On Stephen's advice, I read "The Miracle Morning For Writers" by Hal Elrod and Steve Scott this week. It's a how-to book for being a successful writer by getting up at the crack of dawn. There wasn't much in there I didn't already know, but there were some things they explained in a way I hadn't thought of that made the ideas clearer. Some of it seems like hippy-dippy New Age stuff. They're BIG on affirmations. BIG. I've been in enough multi-level marketing schemes to know the motivational buzzwords. Just so we're clear, I've never made money with any MLM.
I'm going to read the book again, this time with a notebook, so I can take the things I think will work and figure out how to start making some money. I really want to work from home again, but working one notch above minimum wage pays better than writing right now. Not having an income is doable but not practical for various reasons, not the least of which is we use my meager paychecks for travel. OTOH, the good thing about not making a lot of money is I don't have a large number to shoot for when I talk about replacing the day job with writing. It's going to be easier to replace 10 grand a year than 100 grand a year.
One thing I do know is I need to get off my rear and do something about this. They outlined several steps that I've been ignoring because they're scary and overwhelming. I need to stop running and face the learning curve head on. I'm going on record and saying that this summer I'm going to build my website, start an e-mail list, and develop some lead bait. Y'all keep me accountable.
Now my heart is pounding. And I really want to take a nap.
In other news, my new best friend is cold brewed coffee. You mix a quantity of water and coffee and throw it in the fridge for 8 hours. Then you strain out the coffee grounds and keep the coffee in the fridge. So easy, and perfect for summer, plus I don't have to share with Alex so I can make it however I want.
The garden is coming along nicely. I have pepper flowers, and a couple of tomato flowers. The vincas LOVE the front steps. I have a few new baby flowers. We've had some rain lately, so I haven't had to do much this week to keep things going, but I'll have to go out and water tonight.
I've come back to this post three times now without publishing. Dang butterflies, always distracting me. I hope y'all have a good week.
Sunday, June 26, 2016
The Knee Tis Done
Feeling great. The new knee gets better every day. I'm still sleeping a lot. That's to be expected.
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Countdown Extended
As you know, the knee replacement count down got extended due to a scratch on the knee, complicated by a mild bout of poison ivy around my eye. The poison ivy was dealt with and wouldn't have been a problem, but coupled with the light scratch on my knee, my surgeon erred toward caution (an infected implant is a VERY BAD THING) and scrubbed surgery on the 14th.
Our current plan is to go forward with surgery on the 21st, same time, same bat channel. I believe all puncture wounds will be healed by that time, the scratch is clearing, and the poison ivy is nearly gone. I think I'll be on much better footing on the 21st, so I'm thankful I have a wise and cautious surgeon.
I'm puttering around the house, paying close attention to things that might "bite" me. I have a plan for revising GEEKS. I'm not sure how soon after surgery I'll be able to begin working on it, but I'm ready to go.
Walter is being a delightful cat. Fluffy Gray is hanging around, but she scoots whenever we come outside -- except for Mr. L's sighting of her on the porch behind him when he was feeding Walter on the steps. That was a surprise, but she scooted as soon as she was discovered and didn't return for a while. In more troubling news, I was able to entice Boomer to a can of Fancy Feast yesterday, but he's clearly a very sick kitty. He must be in a lot of pain, but I'm unlikely to be able to capture or trap him soon, so he's on his own for now. I doubt he has an illness a simple vet visit would fix, but I could get him tested for FIV and put out of his misery if that's his situation. If I could catch him. Sigh. I feel terrible for him.
Sneaky soaks up the attention when I sit in my recliner. She's going to boarding for at least the first week of my surgery, but I'll be happy to have her back home. I think she'll be a cuddly recovery cat. Sapphire and Rossie are also going to boarding. All three of them are miserable there, so I'll try to get them home as quickly as possible. Sapphire, like Lady, strongly dislikes the male vet tech (he's a good tech, so I'm not sure what's up with that).
The other six will remain at home, and, in theory. Mr. L will take care of their litter boxes. I'm not holding my breath. I anticipate I'll come home from the hospital to a sink full of dishes, litter boxes badly in need of scooping, and a terribly spattered stove. Thankfully, all those things will take about 20 minutes each to resolve, so I'll plan that in over the first two days in short spurts. Luckily, I can slowly rinse and load the dishwasher a few dishes at a time. Same with scooping litter boxes. The stove, I can delay a day or two, but it can also be broken down over a several sessions if necessary. (Note, the suggested time to resume doing these things is after at least three weeks of recovery, but I'd rather do that than hear the groans of agony if I ask a certain someone to do them.) But maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. It could happen.
Have a great week, y'all.
Our current plan is to go forward with surgery on the 21st, same time, same bat channel. I believe all puncture wounds will be healed by that time, the scratch is clearing, and the poison ivy is nearly gone. I think I'll be on much better footing on the 21st, so I'm thankful I have a wise and cautious surgeon.
I'm puttering around the house, paying close attention to things that might "bite" me. I have a plan for revising GEEKS. I'm not sure how soon after surgery I'll be able to begin working on it, but I'm ready to go.
Walter is being a delightful cat. Fluffy Gray is hanging around, but she scoots whenever we come outside -- except for Mr. L's sighting of her on the porch behind him when he was feeding Walter on the steps. That was a surprise, but she scooted as soon as she was discovered and didn't return for a while. In more troubling news, I was able to entice Boomer to a can of Fancy Feast yesterday, but he's clearly a very sick kitty. He must be in a lot of pain, but I'm unlikely to be able to capture or trap him soon, so he's on his own for now. I doubt he has an illness a simple vet visit would fix, but I could get him tested for FIV and put out of his misery if that's his situation. If I could catch him. Sigh. I feel terrible for him.
Sneaky soaks up the attention when I sit in my recliner. She's going to boarding for at least the first week of my surgery, but I'll be happy to have her back home. I think she'll be a cuddly recovery cat. Sapphire and Rossie are also going to boarding. All three of them are miserable there, so I'll try to get them home as quickly as possible. Sapphire, like Lady, strongly dislikes the male vet tech (he's a good tech, so I'm not sure what's up with that).
The other six will remain at home, and, in theory. Mr. L will take care of their litter boxes. I'm not holding my breath. I anticipate I'll come home from the hospital to a sink full of dishes, litter boxes badly in need of scooping, and a terribly spattered stove. Thankfully, all those things will take about 20 minutes each to resolve, so I'll plan that in over the first two days in short spurts. Luckily, I can slowly rinse and load the dishwasher a few dishes at a time. Same with scooping litter boxes. The stove, I can delay a day or two, but it can also be broken down over a several sessions if necessary. (Note, the suggested time to resume doing these things is after at least three weeks of recovery, but I'd rather do that than hear the groans of agony if I ask a certain someone to do them.) But maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. It could happen.
Have a great week, y'all.
Hard week
It's been a hard week. Too many doctors. Too many tests. More to come next week. And mostly I still have no answers. Each test that says negative means we're moving closer to a positive. I'm not sure if that's good or not. Hard to tell. What if the positive is something terrible? What if it is not? The uncertainty gnaws at me.
Otherwise, not much else went on. I did chores, tried to edit a story, rejected a few more poems (although that should be over now), and generally slept a lot. Napping seems to be my favorite pastime these days. We are close to having the final lineup of authors for Blackbirds Third Flight. One more possible out there. We should know about that one by the end of the month. Then the book can start coming together. Looking forward to that.
I did use the Opera browser more and have decided it's worth recommending. It's fast and secure--well, as much as browser can be these days--and it has a good collection of themes and add-ons. It hasn't replaced Chrome yet, but I'm leaning that way.
Today I got a strange story idea involving Charles Babbage, Ada Augusta King, and Leonardo da Vinci. It starts with Leonardo and involves a strange calculation that he starts but can't finish. Babbage finds it and Ada Augusta King (Lady Lovelace) makes it into a program. Babbage makes it into the punch cards he envisioned for his steam computer. But of course, Babbage never builds his computer, and the cards mean nothing until now when a clever researcher figures out how to turn those cards back into Leonardo's calculation and solves it...and the world changes. I don't know how it changes or anything else about the story, but it's been buzzing about my brain today.
All three of those people fascinate me. All three born too soon and died too soon. Before the world was ready for what they dreamed. We remember them most for the possibilities they raised.
Next week, I have two doctors' visits, but around them, I intend to finish the edit of another's author story and finish--or make good progress--on the rewrite of the Justina Grave story. The second rewrite of that story. Well, really the third, but it changed so much from the first to the second that it's like a whole new story. Sigh. But it is getting there. Darker, more intense, and more action filled with the appropriate level of blood and gore.
And with chores and the usual errands, that will be my coming week.
Otherwise, not much else went on. I did chores, tried to edit a story, rejected a few more poems (although that should be over now), and generally slept a lot. Napping seems to be my favorite pastime these days. We are close to having the final lineup of authors for Blackbirds Third Flight. One more possible out there. We should know about that one by the end of the month. Then the book can start coming together. Looking forward to that.
I did use the Opera browser more and have decided it's worth recommending. It's fast and secure--well, as much as browser can be these days--and it has a good collection of themes and add-ons. It hasn't replaced Chrome yet, but I'm leaning that way.
Today I got a strange story idea involving Charles Babbage, Ada Augusta King, and Leonardo da Vinci. It starts with Leonardo and involves a strange calculation that he starts but can't finish. Babbage finds it and Ada Augusta King (Lady Lovelace) makes it into a program. Babbage makes it into the punch cards he envisioned for his steam computer. But of course, Babbage never builds his computer, and the cards mean nothing until now when a clever researcher figures out how to turn those cards back into Leonardo's calculation and solves it...and the world changes. I don't know how it changes or anything else about the story, but it's been buzzing about my brain today.
All three of those people fascinate me. All three born too soon and died too soon. Before the world was ready for what they dreamed. We remember them most for the possibilities they raised.
Next week, I have two doctors' visits, but around them, I intend to finish the edit of another's author story and finish--or make good progress--on the rewrite of the Justina Grave story. The second rewrite of that story. Well, really the third, but it changed so much from the first to the second that it's like a whole new story. Sigh. But it is getting there. Darker, more intense, and more action filled with the appropriate level of blood and gore.
And with chores and the usual errands, that will be my coming week.
Friday, June 17, 2016
Peaceful, for a minute.
It's a peaceful summer morning here in Chicago. I've got my coffee,
birds are chirping outside my window, there's the occasional alley
honker, but no sirens yet today.
This afternoon we set up for the Chicago Scots Highland Games, and we'll be out there all day tomorrow. That's always fun. A lot of work, but fun.
We've had another staff change at the day job. One of my openers, who sometimes closes, texted me Wednesday and said she'd moved further west in the 'burbs, so she couldn't work past 8 p.m. since the buses stop at 9. Me and my big mouth, I suggested she talk to our district manager because we have a location a lot closer to where she lives now, and they're desperately in need of good people there. Things usually move glacially in our company, so I didn't think anything more about it. She called me yesterday and said the DM asked her to tell me not to put her on my schedule for next week so she could train at the other location (which does pizza, sandwiches, and salads in addition to frozen yogurt). Her last day with us is tomorrow. Just like that, I'm another person down.
It's not as bad as it sounds. I still have my two college students for two more months. I'll give them each a couple extra shifts a week so I'm not working too many hours. Next week I'll start calling people for interviews. I can take my time and find someone who will last a while. It's a minor hiccup for me, but it's going to be much better for my former co-worker. My only concern is that I'm at the minimum for staffing, so if someone gets sick or quits suddenly, I could be in a bit of a bind like I was last year. But I still have some of the ones I hired in that dark time so I must know how to do it right. The food industry has a lot of turn-over anyway.
In other news, my garden is still alive and one tomato plant has a flower. I have the front porch flowers planted, and my herbs are happy on the front porch banister. My rain barrels are about half full, which is better than I expected considering they're not fed by a downspout this year. They're beside the garage, so they get some run-off, but it's trick to position them so they get maximum run-off without sheltering them under the eave too much. I'm going to lobby for a section of gutter on that side of the garage so they'll be full all summer. Maybe I'll attach rain chains instead of a downspout.
Have I mentioned lately how glad I am to be out of the city?
This afternoon we set up for the Chicago Scots Highland Games, and we'll be out there all day tomorrow. That's always fun. A lot of work, but fun.
We've had another staff change at the day job. One of my openers, who sometimes closes, texted me Wednesday and said she'd moved further west in the 'burbs, so she couldn't work past 8 p.m. since the buses stop at 9. Me and my big mouth, I suggested she talk to our district manager because we have a location a lot closer to where she lives now, and they're desperately in need of good people there. Things usually move glacially in our company, so I didn't think anything more about it. She called me yesterday and said the DM asked her to tell me not to put her on my schedule for next week so she could train at the other location (which does pizza, sandwiches, and salads in addition to frozen yogurt). Her last day with us is tomorrow. Just like that, I'm another person down.
It's not as bad as it sounds. I still have my two college students for two more months. I'll give them each a couple extra shifts a week so I'm not working too many hours. Next week I'll start calling people for interviews. I can take my time and find someone who will last a while. It's a minor hiccup for me, but it's going to be much better for my former co-worker. My only concern is that I'm at the minimum for staffing, so if someone gets sick or quits suddenly, I could be in a bit of a bind like I was last year. But I still have some of the ones I hired in that dark time so I must know how to do it right. The food industry has a lot of turn-over anyway.
In other news, my garden is still alive and one tomato plant has a flower. I have the front porch flowers planted, and my herbs are happy on the front porch banister. My rain barrels are about half full, which is better than I expected considering they're not fed by a downspout this year. They're beside the garage, so they get some run-off, but it's trick to position them so they get maximum run-off without sheltering them under the eave too much. I'm going to lobby for a section of gutter on that side of the garage so they'll be full all summer. Maybe I'll attach rain chains instead of a downspout.
Have I mentioned lately how glad I am to be out of the city?
Friday, June 10, 2016
Catching up
Made forward motion with Blackbirds Third Flight. Got three contacts signed. I still have one author outstanding and have at least two more edits and line edits to do. That will take place over June.
At least that's my plan. I go back to the doctor for an important medical appointment Tuesday afternoon. We're probably going to change some meds and make some decisions. I think. Hoping things will improve. I need my energy and life back.
Weirdly enough, Jean goes into surgery that day, and my roommate will also be going to see a doctor that day also. It's a medical day.
Anyway, BTF and Floozy Comes Back are my focus now. Well, those and my health. I have got to get healthy again.
Oh, did want to mention that I have been using aspects of the Bullet Journal in my daily calendar. I think those aspects could really help keep me on track. I'll keep you updated.
At least that's my plan. I go back to the doctor for an important medical appointment Tuesday afternoon. We're probably going to change some meds and make some decisions. I think. Hoping things will improve. I need my energy and life back.
Weirdly enough, Jean goes into surgery that day, and my roommate will also be going to see a doctor that day also. It's a medical day.
Anyway, BTF and Floozy Comes Back are my focus now. Well, those and my health. I have got to get healthy again.
Oh, did want to mention that I have been using aspects of the Bullet Journal in my daily calendar. I think those aspects could really help keep me on track. I'll keep you updated.
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
The first time is the worst. Right?
The power just went out. It's quiet except for the rain on the Windows, the hum of traffic on the street near our house, and the ringing in my ears. Tinnitus is loud when the white noise of life stops.
I had to fire someone by myself yesterday. He's the second person fired from our crew. The first was fired by my district manager and I sat in. He saw it coming so it wasn't that hard. Yesterday was the opposite. He didn't see it coming and thought it was completely unjustified. He's so wrapped up in righteous indignation that he's can't see he was fired because he's not trustworthy, or that no one wants to work with him because he talks incessantly. Unless he's mad at you. Then he gives you the cold shoulder. I feel like I failed him but I couldn't see any way to help him at this point. He's not ready. Maybe I helped him grow up a little, but right now I don't even want to see if I made an impact. It would mean seeing him again.
I wanted to help him the way I do everyone on the crew. They're all young, and I'm not. I try to help them grow up, become better people, rejoice with them when they move on to better jobs. It's like parenting, except I don't have to deal with people sulking on the couch. I get the sullenness for a few hours tops, and then one of us clocks out. Usually, it's blown over by the next time we work together.
When I took this job, I realized it was my mission to teach young people how to have a job. Real Life 101. That's what has kept me going for the last year, stopped me from quitting the numerous times I've wanted to. This is the first time I feel like I've screwed up. I wonder if I did more damage by hiring him in the first place. Have I made him more bitter? Am I going to see him on the news, another disenfranchised young man who finally blew and shot everyone in his work place or murdered his family? And if I do, will I bear some culpability?
Over the years, I've found that when I feel like I'm in a place because I have a job to do beyond the scope of my duties, I'm the one who's being worked on. This job is no different. I'm wiser than I was and can see the changes more easily, maybe because I don't hide from myself anymore. I can sort of see the process in action now, guess at what the outcome might be. Most days, I just hope I can hurry up and learn what I'm supposed to from this job so I can stop the commute.
I had to fire someone by myself yesterday. He's the second person fired from our crew. The first was fired by my district manager and I sat in. He saw it coming so it wasn't that hard. Yesterday was the opposite. He didn't see it coming and thought it was completely unjustified. He's so wrapped up in righteous indignation that he's can't see he was fired because he's not trustworthy, or that no one wants to work with him because he talks incessantly. Unless he's mad at you. Then he gives you the cold shoulder. I feel like I failed him but I couldn't see any way to help him at this point. He's not ready. Maybe I helped him grow up a little, but right now I don't even want to see if I made an impact. It would mean seeing him again.
I wanted to help him the way I do everyone on the crew. They're all young, and I'm not. I try to help them grow up, become better people, rejoice with them when they move on to better jobs. It's like parenting, except I don't have to deal with people sulking on the couch. I get the sullenness for a few hours tops, and then one of us clocks out. Usually, it's blown over by the next time we work together.
When I took this job, I realized it was my mission to teach young people how to have a job. Real Life 101. That's what has kept me going for the last year, stopped me from quitting the numerous times I've wanted to. This is the first time I feel like I've screwed up. I wonder if I did more damage by hiring him in the first place. Have I made him more bitter? Am I going to see him on the news, another disenfranchised young man who finally blew and shot everyone in his work place or murdered his family? And if I do, will I bear some culpability?
Over the years, I've found that when I feel like I'm in a place because I have a job to do beyond the scope of my duties, I'm the one who's being worked on. This job is no different. I'm wiser than I was and can see the changes more easily, maybe because I don't hide from myself anymore. I can sort of see the process in action now, guess at what the outcome might be. Most days, I just hope I can hurry up and learn what I'm supposed to from this job so I can stop the commute.