Thought Patterns

Personally, I dislike the advertising on blogs that I visit. Google ads aren't too bad, because they typically are geared toward whatever the site, or that post, is about. But still…I dunno. Folks make money when someone simply clicks on one of the ads. You don't have to buy anything for the owner to earn.

I have no intention of using Google's AdSense on any of my sites. I can't really explain why, I just don't want to. However, I am an "affiliate" with several software companies. I have bought their software and liked it so much I became a kind of virtual saleswoman for them.

What happens is this: you click a link on this site which takes you to a product page. That link contains my i.d. number. If you decide to purchase anything while you are on that site, then I get a small percentage of that sale. I get nothing if you simply visit.

Why am I telling you this? Simple. I don't like stealth. I am not comfortable with the idea that if I click a link on a site, that person earns a bit of change (pennies, probably). If I like and know the person, I am more comfortable with it (such as Georganna over at Writer's Edge). Why? I don't know that either. I'm weird that way. Besides, I am there to read their content, not find their content amongst all the text ads, or worse, damn banner ads. So by telling you up front, you know what you are doing when you click a link. If the link ever leads to some way that I will earn money from it, you will know. Like I said, I don't like stealth.

Below are the companies and their software I support.

From Iconico:

| Right click here to download trial version (732 KB)

| Right click here to download trial version (1.01 MB)

| Right click here to download trial version (799 KB)

| Right click here to download trial version (608 KB)

| Right click here to download trial version (868 KB)

| Right click here to download trial version (607 KB)

Color Pop (there is no trial version)

ProFantasy Software:

• Campaign Cartographer 2 Pro
• Fractal Terrains Pro

Gecko Tribe, LLC

• A Woman's Write has regular monthly contests
  Absolute Write "freelance writing, screenwriting, playwriting, novels, non-fiction"
  AgentQuery "Find the Agent Who Will Find You a Publisher"
  Alyson Books gay, lesbian, bisexual, and/or transgender themes
  American Society of Journalists and Authors helps professional freelance writers advance their writing careers
  Apostrophe Protection Society punctuation resource (grammar too)
  Artemis Press especially interested in publishing feminist and lesbian-related fiction and nonfiction, but will consider all women-centered works featuring strong, dynamic women characters
  Aunt Lute Books seek manuscripts, both fiction and nonfiction, by women from a variety cultures, ethnic backgrounds and subcultures
  AutoRealm map making software
  AutoRealm map making software
  Backspace A comprehensive listing of online resources pertinent to authors and writers.
  Backspace Conference May 31 & June 1, 2007; New York
  Bartleby's Books Various complete books online (see their reference section)
  Bella Books general lesbian fiction, romance, mystery / thriller, sci-fi / fantasy, and erotica
  Bold Strokes Books romance, action, adventure, mystery, sci-fi/fantasy/horror, and erotica
  Boskone February 16-18, 2007; Boston Mass.
  Brady Magazine has convention and workshop listings
  Bywater Books especially interested in mysteries, romances and general lesbian fiction
  CaRP - Caching RSS Parser
  CAUCE Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email
  Clarion Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers' Workshop " The Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop is the best known and most highly regarded science fiction and fantasy writing workshop in the country."
  ClicheCleaner Find cliches, common expressions, and repeated phrases in your writing ($$)
  Crip Link Page page of various Persons with Disabilities (PWD) links
  Critique Circle Online Writing Workshop on-line critiques
  Evolution a writers' group dedicated to free and open creative expression in all genres
  Firebrand Books feminist and lesbian publishing
  Firefox browser by Mozilla
  Forward Motion BB information and support site for writers
  Fractal Explorer possible use as map maker (free)
  Fractal Explorer fractal generator
  FreeWare Files "your free software resource"
  Gay/Lesbian Caucus produces the GLQ scholarly journal
  Gaylaxicon 2006 2007; Atlanta GA
  GayWebMonkey.com Gay Internet Stuff
  GCLS Literary Convention June 7-9 2007; Atlanta GA
  Gecko Tribe T-Shirts
  GNU project databank of free software, development, and open source
  Golden Crown Literary Society literary and educational organization for the study, discussion, enjoyment and enhancement of lesbian literature
  Grouper - RSS Feed Generator
  Hawthorn Press nonfiction book submission guidelines
  Hawthorn Press (Quarterly) Harrington Lesbian Fiction Quarterly
  HolyRoller.org The crip me
  HomePlanet a comprehensive astronomy / space / satellite-tracking package
  Houghton Mifflin eReference Interactive dictionary and thesaurus ($$)
  Humor Reference Guide - University of Wisconsin TOC; click on Preface. At bottom is link to Ch. 1
  InfoMIN Chronic Pain, Fibromyalgia and CFS Resources
  Intaglio Publications publications within the lesbian community
  International Women's Writing Guild
  Jane Fletcher lesbian fiction
  Jane Volbrecht lesbian fiction
  Joella website for my service dog
  Karen's Power Tools some awesome utilities including timers
  KG4VPY website dedicated to amateur radio
  Link Pages directory of various links
  Lisa Cohen poet
  Listology "Lists galore; movies, books, music, and more."
  Lori L. Lake lesbian fiction
  Master Freelancer ($$) Software for Writers
  Muscadine Lines: A Southern Journal on-line/non-print
  Muscadine Lines: A Southern Journal A Place For Emerging and Established Writers To Publish Their Work
  My Fiction Listing of my fiction works past, present and future.
  My Non-Fiction
  Name It my listing of where I get my characters' names
  National Association of Women Writers "Where Women Unite to Write"
  National Writers Union Home Page trade union for freelance writers of all genres
  NCBlogs.com Listing of registered blogs in NC, USA
  New Breed Software makers of some open source software
  New Victoria Lesbian Fiction no guidelines but books by big name writers. odd.
  Non-University Presses Listing of Women's Studies and Gender Studies Publishers
  North Carolina Writers' Network The Network's mission is to connect, educate, and promote writers of all kinds and at all levels.
  Notepad2 Much better than the M$ standard
  NoteTab Light "a free Notepad replacement, feature-rich text editor, and HTML editor"
  Only Women Press feminist fiction, theory and poetry. We prioritise lesbian authors
  Open Directory - Arts: Writers Resources: Software DMOZ listing
  OpenOffice.org software suite better than M$ Office
  OpenOffice.org software suite better than M$ Office
  Paula O. 'home' page to this site
  PD Publishing "High Quality Books, Service, and Customer Satisfaction"
  ProFantasy Software map making software ($$)
  Proofreaders' Marks according to Merriam-Webster
  Queer Writers listing of calls for submissions by or for GLBT works
  QueerRamblings (magazine)Publishing creative work by Queer Women, Transgendered Folk, and a token gay guy
  Ralan's Webstravaganza - Ralan.com if it is or was a market, it is listed
  Reading Is Fundamental
  Regal Crest Enterprises, LLC. tend to focus on popular fiction, but we have also published short stories, essays, and anthologies
  Renee Bess lesbian fiction
  Research Results links I gather whenever I research
  Rough Draft "RoughDraft is a donationware word processor designed with the writer in mind."
  RSS Tools
  Seventh Sanctum "tools for writers, gamers, and artists; randomly assembling names, concepts, and more for when you need inspiration, or just a bit of amusement"
  ShawGuides, Inc. Writers Conferences & Workshops listings
  Shelf Awareness Daily Enlightenment for the Book Trade
  Site Donation Your donation goes directly to hosting costs not toward my Mt. Dew supply.
  Sitemap Sitemap to this site
  Software for Writers Freeware, Shareware, Demos, and Trial Versions
  SourceForge.net world's largest open source development website
  Southeastern Writers Association has widely attended yearly conference
  Southern SDs SD information, especially for owner-trained dogs in the South US.
  Stephen Hawking Website of THE Stephen Hawking
  Storybase Software for Writers ($$) "…the world's only dictionary of essential human situations."
  storySouth on-line/non-print
  Suzanne Calvin fiction and lesbian fiction writer
  TechnoDyke.Com - an all-inclusive online community and publication for lesbian, bisexual and trans dykes!
  Terragen work-in-progress scenery generator; photo-like results
  Terragen work-in-progress scenery generator
  Textalyser online text analysis tool
  The Bark Magazine all about dogs
  The Gimp image manipulation software
  The Open Source Community information about open source as well as about some of the major open source projects
  The Writers' Workshop of Asheville regular workshops and retreats in both Asheville and Charlotte
  Thunderbird email program by Mozilla
  Toasted Cheese e-zine, forum, resources
  Vada Foster lesbian fiction (evil twin)
  Verda Foster lesbian fiction (good twin)
  Vision newsletter 'Vision: a Resource for Writers'
  WeatherWatcher love it. spyware and dataminer free!
  Web Frequency Indexer word frequency counter
  Wikipedia A free-content encyclopedia
  Word Web the free version is great but the paid version is well worth the small cost. I use this, as a writer, many many times a day
  Word Web the free version is great but the paid version is well worth the small cost. I use this, as a writer, many many times a day
  WordCount Log Listing of various totals and goals.
  WordCounter just what it says
  WordDog Plain English Editor (esp. redundent)
  WordDog Plain English Editor free online demo
  WordOrigins.org Myths, legends, and truths about where words and phrases came from
  WordPress
  WordPress Codex A wiki for WordPress
  World Fantasy Convention 2006 Nov 2007
  World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon) 8/30-9/3/07, Yokohama, Japan
  Worldwide Freelance Writer offers newsletter, products, and information for writers
  Write Again! - Writing Management Software ($$) "Enter and manage your projects, markets/contacts, submissions, and deadlines."
  Writer's Blocks 3 Writing Software ($$) "writing software that will help you get your ideas out of your head and onto the page faster than ever before"
  Writer's Village ($$) "full-time support service and is always growing, offering new courses, seminars and special programs"
  Writer's Weekend 6/30-7/1/07 - Seattle WA
  Writers Blog Alliance intended to create a heavyweight blog for writers with the power to compete for traffic with the most popular blogs on the net
  Writers Write paying market listings by name, category, or by search
  yWriter Word Processor for Authors

In the sidebar, down near the bottom, is a section called "Affiliations". Those links have my i.d. attached to them. On another page, Iconica (where I moved all the graphics that were in the sidebar), are graphics and links with my i.d. attached to them. Again, they are under the heading of "Affiliations". Also on that page, as well as the footer of each page, is a little icon for Dreamhost, the company that hosts all my sites. One button will allow you to donate to the cost of hosting this and the other sites. Another button takes you to where you can find out more about Dreamhost. If you choose to sign up with them, I get a percentage of that too.

Oh, and if you see anything on a link that says no clicks or 3 clicks or some other number of clicks, that's a plug-in, not a sales thingywhatsit. It tells me how many people have clicked on any link within a post. I can tell rather quickly which post was read and utilized the most and which must've been a yawner.

There. That's all of them. Now, how about a group hug?