Writing
Playing catchup
Life has been hectic, to say the least. The new job I started in January has been good, but it’s a lot more time and focus than my previous gig. Also more travel: I’ve visited Miami, Malaga in Spain, and soon San Francisco. No complaints. It is...
Zombie Brownies
Confession time: I was a Brownie, the younger version of the Girl Scouts. Daughter of a Girl Scout Leader. We learned all of the camp songs when we were little, including the Brownie Smile Song. Ah yes, childhood memories. Except I was also an afficiando of B movies and...
Deep Purple, public domain, and copyright
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of Golan vs. Holder, according to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education: A Professor’s Fight Over Shostakovich Heads to the Supreme Court. When Congress changed the law on when a work enters the public domain in...
Seven years later…
The first blog post on Ceffyl.net was on April 11, 2004. At that time, I had two horses (Isis and Logan) and four cats (Basette, Ambush, Stella, and Kiesha). Seven years later, I have only one kitty and three horses. I started this blog as an outlet...
Signal boost: Foreclosure and cross-country moving book sale
Vera Nazarian, of Norilana books and author of Mansfield Park and Mummies, needs your help. Like many other people, she has been hit hard by the economy and an impending foreclosure. You can help her by seeing if some of the books available (see links below) would...
iTunes has The Seeker on special for $4.99
In 1973, Susan Cooper’s book, The Dark is Rising, (book two in a series of the same name), delighted readers and also won the Newberry Award. In 2007, Walden Media got their hands on the movie rights and made a horrible version. I wrote my longest blog...
Writing mentoring sale from Judith Tarr
I regularly read Judith Tarr’s Livejournal blog. This week she announced her annual sale on writing mentoring. Judith Tarr is a fantastic fantasy / historical fiction author who has authored dozens of books. (Take a look at what she has published over on Amazon and at Book...
Kinda cool…
I got a thank-you on an Open Office forum for my article on using page styles to create unique headers and footers in Open Office Writer. One of my friends asked me why I bother writing documentation that no one will read. I told him I write...
Blood Ties on DVD in the US (finally!)
I received an email from Amazon.com stating that the Blood Ties DVD will be released in the U.S. on June 2, 2009. No word on what will be included on the DVD. Blood Ties fans have been waiting for almost a year and a half since the...
That BBC Book Meme on Facebook
I think this is based on the BBC Big Read top 100 list from 2003. Most of the books are the same. I was curious how many books on this list my English studies covered. Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of...
Dalek Christmas tree
Someone had a lot of time on their hands and put it to good use this holiday season! The tree at right is the creation of x Plastic Neurospasta who posted picture on Flickr. Any fans of Doctor Who will instantly recognize the Dalek, complete with blue...
Link collection for technical writing
At different times, I’ve mentored people who are interested in technical writing. I have over ten years of experience as a professional technical writer and some definite ideas about how to get started in the field. A friend of mine asked me for some suggested reading on...
Blood Ties soundtrack coming!
Some excellent news on the Blood Ties forum within the last few weeks. (I just got it today, so I’m late posting it here.) In a post on the Blood Ties Bloodlines forums dated September 13, James Jandrisch, the composer for the series Blood Ties, said that...
The 20 Dumbest Warning Labels Of All-Time
You know, in tech writing you find some pretty silly examples of poorly translated warning labels and paragraphs. Here are some from general products. Humor at it’s very best. This article exposes the stupidity of the manufacturers. We know, they need to cover their own asses… but...
MacJournal Anew
A while back, I documented the trouble I had using MacJournal with WordPress. I have never gotten the silly program to work with WordPress. Ashame, really, because MacJournal is a nice looking application. This week I purchased a copy of the Back to School bundle from Mac...
Quote, continued
Sappho is one of my favorite ancient poets. I’ve found some wonderful pieces by her, and also some good quotes. This one is probably my favorite: “Here cold water babbles through apple branches, and roses keep the whole place in shadow, and from the quivering leaves a...