A few Measly Steps a Day #2

@Revu2, so sorry that you had that aggravating experience -- so frustrating!

Well, we did lose electricity for 3 hours and about 40 minutes while we had guests.

But we had the bathtub filled with water so that we could flush the toilet with a bucket of water. And the folks already knew what to do.

And I filled several bottles with tap water for drinking.

Two of the guests (my daughter and her partner) were staying in a nearby hotel that didn't lose power, so they had a comfortable evening.

Also they helped remove some of the frozen snow from the driveway.

Two different snowplow folks were unavailable. One was on his way to the airport for a vacation; the other didn't call back, although I think we reached his beeper and tried to leave a message on it.

I know this thread has existed for a long time, but have never read it in detail. Do you discuss large writing projects here? How to get from A to Z when this requires a lot of incremental effort?

Hi TCJ! I was just wondering why more folks from the general MSF realm don't pop in very often!

@delightful is the novel writer here, but any project that's overwhelming gets broken down into

The very first post describes the "guidelines" (which I rarely follow). Myself, I just want to stay in touch with @Revu2 and @delightful and offer encouragement when I can.

I will read the very first post!

Hi, Tart Cherry Jam,

I like your logon.

So many things to say about writing!
This is what is true for me. It may or may not be true for you. I don't know you except for two paragraphs that you've posted here.

The hardest part is to start when you haven't written for a while. To get started, I write anything, and I do mean anything: how stupid I feel, what I'm going to have for dinner, what I wish for. And from there, I'll write something about my story (I write fiction) and what my characters are doing, and why what I just wrote is stupid. (I use humor to get through hard stuff.) I suspect that the putdowns are not productive, but that's what I do. Anyway, once you get started, it's easier to keep going.

Get friends. Revue and Square Peg have been my friends for years. Revue has been my source of encouragement, and the person to whom I've been accountable when I wanted that. Square Peg has also kept me going, and I want to add that his dog, Shadow (who died a few months ago) is featured in my book, "The Molly Chronicles." Writing is solitary work, and I need to read my work to someone from time to time. Also, both friends have helped me with computer issues.

Oh, here's a great prompt: "I am from . . ." Start with that phrase and write about where you came from - who your parents were.
Write "I am from: and describe the foods that were important to you
Write "I am from" and describe family traditions, spiritual values,
Write "I am from" and whatever else you think made you the person you are today.


I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised with the result.


I could add a lot more about writing, but this is probably enough for now.

Great advice, @delightful!

Julia Cameron, who wrote "The Artist's Way," advises to start each morning with Morning Pages, before anything else.

I used to record dreams even before getting out of bed. Not that I've written a book...

Personally I think there's more to it than that. You've made the main characters in your "Temporary Address" books so real, and in Johanna's case, extremely likeable. You wouldn't believe how worried I was about her!

Thank you for guidance! And I am now writing down dreams. By hand. Maybe not in detail, but enough to capture the plot and the emotion I felt while dreaming. I have several sheets and I need to designate time to either type the notes up in a Google Doc or at least to scan the pages so that I won't lose them.

Before, for many months, I had a thread of emails to myself about those dreams. But it did not work. I would forget them faster and find the digital process disturbing. By hand is much better for me. Literally those are my jottings.

A lot of what I have written so far is "I am from..." Mostly autobiographical with some fiction woven in, but very little.

Thank you for liking my logon! I have tried several on this forum until I settled on this one, which is precisely who I am.

I will get my ducks in a row and join you guys on this thread. Square Peg has already been a friend and enormous source of support on other threads.

I welcome you, too, Tart Cherry Jam!

I opened a thread for my mimicking the way John Steinbeck reflected on his state and process before his daily "work" of writing. For both Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden he either kept a journal or wrote a letter to his editor each writing session to warm himself up.

I found his comments spot on and am very happy he published them. Responding to your joining us has inspired me to find my notes. Here one from his Grapes journal:

[pages 29-30/ entry #18 dated 6/18/38] If only I can do this book properly it would be one of the really fine books and a truly American book. But I am assailed by my own ignorance and inability. I'll just have to work from a background of these. Honesty. If I can keep an honesty it is all I can expect of my poor brain—never temper a work to a reader's prejudice, but bend it like putty for his understanding. If I can do that it will be all my lack of genius can produce. For no one else knows my lack of ability the way I do. I am pushing against it all the time. Sometimes I seem to do a good little piece of work, but when it is done it slides into mediocrity.

Yes, please keep writing despite any internal chatter to the contrary.

And let us know your steps and progress and yearnings for support on our thread.

How humble Steinbeck was!

Steinbeck was spot on. Which is probably why he is one of the great authors. When I post here, I think it's similar to Steinbeck's diary or his letters to his editor. Never thought of that before, and I don't do it every morning before writing my story, but I think it serves a similar purpose. Also, I was struck by his comments about honesty. Here's what it means for me. They call it "your voice." My best writing comes out when I write as if I were talking to my best friend. It's me and it's real. Interesting thought - Microsoft has given me "co-pilot" which will write for me. In other words - it's artificial intelligence. I did play with it, and I even used two sentences that it wrote. But mostly, it sounds stupid because it isn't my voice. It isn't honest. I'm curious what literature will look like as AI becomes more common.

p.s. so many good things come from dreams.

I agree! Totally!

I re-read the quote from John Steinbeck. I think I understand his concern.

As artists we have a certain image we'd like to convey. Suppose I have an image in mind of a salted pretzel made from a guitar neck. I have the image clearly in mind, but I have no control over what you might see in your mind's eye if I paint or draw it.

On top of that, I never liked how my paintings or drawings turned out because I couldn't get them to exactly resemble the image in my mind. But folks seemed to like the stuff I did.

In the end, all that matters is how the viewer/reader perceives the result.

Newly unemployed, I have some steps to take:

• File for unemployment.
• Find an employment attorney to review the terms of my termination letter.
• Update "resume"
• Identify popular skills I might lack and self-train (Python scripting?)
• Figure out if my wife and I are really willing to relocate
• Apply for jobs
• Pick up my belongings from work
• Network
• Total up the dollar amount of the severance package
• Am I eligible for medicare yet? Figure out insurance matters
• Think of more stuff to do and write that down

Quick answer on medicare: I'm a few years early on that one.

Square Peg - oh, so sorry. Wishing you all kinds of support looking for work. did you see it coming?

Very sorry to hear that, Square Peg. I am no expert, but I have heard that if you leverage ChatGPT, you can become proficient in Python quite fast.

Instead of a "things to do" list. I'm looking at a "things I want to learn" list. Here are a few of them.


How to use wordpress.
How Amazon's ads work.
How to thread the bobbin on my sewing machine.
How to use epoxy.

On my "done" list, I finished another of my unfinished projects (gluing a piece of sculpture together) and my house is in pretty good shape. I made a couple of phone calls that I've been putting off. And I've done quite a bit of writing.


That's it for me.

Oh, SPG, seems you're taking up this job loss challenge in good form. I know there's also other feelings that arrive with involuntary changes in income and status. Stills, small steps, in series, add up.

Delightful, like your framing goals as stuff you want to learn. Quiet as it's kept, I think tips and tutorials are one of the most popular genres on the interwebs. Same pattern happened when printing presses spread across Europe: people bought many guides and manuals and "keep the presses running."

Me? I graced myself with an idle day. The weather was a crisp 50° more or less. Went searching for stinging nettles but they are not up just yet. Stood talking with a neighbor I hadn't seen in maybe a couple of years. Then bought some niche miche bread at one store and duck eggs and heavy cream at another.

My steps are:

Keep reading blogs and articles on the Sisyphus Myth. I asked ChatGPT for 10 blogs or articles written around this myth, and I am reading my way through them. Why this? I see my role at my condo as the Lonely Most Caring Active Owner as close to Sisyphus. It's yucky work, unending, and thankless. AI helped me write reflections on this theme which I put in my Steinbeck Warmups collection on this site.

Maintain my research into Edinburgh. Just finished reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. On track to get the DVD someplace and watch that soon.

Finish my partnership 1065 tax form in the next several days and mail it off certified mail before March 15. [A few years ago, I mailed it 2 or 3 days late and the IRS wanted to charge us $450. I begged clemency, granted, and her parting advice was mail it cert. mail. So we do. Under protest.]

Tomorrow night I'm out to hear some Jazz and catch some art during the monthly Art Walk.

Thank you for inviting me to join in.

My next step is to find out how to record my voice so that the recording can later be transcribed (by AI?) and I would then edit the transcript. This way it won't be my writing from scratch all the time, but also editing what I say out loud.

I also would like to record my own voice during phone convos. Not to record the other party, mind you, but my own monologues which sometimes happen.

It is probably impossible to use the phone to talk AND record in another app. I wonder if getting a journalist-quality recording device would be worth the cost. One of my former students is a journalist who interviews people. I will write to her and ask his question.

I'm wondering why you don't just use dictation to write yourself an email. Then later you can copy/paste the email contents into the AI. On Android, the "Google Voice Typing" keyboard seems to use AI anyway to figure out context and the most likely words you're trying to say. (Although that could be Google search's AI...)

Thank you for your support on the job loss! Here's an update:

• File for unemployment.DONE, it seems I'll get about half my take home.
• Find an employment attorney to review the terms of my termination letter.
• Update "resume" IN PROGRESS, nearly complete
• Identify popular skills I might lack and self-train (Python scripting?)
• Figure out if my wife and I are really willing to relocate
• Apply for jobs
• Pick up my belongings from work DONE
• Network IN PROGRESS -- ongoing
• Total up the dollar amount of the severance package 30% DONE-ish. It's only 6 weeks cash salary, but I'll also see accelerated vesting on two stock grants, and there a "refund" of a mandatory salary reduction that took place last year.
• Am I eligible for medicare yet? NO
• Figure out insurance matters WELL, I figured out what I need to figure out. But then I have to figure that out. Insurances remain in effect until March 31, including the FSA charge card (WOOT!). First thing I want to know is whether I keep the deductible (which I've already met) under COBRA.
• NEW: Use the legal plan to create a will and an estate before I lose the benefit.
• Think of more stuff to do and write that down IN PROGRESS -- ongoing

Oh, I forgot to write that I'm glad you're here, @Tart Cherry Jam!

Thanks for that tip! A coworker used AI to generate code in a different language. It was very helpful and produced a good platform to build on!

I saw something coming. These were the signs, the so-called "writing on the wall":

• Years ago, a VP mistakes me for a part of technical staff and tells me that our unit has to prove itself, otherwise it'll be closed down. That was information not intended for my ears.
• The design work (that I did) is shifted to an overseas location. The pretense is that the other location has much better manufacturing (which is true).
• I'm assigned tasks and responsibilities outside my comfort area and with no training. (I'm not really needed there at this point.)
• Boss complains about my progress (attempting to gaslight me into thinking I'm valueless). And he especially doesn't like it when I point out the lack of training. (It's a trigger for him, apparently.)
• And he complains about my attitude.
• The place is a sheethole and poorly maintained.
• Boss threatens to put me on probation.
• Boss issues a written warning, which he has me sign.

So I expected the next step was the probation.

Meanwhile, the business climate keeps getting worse. CEO announces company-wide layoffs -- an unprecedented step for this place. I begin to see hope, here, but I stop short of asking about whether they'd like voluntary layoffs.

When I responded to my last 1:1, I was apprehensive. You'd be surprised how delighted I was to find out I was being laid off. The poor HR girl was the only one who was upset.