Wow!  A lot of dust and dead crickets.  I’ll be cleaning and tidying over the next week, getting things ship shape and Bristol fashion before we get started again.

Meanwhile, thought for the day, I already felt old knowing that the people who were born when Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone came out are teenagers this year, but the Empire Strikes Back is thirty years old.  Now I really feel old.

I’ll see you all soon.

I envy the podcasters, the writers, the people with the gumption and drive who can keep up with a 40 hour a week job and then add another 40 plus hours to it for the entertainment of their fans and the sole pleasure of creating.  People who take moments out of their already jam packed schedule and post updates that are more than recycled drivel.  I envy them because try as I might, I just don’t have that drive.  I envy them, call it a sin, a deadly one at that, but there it is.

If you haven’t gotten the gist of my intent yet, let me spell it out plainly.  It’s been two weeks since there’s been a post on the site at all, and even longer since it was something meaningful and not random movie trivia.  I simply don’t have the drive for it anymore, not while I’m working 40 hours a week and being out of the house for at least 10 hours a day for five of seven days.  And those last two, the only thing I want to do is kick back with a book, a podcast, some new music and not think about work, of any kind.

Am I shutting down completely?  No, not at all.  I’ll still be throwing the random, brilliant and blatant advertisements up for my favorite podcasters, but I make no promise of a schedule.  I’m on pins and needles with anticipation for Personal Effects Dark Art and still have at least a nine month wait – I think.  Then there’s Contagious due out this winter and whatever Mur, Nathan, Tee, Pip, Edward, Nick and many others have up their sleeves.

Time Well Wasted was my job while I didn’t have paying employment, now it’s just too much for me.  Through it I have gotten to know and do things for some fantastic people with brilliant stories to tell.  These would be the podcasters I follow around like some random rabid fangirl.  And while I’m not pulling the plug completely on the site, I’m pulling in the focus and will continue to write about the podcasting community in my own time.  I’ll still be following these people like the random, rabid fangirl that I am, what can I say, feed me a good story and I’m addicted.

As for the rest of it, I’ll post what things I have lingering in my drafts over the next week and we’ll see what happens from there.  In the meantime, there’s not much more to say.  I want to thank everyone, from the bottom of my heart, for reading and enjoying the site, for letting me be part of their advertisement régime, and for producing some fantastic content.  It’s my hope that I might still be welcome when I ask if I can help them out with a bit of advertisement and review, and maybe a hug or two if I can ever get to one of their events.

More than anything, and I’m not trying to separate anyone from anyone else, I owe a heartfelt thank you to JC Hutchins and his amazing fans for helping me and my family out during our hardship this summer.

Like I said before, I’m not completely shutting down, I think to do so would break my heart, so I hope you won’t remove us from your feeds.  I’ll still be around on Twitter and I’ll post there when something pops up here.  I just can’t promise a regular posting schedule anymore and for that I apologize.

So stay tuned…  I may post something brilliant at any time.

Sorry folks.  Madam Dumb Arse left her notebook work.  She’s taking LIVE calls tomorrow for the first time and didn’t even grab it on the way out.  She’s a little stressed.

Yeah I know I said new content today on Twitter.  See the above.  I’m totally stressing about tomorrow, and more concerned about disappointing my partner as we take our first calls.  I have a week left in training, and I’m looking for a few more content writers.  I am trying to keep this going, and I’m thinking once training is over things will get more lively around here.

In the meantime, if I could recomend a few things – Dark Knight, New World Orders and Piggy Moto.  Watch, listen, enjoy and I’ll get some real content up ASAP.  Thank you for you patience.

Ok, I think we’re going to have to go back to 3 posts a week until I get the hang of this work thing.

This does not mean I’ve given up on the blog.  I will still be doing reviews of things, and will continue with the ABCs of Entertainment, and posting as often as I can.

But the firm schedule is going to be 3 days a week.  We’ll hit you up with a new post this Thursday and another on Saturday.  Triva will remain on Sundays and will not count toward the 3 days a week.  Posts by Nick will be up when they are received.

Hate to do it, sorry to do it, but my brain is MUSH.

Before we begin a HUGE Congratulations to Tee Morris and Philippa Ballantine for an excellent run up the Amazon.com Charts on Friday!  I don’t have the exact numbers of where they wound up in the top 100 on Amazon, but they did hit 1 and 2 respectively in Movers and Shakers for a few hours.  Stellar job for them and their fans.  This is what’s called keeping it real, folks.  I’ll be ordering my copies soon.

Now that the Double Trouble rush has ended it’s time to gear up for Mur Lafferty‘s Playing for Keeps.  Her book is ready for its run on August 25 and I’m sure we can do the same for her as we did for Tee and Pip.  Let’s hear it for small press books and podcasting.  *insert best Kermit the Frog impression here* YAY!

On the subject of Playing for Keeps, as you can see (if you’re on site) we’ve changed out out “You’ve Gotta See This” banner to celebrate it’s release.  This one, as it’s a solo book, is actually clickable and will take you to the Amazon.com order page.  Just, hold off till the 25th okay?  That banner will be up until the end of August.

Time Well Wasted will also be doing articles on the Stories of the Third Wave, these you can find at the Playing for Keeps website.  I’ll have reviews for those up as soon as possible.

Submissions for Around the Podiosphere will be accepted until Wednesday, August 13, 9:00 pm CST.  I will be attempting to have that article up on Thursday along with C is for Cats in the ABCs of Entertainment series.

And now for something completely different….

TWW may be changing it’s posting schedule.  Starting August 18th I’m no longer perfectly free to listen to every recommended podcast and post at odd hours.  I’ll be starting my training for employment at AT&T.  That’s right, after nearly two years, yours truly will be rejoining the working class.  Part of me truly dreads this.

We’re going to try and ensure there’s not much of an impact on the blog but, it has been nearly two years and I’m simply not used to working anymore.  If there will be an impact we’ll be returning to a 3 day a week posting schedule.  I’m hoping this doesn’t happen, and for now we’re making no changes, but I refuse to leave everyone hanging dry and wondering if we’ve gone away.

Now then, I have Metamor City to finish catching up on and Stories of the Third Wave to get into.  You’ll get reviews for this as soon as possible.  Toodles.

–End of Line–

After much thought over the last two days with no internets, I’ve declared this week to be Double Trouble Week.  During this week you’ll find reprints of books by Tee Morris and Philippa Balantine to gear everyone up for the great release on 08.08.08.

Yet, I promise you, these won’t be the only things we’re publishing this week.  There’s still the review of Digital Magic to come.  Plus Stories of the Third Wave, MINE, B is for Batman, and more.  We won’t be leaving out the new content while we share the old.

This will kick off later today with From the Archives – Morevi and I’ll return in a bit with “What’s Mine is Yours.”

…now if only I could figure out how to get my hands on autographed copies…stupid A/C and it’s bloody expensive fix…ah well, off to write about MINE.

Something you may notice if you’re on site.  The Amazon.com banner in the sidebars is gone.  This has been replaced with something Nick and I call “You Gotta See This” which currently displays a gorgeous banner for Double Trouble.  Which, counting today, there’re only 22 days left for me to scrape up my pennies so I can get my copies of Digital Magic and The Case of the Pitcher’s Pendant on August 8th.

Anyhoo I digress.  The space is currently reserved through the end of August, but after that I have nothing for it.  I’m not looking to charge for placing an advertisement there, donations are welcome, but there is absolutely no payment required for use of the space.  Depending on if, and how many, banners I get for the space they may be rotated regularly.  Since this is a new thing for the site, it’s hard to make projections on if it will work.  If you are interested in displaying a banner on the site, please contact us at reviews@timeww.com and let us know.  The space available is 120×600 pixels (w by l).

That being said, I have some news that’s just tickling me pink.  Time Well Wasted has its VERY FIRST INTERVIEW.  Since we’re not a podcasting site this was done the seriously old fashion way with me sending out a questionnaire.  I’m not going to tell you who it was with, you’ll have to come back tomorrow to see it.

The Weekly Trivia is being moved to Sundays.  I’m hoping to make this into something I can give prizes away with in the future, but it may not be until next year.  Also, depending on if I can work of the courage, I may start trying my hand at podcasting with these silly little trivia questions.  Still, all I have is a headset and audacity, I rather prefer to leave the airwaves open for the professionals.

We are upgrading later this weekend, so you may see some downtime with the site.  I’ve already had warning from Indiana Jim that the upgrade seems to be eating categories.  For now I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that everything that is down now fixes itself and I can start adding pictures and such to the articles again.

On a final note I’ll be starting the ABCs of Entertainment series before the end of the month.  Nick and I may be repeating letters occasionally, but it’s all in good fun as we try to being you more ways to waste time well.

In the meantime I have five episodes of Double Share staring at me and begging me to listen to them.  Since this is all the news of note then we’ll see you in the morning with our very first interview.

Sorry for the lack of review/news/update today folks, I am struggling to pay bills and make ends meet.  While it’s certainly time well wasted, after all I need a cable connection, it’s not a pleasant ordeal and makes it less fun to try and write happy things.

In the meantime it’s also giving me time to think of a few new ideas for the site, like maybe dong an ABC type series of posts.  I’m also trying to coerce my husband into lending a hand as well, as he’s got an excellent view on things to waste time with.

Speaking of posts, we’re accepting guest posts.  If you’re interested you can send an e-mail to reviews@timeww.com.  Our only request is that you keep it PG-13 and try and inject some humor into it.  You can do a review for something you’ve enjoyed or something you think the whole world should avoid like the plague.  Please also note how many penguins it ranks on a scale of one to five, five being oh my god I’m going to watch this every day.

So that’s all the news of note, we may be slow going this week, but will do our best to have something up daily.  For now, I’m immersed in Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel novels, anxiously awaiting a time to get the new one in my hands.  These are excellent novels and highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a massive dose of intrigue.

With luck, I should have a review of Obsidian 10, Mur Lafferty’s “A Rose by Any Other Name” later this evening.  By the end of the week I hope to have Clear Heart finished and reviewed as well.

As always thank you for your time, patience and visit.

Ladles and Jelly spoons, please allow me to take a moment of your time to direct your attention to the bright, orange button on the side of the screen. The one that reads “make a donation”. See it? Awesome. Keep it in mind as I yammer at you for just a little bit.

Now, I’m just a guest poster here at Time Well Wasted. One day, GeminiFatcat asked if I would cross post something I’d written in my Live Journal, and I said, “Sure.” (Actually, it was the original version of the Cloversuck post that she got such a kick out of) So, she set me up a member name and I became a regular poster. Ever since then, I get the occasional “OMG! Halp! I need an article, like NOW! Come up with something, Plz!! Kthxbye!” It’s a lot of fun, and there’s a whole lot of work that goes on that even I don’t have to worry about.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell anyone reading this that the economy is dangling somewhere between the terlet and the last couple squares of paper on the roll. We’re all feeling the crunch. Gas prices skyrocketing, the job market collapsing- it’s pretty crappy these days. And it’s getting harder and harder to keep the little perks in life. Time Well Wasted for example.

Gem puts a lot of work in to keep the posts fresh and interesting, and seriously, if it wasn’t for her some of us would be missing out on a lot of great podcasts and books- weird websites and all that groovy jazz. She’s benefiting not only the audiences of the world, but also the performers looking for an audience, and that really rocks. She loves doing this, and her only wish is to spread some joy.

TWW takes a lot of Gem’s time to keep going with new articles and fun links. ‘Cause, remember this, she’s not only gotta write these posts, but she’s gotta listen to all these podcasts, watch all these movies, read all these books- you should SEE her library! It’s crazy! And these things ain’t free all the time- even the hosting costs money.

So, what *I* am asking of *you*, is that you help Gem out. Toss a buck or two into the popcorn fund, so that she doesn’t have to worry so much about keeping this place afloat with the rising price of gas and groceries. I know that I for one would hate to see TWW fold cause the decision had to be made between food and fandom.

But, you know what? Making a donation is not the only way you can help gem out! See the list of Amazon.com books on the side there? It’s not just a stupid banner to be ignored. If you click through there before doing your amazon shopping, you actually help Gem out, cause that tosses a few pennies into her account there. And, I know you buy stuff on Amazon! We all do. How hard is it to stop on through TWW on your way there? Seriously. It’s no more money from you. It’s just one little extra click. Do it. Help the lady out. She busts her hump daily to keep us all entertained.

There’s even MORE though. Look to your right. No, not that far.. just to the right of the screen. See in the LINKS there where it says “Comfort Cooking”? *nodnods* that’s GeminiFatcat’s own cookbook- a collection of her favorite recipes (and some of my favorites, too) and you can buy a copy of it over on LuLu. Don’t wanna spring for the whole paper copy? Fine, you can get a copy of the PDF for just a few bucks.

I’m not here begging you for your money. I don’t get a CENT of the stuff that comes in to TWW. It all goes into Gem’s coffers to keep this place and her own house running. *I* am just here to help you all find these ways you can lend a hand. I’ll even resort to bribery. If Gem tells me that the donations and sales and clickthrough have skyrocketed. Then I’ll Um – *thinks* – I’ll draw a stupid webcomic about a stick-figure dragon. How about that? Maybe some of my posts will be drawn instead of just text. How about that? Will that get you to clickthrough? Srsly. Give us your $.02 .. literally.