Squatting with Author Sean McLachlan, Christine Rains’ The Dragonslayer, Ninja News and Mini-Alex, and How to Use Google Reader

Today I have the honor of hosting my buddy Sean McLachlan, author and traveler, in what may be the most unique guest post ever. For those of you about to embark on a vacation overseas, you need to pay attention. Take it away, Sean!

A Beginner’s Guide to Squat Toilets

Hello!

Alex let me take over his blog today to talk about something dear to my heart—adventure travel. There’s a lot to get used to when you’re on a road trip to Ethiopea or visiting Iraq. Strange food, strange customs, learning a few hundred words in the local language, all are challenges to adapting to your new surroundings.

One adaptation I had to make early on was learning how to use a different type of toilet. The squat toilet is more common worldwide than the seat toilets we’re familiar with in the West, and it takes a bit of getting used to.

The easy part for guys is peeing. Good aim is all you need. Avoid the temptation to write your name—an Iraqi bathroom is not a snowdrift.

For more, um, solid affairs, you need to squat. Drop your pants or hike your skirts and do a deep knee bend. You’ll find that things fall into place much more quickly than if you’re sitting on a Western toilet. It’s also more hygienic. The only thing that touches the latrine are the soles of your shoes. No need to practice your origami skills in making a toilet paper seat so you can use the gas station bathroom.

Traveler’s tip: drop your pants enough to keep your change from pouring out your pocket, but keep them high enough that they don’t touch the floor.

Once again, aim is essential. You’d think people who use squat toilets every day would develop a marksman’s ability to hit the bull’s-eye, but you’d be wrong. The area around the bowl often looks like a dog walkers’ park. At the border post between Iraq and Kurdistan, one outhouse had gotten so bad that I couldn’t even enter. Filth piled on filth as one patron after another was forced to squat ever closer to the door, until I swear the last couple of people who used it must have squatted outside and left their mark on the threshold.

There are disadvantages to squat toilets even when they’re used properly. You won’t get much reading done, and elderly and infirm people often need to be helped. Still, the squat toilet is found in the majority of countries and if you want to travel beyond North America and Europe, you’re going to have to practice your deep knee bends.

Sean McLachlan writes for the travel blog Gadling and is the author of numerous history books. He also has a novel out titled A Fine Likeness, set in Civil War Missouri. Learn more about him at his Amazon author’s page and blog.

Sean, think I will be checking out the toilets before I travel now, thank you! 

The Dragonslayer

1303 – The Dragonslayer (The 13th Floor series, #3) by Christine Rains
Paranormal romance
Release date: February 13th, 2013

On the rooftop of neighboring building, dragonslayer Xanthus Ehrensvard fires at his target, Governor Whittaker. How he missed the shot, he doesn't know, but fleeing the scene, he picks up an unwanted passenger. Gorgeous reporter Lois King saw Xan's face, and she believes it's the story to make her career. Except he can't let her walk away knowing what he looks like. Xan has to show her the Governor is a bigger threat to the world than he is.

Xan knows dragons never went extinct. They evolved with human society, taking on mortal forms, and slithered their way into positions of great influence and power, just like the Governor. But it's no easy chore proving to someone that dragons still exist, and even more so, they're disguised as famous people. Xan must convince Lois or find another way to silence her. An option, as he gets to know her, he likes less and less.

After all, dragonslayers are no longer celebrated heroes but outlaws. Just as the dragons wish it. But this outlaw must make a plan to slay the dragon or risk its retribution.

Find Christine here: Website, Blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Ninja News

Michelle is celebrating two years of blogging and Elise one year with the “She Said What?” caption contest. Congratulations, ladies – it sounds like fun!

Suze, over at Subliminal Coffee is hosting False Start Fridays the last Friday of January and February. If you're a writer and have shelved material that sparked a beginning but stalled in its orbit -- an unpublished short story, a lone chapter, an outline, some ideas sketched somewhere on the infamous napkin -- dig out your buried treasure, dust it off and let her know you're ready for an encouraging audience for it in all its false start glory!

Misha Gericke at My First Book is holding a monthly Word Master Challenge. This month – “How Not to Write a Novel Beginning.” In less than 300 words, write the WORST beginning you can possibly write. The funnier and more creative you are, the better. Post your worst beginning by the end of January and enter the direct link in the Linky List on her blog. Winner and new theme will be announced on February 8.

Andrew Leon is holding a Great Chocolate Contest! Write a short story based on the Imagination Room (found in his book, House on the Corner) and submit it to him by February 6. The winner will receive a box of the best chocolate in the world.

I realized I hadn’t taken Mini-Alex anywhere, so I took him outside to show him something that gives me great joy – a dead lawn. Why? Because when the grass is dead, I don’t have to mow it!

And that’s my “Celebrate the Small Things” for VikLit.

Hopefully Mini-Alex will attend a Super Bowl Party in a few weeks…

Google Folders

First, if you’ve never used Google Reader to follow blogs, you’ll need to go there:

 

All the blogs you’ve followed through Google Friends Connect will appear there. To organize them into folders, left click on the little arrow (that will appear) at the end – you will see an option to create new folder. (And once you’ve created folders, the names will appear and you can just add the blog site to the folder.) And when you follow blogs that don't have GFC, you can just copy their address and subscribe directly in Google Reader.

How you organize them is up to you! I have one (very large) folder titled “Buddy” that are blogs I check every day. I also have specialty folders for movie and book blogs. The remaining bloggers I place in folders for different days of the week. (On Saturday, in addition to my Blogger Buddies, I visit those in the Saturday folder.) I also have folders for new followers and after a few weeks, I move them to the appropriate folder.

That’s how I am able to keep up with my blogger buddies!

If you have any questions – just ask!

Any questions for Sean about squat toilets? (Or was that more than you ever wanted to know?) He’s traveled the world, so you can ask about any country or culture! Excited about The Dragonslayer? Ready for some contests or False Start Fridays? Think I need to take Mini-Alex out more often? And any questions about using Google Reader?