mousewords

We’re here! Notice the shiny new digs? Soon there will be a button for Diggs. Not only that, but there will be a place to Stumble stuff you like. Speaking of stumbling stuff, have you tripped over all those categories yet? Those are a holdover from the Wordpress.com days when “categories” were the same as “tags.” I’ll get all that cleaned up in a bit.

There’s sooooo much coolness going on right now. I can hardly wait to share it. For starters, this site—mousewords.net—will be the “Home” location. Here you can find my blog, with posts about inspiration, social media, and general topics.

And that’s not all! If you look on the sidebar, you’ll see a link to “Art of mousewords.” Currently, that leads to my Flickr gallery. But in future, the link will lead to my gallery site, which will include special features and art posts. Cool, yes?

But wait! There’s more!

And this, for me, is the most exciting of all. The reason my blog is so behind in posts is because I’ve been focused on finishing The Rosewood House, my mystery novel collaboration with my sister Stacy J-M Taylor. Until it hits print this Holiday Season, my writing blog will be dedicated to the “making of” process. I am also posting rough chapters of Aftermath, my War of the Worlds 2.0 story-in-progress. I welcome you to stop by!

Please feel free to subscribe to this blog now and watch for the good things to come. (I’m pretty sure that link will still work. If you don’t hear from me in a few days, send help.!..uh, I mean…check back here.)

Thank you for visiting our new home. I look forward to getting to know you!

Tags: News by mousewords
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Blogger Liz Strauss has invited her readers to participate in an intriguing challenge: Put 25 words of advice or wisdom in a blog post. Having just come off a challenge to write 50 thousand words, I thought I could manage twenty-five. Twenty-five words is easy.

Smoothing her skirt and straightening her shoulders, the young woman faced the door to the boardroom, took hold of the knob, and entered with confidence.

To her surprise, the room erupted with applause: clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.

See? Easy.

But twenty-five words with meaning? That’s the challenge. Liz’s own offerings ring true, like insightful poetry. So I found myself pondering the subject for days, wondering what I could say.

Today, reading others’ creations, it came to me how much they resemble Twitter posts. And that reminded me of a moment of enlightenment I recently experienced—which I Twittered. I looked it up, added three words, and here it is:

It’s not enough to have, you also need to hold.
Whether love, talents, or possessions—
Love must be enjoyed,
Talents and possessions used.
Take action.

mousewords is moving to its own site soon–Subscribe here!
© 2008 Christine Taylor

Tags: Inspiration, Writing by mousewords
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I’m continuing toward my goal of writing 50,000 words of fiction in June for the Southern Cross Novel Challenge! I’ve had a lot of ups and downs this past week, with many exciting moments.

However, I’ve been remiss in posting blogs lately…the latest episode (at the top) tells why. It took me two videos and a good amount of Kleenex to explain.

Day 26 – Origins, Part 1

Day 26, and I explain the origins of my novel–and something of my own life’s story.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiJWwxi7CoY]

Origins, Part 2
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-BD8QpbuCY]

Day 21 – Environment

Day 21 of the Southern Cross Novel Challenge–a day when I realize that environment has an effect on the words I write.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62Ojj0BlVXE]

Day 19 – Dreams Come True

Day 19 of SocNoC–and I’m seeing the goal within reach!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oax6GaOfU6Y]

Day 16 – We’re Halfway There

Day 16 of the Southern Cross Novel Challenge–halfway to the end of the month, and halfway through the goal of writing 50,000 words of fiction!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df8r6Evaass]

mousewords is moving to its own site soon–Subscribe here!
© 2008 Christine Taylor, All Rights Reserved

Tags: Carbon Monoxide Awareness, Faith, Inspiration, Internet, Journal, News, Personal, Video, Writing by mousewords
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My blog content (along with the writing of many other bloggers) has been pirated–oh noes!

(Originally recorded on June 16th. Happy ending: The offending site has been removed. It goes to show that standing up for your rights, and the rights of others, can make a difference. Go for it. Make some noise.)

I welcome you to subscribe to blog posts, and come join the conversation!

© 2008 Christine Taylor, All Rights Reserved

Tags: Internet, Social Media, Video by mousewords
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I was writing at Starbucks for the day. The internet wasn’t free, so I decided not to go online—I thought I would probably get more work done that way. I planned to write blog posts; but I soon found that neither my flash drive nor my laptop contained the drafts I intended to finish. My drafts are backed up in email, but I didn’t think it was worth the time or effort to log on. So, instead, I organized some story files, then decided to go through the blog drafts I did have.

I opened the first file in a series of three that I had jotted down, but never developed—a “Goal Quest” series. I didn’t feel particularly qualified to guide others on their goal quests today, but I opened it anyway.

I was facing a short paragraph that confronted me with an unexpected challenge:

“Get away by yourself to a quiet place, and take a good look at your life. What is your purpose? What do you want to accomplish? Write down everything that comes to mind, and study the list. What is important to you? What do you want to do?”

I had written the words weeks ago, but I never expected myself to be the audience. Shocked, I took in my surroundings. Cool and sunny, peaceful if not silent. Quiet. I had nothing else to work on, so I started writing down the answers to my questions. I finished with this:

~~I want to live independently and freely

~~I want to drive my own transportation; go where I want whenever I want

~~I want to write and create freely in a peaceful, relaxing environment

~~I want to live the most I can live, without limitations of worry, health, or fear

~~I want to be free to be myself

I saved the document, looked out the window for a minute, and wondered—How? I felt the vague notion that I needed action steps for my goals. I thought perhaps taking action steps would prepare me for the time when the goals become reality. So I opened a new note and began typing the first goal that came to mind:

Goal: Buy/Lease a mini SUV

Action steps: Practice driving

I stopped there. It felt aimless. Preparing is good, but how do I achieve what I’m preparing for? Feeling a sense of the ludicrousness of the situation, I opened up the second document in my Goal Quest series. Maybe I had some pointers for myself, I thought.

The first thing on the page was James 1:6-7:

“But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord.”

A beautiful tune began playing in Starbucks then–I could only half-hear it. I caught the words, “Got in her car…”

I looked out window again, watching all the mini SUVs fly past. Two young women, one pushing a stroller, appeared to my right, walking along the sidewalk in front of me. I thought of the future, of having a family. Facing all these goals I had just written, the goals I wanted so much, I reflected that my lack of faith is what’s crippling me. I can’t see how to achieve what I desire most. I feel like I’ll be stuck here forever. I panicked at the helplessness.

I turned to the Lord on a cry of my heart: “How??”

My eyes fell on the young woman who was now at my left. She was pulling her sweatshirt jacket over her shoulders, and suddenly I saw the words printed across the back in big, bold letters:

DO WORK

“Oh, God,” I whispered as tears stung into my eyes. “Oh, God.” I’ve been hearing the word “work” for months, in answer to my pleas. I know the work I need to do, and I’ve been trying to do it. But I still feel frozen by fear and doubt…doubt that it will accomplish anything. Doubt that I can accomplish anything.

I let the feeling soak in–the feeling of hearing God speak. And then my ears caught a few more words from the quiet song in the background:

“You’ll never be alone, no matter what. You’re going to be okay.”

I cried all the more. It’s the answer to all my prayers. The key I need to unlock the future I desire so much. I will work, and God will make magic out of it. Somehow, for the first time, the realization sank in. I believed it.

The future is now.

I left Starbucks, and walked back into my busy life with a new, soul-stirring sense of peace and security. God will make it work.

Pop picked me up, and as he turned the ignition, the car radio came to life in the middle of an advertisement for the new “Chronicles of Narnia” movie, which debuts this weekend. I heard Liam Neeson’s rich voice–as the character of Aslan the Lion, who represents Christ–ask:

“Are you prepared for the wonder that awaits you?”

Yes, Lord. Yes.

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Tags: Faith, Inspiration, Journal, Musings, Personal, Quotes, Writing by mousewords
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I’ve just had the honor of being called an SOB on Liz Strauss’ blog!

“Successful and Outstanding Bloggers — They take the conversation to their readers, contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on. Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.”

Thanks, Liz. You totally fit the description of a Successful and Outstanding Blogger yourself. :-)

Tags: Inspiration, Internet, Journal, News, Personal, Social Media by mousewords
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We all identify ourselves with nouns. Like me, for instance. I’m a writer, an artist, and a web designer. I say this quite often, and type it into all my social media bio pages. Everyone knows me by these nouns.

Nouns are great. But I need to remind myself of verbs. Being a web designer doesn’t mean anything unless I design web pages. Saying I’m a writer is meaningless unless I put words on a page. I am those nouns, so one would think that performing the verbs that go with them is second nature to me. It is…when I let it be. But more often than I care to admit, I let myself forget.

Sometimes I fall prey to thinking that the verbs that are most important in my day are the demanding ones. Answer that message. Work on that project. Clean that room. They need to be done by a certain time, so they must be high priority, right? But that’s not always the case. There will always be tasks and “to-do’s” that are deadline-intensive, in the short term. Be assured, there will always be a steady stream of them. When one is dealt with, another will arise to take its place.

On the other hand, the long-term goals—the ones that are really most important—will be there consistently, not moving, not going anywhere. It’s tempting to let them slide down the priority list, simply because they’re always there. But the truth is that they’ll always be there because I’m not doing any verbs toward finishing them.

Long-term goals are kinder and gentler than short-term requirements. Quieter, not so demanding. They sit meekly in the background and await one’s attention. Making them very easy to neglect—there’s no knee-jerk reaction to deal with them, as there is when a short-term shouts at you. And neglect can become a habit. If there’s no unpleasant reaction, no shouting, no chastisement for being neglectful, chances are good one will put off remedying it. You can get used to leaving the quiet things for later…even when they’re really the most important. But they’re usually the most faithful. They’ll wait for your attention.

I know I do this. I get a lot of things “done.” But I don’t do enough towards what’s important. So I need to take a step back every so often. Reorganize my goals. Trim the short-term off the top of the to-do list, remember that taking care of them will not get rid of short-term tasks. Others will take their place, and I will be trapped in an endless cycle of crisis management. While the goals that are most meaningful to me and my future waste away in the background—and may never be achieved.

I don’t want that to happen. So I’ll remind myself to actually perform the verb that comes with my noun.

Writers write. Artists paint. Lovers love.

What verb should you be doing?

Tags: Articles, Family, Inspiration, Love, Musings, Personal by mousewords
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Today was the kickoff of “My ooVoo Day With…”, a “week-long experiment in blogger to fan interaction.” What’s ooVoo? According to the website, it’s “the next evolution in online communication.” It enables up to six people to participate in an online conversation, at the same time, via video chat or text. Other features include video messaging, file transfer, even phone calls. The name makes me smile, since it reminds me of an old comedy routine quoted by Myrna Loy and Cary Grant in “The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer.” (“You remind me of a man…”) But the technology has me intrigued.

To showcase the ability of the technology, well-known bloggers are hosting chat sessions throughout the week, covering a wide range of topics. Anyone is invited to grab an available slot and join in the conversations. As a thank-you to the hosts, ooVoo is making a donation to each blogger’s charity of choice.

I didn’t even own a webcam—but the opportunity to talk with these bloggers on a face-to-face basis was too good to pass up. So I ran out and got a webcam, and had it set up just in time for the start of “My ooVoo Day With…” I had the privilege of participating in a chat with artist and new media consultant Susan Reynolds and communications specialist Connie Reece, founder of Every Dot Connects. Susan’s battle against breast cancer inspired the creation of the Frozen Pea Fund, which is working to raise awareness and funds for the fight against breast cancer. The FPF is one of the organizations benefiting from the ooVoo Day event.

The site proclaims that ooVoo is “remarkably easy to use,” and I agree. Being familiar with web chat, I was able to intuitively use the features of ooVoo, even though I had no previous experience with video chat. The design—with its theme of black, gold and gray punctuated by bright primary colors—is aesthetically pleasing, and makes it easy to identify things at a glance. I quickly found myself looking at my own face onscreen, alongside those of the other participants.

For the first chat, I was on my laptop, with a high-speed Wi-Fi internet connection; but found that it had trouble keeping up. The audio and video were erratic, making it tough to follow the conversation. Thankfully, the simultaneous text chat capability helped me have a say even when my voice couldn’t make it.

A quick query to Scott Monty garnered the advice to use a wired connection–so I moved operations to the desktop PC. An ooVoo chat from there worked just as it should–decidedly cool. I noticed that if a chat participant is using external speakers rather than a headset, I hear my own delayed voice in the background–which makes it kind of surreal at first–but beyond that the chats were as easy and normal as sitting across the table from people at a coffee shop.

The possibilities of using ooVoo have me enthusiastic—whether it’s to connect with my siblings in the same state or get to know my readers from all over the world.

And I’m also looking forward to other “My ooVoo Day With” chats coming up later this week. They remind me of a place, actually. What place? A coffee shop. Who do? ooVoo.

Tags: Articles, Friends, Internet, Musings, News, Social Media, Technology, Video, Women by mousewords
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“The Bucket List.”

It’s a movie about two men who are given one year to live–one rich, alone, and soured on life; one poor, surrounded by family, but in possession of unfulfilled dreams. This man makes a list of things he wants to do before he “kicks the bucket” (hence the title); and to his surprise, the rich man offers to fund the adventure. So the two set out across the world to fulfill the dreams on the Bucket List.

I haven’t seen the movie (neither have many people across the world yet, so I won’t give away any spoilers!)–I hadn’t even heard of it. So when Jeff O’ Hara tagged me to write a Bucket List for 2008, the mental image I got was of all the dreams I’ve been carrying around in a bucket. Much like carrying water in a bucket, it’s truly a valuable commodity; but unless you pour it out where it’s needed, it does no good. After too long it will even turn stale or stagnant, useless for any beneficial purpose.

So what am I carrying around in a bucket? What dreams or goals do I want to achieve in 2008? Awesome thought–when you write something down, you commit to it. You can no longer avoid it, in any good conscience.

So–deep breath–here we go; mousewords’ Bucket List for 2008:

–Finish writing my mystery novel.

–Publish my mystery novel. (Those are two separate things.)

–Get many articles published.

–Move to a new location.

–Meet lots of online friends in person.

–Reach Power Seller status with my art sales on eBay

–Read the CSS books I have and actually learn it well

–Travel, for book promotion and for fun

…At least.

And I’d like to ask the same question of Melinda, Warren S., Bettina, Teeg, Akela, Belinda, Aaron, and Della. What dreams are you carrying around in a bucket?

Just after I wrote my list, I received an email from a new friend, who has just returned from the trip of a lifetime. I’m more inspired than ever now. I welcome you to visit Julie Anna’s blog and see if you feel the same.

Thinking of it as a Bucket List gives me a sense of urgency; I do want to achieve these things, so I had better hurry.

The last thing I want to do is kick the bucket when it’s full.

Tags: Inspiration, Internet, Musings, Personal, Writing by mousewords
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Blog renovation is in progress, stand by! New theme and header art are in place, but I’m going through my pages to harmonize everything. Please forgive broken links and wiggy text formatting for a bit.

Brushing up my writing as we delve into the new year, too, so some fresh content will be ready and raring to go! And let’s see if I can come up with something wonderful to put in “The Latest” tab…no exciting news since December 4th is really too pathetic…
:-)

Happy New Year!

Tags: Internet, Journal, News, Personal, Writing by mousewords
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