Dad - US Army, Bronze Star

Brother - US Air Force

Brother - US Marine Corp

Currently 3 below zero (F), but the wind chill is 24 below. Just had to run to the store and the fan on my truck's heater decided it was too cold to run.

What happened to the warmer than normal but more snow than normal winter predicted in the fall? With typical accuracy, the weather bureau got it wrong!!!!!

Now they're saying we need to get at least 40 inches of snow over the next six weeks, which is highly unlikely to happen - but because it's been so damn cold with so little snow, the ground is already frozen too deeply for that to do much good even if we did get it. So no drought relief this summer.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-09-20/midwest-drought-cover/57816198/1?csp=34news&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usatoday-NewsTopStories+%28News+-+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

It's rained occasionally over the last couple of weeks - we've had almost a half inch! I'm only hoping the long-range forecasts for more snow than normal are accurate. I don't think we could take another year like this one.

It's been three years since we discovered Fang in our backyard. Wow. August 6, 2009 was my first post about her. She's now well-ensconced in our home, much to Petey's continuing dismay. She hasn't grown much - she's just over 12 inches long, chest to butt, and weighs a little over 4 pounds. So far she's managing to exercise enough so she remains nicely sleek. She's just as talkative as she always was, letting everyone and anyone know when she's unhappy, when her food dish is empty, when her crap box is not, when she wants into a closed room and when she wants out (she hates closed doors!), and when she just wants to chat. She definitely has a temper when she doesn't get her own way - my arm is a continual sea of scratches from when I dared expect her to get off my lap. She's finally learned that the dining room table is out of bounds, although when we have chicken she conveniently forgets that. And whoever thinks cats are stealthy have never heard her rampaging up and down the stairs in the middle of the night.

Still, it doesn't seem like it's been that long since she poked her little face out of the lilies. Like my brother said, we didn't find her - she chose us.

Well, my first ever "author interview" is up:

http://www.writingforums.com/catfish-soup/131071-interview-shadowwalker.html

Nothing spectacular, but it was kinda nice to be asked to do it. :)

Well, finally got my pc back up and running. Had one hell of a time finding my restored files but it was kind of a combination of my not understanding Mozy's directions and Mozy not realizing not all of their customers are computer geeks. At any rate, I lost, for some reason, my icons (used for my desktop only, thank God) and all my html files for my webpage. So I had to go to the webpage and download them all to my pc. Which was just as well because now I also have the host's additional files in case I need to restore the website itself. But like I say, a combination of me and Mozy which I think is now straightened out, at least on my end.

Anywaaaaay...

Had mammoth catching up to do for the directory, and will be doing a two-month update instead of just the one as usual. Which, fortunately (or maybe not) didn't take a really long time as the fandom has slowed to a crawl lately. I think it's just a matter of the initial enthusiasm for the movie has died down, and some writers have moved on to other fandoms or just gotten worn out.

It also put a big damper on the short story I was trying to write, as the computer I was using had no text software and it was impossible to find any that would still work on Windows 98 (DOH!). I tried hand-writing it but my fingers/wrist just cramps up too much after a while. Sigh. The story is pretty solidly in my head, but I'm not sure I can get it written, edited and polished for the contest I was hoping to enter it in (deadline June 30). The length I'm looking at, I very much doubt it. :(

Didn't get the job here in town. Bad timing, as so many college and high school kids are around, needing summer jobs. But the manager said they'd be looking for people in the fall, so I'm trying to be patient. And there are a handful of other places in town that might have openings over the next couple months as well. I'm just tired of the commute (especially in the winter) and all the managerial bullshit at the store.

Good things though. My son was home for 8 days and I had actual vacation time coming so I got to spend the whole time with him (well, except when he visited his dad). We took one day (we being me, my son, and my brother) and went to a little town that has a state bike trail going through it - great little shops! And then we went from there to a state park, had a picnic lunch, and hiked a couple trails. Otherwise we worked on some projects around the house and yard and just mellowed out together. He really wants to move back to Minnesota, something new for him. But, as he said, they don't even need weathermen out in California - it's always 70 degrees and sunny, and he likes weather. Real weather, like thunderstorms and rain, and hearing the leaves when the wind blows, and - OMG! - snow in the winter. So we shall see...

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/03/27/25-lies-writers-tell-and-start-to-believe/

A must read for any writer, regardless of experience.

I find myself somewhat guilty of #7, although I don't think my characters are 'in control' - they just let me know when I'm going the wrong way. And I'm not a planner as in outlining, so yeah - go ahead and hate me! LOL

Tonight when I go to work, before I do anything else, I'm going to tell the managers I want to go to a three-day workweek instead of four. I won't be able to spend quite as freely, but I won't actually be hurting either. But when I can barely stand to pick up the coffee pot because my shoulder and elbow spasm, enough's enough. That, and I'm just sick to death of the stupid management decisions being made.

That's change number one.

I'm going to rebuild a shed and get it heated over the summer so I can move all my writing stuff out there. I want need a place where I can actually use my Dragon without feeling self-conscious, plus where I can smoke when I need to step back for a moment. I'm tired of having to completely break my train of thought and stand out in the cold, wind, and rain just to consider things.

That's change number two.

And last, and perhaps the hardest, I'm going to be stepping back from *all* the writing forums and discussion groups I'm on. Not because I'm spending too much time on them, but because so much of it has become just reiterations of either the same basic questions (will someone steal my ideas?) or the same stupid debates (who can call themselves an author and who can't). Checking in on them does one of two things - bores the hell out of me or raises my blood pressure. Ditto the blogs I've been watching - I know where they are and who's writing them, so when I really need the information, I can look them up.

I say the last is the hardest because I really do think writers need to keep up with the industry - but at the same time, it almost seems like some sort of inbreeding. Writers discussing writing with writers - and so many things that are 'big news' for writers are of absolutely no importance to readers. In fact, sometimes I think writers are too concerned with other writers and that 'world', and start forgetting about the readers. Not to pick on self-publishing, but it's more obvious there. People getting all excited because they get interviewed on some big-shot self-publisher's blog - well, whoop-de-doo. How many readers care? Or how many readers care if you call yourself an author or a writer - or if other authors/writers do? They just want good books.

And lastly, I think I've been spending too much time (consciously or otherwise) with publication on my mind. I need to stop starting stories and trashing them because I don't think I can publish them, and just write. Write like I used to. Worry about the publication crap after it's done and it's just a commodity. I can compartmentalize the business end of things then, and start the next story, again without thinking about publication. Just tell the story.

So, I think with these three changes, I'm going to be a lot happier than I have been. And hopefully much more productive.

I've just read yet another article where the author refers to us (citizens of the United States of America) as "USians".

WTF?

Okay, so maybe I'm behind the times, but I just don't get this. People seem to use this so they make it clear they're not talking about Mexicans or Canadians. But neither Mexico nor Canada have "America" in their names. Mexico is officially Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States) and Canada is, well, Canada. The US is "The United States of America". So how could anyone of any intelligence mistake "Americans" for Mexicans or Canadians?

Okay, so mini-rant over. Probably just a by-product of my massive cold which is making me extremely cranky...

So, a discussion on a writing forum about how to write a character who is 'mad', as in 'crazy'. And of course, he's violent!

Having a mental illness, I politely said that 'mad' and 'madness' are archaic and insulting, that the correct term is 'mentally ill' and that, btw, most mentally ill are not violent.

The members continued to use the terms. I again objected, and got all kinds of grief (including the 'threat' of being reported to the mods) because 'no disrespect' was intended.

Well, that makes it all better, doesn't it?

Sometimes the ignorance and arrogance of writers makes me want to puke... until I realize that they are probably no more ignorant nor arrogant than other folks. Just more pigheaded about their right to be so.