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 |  Daily Doings |
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This begins on April 11, 2005. I have no idea what is going to happen. Today is June 28, and I still don't know what is happening here. It's a combination of personal and not-so-personal. Some say I just put it all out there. Others comment that it is LOL. Read and hopefully enjoy! Thanks to Writerchic for the Awardicon on WDC's 5th Birthday. |
| I'm still not smoking, but do I ever feel terrible. I sleep all the time, everything hurts, and I cough only a little bit. If I don't get better by Monday, I'm either going to the doctor or will start smoking again. It's really difficult! As many of you know. There seem to be fewer and few contests, and activities. Is that because it's Autumn and everyone is either in school or busy writing? I guess people do come and go on this site don't they? I've only been here a year so haven't seen too much of it, but some. One woman I was sort of close to said today she is emptying her port because her subscription has run out and she can't afford to keep it up. It's sad, but I guess we all just have to set our priorities. I wish in my death-bed feeling, I'd come up with some great ideas so I'd get up and be full of like and my fingers flying over the keys. But when I go to bed, nothing happens but sleep. How boring. I remember having great deams though but that only means my subsconscious is in a good place. It's my conscience that I'm having trouble with. Believe me, I will never advise anyone to quit smoking! I have to go get on the couch. Later.  Sara |
| That was one of my favorite songs way back when, only I think it was called "Sunday Morning Comin' Down."Johnny Cash, maybe, or Kris Kristopherson. I remember the line "There's somethin' in a Sunday, makes a body feel alone..." Anybody else remember this? I made it a week without smoking. I think it's a week and a day. I eat constantly, and will develop diabetes and heart problems, but I'm not smoking. Nope, not me. Seriously, after about three days stopped waking myself up at night coughing. The last house guest I had -- when I woke up he was wrapped in a sleeping bag on the couch. I nudged him, and said why are you our here? And he said I was coughing so had he couldn't stand it...he was an old frined (30 years) from centuries ago so we frequently speak to each other bluntly. That was around then I started to think about deciding to quit. I think the desire is pretty much gone but I've not been under total stress yet either. Wait till there's a crisis. That's when one's true character comes to the forefront. I wonder if I have a true character  in any true, meaningful sense of the word.The weatherwoman is talking about Rita. For weeks it's been Katrina and then Rita. Those poor people...it's been a real catastrophe. I did hear Anne Rice compare it to the burning of Pompeii. I think I come up with far out metaphors. That's probably why she's such an excellent writer as well as self-promoter. She has sold her home in The Garden District, which was way above sea level anyway. Does Amsterdam ever get hurricanes? I think I will Google that. It's a beautiful Sunday morning here. The sun shining through the damp trees onto the wet grass and ground. It's 82 at 8:32, so the heat we still have with us. We usually do until November. I turn on the TV; Cindy Sheehan is leading a group of people that include Ralph Nader and Jessie Jackson. Shots of New Orleans. I turn it off. Today I am going to spend reading. I swear by all that is holy, and unholy as well. Why is iit so difficult for me to read these days? I fall asleep within two pages. Doesn't matter if it is riviting suspense thriller, or a beautiful memoir, I'm asleep within minutes. What's that disease where you fall asleep without warning-- narcolepsy? I've been having wonderful fun trying for an entry in Lynn   's Alphabet Contest. This month you write a poem, each line of which begins with a different letter of the alphabet in alphabetical order. I'm finding this great fun. I read the "blogs" -- the other well-known blogs -- not only the ones on this site -- and they are completely different from ours. Most of the ones I read are political, humorous, topical, and mostly business. How did we get into blogs that are do personal? I still keep a separate journal at my bedside for those ever-important thoughts that wake me in the night, to I'm obviously not writing this for myself. But for others. I happen to be a real news junkie so I have to work hard at not mentioning the latest debackle or swindle, but I do it. One member has a "poetic journal" where she records what she has seen and heard (beyond fellow human beings) during the day. It's a lovely idea. Maybe I should change the character of this blog. I'm going to do something to celebrate the end of my smoking days. Maybe I'll just go back to bed. Dreams - Anon, who are you? sent me a cNote of chicken soup and that helped with my bronchitis a lot! Thanks Dreams! I think I can shape shift my mind into a different pathway if I concentrate. When the body's weak, the spirit's strong. Right? Onward I go.Wishing you all a wonderful day, Sara |
| I had paragraphs of blog things written here, and when in to the last one to edit something I noticed was misspelled, and then lost this one. Geez. Not much news except Hurricane Rita, and they seem to have things together pretty well now. After the horrible disaster that occurred in New Orleans, I imagine the emergency crisis people are in plance this time. The major storms one after the other...is this from global warmng? As most of you know, I became a Preferred Author this week, and with that came many many cNotes, Now, my question is how can I keep these cNotes? Most of them are absolutely beautiful and I don't want to delete them. I also save birthday cards, Christmas cards, and any other cards I may receive throughout the year. I don't know what to do with the cNotes except to let them stay in my Inbox and accumulate. Does anybody know any of saving them? Also, how do you decide when to make a review public and when to make it private? I tend to make a review private if I think the review might embarrass the author. I'm still trying to learn Adobe. And stop smoking (doing well there). Adobe Photo Shop is really complicated --people take classes in college to learn this and I'm trying to teach myself. I taught myself to use the computer. And Word Perfect. and Word. So why can't I "get it" with adobe. Others make these beautiful sigs and cNotes and things, and I am just stuck in a rut. Maybe I'll try to find a College student to teach me. I hope you're all safe from the hurricane. That is one story I am glad I won't be writing. Stay safe, Sara Proud Participant in the Following Groups: Black Case Experience Cafe; Cabin Five Fifteen Group; Going Pro!; The Muses' Alley; The Praying Hands Prayer Group; The Silent Helpers Group; Traditional Poetry Group; The Ultimate Writing Workshop; The Writers' Workshop; |
| I do too. I have a curious feeling that this is the beginning of something, that things are going to be different,not necessarily turn around and go back where they came from in a circular fashion, but just going out in a new direction. I have for many years thought of giving myself over to ecology. In order to do that I would have to abandoned my painting, my costuming, my reading, my walking, my sailboat riding, and a few other things I do now and then. Now I have decided that it is simply too late. I really don't think we can do it any more, and I think, after watching all the people involved who could and would gladly put their money where their mouth is, that maybe they should give it a try if they want to use their money in that manner, but I shall abstain from anything to do with it. I promise not to litter,use natural woods, wear clothes made from natural fibers, and not smoke, etc. I can do that. I pretty much do it anyway. But for a different reason -- I loathe plastic furniture, really do not like to pick up other peoples' bottles, syringes and condonms on the beach, poyesther makes me itch, and organic food does taste better, if you can afford it. So, I'm really being selfish. You notice I avoided the direct dealing with the question of smoking. On another subject vjanczuk sent me a copy of her book!! It came in the mail. I won it in a raffle I think. I can't wait to read it. I wonder how many writers on ths site have published books (vanity presses and desk-top publishing don't count; neither do ezine books). Moving right along, has anyone anywhere, anybody seen or heard from Man of Words? Does anyone know his last name? He's not been on line for over two week, which would be ok, but he didn't seem to tell anyone he was leaving. I am not the only one who is concerned about him. Beautiful almost Autumn weather in Florida. I want to go up North for a week or so in October (New York, Ohio, Hardy, Arkansas) but if something doesn't sell soon I'm not going to be able to make it. Been doing a lot of prayer or meditation, whichever word you wish to use, lately. Candle lit, on my kees for as long as I can, and then I sit back. It gives me a calmness I do not have often without it. I hope that I get in the routine of doing it every day. How many of you know the song "Love is all you need"? Great song! So much truth in it. Going to turn in early tonight, and read. I get uneasy with all those hurricanes out there, but we'll be all right for another day. Ciao |
| This blog has reached over 1,000 views since April 11 -- a little over 5 months. WOW! I think I've heard that 1,000 is a milestone. Keeping my hands busy is definitely a major part of not smoking, so I can just write and write in here, can't I? I turned Preferred Author yesterday. The surprise of my life in my email on a Sunday morning. I was pleased. Well, well, the Florida Keys are being evacuated because of a hurricane -- Rita, I think. There's another one out there too. If only the Publisher's Clearing House would visit my house! I might even kiss Ed McMahon on the cheek (does he still give out the money?). Gas prices are down. The response to Katrina has been overwhelming. I am so glad to see it happen. There are evacuees here, and this is many miles from New Orleans. A friend and I did go up to Jacksonville twice and help sort and load trucks that the Red Cross were sending to the Gulf region. That felt good. I bet it's rebuilt in two years. Destroy and rebuild. That seems to be what the human race does. Think of the cities and buildings throughout history that that has happened to. I think Damascus, Syria is the only city that is still around that was mentioned in the Bible. Anne Rice compared New Orleans to the burning of Pompeii. I don't remember what year the library at Alexandria was burned but it too was destroyed. And Jerusalem too, if my memory serves me correctly. Why can't the people who do these things find the DNA piece of the gene or genome or whatever it is that makes man do this and remove it? What is the point of this constant destruction and construction. In a circular motion? I think I'll work on this as a central theme, and combine it with the notion that time is indeed not linear nor circular, but spiral. Sara, the mad scientist. Ha. It's still too early in the morning for me to have much to say. I'm restless, which I'm sure is from not smoking. I won't give in, I won't give in, I won't give in! But I will see ya' later! Ciao |
| I know somewhere on this site is a page where anyone and everyone is invited to rant about anything, but I can't find it so I am going to rant in here. The first rant has to do with a trend I have noticed. More and more often people want decorations and photographs or other clever Print Shop items on their entry. I do not have the ability to do a lot of that; I can't yet make c-notes. for example. even though I have Photo Shop Pro and a few other things. The point is not that I feel left out, but are we playing dress up here, or are we serious writers trying to get our work to the point where it is publishable? If the latter, would you submit a short story with different colored letters, balloons. and cute pictures all over it? I don't think so. If I am being petty and mean, please tell me. I'm trying to be a professional writer and think that most of the people on the site are doing the same. But, I am often wrong. The next rant has to do with something odd that happens, I think, to each one of us. Days, maybe even weeks, will go by and nobody calls or comes over or whatever. Then, in a space of 2 hours there are people everywhere, the phone does not stop, and the trying to keep everyone happy while juggling all of this totally exhausts me. My tender little nerve-lets are fractured for days. Why does this happen> Other things on my mind have to do with politics and ecology and I know most of you are not interested in those subjects. If anyone wants to talk about politics, or the ecological state of the planet, please, email me. Especially those who have seem the photograph of the hold in the ozone layer taken from one of our spaceships A good friend called and listened to my rants in stereophnic sound (it's called yelling), so I feel better now. Her ear hurts but she was laughing. I hope you all have a lovely Saturday, what's left of it. I have two cigatettes left, and I am quitting. That's it. I got out of breath when I ran about 30 feet yesterday, and I wake myself up coughing at night. I wanna live at least to finish my novel. Send me your news. I'd love to hear it! Ciao |
| Didn't get as much as I expected to done, and I don't like that. I usually can figure things pretty well but then when two people drop in at once, there are papers everywhere, I'm doing a short story, my daughter has sent me a book I MUST read and it arrives by mail at the same time, I get exhausted. Slept for an hour through more Katrina disaster news and now here I am. Thinking about things. I read several articles and comments on our rating system today. I began thinking about honesty and respect and those kinds of things, and doing honest reviews, rather than patting someone on the back to not hurt their feelings but if you do that when the work needs work, are you really helping? {I can't believe I wrote that long a sentence or question!) I think honesty is best. If the reviewee doesn't like what you say, they are free to respond, and then you can respond, and a dialogue can ensue. I have had this happen, both as reviewer and as reviewee. I have also had reviewers suggest the change of one word, that changed the poem from a 3.0 to a 4.5. I hope I have been able to help some others. The article that got me started is
Meanwhile, I did get the basics of a short story done, and worked about 500 words of Chapter 7 of my novel. Not a bad day It's beautiful weather here. There is something about the Florida sun and sky. The night is different too. It's just so...Florida. The moon is clear tonight, the stars, the air is balmy -- Ophelia is wrecking North Carolina, but she sure cleaned out our air first. More and more people are talking about moving from here than I have ever heard before. The beach erosion has been tremendous, and this is really just a little over half way through the season. I've only been here (on Writing.com) a little over a year, and I'm wondering if the reviewing process has always been in such turmoil, whether people have always talked about it so much, and whether since we can't review without rating, should we able to rate without reviewing? Only those who have been here longer than I know, and they don't read my blog, usually. I think I only have one more remark and then I'm going to drop the subject. I think we should be very honest in our reviews and also very encouraging. I think that honesty builds trust, and that trust is a very important and precious thing in this day and age of identity theft, internet scams. and just plain old convenience store shootings. It's awful out there, so can't we at least keep this our own safe haven where we can write and talk among each other? Or, am I asking too much? Well, I've run out of WDC things to say, so I think I shall do a little reviewing, and then read some in Fortune's Rocks, the book my daughter sent. She is also a writer and a poet, only she lives in Maine. My son's in Texas. And two airlines went into Chapter 11 today. Ciao |
| This "Previously Published" topic really got results. Four people sent me different articles so it's a done deal. That is TRUE. I wonder if the Nobel Prize commission takes that into account? There are other grumbles and grips around the site but I am not going to repeat them. Actually it's a good site. Have you ever looked at the other ones? Why do I have to be a news junkie? I wonder if they have News Junkies Anonymous. I'd love to wean myself away or, another possibility is to get rid of the TV set. Then I'd turn on the radio. Or stream NPR over the net. Katrina, FEMA, Roberts. I think we need new words for disaster, devastate, horror, catastrophe, tragedy, ravage, raze, etc. An entire new vocabulary -- a linguist could do it, or someone versed in many languages, especially Latin and German, with a smattering of French. The words we have just lost their impace when said over and over and over about a hundred times a day. Whether it's Iraq (that's usually debacle), or the tsunami. and now the Gulf Coast. Even as a poet I feel shallow using these words because they are headline news almost daily. What's worse - it's all true. It's also exhausting to listen to. Even Jon Stewart can't make me laugh, and the late night comedians seem stale to me. Maybe it's me. Is it me? How do you deal with all these well, disasters? It has, however, made me count my blessings. I think that is a good thing. I'm, happy to have electricity and a warm cup of coffee. I live in Florida, so one never knows when it won't be here much longer. The next hurricane could be me! I can't swim very strongly either. Yesterday I heard a pundit whom I trust, as much as I trust anybody in the media or in politics, said the price of gaoline is not going to go below $3 for a long time. How's them apples? I wish I had studied economics more diligently. I've heard it is music that soothes the soul. Perhaps I shall trying listening to music instead of the Roberts hearings. Ciao |
| For some reason I got up at 6 a.m., worked on line till about 2, slept till 5, and am ready for the night ahead. It's great. I hope I can stay on this schedule. There is a Category l hurricane less than 150 miles from my front door. It's okay though. Category 1's and 2's are just heavy rainstorms usually, and some flooding. It's the bigger ones that are dangerous. Now for my gripes {notice how nice I was at first!). One has to do with this publishing business and Jessie's article:
I know a lot of members are not looking toward publication for various reasons; I also know that a lot are looking forward to it, and that a lot have been published. So what I want to know is what is the truth of this? Going Pro!, of which I am a member, told me to make everything "For Registered Authors or Higher" and that kind of makes it a private club. Others have said that books, especially, should "Group Only" and passkey needed. I don't know what to do. I mean publishers are not exactly standing in line at my door waiting for my latest poem, and the rejection slips I've received have not said "Your work is already published on Writing.com and therefore we cannot use it", but I can also see that this is a very possible wave of the future. What say ye? I know some of the above paragraph is a repetition of what I brought up last night, but what the responses I got today I'm even more confused. Is anyone not? My next gripe is about people who put their merit badges in their signatures. How they do this I'm not sure, but they do it. I thought this was against the "rules" which is maybe why they do it. It just so happens that in the year+ that I have been here I have 41 merit badges. If I tried to show each one there would not be enough room. Oh - that reminds me - on my sig block I listed the groups that I participate in the most, and then I added two sigs that I am fond of, and the computer said it was too many words. I know members who have huge signatures, with many sigs on them. Am I doing something wrong? I hope no one else is churning inside. I am I think because I have some weird identification with this hurricane whose name is Ophelia, and I always wanted to play Ophelia on stage; she and Virginia Woolf died in the same way I think; they both drowned themselves. Or did Ophelia take poision? Maybe I saw a production of {u{Hamlet where Ophelia was floating supine in a stream. Virginia tied rocks to her feet to make sure she would not come up and live. With such cheery thoughts I shall say goodnight and Godspeed to everyone. Stay Safe. It is a very rough world out there. Ciao |
| I had a pretty mixed day today. Had to go to Jacksonville in the pouring rain, but it was worth it because my main Doctor said I'm as healthy as a 30-year old, but I should quit smoking. I think they get paid to say that. Probably by the cigarette companies because for most of people, if you tell them not to do something, they just want to do it all the more. I smoke because I like to smoke. Phooey on them. Famous last words. Anyway, I got back about 1:30 to all kinds of mail and email and newspapers and food. That was all just fine and the way I like it. There is a definite theme emerging in the few (20 or so) emails that come every day and that is this business of whether we can or cannot publish something once it has been on Writing.com. Holly Jahangiri wrote an article some time ago saying that you'd better be careful, and I spoke with Going Pro! about it and they didn't seem to think it was a problem. As usual, I don't know what to believe and want Sandra Day O'Connor to come here before she goes back to work for her last year and straighten this out for me. I wonder if she knows anything about copywrite law?On the other hand, it's not like agents are lining up at my door wanting my poems, but it is true that I'd like to publish and I'd like to not have any hassle about this. Somebody told me about this once before...that Writing.com owns certain rights to your work, and then others don't want to buy it. Read Jessie's article. It's called Previously Published??! Then send me any comments or thought you may have, please. Later today I mainly straightened out a lot of papers so that I can find things when I want to (ha ha -- does that ever happen?) and then answered more email, and now I'm going to put in my thousand words on the great novel. I was talking to a woman today who had just worked seven years and her first book just came out, and we were talking about how much work it is. Character sketches and diagrams and storyboards and so forth. I am determined. This is my life's work, and it is not, repeat not, autobiographical. It is springing forth in thousand word segments from the head of me -- which Goddess sprang forth full grown from the head of Zeus? Athenae? I could get up and look it up. But I'm too lazy. Does anybody know about copywrite law? Does anyone else have a hurricane l50 miles from their doorstep? I'm going to do my thousand words now. Honest. |
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