Changes at Goodreads

 

Over at Goodreads they have decided to make some changes including getting rid of the "creative writing" section/ ability. A few years back when I used it frequently, well some-what frequently this would have annoyed me. Also if I had forgotten they were going to do it and didn't save any of my work in that section I would have been ticked. However I don't use it that often and all the writing I had over there I saved onto the cloud in my private Google Docs.

For lack of anything else here is a sample of one of the only 9 writings I had over at Goodreads. It was mostly gibberish and nonsense and a Stream of Consciousness exercise: 

I Say What?

OK it’s been a while since I've done any kind of writing here. I guess this will be more of a journal type thing than a regular attempt at something to be read. 

As I enter the stream, the stream of consciousness I attempt to write whatever pops into my mind. I will try not to edit it as it comes to me. Except to attempt to correct spelling errors when prompted that an error was made

So here we go again and again and again to write each and every word that comes to mind as it comes without thinking of how it sounds or if it makes any sense whatsoever. and we begin the begin benign. ACK that took some thinking of how to spell it, and the eventual having to use Google to spell it correctly. There is a sign of the times using a search engine, actually the website that is a search engine to find the proper spelling of a word rather than looking it up elsewhere. Well right now I don't have a dictionary handy so OK Google it is for spell checking. Blah, blah blah de blah blah. BLAH! So there!

Sigh heavy breath release. Back to the matter at hand or rather at mind. Getting a few distractions not sure if I can continue this exercise. Yeah No guess that is it for now. Big disappointment. Barely got anywhere. Heavy Sigh. 

Originally Drafted/ Updated 02 Aug 2019

End The Month

It is the end of the month again. This month of February went by very quickly. Well "Duh" it is the shortest month of the year and this year is not a leap year so it only had 28 days. As usual I have procrastinated in my blogging and making a post for the month. I have had a bit of writer's block or rather blogger's block I guess.

I was originally going to try to finish out a draft that I started who knows when about some childhood writing of mine. That project is still on the back burners for now. As the month grew closer to the end I determined I didn't have enough time left for some of the prep work for that post. That draft will grow some more dust. A day or two ago I thought that since it was the end of a month that maybe I would tackle the topic of the end of life aka: Death. I was going to discuss the most common theories of what it is and what we will experience on the other side (if we do experience things in that state of being). Sadly though I think that will take more time to prepare than I have given myself in these last few hours of the month of February.

Another topic I could discuss could be some of the Television shows I enjoy or have watched. I am a bit surprised that I have not mentioned The Blacklist or The Orville on this blog. Shame on me I love both those shows. James Spader as Raymond "Red" Reddington the lead role of Blacklist is fantastic. The writing is superb and his delivery is exquisite. The ensemble for the most part is excellent. I am a bit disappointed with Megan Boone who plays Elizabeth Keen. I should devote some blog posts to that show. Ditto with The Orville which many say is more Star Trek like than the recent Star Trek Series Discovery. It definitely has a Next Generation vibe to it. The main thing keeping me from "discovering" Discovery is it being only available from the CBS All Access pay-per-stream or pay yearly service or whatever the heck it is. I did see the pilot episode that was on regular broadcast CBS. It is the only Star Trek show I couldn't get much into. Maybe it was they only showed the first hour of the series and it takes time to get into.

There are some shows that I occasionally watch or will binge watch some. Those have included: TNT's Wrecked, Fox's The Masked Singer, as well as bizarre type comedies BrainDead and Ghosted.

I also have some book reviews in my drafts queue. Most need either a cover scan or I need to come up with a quote from them or both.

To Blog Or Not To Blog: Not Quite Throwin in the Towel Just Yet

"To Blog or Not to Blog, that is the question, Whether 'tis nobler to suffer the migraines of creativity or just say 'Screw this crap'..."

Yep I'm doing it again. Doing that dangerous 'thinking' thing.

This is me from the last time I did some serious thinking.

Anyway where whuz I? Oh yeah thinkin' and drinkin' er thunken and dunken er frickin and frackin. These last few months I have been doing very little blogging almost as if it didn't mean anything to me anymore. Sometimes it is a struggle just to make my pretty lax one post a month quota for each of my three blogs. Sometimes this blog can be the most difficult because it is more personal. There are many things in life I don't want to broadcast to the world, and I also don't want to junk my blog up with gimmicks, then again there are times when I really don't know what the hell I want to post about. At least with my trading card blogs they have a specific subject to concentrate on, trading cards and the one specifically Washington Baseball. This blog free ranges over the entire blogiverse and it's unlimited subjects. Except for rude and crude content that isn't allowed on family friendly Internet sites. I don't want to make my blog ugly and be forced to change my settings to not allowing any comments on any post because it attracts all the sickos, scammers and hackers.

So the thought of "thowin' in the old towel" o blogging did pass my wacky brain. Only due to the commitment it requires. I think I like blogging too much to ever really stop doing it. I considered putting it on hold for a while, but the damn OCD part of my psyche? of me that loves my personal self-regulated posting quota would not allow me to do that. I like seeing at least one post for each month in my post archives.

It was like when I collected comics I would prefer to collect the entire run of a series. The blocks of missing issues stuck out like a sore thumb and bothered me. If the missing issue was the finale of some huge storyline well that would take the cake. Of course if you got into a comic that had been around for years then a full run is very unlikely as back issues tend to get difficult to find after a few years. The Internet has made it easier, but can get very expensive depending on the title and hot issues. I have many comics that part of me wants to sell for top dollar, the nostalgic part of me wants to keep it for such-and-such a reason. The sensible part of me says go ahead and get rid of them any way ya can, it saves space and is one less mess for your family to sort through after you have left this mortal coil. The PFC in me (Procrastinator First Class) of course has won out and for many things I have stalled or just haven't done anything with. Big le Sigh.

The point of this post? To get my personal "at least one post a month" quota accomplished. To rant and rave like a lunatic and to stick it to da Man. Or maybe just blab and jabber jaw and yadda yadda and of course Yadda.

Blogging In Spurts And Drips

For me blogging has always come in spurts and drips mostly drips. Sometimes I have so much inspiration to get stuff recorded on pen and paper, er typed out into the Either nets. I make several posts and line them up in the scheduling queue. Other times it just slowly drips and I have to scramble at the end of the month to come up with some sort of post for my self appointed and regulated monthly posting quota minimum. Which is 20 posts short of my yearly quota.

At the end of April this year I had one of those posting spurts, at least on over at my regular trading card blog. That blog will have 2 posts for April and so far at least 3 posts for May. Here on this regular blog I once again only posted my minimum one post for the month drip. That post I started drafting in the early part of the month and was ready to post about 4 or 5 days before its posting date on 30 April 2018 which is today as I start to draft this post.

I have noticed that it is easier for me to post about my trading card hobby (or maybe it is an obsession) than it is to post general stuff here on this my regular blog. Part of it is I am more interested in writing about my hobby than I am random mundane things of life.

Of my three blogs my regular trading card blog "CaptKirk42's Trading Card blog" is the easiest to make posts for then my Washington Baseball "Curly W Cards" blog then this one the most difficult.

Doing regular features on a specific subject does help build the quota. I have had a few regular features on this blog: Fryday Fourtoon, Myka Monday, Year in Review (State of the Blog recaps), Warehouse 13 Wednesday, Book Review (was "Recent Read") I have also frequently mentioned times my name has been misspelled but it isn't a regular feature just a reoccurring subject.

Well now that I have that written down time to post this puppy. That is schedule this post for publishing Tomorrow to get in early for the May Posting.

Mid Year State Of The Blog: July 2017

Mid-Year State Of The Blog: July 2017

Well it is the halfway mark of this year. Technically a bit past the midway point. With this being only the 10th post of the year I've made then I will be well less than half of my personal yearly quota by years end. 😢 I personally don't like when I'm this low. If my low trend continues this will be the third year in a row and the 5th year total that I've been below my yearly posting goal. My other personal goal with this blog is to try to at the very least make one post each month. 

At least for this blog I have not missed a month. I did a quick check it looks like I've hit each month. Many many months I have had only one post that month the bare minimum. I don't want to accept going more than that without blogging. I feel terrible when I see the low numbers. I have never been so proficient that I would have multiple posts per day. Some people can write that much and do. If they miss just one day of posting they feel even worse than I do just missing one month. On my trading card blogs I have missed a month once or twice each. I have made a personal vow to never do that again. Sometimes the evening of the last day of the month I have had to tweak my posting time slightly if the blogger system has already crossed over to midnight.

Before this post is published I have two posts for this month here. On my Trading card blogs nothing in July yet. I have plenty of posts in draft on them, but for some reason or another I haven't published any. I will even if it is on the 31st at 11:50 pm and I have to fudge the time to 11:59 pm on the 31st instead of 12:03 am 01 Aug.

Maybe I should start showing sexy photos of scantily clad women on a regular basis to up the viewing numbers and to up the posting quota. I probably could, but I would soon bore of it. It doesn't say that "this is MY Blog". I also might be accused of stealing someone Else's material.

I forget the source of that "writer" image. I got it from one of those social media quizzes that show what job/career you should really be doing. There are times I would love to get paid as a writer. However, to quote Douglas Adams "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." I have never been good at meeting deadlines. I have perfected the art of procrastination. In school I used to wait, waiting isn't the right word but whatever, til the night before something was due sometimes before even starting the dang thing. Often with English classes if an essay, book report was supposed to be over 1,000 words or at least 10 pages I would often fail to get even that. My word count even using a ton of "and"s and "the"s along with many other filler words I would still only manage to get only about half of what the requirement was. If I had a professional writing gig I don't know how I would manage to get things in on time. Especially if I had a weekly or monthly deadline. Maybe if there was a loose deadline I might make some of those.

Blog Update: Getting A Bit Drafty

I have noticed that in all of my trio of blogs I have a number of backed up unposted drafts. Currently this blog has 7 posts in the queue (8 including this post at the time of drafting this post) and my two card blogs have 10 or 11 posts in the queue. It has been worse at times with 14 or 15 per  blog. Some of the posts are awaiting scans or photos to be attached, others need the actual idea of the post in text form. Some the story needs to be finished. Yet others I scratch my head at sometimes wondering when I'll get around to doing whatever it is that I had planned on doing for that post. Sometimes even figuring out what I was trying to say in the first place is the mystery. Some of those really oddball ones end up getting deleted. Ditto for ones whose relevance has long expired.

When I first discovered the draft post queue I used it pretty much as it was intended as a holding area for completed posts you don't want to post quite yet or posts that nearly done. I still use it in that way, but I tend to take to long to getting back to posts started back whenever. I am tired of seeing some of those posts that have been in the queue for a year or more. I need to stop procrastinating and finish the dang things. I am an unpaid professional first class procrastinator.

For older posts it often includes a major editing overhaul. Making sure that time references are updated, or sometimes eliminated completely.

For this blog there are a couple of book reviews. One I just need to find an appropriate quote and the other I need to scan the cover, and find a quote. I also have a DVD review from a movie viewing from a few years ago. If it wasn't a review I might consider it one of those long overdue expired reference things.

Blogging: Lack Of Motivation Mind Blank

This is sort of a blogging rant to myself for being so unproductive on the blog front for the last several months. Maybe even for the last several years.

Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis will have noticed that for quite sometime now I have barely been keeping up with my blogging here on my self appointed 1 post a month quota. My last few annual "State of The Blog" year end posts and occasional in-year updates have shown my lack of activity here. Sometimes I have the dreaded writer's block and can't come up with something interesting. Ironically I do have 6 or 7 in process posts in my draft queue. Those drafts include a couple of book reviews and a DVD review or two. For the most part my reasons for not publishing some of those is either I haven't chosen a quote for the review or I haven't scanned the cover of the DVD or Book, or I haven't gotten past the initial setting up the page for the review.

I sort of tossed around the idea of just abandoning this blog, or going into a blogging hiatus. I do after all have two trading card blogs that I have the same 1 post a month personal quota for. I really hate going a month without a post for any of my blogs. This blog seems to be the most difficult to come up with stuff for of the three. I guess my regular life is just that dull and routine.

I do occasionally have ideas for posts to do. Some of those ideas I have written down a few keywords for the idea, or the basic synopsis of the idea. I just haven't gotten around to putting "pen to paper" or rather formatted text saved into binary code on computer data storage drive.

10th Blogiversary!

It is that time of year again. The time when this blog gets another year older. This year it is one of the Milestone Blogiversaries The 10th! So Yippie and Yahooie!

So there is that.

Blogging Moods and Posting Frequency

I am sure that other bloggers have gone through this from time to time. Lately I have had some emotional high days where I am in a super mood to do some blogging. Usually I manage to make a post but sometimes I still draw a blank. Then there are times when I am still in that super mood but get sidetracked or I am physically and mentally too tired for posting. There are a few times when I still try to hash it out and go once more into the breach. Other times I halt dead in my tracks and abandon the post, maybe even go so far as to delete what I had.

The other option is to save the partial post for publishing later. Sometimes that is a bad idea, because I will sometimes forget to do a final edit of the merged post and then have to make edits post publishing.

Right now I have a ton of stuff I want to blog about sometime, but most of it is still in the fuzzy stages of just having the main subject idea and not any meat on the bones of the body.

On another note I am not sure if I will make my self appointed yearly post quota. I only have 8 posts in 5 months. This will be post number 9, number nine, number Nine, Number nine...

Possible Blog Format Change?

I've been thinking of making some adjustments to this blog. Specifically the template format for the look of the thing. I mostly want to change it so I can post larger pics. With the current size/template I'm using (on of the older ones on Blogger) if the picture is too big anything on the right side of the picture doesn't show.

I plan on doing some experimenting over the next day or two. So probably by the end of this weekend things will look a bit different.

End Of The Year State Of The Blog: 2013 Edition

State Of The Blog

2013 Edition

Now that another year has come and gone it is time for the annual yacking where I talk about the status of the blog and how well I did or didn't do. This past year was exceptional as far as my personal blog quota is concerned. Overall it was at least double but not quite triple what my yearly minimum posting goal of 32 posts per year.

So here is what the numbers for 2013 were:

January: 6
February:9
March: 6
April: 2
May: 11
June: 13
July: 19 
August: 8
September: 8
October: 5
November: 3
December: 3

TOTAL: 93

At one point I thought I would get over 100 posts. Due in part to my semi-regular features: Myka Monday and Fryday Fourtoon posts. Had I kept them up regularly I would have done 100 posts easy. Sadly I was a bit short of that mark.

Now for the per year totals:
2006 - 32
2007 - 43
2008 - 36
2009 - 34
2010 - 18
2011 - 20
2012 - 38
2013 - 93

Yearly Average:  39.25
So with 2013 being such a huge year it brings the yearly average to almost 40 posts per year. That equals more than 3 posts per month one post more per month than my monthly goal. 

Dream Blog?

Dream Blog or No Dream Blog?


I've been toying with the idea of making a dream blog. It would be a blog version of my personal dream log that I already sort of do in a word document. My biggest strike against it though is when real people I know (or celebs I may or may not like) are in my dreams I would have to change the names for several reasons. I don't want to embarrass myself or the other person in case of any compromising situations. I also don't want to open myself up to any sort of law suit. I thought about making up aliases for people but that would require me to make a master list of the aliases and remember who I call who? (or is that whom I called who?) It could get confusing to me.

Although they are just dreams? Right?

Another strike is often times I don't describe things well enough to give the reader the same vision that I saw in my dream. Sometimes when I reread my old dreams, I have no idea what had happened even though I wrote it down. Most of the time I do recall some of it after a little thought.

It's not good for someone who sometimes wants to get into writing to write stuff that doesn't make any sense to the reader, or give any vision of the action. I'm noticing the same problem when I try to write stories. [super big sigh]

OH well maybe there is still the porn biz, or am I too old for that now? (Joking)