Category Archives: Blogging

Anniversary and a BIG Announcement!

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HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Talking Animal Addicts

3 YEARS AND STILL SQUEAKING!

 

Cupcakes for me!
Photo Courtesy of Kupcake_Killer

It was 3 years ago today I began Talking Animal Addicts, and like my haphazard attempts in NaNoWriMo, I jumped into the world of blogging blind, but unlike NaNo, I’ve made better strides on the blogging, infrequent and wishy-washy as my blogging’s been this year. Thanks to those of you who took the time to comment and spread the word.

While I’m still on hiatus, there are some big things happening at T.A.A. for 2013, and today I’m announcing the first big step.

After much thought, I’ve decided to move T.A.A. from Blogger, to a self-hosted WordPress platform, so I can better customize the experience with the loyal supporters of this blog, and attract a wider audience and while I tried to have the relaunch done by today, it’s taking more time than I hoped, so bare with me if the blog has some serious downtime. I’ll announce the stable re-launch on the
T.A.A. Twitter Feed so please follow it to know when the re-launch hits.

I’ll have more to report in January. 
Have a safe and joyous holiday.

Until Next Year,
May The Fantastical Fauna Be With You
Taurean (Your Frazzled yet Unflappable Literary Rat)

Sunshine Award and Blog Update Status!

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I’m a bit behind with this being Easter weekend and all, but I do have something to tide you over for the time being.

Today, I was awarded the Sunshine award by my friend and fellow writer, Katrina “Cat” DeLallo.

Here the answers to the questions-

1. Favorite color?
Red, especially Crimson and Burgundy shades.

2. Favorite animal?
Real: Dogs, but Foxes, rats, Wolves and weasels are in my top five.

Imaginary: Dragons, with Griffins and Minotaurs close behind.

3. Favorite number?
8 (Eight) , and it’s many lingual variations-

Acht (German)
Bah ( ) – (Chinese)
Hachi (八) (Japanese)
Huit (French)
Ocho (Spanish)
Otto (Italian)

4. Favorite drink?
Depends on the season-
Spring and Summer: Lemonade, Natural fruit punch, and iced tea

Fall and Winter: Hot cocoa and coffee, black, no cream, with sugar, Milk Tea, Apple Cider

Year Round: Milk, Orange Juice, Grape juice, and Apple Juice.

5. Facebook or Twitter?
Facebook, though I have to admit I’m starting to like Twitter a lot more than I ever thought possible, despite the strict word cap.

6. My passion(s)?
Aside from the obvious if you’ve followed the blog, Cooking and Music.

7. Getting or giving?

Both, but I do prefer give when I can.

8. Favorite pattern?
Checkerboard pattern in general, not just red and black squares on a checkers board.

On clothes, however, I’m partial to vertical pinstripes.

9. Favorite day of the week?
Sunday, because it’s not as manic as the rest of the week can be, for me, anyway.

10. Favorite flower?
That’s tough, but I’d have to say pink roses, because they represent Friendship and Happiness in flower language.

Here are the bloggers I’d like to share this honor with-


Adrienne Kress
Allyn Stotz
Sheri
Gueh Yanting

Janice Hardy

I couldn’t think of 10 for this one, as I don’t want to mention the same number of folks, and I only pick people whose blogs I’ve read, and whose writing I’ve read before.


Insightful endorsement is part of my personal writer’s code of ethics.

Until next time,
Ciao for now.

The Daily Squeak (Week of 4/2/12)

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Hi All,


A new week, and a new look for T.A.A. Please let me know in the comments what you think of the new design, if something hard to read or access.


Also, welcome to “The Daily Squeak.” Since my posting’s been erratic as life offline and non-blog writing is getting hard to balance, I’ll use The Daily Squeak to update you on new posts and features on T.A.A. I will still try to meet my original schedule deadlines, but if not, The Daily Squeak will keep you from missing new posts and future contests and giveaways, which is another reason to follow T.A.A. on Facebook (Twitter Coming Soon!), and follow me at my Google+ page.

I updated the Future Headlines section.
There’s a new “Letter from The Editor, which I’ll do regularly once a month, versus separatism as I’d done before, since they take a bit of time. Hope you like this month’s one.


Musical Musings may be a bit late, but it will be a review this time, as per our usual format.


Ciao for now.

Random Wednesday #1 (3-7-12)

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Today’s Wednesday, and that means it’s time to get random.

Today I’ll share some links to some of the more interesting things I found on the web this week. Some may be writing related, some may not, it all depends on what caught my eyes the most in a given week.

New Blog Schedule!

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After much thought and care, I can announce the new schedule for T.A.A. starting next week-

Each day will a special feature unique to that day, as well as posts dealing with a particular aspect of books and writing. This will keep my eclectic interests in check, and still have some sense of order, but in a more flexible way.


Monday

Musical Musings
I review music, profile new artists (at least new to me), and share my passions and frustrations of what’s become my second art form/passion. 


Tuesday


Take A Chance Tuesday

A weekly writing challenge to get out of our comfort zone and unleash our inner-Avant Garde vigilante.



Wednesday


Random Wednesday
Thoughts and musings of anything intriguing in my world.

The World Building Wars
An ongoing series about ways to take some of the “Crazy!!” out of crafting our fantasy worlds.


Thursday

Get Versed! Thursday
If you’re ready to take the pain out of poetry, whether you read it, write it, or both, stop by and learn along with me.


Friday


Face Your Fear Friday
Writers don’t just need to “Write outside the comfort zone” but also must “Read” outside it, too. Every week a new prompt will get you, and me, to embrace worlds and ideas we may NEVER want to live, but are fun to read!

I know many writers who thankfully don’t have this problem, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who goes through this, and I invite those of you like me in this regard to take the leap of faith along with me, we need to show writers who deal with this they are not alone, even if we are not the majority. 

T.A.A. Top 5

A weekly list of anything and everything I love, and why, in as short a way as I can say it. (That in and of itself is a fear worth facing)


Saturday (Check Back Tomorrow!)


Sunday


Shout-Out Sundays 

Every week I’ll highlight any blog, book, writer or publishing tips that I want to spotlight.

The T.A.A. Sunday Gazette 
(Info to come 3/3/2012)


More tomorrow,
Taurean

Blog Changes

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Today I have both good news and bad news.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way, T.A.A. will be sparse on updates for the rest of the month. Don’t worry, I’m not going dark again, but things are picking up slowly on the non-blog writing front, and I don’t want to jinx it.

Also, I’m reworking how I update on the blog so daily posts will be shorter, and longer content will be features, so no matter how much or little time you have, they’ll be something worth reading around here, and as early followers of T.A.A. know, brevity’s not my best thing at the best of times, but it’s important to me I get better at this, and for those of you time-starved folks out there, I take you seriously, maybe to a fault sometimes, but I do, and I think T.A.A. will be grow and be better for it.

The good news, is that I’ve got my first interview for you, as part of a new feature on T.A.A. that I call, “Critter Chat.”

Stand by for the next post,
Taurean