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Welcome to Dancingecko.com....
This is Colleen's web site but
includes some surprises. Weblog, designs, work samples...you
name it, it's here. I think of it as a portal to my interests
as well as my past accomplishments. I hope you enjoy because I
have enjoyed building and maintaining it (and continue to).
The site is a mirror to me....a love of many interests (and
still growing). Have fun!
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What Do I Write About? Any Ideas....
Recently, I just finished a nonfiction writing course at
GMU (Spring 2005). The class was taught by Nick Reding, who is
fairly well-known for his short stories. Nick is currently in
the process of writing a book about the Meth-drug issues in
Mid-West America (his home town being the worst as this is how
he became interested in the subject matter).
In terms of the class itself, it was an enlightening
experience. After five or more papers (@ 10-20+ pages long), I
learned the hard lesson on show, not tell on the content.
Also, I learned a great deal about writing and conflict from
Nick as well as the guest he had during one class, Tom
Harpole.
During the entire process, though, there were several
comments and questions about freelance writing from both the
students and the professor. I have to be honest: At the
beginning of the class I was not interested (or at least it
was minimal) in writing a book, mag article, screen play, etc
until towards the end of class. Still, after much thought and
trepidation, I am interested in publishing something (what
every writer dreams of) but I am unsure what this would be.
Granted, I am not interested in giving up my day job (as a
technical writer) but, in my spare time, I would, however, be
willing to devote an hour or so a day to writing something
worthwhile and publishable. But, despite my willingness, I
cannot come up with a subject matter that will keep me
interested enough to stick with the task, whatever this may be
(short or long). Those of you that know me may have some
thoughts and I am very interested in what they are.
Furthermore, I would love to brainstorm with some of you,
either in person or a chat room, to see if there is some
substance to my claim. .
In the meanwhile, I am hoping to search down some writing
workshops but these are hard to come by. If anyone knows of
any in the Northern VA area (or even surrounding), please clue
me in!
Happy Hunting!
If you would like to see a sample from my writings in class
click
here. I hope to hear from you soon!
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Netflix...the best thing since buttered bread!
My family agree whole-heartedly that Netflix (www.netflix.com) is the
best thing since buttered bread. We love it! Not to mention,
the movies come in the mail in a 1 to 2 day turn around which
is amazing (I guess this has a lot to do with the fact that
their office/warehouse is local).
For those of you that do not know what Netflix is, go to
the web site (www.netflix.com) but
basically it is a movie subscription in which you pay about
$20.00 (although their prices just dropped to compete with
others like themselves) a month to get unlimited movies,
however, you can only check out 3 movies at a time.
This discovery came at a good time for me as I went to my
local "insert movie retail store here" on a regular basis and
I was very frustrated with the fictitious late fees and the
lack of selection. Not to mention they always seems to be out
of the movie I wanted at the time. Can you believe that they
even charge my credit card for late payments without my
consent? I found out by checking my bank statement online.
Boy, was I charged.
Anyhow, the netflix fever is catching. Great selection,
good service, fast turnaround. It's a bargain!
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