Random Friday

So, you might have heard of Italy’s latest earthquake. No, I didn’t feel anything this time, but I have a friend in Bologna who keeps posting on Facebook he’s scared. Another in Modena sent me an SMS on Sunday, saying her house shook really hard on the 6th floor (that’s when the first, stronger hit happened).

That particular region was less struck by the recession – before the earthquake. And as we’re not Japan, we had 4  people dead in the earthquake when a factory collapsed. Now the local industry has been hit hard, and I don’t know how they will recover.  Our politicians are still to busy to gather the last scraps of money to care. Sigh.

The weather has been crazy – cold in the morning, warm at lunch time (when it didn’t rain). Or at least that’s what it was like in Roma. Hope it didn’t rain on the earthquake region too. All this while planning my trip to Chicon7 at the end of August – still have to buy plane tickets, but I feel I’m already there.

But first June in Certaldo, not really participating to the medieval dinner, but watching again – and no, I don’t plan to dress up this time! I’m going by train, and the costume is too heavy and bothersome to drag on a train!

Besides, I might attend the New York Ren Faire again 10 years later – in 2002 I was blown away by the live tournament and look forward to seeing it again. Hey, I have a video camera now, yay! Pity for the cardboard castle in the background, but one day I’ll be in England at the right time to see Warwick Castle’s tournament!

Anyway, I’m not sure I want to drag my costume on the plane either, so I might rent one like I did 10 years ago, LOL. And in June I also hope to make it to Arezzo on a day-trip to see the Flag Weavers (it’s the only Italian tradition I’m so very fond of, LOL!) – but again, I’ll be in plain clothes as I don’t want to get on that intercity train with my costume.

I very much enjoyed Michelle’s post on blogging and where it’s headed. Like her, I consider it a weblog, not a marketing tool. Since I went “public” with WordPress (I had a few posts on my private Yahoo blog, that I copy/pasted here at the beginning of this adventure at the end of 2009), I enjoyed the interaction with other bloggers. I like discovering new blogs on the most different topics (my blogroll has changed a lot since the beginning) and feel sad when I see bloggers stop blogging because they feel they failed.

It’s like those writers who give up because nobody buys their book after 6 months to one year. And they have ONE book out. And they spam everybody with their release and then bemoan the lack of sales. It’s not a “get rich quick by jumping on the self-pub wagon”, babe! Same with blogging.  Whoever started blogging thinking he/she could make money from it, fell flat on his/her face.

So I’ll keep blogging, with a less grueling schedule because in spite of loving it, I need time to write more books. So less-but-longer posts on the blog and more titles out there. And it’s OK to be scared shitless by this brand new world of publishing. It’s OK not to have a Twitter account, not to be on Google+, not to have an agent or a publisher or to try to do things on your own.

It’s not OK to get stuck in the 20th century. Trust me, I loved that century, especially the 1980s (my long lost teens, LOL), but they’re gone, and there’s no going back. It’s a scary new  future changing too fast for most, but then – that’s life.  Don’t be afraid of success. If it’s meant to happen, it will happen! I will write a non-fiction title about my experience later this year, in case you’re interested.

In the meantime have a great weekend!