Another Not Return

Hi. 

It's been a while. I don't know if you're aware of this, but this blog hasn't been updated since 2017, and that was just to say that I'm moving to a new blog. 

After hearing that, it might surprise you to learn that this blog has reached 517 people in the past few months. 

If you're here looking for me, then you've not found me. And if you're reading that other Not Return post, then you've not found me either. I've been away for a bit. Stuff was happening. I was organizing. Work was being done. Etc. 

Anyway, I'm back to work. Back to blogging, that is. This is where I'm at now:

karaboureview.blogspot.com

If you're on this blog, it's probably because of my review posts. That blog has book, film, and TV show reviews, rants, and thorough dissections (which can be helpful for school assignments). There's not much posted, yet, because I'm reformatting the entire thing. That said, there will be soon. 

So, head on over there and follow that one. 

A new, more formal dissection of Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? is in the works, which is probably good news for some of you because that post receives a puzzling amount of views. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

The Not Return

Hello to anyone still popping into this blog!

(Side note: why are people still visiting this? It's been dormant for ages now and some of these posts still show up on page two of Google for reasons I don't quite understand. Anyway ...)

This is not a return to this blog. However, this is me letting everyone know that I have FINALLY started a review journal again! I have also started a blog for writing prompts!

If you're still reading reviews here, check out the new ones over here:

inkishreview.blogspot.com

And find writing prompts here:

inkishwriter.blogspot.com


I hope all of you are well!

Cheers,

Kara

Blog Update Post 2!

Over the next few days, as I prepare material for the new blog and begin the process of closing this one down, you'll probably notice a few changes. For example: the background is likely to go a bit wonky. Columns may move around. There may be header pictures. New boxes may appear, just as old boxes may disappear. Text styles may change. Colors may shift. And other stuff of a similar nature may change, because I am testing out Blogger features and figuring out what the new blog is going to look like. Enjoy watching the strange alterations, because this is probably the only time you'll see stuff like this happening on my blogs.

Anyway, on another note, the new blog isn't launched, yet. In fact, on my profile, it doesn't even say I have another blog, yet.

Why is this?

Well, the answer is quite simple. I cannot decide on a name. (There's going to be an interesting post on this in the new blog because, while searching for a name, I ran across something I wrote a long time ago and about went into hysterics. Is it weird to be slightly jealous of yourself? Probably, but let's not go there.)

I've been trying out various ideas and, thus far, none of them have really stuck with me. The one name I thought I genuinely liked is already taken, but I'm kind of over that name now anyway. For a while, I even thought that I might just rename this blog and take my name here with me, but that's a lot of tagged posts to clean up, many names in posts and on the blog to replace, and several pictures to dispose of. Plus, I'm not actually deleting this blog. I'm just shutting it down. So, I'd rather keep the name belonging to this blog on this blog. That way I can reference back from the new blog effectively.

Any ideas for a new name? Just kidding. I'll figure it out... eventually.

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Also, I just realized that I forgot to mention: I am staying here on Blogger for the time being. If I'm honest, I love Blogger. This site has been a wonderful blogging platform thus far, and I would like to continue using their services because of that.

Blog Update Post!

Hi!

So, funny story:

I didn't post yesterday... because I thought it was Sunday. Turns out, my younger brother had one more day off of school than I originally believed. That's the reason I didn't post. However, that is not what concerns me most. What concerns me most is that I am now, apparently, relying on my brother's school schedule to keep me up to date on how many days have passed since whenever I did whatever I was doing that was meant to be repeated on the same day, in the following week. The funny part is, even after that realization and my concern, I'm not entirely sure that I'm going to stop referencing his schedule in order to figure out what day it is.

Cheers to another occurrence in which I learned not much at all!


Anyway, on another, hopefully more interesting note...


Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday!

It's 2012. I still find that a little bit hard to believe but, alas, it's true. The cool thing is, thus far, I haven't messed up and signed the wrong date to anything, yet. I'm not completely sure that counts as cool, though, since I actually haven't signed a date to anything yet this year. Probably not.

Also, I have some possible news.

Over the past few weeks, I've been mulling over a lot of those big "life" sort of questions in my head. And, naturally, that means my thoughts have been relatively chaotic. I'm not going to go over most of those thoughts here because they either aren't relevant, or they're still in the process of being thought up.

One thing I am going to share, though, is that there's a pretty big chance I'm going to be moving blogs.* Lately, I've realized that I have kind of locked myself in to a particular kind of blog here. And, while that isn't necessarily a bad thing, I'm having some difficulties with that. Now, I know, it's my blog and I can change the angle if I want to... or so it would seem. The thing is, my realizations always start out that straight forward, and then I complicate things. But let's stay focused on the idea of moving, and let's take a moment to give you a bit of proper reasoning.

Reasons I'm Thinking of Moving:

1. I want to expand on the topics covered here and I want to schedule the topics to particular days so that I can make sure that you don't receive five music recommendations in a month and not much else, or two book reviews and three posts on books I want to buy or whatever. 
1. In the Fall - or possibly the Spring - I'm going back to school for new stuff. I haven't actually decided on my major, yet, but if I like it, I'm going to want to talk about it. So, that will probably get its own day, too.
2. There's another point that's getting it's own proper bullet... 
2. I want to be more organized. If I'm being completely honest, this blog has been driving me crazy for months. I want to start again, kind of like moving house, and keep things neater.
3. Due to the fact that I am going back to school soon, I need to start producing a decent income rather soon. That may seem to be a bit irrelevant to this post, but there's actually decent money to be made in blogging. 
1. I started this blog for fun and I thought maybe I would update it on occasion with cool stuff. But, over all, I mostly figured I would get bored with it quickly. As it turns out, I rather enjoy blogging. And, as for the readers, I think you're all great and I don't really want to just ditch this.
2. Because blogging does take up a lot of my time, though, I need to consider turning it into something that I can make a little bit of a living at. Otherwise, when I get a full time job, this will get shoved to the side and it'll be sporadic updates at best. 
3. To make money at this, I actually have to create a clean, resourceful, and entertaining blog that stays on a proper schedule *cough* unlike the schedule I am currently not exactly running smoothly *cough*.
4. Lately, I've really been feeling the urge to dive into my planned out career and start making it work. With that idea in mind, I would like to take up a new blog and eventually tie it in with what I'm doing in life. Not all of my life will be covered, obviously, but it would be fun to start sharing a bit more of what I actually do and to make blogging a bit more of what I'm actually doing. 
5. And, even though it was special enough to have its own bullet point, I completely forgot the last point when I published this. Oops. Last, I have been wanting to build my blog up and connect with other blogs and causes I support. Over the holidays, I kept seeing videos and blogs regarding charity organizations and I realized that next year, I want to get involved in that sort of stuff. Also, I want to work with guest blogging, I think. So, one day per month, or something like that, I will probably assign to that sort of business.

So, there you have it. I do think I'll be moving. Or, at the very least, this site will be undergoing some major changes. I feel like I have pretty legitimate reasons for wanting to do this and, therefore, I'm actually considering it.

If you couldn't be bothered to read all of the above listed reasons, let's just go with: 

I've reached a new stage in my life. Things are changing and it's time for a change here, as well.


* Honestly, this moving thing is kind of a scary idea, really, but I'm looking forward to the change.

Happy Holidays!

It is - officially - the first day of Winter!
(I am ever so slightly excited... or, you know, really excited.)

Happy holidays to those of you celebrating, and well wishes to everyone!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to find my fluffy socks...


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I should also mention that I'm going out of town for a few days and I'm not sure if I'll be able to post. However, at the moment, I definitely don't have time to write a post. Will make up for this lack of reading material later!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello, everyone! And, while I'm at it, Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who are celebrating!

As promised, the photo above is of this year's pumpkin, Brighid.

She's been my constant companion throughout this year's NaNoWriMo season.

Sitting in the same corner Mabon used to inhabit, she's added a bit of life to the room

and, thankfully, a bit of inspiration.

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 Now, onwards with our next order of business.

You may have noticed that the usually scheduled posts have not occurred over the last week or so. Truthfully, I'm having a bit of a rough time coming off of hiatus. Being out of school, I can't seem to keep the days straight, which is proving to be a bit of a problem. However, I've actually been missing for a different reason. On Friday and Saturday, I was out of town and, on Monday, my internet wasn't working properly. We're upgrading our internet service at the moment, and we haven't gotten the new modem, yet. So, currently, our internet service is a bit spotty and strange.

My apologies.

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Last, but not least, I've got a bit of news for you.

As of right now, I'm not actually intending to continue with NaNoWriMo. I still want to write, but I've had very little time to do so this November. And, if I'm honest, I've had even less inspiration. So, the rest of the NaNo posts that I was planning probably won't appear. Instead, I'll be resuming the usually scheduled posting in December (when NaNo is done and our internet is - hopefully - fixed).

I'm not actually going on hiatus again, so, not to worry. We're not that far off from December and I'm going to take some of the remaining time in November to write up some stellar blog posts.

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Anyway, I think that's about it. Now that you're up to date, I'm going to go and start working on what scraps of NaNo that I've managed to put together. And, with any luck, some coherent chapters will actually form. 

Best wishes to everyone and I hope your novels are going well!

 

Happy Halloween & We're Back In 3, 2, 1...

Greetings, everyone, and happy Halloween!

 

The pumpkin featured in the photo above is named Mabon.

 

He was my pumpkin last year. Sitting in the far left corner of my desk,

he kept me company while I wrote, read, and finished assignments. He

was a great friend and provided a home for a Long-legged Sac Spider.

I don't have a picture of this year's pumpkin, yet, but I'll probably post

a photo of her on Thanksgiving. She will be keeping me company 

throughout NaNoWriMo this year.

And that, my friends, brings us to our next order of business this evening.

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Today is October 31st, also known as Halloween where I'm from.

Also known as one of the busiest weekends of my year.

 

This I was dressed as a cat, I consumed more sugar than I probably should have, and I was cold. I gallivanted from one party to another... to yet another, and I have no pictures to show for it. I ran around out in the rain and fog, went traipsing about in the woods, and spent time drawing on my new digital sketch-pad. Tonight I went Trick-or-Treating - although, I didn't beg for candy because I'm a bit too old for that (Note: This too old bit is up for debate, since my friend insists that one can never be to old to Trick-or-Treat. My neighbors, however, think differently. No more candy for me. So, perhaps this means I need to trick them from now on...).  

 

The point is, I spent most of my weekend having fun and not accomplishing much in the vein of writing. However, as I've already mentioned, it's Halloween. And while Halloween is loads of fun, that also means we're only mere hours off from the start of the new month... 

 

and NaNoWriMo.

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For the last month and a half or so, I've been on hiatus. I know that disappointed some of you, but the hiatus actually came around at the perfect time. All of that time away from blogging on-line was supposed to be spent writing new blogs, however, that didn't really work out. I ended up tumbling through the worst bit of my depression thus far, instead. I was sick. Our friend - who had been living with us - left. I started reorganizing my life. I've been trying to finish a project for my family. My room needed to be cleaned (and it's done now). I've been trying to make a decision on which school to go to and what to major in next Fall. And I was having some computer problems, which I think I've fixed.

Basically, I was suddenly very busy. 

It's nearly November 1st now, though, and it's time to get this blog back up and running. Since I couldn't pre-write NaNoWriMo blogs anyway, we'll be seeing literally brand-new material this month. And, while I'm NaNo-ing, I'll also be writing the blogs that should have been completed on my hiatus. So, when NaNoWriMo is over, you'll still be seeing more carefully crafted blogs here. 

The short version? Ink Is Gold is back in action!

 

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One last note:

 

I'm excited!

We're about to cross over the line into NaNoLand here in Michigan.

There are a mere twenty minutes standing between us and the novel-ing madness of November.

 

In these last few minutes, I'd like to say: 

Good luck to all of you novelists out there! Let's make this the best ride, yet!

 

I've got my OpenOffice documents up and ready to begin writing the moment midnight strikes.

I've got my outlines open and ready to go.

I've got a cup of hot caramel coffee.

 (In theory) 

I'm ready to go on this novel writing adventure!

 

And to start myself off, I'm going to aim for 7,000 words tonight.

What are your starting goals? Have you hit them, yet?

PS (really cool): Has anyone noticed that the NaNoWriMo site isn't failing under the massive influx of users logging on this year? Thanks Office of Letters and Light for all of the wonderful work you've been doing to update the website and manage the server issues! We love you!

A Decision Made...

 

After a rather long debate, I've decided to go on hiatus. I'll be back in a few weeks with new material and an updated blog. I'll see you when I get back!

Oh The Possibilities

Writing isn't my entire life. That's kind of a strange thing to think about, given that this blog is about writing - for the most part - but it's true. And, lately, that's been even more true than usual. Lately, I haven't been writing much at all.

In fact, I've been really busy with the other parts of my life. And because of that, I haven't had a great deal to write about here or a great deal of time to write about anything.

This is not a for sure thing, but I have been toying with the idea of turning this blog into something... a bit different. Something a bit more.

What are your thoughts on this blog expanding to cover more topics than just writing?

It also has occurred to me recently that I don't tend to get very personal on here. This, however, is a blog. This is not a journal. And it is that difference in words that keeps me from writing about my personal life, or things that may be considered off topic.

Tell me, what would you think about seeing a change around here to include a few things that are more personal in nature but still related to writing or possible new topics?

Your input is greatly appreciated.


For right now, I'm going to leave things running. But, if I decide to start changing things around here, I may put the blogging on hiatus for a while.

Who knows?

This world is full of possibilities.

Ink Wednesday

• Q10 is a wonderful program available for download at the link. I used this program last year during NaNoWriMo. You can set word goals, timers, background color, text color, and other things. It's great for keeping procrastination to a minimum and encouraging focus because it makes opening other windows much more difficult. 
• Write or Die is also a great program for use during NaNoWriMo, but I've found that it also helps with writing school papers. In this program, you set a word goal and a time limit. Then you  begin to write. But when you stop writing for several seconds, the screen begins to turn red and then a most irritating sound is emitted until you begin to type again. What a great way to inspire someone to continue! Not that I need that kind of motivation to finish my homework, of course...
• Forvo. Not necessarily a writing tool, but by far one of the coolest websites around, in my opinion.

Blog Updates

August is over, which is really hard to believe. But with that thought in mind, it's time to discuss what's coming up next on Ink Is Gold and what sort of changes will be made in the new future (or have been made).

August:


First off, given that Camp NaNoWriMo is now officially over for the year, the background has switched back to normal and posts will no longer center around Camp related fun.

September:

During the month of September, posts on the blog will carry on as usual. Meaning that anything I feel like writing as a post may once again appear on here without regulation. I expect that you'll be seeing a book review or two, some writing related stuff, and a possible music recommendation or a few.

I also intend to fill in the 'About Me' page and to update the small 'About Me' section in the side bar. Cheers to getting stuff done.

October:

During October, I've decided to do something a bit different from usual. I'm going to do a theme month. Every post made during the month - apart from something I'm going to mention in a bit - will be centered around a particular topic. In other words, October is going to be my sort of research project. I'm going to find a great deal of information and I'm going to pass some of it on to you readers. 

The topic of October will be: Poetry

I know this probably won't interest all of you, but I hope that some of you can get some use out of it.

Anyway, moving on...


November:


November is still going to be NaNoWriMo month. The majority of the posts made will revolve around my NaNo novel and around various parts of NaNoWriMo. There will, of course, be a few posts that are off topic, though. And, for the record, I intend to be a lot more prepared for NaNoWriMo than I was for Camp this year. It's time to get some serious work done on a novel. No more procrastination

Delayed Changes:

You will, at some point in the future, see changes on the 'My Work' page. However, I've decided that I am only going to fill this page in once I've submersed myself in a major project. There's no use in handing out teasers for something that's going to end up in the trash. Know what I mean?


In other words, this page could be a while yet.


Last But Not Least:

I'm introducing a new feature to the blog!
Lately, I've been finding some really cool stuff that I would like to share with you all. However, often times these things aren't things I want to waste an entire Monday or Friday post on - and, on occasion, I really do feel like somebody else already tackled all of the points that I would like to cover. So, beginning this coming week, I'm introducing a new sort of blog post.

Keep your eye out for:

Ink Wednesdays


It won't happen every week - at least, I don't think it will - but it will occur whenever I find a bit of information that I would like to share with you, and it will happen when I'm introducing someone new to the Ink Is Gold 'Links' page.


Thanks for reading and I'll see you on Monday with something new.

Vacation: Love The Beach & Hiking, Don't Love The Absence Of Bookstores

Around this time last year, I was out in Oregon on a family reunion.

It was my first time visiting the West Coast of the United States, so it was quite an experience.

We flew into Portland and spent a few days there at a hotel. It was a pretty sort of place tucked into a heavily wooded area and it had a courtyard with a pond - which was, for some reason, kind of a dark teal color (I suspect dye). There were a lot of really interesting plants around, most of which don't grow anywhere near Michigan, and I took lots of pictures.

While we were in Portland, we went to the zoo. It was nice, although we moved through it fairly quickly due to some time constraints. They had some sort of a dinosaur exhibit going on and a few of those spit at you, so several of us ended up wet. I took pictures of the elephants, since they had a great viewing area, and I took a picture of a zebra mosaic thing on the ground. We got lunch and then we were off to do other things. Later, we met up with my great aunt and my great uncle for dinner.

After a few days, we drove out to the coast, where we had rented a cabin several weeks in advance. All of us crashed there, instead of doing individual hotel rooms, as staying together is the tradition of our family reunions.

On the way out, we went hiking in a beautiful park and took loads of pictures of the lighthouse, the ocean, and of starfish. It was my first time seeing starfish, too, and I was thrilled that we had managed to find so many.

By the time we got to the cabin, most of us were tired and done being motivated. Unpacking was awful, as usual. Of course, that was less to do with the actual experience and more to do with the fact that unpacking and packing are not my cup of tea.

Then my cousins and I put on our coats and we headed out for a night time walk on the beach. That was a rather interesting experience, given the fact that it was freezing and we got sort of lost. (Note: Getting lost can be avoided in some cases if you happen to know what your cabin looks like from the back.) But we were by the ocean and, as far as I'm concerned, a log would have been a perfectly good place to sleep. We did find our way back that night, though, so we got to be warm, which was also nice.

Over the next few days, I was in a very cold sort of paradise. I am absolutely in love with the ocean and I'm not great friends with the sun (Sunburn, anyone?), so gray skies were fine by me. There were lots of great places to explore and I got to see tide pools for the first time, which was excellent. Also, in town, there were some wonderful little touristy shops and I visited most of those. (Side note: I love small coastal towns).

There was only one part of the vacation that I didn't love, and that was the fact that there were no bookstores on the coast in the area we were located. Sure, there was a small grocery store that sold books, but they didn't sell the sort of books that I was looking for - a few YA books and the second book in a series. I know that it's probably kind of weird to let something like that bother me, but I was really quite disappointed.

So, I filled up the time I would have spent at the bookstore with other things, such as hiking through the hills/mountains and taking long walks on the beach. At one point, I even decided get up at 6:00 AM to go whale watching with my family - not that we saw any, but that's beside the point.

Overall, I had a pretty great time even without a bookstore in the vicinity. But this experience definitely made me realize that I never want to move somewhere that doesn't have a bookstore within half an hour's driving distance, because I'm not certain that I could handle that without having a mental breakdown. (Addicted? Kind of. Yeah.)

However, we went back to Portland, OR for the last few days of our vacation. And, this time, we stayed in the city area. Which was pretty cool for me because I got to go to a bookstore, and it wasn't just any bookstore.

For those of you who don't know, there's a lovely little bookstore in Portland called Powell's City of Books. (Note: This place is not actually little. In fact, it's the largest bookstore in the United States of America). It's pretty much a warehouse. It has new and used books, including ARC copies, and I had some money to spend, so...

I left really happy.

The end.

PS: You can check out Powell's at the link below, and if you ever get the chance to go there, I recommend visiting. It's a pretty cool place:

http://www.powells.com/

Camp NaNoWrimo: Day 5

Well, it's day five and, currently, my Camp novel is going along rather slowly. I've got 4076 words penned, so far. In other words, I'm a bit behind schedule.Oops? Oh well, there's plenty of time to catch up.

How's your Camp novel coming?

I've been working on my cover and on my summary/synopsis. However, one of the first things I work on when writing a novel is the soundtrack, and that is already finished. So, without further ado, here it is (in no particular order, despite the fact that it is numbered):

Half Soundtrack

1. Passenger - Deftones feat. Maynard James Keenan
2. 9 Crimes - Damien Rice
3. Soul Meets Body - Death Cab For Cutie
4. Enjoy The Silence - Depeche Mode
5. Pompeii - E. S. Posthumus
6. Wild Child - Enya
7. When I Grow Up - Fever Ray
8. Paralyzer - Finger Eleven
9. Alice's Theme - Danny Elfman
10. Satellite - Guster
11. The Chain - Ingrid Michaelson
12. Lullaby - Josh Groban
13. Iris - Goo Goo Dolls
14. Club Foot - Kasabian
15. Teeth - Lady GaGa
16. Gorecki - Lamb
17. Supermassive Black Hole - Muse
18. Stockholm Syndrome - Muse
19. Time Is Running Out - Muse
20. The Saltwater Room - Owl City
21. Creep - Radiohead
22. Break Me Shake Me - Savage Garden
23. She's So Heavy - The Beatles
24. In The Shadows - The Rasmus
25. Prison Sex - Tool
26. You're The Only One - Maria Mena
27. Cherry Waves - Deftones
28. What If You - Joshua Radin
29. Flame - Bell X1
30. Nara - E. S. Posthumus


I find it only slightly creepy that those are somewhat in alphabetical order despite being put onto the playlist at random...

Anyway, the entire soundtrack is hooked up to links, if you'd like to listen to any of the songs. I probably don't need to say this, since it's pretty obvious, but I don't own any of those songs. And, since I don't own those songs and I didn't create the videos attached to them, I make no guarantees on the appropriateness of said videos.


Do you use a soundtrack when writing? If so, what's on it?

Bet I'll beat you to 12,000 words!

Catch you on Monday with a not Camp related post.

Camp NaNoWriMo: Day 1

Well, it's midnight on August 1st and the second round of Camp NaNoWriMo has just begun. This month, I've let everyone know that writing is the number one thing on my schedule. So, with any luck, I'll actually make it to 50,000 words or more by the end of the month.

As you may have noticed, I've changed the background on the blog to what I imagine my Camp NaNo tent looks like. The background will remain this way until the end of August, when I'll switch it back to normal. The background will now also be changing during NaNoWriMo.

Anyway, I promised that I would document my Camp NaNo experience this month, instead of doing traditional blog posts. Let's move on to that, shall we?

August's Camp project is: 

Working Title: Half
Genre: Fantasy (urban/high)
POV: Third person, numerous views.
Summary/Synopsis: Yet to come.


I could ramble on here for a while, or check my bag to make sure that I have all of the necessary supplies for novel writing, but that's not going to help me get any writing done. And, besides, I'm supposed to be winging it anyway, right? So, enough of this. For now, it's into the woods with all of us.

Best of luck fellow Campers; I'll see you on Friday!

Camp NaNo: Cabins, Questions, And Updates!

Beginning August 1st on Camp NaNoWriMo, the cabins feature will become available to campers. It has been announced that we're doing genre cabins - which is not quite what I thought was going on, but still pretty cool - and that announcement has both made me excited and put a thought into my head. For all of you reading and/or following this blog, this is the official cabin role call!

What cabin will you be camping in this August?

I am going to be camping in the Fantasy Genre Cabin. (Anyone joining me?)

XOXOXOXOXOX

I have some questions about Camp for my fellow bloggers/blog readers. Because I am lacking in both time and information, at the moment, I was hoping you could answer some of these.

1. Does anyone know whether or not a 'friends' feature will be introduced at Camp?

2. Are we, at any point, going to get forums? Or are we just going to use the NaNo ones permanently? 

3. Are the cabins going to receive fun names, as they were in the beginning phases, or has that been edited out?

4. Are we going to have a participation user badge feature like what we have on NaNo?

XOXOXOXOXOX

 

 

Updates!

I've got some blog updates regarding next month. During Camp NaNoWriMo (August), the blog will be turning into a somewhat different place. Namely, a Camp Site. Every Monday and Friday, instead of doing a normal post (with exception of one or two), I'll be doing a 'Camp' post. Meaning, I'll be posting updates about my Camp novel and what sort of Camp related stuff is going on.

I'll probably post things like a book cover (loose idea), a Camp novel soundtrack, a novel summary, word count updates, competitions, and various other things.

 

Anyone else care to join me in this Blog to Camp Site transition?

XOXOXOXOXOX

 

 

Last thing. Next year, I'm totally making a tent for Camp and posting pictures of it.  (This may or may not be just an excuse to build another tent...)

Norway

So, this post is off schedule, but I didn't feel it was appropriate to wait until Friday.

Over the weekend and for a good part of today, I was without internet access (Both my Friday and Monday post were scheduled posts this week, due to my planned absence.). I am also not an avid news-reader or a TV-watcher, so I heard/read nothing about the events that took place in Oslo, Norway.

For those of you who also haven't heard, there were terrorist attacks in Oslo, Norway and on Utoya Island in Norway last Friday. Explosions downtown injured and killed numerous people. At least eighty people were killed on Utoya Island.

More information can be found here: Oslo Norway attacks

There really aren't words for events like these. At least, not proper ones, and nothing that can ease the pain or terror. But, for what it's worth, my thoughts are with all of you in Norway and all whom were affected by these attacks.

We - my family, friends, and I - send our love, well wishes, and condolences.

Be strong, Norway.

Things will be well again in time.

Hugs and best wishes,
K. L. Stevens

The Nightly Goodness

Most people have an addiction of some sort.

This is mine. 

What's in that cup?

- hazelnut coffee

- steamed milk

- caramel topping

- and a nice, fluffy layer of whip cream

I realize that it's a bit stereotypical, given the fact that writers and coffee are often synonymous, but it really is wonderful.

In fact, it might be true love...

Happy 4th of July!

Have a wonderful holiday! 

Also, Camp NaNoWriMo update:

I need to be more disciplined. Granted, I really haven't been home much, but I am behind. I hereby donate the rest of today to writing... and not playing Free Rice.

How is your word count coming?

Announcements And Notes

As of yesterday, Ink Is Gold has been under construction, (Finally!) and that means it is time to introduce you to the changes: 

Top Bar Changes:

You may have noticed that the pages bar up at the top has changed. There is now an 'About Me' page and a 'My Work' page. The 'Independent Study' page has been removed, due to the fact that I've decided to combine that page with the 'My Work' page and the 'Writing Tips' page.

Side Bar Changes:

The 'About Me' section on the sidebar is less personal and considerably shorter than the 'About Me' page on the top bar is going to be. It will continue to exist for those of you who prefer to read the short version.

On the side of the blog, there has been a section labeled 'Works In Progress'. There are a couple of bars showing off the progress of a few of my current projects. For those of you who have been reading here for a while, you may have noticed that those bars have remained relatively unchanged. I have finally figured out how to operate those and I will be updating them now! (How exciting! Not really, unless you happen to be writing and using those bars as competition - in which case you may find them helpful.)

Blog Posts:

I've went through and done some minor alterations on some of the blog posts. More of these to come, along with some bigger changes.

Ink Is Gold - Twitter:

For those of you who don't know, Ink Is Gold has a Twitter page. This is on the side bar.

Although this isn't really a change, I thought it was important to bring this to everyone's attention.

The Twitter page for Ink Is Gold is:

http://twitter.com/#!/K_L_Stevens

It is not Ink Is Gold. I realized the other day that while I have been getting hits from Twitter, I have not been receiving any messages on Twitter, and it occurred to me that people may be typing @InkIsGold, which sends you no where. I don't get those messages. I get messages addressed to @K_L_Stevens.

Ink Is Gold - Formspring:

Ink Is Gold also has a Formspring page, labeled Q & A on the sidebar. This is for all of your questions. Thus far, it hasn't been used and that's fine, but I just wanted to let everyone know that it's there and that I check it periodically. As far as that goes, you can probably ask questions through Twitter, too, but Formspring keeps them around and looking somewhat organized.

 Links:

Over on the sidebar, there are some new links for you to check out.

Background:

I'm not totally sure, yet, but I think we're going to get a new background on here over the summer. I'm kind of bored looking at this one.

Side Bar Changes Part 2:

This is separated because it isn't really related to the other.

I think we may be getting another sidebar on the left. Maybe not, maybe so. Still debating on this one.

Ink Is Gold Update Schedule:

Yes, we finally have one! The blog will now be updated every Monday and Friday. Hope you enjoy the new schedule!

And... I think that's it? I don't know. Maybe not. I'll edit this later if I think of anything else.

The Summer Plan: Blog Revisions

So, this post is rather late because I have spent the last few weeks warring over an idea. When I sat down to write this post, I had a choice to make. On one hand, I was considering posting something for writing tips - because it has been a while since I've done a post like that. And, on the other hand, I was looking at this blog and considering taking it in a new direction. As you can probably tell, according to the title, I went with the latter option.

When I started this blog, I had it in my head that this was going to be mostly focused around writing. It was designed as a place to offer up some of the stuff that I have learned over the years, in hopes that those tips could help someone else. And, on the side, I was going to write book reviews.

However, I have severely misjudged the amount of time I have for writing blogs. School has kept me busy. Life has kept me busy. My actual writing has kept me busy. Basically, I had a grand idea in my head and I started on it when I was unwilling to make time for it. That is going to change.

Thus far, I do not feel that this blog has lived up to my original dreams. And, to be honest, I'm kind of disappointed in myself because of that. So, I've made a decision. School ends for me on June 16th, 2011. And it doesn't just end for a few days, I'm done for at least a year, which gives me loads of free time. When school gets out, I'm going to set aside some of the time I spent working on school stuff to work on this blog. In other words, I am planning to revise the posts that are on here already.

There are a fair amount of changes that are going to be made around here. I know that this probably isn't a common blog practice, but I hope you'll stick around to see it through. After revisions are done, I really hope the posts here in Ink Is Gold will be more enjoyable to read.

The other good news is: Once school is out, I'll be able to update this on a pretty much fixed schedule. More reading material!

Thank you for your patience and I am really sorry about the delays.




PS: Does anyone, at this point, actually read the twitter? Also, have any of you considered using the formspring account for Ink Is Gold?