Archive for May, 2012

26 May

A brawny tattooed man wearing a plastic glove waiting while a tiny blond chihuahua makes up its mind about crapping on the Fire Dept lawn.

24 May

The white heron flying slow and majestic across Ballona Creek Bridge.

23 May

The eager and too-frequent “uh-huh” of someone not listening so much as wanting the talker to know she’s listening.

21 May

Bird sex going on atop the building across the way. It’s not nearly as dramatic as elephant sex.

20 Apr

For Francesca: the crow standing in the middle of the street near a tasty morsel nodding his head and cawing in satisfaction.

19 Apr

Something you don’t see every day: a man grabbing his crotch & loudly tooting a toy horn while standing in a liquor store door.

19 Apr

Well, actually, I drive through Venice every day so I see sights of a similar nature fairly regularly.

19 Apr

What distinguished this guy was that we was well dressed in khakis, a beret, and an ABT t-shirt.

19 Apr

Maybe it was a new advertising venture. I hear donations to the arts are waaaaay down.

19 Apr

Also, when he finished his horn salute he marched back into Star Liquor.

 

Random quote of the day:

 

“I’ve been rejected by every record company there was ten times.  I think people in life quit things too early.”

—John Mellenkamp, Biography

 

 


Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Two of my friends released ebooks at virtually the same time and I’ve been meaning to do a signal boost ever since. Here they are (listed alphabetically!):

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From Marshall’s Amazon page:

Six science fiction stories, including “Bullet” from End of an Aeon and “Sausages” from Talebones, which received an Honorable Mention from Gardner Dozois in his Year’s Best Science Fiction #27.

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From Lila’s Amazon page:

Taken … and no one knows where…

This novel is inspired by the true events of a slave ship that disappeared off the west coast of Africa during an era of human savagery and ruthlessness. The year was 2001.

Kerri Mansfield and her family have a tangled history of colonization and aid — not just to one nation, but to all of Africa it seems. When the slave ship, Etireno, goes missing, Kerri is one of the few people who knows where to look. One of the few people with the contacts and resources needed to find it. But she must hurry because the children on board weren’t taken by chance. It’s revenge in its ugliest form.

She isn’t the only one searching either, oh no, that would be too easy and life is rarely that. The French Secret Service are also after the children and they’ve sent their best agent to find them … Kerri’s ex-husband. Even better is that he’s teamed up with her current boyfriend, just to make it all a little more interesting.

Tracking the ship to a Brazilian port two weeks before Carnaval should be the end of the story, instead it’s just beginning. The children have vanished and as Kerri’s leads dry up she begins to take risks that put others in jeopardy.

Oh, and did I mention the ex-husband?

Random quote of the day:

 

“Puritans will never believe it, but life is full of disagreeable things that aren’t even good for you.”

—Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic’s Notebook

 

 


Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Random quote of the day:

 

“The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know.”

—Blaise Pascal, Pensées

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Random quote of the day:

 

“The world is a jumble of men and women who have failed to find their destiny.  They are like hungry rivers that never reach the sea.”

—Nina FitzPatrick, Daimons

 

 


Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Dear Sir:

Your blog giving advice on doing quality self-publishing is riddled with careless typos. This does not inspire confidence. Yours, PJ

Dear Madam:

Your failure to distinguish between a Viking boat & a pirate ship when discussing cover art does not inspire confidence. Yours, PJ

Dear Madam:

Your blithe suggestions on how to squeeze more time out of a busy life for writing has PRIVILEGE scrawled all over it. No confidence. Yours, PJ

And that’s about all the writing/indy publishing blogging advice I can stomach for one day. Why did I inflict this upon myself in the first place? Clearly, I’m a masochist. Oh, I think maybe I’ll learn something that will revolutionize my life, get my creative life back on track and running smoothly. But no. There isn’t anything in any of these blogs that couldn’t be figured out by a half-witted horse with dyspepsia.

They are all written with such twerpy exuberance, too—the exuberance of those who have spent little time in the salt mines, whose biggest challenge in life balance seems to be choosing between watching TV with the wubs vs. social networking vs. actual writing.

I try hard not to think in terms of moral superiority—my reality vs. your networking reality—because as the old saying goes, “Everyone’s bag of stones weighs heavy to them.” But there’s generally an undertone of moral superiority running through these blogs, too. Sometimes not an undertone, but an overt and snot-nosed tone, if you want to know the truth. It’s hard not to get all morally-superioritying back at them.

Yet still these blogs are passed back and forth between hopefuls as if there’s some talismanic magic attached to them. The sad truth is that most seem more about having a platform for selling books than genuinely trying to help anyone. But I open each new one with hope, cynicism firmly suppressed because…well, I would like a little talismanic magic right about now. Maybe there will be some golden piece of wisdom my gassy, half-witted horse hasn’t already shared with me.

You see, I really am a masochist. Bring on the leather, the whips and chains!

ETA: There is actually quite a bit of really good advice out there, too, but wading through the self-involved claptrap to get to it can be quite discouraging.

Random quote of the day:

 

“When anything becomes a problem we are caught in the solution of it, and then the problem becomes a cage, a barrier to further exploration and understanding.  So don’t let us reduce all life to a vast and complex problem.”

—J. Krishnamurti, “How To Live In This World,” The Urgency of Change

 

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Due to public acclamation (okay, one very charming person) I am posting pictures of my latest geegaw acquisitions and the links to the Etsy shops where I purchased them in case you feel a hankering for geegaws of your own.

First, from the Etsy shop of JaimeLee (aka stillnotbored), these great little pendants:

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She makes these from vintage ads and maps and things from very old magazines. They’re quite wonderful.

And then these from bottledupdesigns which I’ve been eyeing for months and waiting for the right excuse to buy…Ahem.

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She makes these from recycled bottles and other found glass. So I’m not just buying geegaws, I’m helping the environment. It’s a noble cause! In both cases!!

Random quote of the day:

 

“The quantum theory of parallel universes is not the problem, it is the solution.  It is not some troublesome, optional interpretation emerging from arcane theoretical considerations.  It is the explanation—the only one that is tenable—of a remarkable counter-intuitive reality.”

—David Deutsch, The Fabric of Reality

 

 


Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.