Thursday, January 10, 2013

What I Learned in 2012


FIAT LUX

  • It's waaaaaaaay too easy to shop online.
  • I need to take up knitting if I want more fans.
  • Computer experts predict the Internet will soon be unable to accommodate all the blog tours going on. I'm getting nervous about people showing up at my house, demanding books and chocolate.
  • Kindle with wifi off is far preferable to Kindle with wifi on.
  • My underarm hair has mysteriously disappeared. I think it's now in JLA's ears.
  • I still don't understand contests -- primarily, how they're judged and why writers shell out good money to to enter them (when, that is, the shelling out of money is required).
  • Now that I have my own sanctum sanctorum in the house, my fondest dream is to have an unlimited movie-buying budget. I absolutely love whiling away the weekends watching movies!
  • Dogs keep me sane.
  • Maintaining gardens during a drought is hard work and often depressing.
  • I'm a sucker for vitamin, mineral, and herbal supplements, even though I have no concrete evidence they do any kind of good whatsoever.
  • I suspect I'd earn more as an editor than a writer.
  • My aversion to m/f romance has passed the point of no return.
  • M/m romance saved me money by keeping me from buying Season 5 of "Queer as Folk." I couldn't stand watching an ending that wasn't a HEA or HFN.
  • Readers can be weird.
  • Writers can be weirder.
  • Only Lanyon's Jake Riordan can get away with calling his sweetheart -- Adrien, of course -- "baby." (WTF is that about?)
  • I can make money on Craigslist . . . and not by being an escort. (Yeah, had to give that up.)
  • I'm going to chew the baseboards if Bart Yates doesn't release another book pretty soon.
  • Crap rises to the top more easily than cream.
  • I can live without a cell phone.
  • My tolerance for small talk, ill-behaved children, homophobic bullshit, Internet wankery, and people without a sense of humor has reached an all-time low.
  • Twitter is no longer a mystery to me.
  • Facebook remains a mystery to me.
  • Pinterest has no discernible reason for being.
  • The Green Bay Packers aren't the worst team in the NFL, but they're far from the best.
  • There's no longer any excuse for bad cover art.
  • Goodreads is only good for me when I avoid my books' pages as well as the M/M Romance group.
  • I'll never again be as prolific a writer as I once was.
  • Now that I'm addicted to Gorton's tilapia, Marie Callender's Parmesan chicken pot pies, Progresso soups, Arby's roast beef sandwiches, Southern Comfort egg nog, and Heath candy bars, I no longer need to cook.
  • I can keep my clothing budget to $12 a year by taking advantage of my local resale shop's bag sales.
  • I'm sick to death of politics and politicians.
  • Gun worship gone mad, schools turning out idiots, Christian fundamentalism, and the lack of universal heath care are our biggest national embarrassments.
  • Only if I'm extraordinarily lucky will Merman have any readers once it's published.
  • I'd like to write another YA novel, maybe set in the 1950s or '60s.  

12 comments:

Tam said...

Hey, at least you learned something. Not sure I got that far. :-)

K. Z. Snow said...

I'll bet you learned plenty. Just give it some thought. ;-)

Srsly said...

You should still watch QAF Season 5, I am convinced that Justin and Brian did indeed live happily ever after once Brian opened a Kinnetic office in New York which is completely in keeping with his character. And no one can ever tell me different!! :)

K. Z. Snow said...

Hiya, Cris! Oh, I wish I had your confidence. It killed me to find out they didn't ride off into the sunset together. I don't think I could stand watching a goodbye scene.

Jenre said...

Wow! You learned an awful lot! I learned some of these things too but mostly that keeping your head down and getting on with your own thing is the only way to keep sane.

K. Z. Snow said...

That too, Jen. ;-)

Tam said...

It's waaaaaaaay too easy to shop online. True
Computer experts predict the Internet will soon be unable to accommodate all the blog tours going on. I'm getting nervous about people showing up at my house, demanding books and chocolate.It could happen
Kindle with wifi off is far preferable to Kindle with wifi on.I don't use my reader at home (Sony) so not sure on this.
My underarm hair has mysteriously disappeared. I think it's now in JLA's ears.Lucky, well, the first part
I still don't understand contests -- primarily, how they're judged and why writers shell out good money to to enter them (when, that is, the shelling out of money is required).Agree
Now that I have my own sanctum sanctorum in the house, my fondest dream is to have an unlimited movie-buying budget. I absolutely love whiling away the weekends watching movies!You and my daughter should get together, I don't seem to be into movies now
Dogs keep me sane.Okay
Maintaining gardens during a drought is hard work and often depressing.True
I'm a sucker for vitamin, mineral, and herbal supplements, even though I have no concrete evidence they do any kind of good whatsoever.Oh
I suspect I'd earn more as an editor than a writer.I KNOW I wouldn't, and that's not saying much
My aversion to m/f romance has passed the point of no return.I haven't tried one in forever, so not sure
M/m romance saved me money by keeping me from buying Season 5 of "Queer as Folk." I couldn't stand watching an ending that wasn't a HEA or HFN.Similar to movies, I can't be bothered to start a long series.
Readers can be weird.True that
Writers can be weirder.Truer
Only Lanyon's Jake Riordan can get away with calling his sweetheart -- Adrien, of course -- "baby." (WTF is that about?)I like baby.
I can make money on Craigslist . . . and not by being an escort. (Yeah, had to give that up.)I've never tried
I'm going to chew the baseboards if Bart Yates doesn't release another book pretty soon.Um, okay
Crap rises to the top more easily than cream.Sometimes
I can live without a cell phone.I can't, but I don't actually use it to talk, it's portable internet
My tolerance for small talk, ill-behaved children, homophobic bullshit, Internet wankery, and people without a sense of humor has reached an all-time low.I'm getting close, small talk is okay
Twitter is no longer a mystery to me.Tweet
Facebook remains a mystery to me.FB is a useful tool for me in my personal life
Pinterest has no discernible reason for being.True
The Green Bay Packers aren't the worst team in the NFL, but they're far from the best.If you say so
There's no longer any excuse for bad cover art.This is true
Goodreads is only good for me when I avoid my books' pages as well as the M/M Romance group.I come and go
I'll never again be as prolific a writer as I once was.I'll never be prolific
Now that I'm addicted to Gorton's tilapia, Marie Callender's Parmesan chicken pot pies, Progresso soups, Arby's roast beef sandwiches, Southern Comfort egg nog, and Heath candy bars, I no longer need to cook.Hate Arby's and egg nog
I can keep my clothing budget to $12 a year by taking advantage of my local resale shop's bag sales.Yay you
I'm sick to death of politics and politicians.Always
Gun worship gone mad, schools turning out idiots, Christian fundamentalism, and the lack of universal heath care are our biggest national embarrassments.I think I agree
Only if I'm extraordinarily lucky will Merman have any readers once it's published.Bull
I'd like to write another YA novel, maybe set in the 1950s or '60s. Go for it

There, I had time to see if I learned what you learned. :-)

K. Z. Snow said...

Hey, I know you've learned your own stuff, Tam!

BTW:

Amazon immediately infests my Kindle with ads as soon as wifi is on. That's why I keep it off. I just download books to my desktop and then transfer them via USB.

I like "baby," too. But some readers are really put off by terms of endearment in m/m stories. Go figure. (And it's true that one reader has made an exception for Jake; I saw it on GR.)

Bart Yates is my favorite author of gay fic. He teaches, too, so I suspect his literary productivity is compromised by that. (Not holding it against him; just sayin'.)

I'm definitely right about the Packers. But you obviously don't follow American football. ;-)

Tam said...

Damn evil day jobs.

I did learn "don't let yourself get sucked into producing an amateur theatre production, no matter how big the puppy dog eyes your kid gives you." :-)

I also learned a fair number of teenagers are freaking awesome and make me proud. Hmm. Conundrum there.

K. Z. Snow said...

See? I knew it!

Mary G said...

Uh oh I hope I'm not one of your weird readers! Great list! I don't think mine would be as interesting as yours.

K. Z. Snow said...

Being slightly weird is what makes readers interesting, Mary. Writers, too. It's only at the far end of the weirdness spectrum that "interesting" becomes "crazy." ;-)