Rusty Skills But At Least I Still Have Them

I received a quick note yesterday afternoon that a fellow Tolkien-based fiction author and good friend had passed. Dreamflower was a friend of many years, a talented author, and a fellow enthusiast who was an active member in the Tolkien fan-fiction community. She read other's writings avidly, commented when she felt moved, always was positive, and she'll be missed. Travel safely to the West, my friend. I hope to meet you again someday on that far shore. 

Another friend is sailing into the unknown - heading to the 
Western seas. Travel safely, my dear. You'll be missed. 

Yesterday was also a very busy day in the kitchen, and I even got an hour to spend cutting mats for two pictures I need to get into their frames. I wish I had gotten a bit more completed, but it was a good start and I'll try to get some more work done on them on Sunday. My workspace for framing at home isn't the greatest space. It's small, it's crowded, and it doesn't work super well for the larger cuts. It's fine for the finer detail work, but the big stuff is a bit of a PITA. But, it's what I have available, so I'll just have to make do. No choices. 

My Fletcher glass cutting equipment takes quite a bit 
of space. And the sheets of glass are often quite large 
too. Tiny shards of glass also accumulate beneath it, 
so if I bring this home, I'll have to be very careful about 
where I mount it. 

I will have to take interior measurements for these also - I need to get glass cut for them, and my glass cutter is on the wall at the shop. I've been running through possibilities of where I could get it set up here at home, and I haven't come up with a decent location for the cutter yet. I'm running out of time - I'll have to get it pulled and mounted somewhere here ... but where??? 

My framing skills are a bit rusty, and the space I have available 
for my equipment isn't the best. Nonetheless, as the saying 
goes ... I'll persevere. No real choices here - LOL. 

But, at least it was a day when I did get something accomplished for framing. I didn't get nearly as far as I had wanted, but anything is an improvement over nothing. Part of the problem is I simply haven't done a lot of framing over the past few years, and my skills are rusty. They are still there, but everything takes a bit longer - it's less intuitive. On that note, I'm going to the swimming pool to work out some of my basic frustration. Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

TMI? Perhaps, or Probably - LOL

Yesterday was difficult - I only got 1-1/2 mile on the elliptical, but I did manage six miles on the bike, so it was not a total loss, and I kept my pace up. Still, those two days off really made a difference. My usual gym crew all gave my eyebrows a 100% amazing grade, and so even though I don't photograph well, I'll share with all of you too. I'm quite happy. I have my touch-up and my eyeliner application appointment scheduled for mid-April, that will be the end of this stage of reinventing moi - LOL. 

No makeup yet, and of course I hate selfies, but here are my
new eyebrows and I'm really happy with them. 

Back to Middle Earth Bingo is forging ahead, and today's prompt will give me a Bingo win on my "Horror" card. Huzzah! I have the story almost written, but it needs a final revision, and I need to decide how much graphic description I want to put into it. It's Haldir's last night in Mirkwood, I hate to fade to black, but I know some people would prefer that. It's a balancing act since I'm writing within a specific market instead of my own works. 

Since today's story features the use of a spanking bench, I thought
I'd include one of many styles of such an item. I'm sure King
Thranduil would have something quite well built and probably
more versatile than this, but this gives my readers an idea of
what the basic bench can look like. 

Do other people reading my blog use PayPal? I'm curious if you got a notification from them about updating your records for how they deal with your account balances. I generally always pull out any account balances, but I also know that they are becoming an alternative banking system for many people, with their own credit cards, etc. I just hate to have a lot of personal information out there unless it is for a legitimate cause. Share with me, please, if you have had a similar request, so that I feel more comfortable about it. 

PayPal - I've used them for many years, but not
very extensively. 

So today is short and sweet. It's going to be a busy day at the shop with a shipment arriving and packing and tagging to do. I'm finally getting in one color of a bead that I have several people, including a few mail order customers, awaiting. I'll be sending out emails within the next day or two and get some of them sent to owners who will make beautiful things with them. 

Kiwi Delica bead has been sold out for a while, but
should be back into the store today. I'll get that packed
quickly and start notifying my customers who have
been back-ordered on the color. 

On that note, I'm out of here. Time to go back to the gym for more voluntary torture. Oh well, I may not like the machines as much as the water, but I always feel better after my morning exercise. Have a wonderful Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Back to Middle Earth Month - I'm Tempted

March is the beginning of the Silmarillion Writer's Guild annual "Back to Middle Earth" month. Over the years I've done some of my better writing under the umbrella of this event, and I've been itching to get back to writing a bit more than just my daily blog post, so I at least am taking steps to be able to participate if the muse allows. It's a BINGO event again this year, and I always love those. Each participant can choose up to ten cards from the more than 200 cards available. I did a first look through the cards yesterday. 

I started writing fan-fiction in the Tolkien universe in a B2MeM
event many years ago. So much has changed since then, but over
the years within that fandom I've acquired some life-long friends. 

I guess I'll have to do some serious culling - LOL. On my first pass, I ended up with more than 35 cards in my "possibles" list. Since I can only accept ten cards as a final choice, today I'll try and take a little time to look at my choices once again and try to figure out which cards will really tempt me once the event is actually under way. I don't have a lot of time to devote, so I'll be working short and concise, a format/style that I prefer anyway. But with up to ten cards, even if I do standard 100-word drabbles, that can still amount to 1000 words each day. 

A lot of this year's challenges are artwork, but I'm slow with art. If
I chose that option I wouldn't have a BINGO at all. As it is, I might
not succeed if the random numbers don't light up my muse. I love this
double-spiral drawing of "The Hobbit", though. Such a beautiful
thing to look at. 

In the past, although I've chosen several cards I usually ended up concentrating on a single card, perhaps two at the outside. I'd like to narrow my choices down a bit so that I won't have quite as much of a time crunch, but I've missed writing and playing in Tolkien's sand-box, and would enjoy playing with other parameters than original fiction. It's oh so tempting. 

The first B2MeM I participated was in 2011 and I succeeded in
a full passport of all of the places visited. I really enjoyed that
journey through the places of Middle Earth. 

Today I'll cull. I'll look more carefully at my first choices and start discarding before choosing my finals. It's hard, though. It's rather like looking at a row of cupcakes and trying to choose the best one to take home - almost impossible and why I usually don't choose any cupcake at all. That's great for my hips, but my taste buds are disappointed. 

The last B2MeM I put effort into was kn 2017 for the Night and Day
challenge. It was intricate and a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it. Other
challenges over the years didn't hit me as well, but the BINGO
challenge has always been interesting to me. So, cull I shall! 

Happy Tuesday to all. Tomorrow we'll get snow starting at 6:00 am and dumping six inches (speculated). Of course, I get to start tomorrow out by getting the store opened and then driving to the far south of the cities to the Social Security Office to prove that I'm a real person and that I was born and that I was given citizenship before I was three years old. The joys of bureaucracy. Be good, be safe, and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Writing, Swimming and the Cold

Once again I've succumbed to the writing lure and subscribed to an on-line writing course. I've done this periodically through the years and have always learned something that honed my craft a bit more, but I also know that time will be tight over the next 18 months. I miss writing, though. As I was cleaning I came across one of my LOTR stories from a few years ago and after re-reading it, I discovered that I still enjoyed the tale. That's not the case with everything I've written over the years, but some of my work is holding up to time. Practice and consistency helps with any art, though, and that includes writing. 

The nice thing about LOTR Fan-Fiction is that the
community is fairly active. There are always challenges
pending and activities I can dive into to help practice and
fine tune my writing skills. 

Just because I don't have the time to continue working on my novel, and just because I can't dive back into the LOTR fan-fiction universe again just yet, doesn't mean I can't hone my writing skills again, so I'll do my best to allocate two 30-minute periods each week to "Descriptive Writing" and "Irresistible Fiction". If nothing else, it will be fun to think about something other than cleaning, organizing, and shifting items from one place to another. 

My life is winding down and I want to spend a decade or
two doing creative things - making my stories in print and
in art. I can't do that if I'm working a 60-hour week at the shop. 

DH will keep me on track with the packing and moving of stuff. He's got his focus and his internal timetable, and he's keeping us on schedule. We want to retire - I want out. The only way to do that is to actually bring home the things that need to be home and then sell the rest. So much easier said than done for a business that's been ongoing for more than 30 years. 

It was wonderful to finally be back in the pool yesterday. I wasn't
too far off my pace, either, ending my mile within two
minutes of my best time before my three week hiatus. 

On another plane, it was pure joy to be back in the water and swimming yesterday. Although I'm going to make sure to build in at least two days of machines this week, I'm going back to the pool for today and tomorrow. I think I'll allocate Thursday and Friday to machines, and Monday-Wednesday plus Saturday for the pool. I hate to miss my Saturdays, they're usually the least crowded day and I often get a lane of my own for my mile. 

Too many people are one paycheck away from being homeless, and
in temperatures like we'll have over the next few days, some of those
unfortunate people will die because the shelters will be full and will
have to turn people away. 

I'm ready to bundle up and face the cold. We're at the beginning of three-four days of intensive sub-zero temps. Today it's currently a balmy -4 F ... NO, it's now -6 F. By the time I go to sleep tonight, it'll be -16 F and still dropping. This is killing cold and we'll lose some of the homeless who refuse to leave their cubbyholes or have no place with space available. My heart goes out to anyone without shelter during temps like this! 

Have a safe and warm Tuesday, I'll be back tomorrow. 

Productivity, Tropes and Ruts

My Wednesday off turned into a very productive day, as I worked on my Holiday Cards for most of the day. I had my computer on behind me, but didn't even sit at the keyboard until my weekly afternoon conversation with Aearwen. The cards are going back over to the shop with me today to continue working on the section I had been, and start my work on the interior panels. 

I don't know what I would do without my Tim Holtz Stamping
Platform. I purchased this last year for my "Dawn Breaking
in the Forest" cards, and it's turned into an invaluable
tool in my array. 

Because I'm trying to use up older stock, my cardstock is a bit lighter-weight than I would have chosen. That has the potential of causing problems of bleed-through or ghosting from one panel to the other. I'm hoping that won't be a problem, but I may have to alter some things to minimize the effect. Sometimes having a ghost image of the interior appear on the cover is desirable. Not this time. 

I am concerned about bleed-through with this
year's cards. The paper's weight is a bit lighter than
in prior years and that leaves me with the
possibility of image ghosting. 

Ghosts of things appearing behind other things often happens in real life too. The decisions of the past influence the future, actions often performed can become rote. In life, as in print, it's important to focus on the current experience, the current panel, instead of focusing on what just passed or what is yet to come. But we are always influenced by those things, despite the best of intentions. 

Life exists and turns directions because of
cause and effect. Every action has a re-action. 

We learn from the past. Good or bad, history influences our actions. If a child is beaten when he or she expresses a certain opinion or acts in a specific manner, they will learn to associate the action or opinion with pain or stress. It may, or may not, actually influence that child to cease the behavior. But that cause and effect has been established and will always hang in the background thoughts. 

Tropes are a level of comfort. Superman changes to his
super persona in a phone booth. I guess it doesn't
matter that phone booths really don't exist any more.
The trope has been well-established and well linked. 

Writing can be like that too. We get used to using certain comfortable tropes for our plot twists, we flow through character development because the characters have so many similarities, or maybe the location where you set your stories is so familiar to you that you don't need to put conscious thought into it. But in cases like that, remember your reader too. Despite your familiarity with the locations/characters/plot framework, they may not be as "in the know" as you. That's when it's helpful to have a different set of eyes on the page, a beta or a general reader who isn't as familiar or comfortable in the ruts of the writing road. 

Push yourself out of that rut. Force yourself to consider a
new perspective or just wade through to look at that
rut from a different angle. Perspectives can change. 

Your challenge today? Push yourself out of the writing rut just a little. Many of my readers are writers, and many of you write fanfiction within the Tolkien universe. The location is established, and often the characters also are set - long-time knowledge, familiarity, even love for those characters underpins your words. Take a left turn. Introduce a new character, have a beloved character act in a manner unusual for them, put a new task in front of them that they may not have faced before. In other words - challenge yourself and your characters. 

On that note, I'm out of here. I'm sending positive thoughts out to those of you having a hard time right now, and extending that positive umbrella over the world we live in as a whole. It's an angry time we're living in and those times are hard for everyone. Hugs to all, I'll be back tomorrow. Enjoy your Thursday. 

Moving Toward My Happy Place

I started out with an extra 30 minutes of time this morning because I awakened early. That disappeared when I saw a listing by Keiless about a new story she had posted (at least a new chapter to a story I hadn't read). As usual, I got caught up in her words and characterization. Great fun - a wonderful read - and (darn it all), now I'm running tight on time. Destiny, so to speak. 

My nose is always in a book. Reading is almost more important
to me than anything else. 

We're fully into another schizophrenic season right now. Autumn in the Frozen Northlands is as changeable as watching a bird fly from one tree to another and then back again. It's dizzying. Yesterday started in the 40's and got into the 60's by the time I left work. Today we're starting in the 40's again, but dropping down into the mid-thirties and crouching closely to the borders of snowfall. Tomorrow we'll start below freezing but warm into the 50's. It won't be as comfortable as other times when we've gone to the rock show, but I don't think we'll have snow this time and the sun should be out which will help too. 

It's a windy, cool, autumn day today. I expect with the wind I hear
howling outside, most of the remainder of the leaves will
be off the trees by the end of the day. 

Fall, however, is progressing without stopping for us to enjoy each and every day. Where I park at work features a tree in front of my parking space. It's been deluging me with golden leaves for the past week, but yesterday when I parked, I noted that the tree seems quite barren and lacy now. It might be the end of digging leaves from my front window well, and time to grab my window and car clearing gear from the storage room and put them into my car. Despite the Game of Thrones reference, it's indisputable - Winter Is Coming! 

What a lovely photo of falling autumn leaves. Our trees will
look like this soon. There are still green trees out there - some
of the oaks hang on a long time - but many of our trees are
already bare, ready for their long winter sleep. 

Still, the pool is there every morning, my friends still greet me as we're waiting outdoors in the weather of the day for the gym doors to be unlocked, and life progresses. I got the initial image onto the first 15 of my cards yesterday and I'm VERY happy.These will be a lot of fun to make and to send. I'm still uncertain about whether I'll include anything extra in the envelopes, but the project is finally underway. I'm totally doing the happy dance. 

Just doing the happy dance. I'll be cold, I'll be blown from
one side to the other today, but it's OK. Things are underway
and I'm getting things done. I'm creating again and that's
my happy space. 

Time to get my act together and get moving. Fall Harvest Festival is on again in LOTRO, so who knows - I may pass some of you in costume as I travel to pick up Tricks and Treats from doormats in Falathorn. Enjoy your day, have an excellent weekend, and I'll be back on Monday morning. 

Success and Memories

I was SUPER busy yesterday, starting by bringing the box containing the new printer into the computer room at 9:00 am yesterday morning. Soon the floor was strewn with packing materials and I was unplugging and disconnecting the old model, ready to install the new. It took THREE HOURS! Not that the install was that difficult, but getting the printer to talk properly to both of the computers wasn't easy. A shelf needed serious cleaning also, and it is the better for it. Around noon I finally test printed from both computers and they seem to be happy now. The printer is slightly smaller than my previous one, but I like it and think it will do well for us - at least for a few years.

Now that I finally have a functional all-in-one printer
again, I can start scanning in my holiday cards
and sharing them with all of you. Look for some
posts on those in the next week or two. 

Today is the anniversary of the deaths of two good friends, both of whom I never met in person, but both of whom I spoke with in cyber-space quite often. I'm remembering them today because they were important in my life and also in the lives of other cyber friends.

Helen was such an amazing person. When she had the chance
to swim with the dolphins, she realized she had forgotten
her swimming suit back on the ship, so she jumped into the
ocean in her shorts and t-shirt. Nothing was going to keep
her away from this experience. 

Helen was a member of the original AOL beading board, an amazing warm and wonderful person with a heart issue. She loved the ocean and chocolate cake, and one of the last things she did before she died suddenly, was swam with dolphins when on a cruise with her husband. The smile she had in that photo just gleamed.

We lived far away from each other and never met in
person, but I remember Arthur often as a friend and
a brother, a mentor and an inspiration. 

Arthur Boccaccio was probably better known as Fiondil on the Tolkien Fan Fiction boards. He wasn't one to join in our daily back-and-forth dalliances, instead, returning from his day job, going to his room, and writing amazing fiction. He was a friend, a brother, a mentor and adviser, and he gave me my name - Erulisse. When I had a question I knew I'd get an answer from him, usually in very fast time, and his fiction is still some of the best I've read in many years. Arthur left us in on this date in 2015 and I'll never forget him.

Please join me in a virtual slice of chocolate cake in
memory of two wonderful friends who passed into
Namo's hands on this day. 

I always celebrate Helen by eating a piece of chocolate cake, joined by many of my on-line beading friends who also remember her. I always celebrate Arthur "Fiondil" by remembering conversations we exchanged in text back and forth. For a while I played in his universe and it was a beautiful one.

Have an excellent Thursday and go eat a piece of chocolate cake to celebrate the life of a woman who swam with the dolphins. I'll be back tomorrow.

Heroes and Fan Fiction

Heroes - I've been talking a lot about them lately because of this month's SWG theme. I have a feeling that we all know a hero or two, but they are in the background, just doing their job. Because of that feeling that many people can be heroes if they have to be, I finally think I've settled on the characters and their defining situation for them. Of course, this is Tolkien-based fan fiction, so the characters (or supplementary characters and settings) are already written; the skeleton that we are clothing with words and color stands waiting. As fan fiction writers, we are fleshing out bare bones or planting crops in turned fields. The dirt already exists, I'm now trying to figure out how to best use it to my advantage and push ahead.

I love this graphic. The book is fulfilling, rich, stuffed
with meat and condiments. The movie is flat and
disappointing, and the fan fiction is rich, multi-layered,
and almost impossible to eat. Yeah - that's fan fiction. 

Fan fiction. It's such a simple concept that seems to carry so much baggage. Authors either welcome others to play in their pond, tolerate explorers around their boundaries, or they pull up their drawbridge and set their fire-breathing dragon upon the usurpers. Sometimes an author will state quite clearly that they prefer not to have fan fiction in their universe. I'm not sure anyone could successfully stop fans from writing about locations/characters that they love, but since the advent of the internet, fan fiction has moved from closed notebooks and desk drawers to virtual files and world-wide public audiences. The hidden fan fiction has become all too public and authors who pulled up that drawbridge are now fighting battles against fans that they never expected to.

Not every author welcomes fan fiction. Their
feelings are completely understandable, but they
are also missing out on some really wonderful
writing along with the forgettable. 

I'm pretty sure that fan fiction has been around for as long as stories have been told around the fires at night. Fictional themes of love, hate, jealousy and betrayal have rotated through multitudes of characters for millennia. When drilling down into plot structures, it's pretty evident that there's not a lot that's new out there. What an author provides to readers, and finally to fan fiction writers, are specific characters, locations and situations. The author built the swings, jungle gyms, slides and sand pits, but we - the fan fiction writers - are the ones playing on the equipment.

So, once again I am venturing out into Tolkien's playground. It's vast, it's got amazing depth, and it's one that I adore playing in. I wish each of you a truly fabulous Friday. I'll be trying to get my head around my characters so that their tale will become clear in my head.

Research and Fan Fiction Within Tolkien

My goodness, people writing for B2MeM have been so productive! It's turning into a really fun month, and it's keeping me on my toes to stay up-to-date with my chosen Red path. Stories and artwork are being posted from friends both old and new. I hope those of you on Live Journal have an opportunity to join or watch the B2MeM community - there's some wonderful writing and artwork going on now in the JRR Tolkien realm of fanfiction.

I'm having so much fun writing again, but also reading and
looking at the various art pieces produced. B2MeM is a
wonderful thing! 

The quest for stories is keeping me on my research toes, and that's quite a lot of fun too. When writing in someone else's universe, all of a sudden you're placing a transparent overlay on top of already existing words. That gives a foundation for your story or art which can be very comforting. However, it also places a structure around the story/art that usually requires the use of some touchstones to ring true to others reading or enjoying the work. In the case of Tolkien, it's a LOT of written backdrop for a very small short story that still has to fit into the historical structure of the world that he built.

Ivan Billiban was an earth 20th century artist whose elvish
illustrations are stunning. Here is his Elves of Mirkwood piece. 

In other words, the majority of fan fiction isn't going to actually reinvent the world already created, it's going to choose small bits and pieces to embellish, expand, or explain. Can stories be carried out of Tolkien's universe and into new grounds? Of course. That's what the more historical documents featuring Tolkien characters will do. That's the 20th century elves (21st century now, of course) living and thriving in our current world. That's the Maglor through history stories that many of us have done. I'm guilty of that myself, and may end up with some AU stories within my 31 days of B2MeM.

Researching within a fictional world that already exists can be
intimidating. So much has already been written - millions of words,
thousands of authors, and you're trying to put your own stamp on
your own vision of beloved fiction. 

But when a prompt is clearly based in a specific "historical" reference, it almost always places an obligation on the author to play in that particular sandbox. Thus - research! My "spare" time has been spent with research lately - the timeline for events, the specific names of supplementary characters who may or may not appear in a tale, the general rediscovery of why I love the greater world of Tolkien so much.

A wall sized canvas can make you want to travel new pathways. That's
also what a broad history can do in fiction. The main path exists, but
what about all of those side paths and pastures to explore? 

Of course "Lord of the Rings" is a classic and a beloved set of books read by millions over the years. I've been reading them since 1968, so yes - I'm totally addicted. But when I first read "The Silmarillion", my vistas expanded far beyond that small little slice in time to a much broader history. That's what I love about Tolkien - that swath of history that extends eons and encompasses thousands of people. Oh yeah!

Happy Tuesday. If today's 50 mph-60 mph winds don't blow me off the face of the Minnesota earth, I'll be back tomorrow. Hopefully my current research will end up in another story being posted in B2MeM today too. At least that's the goal.

This and That - Changes and Other Blogs

I read a number of blogs from different people, some of whom I've met, others who are strangers to me. I find interesting tidbits in all of them, but today was a bit exceptional because I had one friend who is going to be changing her life from top to bottom and starting on a new pathway, and another blog post from a stranger that talked about fanfiction and AO3 out of the blue and introduced the other readers to a concept they hadn't thought of before (to judge by the comments made). Wow. It's hard to believe the others hadn't heard of fanfiction or AO3, but there are large rocks out there that people can hide under.

Anyone who hasn't heard of fanfiction by now has been hiding under a rock,
just like this little sweetheart. 

My friend, or acquaintance, or LinkedIn link, or run into sometimes at shows friend, "N",  is changing her life dramatically. Finalizing her divorce, she will be left without a house and is looking at changing many different things to allow herself to move on her new path. A jeweler of exceptional talent, she's thinking about purchasing an RV and wandering around the country, offering workshops here and there and examining places until she finds the place that sings to her heart. At her age (she's a few years older than I am with four grown children), this is a leap of faith. But to stay in a situation where things weren't working just didn't make sense to her any more. So I applaud her gutsy move and wish her all the best as she starts her next step.

She's thinking about painting a flying pig on the side of her RV because
she's taking a leap of faith that this new venture will be successful. 

On the other hand, a promotional post for a book started out with a long section about AO3 and how easy it is to get sucked into fanfiction which will 'feature every pairing you ever thought of (and probably some that you haven't)'. I had to laugh. AO3 is one of the archives that I use, certainly, but it isn't the largest of the fanfiction posting sites. The largest archive, to my knowledge, is still fanfiction.net. But without a doubt, AO3 is a growing concern and, since it is author supported, has been growing in just the right way. But if you want every pairing under the sun and then some, fanfiction.net is probably where I would start looking.

I doubt there are stories about kitties being best friends with chickies on AO3,
but you never know what you may find if you look. 

Then there's me. Happily posting in LiveJournal and Fairie, MPTT and AO3 (when I remember). I have much more fun writing than I do catching up with my archiving. Even my spreadsheet of posted stories is out of date since nothing I've written in 2015 has been uploaded to my archives yet. *sigh* bookkeeping. It just isn't fun!

I'll be a swimming guppy today. Isn't this one pretty? 

Happy Friday to everyone. I'll think of you while I'm swimming this morning. Maybe I can come up with a good way to cut my word count in my current story by at least half. It's growing out of control!

New Schedule Blues and Signal Boost

I'm still trying to get used to my new schedule, so I'm short on time *sigh*. I'm in my gym clothes, after a very restless night listening to my poor DH cough, and cough, and cough yet again. He had an up and down day yesterday but has to work for two more days before he can collapse for the rest of the week (except for Saturday night). This is moving into week 2 of the Creeping Crud now and I've heard from friends that it sometimes hangs on for as long as four weeks. Goodness! I'm really hoping not. He's barely getting any sleep at all between coughing bouts and he's waking me all night long, and I'm not even in the same room as he (I have NO intention of catching this damned bug, so separate rooms are a MUST).

Sometimes separate sleeping areas are essential. If I'm to avoid
also getting sick, I'll be staying in a different part of the house for a while. 

Signal boost to the fabulous and talented Dawn Felagund whose wonderful Mythmoot presentation has been posted here. If you are a fan of transformative fiction, or curious about what those of us who write transformative fanfiction are all about, you might want to listen to the 20-minute presentation that she makes here. The handout is also a wonderful addition, adding depth and dimension to the examination and explanation. Dawn offered a survey to the various posting boards of YahooGroups, LifeJournal and Dreamwidth (and possibly others I'm not aware of) for Tolkien fanfiction writers to fill out. The more than 700 hundred responses received by the end of the year constituted the empirical basis for her presentation. The poll will remain available for authors to add their data to the mix until the end of 2015 and, as of now there are close to 800 responses.

Mythmoot takes place in Maryland in January. The 2015 Moot was
the third year it has been held. Dawn has made presentations in
2014 and 2015 (and perhaps 2013 that I'm not aware of). It would be
lovely to attend one of these someday, but they're not exactly close by. 

I will be contacting the appliance store today and arranging for the installation of my new washer and dryer for Wednesday the 21st of January. I can hardly wait! I'm about as excited about this silly thing as a kid on their birthday looking forward to cake and a party. Of course, as a kid you never know whether you'll have a fun party or not. I remember many parties that were horribly disappointing as I grew up. But I can't blame my parents - they tried their best. Rather it was the quality (or lack of quality) of my friends at the time. I think that's when I determined that the value of friends was much deeper than whether they would attend a birthday party or not.

I remember birthday parties both good and bad, but it's human nature
to remember the bad with greater clarity. What a sad statement on
the human condition. Why can't we remember joy as easily as sorrow? 

In any case, if I'm going to get to the gym on time and start my day with the elliptical before I'm too awake to force myself into exercise, I'll have to wrap this up. If you're hoping for DH to get over his cold quickly, please step up the volume of your thoughts and prayers. Apparently the Deity of Health and Wellbeing is also suffering from this illness and has no intention of allowing him to heal anytime soon. *sigh* Have a wonderful Tuesday....

Thanks! and Happy Friday

Thank you to the many people who discussed aspects of fan fiction in yesterday's blog. What a spirited discussion with so much wonderful information. My fan fiction horizons were broadened and I hope that each of you participating or merely reading felt it was time well worth spending. I was thrilled with the response and can't wait to go back, respond to the last few comments, and read the entire discussion once more.

It was a spirited discussion and I loved every bit of it. Thanks to
each one of you who participated and broadened my horizons. 

It occurred to me that I drain my phone battery often, so I'm always plugging my phone into my various rechargers. I suppose I lose power because I'm always reading on my phone, or sending texts, or taking photos, or searching the web for information. My poor phone gets used a lot. But I'll be at the State Fair next week for three days of glorious Fairing with Sharon, and it hit me that I might need additional power while out there. So I decided to quickly order a portable power thingie - (LOL brain fart!) - you know ... a portable battery recharger that I can easily carry along with me. I found one online for around $15. The reviews were quite positive, the price was right, and it will be in my hands by mid-week. Perfect!

A portable phone charger should recharge a phone from
two to four times. I wanted to get one in time to have it
fully charged and ready to go by Friday morning. 

I remember wandering through the Field Museum last year while visiting Chicago. I adored the various exhibits, but deplored the fact that my phone desperately needed power. I ended up scouting out several electrical outlets and perching at several of them for 30 minute spans just to get my power back into the green. Sheesh! I don't want to run into that problem again.

What I really want in a Messenger Bag is similar to this. This particular
one is a J Crew Bowery Bag and it's a bit more than I wanted to
spend - coming in close to $100. But it's the size and material I wanted and
I'm discovering that there are a lot of really icky bags out there.
A new bag for the Fair may not be in my stars.

I've been hunting for the perfect messenger bag to take to the Fair with me, but haven't found one I like yet. I had ordered one from Amazon, but when I received it I knew immediately that it wasn't what I wanted. I sent it back the next day and had my account credited within two days after that. All things considered, the return worked pretty smoothly, for Amazon which isn't famed for its ease of returns.

I'll be researching the new foods as well as reading the reviews
on Heavy Table before I go out there with Sharon. No sense in
wasting money on icky food - only the best food on a stick for me
and my friends. 

Today is Chickie's first full day at the Fair. She's taking a vacation day and meeting her Mom over there for a bit of mother/daughter bonding. Chickie Mom is working a few hours at the AARP booth. She doesn't really like the Fair, so Chickie is determined to show her that the Fair can be a wonderful and fun experience. I hope she succeeds, but who knows. At least we're not starting today out with the thunderstorms and torrential rains that yesterday's sun arose with. It does mean, however, that I'm on my own at work today. My manager will be downstairs working on our new display. We hope to have it up and functional by tomorrow. So I'll be fending off the teeming hoards of rabid beaders solo for much of the day. *sigh*

I'll be manning the barricade on my own today...

Have a truly wonderful Friday.