Day 9...Hey, I'm Actually Still Writing

Yesiree, I am still writing. It's a pretty good thing, all the way around. I also started reading the Sookie Stackhouse novels - quite enjoyable. Been playing around with Twitter as well. All these things...

Word Count, Day 1

Since I can't seem to be able to get onto nano to update my word count...here tiz - 1176. Yipee! I'm actually writing long-hand and it's working for me. Go me!

Deep Breath...It's That Time of Year Again...

No, not the election...though that should be exciting, shouldn't it?

Of course, I'm referring to National Novel Writing Month. It's November 1. I'm already finding countless other ways to distract myself (and it's only Noon on the 1st) but hey, what works, works. Update blog, wash dishes, find a new knitting site (Ravelry - looks COOL), play with the zen-master cat, contemplate an exercise routine, watch the leaves change. Right.

I'll get right on that novel.
Actually, I have some pretty good ideas this time around. And, I am quite excited

Maybe I should go trim my fingernails to make for easier typing on the ole' laptop? Hmm...

Financial Bailout - Part 2

I cannot believe that Congress is remotely prepared to turn over $700 billion dollars (taxpayer dollers at that) to a group of people who MADE THE MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE.

I cannot believe that ANYONE in their right mind would offer up $700 billion dollars based on a THREE PAGE proposal. (SO - can I write a one-pager? I'd be happy with one-third of the $700 billion.)

I CANNOT BELIEVE that ANYONE would be that irresponsible, that careless, and that panicked. People all over the place have been talking about this mess for AT LEAST two years. It is absolutely unacceptable that all of a sudden, in one week, we are being expected to fork over $700 billion dollars because, all of a sudden, this has become an emergency.

And today, the big news was that Warren Buffet is putting $5 billion of his own money into Goldman-Sachs because he sees a way to profit from this.

Really? Profit? I thought we were in such dire straights that profit was out of the question.

I find this completely unacceptable.

I will vote my conscience on this one. Perhaps I will even run for office next.

This is INSANE!

The Financial Bailout

All I can say is, if the government is going to bail out poorly run companies with MY money and YOURS, we deserve stock in the company, dividends from the results, and the SAME opportunity to be personally bailed out as well.

Do you see it happening? Me neither. Not enough lobbiests for the little people. Wait, isn't that what the government is for? The people - for them? by them?

Right, then I DEMAND stock and dividends then.

Anita Blake

Ok...so I just recently went on an I'm-reading-all-the-Anita-Blake-series binge. And I enjoyed the stories quite a bit for the most part, particularly character development. So I have lots and lots of questions that, after 15-some-odd books, just seem to still be flapping in the wind for me:

• Dolph - why IS he on RPIT? And, I get the angry Dolph thing in later books, but it's sad.
• For that matter, what about Clive Perry - the polite policeman - she references not knowing why he's there...as nosy and as blunt as Anita is, why not just ask? or - as seems more to the point, I'd love to know.
  
• How DID Bert hear about Anita and recruit her? (she says she doesn't wonder...bully for her :))
  
• Anita speaks of Grandma Flores as, present tense, 'is interesting' in The Laughing Corpse (even though all connection with her is in past tense language) ...so why not go to her when all the metaphysical stuff kicks up? Especially since what Anita is becoming all seems to be what the grandmother feared. She's clearly got questions...why not ask?
  
• all of a sudden, in one of the later books, it mentions that there was an office revolt and that all the animators are partners, rather than employees, now - did I miss a book? 'Cause I don't remember anything about how that came about...just that I'm now being informed of it (and subsequent books mention that change as well - as if a reminder of a previous story)
• sex is good, I'm not knocking it, and I don't even mind the edge that the author began with, but it seems that the scenes have just gotten a bit out of hand - jumped the shark is, I believe, an acceptable term, or we could just call them gratuitous and be done with it
• in the later books, with the exception of Micah, where's the mystery and zombie raising? The police interaction and the zombie raising make good stories and give Anita her own personality and character balance to the vampire world which is overwhelming who her character started out being. Now, I know that characters, like people, evolve, but this part of what makes her such an interesting character - her on-edge-ness about the crimes she has to solve. I have to say though, that the conflict between Anita and Dolph is pretty darn real - painful, but real.
• 'alright' is just annoying.
  

It just seems that, if you're going to wave these points about, spend time having the mc wonder about people or refer to them, you should get mileage out of the mention/mystery and wrap up loose ends.

Oh - and after reading the first 8 (yes - I did read 15 of them in a matter of months), I wanted to call the publishing company up and offer my services as proofreader (no reflection on the author). The publisher missed a lot of typos in their copies of the text. This is picky details I know...but they were noticeable.

Ok...that's it for now...I have more questions so I'll add to this later.