Brett, Bear and Blog Tag

Yesterday, the charming* Brett Battles blogged about his new addiction to… blogs and what it’s like to be part of Blogdom. Today’s post has been somewhat commandeered by the influence of the blogging community.

I’ve been threatened, beaten ,coerced…well, okay, just tagged. But first, on Monday, Murderati’s Pari Noskin Taichert will discuss blogging and goals and I participated in her survey for that post, which got me thinking back to my humble beginnings on the blogs.

October 31, 2005
A good day to start a blog

I've never kept a diary, with the exception of when I'm traveling, so why write a blog? Haven't got a flippin' clue, but if I ever figure out a good reason, I'll probably ramble on about it in here at some point.

Today has been one of those mind-blowing days. A manuscript I entered into an unpublished novel competition made the first cut - down to 18 of us. Professional critiquing and marketing advice is headed my way. The real kicker - it's a manuscript nobody's been interested in. I've had agents up the wazoo asking for the other one, but nobody's ever even wanted to look at this one.

So, I have to smile. While one manuscript is sitting on an agent's desk in an undisclosed country (not my own) another has jumped an impressive hoop in a contest in the UK. Go figure. I'd given up on ever getting this one published.

If there's a moral to the story, it's that you should never give up on what you believe in. Some people like Dan Brown and, if you went to Harrogate, you know some don't. Some people like Ian Rankin and apparently most of them don't like Stuart MacBride (they have to spend an evening in the bar with you Stuart, then they'll change their tune!)

You know what I say? Stuff the critics - just find your voice, find your audience, and enjoy your writing (or whatever it is that you do) and don't let anyone stop you. You never know when your break is coming!

Well, we can all see how things have changed! I’m not nearly so kind to Stuart and now I have a book deal for, yep, the one that I’d given up on getting published, and almost no post I make is that short.

Back then, it was just me and the blog, evilkev and Stuart reading it occasionally.

Now, I feel like I’ve become part of this network, a community, and I look forward to catching up with people through their posts and meeting new people online. Amra Pajalic, Angie, and Erich are all people I “met” here recently, and it’s great to discover others around the world with similar goals and dreams, all of us moving towards those goals on our own path, but sharing our experiences.

And if I were to list the crazy email crew, we’d be here all day, but suffice it to say, they keep me entertained and whenever I need a smile, I know exactly where to go. I have been tagged by one of them,JB Thompson (and she tagged a bunch of the others already) so, here we go…

4 movies you would watch over and over:
LOTR The Two Towers
Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story
Crash
Shawshank Redemption

4 places you have lived:
Gravenhurst, Ontario
Vancouver Island, British Columbia
New Westminster, British Columbia
Calgary, Alberta

4 TV shows you love to watch:
The Wire
The Shield
Conviction
Law & Order SVU

4 places you have been on vacation:
Tunisia
Costa Rica
Indonesia
Scotland

4 of your favorite foods:
Lemon Chicken
My Greek Soup
Greek Salad
Enchiladas

4 Websites you visit daily:
Stuart's
David Terrenoire's
Mark Billingham's talk zone, an easy way to stalk him, I mean see what he's up to
Brett Battles Blabland (so he doesn't call it that...whatever!)

4 places you would rather be right now:
Truthfully, a Jacuzzi anywhere with a glass of wine and a good book, or under the capable hands of a masseur, or in a Hamam…. but if I’m playing nice:
Lisbon
Florence
Edinburgh (alright already, Scotland anywhere)
San Jose

Tag 4 People you think will respond:
James O
Andrea
Trace
Forrest

And if you’re really lonely, get a virtual pet





Click on the line to play with bear, give him a biscuit! Very cute, and thanks to Bonnie for the link.

And this is sooooo me

You should have grown up during the twenties You are cool, sophisticated and hip – even by today’s standards. You like things before they are considered cool, and you like them long afterwards. Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

So, when should you have grown up? Only thing I don’t like about the 20’s is that was way before the internet.

But I could’a been a flapper.

* Hey, he paid the annual fee so he gets to be charming. It’s that simple @ Sandrablabber. I don't discriminate!