Slice of Life
See "Life Stuff," aka, it doesn't always have to do with writing, it could be about me hunting for inspiration, or enjoying something I like.
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December 2023 Fly-By Status Report – I got probably my coolest job to date
You know how I lamented in my last blog post that I couldn’t make money being creative and doing what I loved? Well, THANK YOU, JESUS, I have a job again! But hang on, I need to give some back story. (If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’ll already know the scoop, but some of this stuff I haven’t mentioned there.) I met a new artist friend earlier this year at church, who took me under her wing, and encouraged me to apply for a spot at a local artist/antique/gift market shop I’d had my eye on, but never dared to pursue. She had a spot there already, and…
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May 2023 Fly-By Status Report – The Search for More Money 2: The Searchening
My continuing quest for gainful employment is not new. But I refresh this quest, this time with a new perspective on my career and my mental health journey. Maybe I’ll go into that later, but mostly I just want to write this out for the record. It’s not an easy or fun decision, and digging into it makes me a little morose, and I’m trying to be positive and focus on the fact that money is important and a good thing. As the job market happens to be abysmal right now, to help make myself more marketable, I’ve been taking a Coursera Google course on UX/UI, and I’m planning to…
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Ode to a Spider {a thankful, poetic ramble}
When the giant webs appeared in our yard(and I mean big, as wide as the length of my arm)My first thought was concernBut when my bug guy reminded me that these spiders are good, actuallyI was more than happy to live and let live, as I’ve always loved bugs (with some exceptions). When a particularly giant web appeared outside my kitchen windowI was stunned at how big its inhabitant was, its body half the length of my thumbIts long legs pointy and spindly, the thickness of pine needlesBut I watched it curiously, appreciating its creepiness adding to the Halloween vibe, but little elseAt first. Then, one day, I stood at…
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January 2022 Fly-By Status Report – So we’re still in a pandemic, okay…I kinda wish it would snow…I need a cup of tea before I can start editing…
Well hi! Smiley day to ya! Why yes, I have been watching a lot of Critical Role lately, and no, I’m not procrastinating, why? Why would you even say that? I’m hurt. My new writing deadline to submit to an editor is April, which evens out to editing roughly a chapter a day if I play my cards right. But as I get closer to the end and I’m staring at a bunch of loose threads, I don’t think I’m gonna always be able to measure by chapter, there will be lots of jumping around and organizing data to make sure I finish everything up as neatly as possible. Which…
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September 2021 Fly-By Status Report – The State of the Art
Ahoy there! Just swinging by to update you on what’s been going on since my last report. View this post on Instagram A post shared by PuellaDocta's Minlandia (@myminlandia) The Etsy shop sales went slowly this summer, even as I was investigating other selling avenues that haven’t panned out yet, so I decided to take a break until Dragon Con got closer. I’ll come back to Dragon Con a little bit later in the post, but if you haven’t followed Sunlit Nook on Instagram or Facebook you totally should! I’m taking a break from MomoCon this year. Because of COVID Delta shenaniganery they decided to postpone til winter, and I…
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January/February 2021 Fly-By Status Report – 2021 Vision
Well, looks like I totally blew past my Fall/Winter 2020 Status Report. I think because nothing really changed in the goal department for 6 months! What even did I want to do *consults last post*…OH YEAH apparently I got rid of my agenda thing cuz it was boring. Good idea. So here’s what I’ve been up to, and what I hope to achieve! The Etsy shop is doing pretty well! Still not making a ton, but I am making a little money from it, and I’m having fun, so that’s all that matters! I’ve been doodling more with my Wacom tablet, and I designed the shrinky dink Japanese heart jewelry…
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May-June 2020 Fly-By Status Report – The Trying Times
I originally wrote this in May to appear in a patron-submission Quaranzie by Sarah Shotts. I’ll add some additional updates after the main post. One never really knows how one will react to a global pandemic until one finds oneself in one. And for me, that meant depression naps, lots of Animal Crossing and ice cream, and many conversations with my mental health specialists. I’ve tried to give myself space to feel and grieve and process, but blessedly, sheltering at home with my husband and two cats, with our jobs still intact, has been the best part of this whole mess. There have been a lot of ups and downs…
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January-March 2020 Fly-By Status Report – Creating in a Time of Coronavirus
Hello everyone! I’m sitting on my couch, where I do most of my work & editing, and I’m here with my cats and Wervyn, and despite the coronavirus spreading outside, with this social distancing we’re in introvert heaven! But I was having a lot of anxiety for the last couple of weeks; in addition to not knowing if I was going to have enough groceries, my church office coworkers and I were scrambling to get everything together for live-streaming Sunday services, which was mad hectic. But I’m taking off work till April 1, and we have enough food, so I’m feeling a lot better already! And with the open schedule,…
- About the Author, Blog, Love Letters, My Creations, Reflections, Slice of Life, Traditional Art, Writing Progress
September/October 2019 Fly-By Status Report – My First Tattoo Experience! (I’m a Grown-Up Hobbit, Part 2)
Posting a month late, twice in one year? Hey, come on, I always have a good reason! This time, I was waiting til a very specific wound healed so I could get a good photo. That is, I took my temporary tattoo idea I mentioned in my January Fly-By Status Report, and made it permanent! I couldn’t shake my desire for one, even though I had some reservations, but finally decided I should just go for it! So I got my first real tattoo the year of my 33rd birthday after all! (If you’re confused or feel like you’re missing context, read the post here.) So what does the tattoo…
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Fighting Anxiety & Procrastination by Giving Myself Accountability (hopefully, this one will stick)
Once again, I have found myself in need of some accountability to keep up with the things in my life that are hard, like exercising, tidying, and writing *facepalm* I’ve tried giving myself monetary rewards (too expensive), food rewards/coping mechanism (oops, gained 10 lbs), and various schedules that I stick to for a week and then inevitably drop. After a long stretch of feeling like a failure–yet again–discouraged, I talked to my counselor about it, and she encouraged me to keep hunting for accountability, and after a few good suggestions, I was motivated and ready to climb back on the wagon! But how to motivate myself in a new way?…
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May 2019 Fly-By Status Report – Same Old, Same Old
Well, it’s blog o’clock again! I feel like I have so much going on right now that I don’t want to stop and analyze what has and hasn’t gotten done! But I’ll do my best, in the name of tracking progress! I honestly felt like I’ve been floundering; since I returned from a trip and got sick, I haven’t been doing great with my SMART goals. I always seem to have something big that makes me lose momentum, and it takes me forever to get back into the swing of things. ? MomoCon is fast approaching, and for once this year it isn’t stressing me out because I’m not the…
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January/February 2019 Fly-By Status Report – I’m a Grown-Up Hobbit (I’ll explain)
In December last year, I turned 33! Sure, cool number and everything, multple of 11 and whatnot, but it’s also a special age for Tolkien nerds like me. Because in the Middle-earth universe, when a hobbit turns 33, it means they’re considered an adult. And to celebrate, I designed my own temporary tattoo and bought a whole sheet of them! (I’m still not keen on getting something that hurts, that will never go away and that will only blur over time on my skin.) I made a post about it on Instagram discussing its significance to me: View this post on Instagram …
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September 2018 Fly-By Status Report – VLOG (Happy Early Talk Like A Pirate Day!)
Doing my tri-yearly update as a live vlog just to shake things up! And HAPPY TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY a day early! Things I talked about (which will open in a new browser window): 0:42 – Star Wars Party vlog status 1:31 – Gardening 2:07 – Camp Flix 2:21 – MomoCon 2:40 – Writer’s Group & Critique Help 3:34 – CrossCode Let’s Play Series – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ankDi… 4:02 – Dragon Con & The State of Vlogging 4:48 – Pitch Wars, Editing My Novel, Writing Schedule & December Writing Hiatus 6:09 – Things I’m Planning to Do & Stuff I Have Done 6:26 – Ukulele & Singing 6:40 – New Twitch…
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NaNoEdMo Vlogs Almost Halfway Through!
If you haven’t watched my daily vlog series–happening this month on my editing process of Draft 6 of Sign of the Redwing–they’re not very long, so they’re easy to catch up on! ^_^
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September 2017 Fly-By Status Report – I have con crud, but summer was great!
Good day and well-met! I’m feeling geeky, I just got back from Dragon Con and bought a whole USB of the Brobdingnagian Bards’ music, so that’s what I’ll be listening to, and eating pumpkin chili while we get our roof replaced as I fight off a cold and make millions of phone calls ? (“Oh, is that all?” I can hear you saying through the computer.) SO, how was the last three months? Busy, yet surprisingly chill! One gigantic highlight was seeing the total solar eclipse, which I made a vlog of, and you should totally watch it! As for writing, I’ve had a lot of success breaking things down into smaller…
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VLOG: Total Solar Eclipse 2017!
I tried, but experiencing the strange atmospheric effects of an eclipse is really hard to capture on video. That, and seeing the eclipse itself is unlike anything else, and hard to describe. But I hope this gives you some idea of how cool a total solar eclipse is! Music: Beginning & end: “Moon Shadow” by Kate Rusby During eclipse: “Bathed in the Light” by Kevin MacLeod
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May 2017 Fly-By Status Report – Just Keep Swimming!
It’s time for another Fly-By Status report! And I’m up to my waist in MomoCon directing duties. But omg, we’re already a third into 2017! Dang, where does the time go? And I feel like I have very few brain cells to even process this blog post with everything going on right now. However, one of my part-time jobs just ended, so I have more time to do everything else I’ve been too busy to work on (in theory). SO, did I achieve my goals for the past 4 months? Long Term Doing some hardcore outlining and rewriting the style of my YA fantasy novel Sign of the Redwing in preparation for an…
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Flocks & Murmurations
Hey! Just popping in to tell a cool little anecdote. I have a bird feeder in my yard, and a bird book and binoculars nearby so I can try to identify the birds I see. The cats love to watch them (I love how Zwartbles Ireland calls it “cat TV“), and Moss sometimes chatters at them when he gets particularly excited. It’s so cute, but I can never get it on film. So yesterday morning, he’s poking his head through the blinds, and I go to open them for him–and stare outside in shock. About 20 red-winged blackbirds were chowing at my feeder, like tourists at a hotel breakfast buffet! They…
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VLOG: A Fantastic Beasts & Harry Potter Party!
My in-laws do it again, with food, decorations and all around merriment, this time in the Harry Potter universe!
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Project S.T.I.R.: Authentic Armenian Fassoulia (Tomato String Beans)
On this warm, Georgian Thanksgiving morning (the state, not the country ^_^), I begin my yearly personal tradition. I leave my dozing husband to stretch out in bed, while I take care of the cats and turn on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I’ll leave it on in the background (and cry at the sweet/sappy holiday commercials) while I cook two things to bring to our Georgia family Thanksgiving meal. The first is cornbread, with the recipe off the back of the White Lily cornmeal mix bag, and Armenian fassoulia, or as my family has always called it, tomato string beans. As I’ve mentioned in my previous Project S.T.I.R. blog…
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VLOG: Our First D&D DM Session!
Wervyn and I put together a short campaign to run for our D&D group! Really excited to see how the whole thing unfolds! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ via IFTTT
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May Madness
I don’t know how May always becomes a month of crazy, no matter how many times I try to make it NOT crazy. I have such good intentions, but by the time I hit mid-May, I’m consistently neck deep in work! But sarcastic JT aside, other than feeling stressed about it, everything that I’ve been doing the past month has been really awesome! I’ve been juggling two part jobs, as well as a Paint Love project. And I’ve still been crocheting and doing some other art projects, particularly card and gift making (because TONS of family members and friends have anniversaries and birthdays in May, more than any other time…
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May 2016 Fly-By Status Report – I GOT A REAL JOB!
Yes, you read that right: I GOT A REAL JOB! The ultimate happy dance! | via GIPHY It’s a part-time administrative and communication assistant job, which is only a few hours a week, and a few minutes away from my house (YAAAAAY), so hopefully that means I can structure my life around that to get some stability for my creative work! I start today, and I’m really excited to see how it goes! Also, hi, I haven’t seen you since Easter! I’ve been super busy working, arting, volunteering, story researching…in fact, that’s why I decided to do tri-yearly status reports. I figure, if I haven’t blogged or vlogged in a while, I want to make…
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Post-Hiatus! Draft 6 Edit Process in review
Well, that was a lovely hiatus, but I figured I’d come back 😉 It’s been four months, after all! It was such a beautiful morning when I started writing this post, I had to wander into my yard and take some photos of daffodils glowing in the early, rising sun. It so beautifully represented a fresh start to an exciting new year, hence the flower picture for this post’s header. A lot has happened during my hiatus, even in the past few days (some good, some frustrating) but I’m happy to report that despite various time sucks and fluctuating motivation, my writing hiatus was very successful! Regardless of what I…
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On Being Armenian, Project S.T.I.R., and how to make Authentic Armenian Rice Pilaf
↓ CLICK HERE TO JUMP TO THE RECIPE ↓ So, in case you guys didn’t know, I’m half Armenian. You might not know what that is, but here’s where we come from: And hailing from a small, lesser-known country, we cheer super loud for our tiny Olympic team during the Parade of Champions and freak out over the slightest offhand mention of Armenia in any sort of media. Like Conan O’Brien going to Armenia with his Armenian assistant! Better believe I’ll be watching that! People might not realize it, but Armenians are all over the place in pop culture, like Dave Seville (a.k.a. Ross Bagdasarian), creator of The Chipmunks, and…
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Hobbit Birthday Bash & The Scouring of the Gingerbread
Since there won’t be another Hobbit/LOTR movie this year, in lieu of their usual end of the year movie party, my in-laws held a Bilbo & Frodo birthday bash in honor of Tolkien Week and Hobbit Day! There was a cake with 111 candles creating a fiery rising heat vortex, and we dismantled the remains of the giant themed gingerbread houses, to make room for a new era of geeky parties. Featured snippet song is an acoustic version of Flight of the Conchords’ “Frodo, Don’t Wear the Ring.”
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#WeeklyVenture Challenge: Finding Fairy Doors & Stashing my first #FAFATL!
So, dollhouses and miniatures are my vice, nay, my obsession! They’ve basically been one of my favorite things since I was tiny myself, and this has not abated as I’ve grown up. The Atlanta Miniature Society had a show & sale event going on this weekend, and I never remember to plan for it til its too late 🙁 So I decided to celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day this year with my favorite first mate, going on a quest for local burritos and fairy doors. The burritos were the best food outing idea we’d had in at least a month. The weather was fantastic, and the jerk chicken in…
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My YouTube Channel’s Intro Video!
Hey guys! I’ve been meaning to make an intro video for my Youtube channel for a long time, and here it is! It makes me happy <3 One day I will get a better mic…
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I’m in Full-On Dragon*Con Mode!
I finally finished my River Tam vest commission (COMING SOON to my portfolio), so that leaves my cosplay for Finny, figuring out what I’m going to wear, and occasional updates to the Tolkien Track site. This week I’m working a temp job as well, so let’s see how much sanity I’ll have left by the weekend! Expect a post about Dragon*Con next week!
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Dear Awkward August
Dear August, Do you know how freaking awkward you are? Especially this year, you just feel really, really awkward. I have nothing against you, August, at all. Some of my favorite people have birthdays this month! But being the planner that I am, I sometimes find myself impatient for the next thing: the next big holiday or event, the next trip, or the next phase of a project. This isn’t necessarily a good thing, it’s just how my mind naturally tends to process, but as a result I’ve really been trying to make myself stop and enjoy the time I’m in at the moment. It’s a very intentional thing and isn’t always easy. So,…
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Summer in Review & Looking Ahead
AT LAST, a post! This is what I’ve been up to, and why I’ve been so busy! BG music: “Porch Swing Days” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) LINKS to cool stuff: Follow my writing progress: http://puelladocta.com/writings/ Art portfolio coming soon! Cosplay Comission coming soon! FinnyPuppet’s tumblr: http://finnypuppet.tumblr.com/ Dragon*Con Tolkien Track site: http://middleearth.dragoncon.org/ Check out the movie my group made at Camp Flix this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQNdDqCAoYI Original Maleficent video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p78C3dmLI_c&feature=youtu.be AWA cut of Maleficent video coming soon!
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Letters to July | SarahShotts.com
This month, I helped contribute a video to Sarah Shott’s “Letters to July” series! It’s my first time doing Dear July, and I really like it! I don’t know if I’ll do another one this year, but I hope to in the future! *back-posted on 8/28/15*
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Happiness is a warm kitten | Happy Birthday, Moss!
It’s Moss’ First Birthday!!! Birthdays are always special, but after all he’s been through, this one feels particularly dear. I wrote this long-form poem, which is more like a journal entry, in October last year, right after Moss had completed recovery from his invasive gastro surgery. He’d ingested a bunch of string that perforated his stomach lining and got close to his kidneys. After a nerve-wracking night of surgery, and a thankfully successful recovery, he’d had his stitches removed and his belly was still growing back all his hair. He was out of the woods at last, and I was treasuring his safety and health, wanting to appreciate every tiny,…
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#WeeklyVenture Challenge: Solo {a poem of embellishments on things that really happened}
When the yard explodes with violets and dandelions,And wasps inexplicably thump head first into the window,I know it’s finally time to break out the jellies. (They’re grown up jellies, with a low purple heel, comfort ridges and everything.) I know I’ll need comfortable* shoes because today I’m walking.I won’t have a car for an hour or so, and there’s some unexplored urban territory nearby.Jaywalking is involved. The weather is perfect, and I wish I had my bike. (It’s hiding in the shed on cracked tires.) A strip mall adjoining a nature trail is mine to conquer. A rare thing, like an old tree growing in the center of a parking…
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Puelladocta & the Search for More Money
Alas, my dear readers, I regret to tell you that I am taking a novel writing hiatus, in favor of that most persistent of goals, The Search for More Money. Unfortunately, though I’ve been looking for consistent full-time and part-time employment in the graphic design field, I’ve been neglecting my design and programming skills, in favor of writing. Which seems counter-intuitive now that I think about it. That and my portfolio site needs a serious overhaul. Plus, I want to sharpen my dulled artistic strengths, and I have other interests I want to investigate, like technical and article writing. But to develop those things, I must take a break from…
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BACK UP YOUR WORK, a lament {UPDATED}
Come all my dear computer lovers And take a warning how you work If you don’t save your efforts elsewhere It will be there, and then it’s gone. I wish I’d known before I’d lost it Time I had left, my files to move For when it died, without a warning It left me here in grief to moan. Inspired by Jim Moray’s “Fair and Tender Lovers.” On Valentine’s Day, I opened my laptop, signed in, the screen was on for a few seconds, and no sooner had I plugged in my headphones, it completely turned off. No blue screen, no pop up error warnings, just black. With a whirr…
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NaNoWriMo, Thankful, and Christmas AdvenTea
I update you on my most recent things, go over some of the biggest things I’m thankful for, and announce an excited string of Christmas videos, and it involves tea! Thanks to an awesome present from my father-in-law, I’m doing a tea advent calendar on my Youtube Channel. I’m posting them in a playlist, which you’ll find below. Enjoy!
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THE MOSSVLOG! The purring and playing machine!
Uploaded this earlier in the week, but I didn’t want the post it to take away the 200th spot from the appointed entry! Meet our new fuzzy, black family member Demosthenes, better known as Moss. He’s the sweetest, most playful little guy, and he lights up my life! I only wish his big sister Panger felt the same way we do about him. But I know she’ll come around 😉
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Lots to Look Forward To (Starting Draft 6 & Purple Hair)
It’s amazing how a few months can change things! I finally got my editing groove back after a long brain break. What a relief! It’s not an easy process, and it’s going slowly, but it’s going. I’m also doing some more character studies as I get inspired. I’m planning on relaunching this site, and I have some plans for guest posts and some of my own posts. I’ve also finally won the Search for More Money and will be starting a part-time seasonal job soon! Oh, and I got purple highlights too 😀 It’s been a good summer’s end. Posted this vlog on Youtube on Aug 22, 2014.
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Vlogs that I forgot to post on here
Remember how I used to have a Youtube video importing plugin that stopped importing my vlogs a number of months ago? Yeah. That was fun. As I’m updating my site I have to go back, delete the random vlogs I don’t really want on here (they’ll still be up on my Youtube channel) and re-embed the ones I do want, cuz I just got sick of the plugin. SO, in honor of Throwback Thursday, I’m posting some of these older ones from this year and the end of last year, which I really like a lot, but never made it here. They’re posted from most to least recent. Do enjoy!
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House, Agents and NaNoWriMo
I give you a quick glimpse of the front of my new place, and share recent writing news…what little of it there is right now 😛
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Changes and Challenges
Dear Readers, I’m so sorry that my busy schedule has consumed my life and only allows me time for quick tweets and occasional Vines. Those on social networks will already know exactly why. We bought a house! It’s beautiful and it even has a studio building in the back that we plan to use for storage and I’ll use it for a writing, artsy retreat once I get it inhabitable, but my life has now been consumed with all the logistical details of home ownership, leaving me very little mental energy for things oft thrown to the back burner (including fixing up the bugs on this site). I at least…
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Captive Vlogging (Finally!)
When Panger decides to take a nap on me, I finally get back into vlogging after a 3-month hiatus 😛
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VEDA 2013 – Day #14: Giving Myself a Pep Talk…Rant…Thing
*sings* Da da da-da-da Day four-teen! I’m actually not exhausted so I’m able to ramble for a while AND still carry the topic with gusto without too many pauses!
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VEDA 2013 – Day 5: Life, London and North Korea
Using my life experiences to help my writing along is something I really enjoy doing, even if it can get emotional. Also, was well-informed by Hank Green’s video on North Korea, and love all the Londoniness of Maureen Johnson’s “The Name of the Star.”
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VEDA 2013 – Day 4: Agents and Tiny Chocolate Bunnies
Playing with tiny chocolate bunnies is more fun than shopping my book around.
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VEDA 2013 – Day 2: In Which Much Writing Occurs
I love being ahead of the curve! We’re also reading a really mathy book. And the cat is adorable.
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Two Weekends of Awesome! (And Writing Advice from Maureen Johnson & Stephanie Perkins)
Since I don’t yet have a smart phone, which makes it really hard to live tweet, I need to play a lot of catch up with the cool things that have happened lately! And since I myself have a hard time reading long blogs, I’m going to try to make it short. If you don’t care and want to skip to the writing advice, there ya go. This past weekend I worked MomoCon! A yearly tradition now, but this year I got to do social media for the entire con, posting to Facebook and more often Twitter about all the cool events. This allowed me to go where regular con-goers…
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Happy 2013! (and 2012 Year in Review)
I think back on all the progress I’ve made this past year and share my plans for the new year! And show off the t-shirts I got for birthday and Christmas.
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The Hobbit Party!
My in-laws have done it again with an amazing Hobbit-themed party, complete with attaching a hobbit door on the front of their house! (It was also the same day as my birthday! w00t!) The still photos used in this vid were taken by Briana Lamb and Caitlin Wert respectively. Thanks, guys!
