I don't use the same coffee mug every day at the office. There's a set of tan mugs from pier one or some such that seems to blend into my faux wood desk. There is quite a variety of handmade mugs, that made their way into the office as samples or quality control. There are also various traditional mugs with logos of various other companies that we've worked with, like National Geographic or eBay. I'm never quite sure what drives my choice, but today I'm drinking from a very refined blue ceramic mug with a tan rim. I'm not quite sure if it's a handmade artisan mug or not, and it's smaller than most of the mugs I use.

I've been wanting to write more interesting blog entries and I've been thinking a lot about writing as I help a friend pull together an independent journalism website.

Variations on a Routine

When I pause during work or WoW or Reading to write a journal, it's usually because a neat idea has popped into my head. I've been reading a lot of blogs recently, and I absolutely love the following formula:

1. Start with a personal story ... hopefully alegorical. Something that sets the mind of the reader on the mental path the writer is going to follow.
2. (optional) include a short rant that points out exactly what inspired the writer to write this entry, continuing to build both a connection to the reader and the importance of the post.
3. Useful information. This could be a list. People like lists.
4. Personally, I like to end my posts with either a personal reminder of what I was doing when I wrote the post, or an absolute tangent, that could be used as a jumping point for a future post.

The Tangent

Fantasy Fantasy ... don't look up the domain, it's a porn site. I'm trying to find or think up a good way to do what people do with fantasy sports teams, except with characters out of speculative fiction.