Keeping a Journal - probably most of us have attempted it, with varying degrees of success. A journal is so different from a blog. Like a blog, it may have a theme, but it has more intense focus and is entirely private. We start journals with the fervor of New Year's Resolutions. And, most of us stumble. The demands of the journal loom larger than the time on the clock. The day's priorities shift. The grand plan sinks under the weight of the reality of a congested and busy day.

I was recently asked by someone relatively new to my blog who I work for since she thought I had some sort of writing/editing job somewhere. Which is comparable to the number of times I have been asked whether or not I freelance write for a living. My response is always the same; full body laughter.

If you live in the United States, protecting your creative output just became easier. Today, the US Copyright Office unveiled a new online system, eCO, for registering copyrights. Users can fill out a registration application, pay the registration fee, and upload copies of the work being registered. A Powerpoint tutorial, tip sheet (.pdf) and list of frequently asked questions are available to help newcomers through the process.

I went with my offspring last night to see the movie "Wanted" with James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, and Morgan Freeman. In it a young man is beaten repeatedly when he fails to give an acceptable response to the question "why are you here?"

I wrote my first play in the third grade sitting cross-legged on the top bunk with a yellow tablet in my lap, hollering at my sister to leave the room so I could 'get the words out in peace'. That night, my father, a gifted writer albeit a sentence contortionist, began quiet coaching. Lesson Number One: To write, one must read. Perhaps this is why, in the midst of my own writing doldrums (ha!

Hat tip to Backpacker's for the link to this post on Gridskipper: 10 Reasons Why Your Travel Blog Sucks.You'll need a thick skin to get through this, but sadly, a lot of what this snarky - and downright mean - post says is true. Read between the lines for real advice on how to improve your travel blog. For the record, item 8? I could NOT agree more. I hate that.

Cross Posted At Megan's Minute I'm baaaaaaaack! It's a New Year, a new day and today Megan's Minute is all about words. Yesterday I read this Reuters article via MSNBC.com about a "surge" of cliches that used to be "sweet" and "awesome" but which are now a "perfect storm" of bad "wordsmithing." An excerpt: "Choosing from among 2,000 submissions, the public relations department at Michigan's Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie targeted 19 affronts to the English language in its well-known jab at the worlds of media, sports, advertising and politics. The contributors gave first prize to the phrase "a perfect storm," saying it was numbingly applied to virtually any notable coincidence" The complete list includes "under the bus," "back in the day," "it is what it is," and "give back." Though I agreed with most of the words on the university's list I have to admit a special fondness for the word "awesome" and the phrase "thrown under the bus." But the university's list got me thinking and I came up with some phrases I'd like to add to the their list:

Truly fifteen years ago, after writing poetry and fiction most of my life, I stopped. There we many reasons at the time—all of which made sense—but the one that I did not consciously understand then, which I see so clearly now, was that I was afraid. I was afraid of my own voice, afraid of what I might say, and afraid I might—because I had had some true success-be heard. And so I stopped writing poems and stories, wrote only articles and essays, instead, and then, not many years later, left writing to work in technology.

Due to an unexpected workload spike in my job I've found myself with very little time on my hands for reading recently. Also related to the workload spike is the fact that I am out of book money for the month due to the fact that I had to pay someone to unknot me (ok, not just anyone but a registered massage therapist). I've had less time to write which makes me grouchy because after having shuffled my blogs to the back-burner for the last couple of months due to relocating to a new city and well, just life, I was getting back into the swing of it again. This all means that that I have a serious case of the "I wants". I want a day (or five) to sit and read. I want to be able to write when the muse strikes me. I want to run down the store or hop online and do some book shopping. But I can't. But I can read blogs.

Hurricane Dean is thrashing Jamaica. Courageous firefighters lost their life in a raging blaze near Ground Zero. The news is full of scary events, full of murder and mayhem and politicians pounding their chests. But life goes on, surprises us, delights us, hands us moments mundane, precious, even in the midst of the most unsettling news.

A Hopi kachina watches my computer screen from over my right shoulder. He wears a sanded leather loincloth over ochre skin, collar and cuffs of soft maple rabbit. He stands two-feet high, but he feels as tall as a man. His protruding eyes burn my back, transmit an ancient message of sure-footed joy. You will dance and you will like it, he mutters. You will run and you will jump.

Our bodies are amazing things. Mine has a particularly special talent - it can tie itself in knots. At the moment I am one big honking knot from my shoulders to the base of my skull. So I'm doing my best to move at little as possible until I have a nice visit from an RMT who will do her best to untie me. Wish us both luck! So what better to do than do some BlogHer books blogroll surfing?