A U.S. federal appellate court recently ruled that bloggers have the same First Amendment rights as traditional news media against libel suits. Read the story here.
This is a good thing; with all the changes in how we get our information, bloggers have picked up some of the slack from traditional journalism. And, as the article says, how much more free can internet posting be?
Granted, there has been a lot of flap about free speech lately, what with that duck guy (I know his name; I just don’t care to repeat it) and others tossing their opinions out like poop-throwing monkeys. Let me remind you again: the First Amendment protects people against government infringement of speech, except under certain circumstances (like in wartime).
You can absolutely be penalized or even fired by your employer for what you say and write. And you can be sued, if it is blatantly false and damaging to the other party. Libel is written; slander is spoken.
We’ve all had to be conscious of things like copyright, defamation, disclosure, and fair use. But now, we bloggers know that if we have something important to say, that anyone attacking us because they don’t like it will have to conform their accusations to the same standard as if we had published in the paper.
Happy New Year, everybody! Here’s hoping 2014 is better than 2013, which was no better than 2012 (man, that’s depressing. Blargh!).
I skipped ahead a little on my Tunerville task list. My friend James Allder agreed to do a first read for me and I emailed it to him yesterday. Go read his book Western Legend. It’s got some rootin’ tootin’ Western action in it. I liked it and I’m not even a fan of the genre. According to his blog, it’s only 99 cents right now. So get it!
Since it’s the New Year, and resolutions are a thing, I’ll share some of mine with you.
To get my ass off the chair and go to the indoor track (I’ve already started, but the holidays, with their plethora of delicious food, have gotten in the way).
Oh, beauteous white fluffy sugary goodness, I love thee. Get in mah belleh.
To write more on my own work, no matter how swamped I am with school. I have a schedule. I just need to follow it.
To not bitch about school anymore and just suck it up and deal. The Universe has led me to this for a reason, I guess. I don’t know what the hell it is, WHICH WOULD BE HELPFUL, BUT WHATEVAH.
To finish paying off some stuff.
To redecorate my house. I’m kind of sick of the Victorian cottage thing I have going. The walls need to be painted anyway, so I might as well go for it.
Starting with this poster! Yeah, I know; I’m a huge geek. So what!
To try mightily to stop eating those damn hot Lay’s Sweet Southern BBQ potato chips I love so much. They’re not good for me. They’re not good for me. They’re not—oh hell. **crunch**
I also need to get the stupid back scratch spin, an element that is threatening to throw me down and break my face every time I do it. Here’s a guy doing a counterclockwise back scratch spin (the way most skaters do it):
I do this spin the opposite way (clockwise). Clockwise skaters do regular spins on the right foot and backspins on the left; counterclockwise skaters spin on the left and do backspins on the right. I jump the regular counterclockwise way. It’s messed up, but no one ever corrected it, and it’s too late to fix it now. It makes for some creative choreography sometimes.
This is a tough spin, because you’re spinning on the foot you don’t normally spin on, and you’re on the outside edge. You can do other spins this way (you get more points, because it’s harder), but you have to master this one first.
And my coach wants my sit spin to be lower (the one at the link is clockwise—yeah!). Yeah right—tell that to my knees and back. I also need to work on Silver Moves in the Field, which have fallen by the wayside when my Moves coach went to Florida. But my new coach is awesome (and tough!), so we’ll see how I do.
If I can pass my test in time, I can compete at State Games in November at my rink. Whee!
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That’s my resolution list. I’m leaving out the personal junk, some of which is not completely under my control (come on, Universe). But I will keep you updated, should there be anything worth talking about, and if I choose to reveal any of it (he he).
Many thanks to everyone who read me this year and all who follow this blog and Clerical Chick. I wish you a very happy and safe New Year!
Time for the annual report again. Thank you to everyone who read my posts and who commented! Happy New Year–hope you have a wonderful 2014. It HAS to be better than last year. :}
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,700 times in 2013. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.
Here’s hoping you are all well and enjoying your holiday preparations.Perhaps Santa will bring me something cuddly this year.And I’m not talking about a puppy.
So I’ve hauled myself out of my deep funk long enough to re-order Tunerville.This involved moving some chapters around, adding some material I’m not sure is relevant, adding other material that I think I need, and removing some that I’m sorry to see go.Since I tend to skip around, this activity has helped bring some cohesion to the book.
The next step will be to rewrite the long synopsis and see if it makes more sense.Then, the task list looks something like this:
January
Do the research I still have to do (involves contacting outside parties, which might have to wait until after the holidays)
Make changes per research if necessary
Clean up all the little inconsistencies I made notes about
Print the manuscript and copy edit it
Go back to the digital copy and fix all the mistakes I found in the copy edit
Try to do all this while starting two new tech writing classes that will probably both have client projects
February
Rewrite stuff I’m not happy with, or that I only gave a lick and a promise to (shouldn’t be much)
Reprint after rewrite; do another copy edit
Submit to first readers (who will critique)
Revise per readers’ recommendations
Reprint; copy edit #3
Start looking for agents / publishers to query (I kinda already did)
Begin crafting preliminary queries as polishing continues (as the manuscript changes, so will the queries, so final versions should wait until I’m practically done)
Lose a weekend attending the local nerd con (hush;Ernie Hudson is coming and I’m not missing that)
March
Submit to second readers (those who don’t critique but only give a general impression)
Revise per second readers
Print and copy edit yet again
Finish one- and two-page synopses
Start querying(probably around April, if readers finish and I’m not bogged down with schoolwork)
Do all this while working full-time.
Blergh.
I hope Santa sees this list and realizes that I am a unique and wonderful person who can certainly accomplish all these tasks and still make quality time for that cuddly present that isn’t a puppy.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.I hope you’re having a good holiday, and you don’t have to work.I don’t have a lot to be thankful for this Turkey Day, but I’ll try to list a few things.
A good job with a boss who truly cares about her employee’s well-being, with a company that offers excellent benefits and flexibility.Maybe those last two things will come in handy someday when I actually have a life.
All the people who have patiently listened, sympathized, and supported me through this last year-and-a-half of grief and anxiety. I thought 2013 would be better than horrible 2012, but it hasn’t.
New friends with whom I share a love for the nerdiest show on earth.
The obligatory roof over my head, power, food in the fridge, etc., etc.
Everyone who reads my sporadic blog posts, tweets, and comments on various forums.
I have too much homework, people. I’m sorry. I’m considering doing it by myself later on, however, and posting like I did last year. I would like to use it to finish a first draft of the sequel to Rose’s Hostage. The idea is there; it just needs (1) a decent subplot, which I may have (one that will make you paranoid, heheheh), and (2) my ass in the chair writing it.
This will in no way prevent me from participating in the Blogging from A-Z Challenge in April, however. I have vowed that I will NOT miss that again. And it’s not going to stop me from working on Tunerville.
Here’s something useful I’m learning in school—copymarks and proofreading marks. Behold, a sample from my study sheet:
Photograph by Elizabeth West
Yes, those are my examples. I enjoy flying my geek/nerd flag whenever I get the chance.
How is this technical writing thing applicable to fiction, you ask? Once I’m finished reordering chapters in Tunerville and fleshing out a few scenes functioning as bare-bones placeholders, like sad Halloween decorations dangling from a tree, I’ll print that bad boy and copyedit it, on paper. These marks should work much better than the highlighters I used last time. And, I can’t find my highlighters anyway.
As author/writing advice guru Anne Mini is fond of saying, you should always, ALWAYS do a hard copy edit after each revision, and especially before you send your materials anywhere. Therefore, it’s best to begin querying after you’ve done it. I did not have time to do one before I sent Rose’s Hostage to Brian Keene for critique. Re-reading it, I found places where Word did the dirty on my formatting. Gah!
Speaking of Brian, anybody like (or hate) The Walking Dead? If you do, go to Brian’s Twitter feed every Sunday night, where he tweets insults about the show. It’s fun. But you must actually have a sense of humor to enjoy his snarky quips. I love the show myself, but I also think Brian is funny, so his online eye-rolling doesn’t ruin it. Looky, he retweeted my Herschel tweet:
I love it when I get retweeted. I’m not usually sarcastic enough for Twitter.
Image: twitter.com
Be warned: if you cop a ‘tude with Brian, he will eviscerate you. And he’s good at it, which provides its own entertainment. I am in no way responsible for anything that happens to you if you disregard my warning.
While you’re on Twitter, check out John Horner Jacobs as well. He’s got a terrific zombie novel out called This Dark Earth. So far, it’s deliciously creepy and apocalyptic. I want this damn class to be over so I can finish it. That’s the worst part of school—I don’t have time to READ anymore.
How did I get to zombies….where was I? Good Lord.
Copymarking and proofreading. Yes, you will have to do most of this yourself. Because competition is so fierce in publishing, your manuscript has to be perfect. So print it, and get someone else to read it too. You will never spot all your mistakes on the computer screen, trust me.
“Yes, I know this seems to have a lot of typos, but the author is an LOLcat.”
Photo: David Castillo Dominici/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
It’s a shame I can’t practice with NaNo this year, but good luck to everyone out there who is participating.
Before I go, check out my new sweater.
What does my sweater say?
I found this highly amusing and had to buy it. Yes, I did think of the song, but my first thought was Fantastic Mr. Fox. I’ll leave you with the song, in case you’re one of the five people who haven’t heard it by now. Later, folks.
No, it’s not anywhere near as balls-to-the-wall scary as the first book. King is a different writer now—he’s older, and his work is a bit more autumnal compared to the white-hot summer brass of his early books. But he still knows how to tell a damn fine story, and makes you give a shit what happens to his characters.
Doctor Sleep revisits Danny—now Dan—Torrance, son of the Overlook’s favorite puppet Jack Torrance, now a grown man. An alcoholic like his daddy, Dan works in a hospice in New Hampshire as an orderly who helps his charges “go to sleep.” He soon becomes entangled with a preteen named Abra, who has a shine to rival even his, and a terrifying group of psychic vampires called the True Knot, who want Abra. Bad enough to do anything.
King doesn’t general do sequels to his stand-alone novels—the only other one is Black House (2001) with Peter Straub, a follow-up to The Talisman (1984). And yes, it’s not that scary compared to the first book, but the suspense and the dread as the participants in this unholy chase near the climax forced me to blow off everything today so I could finish it. I’ll clean the house tomorrow, I promise.
Remember this? It’s patiently waiting for me to get my butt out to the garage and stain and varnish it.
Photograph by Elizabeth West
Go to the library RIGHT THIS MINUTE. Check out The Shining and read it. Then read Doctor Sleep. You won’t be sorry. Although you may not sleep the next time you find yourself in any large hotel, and you will never look at RV people the same way again.
After “The Hunt for Red October” was published, Mr. Clancy’s fame was fairly instant. Frequently posing for photographs in darkened aviator sunglasses, jeans and holding a cigarette, Mr. Clancy spoke of the laserlike focus required to succeed.
“I tell them you learn to write the same way you learn to play golf,” he said. “You do it, and keep doing it until you get it right. A lot of people think something mystical happens to you, that maybe the muse kisses you on the ear. But writing isn’t divinely inspired — it’s hard work.”
He’s right. It’s a lot of hard work, and practice. Rest in peace, sir.
Now for the cookie news. That didn’t take long. Around an hour after I posted, we had a winner!
Max H. correctly answered the trivia question—the picture is the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall, taken in 1936 by a photographer who was taking shots of the house for the British magazine Country Life. He allegedly saw the form on the staircase and hollered at his assistant, and they managed to capture a picture that is still debated to this day. Max added that she is purported to be the ghost of Lady Dorothy Walpole, who lived in the house and died of smallpox in 1726.
Congratulations, Max H.! You win cookies! Email me at aelizabethwest at gmail.com to make arrangements for your prize.
I started a vocabulary post for you, but now I’m sick, so I’m going to go indulge my strong urge to be horizontal, drink some orange juice, and try to fight off this whatever-it-is.
In the meantime, watch scishow and learn something about pigeons. Coo coo!
I put this title in caps because this is about to get real, people. Usually I don’t take on any social shit here, but this is too important. You need to watch this video, now. It has a bit of language, but she is 100% FUCKING RIGHT. Nobody deserves this shit and it’s way past time it stopped. Guys, stop it. Tell your friends to stop it. Tell your sons. Tell your brothers. Tell your sister not to slut-shame. Tell your mothers and your fathers. Tell everybody. This could be your daughter, sister, mother, friend, cousin, wife, girlfriend. It’s all of us, and we are SICK OF IT.
I’m speaking not only as a woman, but as a victim of acquaintance rape. It happened in college, when I was hanging out with a fellow student who lived in the same apartment complex. We had a sandwich and a beer and then a little kissing happened. I didn’t want to go any further, and he MADE ME. He held me down, pulled my jeans down, and did it.
Why didn’t I scream? Or fight?
You know what panic and/or fear can do to you? It freezes you in place, like an Arctic blast freezes a mammoth. It’s such an oh-my-god-what-the-fuck-is-happening moment that you literally cannot move.
I got up, pulled my jeans up, grabbed my purse, and ran. Ran out the door, down the stairs, and across the parking lot to my building. I remember the light over the door blurry through my tears, and then I don’t remember anything.
I blocked it out. For an entire year.
I finally told my best friend C., one weekend when I was visiting home, during a sleepover. She had this huge bedroom, with a scratchy carpet, and we often sat on it in front of her stereo making mix tapes (shut up). I told her right there, on the floor, while staring at the paneled wall.
I remember her shock, her incredulity. What I don’t remember is being judged. I don’t remember exactly what she said, but I felt safe there with her. I felt safe with her when she came to visit me at school, and we were at Long John Silver’s, and it was crowded, and to get to the only empty booth, we had to walk right past the one where my rapist was sitting, big as life. I remember the panic that came rushing back, my trembling hands that could barely set my food down before I dropped it. She wanted to kill him. I told her no, it was useless. He wasn’t worth it.
For years after that, I had flashbacks. If I was with a guy, and he got on top of me without me in control, if I didn’t pull him down or he didn’t warn me, that same panic would flood back. I can’t stand being restrained.
God I can barely type this; my hands are shaking just thinking about it.
Men, EVERY woman or girl should feel safe with you. If she doesn’t, you failed. You failed not at being a man, but at being a human being. Because the second you make a woman (or anyone) feel afraid of you because of your behavior, you cease to be human to us. We stop seeing men. We only see threats, animals. Monsters. Anyone who victimizes someone else–men, women, teens, children or pets–becomes a monster.
Look in the mirror. Are you a monster?
You are if:
You think someone deserves to be raped because of what she is wearing.
You think she asks for violence because she is walking late at night.
You think ANYONE asks to be victimized.
You bully people who are different from you, in race, creed, sexual orientation, etc.
You make jokes about raping someone because you think they’re hot (women hate this, you idiot).
You excuse other people who act this way, or keep silent when your tongue could save someone’s life.
Women, you need to stop slut-shaming. We can’t afford not to help each other. We need to keep speaking, step in when another woman is being abused or threatened, step in, step up, call the police, FIGHT. Fight this madness. Hunt it down and kill it. It’s our world too. Good, thoughtful, kind men…I know you’re out there. Won’t you join us?
I want to get married (to a man; I don’t hate men. Far from it.) someday soon, and have a baby while I still can. If it’s a girl, I want her to grow up in a world where she can feel proud of who she is, proud to be a woman and safe at least most of the time. I hope for every woman who survived this horror, and for those who have yet to do so, that they find compassion and understanding, and that it comes as much from the men in her life too. That’s all any living, breathing human deserves.
Every September 19, ye should talk like a pirate as much as ye can, jest fer fun. If ye don’t participate, then we’ll keelhaul ye!
I be workin’ from home today–there be clients in the office and I said nay on wearin’ me glad rags. Since I don’t have time to post more than this, I be leavin’ ye with a cute pirate kitty video.
Reminder–there be only three more posts until me 300th, when I be givin’ ye a treat–I’ll be sharin’ the plottin’ of me book, Tunerville, with ye. On September 28th, tune in and weigh in for a chance to win a prize! Iffen ye be fond of cookies, ye’ll wanna be there.
Meantimes, enjoy this li’l video of a furry pirate-in-trainin’. Weighin’ anchor now–have a piratey day!
Graphomaniac - A. Elizabeth West 
