{"id":3144,"date":"2011-09-09T11:17:15","date_gmt":"2011-09-09T16:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/?p=3144"},"modified":"2011-09-12T08:19:11","modified_gmt":"2011-09-12T13:19:11","slug":"random-writing-ish-bits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/09\/09\/random-writing-ish-bits\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Writing-ish Bits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"First, a big thank you to everybody who wished The Juggling Writer<\/em> a happy birthday yesterday. I almost broke my 50-day social media break and replied to somebody on Twitter.<\/p>\n

I found out that Dub\u00e9 Juggling Equipment<\/a> wished The Juggling Writer<\/em> a happy birthday on their Twitter feed.<\/p>\n

Forgive the Geek Drool<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Some people get excited when writers they like mention them online. I get all geeky when a juggling prop manufacturer I’ve loved since the late 80s mentions me.<\/p>\n

Dub\u00e9 props were the first real<\/em> juggling props I ever owned. I don’t know if there was ever something shipped to me that I was more excited to open. I think it would take a box of books I wrote to arrive at my door to top that rush of being a lonely juggling geek in a small town suddenly feeling like a real <\/em>juggler because I finally had decent props.<\/p>\n

Dub\u00e9 props were the props that were there when I finally got up the courage to street perform<\/a>. They are the props I’ve dropped more than any other<\/a>. (Although the props in the photo with this entry are Todd Smith<\/a> clubs.) They were the props that brought my wife and I together almost 20 years ago. (We met at a comic book company we both worked for, but it took juggling to really <\/em>bring us together. In fact, the first gift I ever bought for my wife was a 4 inch blue Dub\u00e9 stage ball for contact juggling<\/a>. Almost 20 years later, just seeing that ball in the prop bag when we juggle is a reminder of where we’ve been.)<\/p>\n

So yeah, I was a happy geek when I found out Dub\u00e9 Juggling wished The Juggling Writer<\/em> a happy birthday!<\/p>\n

Another Pleasant Surprise<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I was also surprised to see The Juggling Writer<\/em> linked to a Huffington Post entry about writers and their former jobs.<\/p>\n

With an exception<\/a> or two<\/a>, I don’t get political on The Juggling Writer<\/em>, but The Huffington Post is a daily read for me. (So if you’ve ever wondered, now you know where I lean politically.) Granted, I gravitate toward the books section<\/a> on the site, but it’s a site I visit regularly. So when I noticed The Juggling Writer<\/em> linked in the “Around the Web” section at the bottom of this entry<\/a>, I was pleasantly surprised.<\/p>\n

So a big thanks to Andrew Losowsky<\/a> for the mention!<\/p>\n

And now for some random writer stuff…<\/p>\n

The VlogBrothers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Internet is a funny thing. You stumble upon things in passing and then a year or so later, it clicks: “Oh, yeah! I remember this!”<\/p>\n

Last weekend I found myself watching the VlogBrothers’ YouTube Channel<\/a> for…well, probably hours.<\/p>\n

As I waded through videos, it all seemed familiar. And then I remembered that over the past year or so, I had seen a VlogBrothers’ videos here and there, but I never really spent time watching all they had out there.<\/p>\n

That’s changed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As you can see in the embedded video above, there’s good advice about how to become a writer. And there’s also stuff that is beyond stupid<\/a>. (If you’ve checked out Hell Comes with Wood Paneled Doors<\/em><\/a>, you know I have no aversion to stupid humor; in fact, I revel in it!) In addition to all that, it’s a great example of running with your own personality, sharing useful bits of information, and mentioning what you’re up to without sounding like a desperate salesman.<\/p>\n

A New Fave Writing Blog<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I also stumbled upon 2GirlsonaBench.com<\/a> recently.<\/p>\n

I really love the way things are laid out in a screenplay format, and again: I love how their personalities come through. I don’t mind blogs that are sometimes just people telling others what they’re up to, but even if I were, I have to think that I’d still like the writing style of this blog. And since I’m one of those people who likes <\/em>seeing food photos people post online, the snack photos just add to it all. (Fizzy beverages and popcorn are <\/em>good on road trips!)<\/p>\n

But more than that, I just like friendship — and the friendship the 2 Girls on a Bench have is nice to see.<\/p>\n

I know it’s easy to wander online and see a lot of negativity. But there’s also a lot of good, happy stuff out there if you know where to look. This blog is proof.<\/p>\n

Weekend Plans<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Anybody have exciting plans for the weekend? For me, it’s just writing and hanging out (and maybe some of that technical writing stuff I do to pay the bills).<\/p>\n

I hope everybody has a great weekend, and feel free to share links you like in the comments section below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First, a big thank you to everybody who wished The Juggling Writer a happy birthday yesterday. I almost broke my 50-day social media break and replied to somebody on Twitter. I found out that Dub\u00e9 Juggling Equipment wished The Juggling Writer a happy birthday on their Twitter feed. Forgive the Geek Drool Some people get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[10,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3144"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}