Out of the Ice Age--Sticking My Toes into Social Media

Okay.  I took a baby step into social media today.  I'm now on Twitter.  Sharing thoughts in 140 character chunks may not be as hard as I thought, but integrating Twitter into my blog may take a few days.  I can learn new things provided I read enough manuals LOL.  And that's exactly what I'm doing with Twitter.

I'm also in the process of re-booting my blog and moving things around--updating links and getting ready to post new book reviews.  My April Camp NaNoWriMo was an epic fail in word count, but taught me much about scheduling my life.  Yes, I've said it before, but any day I am breathing is a day I can start over and try harder LOL.

To all the mothers out there--Happy Mother's Day!

FOCUSing on Social Media

Remember how I said my word for the year was "FOCUS"?  Well, between my day job and my part-time job as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I am trying to learn more about social media.  Marketing my SU! business more effectively would be wonderful, but the main reason for studying the various platforms out there is because once my novel is ready for publication, I will need to market both the book and myself. 

I'm preparing to attend my first-ever writer's conference in May, and the classes cover both the writing aspects and the publishing/marketing aspects of being an author.  Since my novel is still unfinished, my focus for this conference will be classes on craft; however, I would be totally remiss if I refused to take any class on the use of social media for authors.

I've posted here before that I don't have a Facebook page or a Twitter account and some of my reasoning behind the decision of not participating in those forms of social media.

Face it, I'm not always the greatest at keeping a schedule with this blog, and I am ashamed of that fact.  It's not that I have nothing to say (my friends will attest I am seldom quiet LOL), but I feel I have too many things I want to share. 

For instance--I managed to cover several notebooks lately, but haven't found the time to get out the camera, take the pictures, crop and edit the pictures, and then post them here.  They are really pretty--I'm not ashamed of my work--and yet they still sit at the table awaiting a post.

I wanted to post something for St. Patrick's Day, and the first day of spring.  On both occasions, once I was off work, general living took precedence over the blog.  Looking back--I haven't posted since my March 1st rant--so we can see no focus on social media here :-(

There are several books I have finished this month that need to be added to my 100-book challenge at Goodreads and also need to be listed here (preferably with reviews)...

Anybody else see a pattern here?  How could I reasonably expect to interact with multiple social media platforms if I cannot even  stay consistent with this personal blog?  So, until I learn more discipline and begin to focus more on improving this platform, I choose not to string myself out any further.

Baby steps...

Lessons Learned

To all those on the East Coast affected (however slightly) by Hurricane Irene, our thoughts and prayers are with you...

Six years ago today, I was sitting in a home in Picayune, Mississippi with my boss and her husband, watching Katrina in all her glory uproot pine trees that were over a hundred years old as if they were saplings.  We lost power and were unable to clear roads for several days--but we lived through the destruction.  I'm alive today in great part because folks who did not know me well insisted I evacuate with them rather than stay alone in my New Orleans apartment.  Many in New Orleans Parish and other areas of the Gulf Coast were not so Blessed.

It was interesting to me as I watched the various government agencies react to this weekend's weather.  As Catherine Aird once said, "If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning."  We all saw (especially in hindsight) many mistakes before, during and after Katrina six years ago this very weekend.  Some things worked back then (the good examples) and other simply became horrible warnings...

I was pleasantly surprised to see FEMA and local and state officials show they learned lessons from Katrina:

1. Mandatory (and early) evacuations of low-lying areas prior to the closing of mass transit
2. Early deployment of National Guard and other emergency personnel to ensure as rapid a response to emergency that weather would allow
3. Shelters set up in advance with supplies available to house evacuees
4. Coordination of every level of government to allow each level to handle its own responsibility with the knowledge that the next level up is already prepared to step in and take over if necessary

The hindsight pundits that today are saying this weekend was "much ado about nothing" are entitled to their opinion.  Frankly, though, I would rather see a coordinated, timely, forewarned response than the devastation in lives and property that occurs when we simply sit back and hope for the best and then scramble to react after the fact.

To those of you experiencing the horrific flooding, stay strong.  It may not look like you will recover now, but recovery is possible.  Things can be replaced.  The quotation on my desk calendar today is from Buddha and seems most appropriate:

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful."

Facebook Phobia--Unnecessary Fear?

I love being "wired to the world".  Technology powers my day job in multiple ways, not the least of which being the cable modem that allows me to telecommute (a fantastic perk for someone who no longer drives a car).  I can barely remember a time without e-mail and web-surfing.  Shopping online and having items delivered is a fantastic option in saving time and effort.  I also love running my Stampin' Up! business online because it is a sideline job.  And let's just think for a moment about how much easier historical research is in the internet age ;-)

But social networking like Facebook scares me.  I have a lot of friends and family of all ages scattered across the country and most are on Facebook.  I know the value of Facebook as a tool to market products, so I know as a writer that I will probably need to set up a FB account for my writing sooner or later.  The scary part is the lack of control I may have over my personal privacy.

Many of us have made life choices that have caused consequences that were not what we had planned (and life seldom offers do-overs).  I love my life and who I am, but after having been abused, robbed, and stalked at different times in my life, I jealously guard my freedom and my ability to live without fear of those criminals finding me once more.

On the other hand, there are people from my past I would love to find..as an adoptee, I've often wondered about my biological roots, and Facebook would be a wonderful way to reconnect with school friends and far-flung relatives.

So, there is my conundrum.  Do I trust the privacy controls that Facebook states are in effect, or do I continue to isolate myself in a cocoon of my own making and risk falling further and further out of touch with people who mean a lot to me?

For now, I will do what I always do when making a major decision...I'll do more research.  And who knows?  We may meet on Facebook soon after all ;-)

Pollyanna Positive versus Nellie Negative

I have truly come to believe I live in a land far away from reality.  This land is a land where something good happens every day--a land of job and housework and bills and laundry and a never-ending "to-do" list.  A land where having to do dishes means there was food to cook.  A land where even if a punk from the neighborhood comes through and turns off the A/C unit outside as a prank, I still have fans and electricity to run them while waiting for maintenance to find and solve the problem.  Yes, I live in a dream world--a world where it is easier to count Blessings than complain about challenges...

I stopped watching newscasts several years ago--journalism has taken a giant leap away from Who, What, When, Where and How and stands mainly in the ever-enlarging camp of Why.  "Straight" newscasts--without opinion and slanted commentary--are so few and far between, they are almost non-existent.  Doomsayers and gloom-casters dominate the media.  The relative ease of commenting semi-anonymously on stories broadcast on the Web seems to encourage what my parents used to call "open mouth, insert foot".  If negativity isn't broadcast on the news or on You Tube, it is Tweeted, blogged or Facebooked.  Is it simply because these things are not being said directly to someone's face, or have we as a culture lost the ability to be cordial and mannerly to each other, even if we disagree?

I have always felt I had a fairly balanced view of life.  Now, I watch the world spinning past and read of bullying in schools causing teen suicides or peruse the comments on news articles where total strangers call each other names unfit for print.  If that is balanced, I want no part of it.  I was raised in the era of "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."  That did not encourage lying, but it did carry the expectation that I would always try to find a silver lining in any person or situation.

Since I still choose that way of viewing the world, I welcome the title some friends have bestowed upon me--the nickname of Pollyanna Positive.  I'd much rather see the world through rose-colored glasses and look for the good in everyone. Positive thinking is not a new concept by any means, but it does seem to have fallen out of favor.

I pledge to do what I can to bring positive thinking back to the world--does anybody care to join me?  Anybody at all?

Keep On The Sunny Side of Life

Written by Ada Blenkhorn in 1899.
Music by J. Howard Entwisle.

There's a dark and a troubled side of life
There's a bright and a sunny side, too
Tho' we meet with the darkness and strife
The sunny side we also may view

[chorus]
Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life
It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way
If we'll keep on the sunny side of life

Tho' the storm in its fury broke today,
Crushing hopes that we cherished so dear;
Storm and cloud will in time pass away
The sun again will shine bright and clear.

Let us greet with a song of hope each day
Tho' the moments be cloudy or fair
Let us trust in our Saviour alway
Who keepeth everyone in His care

Nagging Network Nastiness

Hey, I'm online--sort of.  This PC has Internet access (at least for now).  I'm not the brightest when it comes to "geek-speak", but I can usually hold my own and am not too afraid of trial and error when dealing with electronics.

I may have to rethink that position.  My home network has now lost the ability for any of the components to speak to one another (reminds me of a family feud, actually, the more I examine the problem).  Last year, I updated my wired-g router to a wireless-g to add a laptop running Vista to the home PC (running XP) and the work PC (also running XP).  When I then upgraded my printer to a wireless model, I had no problem hooking it into the same network.

Now, my granddaughter has inherited the old e-Machines desktop (the one that ran XP), and my new HP desktop running Windows 7 was--I thought--added to the original network.  Boy, was I wrong.  To add insult to injury, in trying to make everything talk to one another last week (updating various drivers to be Windows 7-compliant, etc.), I managed to lock the laptop and the printer out of the original network somehow, and as it was password-encrypted on multiple levels, that network is out in cyberspace but I can no longer connect to it.  I could not even get any of the PCs to connect reliably to the Internet via the ethernet connection with the router.  (I'm sure some of you can hear my screams of pain and frustration; even though I am old enough to remember manual typewriters and rotary dial phones, I choose not to return to those days LOL).

Obviously, I have to work my day job, so I finally just unplugged the whole mess.  My work PC and VOIP phone are hooked directly into the router and the network connections restored to my job.  The home desktop has the printer connected temporarily via a USB connection (what a waste of resources and memory that is), and my laptop has a temporary wireless connection to the wireless router.

Hence, this post after many days of being unable to connect.  My writing has been scarce and sparce, but some has occurred because of course I still had Word; and my research has become dependent once more on the printed page.  Actually, that has been the silver lining to the cloud--I hope to post soon on some wonderful writing references I have been privileged to read this past month.

So, with a wondrous Sunday afternoon ahead of me, I will end this.  I have read the networking tutorials online for my router and will be unplugging everything and resetting in an effort to rebuild a working network from scratch.  New wireless-n routers are calling my name and one would probably be the easiest way to go, yet my pocketbook is screaming in protest.

The challenge begins--can I actually set up a new network that works with the equipment I have and give my purse the victory?  Or will my geeky, electronics-junkie alternate personality (that I try desperately to keep under control) win out and have me buy a new router?  Stay tuned for the results...

A "To Don't" List--Is this the answer?

I love Whatever...Whenever and visit this blog as often as I can...check out her links as well--she's artistic and funny and this post on over-achieving could have been part of my yet-to-be written autobiography LOL.

I have 24 hours in my day--established fact, right? And the job that pays for everything takes nine of those hours, including computer boot time and the 30-minute lunch that allows for nothing but eating.

Of the remaining fifteen hours, my body requires a bare minimum of six being spent in sleep, with 6 1/2 to seven being even better. Occasionally, I can get by with five, but the older I get, the less flexible my body is when it lacks proper rest. So, use six as the touchpoint, and we now have nine hours a day for everything else that "general living" requires.

Let's define general living as cooking, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, paying bills/handling mail, personal hygiene (shower, anyone? LOL), etc. Granted, in a one-person household, a few of these things are not daily tasks--laundry is once weekly. Walking to/from the grocery store takes time. Carrying groceries by hand means more trips because there are limits as to how much I can carry. So, the days I go to the store are usually weekend days. Other errands requiring bus travel (I call it "destination shopping") are either vacation days or weekends because the bus trip alone can exceed an hour each way.

So, at nine hours a day times seven days a week, I have 63 hours to work with. If cooking for one takes a total of an hour daily, followed by an hour of general housecleaning and a half-hour of mail/business, the free time is reduced to 45.5 hours. With walking/bus times for the household shopping, let's reduce that by a minimum of 9.5 hours weekly.

I am a writer of historical/speculative fiction. I need time to research. I need time to write. I need time to network with other writers. I need time to study the craft of writing.  With the idea of my most recent challenge in mind, let's devote a minimum of one hour daily to writing, and perhaps another daily hour to research.  There go fourteen more hours, leaving 22 left to "schedule".

I am a paper crafter who sells Stampin' Up! as a sideline, primarily to receive the discount (although all new customers are quite welcome to my website LOL), and I enjoy my crafting.  In an ideal world, I would play with paper (or at least be puttering in my studio) for an hour a day.  22-7=15.

Who doesn't like to connect with friends?  I talk on the phone often with my friends; I follow various blogs (and have people who follow mine--wonder of wonders).  Welcome to my new followers--I am so happy to meet you!  Reading and responding to e-mail takes time.  Commenting on blogs takes time.  This socialization is important to someone who works from home.

Look at what I am doing to myself!  I have already posted that over-organizing and my pursuit of perfection denies me the opportunity to simply enjoy life!  I need to learn to say "no".  I need to learn to "hit a lick at a snake" and know that BALANCE is key.  "All work and no play makes Jack/Jill a dull person", and who wants to be dull?  I don't.

Who wants to join me and make a "To Don't" list? 

Technology and Turmoil

I should be working.  I want to be working.  Instead, I am posting on my blog, cooking soup, semi-watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and when this post is finished, I'll go back to my NaNo novel.

Why?  Why am I not answering customer calls?  Because my work PC is sick and I'm far down on the triage line today.  We had major software issues on the job last week that affect the entire company and that are still being ironed out.  In the grand scheme of things, that of course means a single sick PC has to wait.  I feel a bit like I am sitting in the emergency room with a sprained ankle while all around me are victims of gunshots, stabbings, and beatings.

They hope to be able to remotely work on the issue later this afternoon.  Then, depending on the results, I may have to travel into the job.  Although it is only across the county from me, public transportation schedules mean it takes three crosstown busses and right at four hours one way.  Not a pleasant prospect.

The very thing that allows me the freedom to work from home is the very thing that has my emotions bent out of shape.  My brain feels as fried as I am afraid the hard drive is.  One lesson from it though--I am backing up all my files on my home PCs (especially my NaNo novel) to ensure no data loss if something like this should ever happen to either personal machine.  Here's to technology LOL!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T is Not Just a Song Title

I've been thinking of a post all day regarding respect for others. Last night, I caught a live town hall meeting on cable and watched it disintegrate into an old-fashioned barroom brawl. Today, looking at the "news" on my PC, I began reading totally vile posts from various "news" sites where people curse and call total strangers insulting names (language like that would have gotten my mouth washed out with soap even into my late teens).

News writing--when I was in school--was not a place for opinion or conjecture. A news story (and I won awards for school newspaper writing) consisted of WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY and HOW. Anything else went on the "op-ed" or editorial page. Somehow, those lines have become extremely blurred. News is buried under an avalanche of conjecture, supposition, and layers of "expert commentary". News reports are not meant to be entertainment--they are to inform. The "straight scoop" on any subject is extremely hard to find and (dare I say it) cannot be condensed into short sound-bites. So, the side who gets heard most is often the side who shouts loudest or pays best...

We can disagree without being childish boors, can't we? I can respect a studied opinion even if I don't agree with it--I have no respect for adults who revert to infantile behaviors such as shouting, name-calling and spitting on others.

Dumb and Dumber--Where does it Stop?

Please help start a movement to save the English language!

Most of my friends are 40+ and I enjoy surrounding myself with people who read and enjoy the arts. Call us "old fogeys" if you will, but we enjoy intellectual discussion on many varied topics. Several of us will start reading a novel and get so engrossed with some aspect of the setting or timeline that we will head to the nearest encyclopedia for a deeper understanding.

Recently, we have noticed more slang in printed works. Slang has a place in creating characters or moods, but too much of an okay thing is not at all right. Then we began to notice books in which computer proofing caused grammar errors--"two" for "too" or "to"; "their" being used for "there" and vice-versa--need I go on?

And I could truly rant about the obnoxious spelling present in "tweets", text-messages and e-mails. What started as a few emoticons in e-mails from one friend to another has begun to steamroll into blatant disregard--even in professional environs--for intelligent written communication.

A noted magazine geared towards writers is having a lively discussion through the letters to the editor due to a contest-winning entry that could have benefited from better grammar and punctuation.

The editorial column in volume 11, issue 4 of North and South explains my angst much more coherently than I; please find a copy and read it.

Our President has challenged us to learn and to value education no matter our age. If we are to meet all the challenges inherent in keeping the United States as a world power throughout the next decades, we must be able to communicate. Writing, whether on paper or electronically produced, must make clear sense to those who read and act upon what was written. Creativity is transmitted best when it is concise and readable. This is true when talking to my boss. It is true when writing a blog post. It is true when discussing possible solutions to financial problems, global warming, cessation of hostilities across the world--imagine diplomacy without precise translation from one language to another...

I have forgotten grammar, syntax, and spelling more often than I care to admit, and this aspiring writer knows she will never be the next J.K. Rowling, Lincoln Childs, Diana Gabaldon or Kathy Lynn Emerson. I pray however, that my inevitable rejection letters will not come because of spelling or sloppy sentence structure.

I refuse to "dumb down" to increase my audience. Each day brings us another opportunity to stretch our imaginations and increase our communication skills, and I refuse to believe I am alone in holding true to traditional ideals of language. Our young people will rise to a challenge if we require it as we have in the past. They have begun to read again thanks to "Twilight" and "Harry Potter". Now we need to encourage them to write (thanks Christopher Paolini for proving it can be done!).

"Artful Blogging"

I've enjoyed past issues of this rather costly magazine before, but the most recent (Feb/Mar/Apr 2009) issue has just blown me away! Not only because of the creativity of the artists whose blogs are featured, but most especially for the sheer encouragement to "jump on in"--to start from where I am as an artist/writer. As long as I am continuing to learn/grow/develop, it is more important to enjoy the journey than to strive to reach a possibly artificial destination. There are no final destinations, only resting spots on the way to the next leg of the trip around the wheel of life.

This issue has encouraged me to add more art to my blog, to post more often, and to even learn how to add a banner (hopefully soon to come).

Some folks have multiple blogs for their multiple interests and I have often allowed the OCD side of my personality to run rampant with a self-induced guilt trip that I have not followed that trend. This blog runs the gamut from my political rants to my desire for increased environmental awareness; from my book reviews to my organizational challenges; from my papercrafting to my memories of simpler times. "Artful Blogging" freed me from these niggling OCD thoughts. This blog reflects me. Just as I am NOT a one-dimensional person, my blog is not a one-dimensional work-in-progress.

So, who knows what will be posted next? Bookmarks or cards I have created? A book review? A rant regarding the commercialization of a religious holiday? New tips for living a greener life? A product review? Whatever it is, it will reflect an aspect of me--Linda Kay--and whether someone else enjoys or agrees, it will be an honest aspect of where I am in that moment. I hope you come back for more...

History is Closer Than I Sometimes Realize

I was dealing with a software issue today at work when my client made the comment "Oh, the wonders of technology," in a rather disgruntled tone. We laughed, and I was astonished to realize that I remember heavy, black rotary dial phones--the only choice being wall or desk models. We had Exchanges--not Area Codes. Princess phones were a huge fad for a while, then lo and behold, they developed push-button technology!!! Exchanges such as FRanklin or TAylor were translated to digits--FR1-2345 became 371-2345 and TA4-5678 was now 824-5678. A second extension was sometimes (if you had been very good and studious in school) allowed in your bedroom once you reached your mid-teens. Mind you, it wasn't a separate number, but you could talk without standing in the kitchen (before 9 PM of course).


I could go on and on but this has suggested a new project for me--a mini book showing the ways I have been able to communicate throughout my years. Adopted children like me can't always pass conventional genealogies to their descendants, but personal history is another matter. Has there ever been another generation since the Renaissance when technology has developed as far as fast? What a Blessing to live in such an age! And what a greater Blessing to realize that all this communication is nothing more than a way to produce more noise and stress unless a person has the strength and presence of mind to set communication boundaries.



(to be continued)...