Happy () Day

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AttS is SEVEN today!
My parents celebrate their anniversary and my friend Kate and my coworker Gordon (sorry I can’t be there for drinks) can tally up another year on this day.
Huzzah to all of you.
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If you’re in town looking for something to do (other than the book fair, that is), head on over to the St. Charles Spring Artwalk. My mom will be displaying her artwork at 222 N Main Street, and there is plenty of parking behind the building. We’ll be there all weekend, so why don’t you stop by and say hi, and pick up a gift for Mother’s Day?
Happy weekend, all 🙂

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I wish

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From zen_habits on Twitter, who said, Complete this sentence: I wish my life were more …
Writerly. (Yeah, not a word. But I wish I acted more like an author. This is a wish I can and should make true.)
Exciting. (Though that whole proverb of living in interesting times…perhaps I better stick with the steady job, even though it’s not quite paying me enough)
Clean. (I at least have a path between my bedroom door and my bed, but there’s plenty of room in there for shelves, if I ever stopped buying books enough to have money for some.)
Arty. (I used to draw on everything. Even now, my twitter feed is full of Photoshop and Illustrator resources, and my delicious account has hundreds of links to tutorials on graphic design. One day I will be creative many ways.)
Outdoorsy. (I miss camping. I miss horseback riding. I will go whitewater rafting again someday. I will hike the Rockies again and visit Canada. Maybe.)
Financially secure. (I have money enough, right now, but not quite enough to do what I want to. Hopefully that will change, someday. Until then, I must write.)
I think I can change these things. I’m lazy, as you might have noticed me mention in this blog before, so I’d have to get over the fear and anxiousness of change, but perhaps someday I will.

Not in it for the money

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Want to know how an author’s royalty check breaks down? Read Lynn Viehl’s post on “The Reality of a Times Bestseller” and be either shocked or vindicated, depending on what your viewpoint is…
It took her the better part of a year to get royalty payments on her top-20 bestseller. Sigh.
So no, I don’t write for the money. Shoot, if I did, I’d actually have something polished and finished and ready to send off for submission. I really, really don’t. I write because I love it, because it makes me happy to find that perfect word or find that magic plot point twist that I somehow worked into the beginning of the story without even knowing it. I’m practical (maybe too practical) and I know that even if I was one of the lucky ones I wouldn’t be able to quit my job if I sold a book. But that’s okay.
I am one of the lucky ones who has a good job (even if it doesn’t pay that well) and I have relative freedom to do whatever I want in my free time as long as I get my work done. It’s something that’s unlikely *crossed fingers* to fall to a recession, and I work with some really quality people.
Perhaps I’ll never write a bestseller (even though the Publishing Game my parents made for my gifted class in 5th grade said I would!). Perhaps I’ll have to rethink my stance on self-publishing (especially since I have such wonderful artistic parents). But I can’t shake the dream of someday standing in the company of my favorite authors, holding a copy of my own book. And I don’t want to.
Dream big.
(Guess I ought to write some more on that NaNovel, eh? 😉 )

Creme Eggs

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I love the silly little things, and I really envy the people who had the time to make this. It’s Mousetrap for Cadbury Creme Eggs.

Happy release day for Jim Butcher’s new Dresden Files book, Turn Coat! And yes, I have it already, and I shall read it…now!

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all the proof I need

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Of course I’m wearing green.
Author Neil Gaiman on the Colbert Report, because it’s funny:
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The Colbert ReportMon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Neil Gaiman

So we got another part for the speedvacs today. Unfortunately, this part did just what its doppelganger did: not work. They’ve both got defective circuit boards, which will take weeks to replace. This is not a good omen for the future performance of these units, when two out of the six components fail when they are turned on for the first time. By the installation tech from Ace, no less, who must love us very much to keep coming back and fixing our machines. *headdesk* One day we will have two working speedvacs again. We used to, really…

World Builder

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Check out this amazing video that, as Nathan Bransford put it, shows what it’s like for a writer. Great music and really cool special effects, too:

World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.
I need to write more.

too nice

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It is too nice outside today to be in the lab. But that is what I do, so here is where I am 😉
But we will go out for lunch. Huzzah.
For all the other lucky St. Louisans who get to go outside, please don’t forget about Artists Boutique this weekend at the Kirkwood Community Center. Lots of great artists, lots of pretty stuff. Find an Easter present, or a wedding gift. Look for yourself, look for your friends. Support arts in your community. I know times are tough economically–but every little bit helps.
In news of the very nice, my parents got a relatively new Mac–for free. As soon as they get internet I’ll help them kit it out, and my parents will join the Internet Revolution! Hopefully I can help them not be scairt of that shiny piece of tech.
Cheers! Hope it’s a good day for you.

Forgotten

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I try not to leave bookmarks in things. Whenever I return books to the library I turn them upside down and flip the pages in case I do forget. This site has a bunch of interesting ones from people who aren’t quite so anal as me…though I think I did manage to lose a story idea in a book and that was quite sad. I’m sure I’ll come up with another one, though 😉
Back from Champaign. Had fun at Leo’s bachelorette party, though I was continually wracked with anxiety because I sort of hate planning. I had more than enough activities, so we didn’t finish hardly anything…you know, eating and drinking (margaritas and other things–pineapple juice, banana rum and cream make quite a nice drink!) seem to take up a lot of time. Hopefully if I’m ever a bridesmaid for someone else I won’t freak out quite so much about it.
Guess I ought to write my toast for the wedding…coming up in three weeks! At least I’ll be doing a little writing…sigh. I keep thinking of ideas, but haven’t gotten them typed up. Last week was hell at work, long days and stressful assays, but hopefully now I’ll have a little less on my shoulders and I can bang something out. Off to groceries!

Booklist

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Because I’m a geek, here’s a list of what I’ve read this year. I’ll keep updating the page all year, so I can finally write one of those “books I’ve read last year” posts when the New Year rolls around again 😉 And if you really wanted to, you could click on the book covers and buy a book from Amazon, and I’ll get a few pennies 😉
Check it out.
Oh, and happy half-birthday to me. Tomorrow it’s off to a bachelorette party! Whoo! Hope I planned enough fun. I probably don’t have to worry…drinks are fun no matter what, and I bet that’s mostly what we’ll do 😉 Huzzah Leo!