But thanks to the diva over at Mommy Wants Freebies, I’ve found a really cool little site filled with freebies. And not unrealistic freebies, but the kind that you’ll eventually get to hold in your hands. And best of all, there are no surveys to fill out, no cell phone requirements, and no hidden fees or promises. The site is called Free Samples Without Surveys and that’s exactly what it is. No bells, no whistles, no promises that will never come true. Just a little blog where you can find real free samples to things like shampoo, hair color, and food items. Sorry kids, no free laptops here.

The best part about this site is that the webmaster tells you on the front page what to expect. They also tell you what to watch out for when looking for free samples on other sites. They don’t hold anything back, but they’re not rude about the way they put it either. It’s an awesome site and there are links to all kinds of free samples. I’m pretty impressed so far. I haven’t put in for any of the samples yet, but I do like the no-nonsense approach to the site.

So, if you like free samples, check out Free Samples Without Surveys. You won’t find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but you will find real freebies and real samples without having to give out all your personal information in the process.

My story this year is a fantasy tale about a woman’s journey after she’s killed in a car accident.  In her quest, she finds out that there’s more to life than the physical part.  She meets people from some of the world’s greatest legends, as well as finds out that in the here-after, we’ve all known each other since the dawn of time.

As a huge ancient history fanatic, I’m always integrating aspects of those myths and legends into my own stories.  I’ve always believed that there has to be some grain of truth behind all of the world’s ancient myths.  I don’t think each and every detail of all those tales are true, but somewhere deep down, a bit of truth lies in wait.

I’m really hoping to hit the 50K mark and then some.  I had a pretty set outline I thought I could follow for the most part.  My characters always end up taking the story in the direction they want, but I try to keep pretty much on track.  However, my main character in this story, Kelly, has already taken a new direction I hadn’t thought of in the basic design.  Oh well, it’s her story.  Guess she can tell it how she sees fit.

I’ll post updates throughout the month as to where I’m at and whether or not I’m going to make it to the finish line.  I’m hoping to get there, but I won’t say I will until I get a little closer to the mark.  Wish me luck.  I’m going to need it.  LOL

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!!!