Chrissy Munder's Blog, page 49

Forget the bucket list. Start with 20 Life Skills to Learn Instead of Watching TV

Found this article during one of my procrastination breaks while editing. Love it to pieces. Number 1 on the list? Learn Basic First Aid. It also gave me the link to a new, fun blog: Unf**k Your Habitat

Posted on April 2, 2014 by SuperheroYou

Taken from the post: "How many hours a day do you spend watching TV? The average American watches 5 hours of TV a day – that’s nearly 2,000 hours a year! While some television programs are educational, most aren’t improving your superhero mind or physique. In fact, all that sitting is killing us – especially since we sit at the office and on our commute, too. But don’t let your unproductive hours on the couch become your Achilles heel. You never see Batman watching TV – he is always studying and working in the Batcave. Stop complaining that you don’t have any time and learn a useful skill with your extra 2,000 hours a year. Most of these skills will take even less time!"

Click to read the rest of the article

Best Quote so far from #RT2014

Can you believe a Tweet brought me to tears?

"They had the courage to imagine a happier ending for me than I had for myself" @chrisricewriter on MM romance (many written by women) #RT14

        — Susan Lee (@SusanYLee) May 16, 2014

Notebook Porn! In search of the perfect notebook

Hang around me long enough and you'll soon learn about my addiction to office supplies. Pens! Pretty Papers! Notebooks! Colored Stickies! Dangle any of those in front of me and watch me start to twitch. Usually when I start jonesing for a fix I head for the nearest OFT (office supply temple) and wander about oohing, aahing, and fondling the paper goods until I find something I can't live without. Surprisingly, other than a few forays to Amazon's overwhelming selection I've not explored my addiction for pretty notebooks (floral covers! elastic bandy thingies! peacock colors!) via the online world.

Until today.

Today I learned there are entire websites and blogs devoted to the enjoyment of notebooks. Yeah, I'm twitching right now. It ain't pretty. Be happy you can't see me. The world might think there's nothing as heated as the Star Wars versus Star Trek debate, but they've not experienced the ferocity of a Moleskin aficionado when challenged.

Like any good addict, I'm willing to share a few of my new favorite web hangouts:

check out ths post via Unclutterer listing 35 (!!!) types of luxury notebooks
that article is also where I found the link to Notebook Stories - my new favorite blog (check out those tags!)
via The Pencils Blog - here are 5 notebook blogs you don't want to miss
forget Goodreads, spend your time at Black Cover.net and read their notebook reviews to find your soulmate
and how about the 17, 429 results on Zazzle.com when I searched for Pretty Notebooks
Do you love pretty notebooks? Have an old favorite you can't do without? Come share in this safe place with your fellow office supply addicts. 

Top 10 Funniest Books according to the British

What do my UK Friends think? Courtesy of @AbeBooks Top 10 Funniest Books According to the British http://t.co/BCp5Fez9eE

— Chrissy Munder (@ChrissyMunder) April 29, 2014

Best explaination of Dialogue Tags EVER. With donuts.

Many people laugh when they read writing advice that tells them a dialogue tag is invisible to most readers. But I'm living proof that's true. In fact, dialogue tags were so invisible to me that when I first starting writing I had no clue what they were or how to use them. Matter of fact, like most grammar-related items, I could still use some help.

But I weep no more for my dialogue tag ignorance. Found on twitter this morning, courtesy of @taralain via @empetrova here is EM's blog post to help me out. Yes, I'm posting this all across my outlets, but dang, it's because it's donuts, wait, no, (well, kinda) it's because it's a great explaination on how to properly use dialgue tags in every circumstance.

Today we’re tackling punctuation–groan–in dialogue! Read on for the fun! No, really. I’m going to make it fun ...

(yes, she really does - click on her opening text to read more)

How did you spend your morning?

Spending the am Live Chatting w/Amazon Kindle Help. My beautiful crossdevice shared Cloud Collections I loved so much disappeared. :(

— Chrissy Munder (@ChrissyMunder) March 25, 2014

OH NOZ!! Not the dreaded factory reset .. whimper ...

— Chrissy Munder (@ChrissyMunder) March 25, 2014

And still no cloud collections .... back to the Amazon troubleshooting flow sheet

— Chrissy Munder (@ChrissyMunder) March 25, 2014

Go figure. One of the few PW users who wasn't taking flame and pitchfork to Amazon's door and now the feature doesn't work for me.

— Chrissy Munder (@ChrissyMunder) March 25, 2014

back on hold ... jeopardy music playing in the background of my mind ...

— Chrissy Munder (@ChrissyMunder) March 25, 2014

and now my coffee cup is empty *is sad*

— Chrissy Munder (@ChrissyMunder) March 25, 2014

oooooh! being passed off to the Technical Team. I have disappointed my Amazon Customer Help Rep.

— Chrissy Munder (@ChrissyMunder) March 25, 2014

This means a phone call from Amazon. which came quickly. Except - they connected me to wrong department ... xferring me now.

— Chrissy Munder (@ChrissyMunder) March 25, 2014

back on hold. time for more mental jeopardy music. and ooh, look! more coffee.

— Chrissy Munder (@ChrissyMunder) March 25, 2014

It's a bad new/good news kind of thing. Bad news - The Tech rep has no clue what's going on and what happened to my cross device collections

— Chrissy Munder (@ChrissyMunder) March 25, 2014

The good news? I've been on hold so long that when she wanted me to do ANOTHER factory reset the collections were back! *fist pump*

— Chrissy Munder (@ChrissyMunder) March 25, 2014

And so the live tweet of my Amazon Tech Help experience ends/Thank you for keeping me amused/We now return to our regularly scheduled day :)

— Chrissy Munder (@ChrissyMunder) March 25, 2014

The Oxford Comma debate - where do you stand?

I came across this video over at the Passive Voice Blog and thought it well worth sharing. With an international group of LJ friends, I'm curious - where do you stand on the Oxford, or Serial  Comma?

Back in Limited Release .... Me!

Hey there! I missed you all so much. :) Really. But I'm back, albeit in a limited fashion, and blech! there's so much to do and catch up on. Y'all were busy!. The end of 2013/beginning of 2014 was an interesting time. Not only with the extreme weather (why yes, we were part of the % that lost power over the holidays and didn't have it restored for over a week - hopefully, you weren't!), but I gave in and finally had a series of eye surgeries I'd been putting off the last couple of years, and  the main portion of my backlist's contracts expired. Decisions need to be made and links across the web need to updated, removed, and just generally tweaked. (twerked?)  It's going to be a s-l-o-w process, so please, bear with me.

This seems like a good opportunity to try some new things with my website and blog  New realities mean my fondness for pale, watercolored, and whispy work against me. So I'm punching things up with color and contrast to make life easier. I'll be trying a few different themes to figure out what is best over the next month or so. Let me know what you think!

Change, while a real pain in the butt, offers new opportunities and uncertanties which fuel the creative process. I'm excited to see where this will lead me and hope you are too.

{{hugs}}

My first translation! The Reason for the Season turns Japanese.

(Now, I just need a reason to post a clip of Wall of Voodoo's Mexican Radio ....)

I'll be missing you ...

The internet offers many amazing opportunities and windows into worlds we never dreamed, but sometimes, the windows close for a bit. Life without the 'Net? Can you imagine?

October is one of my favorite months, and this year the Munder household is gearing up for a wild one. Don't fret if you don't see me around the web; go out and enjoy the Autumn beauty. Take a walk on a leaf-covered lane, watch the stars fill the night sky, feel the whip of the wind across the big lake, and enjoy the mist as it rises over the mountains.

When our window opens again we'll have plenty to share. See you in 2014!!

Photo courtesy of Clover Autrey via the Wana Flikr Commons