Downtime From Blogging...

I am going to use the month of March to focus hard on getting the rough draft of my NaNoWriMo project Ocean Dancers done.

I will finish this.

That means no distractions.

If I check in here, it will be to either keep my seven readers appraised of my efforts, and/or if the political scene does something incredibly stupid or tragic or both.

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Prepping for NaNoWriMo 2014

Being October means one other thing: getting prepared for National Novel Writing Month!

This year I've already got a plot idea - a quirky take on an alien invasion - so in that regards I'm ready to roll.

What's different this year is that I'm volunteering to serve as a Municipal Liaison (ML) for the Florida: Elsewhere region (Polk County despite it being the 5th largest metro population in the state doesn't have its own Region).  This brings with it some responsibilities.

I have to organize and host various Write-Ins in the area (getting those organized as we speak for local city libraries and writers' groups). I have to manage a calendar (although this might conflict with other MLs in other parts of Florida: Elsewhere, as it's a catch-all for a lot of places that are hours apart).

There's several other things I'll need to do during November, but with luck/skill/mostly luck we'll have a solid turnout of NaNo-ing among the writers of Central Florida.  Expect a wave of self-published ebooks out of Lakeland by the end of February!

Get NaNo-ing people.  Well, also get the damn vote out, but if I can juggle between those priorities you can too!

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Okay, Seriously, I Need a Little Help with Google Analytics

How the hell do I set it up for this Blogger account?  The internal stat counter is buggy.

Give me a heads up on Twitter to @PaulWartenberg or else email p.warten AT gmail.  Do not send spam or Chinese spam or spam spam baked beans and spam.  Please and thank you.

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Walking Into September With a Lot On My Mind

September starts tomorrow.

We should already be working on getting Charlie Crist getting the votes to win the governor's race this November.

We should be, here in Florida and across the nation, working to get everyone voting this November.  No more of these "below-50-percent" turnouts, people.  I'm sick of it, and you should be too.  The low turnouts are why the wrong candidates keep winning...  We need the best candidates winning (psst, vote for Charlie Crist for Governor)!  And we can ensure that by getting more, not fewer, voters turning out... because fewer voters means only the single-issue wingnuts are voting, while more voters means there are more issue-oriented moderate voters, whom I trust are sane enough to know to vote for an experienced elected official with a decent track record of respecting the state over an unethical corrupt business owner who's only in office to service his own needs.

Also, vote for Marihelen Wheeler for the Florida 3rd District (because the Republican incumbent in that district wanted to crash our economy during the Long October)!  And vote for Michael McKenna for the Florida 10th District (because the 10th District is one of the two gerrymandered districts the GOP crafted to favor their own, and dammit that earns them a nice F-U for their BS maneuver)!

In fact, just kinda DON'T VOTE REPUBLICAN at all this 2014 midterms, people.  The Republican Party wants to kill all government, which is really killing the whole nation.  So kick the Republicans out of office, since they don't respect their jobs and they sure as hell don't respect us the voters.

Get to work this September, voters.

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#LibJobShadowFL Today (Update)

Let me Tweet to Mah Peoples!

Follow me on Twitter @PaulWartenberg, and keep up with the hashtags #LibJobShadowFL and #NLW (or #NLW14) and with anything librarianship today!  Support your libraries!

@FLA (Florida Library Association) too.

And I'll find out about why our Bartow Public Library driveway was blockaded over the Easter Weekend by abandoned RV Campers!  #DefendTheLibrary

UPDATE: I finished my run today on tweeting about working at the Bartow Library.  You can check it out on Twitter via this link here.

That said, some documentation is in order...

For some reason over Easter weekend, a pair of free-range RV Campers were abandoned on the driveway into the library and city civic center (the grassy area where the tents are is Mosaic Park).  Someone wanted to blockade the library.  The RVs were moved eventually, but the mystery surrounding this event remains unsolved...

On Monday afternoons I teach computer class.  Basic computing skills for the community of Bartow and surrounding cities.  Today was Teh Intertubes!  Many thanks to the attendees for being patient while I tweeted a few time during class (got to teach them Twitter in the process).

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Current Status 04/20/14

Just to note a few things:

1) Still working at the library.  I will be part of an all-day Twitter posting this Monday Apr. 21st to promote librarianship for Florida Library Association.  It's called @LibJobShadowFL and we have librarians who update their ongoing duties: working Check Out desks, cataloging, ordering new materials, and hosting / teaching events.  Hashtag is #libjobshadowFL and don't be surprised to see #NLW for National Library Week (which technically was last week but this jobs events is a two-week deal).

2) When I updated my XLibris account (publisher of my short story anthology Last of the Grapefruit Wars) due to my recent move, I realized I still had on order a purchased book publication.  So two things now: A) finish writing SOMETHING in book format to use up the purchase, and B) FINISH WRITING SOMETHING /headdesk

I tried getting something typed up this Good Friday/Easter weekend but... gah, too many distractions.  ...no, that's not fair.  Shouldn't blame the lack of time.  Should blame meself: half the time I'm sitting here at a keyboard yelling at myself for trying to write a story and yet the story just... doesn't seem right... the ideas in my head are one thing, but the words don't seem right on the screen.  I'm lacking the confidence to get something writ wrote righted.

3) Gotta keep reminding folks to GET THE DAMN VOTE OUT.  Well, gotta remain consistent about this stuff somewhere...

So, if anything, keep track of me this Monday!  My Twitter handle is @PaulWartenberg and the hashtags are #libjobshadowFL, #nlw, #libraries, #Floridalibraries, #ILikeCheese, #TheNorthRemembers, #FireSchiano (wait, that's been done) and #RickScottIsACrook.  ...what?  Okay, okay, I'll tweet the anti-Scott stuff later... sheesh...

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It's Been Quiet. A Little... Too Quiet...

If only because of a few things:

1) MOVING.  Bought a condo, moving in this weekend.

2) KITTEHS.  The cat I adopted back in December turned out to be pregnant (nice planning on her part).  She gave birth just as the Super Bowl ended.  SIX KITTEHS.  The plan is to name them after the crew of the Serenity.

3) What part of MOVING don't you get?  There's still boxes and posters and clothes and dishes to pack!

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Current Writing Status: Published Again, Yay

I've gotten another short story accepted and published by Mystery & Horror LLC, for their current anthology Mardi Gras Murder. Apropos as we're in the season for it.  The story title is "Why The Mask."  It's got Mardi Gras.  It's got murder.  I hope you enjoy reading it.

It's available right now via Amazon.com, and print copies are being shipped to the submitted authors as I type this.

As for my previous submission to M&H LLC, "I Must Be Your First" for Strangely Funny, I've gotten some decent notices in the book reviews so far on Amazon and GoodReads.  I hope "Why The Mask" gets an equally receptive response.

Now... to get this damnable first novel finished!  Arrrrgh...

P.S. Anyone going to MegaCon this March?

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