A while ago I read an article recommending that authors should let their readers know about themselves. What are they doing in their free time? How are their lives? What do they like or dislike?
As a result, I decided to blog about Valentine’s Day, Love, getting older – and fitness.
These subjects came up in my life just lately, when I noticed I’m getting older. Did you ever realize, like me, that not long ago, you hopped drunk, from party to party, and suddenly every week another one of your body parts wants to see the doctor? Yes, that’s what I thought.
See, I’m trying to keep myself in acceptable shape, but I never considered myself being a person who gets up at 6 am to go jogging! – And I proved myself right!
In many ways, I do have problems to comprehend some people’s fitness obsession. A friend of mine bought herself an electronic counter to check meticulously how many calories she burns – at home! I didn’t drive myself to that extreme… I got a motion sensor.
I admit I don’t want to look skinny. I want to look like I can kick someone’s ass! It’s much more fun to be underestimated. Just in case someone wonders: yes, I do work out – at least once, but occasionally up to four times a week. And even if I don’t look like it, I can kick someone’s ass.
But workout or not, the progressing age is unmistakable. Again, not too long ago I couldn’t pass a construction site without hearing the well-known whistles or exchanging secret smiles or sexy leers. Nowadays I can’t even wink anymore! When I tried to act sexy last time and wink to a guy, I ended up in a clinic – with a suspected stroke!
Once again, on Valentine’s Day, I’m single. No flowers, no chocolate, no hearts, no love letters, nothing. It’s a bit sad, since I like – uhm… all of it. But hey, either you have someone who does that for you on his own account, or you don’t. Having a guy you need to remind… ain’t working for me.
But then, allow me a word on my own account, to my last lover:
“I know, you think, you’re a world class French-kisser. But please, French-kissing is generally ‘limited’ to the mouth. If I’d like someone slobbering all over my face, I’ll get myself a St. Bernard-puppy.
Oh – and by the way: when we made love the very last time… out of courtesy, I asked you politely if I was too heavy. Believe me, the answer “No, I always turn blue when having sex.” is really bad! No man should ever say, or even think that! You were supposed to suffocate with dignity!”
I think, I did all right, with permitting my readers and friends a peek into my private life, didn’t I? I hope you had as much fun reading as I had writing this post. (And enjoyed a good laugh too!)
I’ll end this post with Oscar Wilde’s last words on the deathbed: “Either this wallpaper goes or I do!” – The wallpaper won.
I hope you enjoyed the giggles and I wish you and your loved ones:
I realized today when I wanted to share a blog post on my Google+ account that there was a yellow ‘field’ button with the information that my Google+ account will be deleted.
I tried to find out more about the reason and clicked the link, which took me to the following Google-page:
In December 2018, we announced our decision to shut down Google+ for consumers in April 2019 due to low usage and challenges involved in maintaining a successful product that meets consumers’ expectations. We want to thank you for being part of Google+ and provide next steps, including how to download your photos and other content.
On April 2nd, your Google+ account and any Google+ pages you created will be shut down, and we will begin deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts. Photos and videos from Google+ in your Album Archive and your Google+ pages will also be deleted. You can download and save your content, just make sure to do so before April. Note that photos and videos backed up in Google Photos will not be deleted.
The process of deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts, Google+ Pages, and Album Archive will take a few months, and content may remain through this time. For example, users may still see parts of their Google+ account via activity log and some consumer Google+ content may remain visible to G Suite users until consumer Google+ is deleted.
As early as February 4th, you will no longer be able to create new Google+ profiles, pages, communities or events. See the full FAQ for more details and updates leading up to the shutdown.
If you’re a Google+ Community owner or moderator, you may download and save your data for your Google+ Community. Starting early March 2019, additional data will be available for download, including author, body, and photos for every community post in a public community. Learn more
If you sign in to sites and apps using the Google+ Sign-in button, these buttons will stop working in the coming weeks but in some cases may be replaced by a Google Sign-in button. You’ll still be able to sign in with your Google Account wherever you see Google Sign-in buttons. Learn more
If you’ve used Google+ for comments on your own or other sites, this feature will be removed from Blogger by February 4th and other sites by March 7th. All your Google+ comments on all sites will be deleted starting April 2, 2019. Learn more
If you’re a G Suite customer, Google+ for your G Suite account should remain active. Contact your G Suite administrator for more details. You can also expect a new look and new features soon. Learn more
If you’re a developer using Google+ APIs or Google+ Sign-in, click here to see how this will impact you.
From all of us on the Google+ team, thank you for making Google+ such a special place. We are grateful for the talented group of artists, community builders, and thought leaders who made Google+ their home. It would not have been the same without your passion and dedication. (Source: https://support.google.com/plus/answer/9195133?hl=en&authuser=0)
More information I got from the following three websites:
AndroidPolice.com writes:
Google announced its plans to sunset its Google+ social media network for consumers on a sour note in October. The platform, which has a small but dedicated user-base, decided to shut down following Google’s acknowledgment of a data exposure that affected up to 500,000 Google+ profiles. Shortly after, in December, the shutdown timeline was expedited due to another, larger bug that had the potential to reveal private user information and impacted approximately 52.5 million users. Now, the company has detailed its shutdown timeline for the consumer version of Google+ — and it’s not wasting any time. Click the link below to read the entire post. (Source: https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/01/30/google-reveals-shutdown-timeline-for-consumers-and-its-coming-fast/)
ArsTechnica.com writes:
The latest beleaguered Google product to get a death date is Google+. Google’s controversial Facebook clone is shutting down on April 2. Google has been backing away from the service for years, but it gave the site a death sentence in October after revelations of a data leak were made public. Now we have a concrete shutdown date for the service.
Google’s support page details exactly how the G+ shutdown will go down, and it’s not just freezing posts on the site. The whole site will be taken down, and everything will be deleted. “On April 2nd, your Google+ account and any Google+ pages you created will be shut down, and we will begin deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts,” the page reads.
The whole deletion process sounds brutal. It won’t just be the entire Google+ site that will be scrubbed from the Internet—Google+-powered comments on Blogger and other third-party sites will all be deleted, too. Users of Google+ have until April to download and save everything themselves, which they can do via this page. To read the entire post click the link below: (Source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/01/google-shuts-down-april-2-all-data-will-be-deleted/)
DigitalTrends.com writes:
After a security vulnerability impacted more than 500,000 of its users, Google announced in late 2018 that it would be shuttering the Google + social network. Now several months later, it is providing an update on the shutdown, noting that after April 2 all content on the platform will be deleted.
Though the date is still a couple months away, Google is warning that starting April 2, all Google+ pages will be removed. Content from personal Google+ accounts will also be deleted on the date, including photos and videos from Google+ in Album Archives. In the meantime, an archive of all your important information and specific data from the social network can still be downloaded easily According to Google, the full deletion process will take a few months, and some Google+ content might remain visible to G Suite users. To read the entire article, click the link below: (Source: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/google-shutdown-april-2/)
To us, this means, the era Google+ is coming to an end. Whether or not it was a ‘Facebook clone’ as ArsTechnica writes, or why it wasn’t used as much as Google hoped for, at least to us writers the communities were an excellent platform for exchange and networking – and yes, for promotion. April 2, 2019, this will be over. Goodbye, Google+.
Each year, the Nashville Symphony hosts a special concert in honor of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Known as ” Let Freedom Sing,” this annual concert is free to attend and features the Nashville Symphony accompanied by adult and youth choruses drawn from the local community.
During the concert, the orchestra will perform an arrangement of classic pieces while photographs of the triumphs of the civil rights movement, provided by the Nashville Public Library, are projected on a large screen above the stage.
The concert will start at 7 p.m. on Sunday, January 20, 2019, at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Although the event is free to attend, you will need to reserve your seats at the box office in advance; you can pick up your tickets starting at 4 p.m.
Martin Luther King jr. has left us many of his intelligent, spiritual, thoughtful and important quotes, worth memorizing. I picked the ones I thought are still valid now and fit into Martin Luther King’s time and again now.
I uploaded his famous ‘Dream Speech’ for you to read, if you find time. And see how many elements of that speech, held 1963, have still a huge meaning in 2019.
This week I’m a guest on the ‘When Angels Fly’-Blog. Thank you so much for the great interview and the wonderful way you presented ‘Soul Taker’! I can’t thank you enough!
The post contains an interview, a book excerpt, the book description, the book links, and my social media links.
This week, we are pleased to feature on our blog, Aurora Jean Alexander, author of Soul Taker. Aurora – this blog is yours for now.
When did you start writing and how did that come about?
I doubt I can tell you one particular time or even time frame when I started writing. I felt that’s what I wanted to do. Since I lack a talent in painting and drawing I had to do something with my creativity and decided that’s the way to do it.
I’m not sure there ever was “a start”. I learned to write at the age of four and I remember developing little stories since I’m a Kindergarten kid. In school, when others complained about essays, mine were easily 6 – 10 pages long, I enjoyed it so much.
Since then many of you know that I use OneNote as a writer’s tool, not only to take notes, but to actively use it to take information, writing notes, reminders, and lists with me.
Since I am a big fan of OneNote, I also use it to create my character sheets.
Writing a series as the one I do now makes it necessary to keep track of my recurring and new characters and what better way is there to keep my characters as close to me as possible at all times than to use OneNotes?
Now, changing from my former desktop to my current laptop has lost me my entire OneNote. It almost broke my heart, until I realized that I did have one local copy on an external memory device. This means I got my brains together when I made a OneNote data backup. Unfortunately, this was an older version of all my notes. Big chunks of the writing notes were missing, and the character sheets were more or less on the basic character drafts.
Nobody can say I’m not learning from my mistakes and this disaster taught me a few things:
1. save your writer’s notes on a current device
2. make sure the data isn’t only on the cloud but also on the device
3. keep your character sheets as current as possible at all times
Point three has caused me sleepless nights. I realized that I occasionally took notes on the characters wherever I was and on whatever piece of paper I found, but rarely updated the character sheets with new developments.
In a series as of mine, there are definitely a number of characters, the planned returning ones and new ones that come up with the story of new books. When I started my series I had fourteen returning characters on the ‘Good’ side and at least eight characters on the ‘Bad’ side to begin with, and no matter how good I am, I cannot memorize every single small development each of these characters took with the progress of the series.
That means, right now, I’m busy searching my finished manuscripts and drafts for the developments that I had not written down in the character sheets.
I’m therefore spending some of my time reading, taking notes and updating character sheets, with the defined resolution to keep my character sheets up-to-date from now on! It is a lot of work, but I know it’s worth it.
After all, I want my books to be comprehensible and with no obvious character flaws.
While I wrote this blog post, I was asking myself if I’m the only one working like this? Am I complicated? Does that make sense? And how are other authors developing character sheets? Where do other authors keep them? If you can give me some advice, I’d be grateful to hear it in the comments. Thank you!
“I know, you think, you’re a world class French-kisser. But please, French-kissing is generally ‘limited’ to the mouth. If I’d like someone slobbering all over my face, I’ll get myself a St. Bernard-puppy.
