It's Aliiiiiive!!

The blog, that is. ;-)


via GIPHY

Quotation #2

Tell me a fact and I'll learn.
Tell me a truth and I'll believe.
But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.
~ Indian Proverb

Quotation

"My theory about the art of the novel and how it came into being: the storyteller's own experience has moved her to an emotion so passionate that she can no longer keep it shut up in her heart."—Lady Murasaki

And now 2009

Wow, it's been a year since anyone has been here. Shall I resurrect and get some NaNoWriMers playing here?

Walking guilt

Yum! Good reasons to walk!
I stopped walking when I started working again.
I need to figure out how to do both. It's difficult, because since I'm paid by the hour, I feel like I need to work every minute I'm there, and then it's home to the second job!
Now if I had a place like this to walk...

Ann, is that you??

Yoohoo.... is that the original Nag Sister rummaging through the attic? Come back here and tell us what you've been doing! We were thinking of burning the place down. Should we start having meetings again?


Walking.... I'm still walking 1.2 miles daily.


Why? Because of this:

And this:

Hey wait... shouldn't you get this?

Happy birthday, dear A-Ann, happy birthday to you!

Opening the door and walking in

Hellooooooo
(Echoey footsteps sound in blogspace.)
Anybody heeeerrreee??
I have been sadly neglectful, oh Nag Sisters, but it isn't that I don't care.
Wow. Look at this.
(A virtual trunk creaks open ... some rustling through long-ago posts ...)
This has some HISTORY. Ha! We started this before I retired and the whole economy went down the can.
And I was still trying to get traction on book #3... Oh wow, look what I found!
(Dusting off a quote.)
"...Women should remember that all the evils of society are caused by the bad management of men, and women are greatly to blame for folding their hands and permitting this state of things," declared the Antelope in 1880.
Hmmm. I should of used that. I suppose I still could use that, if I just think about where it might fit.
It's kinda fun here. Like rummaging around in an attic! And I LOVE attics! :-)
Reminds me: I need to get back into walking again. I've turned into quite the chair potato!

Here Ye, Here Ye!!!

Let it be known across the blogosphere that Ann, Dani and Dana have much writing to be accomplished and must henceforth Nag and Be Nagged regularly to help accomplish these goals!

Dana must write 500 words a day and, if this goal is not met one day, must then make it up the next. Each week she must turn out 3500 words or...or...or get no chocolate!

Ladies? What about you?

I, too, will commit to minimum 500 words a day of real writing. I'm so busy answering messages now, I haven't been able to manage my own blog posts, much less the 120 pages I'm supposed to have written by the end of September. Pamela bailed anyway. Ann I talked to on the phone, but haven't seen her here. Maybe the Poco a Poco technique will work better for me, I dunno. I just know I feel frazzled and overworked right now. And I'm not researching an erotic romance like Dana is. No damn wonder you're worn out, gal! ~ Dani

Welcome, Pamela and Challenge

Pamela Price, our new member here, and I are having a little writing challenge. 120 completed pages by the end of September. We're exchanging work for first-reads, too. Anyone else want to participate?

Okay, Here Goes...Pamela & a Month Named August

Week One

• Polish manuscript/cover letter further for proposal, pending (inevitable) rejection by first publisher. (Let it sit and cook for a few days, too. That helps...usually.)
  
• Update web site 
  
• Post first bit on new blog as guest contributor 
  
• Join Facebook for networking
  
• Arrange interviews for next to installments of "Profiles in Victory"
• Create outline for new "Planning the Fall Harvest" series 
  
• Make usual round of visits to fave blogs

Week Two

• Continue to polish proposal...and buy new envelopes
  
• Prepare and post-in-advance first two bits of fall harvest series
  
• Create proposals to pitch two story ideas to Prevention magazine for Spring '09
  
• Explore book review submission for SA Express-News 
  
• Fluff Squidoos and join more groups
  

Week Three

• Continue to polish proposal
  
• Submit magazine pitches
  
• Prepare and post-in-advance next two bits of fall harvest series
  

Week Four

• Continue to polish proposal
• Create and post last of fall harvest series
  

Dani's Goals for August

Week 1:
One week pre-writes on blog posts
Read POP's book proposal and return with comments
Two Creativity Central articles
Finish SCN Journal article
Outline and finish reading Montana Sky
Graphics program
Train speech recognition software

Week 2:
Book-in-a-Week
Blog posts for remainder of BBT Challenge
3 MacDonald stories
Outline for remaining MacD. stories and book proposal + pub. hit list
CafePress designs - upgrade if ready

Week 3:
Send out proposals
Four CC articles prescheduled
Pump up other blogs
Author and other quotes gathered
Penny Dreadfuls

Week 4:
Clickbank and eBook research
Rural news articles
Squidoo lenses
Clear the desk for Ghost Town writing in September

I know I'm forgetting something important.....

Dana's Goals for August

Thanks to Dani, I am embroiled in the Blogbooktours Blog challenge (a post a day). D'oh!! So my first goal is to write a post per day, plus my weekly post for Fatal Foodies.

I also have to finish inputting a survey with my writing partner on WHAT WOMEN REALLY WANT IN BED (we want to have the survey up and running tomorrow, if possible)...

Write three outlines for Ravenous Romances for their consideration...

Start the novelization of CHAMPAGNE and get at least three chapters done.

I'd say that's enough!

Goals Call

We have a new member! Welcome aboard. Feel free to post your goals, either weekly or monthly or both. Everyone here has admin status, so we can go into each other's posts to comment in another color. Also updating your own progress seems to work in an alternate color. Some of us have reading lists, feel free to add to links, poke around, feel right at home. 'kay?

Dani

Dani's goals last week of July

Goals for last week of July:

1. Plow through entire chapter of OpenOffice Draw and design Queen of Zucchinis mug Snort!

2. Polish three children's stories At least wrote and had hubbo critique.

3. Upload one Penny Dreadful to http://pdreadful.blogspot.com Beyond the call of duty!

4. Write article for Story Circle Journal about the listserv http://www.storycircle.org Late but still this weekend.

5. Prepare for Blog Book Tours post-per-day challenge in August Very prepared. Unlike Dana. ;)

6. Write two articles for Creativity Central at http://ericmaisel.blogspot.com This weekend - a little late!

7. Make lists of CafePress quotes .... original or very unusual only for writers! Not.

8. Get speech recognition software "trained" Started but had to get new mic.

9. Help hubbo with his book Not. Hubbo didn't work on it.

10. Get my office back from the kittens! Halfway there... did I say kittens? I meant piglets.

Dani's Monthly Goals for July 2008

Starting with week one and Book in a Week:

• 30 pages of fiction 27 pages - I'll take it.
• Work on the Rural Newspapers Ever lens
• Slog through my endless writing for topics and articles to revise for the rural newspaper articles
• Pimp the Quickest Blog Book Tour Guide Ever Daily;) Twitter!
• Walk five miles per week minimum and try to beat Dana On it!
• Learn how to work Open Office
• Find three cozy mystery titles to review - 2 eBooks

Rest of the month, really work on learning graphics stuff in OO so I can think about the You Can Quote Me CafePress shop. Signed up for shop. It's a start. Right now, I'm just too stupid to do it. Also, get my photo albums organized in Vista. I don't even understand it enough to pretend. Also have to input hubbo's writing for the church window repair book as he's too slow and hogs the computer for too long trying to do it himself. Wish he had a secretary. :) Also must start thinking about Eric Maisel's Creativity Central blog posts as that will surely be happening soon. No sooner out of my mouth and it happened... some good posts showing up over there. Go see. The hold-up there has been a reprieve, but it won't last much longer. In fact, his website design is taking so long, I'm getting a little intimidated about being involved with the project.

Got a bad case of the Alsos today.

Dana's Monthly Goals for July

Here I am, posting! My monthly goals are to finish minimum two chapters MFH, to do my once a week post on Fatal Foodies (I'm the Monday gal, btw), two-three posts a week on my personal blog(s), including a weekly book review, and try and master one new 'net based technological thingee/widget/link/website per month. This month it was the 'share this' widget. Yay, me!

For exercise, walk at least 10 miles a week, yoga twice a week and tae-bo twice a week. Time off for injuries as necessary.

Goals for July

Anyone besides me thinking about it??

Dani's Goals for June

You know I think I like this monthly goals list better. So here for me:

1. The Blog Book Tours Guide and Squidoo lens Yay!
2. Kill a bunch of Darlings including blogs that aren't used Some but need to kill more.
3. Prioritize writing for the rest of the summer I have a rough idea. Could tweak this a little more.
4. Learn Vista Slowly and daily.
5. Learn OpenOffice.org Not even close and I'm having complaints that people can't open the odt files.... any ideas why?
6. Write articles for rural newspapers Not a one.
7. Collect author quotes for CafePress project No focus here at all.
8. Walk and garden daily Pretty much.
9. Renew the flagging yoga practice Not.
10. Do something with the Blog Book Tours blog! Finally did!

Dana's Goals for June

Oh yeah, back from the dead! Or my book tour... Book tour of the Living Dead! hah!

Anyway, I have been very very busy. I had a ghost writing project; non-fiction erotica to help a friend meet a project deadline. It was due June 1st and came to me smack in the middle of prep for the book tour and the tour itself. I managed something like 7000 words in four days and met the deadline. My pal has asked me to write five more mini-chapters, due by the 27th. So...that's what I'll be doing for the next two weeks. I have a Twilight Tour to emcee at the cathouse the weekend of the 21st, so that weekend will be taken up with driving to L.A., working at the tour and driving home. Ugh, yay, and Ugh, respectively.

I'm also working on the sequel to MFH: The Peruvian Pigeon, having found it more eager to write itsel than LILITH (which is still being pecked at). I also need to add to my blog roll and post three times a week. So... my goals for the rest of June are:

1. Finish four-five vignettes for the erotica project.
2. 1,000 words on MFH: The Big Snooze every five days
3. Post three times a week (long or short, doesn't matter)
4. Anything on Lilith will be a plus, not necessary.

Dani's goals June 1-7

30 pages for Book in a Week. Well, I may have eaked out 20. Well, it's better than a kick in teh teeth, madame!

Tops on the list to write is the Blog Book Tour Guide which has been written, but needs desperate re-writing and shortening. Getting there. Ah hah! The mysterious elusive guide. I remember hearing tales of this...

The rest of the pages will be blog posts which desperately need writing. Just my personal journal where I've been spewing a LOT. Heck, I haven't even been writing in a journal! But I'll tell ya more about that in the post I'm gonna write when I'm done writing comments here!

I'd also like to find a few more members who would participate. If you know anyone who could use some nagging and who needs to write daily, let me know. I'll invite them to join. I'm sick of nagging but that may just be because I did a trial run of a beginning blogging class and can't get the students to do the assignments. So I'll probably kill that blog and forget about teaching a class this Fall for Story Circle Network. It just takes too much energy trying to cheerlead everyone into participating. I just really don't want that job. Not here, not there, not anywhere. I don't blame you. One person can't generate and then maintain all the enthusiasm and momentum for anything, be it a writing assignment or relationship. It's a quick path to empty tanks...