Hey, guess what?

Remember the Wish I Were Here blog?

Well, I can't fault you if you don't. I run the place and I barely remembered it.

BUT! I've been cleaning off my computer desk (a heroic struggle, but worthy of the effort IMO) and came across a whole stack of postcards from imaginary places -- ones that I'd never posted to the blog.

I think it's well past time they got their day in the sun, don't you?

Here's the first one. More to come shortly.

Want to see something fun?

The long-neglected Wish I Were Here blog is about to be showered in a veritable cavalcade of postcards!

No, really! A whole lot of college students and their doughty lecturer have gotten into the act and provided the project with a YOOOOGE stack of postcards from imaginary places. I'll be sharing them every day from now until the stack runs out (which should bring us well into the New Year).

Go have a look-see. Do it! Do it now!

It's high time I shamelessly shilled my mail art project again.

And just in case you've forgotten what that is:

Wish I Were Here: Postcards From Imaginary Places

Imagine you could go on vacation to an imaginary place. What place would you choose? A location from a book, a movie, a TV series, a song, a poem, maybe a world you made up for an RPG? And what would you do while you were there?

Send me a postcard, either commercial or handmade, from this imaginary place. On the other side, write and tell me about the things you've been doing on your imaginary excursion. You can be as silly or as serious as you want. I'll put it up on the blog for the world to see.

(Try it! It's fun!)

Tweaking the mail art project

If you've been wondering what the deal is with my mail art project over at Wish I Were Here, you're not alone. I've been wondering about it too. And as it turns out, quite a few postcards sent my way have not been reaching the mailbox. (Grrrr.)

So we're making a little change. Come check it out. And if you're reading this, please take it as an invitation to participate. Whether or not you think you're creative, I'll just bet you have a favorite imaginary place you'd love to visit. So tell the rest of us about it with a postcard!

Writers on Writing Blog Hop

ELCOME to another edition of the Writers on Writing Blog Hop. Many thanks to the lovely and talented Jaleta Clegg for giving me the opportunity to participate. (You can read her responses to the following questions here.)

And now without further ado, or even further adon't, the questions and their questionable responses:

What am I working on/writing?
I'm always working on the blog. One of my New Year's resolutions was to post something to the blog at least once a week this year, and so far I've met that goal. Other than blogging, I have in various stages of completion a couple of short stories for writing contests, a first draft of a young adult fantasy novel tentatively called Unseen, and a screenplay for my sister.

How does my writing/work differ from others in its genre?
Crikey. I'm guessing "because I wrote it" isn't going to cut it as an answer, is it?

Hmm. Perhaps this question is difficult to answer because I haven't really settled on a genre. Sometimes I'm working on articles about popular culture, sometimes personal essays, sometimes short stories, sometimes another chapter of the novel, sometimes pure silliness. As Heinlein famously wrote, "Specialization is for insects."

Why do I write what I do?
I write because I feel compelled to. I write because not writing would put holes in my soul. I write because the music of words twined together on paper can cause the implausible to become real. I write because it's the closest thing to real magic I know.

How does my writing process work?
Sometimes a story or an article I've read spurs me to write something. Sometimes it's a personal experience or a memory. And sometimes I just pull up a blank page and start typing to see what words come out of the ends of my fingers.

The actual composition process varies depending on what kind of piece I'm writing. If I'm working on creative writing, I usually write down ideas and phrases in a notebook. For some reason the mental creative process seems to be aided by handwriting. If I'm writing an article or something else that requires a more logical thought process, I almost always type it out. Later editing is also typed; it's much easier to edit when you can move big blocks of text around willy-nilly.

Are you a writer? Want to be tagged? I'm looking for at least three people who would like to keep the blog hop jumping along. Hit me up with a comment and I'll add you to the list!

Another Remedial Adulthood! Huzzah!

I know, it has been months and MONTHS... OK, more like two and a half months, but still... since I last updated Remedial Adulthood. And probably you've forgotten all about it, as you do when someone stops updating for two and a half months.

But we're back in the saddle with an RA article on that most dreaded of all modern chores: talking on the telephone.

Do it with style and aplomb! Or at least read it with style and aplomb! You know you wanna.

My latest goofy project

(That's right, I loves me some goofy projects!)

My latest harebrained idea is partially inspired by mail art and Postcrossing, partially by all the books I read and wanted to escape into, and partially by family and friends who create amazing art of various sorts.

It's called Wish I Were Here: Postcards from Imaginary Places, and I cordially invite you to participate. Yes, even if you don't consider yourself an artist. Click for details.

My other project

A few years ago I started fiddling around with the idea of a non-fiction book: a very basic, very snarky manual of manners, etiquette, hygiene, household management and other life skills for people who were over the age of 21 but hadn't really mastered the fine points of adulthood.  As projects like these tend to do, it sat on my hard drive for a long time, largely inert after the primary burst of energy that had inspired it.

About two weeks ago I mentioned the idea again on Facebook, as one of those half-baked concepts that sorta float around in your head.  The response was surprisingly positive.  I began to wonder whether I shouldn't just go ahead and write it up somewhere online, a piece at a time, rather than letting it languish forever on the hard drive.

On October 18, I took the plunge and made the whole project into a blog.  Here it is:

Remedial Adulthood

Writing this project has been good for me, because in some ways I need an instruction manual for adulthood, even at nearly-43.  Most of these things I was taught while I was young, some things I learned later, and a few I'm discovering for the first time (etiquette tip: never take medication at the table.  In my defense, it wasn't something I needed to know until I had to start taking medication), but in any case you never outgrow the need to be reminded of what you should be doing.

I'm sure I'll have my work cut out for me for some time.  This adulthood stuff is harder than it looks.

It's about time for another Shameless Plug, don't you think?

Well, even if you don't, I do.

I have a brother. He... is an enchanter. There are those who call him... Tim? Tim the Enchanter likes to apply his alchemical wiles to many items that would otherwise be discarded, making useful and/or beautiful things from them.

One of the things he's been specializing in just recently is something he calls "pottery jewels" -- a combination of clay and recycled glass, fused in a kiln to create unusual pendants and other jewelry. They tend to be quite striking and, thanks to the chaotic nature of their method of creation, each jewel is one of a kind.

Sooooo? Whaddya waiting for, a specially engraved invitation? Go take a look at Mossbottle Pottery & Glassworks forthwith! Shoo!

Stuff! And... uh... things!

I hear today is the birthday of one James Lileks, blogger extraordinaire, whose prose is by turns hilarious and touching. If you don't already read The Bleat on a regular basis,
WHAT THE SAM HILL IS WRONG WITH YOU?*ehem* perhaps you ought to rectify that post haste.

Go on. I'll wait.



Yeah, yeah, you can thank me later.

Ugh. Lots to do today, very little desire to do it. I sorta slapped together the booth for the last Seattle Square appearance, and it showed, so it's time to get the lead out and determine some way to get things looking a bit more professional. Also, some Pay It Forward boxes need to go their merry way, so if you're languishing in the Slough of Despond wondering where your goodies are, fear not.

Flog your blog!

"Try it, lady, first one's free!"

OK, peoples, it's time for you to participate in some shameless self-promotion. Want the world to know about your fantastic yet undervisited blog? Post a comment here! Assuming it isn't a) spam, b) porn or c) anything else that makes me feel super-oogy, I'll be glad to make a link to it from this post.

Flog away!

First up is the lovely and talented Marie of Real-Life Frugality. Here you will find hints and tips taken from real life on how to save money, save stuff, and often save the environment in the process.