Picture Pause - No Carrots Here

You've heard of the old carrot vs stick motivational thing, right?  Well, I'm fond of joking about taking a stick to my friends (and my kid) when they're not quite motivated to do their work.  Yesterday, I found an associate who can help me with that.

So, get to work or you can say hello to my little friend.  She looks ready to use it, don't you think?

Of course, her stick is much smaller than mine, but it's still motivating.  I mean, who wants a pissed-off bird swooping in to harass them with a pointy piece of wood?

(In reality, the above is a Cooper's Hawk who's working on its nest.  I assume it's the female, since she was the one picking out the perfect stick while her mate sat in a tree watching.  And she doesn't look happy about the fact that he was laughing at her the whole time.)


(Ummm, just so you don't think I'm a total loon - Cooper's Hawks have a call that sounds like they're laughing.)

Step Away from the Keyboard

I wish I could say I've been absent because The Kid is home on Spring Break.  Sadly, no.  She's home but she's spent most of her time here in her room playing Mass Effect 3.  I see her for meals mostly.  Last night, we did spend some quality time talking, but that didn't really mean I would've spent that time here if I wasn't there.

No.  I made an unconscious (until now) decision to step away from the keyboard.  We're having a love/hate relationship at the moment that's more hate than love.  Sure, I try to make up with it, but really it's just being a bitch.  I sit down here with every intention of writing - whether it's real work or just a blog post - and I can't seem to make the words flow.  So, I'm blaming the keyboard. 

Why?

Well, I seem to be writing just fine over there on the couch with my trusty notebook and brand new red pen.  (It's a gel pen.  Oooo.)  The words are flowing - not quickly, mind you, but flowing just the same.  As long as I'm not sitting at this blasted piece of black plastic, that is.

Maybe the keyboard is pissed because my constant writing is rubbing its letters off.  E and N are completely gone.  A, S, D, C, R and M are bits of white on their black squares.  L, G, W and T aren't looking too good either.

:shrug:  Whatever the reason, we're kind of on the outs, my keyboard and me.  So I've stepped away.  Perhaps it'll stop being such a pissy twit if I leave it alone for a while.  Maybe after it sees me paying so much attention to my old friend notebook, it'll regret it's decision to turn on me. 

Until that time, though, I'm over there in the living room hanging out with the ones who really stand behind me - even when I've neglected them for so long. 

And psst, I hope the keyboard straightens out soon.  I don't know how much longer I can take writing by hand.  Plus, sooner or later, everything I write with notebook will have to be entered using keyboard.

Learning to Walk Again

Walk 
by The Foo Fighters

A million miles away
Your signal in the distance
To whom it may concern
I think I lost my way
Getting good at starting over
Every time that I return

I'm learning to walk again
I believe I've waited long enough
Where do I begin?
I'm learning to talk again
Can't you see I've waited long enough?
Where do I begin?

Do you remember the days
We built these paper mountains
And sat and watched them burn?
I think I found my place
Can't you feel it growing stronger?
Little conquerors

I'm learning to walk again
I believe I've waited long enough
Where do I begin?
I'm learning to talk again
I believe I've waited long enough
Where do I begin?

Now
For the very first time
Don't you pay no mind?
Set me free again
You keep alive a moment at a time
But still inside a whisper to a liar
To sacrifice but knowing to survive
The first decline another state of mind
I'm on my knees, I'm praying for a sign
Forever, whenever
I never wanna die
I never wanna die
I never wanna die
I'm on my knees
I never wanna die
I'm dancing on my grave
I'm running through the fire
Forever, whatever
I never wanna die
I never wanna leave
I'll never say goodbye
Forever, whatever
Forever, whatever

I'm learning to walk again
I believe I've waited long enough
Where do I begin?
I'm learning to talk again
Can't you see I've waited long enough?
Where do I begin?

I'm learning to walk again
I believe I've waited long enough
I'm learning to talk again
Can't you see I've waited long enough?

Poignant in more ways than one. - B

Burnet Onicapeo

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm really enjoying the new word verification system Blogger has foisted upon us.  (No.  Seriously.  That isn't sarcasm.)  I mean, sure, at first it irritated the crap out of me.  But since I can't beat it, I might as well join it.

So, I made a game out of it.  Now when I hit a blog with a difficult word verification, I challenge myself.  "Okay, Meissner," I says to myself, "see if you can figure this one out on the first try."  If I do?  Winner winner diet-friendly fish & veggies dinner. 

Life throws all sorts of irritating, difficult, annoying, time-consuming crap at us.  We can either let it bother us, we can go with the flow, or we can make a game out of it. 

Have you ever made a game out of something that annoys you?  

Thing 1: The title of this post is the word verification I caught when I commented this morning over at Paperback Writer.  Is it just me or does that sound like the name of some exotic CPA?  "If you're in East Timor and need your taxes done quick, call the offices of Burnet Onicapeo."

Thing 2: When I talk to myself, I still use my maiden name.  The Husband is Sanderson when he talks to himself, so if I was Sanderson, too, it would get confusing.  Besides, I've been calling myself Meissner for decades. Why stop now?

Release Day!

I know a lot of awesome books have released recently, but I've been waiting for today for like... forever...

And here's why:  Books from 4 of my favorite authors hit the shelves today.  And lucky me, they were all in Amazon's 4 for 3 promotion.  Yay!  So here's the order I just placed.  (Yeah, I could have them quicker if I waited until Friday and bought them at B&N, but I want my purchases to help with the authors' first day sales numbers.)

1) Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire.  Squee and Gush.

2) Nightborn by Lynn Viehl

3) Doubletake by Rob Thurman

4) Dying Wish by Shannon Butcher

 

Life, my friends, is very good when new books are on their way.

What new releases have you been dying for? I was so focused on these four that I'm wondering, was there anything good I missed?

Funny

I shamelessly stole this from Kaye Wilkinson Barley's facebook page after several of my FB friends shared it on their pages.  It's just too true to not pass along.

My Inner Voice Drownded

Yeah.  I've been kinda quiet recently.  I'm not sure if it's my usual case of mid-winter blues, or post-manuscript malaise, or what.  Could be I've spent the past few weeks figuratively curled up in a ball licking at my imagined wounds.  All I know is I haven't been writing.  So much for No Excuses and Sustained Effort, eh?

And it all came about - at least from what I can trace - because of an offhand comment someone made to me. (No, it wasn't you.  And it wasn't you, either.  In fact, it wasn't anyone who stops here.)  It wasn't even anything major, and thinking about it over the past couple weeks, it wasn't meant to be mean or even to be critical of me or my process.  I just took it harder than I probably should've.  (Again, probably because of the mid-winter blues thing combined with the post-manuscript malaise disorder.)  Why?  Because when she said it, she touched on something I've been wondering about myself anyway.

No, not gonna tell you what she said because then a couple people who stop by will know exactly who I'm talking about and what she said, and this might get back to her.  I seriously don't want her feeling bad about this at all.  It's not her, it's me.

Anyway, that's the reason for the change of quote up there.  Courtesy of my friend, Janet - who posted the Steve Jobs quote in its entirety right here.  It's all worth reading, but my brain grabbed onto what, for me, was the salient point: Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. 

Which is, of course, exactly what I've been doing.  It's a bad habit that dates back to childhood, but I'm working on it.

So until I can drive those other opinions out of my head, I'm taking a break from writing.  Yeah yeah, I know I invite people to give me their opinions every time I post on this blog.  That's not what I'm talking about.  I'm talking about the opinions I have allowed inside my head that are waltzing around making trouble at the moment. 

And in this, too, it's not you, it's me.  Totally me.  So comment away.

Forgive me if I don't post as often or if the posts aren't nearly as wise and poignant as they could be.  Everything will be fine now that I've realized the problem.

(* As for the title of this post, when I was about 4, I think, my family went swimming in a local lake.  At one point, I slipped under the water for a moment.  No harm done, but I ran out of the lake screaming 'I drownded, Mommy!'  So, yeah, the phrase might be wrong, but it fits. :wink: )