"It's Monday!" she says, the sarcasm evident for all but the unusually dense. "Are you ready to rumble?"

*chewing her lower lip, she wonders if she can use that last phrase without paying a huge licensing fee...considers using a strikeout replacement like all the cool bloggers do...decides not to go to the effort*

Enough of that, eh?

Last week was an odd one, what with two days off from the day job, dinner out nearly every night due to celebrations and just weird schedules, and my rather scattered brain flitting from thing to thing going "Ooo...shiny!" approximately every hour or so. Despite all of that, I managed to get all of my serial scenes done, *and* I also finally finished the erotica novelette that was supposed to top out around 8k words (it ended up being nearly 15k...so almost double). Yay! It's in the very capable hands of my editor at the moment, so this week, I get to start a new story. Not much makes me happier than starting new stories and finishing others...

I've also chosen the stories for the newest Rattles anthology, so if you're a fan of short fiction, be watching for the new anthology on February 3rd. For writers, if you write flash (or want to start), I'll be posting a new prompt tonight on the Rattles blog, submissions will be due on March 16th for an April release.

I didn't quite get to formatting the Flash 52 book (had Rattles and Smurf stuff to do this weekend), but I'm going to start formatting that tomorrow night, and the plan is to have it published by Friday.

This week, more of the same: serial scenes, some Rattles business stuff and formatting, more bookkeeping catch-up, and more work on organizing my various collections (because it's important to have fun too, dang it!). I've decided to delete my organizing blog, because honestly (and ironically), I'll be more organized without having to worry about that.

So that's the run down - I know I've been slacking on email newsletters lately, but as soon as I get the next few things out, I'll get one of those done too. With any luck, that will go out in February.

Despite my lack of enthusiasm for the day, I hope yours is off to a good start, and that it goes by quickly & productively for all of us...

There are a lot of web sites blacked out today...a big protest against the government’s (or should we just say Hollywood's, since they're the major backers?) proposed answer to fighting online piracy. As far as I’m concerned, these two laws will be just as effective as DRM (that’s “digital rights management” for books) – they’ll punish more honest people than they will thwart piracy. And the pirates will find ways around it anyway – any computer or network programmer will tell you that.

Censorship is never the answer to any problem, in my opinion. Whether it’s people telling us what we can read, or what kind of music we can listen to, or what web sites we can visit – it never actually stops the people who want that information from getting it. In fact, it usually just makes them want it more, and do whatever it takes to get it. The people who want it bad enough will find a way, and those who are willing to abide by the rules are screwed out of the freedom to make their own choices.

How do we deal with internet piracy? I don’t have a clue...and I have to be honest, I’m just not all that worried about it. Yes, people pirate my books. No, I don’t lose any sleep over it. Those people wouldn’t buy a copy anyway, in my opinion. I’m well aware that plenty of people disagree with me, and that’s fine. Those of you who feel strongly about it are welcome to find a solution, if you can...

...as long as that solution doesn’t impede my ability to view whatever web site I want to visit, and allows me to link to other web sites without fearing that my site will be shut down due to the other site’s behaviors or links.

Obviously, I’m not blacking out my site(s) today. Because it would be hypocritical of me to limit your ability to view content while protesting laws that would do exactly that (I understand the logic of doing just that, I just don’t necessarily agree w/it). I’m not going offline either – I work on the web, it’s my “home”, so to speak, and going offline to make a point about having access to things online also seems a bit backwards. I will, however, be basing at least a portion of my voting decisions this year based on how the legislators from my state act/react to SOPA/PIPA, and I’m doing something I almost never do and sharing a political opinion in public.

I am closing the comments today – if you have an opinion, by all means, write it up, and post it in your online space.

For more information about these laws, Google has a fairly straight-forward run down here, or do a search (yes, you can still search Google), and you’ll find a plethora of articles about the issue. 

Thanks for indulging me. *steps off soapbox*

Week 3 Prompt: A one-hundred dollar bill is crumpled and lying in a stone planter outside a restaurant door, half-hidden by the sculpted juniper bushes growing there. Many people pass by, and then someone sits on the edge of the planter, and discovers the money. When the finder straightens the bill, something is written on it...

It’s 7 degrees (f) out this morning, but I’m cozy on my couch, thanking MLK Jr. for the day off. Of course I still have plenty to do – namely all of the bookkeeping for my book business that I’ve been putting off for months now. Yes, folks, I suck at bookkeeping – not the actual keeping of the books (thank you, Quickbooks), but just getting it done. It’s one of the few areas I torture myself with on a regular basis by putting it off until the job is so huge it takes far longer than it should. If I do nothing else this year, I really need to take a couple hours every month to get my books up to date so I don’t face this oh-so-daunting task again. But first, I get to play catch up...

In other news, as you can see above I have the cover art (very cool, isn't it!) for Flash 52, the book of prompts I wrote to go with this year-long challenge. Which means whenever I get the book formatted, I can release it. I was going to do that over this long weekend, but haven’t quite gotten to it, so next weekend is looking better. Getting closer though!

Speaking of flash, last week’s piece is posted at my alter-ego’s blog, due to the somewhat graphic nature of it. You can swing by over there to check it out if you’re interested. Looking at this week’s prompt, I dare say this week’s story will be fine to post here again.

Tomorrow is my birthday – I’ll be 37. I always take my birthday off from the day job, so I’ll be sleeping in, reading an MS from a friend that I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting for, writing, and working on cataloging my collections. It’s going to be a good day doing things I love, and I can’t think of a better way to mark another year.

As you can see, I haven’t done anything with the web site/blog...and I probably won’t for awhile. They need a change, for sure, need a little sprucing up, but it will wait.

That’s pretty much all the news I have for this week (so far, anyway). Anything fun going on in your world today?