Former Ramblings of an Insane, Lesbian, Book Writing Crip
Check these places out:
Sidewalk chalk art that’ll blow your mind.
Parts of the wacky BBspot site:
Google Moon – fantastic mapping of the moon, much like the Google Earth program. Oh, and zoom all the way in for a bit of geek humor.
I got all this after reading Georganna’s post which led me to an English Rules post.
For more of my Procrastination/Avoidance tips, check out the list (as sorted by keyword from the Thot Cosmos page)
My mouse is dying. It has been for a while but I think the chemo is no longer working.
I actually opened it up a few weeks ago, to see if there was something loose or whatever. The problem is the left button won’t work unless it is tapped at just the right angle and when it is just the right mood. I thought maybe there was a spring not set right anymore.
The inside of a mouse, or in my case, trackball, is rather interesting. The platform where my fingers rest to make a button click simply rest onto little switches. They rest by way of a structure molded into the case. It looks like a capital H. The cross bar is what contacts the tiny little button on the switch.
The problem? The cross bar actually has a small groove in it from wear! Can ya believe it? You’d think I used my mouse a lot or something. It is such a small little groove, yet just enough. Unless the button is pressed at just the right angle, it doesn’t push the switch far enough down. There was really nothing to fix. It was far too small to add any plastic putty or glue to build it up. Since it is part of the case, I can’t even switch it with the less used right button.
So I put it back together and have tolerated it since then, making sure I have my finger in just the right place. But my patience has worn out and, after almost losing a chunk of text I was copy/paste-ing, I’ve had enough. So I begin my search for another mouse/trackball.
I have long been a fan of Logitech and think their trackballs are the only ones that make sense. As for mice, puh-leeze! Why are these archaic things still in use? They make them small, they even make them with retractable cords, but ya still gotta have a flat surface to move them on! And, instead of my arm laying perfectly still and content, the whole arm has to move just to make the damn cursor move! Makes no freakin’ sense to me. Then there is the Kensington Trackballs. Might work to move through a document but useless for even simple gaming.
Okay, where was I? Yes, trackballs and Logitech. I currently have the Trackman Wheel. Prior to that, I had a Marble Mouse, which is still in use on the desktop. The one before that was similar to the Trackman Wheel, although it had no wheel and was HUGE. Sigh, I loved that thing.
I am considering the cordless version of the Trackman Wheel, although I am afraid it will develop the same problem. And at 50 bucks, it damn well better not!
They also have a cordless Optical Trackman and I like it’s looks and lack of top buttons. I haven’t been able to see this one in person so I am hesitant to buy it online.
Infogrip, an awesome way cool company, has a trackball called the Evolution.
Office Organix, another awesome way cool company, has the Renaissance Mouse, which is actually more of a joystick. It is very similar to the 3M Ergonomic Mouse.
Enablemart, you guessed it, another awesome way cool company, has the Trackball Fingermouse. Different fer shur.
In all of those sites, they sell the cordless Trackman Wheel and in most they have the corded version. I agree it is ergonomic, but is it going to last a hard user like me?
(For more on keyboards, check out my article in Vision!)
I’ve been trying to not expound on my opinions on the current political situation here in the US. Up until tonight, I think I’ve been doing a good job of keeping my alleged mouth shut. But I just cannot pass this one up:
Televangelist Calls for Chavez’ Death
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) – Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson called on Monday for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him a “terrific danger” to the United States.
Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition of America and a former presidential candidate, said on “The 700 Club” it was the United States’ duty to stop Chavez from making Venezuela a “launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism.”
The article ends with:
“We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability,” Robertson said.
“We don’t need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator,” he continued. “It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.”
Part of me wants to laugh my ass off. Another part of me is rather scared. Robertson scares me enough already, mainly because of the political power he has. But this is hopefully something he will regret saying when the less extreme Republicans to take a giant step away from him.
Have any of y’all ever watched this 700 Club? I watch it sometimes, just to keep an eye on the enemy. They sit there in their high priced suits and dresses, surrounded by decadence, then rattle on about the poor and the hungry, usually blaming the situation on Democrats and gays. They talk about the fighting in Iraq as if they were there, part of the troops. Armchair Generals are just as odd as real Generals.
Okay, I think I have released my inner pressure. I feel better. I can perhaps sleep now, having got that out. One thing is for sure, I ain’t ever ever ever gonna have political crap in my writing. I’d have to research it and learn more than I want to.
Ever had one of those days? You know, where, like, nothing goes right?
I didn’t have one of those today. I just had ye plain old blech days. It’s not that everything did go right, nothing went wrong either. Just nothing happened that wasn’t blech. Didn’t feel good. Didn’t feel bad either. Didn’t get my errands run. Barely moved off the couch.
I was lazy today. But I also didn’t care that I was lazy.
Ah, never mind. Let’s just all agree I had a blech day and move on from here, shall we?
Did get some writing done tonight though. Just over 1K on BG2. I stared at it earlier today but couldn’t get it going. I had the two MCs dressed and ready to go, but I hadn’t a clue where they were going. So I sent them on a walk and then to dinner. That’ll work.
I stared some at two other WIPs but that’s as far as they got. I need to get some progress done on one of those but, nothing really wanted to get done.
Tomorrow I have errands I have got to get done. I’m gonna take the dawg and the laptop and head out. Jo needs to get out of the house too.
Synthesiser pioneer Dr Moog dies
Synthesiser pioneer Dr Robert Moog has died at his North Carolina home aged 71, four months after being diagnosed with brain cancer.
Born in the New York district of Queens, his instruments were used by The Beatles and The Doors among others.
Dr Moog built his first electronic instrument – a theremin – aged 14 and made the MiniMoog, “the first compact, easy-to-use synthesiser”, in 1970.
He won the Polar prize, Sweden’s “music Nobel prize”, in 2001.
Later in the article:
Organiser Charles Carlini said: “He brought electronic music to the masses and changed the way we hear music.”
Dr Moog had received both radiation treatment and chemotherapy to help combat his brain disease. He left a wife, Ileana, and five children.
A public memorial celebration is planned for Friday at the Orange Peel Club in Asheville, North Carolina.
Dr. Moog lived on Lorna’s mail route here in Leicester.
Look around
and you will find
what you did not
think to look for
Smell the air
its essence real
enough to be
seen and touched too
The war came
the people died
the soldiers fought
war based on lies
Three planes crashed
a ship sank too
lightning found scouts
Gaza dozed flat
From ARRL News:
Amateur Radio Awareness Day to Feature Emergency Power Operating Event
NEWINGTON, CT, August 20, 2005–What makes Amateur Radio unique is the ability to communicate with one another anywhere in the world–and even in orbit–without having to rely on any outside infrastructure whatsoever. Hams can even do this without even being plugged into the wall socket. Experienced radio amateurs take this capability for granted, but the general public is far less aware of it. So, an Emergency Power Operating Event (EPOE) on Amateur Radio Awareness Day, Saturday, September 17, will highlight Amateur Radio’s ability to communicate worldwide without commercial mains, the Internet or a cellular telephone system.
“What better way to mark Amateur Radio Awareness Day than by calling attention to this unique capability?” says ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ. “It is particularly appropriate since September is the Department of Homeland Security’s National Preparedness Month.”
As I begin working on my query letter again, as well as the synopsis/precis/whatever, I search around for ideas and pointers. I keep coming across the idea that publishers are becoming (or have been all along) more interested in the marketability of the author, almost as much as the book itself.
I am not marketable. I am a fat blond Southern lesbian who has a disability. If I were black, I think I would have almost all the major minorities covered.
And about that disability… I am also becoming increasingly aware that if I sell a book, I will have to promote it. Not a big deal, unless one remembers how little energy I have to begin with. Am I capable of sitting at a table for book signings? What if I arrive at said bookstore and it is not wheelchair accessible? After all, the ADA was signed into federal law only fifteen years ago. (insert sarcasm)
Then there is the issue of the income. As a person with a disability and declared as such by the SSA, I am only allowed to earn so much outside of my current benefits, else then I am capable of being gainfully employed. There is no plausible way that I could be considered capable of being gainfully employed, at least in terms of a 40hr week job. Not unless the job would allow me to use a couch; an accessible keyboard, computer, desk, workspace that can be used sitting, reclining, or supine position; an office so I can shut the door when I get my sudden headaches; time off during the day for PT appts, Dr. appts., and various testing that may come up; and never have the concept of deadlines in mind when it comes to me being able to get something done. All of this depends on the interpretation of ‘reasonable accomondation’.
If I earn a royalty check once a blue moon, they then would most likely cut my benefits for that month and the months around it. They may ask me to repay for some of the services that they (Medicare/Medicaid) paid during that time period. I would be required to pay for my own medication (currently over $600 a month) and my own health care. Then the time for the royalty would be up and I’d have to file to get everything reinstated. It is a cycle that I am not sure I am interested in undertaking. They now have the ‘Ticket To Work‘ program, but I don’t think it applies here.
I just don’t have the energy.
Yeah, sure, yesterday I wrote over 4000 words. So did my on-line friend Kait. She did hers during and after her work, her classes, and the joy of being a pregnant woman. A post this size usually takes me up to about 30 minutes to type out, not including corrections (I cant’ sepll).
So see, do I really want to have a book published? Do I really want that level of committment that I may not be capable of meeting? Would a publisher even want me?
Below is me, about four years ago. I can’t turn my head that far anymore. And my poor wheelchair is not that pretty now.
(click image for larger version)
Did some good work on BG2 today! For one, the other day I basically started it over. I reused a chunk of the beginning then redid the rest. And it is feeling much better now. Sometimes just talking it over aloud with Lorna gets it out of my head enough that I can see the problem/issue.
BG3 is just sitting there, boring me to tears. I don’t know where I am going with this. I mean, I know the goal is to get Harri and Liz together by the end. I just don’t know exactly how I am going to do that. I thought I did but once I started writing it down, it really just fizzled.
I haven’t worked on Lea and Sarah and a while. I feel the urge to get the Butch Girls books done so that I can, well, get them done! I feel that Lea and Sarah are going to be a major jewel in my writing crown. I like them tremendously! But every time I start to work on them, I start thinking of those others that ‘should’ be done first, since they have a greater chance of finding a publisher.
I worked some on a short story I’ve had in my head for a while. It came out good so far. It feels good just getting it out of that dark and scary place. 😀
I’ve got the urge to restart the novel that the short story accepted by Muscadine Lines was taken from. But no, I am resisting. I got three, no, four irons in the fire right now.
And that SciFi I keep researching, but never writing, ought to start getting out of my head too. But again, I am resisting the urge.
Here’s the list, more for my own use than yours I suppose.
Then there is the nonfiction novel I keep poking and the three short stories I also have sorta kinda going.
I have had many nonfiction articles published. When I was in college oh so long ago, I had some poems and some lousy short stories published in a college journal. But that was, well, oh so long ago. (ghads! 21 years!!??)
But now, as an adult and a wanna be writer, I am getting my first fiction published!!! Can ya believe it!?!?
In July, Muscadine Lines, a Southern Journal published an essay I wrote. I figured it was a fluke or the editor, Kathy Rhodes, was being nice to me. But now she’s accepted a short story! She says she likes it! Wow.
Is this what it will feel like, sort of, when (not if) I get a book accepted for publication? If so, then I need to always make sure I am sitting down when I open letters from publishers.
I didn’t think getting a fiction piece accepted would feel this way. I’ve been doing nonfiction for so long, I figured it would feel the same. But this is awesome.
The piece will be in the November issue of Muscadine lines. Don’t worry, I’ll remind you. 😀