Confession: I’m completely exhausted and only the thought of failing out only the second week of the Friday Confessional kept me doing it. Brianna has the flu and was up all night last night throwing up. After the second time (and second bedding change) I slept with her, nearly got barfed on the third time (and third bedding change) but after that she figured it out and managed to tell me with enough time I could get the bucket under her. I don’t either of us slept more than an hour straight at any given time. I’m just a little groggy. She had a spurt of energy for a few hours this morning but has since collapsed back to the couch and is now upstairs sound asleep. Poor thing.

I was going to post about how I think seeing other people vomit is the grossest thing ever (I’m a sympathetic puker). I worked as a nurse’s aid to put myself through college. I could deal with anything, any bodily function. Just not puke. I once discovered a body after the person had been dead for three days in the Arizona summer heat. No one but me was able to enter the apartment without a mask. I’ve dissected a number of cadavers. I can handle disgusting things. But vomit gets me. I was going to post all that and then realize there’s one thing that gets me more than vomit: maggots. I can’t handle them, not to think about, not to look at on TV, nothing. Ew ew ew ew. Now you know my weaknesses. Vomit and maggots.

Moving on!

Quick question. I’ve been using a new Firefox addon called Zemanta to help add links to my content. Some things you see (like Zemanta) are linked for me by them, just by clicking on something on my dashboard. The program will also add related content links of my choosing to the bottom of the post, have you noticed them? It does other things, but so far those are the two most useful. Oh, the “Reblog this” that you see at the bottom of the post also comes from that. What do you think? Useful or intrusive?

For Readers:

I’m sure everyone has seen this, but just in case:Harlequin is giving away 16 free books as part of their anniversary celebration. This is very cool. There’s something for everyone! You can also download them via Stanza (also very cool).

Leah (Madame Butterfly) has a rant about DRM and why one publisher has lost her business because of it. I’m not a fan of DRM from the publisher side, and Leah’s post illustrates why.

An interesting blogpost on the Kindle, what it is and how it might affect trends.

SciFiGuy lists the February 2009 paranormal, fantasy and urban fantasy releases.

Agent Nathan Bransford asked: will you ever buy mostly ebooks? Only 10% of the almost 1000 respondents said absolutely yes. I wish I knew the demographic breakdown of people voting. That would be interesting!

Twilight fans will enjoy this: Twilight done by bunnies (in 30 seconds) via Katiebabs

For Kindle owners. MakeUseOf.com tells you how to read feeds on your Kindle device for free.

In the Kitchen:
If you’ve ever had any questions about using your bread machine, you must read this post, Bread Machine Basics. I stumbled across it Googling for something and it’s an amazing source of answers for all your bread machine questions!

What do you get when you combine a pound of bacon and two pounds of sausage (besides a non-kosher heart attack?): the bacon explosion. This horrified and fascinated me so much I had to share it. via Tastespotting

How to make Skittles Vodka from tipnut.com You know you want to. Heck, I KNOW *I* want to.

For the Crafty:

Lisa begins a series of bag making for beginners. The first post is about sewing terms. Part two is choosing fabric and interfacing. I’m really excited about this series because when I sew, purses are one of my favorite things to make. I actually thought about making something and donating it to the Brenda Novak auction but that hasn’t solidified in my head.

How to make an old cupboard door into a serving tray. I love their finished product.

For Authors:

Epublishing and traditional publishing compared by an author published with both.

Agent Rachelle Gardner did some posts on the “elevator pitch”.

Agent Jessica Faust discusses the form rejection letter. It’s a fantastic post and she lists many of the reasons we use a form letter at Samhain.

Author Ilona Andrews is doing a series of one paragraph critiques. It’s interesting to see how she tears down and rebuilds each paragraph. The first one is here and she does a terrific job of relating POV to camera angle.

Anyone who’s seen my workshop on epublishing or read the articles I’ve written has heard me talk about Yog’s Law. Agent Jennifer Jackson takes this time to remind you: money flows toward the author.

For everyone:

Domino, Wondertime, Country Home and Realms of Fantasy magazines will all be shutting down or have shut down. Ouch.

Interested in politics or what President Obama has been up to? Follow the new White House blog. It’s been interesting for me, to get updates on what’s going on. I like it.

Agent Rachelle Gardner wrote a post about Twitter. She doesn’t want you to use Twitter to try and do business with her. I feel similarly. I wish I had written this post. I almost reposted the entire thing here. I might still. I like Twitter, but it’s not where I conduct business. Like Rachelle, I rarely discuss business related things there and anyone hoping for brilliance from me on Twitter is going to be sadly disappointed.

SuperBowl Sunday is this weekend (I can’t believe it’s going to be February already!) and whether you’re staying at home with just your family, having a big bash or attending one, you must check out these two posts full of delicious-looking dishes to make. The first is from Cathy at Noble Pig and oh man, did this post make me hungry! I think I’m going to try a few of those. The second is from Pioneer Woman *insert fangrrl squee* who also has a post full of dish ideas. Both posts have photos, and I dare you to go look and not drool.

Something fun: Karen Scott posts the best complaint letter ever. Ewww is all I have to say!

Picture of the week:

I’m going to give you a couple. This one, because I saw it last week and immediately marked it to use for today. The emotion of the moment is so beautiful. via Huffington Post

Then this one from Paperback Writer’s blog because, hello, who doesn’t love a picture of a cute puppy?

And from Brianna’s photos this week. This elephant is no bigger than a tennis ball but the perspective on this one makes it look much bigger. I love this picture.

Related articles by Zemanta

• What if you threw a “break-the-Kindle-DRM” party… (kindleville.blogspot.com)
• Sexy Peta Commercial Banned From Bowl (takepart.com)
• Homemade bread (momblognetwork.com)

And see the Obamas take their first presidential dance to Beyonce singing “At Last” by Etta James? Stunning, beautiful moment.

You can get the song here:

At Last

*happy sigh* It was a good day.

ETA: Link to video of their dance http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/20/the-obamas-first-inaugura_n_159522.html

Glued to the TV watching the inauguration. Just watching the excitement on TV is amazing. You can feel how the atmosphere is electric.

If you’re not near a TV, this article lists 8 online sites streaming live coverage.

Also, I’m amazed. They’re reporting that something like 20 Obama staffers are ready to head right to the White House and get to work as soon as inauguration is done because there are things that need to be addressed and a few documents Obama will need to sign immediately. Wow. I guess they’re ready.

Happy Inauguration Day. Yes we can!

Be the Change

More info about the poster on HuffingtonPost

Because he says things like this, about Proposition 8, that make my heart hurt while making me want to stand up and cheer.

I challenge you to watch it and not be moved by it.

I am…overwhelmed.

Next step: looking to the future of our country and our children. Got hope? I do.

I think I want Keith Olbermann to be my next boyfriend. It’s a clear sign of getting old that watching him give these special political commentaries, in that deep, intense voice gives me more shivers than any adult film. And any man who can use the term “madam” so mockingly…reoowwwrrr.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27287363#27287363

Or even if you are registered to vote, do you want to double check to make sure you’re all set to vote (some states have recently had thousands of people declared ineligible to vote, so you might want to double check, just to be sure).

Whether you’re a Republican, a Democrat or an Independent, please visit this site and take a few minutes to get your voter registration in place. Exercise the amazing privilege we’ve been given in this country to vote and help determine the future of our country, the future of our children!

This is a site launched by Barack Obama’s campaign, but using it doesn’t mean you’re voting for him or have to vote for him! This is just an opportunity for everyone to check their voter registration or register to vote, or get an absentee ballot.

Hey,

The Obama campaign just launched a new one-stop voter registration website called Vote for Change:

http://my.barackobama.com/vfc

You can check your registration status, register to vote, look up early-vote information for your state, apply to vote absentee, or even find your polling place.

It’s the easiest and most important thing you can do to bring the change we need. Make sure your voice is heard:

http://my.barackobama.com/vfc

Thanks — see you at the polls.

This is my brain on politics. I know you guys are used to some radio silence from me, but I’ve been having a hard time coming up with blog topics that aren’t politically related. For real, I’m consumed by this election, reading political blogs, Twittering politics and generally driving my husband insane with the latest “you know what happened today in the campaign?” every night when he comes home. Possibly he might want to start working weekends so he doesn’t have to hear me talk about politics all weekend.

Anyway, if you had any inkling of following me on Twitter, or are following me on Twitter, please be aware that I’m pretty open about my political views there. Twitter is the one place that’s not really remotely work-related. I talk so little about editing or work, you might as well not even follow me if you’re hoping for some juicy editing gossip or tidbit from me there. Occasionally, while I’m editing, I might make an off-the-cuff remark, but I’ll bet I’ve made less than five of those (of my 1100 updates). On the other hand, I’ll bet a good third to half of my Twitters have been politically inclined. So for real, especially if you’re a Republican, don’t follow me on Twitter unless you’re just that interested in what I’m having for lunch or other totally random and boring facts. For that reason, I’ve also made my Twitters private, so you have to be following me to read them. Because I wasn’t comfortable not knowing given how mouthy I am. It’s the one problem of being in a position where I can’t always say what I want. But I can assure you, I will NEVER use Twitter to spout off about inappropriate things having to do with my job. I am, after all, still capable of discretion.

Two things I’ve been thinking about this week are apologies and admitting when you’re wrong, or when the other person is right. Since Josh is a Republican, and I’m a Democrat, when we watched the debate together last night (or have watched interviews with candidates) we’re even more careful than normal, I think, to listen as objectively as possible, and give the other candidate props when it’s warranted or agree when our respective candidate has flubbed in some way.

I appreciate that about him, and I hope he does about me, the ability to apologize, admit when you’re wrong or when we’ve messed up, and move on. I also appreciate when he concedes I have a valid point in an argument, and I know he appreciates it when I do the same. It’s frustrating to debate someone or disagree with someone, have them never be able to say “you’re right” or “you make a good point”. I think it takes a balanced person to be able to do that. And if you watched the debate last night, you’ll know why that was on my mind.

But it also related to something else I was thinking on this week, about apologizing or admitting a wrong. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the people in my life who are able to say “I messed up, I shouldn’t have done that, I own that action/mistake/etc and I’ll work hard to be sure it doesn’t happen again.” Not only do I appreciate those people, but I find I admire them. It’s so hard to admit you were wrong or that you messed something up. It’s much easier to offer an excuse. But I also think the excuses can trip you up. I know for me, it’s often tempting to say “Oh, such and such happened and that’s why things got messed up”, shifting the blame to something or someone else (and there have been times I’ve done that, no matter how hard I try not to).

And okay, sometimes it IS necessary to offer that information, so the person understands where things went wrong so you can then say “this is what I’ve done to fix it, and what I’ve put in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” But for the most part, I think it’s okay, and best, to just say “I’m sorry, I messed this up.” No “but…it really wasn’t my fault, I didn’t meant to, if such-and-such hadn’t happened this wouldn’t have happened.” Just “I’m sorry, I messed up.” Try it, it’s both nerve wracking and freeing. Anyway, I was thinking about that this week, and no it’s not a pointed commentary at anything, so if you think you know exactly who/what/where I’m talking about, you’re wrong

I don’t talk much politics on my blog, because it does have a connection to my work, but if you watch my “Shared Items” on my right sidebar, you’ll see that I link to posts on some political blogs I read. Straight up, I’ll be voting for Obama, so of course my political links will be slanted there.

But I decided to make an exception to my no-post rule this time, because I’m so happy to see an ad from one of the political parties that’s not a smear campaign (they’re both guilty of that though I do think McCain’s “Obama wants to teach sex education to kindergartners was the extra step too far). Instead, this is a statement of what Obama’s campaign platforms are, something easy to follow, for those who are still politically undecided or on the fence (or still able to be swayed to the dark side ).

Please don’t start a debate with me in the comments over anything I’ve posted here. I won’t engage here, sorry! (If you want to read a thread on Palin, there’s an interesting one going on over at Karen’s blog. I barely even engaged there. I just don’t like to get too political in “public”. Like I said, I’m making an exception.)

Last, no matter what party you might vote for, please research the candidates and then go out and vote on election day. This is your future, your children’s future, the issues are important for today, but for twenty years from today, and every vote does indeed count. You have the right to complain about the path the country is taking–but if you don’t vote, you’re putting the decision of who leads us down that path in someone else’s hands. Why would you do that?