I’ve been finding a lot of ways to avoid writing. Firstly, I challenged myself with a new-to-me method of knitting. Well, not entirely new to me as I had knitted “top-down” sweater patterns before, but those patterns always resulted in raglan sleeves … you know, the ones with a diagonal seam from armpit to collar. Not the best design for someone with a pear-shaped figure like myself. This new-to-me method, designed by Julie of Cocoknits, has a tailored yoke and pattern variations for different body types.
Are you all still with me?
I bought the Cocoknits sweater book and workbook and even a work stand (which I haven’t yet used but it came with a nice hemp bag that I could put all my tools in so that was handy). I do have some issues with the book as it was written in a narrative style, and I spent a lot of time flipping pages to figure out what to do when. I also had three false starts (meaning I started knitting and then had to rip out and start again because I misunderstand the instructions). Eventually, I also realized that it would be best to use the stash yarn that’s been wallowing in my cedar chest for the past 20 years. If the sweater is a failure, no great loss then.
And I persevered … much better than I do with my writing. For some reason, I rarely, if ever, give up on my knitting. Following is the result of my labor. Yes, this is a selfie. I do NOT enjoy taking selfies but my husband was busy and I just wanted to get it over with. The “pose” is simply to show a sleeve, not my hair, but … whatever.
Me wearing Prototype 1 of Cocoknits Emma Version B, posed to show sleeve
As if that were not enough to distract me from writing, I decided to weave potholders. Yes, you read that right. Potholders.
Many, many years ago, long before I moved to California, I learned to spin yarn and weave at a college I briefly attended. I fell in love with both activities and when it was time for me to pay tuition for the Spring semester, I decided instead to buy a 4-harness floor loom and move back home. The loom I bought is similar to the one below, but mine had four treadles instead of six.
Four harness, six treadle floor loom from Harrisville Designs.
I wove a few things, dragged the loom across the country with me, wove a couple of more things, then sold my loom to a friend when I moved into a studio apartment that simply didn’t have enough room for it. Since then, I’ve wanted to resume weaving, but haven’t felt like I have the space for it or the dinero. And now I feel totally out of touch with weaving.
I subscribe to a magazine called Little Looms which promotes weaving on small, even tiny, looms. A recent issue had an article on weaving potholders. I know I wove potholders when I was a kid, but my memories are vague. That said, I was hooked (no pun intended) by the article. I promptly ordered a potholder kit from Friendly Looms (which just happens to be affiliated with Harrisville Designs, the company from which I bought my floor loom all those years ago). Of course, I also had to buy a pattern book. Of course.
Wendy wondering what all this has to do with her.
Here’s my first potholder.
After I shared these photos on Facebook, two of my relatives asked me to make a couple for them. Cool.
Weaving potholders is a meditative practice. It also doesn’t take long to make one. It’s almost instant gratification compared to knitting a sweater.
But, in truth, I have been writing. I joined a group in the SmokeLong Fitness Community and have written a bit. I want to share what I’ve written here. I just need to figure out how I want to do that.
And if you’ve read this far … here’s your gratuitous cat photo.
My little boy Raji loves snuggling up to my big boy Junior.
In a New Yorker article (September 13, 2021), author Amia Srinivasan made this observation: “[…] the Internet, […] has simultaneously given us too much to read and corroded our capacity to read it.” The context was feminism and what we think we know about it, but her description of how the Internet has impacted reading applies far beyond her subject.
It’s something I struggle with every day. So much to read, especially online, but also on my Kindle and my bookshelves, the dining room table and the living room desk where magazines pile high. And yet I’m supposed to be writing.
I know I’ve been going through a stressful time. Which requires a couple of updates:
My sister’s cast was removed last week and she was fitted with a walking boot. She’s still at the facility, but she’s been having more good days lately than bad days. The facility change was definitely a good move. Still, the uncertainty as to when she’ll come home and what kind of help my brother-in-law will given as he continues care for her subdues my efforts to be positive. We all just keep saying, “One day at a time.”
Maxine, our feline dowager, has been more her old self lately. Spunky, willful, and talkative. She’s been handling our handling of the twice daily antibiotic injections and every-three-days subcutaneous fluids quite well. My husband has even been able to give her the antibiotic injection by himself, that is, without me having to hold her still. Unfortunately, she has “good” days and “bad” days: good days are when she limits her pee and poop output to a litter box or a potty training pad; bad days are when she and Junior get in a tussle and, in her excitement, she poops on the kitchen floor (this morning) or when she sits on the potty training pad but still pees on the floor (also this morning).
I’ve been working through my stress not by writing, but by gardening (healthy activity) and binging on a podcast call Casefile (maybe, maybe not healthy). If you enjoy true crime stories (is enjoy the right word?), check out Casefile by clicking here. A few things I like about the podcast:
The narrator is anonymous. He wants the audience to stay focused on the survivors and victims in these stories; however, his fans call him Casey.
The podcast has no dramatic reenactments, no roleplaying, no editorializing, no aimless, mindless banter. Casey narrates in a steady, calm voice. Occasionally he narrates dialogue, which can sometimes be humorous with his Australian accent.
I say no editorializing, but Casey’s empathy toward survivors and victims is real. At the beginning of each podcast, he cautions the listener in case the crime is of a particularly disturbing nature, such as crimes against children. For example, I chose to not listen to the episodes on The Moors Murders because Casey admitted he had to stop recording a couple of times because he was so disturbed by the abuse done to the children.
He has, on occasion, expressed frustration with law enforcement responses (or lack thereof) to violence against women. But he doesn’t rant, he doesn’t rail. He just points out when injustice is being served.
The episodes do not focus gratuitously on details of crimes. Casefile only shares what is necessary to understand the seriousness of a crime, which doesn’t require a second-by-second account of an assault or a murder.
The podcast often includes interviews, audio clips and other materials, providing a deeper context of the crime.
The effort Casey and his team put into their research and production is impressive. Links to their sources are provided with each episode.
My most recent binge from Casefile was several episodes on crimes committed by the The East Area Rapist, the Original Night Stalker, and the Golden State Killer in the late 70s to mid-80s who happen to all be one man–Joseph DeAngelo. The best episode was the last one where Casey read or played clips of survivors’ impact statements at DeAngelo’s sentencing hearing. It was the best episode because too often, justice is not found. In this case, it was. A little late, but that was due to the limitations of forensic testing at the time, the fact that DeAngelo was a former cop and knew how to avoid capture and identification, and lack of communication among the various law enforcement agencies involved.
Finally, if you write crime fiction, this podcast will teach you a lot about crime, the justice systems in the U.S. as well as other countries, and how law enforcement, even with truly dedicated officers, can be hampered in their efforts to find and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Now, what about my novel, which is about a murder?
I don’t consider myself a gardener really, but I might allow myself to wear the label of amateur gardener. I am thrilled when one of my plants starts to bloom. Why, hello there, Georgia Aster! I’m so grateful to have a fall-blooming plant.
Georgia Aster. Photo by Marie A Bailey.
My red penta is still going strong, and I’ve planted a lavender penta and a red-yellow lantana in the front yard. Fingers crossed that I can keep them safe during the winter. The following Ruellia or Mexican petunia was an impulse buy.
Ruellia simplex. Photo by Marie A Bailey.
We had gone to Home Depot to order a new dishwasher (a whole other story, but let me just say that we’re never buying GE appliances again). I needed a couple of pots so we went to the gardening section. This lovely purple plant caught my eye. We’ve seen it around our city so, hey, let’s get a pot and see what happens.
What happened was I did some research since the pot only said the plant was Ruellia. Well, according to the iSeek app, this is Ruellia simplex, a highly invasive plant.
WTF.
Through my research (and panic … what does one do with an invasive plant and why was it being sold at Home Depot????), I found the distributor (Costa Farms) who claims: “We sell sterile Mexican petunia varieties that don’t spread by seed. However, these are often vigorous plants and can colonize quickly in gardens and landscaping beds and borders — especially when grown in rich soil.” Okay, fine. The Ruellia I see around town seem well-controlled, but I’ll have to think long and hard about this. It’s so tempting to plant just this one in the front yard, yet perhaps I should keep it in a container.
Meanwhile, there’s that novel I should be working on.
One of the joys of gardening is discovering critters who like to eat my plants. I have three Black Swallowtail larvae on my Rue which is fine because that’s what Rue is for.
Larvae for Black Swallowtail. Photo by Marie A Bailey
More Black Swallowtail larvae. Photo by Marie A Bailey
I’ve also been knitting. Finally finished this wool lap blanket so I can put it away in my cedar chest since cold temperatures won’t be arriving down here anytime soon.
Teal and purple wool lap blanket. Photo by Marie A Bailey.
I’ve started crocheting granny squares for a larger blanket in a desperate effort to use up my stash.
I have a punch needle kit and a cross-stitch kit as well as three knitting projects waiting for my attention. And sewing? Did I mention sewing?
And then there’s my novel. Oh, boy. You see what I’m doing here?
I’m avoiding my novel because I’m intimidated by the idea of writing from the POV of three narrators. My instinct (these days anyway) says to stick with one, that it will be enough of a challenge to write in first person. I’m trying to work through that. I’m trying to get my writing groove back. But I’m a bit overwhelmed.
Going back to the quote at the beginning of my post, I am realizing that I’m my own worst enemy when it comes to being distracted and drowning. I need to develop some discipline if I’m ever going to finish my novel.
So what do you all do? You publishing writers out there: How do you organize your time? I see a lot of you engage in social media. How do you manage to do that AND work on your writing? Is it just a trick of the Internet that you all seem to be out and about on social media all the time? How do you manage to stay engaged and yet productive?
Thank you for reading, and thanks in advance for any advice you wish to share.
Bonus cat photo: Junior, the green-eyed bully who harasses Maxine until she poops.
Junior, green-eyed monster. Photo by Marie A Bailey
I’ve always been indecisive, sometimes very indecisive, but never not indecisive. I wonder if indecisiveness is related to procrastination because I’m afflicted with both conditions.
I have worked on my novel a bit here and there, but I’ve been spending the bulk of my creative energy learning punch needle work and knitting up some old yarn into a blanket.
This here is my first-ever punch needle project. It was fun although I had some difficulties with the tools. I bought a kit, and the yarn provided was thick (and forgiving) wool.
I’ve since bought another kit but … surprise! … the yarn provided is cotton floss, what I would expect to use in embroidery. Because of that, I bought a different punch needle and now I’m scared. I’m intimidated by the project and am going to have to clear away a lot of space in my brain before I get to it.
Meanwhile, when the going gets tough, I go to my knitting. This here will be a lap blanket once it’s all done. The yarn is 100% wool and quite old. I either brought it with me from California thirty-some years ago, or I bought it soon after moving here. I can’t remember. In any case, the yarn has been stored in a cedar chest for many years. It’s past time it became something.
I have enough of the same yarn in different colors to make a second blanket. Times like this I wish I lived back where I grew up, in north-central New York where warm wool items are valued and used more than they are here in hot, humid Florida.
I procrastinate when I am waiting. But waiting for what? Good news? Is there such a thing?
Our 17-year-old cat Maxine has been wreaking havoc by peeing and pooping outside the litter boxes most of the time. We’re treating her for yet another UTI, but I think it’s her wobbly back legs and diminished eyesight that’s causing the havoc. I bought new litter boxes designed for cats with arthritis, and I have puppy training pads around them to catch any “overflow.” As well her kidney disease seems to have gone from a stage 2 to stage 3, according to her latest lab results. Fortunately, the steroids she’s taking keep her appetite up. At this point, the good news is that she still does her business in the vicinity of the litter boxes. She’s also still spunky, so two bits of good news.
My previous employer thinks I’m dead. Last month they refunded “the deceased policyholder” (i.e., me) for overpayment of my health insurance premium which had been automatically deducted from my pension, as it is supposed to be. I got it sorted out, but now it looks like it’s going to happen again this month. I can check my premium payments online so I guess the good news is I’ll be able to handle this before my premium is past due. Still, I don’t like being addressed as a deceased policyholder. Creepy.
My sister in New York is in a rehab hospital. She fell and broke her leg a couple of weeks ago. She’s been living with Parkinson’s Disease for several years, and falling is one of the symptoms. I’m struggling to find good news here. All I can think is how unfair it is that she, of all of us, has been saddled with this disease.
My sister has been a caretaker all her life. When our mother divorced our father (RIP), my sister stepped in and had him stay at her house when he came for visits (long story short: my father was mentally ill and during that time was living in a group home). When our father became ill, my sister pulled out all the stops to get him into a nursing home near her so she could visit him on her lunch breaks. When our elderly neighbor (RIP) was in failing health, she did the same for him.
My sister and I used to talk about how our mother would come and live with her. Our mother will be 98 in a couple of months. She lives independently and is in better health than my sister, so living with my sister is not going to happen. While my mom’s health is good news, I still struggle to find any good news about my sister.
All I have is this: she’s been married for 55 years to a wonderful man who loves her deeply. My brother-in-law is the epitome of “salt of the earth.” She has three sons who love her deeply. She has seven grandchildren who give her much joy and pride. This good news will have to do.
***
Thank you for listening reading. I’m always hesitant to publicly write about my family, but, hopefully, I’m not crossing any lines here. Plus, I’m pretty sure few of them (if any) read my blog. Here’s a prize to all of you who have read this far: Raji in his “safe place,” which is our closet, on top of my husband’s clothes.
Which leads me to think about the lap blanket I’m knitting for my mother. It’s perhaps 80% done, but it’s a complicated pattern. I’ve had to “frog” (knitter’s term for ripping out and starting over) several times because of mistakes made while trying to simultaneously knit and watch TV. In fact, there’s still a mistake near the beginning of the blanket. The perfectionist in me would normally just start completely over, but … My mom celebrated her 96th birthday on October 25. I feel like I’m running out of time.
In truth, I am running out of time because she’ll be heading to South Florida soon, where the blanket will be unwanted, unneeded, and too bulky to pack up and take back with her to New York. Then again … maybe I should plan to send it in time for her return to NY in the spring. I could even start over and make sure I don’t make the same mistakes again … or NOT! This will be my last lap blanket.
I’m also thinking about an interesting response to one of my essays on Medium. “The Kindness of Strangers” is a revised essay I had posted here on 1WriteWay a couple of years ago. While I appreciate anyone taking the time to closely read my work, I was perplexed by this reader’s comments. He offered suggestions on how to turn my “good” article into a “great” article. Now, I’m not so thin-skinned that I can’t take good constructive criticism. He lost me, though, with his first suggestion.
He said I should have tied in a reference to Blanche DuBois or A Streetcar Named Desire because of my title, The Kindness of Strangers. Never mind that I wasn’t writing about having to rely on the kindness of strangers. Worst case scenario my husband would have busted open one of the car windows. My essay was more about there being Good Samaritans in the world, and we happened to meet a few of them on this particular adventure of ours.
It went downhill from there. Frankly, I couldn’t understand his other suggestions so I decided it would be better if I ignored his advice. I did respond to him with a “thank you” and “I’ll think about it,” and I hope that will be the end of it. I understand that publishing on Medium is like publishing anywhere else. I want to put my best writing forward, and I want readers to read and respond. Unsolicited advice from this stranger, however, was not kind.
I’ve also been thinking about LinkedIn. I had an account with LinkedIn on and off for several years. Currently I’m sans account. I deleted it because I was tired of fending off requests to “join my network” from people I didn’t know, would never meet, and had nothing in common with except our employer. (My agency has over 11,000 employees so working for the same agency doesn’t mean we’re going to know (or want to know) each other.)
Can you block people on LinkedIn? Blocking is the one social media tool I can embrace wholeheartedly. I block scores of people on Twitter because, you know, life is short (except in my mother’s case) and I don’t want to waste what little time I have left by endlessly scrolling past tweets I don’t care to read.
Okay, say you all tell me that I can block people on LinkedIn. Then my next question is, what do writers get out of being on LinkedIn? I get the whole marketing thing if I’m looking for a job in my current field, but other than another way to consort with my writer friends, what’s the point? If you have a LinkedIn account, please tell me in the comments what you like about it and what you don’t. I haven’t made up my mind yet. I’m just tempted because I can always use another distraction from my novel.
Here’s a gratuitous cat photo for your troubles.
After we’ve had dinner and remove the dirty dishes, Junior is allowed on the table.
As I mentioned some time ago (and where does the time go …), my little-short-story-that-could, “No More Tomorrows,” was being published again (be still my heart) by Z Publishing House in their new anthology America’s Emerging Writers. You can read my announcement here.
I love Z Publishing :)
Because the manuscript turned out longer than anticipated, the anthology for America’s Emerging Writers was broken into two volumes. My little-short-story-that-could is in Volume One. Below are the links to both volumes of America’s Emerging Writers. Consider purchasing one or both. They hold some seriously good writing.
So what I have been doing since receiving the kind of news that would make any other writer start submitting like crazy?
Not a whole lot.
I’ve been reading … books. I just finished Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane. A sweet story. A little scary in some parts, but the kind of scary that makes you shiver and want to read more. And then I finished it and felt a little unsettled, the way I feel when I’ve finished a book by a “big” writer and am left wanting. I’m now in the middle of the latest installment of a long crime fiction series and experiencing hope and anxiety. Hope that the end of the novel will make me glad I persevered. Anxiety that it won’t and that I’ll be left musing about the contractual demands that some writers are expected to meet. A book a year. A book a year. Fail that and you have to pay back your advances. Publish before your book is truly ready for prime time, and you may lose your readers.
I’ve been knitting .. a lot. I recently finished a shawl for my sister (her third one from me, talk about being spoiled, but then she does live where they have snow and cold in the winter). Next up is a button-down shawl for myself (maybe),
a cashmere watch cap for my husband (belated birthday present and because it’s late, I’ll probably knit two although the second one will be in a merino-yak-alpaca yarn),
a lap blanket for my mom,
a sweater for a friend’s granddaughter (maybe … still haven’t settled on pattern or yarn).
Whenever I start knitting like this, I know I’m procrastinating, avoiding writing. Thankfully I’m still being productive, but not in words. Unless you count all the writing I do in my head while I’m knitting.
Or walking. I’ve been walking a lot, trying to lose a bit of weight and burn off nervous energy. On my neighborhood walks, I’ve developed an acquaintance with a local resident.
My friend, a young red-tailed hawk making eye contact with me as if to say, “Go on, you. I’m scouting for squirrels.” Now I did zoom in with my iPhone camera but that utility line was maybe a few feet above me, fairly low for a hawk to be hanging out nonchalantly, surveying his kingdom. I walked for about forty-five minutes, looping around our few streets so I passed by him three times. Even as I headed home that evening, he was still out there, on the wire.
I like hawks. They keep the squirrel population in check.
I haven’t not been writing at all. I was in a seriously boring meeting the other day and took that opportunity to jot down some ideas for my WIP. Felt rather proud of myself, but I haven’t opened my journal since and it’s been over a week now.
I’ve also taken up studying Spanish through Duolingo and French through Babbel. More procrastination but, hey, I might die multilingual at this rate.
I have an essay that I fidget with every so often. But it’s a personal essay and why would anyone want to read a personal essay from me? That’s my problem with personal essays. I envy anyone whose personal essays are published and read and enjoyed, and yet somehow I don’t think I should write them. But I want to.
I also bought a kit to make trivets using hemp yarn and embroidery hoops.
Oh, and we have a new washing machine! The old one which wasn’t very old was leaking. Seriously leaking. We put a drip pan underneath it and sucked up water, trying to stave off the inevitable. I didn’t want to plunk down several hundred dollars for one of those fancy, digital, 300+ cycle machines.
I only need one cycle.
But the old machine just got worse even though my husband tried several times to fix it. And we couldn’t suck the water up properly so it was starting to seep into the back wall. One day while I was at work, dear husband got fed up and went to Home Depot and bought the least expensive, most efficient washing machine they had. I was so relieved he went without me. I hate shopping for appliances.
It took about three weeks to get it. My goal now is to use every one of those new-fangled cycles. It even has one for “Bedding.” I’m in love. So I’m doing a lot of laundry too.
P R O C R A S T I N A T I O N
How do you procrastinate? And do you feel guilty when you do? Or is it just part of the writing life?
Nothing. Yes, dear Reader, I got almost nothing for this post today. I have been fairly productive of late, but not with writing or blogging. Again, it’s the knitting.
A friend noted that the buttons on the baby sweater I knitted for a baby-to-be might not be appropriate for a baby.
Yes, they are cute cat heads but the ears are rather pointy, not too sharp against my rough old skin, but I don’t want to the buttons to be the cause of baby’s first injury. So I swap them out for these.
And, to be honest, I think these buttons are better suited. They are pretty without drawing the eye entirely away from the sweater pattern.
I hope to present the parents-to-be with the sweater and hat tonight. I’m sure they will be pleased that at least the outfit can be machine washed and dried, and yet it is wool. Merino wool, in fact, which is very soft.
Well, that’s it for now. I’m thinking (again) of changing my blogging schedule. If I aim for Fridays, then I can have all week to write and revise my posts instead of doing them half-off as I am now. We’ll see.
Oh, and what about the classes I’m taking? Well, the Modern Poetry class is a no-go for me. It’s too fragmented: too many links to follow, an audio here, a video there. Each week brings an email (or two) with several embedded links. In contrast, a class I started a long while ago (on a lark), through the same platform (Coursera) has a very simple syllabus, with all content accessible through my iPad app. The course is historical fiction and very interesting so far. I can (and have) happily watched a video lecture while knitting. I’ll say more about that class in a later post. I’m still looking forward (with eagerness and dread) to the Fiction Workshop that will be offered free through the International Writing Program. That will start on Thursday, September 24. And, no doubt, you’ll hear all about that as well.
Until then a little eye candy for all you cat lovers: my green-eyed boy Junior. Why buy a fancy cat bed when an old basket and a couple of magazines make him happy?
It’s Saturday and I’m beat after a rather intense work week which includes 1.5 days of jury duty (save that for another post). I’m sitting at my computer, feeling overwhelmed (per usual) with all the little items on my virtual to-do list. Where to start?
What about that pile of New Yorker articles and NY Times Book Reviews that I want to chat about on my blog?
What about finishing Lorrie Moore‘s short story collection Bark? (Trivia: Lorrie Moore’s first name is Marie, we have the birth year, and she was also born in north New York.)
What about that leftover skein of extrafine Merino yarn that I used to knit my husband a watch cap and scarf (could make another watch cap)?
What about cleaning the cats’ litter boxes?
a cat and a Litter box (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I’m glad I managed to organize myself enough this morning to drop off return packages for online purchases (remind me to never again try to buy bras or pants online!).
And what about reading my f***ing novel that I slaved over in November?
So I did what I always do when I feel overwhelmed. I went to Facebook. Well, I don’t always go to Facebook, but this time I did and found a pleasant surprise. One of my (many) cousins posted a video to my timeline.
I almost wept while viewing this video. The artistry of Randi Parkhurst‘s creation took my breath away. I love paper. I love books. I love nested objects, like boxes within boxes within boxes. What she has created are books within books within books. I can’t even imagine all the hours, days, weeks that it must taken for her to create this. Such fine detail. And I felt like a little kid as Parkhurst opens each book.
Now, you enjoy the video and I’ll go back to my list.
Whether you are a visual artist or a visual artist wannabe or just someone who enjoys “filling space in a beautiful way,” journey over to this Silk – Interactive Generative Art (http://weavesilk.com/). Credit goes to Yuri Vishnevsky for Silk and Mat Jarvis for the accompanying music. The art you created is licensed under Creative Commons. Click this link for a glimpse of my artistic prowess: http://r.weavesilk.com/?v=4&id=ngtarsjse3
So far I have not been able to save my images to my desktop (all I get from saving is a blank document), but hopefully Mr. Vishnevsky will help me sort that out. In the meantime, what are your favorite diversions?
I didn’t think I would have it in me to write today. Last night (or rather this morning) I was up until 1 AM. Fortunately I had the day off work, but I kept napping and we had “stuff” to do so I didn’t get to writing again until late. I thought for sure I would blow it off and lose ground. Many thanks to my fellow bloggers who have been encouraging me: I thought about them as I sat down to give it another go. Now I am up to 8,538 words with an expected finish date of May 18 if I keep at this rate. Oh, but I won’t. I WILL finish my 50k at the end of April. I’ll make it happen, even if it means the kitties have to wait a bit longer for their meals :)
(She looks like she can afford to wait, doesn’t she?)
I’m procrastinating at the moment. Past time to go to bed but just a few more minutes on the computer … so I go ahead and check my stats on my blog and I have 12 spam messages. Usually I just delete them, but some of them are quite funny so I decided to share the content of the messages. For obvious reasons, I won’t share the links.
Spam #1: “This original content is out of the ordinary. I appreciate that you’ve gone off the beaten path with your points and I agree with most.”
I wish I could say my content was out of the ordinary, but I believe I’m beating the same path that many of my fellow bloggers are.
Spam #2: “Can I just say what a relief to find an individual who actually knows what theyre talking about online. You certainly know the right way to bring an problem to light and make it valuable. Extra people must read this and fully grasp this side of the story. I cant think youre not more well-known considering that you certainly have the gift.”
Now, why couldn’t a real person leave such a comment on my blog! I definitely need “extra” readers who also believe I “have the gift.”
Spam #3: “Terrific work! This is the type of info that are meant to be shared across the net. Shame on Google for no longer positioning this submit higher! Come on over and seek advice from my site . Thanks =)”
Yes, shame on Google, but thanks but no thanks on advice from this site.
Spam #4, 5, & 6: “You need targeted traffic to your website so why not try some for free? There is a VERY POWERFUL and POPULAR company out there who now lets you try their traffic for 7 days free of charge. I am so glad they opened their traffic system back up to the public! Check it out here [spam link]”
Three spams all saying the same thing. How boring. Do people really fall for this?
Spam #7: “Performing Respiration ExercisesWhen you actual observation force, your material substance reacts physically. Some nation actual observation an increased organ of circulation fixed measure, sweat, headaches, or shallow, quickened breathing. Respiration exercises can take the severity out of a stressful location to help you think more calmly and clearly. A simple breathing use includes inhaling slowly for five seconds through the nose and exhaling slowly for five seconds through the chaps. Point of concentration your breathing on seeing your packing-box rise and drop down versus seeing your stomach go in and out. It should not be used as a exchange for professional of medicine recommendation, diagnosis or usage. LIVESTRONG is a registered trademark of the LIVESTRONG Base. Moreover, we do not prefer every advertiser or information|proclamation|trumpeting|advertisement} that appears on the web website-many of the advertisements are served by third coterie advertising companies.”
Spam #7 is my favorite because it is so lengthy. I’m sure it’s just an algorithm (I have not studied spam so I don’t know how it’s developed and spewed across the interest universe), but it’s a long one … and almost coherent.
Enough procrastination. I’m participating in Camp NaNoWriMo and way behind in my word count. My goal is 50,000 words and at the rate I’m going, I’ll be done in June :( Still, it’s late, my cats are demanding to be fed, and I still have to take my clothes out of the dryer.
My friend, a young red-tailed hawk making eye contact with me as if to say, “Go on, you. I’m scouting for squirrels.” Now I did zoom in with my iPhone camera but that utility line was maybe a few feet above me, fairly low for a hawk to be hanging out nonchalantly, surveying his kingdom. I walked for about forty-five minutes, looping around our few streets so I passed by him three times. Even as I headed home that evening, he was still out there, on the wire.
Marie at 1 Write Way 