Alphasmart, take one

Captain’s Log, Stardate 10.10.2006

Blog book giveaway:
My Thursday book giveaway is The Wedding Caper by Janice Thompson.
My Monday book giveaway is Thanks for the Mammogram! AND Reconstructing Natalie, both by Laura Jensen Walker.
You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on the blog posts above. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for The Wedding Caper and post the title for another book I'm giving away.

Pick my title! I’m still holding a poll for the title of my book! Go to this blog post to cast your vote!

My Alphasmart, how I love thee! Let me count the ways...
(Okay, so I wrote this a few months ago when I was being silly)

** Sitting in bed with a bedside lamp, taking advantage of the middle of the night brainstorm.

** Out in the backyard on a picnic blanket, while the dog runs and chases squirrels across the back fence.

** In front of the TV, taking notes while SportsCenter is playing (Those guys have the neatest metaphors! They’re more hip than the high school kids in my church youth group.)

** Typing all my comments as I read an entry for judging in a contest. Especially useful as a safeguard in case the entry gets lost in the mail.

** The lack of a mouse makes me keep writing even when I misspell a word, because it’s too much of a pain in the petootie to go back with those darn arrow keys to change “tath” to “that.” This total lack of left brain work keeps me in the right brain creative zone.

** Taking notes as I read a book, remembering plot events and my impressions as I read so that I can write a terrific, in-depth review.

** Writing in the car—on the passenger side, NOT while driving, in case any of you doofuses were going to make cracks about my stellar car handling—without getting a headache since the screen is too small to see anyway and I never correct my typos because there’s no mouse.

TMI:

Writing: Neck deep in revisions. I’ve finally figured out how to organize my plan of attack so that I’m not too overwhelmed. Please continue to pray for me. I’ll be going over to Dineen’s house today so we can both work.

Diet: I’m not doing too badly. I dropped a pound as of yesterday morning. Of course, I’m still two pounds up from my bad eating the entire month of September.

I also exercised for an hour yesterday, and managed to control my portions throughout the day.

I discovered how to pop popcorn on the stovetop. It’s very easy, very fast, and even though you use a little oil, it’s not too much AND I can use olive oil. And it tastes hecka better than air-popped—crispier and lighter. And since there’s a little oil, the salt actually sticks to the popcorn better than if it’s air-popped. I also like the taste of the olive oil.

And the biggest plus? It curbs my craving for potato chips.