I recently did a little research into pandemics and pathogens for a story I’m writing. I discovered some very interesting stuff, like – there were more pandemics in the 1900’s than I knew about.
SHU January Residency: Day 2
(If you haven’t read day 0 and day 1, you might want to check them out first.) I woke the next morning with butterflies. First up that morning: my first critique group. The last time I was in a face-to-face
SHU January Residency: Day 1
I knew the day was going to start at what for me was a very early hour. I often get up around 9 or 10 or even later (and stay up correspondingly late at night), but classes started at 9am. Ugh. So –
SHU January Residency: Reception (Day 0)
I’m a little late, but it’s about time I talked about the residency I just attended at SHU. Months ago, when I was trying to decide if I wanted to apply to the writing popular fiction program, I looked
More Writing News
Contests and Fun Stuff To celebrate making the final four of the American Title III contest, KJ “Kim” Howe is holding a really fun “kill me off” contest. She explains it in detail on the Drunk
Writing News
Contests and Fun Stuff KJ Howe just made the final four of the American Title III contest! Fashioned after American Idol, the American Title contest focuses instead on novels by unpublished authors.
Intuitive Eating instead of Dieting
In my best books for 2006 post, I mentioned the book Intuitive Eating. Here’s an article about the same subject: Common Sense Approach to Eating. It just makes so much sense to me. I watch my cats,
Cat on a Plane
This is terrifying! A cat was trapped in the cargo hold of a plane for three weeks! I guess the owner was transporting the cat and somehow the cat got loose in the hold? I don’t know. But the cat
Best Books I Read in 2006
These aren’t necessarily books that were published in 2006 (most weren’t), just books I read in 2006. I hit an all-time high, reading 60 books this year. So while my favorites list might seem long,
Make Your Living Without a Job
I found this great article: 10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job on Steve Pavlina’s blog, and it reminded me of a book I read in the month or two before I quit my job: Making a Living Without a Job
Happy Holidays
I’ve been really busy and haven’t been posting, but I had to pop in here and wish everyone a Happy Holidays. That’s Happy Yule, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hanukkah, and of course, Merry Christmas. That’s
It never rains, but it pours
I don’t think I’ve mentioned this on the blog… in late October, I joined StomperNet. Since then, I’ve been just swamped. I’m learning a huge amount, but (naturally) it’s taking a lot of time.
Happy Days
I’m thrilled to pieces that the democrats did so well in the midterm elections. Yippee! Hooray! Now to keep their feet to the fire. There’s a lot to be done, and a lot to undo, and if they screw
It’s NaNo Time
It’s nearing midnight on October 31. I suppose you think that means we’re getting close to the witching hour. But no! At 12:01am on November 1, that yearly trial begins… it’s NaNoWriMo! I’m probably
It’s Official
I just heard about my MFA application – and I got in! I’m so excited. And so soon… the deadline was like a week and a half ago; I didn’t expect to hear the results so quickly! Anyway, there’s
Screwed
I just saw a fascinating talk on BookTV on CSPAN given by Thom Hartmann, author of the book Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class — And What We Can Do About It. He talked a lot about the
MFA Application
I don’t think I’ve talked much about my application to Seton Hill. I discovered the Seton Hill Writing Popular Fiction program a few months ago and spent several months trying to decide if I wanted
Radio Iodine Therapy
My darling cat is at the vet for the next week. He’s been there since Wednesday, and I miss him! He was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, and we tried giving him the pills, but he was allergic, so that
Busy Bee
I’ve been so busy lately. My parents came to visit for a week, and my cat is sick. He’s going in for a procedure next week, and hopefully it will clear up a lot of his problems. The siding is finally
Getting Better & Success in CA
Check this out: California Takes on Global Warming. Yay! And, I’m starting to feel better. Even though I was sick, I still attempted the Labor of Love and Word Count Marathon challenges last week,
Sick
I haven’t posted in a while – first, I was in wedding last weekend and things were just really busy, and then right in the middle of the weekend (and the wedding), I got sick. Really sick. So I’ve
A Green Republican
Found this interesting article about a joint effort in California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their state. Both Schwarzeneggar and the Democrat-led California legislature are working together
A New Name
Many thanks to Edward Bulwer-Lytton for the inspiration for my new tagline. Bythepen has long been my handle online; it’s only fitting it be applied to my blog as well.
Welcome and Siding
Welcome to my new home. Not too far from the old, just down the block and all that. (For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, today I moved from my test blog to this nice new permanent blog,
Siding and Pounding
They’re replacing the siding on my house. I’m really glad to finally get this done, but while they’re doing it – what a pain. I can’t wait until it’s over. I took everything
Fire and Ice – the war between USSR and Finland
I’m watching a documentary on PBS called “Fire and Ice� about the “Winter War�, a war between the USSR and Finland in 1940. Wow. I never learned anything about this in school.
LKH – One of the best
Laurell K. Hamilton is one of my favorite authors. I’m currently reading Seduced by Moonlight and enjoying it a lot. I first discovered her books with A Kiss of Shadows, which led me to try the
Writing Dares
Signed up for a bunch of writing dares today – Unfinished Business at the end of the month, this weekend’s marathon. And of course I’m in the middle of the July/August Dare. I’m