I'm Back!, NaNoWrimo, Apologies and Thank You's

Picture Credits

Hello my dear virtual friends! I'm finally back, I've missed you and I have a question for you. 


"Uh, you're dumping all that at once?" you ask.  


Err, that's part of my coming back, so please bear with me: have you ever been without internet for almost a month? Has your library a limitation for long web addresses that prevents you from posting and visiting your friends' blogs? 

Picture Credits

Ops, that was more than one question, heh. You know what's the weirdest thing about the isolation? It's when you come back. You'd think I'd be staying online all day, catching up with all the friends I miss so much.



Oh, no. 


The fact is that after all this time, when one's life is turning upside down, apparently upwards, and then downwards again, one can lose one's grip on things. So one decides that isolation is a good thing for a while, to reassess decisions and goals etc. But when inside one's shell, one forgets that there are people out that who care about her, and that one's absence worries them.

Picture Credits

This is the moment I apologize. I'm sorry I haven't replied the awesome comments left in my absence, and I'm sorry I've worried some of you. On the other hand, I felt so very loved with your emails and DMs checking up on me! Thank you, I heart you all. :D 


On another matter, this post's headline mentions NaNoWrimo... Ahem, with all these twists and turns I couldn't keep up with the challenge, so this year's NaNo project flunked. But know that I'm doing it again next year. There's no quitter here, no sir! heh

Picture Credits

The NaNo failure made me think about what does it mean to be a writer. Instead of reproducing all the speech I had written, I believe the image above synthesizes my conclusions. 

This picture has nothing to do with
this post. I just like it and wanted
to put it somewhere. Please ignore me
and keep reading.
Picture Credit

Am I out? Hum, no. But I will have to slow down for a while, at least until life gets less dizzy. This means that Randomities will return to its original concept, that is, being erratic. So, the trolls are still on, as well all the weird stuff I make you put up with, but I'm allowing myself not getting concerned about posting frequency, traffic, stats, and all. I hope that in the mean time you'll keep an eye on us - me and Randomities - until I put life back on track. 


Thank you all for reading! I'm off to reply some long due emails now, of the people from whom I deserve a good kick in the soft parts, heh. ;) 

The Privacy Thing

It took me almost a month but I'm finally explaining why Randomities moved, and why I've changed my whole web presence. Thanks for your patience guys! :)

Beforehand, I should assure you that no, there's no stalker. My shadowy picture is result of an option I've made in regard of my privacy. Ever since I've turned my life towards the writing career I've considered how much should be shared about my personal life on the internet and elsewhere.

It's not an easy thing to find balance. Take Neil Gaiman as example, he has a blog, he's on twitter, he has a girlfriend who has a blog and is also on twitter, his assistant too and even his bird-watching friend.

There was a time, not long ago, when he shared insights about his daughter, his son, his dog and cats, his girlfriend, and even the rudeness of a cab driver, or the moment he was going to sleep -- from the bed of a hotel room or his own.

Once I did follow all this activity, being a real drooler over his writing, but soon I felt overwhelmed -- talk about stalking, eh?

Now I follow him on twitter and only occasionally check out his blog. Last time I popped in there I glimpsed over another post about his dog (boring) and news about the events he was attending (boring, but only because I can't be there, bleh).

As far as I know he has limited his personal exposure on the web. I concluded this by the diminished number of tweets and change in content. Now he shares other people's stuff as well. Actually, to be fair, he has been sharing mainly other people's stuff lately, which are interesting and informative.

Although I've never reached Gaiman's extreme I was already feeling over exposed. Having a conservative profession I thought I should split my web persona from my professional one, to spare me future problems and allow me the freedom to write whatever the muse inspires me to.

So I ask you, how do you feel about your own exposure on the web and elsewhere?

Do you think the lack of a clear picture of a writer could be an impediment to her work reaching the readers?

Welcome to Randomities' New Home!

Hello there!

Please feel most welcome in Randomities' new home! :D

As you see, nothing changed. Randomities continues being autumn themed, everything looks the same, except for the little changes I keep doing, heh, and the content will keep being random and the posting erratic.

The only thing is that now we have a new web address:

http://marisrandomities.blogspot.com

If you're popping in for the first time, please be most welcome! Feel free to browse in. All Rantomities' content was transferred here, for yours and our lovely regular visitors' delight.

Please notice that you can receive Randomities by RSS feed, by email, and you can follow its content by becoming a Google Pal and a Facebook Pal as well.

If you have any difficulties, I'd ask you to be a little patient, as the final details are still being arranged. You know, when you move in there are a lot of boxes to unpack!

Note to all Randomities's Pals: guys, please follow here too, so we won't lose contact. :)

Finally, if you're curious about the reasons why we moved, stay tuned. Soon I'll explain the whole thing. ;P

I've Decided to Change the Blog's Name

Yes, this blog continues being random, the posting will keep being erratic, and there will still be articles, stories and reflections in here.

It will also maintain the autumn theme, and I'll restlessly point you to pretty things, for yours and mine delight; such as this painting below:

"But if all remains the same, why change the blog's name?" you ask.

Well, maybe my lawyer-self have influenced me when I came up with the previous name,

"Random Articles, Reflections and Stories, by Mariana N. Blaser".

Sounds a bit pompous, no? (uh)

Besides, even not knowing if there's such thing as the word "randomities" in English, I rather like it. So I'm keeping it, ha! ;-P And the blog is new, about a month old, so I feel comfortable changing things that I wouldn't in a different situation. (when I'll have a huge audience and a name changing would confuse way too many people, heh)

Finally, I wanted the blog's title to be as warm and personal as the content. The idea here is to interact, -- that is, make good conversation with you -- exchange information, and show you good stuff that I relate with, and I think you might be interested in too.

Now, why don't you tell me what you think of the new name? :)

"mariblaser's randomities"

Note: That superb painting up there is the "Poplars on the Banks by the River Epte in Autumn", by Claude Oscar Monet, which I found here.

Autumn and Credits

If this is not your first visit, you might have noticed that I've changed some colors and the head figure of this thing here (the blog, that is). Well, since I have great respect for author rights, as mentioned on my profile, it's more than right to give full credit for that wonderful picture up there, which was taken by the photographer Danny Beath. That particular image I found at this BBC page.

This one below, on the other hand, was taken by Simon Wong. I love it!

He's shared a lovely poem with it, which I couldn't resist reproducing here:

On a cold autumn day

my heart is drenched in wine

as I walk in fields of red

And since we're talking about pictures, the whole blog is autumn themed and all, I thought I'd tell the reasons why I chose this particular season as main theme. But you know what? I won't bore you with that. The blog title mentions articles and reflexions, people tend to get a bit more introspective in the fall... there, you got my point.

Here's one final picture, a painting actually, that I fell in love with:

This was painted by the wonderful Connie Tom. (so loved her blog!) I chose it because it'd be nice to end this post with something cheerful. After all, not every moment of introspection has to be sad or philosophical, eh? ;-)

Now, why don't you tell me what these images bring to you?

Note: I almost forgot! If you scroll down a bit, you'll find wonderful autumn pics on the side bar. Enjoy!