Miracle Max from Princess Bride
Heat and not sleeping well has made me drowsy. It probably doesn’t help that I’ve been doing walks in the humidity (errands) and stay in a hot part of the house to get work done. What work? Well, I’m just cranking out characters for a story that I’ll write next month entitled ‘Crossing Bedlam’. Probably have 12-13 more characters to design and then a simple outline. This is my ‘exiled from the house’ project. It also means I haven’t touched the editing I planned on touching.
In fact, I found that there are a lot of things I haven’t been doing. A big one is that I never made good on my plan to do a monthly TWUBS chat. It simply fell apart when my weekends and nights got chaotic. Various trips, gatherings, and a nightly battle with the kid to put him to bed made it that I wasn’t freeing myself up until 8:30-9 PM. I did try a midday one once, but that didn’t go very well. Only 1-3 people showed up and I kept losing the connection or having to handle a phone call. This might be moved to ‘special event’ status.
Duck Hunt from Nintendo Meme
I’m also looking at how I need to schedule some posts for August and I just can’t get myself to do it. I have a few topics to use, but I kind of feel like I’m going through the motions at this point. People ask me the same questions, I’ve covered so much in the past, spoilers are a high risk when it comes to anything book related, and so many other stumbling blocks. Still, I will hopefully have a new book coming out that month and I need to do something. Just not sure what. There’s always the idea of doing a month of character bios and interviews. 13 posting days, so I can cover 13 characters. A challenge there is that some of the characters may cause some people to ask spoiler questions. So I might leave some out for now. The list I have is:
- Luke Callindor, Nyx, Sari, Timoran Wrath, Delvin Cunningham, Dariana, Fizzle, Kira Grasdon, Stephen, Trinity, Aedyn Karwyn, Yola Biggs, and the Lich.
I might phase out one or two for others since their previous outings haven’t netted any responses. Just not sure who to put in there. The problem is that I constantly have people requesting a character to be highlighted and then the post gets no reaction. Not even from those that made the request. Again, I’m not sure how to tackle this in a way that I haven’t before. Maybe I’ll make a post that asks people to leave questions for the characters to answer in their posts. So it’ll be a pre-written interview instead of a live one.
Only other update is that . . . well, I found I can’t go into that in a public forum. Again, I’ve learned that certain people are watching this blog and react in the real world when I write something that they don’t like. I might add this part into the Saturday thing, but right now I have a bit too much to do to deal with drama. It’s very debilitating and inescapable, which sucks. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s hurt me a bit here because I can’t really do the personal stories. Caught a little flack for the fireworks tale and I’ve been told that certain people aren’t happy when I post pictures of my son. So my hands are kind of tied in this arena.
Anyway, that’s the skinny and now I should stop putzing around. Need to create a fun character for the story. Just having trouble picking a hat for this female British warlord that wants to turn a city into a ‘civilized’ place. Forget the fact that she has a lethal temper and one of her first actions is to shoot a guy for making a bad cup of tea. 🙂
Legends of Windemere 
This will lift you. I was wanting a picture of an author for a post so I Googled Author photo. Guess who’s picture was in among the rich and famous. Yes, Charles E. Yallowitz big as life. Try it.
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Wow. That’s surprising. May I ask who I was sitting between? I did the search and didn’t see myself there. A lot of Rowling though. 🙂
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Ugh. I hear you on the blog posts. I’ve done those before too, when I put a lot into the effort and then . . . crickets. As a new follower to your blog, not sure what you’re dealing with there at the end, but I hope it all works out for you. Maybe focusing on a fun character or blog posts is just the ticket!
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A month of character-focused stuff might be the best idea. I can keep putting links to my books in too. 🙂 Maybe I should add Ichabod Brooks into it them. As far as that last part, I used to be incredibly honest on here and some people didn’t like that. I learned that there are people reading my blog and reporting to others if I say something ‘off’. So I’ve held back on personal stuff at times.
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Sounds like a smart move. And, hey, you’ve got a plan for writing/blogging! 🙂
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That’s hard. I create a layer of protection for my loved ones, like Old What’s Her Face. I’ve never been taken to task by them though. I’ve also worked really hard on a post to get radio silence. Then you post something like a photo from a hockey game and you’re a rockstar. It’s hard to predict what folks will like, so I don’t try any longer. I just post and keep my fingers crossed.
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It’s not even when I bring them up. If I mention that I’m feeling down or rant about something, it seems to come back and bite me on this side of the computer. Those are the ones that really make me twitchy.
Good point on not trying any more. Though I do like the idea of using August to delve into the characters with audience given questions. As long as I get a good amount of responses. If it’s only 1 or 2 then it’ll be a rather dull month long series.
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I just post and let the chips fall. Your posts are always good, and I’m sure we regulars will stick with you.
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Thanks. Maybe I’ll try to get some questions tonight. Depends on how my day goes. Took a long walk through the heat to find that the place I was heading to is closed for the week. Second time I did this and it drained me.
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Charles, nothing would set me off more than a “bad cup of tea.” Love your writing about writing! Just in case you could use a dose of inspiration…check out my last blog – Very Inspiring Blogger Award – it’s full of inspiration for fellow blogger friends! Just skip the words and scroll down to the gallery! Christine
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Thanks. I’ll give it a look. Good to hear about the bad cup of tea being a trigger. 🙂
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I’m with Christine. I mean, come on. A bad cup of tea? Surely anyone agrees that deserves a shooting 😀
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A big issue is that Brits and Yanks have different styles. That will probably be a problem.
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Or an opportunity to have some fun 🙂
I guess you Yanks would shoot someone over a bad cup of coffee, instead.
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Maybe. Though there are places out there with much better coffee than here. Maybe a bad hot dog.
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Definitely a bad hot dog.
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I’m sorry you’ve taken flak for your personal posts. Writing posts is hard enough.
I’m glad you’re character building. That sounds like fun. Are your hat choices on Pinterest?
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Not even real personal posts. Just hints of my real life seem to aggravate a few people.
I’m going with the character wearing a bowler and having a raven feather tucked into the band. It’s a she, so that might work. Probably wear it lopsided on her head.
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Sounds fun!
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Really happy for you that some ideas are floating. It’s really cool; after the uncertain post before.
Also… If the cuppa (tea) doesn’t have 3 sugars, plenty of milk and the strainer/tea bag left in, it’s not worth sniffing at.
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Thanks for the tea tip. Funny how I get so much advice on the tea and it isn’t always the same. 🙂
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Lol. You gotta figure out whether this tea-loving Brit of yours is a traditional black tea leaf type (see Victorian era), a green tea leaf type (see Starbucks), an earl grey type (serve with lemon), or a Builder’s brew type (as I described).
There are personalities involved in these taste preferences. Choose wisely.
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Summertime and humidity is like that. No one feels like doing anything. During these months, I typically take my work outside. At least it works for me.
As for taking flack for posts and pics you’ve posted–do what I do, make them into a character and kill them off in the most horrifying way possible. I’m totally kidding, seriously. Actually, I can’t say I experience what you have experienced with others telling me they don’t like what I write. Even if anyone did–well–I’ll just keep writing what I want. Then again, I am very careful with what I put in my blog. I have stalkers.
Okay, that’s a bit more open than what I expected to write, but now you know!
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I considered outside, but it’s too gross and there isn’t much shade. We lost a lot of trees to a few storms 2-3 years ago. I’m wondering if everyone has stalkers. I’d care less if it didn’t keep getting in the way. I mean, how does one argue against someone about a blog post? Especially when you’re not sure which one they’re talking about because they took something the wrong way. That one always confuses me.
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I try to be very careful with personal posts, and it is frustrating. My husband doesn’t read my blog but I know he would be unhappy if I posted a picture of him. He’s a proud member of the “I don’t do social media” crowd. He understands why I do social media, but then he has the luxury of being smug when I tell him about some of the craziness out there. For me, I just never knew who might read my blog, especially since it does post to Facebook and I have a few relatives who follow it there. I was very anxious writing about my dad but, of all my posts, that’s one that none of my relatives has commented on. Maybe that’s a good thing 😉
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I know people who avoid social media, but they also read the sites of those that are on it. Basically, they log into another person’s profile with permission and look around. So they avoid the drama and get the info. I get into debates mostly over when I write a moody post (god forbid I admit to being sad) and post pictures of my son. The latter has made me feel left out because all of my friends flood FB with pictures of their kids. My wife doesn’t like the idea and she has most of the pictures on her computer, so I have to pester her for stuff.
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I’m glad that my husband doesn’t engage in social media but I still write like he might read one of my posts 😉 Just call me paranoid. I know there’s a lot of controversy over posting kids’ photos. I’ve heard some awful stories about infant and toddler photos being appropriated and turned into hateful memes, but that usually hurts (and angers) the adults, not the kids. There are trolls out there. But I only signed up for Facebook because that’s where my ex-niece-in-law was posting all her sons’ photos … how else was I going to see them grow up given we live in separate states? I understand your wife’s concerns but I hope you can assure you that for most of us, seeing pictures of cute little kids is as much fun as seeing pictures of cute little kittens and puppies. It makes us smile 🙂
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That’s kind of why I’m still on FB. I talk to a few people solely through that medium. More importantly, many friends and family members only report life events on Facebook. There’s no other notification from these people in regards to divorce, engagements, weddings, babies on the way, etc. So leaving the platform means I’d never know what’s going on. Sucks being the person who finds out last and it eventually makes you think you’re not really part of the group.
As far as the kids go, I know a lot of people who are against that. My wife is one of them and she’s the person with most of our digital pictures. So I don’t get to post a lot of my son’s pics. I’d have more, but I’m usually interacting with him instead of taking phone pics. It’s odd too because many of my friends flood Facebook with photos of their kids. Again, I seem to be the odd man out and there is a sense of being at a distance because of that.
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Think of quality vs quantity. Not every picture of a kid is worth posting to Facebook. Years ago, another ex-niece-in-law (yes, I have two) went into paparazzi mode and posted maybe 20 photos of her baby son eating spaghetti to Facebook. The first couple of pictures were cute. Then I started to get pissed off that she basically hogged my newsfeed with a stream of photos that varied little. But when you post pictures of your son on your blog, it always seems special.
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I try to limit it on the blog since that goes everywhere. On Facebook, I have the photo albums set for friends only. I do wonder about oversharing on there. I used to always write about him, but then I felt that I was exposing too much of his life to the Internet. Reporting that he’s sick was the big one and I stopped when I realized that I should be more concerned with comforting him than letting the world know.
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Goodness, you are busy, Charles! the picture at the top of the post made me smile, The Princess Bride is one of my all time favourite films. I wish more fantasy had such silliness and harmless fun in it (but I am a hypocrite, perhaps I should endeavor to write something more light hearted soon!). best wishes, pal
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I agree. Silliness seems to be losing traction these days. It has to be over the top or people think it’s pointless. Another issue, at least around here, is that silliness has become defined more as crude, potty humor. I can’t remember the last ‘smart’, non-crude comedy I saw.
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I completely agree, pal! Can’t stop smiling at the thought of that film now:
‘The Forest of Despair, we’ll never survive!’
‘Nonsense! You’re just saying that because nobody ever has!’
Keep smiling, dear Charles 🙂
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Though if nobody survived, where did all the stories come from?
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*grins*
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