So, it’s finally here. My last week of the A+ training program. I made it through, and it has been an adventure of sorts. I have to say I had a great run with the A+ instruction phase.

next up: the exam

It’s time now to practice for the exam – two exams really. I’d like to pass it the first time I take it. So I am still in veritable hermit mode, giving all my time to studying for what should be a beast of a test.

From what I’ve heard that’s a fairly ambitious goal. Reviewing the book, I would almost believe that’s too much to ask, except we actually went through the entire book in the class. And the newest technological advances easily sat on top of things I already knew.

So, I’ve decided to be positive and go for it—soon as I’ve been through the book a couple more times.

why make the change to a new job?

I have done some manner of IT in many of the jobs I’ve had. It was always something that I found enjoyable. Since my plan was to re-invent myself, it seemed like a good idea to focus on one thing that I really enjoy; one thing that will let me support my other habits.

When my bills can be paid with room to breathe, it’s a lot easier to enjoy my other pleasures including writing online, on paper, and from my printer. I like to draw. I’m not good at it. It’s just a pleasure. Which translates to an expense with no monetary ROI. These things and movies and travel will be possible for two reasons: the means to afford them and the peace of mind that comes with financial security.

is it fair to call it re-invention if you did it before?

Absolutely, it’s fair. I’ve performed a lot of technician duties, often times not as an an IT person, but related to the IT department. After this training, I’ve learned a lot that I didn’t know. I’ve also learned that I knew a lot more than I thought I did. Because of this, I see myself differently.

Included in my changes will be a new title, working directly for the department, and definitely a new core set of job duties. So, yes I will definitely emerge from my cocoon of studying and training, a different being. Wings would be cool, but I’ll let them go in favor of all the great things that will be coming my way.

so begins the job search

My local employment offices will be my first visits. Of course, the online job search is already under way. To get where I want, I’ll be trading on my prior experience with computers and my current training. Once the certification is mine, then I’ll be bumped into another IT category since A+ is the basic certification to get in many IT doors.

I still have what freelance work comes my way. Currently, that work includes writing and simple web designs, two things that I thoroughly enjoy. Since you gotta work, you may as well do stuff you love to do, right? And until you can do that, simply do what you know.

Reinventing yourself is scary business. But when it gets to a place where you can’t ignore the things that call to you, I believe the best course of action is to embrace them. So I did. What about you?

I generally keep a very low profile, in case you don’t know that. I do what I do and make no bones. My few close friends and I have a lot of fun and talk about everything. We have good things in common and disagree happily in some key areas, namely politics and men. One thing we all agree on is wealth and fame; the former without the latter is ideal.

So when my friends find out what I’ve done, they’re going to be really surprised. Especially since, I’m the one who most adamantly avoids being in front of cameras.

no notice worked for me

I was getting into my car when a lady from Houston History Magazine called. She asked me if I had a minute to talk. I got off with my mom to take her call.

Debbie told me that she was calling on behalf of Bill White. My mouth dropped open. “The Mayor?! The former Mayor?!” I corrected myself. I could hear her smiling amusement. “Yes,” she said and went on to explain what she wanted. She wanted me to speak about Bill White and I agreed before I had a chance to think through the camera part. Debbie wanted permission to give my contact information to Elena White, Bill White’s daughter and I said yes, still in shock.

Soon after, the call came from Elena. She was very nice, gave me a little more insight into what she wanted to do and apologized for the last minute notice. Really, though, more time would have given me the chance 1. to let my fear run rampant, and 2. to back out altogether. Short notice definitely worked well for me.

i almost cancelled up to the moment i drove up

My mom was intrigued as I was. She helped me to not cancel because we like Bill White, and this might be a chance to do a good thing. Even if it didn’t matter to many, this was my chance to say out loud what I thought of Bill White and the great things he’s done for this city, the New Orleans post-Katrina population influx, and his great plans for the future of the State of Texas.

shallow breathing was the order of the afternoon

I noticed that my breath was shallow on the drive over, a side effect of my fear and apprehension. From the time I got there, I had to remind myself to breathe just a little deeper. Before long, I gave up on that and just went along as best I could. There was a decent wait before it was my turn to speak. The man before me came up to the waiting area and imparted the truth of the experience. He said it was really easy and the guys doing this walked him through very well.

When the man came to mic me, I asked if they were sure they needed more than audio. That got laughs which translated to yes. (I still would have been nervous, so it was all good.) He set me up with a cool little Lavalier microphone and body pack and I was off to the mines.

good reasons to be brave

It was easy and interesting. The men and woman on the film crew were really relaxed and sure of what they were doing. They minimized the impact of any special things I had to go through. In fact, just as the man said, who went before me, they walked me through the process in baby steps. I told Mike, the interviewer, that I was nervous. He assured me they would only use the good parts. Hooray for editing! (I hope they found some good parts.) We got a few noise interruptions and before long it was over. Only minutes after that, my breathing returned to normal.

It was a completely new experience for me. Not just being in front of a camera, but doing it deliberately was something that really surprised me about myself. It was a pleasure to get it done. And it was really nice being brave, after the fact, of course. However I got it done, I stretched myself, and that is definitely a good thing now and again.

It’s exhilarating to do new things. This sense of confidence I get came out of agreeing as opposed to being pressured. To be sure, I have no great love of politics anymore. Too much has gone too far wrong on too many fronts, for me to be even a little enamored of the profession. Still, there are men I find outstanding, men who capture my attention when I see that their words match their actions. Bill White is one such political figure. I’m grateful I had the opportunity to say so for the record. (Getting the opportunity to shake his hand was an unexpected benefit.)

That was Monday to Tuesday and I’m still really glad I said yes. I strongly suggest that everyone take opportunities to step outside your comfort zones and enjoy the positive feelings it brings.

I have a soft spot for technicians, probably because I want to be one. Rarely do I come across rude technicians. Today, after receiving a technician visit yesterday, my record still holds that 90% of the time my work is completed by competent and polite people.

happy circumstances

a day early

After I finished working online at a restaurant, I went home to do a few things before Sunday’s for the technician to maybe make an appearance, between 8 and 8. I was unlocking my door when my cell rang and it was the AT&T technician, a live person, calling to say he was on his way to work on my phone. Talk about fortuitous! I put my things away and before I knew it, he was at my door.

a familiar face

I always have a hesitation about people coming to my door. But, this man had a uniform, announced himself and the company before he moved to enter, and I recognized his face from helping me some years prior. So, I was okay with letting him in.

great tech service is a wonderful thing

He was nice, efficient, thorough. He fixed the break in the equipment outside and came back in to check the phone jacks before he left. He even checked and told me that my modem is still good for the internet (coming soon). In spite of all my frustration in getting help, this man made up for it and he didn’t even know it. His only effort toward this was doing his job well.

I’m pleased to say that my face-to-face experience was as good as I expected it would be. We chatted for a bit and he was on his way. And my phone works!

resigned to automated mediocrity

While the run-around on the telephone is always an unpleasant experience, I think it may be a symptom of the way the world will be for a while to come. When you say someone will call you back, and set a recorded message to play thinking that’s appropriate, I know there’s no way this company’s going to change soon.

Today I am catching up on my writing for my blogs and for work. I’m doing it at a restaurant near my home. Not because I needed to get out. I didn’t. I’m here because I competed with a computer and lost.

Yesterday, I waited 12 hours for an AT&T technician to come out an install my phone. I was told that I couldn’t get a smaller window, and that I would have to wait until next week for the same company to prepare the Internet. (???) That was even after I told them I had an old modem on hand and that I wouldn’t require technical support.

No one came to my door. No one called me. And I couldn’t get a live person on the phone—until this morning. By this time, I was ready to pop because of the sheer ludicrousness of the situation. When I did get a person yesterday and today, they told me that the computer was showing that my installations (phone and internet) were complete. (So???)

my feeble argument

“If the technician had bothered to ring my doorbell to see to it that his effort was complete and everything was working he would’ve discovered that there was a problem! What is the point of insisting that someone be present for 12 hours if you’re not even going to follow up in person AT ALL?!

The woman’s response: “Who told you you needed to be home? Was it a recording? Well it wasn’t me.”
“So you’re so busy you can’t see to it that my service that was supposed to be completed yesterday gets done before next week? There’s no one working in my area?!?” She wasn’t happy with me. But it was just as well—now we were even with no superficiality to blur the facts.

She had no empathy for me that her company having forced me to stay home to wait for her technician. That she was not the specific person didn’t lessen the impact one iota. She seemed to not understand that. So, to improve her abilities, I hope she learns the feeling first hand, soon, and returns to work a more compassionate person.

what’s scary about this

It would seem that there are enough machines in place and people without business sense to make some interactions sluggish and woefully uncomfortable. It seems like the workers have become the extensions of the machines. (And I’m sure the reverse was the intention of the inventions of the computers.)

When in the course of human events, the interactions between computers obfuscates the reactions of the people, then there is a larger problem than existed before computers. This is not a dramatic problem for workers; they really don’t get it. The owners obviously are so removed as to not feel it and possibly don’t care. The first woman I talked with this morning, was the only one who sounded like she got it, and cared.

Still, she told me I may have to wait as long as four more days to get the help I need for service that was scheduled for yesterday. A person who was supposed to call within two hours, was replaced by an automated message to deliver the bad news. Of course, I was too put out to accept that. I needed a person to tell me this was so. The people on the phone who reiterated this final blow, seemed grossly indifferent.

a new way of being

The question now is, how do I move forward from here? Do I learn a new way of communicating? I guess I will have to give up on human-ness when dealing with large, sluggish and woefully unresponsive companies. I wonder, if I had chosen a smaller service provider, would I be here in the restaurant writing or at home, online with my phone working.

Tomorrow is my last day before going back to class. I was off this week, and hoped to get things like this done. AT&T ate up yesterday. And I recently got another automated call, that they are going to possibly eat up tomorrow. A service technician will be working in the area sometime until 19:00 and a person (only option is me) needs to be available.

The welcome recording says “Welcome to the new AT and T.” This is new and the service used to be better, so they really are going in the wrong direction.

Home voluntarily is very different from home by force. A twelve (12) hour service window means that this company is WAY TOO BIG!! This is a great time for a competitor to come in and unseat them with a comparable product and truly responsive technical workers.

When was the last time you had to argue against the feedback of a computer to make your truth known? How’d that work out for you?

My blogs are my friends because they give me a forum to write about things that are important or insignificant. They present me with space to write about topics I consider worthy. Whether I’m imparting ideas based on where I’ve been or those spawned by where I’m heading, the choice is mine alone.

That’s powerful and frightening too. There’s no one to keep me out of trouble, or to blame when things go seriously awry. In part because of these things, I blog very happily. It’s fulfilling and helpful to me to have a record of ideas when they happen. It’s a great reference tool. There’s another reason, too…

Ultimately, I do it because I’m grateful. Gratitude is my overarching motivation for much of what I do. It permeates my efforts here.

…for writing in my life

I started this blog to share my insights and adventures in writing, editing and living in a creative and grateful manner. Gratitude informs every aspect of my life and is my main motivation for sharing. Instead of keeping it to myself, I want to let it out and hope that others catch the feeling.

It’s a joy to share the things that inspire and motivate me, like the practices I’ve developed and collected, which help me.

…for people who share with me

Another reason for continuing this project is that I’m hoping to grow it into a community when time permits. Along the way, it’s interesting to hear from people with interesting and thought-provoking ideas. Hopefully, together we’ll do some growing as we share.

…for the chance to make a difference

When I write a post, I’m hoping that others might benefit from what I have experienced. Hitting the publishing button is a pleasure when I have worked up a post that meets the expectations I have. Before it’s out for people to read, I have said yes, this may help somebody. It’s a good feeling. Whether it sparks an idea or a answers a question, if it falls on the plus side, then I’ve done a good thing.

…for the chance to have some fun

Writing is great for many reasons including discovery. In writing this blog and others, I am ever on a journey inward through myself in life. It can be daunting and fun too. But overall, to write about things that move me is a way of cherishing, which brings me full circle to the beginning where I started all this, at being grateful.

Does blogging make you happy? If it doesn’t make you happy, why do you blog? Even if it’s for money, it’s a good idea blog about something meaningful if you have a choice. Try it out, and tell me what you think.

Moving day is upon me and I am almost finished packing. It’s all I want to think about. But I can’t because there’s everything else going on too. Class. Writing. Web design. Graphics prep. And . . . the iPhone OS4 is available tonight.

I would love to be asleep right now, after a long evening of packing and arranging and puttering and thinking and reading. My iPhone upgrade won’t let me rest. It’s taken forever it seems. And it’s likely it feels that way because I am tired, and I really want to go to sleep.

The upgrade is very close to done. I can’t go to bed and let it run because my computer is not that kind to me. It does strange things when it sleeps. I was going to turn that off but I couldn’t think of where that command was.

While I waited I tried to read my book, but it was too painful. Not that the information was killing me. It happened that laboring to keep my eyes open to read it was painful. In fact, right about now, I’m courting a lack-of-sleep headache. The reason I don’t worry about that is because I know that when my head hits the pillow, all will be forgiven.

down to my last day to pack

I wanted to do this upgrade before I moved because I won’t have internet immediately, once I’ve moved. This way, I will at least have my phone gadgets to play with when I have time to breathe. Because, I certainly won’t be able to do that tomorrow.

Tonight, my last day to pack will be a fairly light one, since most things were packed several weeks ago. I have to sleep early to make up for tonight. I get to read a lot and sleep a lot. My big plan for “everything else” is to drop it all into a box and be done with it all. A quick run to storage and sealing up all the boxes and I’ll be good to go.

That works great! Because moving time will come up quickly on Wednesday. Tonight, as I type, I am periodically checking the phone, waiting to see the “Sync in Progress” get the hell off my phone. I’m going to dive into bed and work on releasing my headache pressure.  My effort will be in the form of turning on the “White Noise” application on my phone. That way I can fall asleep to rain…

OMG!! It’s done. Restarting. Setting it’s final stuff. Restoring my software. Whatever I’ve lost, I’ll restore tomorrow. For it surely can’t take as long as this massive upgrade. With this done, I can hit publish then hit the bed.

grateful for the morning after

Also, in case I didn’t mention it: I’m very much looking forward to Thursday evening when the move will be well behind me. I say this in anticipation of being finished one major thing, grateful for having finished this piece. I’m sure I’ll need a long nap after class. Then, on to my next responsibilities. I’m grateful I’m not bored.

From one who really should be asleep, I bid you a groggy good night.

Yesterday was the last day of the first five weeks of training. It’s the end of terminology, the first phase of the training program. It was somewhat of a help. The next part is an introduction to Windows (no choice there). Thankfully it’s only a week long. Then comes the actual hardware training.

I’ll be spending all my time in the A+ book, taking notes to learn and retain all I can. I’ll be missing the third class day of the A+ training to move. And filling in any spare time I carve out to write or do website work for money, as it comes up.

moving in the middle

This week I will have my packing done so that I don’t have anything to do but study and write, for the first two days of the A+ training. If all goes well, on June 23, I will move first thing in the morning. I will have a quiet celebration with me and my mom, and offer a not-so-quiet prayer of thanks.

Lately, I’m so overwhelmed by looking at everything on my plate, that I get stifled. I’ve taken more than a few deep breaths trying to return to my center. That’s the best place to operate from. To help with this centering, I return to my staples, blogging, journaling, and meditating. And I continue.

keeping my focus on class work

Unpacking and anything else that comes up, will be secondary to completing the training. Dealing with that will be a breeze, since the biggest part will be over. Really, getting ready to move is the biggest hurdle to jump—even if you don’t have much, like me.

Throughout the preparation and moving, working and writing, I’ve got to keep my studies at the forefront. So, I review my notes and take more notes, and research things I have questions about. Writing helps a lot when I’m trying to internalize new information.

Beginning with the next session, on Tuesday, we’ll be in a new location. I have to find it on my own since I didn’t go with the class, yesterday. I’ll Google the address over the weekend and ask any questions I have on Monday. By the time I am moved, I will be able to relax on two fronts: no thoughts of moving for a long while, and no new class locations.

For a minute, that should make all the balls I’m juggling seem pretty easy. I’ll take that.

Recently, I had the opportunity to review my ability to persevere. I came through fairly unshaken, though not perfect. And fortunately for me, I’m not overly concerned about perfection more than doing my best.

I have to move and I’m not ready to move. It’s been thrust upon me to make this happen even though I’m not ready, financially or otherwise.

Having just started my certification training, I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to focus. But that wasn’t really the problem. I love the training so I will find the focus. I thought about the money, but that’s only part of the problem, and one that I’m working on daily.

The biggest problem I had was fretting and not being able to sleep. An unrested mind is bereft of good ideas, to say nothing of optimal daily functioning. So today, I slept for many hours. It wasn’t so much an effort to catch up as it was an attempt to relieve my stress headache. It had been around for the past week and today it was making my eyes close because the pressure was so bad.

why i get rest now

Since I’m new to the waters of professional freelancing, I don’t have my sea legs yet. To secure some measure of regular income while I’m studying, I signed up and was accepted to write for Demand Studios. It’s not a lot of money, but I have a measure of control over how often I get paid. That relieves some lot of pressure for me, and that’s important.

And, I recently got good feedback from reliable resources that I have a good chance at securing some more lucrative alternate income streams. I’ve already dispatched my information to several new potential sources.

going through the motions

Life is a roller-coaster ride sometimes. Lately it seems that the controls broken off.

Going through the motions of life helps tremendously. It’s important to keep doing things I’m expected to do because even a small measure of normalcy helps to feel grounded and in control.

Sometimes I want to just curl up in a ball and hide. Or, I just want to stay in bed all day, lost in useless TV that I can’t even pay attention to. Attending the family functions, meeting what obligations I’m able to, helps me to make my way through the fog of frustration, stress, and exhaustion.

It sounds odd, but I venture it has to do with us being naturally social creatures. Isolation under negative circumstances has a way of exacerbating difficult situations. It’s like hearing booming echoing voices in an empty chamber that’s supposed to be filled with people, life, ideas, events and experiences.

Sleep deprivation is not the best way to handle stress. Times when sleep wouldn’t come easily, I would just stay awake and do things to be productive. Sometimes I get a lot done in these times. But, I still didn’t have the sleep I needed. The only thing is, as sure as I give in to sleepless nights, I know that after a few days, I will crash. And that’s a painful exhaustion.

It has worked for me in the past, to just lay in bed waiting for sleep to come. However, when things are really stressful, I rationalize that if I stay awake to do a little more (really to fret a little more) then it will help. It usually doesn’t. It’s possible to work things out even living in a fog. But when you’re clear-headed and rested, it’s empowering to understand how much better you really are.

I had to take this route to get to where I needed to be. And I am grateful that I was able to travel my journey, ups and downs, to get this far. I can see better times just ahead.

How’s your journey going?

related posts

• healthy habits: rest well to work well

It is  a lot exciting and a little intimidating to be back in a classroom setting–as a student. I’m thrilled about my first formal training toward computer certification. And it’s intimidating, ever so slightly, to be accountable to others for learning material within a given time. It probably has to do with learning things on my own for many years now.

permission denied

It’s a pleasure to learn new things that interest me. I guess that’s why I keep picking up on new things here and there. But I have to say that I am not one to finish everything that I start. Even useful things that are fun for me must sometimes be abandoned for things that are more pressing. And getting back to abandoned projects is not the easiest thing to do. You may not know anything about this, but I can tell you it’s difficult.

Many of the things that I’m dabbling in lately are related to computers and web design. I’ve gotten pretty far with web design over the past 2 years. But there’s a lot more for me to learn, that I really want to know. The thing is, I generally opt out of studying for working on things more immediately beneficial, more practical, if you will. So I put away my toys because the return on the investment of my time is not going to be fast enough. (And that’s a guess based on how much time I’m not going to put into selling it.)

permission to step into it

Remember I stated that it’s a little intimidating to be responsible to learn? Well, that minor intimidation is also a benefit. Actually, the cause of it is a benefit. The intimation is spawned from making a commitment to others and myself to get something completely accomplished.

How is commitment a benefit? Commitment becomes an obligation, which forces me to give myself permission to focus on learning. Since I’ve signed up to participate, I’m now required to follow through on something that’s been a passion of mine for many years. I am obligated because I signed on the dotted line, several dotted lines, to study for A+ certification training.

This commitment compels me to shuffle around other obligations to make room for this to happen fully. The training is long by some standards, at 14 weeks. But the time will fly by because it’s half a day, four days a week, covering concentrated information that’s familiar and new to me. My afternoons and evenings are filled with work, study and other responsibilities.

The other reason the time is going quickly is because I really enjoy learning this stuff.

Speaking of going fast, it took me a moment on Friday, to realize that my first week was already over. Honestly, I feel like I’m getting away with something just to be studying this. And I know, when I’m working in IT, it will feel like I’m getting paid to play. It’s much the same elated feeling as being paid to write.

How do you get permission to focus on what brings you joy? What important passion deferred would you love to return to?

related posts that may interest you:

• 4 x 4 sources of writing inspiration: group writing project
• out of focus: the value of a rested mind

Tomorrow is my first day at school. And I’m so excited I have no words. But I do have some ideas of things that need to be expedited. This was definitely a Twitter weekend. I needed to step up my tweeting activities. I’d fallen off for a while but I know it’s important to get back into it—for work as well as play.

social media preparations

TweetDeck
I’ve been working on finding writing jobs and everything I read lets me know I’m practically writing in a vacuum if I don’t promote my writing. So I decided that I needed to step up my tweeting game by insuring that I get the most out of my Twitter client—clients, now.

First I signed on for a TweetDeck account. Usually, I just dismiss the offer to sign up but I was curious. Research on the subject yielded none of the information that I was looking for. So, I decided to try it out for myself, and wow!

TweetDeck lists a directory of all the Twitter lists set and all I had to do was follow. So I surfed a few and found one that I wanted to add, just to see how it works. It showed me how easy it would be to connect to pre-established groups. I’m still getting used to it. But I put it aside to start using a new Twitter client.

HootSuite
I added HootSuite to my social media arsenal. It was really easy to sign up and start using. There’s even a setup for Google Chrome’s browser. That’s important to me because I am using it more and more, since Firefox is crashing on me regularly, especially when I’m writing in my blogs.

With my cell phone, I don’t miss much. But I still wanted something that was web based and therein fully portable from computer to computer. It works out great. And I think one of my favorite pieces is the Hootlet button that you add to your web browser.

It’s great because that makes it really unobtrusive, and in the right place all the time. I don’t have to open another application or switch tabs to tweet about a page I’m reading. I just click the icon and it loads with the page’s information. I edit the comment as I choose, select the account(s) I want to post to, and let it go.

collecting my thoughts

Everything running together in my head meant my journal writing went into overdrive. On top of regular busy-ness, the impending deadline,  there was drama that popped up that I had to deal with. It threatened to derail me with frustrations and didn’t need to be, but were present just the same.

I wrote out all my thoughts and feelings and true to form, I began to unwind albiet two pages into my writing session. Hey, I had lots to work through. That was Friday. Yesterday’s session wound up being about what I wanted to do with my work, after I’d signed up with Demand Studios. It eventually led to social media.

It was a productive weekend. So I’m content because I face the all-important first week, with an important task well in hand.

3 questions: Which Twitter client do you use on your computer? What do you use your Twitter account for? And when tasks and life stuff get to be a bit much, what do you do to regain your balance?

Remember, last post I mentioned I secured training for A+ certification? Well, I do have a spot. The 14 week training program begins MONDAY. That’s less than a week away and I’m so excited! At the same time, I’m focused—trying to be focused about the things that I want to accomplish before I get started.

5, 6, and 7

I was reviewing my list that I shared last time and I can honestly click of three things right now, with a fourth coming later today. Numbers 5, 6, and 7 are well in hand.

Number 7 details: In fact, for #7, the posts for my dormant work blog, I actually wrote several and scheduled them for release throughout this week.

And I like it so much for that one, I’ll likely continue doing it by writing much on Thursday through Sunday. (Did I mention that I only have class Monday through Thursday?) That will give me more than enough time to generate the number of posts I’m aiming for which is 4 weekly. My class time will be over before I know it and I will have a tolerable routine in place that I can continue beyond that time.

I don’t have the same issue with this blog or Telling Stories. This blog is more casual, the journal of the three. And Telling Stories, I may have mentioned several times, is my creative writing blog. The poems come frequently. It takes longer to write my other style posts and it works out fine. Since, between daily challenges, I have a very sparse goal of three any-kind posts per week.

Number 6 details: Since last I was here, I did complete National Poetry Month challenge writing to prompts from Read Write Poem. That site is now closed, no longer live anyway. But you can visit to read the daily poems that were posted. Some were posted to the site, most others were linked to the writers’ sites, which is what I did. You can review my collection which is indexed on my NaPoWriMo page.

The last part of the project was the opportunity to be considered for inclusion in the online anthology being compiled. To be considered we had to select, edit and submit our best poems, no more than three. After 1:00 a.m. today, I sent of my submission email. I’ll be crossing my fingers until the determination is made. I hope they don’t cramp.

Number 5 details: You may have noticed the tab for my website bookstore. I set it up just before the last post (same day), with the hopes of linking it directly to the bookstore site. It will suffice for now as a description page with a link to the store. Especially since I can’t write on that site, I decided it’s a good idea to keep it this way. So if I want to have special offers, I can list them there for people to review.

…and sundry other things

There’s still lots more that I’m working on. The general submitting is going slowly as I read to learn about the journal sites. I’m learning which sites I am eligible to submit to, and which sites can reasonably be expected to include my writing. I recently learned that my Telling Stories blog is not Afro-centric enough to be included in a certain community. I’m not yet sure whether that’s a good or bad thing. But I continue.

Finally, I have started to pay attention to little things on blog sites. One major one for me is pinning posts to the start of the blogs. I’ve seen them used a lot lately and quite effectively. And I’m thinking that it may help me with promotional endeavors. This is related to #9 on the previous post, but there’s more that I’m compiling which I’ll put in a later post.

Until next time, be productive. It makes you feel good. And when you get jammed up, write about it.

So, what deadlines are you facing? How are you preparing for big, brief time intrusions? As always, I’d love you read your comments.

Related Posts:

• it’s high time i get certified
• submitting and self-publishing

Update 5.20.2010: I just struck out the last item, learning new website tips. I recently found a new thumbnail creation site that I like. And I’ve been actively using Headspace2 and Keyword Statistics plugins for my work blog.

Update 5.15.2010: I just struck out the business cards from the list below. Actually I finished them last weekend. And these are the cards for my writing.

Why Organizing topped my Prep List

Next month, my certification training begins, and I’m all set—except, I need to improve my organization to increase my productivity. Organizing my workspace. It’s the most important part. And with that almost completed, I will be able to coast through the next few weeks.

It matters so much because knowing where things are is critical for me. Two reasons are: I’m forgetful, and easily distracted between multiple tasks. Organization adds a strong measure of sanity to the mania of busy-ness.

Things get really out of hand here, since I choose to divide my attentions between what I’m doing and what’s asked of me, by my family and others. Usually, it doesn’t get me off task by too much—usually.

Still, pulling different files, books and such, for different projects, often means things don’t get put away immediately. And the piles, eventually looking like my prison, must be dismantled. Besides, searching for things that could be right at hand really slows me down.

Getting Things Done

I’m off to a good start with tearing down the stacks of books and papers, returning them to their places, or better organized positions. And there were a few background things that needed doing before training. These are things that come to mind and get dismissed for other more urgent things.

Recently, I decided to start knocking them out as they recurred to me. As you can see several are already completed. The rest are well underway. Being organized will make it easier to finish as I make ready for big fun beginning next month.

1. Clean up my Gmail account for contacts
2. Design new business/networking cards
3. Post about Read Write Poem’s closing
4. Add link to my Amazon aStore, The Blog About It Store, I’ve been sitting on this for quite a while now and time was a-wasting
5. Add a page for The Blog About It Store
6. Finish my last 9 poems in 9 days for NaPoWriMo on Telling Stories
7. Write posts for my very quiet work blog
8. Update account information on different sites; it’s nice to have money going to the right places
9. Learn some new and needed website tips

This week has been about updating and knocking things out that are due or long over due. Operating from an organized workspace is a great way to move through things efficiently and quickly. What’s on your plate right now? How does organization improve your productivity? What else do you do to boost your productivity?

I just wanted to post a quick note to say that my aStore, The Blog About It Store, is live. Actually, it’s been live, it’s just that now it’s attached to the site—again. I’ve had access to it for quite a long time, but I always put it on the back burner to set it up through my site. I was waiting to find a way to do the fancy stuff.

Then I realized how much time had passed, and it was just unacceptable. If you look at the software versions I’ve included, you’ll begin to get the picture, too. And so, looking ahead to all that I want to do, it occurred to me that this would be an easy thing to get up and running and out of the way. A few days ago I got going and haven’t stopped yet.

I updated the links and changed the colors just a bit. For now there’s a link on my left sidebar to get you to the store. And when I remember how, I’ll include it in the tabs. I want it to be accessible. And that’s why there are links on the page that return you to my blog.

About the Items Included

• The books I’ve chosen are books that I’ve read, mostly. Some are of interest to me and I have yet to read them.
• The applications I’ve chosen are those that I use and like.

So far, I’ve only included books and software applications. If you’re curious about one in particular, please feel free to ask me.

I’ll tell you know, I’ve read everything by Kirk Byron Jones. And I’m still working on the magnificent writings of Erwin Raphael McManus.

I hope you visit my bookstore and find something that interests you. My library is full of books that inspire me throughout my life. When you find something that does the same for you, please drop me a line letting me know.

So, it’s been anything but quiet since last I was here. Since then, I’ve secured my place for A+ certification training; the training begins next month, May 2010. And, I managed to keep up with a poem a day, so far. I don’t know about the day until I get to it, because my verses don’t come together until the night, when home is more quiet. It just got quiet here today. So, we’ll see what I can manage.

With a vote of confidence from my comrades in the project, and reading their inspired words, I will continue to write. If not on prompt at least I’ll write a poem a day for the rest of National Poetry Month. I’ll have to make the choice predicated on whether or not work has to be sacrificed. I want to write the poems no matter what. But, I have to move business forward too. Work MUST go on!

Work must go On

I thought it would be a piece of cake to get up early and get them done. The thing is though, my family drama starts early, sometimes. And work sometimes takes a back seat to people’s needs. Still I try to not lose too much ground by making up time wherever I can find it. As a result, on yesterday, I spent a few hours working on changes that will be uploaded to my work website. It was good for two reasons:

1. There was so much noise and activity in the house until I couldn’t get the writing creativity going.
2. Starting is a great way to finish anything.

Submission Sites

This quarter is set to be fun as it is slated for trial and error. I’m trying out everything that’s been on my list for some time now. First is submission sites for my poetry. I’ve been putting it off long enough. If I don’t re-start now, who knows when I’ll get back to it.

I say re-start because I did submissions years ago. Some of those publications may be history by now. But I’ve lost all those files in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It’s time to lay some new inroads to mainstream publication.

Three things I’m working on related to submitting:

1. Reading publications’ issues to familiarize myself with what they publish. We have to be a good fit if I’m going send them anything and expect them to publish it.
2. Preparing the best submission letter I can. Reviewing what writers are sharing online is one way to find out what’s working. Also, first even, writing the publishers according to their guidelines. And then trial and error to see what comes back to me with the response I need to hear, be it yes or no.
3. Seeking out and studying honest detailed feedback from writers I greatly respect. It would be good to know if I’m reaching anybody. Or, if mine is just writing I should keep for my family and friends.

Self-Publishing Once Again

Self-publishing is very exciting these days. With the proliferation of selling sites, I can publish ebooks without any assistance. Of course I’ll have to do this at least for a chapbook because I can.

For full length publishing I’ve self-published once before. I want to do it again, and I really am pleased with Author House. So I’ll probably return to it for my second poetry collection (which should be completed soon).

And, to spice things up a bit more, I’ve toyed with for some years now to do it all myself. I’ll share that big news whenever it comes to fruition.

2nd Quarter Goals

By the end of this quarter I would like to have:

• 10 submission sites that I am actively courting
• 2 new writing clients
• 1 poetry chapbook ready for editing

Of course I’ll be sharing my findings along the way. My submissions will be here or linked to here from Telling Stories. It depends on the writing jobs I get, where they will primarily posted, possibly at my work blog and referenced here.

So, what do you think? What of your ideas have become concrete goals this quarter? Which publishers do you like to use? Why? I look forward to hearing from you.

Related posts:

1. it’s high time i get certified
2. Time Waits for No One
3. Poetry Just Because

This is the story of my day. I thought I could capture it and impart the feel, the heaviness, the pain of today. It made me think about what I would write through. By the time the day was done, I was content to know that there’s not much I won’t write through anymore.

Late Morning

Today is the most horrible day I’ve had in a while. And that’s really too bad because it’s such a good day. The weather is lovely, pretty at a comfortable 68 degrees. My brother came by briefly with my nephew and niece. The children woke me so that they could play with my bugs. They had to wake me because my first plan was to sleep all day.

10:11

I was tired because I slept so poorly. Fitfully only comes close to the time I spent trying to rest last night. I was up every hour until 3 a.m. After than I managed two hours until 9 a.m. By 10 a.m. I was convinced that my day would go well if I just didn’t get out of bed. I held out a hope of ending on a positive note even after realizing how much my head was throbbing and my breathing was screwy from sinus pressure.

Things I wanted to accomplish kept walking into my thoughts, brushing past the throbbing pain in the back of my head. I was awake and it felt like I was semiconscious trying to focus on a plan, grabbing at decisions that were wet and squishy in a viscous environment not air. Most importantly, I wanted to rise up from the bed to post my poem for prompt #118 that was due today. That meant final edits, formatting and posting, cross linking on the all the poems page. And, too, I figured if I got up to do all that, I might get some other writing done.

The viscous environment in my head making thoughts difficult to hold onto, was now out in the open I found, as I got up to step into the day. Thankfully it was only 10:11. It felt like I was trapped in my pillows for much longer. Despite my good intentions, I was feeling like—well pretty poorly and not sure if walking around would help. So, with the strength I mustered I ignored my feelings and held on to my posting.

I checked my email messages from my phone and nothing pressing was there. There were applications to update and the power was very low. I waded through the fog in my head and around me, and logged in to Telling Stories and got the job done. Regrettably, it was all I could get done.

12:03

For some long moments, I sat staring at the computer screen, searching my mind for a direction to go in. Nothing was large enough for me to read. Since, the pain in the back of my head had grown considerably, its girth forcing out everything—but one: a picture of my bed and pillows. Without understanding the details of the movement (how or what exactly they were doing), I know they were beckoning me. And off to bed I went.

It wasn’t until I was awakened hours later by my nephew and niece that I realized that I didn’t care that I was not productive. I was still quite miserable. I thought I should eat, and only managed chips and drink. Once they had my toys, (my synthetic bugs and insects), they were content and I was free to find my way through my fog.

Before I knew it my chips were done, I’d read some of the other poets’ responses to prompt #118 at Read Write Poem, and it was time for the children to leave. We cleaned up together, (they were stuck on play and wouldn’t focus and my brother was ready to go).

16:26

I went to the bathroom with my phone to see if there was anything I needed to address before I went back to bed. There wasn’t, thankfully. I did notice that I’d never plugged in my phone to update it or to power it up. The power indicator had been on red since first use this morning. Walking out of the bathroom, I noticed that there were still remnants of the children littering the floor. But, nothing more was coming in to focus as much as I wanted to write.

So, I relented and put all my focus into a plan of action to save myself. I drank a lot of water, took some headache medicine, and plugged in my phone to sync and power it up. Got this written and now I’m going to collect the kid-remnants on my way to bed once more. Giving in today was really my only alternative to feel better. Tomorrow will be very different. I’ll see to it!