31 was amazing.
There were low points. Can you say strep three times?
How about having the tonsils yanked?
There were amazing highs, flying to New York City and back in a day. Spending three days in New Orleans for Jazz Fest.
Nashville, Asheville, Minnesota, too.
Blissdom, TypeA, CREATESouth, I don’t know that I could have been any busier.
But I was.
In April of 2009, just after CREATESouth I told Dan Conover, that it would be the year of the book, but then Ivy hit bottom and took her leave. She’s 10 months clean and that is worth more than anything, but as her world crumbled. I set the book idea aside, I was just going to dig in and try to make Home Ec 101 work or find out if it was time to let go.
Just before I threw in the towel, I received an email, the one I thought was a scam, only it wasn’t.
Now the book is done, it’s all in my editor’s hands. All I can do is wait. I’ve closed the chapter on writing a book, as well as another year. I have no idea what’s in store, but I can’t wait to see.
We all get a little crotchety, right? A year in the blogworld is 7 years in real life, right? This makes me old and gives me the ability to randomly vent.
There are a few things that immediately turn me off of any website:
- Bug-eyed cartoon women – I find them infantalyzing and as I often have a hard enough time being taken seriously. It may be irrational, so be it. Don’t worry if this works for you, there are plenty of people out there who find the drawings cute and endearing. You can’t please everyone.
- Auto-play music or video. ‘Nuff Said.
- Sparkles, unless they are ironic sparkles.
- Content comprised solely of useless memes that require one word answers or no effort.
Participation in memes doesn’t bother me, it just annoys me when there is never any original content. (For the record I love memes where people show off projects, so I’m biased in that regard).
- People who take themselves too seriously.
Yes, yes, I’m a hypocrite. Noted.
- Blogs that only exist to talk about rebating and couponing. This one is another it’s not you, it’s me.
- Slow page loads (I can say that now that I fixed my own. Thanks Jared.
Now #getoffmylawn unless you have a few peeves of your own.
Also, thank you  Malia for the inspiration, not for being guilty of the offenses.