to learn what you need to know to make your website/blog the best it can be.

Two very good friends of mine came up with a great idea 💡 . Suzanne and Kacey have teamed up to start a new blog offering information and instructions (including pictures for those of us who need to be shown, not just told) on setting up a website, blogging tips and strategies to increase traffic, promotion ideas and other business-y topics for anyone in any artistic field.

I don’t know about you, but I can use all the help I can get. Click here to check it out.

Oops

I spent the morning trying to figure out why WordPress refuses to notify me when someone comments on my blog. No matter what I did, nothing changed. I even changed the email address for notification, entered a test comment, and waited. Still nothing.

So I went back to delete the comment, and clicked the wrong button and deleted the entire post. So, my apologies to those who were nice enough to comment. I wasn’t deleting you, honest 🙂

Don’t forget voting is still open until November 30. My entry is titled “Stranger in Paradise” and I’m the week #8 finalist. Click here to cast your ballot. Thanks for your support.

Until next time,
Margery

Writers’ weekend

This past weekend, two writer friends and I packed up our laptops, jammies and snacks and headed to the lake for a writers’ retreat. Almost as good as RWA’s national conference, but closer to home and MUCH cheaper. I’d have photos, but the batteries on my camera died – again!!

The weather co-operated, staying chilly enough that we weren’t tempted to venture outside, and the sky was crystal clear, most important for watching the stars at night through the skylights where my friends were sleeping.

I personally didn’t do much actual writing in the evening, but I could still hear the other two working madly, the keyboards clicking away after I’d given up and gone to bed. I did play around with a few ideas though, and I tried converting a novel into a screenplay. Let me tell you, scriptwriting isn’t as easy as it seems, although I do LOVE the idea of not having to write much description and introspection! I gained a lot of respect for those TV and film writers who are out on strike right now. I also gained something else – about three pounds. 😡

I think writers’ weekends should be mandatory, if for no other reason than to hang out with other people who don’t think you’re crazy because imaginary people talk to you.

Older than dirt

It was my youngest son’s birthday yesterday, and because I was feeling old, my sister sent me a quiz to see just how old I REALLY am. I’d give credit to the author, but I don’t know who he/she is.

Older than dirt quiz:

Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about . Ratings at the bottom.

1. Blackjack chewing gum
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles
5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes
6 . Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
7. Party lines
8. Newsreels before the movie
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax
11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (OLive-6933)
12. Peashooters
13. Howdy Doody
14. 45 RPM records
15. S&
16 Hi-fi’s
17. Metal ice trays with lever
18. Mimeograph paper
19. Blue flashbulbs
20. Packards
21. Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers

If you remembered 0-5 = You’re still young
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older
If you remembered 11-15 = Don’t tell your age,
If you remembered 16-25 = You’re older than dirt!

I won’t tell you my score, but it sure didn’t make me feel any younger. How about you? How many do you remember?

Until next year …

It’s official! Summer is over for another year, which is enough to put me in a miserable mood for … oh, about eight months. I’m a summer girl. Love shorts, flip-flops, ice-cold drinks, lazing by the pool, golf. I love every sweltering degree of summer, and even the humidity and the mosquitoes aren’t bad enough to change my mind.

But just so I don’t get too depressed at the thought of the sub-zero temperatures ahead for the next few months, I’m thinking about things I love about Fall, in no particular order.

* nights cool enough to sleep with the windows open
* crunching leaves under my feet
* roasting marshmallows on a campfire at the lake
* Thanksgiving
* apple cider
* wearing sweaters again
* watching the leaves change colour
* Hallowe’en

What about you? Do you like Fall, or are you like me and it’s one of the seasons I have to suffer through to get to summer again?