Laptop Really Has Cancer Now

After three and a half weeks glorious remission, the Black Screen of Death cancer has returned to my 4+ Dell Inspirion 5040 laptop. This time, I think it's a gonner. I'm depressed since this laptop treated me better than any of my boyfriends did. I hating hitting my Mom up for money but have no choice. No laptop -- no work freelance writing. And I guess I can kiss the year-long subscription I had to Windows and Office goodbye.

Oh yeah -- tomorrow is my birthday. Happy fucking birthday to me.

My Last Honest Post

I won't be posting anything about myself -- especially about how I really think about things -- anymore on this blog until after Trump leaves office or people in America are allowed to have an opinion anymore.

I'm still looking for work -- but do not expect to find any.

Oh -- my ebook is still availble on Amazon.

I Think My Laptop Has Cancer

I may not be online for a while since I think my previously-trusty Dell laptop seems to have gone beyond a virus and toppled into cancer. It's one of those hideous Black Screen of Death affairs. I've spent the last two (or is it three?) days trying to fix this myself (ha ha) using tutorials from YouTube and elsewhere. Wish me luck.

I Think I Have Brain Damage Because I Want to Write Tons of Book Reviews

Howdy. Sorry I haven't blogged since June. I've been busy writing for money from others and then I'd get so stressed that I'd have to chill out by either reading or writing book reports on Goodreads. Earlier this year I was in the Top 100 of book reviewers (I was #99) but now I see I've somehow jumped up to #61.

I can't remember how many reviews I've written (as opposed to just clicking the star rating. That's too wimpy for me). I think I've gone past 1600 now. Well, the sake of argument we'll say I have written over 1600 reviews.

And not just that. No, no, no. My high only comes after I've done the ol' Cut & Paste finger dance and copied it into a file of my reviews that I keep on my laptop.

I'm not just a book addict. I'm a HARD CORE book addict.

I have no idea why I'm so driven to do these reviews. Perhaps because I'm so tempted to do drugs. Or perhaps it's the only way I can be assured of a reading audience. Or maybe because one day I'll become famous for writing thousands of book  reviews.

Peter Gabriel "I'm Amazing" -- Yes, You Are, Peter

I know I haven't written much about Peter Gabriel in the last three years. In my defense, there hasn't been much to write about. He does an appearance here, an interview there and has not officially released a new single in years. (Unless you count the bizarre "Oh But" he did on his last live tour 2 years ago.)

But now we have a new single suddenly being released today on YouTube and tomorrow on all those neat-o places where you can download music. I'm too old to know anything about how those places work, so I'll assume you already know what to do.

I have known that PG and Sting were going to tour together this summer and did not feel like blogging about it. I just can't afford to go. And it looked like a "greatest hits" kind of show and I've already seen those. I have seen Sting live once before and he is a very unpredictable performer -- but not in a good way. He has good and bad days. Unlike PG, which has always been "on" whenever I've seen him.

I was feeling pretty bummed that I could not go see PG play, but this single makes up for that. I love it! Despite the happy title and PG's explanation that it was inspired by Muhammad Ali this is a very PG song in that it's sinister and sensual. I may just blow the rest of the day listening to this over and over again. Enjoy!

Now I Officially Spend Too Much Time On Goodreads

Ever since David Bowie died, I've been finding it hard to write anything -- even a shopping list. Of course, that probably has nothing specifically due to David Bowie's death. I'd been having trouble finding any paying writing gigs since 2014.

So I started hanging out at Goodreads. Originally it was to promote my ebook Not the New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes but then I just began hanging around to get recommendations on new books to read. I found out that I could  write short book reviews which may help other book lovers (or at least just give them a laugh.) Some days I'd be there for hours. I began to suspect that i was spending way too much time on Goodreads. I even wrote a blog post about it.

Well, now it's official. I DO spend way too much time at Goodreads. Yesterday, I received this email from Goodreads itself:

Hello Rena,

In our community of readers, you stand out in a notable way: You're one of the top 1% of reviewers on Goodreads!

With every rave and every pan, with every excited GIF and every critical assessment, you've helped the Goodreads community get closer to a very important milestone – the 50 Million Reviews mark! Check out the fun infographic we made to celebrate!

You've written 1071 reviews since joining Goodreads on September 5th, 2014. Out of all the reviews you've written, this is the review that got the most attention:

Rena Sherwood rated a book  Nov 18, 2014 11:30 PM

The Young Black Stallion (The Black Stallion, #20) by Walter Farley This was Walter Farley's swan song to the Black Stallion series. His son Steven helped him write it. The events consist of a flashback Alec has right after the cataclysmic events of The Black Stallion Legend. It's at turns poetic and then downright bizarre. A two year old colt being called a stallion? Hmmm. Also, I liked the fact that The Black looked as if he killed someone right before he was forced onto the Drake. It made him a real bad-ass. Here this scene is rewritten to be more PC. Oh, come on. This book does however help explain why the Black didn't kill Alec while they were stranded on the island in The Black Stallion. 2 likes · 2 comments

Reading reviews by book lovers like you is one of our favorite things on Goodreads. Thank you for helping other readers find a good (or avoid a not-so-good!) book.

Keep reading (and reviewing!)

Co-Founders of Goodreads

Not David Bowie

I'm just gutted that David Bowie died. In my life, there have been very few friends, so celebrities wind up being better friends than most people I come across. All I expected from David Bowie was good music and the occasional joke during an interview. And he rarely disappointed.

Now I'm thinking about mortality and wondering if I should change my life priorities. So I won't be writing for a while. Everyone be good while I'm gone.

So Much For the New Year's Resolution

On New Year's day, I resolved to write every day. It took only five days for the resolution to crumble. I opened my eyes this morning and suddenly it felt like I had scratched my cornea (something that I don't recommend.) The pain was so bad that Mom gave me one of her prescription painkillers.

It's hours later and my  eye feels better but I'm stoned. So all I'm writing today is this post and some comments on Facebook. Sorry.

What I Wrote for January 4. 2016

I didn't have much time to write or work on the blogs today because I had my first date in over 11 years.

At least, I think it was a date. It was a kinda, sorta date. He invited me for a caffeinated beverage and talk writing and books. We went to a diner and he insisted on paying for my dinner. I had fettuccine alfredo (although not the one pictured.) We drove there in separate cars. Is that a date? I don't know anymore. I'm so out of touch.

So here's all I managed to write:

• this blog post
• a 400 word article for Swarmcontent entitled "Should You Write for Academic Content Websites?" (Short answer -- no.)
• a 431 word article sent to ArticleSale.com (rewritten from an unpublished 2007 article) on Basic Yoga Equipment for Beginners.

Now my head hurts. That's my cue to stop writing.

What I Wrote for January 3, 2016

And, for no reason, here's a photo of a bird, which used to be my old Blogger Profile image.

Anyway, I've decided to create a new blog devoted to Sherlock Holmes in order to try and boost sales (ha ha) of my eBook. I'll be gradually either moving over the Sherlock Holmes-themed posts or duplicating them to this new blog, titled after my eBook, Not the New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

I also wrote:

• this post
• new stuff for the new blog
• added a paragraph to my Goodreads profile
• rewrote an article from 2007 about menopause and insomnia for Dreaming of Peter

Off to collapse now.

What I Wrote for January 2, 2016

I tried the Sherlock Christmas Special, "The Abominable Bride." I really tried.

But I had to turn it off after 15 minutes. Ugh! It really was abominable.

Anyway, keeping up with my resolution to write every day this year, here is the list of things I wrote today:

• this blog post
• rewrites of incorrect captions on my Pins, removing dead links, too 
• started new blog called Not the New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to promote my eBook of the same title. Put up three posts -- and then suddenly realized I could just merge it into this blog. I'll fix it tomorrow. However, another blog just for the eBook would be nice. I could move some of the Sherlock Holmes posts from here to that blog. Hmmm ...
• Put up stop snoring exercises post on Dreaming of Peter.
• Submitted article to DotWriter.com.

My Resolution for 2016: Write Every Day

I'm a writer. I keep telling myself that. However, the chances for me to actually make money from my poor tap-tapping rapidly dry up every passing year. 2015 was my absolute worst year for earnings since I became a freelance writer in 2006.

I take care f my crippled mother. I also have to take care of the little row house we live in, be a slave to two demanding dogs and three goldfish. I'm also currently fighting a small army of mice that invaded our home in 2015.  Still, I tried to take at least one hour every day to look for work or write for pay. So, as you see, I've had legitimate excuses for not writing as much as when I started out in 2006, when I would work 12 - 14 hour days because there were a hell of a lot more people willing to pay for writing than there are now ten years later.

That being said, I probably will screw up on this resolution in the first month. Month? Well, that's too optimistic for me -- how about the first week?

Anyway, I will list here on The Perfect Blog Title what I've written at the end of each of my working days. For example, today I wrote:

• this blog post
• one article of 585 words on mouse and rat control for Swarmcontent (wonder if it will ever sell?)
• this blog post on Dreaming of Peter.

Image is not of my dog but somewhere on the web I nicked this Jack Russell puppy peeing on a laptop. If you own this image and want me to remove it, feel free to let me know and please accept my apologies in advance. Thanks!