A New Semester At Last

The long summer break is over and I'm back at it at Evergreen.  I'm taking Russia and Eurasia.  Both my classmates and my instructors seem really into the topic and are excited about all the possibilities the coming three quarters will provide.  We're slated to take a couple of field trips over the fall quarter, one to a monastery where Greek Orthodox Nuns create traditional Russian (Russ) religious icons.  There, we will dine on all things Greek, after a full tour and an opportunity to witness the nuns "write" Icons.  They say "write" and not "paint."  I'm not sure why, but imagine all will be made clear--in time.  Later, we'll visit La-push (yes, the place where the bare chested youngsters are said to erupt into full wolf-mode). I'll see if I can get any video of that for my Twilight friends.  Not sure if we'll make it into Sparkles-ville, but am hopeful.

Later this week, I pick up a webcam I purchased.  I'm going to be playing around with video for the site.  I worry that it's true what they say:  the camera adds ten pounds. In that case: I'm sunk :)  Anymore, more to come.  Thanks for all the support and feedback.

Saturday At Hugo House

I listened to the Ann Carey mix-tape on-my-way-in to Hugo House this morning.  I couldn't find a track I didn't love.  Last night was also the Ann Carey Birthday Extravaganza at the historic Sorrento hotel.  The hotel has been featured on America's Most Haunted and I was looking forward to a potential ghost encounter.  I encountered spirits, but they were all at the bar.  Ann and Alison looked great and were absolutely sparkling.  The views, conversation, entertainment and food were fantastic.  I could almost wave to some of my former clients at the King County Jail. 

This night is going to have to appear in my writing someplace.  What a wonderful evening.

100 Day Writing Challenge

Today I joined Angela Booth in the 100 Day Writing Challenge  From now until January 1, 2011, I will be working towards some writing goals that I've set for myself.  The end result:  consistent writing and a good frame-work for my graduate school application prose.  Anyone care to join me?

Bits and Pieces

The bits and pieces of the website are starting to come together.  For the past few weeks I've been spending considerable time trying to get the website to a state of readiness--and all this before the start of fall-quarter at Evergreen, where I'll be immersing myself in Russian history, political thought and  popular culture.  This three-quarter-program will finish my time at Evergreen and take me through to graduation in the Spring.  Anyway, take a look at the website: Bludogwriter and tell me what you think of it.  I'm open to all suggestions.  More content is on the way.

The Importance of Being Earnest about Saving

We've all been there: that place where you've just completed a project and are ready to sit back and admire all of your hard work. Then, without warning of any kind, you lose whatever you've been working on because you haven't saved it. Or, your computer crashes (who hasn't had this experience?) and leaves you with nothing. In that case, saving to a drive that no longer works or is inaccessible, won't save you or your data.

The solution is a backup separate of your computer, in conjunction with a power backup. I also save certain, larger files, to disk, on top of exporting them to my data protection service of choice: Carbonite.com

It's not a life-altering experience to have to recreate a sentence-or-two, but a page, a document, etc. can set you back and disrupt your ability to stay focused on your writing. You can now purchase portable hard-drives to create on-site backups, but I do recommend something like Carbonite to supplement that.

You can also adjust your word processor settings to save more often. The default setting for most word processors is to save at ten or fifteen minute intervals. Depending on fast you write, ten or fifteen minutes can involve a lot of lost prose. I've adjusted my settings to save every minute. Sometimes this slows things down, but I know that I'm not going to lose bits-and-pieces of my writing for want of a saving my work.

The Birth of a Website

So, I've been working on the website Bluedogwriter for several weeks and it's finally taking shape.  I've even dabbled into the world of podcasting, and have posted my first podcast on the front page of the site.  Now, I'm getting back into serious writing and preparing for the upcoming quarter.  I've got assignments due with the Writer's Bureau, and need to get cracking with those.  Who knew that the world-wide web could suck a person in so deeply?

Now, I'm sitting here surrounded by the stacks of the Zapp Archive and my Outreach Intern Graham aka: Zapp Shift-Leader works on his end-of-the quarter art project.  He's busily outlining (in black pen) a poem he's written that he calls:  Lake City.  You can see Graham's art project in all its glory at the Hugo House on October 14th.  Details will or are (not sure which) posted on the Hugo House website.