An aging writer with very opinionated ideas and a healthy dose of sarcasm to boot.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Who Would YOU Invite to Dinner?
So, I decided to give me list of "Who I would invite to my dinner party, living or dead" By the way, no fair on listing God, Jesus etc. We're talking PEOPLE, ok?
My Dinner Party List
1. Oprah Winfrey
2. Maya Angelou
3. Laura Ingalls Wilder
4. Ann Richards
5. Whoopi Goldberg
6. Lisa Williams, (psychic)
7. Shirley MacLaine
8. Ernest Hemingway
9. Ellen Degeneres
10. Bette Midler
Attire: Your most comfortable pajamas because we will have a sleep over afterward. (I'm going to make wearing your pj's in public popular. If Hugh Hefner can do it, so can I)
Why did I choose these guests?
Oprah Winfrey - She is a teacher to many and I would love to learn
Maya Angelou - She is the one who mentored Oprah...When she speaks, people should shut up and listen.
Laura Ingalls Wilder - I would love to ask her questions about her childhood. What she thinks of her popular childrens books
Ann Richards - I LOVE this woman. I want to be Ann Richards when I grow up.
Whoopi Goldberg - A wise woman with alot of truth. Not to mention she is hysterical
Lisa Williams - I would have alot of questions for her. She is the most amazing psychic I've ever seen. That and she is just so darn pleasant!
Shirley MacLaine - The big hitter of metaphysical teachings. She is very smart.
Ernest Hemingway - I would like to ask him about his life in Key West, what drove him, what he thought about his writing and how he got into the "writing zone".
Ellen Degeneres - When we have crammed our heads full of wisdom, we can take a dance break! That and I think Ellen is a geniunely good person and is funny as hell.
Bette Midler - The most outrageous performer...truly a yen and yang personality. I would love to get to know her better.
More Musings Later-
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
I've Been Tagged!
1. How long have you been blogging?
I believe it was the beginning of 2006....I remember I was blogging my "countdown" of when I could leave Corporate America. Ahhhhh, the stench of Corporate America is forever seared in my brain.
2. What inspired you to start a blog and who are your mentors?
The beginning of my FULL TIME writing career is what inspired me to start blogging.
One of my mentors is Paula McNeal. She truly showed me that NOTHING is impossible. If you can think it or dream it, then you can GO AFTER YOUR DREAM. Thank you, Paula.
Foster Winans-Ghostwriter, Editor, Lecturer
The fellow to the right is Foster Winans. He is the first well-known journalist to correspond with me and offer to look at my work. And WHOA did he look at my work. He ripped me to shreds, but he did it honestly and with integrity. It doesn't get any better than that.
Here are some snippets of emails he left me (not to mention he even called me on the phone, which almost left me speechless.)
Email Correspondence after sending my work to him:
"I scanned through everything and see that you have a broad range of interests and accumulated knowledge... I am a cruel and heartless editor who has had almost forty years of mistakes behind him, so I consider it my obligation to be honest. That's all it is, honesty. And the crankiness of age. I encourage you to challenge yourself more as a writer, and to be much more careful as a proof-reader...
There is too much starch and not enough protein in your writing. Even someone who is an expert on a subject needs to cite examples, details, stats, anything, to support their argument, to show they know the subject.Your nonfiction work lacks anchor points, and in their absence tries too hard to sound important. You are telling when you should be showing... You sound like a smart person who has an interest in growing. So I repeat–challenge yourself...
I will leave you with my standard homily: it's never a question of "Is it (or am I) any good?" The question should always be, "Is it the best I can make it and, if not, how can I make it better?" Keep plugging away, don't give up!"
Regards, Foster
3. Are you trying to make money online, or just doing it for fun?
Do what for fun??? LOL! Making money is the way to have fun online!4. What 3 things do you struggle with online?
- First and foremost, spending too much time on answering or looking at emails. Most of the time I have to MAKE myself get completely offline when I work on a client's project.
- Secondly, TIME to explore and do everything I should do in a day. It's as if the days fly by...I always wish I had more time to work online.
- Thirdly, PASSWORDS to everything and anything! I hate it! My memory is shot, and I have to write down or keep old emails of logins and passwords to blogs, and everything else online.
5. What 3 things do you love about being online?
- I LOVE learning new things and finding little treasures along the way as I surf the net.
- I love the fact that information is at my fingertips.
- I love corresponding with friends and family instantaneously via instant messaging. I really enjoy getting emails from my friend, Alan in Beijing, China....it boggles my mind when we "instant chat".
I also love doing these little surveys!
Watch your email.....I'm getting ready to tag!
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
The Girl Next Door is PSYCHIC
Monday, November 12, 2007
Just a "Friendly" little Poker Game
It's a beer only joint and the people are really nice. Now, as you can imagine, the place has been around forever and the clientelle are an older group of folks, which suits me fine. Well, this last Saturday night, I dragged my partner to this game. She called a friend and they drank beer and watched tv in the bar area while I got my fix of Texas Hold'em.
So, I see the small group of men moving into the backroom. They are lighting up their cigars and cigarettes and counting chips as I move in with them. The men have accepted that I am a bit "different" then the rest of the gals that frequent this place and in their best 'don't ask, don't tell' liberalism, we all get along just fine.
So, I belly up to the poker table and begin playing. I was having an awesome night. People were starting to pour in to the room to watch us play. I eliminated several regulars by catching an incredible River card. Moans and groans are heard loudly as I scrape the mounded chips in the middle of the table toward me.
Now let me set the scene: Most of the regulars can't remember my name, so my nickname is "Baby Girl". I always silently chuckle at that term, cause I am anything but.
Well the oldtimer I was playing wanted to win. BAD. He kept offering me some money to stop playing poker and let him win. Nope, I wanted to play a complete game.
Then it happened. It's as quiet as library when the flop comes down. He looks at me and says, "I bet 2000 chips". He stares at me to show he's all business.
I pause and the oldtimer says, "Baby Girl is about to fold!" and he hoots and has already spent his winnings.
"All in," I replied quietly.
He stops in mid-crow and stares at me. the Turn and the River are flipped over and I throw down my hand.
The whole room hollered and whooped it up cause "Baby Girl" beat the oldtimer. The oldtimer has a hard time accepting this and is even calling me by my real name. That's not a good sign, calling me Taryn.
So, after alot of talking, alot of handshakes. I went into the bar and sat next to oldtimer. He wouldn't look at me. I asked the bartender, "Buy him one on me, ok?". He grits his teeth and nods his thanks.
I sat there for a few more moments and knew my winning wasn't worth this. I knew I could do it and I did. So I took out my winnings of my pocket and pushed it toward him. He looked at me dumbfounded and said, "What?"
"Take what you believe is fair." He looked at me for a long time and reached for my money. He thumbed through it and split it 5o/50. I nodded and he was happy. "Thanks for the beer, Baby Girl".
With all my differentness and all his conservative beliefs, this much I learned about poker that night:
"You got to know when to fold'em, and know when to pick your battles".
More Musings Later-
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Bill O'Reilly, looking out for us?
Monday, October 22, 2007
As the Tennessee Titans Turn....
Vince Young - This guy is incredibly talented and KNOWS IT. That can be big trouble. Maybe we're a little gun-shy (no pun intended) from the Pacman years, but when I watched CBS's 60 minutes feature on Vince, I became a little anxious. It made me know that Coach Fisher has his hands full. Containing a young quarterback, bringing him along slowly and firmly letting him know he is not above anyone else on the team.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Ann Coulter Plunges to all New L-O-W
read more | digg story
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Ann Coulter Plunges to an All New L-O-W
NEW YORK Appearing on Donny Deutsch's CNBC show, "The Big Idea," on Monday night, columnist/author Ann Coulter suggested that the U.S. would be a better place if there weren't any Jewish people and that they needed to "perfect" themselves into -- Christians.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Suze Orman - Livin' in a Van Down by the River!
To him, she was just another "little lady" trying to make a buck or two. Well, she decided to break the "Good ole boy" barrier and apply for a job with this same brokerage. After much determination and selling herself to the interviewer, she was hired and began learning all she could about investments. She learned she could sue the brokerage for not investing her funds based upon her knowledge level at the time. So, she sued her employer WHILE she worked for them.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
So What do you make of Iran's President coming to New York?
Thursday, September 20, 2007
If I Did It, by OJ Simpson
I wouldn't sign autographs before and after my court arraignment
I wouldn't write a book detailing the gruesome details of how I murdered my ex-wife and her friend.
I wouldn't be able to look my children in the face after what I had done.
I wouldn't do television appearances to "clear my good name".
I wouldn't break into a hotel room with my friends armed with guns demanding my memorabilia.
I wouldn't involve myself in another relationship. Especially with a woman that favors my previous murder victim.
I would request to stay in jail instead of posting bail.
I would want to die from the guilt and pain I've caused so many others.
But that's me.
Closing Thought: Leave the "IF" out of it. He did it and the blood he spilled will forever stain his hands and his soul.
More Musings Later-
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Check out my Commercial!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
The COMPLETE Publishing Package
- Ghostwrite your novel
- Self-Publish the novel in your name
- Take care of all the details such as uploading the book to the publisher,
- Securing an ISBN #, uploading the book cover with a simple design, and taking care that Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com are carrying YOUR book on their websites.
- What about someone who will create a blog for you?
- Maintain posts on a monthly basis to create interest
- Write Press Releases for the book?
- Create a Book Trailer for You Tube

Setting up a Blog for the Book
The Mango Tree Cafe, Loi Kroh Road
Monday, August 27, 2007
I've discovered a new toy for my Rants!
By the way, a word about JK Rowling: She wrote the Harry Potter books and made a fortune. She is now writing a thriller. People are having a fit about it. "Why is she writing a thriller?"
Answer? Cause she wants to. Something tells me the woman loves to write and is sick of writing children's books. Give her a break will ya?
I don't think any author worth their salt writes for the love of money. I think they write because they love it.
I know that even if I won the lottery, I'd still write. But, that's me.
More Musings Later-
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Grief is all in a Day's Work for writer, Linda Della Donna

Thursday, August 16, 2007
Magazine Revamp! and other News

Sunday, August 12, 2007
Talking to School Kids?
But then again, I wonder if I would appreciate my writing career as much as I do today. Let's face it, being a refugee from Corporate America makes you grateful for being able to breathe. I don't know...I just think that kids need to see that there are ways of being successful that don't necessarily fit in a cookie cutter profile.
I mean after all, here I am. A published author who writes for a living. Am I rich? Financially, Hardly. Am I wealthy with knowledge and experience? You bet. Do I wear pin stripes each day to work? Well, maybe pin striped pajamas or sweats.
Life can be messy. Kids need to know that writing and other types of freelancing professions that aren't "typical" are possible. It's just a thought...but then again, I get paid to write those thoughts down.
More Musings Later-
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Ideas, Goals & Dreams - A Startup in Every Sense of the Word.
Check out the magazine...it will be online soon and I will place a link to it when I get the url. Oh, and there is even a picture of some writer in the top left corner with a silly smirk on her face! After that, it will be distributed locally in San Francisco, California and then globally. Thinking of advertising or investing in it? Let me know and I will put you in contact with the owner.
Sometimes Life is one big synergy event!
More Musings Later-

