(I swear, I’ll make a real post here in the next couple of days. This week has been heinous, I tell you. It’s general end-of-the-semester business, plus my laptop freaking out, plus editorial duties, plus… [head explodes])

Enter to win a year of free groceries, plus a year of food donated to your local food bank!

Archaeologists discover a 4,300 year old pyramid tomb at Saqqara. I’ve been an archaeology fan since I was a kid, and an Egyptology nerd for ages, and this find is SO exciting. Also, I love Zahi Hawass and his Indiana Jones hat. :D

Two teams of astronomers capture first visual images of extrasolar planets. National Geographic has another image of a multi-planet system. Pretty soon, we’ll get images of that big satellite array orbiting Vega.

And in more nerd news, there’s some kind of weird aurora around the south pole of Saturn. It surrounds that strange hexagonal storm. I’m convinced there are aliens lurking beneath the clouds, and they’re doing this stuff just to mess with human astronomers. ;)

Kimber An at Young Adult Science Fiction blogs about Sanctuary, SciFi’s new original series starring Amanda Tapping with dark hair and an English accent. Both of which serve to make me shake my head and go, “Bwuh? Is that Major Carter?” I’d like to watch this, but I don’t have SciFi (or TV at all, ack!) and haven’t had time to check it out online. Has anyone else watched?

And… I’d better wrap this up because someone is working on the side of my house, and I have no idea who it is. o_O Would be nice if the landlord let us know about these things beforehand!

(Speaking of exercising my geography nerd, I left my new/old book, Don’t Know Much About Geography at work this afternoon. Noooooo! I must read about the world’s ancient wonders and longest rivers and most extreme places! *sob*)

Edit: Woo! Just scored 647 cups!

Is apparently a door to somewhere. Or something. Jeez, that was cheesy.

Anyway, it looks like this photo got shortlisted by Schmap, which means it might be included in their upcoming San Jose, CA, guide. Rock on!

And, so this post isn’t completely useless, Photoshop Disasters, for hours of hilarity and much wincing.

And unfortunately the web is full of miracle cures that claim to eradicate writer’s block now and forever.

Pshaw.

In my experience, the only thing that cures writer’s block is writing. If I force myself to sit down and hammer out a couple of pages, even if I think what I’ve written sucks, I can start to break through the block in my brain. And while there is no miracle cure, it is possible to find some good tips floating around the internet.

This site gives a surprising number of helpful hints that are so simple that I felt kind of stupid for not thinking of them myself. When I write papers for my classes, I find that #6 (Write down all the main ideas you need to cover, then fill in each with the smaller ideas that contribute to the main ideas.) is the best possible way for me to get started on a paper. I’ll often forget points that I was planning on including if I don’t write them down, and creating a rough outline helps me both remember things and keep them in some semblance of order. I use this tip when working on longer pieces of fiction, too, though I sometimes wonder if it’s the best idea. I try to plot everything out before I start the actual writing; maybe I’d do better to just sit down and hammer something out, then organize afterward.

Trying to overcome writer’s block isn’t easy, but it’s also not impossible. Think of it as a series of writing experiments. What works? What sucks? Play with some of those tips you find online and see which ones work for you.

What are your favorite tips for overcoming writer’s block? Tell me in the comments.

God, it feels good to say that. :D :D :D :D :D

Of course, I should be reading film theory, but… heh.

What are you doing to pass time on Election Night? If I wasn’t at work, I’d be passing the time with a tasty adult beverage. ;)

Be sure to get out and vote if you haven’t already!

So, that’s why I’ve been lax in posting here. Working one’s arse off really cuts into the blogging time, unfortunately.

I’m about halfway through Richelle Mead’s Succubus Dreams, which I’m LOVING so far, so expect a review of that as soon as I get a chance to breathe, heh.

And, since the Big Day is looming, I wanted to take a second to remind all of my American readers to vote on Tuesday, if you haven’t already! I voted this past Monday. :)