A couple of days ago, an old friend* of mine, Heidi, posted a PSA for her readers on her blog, The Happy Freelancer. The post, Walking Away from a Potential Client, had me reminiscing in a comment about an extremely rude potential client. I don’t know whether the universe was bent on biting me on the posterior and taking out a chunk, but I had a run in yesterday with a client over a short 350 word article. Continue reading
Category Archives: Writing
11/22/63: Shouldn’t Have Taken So Long to Read It
I haven’t read a Stephen King novel since From a Buick 8, and I hadn’t really been interested in any of them until I spied 11/22/63. I might actually be one of the few people around that has enjoyed his later books, like From a Buick 8 and Hearts in Atlantis, more than his earlier works. Most of my friends that read Stephen King’s books cannot stand these later writings. They’re too different from his early works. We generally refer to the split as the pre-rehab era and the post-rehab era. 11/22/63 is, of course, post.
11/22/63 explores the idea of what might have happened had someone gained the ability to travel back in time and change a few things. The main goal, of course, is for the main character, Jack Epping, to go back in time and prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It all starts when Jack’s not-quite-friend, Al. Al owns a diner that contains a secret, a “rabbit hole” into the past. Continue reading
Insurgent Delivers on Dystopian Ideals
I picked up Veronica Roth’s book entitled Divergent about a month ago because I have been enjoying the recent upswing in dystopian type books that have been coming out the last couple of years and my only criticism is that the majority of them are geared toward the young adult audience. I have enjoyed Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s A Brave New World umpteen times each over the years and I often wish there were more published along similar lines. Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games Trilogy was all right, but I didn’t find it as mind-blowing as a lot of people I’ve talked to and read about did. Divergent, on the other hand, was more gritty in a lot of ways and I did enjoy that. It reminded me of Orwell’s delivery and somewhat of that of Huxley. The similarities didn’t hit me like a hard blow. Instead they were subtle and niggling. Insurgent was set to be released digitally on May 1st, 2012 which excited me because I don’t often pick up a first book in a trilogy that far after publication. I’m usually left wanting more and having to wait at least one whole, long year for the next installment of the story. Continue reading
Introducing Writing Services!
I have been involved in doing website copy, writing informative articles, ghostwriting, editing, proofreading, making simple graphics, and various other website related work for about 15 years and I’ve been offering services in most of those areas for at least a decade on a freelance basis. Most of my work has been done via word of mouth or as a third party writer hired as a freelancer by various companies. Now that I am allowed to work again (thank you Work Authorization!), I have decided to put my services out there for anyone who comes looking. Continue reading
Gender Specific Possessive Pronouns Need to Make a Comeback
I am working on a writing project at the moment and I have come to the conclusion, once again, that I am going to make every effort possible to try to move back into using “his”, “hers”, and “its”, instead of “their” to encompass all three. That’s my goal, anyhow. I know I have a few friends who are feminists who may get upset by this. I know a couple of other women who will be livid because they were of the group who worked toward gender-neutral language. Now, I can sort of understand the issue, but as someone who works as a writer, albeit sporadically, I don’t have to like it. Continue reading
Temeraire Makes a Great Return in Crucible of Gold
My husband and I have both been reading Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series and we’ve been quite pleased with its characters and imagery. The idea that dragons provided integral air support during the Napoleonic War with England and the rest of Europe is an interesting one for both of us. Temeraire is a dragon without equal- or so it was thought until a little ways into the series when it was discovered he is of the rarest of all Chinese Breeds, a Celestial. We’d been waiting for a while to be able to read the new installment in the series, Crucible of Gold. Beware… there may be a few minor spoilers in the text to follow, but no major plot points. Continue reading
Fifty Shades of Something Else
I was, once again, at a complete loss as to what to read next. I read too fast and sometimes it’s a problem. A friend of mine said that I should check out this Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. I grabbed the books and started to read them. Three days later, I was finished and thinking about the ideas, the plot, and the overall feel of the books. As someone who has had many dealings with BDSM and the community in which it lives, breathes, and thrives, I found that I was sort of annoyed with some of the ideas presented in these books. Some of us have jokes about “internet dominants” and the character of Christian Grey initially struck me as one. Continue reading
NyQuil Induced Illusions of Grandeur
I have a cold, possibly bronchitis, and I’ve re-established my intense love affair with NyQuil to ensure I get enough rest so I get better faster. I could use cough drops, herbal remedies, whiskey, regular cough syrup, or a hundred other things to help with the congestion and stuffiness, but I find that NyQuil in a half dose does wonders for the symptoms for hours on end without having to re-administer while still remaining awake. My liver and kidneys are thankful for this discovery, but my sense of self is somewhat out of whack. Continue reading
Immigration Fun, Writing, and 2012 Blog Plans
Well, 2012 is here and I’d been meaning to try and keep up a little more with postings at least once a week, but it’s been difficult with all the other things going on. Finally my paperwork to become a Permanent Resident of the USA so that my husband and I can continue to live together has been submitted. This is some of the fun that’s been keeping me from writing more. Continue reading
The Emergence of Asshat
This is going to be a short blog post, but I’m watching Prime Suspect and one of the detectives used the word “asshat”. Now, we’ve been using the word asshat for years now online. I believe the first time I ever saw it in chat was back in 1999. I’d never heard anyone say it out loud. For at least five years now, the word has been commonly used in speech by a lot of people. It is clearly interchangeable with “asshole”. Continue reading