Mad Mondays: December 8th is TOASTMAS!

Ted the Postman is still hiding on the blog. First one to find him gets a virtual popsicle!

All right, readers, it's December 8th today. I have no idea what particular significance that has for the blog, but I feel like it should, so I shall declare DECEMBER 8TH an official Blogger Holiday called "Toastmas."

On Toastmas, the rules are: 

1. Eat a piece of toast at some point. This can be wheat toast, white toast, whatever you want it to be.

2. Write the word "Toast" at some point, using any media at your disposal. Get creative. Put it on your refrigerator or hang it on your wall.

3. Work the word "toast" into conversation as many times as possible, in completely innocuous ways. If someone notices them, tell them about Toastmas.

Now, following these 3 instructions, go forth and spread the spirit of TOASTMAS!

-JW (I'm not crazy, I'm just mad)

Mad Mondays: The Blog Awakens

Welcome, readers.
So the new Star Wars trailer looks awesome, just gotta throw that out there. But anyway, I'm not going to talk about it, there's not much about it that I want to say, except that I'm super pumped for the movie.

Anyway, this Mad Monday is kind of special because it's the first Mad Monday after NaNoWriMo, and also conveniently coincides with the first week of Advent. Just as the church year (for some of us; depends what church calendar you're following) begins at the end of November, my blog sorta does the same thing. NaNoWriMo is like the end of the blog year. So, I want to start this year off strong, with regular content, cute plushies, giant bananas of death, glow-in-the-dark blankets, and cheese.

Thank you for reading!

-JW

P.S. Everybody remember the postman (christened Ted by Hyperlinkzer)? Well, guess what, he's coming back. Weekly challenge will be for you guys to find him on my blog. I'll hide him somewhere new every Mad Monday. Winner might get a reward of some kind, I'm not sure what yet. Anyway, I've hidden him somewhere on the website for this week! Search the blog, ye readers. Find Ted and comment with his location.

Mad Mondays: NaNoWriMo Update (Week 2)

If you look to the right, you'll see my word count meter. I'm nearly on target, but it seems I'm floundering a little.
Which is fine. I'm treading water and preparing to catch up soon. National Novel Writing Month, 2014, has been exciting so far!

First, it's my first time writing a mystery novel. Never mind that my plot is not suspenseful in any way, shape, or form, and that my characters are blander than brick walls--it's still been really fun so far. A step outside of the Science Fiction/Fantasy biosphere has proved to be a great step. It helps improve my writing and show me untold possibilities about what I can write.

Second, I haven't written fiction in bulk for quite a few months, and this is helping me get back on track to writer-dom.

Now, let's talk about Week Two. It always gets a bad rap from WriMos, specifically because it tends to be the week in which a lot of writers lose their will, their gumption, their motivation. To me, it's my week of epiphany. Week One is always dull and boring, an uninspired pile of drivel written to propel myself forward until the end. I start thinking, "This is a great concept!" but from the first page, I know it's going to be crap. But I write anyway, and inevitably, at the end of Week One I slack off. But then Week Two happens. I have to catch up and the fight or flight instinct kicks in and I find myself sprinting back to the goal line to slam the ball into the net. With the bulk of writing I'm doing to catch up, I grant myself new inspiration. My characters grow. I realize the concept, not in the mind, but on the page (well, word processor, not page).

And from then on, NaNoWriMo is pretty easy for me. Even now, I'm having more fun than in all of Week One. My advice is: let yourself give up, but then come back and try to catch up as hard as you can. Unless you're one of those people who's already over 20,000 words by Day 8. To those people, I have one thing to say: You are crazy mutant lizard aliens.

-JW

Mad Mondays - When Robots Attack

One of my favorite theories for the end of humanity is the idea that robots will gain artificial intelligence and conquer the human race. Of course, this is highly unlikely, but an interesting concept, one that has been explored through years in all different sorts of media. I've compiled a list of movies, comics, TV shows, and books that concern what would happen when robots attack, so to speak. Let's start the countdown!

#5: 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke (and the movie)
Just about no one has never heard of HAL, the rogue computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

#4: The Avengers: Age of Ultron (and the Marvel comics)
Ultron is a perfect example of a rogue AI. From the Marvel comics and in the upcoming movie Age of Ultron, he is deeply malevolent toward humanity.

#3: Blade Runner
Harrison Ford stars as the blade runner, working in the future to take down rogue AIs known as replicants, who appear human.

#2: The Matrix
In The Matrix, robots have taken control of humanity, enslaving them in a dream world known as the Matrix, and using their life force to power robokind.

#1: Battlestar Galactica (the newer series)
Battlestar Galactica is a TV show about what happens when a society that has already won a war against robots (the Cylons) has to face them again, in smarter, deadlier form. In this series, the different models of the Cylons either appear robotic or human, but the problem is that there's no way to find out if someone is a human-model Cylon or not.

So that's it for Mad Monday! Please note that The Matrix and Blade Runner are rated R. :)
-JW

Mad Mondays: 15 Books You Should Read in Your Lifetime

Well, the blog is back into swing! Welcome to Inkweb! Today is Mad Monday, where I post a randomly selected type of post (or one the readers have suggested). Today, I will be compiling a list of 15 books I believe everyone should read.

It's the end of spring and the beginning of summer, which means a lot of spare time. Libraries are rolling out their summer reading programs, which are always fun to participate in, so I've decided to help people along with a few of my favorite books. Many of these authors have written several other great books, but I've done my best to include only one book per author; you can find their other works on your own time. If anyone else has some good additions to my compiled list, please comment below! I may not have read them yet, and other readers would appreciate some more suggestions as well.

These books aren't in any particular order of importance, they're just arranged in the order I thought them up. There are many other novels out there that I've forgotten to include on this list, but this is just really to get you started.

Ok, click below to find out my suggestions for you!

Mad Mondays: Where's the Postman?

Welcome, readers of Inkweb, to Mad Monday! Today I have a little scavenger hunt challenge for you guys. Basically, it is as follows:

1. I've hidden a small image of a postman somewhere on the blog.

2. It looks like this:


3. Whoever finds it first gets to give me a premise for a short story. It can be about anything of your choosing (within reason). Man goes diving and gets attacked by an octopus? Aliens attack a cheeseburger? Whatever you suggest.

Now, a disclaimer: this scavenger hunt won't require any serious slogging through every single post of the blog. It should be relatively simple, if you've got your wits about you. And no, the postman in this post does not count.

Have a good day, folks! Thanks for reading!

-JW

P.S. Whoever finds the postman also gets to name him, in case I do this again in the future.

Mad Mondays: Creepy Dog Thingy

It's Mad Monday! I have to post something today, so here you go:





Disclaimer: THIS IMAGE DOES NOT BELONG TO ME.


I'll get something of substance to post for next time.
I'm underway with a short story for Saturday, I've got some poetry tomorrow and Thursday, and I will post 25 facts about bears on Wednesday. Cat Monologue #5 is coming up on Friday.

So that's our schedule for the week, guys! Toodles!

-JW

Mad Mondays - Liebster Award

This week on Mad Mondays:

THE LIEBSTER AWARD TAG THINGY!!!!!!

Trumpet fanfare! To check out Hyperlinkzer's blog where he tagged/nominated me, click on the embedded link.

All right, let's go through the steps. Basically, an Award is like a tag, so this shouldn't be too complicated.

1. Post link back to blogger who tagged/nominated me. Already did that, go check out Hyper; leaving a link is a nice way to help out other blogs with extra pageviews and, hopefully, members.

2. Answer the ten questions I have been given. Hyperlinkzer's questions will be answered shortly. Hang tight.

3. Nominate ten others and create ten questions-to-be-asked-for-them-to-answer. I don't know very many blogs, but I'll try.

4. Inform said nominated others. I probably won't do ten. Maybe two or three.

Anyway, on to the questions!

Mad Mondays: 25 Facts About Dragons!

All right, our very first Mad Monday! I deliver, per request, 25 "facts" about dragons! Granted, they aren't actual facts because dragons have not been proven to exist (yet!), but still, it's a fun list.