Iiiiiiit's BAAA-AAACK!!!!!!! (Resurrection Blogfest III)

Today is the day! My third bloggiversary! AND my...

RESURRECTION

BLOGFEST

III!

YES! Today, participants in this blogfest will BRING OUT THEIR DEAD!

Posts, that it. If you require further elucidation, clicketh hither.

But if you're ready for some reanimated blog posts, read on.

To celebrate my third year of blogging (!!!), I'm resurrecting my Valentine's Day post (published on 2/10/14), in which I wax poetic about "What love is." I was going to bring back a post in which I bitched about crimes against grammar but reckoned that, as an author of romance dark and whimsical, I might be best served by accentuating that which is warm and fuzzy. But if you'd rather read a rant, thither thou goest. Anyway, hope you enjoy, and please do be sure to check out the other participants' resurrected posts (see linky list all the way down). The three qualifying bloggers who'll be selected at random to win either a $20 Amazon Gift Card OR my book and some book swag will be announced on Monday, November 10, 2014 (God willing). (If you're just learning about this blogfest, it's not too late to sign up ~ you've got till 11:59pm on November 7 to do so and follow the rules to qualify!)

And now...onto the revivified post!

*          *          *

What love is...
 

By Durdana shoshe (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons

In a previous post, I bitched about how ruinous loving is. And it is.

But that's not all it is.

In my late 30s, I began to draw parallels between romantic and paternal love. Not in an Oedipus/Electra kinda way, 'cause that's gross. The love my parents (who are not perfect people) show me and my sis, and even more, the love I feel for my son, is straightforward and manifests in obvious ways:

1. Love looks out for you, as regards basic needs and comforts (food, rest, shelter, chocolate*).
2. Love needs to see you well and happy.
3. Love wants you to feel better ASAFP when you're not well, whether it's from physical, mental, or emotional trauma.
4. Love shares with you, without conditions or expectations.
5. Love laughs with you.
6. Love does for you.
7. Love accepts the feelings of anger, disappointment, and sadness you engender, but will always want to hold you close again (eventually; but the wait shouldn't be too long).
8. Love waits for you to get your head out of your ass and apologize for whatever heinous fuckery you've perpetrated.
9. Love understands that you may never apologize and forgives you anyway.
10. Love may hurt you, but it'll want to fix that hurt, too, even when it doesn't understand WTF your problem is (see #2).
11. Love wants to touch you (to the degrees appropriate to your relationship).
12. Love wants you to want its touch (see parenthetical statement in #11).
13. Love recognizes and respects that you are your own person.

But the critical factor of real Love: You don't have to work for it, you don't have to earn it; it's just always there for you. Always.

Now, in my early 40s, I feel that's what I should expect, when it comes to romantic love: obvious demonstrations of love that don't demand anything extraordinary of me, and a well of that same feeling within me for the other person, one that never runs dry.

And lots of exhausting, mind-annihilating, earth-shaking, God-revealing sex. Of course.

Maybe romantic love won't happen for me.

But I believe it happens.

Wishing you all Love, now and forever.

*chocolate is totally a basic need.

*          *          *

Resurrection Blogfest III Participants!

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Resurrection Blogfest, the Third

So, like, as of November 7, 2014, I'll have been blogging for three years. That's some shit, huh? (Be a sport and pretend it is.)

Brace yourselves—it's time for...

RESURRECTION

BLOGFEST

III!

For this blogfest, participants will resurrect a blog post that they initially published between November 8, 2013 and November 6, 2014 (or, since my second Resurrection Blogfest, whether they participated or not) which they believe merits one more glance before it gives up the ghost for good. In addition to this being the easiest friggin' blogfest around...

...there will be PRIZES!!!

Here's the dealio, yo:

1. Sign up by entering your blog's name and URL on the linky-list, below. The linky-list will close after 11:59pm EST* on Friday, November 7, 2014.
2. Upload the blogfest badge in this post to the sidebar of your blog and link it back to this announcement post, to help spread the word. (It's not a "button" and there isn't a code for it; you'll have to download the image, upload to your blog's sidebar, and manually link it back to this post.)
3. Follow me on the Twitter (@GothMomLite) and re-tweet anything with this tag: #ResurrectionBlogfestIII. (Folks without Twitter accounts are welcome to participate, but must promote the blogfest on some other social media platform.)
4. On November 7, your blog post must feature the blogfest badge as well as your resurrected blog post. Be sure to include the date on which it was originally posted. (Do give the title of the original blog post but please do not make readers have to click back to the original post—copy/paste it into your November 7, 2014 post.)
5. I'll review all entries to make sure they fit the above criteria. Failure to have the badge on your sidebar, in your post, the resurrected post, and/or the date and title of the original post will disqualify you from the drawing (see #6 below).
6. Three qualifying participants (see #5 above) will be selected at random to win EITHER A) a $20 Amazon gift card OR B) a print copy of my book and some book swag (see image below). The three winners can take their pick of either prize A or B (and I won't be hurt if you opt for A). (Probably.)
7. Winners should be announced on or around Monday, November 10. (God willing.)

Prize Option B: Book and Swag!

Participants should know that:

• *All days/times are based on EST. 
• Subject matter is up to participants but whatever the topic, the post must have originally appeared on your blog on/since November 8, 2013 up to/including November 6, 2014.
• It's OK to sign up if you've just started blogging and have only a few posts in your bloggy repertoire.
• It's also OK for participants to enter more than one blog, however, in the spirit of Highlander—THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE prize per participant.
• Participants whose Resurrection Blogfest III posts are not up by 11:59pm EST on Nov. 7 will be removed from the linky-list.
• Topics/blogs with adult themes should have the appropriate preliminary warning before any participants or readers see your blog/post. Any participants' links that take the clicker to adult subject matter without warning will be removed at my discretion. And don't give me any crap about not knowing what I mean by "adult themes," 'cause you totally do.
• Participants are expected to read and comment on other participants' entries beginning November 7 and on through that weekend (based on previous years' sign-ups, this should not be an unmanageable number of blog posts to read through/comment on over the course of three days).
• Winners who opt for the $20 Amazon Gift Card will receive it via e-mail; those who choose the book/swag package will have to provide me with a mailing address (I'm happy to ship the book and swag-s-swag anywhere mail can be delivered).

Dudes, you don't have to come up with any new content for this blogfest, so whatareya waiting for? Sign up and Tweet the hell out of this blogfest already, gosh.

(Whether you choose to participate or not, please help me get the word out by sharing this post on the social media platform of your choice. You can do this easily by clicking one of the icons just above this post's tag: "Posted by Mina Lobo at 2:00 AM." THANKS!)

The image used for the Resurrection Blogfest III badge was taken from a pic snapped pour moi.

Remember to enter your blog's name on the linky list below!

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Blog Topic Generator & Thoughts on Luuurve...

So, like, I've mentioned before that I suffer from depression. I've been in a social media/life funk. Haven't been Facebooking, haven't been blog, reading, haven't been writing. Been watching a LOT of Hulu, though, which is about as helpful as a coma. Anyway, I took April off blogging and am having a really hard time getting back into the swing of things. Want to get back to regular weekly blogging, in the hopes that any kind of creative writing will prime my fiction-writing pump, as it were. But I've really no desire whatever to even think up a topic, much less write something worth reading about it. The weekend melted away and Monday, my supposedly regular day for my weekly blog post, loomed. WTF could I do in the remaining hours of Sunday to light a fire under my blogging ass?

I could Google "blog topics."

And I did.

That search turned up Hubspot's Blog Topic Generator. There, you provide three nouns you want to write about and the site spins out five blog post titles to aid in lighting a fire under your blogging ass.

Who the hell knew such a thing existed? Well, I do now.

The words which immediately came to me were, unsurprisingly:

• Love
• Man
• Sex

Because yes indeed, folks—I have a one-track mind. (Hey, there's something to be said for consistency, OK? Gimme a damn break.)

One of the five resultant titles did capture my imagination, and it was this:

What Will Love Be Like in 100 Years?

My initial response was, "The fuck should I know?"

But then the gears got to grinding (in my brain, people, not in any tawdry devices you may be envisioning) (more's the pity), and it seemed to me that, while technology, gender roles, and hairstyles may change (and thank GAWD they do), love never does.

Right? I mean, how love is expressed will vary: culturally, generationally, socio-economically, and even within the course of any given relationship. But we all still express love, don't we, on some level, to some degree? The ways love messes with your mood doesn't change: we can still ride the roller-coaster from caring, to lust, to fury, to worry, to caring again in, like, 3 seconds flat.

That love guides behavior, such as setting your cap after a love object, making some kind of commitment, maybe building and filling a nest, has been true for thousands of years, y'all. I can't see it changing, like, ever.

Can you?

The Heart Laid Bare...

One of my goals for 2014 was that I read more. Another, longer-standing, goal is that I honor the spirit of one of my fave writers, Edgar A. Poe, on his birthday every January 19. To satisfy both aims, I chose to make this January, which marks Poe's 205th year, an all-Poe reading month. First on the list was The Unknown Poe: an anthology of fugitive writings by Edgar Allan Poe, with appreciations by Charles BAUDELAIRE, Stéphane MALLARMÉ, Paul VALÉRY, J.K. HUYSMANS & André BRETON, edited by Raymond FOYE. (Bit of a mouthful, that, eh?)

The book promises snatches of Poe's writing which are hard to find elsewhere. Though it's not a comprehensive collection, from this tidy little volume I derived great pleasure as I read some of Poe's witticisms, as well as an empathetic pity for the suffering revealed in his letters to those he considered trustworthy of such revelations. And it's on the subject of revelations that I write today.

In The Unknown Poe, I came across one of his "Marginalia" (ruminations and other fragments which he slipped into the various periodicals for which he worked) which struck me profoundly and I share with you here (via text believed to be in the public domain, posted on the most excellent website of The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore):

If any ambitious man have a fancy to revolutionize, at one effort, the universal world of human thought, human opinion, and human sentiment, the opportunity is his own — the road to immortal renown lies straight, open, and unencumbered before him. All that he has to do is to write and publish a very little book. Its title should be simple — a few plain words — ”My Heart Laid Bare.” But — this little book must be true to its title.

Now, is it not very singular that, with the rabid thirst for notoriety which distinguishes so many of mankind — so many, too, who care not a fig what is thought of them after death, there should not be found one man having sufficient hardihood to write this little book? To write, I say. There are ten thousand men who, if the book were once written, would laugh at the notion of being disturbed by its publication during their life, and who could not even conceive why they should object to its being published after their death. But to write it — there is the rub. No man dare write it. No man ever will dare write it. No man could write it, even if he dared. The paper would shrivel and blaze at every touch of the fiery pen. (Text: Edgar Allan Poe, “Marginalia [part X],” Graham’s Magazine, January 1848, pp. 23-24.)

Numerous questions flooded my mind and I closed the book to ponder these words as my commuter train rumbled its speedy way north of Manhattan. Why would the paper blaze? Why would the pen catch fire? Is it because of the flaming rage which would have to grip an author for her to be capable of laying her heart bare to the world?

I say "rage" because I see the truth of Poe's assertion in me and in my blogging. In my previous post, my first of 2014, I initially filled a good third of the page with incensed verbiage, which, once written, I swiftly deleted in favor of the tamer opening which remains. I'd laid open a dark recess of my heart, roiling with fury, but I couldn't let it be seen. In part, I daren't expose the ugliness, the pathetic impotence, within me. I'm a writer of romance who'd just placed an ad on a website popular with her target readers, one which links to her blog. Did I really want the first thing these folks saw to be all this ick?

Not only they; but who the hell else would want to read it? No one admires weakness; God knows that point's been brought home to me, again and again. And it's not due to repeated, whiny, useless bitching which, when it's not followed by decisive action to bring about the desired change, is bound to try the patience of even a saint (and, I will admit, tries my own when I'm subjected to it, and I sure as fuck ain't no saint). No, I reference the near-immediate shutdowns from those claiming to love me best when I've unburdened myself to them on a matter for the very first time. Faced with their disdain, I've resealed my heart and lips. If those nearest and dearest to me can disparage my heartache so swiftly, so brutally, how much more would the world? Or would the world, because it is so far removed from my heart, be kinder to it?

Right, so: now I've just done what I'd sworn not to do last week. Encountering Poe's words this week, words so connected to this sore spot, encouraged me to uncover this darkness. I can't say I feel it's accomplished anything, but at the very least I feel a bit more authentic for having done it. And I'm about to go one better, though the coming words are also not my own.

As noted in The Unknown Poe's title, the book contains "appreciations" of Poe and his work by several French poets and writers. Perhaps the most notorious among them, Charles Baudelaire proved a great admirer of Poe, and defender of The Artist in general. In an introduction to one of his translations of Poe's works, presented in this book (and again on the EAP Society of Baltimore's website, slightly abridged here), Baudelaire laid out a series of ideas which have haunted me for some time, whether due to the depression my meds only just manage to keep at bay, or an overly developed artistic sensibility. Even if the latter, so bloody well be it: it's a relief to know that, at least once in time, another acknowledged the injustices perpetrated by the dark forces which surround us, and railed against them:

...many...bear the word Luckless written in mysterious characters in the sinuous folds of their foreheads. The blind angel of Expiation hovers for ever around them, punishing them with rods for the edification of others. It is in vain that their lives exhibit talents, virtues or graces. Society has for them a special anathema, accusing them even of those infirmities which its own persecutions have generated...Does there, then, exist some diabolic Providence which prepares misery from the cradle; which throws, and throws with premeditation, these spiritual and angelic natures into hostile ranks, as martyrs were once hurled into the arena? Can there, then, be holy souls destined to the sacrificial altar, compelled to march to death and glory across the very ruins of their lives! Will the nightmare of gloom eternally besiege these chosen souls? Vainly they may struggle, vainly conform themselves to the world, to its foresight, to its cunning; let them grow perfect in prudence, batten up every entry, nail down every window, against the shafts of Fate; still the Demon will enter by a key-hole; some fault will arise from the very perfection of their breastplate; some superlative quality will be the germ of their damnation...(Text: C. Baudelaire [trans. H. Curwen], “Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Works,” The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, London: John Camden Hotten, 1873, pp. 1-21)

Will the nightmare of gloom eternally besiege these chosen souls? A fine question, Charles. Perhaps you and Eddy have discovered the answer(s) lying beyond the veil. If so, some slight hint would not go amiss, whether by the encounter of some night-clad bird or slinky cat, or a flower wafting across my path. Is "surcease of sorrow" ever to be gained, in this lifetime? Or is the best which can be hoped for solely surcease of all earthly sensation?

Resurrection Blogfest II

Guess whose second anniversary of blogging is coming up.

C'mon, now—GUESS!

Didja guess me?  'Cause if you did, YOU'D BE RIGHT!!!

(Cue ominous rumble of thunder.)

Y'all, I hereby announce...

Sometimes, dead posts come back!

RESURRECTION
BLOGFEST
II!

For last year's Resurrection Blogfest, participants resurrected a blog post from the first year of blogging that they felt didn't get enough love the first time around. For Resurrection Blogfest II, I invite folks to resurrect a blog post published between November 8, 2012 and November 6, 2013 (or, since my first Resurrection Blogfest, whether you participated or not) that you think ought to see the light of day one more time before it shuffles off this mortal coil.

There will be PRIZES!!!

Here be the rules:

1. Sign up by entering your blog's name and URL on the linky-list, below. The linky-list will close after 11:59pm EST* on Thursday, November 7, 2013.
2. Upload the blogfest badge in this post to the sidebar of your blog and link it back to this announcement post, to help spread the word. (It's not a "button" and there isn't a code for it; you'll have to download the image, upload to your blog's sidebar, and manually link it back to this post.)
3. Follow me on the Twitter (@GothMomLite) and re-tweet anything with this tag: #ResurrectionBlogfestII. (Folks without Twitter accounts are welcome to participate, but must promote the blogfest on some other social media platform.)
4. On November 7, your blog post must feature the blogfest badge as well as your resurrected blog post. Be sure to include the date on which it was originally posted and link back to that original post.
5. I'll review all entries to make sure they fit the above criteria. Failure to have the badge on your sidebar, in your post, the resurrected post, and/or the date and link to the original post will disqualify you from the drawing.
6. Three winners will be selected at random to win $20 Amazon gift cards!
7. Winners should be announced on or around Monday, November 11. (God willing.)

Participants should know that:

• *All days/times are based on EST. 
• Subject matter is up to participants but whatever the topic, the post must have originally appeared on your blog on/since November 8, 2012 up to/including November 6, 2013.
• It's OK to sign up if you've only just started blogging and only have a few posts in your bloggy repertoire.
• It's also OK for participants to enter more than one blog, however, in the spirit of Highlander—THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE prize per participant.
• Participants whose Resurrection Blogfest II posts are not up by 11:59pm EST on Nov. 7 will be removed from the linky-list.
• Topics/blogs with adult themes should have the appropriate preliminary warning before any participants or readers see your blog/post. Any participants' links that take the clicker to adult subject matter without warning will be removed at my discretion. And don't give me any crap about not knowing what I mean by "adult themes," 'cause you totally do.
• Participants are expected to read and comment on other participants' entries beginning November 7 and on through that weekend (based on last year's sign-ups, this should not be an unmanageable number of blog posts to read through/comment on over the course of four days).
• The three $20 Amazon Gift Cards are to be sent to the respective winners via e-mail.

Peeps, this has to be one of the easiest blogfests going, seeing as I'm not making you come up with any new content for it. Sign up and Tweet the hell out of this blogfest already, sheesh.

(Whether you choose to participate or not, please help me get the word out by sharing this post on the social media platform of your choice. You can do this easily by clicking one of the icons just above this post's tag: "Posted by Mina Lobo at 12:00 AM." THANKS!)

The image used for the Resurrection Blogfest II badge was taken from a pic snapped by me.

Polls: After the jump...

...break, that is.

So, like, you know how some bloggers' "Home" pages show abbreviated posts and you have to click on "Read more" (or similar) to, like, read more? As a reader, I've found that when I have to click for more content, I get mildly annoyed ('cause I'm lazy and try to do as little actual work as I can possibly get away with doing). I mean, if I'm really interested in the subject matter, clicking to read more doesn't faze me. But if I'm only slightly interested, I may just bugger off without reading on. Anyway, as a blogger, I never understood the point of this practice, but now I wonder...

A Bit of Bloggy Tweakage...

Y'all notice anything different on this here bloggy-blog? I done tweaked the page text font. Here's how it appeared before:

What's the diff? The specific font and its color. I changed from the PT Sans font to Lucida Sans Unicode, and the color from a super-light purple to a gray-ish hue. I felt like the previous color vibrated a bit too much for my eyes' comfort and the last thing I want to do is make my blog hard to read. (The content alone already achieves that effect.)

Here's that snippet again, with the PT Sans font/Languid Lavender color:

Here's that same text block in Lucida Sans Unicode font/Silver color (I didn't change the font size, Lucida Sans Unicode just happens to be a bigger font):

Whatcha think?

(It's OK if you don't notice a big difference. What I really want to know is if this new font/color is easier on your eyes or nay.)

(I do happen to enjoy the new look, as it feels just a wee bit more Goth to me than the PT Sans/Languid Lavender. OTOH, "Languid" so perfectly captures my personality.)
(Such as it is.)

Edited to add: Since some folks expressed a preference for the Languid Lavender, I thought I'd present an example of the Lucida Sans Unicode font with that color. Here 'tis:

Folks, at some point I plan on a posting some very basic information for you on what it is to be Goth, the origins of Goth, and how the modern Goth gets on in the 21st century, etc.

Hmmm, I dunno. Pretty color, but my eyes bug out, a wee bit, reading it against a dark background...

A 2 Z 2013 ~ GOOOOO TEAM DAMYANTI!!!

Click here to learn more & sign up!

The co-hosts of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2013 decided to seek some minions helpers for this year's Challenge. You see, these folks check up on hundreds of links, every day in April, to make sure bloggers who signed up are actively participating. Between that and managing other co-hosting responsibilities, as well as working their own way through the Challenge, it's a whole heckuvalotta work! So they hollered out for volunteers and lo, here I am! (Side note: in my 2012 A to Z reflections post, I suggested they consider seeking volunteers but quickly qualified with a, "Not me!" So much for that. I just can't seem to resist a cry for help...)

So, for 2013's Challenge, I, as well as three other bloggers, will be at the service of A to Z co-host Damyanti Biswas of Amlokiblogs. In Damyanti's first year of A to Z, she posted 26 flash fiction pieces which she compiled into an e-book: A to Z Stories of Life and Death [Kindle Edition]. Though I've only just bought this (for .99 cents!), I have read some of her other flash fiction and really dig her style. Check it out, you might too!

Also lending Damyanti support this year, in alpha order by last name ('cause I'm a bit more OCD than I like to let on), are:

• Rosalind Adam from Rosalind Adam is Writing in the Rain

• Misha Gericke from My First Book, and

• Pam Margolis from Unconventional Librarian

I hope y'all will visit these groovy gals' blogs, and if you've not yet signed up for the A to Z Challenge for this year, DO IT NOW!

Need convincing? Click here.

Hope to see y'all 'round the alphabet...

Oh My Goth! ~ Then & Now

Image by ME!

Back in January, I blogged about some ideas I'd had for Some Dark Romantic. I'd built it as a platform for my author persona, as a way to connect with folks who might get a kick out of the kooky romances I like to write. In my first year of blogging I made loads of great connections with other bloggers, which is le awesome, but I felt perhaps I was drifting from my bloggy purpose, just a wee bit. So I considered who I am, as a writer and as a person. I strongly identify with being a Goth Mom (Lite!) and decided I should expand on the Goth part of this self-conferred title.


I got into the alt rock back in the early 80s, when more traditional rock was being tsunamied by the "new wave/post-punk" movement in music. Beginning with the New Romantics, Duran Duran, with whom I fell in love, I grew to dig Depeche Mode, Blondie, Ministry, New Order, Yaz, Love and Rockets, B-52s, Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees, The Smiths, and The Cure, to name just a very few. I eschewed the bright, bubblegum pop of the day for the synthy, bassy, often dark and spooky vibes I caught from the above, as well as other bands I heard on my favorite New York radio station, WLIR (the station that DARED to be different).

Oh, to go back in time and even out those bangs!

My closest friends, who were all about the Doc Martens and black eyeliner, could take the train into Manhattan to hang out in Greenwich village. Those chicks got the cool stuff from thrift shops and whatnot, and really got properly into the Goth lifestyle. Not I. I was very, very, very sheltered. I couldn't go anywhere that wasn't school or family related, so I never got to hang in the village and kick it Goth style, as I'd have liked. I did the best with what little I had. I wore dark colors and vivid red lipstick. I strove to spike my hair but wound up less Siouxsie Sioux and more Generic Big 80s Hair (as evidenced by this pic from my senior year of high school). I wrote songs and short stories about sex. (This hasn't changed.)

Anyway, my Goth sensibilities were more about the music and fantasies than about a particular look, though I was so well known in my family for wearing mostly black that a cousin once remarked of me, "There she goes...always appropriately dressed for a funeral." Like I said, I didn't have the opportunities (or freedom) to experiment, so I did what I could and shrugged off the rest. I stuck with the black, mixed it up with blood red accents, and pressed on with long, sweeping skirts and dark, smutty thoughts.

Goth Mom Lite today...my, what an unfortunate nose...

Then I had my kid and life changed. A lot. I went from marriage to separation to single-motherhood to having to settle-the-fuck-down, put-aside-my-dreams, and provide-for-my-child, in what now seems a heartbeat. I suppressed a lot; in fact, I still do. But the wanna-be Goth Chick within yearns to break free. I continue to don the dark garb and paint my lips red, but in a manner which might now be termed "Corp Goth," or Corporate Goth. I'm not as nattily attired as some Corp Goths, though (money's tight with The Kid at college and I've got loads of single-mom debt). But, again, I do what I can with what I've got. I look forward to the day when I can let my inner Morticia cut loose. (I look forward to this like you just wouldn't believe...) I console myself with the thought that she's in there, just biding her time, and that she's always been with me, even if only in the deepest, darkest recess of my heart.

Love Me or Liebe Me!

Al Diaz over at Father Dragon Writes tagged me with the Liebster Award (for blogs with fewer than 200 followers), which was kind of him, in principle, only he's making me do an awful lot of work for it. Just kidding, Al. In my book, any amount of work is too much, so you can just ignore me. :-) I thank you for thinking of me and, folks, I encourage you to check out Al's blog and lose yourselves in the delightful fantasy world he weaves. I dig the man's way with words, and I think you will, too.

Totally relevant tangent: Liebster is the German word for "dearest." So what this award's meant to do, folks, is bring a little love (or liebe) to a lonely blogger's spot in the blogosphere. Aw.

Anyway—here are the Liebster Award Rules:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog and link back to the blogger who presented this award to you.
2. Answer the 11 questions from the nominator, list 11 random facts about yourself and create 11 questions for your nominees.
3. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 11 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed and leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been chosen. (No tag backs.)
4. Upload the Liebster Award image to your blog.

Numbers 1 and 4 = Done

As for #2, I'm going to cop out and just answer and create 11 questions, 'cause I've done the 11 random things before and I'm all randomed out.

Mr. Diaz asks:

1. What genre do you write?

I write dark, whimsical romance. (That's totally a genre.)

2. What are you working on right now?

Answering your questions, Mr. Diaz. Oh, and I'm editing my Greek-Myth romance novel, That Fatal Kiss.

3. Panster or plotter?

That seems a personal question. Oh, what the hell; a bit of both.

4. What do you do when you get writer's block?

Break out the chocolate/curl into the fetal position/go for a smoke. Not necessarily in that order.

5. The best lesson you learned about writing?

To do it without expectation of anything but my own pleasure in the act of creating.

6. Which POV do you prefer to write?

Third person omniscient, which, I've been told, is old-fashioned and ought not be attempted in the modern era. (Pffffft.) I only recently experimented writing from the first person P.O.V. and quite enjoyed it.

7. How do you respond to critiques?

I'm grateful for constructive criticism which helps me deal with problematic issues in my writing, delivered with respect, as I endeavor to do.

8. Do you argue with your characters?

The main characters I'm working with at the moment are the Lord and Lady of the ancient Greek Underworld, so I don't think it wise.

9. Do you have a bad timing muse (i.e. the one who gives you the best ideas when you can't do nothing about them)?

He sometimes transmits inspiration through my dreams. I've woken up with plot points, even fully formed songs which I had only to jot down upon arising. If I don't do this, I lose the gift in my misty memory, which is my fault, not his.

10. The book you cherish the most?

Cherish, huh? Hmmm... Must there be only one? What is this, Highlander?

11. Do you listen to music when you write? If so, what kind?

I must. Usually, it's new wave, goth rock, or alt rock. Maybe a bit of dubstep now and again, for when I'm feeling frisky.

My "questions" for my nominees will come in the form of "fill in the blanks":

1. Some movies I love are:
2. As for music, I groove to:
3. I rarely miss these TV shows:
4. I hated these foods when I was a kid, but now I heart them:
5. I like to celebrate my loved ones by:
6. Some authors whose every work I will read without fail are:
7. These colors make me feel great when I wear them:
8. I'm always up for a game of:
9. My fave treats from that special someone are:
10. I think it'd be fun to try out this job for a day:
11. I really liebe:

(Yeah, I'm a bitter old hag, but sometimes, only sometimes, mind you, I like to accentuate the positive.)

Nominees I'm about to...well, nominate: you made it to this list 'cause I dig your style, so don't hate on me for passing along this work award—you brought it upon yourselves.

Adventurous Tiger
Ari Michaels Writes (I've no idea how many followers Ari has, but she should definitely have more.)
Hypnotik Eye
No Natural Mama
Precious Monsters
Pull Up a Toadstool
Random Stream of Consciousness
Surviving Boys
Tahoma Beadworks & Photography
The Ranting Monkey
The Six-Fingered Monkey
Warped Nerdiversity

OK, so if y'all were counting carefully, you'll notice I've exceeded my target number of nominees by one. You see, my Dudes, in most things, I think it's best to err on the side of generosity. Because, if I'm being honest, *I* need all the liebe I can get...

Why You Should Blog from A to Z This April...

Founded in 2010 by Arlee Bird of Tossing it Out, the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is basically this: Every day in April (except for Sundays) you post a blog connected in some way to the alphabet, in alpha order. In 2013, the first day of this Mac Daddy of a blog hop is Monday, April 1—on that day, you blog about something that starts with an "A." Tuesday, you blog about something beginning with "B," Wednesday it's "C," and so on, till you've reached the end of the alphabet, the end of the month, and the end of your sanity.

Just kidding about that last bit. (Or is she...?)

But wait—there's more!

You sign up to participate on the A to Z linky-list, so other A to Z-ers can find you and check out your A to Z posts. In turn, you check out their posts, striving to read at least 5 (five) different participants' blog posts daily.

This isn't Sparta, folks. It's madness. It's a lot to keep up with, for sure. Picking a theme and writing/scheduling posts in advance can help. Some folks "pants it" and just post on the fly, daily, with no particular theme in mind. And, if they're staying true to the spirit of the thing, they're visiting as many of the other (over 1000) A to Z participants as they can, every blessed day in April.

Why the hell do they do it? Damned if I know. Here's why I do it, and why I think you should too:

• A to Z is the biggest, baddest blogger-networking opportunity I know of. Not getting a lot of traffic to your blog? Sign up for A to Z and that'll change. I started getting regular comments on my blog posts and my follower count shot up over the course of last April (my first go at A to Z). Your mileage may vary, of course, but even if you experience but a mild spike in visits/followers, it beats the hell out of talking to yourself in cyberspace. (Talking to yourself at home is totally normal, though, or so the Voices tell me.)
• You can learn a lot about self-discipline and sticking to a schedule, both of which aid in increasing your creative output, whatever your art/craft. (Sure, everything else in your life may grind to a screeching halt and you learn to live on 4-5 hours of sleep every night but, you know, art is pain, no pain no gain, time is money and money is power, the black hawk squawks at midnight, etc.)
• You stand to learn a lot of nifty bloggy tricks, such as how to make your own link-back signature (and why the devil you'd ever want to make one).
• If you're new-ish to blogging, you can rip off get a lot of good ideas of how to style your blog from checking out what others are doing on theirs.
• You can make blog-pals that'll stick with you through the dark space of the blogosphere.
• Damn it, it's fun, OK? (Sheesh.)

Anyway, click here if you want to learn more. I know it seems a daunting challenge suitable only for the dangerously insane, but...no, I can't follow that up with anything soothing. What the hell, give it a shot, what've you got to lose? (Aside from the aforementioned sanity?) (Sanity's overrated, anyway.)

Or, in the immortal words of the great Edgar A. Poe:

“Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence– whether much that is glorious– whether all that is profound– does not spring from disease of thought– from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect.”

Word up, my brother. Word. Up.

POLL ~ Preferred Days to Read Blogs?

So, like, it seems that Monday is, by far, the most heavily saturated blogging day of the week (which is to say, lots and lotsa folks'll post a blog on a Monday). I'm not bitching about it; I've been posting on Mondays (and Thursdays) since roughly June of this year. But I'm wondering if, perhaps, these ain't the best days of the week to post, and by "best days," I mean days in which the blogosphere isn't quite so bizzy and folks have a bit more head space to get around the joint and check stuff out, knowhatahmsayin?

So if y'all'd do me a solid, I'd love it if you answered my poll question over on the upper right-hand side of the page (and this time, you can select more than one option). And if you'd spread the word by pimping this post, I'll love you just that little bit more than I'd otherwise love you. (Just see the video below, iffin ye dinnae believe me.)

Blog Critique!

The fabulous and generous Laura Barnes of Laura B Writer runs a series on her blog where she gives interested bloggers feedback on the look and feel of their blogs "from a marketing perspective" (or, as Laura calls it, FAMP!). Today, she's critiqued mine! Click here to check it out! (And leave lots of lovely comments!!!)

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award!

Some weeks ago, L.G. Keltner of Writing Off the Edge gave me the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award and I'm only now getting around to fulfilling the grueling responsibilities of this honor. ;-) J/K, L.G. - thanks for thinking of me! This gal's a creative and dedicated writer of groovy sci-fi, so y'all should really go check out her stuff.

To accept this bad boy, I must share 7 things about myself and pass it along to 7 lucky blogs. Now, I do feel a bit like my well of creative self-knowledge is running dry, but I'll try not to put y'all to sleep.

1. I don't dig it when strangers or people I don't know well lay their mitts on me.
2. My last hair cut was on Friday, December 31, 2010. (This is unrelated to #1, above.)
3. I've never really "dated," per se. Every guy I've been seriously involved with was someone known to me and, frankly, the very idea of going out on a date with a stranger and having to make small-getting-to-know-you-talk wigs me out. (This is somewhat related to #1, above.)
4. I regret having filled my son's head with ideas of Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy when he was little.
5. Sometimes, I wish I had a little girl to raise. But, like gas, menstrual cramps, or a headache, that urge soon passes.
6. I don't feel comfortable showing my face to the world without curling my eyelashes and putting on mascara. (What the world thinks of me, with or without, is probably best left unknown.)
7. If my body metabolized alcohol better (meaning, if boozing it up didn't cause me to gain weight so quickly), I suspect I'd be a raging alcoholic. :-)

Here are the 7 blogs:

Holly's Horrorland

Many Steps Sideways

Speak Coffee To Me

Crazy California Claire

The Aussie Zombie

Surviving Boys

Laura & the Voices

Right, so that's my work done. Have at it, Ladies! :-)

Frankenpost!

You may be asking, "Frankenpost? What up with that, Mina?" Well, I'll tell ya - I done been tagged for awards by three hoopy froods from the Blogosphere and, because I'm old, tired, and congenitally lazy, am combining all award responsibilities into one post...and then merrily messing with them and thrusting the onus of the work onto whomever feels like signing up for it. So that's what up with that.

For all of these awards, you're supposed to write a blog post in which you thank the hep cat who nominated you, and link back to that gal or guy's blog. This I will do for all three. One award requires you to answer a series of questions, all three want you to put any number of facts about yourself and then nominate any number of others for said award (click on the respective blogs, linked below, for exact instructions on that particular award). These last two points are where I'll shirk my duties, but in a totally groovy way. Just wait, you'll see...

Thanks to Jolie Du Pre (what a friggin' awesome name!) from Precious Monsters, a blog about...well, monsters. Dudes, her 10 Interesting Ghost Facts post had me twitching for the rest of the evening, the night I checked it out. (I have this love of things creepy with a constitution perversely incapable of supporting it.) For this version of the Kreativ Blogger award, there are ten questions to answer, which I'll cover at the end of this post. You're also supposed to list ten random facts about yourself and nominate seven other bloggers for the award.

Thanks also go to L.G. Keltner of Writing Off the Edge. Her flash fiction entry for that contest in which I recently participated, Nuance, was chillingly brilliant. I suggest y'all check it out at warp speed. The Versatile Blogger award requires listing seven random facts about yourself and nominate fifteen other bloggers for the award (holy crap; fifteen!)

And finally, thanks to Chris Fries from
A Writer's Expanding and Slightly-Warped Universe, who nominated me for both the Versatile and Stylish awards (you're killing me over here, Chris). ;-) The Stylish Blogger award requires you to list seven random facts about yourself and nominate anywhere from five to fifteen other bloggers for the award.


Dang, y'all. That's a whole lotta fact-finding and nominating to tackle, wouldn't you agree? Now do you feel some pity for my poor, lazy ass? Sure you do.

OK, so; to answer the ten questions for the Kreativ Blogger award:

1. What is your fave song?
Promised You a Miracle by Simple Minds.

2.  Favorite Dessert?
Häagen-Dazs® Rocky Road Ice Cream (Oh, Lord, yes...)

3. What ticks you off?
Extremists, whether they swing to the far right or left. Either way, from what I've seen, extremists are yellers who've no interest whatever in hearing the other side of the argument, much less concede that the person on the other side of it could, just possibly, have a wee bit of a point.

4. When you're upset what do you do?
Constructive things. (You know; cry/smoke/drink.)

5. What is your favorite pet?
All my life I've wanted doggies and have yet to live somewhere they're allowed. So I've no proper answer to this question.

6. Which do you prefer black or white?
Black, baby.

7. What is your biggest fear?
Never fulfilling my potential. Oh, and rats. Euw.

8. What is your attitude?
One of resignation, I suppose.

9. What is perfection?
Rocking out with like-minded folks (especially if they're playing my tunes; that's like, WHOA!) :-)

10. What is your guilty pleasure?
Y'all, life's too long and hard, I don't believe in feeling guilty for whatever happens to bring me pleasure, when I've so little of it. But to play along with what I reckon this question's aiming at, I'm hooked on The Jersey Shore. Satisfied?

OK, SO ~ rather than tagging folks, I'm inviting all of you to tag yourselves! (Get your minds out of the gutter, you know what I mean.) Put yourself down on the linky list below and post a comment stating 1. who you are, 2. the name of your blog, and 3. which of these awards you wish to claim. Follow the instructions for that award and then lemme know when you're done so I can check out your bad self.

Examples of what you're supposed to put in the Comment:

I'm Big Bad Wolf from "The Better to Eat You With, My Dear" and I'm Kreativ (and a bad speller)!

I'm Little Red Riding Hood from "Eat This, Wolfie!" and I'm Versatile!

I'm Grandma of "Where's That Woodsman When You Need Him?" and I'm Stylish!

Got it? Good. Now GO!

Crazy insane...?

The title of today's blog (apart from being a short, if hilarious, line from the movie Weird Science) accurately describes me, as some of you may have guessed and others know for a fact. I out myself as a loon because I've signed up for this year's Blogging From A to Z Challenge. (Witness nifty badge to the right.) Basically, I've committed to blogging at least 100 words per post on subjects spanning the alphabet, in order. (So, April 1's subject must begin with the letter "A," April 2's with "B," and so on.) Blogs may be themed or not, it's up to each blogger's particular brand of bonkers.

I don't know what the hell I was thinking when I decided to throw down with the alphabet, blog-stylie. Rather, I don't know that I was thinking - a primal urge to engage in battle bubbled up from my reptilian brain and completely overrode all reason. I saw the sign-up page and it suddenly got all Eye of the Tiger in my mind's ear. This surge of writerly recklessness took no note of how I'd utterly failed to complete NaNoWriMo back in November 2008 (though my frenzied efforts, while they lasted, did form the beginning of a story I'm keen to expand upon). (At some point.) (I'm dead meat if Chuck Wendig ever reads this: see point #8 of this blog post.)

Anyway, I believe I will successfully complete the A to Z Challenge because it's a different sort of time investment - 26 100-word blogs don't seem quite as daunting to write as a 50K-word book. Too, I can write some, or all, of the blogs in advance and have them automatically publish on their due-dates. (That is to say, it's my understanding that the rules allow this. I encourage anyone who knows different to please set me straight.) This Challenge appears to be a more manageable endeavor for a single mom who works full time but, as I said before, I'm nuts. (NVTS)

In other news, R. Mac Wheeler's blog post inspired me to Wordle my mythological romance, That Fatal Kiss, which I've been shopping around. A Wordle is sort of a word-collage of selected text, or set of words, which emphasizes repeated words by increasing their size in the collage. The larger the word, the more often it's used. Check it:

Here's another one; I dig how it looks like Hades is breaking through a ground of words to get to Persephone:

PS, y'all: It would be super groovy if you'd vote in my poll, up yonder at the right-hand tippity-top of the page. Thanks!