United States :: New York :: Rochester

The Importance of Perseverance

MidnightGds — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:57:29 -0700

The stars of TLC's 'Little People, Big World' on why we should never give up.
By Amy and Matt Roloff with Tracy Sumner

Parents Matt and Amy Roloff are "little people" raising a big family. They have four children: teenage twins Zachary and Jeremy, preteen daughter Molly, and the youngest, Jacob. The latter three are average sized, and Zachary is a little person. Throughout their hit reality show, "Little People, Big World," they emphasize that, even though they are individuals living with dwarfism, they do most of the things average people do--"just in a different way." In this excerpt from their new book "Little Family, Big Values," Amy and Matt talk about the importance of perseverance and how they try to instill that value in their children.
Amy, the mom
Winston Churchill, the famous World War II–era British prime minister, gave his most famous—and shortest—speech at a college graduation ceremony, telling the soon-to-be graduates: "Never give up. Let me continue by saying: Never, never give up! And in conclusion I say to you: Never, never, never give up!"
Not only was that great advice, but it also defines one of the family values in the Roloff household: perseverance. And while none of us Roloffs have ever had to lead a nation through the darkest days of a terrible world war, we have had opportunity to learn what perseverance is all about as—we've endured our own difficulties and challenges.
Perseverance means that you keep going, even when things are difficult—especially when things are difficult. It means getting up every single day without asking, "Why me?" or saying, "I can't go on!" but instead saying, "What can I do to make today a great one, despite all that is going on in my life now?" and "Thank you, God, for thinking enough of me to allow me to have to endure the pain and difficulty I'm going through now." And it means knowing that there is a purpose in what you're enduring and making sure you keep your eyes open to find it.
Being little people, Matt and I have had more to persevere through than most people. We have had to deal daily with our physical limitations, Matt has had to go through surgeries and other painful medical procedures, and we've both had to take being "looked down on" because we are smaller and because we are "different."
However, this isn't all bad news. We have learned that there are, in a very real way, advantages in what we've gone through when it comes to learning to persevere through difficult times.
Now, most average-sized people might look at us and ask, "How in the world can you say there's an advantage to being little?" The answer to that is simple: When you are a little person in a big world—or when there is anything about you that makes you "different" to the point where people can't help but notice or that limits you in some area—that difference tends to make you stronger mentally and give you "muscles" of perseverance and resiliency that most people don't have because they've not had to endure any real difficulties—at least not on the level that we have.
Someone who has lived what looks like a "perfect" life—someone who is tall and handsome, with a perfectly healthy body that has never been sick one day, and who came from a loving family in which the parents are still together—will probably find the going a little tougher if something bad or difficult were to happen in his life. If everything is going well for someone like that, and suddenly he loses his job or his wife gets sick, then he's going to have a tough time and maybe spend a lot of his energy feeling sorry for himself.
In our family, however, we have the attitude that we don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves. Do we ever wish some of the situations we face could be different from what they are? Yes! Do we ever pray that God will give us relief from some difficulty we're enduring? Absolutely! But one thing we don't do is allow ourselves the luxury of self-pity. Instead we allow the difficulties to make us stronger.
Matt, the dad
One of life's simple truths is that bad things happen to good people (and the other way around, for that matter), and there have been things that have happened to me and to my family that I would rather have avoided. But I have come to a point of understanding that when life's negatives outweigh the positives, when things are going on around me that I just don't think are fair, that's an opportunity for me to build up my perseverance.
There is an old saying that goes, "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger." I think that is why I'm where I am today. When I was a child, I went through many surgeries and countless hours of rehabilitation and other treatment, and even then God was using that suffering to make me stronger. Even back then, I never had a sense of "poor me!" and today I am reaping the benefits of persevering and overcoming that adversity.
Now when tough or negative things happen, I don't spend a lot of time moaning and crying about it. I'm able to absorb them and keep a positive attitude, knowing that because of what I've been through already, I'll have the strength to persevere and overcome whatever happens to me and to my family. If that means that Amy or I or one of the kids is sick and needs medical attention, we don't go into self-pity mode but just get it taken care of. If that means I lose a job I needed to support my family, I say, "It might be rough for a while, but something better is going to come along," then get out there looking for a new opportunity.
Perseverance is yet another value we have tried to instill in our children, and we do that by both encouraging and challenging them when they are going through difficult times at school or with their friends.
For example, there have been times when Zachary has struggled with the way kids treat him as a little person. We do give him some sympathy, but more important we give him a message very similar to the ones my parents gave me when I came home from school complaining and crying about the way the other kids treated me, and it's essentially this: "You've got to toughen up. You're not the only one to go through tough times, and it will get better."
In other words, Never give up!
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United States :: New York :: Rochester

Journal Writing: A Prescription for Good Health

MidnightGds — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:56:21 -0700

by Marla Hardee Milling

When your body is sick or injured, you probably seek medical attention and follow a regimen of prescriptions, bed rest, and even physical therapy. But did you know that keeping a journal might aid in your recovery? There's also some evidence that healthy people who keep journals report a greater well-being and fewer medical problems.

"I credit my journal for turning my life around, for getting me up and out into the world again, for giving me the strength to carry on," says Keith Bellinger of Warren Center, Pennsylvania.

A car crash in 1991 left Bellinger, a construction worker at the time, with three crushed vertebrae in his back and neck. He had kept a journal for more than 20 years, but found his daily writing to be even more therapeutic after his accident.

"Unable to move without pain, I lost myself in my writing," says Bellinger. "Without it I would have drowned in self-pity. The previous entries took me back to the job sites, let me walk in the sunlight, lift heavy walls, and guide trusses to their marks atop beams high in the air. New entries explored the reasons I was now disabled, helped put into perspective religion versus spirituality, and strengthened my resolve to turn to a simpler, less stressful lifestyle."

Helping Patients Connect
Vickie Beck, a nurse psychotherapist at the University of Maryland, encourages most of her patients to keep journals.

"I tailor journals to the interest of my clients—particularly with children—and do not limit it to the documentation and expression of previous events," says Beck. "For those clients with an interest in poetry, I encourage them to write poems of any sort. For those who like music, I encourage them to write lyrics, which we can then talk about and set to music if they wish. Many of my clients bring their writing to their sessions, and it provides a focus for the sessions."

For small children who haven't learned to write yet, Beck encourages them to keep a journal of pictures. She says this allows them to express and record their feelings and thoughts in a similar way to a written journal.

"Journal writing is not for everyone," Beck continues, "but for many it can be cathartic, insightful, and even fun. It can be shared or kept private, and still be beneficial as a tool for therapy. And long after therapy is needed, it can still be utilized to maintain health."

Writing Helps Chronic Conditions
A four-month study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that writing down details about particularly stressful events can improve the health of patients who suffer from asthma and arthritis.

In the study, the participants were divided into two groups. One group simply wrote about their plans for the day. Patients in the other group wrote about their feelings surrounding a stressful event in their lives. All of the people continued their regular medical treatment, and had their condition evaluated at two weeks, two months, and four months. Researchers found that 47% of the patients who wrote about their feelings showed improvement while only 24% of the other group did.

Dr. Arthur A. Stone, co-author of the study from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is quick to point out that the study did not focus on journal writing.

"We looked at writing about the most stressful experience of one's life in an emotional way," says Dr. Stone. "How is this different than journaling? Well, for one thing, we don't know what people write about in their journals or about how they write. In other words, if a person was to simply record the day's events in a log-type manner, then this would be a very different task than the emotional writing about stressful events that we did. But perhaps some individuals journal in a very emotional way, attempting to solve problems and by providing their journal with detailed, emotional reactions to their life. This is clearly more similar to our task."

In another study, published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine, researchers examined the effect of writing about a traumatic event. In this study, some participants focused on journaling about emotions related to the event, others focused on emotions and cognitions (thoughts), while others simply wrote factually about the daily news. Interestingly, writing about emotions alone increased negative symptoms from the trauma, while those who focused on both thoughts and feelings developed a sense that the stressful event had produced positive effects in their lives.

Student Journals
Dr. Charles M. Anderson, graduate coordinator in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, had completed research on the topic of writing and health. His book, Writing and Healing: Toward an Informed Practice, is designed to explore ways in which writing can promote healing.

"Most of the writing I have dealt with is from students who work to make sense of loss, pain, and traumatic events," says Dr. Anderson. "Events such as sexual abuse, violence at schools and home, and even violence depicted in movies and on television creates significant difficulties for many students. Writing is a natural and attractive technology for addressing and overcoming the effects of such events."

While Anderson believes journals can provide beneficial health effects, he feels there are also limitations.

"In my experience," Dr. Anderson says, "journal writing reveals traumatic images and promotes a very short-term cathartic effect, but does little to reintegrate the traumatic event into the life narrative of the sufferer. To be healed, the sufferer must reintegrate the event into his or her life."

Getting Started
Don't let the blank journal page intimidate you. Just start writing and write everyday until it becomes a daily habit. Books like Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity and Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down The Bones: Freeing the Writer Within offer suggestions for finding the freedom to write down your emotions and feelings. And if you're more comfortable with a keyboard than with a pen, type away. The key is to get your feelings down, regardless of how you do it.

Keeping a journal is particularly effective for people undergoing long periods of grief, such as the loss of a spouse or child. The journal serves as a "vessel" for your emotions that you may be unable or unwilling to share.

Need some help getting started? In her journal-writing workshops, Charlene Kingston, of Writing the Journey, suggests some basic topics that will get you started.

Who am I? How do I know who I am?
What does it mean to be content?
Do I listen more or talk more? Why?
What does it mean to nurture myself?
Am I comfortable with my feelings? What makes me cry or laugh? When am I comfortable expressing my feelings?
How much of my time is spent with other people and how much am I alone?
Why do bad things happen? Who is responsible when something bad happens to me?
How do I handle stress? Do I welcome challenges?
What is my unique gift to the world?

RESOURCES:

The Center for Journal Therapy
http://www.journaltherapy.com

Writing the Journey
http://www.writingthejourney.com

References:

Anderson CM. Writing and Healing: Toward an Informed Practice. 1999.

The Center for Journal Therapy website. Available at: http://www.journaltherapy.com.

Ullrich PM, Lutgendorf SK. Journaling about stressful events: effects of cognitive processing and emotional expression. Ann Behav Med. 2002;24:244-250.

Writing the Journey website. Available at: http://www.writingthejourney.com.

http://www.beliefnet.com/healthandhealing/getcontent.aspx?cid=14217&WT.m...
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United States :: New York :: Rochester

Question for you all..

MidnightGds — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:53:03 -0700

What would you do if you were invisible for 24 hours?
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United States :: New York :: Rochester

Invisibility Cloak One Step Closer

MidnightGds — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:52:00 -0700

(Aug. 10) - Scientists have created two new types of materials that can bend light the wrong way, creating the first step toward an invisibility cloaking device.
One approach uses a type of fishnet of metal layers to reverse the direction of light, while another uses tiny silver wires, both at the nanoscale level.
Both are so-called metamaterials -- artificially engineered structures that have properties not seen in nature, such as negative refractive index.
The two teams were working separately under the direction of Xiang Zhang of the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center at the University of California, Berkeley, with U.S. government funding. One team reported its findings in the journal Science and the other in the journal Nature.
Each new material works to reverse light in limited wavelengths, so no one will be using them to hide buildings from satellites, said Jason Valentine, who worked on one of the projects.
"We are not actually cloaking anything," Valentine said in a telephone interview. "I don't think we have to worry about invisible people walking around any time soon. To be honest, we are just at the beginning of doing anything like that."
Valentine's team made a material that affects light near the visible spectrum, in a region used in fiber optics.
"In naturally occurring material, the index of refraction, a measure of how light bends in a medium, is positive," he said.
"When you see a fish in the water, the fish will appear to be in front of the position it really is. Or if you put a stick in the water, the stick seems to bend away from you."
These are illusions caused by the light bending when it moves between water and air.
The negative refraction achieved by the teams at Berkeley would be different.
"Instead of the fish appearing to be slightly ahead of where it is in the water, it would actually appear to be above the water's surface," Valentine said. "It's kind of weird."
For a metamaterial to produce negative refraction, it must have a structural array smaller than the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation being used. This was done using microwaves in 2006 by David Smith of Duke University in North Carolina and John Pendry of Imperial College London.
Visible light is harder. Some groups managed it with very thin layers, virtually only one atom thick, but these materials were not practical to work with and absorbed a great deal of the light directed at it.
"What we have done is taken that material and made it much thicker," Valentine said.
His team, whose work is reported in Nature, used stacked silver and metal dielectric layers stacked on top of each other and then punched through with holes. "We call it a fishnet," Valentine said.
The other team, reporting in Science, used an oxide template and grew silver nanowires inside porous aluminum oxide at tiny distances apart, smaller than the wavelength of visible light. This material refracts visible light.
Immediate applications might be superior optical devices, Valentine said -- perhaps a microscope that could see a living virus.
"However, cloaking may be something that this material could be used for in the future," he said. "You'd have to wrap whatever you wanted to cloak in the material. It would just send light around. By sending light around the object that is to be cloaked, you don't see it."

http://news.aol.com/article/invisibility-cloak-one-step-closer/126867
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United States :: New York :: Rochester

What stories are you currently working on?

Leena Blackthorne — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:13:36 -0800

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United States :: New York :: Rochester

Creative Writing Workshop!

Leena Blackthorne — Tue, 1 Jan 2008 17:08:45 -0800

I swung by Barnes and Nobel yesterday and saw that they were having a creative writing workshop on Thursday Jan 10, at 7pm. It's being done by Kimberly Wehner. I'll be there what about you guys??
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United States :: New York :: Rochester

BSF 2008

Spresler — Tue, 1 Jan 2008 09:14:03 -0800

Hi Everyone!

I'm soooo IN!! This is the kick in the pants I need to finally get going on my writing and attempt to reach new goals:

1.) To finish my 2007 NaNo novel that I so miserably neglected.
2.) To edit and polish above mentioned novel.
3.) To face mountains of rejection letters and get this novel published.
4.) To win NaNo 2008
5.) To learn Spanish on a conversational level, especially the dirty words, heh heh...
6.) To travel to Mexico
7.) To go to Miami's South Beach for several weeks selling beaded earrings and bracelets to tourists.

Here's to facing our fears and stop procrasinating! Good luck to all and I look forward to hearing all our trials and tribulations.

Cheers,
SP

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United States :: New York :: Rochester

TGIO Party

vedesca — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:25:05 -0800

Yup, it is nearing that time. We have less than 48 hours to finish before the verification deadline.

I have just over 19k left to write, and of course that means I'm avoiding my novel (we're still having a love/hate relationship) by posting the TGIO info.

Tangents aside, the Thank Goodness It's Over Party is a time when fellow sleep deprived, slightly rumpled novelists come to celebrate the ending of November. Yes, November will soon be gone and with it the wrist pain, the characters who decide they're going to do what they want regardless of your plans for them, and the odd looks family and friends give you when they talk to you and you tell them that you have noveling to do.

Time/Date: 8pm Tuesday December 4th.
Location: Chuck E. Cheese on Hylan Drive (across from the Mall, in the plaza between Wegmans and Borders)

We'll have a whole row to ourselves in Studio C (the showroom). I'll provide pizza and some tokens. Because of this, I need people to RSVP. Otherwise, I'll order too much pizza and have to eat it myself. Though tasty, it might also make me ill. You can either reply here or pm me, or email me at vedesca [at] yahoo [dot] com.

What you need to bring: To those that attended kick off and used their dares/plot points, please bring an excerpt showcasing your extreme coolness. Others, please bring two small excerpts of your work, one being your most fabulous piece of writing from the month, the other the most bizarre thing you wrote for the sake of your word count. You don't need to put your name on them, nor read them aloud. There will simply be a section of the table that people can browse and enjoy. Though I will probably let you know my bizarre thing. If you don't want to do both, I would recommend the latter excerpt. If you want to bring neither, that is okay too.

Also, those of you whose inner editors I've been holding (hostage in the backseat of my car), if you want them back, I'll have them with me.

There will also be a fun questionnaire for you to fill out. It will be anonymous, but mainly a general survey on what you liked about this year and suggestions for next year. For those unable to attend, the questionnaire will also be posted after the end of November and you can pm me or email it to me at the above address.

Thanks and have fun finishing!
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Robin, ML - Rochester, NY
In the immortal words of Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem:
"Fact is there's nothing out there you can't do. Yeah, even Santa Claus believes in you."
Nano Stats: 3 Wins, 1 Loss

United States :: New York :: Rochester

50,000

thedorngirl — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:31:26 -0800

So, I did it! Yay! I still have a few chapters to write before this bad boy first draft can be labeled "done," but I got my green bar, haha. Anyone else make it yet?
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United States :: New York :: Rochester

Better Luck Next Year

Spresler — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 09:47:26 -0800

Well, I gave it my all and went thru many trials and tribulations to get to the 50K mark, but fell short. I missed days of writing due to procrastination and sheer laziness, lost thousands of words into the ethernet, some days just not bothering. But I had a lot of fun and I'm ready to do it all again, but alas, I have to wait another whole year. And even though I didn't come out a winner this year, I did get a hell of a jump on my novel so I will keep plodding away at it, although it won't be as much of a challenge with no deadlines to meet. This will keep me going until next year's challenge. Congrats to all of you who did make the 50K.

Peace,
SP
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United States :: New York :: Rochester

Where is everybody located? Also what times are best?

vedesca — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 20:43:22 -0700

You don't have to be super specific, just either the town or if you feel that is too much, just a general east/west would be helpful. I'm getting a co-ML and in order for us to plan write-ins and all that it would be helpful to know.

I'm based in Henrietta, but I tend to bop all over.

Again, knowing which days/nights people are free would be really helpful. In the other thread I mentioned that I'm almost always available Mondays and Thursdays around 7/7:30pm and all day Tuesday and Wednesday. Weekends are a bit difficult for me, but can be arranged.

I know we're not ever going to find a day/time where every one can attend, but I hope we can get a fairly decent schedule set up so that most everyone can get a chance to come to at least one event. Once we have the dates of the write-ins set and if nothing matches your schedule and you want to throw one of your own, feel free.
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Robin, ML - Rochester, NY
In the immortal words of Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem:
"Fact is there's nothing out there you can't do. Yeah, even Santa Claus believes in you."
Nano Stats: 3 Wins, 1 Loss

United States :: New York :: Rochester

Happy Thanksgiving

Spresler — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 18:41:11 -0800

I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I certainly stuffed myself with enough turkey to last until next year. I was going to do some writing tonight but the tryptophan kicked in and all I want to do is put on stretchy pants and watch movies on TV. I'll just have to work extra hard tomorrow. Good luck to all you Nanoer's out there who are still chugging along.

Peace Out,
SP
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United States :: New York :: Rochester

Meet-Up and Write In Schedule (For the East Side)

vedesca — Mon, 5 Nov 2007 00:25:35 -0800

The other ML will be taking care of the west side (hi!). You can come to every single event if you like, or pick and choose. Though I think I'll have to make a certificate if someone hits all the events. That would just be awesome.

I wanted to have one this week, but I got slammed at work this weekend and I need to spend my days off on things such as laundry and house cleaning (and noveling of course). Sorry, I need socks, it is cold outside.

So here is the schedule of events I will be holding. Again, if you aren't able to attend any feel free to plan your own, create a topic of when and where you will be and I'll add it to the events calendar, or you can nanomail me. Also remember that there is the Rochester Chat that Cathie111 made.

Midway Point Meet-Up
When:Tuesday 11/13
Time: 7pm - 8:30 pm
Where: Marketplace Mall Food Court (left hand side by the windows)
What to Expect: Me in my Neon Green Shirt. Since this meet-up is at just about the half way point it will be a relaxed very free form event. Come hang out, vent about your novel, eat a well deserved ice cream cone or slice of pizza. If you want to write you can bring your laptop, though you'll have to run off of battery power. I'll bring some nano-related games plus swag for those that missed kick-off.

Write-In
When:Wednesday 11/21 (I know! Night before Thanksgiving---but if you are like me, you won't get to write AT ALL on the 22nd so this is a good chance to get in those 1667 a day early)
Time: 7pm - 8:30 pm
Where: Starbucks Penfield: 1806 Penfield Road Penfield 14526 I haven't been to this one personally so I am assuming it is large enough, I'll try to do a visit prior to this day but if anyone knows off the top of their head, it would be great!
What to Expect: Me in my Neon Green Shirt (or possibly this years Nano shirt. The green gets a little hard on the eyes). This will be the first official write-in that I am holding. Expect much chatting, some word sprints (ex: write for 15 minutes then we'll break for chatting), possibly a game or two.

Write-In
When:Tuesday 11/27
Time: 7pm - 8:30 pm
Where: Henrietta Public Library Calkins Road, Henrietta If I recall correctly in the back left hand corner are work tables, but I will definitely get to scouting this one (I have books to return).
What to Expect: Last event before the end of the month! I'm having it at the library because with only 3 days until the end I expect to be in a word crunch (Every year I have fallen behind by this week---it's my special talent). This will be a hard core write-in. Very little chatting, no games, just writing amongst people all shooting for the same goal, 50k words.

I'll have these all on the events calendar by tomorrow evening at the latest.
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Robin, ML - Rochester, NY
In the immortal words of Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem:
"Fact is there's nothing out there you can't do. Yeah, even Santa Claus believes in you."
Nano Stats: 3 Wins, 1 Loss

United States :: New York :: Rochester

Enthusiasm

Aikida — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:53:45 -0800

I'm so far behind! It's halfway through the month and I'm barely scratching at 10,000 wrds. I'm still optimistic I'll make the 50 since I'll be on vacation for the rest of the week in a place where the excitement meter flatlines. I'll have plenty of time to write.

What's everyone else's wordcount at this point in the game?
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United States :: New York :: Rochester

Into the Ethernet

Spresler — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:06:14 -0800

I had a baaaaaaad weekend. I was all set to just type my heart out to get to at least 30K and when I was halfway thru I lost everything I was working on. My heart was broken. I got physically ill and I almost quit. I wanted to just toss my laptop out the window, burn my notes and say "screw it forever" but instead, I went out with a friend, got hammered and woke up the next morning thinking, I can't quit. I'm not a quitter, it's not in my nature, beside, anything I write from here on in, might be ten times better than what I had lost. So who knows, I just have to keep plugging along. This time I'm going to make a hard copy of everything. I'd rather have to just re-type than have it all disappear into the ethernet. Let's all just keep plugging away.

SP
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United States :: New York :: Rochester

An Additional Meet-up?

vedesca — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 22:44:22 -0800

As you may have noticed, there is no westside meet up schedule.

So, since the lovely manager who writes my schedule has given me the best Thanksgiving week schedule ever, if the lovely westsiders would like to have a write-in on the Tuesday the 20th, please reply here.

The location would be at the Starbucks on Ridgeway and Longpond. I know Greece again, well, Greece-ish, only a bit or so north of Gates. See, I make a lot of pies around Thanksgiving and my co-workers tend to commission them which means I would be dropping pies off that evening and will be in the area (Tuesday is work pie day, Wednesday is family pie day, Thursday is sleep late dreaming of pie day). It would be at the same time as the others, 7pm-8:30pm.

I know it is short notice, but as long as there is some response I'll make it happen.
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Robin, ML - Rochester, NY
In the immortal words of Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem:
"Fact is there's nothing out there you can't do. Yeah, even Santa Claus believes in you."
Nano Stats: 3 Wins, 1 Loss

United States :: New York :: Rochester

Daily Word count

Leena Blackthorne — Mon, 5 Nov 2007 20:21:46 -0800

What is your word count so far?

I'm at 2995

I ended up restarting from scratch but with the same characters.
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United States :: New York :: Rochester

Please check your "nano time"

vedesca — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:08:18 -0800

Howdy!

bittersweet.sage brought this to my attention. The nano site did not automatically switch the time for you when we all rolled our clocks back an hour earlier this month. I switched mine manually, as is a habit (many of the forums I frequent don't switch for you) so it never clicked with me that you all might not notice (I apologize).

Just in case you don't know how to change it, here's in the info:

Go to "edit profile"
Select the link for "account settings"
Down at the bottom of the page, right about the terms and conditions, there is a drop down box to select your timezone (-5).

While I'm not too worried about the events on the calendar being displayed at the wrong time (since my posts all stated the time), bittersweet.sage hit the true worry right on the nose. If your time is not correct and you are writing the 50k right to the deadline and go to post your word count/get verified, if you don't change your time to the correct one you will be too late.

Thanks!
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Robin, ML - Rochester, NY
In the immortal words of Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem:
"Fact is there's nothing out there you can't do. Yeah, even Santa Claus believes in you."
Nano Stats: 3 Wins, 1 Loss

United States :: New York :: Rochester

Writing Quotes

Leena Blackthorne — Mon, 5 Nov 2007 10:28:25 -0800

"A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit."
-- Richard Bach

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United States :: New York :: Rochester

Ever have one of those days..

Leena Blackthorne — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 17:08:43 -0800

Ok so it's been one of those past two weeks for me. First I get writer's block and next the story I want to work on goes to sleep on me. I am going to work on a back up story I have planned and been thinking of over the past year or so. Here goes everything.. or nothing.
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United States :: New York :: Rochester

It's Pretty Bad, But...

Spresler — Mon, 5 Nov 2007 23:25:17 -0800

My story is looking more and more like a "diary" rather than an actual story. Too much telling and not enough showing. And I don't know what POV I really want to use. I started out wanting to tell it in the Third person omnicient but it's turning out to be in the first person. Oh well. I think I'll just continue in the first person for now and see where it takes me. Plus I keep getting random thoughts and putting them in. So my story is looking like the rantings of a mad woman. But press on I must.

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United States :: New York :: Rochester

When it rains, it pours

Cathie111 — Sun, 4 Nov 2007 05:13:45 -0800

I have a compaq presario v2000 and while it's been a great little machine I'm getting highly frustrated with it. Now it's overheating! Fortunately we bought a seriously big extended warranty because I think I've gone through 1 change of battery, 6 ac adapter cords, a keyboard replacement, and a touch pad (mouse thing) replacement...each time resulting in a lengthy period of time without my computer. I tried buying a replacement ac adapter from eBay...it doesn't fit. It said it was for my computer and yeah, I don't think so. So I've contacted the guy 4 times now...the first on the day I got the item. The once last night, and twice this morning. If I don't hear back from him in 48 hours I'm filing a dispute, because he does have a few negatives saying no contact with seller could be made. I also ordered the identical one I have now from another guy on eBay with priority shipping. I don't know if it's my battery or my adapter because my adapter was having issues...and I'm not sure if it is overheating my computer or the batter is overheating again. Either way, I need a new adapter and I'll get a new one for free through Best Buy as well...so now I'll have a spare. I'm crossing my fingers I get this one and it works (though it looks identical so I'm sure it will), and that it's just the battery...because they'll just take the battery I think and replace it...I can keep my laptop and use it plugged in. :-( I'm thinking 2008 will bring me a new laptop...
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-Cathie
2006: Dragon's Lineage (loss; injury to hand) http://destined.to/dragonslineage
2007: Owin: Land of Spelloyal

United States :: New York :: Rochester

Word Count Trackers?

Cathie111 — Thu, 1 Nov 2007 17:23:12 -0700

Last year there were little meters we had that we could use on websites and myspace to show others where we are. I've checked the fun stuff, section...but haven't seen them this year. Are they somewhere I'm not seeing?
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-Cathie
2006: Dragon's Lineage (loss; injury to hand) http://destined.to/dragonslineage
2007: Owin: Land of Spelloyal

United States :: New York :: Rochester

Live Journals?

Leena Blackthorne — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:24:04 -0700

Does anyone here have a live journal? I just started a new one for my writing. My last one was most unfortunately sent off to limbo by my muses. I'd love to friend anyone who has one!
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United States :: New York :: Rochester

Writing Music

Leena Blackthorne — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:59:48 -0700

Do you listen to music when you write?
If so what kind?
What bands do you listen to?
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