Drunken Owls and Other Delights

So the noise around LJ Land is that everyone's migrating over to Dreamwidth. Not entirely sure of the reasons why, not that I've really paid much attention to the ownership goings-on here on this platform.

As you may remember, Bob, I used to have a Dreamwidth account maybe 3-4 years ago. I even used it for a personal project of writing weekly poetry. But once I stopped that project, that journal gathered dust until a year ago when I decided to save the work I'd done in Word format and close it down.

[Edit: Looking at past posts, it's more like 6-7 years ago! I was posting the poetry around 2010-11.]

I'm undecided if I want to take the same route right now. I've been using LJ since 2004 and have a permanent account. Obviously I still use it, mainly for personal, non-music, non-writing related blog entries. I so rarely get a response, not that it bothers me. [OK, in a way it's kind of sad that I don't, considering that back in the day this platform got a lot of traffic. But that's another entry entirely.] I still read my Friends Feed, which at this point is probably the same eight or nine people I know who still post here. A. closed hers down a few weeks ago, having realized she hadn't posted anything for years. I wouldn't necessarily feel too bad about doing the same, considering I've more than gotten my money's worth for it.

At this point, I already have two WordPress blogs going, which have been getting more attention than the LJ over the last few years. If I did rejoin Dreamwidth, it would be to post the same thing -- more personal entries. I'd backup these entries and close this one down.

But at this point, like I said -- still up in the air.

We shall see.

If anyone asks me how 2011 was for me, I'd really have to think about how I'd answer that. The short version is that I'd say it was a pretty good albeit stressful year. The slightly longer version? Personally, I think I've made some life decisions that were for the better (going to the Y, eating better, etc.). Creatively I got quite a bit done (the revision of A Division of Souls is about halfway done, and I've mapped out most of 1984 in Walk in Silence and also established a few contacts for said project), with room for more improvement. Workwise, well...I'll just say 'stressful but I'm dealing with it' and leave it at that. So yeah, I think for the most part the year was good to me.

Online
I've really been thinking more about what I want to do with my "official" website (the WordPress one), and I have a few ideas. It's still in embryonic stage and I probably have one other reader aside from myself at the moment, but I have some good ideas of what I'd like to do with it in the new year. One of the things I was thinking about while off the radar is how serious I'd like my online footprint to be...I of course have my LJ, Facebook, Twitter, Dreamwidth, and Google+ accounts (and others that I keep forgetting about, of course), and it is fun to pop on and talk with coworkers and friends on those sites, but as a writer I don't have much to show professionally. I have a few excerpts at the WordPress site, and a few long RTS posts that are here at LJ (plus the older versions of the Bridgetown Trilogy at its own LJ), but nothing much else. I'm thinking that starting in the new year, I'll be posting my more serious writing over there and keeping the LJ for more personal and lightweight things. I'm also thinking of using LJ as a daily/weekly aggregator of links to my various writings--this makes sense as I can then have the link post mirrored at Twitter and Facebook.

Writing
As mentioned above and in previous posts, I spent most of this year revising A Division of Souls and not much else aside from Walk in Silence prep work and a bunch of poetry. I think that 2012 should contain at least one NEW project, though I'm not sure what yet. It could be one of the backburner ideas (I'm thinking either Angela Death or Can't Find My Way Home, or work on the next Eden Cycle story/stories, or perhaps even something completely new), just to keep the creative juices flowing. If anything, I proved to myself that I can multitask projects if I manage my time correctly. In addition to that, during the next year I should also make some serious submissions. Part of that decision is tied in with the SFWC, in that I will be talking with a few agents/publishers about the two major projects I want to push: the Bridgetown Trilogy and Walk in Silence. I would also like to look into submitting some poetry to various places, as I know I have more than enough that are worthy of submission.

Music
The next year should also be creative musically. The last bit of new music I recorded had to be the next-to-last jeb! session back in 2005, six years ago. I've been picking up my guitar, bass and uke off and on over the past year, and I think it's time for me to start recording some of it. I have the software for it, I just need to sit down and do it. I'm not sure where I'll post it, but I think it's time. I may even do what all other old musicians are doing nowadays and do some rerecordings of Flying Bohemians tunes. Music has always been part of what I am, and I think it's time to share some of it.


So I'm pretty much coasting for the last week of this year...I'll be writing and whatnot, but I won't be too worried if I don't get much done. It's been a long year, and I'm just going to treat this last week as a Christmas vacation of sorts. I'll be posting my Best of 2011 list sometime over the next few days (which of course will include videos again) and adjusting my writing schedule to fit some of the new changes.

Hope everyone has a great holiday season!

I have Dreamwidth codes if anyone wants them--I have eight to go to a good home. Comment here if you'd like one! :)

So not only did I forget about posting every Wednesday at my writing block, I completely forgot to write a poem at my Dreamwidth blog! Further proof that I desperately need to make deadlines for myself, or I'm never going to get anything done.

Okay, to be fair, I didn't post anything Sunday because I had a busy weekend--between going to the Symphony on Saturday night, going to the opera Sunday afternoon, and watching football and doing other things once I got home, I simply forgot about it. Not bad, considering I've written fourteen poems there every Sunday and only barely missed it once.

Tomorrow, if we're both up to it, we may head down to Target and buy random things (we need more Christmas wrapping, as the rolls I snagged at World Market last weekend are almost out already), and one of the things I had thought of was a marker board and a corkboard. The corkboard I'd put near the door, next to the calendar, as that'll be where the bills, coming attractions and whatnot can be placed (instead of on my desk). The marker board? Well, I'm thinking of looking for one similar to the one I had down in the Belfry for a few years...one that has a blank calendar template. As stated above, I'm thinking my 2011 goals are doable but I need to give them a deadline, or else they'll never get done. That worked pretty well with the trilogy for the most part, so I'd like to give that a try and see where it goes.


Speaking of which, I've been disgustingly lazy and not done any writing work since Saturday. THAT WILL BE RECTIFIED TOMORROW!