Paper, Ink and Me... we're all the same, this is what I learned this weekend. I went to our local State Park, just me, hubby, our dog, and our camper. The state park is only about 20 miles from our house, but it's on a beautiful river and has glorious huge trees that when the wind blows thru them they sound incredible. And we can have a campfire and spend time talking to each other, vs talking to ourselves at our computers, or talking to our computers to tell them how stupid they are. We take our guitars and play by the campfire, we do things we don't do at home, we could but we just don't. That's why I love camping. I took along a book I'd been wanting to read for about, ummm 5 years now.
Anyone that's been listening to me at all for the last 6 months knows I'm writing a book. I love my book, but I think, as we sometimes do with our children, it has become a reflection of me and I take it very personally if someone criticizes it or doesn't like it for whatever reason. I want my book to make everyone happy, and if it doesn't I somehow feel I'm not making them happy. It's all become very twisted and much too important to me, I recognize that. I know because I don't sleep, I forget to eat, I can hardly wait to get up in the morning to work on it some more or read the last re-write from the night before, when my eyes were glazed over with grogginess and everything I wrote sounded marvelous and inspired! (rarely the case).
In my last post I mentioned I had given the Introduction and the first three chapters to three friends to read and give me feedback. Then I perched myself on the edge of my seat and waited for them to call me to tell me it was the best thing they had ever read but they couldn't wait until the next time they saw me to tell me that. Hey, I'm just being totally honest here. But no one called and I went camping without knowing what they thought.
Well, the book I took had a chapter called "Get Over Yourself." I'm serious, you can't make this stuff up! The Burden of Arrogance was the subtitle. Now, I seriously didn't recognize that this chapter had anything to do with me (ok, anyone that has ever not been blind to their faults raise your hand).
This is the chapter that did it for me. The author says; "God hates arrogance. (and well He should I'm thinking). He hates arrogance because we haven't done anything to be arrogant about. (Are you ready 'cause here it comes); Do art critics give awards to the canvas? Is there a Pulitzer for ink? Of course not. They are only tools, so they get no credit for the accomplishments."
That hit me between the eyes and God showed me that I had forgotten that He is the one that gave me the stories I am writing, He created the people they are about, He put me in their lives at just the right time, He gave me the desire to write about them, and He gives me the Hope that the stories will bless others. I'm no different than the paper they are written on or the ink they are written with, we're all just the tools He is using to do what He does. Thank you Lord for once again reigning me in. You are faithful!
So when I went to church tonight and one of the friends I had given the stories to gave them back with praise and encouragement to go on and write the rest of the stories and I was able to honestly say; "Thank you Lord" and not get carried away with thoughts of my soon to be recognized greatness and fortune.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Cut, Revise, Snip, and Bleed
Editing is a funny business. I've been working on the stories for my 1st book the last few days. Oh how hard it is to cut something out, revise how it's written or snip a few words out of a sentence. Each time I hit the delete key I feel like I'm bleeding to death! But you know what? After it's done, and I go back and read it over, I like it even more! And I can't even remember exactly what it was I cut, revised or snipped.
I'm wondering if anything you write is ever really done? How do you know when it's perfect? I can think a piece is there, and then I read it again in a few days or weeks and see more cutting and snipping is needed. I'd love an answer to that question from a professional, published, or experienced author or editor.
Our Pastor gave a teaching a few weeks ago about how when we let God shine through us it's like brush strokes by God on the canvas of our lives. It so impacted me and I loved it so much I wanted to work it into my book and stories. So the title has changed. It's now (today anyway) called 'Heavenly Artwork On Exhibit' with 'Brush Strokes by God' as the subtitle. I rewrote the ending to the first three stories, revised my Introduction and printed three copies. I handed them out to people I trust to give me honest feedback and now I anxiously await their comments.
On a side note: We went to a dance last night. What fun it was to just kick up our heels, be silly and have good old fashioned fun. A couple of guys from our church organized it, their wives put it together and did all the work to make it happen. Everyone had a great time. The majority vote was to do it again in December. Yay! The Mr. and I learned the basics of the two step. Two steps, sounds pretty simple I know, but it took a lot of work to get 'em down. We'll be practicing and be ready for December, you just wait and see!
I'm wondering if anything you write is ever really done? How do you know when it's perfect? I can think a piece is there, and then I read it again in a few days or weeks and see more cutting and snipping is needed. I'd love an answer to that question from a professional, published, or experienced author or editor.
Our Pastor gave a teaching a few weeks ago about how when we let God shine through us it's like brush strokes by God on the canvas of our lives. It so impacted me and I loved it so much I wanted to work it into my book and stories. So the title has changed. It's now (today anyway) called 'Heavenly Artwork On Exhibit' with 'Brush Strokes by God' as the subtitle. I rewrote the ending to the first three stories, revised my Introduction and printed three copies. I handed them out to people I trust to give me honest feedback and now I anxiously await their comments.
On a side note: We went to a dance last night. What fun it was to just kick up our heels, be silly and have good old fashioned fun. A couple of guys from our church organized it, their wives put it together and did all the work to make it happen. Everyone had a great time. The majority vote was to do it again in December. Yay! The Mr. and I learned the basics of the two step. Two steps, sounds pretty simple I know, but it took a lot of work to get 'em down. We'll be practicing and be ready for December, you just wait and see!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Well, it's been a while since I've even been here. Not that anyone would notice, but I was on such a roll and had visions of entries every day. Then I got that darn cold and it laid me low. I'm just about over it now, I only have the annoying cough that always seems to linger too long.
I haven't done a whole lot since I was here last. I entered another writing contest, the weekly challenge on faithwriters.com, I did all the work that I had to do... and the rest of the time I either whined or slept. I haven't had a chance to read anything or do any more studying on social networking. To tell you the truth, I'm actually getting bored with it all... so maybe it's not the right world for me to live in and try and figure out.
I have 234 followers, I keep getting more whether I do anything or not. I've figured out that if I tweet about something I get a bunch of followers that are related to that subject. I've figured out the search aspect of Twitter and how you can search for certain key words and see who has sent out a message with that word in it. Like when I tweeted about how much I love Saturday, I got a whole slew of Seventh Day Adventists following me. When I write something about writing, I get fellow writers following me. I'm getting a lot of tweets about how to get mega followers quickly... so I'm sure this is just one of the simpler methods they are using. I'm also getting tweets about how to make money (of course it's always LOTS of money) on Twitter.
It's kind of interesting to me that the guys that developed Twitter haven't figured out a way to make money off of it but others have? Can we spell S-C-A-M boys and girls? And of course I have to keep blocking those poor girls that want to take their clothes off for me. I do feel bad when I block them, I say a little prayer that they will find something more productive and rewarding to do with their assets.
Well, I hope nobody minds if this blog changes gears a little. I'll keep writing, I just don't know about what for sure. It seems I'm not willing to put in the hours required to learn the whole Social Networking game and be a pro at it. It's not that I can't... I just don't want to. So there!
My heart is in writing, that's all I really want to do. Maybe I should work at seeing how I can make that pay for itself. My biggest problem there is I'm a writer that writes from the heart. "I calls em as I sees em" someone once said. Every time I try and read information on how to make money by writing I end up with a bunch of technical jargon that doesn't make sense to me. I wouldn't know a dangling participle if it knocked me over. All I know is what I want to say and how I say it is how it comes out.
There just doesn't seem to be a hole that is a perfect fit for this peg. I'll keep on keepin on, doing what I'm doing and let the Lord take care of the rest.
I haven't done a whole lot since I was here last. I entered another writing contest, the weekly challenge on faithwriters.com, I did all the work that I had to do... and the rest of the time I either whined or slept. I haven't had a chance to read anything or do any more studying on social networking. To tell you the truth, I'm actually getting bored with it all... so maybe it's not the right world for me to live in and try and figure out.
I have 234 followers, I keep getting more whether I do anything or not. I've figured out that if I tweet about something I get a bunch of followers that are related to that subject. I've figured out the search aspect of Twitter and how you can search for certain key words and see who has sent out a message with that word in it. Like when I tweeted about how much I love Saturday, I got a whole slew of Seventh Day Adventists following me. When I write something about writing, I get fellow writers following me. I'm getting a lot of tweets about how to get mega followers quickly... so I'm sure this is just one of the simpler methods they are using. I'm also getting tweets about how to make money (of course it's always LOTS of money) on Twitter.
It's kind of interesting to me that the guys that developed Twitter haven't figured out a way to make money off of it but others have? Can we spell S-C-A-M boys and girls? And of course I have to keep blocking those poor girls that want to take their clothes off for me. I do feel bad when I block them, I say a little prayer that they will find something more productive and rewarding to do with their assets.
Well, I hope nobody minds if this blog changes gears a little. I'll keep writing, I just don't know about what for sure. It seems I'm not willing to put in the hours required to learn the whole Social Networking game and be a pro at it. It's not that I can't... I just don't want to. So there!
My heart is in writing, that's all I really want to do. Maybe I should work at seeing how I can make that pay for itself. My biggest problem there is I'm a writer that writes from the heart. "I calls em as I sees em" someone once said. Every time I try and read information on how to make money by writing I end up with a bunch of technical jargon that doesn't make sense to me. I wouldn't know a dangling participle if it knocked me over. All I know is what I want to say and how I say it is how it comes out.
There just doesn't seem to be a hole that is a perfect fit for this peg. I'll keep on keepin on, doing what I'm doing and let the Lord take care of the rest.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
It's just a cold! 9/9/09
Well, I got my web page updated today. www.pamelacalhoun.com I didn't realize how outdated it had become... it still said I was going to start a blog. I need to stay more on top of things!
I'm finding this is a lot of work, having an internet presence. Some days I can think of so many clever (in my opinion) things to say for my Tweets. Other days, like today, I can't think of anything and I'm tempted to put meaningless entries out there, because I've found that as I consistently send out tweets I get followers. I'm not seeing the picture of how exactly that works yet, but I know on the days I send the most tweets I get the most new followers. I'm up to 88 today by the way.
I sent my agent an email updating him on my progress developing an internet presence. I'm sure he'll be pleased. Don't be too impressed by the fact that I have an agent, he hasn't agreed to be my agent... yet. But I've chosen him and I do believe one day he'll take a chance on me. I am beginning to wonder though, if I have my own internet presence, and there are places like faithwriters.com that I can sell my book as an ebook... do I even need an agent?
Just in the nick of time I entered the writing challenge for the week at http://www.faithwriters.com/, If I haven't mentioned it, they have an awesome website where fledgling writers can try their wings in a safe environment and get lots of support and encouragement, along with constructive critisizm. They have a weekly writing challenge and I've entered every week for the last five challenges, so far I haven't placed but I sure do enjoy seeing the responses to my entries.
I caught a cold... that's what I get for leaving the house. I went to church last night and someone there must have brought a visitor that decided to come home with me. I'm always amazed that when someone else gets a cold it's "awww it's just a cold." But when I get a cold I remember how absolutely horrid they are. I'm very angry right now at all those Meth freaks that have made it impossible for me to get my 12 hour can't even tell you have a cold remedy. Anything that works has been pulled from the shelves because of abusers. That really is not fair! But I guess the good news is I'm building immunities.
I hope your day was blessed, see you tomorrow.
I'm finding this is a lot of work, having an internet presence. Some days I can think of so many clever (in my opinion) things to say for my Tweets. Other days, like today, I can't think of anything and I'm tempted to put meaningless entries out there, because I've found that as I consistently send out tweets I get followers. I'm not seeing the picture of how exactly that works yet, but I know on the days I send the most tweets I get the most new followers. I'm up to 88 today by the way.
I sent my agent an email updating him on my progress developing an internet presence. I'm sure he'll be pleased. Don't be too impressed by the fact that I have an agent, he hasn't agreed to be my agent... yet. But I've chosen him and I do believe one day he'll take a chance on me. I am beginning to wonder though, if I have my own internet presence, and there are places like faithwriters.com that I can sell my book as an ebook... do I even need an agent?
Just in the nick of time I entered the writing challenge for the week at http://www.faithwriters.com/, If I haven't mentioned it, they have an awesome website where fledgling writers can try their wings in a safe environment and get lots of support and encouragement, along with constructive critisizm. They have a weekly writing challenge and I've entered every week for the last five challenges, so far I haven't placed but I sure do enjoy seeing the responses to my entries.
I caught a cold... that's what I get for leaving the house. I went to church last night and someone there must have brought a visitor that decided to come home with me. I'm always amazed that when someone else gets a cold it's "awww it's just a cold." But when I get a cold I remember how absolutely horrid they are. I'm very angry right now at all those Meth freaks that have made it impossible for me to get my 12 hour can't even tell you have a cold remedy. Anything that works has been pulled from the shelves because of abusers. That really is not fair! But I guess the good news is I'm building immunities.
I hope your day was blessed, see you tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
My Boss is Too Demanding! 9/8/09
I'm serious, she expects me to get so much done in a day. What does she think, I've got six hands and three brains? I just can't keep up with all she wants me to do... my head is spinning, my house is a mess, I've taken no time for me since, since, well I really can't remember since when. So that's it! I've made up my mind I'm putting my foot down! The insanity stops here and now!
Please excuse me while I step over to the mirror and have a little talk with her, will you?
Ok, now that that's settled I can tell you I didn't do much today. I did however manage to sign up with a website that is a spam site. If you get any tweets or facebook friends telling you to go to a questionable site and sign up... DON'T DO IT!
Even though I work for a company that pays me to identify spam websites I didn't notice any of the warning signs for this one until after I was already signed up with them. I'm actually quite embarrassed about that... so if you see me at the water cooler, please don't rub it in.
The Spam Site warning signs to look for are:
Do they give you a way to unsubscribe?
If you click on the links do they go anywhere?
When clicking on links do you end up with... well, ummm, I'm not going to call it porn (I don't want to send anyone there just to look at dirty pictures) but let's just say unrelated or questionable material?
And if you click on a link and get a page showing a lot of text, does it make any sense or is it all gibberish?
All of these are present on this website... we'll see what it is going to cost me in frustration and aggravation down the road. I knew better, I have no defense!
Update; I'm up to 83 followers! WooHoo! I've had to drop and block a few. I know I could just keep them for the numbers, but I do have my standards and I just don't care to see more pictures of Amber Flame in less clothing than she already had on in her mug shot. I had to drop a poor little boy that looked like a scared rabbit and kept telling me to be careful of sex offenders moving into my neighborhood. He posted about 10 times every hour and he was making me paranoid, even though no one new has moved into my neighborhood in years.
So all in all, I had a good and yet frustrating day, pretty much the norm for me. I did get to go to church tonight and enjoyed that thoroughly. I'm looking forward to what will be learned tomorrow. Have a good night all, sleep tight!
Please excuse me while I step over to the mirror and have a little talk with her, will you?
Ok, now that that's settled I can tell you I didn't do much today. I did however manage to sign up with a website that is a spam site. If you get any tweets or facebook friends telling you to go to a questionable site and sign up... DON'T DO IT!
Even though I work for a company that pays me to identify spam websites I didn't notice any of the warning signs for this one until after I was already signed up with them. I'm actually quite embarrassed about that... so if you see me at the water cooler, please don't rub it in.
The Spam Site warning signs to look for are:
Do they give you a way to unsubscribe?
If you click on the links do they go anywhere?
When clicking on links do you end up with... well, ummm, I'm not going to call it porn (I don't want to send anyone there just to look at dirty pictures) but let's just say unrelated or questionable material?
And if you click on a link and get a page showing a lot of text, does it make any sense or is it all gibberish?
All of these are present on this website... we'll see what it is going to cost me in frustration and aggravation down the road. I knew better, I have no defense!
Update; I'm up to 83 followers! WooHoo! I've had to drop and block a few. I know I could just keep them for the numbers, but I do have my standards and I just don't care to see more pictures of Amber Flame in less clothing than she already had on in her mug shot. I had to drop a poor little boy that looked like a scared rabbit and kept telling me to be careful of sex offenders moving into my neighborhood. He posted about 10 times every hour and he was making me paranoid, even though no one new has moved into my neighborhood in years.
So all in all, I had a good and yet frustrating day, pretty much the norm for me. I did get to go to church tonight and enjoyed that thoroughly. I'm looking forward to what will be learned tomorrow. Have a good night all, sleep tight!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Whadya think... Does this look good on me? 9/7/09
I got an email from a friend. She said "go look at my new website." Of course I was interested in seeing what someone else had done and scurried over to http://www.workathomeandlovingit.com/ to see. It's a very well done site in my opinion, lots of good information. If you'd like to work from home but don't know how to get started check it out, she gives the pros/cons, things to watch out for, and links to many places that hire workers that work from home.
One area that her website missed, and I'll have to talk to her about this, is the work at home world of Virtual Assisting. Many companies need help with their company, but don't need a full-time employee, or don't want the overhead of one. They can hire a Virtual Assistant that works from his/her own office and provides support for their business. It's one of the things I do and a good company to sign up with is Virtual Assisting USA. You can check out my profile at www.virtualassistingusa.com/pamelacalhoun . Remember the gal I keep referring to; @salesdirector, the one that told me long ago to develop an internet presence? Well she did just that for Virtual Assisting USA and now they are scheduled to have a story about them in Women's Day magazine! Millions of people will be reading about the world of Virtual Assisting and how it can benefit them. Hopefully many will come to the website and hire Virtual Assistants for their business.
OK, getting back to my friend's new website, she has a section on Blogging and making money with your Blog? Really? Well now, that had certainly never occurred to me... remember my goal is to develop an "internet presence." She has a page, I'm serious, a whole page of websites to go to that will promote your Blog. So that's what I did all day today, went from one to the other trying to understand just what it is they are going to do for me.
If you keep visiting here you'll notice some changes as I experiment with different things they offer to put on my site, all for free. I've learned something about myself that I never knew before. I'm a visual learner. Tell me about it all you want, I won't get very far on the learning curve, but show me... ahhhh that's when it kicks in. So try as I might to learn this new language by reading (it's all making sense why I did so poorly in school now) it's not getting me very far.
I read each website, but because no one is speaking my language, and I don't understand theirs, I've decided to try things on one at a time to see if it's a good fit. I've visited many websites that have wonderful features that I would love to know how to incorporate... but when I ask the site owner, they either talk to me in puter language or they just don't answer.
Another component to consider, since I've chosen to use this free website for my Blog, is just how much can I actually expect it to do for me? There seems to be a theme that runs throughout the internet world... if you want free you only get the basics, if you want more you have to pay. Lots of places offer the basics for free and since my Blog is not making me money, (but what an interesting concept that is, eh?) we are going with free all the way.
Two places on this page I've added features. I'm not sure what they do yet, and the one on the bottom actually added a line in my menu as though it was an entry I made... I don't like that. I don't know how to get rid of the line so I'll probably just have to live with it, I don't know how to add this feature without it being there... I don't even know what the feature does or if I want it yet. Time will tell.
In the meantime... if anything I do sends you an automatic email from my email list, puts you on a mailing list or calls you at 3 o'clock in the morning, I apologize in advance.
One area that her website missed, and I'll have to talk to her about this, is the work at home world of Virtual Assisting. Many companies need help with their company, but don't need a full-time employee, or don't want the overhead of one. They can hire a Virtual Assistant that works from his/her own office and provides support for their business. It's one of the things I do and a good company to sign up with is Virtual Assisting USA. You can check out my profile at www.virtualassistingusa.com/pamelacalhoun . Remember the gal I keep referring to; @salesdirector, the one that told me long ago to develop an internet presence? Well she did just that for Virtual Assisting USA and now they are scheduled to have a story about them in Women's Day magazine! Millions of people will be reading about the world of Virtual Assisting and how it can benefit them. Hopefully many will come to the website and hire Virtual Assistants for their business.
OK, getting back to my friend's new website, she has a section on Blogging and making money with your Blog? Really? Well now, that had certainly never occurred to me... remember my goal is to develop an "internet presence." She has a page, I'm serious, a whole page of websites to go to that will promote your Blog. So that's what I did all day today, went from one to the other trying to understand just what it is they are going to do for me.
If you keep visiting here you'll notice some changes as I experiment with different things they offer to put on my site, all for free. I've learned something about myself that I never knew before. I'm a visual learner. Tell me about it all you want, I won't get very far on the learning curve, but show me... ahhhh that's when it kicks in. So try as I might to learn this new language by reading (it's all making sense why I did so poorly in school now) it's not getting me very far.
I read each website, but because no one is speaking my language, and I don't understand theirs, I've decided to try things on one at a time to see if it's a good fit. I've visited many websites that have wonderful features that I would love to know how to incorporate... but when I ask the site owner, they either talk to me in puter language or they just don't answer.
Another component to consider, since I've chosen to use this free website for my Blog, is just how much can I actually expect it to do for me? There seems to be a theme that runs throughout the internet world... if you want free you only get the basics, if you want more you have to pay. Lots of places offer the basics for free and since my Blog is not making me money, (but what an interesting concept that is, eh?) we are going with free all the way.
Two places on this page I've added features. I'm not sure what they do yet, and the one on the bottom actually added a line in my menu as though it was an entry I made... I don't like that. I don't know how to get rid of the line so I'll probably just have to live with it, I don't know how to add this feature without it being there... I don't even know what the feature does or if I want it yet. Time will tell.
In the meantime... if anything I do sends you an automatic email from my email list, puts you on a mailing list or calls you at 3 o'clock in the morning, I apologize in advance.
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