Free for all | Kaiberie.com

So, the new world order

Published by Kai on March 7, 2011

I discovered a couple of things this weekend – the first being I don’t like being out of control – meds haven’t changed how pressured I feel when things start dropping out-of-order. The second thing I discovered is I’m really freaking out about my dissertation – and with all my focus on trying to keep work flowing and keep up with all of my commitments, I’ve been pushing that to the back of my mind and going ‘la la la’. Not good given it’s due in just under 60 days and I’m only confident in about a fifth of it…

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A bit of a dilema – at a crossroads

Published by Kai on March 3, 2011

So, I’m taking part in another blogging challenge, the V7N one that Cricket runs (remember to share the love!) and I have a bit…. a lot of a dilemma. I need to start getting focussed. Specifically, I need to make time for both fiction writing and publishing. I also really want to get back to the stuff I’m *really* passionate about, which is language, specifically, the language that we use to write ‘stuff’. But I’m also mental about WordPress, and knitting, and…and…. Ok. So there’s a couple of complications to this. One – I have a dissertation due on the 3rd of…

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30 posts later – where I am, where I’m going etc

Published by Kai on February 19, 2011

I noticed this morning that I hit the magical 30 post mark, from the 30 posts in 30 days (in my case, really it was 30 posts in 45 days!) and wanted to do a quick round-up, along with some observations. First up – I suck at timetables. Actually, more accurately, I suck at working within timetables, when there is lots going on around me. In the last month I went back to Uni for a new term (my last one), I moved laptops to a much sleeker, faster, sweeter piece of kit (which leads me to a point I’m…

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Natural (aromatherapy) perfume creation

Published by Kai on January 31, 2011

One of my biggest passions and indulgences is I design ‘scents’ from pure aromatherapy oils. I’ve been doing it on and off since I was a teen, mixing orange blossom, neroli and rose to make what was my signature scent for the first few years of my adult life, and then adding other elements to the mix like champacha and melissa, or blue lotus. I got away from it for the longest time, and then came back to it recently, so I’ve designed and trialled scents and mixes for a variety of needs for a while now. I’ve designed a…

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Friday free for all – life after gall bladder surgery

Published by Kai on January 28, 2011

It’s been close to ten years since I had my gall bladder removed (this September) and just lately, I’ve found that all the niggly little problems I’ve had with my digestive system are worse than usual. I don’t know if I picked up a stomach bug on top of everything else in the last few weeks, but one of the big changes I’m trying to make, alongside the whole ‘flylady’ thing is to fix my diet once and for all. Here’s the science part One of the biggies that I’ve never really managed to take on board is that my…

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The best laid plans…

Published by Kai on January 26, 2011

Funny that I’m using a poem line given last night was ‘Rabbie Burns night‘. (‘The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft aglee’ ). Being a wee Scottish lass…ahem, sorry. Seeing as I hail from Scotland, it’s become a bit of a tradition in our house to at least celebrate Burns night, and St Andrews Day with Haggis, though, to be fair, it’s usually a case of ‘any excuse’. We celebrated with lots of haggis, neeps (swedes) and tatties (potatoes). No kilts, but only because my other half was so busy sorting out brownies and other fun stuff.…

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Ten more topics almost anyone can use

Published by Kai on January 23, 2011

After the vast amount of comments and attention the ‘topics anyone can use’ series has generated, both on my blog and in private on the mentoring group where I was the guest speaker this week, I thought I’d kick off my site ‘the status report’ with ten more topics here – and invite you to add ‘the status report’ to your RSS feeds. I’ll talk markets (for fiction and non fiction), timely topics with a couple of suggested slants, and, best of all, I’m going to feature one reader every week and talk about things they might want to talk…

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Toys and tools for writers – part 2 – the novelist

Published by Kai on January 23, 2011

Ok – so, one way or another, you’ve got the tools I recommended – whether you went with all free, or a mix of free and paid, or you’re ready to experiment with each. Or you’ve got your own go-to tools, that you work with – that’s ok too – the list I provided wasn’t exhaustive (though, if you think I’ve missed something, please let me know – I’d love to hear about other tools people use). I also didn’t list ‘Write or die’ – deliberately – that goes under a whole ‘nother section – writer’s block. Anyway – tools…

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Five ideas almost anyone can use

Published by Kai on January 13, 2011

There are just some topics that anyone can use – no matter what the perspective. So I thought I’d share them here and hopefully give you a jumpstart in your writing projects. Go seasonal – is there something that happens around *now* that ties into your blog? If not, is there a holiday coming up that you can share with other people – whether it’s a tip or trick, or just how your family celebrate? That makes a great post. BONUS – share it about a week in advance, then link back to it ‘on the day’ – you’ll have…

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Pen Names aren’t cowardice

Published by Kai on January 12, 2011

Though the writing community has moved on somewhat on the subject of pen names, it’s hard not to feel that the community itself has elements that are a bit behind the times. What is a pen name? A pen name is, quite simply, when you use aliases to write under. For example, my real name is Donna. Everyone online knows me as ‘Kai’. Technically, I write everything under a pen name. While this can sometimes be acceptable (like using your middle name instead of your first name) some people still frown on it. But why? The main bulk of pen…

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World of Warcraft – the good and the bad

Published by Kai on January 8, 2011

Ok – something else I’m geeky about. World of Warcraft is a great MMORPG that basically allows you to take on the role of a character, in a fantasy/cartoony world. An MMORPG is a Massively multiplayer online roleplaying game, which breaks down to explain as such: Massively multiplayer – thousands/hundreds of thousands of people all playing online all at the same time. MM’s break down into shard based (servers split into segments or ‘realms’) or persistent (one huge server instance, such as Eve). Online Roleplaying game – you take the role of your character. MMORPGs are growing in popularity, but…

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Schedules and other erratta

Published by Kai on January 3, 2011

So I’ve got a rudimentary schedule for the blog – Monday ‘me’ day – which is information mostly about me. Monday also covers ‘mental health’. Tuesday ‘tech days’ – I’m going to talk ‘WordPress’, tech (as in iPhone, iPad, laptops, desktops), Wednesday ‘writers’ days, where I talk writing in it’s myriad formats. Thursday I’m going to talk language – I’m a forensic lingustics nut. Friday is my ‘free’ day, so it might be photog, or something else, and Saturday and Sunday I’m going to talk about gaming and hobbies of all types – tabletop, roleplaying, MMORPGs, indie (classics), old skool…the…

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