Hey! All you writers out there.
NaNo WriMo 2009 starts at 00:01 on November 1st.
Why not sign up and find out what you’re made of. Just 50,000 words in 30 days, and you’ll have a novel.
Go on – give it a go. You won’t regret it. It’s a great experience.
There’s the URL addy below. Click on it and sign up. Don’t be scared – or are you just pretending to be a writer? Go ahead and find out…
Grumps. 
NaNoWriMo is fast approaching.
Here are some of the badges for this year’s event.
Anyone wishing to take part, please visit nanowrimo.com and register. It’s a great challenge, and it’s great fun.
Grumps.
Today, September 11th, is a day of remembrance for the huge number of people who lost their lives, eight years ago and after, as a consequence of the tragedy now referred to as 9/11.
There is a current project where you can designate someone you wish to remember on your blog.
It is at http://project2996.wordpress.com
Please go and pay your own respects.
As I have no one specific to focus on, I have chosen to remember everyone who passed away on that day, and also those whose passing was more prolonged pursuant to their injuries.
I have good personal reasons to remember that day, and appreciate how precious life is. I was recovering from major heart surgery, which gave me an extension of life I would not have otherwise had.
Remembering with reverence,
Grumps.
Hi, all.
Long time no post.
But I have just found out a friend of mine, Laurel Wilczek, aka “Ravenne”, (a great writer whose name is worth noting), whom I first met online at the WVU site, has recently won $500 and top place in a writing competition.
I’m very proud to be acquainted with Ravenne, and to express my gratitude for the generosity she has shown in helping me to improve my writing too.
You can read her interview transcript at the following link:
http://editorunleashed.com/2009/07/07/flash-fiction-40-winner-laurel-wilczek/
Check it out, and then visit Laurel’s website:
http://ravenlaw.wordpress.com/
Don’t bother reading any more of my rubbish – get over to the EU site – NOW…
Grumps.
Not a lot of time to blog, as I’m preparing to move house.
If you work in a hospital, or tend the sick, please exercise patients (and patience ).
The picture shows the entrance to our Spanish cave house, which is up for sale at 82,000 Euros. Here’s a link to it:
http://www.spanish-inland-properties.com/index.php?call=propertysearch&page=details&pid=73
And here’s a link to an article in the New York Times about living in cave houses:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/realestate/keymagazine/105hscave-t.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin
Grumps.
How odd does this Amazon action seem?
Last March I ordered a book from Amazon, which they said was not available at that time, but they would send it when it did become available.
Fine – As a long-standing customer who has spent a small fortune buying books
and other items from them I realised that these things do happen – I waited.
Perhaps I should mention here that the author of the book has been tutoring my local creative writing group for the past year, so I am in personal contact with her, and sometime last year she said her publisher would be issuing a re-print, but date unknown. Fine – the book would come.
Queries to Amazon were not responded to; but, eventually, a note appeared on the book’s info page stating that it would be available from January 31st 2009. Great – a definite date – I waited, spirits aloft.
Then, on January 30th I received an apologetic email saying they were unable to locate and supply the book, and therefore cancelling my order.
I immediately checked their website. Strange to say, the book was still advertised – and available for order! Hmmm?
I went through the order process, and joy of joys, the order was accepted and I received a confirmation message to that effect. The following day I received another message to say the order had been dispatched and should arrive in a few days.
How strange is that?
I await actual delivery before querying Amazon about this sequence of events, and will update my blogs accordingly.
Has anyone else had a similar experience? I’d be interested to know.
‘Bye for now,
Grumps. 
John Updike, famous author, passed away today.
The artist brings something into the world that didn’t exist before,
and he does it without destroying something else. -John Updike, writer
(1932-2009)
A glance through the stats for my blog indicate that most of my American visitors live on the east coast.
Is this because folks on the west coast find it difficult to read my posts from where they live due to the greater distance, whereas those on the east coast, being nearer, find it easier.
Let me know if a larger font would help.
Grumps. 
 | grumps666 on A Day for Remembrance |
| grumps666 on NaNoWriMo 2009 |
| grumps666 on NaNoWriMo 2009 |
 | benning on A Day for Remembrance |
| benning on NaNoWriMo 2009 |
