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Category: Blog

Default category; general blog post

More about me

Posted on January 24, 2025January 24, 2025 by Sami

I’m posting this so it’ll be way back in the history one day for some enterprising soul to find. I’ll bet the result will either be an “ah-ha” moment, or a “WTF”.

SEVEN Random Things About Me:
07. I have a weakness for cotton candy.
06. Maple is my favorite flavor, and vanilla is my favorite ice cream.
05. I think my next pet is going to be either a rodent or a reptile.
04. I bite. But never strangers.
03. I really am shy. No, really. (Stop laughing, you two!!)
02. My dream pet is a brindle English Mastiff.
01. I like blue. (Like ya couldn’t figure that one out…)

SIX Ways to win my heart: (the ones that worked for my Honey, anyway)
06. Know how to take care of me without taking me over
05. Be passionate about life
04. Know what to do with a body
03. Have standards and ethics similar to my own
02. Make me laugh
01. Make me think

FIVE Things I believe in:
05. “Teaspoons” matter (more about that later)
04. One person can make a world of difference
03. Life *is* magic – every bit of it
02. Kindness is important, niceness not as much
01. How you treat the people who “don’t matter” shows your true character

FOUR of my Favorite Things:
04. A couple of pictures of my Mom when she was young
03. A small keepsake pillow my Mom made
02. Our middle son visiting
01. Our handfasting cord

THREE Things I do everyday:
03. Take drugs (prescribed ones)
02. Read
01. Tell my Honey I love her

TWO Things I am trying not to do right now:
02. Make sense of the pile of notes in front of me
01. Go to bed

ONE Person I want to see right now:
01. My Honey

30 years ago, I:
1. Was a stay-at-home homeschooling mom
2. Managed several internet porn sites
3. Taught safe-sex-ed to queer young adults

20 years ago, I:
1. Was an award-winning database designer
2. Celebrated 7 years with the discussion group I co-founded
3. Was in the period that was – to date – the most prolific for me as a writer

10 years ago, I:
1. Was doing coursework for my graduate certificate
2. Was doing my BIG research project for MALA
3. Was taking a sabbatical from other writing (wonder why?)

1 year ago, I:
1. Came up with this nifty idea for a big project
2. Started therapy for extensive fibrosis and lymphedema (cancer sucks)
3. Gained a lot of weight from several interrelated gut issues

So far this year I have:
1. Recuperated from my latest surgery
2. Set up the newest computer for a nifty big project
3. Started work on a database for a nifty big project

Yesterday, I:
1. Installed several WordPress plugins
2. Picked up a number of donated books for review and for the library
3. Made breakfast for dinner with my Honey (I love cooking together)

Today, I:
1. Woke up early, but got up late
2. Fixed 2 of the plugins from yesterday
3. Played MTG on Arena

In 1 year, I will:
1. Be back to writing on close to my old schedule again
2. Not have gallstones anymore
3. Have this @&*$# site working – with comments and a forum and…

Most influential books…

Posted on January 22, 2025 by Sami

There’s a meme going around asking folks to list the 5-10 books that really influenced you. I don’t know if I can do a simple list of 5-10 books, because books have been such a major part of my life – and a major influence – since I was very young. But I can do a snapshot of influence, in no particular order…

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
The inhabitants of Tortall (Tamora Pierce) and Valdemar (Mercedes Lackey)
Stephen Covey’s books (yeah, the time management guy)
Seanan McGuire – all of her books and her as a person
Charles deLint – everything, but especially Greenmantle
Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea books, and everything else she wrote and said
Gael Baudino – the Strands series, the Dragon series (!!), and Gossamer Axe
David Abram’s Spell of the Sensuous (oh, so much!)
Everything Carrie Fisher wrote and presented
Stewart Farrar – his solo books and his presentations
Gerald Gardner – everything he ever wrote, everywhere
Robin Wood – When, Why… If, and her as a person
Jack Kornfield’s After the Ecstasy, the Laundry
Rachel Pollack’s Forest of Souls
Jane Yolen’s Sister Light, Sister Dark, and all the books that followed
Patricia Crowther’s Lid Off the Cauldron
Robert Heinlein’s The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and several others
Several of the smaller series by Anne McCaffery
And, loath as I am to admit it, Thendara House and the Free Amazons of Darkover by Marion Zimmer Bradly (phooey).

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