I’ve heard it said that women live longer than men, and there are some hard scientific facts that go behind this. However, I’ve found a picture that pretty much sums up the real reason behind this idea. I’m only providing the link to this pic, as it’s much too big for me to post on this blog. I know this because I’ve already tried. LOL
Now, please let it be known that I’m not a man-basher. In fact, I come from a family where most of the men have outlived the women. I just thought I’d offer up this little picture to show that sometimes people do things that would cause most people to sit back and go “Well, Duh!!!”.
I’m playing with a new toy I just got for myself. It’s nothing fancy, just a new writing program called OpenOffice.org. I’ve seen it mentioned around the net a few times and because it’s free, I thought I’d give it a try. Up to this point, I’ve been using Microsoft WordPerfect because it came with my Dell computer. But with a whole new year upon us, I thought I’d try something new for a change of pace.
I’m not one who usually enjoys leaving my comfort zone, and I knew how to use WordPerfect inside and out. So, it took me awhile to get used to this new program and I’m still learning the ins and outs of the whole thing. There are some pretty cool features that come with OpenOffice, such as word completion. As you’re typing out a certain word, the program sort of finishes it up for you. I’m not sure I like this function, as I type to fast to pay attention to what’s being put in front of me, and it’s kind of annoying.
One of the features I do like about this program is that you can automatically create PDF files with the click of a button. Now, many of you bloggers might not understand what that means, but for those who write e-books, it’s a given. Anytime you write something that is to be read in Adobe Reader, it’s in a PDF file. For a long time, you had to buy a special program from Adobe in order to make this happen. I think the program was like $100 or something like that. I don’t remember for sure, but that’s because I about choked on the idea of spending that kind of money and waited until someone came out with a freeware product that did the same thing. Now, I can do it as soon as I’m done writing whatever it is that I happen to be writing.
OpenOffice also comes with a bunch of other applications, most of which I’ll probably never use. There is one application that does nothing but calculate mathematic equations. No, won’t be needing that one, unless my daughter gets stuck on an Algebra problem at school. There is also a spreadsheet that comes with this program, but it’s pretty basic. There are a lot of templates for different projects, but I’m still not sure what they’re all for. I’m still in the learning phase of this journey.
The only real thing I’m going to have to get used to is in saving my work to my flash drive. Not because it’s hard, but because I have to save everything in a different type of format. Everything I have right now is saved in .wp and I can’t do that with this program. I don’t want to start saving everything in this program’s default format, which is .odt. So, for now I’m saving in .rft format. I just hope I don’t screw up my work because of this. LOL. That would be my luck.
If you’re looking for a free office type word processor, check this one out. I won’t say it’s totally cool, because I don’t know that to be a fact yet. But, I won’t say it sucks because so far it’s been pretty easy to use. It all comes down to what you’re looking for and what you’ll be using it to do. My favorite part of the whole this is that it’s free, and so are all the extensions that come with it. I like free!!!
I can’t believe that it’s already a whole new year. I’ve got so many things going on these days that I almost missed it. I did create a post over at The Prompt Writer about my plans for that site and to wish everyone a Happy New Year, but I couldn’t go through this entire day without making sure to get over here and wish you guys the same.
I know there have been a lot of sites talking about setting goals for the new year, but I’m not one of them. I have a lot of plans for the new year, but my only goal is to take one day at a time. I figure if I can do that much, I’ll be doing good. It seems that whenever I set certain goals for myself, I always screw them up. If I don’t set any goals, then I do pretty good. LOL
I haven’t made any clear cut decisions about where I plan to go with this site, but I do know that I’ll be doing something interesting if nothing else. So stick around, you never know what’s going to happen next.
On the first day of Christmas I went and got for me
A brand new RSS feed
On the second day of Christmas I went and got for me
Two social Plugins
And a brand new RSS feed
On the third day of Christmas I went and got for me
Three Google Ads
Two social Plugins
And a brand new RSS feed
On the forth day of Christmas I went and got for me
Four affiliate links
Three Google ads
Two social plugins
And a brand new RSS feed
On the fifth day of Christmas I went and got for me
Five blogging themes
Four affiliate links
Three Google ads
Two social plugins
And a brand new RSS feed
On the sixth day of Christmas I went and got for me
Six stumbled posts
Five blogging themes
Four affiliate links
Three Google ads
Two social plugins
And a brand new RSS feed
On the seventh day of Christmas I went and got for me
Seven sites for bloggers
Six stumbled posts
Five blogging themes
Four affiliate links
Three Google ads
Two social plugins
And a brand new RSS feed
On the eighth day of Christmas I went and got for me
Eight killer keywords
Seven sites for bloggers
Six stumbled posts
Five blogging themes
Four affiliate links
Three Google ads
Two social plugins
And a brand new RSS feed
On the ninth day of Christmas I went and got for me
Nine sidebar widgets
Eight killer keywords
Seven sites for bloggers
Six stumbled posts
Five blogging themes
Four affiliate links
Three Google ads
Two social plugins
And a brand new RSS feed
On the tenth day of Christmas I went and got for me
Ten Twitter followers
Nine sidebar widgets
Eight killer keywords
Seven sites for bloggers
Six stumbled posts
Five blogging themes
Four affiliate links
Three Google ads
Two social plugins
And a brand new RSS feed
On the eleventh day of Christmas I went and got for me
Eleven email contacts
Ten Twitter followers
Nine sidebar widgets
Eight killer keywords
Seven sites for bloggers
Six stumbled posts
Five blogging themes
Four affiliate links
Three Google ads
Two social plugins
And a brand new RSS feed
On the twelfth day of Christmas I went and got for me
Twelve new subscribers
Eleven email contacts
Ten Twitter followers
Nine sidebar widgets
Eight killer keywords
Seven sites for bloggers
Six stumbled posts
Five blogging themes
Four affiliate links
Three Google ads
Two social plugins
And a brand new RSS feed
As today is the last day of National Novel Writing Month, I think it only right to briefly talk about my short stint in this year’s event. I did join up, but didn’t make the 50K mark. But that’s ok, I’ve been busy with other projects that did just as much for my writing soul as writing my novel. However, I would like to announce something I think is really cool. I met a really neat lady known as the PlotWhisperer, and she’s come up with a great way to extend the novel writing experience.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like to announce that tomorrow, December 1st, begins the first annual National Plot Writing Month. Though this event is not associated with the NaNoWriMo challenge, it is a way for writers to create a deeper, more realistic plot line to your story. The best part of this is that there is no crunch-time writing to do, just daily tips to shape your masterpiece.
PlotWhisperer also has a free monthly newsletter called Blockbuster Plots. As a writing consultant, this lady knows how to help others create the perfect plot line, while still allowing your story to be just that; your story. And not only does this lady claim to be able to help you improve your plot, she’s got the credentials to back it up.
I invite you all to stop over and sign up for National Plot Writing Month, and get in on all the techniques that will take your good story idea and turn it into a wonderful work of art.
