Like me! Like me!

Sigh. I'm gonna climb out on a limb all by myself and talk about something that bugs me--'liking' folks on Facebook.

No.

We're not back in high school, desperately hoping to be one of the popular clique. Really. The person with the most 'likes' or 'friends' does not win anything. They don't sell more of their products, whatever those might be. And frankly, I don't care how many friends I have myself, let alone worrying about how many someone else has.

In general, if someone asks to be a friend, I accommodate them. If they want to like my author page, that's great! But I don't request strangers to be my friends. And I only 'like' pages/individuals who have some meaning or interest for me. That might not be every Susie, Opal, and Junie.

The reality is most folks can't manage to keep up with more than about thirty people on a day-by-day basis. All the rest of the friends and likes sort of fall by the wayside. Come now, honesty here. How many people do you really keep in touch with on a daily basis? Weekly? Yearly?

For the most part, I think we're all surrendering to the mass manipulation of corporate interests. And I find, I'd rather not. I choose to use Facebook, rather than let Facebook use me. I choose to go where I want, like who I want to like, friend who I wish.

That's who I am...a rebel.

anny

Friend Request Denied!

Social networks! Friend me! Follow me! Twitter! Where will it all end???

I have 653 friends on Facebook. I probably know 80 of them. Maybe another 10 are family members. And that leaves...563 people who want to be my friends. Of those, I'm slowly getting to know another 15 or so. And then there's the fan club for Jacquelyn Frank's Nightwalker series. I appear to be friends with most of them. Since they seem to be a fun bunch, I've been enjoying being their friends. They're easy enough to spot. Every one of them has the last name of Elemental Nightwalker.

I recently attended a workshop on viral media networking at the Maryland Writer's Conference. The presenter, Mindie Burgoyne recommended limiting your friends to a manageable sized group. Now you might ask how to determine what's manageable. And here's the answer: How many friends can you have a relationship with? Realistically.

I came home from the workshop and scrolled through my list of friends. That's when I realized I didn't know at least 400 of my friends well enough to have a relationship! Oh, no! What should I do?

Obviously, I must remedy the situation in some fashion. I know! I'll unfriend some friends!

How shall I determine who to unfriend? Maybe I should do it by lottery. Or spin a wheel. Or ask for volunteers.

MAYBE I should insist on a letter of introduction! What if I asked all my "new" friends to write to me explaining why they should be accepted as my friend?

I think I might do that...just send a little note telling all new applicants that I require a note of introduction and explanation. It would be very interesting to see what happens. I'll let you know. Who knows? Maybe I'll actually make some new friends for real!

Wanna be my friend?

anny

Bits and Pieces

After I wrote a blog last week about the tremendous snow storm of 1967 in Chicago, a friend sent me this picture taken a couple days later. As you can see, the snow really was that deep... and frozen like a brick. So Amarinda and Helen, when you're sweltering in your heat, just remember this pic and think "cold".

At the time of the snow storm, we had a foster child staying with us. About a week after the storm, my mom sent my middle brother and the foster boy to the store to buy bread and milk. They never came home. After a while, she sent my older brother and me out to look for them. The snow was piled so high on each side of the sidewalk it was like walking down tunnels. We were out there quite a while, calling and walking up and down the streets around where we lived.

Finally, my parents called the police. The cops picked the two of them up, walking down the middle of the freeway--which was closed because it mostly looked like this picture. The boys had decided to run away to a park in southern Indiana, Tippecanoe State Park, where they planned to camp out for the winter. To that end, they had spent the money my mother gave them on a box of cereal, a box of matches and two bottles of soda.

Ahhh, to be young again.

If you cast your eyes to the right, you'll see a nifty black square that declares that I'm the winner. This morning Dawn Roberto, owner of one of the more active romance loops sent me an e-mail informing me that I've been voted the Best New Author of 2007.

Now, I admit to a certain amount of excitement and pride in that, even knowing that it really is a popularity poll. But then, so are book sales. Peers and readers vote for you--or not. I'm proud that some people thought enough of my work to vote for me. So I'll try not to let my head get too big for my hats. And I want to offer a heartfelt thank you to those that voted for me. I appreciate the thrill of it all.

I added a new place that you can check out my work, bookcovers, or just read my blog. I now have a facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=717643076 so drop by there and check it out. It's still a work in progress. I have a feeling it will take me a while to decide what I want on the page so bear with me. If anyone has a suggestion or observation, please let me know!

It's supposed to rain/snow later on today. My feet are freezing. Later on today, I will haul out my foot warmer and plug it in. Quite frankly, writing doesn't generate much body heat--no, not even writing the "hot" stuff--and as I sit here writing, my feet slowly turn to blocks of ice. So I'll break down and use the foot warmer, plus socks, plus maybe even a lap blanket. In between, I'll slurp down several mugs of herbal tea. After which, I'll have to make a mad dash for the bathroom. You'd be surprised how many steps you can accumulate running back and forth to the bathroom. There actually is a method to my insanity.

Yesterday, numerous people "tagged" me. I'm supposed to tag six people, but most of them have tagged me instead, so I'll list the six odd facts about me and move on.

1) I speak two languages--English and Mystic Valley Ancient--with a smattering of a couple others (Elyrian and Genealogy). In case you didn't know, it ain't easy making up a language from scratch, let alone two or three. Pukeable notwithstanding.

2) In my lifetime, I have played a piano, guitar, violin, auto-harp, harmonica, dulcimer, accordian, organ, ocarina, mandolin, harpsichord, and psaltery. I'm not saying that I played them well, but I did play them. At the moment, I still own a guitar, accordian, electric keyboard, and have the ocarina and psaltery on order. Life is good.

3) I paint. I like to paint. I don't paint well, but since it's for my enjoyment, who cares? Maybe I'll be the next Grandma Moses and somebody will discover me. Why not?

4) I'm a secret pen collector and woe betide anyone who touches my pens. Once someone else uses my pen, it belongs to them as I won't use it again. Sigh. When I worked I had to lock my pens up at night when I went home. If I didn't one of the custodians would come in at night and scribble with every single one of them. Then they leaked. Oh, the trials and tribulations of dealing with a pen sneak.

5) I'm also a paper collector. Why? I have no idea. But I betcha I have more kinds of paper than you can shake a stick at. Tiny little scraps of paper. Enormous sheets of paper. Colored, textured, white, transparent, vellum, cardstock, hand made, you name it, I probably have it. I even have special origami paper. And it's all neatly categorized and stored. Just in case I need it for something special.

6) I like to bake bread. Honey oatmeal bread is my specialty, but I've also made, whole wheat, white, cinnamon, multigrain, and various "specialty" breads. There is something soothing about taking out your aggressions on a pile of bread dough. And when you're all through, you have something incredibly delicious to eat. What more could you ask for?

Anny


What could you spend an eternity doing? What is your passion? Your hunger? Your deepest desire? Each day beginning February 5 and running through February 14 one of the ten authors will complete the line, "My darling I could spend eternity…" on either their blog or website. Collect all ten answers and e-mail them to anny@annycook.com with Eternally Yours in the subject line to win some hot, romantic books. There will be three lucky Valentine winners.

The prizes –1st prize--5 books

2nd prize--3 books

3rd prize--2 books
Entries must be in by February 16 at midnight EST. All books and prize winners will be drawn randomly.

Elyssa Edwards Mating Stone
Mona Risk To Love a Hero
Brynn Paulin Tribute for the Goddess
N.J. Walters Seduction of Shamus O'Rourke
Amarinda Jones Shades of Gray
Sandra Cox Silverhills
Bronwyn Green Mystic Circle
Cindy Spencer Pape Stone and Earth
Anny Cook Honeysuckle
Kelly Kirch Time for Love


Finally, don't forget to stop by Kelly's Blog at www.kkirch.blogspot.com and at Amarinda's Place at www.amarindajones.blogspot.com as Amarinda has the Saga today. Blessings on your day!