CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-25 05:36:24 (15 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Question for any of the night owls out there:

Can you look at the first two posts on this page and tell me which you prefer: With or without image?

http://rjblain.com/

Part of me likes the little banner image to give a visual cue on what the post is about, but I'm not sure if it looks ok as it is.

Your thoughts?

The world building post is a map -- once I get cover art made for the serials, these images will be the appropriate cover art banner, and so on.

Though for some, it'll just be a pretty little colored text at the top of the page... teeheeehee....

2013-05-25 02:14:42 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Oh this is very, very clever. I can't access adwords at all because they have a broken billing interstitial page.

Well played, Google. Well played.

2013-05-25 02:09:12 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

Is it bad I've been living in this house almost 2 full years and I just now figured out if I want to keep the cats out of the basement, I can close the basement door at the bottom of the stairs?

... FML.

2013-05-25 01:28:32 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Ok, I have a whole new level of respect for my domain hosting company.

I like when I'm told it isn't worth upgrading a hosting plan because the benefits received aren't going to do a whole lot -- there were a few perks, but he didn't think it'd be worth the extra money per month.

That makes me a happy customer. And I found out there was a server issue that'll prolly keep my site a bit laggy for the next few days as it is being resolved. I can live with that, I'm a patient sort.

2013-05-25 00:44:11 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Hmm, if I turn off my one domain, I can get better hosting for my main one...

#ponders

2013-05-25 00:05:54 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Anyone up for a Friday night silent writing hangout?

2013-05-25 00:04:13 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

I screw this nonsense. I'm done cleaning for a while. Husband was really happy with my progress. <3

And he bought the kitties some presents while he was out! yay kitties!

We 'celebrated' their new acquisitions by spraying them in essence of cat nip and watching them freak out.

Cats seem happy. Or high.

Either way works.

2013-05-24 23:38:39 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

If you don't hear from me in, say, an hour.... uhm, send puppies and kitties. I could use their company while cleaning.

When I'm done, I'm going to reward myself with writing and editing the living hell out of +Lisa Cohen's manuscript.

2013-05-24 22:54:01 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Well, that should surprise the husband. I shuffled the furniture in the den and cleaned it up, vacuumed, mopped it, the whole works.

My lower back is positively screaming at me.

Next up during the evening is the kitchen area. ._.

Joy. Yay. So happy.

At least the guest bedroom has been closed off except for guests, so I might have 10 minutes of work in there prepping that room.

2013-05-24 22:18:44 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

I had to take a nap because all of the cleaning (I wrote killing... I was killing clutter, but...) wore me out...

2013-05-24 21:59:19 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 15 +1s)

Why you shouldnt leave dressers open in a cat household

2013-05-24 18:20:09 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

Here's another in depth interview with a honest reader +RJ Blain . 

Have insecurities crept into your mind while writing? Do you ponder often -- What do readers want from you? 

Make sure to read these interviews that I'm conducting with professional readers and learn something about them, and perhaps bring forth some ideas for your next story


Check it out!! and let me know if you'd like to be in the next Interview.

2013-05-24 16:35:46 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

Holy freaking yay!!

After two months of fiddling, fussing, weeping, and lamenting, google finally indexed my site.

And it indexed all of my pages, too.

I wave the flag of victory high!!

Here's the story:

About a month ago, I noticed that my site wasn't indexing in google. This baffled me, kind of made me cranky, so I went about fixing it.

Turns out the theme wasn't easily readable by google. Ok, so, I change themes. I start seeing more hits on google, and got a few pages indexed.

Then I noticed that the only pages being indexed were in certain circumstances. Once again, the theme had prevented google from easily crawling my site and getting the indexes.

Cue more screaming.

I pick the simplest theme I can find. I get that running, force a crawl by google, and do some tweaking.

Last night,... more »

2013-05-24 15:49:08 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

I wrote a guest post for the lovely +AJ Maguire -- I talk about novel serialization! I had a lot of fun with this post, and I hope you all get something out of it, too! :3

2013-05-24 14:17:02 (16 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

That indie novel I was reading last night?

Killed a baby for the sake of a so-so- plot point that didn't work very well. I probably should've quit reading the book there, since that's one of the lines I don't really like crossing without good reason (and there would've been many other more effective ways to do the same thing -- and probably better ways to do it) without a public execution of a newborn.

Yea, this book and me aren't getting along so well.

I really don't want to write two back-to-back reviews of books I couldn't finish, so I'm going to stick with it and pray the book's plot actually starts going somewhere instead of being a tangle of 3-4 main characters with little to no connection to each other...

2013-05-24 04:06:37 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

I like to think I am a somewhat observant reader. I like to think that I have reasonable comprehension levels.

I can't decide if I am stupid today or if I just keep missing things in this book or if the writer assumes readers are awesome and can make sense of things mysterious.

Also, so many names with four letters I literally can't keep them straight. Short names are nice but seriously?!?!

Some variance, please.

I feel stupid trying to read this book and understand the mysteriousness.

Also, if the name isn't four letters, it's three.

Brain is implodifying.

2013-05-24 03:46:43 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

One more of our sharing of space!!

This is a good cat.

2013-05-24 03:44:55 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 12 +1s)

Kitty plus kindle equals heaven.

2013-05-24 03:34:02 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Okay, humans. I'm tired. I'm going to sleep.

No, that isn't my kindle paperwhite in my hand. What ever are you talking about?

Good night.

Tomorrow will be insane. Saturday, the thing from the United States that spawned me is coming.

2013-05-24 02:59:07 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Hello, jar of honey roasted peanuts. My mother is deathly allergic to you and you can't be in the house by tomorrow so I can air the place out.

That means I get to eat you, my little jar of joy. All 700 grams of you.

Okay, well, I can seal you away and hide you in the cupboard and tell mommy that death resides in that cupboard, and she'll avoid you, but you are delicious and I bet I could eat nothing but peanuts tomorrow.

I probably shouldn't.

But man, honey roasted peanuts, you're tasty.

2013-05-24 01:45:34 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

+Linda Dean is a prime evil. She wants me to add more content to a book that is already fairly long. She just wants me to have to cram in the extra editing work.

I'll show her!

::mumbles and goes back to writing.::

2013-05-24 00:35:05 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Psssst, lookie what I did.

It's a slightly-modified copy of the wallpaper for my cover art.

It includes the book title and acknowledgement of the lovely artist! His name is +Chris Howard, in case you didn't know.

All hail Chris!

2013-05-23 22:20:35 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Jaime's To-dos - catching up on all the things!
My list is so long I had to screenshot it twice and then Photoshop them together. >.>

We have been pretty busy with a +PureNyx Design client project this week, but it seems like it could be winding down in a good way. So, today, I'm planning on spending time working on some PureNyx projects for us, cleaning my office - maybe rearranging bits (put away the shoes!), and I'm also going to do a few creative things for Cooperosities.

+Jennifer Tourenne, +Jade Pearsall and I are going on a road trip this weekend (leaving Sat.) and I'm starting to get the packing jitters. We're not leaving for another 2 days and the worry I'm going to forget the wedding present, or directions, or something, is starting. :P

What do you have going on for your Thursday-Thursday? Anything exciting? Spill thed... more »

2013-05-23 21:18:57 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

As many of you are likely aware, I track my real words and my transcribed words on at least one project.

Here is a screenshot of the sheet I'm using.

R W / Page AVG = Real words per page average, T W / Page = Transcribed words per page (average), and W/P Differential means the difference per page between the real word count and the transcribed word count.

Total Number of Real Words: 23,396
Total Number of Transcribed Words: 32,573
Average Differential: 417 per scene

I can transcribe / edit 8,000 real written words in a day without breaking much of a sweat. Okay, so it's 14-15 hours of work, but it's not nearly as intensive as the actual original drafting.

My current process is to backlog a bunch to be transcribed then slam out a major chunk in a day. This let's me take advantage of when I'm 'in the zone' for that... more »

2013-05-23 16:59:31 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

Tia has rearranged the sheets while hunting a MOUSE.

2013-05-23 13:03:48 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

One guest post done.

Tempted to go crawl back into bed for a while with the hubby and the cats, but I suppose I'll do the responsible thing and do a little more work first.

You know, hubby didn't tell me what time to wake him up today. Huh.

He's working from home and was up to stupid o'clock, so I'll let him sleep a while. Maybe till noon.

Three hours, huh... write, or nap... write, or nap.

Oh screw this. I'm going to nap!

2013-05-23 11:24:20 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Good morning! It's 7:22 and I've staggered out of bed. I slept through my alarm, but I somehow naturally awoke at 7.

I even wandered downstairs, took the trash to the curb, all the while feeling like I was walking through a mire of molasses. I remember when being out the door at 6 was the habit. My body remembers it too, and it clearly states, "I don't like this."

But, I'm awake. Time to make something of it.

2013-05-23 05:25:55 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Well, my husband is the one pulling the all nighter now. I get to decide if I go to bed and get up or stay up and go to bed. I guess I'll play reversi, as I expect he'll crash and burn after he does the update from home in the wee hours of the morning. So, I could get up a little earlier than normal and still have the same amount of quiet time.

I could get behind this idea. Totally changes what I was originally planning to do, though.

Good night, I'm gonna go catch those zzzzzs I think, and get up real early.

2013-05-23 05:14:28 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Today's (Wednesday's) progress on the Summer Writer's Club challenge being hosted by +Book Country 

2013-05-23 04:25:28 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Arrrrrrrgggggghhhh, says Becna.

What do you mean you're working from home, asks Becna.

Becna SMASH.

2013-05-23 03:42:56 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Holy sudden thunderstorm, batman!!

Nature casts, "Create Water".
Becna rolls save versus charm. Critical fails.

::listens to the patter of rain and the rumble of angry clouds::

2013-05-23 01:41:43 (17 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

In a way, it pains me to do this. By pained, I mean, I kind of feel like the last shreds of my dignity and pride have shriveled up into a tight ball and have taken up residence with my self-esteem.

But, the reality is, facebook is a good way for authors to gain exposure and connect with readers. There are a lot of people there who enjoy fantasy novels. There are a lot of good people who enjoy learning, and reading, and all of those good things.

I want to reach out to those people, but I need your help to do that.

Do you use the book of face? If you do, here is a link to my page. I throw myself at your feet and bring with me this adorable photo of Terin you can admire, created by the super talented +Chris Howard.

Should my page actually get some where, I will find some way to thank you -- very likely with a giveaway or something of that nature once my book releases... more »

2013-05-23 00:22:30 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

My husband dropped my cat by accident and she hit her neck on something. Cat's fur stood straight up and she made a sad noise. (More upset that she'd been dropped than her neck...) so I picked her up.

Now she's just fishing for attention. Nothing wrong with this animal. She's hot, on my lap, and purring whenever I look at her.

Well played, feline. Well played.

2013-05-23 00:02:28 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

I don't know what I just made, but it was delicious.

Husband didn't bring me tacos. I raided the freezer and pantry. I found the following ingredients:

Ground Coriander, sugar, packet of taco spice, minute rice, frozen seasoned chicken breast (in strips, no breading), frozen corn.

Took wok. Heated it and some water. Dumped in chicken and corn. Cooked. Added taco spice, a teaspoon of sugar, some coriander. Cooked some more. Added minute rice. Cooked until the liquid was all but gone (I ended up with a really thick taco spice sauce-- like really thick.)

Dug through the fridge, discovered cheddar cheese. Sprinkled this over the chicken-corn-rice stuff.

Consumed.

Mouth went "Oh what is this lovely dish?!"

Becna is pleased.

2013-05-22 20:37:20 (36 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

::waves the 'wants to write a guest post' flag around::

::sets out traps involving chocolate, candy, booze, beer, and other treats.::

::waits patiently::

2013-05-22 19:55:44 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

As a random 'by the way', I like writing guest posts, and if it's on the writing or editing subject, I can talk about something all day.

Just poke me if you are interested in a guest post or something of that nature. I really like doing them.

Just saying.

2013-05-23 00:57:56 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

My Did-Done List for Wednesday!

Yesterday I didn't post a to-do list because all I did was transcribe and draft. Today, I played catch up. This is what I've done so far today!

1: Edited for +Lisa Cohen and turned in a chapter to her.
2: Uploaded the Interview with +Mark A. Sargent 
3: Wrote up and sent off interview questions for my next victim.
4: Wrote and posted Zero (Before noon! BEFORE NOON!!!!)
5: 20 minutes of cleaning
6: Fixed my Critique Circle guide post.
7: 5 pages drafted - EoG
8: 2 scenes EoG drafted (total, including the above 5 pages)

Time to get EoG drafting done! (I've already started, I'm just not reporting what I finished so far yet until I'm at a milestone!)

2013-05-22 18:28:38 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 3 +1s)

I take a break from the normal programming schedule to present to you an interview with the lovely +Mark A. Sargent! :)

~~*~~

I'm very pleased to reveal an interview with Mark A. Sargent, author of Clockwork & Old Gods.

Greetings! Thank you for swinging by to talk with me about writing and your books. I like diving right in.

RJ: Please, introduce yourself and your writing.

Mark: Thanks for having me. Let's see, introduction - My name is Mark A. Sargent. I live in Colorado where I work as an IT guy until I can afford to write full time. In February I self published my first book, and I'm in the process of writing a sequel. And because I can't resist mentioning it, my wife and I are expecting our first kid in December (yay!).

RJ: Congrats!! Your blog touches on one of my favorite things – pens. You wrote recently aboutf... more »

2013-05-22 17:28:06 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

After being taken down for updates, my post on Critique Circle is back with new and functional screenshots!

2013-05-22 16:29:42 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

An Observation about Social Media:

If you post a gif (animated), I mute the post -- usually without reading the text associated to it, if there is any. Usually there isn't any worth reading, anyway.

The constant motion gets on my nerves. Sometimes I'll watch the motion, especially if it is the "Fuck this. Fuck that." cat, but as a general rule? I've associated animated gifs with "lack of content."

I mute them. I don't tend to take the posts tied to them very seriously.

How do you feel about the use of animated gifs? Menace or Awesome?

2013-05-22 16:09:14 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

For +Book Country users, Zero has been updated to include Chapter 5 if you prefer reading there, rather than on my website. :)

2013-05-22 15:38:37 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Those in the #Montreal area should be made aware of this.

It's uncertain whether or not my house is in the zone, as there isn't an update on West Island, but I guess I'm going to boil my water anyway -- better safe than sorry, and when the peeps in MTL start calling out stuff like this, they mean serious business.

Fun stuffs!

2013-05-22 15:37:08 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

It's Wednesday, and that means it is time for an update of my #sciencefiction   #serial Zero!

Grace is back, and she's scary when she wants to be. Does Cardeth have a single hope of standing up against her?

Find out!

(Poor Cardeth, taken advantage of by all of the women.)

New readers can start their Zero adventure here: http://rjblain.com/2013/01/zero-chapter1-scene1/

If you're a little behind, you can check out the archives here: http://rjblain.com/zero-a-science-fiction-web-serial/

For those of you who prefer to read on your e-readers, you can download the e-book here: http://rjblain.com/zero-e-book-versions/

2013-05-22 06:13:59 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Holy, holy, holy, I love note taking with the kindle paperwhite. SO much more superior compared to my full keyboard model. So fast. So easy.

Okay, now that I've made that comment, I'm going to bed.

2013-05-22 05:16:35 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I found a book! I'm reading King's Mark by Stephanie Herman. Will it be any good?

Who knows. I got lazy and wanted to read so I randomly selected one.

The book that I almost bought had a funky accent on a main character's name and I couldn't cope with it. Which is sad, because the concept looked intriguing.

Apparently, funky accents in main character names turns me off.

2013-05-22 05:06:18 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Note to self: There is a lot of smut in the fantasy section in amazon.

Geeze.

2013-05-22 05:02:09 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

An observation of my book-shopping habits on Amazon:

Click to Fantasy. Start eyeballing covers.

"On my shelf, don't feel like it." "On my shelf, don't feel like it." "That whole series, on my shelf, not in the mood." "Oh, I've read that." "That too."

Hrm, does this mean I've stepped into the category of Fantasy buff for realz?!

Geeze.

::keeps clicking::

Oooh, that's new. Cover sucks. Next. Hmm. Also knew, title is boring.

Meh, don't like that author...

... click, click, click...

2013-05-22 04:54:56 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

::browses Amazon for a new book...::

2013-05-22 04:31:54 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Obviously there is something seriously wrong with me.

11,301 is enough for one project for one day. I mean, really. Seriously. It is enough.

I counted my words, updated my transcription list file, and stretched.

At some point in this process, I opened Zero and started to see where I was so I could continue working on that.

Hey, Becna.

Yea, you. Crazy girl with a sketch avatar.

You can stop writing now.

No, really. You can. Don't look at me like that. I'm being serious.

The creativity will be there tomorrow, too.

Don't call me a liar, you sketched wench!

Oh, fine. You win. We'll go play with the tied-up, bound, and trussed Cardeth, then. Have it your way.

Insufferable bitch.

2013-05-22 04:07:47 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Happy joy joy! 11,301!

Wait, why is the next page blank? Oh noes, I transcribed all 37 pages?!

Well, pooh! I need to go write some more then, don't I?