Wrong Clicks

Word count is going slow and now I have Museum's are Murder edits to do. This is a short Tali Cates scheduled for January. So, after this post, must get busy. But I do love, on Sunday to sit on the patio, listen to birds, journal and read the paper. Very self indulgent but I only get to do it once or twice a week. Plus, yesterday,lunch with "the girls" lots of good talk about books, TV, kids, movies, more books, more writing, browsing in a book store, eating Mexican food. Ahhhh, the joy.

It's amazing how one wrong click on the computer makes so much difference. I wondered why no one has been commenting on the blog. I evidently, when trying to prevent spam, clicked something that required membership for anyone to comments. Oooops. Not what I planned. Now that's reversed.

It's so easy with The Net to end up on sites you don't want, order what you don't want etc. Last year a friend had ordered perfume for her daughters and daughters-in-law. She ordered three, got thirty. They just kept coming, and coming, and coming, like the energizer bunny. She began dreading to even look for the mail.

What was your worst accidental click, most embarrassing or frustrating? Or are you someone who never makes mistakes or forgets to pay attention to what you are doing? Come on, spill. We won't tell.

How Safe is Safe?

As writer's we are all urged to market, market, market. But, when that little piggy goes to market will it be slaughtered. Okay, that's a little blood thirsty. But in our quest to connect with readers, do we give out too much information about ourselves and families? On blogs, chats, my space and list serves we might want to be more careful what we share in our quest for accessibility. I have a writer friend who was threatened by a "fan" when she stopped writing one mystery series to concentrate on Urban Fantasy. How scary is that?

Granted, I'm not a Stephen King, or Patricia Cornwell, being stalked by paparazzi. But you never know who will stumble upon your blog, your website or My Space page and decide they want to scare you or be your best friend or even a long lost cousin. Predators lurk on the web and they might just fall in love with that cute grand baby picture on your website.

The advice I've read says, use generic nick-names when talking about kids and grand kids, if you have a pen name, use that instead of your real name, be careful with full names, cities, locations, addresses etc. Have an email address for contact, especially if you don't have an agent or publisher who can screen mail.

I doubt that I'll be stalked, after all I'm old, fat and poor. Not a prime target. But I don't want to be the reason someone targets my kids or grand kids just because I posted a priceless Halloween picture. Now, I might be safe with pics of my furry kids, Punky and Poppi. If someone went after them, they are fast cats.

Quick Note

Come on over to: http://blog.lyndacoker.net/2008/10/07/boxes-and-other-obstacles-by-carol-shenold.aspx?ref=rss where I have a guest blog and leave a comment so I'm not lonesome.

Also, my new release, Bloody Murder is the spotlight book on Author Island and they have cool contests, so come on down to www.authorisland.com.

Laughter and other perils

The information below is totally silly and has little to do with writing, it's just fun and we all need a little fun.


Kids Are Quick
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TEACHER: Maria, go to the map and find North America .
MARIA: Here it is.
TEACHER: Correct. Now class, who discovered America ?
CLASS: Maria.
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TEACHER: John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?
JOHN: You told me to do it without using tables. __________________________________________
TEACHER: Glenn, how do you spell 'crocodile?'
GLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L'
TEACHER: No, that's wrong
GLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.
(I Love this kid)
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TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?
DONALD: H I J K L M N O.
TEACHER: What are you talking about?
DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.
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TEACHER: Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't have ten years ago. WINNIE: Me!
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TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty?
GLEN: Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are. _______________________________________
TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with ' I. '
MILLIE: I is..
TEACHER: No, Millie..... Always say, 'I am.'
MILLIE: All right... 'I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.' ________________________________
TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't punish him?
LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand. ______________________________________
TEACHER: Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?
SIMON: No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook. ______________________________
TEACHER: Clyde , your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly the same as your brother's. Did you copy his?
CLYDE : No, sir. It's the same dog.
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TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?
HAROLD: A teacher
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PASS IT AROUND AND MAKE SOMEONE LAUGH! LAUGHTER IS THE SOUL'S MEDICINE!!

As for writing, family interference, have not met goals this week so far. Work is busy also. I'm in that cheese with that whine mode so tonight, seriously need to drink wine and work, maybe not in that order, but then again, maybe so. Bloody Murder was released yesterday. Working on the info sheet for Museums are Murder, a Tali short. Hope to be back on track by the end of the week or sooner.

Also, I saw a cool writing promt in Writer's Digest. ( You wake up in what looks like an igloo. You have nothing with you but a shirt and pants,toothbrush, a rock and a dollar bill. Someone is staring at you.) Write that scene. Share if you are willing.

Come on down to Launch Day

Join us at eternalpressreaders@yahoogroups.com for Eternal Press Launch day and the launch of BLOODY MURDER. Thats right, it's out now. Also, we have contests galore, excerpt that make you want to read everything. Join in on the fun and go to www.eternalpress.ca to see all the fantastic new releases.

Goals

I came close to my goal yesterday. Not as close as I'd like because I really want 1500 words, but I'll take what I can get. Some words are better than none. I put up the new meter to keep myself honest and because I'm a visual person who likes to see progress.

Also, since I can't help myself, remember "Bloody Murder" is out next Tuesday. If you haven't read "Privy to Murder" then hurry up, you'll love it and then enjoy "Bloody Murder" even more. Also, "Cry Wolf" by Patricia Briggs and "Any Doomsday" by Lori Handeland, think that's right. Both good ones.

Tagged and Time

First, I've been tagged by my friend Ginger to tell you all six things you don't know about me.
1. I worked in a cafeteria as a kid, in Dallas, folding silverware into linen napkins.
2. When I began nursing school, hospitals still used metal bed pans, glass syringes and metal needles, all of which were cleaned, sterilized and re-used. We wrapped sterile packages in cloth and nothing much was disposable.
3. I wanted to be a ballerina up until I went to nursing school.
4. I've spoken nationally on subjects like resistant organisms, disaster management and bioterrorism.
5. I paint pastel portraits.
6. Watching the underwater scene in Aliens makes me short of breath.

Be sure and go see Ginger at http://mizging.blogspot.com and you can find out all her secrets too.

I'm starting the fast draft of FDWizard so my goal will be at least 1000 words a day, preferably 1500 so my graph will go up tomorrow. The plotting has a good start and I still need to fit in a synopsis.

I will announce the September "Bloody Murder" winner tomorrow.