%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |  Daily notes and timed freewrites but mostly my blog |
|
All comments are encouraged, I am interested in what others think and feel along the topics I choose to write about. Highlighted entries: [#732826] "In Memory"       ![Merit Badge in Supportive
[Click For More Info]
Thanks so much for being a great support and wonderful friend *^*Heart*^*](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Supportive-650.gif) ![Merit Badge in Fantasy
[Click For More Info]
Member of the Month - September 2008
[Link To Item #1340208]
Congratulations! *^*Bigsmile*^*](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Fantasy-600.gif) ![Merit Badge in G. o. T.
[Click For More Info]
Thank you for participating in [Link To Item #1157596] 2014 competition and for winning 3rd Place! *^*Trophyb*^* As a group, you guys did an amazing job! You should definitely be proud of yourself for all your hard work. *^*Glass*^* Here's to a successful year and I hope to see you in 2015! Cheers! ~ Gaby](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-G=46_o=46_T=46-1970219_14.gif) ![Merit Badge in Dark Dreamscapes
[Click For More Info]
Thank you for you participation with [Link To Item #1157596] and for supporting [Link To Item #dreamscapes] as a member of House of Baratheon.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Dark_Dreamscapes-1982963_14.gif) ![Merit Badge in Short Stories
[Click For More Info]
Thank you for your participation in [Link To Item #1157596] with written pieces. Whether you wrote poetry or a short story, doesn't really matter. I just want you to know that I appreciate your time, effort and working with short deadlines. You did great! ~ Gaby](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/type-Short_Stories-2180.gif) ![Merit Badge in Generosity
[Click For More Info]
Thank you so much Dyrhearte for your generosity! May this merit badge inspires you to keep spreading the joy of giving.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Generosity-617.gif) ![Merit Badge in Writing
[Click For More Info]
A small gift for a fan, and a friend. Why? Because we are writers.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Writing-2180.gif) ![Merit Badge in Campfires
[Click For More Info]
Thank you for your steady participation in your campfire, as part of [Link To Item #1157596] ! You've shown courage and originality, and you've stepped up to the plate when it was needed. Kudos to you! *^*Thumbsup*^* You're one of the few who are receiving this special MB as a thank you for your teamwork. ~ Gaby](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/type-Campfires-2180.gif) ![Merit Badge in Good Deeds
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations, you won First Place in the March 2014 round of [Link To Item #gooddeeds] !](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/WDC-Good_Deeds.gif)  |
| Authors and their stories I enjoy...Most of these are found in my Personal Library Issac Asimov--The Robot Novels; Foundation and Empire Novels. Robert A Heinlein--Nearly every SciFi book he's written Arthur C. Clarke--Childhood's End, Rendevous With Rama, Prelude to Mars, and his short stories. Gordon R. Dickson--His Dorsai Novels James Blish--Cities in Flight Novels Frank Herbert--Dune Novels Andre Norton--Every Novel she's ever written (Although I don't have every one in my Library at this time) Mercedes Lackey--Heralds of Valdemar Series Anne McCaffrey--Pern Novels Marion Zimmer Bradley--Darkover Novels Stephen R. Donaldson--Thomas Covenant Series R.A.Salvatore--Dark Elf Novels Fred Saberhagen--The Lost Swords Novels Juliet E. McKenna--The Einarinn Tales Patricia Wrede--Magic and Malice; The Enchanted Forest Matthew Woodring Stover--Heart of Bronze Harry Harrison--Warriors of the Way; To The Stars Harry Harrison also wrote: Deathworld, Captive Universe, and The Stainless Steel Rat. I love his short story anthology War With The Robots. Stephen R. Lawhead--The Iron Lance A historical fiction based on one of the Crusades. Other authors and genre I have and read. I read historical fiction/romance a lot when I was younger. One of those books include The Persian Boy by Mary Renault. About Alexander the Great through a eunuch slave's eyes. Jean Auel's Earth's Children Series. I have several Mary Stewart novels including her version of Camelot; Crystal Cave, The last Enchantment, The Hollow Hills, and This Wicked Day. My Favorite Mark Twain book he wrote as Samuel Clemens, is titled My Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc My nonfiction library is extensive though I just use it for reference. Here are a few. H.W.E. Saggs' Civilization Before Greece and Rome; Tikva Frymer-Kensky's In The Wake Of The Goddess; Women, Culture, and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan Myth; King Arthur: A Military History by Michael Holms; Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan; The Druids by Peter Berresford Ellis; Arms and Armour in Antiquity and the Middle Ages by Charles Boutell; A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World? 3500B.C.--1603 A.D by Simon Schama; 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus by Charles C. Mann; Fighting Elite: Celtic Warrior 300 BC--AD 100 by Stephen Allen and Wayne Reynolds; Native American Hunting and Fighting Skills by Colin Taylor; Outdoor Survival Skills by Larry Dean Olsen (I have six wilderness survival books (including one Boy Scout Manual from the 1940's) though Mr. Olsen's book is the one I use the most. I also have dictionaries of history and timeline references. Then there's my library of Mythology and Legends around the world including, Russian, Celtic, Native American, Norse, Hawaiian, Greek, Roman, German, Egyptian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Bohemian, and India. My next buy will include African Myth and Legends. As you can tell I have a fascination for world pre-history and ancient world history before the domination of the Major religions {Islam, Christian, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Atheism). I love all of Human diversity before the melding of cultures. Unfortunately, Mankind as a whole never learns from history. If Mankind did we would have found a solution to our differences rather than resorting to war, genocide, matricide, patricide and all the other 'cides. For other genres I tend to get books on tape, rather than sit and read. Mystery/Suspense/Detective genres I have many John Grisham as well as Tom Clancy, John Sandford, Robin Cook, Jackie Collins, Tony Hillerman, and Patricia Cornwell. My collection of books on tape also include nonfiction, philosophy, biographies and autobiographys as well as some SciFi/Fantasy, classic collections (Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe and Louis L'Amour), adventure/action, and comedy. But by far, the majority of my library consists of my love of SciFi (first) and Fantasy (second). I once had all the Harry Potter Books as Audio Books. Seems I only have #6 The Half Blood Prince and #7 The Deathly Hallows, now. Silly me, I let other people borrow over the years and the first five audio books never made it back to my Library. I'm not sure who has what, but I know they either are still enjoying the stories or have themselves loaned the audios out to others. So It's all good  |
| Okay, My work week is 'behinded' me and I'm actually very surprised that except for my Thursday intentional tardiness, I 'behave-ed' myself.--Now I'm going to participate in MY Time. Which means a renewel of spirit through participation in this wonderful place of Authors, striving and accomplished. My son and his wife celebrate their 5th Wedding Anniversary this weekend. They are blessed with two sons (4 year old Tristan and just less than 2 years old Christopher). Anyway--I think it's five years--my sense of time isn't reliable these last few years. I had a wonderful conversation with *joycag* (one of our Sr. Mods.) and this is my response at the end of a series of e-mails within the last day or so. Set Up: Joy had told me that it is required for all Moderators to perform a minimum of 250 reviews per year as well as have other community involvment. (a forum, or contest, or something that benefits the community). She told me to enjoy my present Preferred staus, because as a yellow case I can enjoy all the benefits without the Obligations... My Response: LOL--Well, now you know how much out of touch I've been. The last time I was paying any attention to the developments of WdC was probably 2006. My last activity was in 2008 with The Fantasy Novel Workshop (which no longer exists) You were a Blue at that time, right? I have always logged onto the site, but my community awareness and involvement dropped to practically zero, nada, nothing. So on that note alone, I would have probably been demoted to preferred because I know I wasn't reviewing more than 10 times in a year. 250/year is a bit less than 5 reviews per week...That is if you don't procrastinate--leaves me out  I'd probably be trying to cram 249 reviews in the last 30 days of the year to make sure I got 251 for the year's total. So I will take your advice and definately enjoy my bright sunshiny case For a while anyway...I am getting to the age of thinking about what I plan to do for retirement. Retirement for me will probably be working 20-25 hours a week instead of 40. I don't mind earning the prestige if it will help me assist others and bring encouragement to those insecure newbies and not so newbie but still insecure, potentially great Authors. I know how much this site has helped me keep my sanity during some upsetting times as well as help me improve my writing. I found my 'voice' here; I can't ever repay that gift even if I live as long as Methusela. I'm just now regaining energy to stop taking and start giving back. And then I discovered Patrick aka *pabernardy8* What a jewel! Well I've got reponsatilities (in the words of 'Rug Rats') and I'm sure you do too. So we shall talk again, later.  Take care and may your road lead to only good places. Deb  I'm the writer I am today, only because of all the help I've received from other writers yesterday. ** Image ID #1988714 Unavailable ** Compassion and the effort to try and understand some thing that was not understood before is a step toward acceptance not only of others but most importantly of yourself. |
My creations--You can quote me on it--From 08-06-01 thru 12-09-02 These are a list of Quotes I created for my signature between the dates shown above. I found these in a folder I haven't looked at in years. I've come a long way on my personal journey. DyrHearte - Life is a painful experience for those of us who didn't duck. - It's all wind blown through the trees, all that is left to do is gather up the leaves. compulsive Dyr Otter Hearte - Some lessons once learned; we need not ever repeat. If a movie were made of my adolescence, no one under 18 would be allowed to see it. DyrHearte - Somehow, though the statistical odds were against it, I managed to choose a good father for my children. That was my first step in breaking the chain of abuse in my family. - No one can change who they are deep inside. But by accepting our core being we can stop hurting others and ourselves. I have stood alone in the emptiness of the room for so long and screamed that I am now afraid someone will hear me. With every small step forward, means I am just that much closer than where I stood before. While looking into the flames of a hot fire I can lose myself. It is the nature of fire to consume everything. - Compassion and the effort to try and understand some thing that was not understood before is a step toward acceptance not only of others but most importantly of yourself. Not used yet... -"In our lives we experience many loses, but the loss that impacts us the most is when we discover we are no longer innocent." |
| Here's a question to ask instead of, what is my favorite music or band? If you could start a new rock band, what would you name it? "Fight For Survival" A New Rock band aye? The name that sticks in my head tonight is "Fight For Survival" or as rock fans around the world will shorten to, "FFS." In a way that pretty well sums up my life energies. I like '80's metal bands so the heavy bass guitar and driving drum beat shows the defiance I feel toward what life has served on my plate. I guess in the end, I will go down screaming, and in my mind's ear I'm on key. (Everyone else will be plugging their ears, but I will think I did okay.) And what picture will find it's place on my anthology album (CD) cover? The image of defiance to the end with the Mouse flipping off the Hawk whose talons are just about to snag her. The main song will be, (This Meal Will Give You) A Belly Ache, followed by, You Only Thought You Won, and let us not forget the rock ballad, Smile Now (Because Later You will Get Yours) which went platinum at the height of FFS's popularity. Maybe I will have to write the songs and pay someone else to sing them so I can lipsink them and no one has to know I can't carry a tune in a bucket even to save my soul. Or, I can just shout out the lyrics in Headbanger fashion and watch all my fans in the mosh pit playfully trying to destroy each other. And with that thought and an evil grin I get ready for work...Have a great Day everyone. |
| Well, another weekend ending. Overall, I've had an enjoyable time of it, if not a very productive one. I managed to get some things organized and managed to confuse some other things. Yup, sounds typical. I rearranged the furniture in my portfolio. I hope it will prove easier to locate items of interests for the visitors not yet flocking to check things out. I have caught up somewhat on upgrading favorites to Fans and some of those who should have been favorites were boosted straight up to fandom. However, I still have a long list of Fan upgrades to catch up on. I hope the next couple weekends will see this list dwindle drastically. I will be peeking in on the doings before and after work through the week, but time isn't available to do more than one thing at a time. The weekends are when I get most of my 'want tos' accomplished. Wishing everyone to have a great week. |
| This last week I have received more merit badges than received during the last 12 years on WdC. WoW! For the Best Review in March 2014 submitted to Good Deeds for Cash ![Merit Badge in Endurance
[Click For More Info]
With this, I want to thank you for all your hard work and acknowledge the time you've put into [Link To Item #1157596] especially while doing reviews at Marathon speeds! I'm impressed! *^*Thumbsup*^* *^*Tophat*^* off to you for an incredibly successful mission! *^*Heart*^* ~ Gaby](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Endurance.gif) For writing four reviews over 1000 characters in length in an afternoon for the Game of Thrones Contest ![Merit Badge in Reviewing
[Click For More Info]
This badge celebrates your visually appealing, insightful reviews as selected by me for [Link To Item #1735780] Also, please accept this small honorarium for your efforts! Keep up the good work!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Reviewing-2180.gif) For writing five qualifying reviews posted on the public review page and noticed for the Art of Criticism Project For winning Third Place in the First Round of the Dark Dreamscapes Poetry Contest. ![Merit Badge in Kindhearted
[Click For More Info]
For your generosity to House Baratheon ... and for all you do to support the Dark Dreamscapes Group. You are appreciated!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Kindhearted.gif) For volunteering to help Judge Round Two of the Dark Dreamscapes Poetry Contest and donating gift points to help the contest. Well maybe not more than, but definately the most received in such a short period of time! The weekend started out gang busters. Now I need to get some reviewing accomplished.  Another ten qualifying reviews and I will get another badge from the Art of Criticism Project--I'm excited As far as my sleep schedule--that is all shot to hell. As you can see I am still up and wide awake and it is after 3am here. Good Grief! |
| Okay the experiment has taken a hit to the way left. I had the option of working today, which would have made up for missing last Monday. My 3am alarm went off about two minutes after I woke up. I got up and turned on my coffee pot, visited the bathroom, then laid back down. My alarm went off again at 4am. I laid in bed and contemplated if I wanted to go to work today and found my enthusiasm for the idea at an all time low. It wouldn't be for overtime and my weekend would be cut down a day. My attendance isn't mandatory, being an OT/make-up day option. It is my choice. Since my body was screaming for sleep, I went back to sleep. I still hadn't decided if I'd go to work or not. My third (5am) alarm went off about ten minutes after I'd woke up. At this point I decided, no I wasn't going to work today. Then I had to decide if I was going to get up and eat breakfast and go on-line. I rolled over, turned off my 6am and 620am alarms (my last chance to get up, rush around, go to work alarms) so they wouldn't disturb my sleep. My weekend 930am alarm woke me up and I turned it off and went back to sleep. I got up at 1030am and stayed up. (No I don't have any alarms after 930am on the weekends {e:Laugh) Mind you I was in bed, asleep last night at 10pm. I was in bed for over 12 hours. Maybe, if I had decided last night I wasn't going to go to work today and had turned off my work week alarms and just kept the 930am weekend alarm, I might have been up and about around 730am or 830am and online about 930am. Oh and my coffee pot is still on--this coffee is just right (yup, the horse shoe floats fine--Montana coffee) with the added sugar and milk I put in it---mmm-mmm. |
| I am up at 5:30am-- not a total bust but the experiment isn't working as planned. Today is the last day of the work week--tonight starts my weekend--If I can implement this schedule through the weekend then I think I can maintain it throughout next week during my work... At any rate it is easier for me, so far, than the switch from nights to an all day shift. The motivation is getting some WdC time during the week. As it is I'm very limited for time when I'm working. |
| My proposed experiment is (as the title suggests) a partial success in that I AM up in time to make an entry into my blog for the day. I finally got to bed around 10pm with all the surprise activity receiving a new badge. (see yesterday's blog entry) My first alarm went off at 3am as planned. I dismissed it and went back to sleep. Who didn't see that coming? My second alarm I expected at 4am but actually went off at 4:30am--I must have changed it at some previous time, I don't remember. Regardless, the 4:30am alarm seemed like just minutes after the 3am alarm--I had achieved rem sleep; I remember dreaming. Again, I dismissed the alarm. However, this time I didn't quite go back to sleep. I got up and started my coffee--I don't have a timer model to do that automatically--performed my morning bathroom duties, then laid back down until 5am. At this point I will either go back to sleep, or as in the case of this morning, get up after dismissing the alarm. So, my experiment is a partial success.Now my 6am alarm is dismissed and I need to get ready for work. good day to everyone. added 10:50pm I will be going to sleep after this entry. I logged on after work and was pleasantly surprised with 2 more merit badges. I have changed my signature to rotate my two newest badges--maybe tomorrow I will have the third one added if I can squeeze in the room. To view the different aspcts of my signature, refresh the page. You will need to refresh several times to see all the changes. Take care and may your road lead to only good places. Deb I'm the writer I am today, only because of all the help I've received from other writers yesterday. ** Image ID #1920909 Unavailable ** ** Image ID #1985466 Unavailable ** Compassion and the effort to try and understand some thing that was not understood before is a step toward acceptance not only of others but most importantly of yourself. |
| Here is my Tuesday blog entry for my fifth day in a row since starting over... Work went okay. I plan on going to bed in a couple hours and getting up sometime around 330 am--to see if I can compromise on my time spent on WdC--I will see if this works for me. 11:09pm I truly thought I'd be sleeping by now. {Yea, right...snicker...snicker} A-Hem! Anyway, thank-you Gaby for the shiny new badge Now to beddy-bye  |
| Talked to my daughter and my son...both are doing well. It was good to touch bases and reassure my son that things are going pretty good now that I am working again. I am flattered that he worries about me, but it can be a burden for a parent to know when your children are worried. He has his family and a very busy life trying to get a business started. When we said our loves and byes he sounded better, so I know he will be fine. Now, getting ready for the work week. Get that over with so I can return here and get some writing accomplished...if that is possible |
A recommended instructional Book of Poetry from ??? I've done so much browsing today I can't remember who shared this book or where I saw the info...Thought I saw it on community notes, now I can't find the post anywhere...anyway--the recommended book is  "The Making of a Poem" A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms - Complied by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland. (Concise, Learned, Revisionary - Edward Hirsch) |
| I didn't get very far with my Getting to Know the members of the Game of Thrones as I ran out of time. Of course, my computer really hates being pushed so she basically did every little time consuming trick she had under her sleeve to make sure I wouldn't get very far with the simple exercise. I did get 29 members posted from three of the 10 houses. A bit less than 33%. |
| Before I get into the rant as referred by the title--How do you like my new case cover? Now the rant. I missed posting on my blog yesterday. So time to start the counting over. Today is 1. I did go 95 consecutive days. I've posted everyday from February 2nd through May 7th. I will admit, working nightshift made it easier for me to keep track. My routine was to post before I went to bed. Now if I do that I could easily (as it turns out) miss whole days. Midnight EDT=10pmMDT. So if I stay up passed 10pm and don't post until 10:05pm I have missed the midnight mark on WdC. Which is what happened last night. I was so peeved when I discovered I missed the 8th posting I simply logged off and went to bed. I will have to change my routine to posting before I do anything else. I can always edit and add later if I come across more I wish to talk about through my mail or community notes checking. Days I've missed this year: January 1, 7, 8, 9, 11, 16, 22, February 1, and May 8th. Not bad considering last year I missed 111 days consecutively (according to my last post of the year) and my last post for 2013 was posted May 7th. So from May 7, 2013 to Jan 1, 2014 (240 days) is all inactive space. Needless to say my blog activity far surpasses all of last year and probably 2012 blog activities put together. If I continue to be consistant, I will surpass the last three years of blogging activity by the end of this year. And that is all I have to say about that. Now to see what new GoT activities are in store for the second week of community challenge. |
| I must be getting used to dayshift--today seemed to drag by. Up until today my days flew by so fast that the go home buzzer always caught me by surprise and I had to hustle to do the end of shift clean up. Today, was excruciating. And I'm 'beat'. Will Be going to bed early tonight I think. Well, at least on time. |
| Yep, I'm counting the days until I can play some more... |
| Yup another weekend shot. I did get quite a bit accomplished. Did 4 reviews, wrote a new story and got it cleaned up pretty good for public viewing. Participated in some of the GoT activities. Took time and did a walk in the rain. All in all a good weekend. |
| Oh my--things are starting to roll on including the infernal clock--it is my bedtime if I expect to keep to a day schedule over the weekend. But, darn-it! I'm not sleepy! Grrr. added 1:19pm EDT I've been logged in for a bit less than 2 hours and have just now made it to my blog to say so. The good news is I've caught up with my niece's posts and answered my mail. Other good news: I've edited two short stories--an old one "Drowning a Ghost" and a new one "The Thornton Mascot" . They now read smoother. The stories always shown through but now the shin busters and ankle biters aren't interfering.I've also entered "The Thornton Mascot" into "2018 WDC Anthology Information" .If I write anymore inspired stories before the 30th I will enter them also. This is turning out to be a very satisfying weekend. |
I checked out a new c-note shoppe by a fellow Baratheon House member and reviewd it..being it is his Birthday today Invalid Review  No more Reviews for GoT until after the 9th. This means I can still review, just not post them in the forum for points...So I can actually give reviews for my own merit and not worry if they meet the full 1000 character minimum (although, I seldom have any problems writing less than a 1000 characters in a review these days). Now I need to check out my own port and see what is hidden and can be worked with. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
Ken