Monday, September 21, 2009

Back in Action, Sort Of

After a nice long vacation to Martha’s Vineyard last week I returned home to find a virtual shopping mall of boxes stacked beside my front door. Looks like I will be very busy for the next month or so doing product and service reviews for Green Leaf Reviewer, but I really wouldn’t have it any other way; I absolutely love my job.

Boxes loaded with stuff like toilet paper, a self filtering water bottle, 8+ boxes of cereal, aluminum foil, canvas bags, produce bags, kitchen scrubbers, a raw foods “cook” book, soap, paper towels, sugarcane plates and granola bars arrived while I was gone. Not to mention a CD from a musician I reviewed recently, Peter Mulvey.

It is so cool to know that I don’t have to buy many household items these days because Green companies are responding to my marketing gal’s request with such vigor! I truly feel so blessed to have such an amazing job; in fact it is the exact job I asked for a year ago -- I made a declaration that I wanted to blog for a living and well, here it is.

So this year, in my ever so frequent “reevaluation” fashion, I am making a new request. While continuing to write daily for Green Leaf Reviewer and watching it take off like a bullet, I also want to ensure I schedule a good chunk of time to work on my two near and dear writing projects -- my fictional character novel and the poetry/photography coffee table book my mom and I are collaborating on -- so they will be completed, edited and put out into the world for sale within the next six months.

With that said I am sorry that I have to slow down a little bit on posting the Labor of Love series here because I actually had some content from one of those posts stolen and republished as if it was their own work. I filed a claim and Blogger has taken it down but it still nerves me that my real writing has been copyright infringed. That one I am shopping though so if it gets published as a novella I will be sure to let everyone know!

For all of you who are posting anything on your blog that could be stolen (and seriously, that’s everyone) I can not encourage you enough to set up some Google Alerts. I never would have known about my content being republished if it wasn’t for an alert on nothing more than my blog title.

There are a bunch of things that I need to shore up in my personal life as well and once they are behind me I will be able to move forward in a much more meaningful way, here and everywhere else. I guess what I’m really trying to say is I am taking the pressure to post off of myself and if I feel up to it I will but if not I am not going to force it anymore just to stay current.

So I may not be here as often for a while, writing or commenting that is, but I assure you I will still be reading all of you. It’s funny, this blog has gone through a slew of changes in its short 2 year lifespan (blogiversary was on the 13th of September, yea!) from short blurbs to haiku and prose to lengthy diatribes, has covered a range of stuff all over the map and has gone through phases from daily to barely weekly posting. I guess that’s why I titled it Random Lunacy.

To send myself off on the virtual three week cruise ship, here are a few pictures from our recent vacation for all of you to enjoy. Check you later.

This is no joke. Every year, without fail, at least three people can be heard screaming and we all turn to watch as a seagull flies away with their sandwich or bag of chips.

The little dudes, known in these parts as Hammer and Anvil, totally enjoyed their first Vineyard trip.

We discovered a hidden gem of a spot in the Cedar Tree Neck Sanctuary. Nice light hiking trails and they end up on the beach. Simply gorgeous and serene.

This is our favorite beach, Long Point. The temperature was about 68, mostly cloudy and the winds were gusting at about 125 miles an hour it seemed this day. We were the only people out there and it was fabulous.

At Mytoi Japanese Gardens on Chappaquiddick Island we sat and watched this little dragonfly for a few minutes. He was blind in one eye but seemed to be doing just fine.

Our last full day on island; I managed to only chop off a little bit of Matt’s hat this time. This is us in Mytoi.

8 comments:

pastrywitch said...

Google alerts? Sounds like something I will need Ginger to explain & show me. That's awful about the theft.
Photos lovely, although I am wondering about the neck sanctuary......do all the body parts get one? ;)

wv: poreolo the low rent version of the aurora borealis.

Joan said...

Happy you had a fun vacation! I am
looking forward to mine in October.

Almost Precious said...

Jenn - Sorry to hear that some cretin pilfered one of your blog posts. You have to be so careful any more. Guess I should look into that Google alerts thing for my blog.

Almost Precious said...

Oh guess I should have also said..."Hi, from Green River, Wyoming!" :)

Theresa said...

Thanks for letting me know about Google Alerts. I especially want to tell Chris about it, unlike my posts, someone might want to copy his writing. Glad things are going well with the Green Leaf Reviewer. Sounds like a fun job. The vacation looked and sounded like a beautiful time for everyone. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I have to admit I'm kinda sad about the Labor of Love series but you know what they say...good things come to those who wait.

spottedwolf said...

Neat-o pics Jenni...love the sand and wind reference..and good scripting as well..when Suz and I came home we were riding on the wings of a summer chinook...

I shouldn't be too concerned over the theft....they musta liked it so much they thot it'd make 'em famous. Plagarism is a helluva compliment for sure.

Rosebud Collection said...

Looks like the vacation was wonderful..So happy for you both.
I can't get over someone stealing your work. Don't ask me why it shocks me, there are so many that are looking for an easy ride. Glad you got wind of them.
Love the picture of you two..so cute.

Karen said...

I hate that people rip off others' work! I hadn't heard of Google Alerts... will have to check it out. Looks like you had a beautiful vacation and I know the feeling of needing a little blog break :)