A few Measly Steps a Day

No news, but I avoid their news as much as my friends allow me. Keeps my mood elevated. Don't give me meds, force me to watch the news.

Keep at the writing and enjoy the gusts of momentum when they find you.
Worked on this latest application. Twice I wanted to be done and find I missed or only partially answered one of the longer questions. Due Friday, so I'm complete enough if I want for the day. Want it finished but don't want to rush it.

Taking a day to avoid anything that may frustrate. This entailed a decent breakfast, a long nap, and catching up on some videos in the queue.

Will explore some interesting personal transitions in the my Steinbeck warmup thread.

Tomorrow, back to what may frustrate.

Good wishes dealing with possible frustrations. May they be few and easily resolved. (Same goes for me.)

I may complete some tasks in the next couple of weeks. (I'll say no more. I don't want to jinx myself.) Tomorrow my grand daughter comes over for some home schooling. If it works well, she'll be over here one day a week. I'm excited about it. Her school has a website with on-line lessons, and I think she'll enjoy them and be motivated. In California most schools are closed. They can't open until COVID numbers for their county meet certain criteria.

I wish I were more motivated. Ignore this if I've posted it earlier - I re-read "Temporary Address" (the prequel to "Through Unfamiliar Waters") and I hated it. So I'm editing it. The good thing about independent publishing - you can go back and edit. But the bar is raised, and I'm having trouble metaphorically jumping over it. I'm telling myself "small steps."

Thanks for being here.

"What you want to be eventually, you must be everyday. With practice, the quality of your deeds will get down into your soul."~ Frank Crane
A quote plucked from the retired Barbara Sher forum. Could serve as the motto of this thread.

Join us, take part, dare to list any goal. Vent, rave, appreciate yourself and others.

People's stories who achieve wild successes are written like they toiled alone. They didn't. The musician had her lessons, the athlete his coaches and peers.

Tap in,
Revu2

Everyday, keep up with life.

Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life's accounts every day ... One who daily puts the finishing touches to his life is never in want of time. ~ Seneca, Moral Letters to Lucilius

It's all good over here. I uploaded "Through Unfamiliar Waters" and I emailed the photo and the specifications to my designer. I anticipate problems with the photo - it's a jpg which probably means that they'll reject because it doesn't have enough resolution. And I can't get the program to accept bleed. That means that the photo on the cover goes all the way to the edge of the paper. So I predict some frustration is on its way.

Meanwhile I'm editing "Temporary Address." it's improving, but I may never get it to be what I want. It seems mushy, corny, and other words meaning no one's going to read it.
Home-schooling my grand daughter was fun and, I think, productive.

it's hot and smokey down here. I'm not supposed to be depressed about my first novel, but I'm working on editing it.

Hi, working is always better than letting depression creep in.

Went to a Sunday Market on it's first day back. Very subdued, food vendors only had frozen take out. Some typical flea market stuff. Sat under trees with a view of Lake Union and read some. Then home to nap for hours.

A bit of freedom in front of a holiday.

R

Enjoy your down time, R.

Interesting weather phenomenon - Today was supposed to be really hot; It was supposed to peak at around 93 degrees. Instead, all the smoke from the fires shielded us, and the temperature peaked at about 80. So far over two million acres in California have burned. Crazy! And fire season is just starting.

Went up to the lake yesterday and came back with a furious case of poison oak.

Other than that - just plugging along.

Happy stepping.

This is the weirdest thing I've ever seen. The sky is a uniform shade of pink/orange, and it has been for the last two hours. There's no fire nearby - I smelled for smoke and there isn't any. According to the news, there's a layer of smoke and pollution up high that is blocking the sunlight. it's 9:30 in the morning, and I need a light on to see anything. So far two and quarter million acres of California have been burned.

The orange sky stayed orange until about one o'clock. I'm not making this up. Then there were two hours of gray sky, but it was so dark that all the drivers turned their headlights on. It was like nuclear winter, like science fiction. At about three in the afternoon, the sky became orange again. I am about a hundred miles away from the nearest large fire, and yet it looked like the fire was right here.
The following the day instead of orange, the sky was a white/gray sky. If I went outside, I could feel a stinging sensation in my throat.
Today visibility is about a thousand feet. Three million acres have burned. As far as I can tell, it's the national forests that are still burning. Make of that what you will.

My goals for September:

Four tweets - 1 completed
Four letters to senators - 1 completed
Four Facebook posts
Nanowrimo 50,000 words

set blog
four blog posts

publish Through Unfamiliar Waters

re-publish Temporary Address (this last goal probably won't happen in September)

I just had a private email exchange with another Barbara Sher expat who lives in SF CA and she spoke of the hardships it's wrecked on her. Temperatures into the 100s and even just an hour outdoors affecting her breathing.
Keep things filtered. In Seattle, we're getting smoke from the south and east. Nothing as bad as being/living in the midst.

Goals at the moment are to stay alert and ready to help my client succeed. Plus, there are seemingly non-ending crises afoot at this condo which keep me occupied.

For a couple of days I sat with one of my lined note pads and write two or three pages. I now have about 6 pages, and there they sit. Going back and typing them into the computer doesn't feels exciting. More like a chore.

Just looked up ol' Ernest's procedure and he wrote in pencil (working through 7 #2 pencils was a good day) kept count on an old piece of cardboard (500 words = good day). He transcribed standing up, sometimes for seven hours, on an electric typewriter. He also wrote standing up.

"In his lifetime only published seven novels, some collections of short stories and two non-fiction works."

I also know The Artist's Way advocated writing three pages in longhand stream of consciousness.

Yet, on the other hand, Isaac Asimov wrote or edited more than 500 books. How'd he do it?. Here are three nuggets from Asimov:
Isaac Asimov's Best Writing Habits
1. Asimov wrote every day, whether or not he felt like it.
2. Asimov used a simple writing style.
3. Asimov didn't care about critics.
Now, this give me a lot to think, er, write about. R

The only booked thing today is this call. It's tight: just 30 minutes. Reminders to self:

1. Answer the Question!
2. Be brief.
3. No humor/sarcasm.
4. Don't marry the sound of my own voice.
5. Let them know when I've finished answering.
6. B R E A T H E

I hope your phone call went well. Reminders to yourself make a lot of sense.

R - You've accomplished so much since I first met you (virtually) If you were meant to write, you will find a way. And sometimes you have to take a break - sometimes a long break - Believe me I know. And if it's not meant to be, well, that's fine too. If you were meant to write, you'll go back to it, and you'll feel inspired again, and you'll find a way to do it.

According to the news, our smoke made it's way to Seattle, hovered there for a day or two, and is now heading east across the Sacramento Valley and onward to Nevada and so forth.

I set some goals for myself earlier this month Here's where they stand:

Four tweets - 2 completed
Four letters to senators - 2 completed
Four Facebook posts
Nanowrimo 50,000 words - 15000 words completed

set up blog
four blog posts

publish Through Unfamiliar Waters The writing is finished, and I'm waiting for my designer to finish my cover art. I'm reading through it one more time, and found five mistakes in 200 pages. (For me that's really good.)

re-publish Temporary Address (this last goal probably won't happen in September) I'm working on it. It's still not very good. This is where "taking a break" comes in. I have to work on it, be frustrated, and then it feel like something is perking in the back of my brain, and then - aha! the flash of insight. At least I hope there will be flashes of insight. it's weird - I reach into my creative brain looking for that idea and it's just not there. I do know that if I don't keep writing, it will never be there.

As a friend of mine would say (R) "to the page."

D, chugging along is better than stalled. I think your strategy of stepping away is spot on, though I suspect part of you feels like it's a defeat.

The interview(s) went well. One on Wed. for getting on a roster of consultants and one on Thursday to assist a branch of the univ. library on diversity, inclusion, and equity issues. I have a proposal to get to over the weekend. A good thing.

Yesterday, a meet up of a user group I'm part of met for the first time after the original organizer stepped down. First one planned and done w/o him. Except for the event organizer having a last minute family emergency, all went well. Even down to logging on and getting a bit of the back-stage chatter of the step-in facilitators.

Today, the heaviest load is reading a couple of emails about a property transfer. I had dinner guests so only got a glimpse last night. The tone felt off, so I'm bracing for a tough day.

Fortitude, to the day. R

Sounds like a productive time, R.

I'm getting impatient for the book cover to be finished. I really can't complain since she's doing it for free. And yes, I'm grateful. I did offer to pay her - several times.

My goals (from earlier posts - remember?) - completed all my tweets. I'm now a tweetie bird champ. My nanowrimo goal - I'm halfway there at almost 25000 words. That's my progress to date. Other goals are unchanged. Okay, to the editing, and editing, and editing.

Today: send a proposal due end of work today.
Watch email for emerging news re: my client's property transfer.

Not much.

my goals:

four tweets done plus a few more. 29,000 words written, and I'm stalled.
I'm sick - don't worry it's not COVID. So I'm taking it very slow. Yesterday I spent the day lying around watching TV. Today I'll try to get some stuff done. I need antibiotics, and it's hard to contact my doctor because of the COVID. Plus my normal PC physician quit, and I haven't established a connection with the new ones.

More to come later.

Hi D., keep it slow and fully recover.
I got to thinking about what's next when this deal is finally completed? Everything was so BIG. Then I asked myself: Can't I do Easy?
Can I leave BIG and find EASY?

My heroes as a child took on Huge stuff: Amelia Earhart, Frederick Douglass, Abolitionists, and on the list ran. Big-A stuff. So I have.

Yes, I know, there's always too many Big stuff around.

I long for Small & Easy. For a while? For the rest of my life? I've seldom just drifted. It feels like everyday since the age of about 12 I've had some Intention. How about getting a PhD without a Masters Degree. Did it. Living a live mostly the way I want, whatever Parents or the State or that mysterious group Society believe. Doing it.

I like fish, don't much like feeding mosquitoes. Maybe a sign like: Big Closed until further notice! Gone to lie in a hammock and read fiction.
R

HI, R,

I've usually alternated between big and easy.

I had a scare yesterday. My daughter (doctor) called and said she was running a temperature. The obvious conclusion was COVID. Later she told me that she's probably not sick. Her temp is back to normal. She was just being super careful because of COVID. Whew! However, kids often soft=pedal their news to keep their parents from worrying. Me - I have my antibiotics and I'm doing okay.

Yesterday I got back into writing.

Enjoy the hammock and the book.

Sitting with Easy. Good company. No demands. Sketched out some of the free floating feelings I hold around 'easy.'
Having gotten higher grades through school, easy I associate with underperforming.

Who gets to decide that? I never voted. "Hey, Revu, we're taking a vote. Are you underperforming." This is the alternative way to lament I wasn't working at my full potential.

Out!
Wha?
Yes, out with you! Just Go!
I was only ...
Heard it before, rejecting it now. Go! Don't let the door slam. Oh, gimme the key. Hand it over.
But, but.
Key please ... thank you. You're leaving quietly or do I have to call Security?
Ah, all right. You'll miss me when I'm gone.
Got that right. The mental quiet will allow me to hear my own heart beating.

R

Hi, R
I know you have a doctorate, so no one's going to accuse you of underachieving. The question I'd ask is, "What needs to be done now - big or easy?" And "What do you need - a challenge or a break?"
Me - My daughter's COVID test came back negative. Yay!
Me - I'm just plugging away. I've hit a good part in writing. That means I'm enjoying it and I'm being productive. Come to think of it, that's both big and easy. I'm savoring it. This doesn't happen all that often.

Continuing ...
These accusations come from inside. Drilled in and hooking my competitive side. So, here's a test. I want to copy out several ¶s from Kenko's Essays in Idleness. I confused the title to mean Essays ON Idleness. Lazy reading.

What would be the easiest way to do this?

1. Find it already on line. Translation in the current copyright period. No luck.
2. Type it out directly, edit, proof. Not sure how long that would take, maybe 20 minutes.
3. Scan it with text converting (optical character recognition, OCR) software. The scanner is put away and takes a total of 10 minutes to set-up and put back. Still need to proof it.
4. Voice to text using Otter. This would need proofing and edits.
5. Buy a used copy and mail the whole book. Takes days and money.
6. Don't bother. Do something else.

The last couple are a joke. The voice transcription gets old fast due to the approximate guesses the programs makes which need to be carefully double checked.
OCR gets close to the hassles of working with the transcription.
Which leaves typing it out directly.
What would be the easiest way to do that? I think reading it through for a couple of days before getting to the work itself. Just looking at it w/o reading a couple of time. Imagining my happiness when I am finished.
Oh, I could push it through FIVRR or Upwork, or Mechanical Turk and offer $$ to someone to transcribe it if they have a copy around.
R