Don’t Forget To Write

Sometimes I get so busy with life and with planning what I might write and with researching paying writing opportunities that I forget to do any actual writing.

My blogs have lain un-updated for over a week, my dead-tree journal is who-knows-where, and I’m all jangly and frowny and wondering why.

Then, at noon today I snuck off and wrote a journal entry, and I feel much better.

The whole point of trying to get paid for writing is that I need to write anyway, so I might as well try to make a living at it. If I forget to do the actual writing I get cranky (and I know I’m not alone because one of my writing gurus says the same thing. I forget whether it was Bradbury or King or Asimov, but one of them says that on the first day he doesn’t write, he gets kind of fuzzy, on the second day he’s out of sorts and by the third day he’s impossible to live with, or something to that effect. I recognized that immediately, although I’d never thought about it.

So my new resolution is to remember to write! What an odd thing to have to say.

Shiny

Just cancelled the host I’ve had forEVER, fo my jdwrite.com domain.

I feel a little wistful, but on the other hand it’s exciting to have a shiny new website on a shiny new host.

So, here’s my business site, all updated ‘n’ stuff.

There is still some content to add, but it is much more up to date, and I’m happy.

And, of course, if you have any trouble emailing the jdwrite address, do let me know. Ta.

On The Other Hand…

I’ve spend the morning reaching out to old colleagues and clients to ask for testimonials about my work. It’s fun and I’ve already had one nibble about new work from a contact.

I’ve been westling with what kind of writing I should be spending my new-found free time pursuing. Part of me really wants to give creative writing a try, because that is so well regarded and I admire the talent of the storyteller so much. Part of me understands that I’m good at (and more practiced in) writing non-fiction.

I’ve been taking a course of teleclasses about business copywriting, which I has earned me some money in the past and which I’m leaning towards. But part of me is accusing myself of selling out, abandoning my creative writing dreams.

Then again, I also know that when I’m busy I’m happy, and when I’m happy I’m more productive in all aspects of my life. I know how much I enjoy learning about business, and talking to business people who are good at what they do. I find it fascinating and energizing (if that’s a word). And I enjoy crafting the words that help someone understand a thing, a concept, a product, a service.

And where am I going to find characters and scenarios and realistic voices if not out in the real world? That can only help my creative writing more than sitting alone in my room, surely?

So I’ve decided to both have my cake and eat it. Pursue business writing and keep plugging away at my stories for my own amusement* on the side.

*Because I’ve also noticed that when I write to amuse myself, all of my writing gets better.

TechHead Revisited

Quite proud of myself today.

I’ve been playing with WordPress for this blog, in the interests of using it to power my business website, in anticipation of doing some business writing now that I have (a-hem) all this spare time.

So between yesterday and today I have dusted off the techy part of my brain and:

• Found a new webhost (old one has the same documentation and ‘help’ files they had in 2001)
• Figured out whether or not it would adversely affect my email (I don’t think so, but if you have any problems with the jdwrite.com address, let me know)
• Changed my domain’s DNS info so that the site will, eventually, point to the new host
• Changed my registrar to be my new host, because I can’t be bothered with the extra admin of having registration and hosting in separate places
• Downloaded/uploaded and installed WordPress on the new host’s server (OK, I used their auto-install thingy, but I feel like I have a clue what it did due to the next point)
• Troubleshooting (I troubleshot? I troubleshooted?) a problem with temporary access
• Downloaded and applied a new WordPress theme
• Customised the theme (a little)
• Started transferring content from my old website to the new WordPress powered version.
• Created some new content, more focused on what I actually want to do, rather than my old assumptions about what work is out there. (Thanks Copywriting Success Summit!)

I decided to go with a blog platform because I am NOT hand-coding things any more, and Frontpage made things too complicated, and anyway I don’t have a current version of Frontpage, if it still exists, with which to modify my content.

I like the flexibility of having everything based on the web, where I can just go and enter my  text and the clever programmers have made it all fit together and update.

It looks so much more modern. Once the new information has propogated on the web, I’ll provide a link here.

It feels nice to have a new, shiny home, and a freshly-dusted brain.

I love being  a mother, but I’m not really that good at being a housewife. Sometimes it’s nice to remind yourself that you are actually good at some thing.

I Hope This Is True

Supposedly Google has devised a sobriety test for email.

New technologies create new problems that need solved!

iTunes 8 Problem Solved!!!

…not by me.

I finally found this entry in the Apple support forums, after going through tons of official suggestions for troubleshooting. This one worked like a charm, so I’m reproducing it here, in case anyone else is having the same problem (that is, that iTunes 8 would not install fully, or would work once but never again, or that the installer tried to run every time and prompted a reboot every time). The problem is in the shortcuts, folks.

Hunh....in a moment of curiosity, I went directly to the application in
my Program Files (x86) folder and right clicked the .exe file > Run
As Administrator and voila. Working iTunes. I then deleted all the
different shortcuts I've been using and replaced them with new ones and
I'm right as rain, at least for now.
Apparently, shortcuts created by windows trigger this problem,
including the one that automatically shows up in the start menu, and
the one automatically placed on the desktop. Creating a shortcut
manually yields no issues.

Originally posted here

And it’s working like a charm, as he says, at least for now. What a clever chap.

Despicable

Sarah Palin is accusing Barak Obama of “palling around with terrorists” because he served on a charitable board with a man who was a violent radical 40 years ago. A New York Times article that examined the relationship declared that the two men lived in the same neighborhood but ‘did not appear to be close’.

I hate this kind of politics. it is dishonest and it’s mean and it gets untruths out there that are repeated as facts (hands up, everyone who ‘knows’ that Obama is a Muslim and doesn’t put his hand on his heart for the pledge of allegiance).

Attack his record, by all means. Question his policies. Disagree with his plans. Tell people why they should REALLY vote for you. But don’t just try to smear other people’s characters disingenuously saying ‘people have a right to know’. If people have a right to know, then provide them with all the facts. Don’t indulge in the kind of playground activities that would make your own children come home from school in tears. Aren’t we grown ups?

Oh, and in the interests of balance, Palin has not said those other two things about Obama as far as I know; and that chain email about Sarah Palin trying to ban books: Politifact.org gave it a “Pants on Fire” rating on its Truth-o-meter.

Personality Types

I was looking at online listings for freelance writing jobs this morning and one directed me to this personality test.

I laughed out loud when I saw the careers it recommended for me: Writer/Literature, Humanities, Philosophy, Archaeology, Religious Education, Psychology, Counselling.

Not quite sure what ‘humanities’ really means in this context, but as for the rest, yeah, I can see that. Nice to know that ‘writer’ is up there.

And I’ve suddenly realised that my sister has missed her calling. She’s a born archaeologist.

I Saw Neil Gaiman

Look, there he is in Philly, looking….just like he looks in a photograph. Which this is. Oh. But really, he does look like he’s supposed to and he sounds like he’s supposed to and he reads from his book REALLY well.

I got to go in to the city all by myself last night, like a big girl, on the train and everything. I was ridiculously anxious for a laid-back person, and it took about five stations and eleven rows on my new sock before my separation anxiety abated (clearly I don’t get out enough).

(Hello, sock!)

So the author, instead of reading a short bit and answering a couple of questions and then sitting at a desk while people file by for hours on end, has decided to read a chapter at each stop, answer some questions and let the bookstore sell pre-signed books. I applaud the decision. We were entertained for a good couple of hours and didn’t have to stand in any lines at all, which I probably wouldn’t have done anyway.

The Graveyard Book starts off describing a family’s murder, in a very disturbing fashion, including the murderer creeping up on an 18 month old. Particularly disturbing if you happen to be a parent, (I can’t imagine that my 15 year old nephew will be quite so freaked) but it quickly moves on to the warm and fuzzy part. Of course, in a Neil Gaiman book, the warm and fuzzy part includes dead people and possibly vampires and something unspeakable living under a hill, but still manages to be warm and fuzzy and funny.

If you get a chance to go and see him, I’d recomend it. For someone who writes so creepily, he comes across as a surprisingly nice guy, and witty in that very dry, British kind of way, which cracks Americans up. (If British people over here always look a little startled, it’s because we can’t quite get used to our weak attempts at humour being greeted with such generous laughter instead of sarcasm).

In case you don’t get a chance, they’re broadcasting the whole thing, as recorded at each stop here. (I was sitting right next to the camera at this stop so while you won’t see me, there’s a chance you may hear me chuckle, depending on how they did the sound. Either way, you’ll have almost exactly the same view I had, from the third row.

Apparently it’s modelled on The Jungle Book. Must go back and read that.

I had a fun time. It was nice to crawl out of my rut and squint around at what’s going on outside.

In The Artist’s Way Julia Cameron advocates taking at “Artist’s Date” each week. It can be something as simple as buying yourself new crayons and colouring in, or it can be going to look at something beautiful, or it can be something like i did last night. Now I see the value. I was inspired. Not to write a book about dead people and graveyards, mind you, but just to do the thing I love to do.

I think I have to. Otherwise, what’s the point of all this thinking I do?

Grammar Police

And now we’re watching Barney, where one of the little monsters is singing,

Mr Moon tonight
Keep on shining real bright
For me.

And I’m screaming at the TV.

“LEEE! Real-LEEE! Bright-LEEEE! Please!”

And you just know the lyric sheet spelled it ‘tonite’.

It’s official. I’m a curmudgeon.