The Reason For The Season

It's been a busy month for everyone I know and sometimes with all the extra things one does this month, some of the regular things take second place. As a result, I'm behind in many chores and projects. I'm sure I'm not alone.

My blog has certainly suffered. It has some glitches that need repairing and I've just not had the time to sit down and study up on how to fix them properly. In addition, it will likely be the new year before I learn how to use the amazon associates programs properly.

I've had a running battle with Quickbooks this year but after meeting with a real accountant, I think she's got me on the right path with that. Hopefully! Now all I have to do is get the work done and all will be well.

This month, I enjoyed two days with my daughter. That was not only a pleasant surprise but a very comfortable one and we've decided to make time for one another much more in the coming years.

We've never had a rift or anything dramatic, it's just we both get incrediably busy with a miraid of other things and fall behind on what is really important. I suppose that's a big club on its own. We just didn't want to join it.

I think it's wonderful how a big storm will slow everyone down because whether they know it or not, most of us need slowing down. I know full well how dangerous bad storms can be. They usually have some very negative affects, but it's the positive I want to focus on. If you're snowed in, you get time to tidy up and get better organized.

Many of my friends have gone completely mad with Christmas shopping in an attempt to give presents galore to their children. Many have gone into overkill mode. As a result, they're worn to a frazzle and broke. They might stay broke well into the new year until the bills get paid up. It certainly kills the entire theme of Christmas in my mind.

I guess there's a lot to be said for being poor. You have to dream up ways to give someone a present when you have little or no money to spend. So you resort to gift cards offering to shovel the driveway, wash the dishes or clean the car or any other chore the recipient might need done.

Crafy folks can usually make a nice scarf, or hat or typeset and frame a favourite poem for those they love. Presents like that for me, have much more meaning and come from the heart fired by thought.

At times I've questioned people about this overspending spree and I get answers such as:

"I love doing it and watch their faces light up.
I love to shop.
I love to see what they think of what I bought them."

You'll notice, it's all about "I" with little thought for "them".

I know when they read this, I'll get more justification as to why they do it. Or, they'll tell me, this isn't what they meant! But one reason I do think they do it is because the expectation is, that they will. They've been trained to do it over time and as a consequence, they train their children to do it too. Hopefully, they'll see the nuances for themselves one day and change it.

One happy family I know has sat down and agreed that only 10% of gifts can be purchased. Each year they have to invent, dream up and create gifts to give one another. That makes sense to me, and certainly works without damaging the family budget.

Big business won't like it. This is the time of year when they sell like mad to those manic shoppers. It's a sad thing that some people wait for seasonal occasions to give someone a present.

In the midst of this madness, there is the reason for Christmas itself. It's the birthday of Jesus Christ born some 2000 years ago depending on the calendar you follow. Organized religions, sects, and cults have made much of this event  on a world scale and follow the principles of christianity to a fault. Having a conscience for your actions is, to me, a good thing. Who knows what horrors might surface without them.

With all of the above said, I have to share with you this poem. It used to be printed annually in a paper called: The Eastern Shore Sandpiper. It was written by one of the owners of that paper. Not by myself. The message in it is well worth repeating.

Who Is Santa Claus

If we all believed in Santa Claus,

how sad our Christmas would be,

we'd see no decorations,

no gifts beneath the tree.

We'd all sit back and wait for him,

to do what must be done,

to fill all stockings generously,

and be off on his magic run.

Yes -they say there is no Santa Claus,

no reindeer, no gift-laden sleigh,

that listening for hooves on the rooftops,

is a spoof, a farce and a nay.

Still -there hasn't been a Christmas Eve,

in two thousand years or more,

when Santa has failed in his mission,

to stop at every door.

God comes in many disguises,

and Santa is one -you see,

he lives through the heart of the giver,

he lives through you and through me.

So open your heart to his spirit,

it's your turn to bring him to town,

and that bearded, overweight,  prowler,

will be your love dressed up as a clown.

Copyright to The Eastern Shore SANDPIPER

To conclude, I wish all who read my blog the very best of the season and may the new year bring you joy. Stay Well!

Where To, From Here?

How time does fly by when you’re busy with all sorts of things. I finished my NANO project for now. I’ll let that story simmer on the back burner for now so I can get on to some things that have been ignored of late.

I started a VideoJug page but need to finish that and I’ve collected copious notes for other stories I want to work on this winter. But first and foremost I have to get my bookkeeping up to date and that is a week of steady work from the looks of things. So, I’ll just have to focus on it until it’s DONE!

It’s amazing how writers will procrastinate. I do it constantly. It’s quite likely that many loads of laundry and many dishes and many, many dustings in my house would not get done at all if I didn’t use those chores to keep from doing the things I know I should be doing. I certainly can’t be alone in this attitude.

I know my blog is suffering. Mostly it suffers because I just do not understand the monetization principles for adsense or amazon. I probably have enough of their information to understand it, but like many other things; they’re on the back burner too. I will eventually get to them.

I have managed to do a bit of work on WDC which I’m glad of. I’ve done over 100 reviews of items on that site now over six months so I’m happy with that progress. There are many writers there who have done hundreds more than myself, but then they’ve been on the site longer than I have.

Writing.com is a fun site for writers. You can write, enter contests, get items reviewed by your peers and stay up to date with WEEKLY newsletters. How can any one complain about that eh! Plus they have a chat box for people to meet and greet and discuss just about anything that’s on their minds. I usually go there to extend my procrastination inclinations. What a sorry person I’m turning into.

I have to note that I enjoyed NANOWRIMO. It gets your typing skills right up there and your mind in gear for the tasks at hand. They have all sorts of other things they do of course. One is to support younger writers and they make libraries in other countries and they help writers get and stay on track to some degree. So, no one can argue with that. They also have emails so writers can stay in touch with one another. I have to say while I made about six or seven posts in the forums, no one… yeah, not one single solitary person directed one single comment to me personally. So, while that might bother many people, I just kept on writing my story and then, laid back or did other things. I guess I’m too used to the friendly atmosphere of WDC where everyone makes sure everyone is included in things so no one feels left out.

I’ll attack the NANO challenge again next year but hopefully I’ll be more prepared. I did enjoy using Scrivener which is well known to Mac users but not at all to Windows users. So, it was great to use their beta version for my purposes. As a consequence of using Scrivener, I began to understand how to use some other programs I’d purchased in 2009 that while expensive I had little or no idea how to use. Using Scrivener helped me understand how to use them, so hopefully over the next six months I’ll be able to explore DramaticaPro and PowerWriter and several others. None of these will write your story for you, but they all help to get it clear in your mind. There’s also similar programs for script writers which seems to have taken off at rocket speed the last year or two.

Everyone I know is getting ready for Christmas and I’m not one iota ready for any of it except that I have accepted a dinner invitation. So, I don’t have to buy a turkey or cook anything.. WHOOPEE!!! No one has asked me what I want for Christmas, but I guess I want software. There’s still a few programs I’d like to have so I might get lucky that way.

Also with a bit of luck, I might get some Christmas cards addressed and off to people. I sure hope so. Computers are supposed to save us time, money and energy but I think since I got my first computer in 1990, I’ve been running short of time, money and never mind my energy. But, enthusiasm is supposed to keep your soul young. So, hopefully that will work for me.

Stay Well.

NANOWRIMO and Scrivener and Tanning Salons!

I'm well pleased with myself this morning because a few nights ago I finished my NANO project. The last 1067 words were stumping me. I didn't know where to add another chapter or to extend one already created. So, I did both in a way. Luckily I still have a week to go before Nov. 30th! So I can keep right on typing if I want to.
When I was reading through correcting spelling and taking "ly" and "s" off some words, I realized I had no animals in my story. If it was a city setting that wouldn't have been a problem, but out here on the Eastern Shore it seemed to border on impossible.
So, to knock off that final 1000 plus words I wrote a dog into my story. It meant going through certain parts of it to make it work but, before I knew it I had my thousand words and then some. So, I was pretty happy with that.
NANOWRIMO is an annual event. This was my first experience with it and their site is almost daunting for the uninitiated. But, I roamed through it every time I needed a break from some of my characters and tried to get comfortable with it. You can have a look at it by visiting: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node
It seems that some people use emails for messages. Personally, I use emails as letters. So, I was getting quite a few emails from people in my regional area which were in most cases, messages. I didn't know any of them and they were, or seemed to be arranging write-ins all over the province. I of course could not go to any of them because I live too far off from all of them. I also doubted I would get much writing done in those venues.
I really like the peace and quiet of home when thoughts can go uninterrupted for hours if necessary. And, being on a limited income tossed a spanner into long drives with only social purposes in mind.
Many of the participants had done NANO before. So, they had a fair idea of what to expect, but being new to this experience I was completely unsure and I still am

Scrivener

In addition, I was using a beta version of Scrivener. Now APPLE users have had the benefits of Scrivener for some time, but it's only recently that this powerful program became available to the WINDOWS user.
And, I'm really glad it has done. What a sweet program. It keeps you organized. Completely organized especially in the composition of a novel or story of any length. Scrivener offered the beta to NANO participants on trial with a percent off next month if you decide to buy it. I shall be buying it.
I usually write in WORD and then move it over, but I started this draft in blog so I might as well finish it.
When I did reach my 50,000 + words for NANO I felt pooped. So, when that happens to a writer, it's best to go do dishes or some other activity until your body catches up with your mind or vice versa. I've had some great ideas since but not for that project. So, I might get some other things completed and then return to it.

TANNING SALONS

In today's paper the NS government has decided to pass some legislation on tanning beds which will make it an offense to sell tanning services to anyone under 19 year so age. I have a small tanning salon that is about ten years old now and I've never sold tanning services to anyone under eighteen without their mother's coming to see me and me seeing their mother, sign the permission card. Now the government has decided to be "mother" instead of those who do the job already.
In the ten years I've been in business I've never once had a representative of government inform me of ANY legislation in regard to the services I sell. They do take the registration fees I pay to be in business and they're certainly not above accepting my HST reports annually.
Now, out of the blue, they have rules. Not only rules, but "legislation"! It is my sincere hope that all tanning salons in the province of Nova Scotia will get copies of these new rules and all the legislation covering tanning salons. I may have to wait a while for them, but I don't mind.
It comes down to who you want to believe. In certain parts of the world, (like Australia) the ozone layer that protects people's skins from the sun is damaged. So, children MUST wear hats to protect them. Australians of course are not vitamin D deficient as people are in certain parts of North America. You get very depressed if you are vitamin D deficient and your physical well being can be damaged and at risk for all sorts of things.
Certainly the overuse of ANYTHING is harmful. In my salon, people do not over-tan. I just don't allow it. I do know that some salons are not as vigilant, and allow some people to tan twice or three times a day! Can you imagine what THAT would do to your skin?!?!
Tanning is a cosmetic product and should be used and sold as such. At Ticker's it always has been. I'm not advertising because most of my clients come back annually. Ninety percent of them are adults, so NOT selling tans to teens will not effect my business one iota.
I guess the point of my rant is, that in ten years I've never heard anything from the provincial government on or about tanning. Now, out of the blue they've made decisions regarding it and not one tanning salon owner was participant in those rules or legislation. I guess that tells me everything I need to know.
Stay Well, until next time.

NANO Madness

Well, here I am again thankfully! It's been a busy time. It usually is for me. My significant other is still in hospital and has survived the operation of course, as I knew he would. But, then he developed some infection so they’re trying hard to kill that. He’ll be released once they chase the germs away. So it’s all-good!

I’m sure he’ll be stunned when he gets home to see what I’ve been doing while he’s been gone.I've got a large closet reorganized and taken on several new activities.

 I inadvertently joined NANO last night but I'm going to give it a go anyways. I just went to the site to see what all the fuss was about and the sign said " sign up" and I clicked it.

I thought they meant sign up for the site (it was late and I was tired) but it meant sign up for the writing exercise. Sometimes things happen. Serendipity.

Have a look if you're interested, the site is www.nanowrimo.org Just be careful what you click on! You could end up like me with 50,000 words to write before the end of November.

There are rules to follow of course and I read them through as fast as I could and introduced myself in the forum and I may be the older one in the regional group. But that doesn't bother me either. Someone has to be.

I've never done a NANO before but it's a worldwide event and even as I sit here typing into my blog hundreds of people all over the globe are up typing into their NANO manuscript. It's a good exercise for any writer or any "wannna-be" writer. It instills the "write everyday" element that a good writer needs.

I've heard about NANO for donkey years of course. It's hard to miss hearing about it. Even living in a very small hamlet on the coast of Nova Scotia, you do get news. The N.S. Writer's Federation Newsletter made mention of it as well. I have friends on Writing.com who are also nano-ing their little hearts out.

I think the problem with so many writers is that they want instant recognition and publication. Oddly enough you can get that easily on the Internet. Ten year olds do it daily!

Some writers just don't understand the publication process from a publisher's point of view. Nor do they even care! Publishers are in the business of publishing to make a profit, by printing and distributing books. Usually that means QUALITY books. Books that have been well edited; and books that have good grammar. Not to placate ever-sensitive writers.

Many writers think once they've written a piece, that its inspired. Completely inspired and needs no alteration at all, ever. The problem with that attitude is, it's a red flag that means it needs a lot of work to make it publishable. Unless you're an incredible genius with a Master's degree in English and a PhD in Science. Then publishers know you have the dedication gene at the very least.

If on the other hand you have high school math and some good ideas and some writing credits you might still knock out a book. It would still take a great deal of work to make it publishable. The problem today is that with e-books you take your chances as to the quality of what you're getting unless you buy books online from a credible source.

If it were "easy", everyone would be doing it.

If you find this entry short, I’m writing my Nano so be patient and I’ll be back here during my breaks. Stay Well!

Operation Aneurysm and Pumpkins!

Finally! We have hope of a hospital date so my partner can get his operation. It depends of course on whether or not there is a bed available this coming week. So, if you're reading this from a hospital bed and anxious to go home, insist upon it please!!!! While the wait seemed longer to him than to me I'm pleased that when Health Care in Canada works, it really works GREAT!

To be fair, it works pretty good most of the time. I don't know what I would have done without it in my life because I've had to use it a few times. Luckily I didn't have to use it to excess. Some people do. I remember when we got our system I did think that it would make more hypocondriacts. It might also encourage those that already were overly concerned with their health and because they were, become self fulfilling prophets.

Being sick is no fun as anyone who is knows. Unfortunately there are people who derive a lot of attention from being sick, so they're sick all the time. The kick-back is attention. It seems a shame they feel the only time anyone will be attentive to them is when they're sick, but if this is so, maybe they should examine that aspect of their personality.

As for me, I'm just glad we finally have a date for this operation and hope that nothing goes amiss to postpone it any longer. It's been extremely stressful on us both. I'll let you know how it goes after the fact.

The cost of a bit of fun:
I was on Facebook last night and noticed a post from a fellow in Australia and since it's month end I have to mention this. A pumpkin in Australia costs $7.99 a POUND! Anyone who is familiar with pumpkins knows there's not a lot to them, but they can be heavy because of their construction. As a result even a small one would have cost my friend about $60. Yeah!! Imagine, $60. for something you're going to ream out and cut a face in and stick a candle in it.

Hallowe'en is apparently not that "big thing" in Australia that it is in North America. I can see why now. I doubt very many people would be dressing their driveways with pumpkins and making pumpkin people out of them if they were THAT expensive here.

The best I could offer was to send some seeds down under so the kids could grow their own for next year. Then again, it would likely cause an international incident or something. I don't know if sending seeds would be legal from a customs point of view. It likely wouldn't be for some reason.

I know countries have to be careful about what comes into their geography, especially in regard to plants and all that entails. I am also wondering why pumpkins aren't grown there like they are here. It might be because Australia is considered a really warm continent, but they're quite close to Antartica so they might get a frost here and there. I don't know.

Well I guess that's it for now folks. In the meantime stay well and don't hang around anything too creepy tomorrow night! HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!

Friends Around The Planet

It is so very nice to have friends who live in other countries. Years ago when mIRC was the quintessential chat program I chatted daily with about two dozen people and they were scattered all over the planet. We broke the barriers of time zones simply by becoming sleep deprived. But, we were all aware of our condition. Sometimes, many times we'd pull all nighters and sit up chatting about anything that came to mind.

We'd gossip about who wasn't online and who was. We'd talk about the weather, the politics of the day, the cultural barriers we might be respecting or breaking or who was having an online romance and who wasn't. Not only that, but we all had great fun. I learned more about computers, networks and people over that time period then I ever could have in a course of any description.

Like all things enjoyable, change and life intervenes. Some of the changes include but are not restricted to: many of the people I enjoyed grew up, got married, and had children or didn't. The Internet also changed and the social networking of chat lines grew into the more sophisticated Facebooks and Twitters of today.

I'm sure I changed as well. I look back now with warmth and gratitude on those years because they happened at a time in my life when it was absolutely necessary for me to get a grip on my own life or wither away from the adversities that took place behind me. With my face in the computer, the rest of the world did not exist unless I turned around. I had to do that a lot as it happens because I was not only responsible for a 40 hr a week job, but also for another 30 hours of publishing a newspaper with my computer.

My chat line was my reward. My relax time. I experimented of course with every aspect of it and made more friends online than I ever had in person. Some of them continue to this day and some of course have moved on to heaven only knows what, but I'm sure they sometimes think of those days too. Do we wish them back? No, I don't think so. They were great at the time but they served their purpose for us all in one way or another. I'm sure some of us would like to meet of course but the costs of doing that would be highly prohibitive for most of us.

For all we know, some of them may have died. People tend to do that too, usually unknown to us. I'm sure if that sad event happened, their relatives are not concerned with who they might of known online that might appreciate knowing. But that was then, and times have changed to the point that today, relatives would have that concern and find a way to inform online friends.

I shall be forever grateful to my mIRC chat friends. They all helped me be me. They freed me in so many ways and taught me so very much about life, love, and the world of the internet. I will speak on this topic again because I want to look up some of the nicknames from those days.

In the meantime, stay well and thank you for visiting my blog. :)

Who Else Feels This Way?

There's not too many days go by when I don't wish I could defrag my biological hard drive. But, alas it's not apparently possible. Google has some pretty good help files for bloggers but when it comes to the HTML adjustments or refinements, they lose me entirely.

It's not like I don't have about fifty pounds of HTML books, printouts and magazines on how to manage or learn to write this code. I've even read a great deal of it, but for some reason unless you know someone who can actually sit at your shoulder and say, "Do this!" or, "add that.", it shall remain a mystery to my poor besotted brain.

You might wonder why I even want to learn this stuff. Well, look at the bottom of this blog. Go on, the very very bottom and see the big blank space around that Amazon Search gadget. It's not like someone can slap post-it notes in that white space, they can't! So, it remains like a large pimple on the end of a teenager's nose!

Nothing I can do about it unless I can figure out how to shrink that gadget space around the search thingie. You would think a person of my mature experience and various skills could work it out. But to date, I haven't so, on to other things.

I've been making sites and pages on Videojug and even that will sometimes leave me blank faced and staring at my screen wondering if it is as it should be. What I think staring at it will accomplish is again, beyond me.

Then there's Amazon. I buy a lot of stuff from them and have done for years. It's convenient and I usually find what I want. My computer often wants to do my thinking for me and will from time to time send me to Amazon.ca when I WANT Amazon.com. So, I have to smack it down every now and then to make it do what I want, and not what it thinks I want.

But with the monetization of blogs and sites, you have to join, get this: three Amazon affiliate sites. Now why in heavens name Amazon can't just have one, I'll never know. But yep... three of them! That means you have three ID's and have to recall three more passwords. At this rate I'll need notebooks up the ying yang to remember it all and keep it all in order.

And this is just a small part of today! I'm supposed to be retired and having the easy life where people call you, "Mam" and young muscled men carry your groceries to your car for you. That's not happened to me yet. Oddly I wonder if it ever will.

In any event, here it is Sunday and it's one of those damp-ish fall days where the trees are shedding the last of their leaves before the winter winds arrive and blow them off. Another week looms before me and I wonder when my Paul will hear from his surgeon so he can get his operation done and over with before he has a kiniption fit. I know once the phone rings with that date, he'll feel some relief but his anxiety level will also go through the roof at the same time. Having had several serious operations myself, I find it hard to settle his mind about the experience. It's something you really need to do on your own. this being his first operation in his entire life, it's not easy for me to set his mind to rest. Only he can do that.

Well I guess I'll pop over to Writing.com and see how my writer friends are getting along today. We have some good conversations over there about writing stories, concepts, and so on. Some of them have some incredible ideas for novels and are very capable writers.

Read a great line the other day by Enrique Jardiel Poncela. He said:
"When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing." 

It's still a pity I can't defrag my brain! It would help so much. Until next time.. stay well.

I've Been Busy!

I'm not completely sure what goes into a BLOG so I guess I can use it for a place to put my thoughts since I'm not sure where else to put them! In any event, I've had some busy days of late.

My partner as explained in the last entry is awaiting an operation. So until we hear from the hospital and get a date for his repair, we wait. Luckily he can entertain himself and stay busy doing things that don't involve heavy lifting. So, he's settled for now until he has "the date".

I've been working on my VideoJug pages and have actually made a site of sorts. I'm hoping to review some of the books I've read in the past year or so. It's not meant to be one of those stuffy review sites, but a review by a regular person, which I like to think I am.

You can have a look at it by using this link:  http://pages.videojug.com/users/TheTicker

I've been making the graphics myself and that's been a lot of fun in itself. But since it's all new to me I'll see how it goes and try to make it work.

I've made an avatar too. It resembles what I think I almost look like, although I'm not that chubby. That was fun to put together. You really need a sense of humor to make an avatar of yourself.

I hope I don't look that cross, but maybe I do to some people.

Some of my time has been spent on Writing.com too. I get to meet other writers there and I do quite a few reviews of work done by many many different kinds of writers. The site really does have something for everyone. I also enjoy the chat room there. It can be a lot of fun.

I suppose I could mention the weather here too. It's fall of course, so the leaves are falling off the trees and the birds are looking for things to eat. Once you start feeding them, you really should continue doing it because they'll look for it regularly.
Some people think that if you feed them, they won't eat bugs anymore, but I think they'll eat both. It can be very amusing to watch them on a daily basis and it's amazing how many different varieties will show up in your own garden.

We got some bird books to help us identify them and mark the pages with sticky notes. As a result of course both books are floppy with sticky notes, but it shows how many you can identify. And, yes the squirrels do get at the seeds and chomp away and hide things. But, they have to eat too so I don't subscribe to keeping the squirrels out and away from the bird seeds. From what I've seen they all ignore one another.

Well I guess I better get some supper underway or we'll start losing weight around here. Stay well until next entry.

Worry Worry Worry... What a Pain!

Most of us have something that makes us worry. It might be health, or money or family crisis. It might even be all three and many more. The odd thing is, "worry" doesn't help anything. It doesn't even relieve the stress worry causes! But we all do it.
None of us escape it either. So, it must be part of our humanity. We can hopefully divert ourselves from it now and then. I'm sat here drinking a hot coffee (I take coffee and tea black) and thinking about the things I'm worried over. At least I worry BIG!.
My partner is due for an operation to fix an aortic aneurysm. He's worried and so am I. He's never been in a hospital except once this summer when he took a stroke. But prior to that no one in his family had been in a hospital. I find that amazing because I spent a goodly part of my own life in close association with hospitals.
So, later today we should know more about when he gets his operation. Until then, we all worry!

This is a TEST entry in my blog.

I'm still in the learning curve of this blogging business, so be patient, I'm going as fast as only I can go!Even while I'm trying to learn to blog I'm trying to learn other things. This logo is the result of some of that learning.
I made it with a trial version of a program and I think at the end of October I'll buy the program. It's really easy to use. I'm still exploring it. I could probably make logos for people and charge them for the service. It might be worth thinking about.
It's been a very busy time for me lately. Some things I'm getting done and still others are getting left undone. I imagine everyone is in that boat from time to time. I guess we just get too many things on our list of things To Do, and fall behind.
I'm also reading when I can. I just finished a book called, The Sunday Pigeon Murders. I enjoyed it. It reads like an old movie and anyone who enjoys murder mysteries will like this one. I must admit I didn't catch on to who the murderer was until the very last. Sometimes, I do solve the mystery!
On Sunday I spent most of the day trying to figure out how to put a banner on my blog and when I finally figured it out, I could of kicked myself it was that blessed easy. In any case I think I hear a car in the drive. I must have visitors so I better get the kettle boiled. Catch ya later!

A Rose By Any Other Name, Might Not Smell As Sweet!

Many writers suffer when trying to name their characters, just as parents sometimes go to great lengths naming their children. Naming Baby books and other references are studied carefully months prior to the big day. Sometimes children get named after favorite relatives or famous people. Some people name their children after bodies of water. i.e. River, or Ocean. Some afer weather conditions. One way or another the child gets a name they have to take with them throughout their life.

The difference in naming characters and naming our babies is evident. A character’s name we can easily change with our word processing software. The names of our children are a little more difficult to change and doing so may be costly.

Even choosing an on-line name may take some people quite a while because they like to show some character traits in its structure. We’ve all seen those on-line names that sometimes give us a hint to the person wearing it. Devil_Woman or Satan-Boi are a couple of examples. I’m sure we could make them up all day long. Some are used for a long time and some get changed weekly.

Not so when we name our children. The child has to go through life with the label you created for it. The only way they may choose their own name is to reach adulthood and make a legal name change. That may cost quite a bit of money and usually requires the services of a lawyer.

Movie Stars who were born with one name are often renamed in the studios they work for so that their names are more marketable. A few examples are: Norma Jean Baker became Marilyn Munroe. Demetria Gene Guynes became Demi Moore and, Betty Joan Perske became Lauren Becall. There are hundreds of others.

Writers too have changed their names more often than movie actors because some writers will use pseudonyms for a variety of reasons. Samuel Clemens became Mark Twain and Voltaire was born, Francois Marie Arouet. Again there are many others and the reasons for it are legion.

Still other famous people became famous under their mother’s maiden name. Something to keep in mind when one marries. If your progeny become famous, their father’s name their mother assumed as a courtesy to her new husband, also becomes famous. Meanwhile, her family name dies in oblivion. William Arden became Shakespeare; Ernest Hall became Hemingway; George Bernard Gurly became G.B. Shaw, to name a few.

Today many women are keeping the name they were born with on marriage so that the loss of personal identity is not so traumatic overall.

But why are your character’s names so important?

I believe it’s because your character is part of your creation and that name is a tool to assist and move your story and plot along to its conclusion. Charles Dickens (another one who took his mother’s maiden name) was a master at naming his characters so that they enhanced his stories. What would “A Christmas Carol” be without Ebenezer Scrooge? Scrooge is now a common word on its own foundation to describe someone miserly.

Names can make an emotional connection or impression for and with the reader and, they can help develop the persona of your character. They help you fill out your creation. It’s akin to Freddy Small wanting his friends to call him Spike. Every time they do, Freddy grows an inch taller in his own mind.

Lucky for writer’s there are web sites devoted to the etymology of names, their history and meanings. It becomes a little easier to create your protagonist’s name to suit his or her qualities or vice versa with a little bit of research.

Creating just the right name for the people in your stories may make your stories more memorable as it did with those of Charles Dickens. It can also help make your story more marketable and that is what a publisher is primarily concerned with. If the story isn’t marketable they will not accept it. Publishers are in the business of making a profit like all businesses. It is their duty and reason to exist.

As a writer, aside from the creativity and enjoyment we get out of our designs, we too must make money. That is the business side of our occupation. Otherwise we’re writing for ourselves and sometimes we can be pretty easy to please.

Think of some of the characters you remember well from books you’ve read and think about why you recall them so easily. Their names stand out in your memory and with the name comes, “that somebody” behind it. Established writer’s didn’t just grab any old name off the wall and slap it on characters they took months to develop. Would Snowwhite have the same ring to it as Puregirl? Would Cinderella be as memorable if she was called Sweeper? I’m sure there are hundreds of characters whose names are well fastened in your memory because the author took the time to make it so.

Where to start? Well some writer’s get their ideas in the shower or doing the dishes or driving the car. We don’t know when the creative seed will sprout. All we can do is make sure it’s frequently fed and watered. Choosing the right name for your characters will show in the overall quality of your story and make it memorable to your readers.

I was sitting in the waiting room of a large hospital one day and every now and then a nurse would come out and call someone’s name. I sat there listening and making notes. I got several names for characters before I made my way home. I may keep the names as they are or change them a little to augment them, either way no one will sue me for it.

Lamentably, many people share the same name. Look yours up on the internet. All of a sudden you no longer feel as unique as you once were.

In conclusion, take some time and apply some energy to giving your characters their names. You’ll feel better about them and they’ll begin to feel much more real to you and to your readers.

-30-

My Sony Reader

I want to talk about my Sony e-reader. I take it everywhere because it's convenient for me. I bought it because when you get older books get heavier! I've been stopped in waiting rooms, restaurants and even at my own shop and asked if I like it over "real books". It's like asking me, "Do you like the ice-cream or the cone."  Personally, I like both thank you very much!

 Not only can I carry a plethora of books with me easily but being able to do so allows me to choose what I want to read when I want to read it. I don't have grandchildren but if I did I could also put their photos in it and show off the rug rats with lovely clear photos that haven't collected dust and wrinkles in an overburdened wallet. Eventually the conversation requires that I explain how the reader works and saves me time and energy. Sometimes they ask me how it compares to other readers, and I tell them why I chose it.

It's great for sitting up in bed too because it's so light. So, my aching bones get a reprieve from my hard copy books. I still read hard copy. I'd be a fool not to. Others think I can't take it to the beach. Well the good news is my reader has seen the beach several times and is probably the only item I took with me that didn't come home with sand particles in it's nooks and crannies.

Yes it has to be recharged every now and then (usually every two weeks) but so does my Swiffer. These days it's pretty hard to find things that don't require recharging.

Depending on the model you buy you can take and make notes in the reader and it has a dictionary in case you come across a word that puzzles you. It also makes a great present if you're inclined to treat someone. I've seen a lot of reviews on the pros and cons and the one thing none of them mentioned is that it is a gift for those who have everything else, especially if they're big readers.

This is my first blog. Thank you for reading it.