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My maternal grandfather died on this date in 1987. My favorite memory of him was siting in his living room and listening to him tell a story about his life in Poland before he came to the U.S. in 1925 at age 18.

A little administration. You may know I have game reviews and news happening in this blog, yet separate. If you’re a subscriber, you have different options for subscribing to the content here. Here are the subscriptions:

• meryl.net: Includes both meryl’s notes blog (this one) and The Game Zen blog entries.
• meryl’s notes blog: Entries from this one only; no games.
• The Game Zen: Entries from the games blog.
• Bionic Ear Blog: Entries from the deaf blog.

Please vote for your top 25 books on writing.

Brain food…

• 25 Brainstorming Techniques: Not your usual suggestions [Link: Steve Borgman].
• The Writer’s Creed: Short, sensible and simple advice [Link: BubbleCow].
• How to Write a Great Query Letter: An Example That Worked
• Ten Things Every Journalist Should Know in 2010
• Is Freelance Writing More Stable than a 9 to 5: I know I’m lucky because I’m married. Hubs has the corporate job with the benefits while I enjoy the benefits of freelancedom [Link: Lori Widmer].

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Map of the U.S.A.: Texas rocks… but then Hugh MacLeod contradicts himself with Marfa, TX. So if it’s all true… USA sucks?
• Why It’s Better to Pretend You Don’t Know Anything about Computers
• Helping J: We have a wonderful discussion about some of our favorite movies — many not smash hits that you may have missed.
• Say No More: The Banned Words of 2010: Disagree with “teachable moment,” but ready to rid of the rest.
• Recipes from a Web Worker Kitchen: Can’t deal with brain food until you fuel up first.
• 25 Cringeworthy Sites We Love to Hate [Link: Andy Hayes]
• Letterheady: Shaun Usher collects real letterheads. I enjoy browsing the collection. He’s also behind Letters of Note.

Image credit: ilker

Wow. Think about it. Ten years ago, we were all panicky about the Y2K business. Now that’s barely a blip in our memories. It was also ten years ago when I posted my first blog entry on June 1, 2000. I didn’t blog a whole lot in the first few years, but it picked up in the latter half of the decade.

I thank special people in this message… so it’ll be a long one, folks!

Please vote for your top 25 books on writing. Let’s get a strong list together to help writers everywhere!

Brain food…

• The Twitter Controversy over Thanking for RTs: As nice as thanking always is, thanking for RTs only matters to the people you thank. It creates noise for the rest. So I do it in private or return the favor with a RT if there’s a good one.
• 10 Ways to Start Your Business Year with a Bang: C’mon! Let’s re-energize! Want more? My 10 Things to Do Before the New Year over at Web Worker Daily may have more ideas for you.
• The Simple, Ridiculously Useful Guide to Earning a Living from Your Passion: Don’t know your passion? Read this one first to find your passion.
• Do It Yourself E-Book Conversions [Link: BubbleCow]

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 50 Funny People in Twitter
• Worst Gifts Ever: Christmas Presents to Forget: Need to get rid of a bad gift? Try Bad Gift Emporium.
• Foodzie: Etsy for foodies [Link: Andy Hayes]
• How to make instant ice: I wouldn’t try it, but still very cool to watch and discover.
• Ricochet, the Amazing Surfing Dog: “From service dog to SURFice dog.” Facebook page [Link: Joan Stewart]
• Six Word Stories: “Headline wrong. Lives destroyed. Retraction buried.”

Special Thanks

I’ve met many wonderful people in 2009 who have challenged my thinking and taught me many new things.  I was nervous about doing this in fear of unintentionally overlooking someone. But I decided it’s worth it as I must express my gratitude to these folks who took the time to share meaningful thoughts here or guest blog. Thank you. (more…)

Image credit: getwired

Merry Christmas to all my friends who celebrate. Enjoy your time off and the spirit of the holiday. I hope that everyone takes at least one day off and do something that makes you happy.

Thank you for stopping by, reading and commenting. Thank you for connecting with me outside of this teeny place on the web. Thank you for being you.

Brain food…

• 91 Journalism Blogs and Websites You Will Love: No Kidding!
• The 10 Biggest Mistakes We Made So You Don’t Have To! Excellent, excellent advice.
• Top 10 Everything of 2009 from TIME: You know it’s the end of the year when the best of lists start popping up.
• 6 Unexpected Events That Can Take Over a Web Worker’s Life (and How to Deal With Them): I’ve been sick for the past three, a time when I needed to be well especially since the next two weeks are slow and a time to be with family.
• Ten Thousand Tweets Worth the Effort? I agree with conclusion, “I just want to say thank you to all the people I’ve met on Twitter and who put up with my endless stream of rants.” Thank *you*. [Link: Karen Swim]

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Christmas Lights: Guitar Hero style. Holy rockin’.
• Letters of Note: “Correspondence deserving of a wider audience.”
• Top 10 Geeky Christmas Decorations: May the force of Christmas be with you. Live long and celebrate.
• 12 Creepiest Children’s Books: OK, why is If You Give a Cat a Cupcake on there? Agree with Mommy, Why Is There a Server in the House (Published by Microsoft, heh.)
• 6 Animals That Show Mother Nature’s Sense of Humor
• Sketchy Santas: You’ll smile. I promise.

Image credit: Shlomit Wolf

Yee haw! (I’m a Texan, I can do that.) Happy to do another Middle Zone Musings “What I learned from…” project. This time, we share our favorite posts of 2009. I put this together based on what I thought were most valuable to you based on your feedback.

7 Traits of Bad Twitter Followers: The things to do if you hate Twitter.

50+ Writer Uses for Twitter: Who knew there were so many things you can do within 140 characters?

50+ Writers Uses for Facebook: Facebook can do more than connect you with friends and family.

Short, Powerful and Favorite Books: If you crave reading a book without a lot of time, these are the ones sure to fulfill your reading desires.

How to Join Twitter Chats: And videos to help. One of my favorite things to do… connect with intelligent individuals and participate in conversations without barriers.

How to Manage Your Time with Social Networks: Writing is a lonely business and it’s very easy to fall under the hypnotic trap of social media.

Twitter Success Means More Than Numbers: Stop asking, “How can I get more followers.” It defeats the purpose. I know plenty of folks with about 200 followers who are great tweeters.

40+ Writer Uses for LinkedIn: You can do more than just connect with people.

Watch What Your Blog, Post and Tweet Online: Many times I’ve thought about tweeting something and then I’d back off.

27 Most Used Applications in a Writing Business: I was surprised how well-received this one was. I guess we all like to peek into people’s work.

10 Commandments for Writers on Using Social Media: I had fun with this one. Wish I were inspired more often.

How Muscle Memory Affects Writing: I found some old English papers from college. Eww! It does show me I write faster and better thanks to years and years of practice. And I am still practicing!

Applying the Pomodoro Technique in Writing: This technique can range from simple to full-blown. What I like about it is that you can just focus on the 25-minute, break, 25-minute aspect. It works.

How to Create a Twitter Profile for Writers: A couple of tips that some of us experienced users may not think about.

Wanted: Missing Gingerbread Pal (click for story)

Ah… kids get out early today as we begin winter break. We don’t have anything planned except a couple of trips to Grandma’s in Fort Worth for the younger set. Maybe play some board games. 5th grader has to work on his science project. I imagine there will be movies and board games happening during the break. What about you?

Please vote for your top 25 books on writing.

Brain food…

• How to Track Freelance Job Leads Via Spreadsheet: Excellent and simple set up.
• Top 100 PR Websites and Resources Part 1: News websites, business, PR & marketing and social media [Link: Sarah Evans]
• Top 100 PR Websites and Resources Part 2: PR corporate sites, PR newsletters, news distribution, PR software and communication misc.
• 36 Twitter Tips for Book Publishers: “Tweet your way to successful title and author promotions.”
• Flashlight Worthy: “Handpicked books on hundreds of topics.” I could spend hours on this site.
• Reflections on, Takeaways from #eBookSummit: Guy LeCharles Gonazlez has done a lot of reporting from conferences and we stay-at-homers appreciate it.

And for fun because we’re allowed… FailBlog edition (most links from the I Can Has a Cheezeburger crew)

• Very Demotivational: When you need to get off your high horse.
• This is Photobomb: Where photojackers of the world unite.
• Autocomplete Me: “Feeling luck just got weirder.”
• Poorly Dressed: Note to self, stick with sweats and tees. Can’t go wrong… can you?
• 10 Real Houses Inspired by Cartoons: Simpsons, Flinstones, Hobbit…

Gary Rosenthal Menorah

Congrats, Kathlin Sickel for winning a copy of Andy Hayes’ ebook. No matter how you spell it, Hanukkah is a minor Jewish holiday that grew because of Christmas. However, at least it’s fun — you can’t say that about many Jewish holidays.

Please vote for your top 25 books on writing.

Brain food…

• 7 Traits of a Good Twitter Friend: Could not have said it better and agree with it wholeheartedly.
• 7 Reasons Editors (Might) Toss a Submission (Plus Prompt): Does your book pass submission muster?
• Quit While You’re Behind: Why You Shouldn’t Be A Writer: Not listening… gonna keep on making a living writing… yes, siree. [Link: Guy L. Gonzalez]
• 11 Sources of Free or Low-Cost Training: If you’re unemployed, try to find networking groups in your area. They might know of programs that subsidize training.
• Questions for Small Business Owners to Consider Before Writing a Book: You may have a great idea for a book, but is it enough to forge ahead?

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Hanukkah: There’s gambling in Hanukkah. It’s called the dreidel game.
• How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell: In honor of all my web designer friends.
• A Doggy Christmas Surprise: And mine just sits there looking at me like I’m nuts.
• My Parents Were Awesome: Look at the kids now. Can you imagine them being mature adults? Look at the parents… can you imagine them acting like the kids?

Well, it was an eventful week here. It snowed in Texas on Wednesday. I decided to take advantage of the gorgeous, perfect snow to build a snowperson. Alas, the rain destroyed the structure and created a snowblob — which still stands today. You can see photos on Facebook, if we’re connected.

I also had to blow up my computer. You know, reformat the hard drive and wipe everything out. No fun, but computer was not behaving at all. I’ll be glad when I can save all of my work online so I can easily reformat my hard drive without worry about restoring data from a backup resource.

Went to a book club meeting last night. We talked about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It’s the kind of book you’ll need to read twice because some of the background information just doesn’t come through — the whole book contains letters and telegrams from different characters. Last part of the book was a better, faster read and then I went back and reviewed earlier pages that made more sense.

Next book is a biggie… 700+ pages! The Given Day by Dennis Lahane. We decided to do a big one since we have more time before the next meeting. We have a great lineup for 2010. Will share as we go. Links!

Brain food…

• Twitter: 3 Things That Are Not So Hot: Yikes! I never thought about Twitter lists as a ruiner of reputations.
• eBooks: The False Dilemma: “After the digital transition, we’ll find that certain books fit an eBook audience, while others are meant for print.” Ryan Chapman.
• 8 Secrets to Writing Killer Post Titles: Excellent read. Left vs right brain, power adjectives and more.
• AOL’s new initiative: freelance friend or foe? Is this another content mill or something worthy? Gawker reveals editorial process.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 12 Coolest Nutcrackers
• 10 Craziest Calendars: Goats in a tree?
• Things a Magazine Can Do That a Kindle Can’t from Esquire [Link: allanschoenberg]
• 14 Brilliant Minimalist Ads: Well… they ARE brilliant!

I hope all my American friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I’m, of course, thankful for you, you and yes – you! And yes, anyone who lives outside of the US. My first grader had Pioneer Day where the kids did different activities: make butter, make soap, cloth dying, etc. My fifth grader had Colonial Day where they made Jonnycakes, cross-stitched, worked with tinfoil, etc.

Not going anywhere for Black Friday. Staying right at home away from the crowds and enjoying family time. Besides, got most of my holiday shopping done.

Congratulations to Nicole Bernier for winning a copy of Thirsty!

Please vote for your top 25 books on writing. Let others know to vote, too.

Brain food… not too much this time… enough food this week, eh?

• Wordiness, Wordiness, Wordiness List: Words you can remove from your writing [Link: Esther Schindler].
• “Seg-Book-Gation” in Publishing: 1950 is calling, it wants segregation back. I read a book because it’s good — not because of the author’s race, religion, gender, etc. etc. The only time authors matters is when I like their book that I want to find more from the same.
• Writing Pay-How Low Will You Go? It all depends on experience, locale and workload.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• World’s Strangest Monuments: Hail, hail reef ecosystems! [Link: Andy Hayes]
• 12 Strangely Painted Homes: You can’t help but wonder if they were Photoshopped.
• 15 Most Bizarre Boat and Yacht Names: Some not safe for work.
• 12 More Insanely Titled Books: Many not safe for work. Yes, Oddee is on a roll this week. Or rather, many of us took a break from blogging this week.

Congratulations to Dawn Herring for winning The Last Will of Moira Leahy! Never fear… Thirsty is still up for the winnin’. Also, please vote for your top 25 books on writing.

Articles full of brain goodness…

• Oxford Word of the Year: 2009: I had to unfriend someone on Facebook who abused the “Join this Page” button. Other terms listed include hashtag, sexting and Obamaisms.
• Copyright Essentials for Writers: It does matter. For example, if a pub puts your article into a book, you could get paid for that — but not if you sell all rights [Link: Jessica Strawser].
• 10 Productivity Tools for Computer Addicts: I use a couple of them and others I won’t use because they’ll just hook me in and take me away from work.
• How to Identify and Deal with Different Types of Clients: Covers just about every kind of person I’ve met.
• Why Do Great Writers Steal: Good info on how to steal without plagiarizing.
• 50 Books You’ll Want to Read in 2010: Still trying to get through my list from 2005! [Link: Bubblecow]
• The Most Powerful Two Hours You’ll Ever Spend as a Storyteller: Larry ain’t kidding. I’m gonna do this someday.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• Postcards From Yo Momma: A repository of modern day material correspondence [Link: Allison Winn Scotch]
• 35 Incredible Digital Painting Tutorials: Wow. I wish I had time to try this as I can’t draw worth a darn.
• The 15 Coolest Weapons from Sci-Fi Films: Ha! I guessed Lightsaber would be the big one and it’s #1.
• Steampunk Art and Gear: Why is it we’re suddenly seeing steampunk everywhere? [Link: Calista Taylor]
• Masters of Paper Art: Whooaaaa… stunning is right [Link: Kristin Butler].
• Bio-Diversity: Leaf art… like you’ve never seen it [Link: Mark Hurst].
• The History of the Internet in a Nutshell: I used BBSes. (I appeared in the BBS Documentary.) I met the Internet in 1993 using Mosaic and then moving on to Netscape Navigator by 1995.
• Texas Footwear Fail: We certainly don’t want to keep taxes beautiful…

Meryl's dad in USAF: Yes, that's a ciggie. He quit smoking not long after.

Thanks to veterans everywhere for defending our country at all costs. Two of the most important men in my life served in the USAF: My dad and my husband. Also, thanks to the brave soldiers at Fort Hood who put their lives on the line to capture the shooter.

Win Therese Walsh’s captivating novel, The Last Will of Moira Leahy, and Vote for your top 25 books on writing…

Articles full of brain goodness…

• The Most Important Sentence: How to Write a Killer Opening: I love the examples shared in this article.
• The Zeno: Poetry form by J. Patrick Lewis [Link: Greg Pincus].
• Writers and Financial Woes: What’s Going On: Why some writers see their finances melting.
• First Lines That Make You Read More: And not one is what we’ve all heard like The Tale of Two Cities‘ opening line [Link: Debbie Ohi]
• Three Reasons Why You Should Read Debut Novels: Just read two (The Last Will of Moira Leahy and Thirsty; both fabulous and memorable reads.) [Link: Lara Wells]

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 50 Ugliest Cars of the Past 50 Years: Did they read my mind? They caught some of the more popular cars that I thought weren’t purty.
• Which Religion Should I Follow flow chart: If you’re dealing with the December dilemma, here’s your answer. Wow… I had no idea some people think underwear is magical. [Link: Deb]
• 15 Strange and Bizarre Gifts for the Weirdos in Your Life: Ahem… some not safe for work.
• Michael Jackson’s Thriller: Lego-style [Link: BitRebels]
• Sesame Street Remixes: Me love Sesame Street. My mom says that I was an early reader partly because of the show. I wonder how I pulled that off considering I can’t read monsters’ lips. And of course, captions weren’t around yet. Sesame Street lollipops.