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I have moved my blog to http://www.carriefulkvaughn.com if anyone is still interested in following me. While I appreciated my time with WordPress, I have moved on to another venue.

You can find all updates about me on this new site. Thank you for your continued support.

State of the Author

My days lately have been filled with work, crafting and gaming preparation. I’ve been posting pictures of what I’ve been working on via Twitter. Marcon and Midorifest preparations have taken me down a peg or three and I feel as though I’ve been doing nothing but prep work for those events.

I have spent a lot of time recreating all of the blog posts I lost through my book blog being shut down. The link at the top of the page for Yeah Books! has been updated to the new site. For as much time and effort as I put into those blog posts, to have it shut down out from under me really hurts. I individually formatted each and every post to my blog. Yes, some of the content was similar, but each and every post was hand entered, hand linked and formatted and checked for accuracy. I spent time on what I did. A lot more than I spend writing “original” posts for my blog.

Yes. A little bitter. I’ll be over it soon.

I have been writing for not only the D20 Girls magazine, but also for the Caffeine Crew and those posts have been going relatively well. I just have to keep up on them and not let deadlines pass me by. Like the encroaching deadline for my blog post on the D20 Girls website. I write about mobile games on the Caffeine Crew, I write about ball jointed dolls for the D20 Girls blog and I have several different articles available for the D20 Girls magazine. In the upcoming edition, I have written a book review, manga review and an article on Japanese street fashion.

Off of the article I wrote, I will be presenting a class at Midorifest on street fashion and what makes a decora style. I will also be running Hunter the Vigil and World of Darkness at Midorifest. I’m considering it a mini-run for Marcon since there’s only a month between them.

And I’m nervous as hell.

Normally when I am in a position of authority, my social anxiety is abated. Hopefully this holds true and the nervousness is just excitement.

We are only a few weeks out from spring. Maybe then I won’t feel so bleh about everything. Maybe I should look into a tanning membership for the next couple of months.

MidoriFest 2015

I will be attending MidoriFest this year and running Hunter the Vigil and perhaps Vampire the Requiem or a World of Darkness humans campaign. I might also be convinced to bring some Magic cards and play one v one when I’m not running games. Come visit!!
The event will be located at:

Shawnee State Park
4404 Ohio 125
West Portsmouth, OH 45663

The event runs from:

Saturday, April 18, 2015 at 10:00 AM

Sunday, April 19, 2015 at 2:00 PM (EDT)

http://midoricon.com/midorifest/index.php/programming

State of the Union or somesuch

I haven’t been on much since the end of October and I thought perhaps an update was in order. Hopefully this is something interesting for everyone, although I can’t promise.

November is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writers Month, for those unfamiliar with the insanity). I am one of the municipal liaisons for Columbus, Ohio, which means I get to host events for the region, monitor the forums, keep up with participant email and forums and do word sprints with the twitter feed. All this in addition to writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I managed to get my novel written in addition, but I didn’t get much else done outside of Thanksgiving dinner. My house looked like a disaster zone. Thankfully my housemates take pity on me in November and at least kept everything picked up.

I believe I’ve posted once before about my dad. He was diagnosed with late stage esophogeal cancer. He has been undergoing chemotherapy and while the tumor shrunk slightly, once he goes off chemo, there is a chance the tumor could come back violently. If that happens, he would probably be gone within six months from that date. I wanted to spend the holidays with my dad this year, just in case it’s the last holiday season I get to spend with him.

To keep mom and dad from having to cook dinner, I hosted Thanksgiving at my house this year. I made a 20 pound turkey and enough food we were eating leftovers for two weeks. We played games after dinner and I actually got mom and dad playing for once. They normally sit around watching TV for the holidays.

Christmas was another story entirely. Mom and dad didn’t want to cook Christmas dinner, either. My aunt offered to host. But because my sister decided she wasn’t going, mom and dad cooked Christmas dinner, then the day after we were to go to my aunt’s and then that Sunday was dinner with the inlaws. Christmas day mom ended up being sick with the wicked flu that’s been going around. It made rounds around my house the week before Christmas, but the girlfriend hadn’t caught it yet. We stayed home. We went to my aunt’s. My cousin came home from work and he was sick. At least no one was sick at the inlaws. I ended up visiting my parents the Monday after Christmas once mom was over the plague.

I had the brilliant idea to make a hand crocheted scarf for each of my coworkers and the ladies in my family. I began this on December first, just after NaNoWriMo. I finished eight scarves, four children’s scarves, hats and blankets and a hat for my coworker. I have fifteen more scarves to make. My goal was a little much for me to complete.

I also wrote, illustrated and coloured a handmade book for my niece. It was time consuming, but she loved it once she realized the main characters in the book were she and her little brother. It turned out really well and I told her I would write a book for her every year if she liked it.

During the holidays, my work schedule gets crazy. We close the office I work at and they fill the schedule for the other office with volunteers. I normally take time off, but my paychecks suck in December from November and January from December. (We’re on a month pay delay. Oh the joys of being an independant contractor.) This year I volunteered to work all the available days and volunteered for extra shifts I didn’t normally work. I’ve also upped my workload at my day job so I can pay off my insurmountable credit card debt. Now I just need to keep myself from spending any money.

I also got a promotion at my day job that takes up a little bit more of my time. Mostly I have to carry out the simple things my boss needs. Decorations, make sure people don’t slam doors, keep people from being petty bitches to one another…

Which is a funny story in and of itself. The whole reason the position was created in the company is because I showed my ass. One of the girls at work is a habitual door slammer and when she’s off schedule from everyone else, the door slams half way through a massage just as I’ve gotten my client relaxed. They come off the table with their head whipping around. Which infuriates me. I’ve talked to her, other coworkers have talked to her. I flip my shit and start slamming doors. Totally passive aggressive and petty like a child. My girlfriend works the front desk and as soon as I came up front, she landed on me like a ton of bricks. We didn’t speak to one another for the rest of the night because I was absolutely furious.

I emailed my boss. And when she came back to me with the offer of the lead therapist position, I felt like an even bigger asshole. I accepted and at the meeting where they announced the promotion, I fessed up to being a child and apologised to the other therapists and my boss for being an ass. Which my boss confessed she already knew because my girlfriend had emailed her telling her she needed to step in.

I also started treatment again for my anxiety disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. It came to the point I hated my job, I had to fight the feelings of resentment against my clients, even those I loved. I was angry most of the time, snappish, reclused into activities that took me away. I was convinced no one wanted me around, that everyone was walking out of my life, that no one wanted to talk to me or hear my problems. I thought people were just humoring me. I was upset about everything and I wasn’t able to sort out my thoughts. Everything was in the forefront of my head all the time and I couldn’t prioritize things like I should have been able to. It took me two months to get in to my doctor’s office, but I finally got on Zoloft. I feel like myself again without all the horrible side effects from the Lexapro I took a few years ago.

In short…. the last few months of my year have been pretty crazy, but I should be back at it. I have plans this year to do editing and writing with people from the NaNo group. I want to finish my novel from NaNo this year and get it published.

How have you all been??

Out with the Old and in with the New

I’m participating in a blog hop to share my new year’s resolutions and since my blog has been slow, I’m pleased to participate.

My goals for the upcoming year are to finish my NaNo novel, revise, edit and submit for publication. This novel is the first in a hopeful series. I’m afraid to jinx it, so I’ll keep to myself. 🙂

In 2015, I would like to start a writing group with WriMos from my area. Maybe with the added support of other writers, I can improve and earn more contracts under my belt.

I want to pay off my credit card debt. I’m horrible about putting things on credit cards and then only making minimum payments. No more. Some of the cards will be closed and cut up. I want to start saving for a house. That money has to come from somewhere.

I want to be more involved in the gaming community in Columbus and I think my relationship with the D20 girls will allow me to do that.

Next year I can do a recap and see if any of those goals happened. 🙂

What are your goals for the new year? How do you plan to attain them?

13 Things Introverts Say And What They Actually Mean

Every one of these is completely true. I’ve managed to keep myself grounded enough to mean what I say when I say it, but I also have places to hide. 🙂

Digging Ditches: 10 Views to a Suicide in the Family

This is a really strong account of what it’s like to be on both sides of the fence in a kind of Schrodinger’s dance with depression and suicide. Very apt. TW: Suicide

Huff

Prologue

My brother David as a boy. Top right: with our mother.

On August 20, 2000, my brother committed suicide. David Richard Huff was just over a month away from his 42nd birthday.

I have written about David almost every year since, usually around the anniversary of his death. Some years I make a minimal acknowledgement that it happened, a tweet, perhaps, including the number or web address for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Some years I write something in-depth.

This year, because suicide is so much in the news after the heartbreaking death of the gloriously gifted comedian and actor Robin Williams, a performer I’d loved ever since I first heard the word “Shazbot” in the late 70s, I feel like I can’t escape the subject. So here I am, again. I am tired of reading the things even the most well-meaning people have to say about mental…

View original post 1,964 more words

Why am I not writing?

1. Dinner in the crock pot was something that smelled like dysentery once I got home.
2. I picked up pizza at Little Caesar’s.
3. Sat down and ate food.
4. Returned a few emails, scheduled three guest posts.
5. Signed in to chatzy to have companionship while writing.
6. The dog needed to go out.
7. The dog sniffed around the yard.
8. The dog never peed.
9. I prompted the dog to pee.
10. She finally dribbled three drips.
11. I walk the dog back to the door.
12. She refuses to go back in like she does when she still has business to do.
13. Walk the dog back out again.
14. Dog sniffs at the yard. Does not pee.
15. Walk dog around. Dog does not pee.
16. Make dog come back inside.
17. Roomie says there’s a bug in the kitchen. It’s a fly
18. Grab fly swatter.
19. He puts coffee in cupboard beside fly that flies off.
20. Spent fifteen minutes chasing fly around kitchen swatting at it before I finally hit it.
21. It lands in the toaster.
22. Roomie blocks the toaster to stare in and tell me the fly is still in there.
23. Finally get him out of the way and clean out toaster.
24. Grab a snack since the pizza didn’t fill me up.
25. Sit down.
26. Am informed there is a schedule conflict with cars for tomorrow.
27. Spend half an hour hammering out who is going where when so we can get everyone to work on time.
28. Decide to write a blog post instead of writing.
29. It is now 9:30. Maybe I can get some writing done.
30. Dog jumps up at my side signaling she has to go back out again.

This is why I’m not writing.

Easy beef and noodles

I didn’t feel like cooking tonight, but I’m trying to pay off some of my credit cards and bring my cholesterol down. Cooking is more cost effective and I know just what is going in my food. Double win. It turned out really good, but really salty, so I served the beef and noodles over unsalted mashed potatoes. It balanced the salt of the bouillon and soup mix. It was still really salty, so I recommend cutting out the bouillon and using beef stock instead if you don’t like a lot of salt.

• 2 pounds fondue beef
• fresh garlic, minced
• 1/4 fresh onion, chopped
• 6 cups water
• 1 package beefy onion soup mix powder
• 2 tablespoons beef bullion (you can substitute 1 quart beef stock for four cups of water and the bouillon)
• 4 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1 package of egg noodles

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a stock pot over medium high heat. Brown stew beef. Remove beef from stock pot and retain any drippings. In the empty pan, melt remaining butter. Add onion and garlic to butter. Cook until soft and fragrant, about three minutes. Return beef and drippings to pan with onion and garlic. Add water, onion soup mix and bouillon to the pot. Bring to a boil. Add egg noodles and stir to cover. Reduce heat to medium low and cook uncovered for 30 minutes.

Serve over mashed potatoes.

Spam!

I got the best spam comment today. The poster, beats by Dre (who did not have an email or website that matched anything else), is a complete overachiever. Not only did they post one spammy post, but all of them. ALL THE SPAM.

WALL OF SPAM.

I want to share the beauty and wonder with you, but I’m putting it behind a “more” tag so it doesn’t clog up my feed.