So…um…yeah.
This website.
Like the cobwebs?
Didn’t mean to completely abandon it but life has been busy. I know, I know, you’ve heard it before. But I have been busy! I promise!
But 2010 will be different. I mean it! I will be back and this blog will reflect my newest love – social media. My goodness, I can’t get enough of it and so maybe this will keep me on a regular posting schedule. I write about myself enough at my other blog. Don’t need to do it here too.
Are there any books on writing (writing better, writing faster, learning about great writers) that you would recommend? Leave them in the comments!
Let me write a post before people think I have really abandoned this blog like a sad puppy on the side of the road.
Work has been keeping me busy. Which is good. But it’s bad because it leaves me with no time to update the blog that lets you all know how busy I am! Catch 22.
But trust that this writing thing is going well. Coming up on year number 2 of full-time employment (pause for applause). Beginning to do a number of things that will set me up with different streams of employment. I’m loving it.
Even though I started out as a newspaper major in college, I never really had a fondness for them the way I did with magazines. Newspapers were always so big and clumsy. I couldn’t snuggle in bed with the Metro section. It just didn’t work. Plus, all the text and the lightweight paper annoyed me. With magazines, there was at least some heft. Some notion that, “Hey, you might want to keep this around for a while.”
I get all my news online. All of it. I alerted my boss to an article I thought she’d enjoy in the Wall Street Journal. Her reply/question? What page did it appear on? I had no idea and when I went to go get a copy to tell her, I realized the newspaper felt weird in my hands. I hadn’t touched one in so long that it was like touching a strange fruit or a long-lost stuffed animal. Really strange.
But then I remembered election night and the days that followed. When they announced the results, I went berserk. I took a picture of the TV. I took a picture of my kids. I took a picture of the MSN.com homepage. Hmmm…That last one didn’t quite work. Websites have their place – and that place is primarily breaking news, need-to-know-now. When I wanted something to show my kids, pulling out a picture of a website isn’t going to cut.
What did I do next? I simply devoured every printed material I could get my hands on. I bought copies upon copies of every newspaper in a 35-mile radius. I wiped out the racks at Borders and Target.
I’m still collecting magazines as we speak. There’s something about the permanence of it that won’t let printed material die. Trust me on that.
There is so much on my plate these days and not only am I not hungry, but I’m stuffed. I couldn’t take on more if I wanted to.
We’re in the midst of a move, which is stressful enough, but I’ve also had expanded responsibilities at work (which is a good thing), and the kids seem to be getting one cold after the other. I’m working my way through everything day by day, which is really all you can do.
I’ve gotten a few more freelance projects that I’m really excited about, primarily because this new mortgage payment isn’t going to pay itself.
So I’ve become really good friends with my daily planner and my Outlook inbox to make sure I stay on top of everything.
Success is not an accident, only the result of hard work and determination. I feel it more and more every day.
Got some kudos at work today that made me feel good. Not that it doesn’t happen often, but when it does, I like to embrace it fully, wear it proudly for a few days to give me the strength and energy to produce high quality work even when the rest of my life is demanding my time and energy also.
Trying to figure out what my career is going to be when I haven’t exactly figured out what I’m good at is proving difficult. I know I’m a writer, but applying those skills to different tasks (copywriting for instance) takes a lot more patience and revision than I’m used to.
But I’m getting there. Every day I go to work, I get a clearer idea about what I want my career to look like in 5, 10, 15, 20 years. That’s progress.
2008, the year that saw me get (and excel at, if I do say so myself) my first full time job, is finally drawing to a close. While I did have a three-month gap for my maternity leave, it still feels like one of the longest years of my life. I got a lot accomplished, but most of all, I feel like my life has direction now. Finally on the path to self-fulfillment and all that good stuff.
Here are four goals for 2009 that I hope I can look back on and pat myself on the back for accomplishing them:
Sixteen months after graduating from college and 10 months after starting full-time employment, I had my first performance review.
I wasn’t nervous going into it, because my boss is the type to tell you at the moment (when it’s most useful) if there’s something you could work on. It’s easy to self-correct during the year, because she gives you running commentary to work on.
My first year as a true professional has been eye-opening. Still trying to figure out where I want my career to go, but I do know that I’m enjoying what I do much more than I thought I would. My job in a nutshell is to help the communcations team get the word out about our organization. And what an organization it is! We’ve launched programs to help misguided youth, we’ve attracted international businesses to the Cleveland area, we’ve given churches training to help them provide to the community. That’s about 1/16 of what we do. The work basically speaks for itself – all we have to do is figure out the most effective way to present it.
In an effort to spend as much time as possible outside the apartment before I go back to work, I packed up my son and we headed out to explore our city. (Well, “city” might be overstating it, but I refuse to believe I live in a “town” so let’s just call it a city, shall we?)
While we were out, we stopped at the library. Even though we’ve lived here for almost six months now, I’m just now making my way there.
Due to the current economic conditions, and my desire to save as much money as possible, I signed up for a library card. My habit of buying books is getting to be expensive, and if I’m going to keep up with all the latest bestsellers, I need to take advantage of the fact that there’s a place in our community that let’s you have books. That you can take home. For free. No charge. WHO KNEW?
I really want to begin reading more. The past two years I’ve read a book here or there, but I remember a time in my life where I would regularly plow through a book or two a week. I liked those days. I felt smarter when I was able to sit down with something longer than a magazine article.
But now I’m not sure where to begin. Any suggestions, dear readers? Any books out that made you think, gave you a new perspective on something? Let me know. I’m ready to put my card to good use.
I guess it’s official that we’re in a recession now. *Yawn*
The reason why I’m not stressing out or panicking or cursing to the heavens, “Why?!!? Oh why?!?!” is because I’ve been living like it’s a recession all my life.
This piece on CNN.com, about the many ways people are cutting back, made me chuckle. In the lede, a mom discusses moving into a smaller home and cutting out expenses such as getting her lawn serviced.
Hmm, let me think about that for a minute. When I was younger, we lived in a smaller home. Heck, I live in an apartment now. My dad always cut our grass, and he bought enough rakes for us to help remove the leaves in the fall.
What people fail to realize in this economy is that for the first time, the financial conditions are forcing people to live like regular people. Regular people don’t drink $5 lattes and don’t get their dog groomed once a month. Regular people don’t live in 3,000 square foot homes with landscaped lawns.
Regular people have been living paycheck-to-paycheck without any way to get those “luxuries” that other people speak of. How do you cut back when you’re struggling to survive as is? When are we going to tell those stories?
