random thoughts from the insomniac zone

So, I'm having one of those nights, which has now turned into morning. I wrote a to do list, and now I'm too tired to do any of it. Well, one item was to post on Ye Olde Blogg, so at least that will get done.

See, I get these little odd snippets of things that run through my mind (hey, no grief from the peanut gallery), which by themselves hardly seem like enough for a complete post on their own.

Thus the brilliant idea to put them in one sort of catch-all post.

Except, I've forgotten what they were.

Sigh.

Oh, wait! I just remembered one. Damn.

I was reading a post on the kindle boards about how a writer had gone over his book like, a brazillion times, and it had been edited and went through beta readers, and he still found some typos. He was truly all torn up about it, and I see his point. It's especially important that us indie authors (we indie authors?) put out the best product we can, and finding yet another boo-boo after you've hit that publish button just sucks lint lollies.

But what are we to do? gnashes teeth  pulls out hair

Nothing in this world is perfect, not even books from the "traditional" publishers. I try myself to send out typo-free product, but I know there's something lurking in there somewhere, I just haven't found it yet.

My theory is that there are gremlins in all manuscripts, sneaky little bastards that hide until you take your eyes off the type, and then BAM! Those little buggers sneak out and tweak the words. I think they're especially fond of hiding behind ellipses, you know these things:  ...   So, don't use them. EVER. Don't say you haven't been warned.

There, now my good deed for the day has been paid forward. Whew. I feel so much better. (You don't even want to know how many times I had to retype this after those you-know-whats. Seriously, you don't.)

On the personal writing front, I've got a short story just about ready to put up. It's a ghost story that I had submitted to an anthology, but it wasn't quite what they were looking for, so I put it away to give it time to mellow a bit before any editing decisions.

I redid the original cover for it, which I like much better, although I'm having trouble with GIMP not wanting to do drop shadows. I'll have to give that another try before I upload the manuscript, but if it doesn't behave, I have other ways to accomplish my goal. You hear me, Mr. GIMP? Just saying.

This has gotten long enough, Gentle Readers, so I will close and go crash for a couple of hours. Keep calm and type on.

Going dark for anti-SOPA solidarity

I've gone dark on the web in protest. More info and a petition here:

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

Do you want the good news, or...

Oh, the good news first, if you insist. I woke up Thursday and discovered that I was apparently going to survive this damned upper respiratory infection. Yay! Man, this thing had me on my butt for a week. I spent a lot of time moaning, coughing, sleeping, and blowing my nose.

Did I mention the moaning? Oh, well. Anyway, I'm feeling much better, and can face the thought that my novel is now way, way behind. I've had one of those life things Dean Wesley Smith blogged about a while back, what with having a month-long migraine festival in December, with added teen-boy drama, the holidays, and then this mucus horror.

:::: note to Self:  mucus horror... hmmm... ::::

Well, on the other good news front, I got my sweet little iPod back yesterday, which had been sent in for a battery replacement. Except it wasn't exactly the same one I sent in, it was a new generation one. Holy cow. This girl is one happy Apple slave customer! That thing has FM radio on it! Seriously.

Now, we all know that in every life a little rain must fall. Though sometimes it seems like a lot of rain.Yep. The bad news.

My crazy little cat, Shadow, was found dead yesterday--he'd been hit by a car--on the road in front of our house. That totally scrapes the bottom of the suckage barrel.

Shadow was a feral rescue that I got from someone I used to work with, about five years ago. He was left at her house, along with two brothers, by his kitty momma, and I just fell for his furry little self.

My sons want to pack up his things, but I just can't do it yet. I woke up this morning, went by his usual spot on the kitchen island and reached to rub his head before I remembered. Damn.

I guess we'll look for another at the animal shelter, but not too soon. I'm kind of thinking about getting a little rat terrier to tackle the field mice that Shadow used to frighten away, and another dog might be good for my Aussie, Smokey Joe.

Right now I hear some suspicious rustling under the sink, and I've got to go buy some mouse traps.

So, Gentle Readers, I will leave you on that sad note, and hide my tears away. I need to take some of my medicine, and try to get a little work done on my book. Keep on and hug your fur babies.

Gosh, is it 2012 already?

It seems like just yesterday we were saying goodbye to 2010, and now a whole new year stretches before us. For the last couple of years I've done a little thing inspired by the scrapbooking hobby, called One Little Word.

Well, truthfully I only do part of it, since I don't really document it throughout the year. I need to work on that part, but I am motivated by my word to work on things in my life.

Last year, I chose the word "success", and I feel that overall I had a successful year. I have written and published several short stories, as well as a collection of five holiday-themed stories, and had a good amount of sales.

The word for this year is "completion". I have so many projects that are in various stages! It's unreal. So after much thought, I've decided to work on completing things, whether it's writing, crafts, business or home-related.

I have also worked out a publishing goal for the year:

4 novels
12 short stories/novellas
the doll repair/dressing book
the novel I'm editing for my sister (it's her late MIL's work)

If I can do more, I will, but I feel this is a reasonable goal in regards to my chosen word, and my work-load in other areas. I have probably half of each item done, it's just languishing on my hard drive.

My sister wants us to work on growing our wedding officiant business, and that will take up a considerable amount of time, as does my crafting business. I hope that having more of a plan will let me focus on the things that need to be done, rather than flitting from one to the other.

So there you have it, Gentle Readers. Keep on keeping on, and remember to be happy.