Lori Sizemore

And I’d like to say I’m back from my hiatus, but I can’t make any promises, all the way through the end of September.  See, in real life, besides being a writer, I’m also a social worker.  And through a very fortunate and special set of circumstances, my license was reinstated after ten years with the caveat that I complete 80 hours of CEU’s in about three months.  This has taken quite a toll on my free time, especially with a full time job as well.  So, I have a good reason, but I hate to see this blog lying dormant.  I’m going to try to check in weekly.  Maybe even make the occasional witty observation. No promises! ;-)

Photo from morguefiles.com

I’ve got this weird idea, maybe more of a subscribed belief: painted toenails equate to a flourishing, happy, carefree life.  I realize it’s not really rational.  How do you rationalize something so trivial as an indicator of something so crucial?

You could look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, perhaps, and assume that all those lower needs (like food, shelter, safety, etc.) had been met if you have the interest to pretty up your tootsies.  But, those things, those are basic needs–not exactly a carefree existence.  So where does this crazy belief come from?

This is where I would insert my awesome answer.  If I had one.  I don’t.

But wouldn’t it be easy to make myself happy by just giving myself a decent pedicure?  Well, no.  Painted toenails don’t give me that good life; they just signify it.  My toenails are a bright red as I write this–but I still have food to put on the table, a house payment to make, and a book that really needs publishing.

So, I guess, what it really means is that I can give myself a tiny bit of joy just by spending ten minutes with a bottle of polish (of which I have oodles).  And right now, that’s enough.  But it makes me curious… what small gifts do you give yourself?

But online organization doesn’t have to be complicated. There are many tools for organizing all our stuff, of course, but one of the simplest is the wiki.

We’re all familiar with wikis, of course — Wikipedia being the most famous example, but many other useful wikis abound on the Internet. But one of the most productive forms of wikis is the personal wiki, which you can create at any number of sites.

via 15 Productive Uses for a Wiki – WebWorkerDaily.

I love this idea so much I wanted to share it.  I can see myself creating a Story “Bible”, a mom wiki for my family, a bill wiki.  I’m all over this.  I hope you find it useful, too.

But my daughter had surgery last week and my dad was taken to the hospital by ambulance last night.  I just need a little more time.  Thanks for your patience!

Update:  2/2/2010 Dad’s home from the hospital and my daughter is healing up.  Thanks for your patience.

New Year’s Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. ~Mark Twain

via Happy New Year Quotes, New Years Eve Sayings.

I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions.  I think it presumes one is somehow failing already.  Which, I suppose, one may be.  But I prefer to stay positive.  I’m not failing–I just still have things to learn.

In that vein, what do I want to learn this year?

• To write, in some fashion every day.  I mean every day, whether I feel like it or I’m tired or I’ve got kids running around.  Every day.  I have learned that I write best when I keep my story fresh.  If I can’t “write” a scene, then I’ll make notes, or brainstorm, or work on the synopsis, or reread it for a refresher.
• I’m writing a rough draft.  That means no editing as I go, no going back and deciding this isn’t working here or there or that scene isn’t long enough.  Just write it–and sort the rest out later.  There’s something to be said for allowing creatively to flow uninhibited.
• I will fear less and learn to accept rejection more.  I will send my work out without fear because I may have a lot to learn and I may be rejected, but I’ll never be published while it sits in a folder on my hard drive.
• I will remember that I write for the love of it, the rush, the thrill of creating people and worlds and stories because it makes me happy.

I’d love to hear your goals/resolutions/that which you want to  learn in the comments!

More importantly, are you a writer or a reader?

To read my writing blog, just click the writing button on the menu above. To read all the other nonsense I’ve written over the years–scroll down, baby.

Arrrgh!

I want to stick around a while and get my kicks.

Yeah, that was totally unrelated. I’m nixing the schedule. I’ll still keep posting, in the same categories, maybe some new ones. I’ve got some great stuff saved up for link licker and I think I’ve almost got this long synopsis thing at least under control–and I am totally posting on that process because anyone new at it, we need the help. The structure of a schedule helped me when I started, but when something stops working for you, it’s important to know when to let it go.

What’s right is what’s left if you do everything else wrong.”

–Robin Williams

I recently wrote a post about my friend, Lea, and the anniversary of her passing. The post was more for me than anyone else.

Crasty said:

I added your blog to bookmarks. And i’ll read your articles more often!

He commented again with:

Valuable thoughts and advices. I read your topic with great interest.

Really, Crasty?  Perhaps you should unbookmark me then, because I very rarely write about the death of close friends or even very personal topics.  Maybe you would enjoy Virtual Memorials a bit more.

A couple of weeks ago, in a very short post consisting of three links and the word awesome about 14 times, I linked to The Blogess.

Here’s what John had to say:

I liked it. So much useful material. I read with great interest.

Useful for what?  I mean, yeah, it’s useful for a laugh, and she honestly rocks, but great interest?  You need a hobby, John.  And not like  mine, cruising the internet, instead of writing, and finding blogging gold.  Get your own.

And finally, we have Bunker.  He responded to my approximately five sentence post (one of which about how I was too lazy to write a real post) with this:

I really like your blog and i respect your work. I’ll be a frequent visitor.

If you want to spam me, it’s fine.  It’s not like the comments are going to break my server at this point, since I average one about every six months.  But, honestly, don’t patronize me, man.  I know you don’t respect me OR care about my dead friend.  Lying liars.

I’m working full time this week because my friend and co-worker, Kristin (congrats!) got married today.  I know, poor me.  A whole 40 hours.  Don’t hate me if I miss a blogging deadline.  I promise to have a Material Girl Monday, though!