Intentions

I apologize for not having more new content up here. Blogging is one of those odd little activities that I wind up having a lot of feelings and plans, but I find myself juggling doubts and worries as well. It becomes one of those semi-competitive things where it isn't that I want to be better than the other blogs I read, I just don't want to be that much worse.
I'm a pantser, fly by the seat of my whimsy sort of blogger, but I started questioning that too. For while I want to maintain the freedom to just climb up on my blog and say whatever I'm thinking about, I recognize that in sitting down, typing something out and hitting send. Well... it's not the best way to present quality writing.
Then my brain starts to worry that people who read my unedited and sometimes sub-par blogging will assume that this is how I WRITE, and dear god they're JUDGING ME! What if they assume my book (which isn't even finished or being shopped yet) is TERRIBLE based on my mad slapdash approach??

This led to me not blogging, anything, because after I wrote it I'd set it down to edit 'later' and then I'd spend all my time editing, revising and writing on my MS that the blog entries just got abandoned. So clearly that much planning isn't going to work either.

So I'm going to compromise. I'm going to write my blog posts nicely, and neatly as I can in Word. I'll check my spelling and commas like a good girl, and then after a quick copy edit I will post them with the understanding that this is NOT my best work, but I am saving my best work for my actual novels. I'm not saying I'll deliberately put anything here that's not a unique idea, the writing I put here I am to have good content. I just don't have the sort of focus to regularly update a blog with perfectly polished entries.

Books are easier. Books I plan the end and middle and beginning before I start, I poke and prod and write and rewrite. My blog is more a stream of consciousness ramble that starts out with a point, eventually gets there, then sometimes continues on to a new question. It's not the prettiest most planned thing in the world.

But frankly, I need it. I need a place to write the words that are topical and important to me without having to worry about if it'll still be relevant in three weeks or a month, or a year. I want to write about what matters when it matters so I can work these thoughts out in catharsis, and maybe even spawn a meaningful discussion.

I intend to have more regular content here. I intend to link to other blogs that are relevant and interesting. I intend to do vocal, interesting, and possibly NSFW book reviews. (If I review a book with profanity, there might be profanity in the review. If I review erotica, there will be discussion of sex scenes. Don't be scared.) I intend to rant about possibly triggery subjects like rape culture, the phenomenon of 'the creeper' (related), and how to be less awkward in public (A process I'm still learning.).
I will probably discuss depression/anxiety/OCD my specific problems with those, how they relate to writing. I also hope to use this space for occasional musings on things that I love, things that inspire.
It's very likely that I won't hold myself to any sort of specific format, some posts might be long, some short, others might simply be a link and a quote to something I think is thought provoking.

All said and done, my goal is to use this space, to add to my scope here, and not just limit the freedom of my thoughts to twitter. This will be me, uncensored and not super focused. It'll be me trying to gather my thoughts, internet wandering, writing, and reading to one place so anyone interested can join me. Hope you enjoy that.

Additionally... this is like a New Years Resolution. I really hope I can stick to it. :-)
Liz

Letting time go on by...

I've neglected my blog, for which I'm sorry. I find it hard to allocate time to blogging but I don't want it to go untouched for months.
Currently I'm on vacation deep in the midwest, surrounded by vast tracts of corn, wide rivers, and ancient trees. For the first half of the trip I essentially set aside the computer completely, except for a twice daily check of email. I haven't surfed, I haven't blogged, I haven't written. It's been fantastic to unplug my brain for a few days to let myself breathe. I haven't stopped thinking about writing, but instead of feeling that urgent weight of all that I must do, instead I think of it with all the realm of possibility.
I've fired a host of guns with my Uncle, something I'd never actually done since I was 14. Shotgun and handgun and .22 rifle. I loaded a ammo clip, and I loaded the guns, and I found that all my theoretical knowledge was right.

I've swam in the pool, seen the Dark Knight Rises on an IMAX screen, and played with my daughter. I've also voraciously read books for 4 hrs a day, reveling in the time to read, to sit in quiet, to enjoy a little peace.

Probably the most interesting little tidbit I found on this trip was a Readers Digest, I picked it up, and skimmed through the headline stories. "Presidential Debate" and "How to tell if your child is Overweight", "End Affirmative Action", and "911 Please Hold". These are all such current pressing concerns... But the cover was a little faded, and the typeset looked dated. I looked a little closer.

It was dated November 1996. Sixteen years old, and yet so much is still the same. Strangely, I find that a little reassuring. So many people seem to be in a panic about the future, and how much change we might see based on politics or environment or policy, but the old adage seems to hold true. "The more things change, the more they stay the same." I'm okay with change for the better, but I'm not in a rush. Things will happen as they do. I'm not going to worry.

Crossing the Streams

I am Liz Peterson Author, but in another section of my life, I am Liz Peterson, My Little Pony enthusiast and toy distributor. I am currently managing two very separate passions that I adore. In this I am very lucky, but I also try to keep them separate to avoid confusion, and to make myself more accessible to both fandoms.
I don't try to sell my writing on my Pony site, I don't try to sell ponies here.
However, once in a great while there will be something important enough to be worth mentioning here and there. Sometimes there will be something I want to mention everywhere I am, because it's something so important to me. Regardless of what other content my sites and blogs entail, they are all containing portions of me. My passions, my ideas, my heart and soul.
Sometimes we have to tear the walls down. Sometimes we have to cross the streams.
With this preamble, I'd like to invite you to my other blog, to talk about something that matters to me.
It's my art, and it's a Charity Auction, and it's giving back a little bit of hope and light to people around me who have lost everything.
Please, spare a moment of your time, and take a look. If it's not your fandom, please pass it on to those who might see it as something they might like.
http://mylittleponymadness.weebly.com/1/post/2012/06/pony-charity-auction-and-a-plea-for-your-help.html

Thank you so much for your time.
Liz