Ice & Snow

I woke about 3 a.m. and saw out the window that the ground was white. Daybreak showed that we had a small accumulation of ice and snow.

It is just past noon as I write this and the snow and ice have vanished. While I am not fond of the brown grass, I prefer that to the ice and snow, I think.

A fog lays across the mountains, a white mist veiling the Blue Ridge that I love. Deer graze in the field beyond my window, a small herd of does. They munch without looking up and I wonder if they are hungry.

My office clock ticks steadily, a rhythmic reminder of the passage of time as I stare and daydream and do not work on the bookkeeping and end-of-year tax information that I have scheduled for this day. Work, work, work - that's its charge. I wonder why I don't hear "play play play."

I an anxious for green, for shoots of hycianth and yellow forsynthia and the trumpet of daffodils. I yearn for the healthy color of emerald in the stalks of my roses and the delicate unfolding of the leaves of the oak tree. I ache for the jade sea of alfalfa as it reaches for a June sun.

I have had too much of winter. The chill has moved in and taken hold. O Time march on, and bring me a bright Spring day.



I Don't Play Tennis

It has been several months since I mentioned problems with my arm. In September I noted I had received a cortisone shot along with a diagnosis of tennis elbow. I injured my arm in late June when I tore wallpaper from the kitchen wall and painted.

I am sorry to report that the cortisone shot worked for about six weeks. By Thanksgiving my arm was about as bad as it was prior to the shot and now it is even worse than that, if possible. It is swollen today.

Tennis elbow is an overuse injury, and from everything I have read it is exceptionally hard to cure. Upon reading many different websites, I am not surprised the cortisone shot didn't take. The doctor, at the least, should have given me physical therapy that I could have taken while the cortisone was working and perhaps I wouldn't be suffering now. But alas, he did not do that but instead gave me a shot and sent me out the door.

The pain and weakness in my arm makes it difficult to do a number of tasks, like pouring water, holding a cup, squeezing something, attempting to use anything with a spray nozzle, and forget vacuuming. That has become the most painful thing I can do, which is unfortunate because I rather like to use the vacuum.

In any event, I can't take anti-inflammatories well and that leaves ice for swelling and inflammation. I need to rest it so I plan to try to do that this week and see if makes a difference. I think it is a bit soon for another cortisone shot but perhaps I might need a visit to the doctor in the near future.

Anyone else have this issue? How did you cure it, if so?

A Plausible Story

I am a reader of fantasy and science fiction and I enjoy this genre on screen, as well. I tend to lean toward fantasy (Lord of the Rings) but I do like Star Trek and Babylon 5 and other shows of that genre.

Presently I am watching Season 2 of Star Trek: Voyager. When Voyager first came on the air, I saw the first two seasons of it and then the programming switched to an unavailable time. This was before Tivo and while I think I may have videotaped a few episodes, generally if I have to go to that much trouble to watch something it vanishes from my radar. I simply don't watch that much TV.

At any event, while I trudge along on the treadmill in the mornings I need something visual and interesting in front of me, and right now it's Voyager. Yesterday I watched an episode called Threshold.

In this episode, Tom Paris, the hot and cocky pilot, flies a shuttle to Warp 10, something that has never been accomplished. Warp theory indicates that Warp 10 is infinity and theoretically at this speed you are everywhere at once. Tom makes a successful flight and reports this is indeed the case: he could see all over the universe.

Unfortunately, this has side effects and Paris begins an evolutionary process that has him fast-forwarding into lizard, which apparently is what a human will turn into in a few million years. Paris kidnaps Captain Janeway and takes her aboard the shuttle, where he goes to Warp 10. The crew find the shuttle on an uninhabited M class planet and discover Paris and Janeway are now large salamanders and they've mated and had three offspring. Chakotay decides to leave the babies. Paris and Janeway are transformed back into people and all is well.

The story has some good points. Paris as hero offers up a tragic lead. He feels inferior and unaccomplished and believes this flight will make him a real man. Instead it turns him into something other than man.

However, this particular episode brings up a lot of questions about story plausibility. Having to leave your world behind is one of the great things about fantasy and science fiction. To read or watch these genres, you must be willing to suspend what you know about the world and entertain the idea that you don't know everything and that the unimaginable is possible. In these worlds, magic, space flight, vampires, werewolves, and talking plants and animals come true.

However, the things that take place within this imagined world must have a little plausibility within that world. I had trouble with the Threshold tale because of the implausibility of transforming Paris and Janeway back into people. The evolution (or maybe it was de-evolution?) of them into salamanders was a little over the top but semi-plausible. But even though Starfleet medicine is fantastic, I had a lot of trouble with the reversion process.

To my mind, this would have been a better story if two red shirts (throw away characters) had turned into salamanders and Janeway would have had to decide whether to leave them and their offspring on the planet. An examination of the moral issues of this would have been interesting. Instead, in a voice-over Chakotay acknowledges he left the offspring but there is no acknowledgement of any moral dilemma within Starfleet protocal and the prime directive, which is to not interfere or meddle or make significant changes to any world visited. How can leaving a new species not make a significant change?

Of course, there is also the morality of playing God at Warp 10. To be infinite is to be godlike. What are the ramifications of this knowledge? Now that this ability has been achieved, how long before someone finds a way to limit the unfortunate salamander side effect? What then? Should this achievement even be noted in the annals of Starfleet?

Story plausibility has many implications. Even writers of contemporary fiction must be aware of actions that take place within the world of their story that may not seem plausible to the reader. If someone falls from a five story building and survives, then the explanation for that has to be very plausible. If someone has her heart broken and it leaves no scars, then that person's personality had better reflect an ability to endure that trauma.

Make things happen. Make the reader believe they can happen. Be creative, and be plausible.

Thursday Thirteen

Since it's a new year and everything is fresh and peachy smelling, I thought I'd sort of wander backwards and list 13 things that have changed since 1981. Why 1981? It was 30 years ago. It was the year I graduated high school. It has a nice sound to it.

1. Portable technology. I can remember when a Walkman was a big deal; look around now at the iPods and IPads, MP3 players, cellphones, Blue Tooths (Blue Teeth?), and laptops. It used to be we went to the world. Now we take the world with us. Better? I don't know.

2. Hair. Remember the Farrah cut? I had one of those, along with 3/4 of the girls in my class. Boys had longish hair then, too, sometimes it feathered! No crew or bowl cuts unless you had decided to join the Army.

3. Dress code. When I graduated high school it was blue jeans and a little skin. Now it's all skin. Girls in particular look like they're 26 when they're 12. It's a little scary. Guys now wear their pants down around their knees and show their undies. That's just weird.

4. Music. As I ended high school, disco was close to coming to screeching and crashing halt and the beginning of punk, metal, and hip hop was on its way. But I think the biggest change in music has been the absolute disintegration of it as a way of bringing people together. Since no one listens to the same songs anymore, there will never be another Elvis. Why do you think older bands like The Rolling Stones can tour and bring in 100,000 people. Will the new bands do that? Maybe a break-out like Green Day, but I seriously doubt that there will ever be music that touches as many people as the sounds of earlier generations. Even my young-adult-aged nephews admit that "those old songs" are better - and that's what they choose to hear.

5. Poverty and class. The gap between those who have and the rest of us (those who don't) widened significantly in this last 30 years. Unlike some who think too much government is the problem with the economy, I peg this as the major source of ills. The downturn of the middle class will one day be looked upon as the death knell of the nation, I fear.

6. Loss of privacy. I remember when no one knew where I was and it didn't matter because they knew I'd turn up eventually. I miss those days.

7. McMansions. I think this trend may be going away because no one can afford these big houses anymore, but watching these things spring up like mushrooms on what used to be farmland about broke my heart in the late 1990s and early 2000s. I'm really glad I don't have one to clean.

8. Job descriptions/vanished trades. I used to be a secretary. I don't know that "secretary" even exists anymore. I used to run a transcription machine and take dictation. I suppose these jobs may still be around in some places but they are not high on anyone's radar. It used to be a goal, to be a secretary. I wonder what has taken the place of that?

9. The rising cost of health care. A very long time ago, you paid the doctor with eggs from your chicken. Now you sign over your soul to some nameless corporation and hope for the best.

10. The computer. My first computer was a Commodore Vic 20, which came out in 1980. My mother bought it and I quickly confiscated it in the way that children do. I soon graduated to a Commodore 64, then on to a Tandy T1000 (Radio Shack brand). These were all DOS based computers. I didn't move up to a Windows version until about 1992, with Version 3.1. I really hated that because while I understood DOS I found that I had less control over Windows. When Windows messes up, I can't fix it.

11. Progressive lenses. Changes in vision correction might not make many people's list, but when you have trouble with your eyes it's a great and wonderful thing to be able to put on a pair of glasses and see. Contact lens improvements, light-weight frames and lenses - these are the kinds of small changes that make a huge difference in my world.

12. Polarized partisianship. To be sure, the bickering has always been bad in this country, and I know this because I'm an amateur historian who has spent time in newspaper archives reading letters to the editor from folks who would be akin to Limbaugh and Maddow in this day. Everybody has a gripe and everybody is right and the middle ground is always the first thing to die. The Internet and 24-hour TV has made this squealing louder and much more insane, and it's not very good for the country or anybody's sanity. I don't see it changing for the better any time soon.

13. The loss of books. Well, we still have books and probably always will, but the days of books like I knew books are gone. Books will be on little machines and the machine will house 30,000 titles, giving everyone the equivalent of an entire county library at their fingertips wherever they go. The scary thing about this is that some giant corporation can swoop down and yank the words back, so people will soon begin self-editing for fear a diatribe about something will cause the company to retaliate. It's human nature to feed the beast, not oppose it. It's highbrow censorship and we won't even know it's taking place.

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here.  I've been playing for a while and this is my 173rd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

The Blue Toboggan

When I was about 10 years old, Santa brought my brother and I identical blue toboggan sleds for Christmas.

They were constructed of a hard, durable plastic and made in such a way as to be hollow in the middle. A yellow rope allowed you to tow the sled up and down the hills and also gave you the option of sitting up and hanging on and hopefully steering, though there was nothing to steer.

These sleds moved like lightning, zipping down the hills so fast that the ride was over before the next breath. They were so easy to carry and handle that they made a Flexible Flyer obsolete, to my mind.

The farm where I grew up, being in these southwestern Virginia hilly and mountainous lands, contained many slopes. Some of the rises ended at the creek; others were cut by fences or paraded upon by cattle. Finding the best sled run was a never-ending quest and one by one we tried them all.

Those adventures frequently ended with us careening without direction into trees, barbed wire, stopped automobiles, mailboxes, buildings, and whatever else lay in the general direction we pointed the toboggans. All it took was a run and a belly-flop onto the plastic and whoosh! we were off.

One of our favorite runs was on the property down the road (though I daresay it was the neighbor's kids as much as the slope that was the draw). Unfortunately, cattle roamed that particular hill and it was filled with bramble bushes, stick weed, and thistle. Circumnavigating this course took a special feat of skill and in general was not accomplished without injury.

So it was that we had a huge snow and we trudged up to the neighbors for our slipping and sliding in the wet stuff. The climb up the long hill took forever, and at the bottom of the run was a creek. The thrill of rolling off at the bottom or getting very wet added to the general excitement, fear, and exhilaration of the event.

It would be a race to the finish, with the last kid standing the winner.

I belly-flopped onto the plastic and zoom! I was off, trailing in the wake of one of the neighbors. He crashed into a brier bush and I flew by, headed down, down, faster and faster, with the knowledge that I was moving quickly toward the creek.

Blam!

The toboggan came to a dead stop and I flew off, landing in the snow, the creek still a distance away. I gasped for air as my chest crushed against me, for the wind had been knocked from my lungs. Finally, I sat up and wiped snow from my face with my mittened hand, then went in search of the sled.

It had scooted beyond me and was dangerously close to the icy water. I fetched it and then went in search of the obstacle.

I had been done in by a frozen cow pile.

And I did not win the race.

Books: Still Procrastinating

Still Procrastinating?
the no-regrets guide to getting it done
By Joseph R. Ferrari, Ph.D.
Copyright 2010
237 pages
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

It is no secret that I have trouble with certain projects, most particularly some of my own work such as book writing, querying, etc. You know, the things I am supposed to be doing as a writer.

I am not late for appointments or meetings (unless there is an emergency), I return phone calls, and don't miss deadlines on assignments. I always turned in my schoolwork on time, too. Still, I consider procrastination a problem for me because of my inability to stay focused on my personal tasks.

I have read a number of time management books and other ways to boost productivity and end procrastination. A few have helped but nothing has been a full-scale saving grace. That goes for this book, too.
Here is a Guidepost article which quotes the author of this book. If you have any interest in this topic at all, I suggest reading this just as an FYI.

Still Procrastinating, written by a "distinguished professor of psychology at DePaul University," was the first book on procrastination that I actually found insulting. The author's writing reminded me of the attitude Jillian has on The Biggest Losers; i.e., she absolutely loathes obese people and has made it her life's work to eradicate them from the world in whatever mean way she possibly can. The author of Still Procrastinating apparently feels the same way about people who are late for meetings.

Additionally, I had a lot of trouble getting past a single sentence: "I try never to be late (eg., I leave my house at 5:15 a.m. for an 8 a.m. class, and it is only a thirty-five minute ride from home to campus - but you never know how bad the traffic will be, which could prevent you from getting to Chicago.). Okay then.

Maybe that is normal for you, but leaving three hours early for an appointment that is 35 minutes away seems like some other kind of personality issue to me - unless the appointment really is 2.5 hours away.

Anyway, the author uses words like "maladaptive" to describe procrastinators and blames this segment of society for most of the ills of the world, right down to the Christmas holiday sales and the way the government runs. Wow. I had no idea.

Additionally, he finds absolutely no validity in procrastination, even though his studies have determined that fully 1/5 of the world population has a serious procrastination problem, and that everyone procrastinates at some point in his or her life. He dismissed notions that procrastination is a part of the creative process although he did concede that many people in the arts are procrastinators.

I had a difficult time getting past the author's attitude but read the entire book hoping for some kind of hint that would help me with what I perceive as my procrastination problem. Unfortunately, while there were one or two good ideas in this book, the main message was "just do it," as if we all are Nike commercials waiting to happen. I do believe I've gotten more out of a good time management book.

One of his discussions talked about "minding the gap" and this was one I liked but he offered little in the way of solutions. The idea is there is a problem between intention and action; i.e., I set about to write something but never complete the action, or even move into performing the action. I have this trouble with longer creative works in particular, and according to this author, this is because I see the whole and not the parts. The whole is scary but the parts are doable, but the breaking down of the project, or the inability to do so, is the issue. While the author acknowledged and accurately described all of this, his only solution was to break it into parts and "do it." Well, I am pretty sure that anyone who acknowledges they have an issue knows that this is what needs to be done; there is still a gap there that went unaddressed, and inaction to action for some people takes a little something more. Or at least, it does for me on some things.

The author writes that people who claim to be night owls really are procrastinating, that people really do not work best under deadline pressures - pretty much every belief or myth one may hold about procrastination he considers an excuse not to perform. Perfectionists are really procrastinators in disguise, by the way.  Perfectionists need to get real and go for 80 percent perfect or right; anything more is overkill, according to this author.

Procrastinators also have as much time as everybody else; their perception of it is different, though.

Basically, procrastination boils down to a self-esteem issue. Doesn't everything?

Some of the information in this book sounded correct and I readily concede that procrastination is a problem for me and many others. I am not arguing with the correctness of the information. I do take issue with the tone in which it is delivered, though. If you wish to learn about procrastination from the point of view that it's a terrible problem and maybe gain a little understanding about that, then I recommend this book. If you don't like being called "maladaptive" for being human, and obviously I took offense at this, then I recommend you leave this one on the shelf.

Here are some of his tips for getting organized:

Create a sense of time urgency for the tasks you need to get done.
Figure out how long the task will take
Jot down a to-do list
Hold yourself accountable for getting things done
Keep your desk and workplace decluttered
Throw away the trash
Recognize the times in your work plan when you must focus on other tasks
For unpleasant tasks, give yourself 15 minute blocks of time to accomplish them
Prioritize
Don't be a "people pleaser".
Reward yourself if you accomplish 80 percent or more of your to-do list. (107-109)

Here are a few other quotes from the book:

"Popular theories would have us believe that procrastinators are unable to engage in strong self-control or to delay their gratification. In other words, they experience a failure to self-regulate." (86)

"do the difficult tasks before the easy ones" (86)

"Knowing the difference between what is important to get right and what is less important may save you lots of time and countless headaches." (94)

"...procrastinators delay just about any task - it doesn't matter what it is. They perceive the tasks that they delay, however, as unpleasant and possibly revealing of their level of skills and abilities." (133)

"learning to deal with procrastination means taking ownership of your strengths and your weaknesses. Change occurs when you realize that you must conquer your challenges. . . . Don't blame others, don't blame yourself - just take ownership of your life and move forward." (158) (Just Do It, damnit!)

"Prevention, not procrastination, is the message I am asking Americans to adopt. Let's postpone procrastination as a nation! ... As a culture, as a society, we need to focus on getting things done. We need to have new systems to promote people's meeting deadlines. Incentives need to be created for folks to act." (215-216) (I thought we were human beings, not human doings; guess I was wrong.)

Thursday Thirteen

It's a new year, and thus it's time for New Year's Resolutions. What do I hope to do with myself in 2011?

1. Go back to college. This week, I enrolled in two courses at Hollins University in hopes of finishing up my Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) degree. I can be finished by December with a little luck.

2. Along with the return to school comes the writing of a thesis, subject as yet unknown, though I have some ideas. Fortunately I won't have to deal with this until September.

3. Write more.  Write more blog, write more articles, write fiction, write poetry, write in my journal. If nothing else, consider it all practice for the day when it's real again.

4. Reduce clutter. I have been slowly trying to rid the house and our living space of stuff, but it is an ongoing fight. Seems like the drawers and cupboards and closets are magnets for things and, like critters with feet, the items keep finding their way back onto the shelving.

5. Work on websites. I have several websites that I piddle with and this year I would like to do more than just mess with them; I'd like to get serious about utilizing them as money-makers without compromising my integrity. This is harder than it sounds, especially the integrity part.

6. Learn to cook better. My idea of cooking tends to involve removing frozen somethings from the freezer and heating them up. I do a few decent dishes "from scratch" but I'm the first to confess I am big on convenience cooking. A few years ago I did a "new dish every month" and enjoyed that so I will try that again. Surely I can manage one new recipe a month.

7. Return to counted cross stitch. A very long time ago, I learned how to do this bit of crafty work and enjoyed it. I found it comforting and calming, not to mention productive in a less frenzied sort of way. I have a few pieces that are in a basket awaiting my attention and I hope to pick them up soon and begin working on them.

8. Lose weight. Notice this isn't high on the list. I do wish I could figure out how to get my diet under control but I seem to have very little willpower. My neural pathways are simply designed so that putting food in my mouth is the thing to do, apparently. This is a long-term project that will require a great deal of work.

9. Along with that weight loss comes exercise. I already spend about three hours a week on a treadmill but need to increase that. I would like to take up yoga in earnest and improve my Tai Chi (which I do about 20 minutes a week), too.

10. Get a mammogram. Yep, it's that time again and I'm a little overdue, so I need to fast-forward it to the top of my git-er-done list.

11. Keep my blood pressure under control. After struggling with this for almost two years, I don't want to lose my momentum and let this slide, knock wood.

12. Read more. I already read a lot but would like to increase this. I think 60 books sounds like a doable number; that's just over one a week.

13. Worry less. I am a compulsive worrier who worries about everything under the sun and then what's under the dirt and what's in the heavens and everywhere else. I would like to stop this and worry less and live more. To do this, I probably need to take up meditation and prayer with conviction instead of playing at it. Perhaps a little attention to the spiritual side of life is in order for this resolution to see progress.

There you have it. A list of things for me to work on in 2011. I wonder how I'll do?



Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here.  I've been playing for a while and this is my 172nd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Meme for Nothing

Picked up this meme off of Facebook and thought, why not?

1.You can ONLY answer Yes or No!
2. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages or comments you & Asks!

Now, here's what you're supposed to do... Copy and paste, delete my answers, type in your answers & tag as many of your friends as you'd like to. I don't tag anyone but if you want to play along, feel free.


Marched in a protest? No

Slept past 5 pm? No.

Fallen asleep at work/school? Yes

Held a snake? Yes

Ran a red light? Yes

Been given detention in school? Yes

Totaled your car/motorbike in an accident? Yes

Been fired from a job? Yes

Eaten your kid's Halloween candy? No

Sang karaoke? No

Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? Yes

Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? Yes

Caught a snowflake on your tongue? Yes

Kissed in the rain? Yes

Cross dressed? No

Sang in the shower? Yes

Sat on a rooftop? Yes

Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on? No

Broken a bone? yes

Shaved your head? No

Played a prank on someone? Yes

Felt like killing someone? Yes

Made your girlfriend/boyfriend cry? Yes

Had Mexican jumping beans for pets? Yes

Been in a band? Yes

Shot a gun? Yes

Donated Blood? Yes

Eaten alligator meat? No

Eaten cheesecake? Yes

Worry about the future? Yes

Believe in love? Yes

Like to cuddle? Yes

Sleep on a certain side of the bed? Yes

Talk in your sleep? Yes

Daydream? Yes

Laughed until you peed your pants? Yes

Spend too much time on Facebook? Yes

Play a musical instrument? Yes

Been to Canada? No

Been to Mexico? No

Been to Europe? Yes

Been to China? No

Been skinny dipping? No

Gone sky diving? No

Killed an animal without hunting? Yes

Gone snowmobiling? No

Been on TV? Yes

Dated someone longer than you should have? Yes

Given the wrong person a second chance? Yes

Adopted a stray animal? Yes

Climbed a mountain? No

Taken to the hospital in an ambulance? Yes

Been bungee jumping? No

Knitted? Yes

Miss someone every day? Yes

Speak a second language? Yes

Passed out when not drinking? Yes

State of the Industry

I have been a freelance writer for 25 years; that is the length of time I've been filing income tax returns with enough money earned from writing to make it count. While most of my work has been with local publications, I think it is fair to say I have an idea or two about the freelance writing business.

It's never been this bad for me, and I am planning major changes in order to force an improvement as 2011 begins its march toward January 2012. However, I think freelancing for some people is working out very well, and if you are one of those folks who have adapted to this new environment, I salute you, and hope to be joining you in that adaptation in the upcoming year.

So what's going on with the work I do?

1) There are more people freelancing than ever before. Competition is fierce, and unfortunately quality has gone the way of rotary dial telephones. All that matters now is who will spit out sentences that sort of make sense for the least amount of money. Is this the result of the dumbing down of the population, or the culmination of capitalism? I think it is a little of both.

Some of these people will vanish when (if?) the job market improves. The people who are writing for $10 an article for newspapers at the moment will eventually go away. But they will have left their legacy of lower quality work for less money, and that is what many editors and publishers will expect.

Other freelancers, such as myself, are here to stay, including some of the new ones who might like it. I will always be a writer (which is not necessarily the same thing as a freelancer). And even if I end up back in the ranks of the employed at some point, I do not think I will ever stop freelancing. But I would certainly prefer that the decision to have lesser income from my work be of my own choosing and not because the economy is so pathetic.

2) Too many folks are doing it for free. One of the things that has really hurt freelancers is the person who will do it for nothing. Right now I am experiencing this in that one of my former clients has someone writing a couple of articles a month for nothing. Why do they do this? I don't know. They like the byline, maybe, or they want something to do, or they like the experience, or just the thought of doing it. I have on occasion donated my time to a non-profit and it's a feel-good kind of thing, but I can't understand why anyone would work for nothing for a for-profit newspaper or other publication.

The Internet has added to this. Bosses think, "Why pay for something when you can swipe stuff from sources online, whether it  is some half-written article, a photo, or whatever?" Free is free and nobody except the readers (and they apparently care very little) worry about quality.

A lot of companies, non-profits, etc., now expect people to give them writing and photographs for free. I refuse to do this. My time is worth something, and if someone doesn't value my time enough to pay me, they certainly don't value me. Why would I want to do anything with someone who does not value me?

Additionally, the Internet now gives foreign people who barely speak English the option to bid $2 on a piece  - and they will get it. The person they are writing for does not care if it is legible. I mean, come on, have you read a manual or warranty page for a product lately? Who knew grammar could actually be killed like that?

Writing for $2 is about like writing for free.

3) Freelancing is not free. Generally speaking, freelancing is not something you can do for nothing. At the least, it requires a computer. But you can rack up costs for things like a camera, a tape recorder, carrying cases, mileage on your vehicle, scanners, printers, and software, depending on what you're doing. Additionally, there are costs for Internet service, self-employment taxes, health care costs, etc. Add training to that for something special such as web design and you'll soon figure out what a Schedule C is on the tax form and be grateful that you can deduct some of that, because the money earned is not free and you'll have to write a check not only to Uncle Sam but also to your state government if you manage to be successful. This is another reason why I don't understand why someone would want to spend their own money to provide copy for a for-profit company. There are always costs of some kind involved, if only time.

4) Content mills are taking over. These businesses expect someone to write an article for $2 - $15 and and be grateful for the work. The articles, if one can call them such, are formulaic and written specifically for "keywords" and for website optimization. These articles are not about offering information; they're about getting the click (that is, getting the click on the accompanying advertisement so the pennies will roll in). If one is able to write these pieces quickly, making a decent sum of money may be possible, provided the writer is able to put dignity aside and go with the flow. I confess I am not a fan of content mills, though I hesitate to say I would never write for one. Never say never.

So these are some of the problems I am facing with freelance writing at the moment. I think it will change again within the next five years; what I don't know is if it will be better or worse. Would I advise someone else to do it? It depends on the person, but at this juncture I would not advise anyone to quit their day job. I would have said differently pre-2000.

Fortunately, I know where my shortcomings are. I don't network enough, introvert that I am, and I am not aggressive in my marketing of my talents. This, and other things, is something I must work on in upcoming months.

At least I have a goal.

Want to read more about the state of freelancing?

This article talks about freelance business journalism. It calls writers in this area "grossly underpaid" at an average of $25,000 annually.

This article, written earlier in 2010, talks about the rise of freelancers (estimates from 10 million to 13 million or more are not uncommon).

This article talks about what it's like to be a freelance photographer (30 percent of the time taking pictures and the rest trying to market or land a job - sounds about right).

This article talks about content mills.

Welcome 2011

A new year! Welcome New Year 2011!

Greetings to you, dear reader! I hope that this upcoming year is full of good things for you - maybe your best year ever!

I hope we all work toward peace, love, joy and happiness. May the country throw off the shackles of fear and partisanship that keeps us from working together for a common good.

Many blessings to you, one and all.

New Year's Eve 2010

Whew. This year is about over! Here's to a great 2011 for everyone.

As the old year departs, I have strep throat so I am not feeling well. Hopefully the new year, that is, tomorrow, will have me feeling better.

Please see yesterday's post for 13 things I accomplished in 2010.

Anyway, Happy New Year's Eve, all!

Thursday Thirteen

Today, it's a look back at 2010. This was a rather horrible year for us but I am going to look for good things. Read slowly because it will take me a while to put this together!

1. I learned how to use my Panasonic video camera and how to make movies with it. I found this a fascinating process and a very cool creative outlet for me, at least for a while.

2. I read at least 49 books (I might have missed one or two on my list). This is actually a low number for me but I consider it a high number given that I have had an amazing amount of problems with my eyes and have gone through four different prescription changes in the last year in an effort to see better. I have discovered I don't read as much when I can't see to do it. The last prescription change occurred this week. Let's hope it helps.

3. In January, I took on book editing and that is something I really enjoy doing but don't do enough of. It is good to learn what you like to do. Maybe in 2011 I can find a way to do more of that.

4. The Roanoke Writer's Conference, also held in January, offered me a small balm for my soul. I like writer's conferences because they energize me, force me to think in new ways, and force me out of my shell for a little while.

5. I started walking around the track at Greenfield with a walking buddy, Dreama, and we became a little closer. I like to make new friends and have interesting people in my life, and Dreama is definitely interesting. She is an artist, creating whimsical and eclectic artwork that makes you smile and think all at the same time. I enjoy being around creative and brilliant people.

6. My friend B. has extended her helping hands to me many times in the past six months and I have been extremely grateful for her calm ability to listen to me bitch and whine. Thank goodness for friends. I don't know what I would do without them.

7. My blood pressure, once skyrocketing to stroke levels, is now under control thanks to a combination of medication, yoga breathing exercises, and Tai Chi.

8. An issue with identity theft, though upsetting and distressing (I will have to write about that in more detail sometime), ended without much damage. I was extremely lucky and fortunate to have caught the theft as quickly as I did.

9. I attended a Life Planning seminar at Hollins University for six weeks in the spring. While I can't say that it helped me with my life plans, it was great to be back on campus, to be around women who were interesting and engaging, and to spend time thinking about my life, my goals, and my direction, even if I never reached resolution.

10. I threw away 18 things. I was going for 50 after reading a book called Throw Out 50 Things but I am still trying to reach that number nine months later. The things I threw out included clothing, food, computer manuals, pillows, a pile of plastic grocery bags, cards, two printers, DVDs and VHS tapes, 10,000 photos from my hard drive, wallpaper, spices from my spice rack, 10 pairs of  eyeglasses, and old medication. So it was really a lot of items but in groups and I am not too unhappy with the progress. For example, the clothing consisted of over 50 different items and there must have been 35 old computer software manuals in the pile I sent to the recycling bins. I still have a lot of clutter, though.

11. I don't really want to look back at my work because I know it was nowhere near what I am capable of, but to review, I edited a book and several newsletters, wrote just over 50 keyword articles for various clients, sold five book reviews, sold 25 articles to newspapers (down from over 300 in 2008, what a drop), and I worked on a local political campaign. I also kept up this blog, writing in it almost every day, as well as the news blog on Botetourt County that I post to daily. I also started sifting through bins of old photographs with a project in mind that I hope I can talk about more in the new year.

12. We replaced the windows in the house. This was a big and expensive deal for us and while the replacement took only a day, getting quotes and prices and deciding on the product and the vendor took up quite a lot of time. This is not something one does lightly.

13. I removed the wallpaper from the kitchen and repainted. We also removed and replaced the back door. Both of these projects were time consuming and the wallpaper and repainting project left me with a bad arm from lateral epicondylitis, or a tear in my tendons in my right arm near my elbow. I am still having lots of problems from this but at least the kitchen is painted.


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here.  I've been playing for a while and this is my 171th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Pear Cake

One of the items I baked over the holidays that I wanted to share was a pear cake made with fresh pears. My brother sent me a box of pears for the holidays and I couldn't eat them all so I went in search of a recipe I could use them in.

The cake was very good and the taste of pears made this unique. It was a hit at a my Christmas Eve gathering.

Pear Cake

Ingredients

4 cups fresh pears (peeled, cored and chopped)
1 1/2 to 2 cups white sugar (depending on taste; I used the lower amount and would probably add more next time)
3 cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
4 egg whites
2/3 cup oil (I used Smart Balance)
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1.Combine the pears and the sugar and let stand for one hour (I let it stand for over two hours).

2.Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Spray a 10 inch bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray.

3.Slightly beat the egg whites and combine them with the oil, chopped pecans and pear mixture.

4.Stir the flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. Stir in the pear mixture. Pour batter into the prepared bundt pan.

5.Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove from oven; cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

I added a glaze to the cake, which the recipe did not call for but which I think added to it:

Glaze

Ingredients
1/3 cup margarine or butter (I used butter)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 to 4 tablespoons hot water

Directions

Heat margarine/butter in saucepan until melted. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir in water a little at a time until mixture is desired consistency. Pour over cake.

Family at Christmas

Christmas is about seeing folks you love and care about, and I had a houseful over the holiday. Here are some of my family members:

Cousin Matt (right) and his wife, Gina.

My aunt, Sherri (left) and my uncle, Jerry. They were visiting from Texas.

 

My cousin, Sara, and Nicole, both also in from Texas.

 

My first cousin once-removed, Madison (left) (daughter of Matt & Gina) and my first cousin once-removed, Jonathan, who is Jerry & Sherri's grandson. She is four and he is three. Guess which one was the wild child and which one was quiet and lady-like?

 

Matt with his daughter, Madison.

 

My nephew, Trey, my brother's son. He is a big wrestler at JRHS.

 

Zoe, my niece and my brother's daughter. She is nine years old.

My sister-in-law, Dina, caught by surprise with the camera. Sorry, sis!

 

My brother, Loren.

My nephew, Chris, and his mother, Jennifer (my sister-in-law). Chris is 16.

My nephew Emory, big man on campus at University of South Carolina. Until I saw this photo I did not realize how much he looks like his father.

 

My husband, being silly.

 

Aunt Nancy on the husband's side, in from Georgia.

My mother-in-law, my aunt, Carolyn, and my brother-in-law, Gary, are not pictured; I somehow managed not to take usable photos of them this year. I serious doubt they mind.



Merry Christmas!

Many blessings to you and yours!

Thanks so much for reading Blue Country Magic!

Thursday Thirteen #170

Today, I offer up 13 Christmas memories . . .

1. The first Christmas I spent with my husband, in 1982. We'd just met in October, but I knew right away that he was the one I would marry. I gave him a leather sweater jacket and he gave me cowboy boots (they were all the rage back then).

2. Rock-em Sock-em robots. I am not sure of the year but I remember being fascinated by these things; using an avatar to punch and beat up my brother was way better than the real thing (and hurt less, too!).

3. A black Epiphone guitar. I was 14 when my parents gave me this lovely beauty, an electric guitar that looked and played much like a Les Paul. It was a pretty little thing, shiny and small. I still have it.

4. A golden diamond heart on a whisper-thin chain, given to me two years ago by my wonderful husband, along with loving words and intense kisses.

5. The year my aunt made fudge just for me, maybe when I was 10?

6. My mother literally jumping up in the air when she saw the grandmother clock my father had bought for her.

7. The look on my husband's face the year I bought him a .270 rifle for deer hunting. He calls it his good luck gun and it is still the one he hunts with.

8. A cowboy ventriloquist doll that I simply had to have in 1975. It was the one thing on my wish list because I was sure I would grow up to be a ventriloquist. I did not.

9. Blue snow toboggans, one for my brother and one for me. These solid plastic sleds were lightning fast and we spent hours trudging up the hills only to zip back down in nanoseconds. They also made good floats in the summer when we played in the creek.

10. A set of luggage. This gift from my parents was a sure sign I was growing up. It went with me to Europe and on numerous trips to the beach before I finally stopped using it.

11.  A children's Bible from my aunt. I read the book from cover to cover and it is how I learned most of the Bible stories. Unfortunately, the dog chewed it up a few years later or I would still have it.

12. A myriad of Christmases trudging to Grandmas house in Salem. Opening the door to see her waiting, with the house smelling of delectable foods for dinner, and my young uncles running around excitedly trying to show us all of their presents at once, and the tree glistening in welcome.

13. The comfortable routines my husband and I have established for the holiday; my family and our friends over on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day spent with his family, our own quiet Christmas early on Christmas Day morning when we exchange presents with one another. Time spent with loved ones is the best present of all.


May the day be blessed for each of you, dear reader, and I hope that your heart is full of love and your bounty good and gracious. Peace to you all.

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here.  I've been playing for a while and this is my 170th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

The Wedding Gown

My wedding gown was a soft ivory color, with beaded work and lace around the neckline. I bought it from a place in the French Quarter at Tanglewood Mall (that whole area no longer exists), obtaining the whole get-up for less than $300 because the dress was torn. Fortunately, it was torn in a place where I needed it taken in and so it looked good as new.

After the wedding, my mother had the dress cleaned and then she stored it in a cedar wardrobe at her house. In 1989, lightning struck the roof of her home and fire destroyed a good portion of her house.

My wedding dress was not destroyed, but it was severely scorched and smelled of smoke. My mother had it cleaned and gave it to me. It still smelled terribly of smoke and so I asked my mother-in-law to store it in her basement, as I had no place to keep it.

Fast forward 20 years. My mother-in-law the other day was cleaning out her basement and so my husband brought home my wedding gown wadded up in a bag. I have no idea what happened to the hat; maybe it burned up in the fire, I don't recall.

Yesterday I noticed the bag with the gown in and it and pulled the garment out. It is no longer ivory but instead is a muddy brownish color, a result, I suspect, of the cleaning used to try to remove the smoke. The lace is shriveled from where it melted in the fire.

I had thought to take pictures of it but it looked so bad that I did not want to make a visual memorial of it. Instead I stuffed it back into the bag, noting that it still smells of smoke despite the cleaning and the passing of many years.

It is destroyed.

It is time to send this to the dump, but somehow I can't bring myself to do that.

Classical Guitar

Last night we ventured out with the husband's mother and his aunt for a meal of Chinese at CL Asia and then an hour of classical guitar music at St. Mark's United Methodist Church in Daleville.

The food was terrific as always, although my mother-in-law and aunt did not enjoy it. This was my mother-in-law's second time ever to enter a Chinese restaurant and apparently it was Aunt Nancy's first. Both claimed not to like Chinese food, although I do not understand how you can dislike something you have never even tried. My mother-in-law ate sweet and sour shrimp, which she had the last time and found palatable (we had sampled several dishes dishes that first trip). Aunt Nancy would not try anything except fried rice. Ah well.

The guitarist was Rafael Scarfullery (you will hear his music on the website if you click the link), who is a classical guitarist, composer, and conductor. He currently teaches at Sweet Briar College and is music director at Aldersgate UMC in Charlottesville.

For our concert, he played a total of seven Christmas carols, including Away in A Manager, O Holy Night (one of my favorite Christmas songs), and Silent Night. The audience of less than 50 people sang along on the last song.

He also entertained us with pieces by Heitor Villa-Lobos and Antonio Lauro, neither of whom were familiar to me but were interesting to listen to and watch as performances. One of the pieces by Villa-Lobos, I believe it was Prelude No. 1 but am not positive, sounded a little disturbing to me but it was an excellent piece nevertheless.

I am amazed at the talented people who surround us and we are unaware of it. People everywhere go about their desperate lives, seeking whatever they think will bring them fulfillment (and likely never reaching it), and some of these folks have amazing talent that is never fully acknowledged or appreciated. We do ourselves a disservice as a society when we fail to nurture people, in whatever way, and we do that quite regularly, I fear.

These were some thoughts that crossed my mind as I listened to this man play his songs. I am not quite sure why; sometimes music brings things into my brain. Occasionally it brings tears to my eyes or makes my stomach tense up.

Thursday Thirteen

I am rather anxious for 2010 to be over as it has not been the best of years. The death of my father-in-law, job concerns and other issues have left me feeling as ragged as a beat up ol' doll tossed out in the trash by the evil stepsister on a Saturday night.

So I thought I'd see if I could find 13 things to do for the New Year that would bring about good luck. Here are some superstitions I thought I'd pass along.

1. Wearing something new on New Year's Day means you'll receive new clothing throughout the year.

2. Eating black eyed peas will bring about good luck and good fortune. Other foods that bring good luck are lentils, pork, and sauerkraut.

3. Kiss at midnight to ensure affections and good will from those you love.

4. Have a full pantry so that it will not be bare for the upcoming year.

5. Put plenty of money in your wallet so it will multiply throughout the year.

6. Pay off bills and debts before New Years Day so that they don't follow you into the new year and bring about more bills and debts.

7. The first person to enter the household should be male (preferably tall, dark and handsome) and should come bearing a small gift. Even if he is a resident, he should knock on the door to be let inside, and he should leave by a different door than the one through which he entered.

8. Absolutely nothing, not even garbage, should leave the house on New Year's Day.

9. Do not do laundry on New Year's Day.

10. At midnight, open all doors to let the old year go out unimpeded.

11. Make loud noises at midnight to scare away evil spirits.

12. Avoid breaking things on New Year's Day, otherwise you will be breaking things all year long.

13. Do not cry on New Year's Day or it will set the tone for the year.

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here.  I've been playing for a while and this is my 169th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Made to Sell (But Not to Use)

A number of items we've purchased in recent years have not exactly lived up to their hype.

So I'm going to complain.

Companies really don't care if the product they sell to you actually works, because they have your money. Their warranties are often worthless or so convoluted that most folks won't bother with them. Items are made to fall apart at day 92 when you have a 90-day warranty. Count on it.

Additionally, things are made in such a manner that they are not easily handled or easy to care for. And woe unto you if you are an older adult, or female (or both) because few things are made with you in mind.

Most things are made for males age 20-30. The rest of us be damned.

Some of the items that have frustrated me lately include:

Tools. These always irritate me because they are big, bulky, hard to start (women in general have poor upper body strength and trying to pull-start a mower is next to impossible) and generally not made with women's smaller hands and lesser strength in mind. Is it really so hard to make a decent weed eater that a woman can handle, one that actually cuts the grass and doesn't just whack at it? How about a good push cart that doesn't weigh a ton?

Clothing. My blouse fell apart the third time I washed it. Buttons fly off regularly because they are not sewn properly. Hems are crooked. Pockets are not sewn straight into pants. And these are expensive department store clothes, not the stuff off the rack at Walmart.

Humidifiers. I use three of them in the house and have problems with all three. The first one we paid hundreds for - it's a whole house steam humidifier. It worked just beyond its warranty and died a painful death. The company replaced it once, for free, but that one died a painful death as well. Obviously it's not a good product anymore (the very first one was, 23 years ago, but we could no longer obtain parts for it). I have a small steam humidifier that I use in the bedroom. The problem with it? It is cantankerous and will only run with distilled water (which gets expensive), and it is made so that it is difficult to fill. The tank on it is oddly shaped and it won't fit into the sink. The third humidifier is a cool evaporative humidifier and the tank on it leaks badly. It also is shaped weird and won't fit well into the sink, and it is hard to handle and heavy.

Eyeglasses. I am going back tomorrow for a fourth try at replacing a lens in less than a year. Enough said.

Why can't companies make products that last and that work without so much problem? Quality, not quantity, used to be the byword in business, but not anymore. Now companies want to take your money and run, and don't worry about customer service. Once it's out of their warehouse they don't care if you're satisfied or not.

Granted, locally there are a few places that deal with you like you're a human being. The eyeglass shop, for example, is going out of its way to try to fix the issue with my progressive lens, and I greatly appreciate their efforts (which is why I am not naming them). I like the service I receive from my local bank (not the national bank, though the local clerks are okay), my accountant, and the postmasters at the post offices I frequent. The people are the photocopy shop are nice even if I don't agree with them on a few issues.

But these large companies, the ones that are in Bambozzla, Alaska (it's next to Wasilla (not really)) don't care if you're happy with the product. That's why we have to endure assistance from India representatives who can hardly speak English and who suddenly have access to your credit card because you called.

I've had it. I don't spend a lot of money on stuff anyway because I'm not a stuff kind of girl, but in 2011 I plan to buy even less stuff than I normally would. Keep your ol' pieces of junk that won't work right anyhow.

When corporations remember what customer service means, I'll go kiss a frog.