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Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Jacquelyn is a Brave Gal...
Not today, mind you, but back on th 29th.
And I have no excuse for flaking, I really don't. Except I was lost in a world of reading. Don't you hate it when that happens? You get lost in a book, or in my case a series of books, and you forget all time and place, wondering what happened, why you suddenly have stuff you should have been doing...
I bow my head in shame. It was a good series of books though... ;)
I apologize to Jacquelyn for messing up, and I apologize to Adrianna for popping in now, over her post.
I had considered not posting at all, since I had missed my slot. But I figured Jacquelyn was nice enough to ask me to come over, and I figured the least I could do was pop in and at least explain why I was...
Yeah, I was reading. And it wasn't Harry Potter. That was last weekend.
I tend to read most standard paperbacks in less than a day. Longer if the book doesn't grip me instantly. Of course, I rarely buy books that don't grip me, so I usually wind up reading them in one quick sitting, zooming through them at top speed, neglecting the laundry, housework, even my own writing.
When I get a bug in me, I read like a crazy person. Course, I do the same when I write. I get into a groove, and the world falls away, and everything zeroes into the story, and I can't type fast enough to get it down.
Like my book Unified Souls, a scifi romance about a cyborg named Jasmine Storm. The idea took almost ten years to enhance and perfect, but when it was done, I finished the book in approximately four months, pouring out of me at breakneck speed. And then it was reworked a couple of times to smooth out the bugs, but for the most part, what's there is what I originally wrote.
Very heady to know I wrote it that fast.
What about you, do you lose yourself in your reading or your writing?
Candice Gilmer
Author Site
My MySpace Page
Adrianna Dane Saying Hi - Risking the Comfort Zone
What do you think?
Thanks for inviting me come visit at your place, Jacquelyn.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Levels of Hauntings
When Jacquelyn said I could come over and play for a day while she's away, I jumped at the chance. Then, reality set in and I realized just how damn boring I am. After coming to terms with the knowledge, I decided to talk about something that, in the past, has sparked some fabulous conversations. Ghosts/Hauntings
Since I write paranormal romance this seemed like a great topic to discuss, especially here with Jacquelyn's readers. I'll first start with a small intro on my part. Hello, my name is Mandy M. Roth (stop laughing, it was necessary to get that out in the open). I currently have eighteen books in print, covering all kinds of paranormal/supernatural. Vampires, werewolves, faeries, demons, angels… the list goes on. I've always been into odd things and from an early age expressed an interest in all that goes bump in the night.
Now that we have that pesky intro out of the way, let's get down to what I want to talk about today—levels of hauntings. I'm interested in hearing your tales. Have you or someone you know ever experienced any of the levels? If so, which ones? What happened?
The following bit was snagged from the web several years back by me and I'm sorry I didn't keep the link to it but here it is.
Here are the five known levels of Poltergeist/Ghost activity.
Collected From
Gentle Fawn
Level 1. Senses Attack
Cold spots, hearing voices, not able to understand what they are saying, strange noises, odd odors and smells, hearing foot steps, unusual animal activity (like dogs or cats running from rooms, ect.) feelings of being watched.
Level 2. Communication
Presence felt.... No longer mind tricks
Whispers, laughs or giggles, moans or shrieking, moving shadows, breeze in closed areas, visible clouds (base apparitions) strong static, electricity, marks on the floors or walls- not writing.
Level 3. Electrical Control
Lights and other electrical appliances turning off and on, unseen hands grabbing or touching people, writings on the wall or pattern markings, doors open and close or lock and unlock, hearing voices or words clearly, full apparitions or dark figures, showing levels of communication with living people, strange telephone calls.
Level 4. The Trickery Stage
It gains knowledge of what scares you....
Flying objects, moving objects, objects disappearing and reappearing else where, shaking furniture or beds, fire starting, appearing as frightening entities, pushing or shoving people or shaking them, creating visions or illusions, speaking in ordering tones, people feel dizzy, nausea or sick to their stomach, windows, mirrors or other house hold objects breaking for no reason.
Level 5. The Danger Level
Dangerous activity, biting. slapping or punching, rape, animating objects- possession, use of house hold electrical systems to cause harm, fires and burning, blood on the walls-floor or ceilings, attacked by unseen forces, held down, hair pulled, flying knives or other sharp objects, heavy objects falling, treating writings or visual signs.
Poltergeist last for an unknown period of time, but after level 5 it'll lay dormant and then back to level 1 and
it builds up again
Contest: Anyone who comments will be entered to win a PDF download of a title of their choice from my backlist.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Print Release Flood & A Contest
But, before I get into all that, I should probably do an introduction--I'm Michelle M. Pillow. I write in almost all genres and sub-genres of romance. I have paranormals, historicals, futuristics, contemporaries, dark fantasy, fantasy and every combination thereof. Some of my works includes the Dragon Lords and Lords of the Var series (NCP), Realm Immortal series (Samhain), Matthew Sisters series (Virgin Books/Random House) , Pleasure Cruise series (EC), Taming Him (Pocket Books). There are many more and you can see my Booklist Page for a complete listing.
This month, I've had five print books release. I didn't necessarily plan my schedule like that, it just kind of happened that way. With delays and early pushes, surprises and re-issues, I find myself trying to tackle the promoting of all titles. A challenge to be sure, especially since I'm still writing to fulfill new contracts. Again, not complaining, I love my work.
One of the surprises was Naughty Cupid, a collection of three connected novellas at NCP. I knew this one would come, but I didn't have an exact date after it was initially delayed. I wrote this series to give people who hated Valentines Day a cupid they could love. Contrary to popular belief, Cupid is not a cute little cherub. And he'll take revenge on any who say differently.
Also from NCP, just released two days ago, Lords of the Var 5: The Pirate Prince is finally here. I say finally, because this was a delayed release that my readers have been clamoring for. When I first started writing these futuristic series, I did the four Dragon Lords books hoping they'd do all right as I went back to my first love, the straight historical. I never realized how popular they would become. Now I can't keep up with the requests for more. Dragon Lords were four prince brothers who were at war with the Var. After their stories, I jumped to the other side of the planet to tell the Var's side of the story. So the bad guys became the heroes and the five Lords of the Var books were born. After these, more futuristic installments are planned. Space Lords will hopefully begin releasing this year in both ebook and print. Also connected to the series are the Zhang Dynasty books in ebook and print (Seduction of the Phoenix, Temptation of the Butterfly) and the short erotic series, Galaxy Playmates (ebook only).
Stop Dragon My Heart Around a book I co-authored with Mandy M. Roth (who will be guest blogging here next week *waving at Mandy*) We always hoped it would come into print and with Ellora's Cave's new printing press it did just in time to sign for the RWA conference this month. True to EC's reputation, this book is super sexy! The Dracodomus brother have a slight problem. If they don't mate by the end of the year, they'll never have sex again.
Fierce Competition and Opposites Attract are re-issues in mass market from Virgin Books. They're part of the contemporary erotic romance imprint, Cheek. Fierce Competition is about a woman with a dream job, great roommates and a wonderful boyfriend. She has everything--even a social rival who'd like to see her lose it all. Opposites Attract sees socialite Alexis Grant losing everything when her mother is arrested for embezzlement. Needing to get away and desperate for money, she agrees to go cross-country with her best friend, the best friend's boyfriend and a man she'd never met--tattoo artist, Ethan James. Ethan is everything she never wanted in a man, but he might just turn out to be everything she needs.
Book Video Links - for you who like to see the trailers
Stop Dragon my Heart Around Book Video
Opposites Attract Book Video
Fierce Competition Book Video
Other Michelle Pillow Book Videos
Michelle M Pillow Links
Chat Group - The Raven
Author Newsletter/Book Notification Group
Free Story- The Raven
Raven Paranormal Blog
Enter to win your choice of any of my ebook backlist in PDF (other formats where available). Simply comment to this post telling me what you like to read, your favorite authors, genres, ect... Must be 18 or Older to enter and win!
Monday, July 16, 2007
A Hunting We Will Go!! Err....again!
They say everything happens for a reason and I firmly held on to that belief when the house I wanted slipped through my fingers last winter. That reason is that I now have the opportunity to get an even better house in an even better school district for B. Also, this time seven year old B gets to house shop with me. I told Phyllis, the RE Agent, that if she thought *I* was picky, she is in for a real surprise. *snicker*
Since B learned we were going to shop for the new house together she had begun to compile a list of requirements that may just beat out last year's Wish List for Santa Claus! Apparently she agrees we should have wood and tile flooring only..."Cuz it's easier to clean up the cat puke that way. And you know how much Damien can puke cuz he's really fat!" She dislikes the idea of a split-floor plan lol. She wants to be able to run into my bedroom in a flash. Distance is unwelcome. It must be, above all, a non-scary and utterly MONSTER-FREE house. No houses with monsters will be given consideration. Not even if they come down on the price. Apparently they are guaranteed to migrate under her bed and she wants NO PART of it.
Beyond that, the only requirements are a tire swing...or a tree big enough for the immediate installation of a tire swing. This is non-negotiable. Also, the yard must be big enough for her to run fast and hard from one side to the other and must have a fence "So I don't get stoled."
*sigh* Nice to know at least PARTS of my life lessons get absorbed...somewhat...but despite her bastardization of 'don't talk to strangers', she did have an addendum..."and so I can have a swing and monkey bars, because I like monkey bars, and the fence is so no other kids play on them...unless they are nice to me and are my friends. But they have to ask."
"Me?" I ask archly, knowing how her mind works.
She scoffs. "No. ME! They're my monkey bars. They need my permission."
"Don't you think they ought to ask me, too? It's my yard. My house."
"But it's MY monkey bars," she argues in that I-am-destined-to-be-a-lawyer tone. "You're too grown up to play on them so they aren't yours. You'll be giving them to me to use." She tilts her head to judge me. "Besides, you hate to go outside."
This is true. Damn her. "Yes, but it's my property and I will be buying these things with my money." Do not ask me while I am compelled to reason logically with a 7 year old. It's a mother thing. "That makes them my monkey bars."
I get a narrow-eyed look. "But you are getting them FOR ME. Right?"
She has me there. I don't crave monkey bars...unless you count the value in quelling one more instance of "I'M BORED!"
"You and any other child who might visit," I stipulate. This utterly horrifies her. B is one of the most possessive kids ever, especially if a toy is brand new and she hasn't had the chance to play with it first. Probably a product of always having hand me downs...a situation I can empathize with as 1 of 5 kids. We almost never had exclusively new toys and never were we allowed to not set one apart as just ours. Sharing meant the toy would likely get shared to death. Someone was bound to fuck it up while it was out of your hands and making the rounds.
I watch her stop and search her mind, her eyes wide as she realizes yet another implication to my statement. "What other kids? You don't have any other kids but me! You're not allowed! The doctor said you can't have no babies in your belly." Smug satisfaction. That's her expression as she folds her arms over her chest. Because worse than sharing monkey bars is the idea of sharing...well...me. LOL! And apparently my explanation of the hysterectomy in January was interpreted very strangely...or conveniently...in her mind as guaranteed exclusivity as my one and only child EVER. I just hope she didn't think I was being forbidden from having kids and the doctor was punishing me! (how's that for perceptive and ironic interpretation though?)
"Well, Christopher might visit or Zoey..." The relief running through her makes her bony shoulders relax in a sag.
"Oh. Well they are too small for monkey bars. They might fall and get hurt."
I can't resist. I am cruel and evil and will go to parent hell. "...or Jarred might visit." (Uh oh...he's only one day older than she is. Now we're in trouble). "And Zoey and Christopher will grow up and get as big as you are eventually."
Obstinacy arrives with perfect timing and panache. "Then I'm taking them with me when I go back home to mommy!"
"Sweetie, monkey bars won't fit on a plane. And you are forgetting, they are MY monkey bars. They will stay here and be here for when you come visit."
And in enters craftiness. "But you can take them apart into pieces and pack them in a suitcase and then they'd fit."
"No. You can't. Once it's put together it stays together. But nothing is going to happen to them while you are gone, B. I promise. And if it did, I'd get them fixed."
Reassurance makes its demands, including a boo-boo face. "For me? Cuz you love me, right?"
"Of course, honey. Why do you think I am getting them for you in the first place?"
*SPRING!!* "AHA! See! You just said they are mine!"
The little sneak. She walked me right into that one. If anyone needs a lawyer, look her up in about 20 years. If she survives that long.
So I will be away all this week, but with Internet access, so you might suffer a blow by blow. I am sorry. But if I have to suffer the slings and arrows of the child, I instinctively duck and let it all fly right back to you all. Because I love you. Truly. LOL.
Wish me luck!
Friday, July 13, 2007
Everyone's entitled...so here's mine.
So, since this is MY blog, I am going to take the liberty of getting slightly political. At least, the politics of romance. I think it is safe to say that one of the most influencing forces in publishing politics is the RWA. Romance Writers of America. At least as far as my profession is concerned it is. They started out as a place where upstarts and wannabes could learn all the tricks of the trade necessary to break into a really tight knit industry back in the day. They were trendsetters. Then they became regulators. Recognition by the RWA is apparently a big thing. Something to strive for. RITA awards are much craved and lauded. You have to be a member to get them, so they are also exclusive.
That was one of the first doubts I had about becoming and RWA member. I dislike exclusivity. I dislike being part of a group that you have to be able to afford in order to even have the right to be judged in the first place. I was advised that as a newbie author it was best to go with the flow and experience things firsthand before making decisions or fast judgments. Also a good idea. I dislike basing opinion on rumor. So I joined.
Then came RWA Dallas.
Now to make a fair comparison...I loved RT Houston, had a great time, but I will admit this had more to do with the company I was keeping in the bar than anything else. I met a slew of authors. Made plenty of new friends. Plus my two best friends were with me the whole time on top of it. I was not pleased, however, to hear about the m/m romance promo being stripped from promo lane. I don't read it, I don't write it, I am a traditional gal...well sorta ;)...but it had EVERY right to be there. It has every right to exist. I imagine homosexual people have and want romance just like heterosexuals do. So this dramatic action boded very ill and reeked of prejudice and ignorance, something I happen to abhor. Also, there was segregation in some of the parties themselves. Cliquing and all that high school mentality. I myself left the EC party after five minutes because I was so disgusted by the way the EC authors were isolated from the rest of us. All I had wanted for that party was to meet my most beloved EC authors. Being disabled (and relegated to a far corner of the room), mingling was not an option. The awards ceremony tried to isolate the winners, which I guess is traditional if you think about the Oscars and all that, but I preferred to be with my friends and got up to do exactly that. Still, I was willing to make a little leeway for the convention being unprepared for some of these issues and hoped for the best for next year. I hoped they would listen to the feedback of the attendees.
As a person of some size and disability, if there is one thing I know, it's discrimination. Whether it is passive or aggressive, it doesn't matter. I feel it and I hear it loud and clear. In waiting rooms when all the chairs have arms, it's saying "You are not welcome to sit here in comfort like those who can fit their asses in these chairs"...even though 50 percent and better of Americans are overweight, even doctors' offices and movie theatres haven't changed their ways. I hear it from stores with no handicapped parking (usually older villages) that say I will never be welcome there because I can't walk that far. Even my beloved bookstores, the smaller ones I used to love to browse for hours, but provide nowhere to sit, have forced me into large chains or simply surfing the net in order to browse in comfort. This is passive discrimination. The aggressive discrimination is worse. Laughter, mocking...exclusion...you get the idea. So I am familiar.
When RWA passed the new recognition regulations, I was appalled. The ability to be recognized by RWA or PAN was done with such distinctive purpose. Now some I agree with. For instance, the new rules about being in business three years or better, paying at least $1,000 advance to every author...rules meant to protect the young and budding writers as well as unsuspecting readers in essence. However, when it made demands about the majority of sales NOT being on a publisher owned website and, as I have heard, the turn around regulations from ebook to print that are nearly impossible for young companies to match, I got the message loud and clear, just like every ebook author out there did. They said: "You are not welcome here. Your new ideas and groundbreaking ways disturb us. Homosexual, erotic and menage romances have no place in our lauded ranks, and neither do those who write them." Not one of the current epubs meets the criteria of a recognizable RWA publisher. Not even, as I understand it, Ellora's Cave...the grandmother of all epubs. Does this mean former recognition is being rescinded, or will they be grandfathered in? I haven't found the answer to that question yet.
I wrote a letter yesterday to a friend and contemporary...an eBook author...and I found myself saying something in private that should be said out loud. There is a long standing bias between "New York" authors and "Ebook" authors. When I first came on the scene I eagerly embraced everyone who shared my love of writing, NY, E or otherwise. Now having become more familiar with the ropes, I realize that talent between the two is not always equal...but neither is it all that disparate. But I wasn't looking for talent. I was looking for PEOPLE. For friends. Writers who, like me, wrote because they loved to create great worlds of imagination.
I agree, there should be regulations to keep raw startups from flooding the market with subpar work. Having read more than my share of poorly edited crap and vanity projects, I can see the need to rein in new pubs and give them guidelines to adhere to. This will protect readers from buying crap, and writers from being poorly represented and abused...which I have also seen. Knowing they are answerable to someone can be a good thing.
But making the regulations so strict that it lumps everyone who writes or publishes an ebook into that category? Even EC!? No...this is not about quality. It's about fear. It is, once and for all, about erotic romance, m/m and other gay romance, menage romance, and other things that disturb convention. I saw the ripples when I heard that the lesser epubs were being singled out and delegated to the damaging and exclusionary tactics of next year's RT convention by being removed from the famous Saturday author signing to a night of their own, Wednesday. If this didn't scream "WE'RE BETTER THAN YOU!!" then I don't know what does. Of course, this didn't include Samhain or Ellora's Cave who were deemed fit to swim with the big boys. I wonder, truly, what the cut off is. What makes EC and Samhain eligible for the huge Saturday crowd draw, rather than relegated to being set up in nowhereland Wednesday night...oh, and did I mention the eBook author signing was scheduled perfectly opposite the EC party, the convention's biggest and most popular party? Knowing that, you tell me...what is the likelihood of anyone showing up at the signing from the convention? Nil. What is the likelihood of people wanting to shlep out to the convention twice, both Wednesday and Saturday for signings? NIL. The outright snobbery and prejudicial treatment...even hostilities in some instances between 'new york' authors and e-authors has always shocked and baffled me, and this becomes icing on that cake. Whether it is actual on the NY side or perceived on the Epub side, it's there and it flies as thick as crap in a shit-throwing contest.
When I first entered this scene I was like a child who has no idea its friends are black or white. I had no idea I was supposed to think differently about 'them' until it was attempted to TEACH me to think that way by my elders. I see no difference between that life lesson and the message/lesson this is sending. (Luckily, I made bunches of ebook author friends before I realized I was expected to look down my nose at them--after all, who do you think most of those authors were down in that bar deigning to spend time with the little people?) I am also lucky because my publisher never told me I could or could not align myself with epub authors. I find my publisher to be progressive and tolerant and, in the face of stories I have heard from others about having their work destroyed by other editors at other pub houses, I believe I am damn lucky they took me in and are nurturing me.
But the individual authors themselves? The behavior I have seen from some of them is disgustingly prejudicial. And since RWA is made up of mostly individual published authors, I think they just made my point. New York is white. EBooks are black. And I do believe RWA just passed the modern day version of Jim Crow laws. Separate but equal....except for the equal part. Straight and proper vs gay and alternative sex. The traditional straight romance makes us feel safe and comfy...we don't care that there is a huge untapped market out there for gay/alternative romance!! It makes us uncomfortable! We're only doing what we always do when we're uncomfortable! Therefore, we now dictate that romance is not romance unless it has one boy and one girl and all the proper connecting parts!
And as for the resulting uproar since RWA Dallas and since RT announced the segregation of the signing event? Here's where I get the image of an RWA or RT child sitting on the floor, fingers stuck in the ears, eyes closed, yelling "LALALALALA!! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!"
Unfortunately, lines are already being drawn, people are choosing sides, and it's only a matter of time before the romance writing union starts experiencing ceding and starts to fall apart into the ranks of the blue and the grey. War is coming. I hope they recall that they were the ones to fire the first shot.
Then again, this is just my opinion. I am eternally liberal....I believe in eternal equality. I live in a happy mindset where we can all get along, all be friends, and all be treated fairly, if only we tried harder to be accepting and understanding.
I fully expect someone to come along any minute now to slap me in the face and say SNAP OUT OF IT! I expect fallout from this post. I am even afraid of the idea of upsetting people. But if I didn't speak my mind in spite of fear then I would be passive and sending the wrong message, just like arms on all the chairs.
I wonder what you, the readers, think of all of this brouhaha?
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Oh woe and alas...I have fat ass cats!
i lost all cable, phones and internet yesterday, one of the prices you pay for having everything through digital cable. if one goes out they all go out. so that means i have to use my cell to fix the problem and call cable company x. now you have to understand that i have no cell reception in my house, so i have to go outside to get a signal.
it was bleeding effing hot in new york yesterday. i know, arizona has 115 degrees in the shade....but that's their problem. it was 94 degrees out and that is just hot. i hate the heat. if i can avoid it at all, i will not step a single foot outside in all of the summer. it makes me sweat. i hate sweat. it makes me sick, aggravating my fibromyalgia. it makes me irritable. and i am so pale that five seconds in the sun gives me second degree sunburn. so here i am sweat my fat tushy off screaming at the voicemail as it transfers me to manhattan voicemail (i live in the catskills) and am forced to listen to the long long loooooooong loooooooooong list of outages in manhattan, the bronx, queens....you get the idea.
so i am reduced to screaming and cussing like a crazed lunatic in the broiling hot parking lot. then when i get a live person i can't seem to get them to grasp the concept of NO CELL RECEPTION IN THE HOUSE!!! as they continually ask me to check this and that piece of equipment for this and that reset button...I AM OUTSIDE YOU MORON!!! outside standing in the broiling heat in the center of the blacktop which is emanating even more heat.
so finally i find out that there is outages and oh well wait for the service guy tomorrow. i walk into the house and...the cable is working.
except, of course, the internet, which is so vital to my junkie existence. the only way to survive this catastrophic event is to play one of my mindless games from the accursed oberon media collection, my second junkie addiction, which is like being on the computer on the internet and an adequate substitute, at least for stopgap purposes.
now comes time to take B, heretofore referred to as "the ungrateful child", to horseback riding. i don't want to quit the game--forgetting that they now all have automatic save on exit--so i leave the computer on and open. after an hour of watching the UC do her thing in the comfort of my AC in the car, we head back home where i stagger in drooling need back to my laptop and find...
that i have fat-assed cats. no one else was in the house, the lock being changed after the whole medication fiasco. so when i see my keyboard on the laptop has been SHATTERED, there is only one culprit. or rather four. one of four. someone jumped or fell onto the damn thing and shattered the keys! the enter, quote and brackets keys are totally MIA. the shift key and question mark are snapped into bits! you may have noticed the lack of caps in this posting. i am a right handed shifter...so i can't coordinate caps...and left handed shifting requires a complex process of thought and motor control. i am a left handed spaz. thus, i am leading a cap-less existence.
fat ass cats. now, the culprit...how to figure it out. (this is not going to change the inevitable, but it makes me feel better...i think...because i have to have someone to blame other than my dumb ass who left the computer open.) the first and obvious suspect is damien. damien is sixteen lbs on a light day. he is also a horrid clutz. in fact, none of my cats are graceful. but damien is aware of his bulk and gracelessness and so is very careful to pick and choose where he lands.
then we have leo. leo weighs in at a mere 12lbs, but he also loves the highest perch on the cat tree in spite of the fact that he insists on rolling around up there like a spaz (he gets it from his mother) until he plummets gracelessly to the ground. he is a definite possibility.
nino...i least suspect. he actually has grace...more or less...but he is a decent 13 to 14 lbs on his own. and nikki is the lightest...a mere 9 lbs...but by far the one most likely to NOT look where he is going. he hates being crowded or touched by the others and if they get too close he freaks out and springs in any direction he thinks will get him away fast enough and far enough.
*sigh* an exercise in futility. none of this changes the fact that i must call dell hell. and anyone who has followed my blogs knows how i feel about calling or chatting with dell customer service. and to add perspective to the cable call, dell was a pleasant experience after that. the new kb is on the way. so...i will be capless and questionless for a while.
i think i might survive. i am not certain. please send chocolate.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Contest Winners
I SHOULD make you wait. Heh. And not just because of random cruelty! Several of you, and I won't name names yet because it could be my mailer's fault, bounced your email notices back to me like they were rubber against a wall. Please make sure of several things. 1. Your mailing address is not only legitimate but spelled and entered correctly. 2. That you have told your email program to recognize the blog announcements as friendly mail...and not junk mail. 3. If you have a firewall and are a super geek, figure it out. 4. If you have a firewall and aren't a super geek, give up now, it's hopeless, all is lost.
Once you double check all of that info, then I can be certain it isn't you but the mailer that is being cranky. I'll send you an email if you bounce back to me again and again after a few more blogs.
All right. Now that new business is taken care of, let's get back to old business. I want to remind you to keep an eye on the previously posted blog! I have been adding fabulous names to it and it assures you all that you will be highly entertained in my absence. I'd like to say right now that I expect you to pounce on each guest like the voracious little author cannibals I know you are. I encourage you to leave comments and I am hoping each lady will be kind enough to interact with you. I am sure if you shower then with your usual enthusiasm and kindness, they won't ever want to leave.
And...the winner of the EVIL EVIL contest, who will be taking home one gorgeous blond Demon by the name of ELIJAH in ARC form is....
Of course! LOL. I forgot yet again to limit the contest to the USA...or simply didn't have the heart to after meeting so many wonderful foreigners at RT...and I WOULD pick the one entrant who live in the Netherlands! LOL. CONGRATULATIONS JANET!! And congrats to all of you who worked SO hard to find those quotes. I had 43 entries, and every single one of them was absolutely correct.
Hmm...guess I am going to have to be much trickier next time. (echoing evil laugh) *rubs hands together*
And the winner of the Serene Contest and a 25 dollar Gift Certificate to Serene Dreaming is:
Janet, please email me your entire address, just as it should be written on the envelope...cuz i am a dork and will send it accidentally to the Netherlands or something ...oh, wait.... ;)
Rena, Serena from Serene Dreaming will contact you after I give her your email. :)
Congratulations guys. Now, I am off to start plotting my next evil contest!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
In other news...
Now on to other things.
As some of you may have heard, I am going on a vacation. Oh yes, my dears, a nice LONG vacation. I am spending a whole month in Nova Scotia! Ahh...beaches, whale-watching, sounds of the harbor, my best friend beaside me, a booksigning, a fan inviting me to dinner, writing in the cool breeze off the ocean and completely absolutely internet free unless I trot my tush down to the restaurant where they have. Now, if you know anything about me, it's that I don't like to trot anywhere if it can be avoided. And I will avoid it. So that would leave you utterly bereft of my blogging talents. No more contests. No more bitchfests. No more random dorky thoughts in the middle of the night.
I know. You're mourning. I can feel it. Poor babies. But never let it be said I don't think of the comfort and enjoyment of my fans above ALL else. To that end, I have created BLOGFEST 2007! Yes, yes, it is a good name, isn't it? What does it mean? Well is means that every single day I am away I have retained an author, from a variety of romantic genres, or reviewers, or even our own Fan Club President to blog for you. I have no idea if it they plan to promo or hold contests or tackle an important industry topic. I have given them utterly free reign to do and say whatever they like! Hopefully we will be rewarded with some very candid insights into each of these parts of a writer's world.
The list is incomplete, short by only seven or eight names, but I thought I would post it now and simply edit the post as the days fill in. I want you all to get a good look at what is in store for you. Now, if only I can con--err...I mean coax Lora Leigh to the list, we'll have achieved near perfection. But she is an ARC junkie...and I happen to have one she wants. Hehehe. Remember this sacrifice, my dears. I do it for you!
Oh and, Patrice Michelle has agreed to join us, but I just realized I neglected to find a date for her! Bad Jacki. Bad, bad Jacki! The error is being rectified ASAP.
July 28th - MICHELLE M. PILLOW
July 29th - CANDICE GLIMMER
July 30th - MANDY ROTH
July 31st - ADRIANNA DANE
Aug. 1st - STELLA PRICE
Aug. 2nd - RENE LYONS
Aug. 3rd - JOYFULLY REVIEWED
Aug. 4th - MELODEE AARON
Aug. 5th - RENE FIELD
Aug. 6th - ANN CORY
Aug. 7th - CATHRYN FOX
Aug. 8th - CHRISTINE D'ABO
Aug. 9th - PATRICE MICHELLE
Aug. 10th -
Aug. 11th - PAULA QUINN
Aug. 12th -
Aug. 13th - SERENA of SERENE DREAMING
Aug. 14th - AMY (Nightwalker Fan Club President)
Aug. 15th - LILA DUBOIS
Aug. 16th - DEIDRE KNIGHT
Aug. 17th - MAURA ANDERSON
Aug. 18th - SKYLAR SINCLAIR
Aug. 19th - ANYA BAST
Aug. 20th - JJ MASSA
Aug. 21st - JULES BENNETT
Aug. 22nd -
Aug, 23rd -
Aug. 24th -
Aug. 25th -
Aug. 26th - LORA LEIGH
Aug. 27th - CHARLOTTE BOYETTE-COMPO
Aug. 28th - MELISSA GLISAN
Aug. 29th - YASMINE GALENORN
Aug. 30th - BIANCA D'ARC
Aug. 31st - NALINI SINGH
*edited to add* I GOT LORA!!!! WOOHOO!!
Thursday, July 5, 2007
The Doubt of the Benefit
But here's the deal. There was one little loose end I had to attend to. I had to sit my little girl down and talk to her. I had to make her understand that it is not okay for anyone, not even an adult, to tell her to lie to me or keep a secret from me.
Now my 'friend' had wanted to sit down with her as well, and I am glad I said no. I didn't want her to feel like she was in trouble. I started off with my gentle little lecture and then said, "Now tell me exactly what was said." (See my GF had said B had misheard her. That she had been talking to her own daughter about hiding it from her daughter's grandmother because she didn't want to catch grief. B must have misunderstood.)
B is seven. And guileless. So she shrugs and says, "Well, she said not to tell you about Keith because it was none of your business."
Well, heck. That sounds very specific to me. And like something a grown-up would say.
"Okay..." I stop a moment to hide my seething reaction. "Well, are you sure she meant me?"
"Yup. She meant you," B said.
Thinking about my exchange in the parking lot with this GF when I confronted her, I now have to call everything into question again.
"You guys didn't go to the carnival with Keith did you? I mean, you went and just bumped into him." (GF swore up and down this is what happened)
"Yeah. We went with him."
"Wait...you mean he was in my car?" (I loan her my car whenever she needs it and my one exemption very specifically was that he was NEVER to be in my car. EVER)
"Yeah." B said. She shrugs. "He was sitting in the front seat."
"While she was driving?"
"Uh huh. Drinking beer. And she drank beer too and then they kissed and hugged a lot in front of us."
My mental brakes slammed down, if for nothing else than to keep my plummeting belly from actually hitting the floor. Now until this moment my anger and hurt have been directed toward the woman in question. She fooled me. She fooled everyone I introduced her to! She is imminently believable. Wow. She is missing a fabulous career on the stage. But now I am utterly horrified with myself. WTF kind of a mother am I?? I just spent the past six months letting my child drive around with this...this....creature!
"Wait a minute," I ask, because I have to make absolutely sure I should be exiled from motherhood forever. "It's okay for adults to drink beer, B. But...was she drinking beer and driving the car? Do you mean right after she drank it or at the same time?" As if one is worse than the other!
And now I have no right to my child and no right to own my gorgeous RAV 4. I had already suspected as much about the car after this same GF left the windows open TWICE in the rain and drowned the interior...but I am forgiving and all that liberal good-hearted crap.
I abhor people who drink and drive. My contempt of this is deeply felt. As much as anyone's I imagine. But my CHILD was in the back seat at the time. Hell...HER child was in the back seat at the time!
Now I have to explain to my child how many ways of WRONG that was. How dangerous it was and why. How dangerous Keith is and why. Now I have to tell her to stay away from her best friend, that whole house....everything! And now I want to beat the spit out of the woman who forced me into this position. I should say women. I blame myself as well. She is seven! SEVEN!!! She lost her cousin Ricky to a drunk driver when she was six...and now this?
It's a wonder I have any hair left in my head. All I can hope is that this has taught B never to conceal things from me. Once she began telling me this and realized I wasn't mad at HER and that I was going to protect her and that I wasn't going to let my GF get mad at her ("If I tell you, you will tell her and she'll get mad at me."), she got on a roll.
"They left us in a field and made us go far in the tall grass by these trees and they was kissing all the way back in the car and not watching us and we coulda got stoled."
Well, at least she has grasped just how much danger this person has consistently put her in.
I feel better already.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Resolution....for the moment.
Some people totally get off on it. This concept utterly baffles me! Romance novels where the hero and heroine clash and bicker from beginning to just about the very end, irritate the heck out of me. I mean, of course conflict is part of the story...otherwise it wouldn't be interesting and we wouldn't read it. But you can have conflicts, even arguments, without developing the screeching harpy from hell heroine or the pigheaded lout hero.
So last night I was determined to speak softly and logically. Not emotionlessly, of course, considering what was at stake...not to mention it would be highly impossible for an emotional being like myself. I confronted my friend about endangering B and then encouraging her to lie to me. She denied the latter...but no matter what I said she argued and justified this guy Keith hanging around them at the carnival. "He didn't come with us...we bumped into him...he paid for the girls..." "It was a public place with like a hundred people around." "I know what to do if someone gets out of hand..." "I would never endanger the girls."
I stood there staring at her. It was perfectly rational in her mind and, to her, I was the one overreacting.
I think....not.
She is not a bad person. I truly believe she hasn't got evil or maliciousness in her heart. In fact, just the opposite. Like me she says yes too easily, people pleases, ignores her instincts...goes against her better judgment and lets the wrong people into her life, but with the best intentions. That being said, I told her very clearly that the events over the past few days have shaken my trust. I told her B was never to be near this man again. I told her a lot of things.
What I didn't say is that I no longer trust her judgment. I know she doesn't do drugs, but I have no doubt that the theft was somehow associated with her. If not her, than one of her friends. Bottom line, B won't be entrusted with her anymore. But neither will I be nasty to her. I will transition away from this situation slowly and carefully. Calmly. Between travel, vacation and the move to NC, I won't see her very much and that is for the best.
A letter from a fan brought a question to mind. She was consoling me about my blog and explained how she never seemed to learn her lesson either when it came to people. But I have been giving this some thought and realized there were mirrored aspects to this. Either the universe thinks I need to learn a lesson and keeps setting me up with the same situation again and again until I finally learn how to guard myself and listen to my instincts better...or on the opposite spectrum I am supposed to learn how to remain open and giving and stick to my philosophies in life and overcome these challenges.
I believe we should be good to each other, see each other equally and with unity, race and sex not mattering. I believe we should always extend our hand in any way we can to those who are less fortunate than we are. I believe we should forgive, we should not lie, and we should behave honorably as if the being we most respect is watching us with a critical eye.
Perhaps you think this is Utopian and naive. Maybe you scoffed at it and thought "Yeah, right."
But the point is, Utopian or not, impossible or not, the only way I can ever expect to see all these things in others is by relentlessly trying to set the best example I can. I am really good at one or two of those things, I excel in at least one, and I work hard as heck on the others...and invariably fail with one as well. But the point is that I try. And, as much as I hurt, I hope I never stop and I hope somehow my example will make an impact.
Even if it ends up being on just one little blond girl.
That's more than enough for me.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Five minutes later....
But then the description expanded to include "guys". I instantly turned to B and asked, "Was Tony there that night?" (Tony being this woman's ex) "No," she said, "It was Keith. But I wasn't exactly supposed to tell you that cuz you'd be mad," she says.
Mad? Why...why would I be mad? Hmm. Let's examine this. Could it be because Keith is a drunk? Could it be the last I heard, when Keith was drunk he nearly broke this woman's arm, knocked her around and kicked a hole in her wall? Keith the ex-con who went away for beating an ex gf? OR maybe it was simply because a woman I thought was a loyal and trusted friend, a mother who could be counted on, told MY child to LIE to me?!? TO conceal a truth of such dangerous proportions?
Guess I don't need to explain to you this is the same friend as referenced in my last blog.
I'm looking forward to the end of her shift tonight. And I have never been more delighted to be moving out of this place than I am right this very instant.
Platypus magnet
When people are victims of a crime, this is often the term they use to describe it. It's pretty accurate...and pretty skin-crawling. But what do you use to intensify that adjective? What describes the feeling when someone you trust and love commits a crime against you?
Being a person with chronic pain, I'm on a lot of meds. Every week I lay out a tray of almost 14 different kinds of meds for all kinds of reasons. I keep all of my meds in a huge Ziploc bag in the bottom center cubby of a 3 by 3 (9) cubby shelf that it inches away from the lazyboy chair I spend most of the day in. I rarely leave the house, travel and walking and even mundane things tiring me easily. I prefer to sit and type and enjoy my friends and fans on the internet, to write, to read, to watch movies. Before my foster daughter came along, I was as hermit-like as it got.
You see, I don't mix well with people. It's not that I don't trust anyone...it's that I don;t trust myself to choose the right people. Sometimes it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, walks like a duck...and its a platypus. Those are the ones I always seem to find.
I am apparently a platypus magnet. I always seem to find the wolf in a perfectly tailored sheep's costume. Have you ever felt that way? That's how I feel today. That's how I felt yesterday when I went to dole out my medications and while sorting through them lifted out a bottle of narcotics, something I use only in crisis as prescribed, that had eight pills left in it.
Last week it had had over 200. A second bottle of a different narc had also been drained all but dry. At first I was baffled. I usually lock my doors. I almost never leave. Only two trusted people have keys to my house. Only these two trusted people would know where I kept them. It swiftly occurred to me that one of these two had utterly betrayed me. A friend, someone I leave my child with all the time, someone I have loaned money to without conditions...been a friend to...cared deeply for...someone who had violated me.
Nothing else is missing...so far. All jewelry accounted for. I don't own much of value otherwise. So, I conclude this was a very specific target. Someone went directly for the meds, left the bottles and, apparently, cared enough to leave enough for me in case of an emergent crises.
How touching.
So, having a child inexorably draws me out of my hermitage and into the path of people. And of all those people, I once again go straight for the platypus. The wolf. And once again my trust is devoured and regurgitated back in my face. And yet because I did not witness the crime and I have no solid proof, I cannot confront the suspect and I cannot help but be torn between the love I formed for this person and the utter belief that they were the only one out of the two with motive and opportunity.
You see, the one day I went out last week was Sunday. As I was leaving I spoke on the phone with this friend and we laughed because she was just arriving at my apt. complex (where she lives as well) and I hadn't even seen her go by. She asked where I was going. I said to the tattoo parlor for another three hours of work. Many of you know how excited i am about the mural of art I am creating on my back. So did she. And just like that I had told her exactly how long I'd be out of my house and to please, be so kind as to go into my home and steal from me. Break my heart. Devastate my trust. Make me feel violated and stupid. Stupid for once again falling for the tricks of the platypus who acts utter loyal, truthful, trustworthy...at least on some levels...and went chinks start appearing in that trust in tiny flecks in other ways I forgive and forgive and forgive because I WANT to believe the best of someone I have chosen to love.
I want to be a good person. A forgiving soul. I want to be like my true best friend Laura who sees so much in her optimistic perspective...and it makes her such a bright and happy being. Not always of course...she is human and has her moments...but they are oh so rare and I want so badly to be as warm and beautiful as she is, as forgiving and faithful as she is, as trusting and understanding as she has been for every single year of our 15 plus years of friendship. She's a duck. No doubt about it. A true duck through and through.
So now I gather all my keys back, lock up my jewelry and meds in the safe, the passports, the SS cards, my heart, my trust, my faith...all of it.
What would you do?


text:
While it has been fun and interesting doing my blog on Blogger, I've decided to make a change. Since Blogger is a part of the Google community of features and programs, and Google seems to be wanting to do a lot of "data mining" and collecting data on individuals and businesses, I've decided to move Ignoring the Barking Dogs over to WordPress.
While I will lose the familiar look that was here, at least for now, and especially with the comments about pioneers taking arrows being on the front page, it will also be interesting to experiment on WordPress to see what effects I can see there.
Blogger has brought me something over 20,000 page views since January 1 of 2011, and it will be interesting to see what kind of traffic I receive on WordPress. For now, my primary reason for this post is to provide a link to the blog site at WordPress. As I become more comfortable with the new system, I will change the links that I've put on the RV forums.
Please bear with me in regards to the new blog site as it is still a work in progress as I experiment with different "themes" and styles of display. It is my sincere hope that each of you that have checked in with the nonsense that I engage in here will also check in with me at the WordPress site.
Bless all of you that have been following or just checking me out, and I pray that I can continue to entertain and inform you at WordPress. It has been amazing to see the number of folks that check in from foreign countries. Somebody in the Ukraine, Brazil, Russia, Canada, Australia and other points in between must really be bored.
I love having you, and I hope you continue to follow. Once this refrigerator thing is accomplished, I hope to post some more entries with regards to our vacation to Pagosa Springs, Colorado back in 2009.
Now, without further ado, my new, and hopefully improving, blog site address:
Ignoring the Barking Dogs at WordPress
Once again, thanks to all of you.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Police are concerned for the welfare of missing 16-year-old Lacey Easen, who may be in Worthing or Brighton.
The force is concerned as she has now been missing more than three days
"She failed to arrive at school in Worthing, where she has been living, on Tuesday (October 13) and has not been seen since," said a spokesman.
"She comes from Brighton and has many friends there."
He described her as white, 5'3"- 5'4", of medium build and with shoulder-length brown hair. She was last seen wearing a camel below knee length coat with a fur-lined hood, dark leggings and black trainers, and carrying a black handbag.
Anyone seeing Lacey or who knows of her whereabouts was asked to email firstname.lastname@example.com or call 101, quoting serial 1039 of October 13.
Don't miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.
Here are four ways you can be sure you'll be amongst the first to know what's going on.
1) Make our website your homepage at www.worthingherald.co.uk/
2) Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Worthing.news
3) Follow us on Twitter @Worthing_Herald
4) Register with us by clicking on 'sign in' (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.
And do share with your family and friends - so they don't miss out!
The Worthing Herald - always the first with your local news.
Be part of it.


text: Hi all, As a recent switcher I am so excited to be using my new ibook g4. On my PC i only use Firefox for my web browser. For extra security I have Firefox setup to never save history, auto-fill text, or any passwords. I notice that with safari 2.0 in tiger that everything is autofilled, histories are saved etc. How safe am I if I leave these settings on. I did notice that there is a "Private Browsing" mode, but every time i restart safari i have to restart this service. Too much of a pain. My bottom line question is, Should i try and figure out ways to hide history, auto-fill, password etc on safari, or am I safe without changing much. thanks so much, jeff


text:
Ice Cream blue cotton jersey (by the half metre)
We currently have 2 in stock.
This geeky fabric features an assortment of pixel ice creams in tan, orange, fuchsia, blue, cream, black, and white on a sky blue background. The fabric is a Okotex-Standard 100 blend of 90% cotton / 10% elastane in a width of 150cm. It feels gorgeous, with a smooth surface and cosy back. Perfect for clothes and nursery sundries like blankets and bedding, and particularly good for tight fitting clothes like leggings and skinny tees due to its fantastic stretch recovery.
Please note this listing is for a half metre, longer lengths should be ordered by increasing the number of units. Longer lengths will be sent as a continuous cut.
Designed by Hamburger Liebe for Hilco.


text:
Mitsubishi had showcased its Evo-X at the 2008 Delhi Auto Expo but since then there has been no official word about its launch. But now, the company is ready to launch the vehicle at 2010 Delhi Auto Expo for the Indian market. The new model is expected to be priced at Rs. 21 lakh and above and it will be a race-bred machine capable of pumping out 276bhp of power. This luxury sports car model will be imported as a completely built unit and will be pitted against Mercedes C-Class, BMW 3-Series and Audi A4 models.
The new Evolution X will be the 9th generation model which is supposed to be one of the finest models with best performance in its segment. It also sports a high tech kit known as the 'Super All Wheel Drive Control'. The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, which would be a five-seater, is expected to be built on a completely new platform.
It still remains to be seen if Mitsubishi is able to generate volumes in the luxury car segment which is already heavily dominated by Mercedes, BMW and Audi. Even a well known company as Volvo is facing a tough competition in this segment and scrambling hard to make an effective presence in this segment.
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text:
Knowledgebase: WP-EZ Website Builder 2.0 > WP-EZ 2.0 Migration
WP-EZ 2.0: WP-EZ 1.0 to 2.0 Migration FAQs
Posted by Michelle Mabuti, Last modified by Michelle Mabuti on 08 February 2018 02:50 PM
***Please read this entire page and watch the embedded video BEFORE you switch to a WP-EZ 2.0 theme and begin the migration process! ***
We are excited that WP-EZ 2.0 is now available to everyone with a Gold hosting package. Before we get to the FAQs, a little house keeping...
No. There are no security or usability problems with the original WP-EZ. We will continue to support and update 1.0. However, we think most organizations will want to switch because the 2.0 themes look better, the page templates help to make great looking pages very quickly.
Q) If I don't switch to a WP-EZ 2.0 theme, can I still use the Page Builder?
Yes, you can. You won't have access to any page templates because each page template is only available with the theme it was designed for, but can use the page builder to build new pages and edit your existing pages.
Q) I remember migrating my site from NE1 to WP-EZ. Is the migration from WP-EZ 1.0 to 2.0 similar?
No, there are a lot of differences.
To understand the differences, I think it's important to understand the goals of WP-EZ 2.0 and the problems it was designed to address. Before we designed the original WP-EZ, we were seeing lots of websites that used themes that were not mobile-friendly and looked like they were out of the 90s. So, we created WP-EZ to include modern, mobile-friendly themes, and we created a migration tool that copied all of the existing pages from NE1 into WP-EZ and put them in a new, modern theme.
In 2017, website themes are far less prominent while page content is far more prominent. One of the biggest problems we see with websites, including those built with WP-EZ, is the layout and format of page content is often poor. We see a lot of pages with no images or tiny images, 3 or more different colors of text, multiple fonts, inconsistent headings. One of the main goals of WP-EZ 2.0 is to help users format their page content better. That's why we added page templates.
For the migration, if we had done as we did with NE1 to WP-EZ and copied all the page content from 1.0 to 2.0, the end result would be the same poorly formatted page content. That wouldn't help. Therefore instead, when a website is switched from a 1.0 theme to a 2.0 theme, the website is given 6-8 all new pages that use the page templates for that theme, which are laid out nicely with sample content. The website administrator can then replace the sample text with their own text and sample images with their own images to create what is essentially a brand new website.
Q) Wait, are you saying if I migrate my website from WP-EZ 1.0 to 2.0, my current pages will go away and I'll have to copy all of my existing content into new pages?
That is mostly accurate. You will need to copy your current content into new pages, and your current pages will be unpublished, however, you can re-publish your current pages on your 2.0 site if you really want to.
Q) Would you provide step-by-step instructions that show how to migrate from WP-EZ to WP-EZ 2.0?
Yes. Watch this video tutorial which shows the migration process. An outline and text explanation is included below but it doesn't provide nearly as much detail as the video.
The migration from WP-EZ 1.0 to 2.0 is done in 4 phases...
1) Switch to a WP-EZ 2.0 Theme
Login to MyOCC and go to your WP-EZ Dashboard. Click the "Switch Theme" option in the left menu, and select the WP-EZ 2.0 theme you wish to use.
After you do this, three things will happen:
For most websites, this phase will take the most time. What you'll do is edit each one of the new 2.0 pages that has been added (as an unpublished draft) to your website. Replace the sample text with your own text and replace the sample images with your own images. We have created a video tutorial for each page template of each theme. Before you start editing a page, we encourage you to watch the video tutorial for that page.
You might find it faster to copy the text from your old pages and paste it into the page builder for your new pages. If you do this, please note content can't be copied directly from a published page. To copy content from an existing WP-EZ page into a new WP-EZ 2.0 page, go into the old page as if you were going to edit it. In the editor, highlight the text you wish to copy and hit control-c. Then go to the new WP-EZ 2.0 page, click into the Page Builder, click on the block of text you wish to replace, in the text editor that pops up, hit control-v to paste.
Also note, if the WP-EZ 2.0 theme you select contains a page you don't want to use, you can either delete it or just remove it from the new (and still unpublished) menu for the theme.
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When Is Mothers Day 2018: When is Mothers day, well the answer is mother's day is always celebrated on Fourth Sunday of Lent. It falls exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday. In the United States, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. In some countries, it was changed to dates that were significant to the majority religion, or to historical dates. This day is a celebration of maternal bond. Traditionally, children present some gifts, flowers and greeting cards to their mother. This day is not only for mothers but also it is for all the maternal figures as grandmothers, step-mothers, and mother-in-laws. But sometimes children forget this day and used to ask Whens Mothers day? So there is a simple way of keeping this thing in your mind that it always falls on the second half of March or early April.
You May Also Like:
- Happy Mothers Day Wishes 2018 – Sweet Wishes For Mother's Day
- Mothers Day Sayings 2018 – Best & Cute Things To Say On Mother's Day
Whens Mothers Day 2018 | When did Mothering Sunday begin?
Mother's day is associated with maternal figures. There was a custom that all the people had returned home to their "mother" church on Laetare Sunday. It is like a family reunion and it becomes an opportunity for the children to spend their time with mothers. So there is a question arises that when is mother day? The answer is that this day is celebrated three weeks before the Easter Sunday. People used to pick some flowers and leave them in churches and hand it to their mothers when they reach to their home.
When Mothers Day 2018 | How is Mothers Day celebrated?
Before celebrating this day, first, we should have to know that "When is Mothers day 2018?" Then the preparation of celebration can be made. Our mother worked hard to make us happy so we need to make sure that on this day she will be the happiest person. On this day, children present gifts to their maternal figures. Sometimes people present flowers which will add a beautiful fragrance to the ambiance.
Children celebrate this occasion by making greeting cards for their mothers. They also add a beautiful poem for their mother in those greeting cards. This day is specially made for the mother. And if you forget the date of Mothers day then you can search it on the web by typing "When is Mother's day this year" or "When is Mothers day 2018?" You will get to know the actual date of celebration. Then you can prepare something special for your mother.
When is Mother Day 2018 | Mothering Sunday in Different Countries
'Mothers Day' is also called as 'Mothering Sunday' in the UK and it is called as 'Eastern Orthodox' in Greece. Bolivia's Mother's Day is on the day on which the women participated in the battle. Whereas in some countries, 'Mother's Day' is on a religious basis like in Nepal, Hindu population is more. The holiday is on new moon day in the month of Baisakh (April/May). In Arab countries, 'Mother's Day' is celebrated mostly on 21st March and is introduced first in Egypt by journalist Mustafa Amin in 1956. The below given box shows the various dates for various countries for celebrating 'Mothers Day'.
|12 Feb 2018
|3 Mar 2018
|8 Mar 2018
|Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Laos, Montenegro, Serbia, Ukraine
|25 Mar 2018
|UK, Ireland, Nigeria, Bangladesh (This is the 4th Sunday of Lent)
|21 Mar 2018
|Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen
|25 Mar 2018
|7 Apr 2018
|7 May 2018
|Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain, Mozambique
|8 May 2018
|South Korea (Parent's Day)
|8 May 2018
|Anguilla, Aruba, Austria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Curacao, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Latvia, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Suriname, Switzerland, Taiwan, The Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zimbabwe
|13 May 2018
|United States, Australia, India, Pakistan, Canada
|26 May 2018
|28 May 2018
|Algeria, Dominican Republic, France, Haiti, Mauritius, Morocco, Sweden, Tunisia
|30 May 2018
|1 Jun 2018
|11 Jun 2018
|3 Jul 2018
|South Sudan
|12 Aug 2018
|15 Aug 2018
|Costa Rica, Antwerp
|9 Oct 2018
|15 Oct 2018
|3 Nov 2018
|26 Nov 2018
|8 Dec 2018
|22 Dec 2018
You May Also Check Out:
- Happy Mothers Day Greetings 2018 – Mother's Day Wishes & Messages
- Happy Mothers Day Cards 2018 – Card Ideas With Quotes & Messages
The French people celebrate this day on last Sunday in May. On this day, there is a norm of family dinner where the mother is being honored. There is also a cake presented which looks like a bouquet of flowers. These people never forget this day and never ask "when is Mother's day this year?" They celebrate this day with lots of joys and happiness with a family reunion. Each every maternal figure is honored in the function.
In Spain, mother's day is celebrated in the month of December. On this day, Spaniard's tributes a grand function to their mother and Virgin Mary. On this day, they organize a religious function and present grand tribute to their mothers. As like French, they don't ask foolish questions like "When is Mothers Day?" Their religious function is quite interesting to watch and this one is specially organized for their mothers.
When is Mothers Day in 2018
So this all about the topic of when is mothers day 2018. Well, we hope you all liked and shared these with your friends and your loved ones as well, It was a great pleasure for us to be sharing this content over here. Well, now if you liked our website and our content as well, then do like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter as well, for more on this Mother Day 2018 then please click the below links.
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"Mum, I want to make a cake, right now... But I don't have eggs and butter anymore. What can I do ?".
A normal mother would have say :
"Eat your hand and keep the other for tomorrow ! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT TO BAKE WITHOUT EGGS AND BUTTER ??".
But my mother answered :
"Des montecao, ma fille." ("Montecao, girl").
At the beginning, Montecao are little spanish cakes. But a lot a spanish people were living in Algeria, years ago, when Algeria was French.
The Pieds-noirs (Black feet) learned to bake them and, coming back to France, they took them in their suitcases...
Just kidding, of course, because, when you'll see how much oil you need, you'll understand it was impossible to take them in a suitcase.
Or in your neighbor's suitcase, the one you hated for years !
Today, in France, a lot of people think it's Arabian cakes because we find them in Arabian cake shop.
I must warn you ... THIS-IS-NOT-A-LIGHT-CAKE !
If you're counting calories, just don't EVEN LOOK at them, you'll gain pound.
But this is SO easy !
The only difficult point is the temperature of the oven and the time cooking. I left them 19 minutes, it was too much. Cooling, they became a little bit hard. But very good the same.
On sunday, my mother cooked a couscous. I took an oranges salad and some montecao.
Here what you'll need, for 40 montecaos, or so :
- 1 kg of flour
- 1/2 of sugar
- 1/2 liter of neutral oil (... Yeah baby, no mistake, 1/2 liter ...)
- Some vanilla in pod, better.
- Some cinnamon
Step 1 :
Mix together flour and sugar and the seeds of vanilla pod. Do you remember how to grate them (Step 5) ?
Do you notice the pan's size ?...
Pour the oil and with your cute little fingers, stir the mixture. It will become a little bit like a crumble mixture. Not as much, but a little bit.
Step 3 :
With a ice spoon, to have regular cakes, make some littles balls. Just don't pack down too much !!
Step 4 : Dredge some cinnamon on the top and in the oven for 16 minutes.
After 16 minutes, let them cold totally. They can seem too soft, but as I said, they will harden.
In fact, you have to try the good time for those cakes. This is the hardest point.
- 1 kg of flour
- 1/2 of sugar
- 1/2 liter of neutral oil
- Some vanilla in pod, better
- Some cinnamon.
Dredge some cinnamon on the top and in the oven for 16 minutes.


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Mg – Magnesium ~ Are you magnesium deficient?
(Mg) – Magnesium ~ Are you magnesium deficient? Hi Friends! Welcome back 🙂 If you are new here, Welcome. Make yourself at home! And please subscribe, so you can be one of the first to find out about my next article! As I have told you in some of my past articles here & here, I have some skin issues that aren't fun! Dry skin for one! But I also suffer from chronic pain and chronic muscle spasms. I recently read about Magnesium deficiency, that it can cause a boat load of problems. A lot of problems that I suffer from. Am I magnesium deficient? Possibly!Read More →


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Hilda X Oga X Aoi Vote!Post Reply
hilda ang oga pairing, more appealing to me. because both of them are badazzz!
finally retrieved my password :))
Lol can't decide which one xD but i do wish for hilda and oga at the same time XP but then i feel bad for aoi you know
Aoi is so cute with her love for Oga.
So, my pick is Aoi ^^
Nothing Like Anybody
idk. Hilda at first kinda seems like she hates Oga or something, but she seems to kinda warm up to/ even respect him(sometimes) as the series progress. But Aoi easily likes him, especially after their first meeting at the park and more so after their first fight.
Hmmm........*thinks rlly hard hard*. i jus can't pick
leaving my mark on the world
How is Aoi typical cliche jap female character? She is a useful character, funny, Badass, and cute knows how to fight does not need help or having some man save her butt everytime I think Hilda and Oga are a perfect match but I want Aoi with someone better maybe with the baby demon LMAO!!
aoi-chaaan! i choose her! she and oga-kun are weird together and they deserve the weird love..hilda is more of a S&M character..kowaii! :DDDD
definitely hilda!
aoi is a good character, but her crush on oga gets super annoying sometimes. hildaxoga with their lil baby beel! lool. aoi can get with, uh, tojo, or something. (im just blurting random crud out now.)
sitting and watching :)
RyokoLi22 wrote:
How is Aoi typical cliche jap female character? She is a useful character, funny, Badass, and cute knows how to fight does not need help or having some man save her butt everytime I think Hilda and Oga are a perfect match but I want Aoi with someone better maybe with the baby demon LMAO!!
HOW can you read the manga's and still say that she 'DOESN'T' need help..She linked/used the demon so that she can impress the guy she likes and TRY to beat Hilda since she couldn't as a normal human even with the training she had...EVERYTHING she does is for him. How shameful..I mean, at least be honest about it..LINKING herself with a demon so that she has the power to beat her rival in LOVE is not what I call, her being USEFUL nor honest!
Her so called "badass" was BOUGHT!! So, really, she has shit!
She is the typical Jap female character... I can't stress enough HOW I dislike females that believe their LOVE interest is rightfully theirs becuz "THEY" saw and "LOVE" him first!! That's pretty typical jap female anime there..
Magic/Power is real.....
I could care less about your opinion of Aoi I still like her the best. I said that because some of the anime I watch all the girls were bitchy, annoying, hits the main character for no reason, useless and crybabies
I like Oga with Kuneida a lot. I also do think Hilda and him looks good as they are disguised as a "married couple". For me, I'll just go with the flow.
I want to be a mango forever.
I like Aoi.
She's not someone who thinks because she loves Oga, he's rightfully hers. If you think that, you don't understand her character at all.
let them die in a field of white flowers soaked with blood
Your Sure? Please Don't! I really Prefer AOI!!!
They're both canon.
*****Completely inactive, no other accounts*****
Aoi annoyed me a lot.
Idk I just hate this type of girl who blushes a lot and keep denying that she loves Oga, although I know the reason. She is shy, and if she confess what will happen to red tails...
SO, I prefer Hilda since she is my favorite along with Oga and Tojo.
Hilda is mature, cool, strong, pretty, manipulative, and sometimes cold and calm. I like her personality. And it's quite rare for today anime/manga female main character. Most of anime/manga today main female character use 'tsundere' 'moe' 'innocent' type of girl which is pretty annoying for me.
Of course its just my personal opinion. Everyone have their own opinion.
So busy..... T^T
HILDA!!! she's so awesome ^^
Kukai <3 Souma <3 Kyaaaa XD <3


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You know how most of us always think, and worry about "what am I gonna do when I grow up"? I was just like you until I saw how radio allowed us to make people laugh, and feel some type of emotion. After that man, I was inspired…I would love for you to know first and foremost that my show is all about YOU. I love putting people on the air every night, and if you got something to say this is YOUR show.
Props: My mentor and friend Jeff Wyatt, Matthew Blades, Mike Klein, Rik McNeil, DJ "Furious Styles", "Lil Bro Marshall", Joe Rosati, Frankie V, Jojo, Dan Edwards, Jake Redman, Gary Best Kustoms, all the interns and promotions peeps I have had the pleasure of working with, and everyone else who has helped me along the way and been a true friend.


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'Gremlins' Director Joe Dante Recruits Freddy Krueger for 'Air Disturbance'
You'll want to fasten your seatbelts and make sure your seats and tray tables are in the locked and upright position for today's news about Joe Dante's latest project.
Coming Soon reports that the Gremlins director has boarded a brand new project for New Films Cinema – a horror-thriller entitled Air Disturbance. Also along for the chilling flight are stars Dylan Walsh and Robert Englund.
Air Disturbance takes place at 35,000 feet on a plane bound for Toronto. When strange events start to affect the aircraft, it's up the recently widowed Walsh to protect his children and psychic girlfriend (really… I'm not making this up) from the other passengers. Amongst the biggest threats is a maniacal minister (Englund, naturally), who's convinced the strange events are a sign from God.
While Air Disturbance doesn't sound like an Oscar contender, we like seeing Englund do crazy, so we'll be keeping an eye on this one once it starts shooting on November 27.
Follow along on Twitter: @Horrorgeek and @Moviesdotcom.
Movies.com, the ultimate source for everything movies, is your destination for new movie trailers, reviews, photos, times, tickets + more! Stay in the know with the latest movie news and cast interviews at Movies.com.
Copyright © 2019 FANDANGO MOVIES.


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Not available with current selections
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Product Highlights
Record from and manage up to 12 IP cameras with the DW-BJMINI4T Blackjack MINI 12-Channel NVR Server with 4TB HDD from Digital Watchdog. This NVR server comes with 4TB of preinstalled storage. Storage is expandable to 20TB if more space is required. Centralized monitoring is via DW Spectrum IPVMS management software on Windows, Linux Ubuntu, and Mac PCs, as well as on a mobile app for iOS and Android devices. Network connectivity is via a single Ethernet port. The DW-BJMINI4T has no annual maintenance fees. Channel licenses are available separately for a one-time charge.
|IP Cameras Supported
|Maximum 12 (2.1 MP / 1080p at 30 fps with medium recording quality), up to 4 MP resolution IP cameras
|Form Factor
|Slim desktop
|Operating System
|Embedded Linux
|ARM Cortex-A7 octa-core
|Ethernet Port
|1 x GbE port that can configure up to 2 IP subnets
|Storage Rates
|60 Mb/s maximum video storage rate
|Max HDD Size
|2 x SATA HDD up to 20 TB (4 TB preinstalled)
|VMS Software
|DW Spectrum IPVMS Server
|Remote Client OS
|Windows, Linux Ubuntu, Mac
|Mobile Apps
|iOS, Android
|Power Supply
|Operating Temperature
|41 to 104°F / 5 to 40°C
|Operating Humidity
|20 to 90% RH
|Dimensions (W x D x H)
|10.2 x 11.02 x 2.1" / 258 x 280 x 53 mm


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Simplicity Works Always
TLT Networks Inc. provides comprehensive network consulting and network
security services for small and medium sized business using a simplified
approach. At TLT Networks Inc., simplicity in network optimisation,
and network redesign means customer centred, pure not poor design.
The foundation for this task is set by developing a close partnership
with our clients, and a thorough understanding of their business environment
and network requirements.
TLT strives to help our clients increase productivity and achieve their
business goals by providing simply sound, functional and efficient networks
and network designs to meet immediate customer demands with a view towards
future growth and expansion. TLT believes that manageable, flexible,
and user friendly, networks and network solutions are created around
our customers' requirements. We know that when customer requirements
are adequately met, the network itself becomes virtually invisible to
the end user and that means more time and energy to focus on
what's important the growth and success of your business.
At TLT Networks Inc. simplicity also means uncomplicated, and that is
just what you can expect uncomplicated, affordable, flexible,
competent service and support, backed by hands-on senior experience,
vendor-independent recommendations and advice that is tailored to the
needs of your company.
A Collaborative Client Partnership Works
TLT recognises the simple fact that no one knows
everything. That is why we count on our most vital consultants
our customers. Who knows your business better than you? TLT Networks
Inc. is committed to helping our customers achieve short and long-term
business goals in a efficient, collaborative and feasible manor, by
striking a balance between optimal network functionality and customer
ease of use. Our customers' satisfaction is the absolute measure of
our success as an IT partner.
Our Valued Partners:
Our Valued Partners:


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Friday, July 29, 2016
Reflections has Kenneth Hite!
With still 20 days to go, Reflections has broken the 10k mark which means Kenneth Hite, the mastermind behind the Gumshoe System, the author of the Suppressed Transmissions column, and the of lovely World of Darkness books such as the Cainite Heresy and the fantastic Mage: The Sorceror's Crusade, has been unlocked as one of the guest writers for the game. Up next, at 12.5k is John Wick. Man, to have John Wick write for something I inspired. That would be super multiple shades of awesome.
While Reflections is not my baby, I still feel tremendously happy to see the success the game has gotten. While it moves towards narrative gaming more than A Single Moment, it still shares much of the structure and idea behind the game (with the starting scene framing the final fight, then working back towards it with multiple smaller scenes). I've seen some comments about getting inspired to play the game using Avatar the last Airbender and the like and I will admit I feel a bit sad these same people never discovered ASM earlier, I do still feel happy that they will nonetheless have a free copy of my game as a reward and have the option to play either version of the rules they desire.
I feel sad though that locally, no one has really taken notice as far as local bloggers are concerned of this success. One would think there would be some joy in seeing a local game designer being part of a game that's gaining some notice, but I guess everyone's just focused on other geek stuff - there are a lot of news coming out after all with the San Diego Comic Con and all that jazz. I wouldn't like to think no one thought to celebrate it. I first noticed the silence after landing a gig writing for 7th Sea, 2nd edition. But I took it as merely a matter of the word not spreading out as much yet. Now, I'm not quite sure anymore. Maybe there are other elements involved. Or maybe people just don't like me.
Anyway, I guess things will just be clearer upon reflection. As far as I'm concerned, I'm celebrating. My friend Meloy put it nicely when she reminded me to just celebrate and be proud of what I've achieved. In the end, I'm celebrating facts.
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Stars' Whitney scratched due to illnessby Steve Hunt
DALLAS -- Dallas Stars forward Ray Whitney missed the morning skate due to illness and was scratched for the game against Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night at American Airlines Center.
Dustin Jeffrey, who was claimed off waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 17, got the call on the Stars' fourth line alongside Shawn Horcoff and Vernon Fiddler. Jeffrey, a healthy scratch for the past eight games, last played Dec. 12 at the Nashville Predators.
Whitney, who has four goals and 15 points in 33 games, has played 16 straight games for Dallas since missing five games with a lower-body injury in November.
Dallas is 7-3-4 in December, and finishing the month and year on a high note is a priority.
"With a new calendar year, it's the end of something and the start of hopefully another good run of games," Stars defenseman Alex Goligoski said Tuesday morning. "So we want to go out on a positive note, enjoy the night and start out the new year feeling good."
Kari Lehtonen will start his sixth straight game in net for Dallas.
Los Angeles did not skate since it is on the tail end of a back-to-back after losing 1-0 at the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night. Ben Scrivens got the nod in goal after Martin Jones played in a 1-0 loss at Chicago.
Here are the projected lineups:
Dwight King – Anze Kopitar – Jeff Carter
Dustin Brown – Mike Richards – Justin Williams
Trevor Lewis – Jarret Stoll – Tyler Toffoli
Kyle Clifford – Colin Fraser - Jordan Nolan
Slava Voynov - Willie Mitchell
Scratched: Daniel Carcillo, Matt Frattin, Alec Martinez
Injured: Jonathan Quick (groin)
Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Valeri Nichushkin
Antoine Roussel - Cody Eakin – Ryan Garbutt
Erik Cole – Rich Peverley – Alex Chiasson
Shawn Horcoff – Vernon Fiddler – Dustin Jeffrey
Alex Goligoski – Brenden Dillon
Kevin Connauton – Cameron Gaunce
Scratched: Ray Whitney (illness)
Injured: Trevor Daley (ankle), Sergei Gonchar (concussion symptoms), Stephane Robidas (leg)


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From Our Editors
Sara Adams, the owner of The Terrace, is armed with a Leiths diploma course and many years of cooking experience. She opened this restaurant to offer simple and delicious British food. The restaurant has an impressive menu to suit all palates; including fish, meat and vegetarian dishes in each course. Customers can choose from the set lunch or dinner menu with a choice of two or three courses, and will be extremely satisfied with the quick and professional service of the friendly staff. The menu is regularly revised to include the seasonal dishes on offer at the particular time. Their smooth soufflés, puddings and sorbets are a must for dessert and simply seem to melt in the mouth. The restaurant provides seasonal food that is locally sourced and British inspired. With James as the head chef, the team offers an array of dishes that is carefully prepared with the freshest ingredients. The crispy lamb breast, cooked with a brilliant combination of sauces and flavors and presented beautifully is indeed a delight to the senses. Sea food lovers would relish the asparagus and crab fritter platter. The drinks list includes wines, cocktails and other drinks that are chosen individually for their merits and to satisfy the range of customer tastes. They review and update their wine list periodically, so customers can always request an inclusion of their favourite drink. Customers can team their meal with a classic cocktail, such as Negroni, or a vodka martini, or any other suitable drink to accompany their choice of food, while relishing the fresh and seasonal menu offered in a neutral ambiance.


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Social media is an indispensable part of any marketing strategy, particularly when you realize that audiences are becoming increasingly active on social media platforms. A survey by the Pew Research Center shows that 70% of Facebook users are active on the site everyday with more than 45% logging in several times a day. It also shows that Instagram's user base is up by 9 percentage points compared to the previous year and this growth was seen across all demographic groups.
However, merely having a presence on social media platforms doesn't guarantee that people will want to interact with you. To drive engagement you have to:
1) Be active
You have to continually interact with your followers if you wish to retain them. Thank them for following and for sharing content, as well as reply to any of their queries or posts. This will help you build a strong relationship with your followers.
Other ways to keep the interactions alive include contests, giveaways, and providing other incentives for actively engaging with you. Ask them to share a photo, tell a story, like your page, or retweet a post, and from among those who do it, pick one lucky winner.
2) Share relevant content
Sharing relevant content, along with periodic product promotions, is just as important. However, constantly creating original content can be quite the challenge. When sharing content online, you should follow the 80-20 rule: 80% of your content should add value to your audience and only 20% of it should be directly promotional.
This is where content curation tools play a very important role, as they help you discover and share relevant content with your audience. Sharing engaging content on social media helps you gather more followers and initiate conversations with existing followers. It also enriches the quality of interaction with your audience.
Content curation also allows you to keep your pages active and establishes you as a credible source of information. Through curation, you'll be able to share a greater volume of relevant content, thereby increasing scope for interaction. Furthermore, sharing content that's loved by your followers increases the likelihood of them sharing it, thus allowing you to reach even more people.
Now that you've learned the importance of content curation, the next step is getting started with it. What follows are three helpful tips to help you use content curation tools to create content your followers will find interesting, engaging and highly shareable:
1)Understand your audience
Understanding your audience and the nature of content you should be sharing is very important. And the starting point to understanding your audience is asking yourself questions about them. Say, for instance, you have a social media page dedicated to photography. Who is your target audience? Is your page aimed at first time photographers? Hobbyists? Professionals looking to improve their skills? Is your page regarding a particular subset like macro photography, stock photography or bird photography? Knowing your audience and the purpose of your page will help you identify the type of content you should be sharing.
Next, use a tool that delivers relevant web content about the chosen topic to you. Content curation tools like Feedly provide a large number of fresh and relevant suggestions based on your queries, but still have to choose the content to post on social media platforms.
2) Keyword research
Once you know your target audience better and understand what it really is that they are looking for, it is important to share relevant content. Bird photography enthusiasts looking for information about eagles will not appreciate being shown stories on the latest exploits of the Philadelphia Eagles (a football team) or upcoming tours of the rock music band Eagles. Once you've narrowed down on the most relevant keywords, use a content curation tool like DrumUp, which searches the web for those select keywords and then automatically queues them for use on your social media accounts.
To make the best use of such tools, proper keyword research is necessary. To ensure that the content suggestions are in line with your requirement, you must first identify the keywords that are most likely to generate the most appropriate results. For instance, if you're looking for news related to social media, your keyword should read "social media news" and not just "social news". The latter will cover a whole range of unrelated topics, affecting the relevance of the suggested posts.
3) Measure performance
How do you know if your posts are really reaching your desired audience? Without measuring your account/page's performance, it is difficult to gauge how effective your content is and whether your choice of content is enabling you to achieve your goals. Social media platforms come with built-in analytics tools that can be used to monitor specific key performance indicators (KPIs).
For instance, on Twitter you can monitor KPIs like retweets, engagement rate, and link clicks, on your Activity Dashboard to determine the effectiveness of your social media efforts. Facebook also has an analytics tool, called Facebook Insights, which offers KPIs like page likes, post reach (number of individuals who have seen a content), and engagement. All of these allow you to track performance, and understand what type of content your audience is most receptive to.
Engagement on social platforms requires you to not just be present, but active. It's more important than ever to actively create content that people will find engaging, and content curation is one tool in the marketer's tool box to accomplish this.
You can make better use of content curation tools by understanding your audience and the content they seek, identifying the right keywords, and employing analytics to measure the effectiveness of your approach. Following these steps, will encourage your followers to engage with you, and will help you improve your visibility on social media.
Jessica has a keen interest in social media and content marketing, and writes extensively about it. She represents Godot Media, a leading blog writing firm.


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Can vaginal pimples and genital herpes be treated at home without having to see a doctor? Yes, and sort of half yes to the genital herpes question. Herpes can be treated at home as long as the medication comes prescribed by a doctor. Vaginal boils and pimples are acne types, and like any other acne such as facial spots and blackheads you will tend to them the same whilst keeping to the golden rule that you don't squeeze or pop them.
Treating pimples on the vagina is much similar to how you treat face pimples, but if complications occur like infection setting in, treatment may change. Badly infected acne will need antibiotics to clear any infection.
When someone asks a question that includes 2 concerns, such like, is it vaginal pimples or genital herpes, it means a woman has spotted or felt something on her vagina but isn't sure what it is, or how to treat it. This is why it is important that anything strange found in the genital area is clarified by a GP. A doctor can tell you what you're dealing with and prescribe proper medicine. It is not safe to act on speculation if it involves medication because even the best of treatments are never effective on conditions they were not created for. It is like taking aspirin to cure VD. Talking of venereal disease, is it something you suspect and you're reason for not wanting to see a doctor. If those assumed genital pimples turn out to be genital warts, I am afraid antiseptic cream alone won't get rid of them. Be safe and seek medical advice.
Genital herpes is a viral infection caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV) and is passed on through close contact with the mucous-covered linings inside the mouth, vagina and skin of the genitals. The STD virus penetrates the linings or skin through microscopic tears. On entry it heads for the nerve roots close to the spinal cord and settles there for life. Once exposed there is an incubation period that lasts three days but can last up to a week before a lesion appears. At this time there are no symptoms and the virus cannot be passed on. An outbreak normally starts within 14 days of initial infection. Anticipated symptoms include itching or a tingling sensation, redness, followed by a blister. Small fluid-filled blisters usually found on the vulva and vaginal entrance are called vesicles. If the vesicles rupture, painful ulcers can happen. Pain during urination, infection, or inflammation of the urethra are other possible symptoms.
There is no known cure for herpes but not to panic because treatments these days do effectively control genital herpes symptoms. Oral medicines include, Acyclovir (Zovirax), Valacyclovir (Valtrex), Famciclovir(Famvir).
Pain relief remedies
Take a warm bath. Carefully pat the area dry. If skin is sore to touch don't force yourself to dab it, instead use a hair dryer, not on full blast but on a setting you are comfortable with.
Wear loose cotton garments to prevent chafing
Keep skin dry using cornstarch
Ease discomfort using a cool compress or ice pack
Pain and fever can be treated with Ibuprofen, Aspirin, Acetaminophen,Tylenol or Advil-Motrin.
Vaginal Pimples
Pimples are normally the outcome of an infected sebaceous gland or ingrown hair. They are a regular problem for teenagers especially around the time of puberty but anyone can suffer them.
If you are certain it is not herpes and it is genital pimples, a doctor need not be involved, that is, if something like depression is not present. Some people with bad acne are known to get depressed, hitting an all time low which force them to shy away from the problem and the public. It is at this point when a doctor needs to intervene.
Although it is easy to care for pimples on the vagina it can be awkward getting to them. A mirror is a handy object to help find vaginal lumps and bumps but there is no guarantee it will reflect them if concealed behind pubic hair, so now you rely on the fingers to do the search.
It takes nothing more than soap and warm water to rid a pimple. Of course if there's more to it like a cluster of open pimples draining pus, antiseptic cream is then required to prevent infection.
The most effective approach for bettering your health is to let a doctor in on it.