Wordless Wednesday: San Francisco

In honor of my current trip to San Francisco, I pulled out a few old photos I took when we lived in San Francisco back in 2001.



These giant legs were over a store at Haight and Ashbury streets. I have no clue if they're still there. It's one of my favorite quirky photos of the city.



This photo was taken at Land's End. It's right at the tip of the San Francisco peninsula overlooking the strait where the San Francisco Bay meets the Pacific Ocean, which is the Golden Gate that the bridge is named for. My friend Caela is taking a photo of the sunset while laying on the ruins of an old public bathroom that's fallen with the cliffside and has subsequently been graffitied. This was my first photo excursion with my first digital camera.

To see some of my other favorite photos of San Francisco, visit my San Francisco set on Flickr.

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I'm leaving on jet plane... tomorrow

There's going to be a lot about San Francisco and writing in this blog in the next few days. That's my intention, at least.

Tomorrow morning I leave for San Francisco to attend the annual Romance Writers of America conference. It's a writing conference with workshops covering topics ranging from basic craft to research topics to publishing house spotlights to chat sessions with authors.

Basically, if you're a fiction writer and you could only attend one writing conference, this would be a conference to look at. It's huge, and even though it's geared toward romance writers, truthfully, writers of all genres can get things out of it.

Another major feature of the conference includes the Readers for Life Literacy Signing on Wednesday night. More than 500 authors will sign books, with all proceeds going to a literacy organization. This is the only event at the conference open to the public.

On Friday, I'll have a one-on-one appointment with an editor to pitch my current project.

Saturday night is the Golden Heart and Rita Awards ceremony, where we all get dressed up and have a big party to celebrate the best romance fiction written in the past year.

And did I mention that the conference is in San Francisco this year? I'm bringing my camera and my walking shoes and planning to make sure there's plenty of down-time from the conference for exploring one of my favorite cities in the world.

Now I just need to buckle down and get some things scratched off my to-do list before I leave. Like finish this project for work.

Because they make me smile

Here are Thor and Loki with my nephew.

Let's talk about reading, writing and blogging

As part of my blogoversary celebration last week, I invited people to send me questions. Claire at A Little Piece of Me picked up the challenge and sent me a list.

Hello, get a coffee and relax. It's interview time with Claire :)

OK, I don't have a coffee, but I do have my feet up on my desk, so I'm as relaxed as I can be. (Honestly, my feet are up. My husband has no idea how I can type this way, but I manage quite well.)
  
Having been a reader of Mills and Boon since I was about eleven, I would like to know what your first romance novel was and how old you were when you read it.

I could go with the short and easy answer, but I won't because I think the payoff is better when I tell it this way.

My third-grade teacher wanted to put me into a remedial reading class. She said I had reading issues (and that I reminded her of her ex-husband). In fourth grade, at my new school, I tested normal for reading. In fifth grade, I read my first novel-length book, Flowers in the Attic. By sixth grade, I'd been placed in an honors reading program. I discovered historical fiction that year and decided I especially liked stories of the American West, such as the Little House on the Prairie series and epic-length books such as Sacajawea.

In seventh grade, I was checking out the books on the supermarket book rack and I saw a book cover with an American Indian on the front. It looked like an interesting story, so I bought it. I didn't care that I was having trouble pronouncing the title: Defiant Ecstasy. (You try to sound out the word Ecstasy -- there are some vowels missing there.)

From that moment on, I was hooked on historical romance. I think my parents were a little bemused by some of my selections, but they didn't try to hold me back. At least I was reading.

What does the husband think of your blog and have you ever said to him 'oh I am going to blog that!'. 

He doesn't get the whole blogging thing, the compulsion to write, and especially the time I put into it. A few months ago, I subscribed him to my email feed so that he could at least know what I was up to. Every once in a while he'll yell from the other room something like "What the hell is a Wordless Wednesday?" He was thrilled this week when he discovered the Odiogo link and vowed that would be the only way he'd read my posts now. LOL

The most recent example of "I'm going to blog that" was recently when we were changing out the bathroom fixtures in our powder room. When I grabbed the camera, he said "I suppose you're going to blog about this."

My only possible response: "Of course I am."

Then I did clarify that since the toilet paper holder we were getting rid of was HATED by many of our friends (you'd have to read the full story), and the friends would appreciate the documentation. That seemed to pacify him. 

Can you see yourself blogging for another three years and beyond?

Yes. For the first few years I sometimes felt like I was blogging into a void. I did nothing to promote the blog and I only had a few readers. But, I blogged anyway. If I kept blogging through that, I don't see what would make me stop now.

How rude is this novel of yours going to be, if you had to put a movie rating on it.

The novel that I've completed, Prairie Fire, would probably earn an R rating. The novella I'm working on is erotica and by definition would earn an X rating.  (I'm staying with officially sanctioned movie ratings here.)

and finally, when do I get to read it?

If you promise not to analyze me afterward, you (Claire) can read it in the next few months. Everyone else would have to wait until it was published, and since I don't have a publisher for it yet, who knows when that will happen. :)

Sky Watch Friday: Turtle

I saw this turtle-cloud as I was leaving my office last summer. I thought he'd be a friendly introduction for me to Sky Watch Friday.

Listen up!

See the "Listen Now" button that's at the top of every post? It's Odiogo. I just installed the widget. The company uses the RSS feed to convert a text post into an MP3 so that you can listen to blog posts.

I saw this feature today on The Junk Drawer and installed it right away. (I like to jump right in sometimes and recklessly try new widgets.) Kathy wrote a hilarious introductory post titled Meet Phil that you have to go listen to.

I have to confess that when I just sampled my own post, it came across as far more dry than when I read it in my head. Not sure if I'm going to like that. Anyway. Check it out.

Let's talk about Chicago

Why are we talking about Chicago? Because Monique asked: How long have you lived in Chicago/Chicago area?

The answer is pretty boring, because I've lived here most of my life (minus two years in California and three-and-a-half years at college in Iowa).

So that leaves almost 34 years that I've lived within the same 10-mile radius west of O'Hare International Airport, and when I write it that way, it sure makes my life sound very boring.

In an effort to not be boring, I'm going to expand on the original question.

How deep are my roots in the Chicago metropolitan area?

My Dad's family came here first.

My grandmother's family came here from New York state for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and decided to stay. They were a family of teachers, and their daughters were educated at the University of Chicago. Both my great-grandfather and my great-aunt worked as principals at a high school on the southwest side of Chicago.

My grandfather came here from Australia to study for a career with the YMCA at George Williams College. During the Great Depression, when he couldn't afford to return home, he met my grandmother and decided to stay. He enlisted with the Army during World War II, but because he broke a leg in basic training, he was never sent overseas. He spent the war stationed at Fort Sheridan, and after the war made a career with the Evanston YMCA.

My mother came here from Wisconsin to work for Capital Airlines, which was eventually merged into United Airlines. Two of her aunts had already made their way to Chicago, so she lived with them for a time, but eventually met and married my Dad, who also worked at United.

Why do I stay in Chicago?

At a point in every person's life, they have to make a decision to stay where they grew up or move on. Obviously, my great-grandparents, my grandfather and my mother all made the decision to move on, and Chicago was their choice. There were opportunities here for them.

My husband and I flirted with leaving. We both went to college in Iowa. We moved to San Francisco for a few years during our marriage. But always, Chicago was home and we fully intended to return.

I guess the main reason we live here is because this is where our family and friends are. Secondarily, I like living in a major metropolitan area and having easy travel options around the world. I like the city of Chicago and the people.

It's also where the best opportunities have been for us. I'm not opposed to moving somewhere else, given the right opportunity. But Chicago is and will always be home.

So, I'm curious: Have you ever thought about why you live where you do? Did you decide to stay near where you grew up? Or did you fly at the first opportunity? How did you end up where you are now?

Wordless Wednesday: Birthday

My husband turns 40 this week. In honor of his birthday, I pulled this photo out of the scrapbook. This is from the surprise party I threw him on his 18th birthday. Yes, 22 years ago. In my parents' basement.

Here he is hamming it up right after recovering from the surprise.

Happy Birthday Dave!



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We have a winner

10,000 visits!

Claire at A Little Piece of Me wins the 1,000 Entrecredits for sending me a screen print with the Sitemeter showing 10,000 hits. I'm transferring the credits right now.

Thank you Claire.

Here's her screen capture (click to enlarge):



Here's a print screen of my Sitemeter report. Claire's visit is circled. The visit below her was the actual 10,000th visitor -- someone visiting from Lacrosse, Wis.



Thanks to everyone who played along with me. That was fun for a few minutes. (A special thank you to that mystery person who'd been refreshing for the past hour trying to capture the magical number.)

Let's talk about Puerto Rican food

Even though this is a blog that's all about me, sometimes I get tired of talking about myself. It's true.

Let's talk about Puerto Rican food.

Why Puerto Rican food? Because Monique asked me: Have you ever had Puerto Rican food?

I was in Puerto Rico once for my honeymoon back in 1994. We had a few days to explore the island before we picked up a cruise. Surely, at some point in those few days, I tried Puerto Rican food. At least, I hope I did. But I don't know.

I did an Internet search for Puerto Rican restaurants in my area in the off-chance that I'd eaten at one and not realized that it was specifically Puerto Rican. Looking at the results, the answer is probably no. They seem to be clustered on West Division Street in the Humbolt Park area of Chicago. Not one of my usual haunts.

Truthfully, I'm not even sure what defines Puerto Rican food.

Here's how Welcome to Puerto Rico defines it:

Although Puerto Rican cooking is somewhat similar to both Spanish and Mexican cuisine, it is a unique tasty blend of Spanish, African, Taíno, and American influences, using such indigenous seasonings and ingredients as coriander, papaya, cacao, nispero, apio, plantains, and yampee. Locals call their cuisine "cocina criolla".

That description looks tasty to me.

So, anyone recommend a Puerto Rican restaurant in the Chicago area, preferably in the northwest or far west suburbs? Or maybe near O'Hare Airport? I'm willing to trek into the city, but that takes more planning and organization, so it will probably take much longer to happen.

And if I do make this journey, any specific foods I should try?

I suspect that possibly only Monique can answer these questions for me, but I hope there are others with this information too.

Anyone else out there ever tried Puerto Rican food? What did you think?

Three years, 500 posts and 9,9** visits

It's still Doodle Week for another 35 minutes where I'm at. And, since this is my 500th post and today is this site's blogoversary, I doodled myself some cake. See?

Three candles. Yes, this blog is three years old today!

I thought I might get the trifecta today and hit 10,000 visits also, but it looks like that won't happen until tomorrow or Tuesday.

Darn. I wanted to give someone 2,000 Entrecredits for capturing a print screen of it happening today.

But there's still 1,000 Entrecredits on the table for the first person to capture a print screen of it for me as close to the 10,000 mark as possible (see this post for more details.)

Anyway, enough about my little giveaway. I want to talk about this blog and some of its milestones.

On July 20, 2005, I opened my Blogger account and started this blog. You can read the introductory post here, but it's quite boring.

I didn't really do anything with the site until Jan. 3, 2006. That's when I named it The Beacon and started posting on a regular basis. (Read about it here.)

In February 2006, a former co-worker found my blog through a Google search and emailed me. Scared me to death. OMG, someone I know is actually reading this! (Read about it here.)

I went right out and installed a hit tracker. I needed to know who was reading this site.

I didn't join Site Meter until Feb. 21, 2006, so I have no idea how many people may have stumbled on the site and read something before then. When I joined Site Meter, I credited myself with 4 hits prior to installing the widget. Yes, 4!

I didn't tell my family about the blog until about March 1, 2006, so I guess that's another blog birthday. (Read about it here.)

Over the years, this little blog has been a labor of love. I wrote it, a few friends checked it out, but mostly it was done out of compulsion. I didn't belong to any blogging networks. I didn't actively promote it. Once or twice, I even took a month off between entries.

Up until I joined EntreCard on Feb. 11, 2008, I'd be lucky to get 10 hits on a good day. I averaged about 4. My sister was my most devoted reader. (Hi Heather!) Now my numbers have gone significantly up.

Here's how much of a difference Entrecard has made to me. On March 5, 2008, I noted for some reason that I'd had 2,888 unique vistors to this site (including the 4 that I credited myself with at installation of the Site Meter). None of those hits were my visits, as I'd learned early on how to set Site Meter to ignore me.

So, even though this site is three years old, 80 percent of my hits have come in the past four and a half months.

Thank you to everyone who has ever dropped by this site and checked it out. That applies to my quiet real-life friends and family, as well as the new blog-world friends I've made over the past few months.

In my post a few days ago, I offered everyone the chance to ask me questions if they like. The offer is still out there. If there's anything you want to ask me, ask. I'll start answering questions tomorrow.

Except for this one. I'll answer it now: Monique, I think you are so awesomely awesome, the word awesome doesn't even begin to describe your awesomeness. :P

Post 499: Doodle Body

Today is the last day of Doodle Week. Seven straight days. Whew! We made it!

The theme today is Body. Yes Body.

So here's my body part: My left foot. It looks like it's sideways, but that's the angle I was looking at it when I drew it. Yes, those are the sandals I was wearing. I'm not sure the proportions are spot on, but the sandals really are tall. I like being tall. :) Oh, and the red nail polish is an exact match. It's actually the nail polish I'm wearing.



Also, in yesterday's post, I failed to include the last day of Doodle at Work. So, here's the collage of work doodles for the theme Pet, which is what we decided to doodle at work on Friday, even though Friday's theme was technically Evil.

In there you will notice an asterisk-looking doodle. That's part of one of my coworker's "retrospective on lines". Each day he doodled a line, and on Friday he brought all his lines together in one doodle. Unfortunately, his doodle on Monday was mistakenly erased because one of the self-proclaimed doodle police didn't realize it was a legitimate doodle. The doodle police were duly chastened for editing creativity.



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My favorite posts from The Beacon's third year

In anticipation of my upcoming blogoversary on Sunday, I thought I'd take a look at my Top 10 favorite posts from the third year of this blog (July 21, 2007-July 20, 2008)

Here they are in chronological order:

In praise of my little yellow truck
August 3, 2007

This is an ode to my car. Yes. It hit 100,000 miles and I had to celebrate.

Oh, I remember when the little yellow truck was young. She cut her milk teeth on the steep grades of California Street in San Francisco, showing off for all those ancient cable cars chugging alongside her. She wasn't even a teenager yet when she carried Marriott and me cross-country to Chicago. (Am I carrying the metaphor too far? By "wasn't even a teenager yet" I mean she hadn't hit 10,000 miles. Oh, and did you catch the cross-country reference? Xterra. Cross-country. Get it? Talk to me privately if you didn't.)

My worst nightmare actually turned out kind of funny
October 10, 2007

About a trip to the Renaissance Faire, and how I got called up onto stage to help with a skit.

Then he makes a big to-do about presenting me with the rose. He offers it, then pulls it away. Offers it again. I play along. Each time trying to take it, knowing that he'll flirtatiously pull it away again. Each time the crowd laughs. Each time I laugh.

Another scary Ren Faire experience
October 10, 2007

On that same trip to the Renaissance Faire, I decided to take a whirl on the Pirate's Assault Catapault. Think bungee chords, a harness and a trampoline. Go.

There's not an amusement park ride that scares me, I boldly think. I'm within the weight limits (barely). So what if I'm wearing a skirt (they have a system to deal with that)? So what if I'm the only adult in line (I do care, but my friend's daughter doesn't want to go alone)? OK, I'm in.

Where I think I'm a 13-year-old boy...
January 28, 2008

Last winter I decided to learn how to snowboard. It wasn't pretty at first, but I somehow survived.

I head down, try to turn to the right, overcompensate and fall backward. Straight backwards. Both feet strapped to a plank of wood, back straight, tail bone and head making contact at almost the same instant. It's a bone-jarring, knock-the-headband-off-my-head, hurts-like-the-dickens fall.

Lollygagger
February 13, 2008

A silly anecdote about my dog Thor.

I open the door, say hello to Loki for a moment so Thor can catch the sights, then turn around. And what do I see? Thor has *lain down* in the fresh snow on the sidewalk. Yeah, he's decided to get comfortable and settle in on the soft, cushy snow bed. Better to watch the world go by.

Who knew tea could be so hot? (Writing Love Scenes)
February 14, 2008

A post about lessons I learned at one of my writers group meetings.

"Red Sage is in the tamer end of erotica," she said.

There's murmurs of disbelief in the crowd. How could the language get much more explicit?

It's not the language, she clarifies, it's the situation: "You have one man, one woman, they're both human."

Writing: My Coffeehouse Confession
March 14, 2008

A fellow blogger laid down a writing challenge, and I tried to pick it up.

Brady explains the challenge in a very entertaining way, but I'll summarize it here: Go to a coffeehouse/place where you like to write, draw a doodle on a napkin, then write something on the napkin, and when you leave the place, leave the napkin behind for others to find. Pretty simple, right?

I'm not so sure.

Life: The karaoke train-wreck to come
April 10, 2008

As we were preparing to throw a karaoke party, I was having some performance anxietey.

Which brings us to today. Less than 48 hours to go until our next karaoke party. Same setup as previous parties, but this year with a theme -- Awesome '80s. Instead of repeating songs from previous parties, we're encouraging everyone to try new material (that was Hilly's idea -- thanks Hilly. I think.)

Unfortunately, I didn't start thinking about what songs I want to sing and practicing until this week. And here is where a few problems come into play.

Life: Googlegängers
April 11, 2008

A story about following people with your same name on the Internet. There are a few other women with the name Haley Hughes out there, and in part thanks to this article, I've conversed with at least two of them.

"This may seem a bit random, but I googled my name which is also Haley Hughes, and found your blog," my Googlegänger wrote to me in an email. "I don't email strangers like this, I just thought I'd introduce myself. It seems like such a small world!"

Dear friend with whom I haven't spoken since 1993
July 11, 2008

Sure, it's a meme post, but I really got into this one. The challenge was to write a post as if you were talking to someone you hadn't seen in 15 years. I wrote it as a letter.

It starts out like this:

Dear friend with whom I haven't spoken since 1993,

I see you met my friend Jody, The Hunter's Wife. It was really nice of her to send you over this direction so we could catch up after all these years. Since you don't have a lot of time, I'll try to be quick.

Doodle Week Pet

It's still Doodle Week. Today's theme is Pets.

I tried to doodle a slightly more complex image on the computer. Here's Thor. His coloring was so hard to capture, that by the time I finished his face, I was done with it. I didn't have the energy for funny thought bubbles or outside action.



Then I decided to lower my expectations and doodle both Thor and Loki. See what lowered expectations bring? FYI, Loki is supposed to be laying down in this doodle, just in case you couldn't tell.



Click here for more about Doodle Week and to find more Doodle Week participants.

My favorite posts from The Beacon's second year

In anticipation of my upcoming blogoversary on Sunday, I thought I'd take a look at my Top 10 favorite posts from the second year of this blog (July 21, 2006-July 20, 2007)

Here they are in chronological order:


Playing with liquid fire
July 24, 2006

For my husband's birthday that year, we organized a field trip with a group of friends to a glass-blowing facility, where each of us had some hands-on experience. Many photos (of me, for a change!)

At the studio on Saturday, we were introduced to Joe, one of the artists and instructors, and given our lecture on safety. The furnaces would be extremely hot. We'd need to drink a lot of water while in the studio to keep hydrated. Don't pick up any glass off the floor because it could still be hot. Use common sense when handling equipment. And, by the way, after years of working with the hot glass, Joe doesn't have much sensation left in his hands and arms.

Lessons learned from painting
July 30, 2006

Dave and I took a non-credit painting class together at the local community college. No Picasso's emerged from our efforts, but I did learn a lot. Here's a sampling:

Squint and look at things with a blurry gaze.

Lay a bold foundation and then add detail.

Work with confidence.

Don't be afraid to go outside the lines. Imperfections are more interesting.

Treasures and Memories
August 4, 2006

I have a fascination with estate sales and for a while was hitting one or two every week. At one particular sale, I was especially pleased with my score.

"The missing piece of a collection?" the check-out lady asked. "No. It's got Han Solo on it," I replied, like that explained everything. How could I say that I was a writer and this character I've created has a fascination with Han Solo? I was buying it for my office - a precious possession for a person who didn't exist except in my head and on the pages of an unsold manuscript.

When losing is winning and everything is backwards
October 4, 2006

For my nephew's birthday, my sister threw him a backward-themed party. Lots of adults were recruited to help keep the 18 kids in line. It was a great time. Many fun photos.

Now there was a sight: 17 chairs lined up so that 18 children could play at once. When the first person lost, we declared her the winner. That led to problems the next time, though, as four different kids refused to sit down, all wanting to be the next person eliminated and therefore a winner, too.

The flu fairy
October 18, 2006

When it was time to get flu shots here at work, my boss laid out his philosophy on why he refuses to get one.

"What do you mean you don't believe in them?" Dave asked. When Kyle opened his mouth to explain, Dave cut him off. "They're not like the Easter Bunny." Dave then pointed to the woman administering the shots only 10 feet away. "The lady is sitting right there. The flu shots are right there. You can't NOT believe in them."

Have you any beer here?
October 20, 2006

Sometimes it would be easier to like beer. But I don't. So at an Oktoberfest party, I gave it a valiant effort. (I did!)

As for my quest to appreciate beer, I think it will be like learning to like vegetables. Just keep trying. After all, if I could learn to like spinach in my 30s, beer should be easy.

Mousie's sad demise
December 23, 2006

Yes, I wrote an obituary for a dog toy. Photos and everything.

He entered our lives one day in June, at a skills game at the carnival. He sat through a concert with us, then tagged along on the bus on the way home. Here, he met Thor. It was love at first sight.

Leaving San Francisco, five years on
January 5, 2007

It's not so much this one post that I like. It just serves as an introduction to a series of emails that I back posted, written by my girlfriend and me as we drove from San Francisco to Chicago.

Here's an excerpt of our back-and-forth commentary from Days 1 & 2 (forgive the SHOUTING -- had to differentiate voices):

The hotel was nice. A little pricier than we really wanted and older. PRICIER EQUALS $80 TOTAL. IT'S ALL A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE. But with character, big rooms and delightful guests. At least judging from the very cool older lady we met in the hot tub. ALTHOUGH MARRIOTT DID PAUSE WHEN, SAYING GOODBYE, THE LADY BLESSED US AND SAID "IF I DON'T SEE YOU AGAIN, I'LL SEE YOU IN HEAVEN".

Anne Lamott
March 26, 2007

About going to hear author Ann Lamott speak.

The first time I heard of Anne Lamott, it was 1997 and I was at the national Romance Writers of America conference. I was walking with Jules into the conference bookstore, when suddenly she turned star-struck. Now, you have to understand that Jules doesn't get star-struck easily. No-sir-ee. So this caught my attention.

Thor's second misadventure
June 15, 2007

About the second time our shy dog ran away. Needless to say, we were very upset that a vet's office let him escape their custody. (This led me to back post several old emails about Thor's history.)

Thor is a shy boy who likes people but is suspicious of their motives. He's a big-time snuggler with us, but he'd rather not let most people near him. So, when the vet tech dropped the leash, he moved away. And when she chased him, he ran.

Doodle Evil

I was feeling rather graphically doodly today after working so hard to draw with yesterday's Vacation theme. Today's theme is Evil.





And here are the work doodles on the Vacation theme.



Click here for more about Doodle Week and to find more Doodle Week participants.

My favorite posts from The Beacon's first year

In anticipation of my upcoming blogoversary on Sunday, I thought I'd take a look at my Top 10 favorite posts from the first year of this blog (July 20, 2005-July 20, 2006)

Here they are in chronological order;

The Romance Police
January 9, 2006

I was deep into a revision of my still unpublished novel Prairie Fire, and I'd invited my friends to critique part of it.

This weekend I met with two of my best friends/critique partners whom I will call the Romance Police, duly sworn to make sure this writer delivers on the romantic promise of the novel, doesn't pull any punches in the emotions, and puts that emotion in dialogue where necessary and not summary narrative.

Another Day Like Today
March 6, 2006

Back in the days when Don MFH and I worked together, Don was in a band. I bought one of his CDs and popped it in my car stereo.

My car REALLY liked the album. For the next 20,000 miles or so, every time I started the engine, I'd hear "Another Day Like Today" whether I wanted to or not. It drove my husband crazy. Fortunately, there was a trick to bypass the tape player: Hit eject three times, and magically, the radio would play.

Coming out of the closet
March 6, 2006

This blog had been around several months before I ever told my family about it. I'm not sure who was reading it at all, really.

OK, I confess, I've been keeping my online work extremely low-key. I'm here to promote a book that I haven't sold yet. There's not much to promote, really. It's more of a time investment in the future.

But, I didn't realize that I'd kept it so low-key that my own husband didn't know about it. Surely, I'd mentioned it at some point... right?

One year on since Dad's death
April 11, 2006

Writing this post was a catharsis for me. It's long. But a year after his death, the step-by-step memories of what happened were still really strong, and I wanted to make sure I didn't forget.

This is the one paragraph that always gets to me because it puts me so clearly back into the emotion of the moment.

This was the point where I realized that we all deal with trauma in our own ways. We were in a religious hospital, but we could find no comfort in religion. Mom wanted her regular doctor there. She wanted to hear the options from him, because she knew him and trusted him. She wanted to hear from HIM that doing nothing and letting my Dad die was the right choice, was the ONLY choice. It was her decision to make, but she felt paralyzed without that consultation.

'Aneurysm Tests Urged in Older Men Who Smoked'
April 11, 2006

This was one of those times that I casually forwarded a health-related story to someone then forgot about it. You know the type of email I'm talking about.

I'd sent this to my Dad about two months before he had his aneurysm.

I didn't remember that I'd sent the email to my Dad until my sister found it in his email inbox days after he'd died. I'd prefaced it with "Just thinking about you, Dad. :) Love, Haley". We were all a little spooked at finding it.

Acting class = surprisingly fun
April 13, 2006

In an effort to really challenge myself by doing things that scare me -- like public speaking -- I signed up for an acting class.

I can't boast that I'm overly entertaining (although I do hear laughter at times) but I don't think I suck, either. I think improvisation is sort of like, as an author, writing a scene of dialogue. It's a matter of turning off the internal editor and just going with the thoughts that pop into your head. And, when you go blank, letting your partner take the lead for a little while, then you work off of what he or she has said.

A forte for comedy?
April 20, 2006

My acting class was working, and one lady actually paid me a very strong compliment.

As I sat down, one of the women, Paula, said to the class: "I don't know, Haley. When you started this class, you said it was because you had anxiety. Well, I don't see that. You've come out of your shell, and you certainly have a forte for comedy."

Funny Mike
April 27, 2006

When I saw a former coworker hosting an HGTV program, I had to look him up.

In the early 90s, Mike and I worked together on a package of business stories about Glamour Shots, those stores in the mall that will do your hair and makeup and take pictures. We both went and got the "makeover" and had our "before" and "after" photos published. His before photo is very nice. Mine is hideous. (It turns out they forgot to do his beforehand and scrambled at the end.) I've always had this fear that the photo package would someday show up on one of those "before they were famous" segments about Mike. It may yet happen. (Before you ask, my clip of it is buried deep in a box somewhere. Hard to locate. You'll have to go to microfiche.)

Tales of the MS Walk, dogs and sit-down strikes
May 8, 2006

That year we walked in the MS Walk as a team -- Me, Dave, Loki and Thor -- under the name Team Loki.

While the humans enjoyed it, a certain team-leading dog, whom we shall call "Pokey" Loki, thought it was way too hot, and after valiantly walking the first 2.5 miles, decided to put in a few protest sit-down strikes during the last half-mile. Her strikes were always staged in a cool shady place, especially if she saw a long open sunny stretch coming up ahead. (If she could talk, Loki would say something to the effect of: You try walking in the sun wearing a long, black fur coat. Oh sure, Thor did it, but he's an idiot. No common sense. Plus I'm bigger. And all that pulling on the leash takes more energy.)

Doesn't everyone Google her own name?
July 7, 2006

Because of this post, I was introduced to a few other women with the name Haley Hughes out there.

I look forward to seeing what happens with these other women named Haley Hughes. Is it weird to follow their lives through Google just because they share my name?

Going for a blogging trifecta

Sunday marks three years since I started this blog. Three years, and I've never celebrated my blogoversary before. In fact, I've celebrated no milestones with this blog.

Which is ironic, since Sunday could very well mark three different milestones: the Blogoversary, 500 posts, and 10,000 unique visits. With my current planned posting schedule, the 500 posts should happen on Sunday. The 10,000 visits, that's hit or miss.

I haven't decided what to do on Sunday, but I thought I might follow the lead of other bloggers and open myself up to questions. Anything you want to know about me, feel free to ask. Anything. We'll see how honest I feel on Sunday when it's time to answer. :)

Also, I'll give 1,000 Entrecard credits to the first person to send me a print screen of my blog with the hit counter as close to 10,000 as possible. An extra 1,000 Entrecard credits if the 10,000 mark happens when it's July 20 in Chicago. (If that person is not on Entrecard, I'll work out a $10 giftcard to Amazon or some place similar at my discretion.)

Send the print screen as a jpeg attachment to webmaster (at) haleyhughes (dot) com. (Replace the (at) and the (dot) with the appropriate symbols, of course.)

So I've announced a contest -- buried it deep in the post -- but it's my first contest, so you'll forgive me, I hope. Consider it a reward for reading. :)

To recap: Contest (see above) and taking questions (see above).

Addendum: How to capture a print screen

If you have Windows Vista, there's something called the Snipping Tool that you can use. I've never used it myself, but here are the directions. (Thanks Monique for the tip.)

The way I've always done it on my Windows PC: There's a button on my keyboard marked "Print Screen". Arrange your desktop the way you want it, then press the "Print Screen" button. This saves a picture of the screen to your clipboard. Open a graphics or photo editing program and paste in the image. Then do a save-as, and save the file as a .jpg or .jpeg.

If you have an Apple computer, there's probably a similar option, but my Apple skills are very rusty, so I don't know.

If all else fails, Google: How do I capture a print screen.

Doodle Vacation

Here's me in San Francisco in two weeks at the Romance Writers of America conference. (Although my roommate is in the hospital right now. :-( Hope she's OK enough to go with me.)  And, yes, I'm being optimistic about the weather. I know to pack plenty of layers.

This doodle was more of a technical challenge for me because I had to actually *draw* in the Paint Shop Pro program. So much easier to do something graphic.

Below is the collage of the Garden doodles made by my coworkers yesterday.



Click here for more about Doodle Week and to find more Doodle Week participants.

Wordless Wednesday: Balderdash

Click here for more about Wordless Wednesday and to view other Wordless Wednesday participants.

Doodle Garden

Today's doodle theme is Doodle Garden. For this collection of doodles, I used the preset shapes tool in Paint Shop Pro to lay down various flower shapes. Then I had fun modifying their colors and sizes. In the bottom middle one, I created a background using the picture tube tool. I used a flame shape and repeated it across the whole image, then used the color editing tools to make it green to resemble grass.

Below is the collage of doodles from my coworkers on yesterday's doodle theme of Outer Space. They could either hang premade doodles or draw on the white board. I took photos at the end of the day (and failed to notice my obtrusive flash reflection in some of the white board pics. Oh well).



Click here for more about Doodle Week and to find more Doodle Week participants.

July linky love and SezWho

It's link love time, when I get to publicly thank those Entrecard top droppers for the past month.

So, in no particular order, I'd like to thank the following people/sites for visiting me.

Aerten Art
MamaFlo's Place
On the Bricks
Daisy the Curly Cat
Cromely's World
Work at Home Mom Revolution
Blogging MoRe
Sharp Words
Not Your Average SuperGoddess
Doodle Week

As an added bonus, I've added their Entrecards and links to their sites across the bottom of my page. Hopefully, throughout the next month, you'll take a moment and visit their sites.

I apologize. I really want to recognize my top commenters for this past month in this post, but I'll have to save that for a future date. It's very time-consuming to compile the list by hand and I'm way behind in things today.

In other Entrecard news: 

"Thanks to Entrecard, blogging just got a whole lot better!"

There's something about that headline that just doesn't fit the tone of this blog, so I'm not going to use it.

But, I will say that I've installed SezWho, which you'll see in the commenting section of any of my posts. It has stars so you can rate the post and the comments. I'm not really into rating features, but I'm willing to give SezWho the old college try. Why did I install it? Check out the Entrecard blog for an explanation.

I'm curious what you think of Sezwho on this blog, so I've posted a poll in the right column. Take a few seconds and vote, please and thank you. Or just leave a comment. Or do both.

Doodle Outer Space

Today's theme for Doodle Week is Outer Space. Here's my representation of outer space, doodled using the airbrush tool on Paint Shop Pro.

As a bonus, I'm adding some doodles that were made at work the past few days. Some friends and I set up a Doodle Spot and announced all the themes to the company, inviting people to come over and contribute. They could either post paper doodles on the cubicle wall or draw on one of the two white boards.



The Doodle Spot during setup on Friday. A few people got into things early and posted pre doodles.



The Doodle Spot at the end of the day Monday.

Click here for more about Doodle Week and to find more Doodle Week participants.

And there was much rejoicing. Really.

Who would think this little thing could ignite such passion? Do you know what it is? It's a toilet tissue holder.

The toilet tissue holder in our main-floor powder room has been the bane of many of our guests. Tug on the tissue as you normally would, and the tissue and the support rod will often roll out, sending the rod to the ceramic tile below with a loud "tink!"

Several people actively hate the thing.

Last year, Marriott promised me a new tissue holder as a birthday gift. For Christmas, she promised me a new towel rod to match. By my birthday this year, she added a new matching faucet. Problem was, I was being picky about color and style, and we were going to the wrong stores to find that color and style.

Finally, two weeks ago, the hardware was purchased. (Thank you, Marriott!)

So over the weekend, Dave and I put on our home-improvement hats and tackled the bathroom.

Here's the new tissue holder. Walla! There is no annoying bar to fall and embarass guests.



The faucet was far more of a challenge, requiring actual plumbing work, which both Dave and I are total novices at. But Dave rose to the challenge with me stepping and fetching and being all-around assistant.

While we were at it, we swapped the mirror for a gorgeous custom-made one that JC had given me for my birthday over a year ago. (Thank you JC!) See the before and after:



But the room isn't done yet.

I have a few holes to fill and some touch-up painting to do. I'm tempted to paint the cabinet a darker color. The white just isn't working for me anymore.

Oh yeah, and I have to figure out a way to feature the old tissue holder. Maybe with some sort of sign giving Marriott appropriate credit. Trust me, many accolades will be coming her way for making me retire this thing.

Doodle Bug!

It's Doodle Week again. Today's theme is Bugs. I doodled these bugs at lunch on a napkin, then photocopied them onto paper so that I could color them using highlighters. I'm not sure what the yellow things are on the right side. I think they're a new species of winged banana slugs. :) Click here for more about Doodle Week.

Dear friend with whom I haven't spoken since 1993

Think back on the last 15 years of your life. What would you tell someone that you hadn’t seen or talked to for 15 years? How would you sum up your life? You get 10 bullet points. A list of 10 things to summarize about you. At the end of your list, tag 5 more people and send on the love…

Dear friend with whom I haven't spoken since 1993,

I see you met my friend Jody, The Hunter's Wife. It was really nice of her to send you over this direction so we could catch up after all these years. Since you don't have a lot of time, I'll try to be quick.

People tell me that I still pretty much look the same. I try not to point out the differences. I'm 15 years older. There *are* differences.

I was a reporter last time we spoke. Remember that little chain of semi-weekly papers in the far west suburbs of Chicago? Well, I left reporting after having to cover several murders right in a row. That's really stressful, having to knock on the door of a murder victim's relatives and convince them that they want to tell me more about their loved one. I tried copy editing for a few years, but eventually left newspapers all-together. I get paid much more now, but it's hard *not* to find a job that pays better than the $17,500 a year I was making back then.

Remember that guy I was engaged to? Dave? We'd known each other for 10 years already back then. Well, we got married in 1994 and are gearing up to celebrate 14 years this fall.

Children? No. "I'll wait for the next century," I always said. "I want to enjoy being married first." Yeah, well, we're eight years into the new century, but what's the hurry? I said it back then and I still say it now, if the biological clock has broken its springs and no longer ticks when and if we ever decide to have kids, then I'm open to adoption.

We have eight nieces and nephews now. All our siblings and Cousin Bob have had kids. I know Cousin Bob's kids aren't technically nieces and nephews, but we consider them as such.

Yeah, my Mom is still in the same house where I grew up. Yeah, I don't live too far away from her. In fact, I live in the same school district where I attended high school. But we did move away for a little while. We lived in San Francisco for a year and a half. LOVED it. We only came back because of the dot-com crash. Too many people we knew couldn't find jobs. It was scary, so we took an opportunity to be transferred back.

Not to bring you down, but my Dad died a few years ago. It was rather sudden and he was too young. But time heals and we move on. That seems to be the theory, anyway.

Oh, remember that Australian Shepherd my parents had back then? Red Dog? She got to move to San Francisco and back with us. She was a good dog. Played hard even in her very last hours. We have two Bernese Mountain Dogs now. Big snuggly dogs named Loki and Thor. I've enclosed some photos. They're far more laid back than Red was. Loki and Red overlapped a few months. Poor Red was too old for a puppy, though.

Yes, I'm still writing romance novels. No, I'm not published yet. I think last time we'd talked I'd just attended the Romance Writers of America conference in St. Louis. I'm going again this year. It's in San Francisco in three weeks. I can't wait.

I still travel. Did a big trip to Australia just last year. Really want to get back to Europe. I have this fantasy of spending my 40th birthday drinking wine outdoors overlooking a river like the Thames or a vineyard in Italy or France. I have almost a year left to make that happen.

Well that's about it. I went a little long. Sorry and thanks for sticking around.

Oh, I have these friends I think you should meet. I'll tag them really quick for you here so that you can go visit them.

Claire: She has a wicked sense of humor, and likes to doodle and take photos of flowers. She has this roommate named Willy and a houseguest named Olga. Here's a secret: Willy is an inflatable non-sex toy and Olga is a travelling bra. But that's not really much of a secret.

Lisa365 aka starbursidereus: She's on this mission to try something new every day this year. She's a really good photographer and is a BIG hockey fan, but she lives in Canada and aren't all Canadians born to be hockey fans? Maybe that's just a stereotype. Ask her when you see her.

DonMFH: I think Don started at the newspaper after the last time we talked, so you probably didn't get a chance to meet him then. He lives near Boston now in some dilapidated, crime-ridden neighborhood and is very liberal. More liberal than me, even. He's really into music and photography.

Kelly aka Aerten: She used to live in the Chicago area, too, but I didn't know her back then. She's in New York now, doing all sorts of cool artwork. I have one of her pieces in my office. Some day she and I are going to do a Buffy marathon together. Maybe. If we ever actually meet.

Fragileheart: She's a world traveler. She lives in Canada now, but threatens to move to Dublin soon. I'm not exactly sure all the places she's lived, but she seems to like to move a lot. When you talk to her, ask her about her trip to New York and the John Mayer concert.

Cromely: He travels a lot too, but for business. He brings this cute little stuffed penguin with him on his travels and takes photos of him in front of landmarks. He's from Seattle and likes coffee. I know, another stereotype, but it's true! I hope you like William Shatner, because Cromely likes to hold these events called Shatnerpaloozas.

I really want to introduce you to more of my friends, but I think I'm out of space and I know you're pressed for time. Don't worry, though, you'll meet those other friends soon anyway.

Happy travels,
Haley

Coming next week to an Internet near you...

Two fun Internet based projects happening next week.

First up: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

So what did the creator of Buffy, Angel and Firefly do when the writers were on strike last winter? He brainstormed an Internet-based project called Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Joss Whedon recruited Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser and How I Met Your Mother) to play a super villain, Nathan Fillion (Captain Malcolm Reynolds of Firefly and Serenity) to play a super hero, and Felicia Day (the last season of Buffy, The Guild, and that Cheetos laundromat commercial) to play a cute girl, and produced a program that will be published in three video installments on the Internet next week.



So what exactly is a Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog? As it's described on the Dr. Horrible Twitter page, it's: The story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to. 

So, on July 15, check out DrHorrible.com for the first video installment, July 17 for the second, and July 19 for the last. They'll be posted for free until July 20, and after that will be available for download for pay through some other site. Eventually, it will be released on DVD with all sorts of special extras.

Second up: Doodle Week

Doodle Masters Claire and Laura have declared a sequel to this spring's fabulously successful (and fun) Doodle Week. Starting Monday and then for the next week, you'll see doodles popping up all over the blogosphere.


In the spirit of things, I've already posted a doodle version of my logo on my page.

So, you're wondering (maybe), how does one participate in Doodle Week?

First, you draw a doodle by whatever means inspires you. The doodle doesn't even have to be good. It's a doodle, and who ever saw a doodle hanging in an art gallery anywhere?

Once you've managed to produce a doodle, then what? Unless you're only planning to hang your doodle from your refrigerator or cubicle wall, you need to get it into a digitized format. No one cares how. Take a photo of it. Scan it. Create it on your computer in the first place. Whatever. That's incidental.

Then you post it somewhere. On your blog. On your MySpace page. On your Flickr page. (Surely you're involved in some sort of social networking thing that will let you post an image, right?)

Then you go to the Doodle Week website and let everyone know that you've doodled, then they can come and admire your doodle.

Oh, and there are themes for each day, but don't let a theme hold you back. Have fun with it!

Wordless Wednesday: Dancing in the Park

We were waiting for the evening concert at Naperville Ribfest on Saturday when I took this photo. I don't know these two, but when I peeked through the legs of my chair and saw them dancing, I had to take a picture.

Random ramblings ~ Blogging

So, my last Random Ramble was too random and too rambling. Gotcha.

I'll try to organize my thoughts a little better this time. *Try*

"Do, or do not. There is no 'try'."

Thanks Yoda.

This ramble seems to be mostly related to blogging topics. It's certainly not short, but I hope the subheads will help.

Awards

Cromely so nicely nominated me the Arte y Pico award. Thank you. And what was extra nice, was he took the time to write what he likes about each of the sites he nominated. Here's what he wrote about this site:


Cromely's World is always one of my must-visit sites. You'll see him listed in the "Blogs I'm Following" sidebar. He works as a training manager in the technology sector, so he travels A LOT, bringing a really cute stuffed penguin with him. And he has an apartment with really cool views of the Seattle fireworks display. I think some of the things I like about his site are the same things he likes about mine, except insert the occasional William Shatner reference and substitute Seattle for Chicago and air travel for writing.

And while I certainly don't travel a lot for business myself, I know enough people who do, so I enjoy reading Cromely's adventures. His stories strike a special chord with me because (tangent time) I grew up in a household that was very airline intensive. My Dad was a pricing "specialist" for United Airlines, which means that he was one of the few people in the world who actually understood the logic behind the airline fare structure, and he actually loved that part of his job. Those funky rules were his specialty (end tangent).

As for the Arte y Pico award, I'm not sure I'm going to pass it on. There are so many blogs that inspire me in so many ways, I don't want to be limited to five for the sake of a meme. I think I'd like to find other ways to recognize those blogs. More personal ways. I'll put my thinking cap on for this one or open it up for suggestions.

Meanwhile, follow this link to read some interesting thoughts that the Dead Rooster blog had on the Arte y Pico award.

Blogging landmarks

If you look at my right column, you'll see that I have a "Blogoversary" approaching. It'll be three years. I've never celebrated any milestones in this blog's life, so I'm trying to figure out what I want to do to mark the occasion.

Plus, at the rate I'm going, I'll hit three years, and 10,000 unique visits, and 500 posts all within a month of each other.

Ideas? Suggestions?

Entrecard

You know what I like about EntreCard? There's incentive to keep checking back with sites. Sure, a lot of hits are just click-and-move-on, but I've found that some sites require frequent visits to really appreciate the voice of the blogger (I suspect this blog might fall into that category). So, each time someone clicks and moves on, it's another opportunity to convert that person into a regular visitor.

I also like the ability to drop my card on the site and say, "Hey, I stopped by." I could do that by leaving a comment, but, truthfully, I'm not the most prolific commenter. Some days the commenting neurons just aren't firing, so dropping a card is the next best thing.

And I appreciate the people who keep their EntreCard widget up, even when they are no longer active in EntreCard, because it's a way to reward the EntreCard visitors (with credits for clicking the widget). I follow a lot of blogs through my RSS reader. If they have a widget, I make a point to click through and actually visit their site. If they don't have the widget, quite often I'll read it in my Google Reader and move on.

BlogRush

I know that people who use BlogRush have really debated the value of the widget. Does it take up too much space for the number of clicks it brings to the site? Maybe.

I've experimented with the widget a bit. At first I signed up for the "personal" widget, but I thought the links were too random.

When I switched over to the "writing and literature" widget, I did it with a specific strategy in mind. Since this blog is only partially about writing topics, I didn't want all my non-writing stuff getting syndicated, so I actively use the BlogRush filters to control what posts of mine go out.

Occasionally a non-writing post slips through, but I'm pretty good at filtering, for the most part. I don't get huge returns, but I do get some clicks. Here's a print screen of my most recent report. What do you think? Is it worth the real estate?


Not-so-crazy searches

With a nod to the master of this, The Hunter's Wife, here are some of my not-so-"Goofy Googlers".

For the person looking for the "meaning of stick figure doodling", I'll have to point you toward the experts, Claire and Laura, the doodle-masters behind Doodle Week (which is coming up very soon, by the way).

For the people looking for "perfect erotic", "steamy romance", "steamy romance online books", "erotic getaway", "online romance novels", "romance fiction free online", "steamy novels" -- You're certainly not afraid to ask for what you want. I have a writing appointment with my computer this weekend. Perhaps yet I'll write what you're looking for. Except for the free part. I want to make a living at it, you know. :)

For the two people looking for "Writing 'love scenes' neck kiss" and "writing flashbacks", those sound like good future post ideas. I have some experience in those areas, but my resume doesn't qualify me as an expert. That's where my reporting background comes in, though. Perhaps I'll interview some other writers on their thoughts to supplement my own. Any writers reading this who want to send me their thoughts?

Web hosting

I've owned my own domain, haleyhughes.com, for as long as I've had this blog, but I've always just forwarded the address to this Blogspot address. Any insights on staying with Blogger on the back end but using my own domain name?

More blogs?

I know that the most successful blogs are focused in subject so that you, the readers, have a pretty good idea what to expect when you visit. And I know that this blog does not do that.

I think sometimes that I should have a specific writing blog, photo blog, dog blog, personal blog, but then I slap myself and remind myself that I spend far too much time just keeping this site updated on a regular basis.

So, consider this me slapping myself publicly. No. Bad Haley. Do not even think about it.

A photo-crazy weekend

With all the running around we did this weekend, all the events we attended, I easily took more than 1,000 photos.

My friends got so sick of seeing me with a camera in my hands, a few of them started to question why I don't change professions. But I have a feeling that it's just as difficult to make a living taking the photos I like to take as it is writing about the things that I want to write about.

So, in an attempt to feature a few photos I took this weekend (and to not overwhelm my Wordless Wednesday post this week), here's a bit of a photo diary.

Thursday, July 3
Naperville Ribfest to see Ted Nugent







To see more, follow this link for my Ribfest - Ted Nugent Flickr set.

Friday, July 4
BBQ with friends





To see more, follow this link for my Fourth of July BBQ Flickr set.

Saturday, July 5
More Naperville Ribfest and a Joan Jett concert







To see more, follow this link for my Ribfest - Joan Jett Flickr set.

Crazy, mad hair day

I told you a few days ago about how I met up with Don MFH and we took a few photos, right?

Well, he posted the photos, and I have to say I was having a crazy, mad hair day. (Who let me out of the house that morning?)

Check out the full gallery on Pbase here, and check out Don's blog entry (Hues of Haley) here.

Huge compliments to Don. He's an amazing photographer, especially considering how ill-prepared I was and how little light we had to work with. It was literally: Run outside the bar, snap a few pics, and run back inside. The sun was already going down.

These two photos are my favorites. The first looks like a good romance novel author photo, with the author doing the thoughtful daydream pose. The second looks like a good blogger photo, with the author doing the thoughtful "I'm talking to YOU" pose.

Photo Hunters: Pointed

Pointed glare (Marriott gives me a glare because she doesn't want her photo taken, July 2008)


Pointed teeth (Thor has lots of pointy teeth, taken in February 2008)


Pointed buildings (part of the Chicago skyline including the John Hancock building points skyward during this photo taken from the Odyssey lake cruise, July 2005)


(About Photo Hunters and PhotoHunt 117: Pointed)

Happy Fourth of July

For those in the United States, Happy Independence Day.

For those in Canada, Happy (belated) Canada Day (July 1).

For those elsewhere, do you celebrate any holiday around this time?

An open mic night with Don MFH

I love it when blogging and real life come together. Even though, in this instance, real life had a head start.

Tuesday night, I met up with a blogging friend who was in town for a few days. Don M.F.H. (Driving to Oahu) and I worked together back in my newspaper days, but since we both switched jobs and he moved to the Boston area, our connection has moved to the blogosphere.

After work, I met him at a place called Fitzgerald's. It's an old pub in Berwyn, not far from the Chicago border, dating back to Prohibition days. We were there for an open mic night so Don could read from his book Baptized in Formaldehyde.



Open mic nights seem to be a perfect venue for him to promote his book, what with the whole rock band theme. The reading went well, there were several laughs, and Don sold a few copies. I'm not so sure that if (positive thinking: when) I ever sell a book, I'll be able to stand in front of a crowd of strangers and read from it. Something to strive for, I guess.

It was a fun night. We got to catch up, talk about old times, and visit with some of Don's family and friends. I even tried to play his photo muse. I'm not sure if the pictures of me will turn out. The light was failing quickly, and I had that ragged, just-got-off-of-work look about me. There was no white nightgown involved. Just some very casual shots.

(Don, in case you can't tell, yes, I'm eager to know about the photos. Oh, and friendly reminder: Can you send me a new copy of Another Day Like Today?)

Wordless Wednesday: Laughter

My nephew laughs like crazy while my husband holds him high in the air.

Looking for hidden meanings

Sound Symbolism. Ever heard of it? Me neither until I read an article in my online newsletter from RWA.

The idea is that certain sounds as presented in language have meaning, and that the letters used to represent them have meaning. It's all very academic. Or is that new age? I get confused.

If you want, you can read more about it on Wikipedia. Me? I'm going to skip right to the fun part -- putting a barely understood theory into use.

Margaret Magnus, who wrote Gods of the Word: Archetypes in the Consonants, has a chart on her website that allows you to examine names for their hidden meanings, called The Hidden Message in Your Name.

She takes the idea a little further, though, and suggests that the names that people choose to call you, the nicknames and variations on your given name, reflect how those people think about you.

I thought it would be fun to look at my own name and see what came up. I looked at "Haley" and my sometimes nicknames of "Hal" and "Hughes". The directions say to look at the stressed syllable of the name, which would be "Ha" for Haley, "Hal", and "Hu" for Hughes (taking into consideration that the "gh" is mostly silent and not represented in the chart).

So what did I find out? In all three variations, I get themes of "elastic" and "going with the flow", which are pretty much the same thing, and "home" , which I interpret as homeward facing, being self-reflective and self-critical. I'm sure I'm missing several nuances in my quick interpretation, but that's the gist of things.

Does it seem to be in the ballpark for how people view me and how I view myself? As much as I can tell. You tell me: Based on what you read here, does it?

But enough about me.

The whole reason this subject was written up in my romance writers newsletter was because it could be a fun way to examine character names in the stories we write.

So, I looked at the two main female characters I've been imagining over the years, twins named Natasha and Tatiana. And here's where I thought things got interesting. In both names, the stressed syllable is "ta". In the case of Natasha, it's the middle syllable, and in the case of Tatiana, it's the first syllable.

The short "a" sound in "ta" is suggested as being "balanced and flat", which I'm not sure how to interpret. They're well-balanced characters? Or they're flat characters? (Which is really bad in fiction writing.)

The "t" in "ta" is suggested as meaning "Temptation. 't' is the letter of the dreamer, the designer of grand schemes, the traveller who follows her star", which I thought was really appropriate since both characters are travellers, time travellers to be exact. And there are some grand schemes involved in their lives. And they're heroines in romance novels, so of course there's lots of temptation. :P

If there's any truth to this sound symbolism stuff, then my sub-conscious was working hard when I came up with the names Natasha and Tatiana.

Anyway, I thought it was a fun experiment, and I thought you might have fun with it, too. So, I'm wondering: What's the hidden message is your name? Did you find any accuracy in the interpretation? Or is it all bonkers?

Loki immortalized!

Oh! Oh! Oh! So excited!



An artist found a photo of my dog Loki on my Flickr set a few months ago and asked if she could turn the picture into a painting. I checked her out and really liked her work, so I said yes, of course.



Well, just a few minutes ago, Carolyn Anderson of Mutt Butt Studio sent me a photo of the painting. Check it out:

Thanks Carolyn for doing such a wonderful job!



In case you're curious, here's my original photo that she worked from: