More dogs than you can shake a stick at.

Kane in the back seat, on our way to the Kingston Sheep Dog Trials. 

Every August there is a Sheep Dog Trial held just outside of Kingston at Grass Creek Park, and most years (even when we didn't have a dog), we've tried to make it there.

Have you been published?

Have you tried to get published? #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter

— Baratunde (@baratunde) July 28, 2015

Recently, the hashtag #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter went viral on Twitter. I read a selection of the tweets in the CBC Books article, and laughed and laughed and laughed. Oh, how I laughed. I even shared the link on Facebook along with a comment that there should be a parallel hashtag #TenThingsNotToSayToAPhotographer.

And then, the next day, someone who was interested to hear that I'd attended a writing camp asked "So, have you been published?" and I laughed again before answering.

Oh, Interwebs!

Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow looks like something out of a Roald Dahl book.
Bird's-eye view panoramic photography by Sergey Semenov
See more of his work on his website AirPano.com.

Welcome to my periodic round-up of things I've found online that make me smile, cry, laugh, think, shout, or drop my jaw. 

A punny thing happened . . .

Gail Anderson-Dargatz (a.k.a. Gail Krupp) with me at the Providence Bay Writers' Camp.

Writers are very fun -- and funny -- people.

I loved loved loved my week at writers' camp. We had so much laughter around that table! But the greatest surprise of the entire week was what happened on our last evening together when I lobbed a gentle pun to my classmates (six other writers and our teacher) as we lounged on the patio before doing our public readings (eek!).

Tech Tools to Love

Perhaps the greatest pleasure of retirement has been the ability to do things (for the most part) when I feel like it, when the mood strikes. The greatest pitfall of retirement, however, is the ability to procrastinate so long that nothing gets done because I'm too busy waiting for the mood to strike. Today, I'm sharing a couple of tools to help you -- whether you're retired or not! -- avoid procrastination and become more productive.