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Thumb drive, flash drive, jump drive… they have lots of names but what they do is save your life in the case of a computer catastrophe.  I once lost 150 pages when my hard drive crashed.  That’s when I bought mine.  So, here’s an adorable one.  You don’t have to have a cute one, I just liked it.Read More →

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I’ve been looking for something to give me that Bitch, OK! feeling. My plan is to write during the week, and plot/revise/layer on the weekends. And it works. I think it works really well for me. But it doesn’t make it any easier to just sit down and do it. In a purely whimsical way, I present these to you: Magic Bean Wishes Plant these bean seeds and watch them magically rise up from the soil with an inspirational message stamped on each bean. Grow indoors or out. Includes 15 assorted beans with messages such as “faith,” “love,” “heal” and more. I kind of reallyRead More →

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Let’s dream a little today, shall we?  Because what I need, what my heart’s true desire is, I can’t afford.  And you probably can’t either.  But that’s okay, we’re dreaming.  We’re dreaming of a computer so intuitively functional, it makes writing a breeze.  We’re dreaming of a computer that they make the best writing software for, like Curio*. We’re dreaming about the Macbook Air.  I won’t sell you on it.  Just look at it, for heaven’s sake, and tell me you don’t covet it.  If you can afford it, buy one, right now.  Trust me on this.  If you can’t?  Come sit by me andRead More →

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Is a Van Halen song. But also, right now all I can think of needing as a writer, is an orchard of trees from which to make my own paper, and a few squid for ink. Photos courtesy www.jupiterimages.comRead More →

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I mentioned on Saturday that the house planning book I bought didn’t live up to my expectations.  Here’s hoping this will: Home Quick Planner: Reusable, Peel & Stick Furniture & Architectural Symbols The Home Quick Planner includes 700 precut, reusable peel-and-stick, 1/4-inch scale furniture and architectural symbols, plus a 5,600 square-foot floor plan grid to help you design your own building, remodeling and decorating projects. (Also good for moving.) Symbols include everything you need from tables, chairs, couches, beds and pianos to every standard kitchen cabinet and appliance, an extensive assortment of bathroom fixtures and cabinets (for example, twelve sets of sink designs, six differentRead More →

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Remember this material girl recommend that I bought on the spot? I thought that the furniture stuck onto the paper, like colorforms.  I thought wrong.  It clearly says so, on the back of the book.  Unfortunately, it does NOT say so on Amazon’s web site. This is what I got: Click to enlarge, but you can see it’s like… some boxes.  And a few pages of graph paper.  Which I already had.  And mine’s nicer.  So, I recant my recommend.  Don’t buy it.Read More →

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A section on writing tools is really incomplete without an article on the Alphasmart Neo.  Pros, as I understand them (I don’t have one): You can’t self-edit, because you only see “two through six lines of text”. It is very easy to transfer over to a word document, almost magically easy.  See the site for details. Includes spell check, for, you know, people who need those sort of things. It’s portable like crazy. The cons? Cost prohibitive, for some (like me), at the sale price of $219. As of 6.30.11, the price is $169. That is all.  Make up your own mind.  Feel free toRead More →

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These picture posts are becoming commonplace.  Next thing you know, I’ll be uploading illustrations I’ve made in photoshop, like how to connect your printer. Yes, that was an awesome segue, thank you.  For Material Girl Monday, I’m going to talk to you about some of the tools I use to make my brand of magic.  So, picture the first: That’s my big comfy chair.  I’ve been alternately drawing and describing homes and writing character sketches (the big binder on the bottom, with the sheet protectors, the legal pad, the top notebook, and for good measure GMC) and line editing (another black binder and old reliable,Read More →

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I got this brain flash last week.  Well, it was more of a brain shimmer, but you get my point.  Homes, and there are several in my current WIP (work in progress for those not in the know), are extremely important in this work.  They have symbolic meaning to nearly every character.  So, what they look like, knowing those places–pretty important.  I picked up some graph paper this weekend and started drawing… you know, I’m going into this on Wendesday, so I’ll leave it at that. But this Material Girl recommend is so highly recommended, I just bought it.  Like just now, when I wasRead More →

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I recently moved my “office” to the other side of our sun porch, hoping to break out of a rut I’d slipped into and because my kids were covering the six foot table I was using as my desk with nintendo games and cd’s and iPods and Polly Pockets. I decided to have a computer desk everyone could use and then my humongous table for me.  Bill paying, writing, and (as you’ll see) crocheting.  I needed more substance for my muse, it seemed, all the same.  The bluebirds nesting outside my window helped.  Made me smile at least, which must help.  Anyway, here’s my materialRead More →