EdgeofGloria

The Allen County Public Library is a great resource here in northern Indiana. It's one of the top libraries in the United States for genealogy research, and has a huge selection of videos, especially in the downtown location. Because it tries to use funds wisely, they host an annual author fair. This is to gather authors wanting to promote their books all in one area, all in one day, instead of having authors set up individual book signings/readings. Some of the authors are self-published, but some have actual honest-to-God publishers as well. It's a chance to meet authors, talk about writing, and get information about self-publishing and epublishing. One author dismissed self-publishing as "printing." The majority of the authors I talked to for a story that will appear in the November 1 issue of the Fort Wayne Reader thought that self-publishing and epublishing is a great thing, and will enable more writers to get their stuff out there. Like Amanda Hocking . Have...

Gone With the Wind was not my favorite book as a child. Nor as a young adult. I had to wait until I was considerably older to appreciate it. It's the same with the movie. Mom used to drag me along whenever it was re-released, and I remember sitting in the Embassy Theatre  as a child, watching the epic unfold on screen and wondering what the big deal was about. I had to become an adult to appreciate the film, too. It's not my favorite film, but I can admire the work that went into it. The only way I'm like Scarlett physically is that I'm a brunette. The other way is that my parents sheltered me to a certain extent. I certainly wasn't rich, but I think my mother wanted to protect me from harm as much as she could. A bout with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis made my early years a bit of a mess, and I think it anguished my mother. As a result, whatever I wanted, I got, as long as my mom could afford it. I relied on my mom to make things happen, to fight my battles, and...

I'm becoming more and more suspicious of people who want to try and turn Fort Wayne into a big city. They frequently have grand plans, but not enough money or people to support it, and then they take off. There was someone here a few years ago who had an idea to rent meeting space to local business owners who wouldn't normally have space to meet in. Here's the problem: we have way too many places to meet for free . The mall, Barnes and Noble, restaurants, coffee shops. Plus, people are cheap, and Fort Wayne people are way cheap. More recently, I attended a meeting for a locally-based online publication. I expressed a desire to do short videos of local events/businesses. The person with the idea for the website was very receptive to my making videos. So I started on one for a downtown business. I ran into both camera problems and video software editing problems, and I've apologized to the business owner for the delay. However, the website, which was supposed to be u...

Through some sort of fluke, I was only scheduled for four hours today, so I was able to check out Fright Night in downtown Fort Wayne. Actually, it started at 10 a.m., but has events going on all day up until midnight. I'm not much of a Halloween enthusiast, or a party-goer, but I figured it would be something to see at least. Here now are some photos from the event, plus a Fashion Parade Zombie Walk commentary. Enjoy! These pumpkins were in front of MKM Design on Wayne Street. The cars were part of the car show at Cindy's Diner. Yes, that is Carroll Shelby's signature. I thought the pumpkin buggy was too cute. Every little kid's dream: to look dead and ride on dad's shoulders in a parade. Funny how "parenting" and "prison" both begin with the letter P. That's not a zombie: that's what your uninsured average American looks like when just released from the hospital. If h...

Welcome to my first installment of “Where Do You Meet These People?” This series was inspired by something a co-worker asked me, when I launched into a story about some wacky/crazy/scary person I encountered. Names will not be mentioned. Some of these people are former friends, some are people I “met” through email, and some I spoke with by phone. It's because of these experiences that I try and distance myself from people, and why I haven't seriously put any effort into meeting men on dating websites. Because even the people you think you know well can do things that make you wonder if they are suffering from brain tumors. So here's WDYMTP number one. Subject: male Location: Hamilton, Ontario Canada? Relationship/friendship length: seven months, estimated How we met: Through the Internet, but never in person Years ago, I had a 'zine. I got an email from some guy in Hamilton, Ontario. At the time, my mother was in the last months of her life, although I...

Hey--Gloria here. I met Elaine through John Scalzi's Whatever blog. He had one of those things where you could plug your stuff in the comments--blog, book, product, whatever. So I read through the comments and came across Elaine's blog. I liked it, so I asked if we could guest post on each other's blogs. She graciously accepted, and here's her first effort. Stuff I Just Don't Get The other day over on the knitting forum where I hang out quite a bit, someone started a thread titled "Hype I Simply Don't Understand". It's been entertaining, seeing all the "disagree" clicks some of the posts have been getting as people get upset when someone doesn't "get" something the disagreeer loves. I don't get that, to be honest. I love some stuff that a lot of other people really, really don't like. "Doctor Who", for example. I was raised to be a geek, and science fiction is one of the things I geek out over ...

I was able to make it to Cedar Point for a second time this season. I watched September's perfect weather unfold and knew that it would eventually come to an end. It figures that it came to an end on the day I picked to go. Since Cedar Point is only open on weekends from mid-September through the end of October, it meant I had to ask for time off in advance. And I had to hope that the weather would be good. The day dawned, cool and damp. I drove through the rain, hoping that the air above Lake Erie would blow the clouds away and that the sun would blaze down on me. No such luck, at least not for the first three hours I was there. Because the only large ride that seemed to be running was Windseeker, I decided to give it a shot, even though that ride scares the hell out of me. I've ridden Gatekeeper (most excellent) and Millennium Force (most perfect coaster on Earth) and Top Thrill Dragster with no qualms, but spinning around at 301 feet in the air gave me the willies. Perhaps...

I'm going to one of my favorite places on Earth! So I hope you have as much fun as I do today!

I let my dog Daphne out Monday morning. I noticed something hanging off one of the wires in the back of the house. I wondered what it was, then I saw it from another angle. Tethered to the ground, but hanging from what I think was my Internet wire was a spider web. With the fog we had, the beads of moisture look like glass beads. I like seeing stuff like this in nature. People were cursing the fog, but I try to find joy in nature. That's why I like ice storms. I like the thought of something so delicate being so destructive.