10 Minute Power Cleaning
If there’s a downside to being sick for a coupel of weeks (other than, you know, being sick and feeling like crap), it’s that the housework piles up like zomg.
In the past, if I were to get sick, Bagpiper would pick up the slack around the house. In the past, however, he had a little more time on his hands. He’s been super busy the past few weeks — going in to work early, staying late — so needless to say, the housework piled up.
I don’t mind cleaning, but when you haven’t cleaned house in almost two weeks and you look around your home and see all the things that need doing…well, it’s daunting. Daunting to the point that you don’t even know where to start and you don’t want to start.
That was me this morning. I told myself today was going to be for cleaning, but going downstairs this morning…
…it was scary.
So I didn’t clean this morning.
This afternoon, however, I remembered a 10 minute cleaning list thing I had found weeks ago on Pinterest (my addiction to this website is seriously, seriously getting out of hand). I pulled up the cleaning list and tweaked it to suit my needs.
Basically, the cleaning works like this:
1.Break down your house into rooms — kitchen, living room, bathrooms, etc.
2. Write down tasks that need to be accomplished in each room. For example, for kitchen, my list said: dishes, counters, trash, stove top, appliances.
3. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Start in that first room and clean until the timer goes off. It’s OK if you don’t finish everything on your list in the 10 minutes. The idea is to clean for 10 minutes and then move on to the next room on your list. In my case, it was the living room. In the living room, take everything that doesn’t belong and put it in a basket. Leave it alone. You’ll come back for this stuff later. Set the timer for 10 minutes and clean (dust, pick up trash…ignore the floors for now).
4. After 30 minutes, take a 10 minute break. After your break, go back to room one, set the timer and repeat. So, if you didn’t finish the kitchen in the first 10 minutes, do it in the second 10 minutes. You repeat these steps until the rooms are clean, remembering to take a break every 30 minutes.
5. When the rooms are clean, sweep/mop/vacuum the floors. Do some laundry if it needs doing. That basket of stuff that didn’t belong in the living room? Put that stuff away.
6. Look around at your clean house and feel accomplished.
The original cleaning list can be found here. I just tweaked it to suit the needs in my house (for example, original list has you using the dishwasher. I don’t have a dishwasher, so I did dishes by hand.) and I ignored the first three steps of “Make the bed. Get dressed. Put shoes on.”
I rarely make the bed. I subscribe to the school of thought that believes making the bed is rather pointless. Also, I live in a Japanese house…no shoes inside the home. 😉
It’s really amazing what you can accomplish in each room in just 10 minutes. If you’re like me, you’ll find yourself “racing” against the timer, trying to see how much you can get done before it goes off. In my first 30 minutes, I managed to get about 95 percent of the kitchen done (all that’s left is the counters and stove top), the downstairs bathroom, the living room and dining room.
I took a little longer than 10 minutes on my first break…but I stopped to write this blog post. I’m hoping my next 30 minutes yields a finished kitchen, entry way, upstairs bathroom and bedrooms. After that, another break and then the floors and laundry. About the only room I’m ignoring is Bagpiper’s office. That’s his problem.
How do you tackle household cleaning when it piles up like zomg?
Still sick…
Well, I thought I was getting better and for about a day it seemed as though I was better, but it came back with a vengeance.
Mostly it’s this really terrible cough, and I’m trying to spit out the crud as much as possible, but when you’re not much of a spitter, it isn’t easy. I spent the majority of yesterday napping in bed and just resting as much as possible. I did the same this morning…I got up, ate breakfast and then got back in bed and slept until noon.
It seems to be helping, because currently, it’s almost 10pm and I feel better than I did this morning. Not so much of a cough and a bit of a runny nose. More of an appetite than I had yesterday, so that’s a good sign, yes?
I plan on talking to my OB about this when I see her later this month. See if there’s not something I can do to prevent from getting sick or if there is some medicine that is OK for me to use while pregnant. A few people have told me what they take when they are pregnant and sick, but I’d rather get the OK from my doctor than people online…
No offense, but everyone’s body is different, ya know?
Bagpiper is working late tonight, so I have no clue what time he’ll be home. There are a lot of gigs coming up for him, so that means a lot more rehearsals and time spent with the sound equipment. Hopefully he’s not out too late, since he’s bringing me some tea to help relieve my throat from all the coughing I’ve been doing.
Anyway, that’s really all I have. Nothing exciting, just sickness.
How are you doing? Any exciting weekend plans?
Other than pink, please.
The trouble with searching for baby bedding for a little girl is that one is inundated with all things pink.
Perhaps I’m just being too picky in my search, but you’d think a person could find some variety in the search for nursery bedding. If you know me at all, you know that I prefer purple over pink any day — just look around, the site and blog are purple! However, what some of you may not know (and some of you do..) is that I detest butterflies.
Those little winged spawns of Satan just creep me out. I hate them. I don’t like them. They’re gross and creepy and ewww.
So here’s my problem. All baby bedding for girls is either pink or it’s purple with butterflies. I’ve seen some super cute pink bedding. But it’s was just too much pink for me. I’ve seen so-so bedding from purple. I say so-so, because it seems like everyone who is designing purple bedding only knows how to pair purple with butterflies.
I saw a really cute purple bedding from Target, but it’s a little on the pricey side for a mere 4pc crib set. Yes, it’s gorgeous (cherry blossom-like twigs with mini birds), but worth $265? Not really.
There are only two other purple beddings I’ve found I liked:
Click for larger image.
There is this 6pc Hello Kitty & Friends bedding set for $180. In terms of color, I really love this set. It’s a lavender-purple, with yellow and green accents. Very tiny amounts of pink that aren’t noticeable. However, I’m not crazy sold on the idea of having a cartoon character as the dominant theme of the nursery. The picture, with all the accessories added into one corner, is busy and also takes away from the appeal. I know I won’t have ALL of that, but it’s still looks like too much crammed into too small a space.
More searching yielded some maybe-bedding sets, but they all had some sort of problem. Too pricey for what I’d be getting, too busy looking, crazy pattering that hurt my eyes, butterflies, saying it was a purple bedding set but the picture is all pink….
Click for larger image.
The next set, I found is this 10pc Cupcake bedding for $90. While this one has more pink than Hello Kitty, I like the theme much more. Who doesn’t love cupcakes? Plus, it’s different from all the other bedding sets, but still cute. Not too busy looking. More pink than I’d like, but there’s something still very sweet about it (no pun intended!).
Am I being too picky?
I want to put this to a vote. You pick the bedding you like better. Maybe it will help me decide.
Sinful Sunday: Cinnamon Roll Pancakes
Looking for something delicious and decadent for breakfast? Look no further. Cinnamon roll pancakes. Mmmm.
PS. Bagpiper informs me that they taste good after they’ve gone cold too. He saved the last one and plans to eat it tomorrow for breakfast. I won’t be surprised if he eats it tonight for a snack, though.
September Goals
I’m still slacking a bit in the writing department.
Though I’m writing, I’m not writing as much as I’d like to be. I’m trying not to be too upset with my lack of progress since I’m pregnant and sleepy all the time and my free time is also time spent figuring out how to build/decorate the nursery.
I thought I’d found a solution with WriteChat. Wonderful though that site/chat is, it tends to kick me out of the chat room frequently, and that got very distracting.
So this month, I’m changing things up a little.
I’m going to keep track of my daily word count. I’m going to move my writing time to the late afternoons — when Twitter is quiet, because people in the US are sleeping. I’m also going to limit myself on projects. I have several WIPs, and I need to focus on one at a time, otherwise, none will ever get done.
But I’ve also got some knitting and mommy goals too….
September Goals
Writing:
- Finish current novella. It’s about 30% done.
- Write at least 500 words a day. Seems small, but 500 words is better than no words.
- Track daily word count in Excel.
- No playing Sims 3 until word count is met and counted for the day. (Yay for reward system)
Knitting:
- Finish baby hat/booties set.
- Finish baby blanket #1
- Cast on for baby blanket #2 (if yarn order ever arrives) and knit at least 50% (or finish, if possible)
Mommy Stuff:
- Figure out where Bagpiper and I are purchasing furniture from.
- Order/Ship/Assemble crib, changer/dresser and rocking chair.
- Order nursery bedding.
- Feel like I’m somewhat prepared for motherhood by having a crib already.
What are your goals for September?
Wordless Wednesday
Last week, my husband found plantains. I’ve been looking for them for awhile — my Puerto Rican self has been craving a good Puerto Rican meal.
I finally got it…and it was extremely delicious.
Menu:
- Chuletas (porkchops)
- Arroz con gandules (Puerto Rican rice)
- Tostones (fried plantains)
Oops.
So, my blog kind of died a little last week.
Bagpiper came down with a 24hr bug, and I ended up catching it. Only, being pregnant, that 24hr bug turned into a week bug. Yep. I was sick all last week. Headache, slight fever, runny nose/stuffy nose…and no medicine.
All I really did last week was sleep and drink juice. Well, before getting sick I went to an all day craft-a-thon with some of the military wives on base. I can definitely say that all day crafting while pregnant is not a good idea. I came home super tired, and it was that night that I got sick. Skipping out on my nap wore me out. I can do a few hours, but definitely not all day.
Anyway, it’s mostly all gone now, just a little bit of a stuffy nose.
That’s basically it. Nothing really new other than I’m getting bigger by the minute and the baby is kicking around a lot more these days. She hears sounds, too. Last night Bagpiper was practicing trombone, the dog we were watching was singing along and the baby burst into dance in my belly. It was kind of fun, if distracting me from my knitting.
What am I knitting? A bunch of baby stuff, of course!
Today I’m hoping to finish baby hat #1:
After the hat, I’m casting on for some baby booties and working on blanket #1. I’m still waiting on a big yarn order I made a couple weeks ago — silly me, I shipped it to my mom’s house in Texas instead of to me in Japan. So it went there first, and she’s sending it to me. I’m really, really hoping it arrives this week. It’s been almost three weeks now.
Really hoping it’s not lost in the mail. That’s more than $100 of yarn floating in the mail system, and I wants it!
Enough about me…how the heck have y’all been?
White Gravy & A Registry Update
Last night, Bagpiper and I went to Chili’s for dinner.
We’re low on groceries and we decided to forgo the frozen pizza in favor of dining out. We also told ourselves it was a celebratory dinner since Bagpiper is done with the rifle range and made expert rifleman! ❤
So while we’re browsing the menu (and munching on the chips and queso appetizer I love so much), I’m fully expecting myself to order either the fajita dinner or the steak dinner. What do I order? Country fried chicken strips with white gravy.
Those of you that know me, know that I detest/hate/abhorr white gravy. I’ve only ever liked brown gravy. White gravy is the devil — and I know, most of you think I’m weird. How did I survive living in the south without eating white gravy on everything? Blech. Gross.
But last night…damn. That white gravy was The Shit. As my baby brother would probably say, “It was like sex in my mouth.” (don’t ask, he says weird things)
I was dunking everything on my plate in that stupid, but OMG SO TASTY gravy. My chicken strips, my french fries…I’m pretty sure I even slathered it on my corn on the cob at one point.
So yea. Clearly, baby must get that taste from the white side of the family — AKA Bagpiper. I really felt like I lost some of my Puerto Rican points last night cause I was enjoying it that much.
My crazy cravings aside, Bagpiper and I have moved our baby registry from Babies R Us to Amazon. Not only are most items cheaper through Amazon, more items on Amazon are shippable to APO/FPO addresses — and it tells you BEFORE HAND (in the seller’s notes) whether or not an item ships to APO/FPO. I can tell you this now, all of the items we’ve registered for will ship overseas to us (except one or two, but they are pricier items we’ll get for ourselves).
McElwee Baby Registry
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some left over chicken strips and white gravy to devour.
Social Media Monday: Twitter Ranting
Ranting.
We all do it. Some of us more than others, but at one point or another, we’re all guilty of ranting.
Rants vary from their type to their length. Anything from a simple, “Argh! There’s a hole in new sweater! I just bought it yesterday! Grr!” to the lengthier, “I’m so angry at the crap going on in Washington. This is getting insane. Seriously. Washing just needs to bla bla bla bla bla bla bla etc etc etc.”
And while there is nothing wrong with ranting (hey, we all need to vent our frustrations, and what better forum could we ask for than the internet?), we should choose the platform on which we want to rant a bit carefully.
Recently, I’ve seen a number of rants come across my Twitter stream. Twitter, which some of you may not know (though most of you probably do), limits each post to 140 characters. It’s all about brevity on Twitter. Short, sweet and to the point. And yet, my Twitter stream has seen rants spanning upwards of 20 tweets long.
That’s 20 tweets in a row of angry ranting.
People, our rants are unique. There are right places and wrong places for different types of rants. Guess what? Filling up people’s Twitter stream with your length rant on X subject? Wrong place.
I know, I know. It’s kind of hard to think about the right place to rant when you’re angry and you just want to get it out there so that the world can agree with you. But seriously, just think a moment.
If I go on Twitter and rant for 20-25 tweets about how angry I am with, say, a knitting project — chances are you are going to get really annoyed really fast with me. And if half an hour later (or even an hour or two later) I come back to do some more ranting on the same subject? You’re likely to unfollow me for being a douchebag.
Here’s my rule of thumb for ranting on Twitter:
If you can’t fit your anger into 2-3 tweets (and really, three is pushing it a bit..it is Twitter, after all), take it to a blog post. If your rant is going to spawn 20 tweets and clutter up your follower’s stream, take it to a blog post.
Blog as long as you want. Rant to your heart’s desire. Then, take the URL of that post, and tweet it. “Angry with knitting. [insert URL]”
Voila. Only the people who want to see the rant (probably my knitting friends) will click. Even if no one clicks, I’ll feel better for getting to vent. I won’t have lost any followers due to annoying tweets that just won’t end and I won’t be found guilty of being a Twitter douchebag.
So. To recap: If your rant is going to spawn a dozen tweets, TAKE IT TO A BLOG POST.
What are your thoughts on ranting on Twitter?
Obon Festival
Last night, around 11:30 pm, I found myself unable to fall asleep.
Climbing out of bed, I walked to my desk to see if I could get a little writing done. I opened my latest project in Scrivener and just as I was settling down to write, I began to hear drums.
They were faint at first, but even knowing they were far away, I could tell they were taiko drums. I listened for a moment longer and it dawned on me that the drums were getting louder. Whatever was going on, it was moving closer to the house. I got out of my chair, walked to the bay window and peered out into the darkness. Other than a few porch lights, I couldn’t see much.
But the drums continued to get closer.
Another minute passed before I could just barely make out a flashing light at the end of my street. Had my view not been obscured by trees, I probably could have seen what was going on sooner, but it took another couple of minutes before I saw.
There was some sort of parade coming down my street. At midnight. On a Thursday.
Just as I was about to check on the Bagpiper (who had gone to bed very early, since he had to wake up at 3 am to go to the rifle range), he came stumbling out of bed mumbling grumpily, “What the Hell is going on?”
“There’s a parade!” I exclaimed, more awake and far more excited than he was.
“A parade? What time is it?”
“About midnight.”
“..the fuck?”
Ignoring his sleepy grumpiness, I did a preggo skip back toward the window. By this time the parade was at the house next door to mine, but it was there that they stopped. Where I couldn’t see because of trees. I waited, wondering if they would turn around and leave, go into the house or continue down the street.
Not my image, but this is what I saw coming down my street...
To my luck (and the Bagpiper’s dismay), they continued down the street. A small truck with speakers and two guys playing the sanshin (a sort of Japanese-style banjo with three strings) followed by a band of chanters/dancers playing hand held taiko drums. There was a third element to all of this, which was a guy in a different costume doing some very high-pitched, sharp whistling.
It seemed ceremonial, but neither Bagpiper nor I had any idea what the occasion was. So, we opened a window and leaned out to enjoy and watch (by this time the Bagpiper was more awake and more able to enjoy what was going on). I snapped a few pictures, but they all came out rather dark — and didn’t get any better when I tried to lighten them this morning.
However, I was smart enough to remember to take some video with my phone…
Obon Festival Parade (Opens a new window and takes you to YouTube)
It wasn’t until this morning that I learned that the parade was a part of the Obon Festival, a three-day festival to honor the dead. It’s currently 10 pm, so I guess I’ll find out in an hour or two if the parade repeats itself.
So that was my Thursday. Pretty interesting, no? ^_^
Obon Festival
Last night, around 11:30 pm, I found myself unable to fall asleep.
Climbing out of bed, I walked to my desk to see if I could get a little writing done. I opened my latest project in Scrivener and just as I was settling down to write, I began to hear drums.
They were faint at first, but even knowing they were far away, I could tell they were taiko drums. I listened for a moment longer and it dawned on me that the drums were getting louder. Whatever was going on, it was moving closer to the house. I got out of my chair, walked to the bay window and peered out into the darkness. Other than a few porch lights, I couldn’t see much.
But the drums continued to get closer.
Another minute passed before I could just barely make out a flashing light at the end of my street. Had my view not been obscured by trees, I probably could have seen what was going on sooner, but it took another couple of minutes before I saw.
There was some sort of parade coming down my street. At midnight. On a Thursday.
Just as I was about to check on the Bagpiper (who had gone to bed very early, since he had to wake up at 3 am to go to the rifle range), he came stumbling out of bed mumbling grumpily, “What the Hell is going on?”
“There’s a parade!” I exclaimed, more awake and far more excited than he was.
“A parade? What time is it?”
“About midnight.”
“..the fuck?”
Ignoring his sleepy grumpiness, I did a preggo skip back toward the window. By this time the parade was at the house next door to mine, but it was there that they stopped. Where I couldn’t see because of trees. I waited, wondering if they would turn around and leave, go into the house or continue down the street.
Not my image, but this is what I saw coming down my street...
To my luck (and the Bagpiper’s dismay), they continued down the street. A small truck with speakers and two guys playing the sanshin (a sort of Japanese-style banjo with three strings) followed by a band of chanters/dancers playing hand held taiko drums. There was a third element to all of this, which was a guy in a different costume doing some very high-pitched, sharp whistling.
It seemed ceremonial, but neither Bagpiper nor I had any idea what the occasion was. So, we opened a window and leaned out to enjoy and watch (by this time the Bagpiper was more awake and more able to enjoy what was going on). I snapped a few pictures, but they all came out rather dark — and didn’t get any better when I tried to lighten them this morning.
However, I was smart enough to remember to take some video with my phone…
Obon Festival Parade (Opens a new window and takes you to YouTube)
It wasn’t until this morning that I learned that the parade was a part of the Obon Festival, a three-day festival to honor the dead. It’s currently 10 pm, so I guess I’ll find out in an hour or two if the parade repeats itself.
So that was my Thursday. Pretty interesting, no? ^_^
Wordless Wednesday: For the foodies…
Tonight’s dinner (remember, it’s Wednesday night for me now, even though it’s probably only Wednesday morning for you…) was a huge success with the Bagpiper. I have to admit, it did come out quite delicious.
What was on the menu:
- Porkchops seasoned with basil, crushed black pepper and Adobo (with pepper) and grilled to a juicy perfection.
- Grilled asparagus seasoned lightly with salt and pepper.
- Sauteed green bell pepper and onion.
How was your dinner last night?
Social Media Monday: The magic of WriteChat!
Ever since moving from Texas to Japan, my writing has suffered a lot.
Packing, finals, graduation, discovering pregnancy, morning sickness, flying across the world and settling in to life overseas took a lot of time and effort. Something had to give, and unfortunately, that something was my writing.
But most of that stuff is over and done with (I mean, I’m still pregnant, but there’s no more morning sickness) and I’m pretty settled in Japan, I think (I still don’t drive, but that’s another story).
Now that things in my life are going back to “normal”, I’ve been dedicating a lot of time to rebuilding my writing habits. But with the lack of Team Awesome and the lack of #writersdatenight every week, it’s been a huge struggle. My girls really kept me on track with writing, and though they give me all the support I could want online, it’s just not the same. Plus, that 14 hour time difference is a bitch.
Then Cid mentioned WriteChat.net.
What a freaking gold mine.
It’s basically just a chat room of writers of varying types and skill levels. Some are newish, some are seasoned and published and others are in the middle. The room typically has a moderator who issues challenges. Challenges run from 10 minutes to 30 minutes, and at the end people share their word count and maybe a snippet of their writing.
Because this chat is pulling writer’s from all over, there are people in my time zone! OK, so I only know of one person, who is in Australia, but every time I’ve gone in the room there have been quite a few people. Some writers are early morning writers, which is typically my evening, so I’ll find people in there. Others are night owls, and lately I’ve been waking up early (some bizarre, cruel pregnancy symptom), so lately I’ve been writing in the morning.
The best part is that some of Team Awesome uses WriteChat, so I get to feel like I’m writing with them, even though we’re half a world apart.
If you’re needing a sense of community and a boost to your motivation, I definitely suggest you give WriteChat.net a try. Lots of very friendly people, and in the past few days I’ve written almost 5K — a huge difference from the 500 I did last week on my own.
What writing resources do you use that help you stay on track with your writing?
Wordless Wednesday: The Okinawan dancers of Shuri Castle
It was Cid who mentioned Wordless Wednesdays, a day where one posts a blog consisting of a picture. It it wasn’t Cid, then it was Sidney. I often get them confused… 😛
So, because I lack any update for ROW80 (I was on a babymoon vacation last week, which meant no writing got done), I’m going to do a Wordless Wednesday post.
These are traditional Okinawan dancers. Part of our babymoon vacation was visiting Shuri Castle. We got to watch four different traditional Okinawan dances. It was really beautiful.
Want more pictures? Read about the rest of the babymoon vacation.
Social Media Monday: The Subtle Sell. Learn it.
After reading Suzan Isik‘s “How Not To Be A Douchebag Writer” blog post the other week (and her follow up: “It’s really not that difficult“), I realized something.
The vast majority of these douchebags are indie/self-pubbed authors.
I am in no way bagging on indie writers or self-pubbed authors, however, the fact remains: the majority of idiot, douchebag writers come from them.
Why?
I believe the main reason is that they simply don’t take the time to learn how to market themselves. Traditionally published authors may get a fancy publicist and they have the support system of Big Name Publisher’s advertising/public relations department behind them. That’s not to say traditionally published authors don’t market themselves, because they do. They just have more of a support system in place.
Indie/Self-Pubbed authors, on the other hand, only have themselves.
And what many of these indie/self-pubbed authors seem to forget is that the marketing/advertising/public relations aspect of selling their book is just as important as the writing/revising/editing part of their book.
As writer’s, we are no stranger to research. Whatever the topic of our book, there’s a certain amount of research that goes into the writing. For my steampunk novella, Zoraida, I’ve done hours of research on Ireland, Irish mythology and the Victorian Era in both England and Ireland. I’ve done research on pirate ships. I’ve done research on Spain.
In short, I’ve done research.
Research is just as important to the selling of our books as it is to the writing of them. We need to research our target audience. We need to research different social medias and how to best effectively utilize them.
You want to sell your book? Put in the effort, but be smart about it.
That’s where the art of the subtle sell comes in.
As an indie/self-pubbed author, you can’t just get on Twitter and say: “My new book “LA LA LA” releases today! Buy a copy now! <insert URL>”. Well, you can, and while it may even get you a few sales, it’s not the most effective way to sell your book. You aren’t JK Rowling. You aren’t James Patterson. You aren’t any of The Really Big Name Authors. Shouting out: “My new book is out!” is not going to cause a mass herd of readers to go buy your book.
Why? Because that mass herd of readers you are trying to reach have no idea who you are.
You’ve got to sell yourself just as much as you’ve got to sell your book. Kristen Lamb talks about this on her blog. If you don’t follow her blog, you should. She’s full of amazing information.
My Twitter stream is filled with writers, readers, knitters, mommies and a slew of other people with various other interests. I like to believe that when I am ready to sell a story or a novel, the people I have taken the time to get to know will buy it because they like me, not because I’m shouting at them every 30 minutes with a link to purchase my new book.
Cold selling is not (repeat: IS NOT) the way to go. It’s annoying. No one likes it. It’s akin to walking onto a car lot and being surrounded by car salesmen who are all trying to push you into buying a car you don’t want. Another comparison is the telemarketer. Name one person who likes telemarketers. No one likes them. Guess what? No one likes your cold selling techniques, either.
Be subtle with the sell. Talk up your book, sure, but don’t cry out for people to buy it. Announce that your book will be released in a few days and you’re celebrating with some cheesecake and wine. Announce that you’re book is on sale and would appeal to the X crowd.
Once is enough.
You don’t have to truly sell it to your audience, because if you’ve got a strong social media presence your fans/followers will share and retweet your announcement. They will tell their friends and followers to check you out. They’ve been following your progress writing and prepping the book for publishing. They know it’s being released, because you’ve casually mentioned it a few times here and there without pressuring anyone to buy it.
Build the relationships. Maintain the relationships. Stop being a douchebag cold seller. Most likely, you’re just going to get blocked and ignored where ever you go.
What sorts of things (other than your writing) do you talk about with your friends/followers?
It's a GIRL!!
In case you missed all the updates on Twitter, Facebook and G+, the Bagpiper and I learned that we are having a baby girl!
We have a named picked out, but we are still working on picking out a middle name. For personal reasons, I won’t be posting the name online. Close family and friends know the name and that is good enough for us.
Thank you to everyone for all the congrats and continued well wishes.
Now excuse me while I go build a registry on Babies R Us!
Babymoon Vacation!
The Bagpiper is on leave this week, so we’re taking a mini babymoon (like a honeymoon, but before a baby arrives) vacation. We’re staying at a beach front hotel in Nago, a city about two hours north of our home in Okinawa City.
This is the view from our hotel window. Isn’t it pretty? Nago seems to have a lot of really gorgeous beach views. Today we mostly drove around and took in the sights. We got lost several times, but the views around us where so spectacular that we didn’t really care.
We stopped at a beach at one point, walking in the sand and wading in the water. We didn’t have our swimwear on, since today was just about exploring our surroundings, but we still enjoyed the chance to get our feet wet.
After our mini jaunt to the beach, we found a small shopping area where we browsed through souvenirs. Most of which seemed to be cell phone charms. The Japanese seem to really love cell phone charms! I found a super cute pineapple plushie that I couldn’t not get, so I made the Bagpiper buy it for me.
Seriously. You have never seen a cuter pineapple…
See how cute it is? I love my happy pineapple more than is probably normal. I feel Japan makes these plushies for people like me. Everyone needs a happy pineapple. LOL
The real fun today, however, came when we got hungry.
We found a restaurant near our hotel and it was one of those places where you take of your shoes and sit on the floor. Our hostess did give us the choice between floor seating and regular sit-at-a-table seating, but we chose the floor cause you know, we’re in Japan and all. In retrospect, we should have sat at the table because getting up with my pregnant self afterward wasn’t very easy. 😛
Anyway, no one spoke any English at all, not even a little bit. Bagpiper and I only know a few basic phrases, but we definitely do not know how to read a menu written entirely in kanji…
So…we pointed to pictures and hoped that what we ordered was good. We ended up getting a big plate of garlic fried rice (very, very good), a small plate of potato wedges and a small plate with pork skewers smothered in some sort of sesame teriyaki sauce.
It was good, but it was not as filling as we had hoped it would be, so afterward, we stopped at a McDonald’s and shared a second meal.
Tomorrow I imagine we will do more sight seeing and possibly visit the aquarium. We’ve already been to the aquarium with our landlords, but our hotel gave us two tickets to go for free, so we’ll probably stop by at some point and see the stuff we didn’t get to see with our landlords. We also plan on spending some time at the beach (this time with swimwear), and you can bet that I’ll be taking more pictures.
We’re only here for a couple of days, but it’s nice to finally spend some time with my hubby. And of course, Friday we find out what we’re having, so stay tuned for that!
Oh, and for those of you wanting to see a belly bump pic, there’s a picture floating around on Twitter and on my FB fan page. 😛
Social Media Monday: You have to actually TALK to people.
So, a pretty short post today, because it’s 10:30pm for me and I’m tired and I just want to get back to the book I’m reading and go to bed. (I’m reading “When You Dare” by Lori Foster)
Lately, I’ve noticed an influx of people adding me to their circles on G+. This is cool, I’m all about networking and meeting new people who share the same interests, but so far, none of these new people are making any moves to talk to me. Not one has tagged me in a private post to say something along the lines of, “Hey, I found you and you seemed cool. I’m interested in ___, and saw you where too, so I added you. Hope to talk about ___ with you.”
Sometimes, I look at their profiles and I can see why they might add me to one of their circles. For example, a writer added me. So it’s clear they added me for the writing, but reading their profile, I’m at a loss as to why they added me. Even if we do have writing in common, there is nothing in my profile (or in my links) that says I’m interested in non-fiction spiritual writing. OK, so that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends, but I’m not the one who added this person, therefore, I don’t feel responsible for contacting this person.
The way I see it, if you are really, truly trying to network and utilize social media to it’s strongest potential, you’re going to talk to the people you reach out to. It’s like the few Twitter followers I gain daily. Most of these are bots, and some are just people looking to up their following/follower count. I can tell these people are either bots or just idiots who can’t read, since my profile clearly states that I don’t auto-follow.
Why? Cause I’d like to get to know you first. I’d like to know that you’re actually interested in what I have to say. I judge this by our interaction. If you never talk to me, I won’t know you exist and I won’t RT or share the interesting things you say. If you don’t talk to me from time to time, then I don’t see the point in wasting my time reading what you have to say.
I may not talk to everyone on my Twitter/G+ stream all day, everyday, but I do try to reply to people when they say interesting/funny things. Sometimes, I see someone I haven’t said anything to in a while and I send a quick “Hey, how’s your day?”
People like to feel noticed. It makes them warm and fuzzy inside.
The other day, Suzan wrote a post on not being a douchebag on social media. It’s a fucking brilliant post that everyone should read. She told me about an author contacting her on Goodreads. Suzan, being the cool person she is, added this person as a friend and then proceeded to block this author because the author went into a hard sales pitch for their new book.
Look, people. Sales pitches are fine, they’re even expected from time to time. And done in the right way, sales pitches on social media outlets can really boost your sales. But you should really get to know your audience before you start peddling your pages. Talk to people first. Then casually mention that you’re new book just released.
Lesson?
Social media can really help a writer (or anyone for that matter) with sales, but only if you’re engaging with your audience. Don’t just talk about your writing and your book. Talk about other aspects of your life too. My Twitter stream is full of talk about me writing, yes, but it’s also about books I read, knitting, Doctor Who, Harry Potter, being pregnant and living overseas.
You are more than just your writerly persona. People may find you because you are a writer, but they stick around because you are so much more. But they’ll only know that if you talk to them.
Social Media Homework Of The Day: Go forth and talk to people. Learn something new about someone.
What some social media behaviors that make you not want to follow/friend someone?
There are more people than just ex-Borders employees who need a job.
Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of this all over Twitter: Got a job for an ex-Borders employee? Post it HERE!
And part of me thinks is so great to see people utilizing social media this way. Helping the thousands of workers who are losing their jobs since Borders announced they are closing their doors earlier this week.
But another part of me thinks it’s incredibly selfish.
What makes Borders employees more deserving of finding a job over the thousands of other unemployed people in the US?
Absolutely nothing. They are not more deserving of a job and they are not less deserving of a job.
First of all, let me say that I am in no way against people helping others find work. The economy is a bitch. It’s been that way for awhile. It’s fucking fantastic to see people using social media to potentially help people they’ve never met in a state they’ve never been to find work.
But why are we doing this just for ex-Borders employees? That seems a bit wrong to me. Borders employees are no more and no less deserving of a job over the thousands of other people in the US who have lost their job due to economy. Where are the offers to help those people?
I say this because when I see tweets like the one I mentioned earlier dominate my Twitter stream, I get a big angry and defensive. Why? Because of my mother.
She’s been unemployed going on two years now. She hasn’t been able to make a payment on her house for almost 18 months. And just the other day she was telling me over the phone how the 100+ degree weather dominating DFW right now is causing her electric bill to shoot up more than she was expecting to. She’s hanging on by a thread and has been for years now.
The money she gets from unemployment isn’t going to last forever. Frankly, it’s a bit of a miracle it’s lasted for two years. Any money she has goes directly to bills and food. She’s cut the “fun stuff” out of her life. No extra clothes, no manicures or pedicures, no trips to the salon, no going out to eat and no cable. The only “fun” thing she’s kept is the internet, and only because her primary use for it is to check her email and to look for jobs.
So why is it that when a bookstore goes out of business, people are crying out over how sad it is that the employees are losing their jobs? Why are the employees of Borders more deserving of a new job (and help to find it) than a middle-aged, single mother who has been unemployed for two years?
I’m not trying to say that the employees of Borders shouldn’t be helped. They should. It’s damn hard to find a job. What I am trying to say, however, is that there are more than just Borders employees looking for a job. When Borders closes their last door, their employees will probably be able to collect unemployment. That unemployment will hold them for awhile.
There are people who, like my mother, are running out of options. Unemployment won’t continue helping them for much longer.
Think of all the resources and connections you know. Think of all the resources and connections your connections probably know. While it’s wonderful to see writers and people in the publishing industry pulling together to help Borders employees, I’m positive that all those writers and people in the publishing industry know people outside their industries too.
If you’re going to help Borders employees find a job, why not help non-Borders employees?
So while I think it’s wonderful to see the influx of support Borders employees are receiving, I also think it’s selfish too. There are all kinds of people in the US looking for a job. Why not reach out and help them?
Still, if the only desire to help is the desire to help Borders employees, well, that’s better than not helping anyone at all.
#KnittingFail
So today, I hung out with a friend and in the afternoon, decided that while she was over at my house sewing, I would do some knitting.
A good afternoon of being crafty, right?
No.
After searching Ravelry for almost two hours, none of the patterns where calling out to me, so I ended up just sharing funny YouTube videos with my friend while watching her sew.
Kind of bummed me out. I have an itch to do some knitting, but I don’t want to start baby items until I know what I’m having and no other pattern begged me to knit it.
Of course, now that it’s 10pm, I’m thinking I could have knitted some baby bibs in gender neutral colors…
How did you spend your day?
Ye Olde Check-In
Not much to report on for ROW80 this week. Progress is there, but coming slowly.
The Bagpiper was supposed to leave for Guam on Monday, but a typhoon caused the flight to be cancelled, so he was home Monday and Tuesday. I took advantage of his time home and we did some housework, some yard work and a couple of extra date nights, which was nice.
He left this morning for Guam and will return on Friday. Next week he is on leave, so I don’t think I’ll have much progress writing-wise next week either. We have plans to do a lot of sight-seeing (finally!) and there’s talk of going to Okuma and either renting a beach cabin or spending a couple days at a resort.
We’ll also be finding out the sex of the baby next week, so expect me to be blabbering it all over the blog, Facebook, Twitter and G+.
I’ve also been on an epic fantasy kick, reading-wise. I reread the “Tir-Alainn Trilogy” by Anne Bishop and now I’m making my way through Sharon Shinn’s “The Twelve Houses.” I only have four books in her series, and I’m halfway through book two right now. After reading 25 books last month for #ToBeReMo, I’m taking it slowly and not devouring a book a day, lol. Besides, fantasies, I find, need to be read slowly to really enjoy all the details that go into them. I’m thinking of trying the “Game of Thrones” series next. I keep hearing fantastic things about the series. I also want to reread the first three books of Jacqueline Carey’s “Kushiel Series”, because I adore the main characters in those books and it’s been a while since I’ve reread the series.
Got any epic fantasy recommendations?
So not as much writing as I’d hoped, but overall, I’m still happy with my slow-but-steady progress. It’s hard to get back into the swing of things after two months away and with hormones going haywire. Plus, an email talk with some of my writing friends back home made me realize there’s still some stuff I need to iron out plot-wise in Zoraida, and until I can get those problems fixed, the story is kind of stuck — or it will be very soon.
I may use the rest of this week and next week to do some brainstorming and plotting, since I won’t be writing a whole lot. Originally, this story was going to be a steampunk romance novella. However, I’m thinking maybe there are more stories in this world to tell. Perhaps some sequel novellas from the POV of other characters? Too early to tell, but it’s a thought in the back of my mind.
How is your ROW80 progress going?
Borders says goodbye – What does this mean for the industry?
After filing for bankruptcy back in February, Borders Books is officially throwing in the towel.
Their remaining 400 stores will be closing.
As a reader, this news saddens me. Even though I’m living in Japan, I was buying physical books from both BN and Borders, since they ship to APO/FPO addresses. From a public relations/marketing/business standpoint, however, I can’t say I’m very surprised at the news.
Borders has been in trouble for awhile, so it’s not shocking that they are finally deciding to liquidate the company and shut their doors for good.
They just didn’t catch on to the changes in the industry quick enough. Everything is going digital, and unlike Amazon and BN, Borders waited too long to hop on the eReader bandwagon.
Regardless of whether you are an eReader only person, a physical book only person or a hybrid like me (I get some authors on eBook and others (mostly my favorites) I will buy the physical book), it’s undeniably clear: ebooks are making a huge splash in the industry. If you can’t accept those changes or accept them too late, as a business, you are only setting yourself up to fail.
And that, in my opinion, was Borders great downfall. Amazon has the Kindle and has had it since the beginning of the eBook revolution. BN has the Nook. Even non-bookstore companies, like Sony, have their own brand of eReader and their own online eBook store.
Borders has/had the Kobo, but the Kobo came too late to make a difference for Borders.
But the lack of a strong eReader presence wasn’t Borders only problem.
They spread themselves too thin — they weren’t just a bookstore. Between DVDs, CDs, boardgames, stationary, posters, toys and even clothes, they had their hand in too many cookie jars to pay attention to their bread and butter: books. And if BN isn’t careful, the same could very well happen to them in a few years.
As a reader, I don’t like seeing toys, games, DVDs and CDs in my bookstore. If I wanted a toy, I’d go to a toy store. I go to a bookstore because I want a book. It’s that simple. The branch out to DVDs and CDs wouldn’t be too bad of a stretch — if it were limited to audiobooks or DVDs based off of books. But come on, clothing? I don’t care that the shirt is the cheap marketing trick of publishers to make more money off of Twihard teens — clothes don’t need selling in a bookstore.
So what exactly does Borders closing their doors mean for the industry?
It’s a little too early to tell, I think, but one thing is for sure: other players in the industry, whether they are big chains or indie stores, cannot afford to ignore the eBooks.
Everything is going digital, and in another decade, it’s entirely possible that the only physical books will be books by the best-sellers. I hope that’s not the case, but it’s a definite possibility. It’s like the changeover from VHS to DVD. For awhile, people hung on to their massive VHS collections, but eventually the DVD triumphed.
The bottom line is, from a business standpoint, eBooks make more sense for both publishers and authors. They are cheaper to make, require no shipping and in the end provide more profit.
Change isn’t bad, but like with any changing industry, if you don’t adapt, you won’t survive.
What are your thoughts on Borders closing and the changing book industry? Do you own an eReader?
Social Media Monday: On Google+? Build a damn profile.
First, before anything…can I just say that I bawled like a baby during Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2? Seriously. Every 10 minutes I was crying. Something would happen and tears. Just as I was getting those tears under control, something else to evoke more tears happened.
I’m sure my pregnancy hormones did not help, either.
ANYWAY.
Google+ has been out for a few weeks now. I’ve been on it for about two weeks, and in that time I’ve noticed a lot of great things about it. I’ve also noticed some things that I hope will be addressed as the developers move it out of the beta stages.
The big draw, for me, to Google+ are the privacy settings. Google’s privacy settings stomp all over the paltry “privacy” settings Facebook offers. I really do wish Facebook would be less money hungry and more user-oriented. All those 3rd party apps/games are turning people off, but people stay because the alternative social media is MySpace. Granted, there is also Twitter, which I love, but if my family isn’t on it, I can’t keep up with them while I’m in Japan and they are in the US. Plus, the time difference often puts me on Twitter when the US is fast asleep…
But now we have G+ and it offers a lot of privacy. It offers circles, and it allows me to post/share things with all of my circles or just some of my circles. This is another big draw. Facebook allows for lists, but those lists are often so hidden in your settings that it’s easy to forget that it’s even a feature. G+, however, makes it easy. People like easy.
So I have a friends circle for people I know in real life, a writing circle, a book people circle and a knitting circle. I love this, because I know a lot of my writing friends don’t care about my knitting adventures. Likewise, my book people don’t need to know the things I tell my personal friends.
Here’s the downside to circles — if one person in my writing group shares something like a link full of good writing info, others share it. When others share, my writing stream produces a dozen posts of the same exact thing, and I’m forced to scroll and scroll until I find something different. Whereas on Facebook, if two people share the same thing, it shows up as one post that reads “So and so and what’s-her-face shared a link.” It’d be nice if G+ does something similar in the future.
The other thing that bothers me about G+ is that when someone adds me to a circle, they don’t really have a way of sending me a private message to say, “Oh, btw I’m @AwesomePerson on Twitter.” Cause let’s face it, not all of my Twitter friends use their real names, especially my knitting buddies. I don’t know real names, people. I know Twitter and Ravelry names. So if someone adds me and they don’t have a profile built up, I have no way of knowing who they are, if I know them or if I want to add them to one of my circles (and if I do…which one do I add them to?).
So, if you are on G+ or thinking of getting on G+…do us all a favor and build a damn profile. List your interests. List your Twitter name or other online nicknames. Share a private post and tag someone (either with a + or @ in front of their name) and say: “BTW..you know me from ____.”
I can’t stand it when someone adds me and their profile is blank. Not even a picture for me to compare to a Twitter avatar. Don’t tell me that building a profile is boring or time-consuming. Chances are you’ve built a profile on every other social network you are on, so just copy/paste all that info into another profile. It’s really not that hard.
Also, be cautious/courteous of what you share with your circles. I love you all, but if you are a NASCAR nut, there’s no reason for you to share that information with me. Make a NASCAR circle and share that shit with them.
Google+ is not Facebook. There’s no reason to share everything with everybody. The beauty and magic of Google+ are those circles. I kind of wish Google+ would give one the option to share their circles. Right now, no one can see the circles I’ve built. It’d be nice to have the option to allow others to see my circles. Not see who is in them, mind you, but just to see what circles I’ve created. This way, if one of my knitting buddies wants to be in my book circle, I can put them in both and they can see the stuff I share in both circles.
Then again, if you put your hobbies/interests in your profile, I might have a better idea of knowing whether or not I should put you in multiple circles…
^_~
adorably alice 