Haiti Relief Effort

As many of you know, a massive, 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti near the capital of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, January 12th.  Unfortunately, the country is not equipped to deal with an emergency of this proportion.

With so many individuals in need, Saponifier Magazine has been in contact with Missionary Flights International (http://www.missionaryflights.org), an organization based out of Fort Pierce, Florida.  This group is currently flying relief missions to Haiti.  They are asking for donations of:

Hygiene products – soap, toothpaste, shampoo, etc. Handmade items are accepted.
Snack-type food – granola bars, etc.
Cereal
Peanut butter
Blankets
Towels and washcloths
First Aid kits
Antibiotics
Flashlights & Batteries
Generators

Soaps and other products donated should be individually packaged before packing.  Donations should be clearly marked with contents and sent to:

MISSIONARY FLIGHTS INTERNATIONAL
3170 Airmans Drive
Fort Pierce, FL 34946

In addition to Missionary Flights International, Clean The World (http://www.cleantheworld.org) is accepting donations of handmade bar soaps. These soaps will be run through a re-batching and sterilization process, so they do not need to be full bars- hospitality size and larger are acceptable.  Clean The World has asked that you send your soap in bulk with as little packaging material as possible.

Bar soaps should be mailed to:

Clean the World
4625 Old Winter Garden Road, #B 7,
Orlando, FL 32811

For more information on shipping your soap to Clean The World, please visit their Volunteer page at http://www.cleantheworld.org/volunteer.asp

Crazy Weather

The crazy weather down here in Florida has been monopolizing my time of late.  The most obvious impact it has had was found in my internet access, which mysteriously disappears if the temperature drops below about 40 degrees.  Since we have digital phones, the phones go on vacation as well.  Annoying, to say the least, but at least they come back around noon, when things thaw out.

In addition to the crazy internet outages, the local environment has been hit really hard.  My husband was speaking with one of the grove owners yesterday, who reported a total crop failure of both citrus and strawberries.  There won’t be any winter corn, the tomatoes didn’t survive.  But the real tragedy is the Indian River Lagoon.

The effect on the lagoon has been so severe that I actually submitted an iReport to CNN- you can check it out below.

Dangerously Low Temperatures Leave Florida Fisheries Reeling

Obviously, this is not a good situation.  Since I did the report, I found out that even alligators were being found dead in the icy water.  It’ll be a long time before the ecology recovers from this.

In other news, we’ve brought in three new writers for Saponifier and I’m very excited to have them on board- look for fresh new copy in the next issue!

Learning Curve

Many people don’t know this, but I’ve been designing for the ‘net for many years.  I’m one of those computer geeks who took their wobbly first steps with a few html brackets and a Hello World! post.  Over the years, web design has undergone impressive changes- the advent of the WYSIWYG editor, CSS, PHP…the list goes on. 

Knowing this now, I’m sure you can probably understand my surprise when, after extensive research, I discovered that the new e-book format I was hoping to learn to work with was taking it back to those old-school days when pure html was king.

I’m currently working on a test run of Saponifier Magazine– our latest issue in Kindle format through Mobipocket Creator.  I was lucky enough to receive a Kindle as a gift over the holidays (I have the best boss ever!) and am completely addicted.

Having said that, I’m curious. Has anyone else been using Mobipocket? Are there any tips or tricks that you could share? I also wondered if any authors out there were using either Amazon’s DTP or Payloadz to self-publish/distribute e-books.  Have you had any experiences you think other authors should know about?

Mondays aren’t my favorite

I’ve never been a fan of Mondays.  Don’t get me wrong,  it isn’t as if I really hate them.  I just find it hard to transition back into work mode after spending so much time with the family and out in the world.  This morning, I’m making pancakes and sausage for the kids, listening to The Mamas and The Papas and planning all the work I have to get done.

The Mamas & The Papas – Dream A Little Dream Of Me

Vodpod videos no longer available.

I have a lot of work to get done; several articles that need proofing and some photos to shoot to accompany them.  I also just lost one of my long-standing freelancers, so I’ll be posting a few job openings here in the next couple of days.

In other news, there’s a new challenge ready for you on SheWrites in the Flash Fiction group.  This week, we’re writing Postcard Fiction with the theme Foreign Places.  I can’t wait to read everyone’s pieces.

So what are you up to this morning? Do you have any tips for transitioning back into the work week?

You might be a writer…

It was a dark and stormy afternoon; the thunder was crashing all around, shaking the walls of the house.  Children squealed in fright as lightning forked across the sky, and the power flickered repeatedly, making it nearly impossible for the writer to finish her assignment.   Checking the online weather radar, the writer was quite upset to find that she had her own personal rain cloud, an unhappy blob of reds, yellows and greens parked right above her house.  She knew it was going to be a long day.

If you’ve ever sent an instant message like this, you might be a writer.  I was amusing myself to no end with my little third person story, but nobody else seemed as entertained. Have you ever had those days?

I should probably make it clear that I don’t write in third person on a regular basis; something about today just seemed to demand it.   I know, I know.   You’re probably thinking, “isn’t this just another seductive form of procrastination?” and the truth is, you’d be correct. But its so delicious, you should try it some time!

I’ve actually accomplished quite a bit.  I’m cruising right along on the latest issue of Saponifier, eager to have this edition finalized and in print despite the delays we’ve encountered.  I’ve put the children to work, forcing them to do chores as a way of keeping them occupied- is that wrong? So, as I sit here sipping coffee and eating a blueberry PopTart, I thought a bit of creative writing couldn’t hurt….could it?

Now I’d rather free write than write articles.

*sigh*

Goodmorning? Maybe…

Its early; too early, I think, for the time I went to bed last night.  This being the summer, my internal clock has reset and my body has decided that I should be awake from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m.; tough hours to stick to when you have three kids. Now I’ve got a bit of a headache and I’m drinking my first cup of coffee, reflecting on the day ahead of me. I actually feel somewhat guilty that I didn’t do the Friday5 last Friday; the questions didn’t suit me.  Instead, I worked on my WIP and on Saponifier, which is what I’m working on today.

I’m using Google’s new Task List, a part of Gmail.  As a serial email-checker, every time I look for new messages, I am now confronted with a list of things I need to accomplish by the end of the day.  I’m hoping that the little notes will remind me of all the things I have needing done, thus making me more effective as both a writer and Managing Editor, but we’ll see.  I have superhuman powers to stubbornly procrastinate.

I snapped a picture that I want to share with you;  I thought it might help generate a little inspiration for someone.  Its a picture of the sunset and the moon, as seen from my driveway at about 8 p.m. on July 23rd.  Being of the sort that needs inspiring, I’m also going to share a poem, one that seems to fit the mood I’m in today.

The Moon
by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 – 1822)

I
And, like a dying lady lean and pale,
Who totters forth, wrapp’d in a gauzy veil,
Out of her chamber, led by the insane
And feeble wanderings of her fading brain,
The mood arose up in the murky east,
A white and shapeless mass.

II
Art thou pale for weariness
Of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth,
Wandering companionless
Among the stars that have a different birth,
And ever changing, like a joyless eye
That finds no object worth its constancy?

And with that, I’m going to finish my coffee (and perhaps a Blueberry Pop Tart) and start on my day.