A renewal of purpose; a statement of intent

It's been a long time since I blogged here. One entry in April 2010 is all that I've published since October 2009. Here's how long it's really been: when last I published any real news we were moving from Sandy Springs to Dawsonville. Now we've been in Cumming for almost two years. That's a long time.

My on-line life has been pretty much exclusively lived on Facebook for the last three years. I stopped blogging a couple of years ago because...um...because...well, I don't really know why I stopped. I guess I just stopped taking the time to sit down and write things out.

My personal and family news gets shared on Facebook these days, but that's not really what I ever used this blog for anyway. The blog was more for telling stories, reliving memories, and getting things off my chest. I want to get back into that habit. I want to start blogging again. I want to do it as much for the chance to flex my writing muscles as anything else. About all that I've written in the last couple of years is fiction. I haven't done much epistolary writing and I really want to get back into that. I like this format and I want to do more of it. It's nice having a place to vent and just get random thoughts down on the page. Screen. Whatever.

I'm going to try to blog at least once a week. No idea what it'll be about. I'm sure the focus of the blog will change from post to post just as it always has. I'll write about whatever is in my head at the time. It might be a crazy story from high school or a rant about fantasy football or some other thing jammed in my head that is too long and clunky for a Facebook status.

Hopefully I can stick with this. I'm famous for setting writing goals that somehow never get met. I'll do my best to meet this one. Keep coming back to see how I do and, as you always have, support your local blogger.

A fork in the road

Despite slacka indications to the contrary I really do have intentions of working to get a book sold to someone this year. With an eye toward that goal I have decided to split my blog into two parts.

The Writing Excuses guys were talking last week about marketing yourself as an author on the Internet. While trying not to sound pretentious by referring to myself as an author, I decided that part of their advice made a lot of sense. They said that if you were going to blog, you should take a close look at what is posted on your blog, especially if you are an "aspiring" author. If agents or publishers that you are trying to sell your book to Google you and see a lot of rants and personal posts on your blog, is that something you would want them to see? Is it professional?

I decided to treat my writing like a job--not as an extension of my personal time, but as a part-time vocation that is as separate from my family life and my personal posts as my day job is. I don't post about my regular job on my blog. You never know who's going to surf in; there's no sense taking the chance that a post about work is read and misinterpreted. I decided to treat my writing the same way.

Rather than stop blogging about my writing, though, I created a new blog. I copied all the posts from this blog that deal with writing--the Mother's Daughter posts, the NaNoWriMo updates, the Brandon Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss paeans, the word count anxiety, all of it--to my new blog and deleted them from this one.

As a result, this here blog is now going to deal with my family life and any other stories I want to tell or rants I want to emit. You'll see pictures, videos, birthday wishes, high school reminisces, and (possibly) the occasional haiku. You'll see everything, that is, that you've always seen here, but you won't see any updates on my writing. I'll let you know when I start something new and keep a progress meter posted, but for in-depth coverage you'll have to check out the new site.

The new blog is at http://sambrady.wordpress.com/. Set a bookmark. I was going to set it up at Blogger, but the sambrady username was taken and I really wanted to use my own name for the blog (again, for potential marketing purposes). I was going to do it at Livejournal--even went so far as to grab the available sambrady userid--then remembered that I came to Blogger in the first place because I didn't like Livejournal's blog entry interface. I went and looked at it again, since it's been a few years since I used it. Still didn't like it. So I checked out Wordpress. I like it well enough to use it. I don't think it's quite as intuitive as Blogger, but I like it better than LJ, so there you go.

The name of the new blog is The Chronicles of Sov. Sov is the name of the nation that my stories are set in. The word "Chronicles" in the title means simply that I will be chronicling the creation of stories set in Sov. It has nothing to do with Benjamin Temko. There will be no Kia dealerships nor BMV offices in Sov.

At this moment all that is up at the new site is the material I have moved over from this blog. You've seen it before, but I invite you to click over anyway and check out the new surroundings. Hit me with a comment when you get there so I'll know you've been by. New postings will begin whenever I start revisions on Silvershield, which will hopefully be soon. Please keep checking both blogs, to see what is up with the Brady Bunch, in Sandy Springs as well as in Sov.

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I'm back!

Did you even notice I was gone? You haven't missed much. The fantasy football front was pitiful. SFC split the last two games of the season and missed the playoffs, finishing #10 in the Power Ranking. We lost to Lethal Weapon 4 15-2 (that's right; we only scored two points the week we played the team with Keyshawn Johnson starting at WR. Gack. Then we turned around in Week 14 and beat a decent Hook-Ups team 20-16. Go figure. Maybe next year we'll have better luck choosing kickers and Tom Brady will be healthy again. Congrats to Rake, though, on his successful season, and Ben, for his successful season in our Yahoo league. Good luck in the playoffs, guys!

Christmas choir rehearsal was chaotic tonight. Kids everywhere, four babies in various laps in various stages of excitement, and in the midst of it all, eight people trying to sing and hear the director's cues over the uproar. It was a great time. That performance is coming up in a couple of Sundays. Wish us luck!

That's it for now. My blogslacking is over for now. Take care, and as always, support your local bloggers.

Fantasy Football

Hello all, and welcome to November.

First, I want you to notice the title. Not for the words that are there, so much as for those that are not. I've decided to drop my "In which..." affectation and just get back to regular post titles. After "In which"ing for--what, two years?--I finally realized that it's quite a bit twee so I decided to stop. If you enjoyed it, please comment. Maybe I'll throw one in now and then to placate my many fans.

On the fantasy football front, Sandy Springs FFC has lost again and falls to 3-6. This week it was a wrenching 16-14 loss to Men O'War with the wrong kicker in the lineup. Again. Sigh. Next week is Munchen Mavericks, who are 2-7. Hopefully we can turn it around make a late playoff run. Here we go, quois?

In which I tidy my virtual attic

I've been meaning to do this for a while now, and I have finally gotten around to it. I mirrored all the entries from my old LiveJournal blog over to this one. It's only nine entries and it doesn't really mean anything other than that all the blog entries I've ever written are now available under one archive. Eventually I may mirror all my Blogger entries over to LJ. Maybe not. I stopped posting to that blog when I started this one in September 2005 but the account is still active. I use it to comment on other LJ blogs from time to time, so it might have some benefit to have all my blog entries archived over there as well. I dunno.

Anyway, if you go to the archives for this blog (calendar thingy over on the right sidebar and down a bit) you'll find the old entries that have been mirrored in the months of September 2005 and earlier. I clearly labeled the ones that came over from the old blog. You'll see what I mean. If you're interested. I wouldn't blame you if you weren't. That is all. Support your local bloggers.

In which I take a break

We did some rearranging in the house today. We have a chest freezer in the kitchen now so we moved the computer desk into a corner in the dining room. It's actually more roomy, the light is better, and the outlets are more accessible, so I'm all for it. When I get doine here I'm going to go through the drawers and clean a bunch of stuff out. My brother is supposed to come over this weekend and bring us an old recliner that he doesn't need any more. We're always on the lookout for seating so we were pretty excited when he told us he had it available.

Not much else is going on, so I won't drone on and on. I've seen signs of more visits to my blog this week. It's pretty cool. Thanks for stopping by. Keep coming back over the summer to see what is going on in the life of the Brady Bunch. Feel free to comment while you're here. It's always nice to get an idea of who is stopping by. That's it for now. I'm out.

Support your local bloggers!

In which I post some new links

I added some new links over on the sidebar. Since they're new I thought I'd post a quick description of them here, in case anyone is curious about what they are. Check them out if you want to. All sites come recommended by me. Take that and a dollar to the Dollar Tree and you can buy something for the kitchen.

Websites I Check Every Day

Brandon Sanderson
This is the Livejournal blog of fantasy author Brandon Sanderson. It gives some interesting insights into his writing processes from time to time.

Robert Fulghum
If you're a Fulghum fan, you'll like this. It's just a regular blog that reads like one of his books. Quite enjoyable.

Television Without Pity
Television recaps and forums and pop culture blogs. It's not the site it used to be, but it's still pretty darn good.

Things What Things
Linda Holmes used to write for Television Without Pity, where she was known as Miss Alli. Now she's off on her own, posting her thoughts on TV and other pop-culture tidbits.

Writing Excuses
A writing podcast moderated by Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler (creator of Scholck Mercenary), and horror novelist Dan Wells. Topics are usually sci-fi/fantasy based and range from the business of writing to the creative process to the genres themselves. Very insightful if you have an interest in the writing process.

Webcomics

Garfield Minus Garfield by Travors
Garfield strips with Garfield digitally removed from the images, making it a strip about Jon and his various neuroses.

The Order Of The Stick by Rich Burlew
The sword-and-sorcery adventures of a D&D-style adventuring party, drawn as stick figures. It's a lot funnier than it sounds, especially if you've played D&D.

Schlock Mercenary by Howard Tayler
The continuing sci-fi adventures of a comedic band of military soldiers-of-fortune. Frequently features bad puns, which is always a plus in my book.

Sluggy Freelance by Pete Abrams
A deadly but hilarious combination of magic, a switchblade-wielding rabbit, a hyperactive ferret, a woman who can turn into a camel, explosions, slackers, and beer. And that's just within the main cast.

xkcd by Randall Munroe
Stick-figure comedy for the mathematics/science geek in all of us. Some of it is pretty esoteric, but it has its moments.

I will probably add to these lists as time goes by and I discover new and exciting places to go on the web. If you have sites that you think I should know about, add a comment below or shoot me an e-mail. I'm always looking for new things to waste my time with!

In which I show you something new

Just a little housekeeping note here. I've added a new feature to my blog. Over on the sidebar you'll see a listing of the books I am currently reading, as well as anything I may have recently finished. I'm also including a link to the Amazon page for each book, in case you're curious to find out more about them. Blogs are supposed to give insight into the person writing them, so I figured this is just another way of letting you see into who I am. It's pretentious, sure, but I figure if you didn't care, you wouldn't be here, right?

Right?

In which I shamelessly beg for validation from my readers

Welcome to the "I'm just banging out a few sentences so I can get credit for having written something this week" portion of my blog! It may not be much, and it certainly may not be relevant to anything going on in the world around me, but that's what blogs are for--pointless blathering. And boy, it doesn't get much more pointless than this (unless it's nothing but a random picture like my last entry was).

Now it's on to the shameless begging part: If you read this entry, please leave a comment by clicking on the "comments" link at the end. Tell me who you are, where you're from, who your favorite American Idol contestant is--whatever you want. Just please say something! Don't leave an anonymous comment, though; please put your name on it so I'll know who you are. I know there are people reading, but I don't know who you all are or what keeps bringing you back. I'd like to. If you popped in, whether I know you or not, please say hello. I'd love to know who I'm actually writing for.

Over/under on actual comments left by actual readers: 2. I'll take the under, but I'm a cynic, so there you go.

Moving Day

This entry was originally posted on my old blog.

I have decided to move my blog from LiveJournal to Blogspot. You can find my new blog here. (Note when mirroring entry: I have not included that link, since it would bring you to the site you're currently looking at. Seemed a bit redundant to me.) Please click, read, and continue commenting. Thank you for your patronage. Have a nice day.