Mad Barking Dogs on Blogs

It’s almost like some people don’t want you to comment on their blog or site at all. When they ask you to register, that’s a big red flag waving at me right away. You want me to hand over my email address before I even know if I like your site? I just wanted to leave a comment, not become your friend. I really don’t want to risk you selling my email address to be spammed. Thanks anyway, I’ll just move along…

The other type of blog that doesn’t really seem to want comments are those which use word verifiction (which annoys me enough all on it’s own) then they also moderate your comment, keep it on hold to be approved by the blog admin/ owner. I’ve already passed your first test, performed for your twitsted amusement, isn’t comment moderation over kill at that point? Kind of like being in a store and having sales people hover and watch you in case you might suddenly steal something. It’s not a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling.

People who use these tactics will justify it but… if you don’t really want my comments just say so. Or turn off comments, save yourself moderating anything. Put up a video of a mad, barking dog so I will know you don’t want me to come back. That makes it easier for both of us.

Altered Pages

Something else to do when you finish reading a book, Altered Pages. Look for more about altered art and making collages. I think it’s something fun you can do with a book too old or tattered to be accepted at the second hand bookstore. Or you could just recycle them with the other paper, that just never seems right to me. A book should have a burial at sea or under a rosebush, something with a little more respect than being turned into a pile of mush for recycling.

Altered Book FAQ.

The Altered Book Group on Yahoo gives a definition of what an altered book is: An altered book is an existing book that has been changed or altered…. “glued, painted, collaged, rubber stamped, cut, torn, or added to. It is an expression of one’s self, a piece of art, an experiment or a conversation piece.”

Challenging the Limits

Challenge yourself with limits.

Start with Six Sentences. What can you write in six sentences, a complete story with a beginning, middle and ending? It’s a challenge. Read what others have done if you need inspiration. Post your work to the site, even if it isn’t really great to you.

Next try 200 Words and then, a real challenge… 200 Characters.

Do you know of any other writing challenges with set limits for words, sentences or characters?

Cell Phone Etiquette

July is Cell Phone Courtesy Month, as I read it on Twitter this morning. Read about cell phone etiquette on wikiHow, pass the link along to those who are so addicted to their phones they ignore the people sitting right in front of (and around) them.

Digital Media Wire has 12 Unwritten Rules of Cell Phone Etiquette.

Road and Travel Magazine has The Basic Rules of Cell Phone Etiquette. Geared to travelers but relevant for anyone around other people. To quote Denise McMcluggage (who wrote the article):

Keep in mind, the more available you make yourself the more available everyone will expect you to be. People will actually be miffed if you are not instantly and constantly available rather than being pleased when you do call.

If you had an hour for a lunch break and were sitting at a table of co-workers where you were the only one not talking on a cell phone what would be your best line to get their attention and stop playing with themselves (on their phones)? It’s great to write these great lines when you have some time to think about them. At the time you never get time to really come up with just the right thing to say and then even spend time perfecting it for just that moment.

Sports Writing Becomes You

I’m not a sports minded person but I have a friend who will always tell me the game scores, who is playing and I usually don’t remember enough to know which city each team is from. She still tells me about them anyway. I don’t mind, even if I’m not intensely interested, it matters to her after all. Traditionally, women are not sports writers and way back they weren’t traditionally sports players either. Things are changing and for women who are interested in sports, writing about them could be a career choice.

Anyone can print the final score of a hockey game (Vancouver 3, Colorado 1) but it takes detail and creative language to win sports readers.

From SNN Newsroom: Sports Writing.

On Sports – Tips and suggestions for covering sports.

Writing World has a good article about getting into sports writing online. It’s a little dated but a start even still.

About.com: Writing the Short Game Story. – Writing a sports story in 500 words or less.

Sports Writing and Editing is being kept updated but needs readers to push for more content.

There is a forum for Sports Journalists.

Wikipedia has a few more resources.

Geeky Baldisms writes about bad sports writing.

Must Love Mosquitoes

I was out taking photos of abandoned places today. It rained all day so the mosquitoes were out in flocks. At one point I had a whole cloud of them buzzing around me, landing on me and sucking away. I still feel like I have them in my hair though I’ve been back a couple of hours and had a shower almost as soon as I got in the door. Up north, where Ontario gets bushier and wetter, the mosquitoes flourish.

They talk about inventing a better mousetrap but overlook the real need for a better way of handling all these buzzing blood suckers. What are your best ideas?

Spiders in the Sink

During the last Great Amazing Spider Race, several spiders were lost down drains in bathtubs, shower stalls and sinks of all sorts. This is a real problem. Of course, it’s enough to be lost in the drain but all that oily, soapy water makes them smell and squeak for weeks, and few of them survive the experience at all. Some spider has to stop this. Those humans are a menace. Why can’t they just leave spiders to play in peace? Seriously, what is their problem?!

The Neverending Blog Post

One thing about blogging that haunts me is the last post. If I were to be hit by a meteorite while crossing the street today, this would likely be my last blog post. The last thing I will have said to the world. I’d hope whatever my last post would turn out to be that it would be somewhat memorable, somewhat wise, somewhat silly, somewhat sarcastic and eccentric but in a good way. Wouldn’t it be a real shame to leave the world with a bland kind of post you stuck in just because you were tired and wanted to get the damned thing done already?

If only you had waited that few minutes more and written a better post. The meteorite would have splattered someone else all over the pavement. And, you would have left the world with something better to read.

Make some notes for your last ever blog post, write it up and then schedule it to appear on your own personal day after. You may need to become psychic for that last part.

The Unstoppable Itchiness of it All

My back has been itchy all this week. I’ve used the scrub brush in the shower, usually that works very well. Not this time. I think I’m becoming a were-creature of some sort. I’d prefer a dragon but if not that some kind of big cat would do.

Seriously, have you ever wondered what really makes you itch? Beyond dead skin cells, allergies or any other medically proven excuse… what other reasons could there be for people to develop an annoying and persistent itch? Make a little story out of it.

The Space Seed Adventure

A little seed fell down from outer space. Of course, it wasn’t an ordinary seed, otherwise it would have just burnt up in Earth’s atmosphere. Instead, it fell into an ordinary garden in an ordinary backyard in Ontario. The seed landed on a garden bed and luckily the gardener was watering that day. The seed was washed down into a crack in the dirt and surrounded by water. It had the chance to root and took it!

At first the gardener, who was a middle aged woman named Nancy, thought it was a very unusual weed. So she left it to grow, out of curiousity and thinking how great it would be to have something different to show off to the local garden club. It grew a lot, bigger and bigger, taking over that area of her garden. But, Nancy didn’t have the heart to pull it out when it was thriving so well.

At the beginning of July she noticed a flower pod coming up. It grew quickly and took so much energy from the plant that the rest of it began to wither. Nancy added more compost and that seemed to help. The pod became thinner so that one morning as she studied it she could see inside. It looked like a little boy was all curled up in there, sitting with his arms curled around his legs looking right back, studying her!

Nancy thought it must be kind of dull for a young person to just be sitting there so patiently. So she brought out a comfortable yard chair, some books and a light for when it got dark outside. She read to the boy. Reading about pirates, mathematics and of course important things like compost and garden snails too. The boy would smile each morning as she came out to begin her watering and then sit quietly as she spent hours and hours reading to him. Nancy was so busy she forgot to feel lonely.

At the end of September the flower opened. By then it was a full grown, middle aged man who stepped out sometime during the night and waited for Nancy to venture out in the morning. The man smiled, thinking of how surprised Nancy would be. Then he looked up, way up into space, hoping for another space seed to land soon so his cat, Clover, could live with Nancy too.

Write your own space seed adventure.

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