Deborah Woehr

These pictures were taken on the outskirts of Sedona. Out of all the places we visited, Sedona was my favorite because of the colorful scenery and the artist community.

Hello, Everyone!

I returned home last night at around 7pm, but was too exhausted from the long drive to do anything but delete the spam from my email. We had a great trip with 275 pictures to show for it. I’ll upload a couple here for you to see in a little while.

A cashier asked me what I had planned for Easter. When I told her about my trip, she confided in me that she hadn’t had a weekend off in over a year and that she was taking this one. We started talking about how more and more businesses are not observing traditional holidays. For instance, our local Chevy’s Mexican restaurant was open on Christmas Day.

The attitudes Christmas and Easter have changed to a degree, familywise. When I was growing up, these holidays were spent going to church and/or family gatherings. There was no ifs, ands, or buts about it. You sat down on a hard bench and sang depressing songs.

Then you went home and suffered through a dry turkey/ham with all of your relatives. Later in the evening, you had the option of suffering through the old-Hollywood version of the Ten Commandments.

Today, I know plenty of people who still follow those traditions. With the exception of this year, I always threw a brunch and invited my family over to watch the kids hunt for eggs. It’s been years since any of us have set foot inside a church. Once the festivities were over (usually between noon and 1pm), everybody went home.

I’m glad we’re doing something different this year, although I’ll miss seeing my youngest beat his brother in the egg hunt contest. I love his maniacal laugh and the way his eyes light up when he realizes that he’s winning. To me, they’re the best part about Easter. Otherwise, as Fred said, it’s just another day.

Have a wonderful Easter!

I pushed myself today because I’m having company tomorrow. My goal is to write another 2,000 words by this weekend.

My husband has absolutely forbidden me to do anything writing or computer-related when we go on our trip. But I’m going to sneak a notebook with me so I can jot down the descriptions of the desert and the culture of the people. I can’t go without writing for longer than a day, so he will just have to deal.

Once I return, I’m going to turn the majority of my focus back to my book projects. Blogging has turned into an obsession as great as writing books and novels. I need to calm this down some if I’m going to get anything done (and hopefully published) this year.

I’ll still try to post everyday. But if you don’t hear from me for several days at a time, it’s because I’m cranking out pages (or beating my head against the keyboard until I pass out).

One of the things on my project list is compiling that directory of writer’s blogs. You can expect to see that on Lulu some time in the Fall. Yes, it will be free. As for the writer’s resource directory on WBA, I’ve decided to postpone that until Christmas. I’ve got too many pots on the stove at the moment.

Since Friday, I noticed that the feed for this blog and On Book Design merged. Then it went kaput altogether. I’ve fixed the problem, adding more feed options. I apologize for any inconvencience.

Here are a few articles that may interest you.

The Procrastinator’s Guide to Writing a Blog: A humorous look at blogging.

8 Tips on Increasing Blog Traffic By Improving Content: The title says it all. You’ll find plenty of links to other, related articles.

Farewell Microsoft Word?: AjaxWrite is a promising alternative to Microsoft Word, but the creators have to work the kinks out first. The program is server-based (which will save you some megabytes) and allows you to save your files to your desktop.

We’ve had record rainfall this year, which has brought snow to the low-lying foothills early last month. It’s rained so much that I’m beginning to think that sunny California is going to turn into dreary Seattle. I’m so ready for my vacation.

Canvas is a widget-like program that allows you to create your own layout, using the drag and drop method. It’s not out yet, but I’ve signed up for their waiting list. The only downside I see to this program is the compatibility with the many themes out there. It is compatible with Kiwi.

Once it comes out, I’ll test it and let you know how it works.

There is something about me that draws salesmen like flies. Yesterday, I went to CompUSA to buy a giftcard for another of my son’s friends. I no sooner entered the store when I was approached by a salesman.

“Can I help you with something?” he asked. He was an older gentleman.

“No, I’m just looking.” I smiled at him before I returned my attention to the Mac software sitting on the racks. Like the bookstore, I have a hard time leaving a computer store without buying something.

I moved to another aisle, where I spotted MacJournal, an offline blogging program. Before I had the chance to pick it up and look at it, another salesman appeared. This one was a young kid with Latino looks.

“May I help you?” he said.

I picked up the software and said, “Have you ever used this?”

“No, but people come in here all the time to ask for it or buy it.”

“Thank you.”

I carried the box across the store, where the PC section was and began looking at DVD movies. The Skeleton Key jumped out at me and made me grab it. I swear!

Next, I went to the printer section. Reams of paper lined the top of the shelves. I grabbed a couple. Another salesman approached me. It was another kid, with longer hair than his colleague and a smattering of acne on his face.

“May I help you?”

What is up with these guys? “I think I’m done,” I said with a smile. I’d yet to get the giftcard, but I knew those were up by the register.

“Well, then let me help you with those,” he said, grabbing a shopping basket before he freed the items I held in my arms.

After he placed the items in the basket, he walked with me up to the cash register. Of course, there was only one cashier, who was helping another customer. The salesman still had my stuff and kept talking to me.

I couldn’t help wondering if these guys thought I was a shoplifter. Perhaps it was because I’d arrived too early and had to sit out in the car until they opened. Maybe they thought I was casing the place. Or, perhaps they didn’t like my black sweat outfit and/or the lack of makeup on my face.

“Have you ever used MacJournal?” I asked him.

“No, but I’ve heard good things about it.” The kid told me that he used LiveJournal for his blog and asked me if I knew how to back it up. I told him that I didn’t, and gave him suggestions on how to back up his blog.

I grabbed a giftcard before I could forget, along with a tin holder, and set them in the basket. We kept talking about blogging as I continued to wonder why I was receiving this special attention. Finally, the cashier finished with the customer ahead of me.

The salesman gave me the basket, said his goodbyes, and then left. As the cashier began ringing up my purchase, she saw the tin can and started to tell me that it would cost extra. I’m not sure why, but she changed her mind.

I left the store with my purchase, wondering if I should feel insulted or impressed by all this attention. My gut instinct tells me that they thought I was a shoplifter, which I find both funny and upsetting.

The only time I ever used the five-finger discount was when I was eleven, when I lifted several packs of gum as my mom was paying for her groceries. The resulting guilt made me realize that I was not suitable for a life of crime.

I haven’t been happy with the RSS feed software that I bought a few months ago. If you are a member of WBA, then you’ll know why. I’m testing out a new piece of software that I just found on hotscripts.com called eSyndiCat, which is a directory script.

So far, so good. It has a very clean interface, unlike the software I’d tried before. Even better, it links straight back to the main site. I’ll need to figure out how to incorporate the two, design-wise. As it is right now, I hate the theme on the main site. It looks terrible on my husband’s laptop.

I’m going to have to learn how to build a WordPress Theme. That’s all there is to it. (sigh) And, I’m thinking of doing away with the RSS feed. Your thoughts on that? Do any of you find that feature useful?

Karen confided that she preferred the directory. So, I’m going to create a directory for the members’ blogs. Would you like a directory for writer’s resources as well? I’d like to have both, but am wondering if that would be too much.