searches and wierd art

Ok, I've never done this before, but I just had a look at the stats for this blog on my Sitemeter page, and it tells you the referrals that led people to your blog - including what key words they were searching for when they found your blog.

So, here are some of the key words that will , through Google, Yahoo or MSN, bring an intrepid reader to titaniawrites:

"Shavua tov" ok, not so strange.

"IsraelLand" who would be searching for this??

"clean page to write on" .... stranger and stranger. I'm the third hit on this search!

"research and "alcoholic teacher"" - well, I come in Number One on this.

"wierd art" - yes, I spelled weird wrong. So, it seems, did rather a lot of other people.

"world watsu week" - and this on Brazilian Google!


Well, this is all rather interesting - and quite frightening. I hadn't thought that my blog posts were find-able through Google et al. I thought they were tucked away in BloggerWorld and I could say anything I liked in confidence to the few people who might be reading this.

Wrong.

And now I am going to turn up on the search page for BloggerWorld. Aaaaarrrggghhhh.

the joy of community

Well, more on brief moments of fame: I have enjoyed twice in the past few days being accosted in various cafes around Jerusalem by people (well, two women) who saw me in the play and wanted to tell me how much they enjoyed it. And I have to admit that I got a kick out of it. This is a small city, there aren't that many places to go, and so it's bound to happen. Then again, people could see me, think "Aha, wasn't she in that play? I really didn't enjoy that/her", and completely ignore me. So I do appreciate it when someone takes the time away from their cappucino to make me blush a little. Thank you. That's one kind of community that is very heart-warming.

Another is the community of writers. I realised that as much as I love writing this blog, I would love it even more to have other short story writers' blogs to read and for them to read mine and for us all to swap tips, condolences on rejection, congratulations on acceptance and everything else the insecure writer requires to keep her afloat. I have one great writer friend, VanessaGebbie, with whom I engage in mutual commenting, and this week I decided to look at who comments on her blogs, follow the links to theirs, make my mark there and see what comes.

Well, I was delighted to discover today (suprisingly, since for some reason blogger has stopped notifying me when someone posts a comment, bloody beta versions!) that two of the writers whose blogs I stopped into took the time to pay a return visit. Nice to meet you, B.A. GoodjohnHilaryMack. I hope this mig and ht be the beginning of something beautiful - in an online, short story writer kind of way.

shortlisting & performing

I know it's not a winning strategy in life to place too much importance on the praise of others, but I can't deny the fact that it is a good feeling. I am performing in a play this week, my character is the comic relief, and making an audience laugh has got to rank up there with one of the best sensations. (However, when they laugh at the part where I am actually being serious.... that's a little upsetting, I am obviously doing something not quite right, will work on that for the last two performances next week).

And along those same lines - and far more importantly in terms of my chosen vocation - it is such a boost when one of my short stories gets somewhere - and this week I found out I have been shortlisted for a competition. It just makes my day, well, my week, really. But there is that downside: when I don't get anywhere, I feel crushed, rejected. That's life, eh? I could try and coast along, not caring whether anyone likes what I write or not, but then I would miss out on the excitement as well as shielding myself from despair. There are no easy answers.

Now my most pressing concern is finding a good quinoa recipe with carrots. Suggestions welcome.

Historical One-Page is History

Ah well, my oh-so-clever 300-word story-that-I-thought-was-historical didn't make it into the shortlist for the Fish Historical One-Page short story contest. But congrats (again!) to Frances for making the short list, fingers crossed.

Still waiting for a few other comp results this week or next, and I have 'flu, which doesn't make things any better. I was supposed to be at Robert mcKee's STORY screenwriting seminar today, but 12 hours of it yesterday, listening to him rant and rave, plus my fever today, and that's enough to keep me home in bed.

Just found a whole load of competitions to enter in the US - except all but one of them require entries by post (by post!!) and entry fees in dollars. Do they want non-Americans to enter? Doesn't look like it. Have they heard of PayPal? Is email a foreign concept? Some of them have been very kind when I have emailed to say that I can't get a dollar cheque, and they are trying to make alternative arrangements. I think that sometimes Americans might forget that there are other people outside America... and we want to get our hands on your prize money. Make it a little easier for us, please!