You Amuse Me Now on Blogger

Not much to mention today, except for the fact that I've switched You Amuse Me over to a Blogger platform.

I was hosting it with Weebly before the switch. I really like Weebly, and I'm still hosting my personal website there. However, I wanted the main part of You Amuse me to be a blog that I'd update on a regular basis, and Blogger is just a better platform for blogging (not surprisingly).

If you haven't checked it out yet, give it a look. Tons of fun and entertaining stuff to see and do. Let me know what you think!

Six Book Things Tag

Okay, I'm in Indianapolis traveling for business, and I have to get up early, so I think I'll go back and do one of the memes. I've been tagged a couple of times recently, one by author Morgan Mandel and one by author Chris Redding (if I missed you, let me know, and I'll include you!) I've done the regular six things, so this is going to be six book things you didn't know about me.

Here's how this works: I list six book-related things about myself, then I tag six people, and they do the same! If they want, of course.

1.) I was an avid reader as a child. My earliest reading memories were of reading Grimm's Fairytales and Little House on the Prairie at six years old. I know, quite a combination, right?

2.) I actually enjoyed reading Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky when it was assigned reading.

3.) This might sound weird, but I love the smell of books. That's one of my favorite parts of walking into a large library, the smell of pages upon thousands of pages of knowledge and new worlds.

4.) I love children's books. I'll often read them when I find them lying around doctor's offices, bookstores, friend's houses. There is no shame in losing yourself in Dr. Seuss or Roger Hargreaves (author of the Mr. Men and Little Misses series).

5.) When I was younger, I didn't stay up all night watching late-night movies or partying with friends. No, I stayed up all night reading books. I still remember the sensation of getting so lost in a book that I'd barely notice the sky starting to lighten.

6.) This is actually a repeat of something I read at Heather's Age 30+: A Lifetime of Books blog. Like Heather, I pronounce words incorrectly because I've only read them, never said them. For example, I truly, honestly have pronounced pseudonym "p-swedo-nim." Yes, NOW I know the p is supposed to be silent!

To make this interesting, and because my blog buddies will probably not be happy for more tags, I will switch this over to Twitter Tag. Here are my tagees:

@janesutton, author of newly released book The Ride - Jane's Blog
@holly_tucker, author and college professor - Holly's Blog
@AccomplishWoman, author, photographer, economist, etc! - Accomplished Woman's Blog
@jacquelynsylvan, author of Surviving Serendipity - Jacquelyn's Blog
@vbright, writer and thrifty grandma - Veronica's Blog
@fuzzyredrobe, writer with 25 years experience - Cindy's Blog

And if you'd rather do another meme, that's fine with me too!

Twitter Tag

Heh heh, I've been tagged by Marvin over at the Free Spirit blog. I love tag! Brings back good memories of running around the ol' Sappy Tree in fifth grade. Back when kids still had recess...

So now, I'm supposed to write six things about me that you probably didn't know. Let's see here...

1.) I went to Jaipur in India a couple of years back to attend a week-long India wedding, complete with elephants, monkeys, thousands of wedding guests, and a several hour long production put on by the wedding party. Now THAT was a mind twist! Street food = good, pit toilets = not as bad as you'd think.

2.) Odds were strongly against my conception. My mom was a Norwegian nursing student, and my dad was a British broadcast engineer stopping in Norway to work on a project for a day when they met at a disco. Both were, at the time, married to other people (though in the process of separating). My mom stood outside the disco waiting to get in with her friends. The rest of her friends decided not to wait and left, but she stayed and ended up getting in. She saw my dad sitting at the bar and invited him to join her. The rest is history!

3.) I know how to chop kindling, light a woodstove, use a lathe and a mill, operate a band saw, install a faucet, defrag a computer, throw a clay pot on a wheel, forge a letter opener, weave, shoot a handgun, frame a house, search for cloudberries and chantarelles, edit a video, write a software manual, lost wax cast, make jewelry out of precious metal clay, build a tornekake, bake yorkshire puddings, and brew homemade dandelion wine. But I can't drive a stick shift.

4.) I named my 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee Ramona Rae. Actually, she named herself. I just listened.

5.) I lived in seventeen houses before I turned 25.

6.) I've been recorded professionally singing and playing the guitar for songs I've written. You can't listen to the songs, though. They still need work ;)

Okay, and here are the people I tag:

https://twitter.com/Dragonmuse
https://twitter.com/thumbs
https://twitter.com/MermaidHel
https://twitter.com/jakonrath
https://twitter.com/JoyceAnthony
https://twitter.com/TeaganOliver

Greetings!

Hello, all! My name is Emma Larkins, and I'm entering a stage in my life of great exploration and experimentation. In the coming months, I'm planning on attempting many feats great and small, broadening my horizons, and in general, ensuring that a good time will be had by all.

I've always been a writer, but rarely an author, and hence my newest project begins: writing a fantasy novel. Wish me luck! Here's the opening poem, to whet your appetite:

I'm sure you've heard of the Land of Light
And those therein who play;
The Robin, the Squirrel, most reg'lar Folk
All praise the Beauty of Day
And many are those who happily choose
The Dark as their Delight;
The Cricket, the Possum, the old wise Owl
Prefer the cover of Night
But very few there are that live
And love the Night or Day
Who've ever seen, or heard of, or known
The Hidden Land of Gre