* I checked out a book from the library. The book is called Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, written by David Allen. It's been on the coffee table since I brought it home. I think it's already overdue. It now feels like much more than a book that I haven't started--it's become symbolic. Maybe I'll start it tonight....
* I mentioned some "fan mail" recently. There have been 4 unsolicited, unexpected communications, actually. One could literally be called fan mail, although that's a stretch. I think it was more of a subtle plug for the person's book; they probably read enough of the blog to realize that I select fiction for a public library and designed their email message around that.
The second was a comment that I replied to by email, in which I asked how the blog was discovered. To my great chagrin, it was a rather complex trail that ended in these search terms: naked skydiving. I've never used it as a phrase before, but the individual words existed on the blog. (Yeah, like how many times have I used "naked"? I shudder to guess.) I'm pleased that the person who found it that way chose to remain once the more prosaic nature of the site was discovered.
The third was an email from a Family-Oriented Search Engine, soliciting my site for Premier Status. Apparently "someone" found this blog using the above-referenced engine and so I was being offered the opportunity to Make More Money by becoming a Premier Member. I was curious, so I clicked through and discovered that for the low, low price of $50, premier membership would be accomplished. The gain for me is questionable, particularly since my Family-Orientedness is in question. The very day that the email arrived, I wrote the ill-considered but humorous and popular Bacon post.
The fourth, received last night, was an email message from the author of a book that I recently reviewed. How cool is that?! I was thrilled! But...there was a problem. It was not a positive review. The email message, however, didn't acknowledge that. Not at all. And I suppose if one's written a book, any press is good press, and any links are good links. But I sort of slammed the book. Sort of called her characters by bad names.
What am I supposed to do with this? Does this add yet another layer of "I need to be more careful about what I post" to the already complex formulary of this blog? Do I need to consider this before I post book reviews in the future? Or can I just push it aside and assume that she's the exception in authors who will bother checking to see who's reviewed their stuff online, and also that she's the exception in those who would specifically take the time to comment when a review's less than positive? I'm at a loss.
* I just finished editing the body of my thesis. There were two pages that contained no editing marks. Two! Pages 74 and 79. There's no way to adequately impart to you the disgust, stifled rage, and despair that suffused me when I realized that. I know that I should be able to take it more philosophically and remember that it's not a reflection of the way that I write, but only of that particular (and very single-purpose) document. But holy crap, two pages?!
All that's left is to re-write the entire Bibliography according to some peculiar and archaic style that I'd never even heard of until today (yes, I should have known about it before, but that's the problem of thinking you know everything about something like writing), rechecking page by page to make sure that I made all of the minute changes that the reader demanded, and then reprinting it and Express Mailing it to Ypsi. Out of my hands for another couple of weeks.
* Discovered this morning [goddamnedfuckingbullshit] that I'd failed to return a form in response to my summons for jury duty. Another thing that I'd have realized if I'd bothered to read past the part that pissed me off. But in my own defense it wasn't very clear and I was really pissed off. So I dashed it off this morning and sent it out...only 8 days late. If that is the only thing that prevents me from being excused, I'm not sure what I'll do.
* With aid from a knowledgeable (and/or enthusiastic) source, I'm building a new blog template rather than nudging this one into a different format. It'll take longer, but it'll be a vast improvement. Didn't realize I'd have to learn CSS in the process, and since HTML is still new to me, it's a struggle. But it's also kind of fun and definitely cool to have someone smoothing out the rough spots with me. I might even spring for Blogger*Pro and ditch the top-line ad at the same time as the new template is launched. Time will tell.
No comments:
Post a Comment