I promised you more #TeamBlankie photos today, and here they are! Today’s post is fraught (I just love that word – “fraught!”) with unorthodoxy. Two of today’s featured writers have unorthodox blankies, but they are blankies nonetheless. Despite appearances, these unorthodox blankies are no less loved by their owners, and I am proud to count them among Blankiedom.

First up we have writer Stephanie Weippert. Her blankie began life as a scarf. She is pictured here with the both her blankie!scarf and her son’s baby blankie, as well as Galaya, the polydactyl cat that owns her. Stephanie writes on the less-conventional side of things (my favorite!). According to her Livejournal, that’s everything “from love stories to dystopias, including magic and space invasions.” She’s an awesome writer!

Writer Stephanie Weippert, with the muse that owns her and blankies!

Next up we have one of the writers directly responsible for this fun-and-evil. The writer who coined the hashtag #TeamBlankie in the first place, Lindsay Robertson. She is pictured here with all that remains of a blankie that’s been loved for almost twenty-four years.

Lindsay graduated from university this summer with a B.A. in English (cue the song!), and instead of finding a job right away she decided to spend more time (all right, most of her time) writing YA urban fantasy. When she’s not being terrible at blogging regularly (she said it, I didn’t!), she enjoys impersonating a mummy.

Writer Lindsay Robertson impersonating the mummy of a 1970s police officer.

Rounding out this batch of unorthodoxy is #TeamBlankie participant Johanna Harness. She writes YA dystopian fairytales and MG contemporary. You want to talk about cool hashtag coinage? Johanna coined the whole #amwriting chat community thing, and is awesome at helping writers both professional and aspiring with their writing goals. She’s brilliant and pictured here wrapped in her blankie with her laptop on her head. She literally has writing on the brain here, people. You could only hope to be so dedicated to your profession!

Writer Johanna Harness with her laptop on her head, and her blankie around her shoulders!

Thanks for your awesome, Johanna! (And the pic, too!)

Keep those fantastic pics coming, writer peeps! You know who you are!

Until next time, go #TeamBlankie, and remember, there’s no “i” in “team!”

“There is a ‘me’ though, if you jumble the letters up a little bit.” – House, M.D.

I put out the call for photos of writers with their blankies, and behold! Responses! Awesome responses!

As promised, I post for your viewing pleasure, #TeamBlankie victims! “Participants!” I meant “participants!” In order to avoid image-heavy posting for those who might have slow or unhappy connections, I’ll keep these in batches of three #TeamBlankie writers per post!

Since I’m the one “hosting” the #TeamBlankie party, I figured I should probably pony up and start us off. It’s only fair, right? To ask you all to do something I’m not willing to do myself…that’s just not right. So! Here you are!

Here I am. Dina James, herself. Also known as “Our Lady of the Blankie,” pictured with the Blankie of Ultimate Softness.

Dina James, Our Lady of the Blankie

Here’s another of Our Lady of the Blankie, being not so reverent:

Dina poses with her books and the Blankie of Ultimate Softness.

I’m sure if you’re here you know about pretty much all you need to about me, but in case you don’t I’ll reiterate for you. I am Dina James, Chronicler of the Paranormal (which is cooler than saying “I write about vampires and other things that don’t supposedly exist.”), tea junkie and mostly evil. If you want to know more, check out my website to learn all you could ever hope to know about me.

Our next #Team Blankie vict- er…participant is none other than the wonderful (local for me!) PacNorWest author of the undead, Mark Henry. His blankie has EYES! Check it out! It’s alive! ALLIIIIIVEEE! Mark said I could have his blankie, but I had to share, so here it is! I’m sharing! Just like we learned in to do kindergarten.

Mark Henry and his little dog too!

Thank you, Mark, for being awesome and having a great sense of humor! (And sharing your blankie!)

The next victim to fall prey to the power of the blankie is writer Jess Ring. She writes many different genres. However, science fiction and fantasy for young adults is her favorite. She is also a screenwriting student and enjoys that medium a great deal. Check out her Twitter feed here! Jess has an awesome cat and fantastic color on the wall behind her! I want that room in my house!

Writer Jess Ring and her cat Meow Meow

Need more blankie!love? Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post featuring more writers and their blankies.

Go #TeamBlankie!

This post is about blankies.

More to the point, I was on Twitter tonight broadcasting the fact that I have in my possession, wrapped around me at this very moment, a thing of awesome.

It is a blankie.

Not just any blankie.

This is the Blankie of Ultimate Softness (+25 to snuggles and waylay for those playing at home).

As I said on Twitter, it makes me want to run up to random strangers yelling, “FEEL! FEEL THE SOFT! OMG!”

This led to a discussion about blankies and being too old for blankies and to make a long story short, the hashtag #TeamBlankie was born, coined by writer Lindsay. Another contributor to this latest Evil Idea is writer Marissa, owner of a Blanket of Coolness.

So this got me to thinking about writers and blankies. #TeamBlankie people all seemed to be writerly people who love their blankies…. Writers on blankies….

Well? What would you do with that information? Writers don’t have calendars and layouts and stuff like heavy metal bands with hot chicks on cars. So you know what I decided?

I decided writers need a PHOTOSHOOT.

This is the official call for those photos. The topic?

THE WRITE BLANKIE. (Yes, yes, I know, but this is creativity late at night after a long day on short notice. Shut up and take the photo already.)

Here’s what this is about/for/what to do:

1) You must be a writer. You don’t have to be published, but if you’re not yet, you do have to have aspirations of that nature/be of the writerly sort. Yes, poetry counts, as does non-fiction. Writing is writing.

2) Take a photo of yourself on/wrapped in/with your favorite blankie (or blankies). You can be as creative as you want here. Toss some of your books (or your favorite books) on your blankie with you. YOU MUST BE IN THE PHOTO, not just your blankie(s). Don’t give me any excuses about how you’re not in shape or you hate how you look or whatever. Take the bloody photo, wuss. Wrap yourself up in your blankie if you don’t want anyone seeing anything more than your face. Wear sunglasses. I don’t care. You just need to be in the photo.

3) KEEP IT CLEAN. I don’t care if you want to pose on your back deck in your bikini or in your altogether with one of your books over your junk, but PLEASE do make sure your naughty bits are covered. These pics are going to go up on this blog/my FB/online, etc. so keep that in mind when you take it. I’m not going to post amateur porn here, people. This is supposed to be fun.

4) Send your photo to dina {at} dinajames {dot} com with the subject line “#TeamBlankie Photo.” Send your pic in the body of the mail – NOT AS AN ATTACHMENT. I get a lot of spam and I don’t want your photo to be caught in the filter or deleted. Also, I don’t open attachments, so if you want your photo up on the blog with your blankie, send me a photo the proper way! Also, by sending me your photo, you’re giving me permission to post it on my blog, so be aware of that before you send it! If you’re okay with me using your photo for a possible calendar or something creative later, tell me that too.

5) Tell me when you send the photo how you want to be credited on the blog. If you have a link you want me to include, I will do so. I’ll write something like “This is _____. S/he writes ____, and can be found at _____.” Then I’ll include some clever/witty/evil comment about your awesome.

If I get enough photos, I may think about putting together a calendar for people to either buy or maybe just for fun. Who knows where this could go! I need photos first!

Come on, writer peeps! Let’s have some fun with our blankies!

EDIT: There’s no deadline for these pics, really. Whenever you get a minute would be cool. We’ll just keep this thing going however long we want to! I think two weeks ought to do for word to filter around and fun pics to start rolling in, so whenever!

Tuesday the 25th I went up to Powell’s at Cedar Hills to attend the joint signing of Lilith Saintcrow, Ilona Andrews, and Devon Monk.

I got there nearly an hour early. It’s a two hour drive into Portland for me, and I was going to be arriving during the tail end of traffic. Plus the weather driving in from the Oregon Coast on a two-lane highway known for some of the most horrific and deadly accidents in the state wasn’t all that great, but I was determined to go.

And wow, was I glad I showed up when I did. Nearly an hour early and already the first three rows of seats were filled, and the rest were filling. Soon it was hot and stuffy with all the people there, but I didn’t care. There were three authors of my genre about to speak and sign!

I met up with my wonderful friend and fellow writer Skye Forbes and her tall spouse, over whom I shall not perv on my blog (except to say that he has really nice eyes…that’s not very pervy, is it? Let’s just say Skye is a lucky lady.). We sat and talked and saw some people we knew (Meljean Brook was there to support her fellow writers! She’s awesome, everyone, just so you know.) and talked more, then it was time for the writers to do some talking.

There was a Q&A (remember, this was just an appearance and signing, so no one read excerpts or gave any spoilers for upcoming works, don’t worry!) and then a giveaway/raffle of some swag, then the signing itself.

You’re wondering what my being evil has to do with all this, aren’t you? Well…I’ll tell you.

In addition to books for each author to sign, I brought evil gift bags.

I ransacked each author’s blog/site for stuff about them I didn’t already know.

(I also cornered Lili on her Twitter to ask her about her particular preferences for a gift I had planned for her under the guise of acquiring knowledge of how different coffee blends taste. Everything I said was true, Lili! I don’t know these things! I drink tea! Yes, I owned a coffee shop once, but just because I know how to make different coffee drinks and brew different blends doesn’t mean I know what they taste like! And I can’t ask my mother the coffee hound, because though she is a mega-coffee freak and weird about her coffee, if it resembles a coffee-like substance (i.e. Folgers, Maxwell House, Yuban), she’ll drink it. A remnant left over from her Army days. (Yes, my mother wore combat boots, and I’m very proud of that fact, thank you!) Even though she knows what “good coffee” tastes like and will grind her own beans in her expensive bean-grinding timer-capable coffee pot I bought her, she’ll still make a cup of instant. Why? Why?

Besides, now I know for research purposes and got to be evil at the same time. Two birds, one stone and all that. Anyway, I digress.)

Back to the eviltry. So I used my powers for evil here.

Ilona Andrews is actually two people – Ilona and her husband Andrew (who goes by Gordon just to make things easy). Ilona likes knitting and Gordon likes action figures and comics. Also, they have dogs that I want to hug, and I’m a complete animal person, so in their gift bag I put knitting things for Ilona, a treat from Harry & David for Gordon (I know jack about comic and action figures, and I’m sorry, I went the Man Route and gave him food. Yes, I know. Shut up. It was GOOD FOOD!), and treats for the pups. Yes, I spoil other people’s pets in addition to my own.

Lili Saintcrow is an awesome woman and brilliant writer. I can’t say enough cool things about her. She ROCKS. She also loves coffee and has recently had hair issues in addition to starting rock climbing. Well, what would you do with that information? I put hair things, a bandanna and some good locally-roasted coffee in her gift bag.

Also, on Twitter, there’s a little in-joke between me, Lili, and a couple other writers about evil cupcakes. I am in charge of evil cupcakes.

Well, again? What would you do with that?

I, being evil and in charge of cupcakes, brought Lili a dozen evil cupcakes. No, I did not make them myself. But that does not make them any less evil.

I surprised the ever-loving Hell out of Lili with those, and THAT, my friends, is what makes me evil. The look on her face was priceless when she realized I was “THAT DINA!”, and my place as Evil Gothic Goddess was assured. I love you, Lili. You’re the best.

On to Devon.

I don’t know a great deal about Devon (pronounced “De-VON”, not “Devin”). Her books are in my TBR (to be read) pile, and all I know about her is she’s a local awesome writer and I have a short story in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2 with her.

This did not stop me from making her an Evil Gift Bag. Devon also likes to knit, so I put some knitting things in her bag as well.

Let’s get one thing straight. I know next to nothing about knitting, but I was assured by both Devon and Ilona that the things I’d chosen for their Evil Gift Bags were actual, usable, knitty-crafty things.

So there you have it. I got to be evil, I had books signed by all four wonderful writers, had a great time with conversation and meeting people, and was – for the most part – social. No beings were harmed in the event of Dina being out of and away from her Lair.

I know. I’m impressed as well. But there were evil cupcakes that needed delivering.

Then I drove home, two hours in the car, on that two-lane dangerous highway in the dark, through the rain and fog. I got home about midnight.

It was SO WORTH IT. So much evil fun, it’s taken me three days to recover and post this.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Here are some pics. Sorry for the messy posting – I’m still getting used to this blog thing. I’ll put them on FB too, just because I’m evil that way.

A Panel of Awesome

Lili Has An Itch?

Happy Authors

This is a no-frills recipe post because I’m still busy and if I don’t do this now I’ll forget to do it entirely, and then @jimsissy will be sad and people at summer BBQs will be sober, and we can’t have either one of those.

So! I give you:

Dina’s Drunken Fruit Salad (for those age 21+):

You will need:

1) A very large bowl in which to both make and transport your huge salad.

2) Fruit of your choice (the more the better, the seasonal the better). I generally use:
- Apples
- Oranges (regular Sunkist, not mandarin)
- Bananas
- Strawberries
- Grapes (seedless, red or green or both)
- Pineapple (fresh, not canned, but canned will work if you can’t get fresh)
- Pears
- Kiwi

3) Optional sides (don’t put these in the salad as they either get all gross or people don’t like them):
- Chopped pecans
- Small marshmallows

4) A large bottle of COINTREAU.

Here’s how it’s done:

A) Chop/segment all of your fruit into edible, bite-sized pieces. Remove seeds and pith and all the other nasty bits. Pluck the grapes from the stems, etc.

B) Set aside two of your oranges – you’re going to need the juice. (You can also use limes in this place, but oranges are better in my opinion.

C) Prepare all the fruit (except the bananas if you’re using them) and put it in your bowl.

D) Squeeze the juice of your two oranges you set aside into a bowl, and slice the bananas into the juice. Make sure they get a nice coating of juice (this prevents them from turning brown immediately – they make a powder you can get in the canning aisle – ascorbic acid (Vit C) powder – but this works just as well for your purposes since people are going to eat this soon and you’re not preserving it for long). You can also use lime juice or lemon or even pineapple (any citrus really), but I find it tastes best with the fresh-squeezed orange juice.

Let the slices soak in your orange juice for a few minutes, making sure each slice gets a good coating on both sides.

E) Pour the banana slices and orange juice over the fruit in the bowl. Mix well with two big spoons.

F) Once the salad is mixed, get your bottle of Cointreau.
- Open it and pour at least a cup of Cointreau over the fruit.
- Mix your salad up again with the spoons, coating all the pieces with the liqueur.
- Pour in another cup of Cointreau.
- Mix until all the bits are coated.

G) Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour before taking it to serve to your BBQ patrons. It tastes just fine fresh, but the “marinating” makes it even better.

H) Make a warning sign/label, stating that this fruit salad is NOT FOR CHILDREN/HAS ALCOHOL IN IT. A lot of people either 1) don’t drink or 2) don’t want their kids to drink, and this fruit salad is the first thing parents want to give their kids because it’s “just fruit” and “good for them”. So, if there are going to be small humans at the function at which you serve this salad, POST A WARNING.

I) Serve your marshmallows and nuts on the side so people can garnish their fruit salad as they wish.

A note on variance: There are loads of other fruits you can put in this salad. Watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, cherries, all kinds of berries (FYI – blackberries and raspberries ROCK in this salad), different oranges, different apples, different pears, etc. The only thing is, it’s best to use FRESH fruit, not canned (except pineapple if you can’t get a fresh one), and use the juice of fresh citrus to keep the apples and bananas from turning brown.

J) Sit back and enjoy the BBQ, and the comments people make about “that gorgeous fruit salad”. It will be a hit and you’ll be asked to make it for summer social functions repeatedly. (Possibly some winter ones, too, but it’s harder to make good fruit salad in the winter, and I have a different specialty that’s requested for those events.)

This is a great summer recipe for a lot of reasons. Loads of the fruits are in season, and if you have a local farmer’s market like I do, you can get a lot of fruit for not that much money. It generally has something in it that will appeal to everyone.

My only problem is finding a big enough bowl lately to make and serve it in.

Enjoy!

1. Depression – So, I haven’t exactly been what could be called “clinically depressed”. I’ve been more…apathetic. Morose. All right, let’s call it what it is – I’ve been lazy. Well, no, not really that, either. To quote Office Space, “It’s not that I’m lazy; it’s that I just don’t care.”

I think that’s called “apathy”, right? Yeah. Anyway. What’s been going on with me lately to make me depressed/apathetic? Nothing really. Just…one of those moods. I think part of it has to do with the weather. It’s getting all sunny and summery and normally you’d think this would make people happy.

But I’m not normal now, am I?

Despite having grown up in sunny Arizona and a desert-dweller by nature, summer is the most annoying season for me. I don’t like the tourists or the humidity here in Oregon, and the sun here is just that when it comes out. Sun. Light. Sunlight. It’s just there, without any of the Arizona warmth/bake-into-your-bones heat behind it. Here the sun (when it comes out) is just annoying.

Weather aside, I’ve just been phenomenally apathetic about most things, preferring to read, play online games and watch my Netflix than do anything resembling my writing.

“Loss of interest in pleasurable activities” is a sign of depression, right? Well…there you go.

Though I wouldn’t say I’ve “lost interest” in my writing. I’m still interested. I still have ideas and outlines and plans. I’m just…on a staycation, I guess. My characters too. They’re all just sitting around, doing what they like to do best when they’re not dictating to me.

Anyway. So yeah. I’ve been – whatever. Let’s call it “anti-social”. That’s a good, all-purpose word for how I’ve been behaving lately. I’m hiding from the world and haven’t want to talk to anyone, in this world or my own little one. So there. This is slowly changing, but we’ll see. I mean, I’m blogging, right?

2. #Dietgame – Yeeeeeeeeaaaaah…. Um. Well. Okay, I’ll be honest here. My apathy of the first item up there? Yeah. That’s included #dietgame. I admit to being wholly discouraged the other week when I weighed myself and the number wasn’t as low as I wanted it to be despite hard work and “being good”, so I went totally defiant and just said “screw this”. And um…it kind of…screwed it. I’m back on the horse today after about two weeks of being completely uncaring about anything I put in my mouth (Look, I have a not-so-secret addiction to French fries, all right? Usually I make them at home, but sometimes a girl just needs drive-thru French fries!).

The point here? I’ve put on weight. Like…I’m not only back to where I started 9 weeks ago, but I added a couple more pounds on top of it. Yeah. I totally screwed any progress I’d made. I kind of feel bad about that now, which means I’m coming out of the whole apathy/”I don’t care, screw it” thing. I don’t beat myself up for my learning experiences (I don’t make mistakes – I have “learning experiences”), because there’s no point in lamenting what has already been done. Just don’t do it again and go from where you were. I can’t go back and not do what I did to my diet. All I can do now is say, “well, that was dumb” and make better choices from now on.

This is not to say I’m not going to backslide or ignore the drive-thru every time it calls my name. I’ll just ignore it most of the time. If you ignore what your body wants all the time, you just make it unhappy, and then it does evil things in retaliation. At least mine does.

So yeah. That’s where I’m at. I’ve gained three pounds in the last two weeks. Let’s not do that again, huh?

3. Furbrats – Little Ill Cat (Jinx the cat with chronic renal failure, aka “kidney failure”) had her blood test last week and is holding steady. We’re really glad for this. There was a minor change in her kidney enzyme levels, but that’s to be expected in a cat with her condition. She’s doubled her weight since she got so sick last year (and for her, gaining weight is a GOOD thing!), and is doing well. Evil Bitch Cat (Punky) got her geriatric exam at the same time (because she’ll be 10 here in a couple months and she’s been acting a little weird) and came back with flying colors – with one exception. She had a little bladder infection, so it’s been fun giving her orange antibiotic drops every evening. And by “fun” I mean I get to play “How many scratches did I get tonight?”.

Oh well. It’s at least reassuring that her weirdness is just her being a freak and not anything actually physically wrong with her. The vet says she’s just “mellowing in her old age”.

I think the Evil Bitch is being strange just to freak me out because she hates me. No, I’m serious. This cat hates me. And everyone else except her Daddy. There’s a big red flag on her chart at the vet’s office as a warning to everyone that she’s a monster in cat’s fur. A healthy monster, though, so she’ll be around to torment and terrorize everyone for another ten years or so. Or so the vet says.

Joy of joys.

4. Travel – Had a wonderful lunch in Portland with a fellow writer and my agent and my agent’s brother. That was awesome and fun and I enjoyed it despite the long drive for me on a two-lane highway for the majority of the way. I try to get into Portland at least once a month or so because they have Powell’s and Jake’s, and I love them both intensely. Had a great time being all writerly and hanging out. Great drive there and back with the weather behaving for once.

5. News about Writing – I…really don’t have any. I may here shortly, but for now, I honestly have nothing to share on the writing front. I’m working on a couple projects, but nothing slated for publication just yet. The good news is, my agent likes my idea and wants to see the project when it’s readable, but other than that, I really don’t have anything more for you just yet, and rather than wait until I do have something to share, I give you this post.

Which pretty much just said “I’m fat, lazy, and have nothing to report.”

I suppose I could have just said it that way and saved a little over 1000 words. Oh, well.

Yeah.

1. #dietgame on Twitter – for those who don’t know what #dietgame is, see my previous post on the subject. The weeks are from Monday to Sunday, and this Monday will start the final third of the twelve week round. REPEAT – MONDAY MAY 10th STARTS WEEK 9 of this round of #dietgame. For those who are playing, when you give your reports, you’re reporting on the previous week’s results. i.e. this week’s report is over how well you did or how badly you sucked LAST week. I have a spreadsheet with the reports listed, which I had to reformat today because it was getting too big. Rest assured I have it straightened out now, and some of you are SLACKING OFF BIGTIME. Just because I’m not around to kick your ass doesn’t give you any excuse to LOLLYGAG!

We get new players every round, so if you’re reading this and want to join, you’re welcome to start playing with us during any week. Just follow the rules and you’re on your way!

As for personal progress on #dietgame…let’s just say I’m nowhere near my goal. What muffins? They were on sale! And I gave the cake away! There was no way I was going to eat more than one tiny piece of that. Costco is so wasted on me.

Muffins aside, despite still being mostly good about my food choices, I’ve been backsliding/going the opposite way, which I intend to remedy immediately. Why am I backsliding, you ask? Well, that leads us to –

2. TMI – I’ve addressed TMI in one of my vlogs, and those who are familiar with my idiosyncrasies know that I’m not a real sharer-type. This is not to say that I don’t ask for help if I’m truly in need, but I generally don’t whine or even mention anything that goes on in my life that anyone could possibly offer sympathy for. There are exceptions to this. My animals, always, are an exception. The moment anything is wrong with my babies, I broadcast it. Things though like, say, a death in the family or major medical diagnosis or injury or whatever – those things I keep to myself. This is not to say that “when Dina is quiet you should start worrying”, because it’s not like that. I just don’t want people offering me their sympathies, which is why anyone would share something like a death in the family, right? To let people know they’re hurting and need comforting? Yeah, I don’t do that. I deal with things my way, and that’s, for the most part, alone.

And I like it that way.

I know, I get in a lot of shit for doing this. People, friends and family, get angry with me for dealing/coping with issues on my own/for leaving them out of the loop. “If you’d said something/if I’d known, I would have _____!”

Yeah. Exactly. That’s WHY I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t want them to respond at all, let alone like that.

I’m weird this way and I’m trying to be better about it. I’m fiercely independent, to a fault. To my own detriment, sometimes. I have a hard time handling compassion and compliments and nice things. Criticism? No problem. Criticize away. Insults? Go for it. I’m meaner than you are, I promise, and I’m secure in my existence. Tough I can handle. Compliments? Yeah…working on that.

What does that say about my psychological make-up, I wonder? Anyway, that’s fodder for a later ponder.

Next!

3. What does my mini-rant about TMI have to do with anything? Well, I’ve been busy. That’s the explanation. The fact that I’m even attempting to acknowledge that I haven’t been as around as I usually am shows actual concern and involvement on my part, I think. Rather than waiting for someone to eventually realize that I’m not up to my usual evil (and believe me, this gets noticed – I’m not sure this is a compliment. “Sure is quiet around here…wait…where’s Dina?”), I’m just posting it here. I’ve been busy. With what? TMI/personal stuff. I’ve said before, writers have lives. I have friends and family and concerns about bills and have to go grocery shopping and do laundry like everyone else, and sometimes “real” life gets in the way of online life.

Which brings me to –

4. “Real” vs. “online” life.

I’m one of these rare people that doesn’t have an “online persona”. Who I am online is exactly who you’ll see if you ever meet me. I make no bones about the fact that I’m rude, uncouth, tactless, and evil (mostly evil). I’m also (I will reluctantly admit before someone else calls me on it – you know who you are)…gah, I can’t even say it. All right! All right! I’m…kindofniceandlookoutforpeopleanddonatetothingsandcaresortofaboutcertainissues.

There. I said it. Before Skyla can accuse me of being all nice and stuff. I’m evil! EVIL I SAY!

Mostly.

But back to the subject. Real vs. online life. I realize that, while I do play a little more on the “evil” side of me a bit for laughs (it’s funny ’cause it’s true!), most people understand my evil sense of humor, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. I’ve “met” some really, really awesome people via Twitter and Facebook, and I’m constantly amazed at the power of both things.

There are “real people” behind those usernames. While that can be annoying at times, like with pirates and trolls, most are just genuine people out to make a connection with other genuine people. I wish more douchebags would keep that in mind when they post things that make them look like the douchebags they are.

Unless they’re going for that…I don’t know…

And finally –

5. Just because I’ve been busy does not mean I haven’t been writing. On the contrary. I’m working, just not on anything that has a publication date set. And speaking of publication, I don’t have anything new to share with you all at the moment. All Wounds is still out on submission, and the submission process can take a long time. Don’t give up hope! I’ll let those patiently waiting know what’s up the moment I have anything I can share with you.

For those on the mailing list, there’s a newsletter coming out soon, I promise. I’ll be vlogging soon too…as soon as I have something to vlog about. I can barely come up with five things to BLOG about. A vlog takes a little more thought and effort.

So that’s all I have for you for now.

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

I’ve never done the “5 Things Make A Post” thing, but for this entry, I’ll give it a go.

1. The Staircase of Doom – it’s coming along. They’re doing what they call “finish work” right now, and I have to say, it’s gorgeous. Just beautiful. Yes, I’ve lost more than 50% of that room/area, but it’s so worth it, not only for the ability to take laundry downstairs, but because there’s actual ROOM downstairs now to use properly. Pics later when it’s done.

2. Painting – it’s been decided by me and the husband that once the contractors are done with the Staircase of Doom that that room (and the one now revealed/exposed below it) deserves a new coat of paint. It’s…well…an ill-chosen “tomato bisque” (I take no responsibility for this color choice, I assure you), as you can see from the photos, and as the new staircase is a beautiful light oak and the room is already empty/catproofed/prepped for painting, we should just go ahead, knuckle under and paint the thing. It won’t take long. Maybe a day or so. Then we’ll have a new staircase, new painted walls, and if I can get the proper set and convince the electrician to help, maybe a couple new lights in that room. That would rock. So I’ll be busy with all this next week.

3. Writing – I know a lot of people are waiting to hear about what’s happening with All Wounds – thank you all for your wonderful notes; you’ll hear any news as soon as I do/can tell you anything, I promise! – but I really don’t have anything new to share right now. I’m writing as always; characters don’t let me rest no matter what’s going on around me. I wish I had something more to share with you here, but I really don’t. Sorry! I’ll have a newsletter coming out before the end of the month, and if you want to be on the mailing list for that, sign up here. Hint: if you’ve already been getting my semi-regular e-mail newsletter, you should be getting this new one. I’ve signed up for a new program/service because doing it myself/my way wasn’t working out the way I wanted to, so this is a new thing. I’ll post here when I’ve sent the newsletter and you can tell me if you signed up and didn’t get it. As I said, it’s a new service, so I’ve only tested it once. It worked fine then, but I haven’t tested the “sign up” part. We’ll see how that goes!

4. #dietgame – We’re in the middle of week four at the moment. (For those wondering, the weeks go from Monday to Sunday, as we started on Monday. We’ll end Sunday, June 6, then start another three-month round on Monday, June 7.) I’m down a total of four pounds at the moment, and my jeans are starting to loosen, so I’m happy there. I know I could probably do a lot better than I am, but I’m doing a lot better than I was with my habits and eating, so I’m going to call this a win. There’s still time to join us for the remaining two months of this round, so if you’re interested, check out this post for the rules and how to play. Pay attention to the warnings, as this might be a game, but it’s not for hand-holding or sympathy. There are other groups to join for that kind of thing. This is tough-love “encouragement”, and if you can’t handle that, you’ve got no business wanting or trying to play #dietgame.

5. Vlogging – one is forthcoming, I promise. I’m not sure what I’ll talk about, but I’m sure a topic will present itself. I’m open to questions/suggestions if you all want to contribute to the next vlog. You can message me on Twitter, or leave a comment here and we’ll see what comes up for the next vlog.

There you are. Five things make a post. The end.

Cheers,
DJ

And by that I mean “I’ve gained a few pounds”.

Nothing major. Nothing in the double-digits or anything. But, as my jeans were already tighter than I am comfortable with, this does not bode well. (And the last round was declared invalid due to extenuating circumstances on the parts of all involved.*)

Also, I intend to attend Dragon*Con over Labor Day weekend, and at this point, the costumes I wish to take with me will not fit over my expanding bottom.

Hence, a new round of #dietgame. Start date for this round is Monday, March 15, 2010 (this should give you time to not only get used to the idea, but to clean out your fridge/pantry/go shopping for healthier choices, join the gym, etc.), ending Sunday, June 6, 2010 for a 12 week (or 3 month, if that works better in your head) round.

What is this #dietgame of which I speak, you may ask? Well, here. I’m so recycling this post from the previous ones on the subject.

Welcome to your doom.

Good. Now put down that donut and go clean out your pantry before I kick your ass.

So there you are.

Cheers,
DJ

*All right, we’re pretending it never happened. HAPPY?

Taking a hiatus from online things until I get offline things under control. This could take awhile, hence this note.

Cheers all,

DJ