Writing a resume is hard!

I have the worst time writing my resume', but I think I've come up with something suitable. I've sent it out to several friends for review. Hopefully, they will have some good feedback soon.

I've been attempting to change fields for the last several years, and that is harder to do than you might imagine. Especially in this economy.

And how does a simple two-page document appropriately sum up or give an overview of complicated me? Everyone is complicated, but I perhaps more so than others, due to the fact that I have worked freelance in creative fields for so long. Creative people don't have steady career trajectories.

And to top it all off, Microsoft Word is always trying to get me to correct the sentence fragments. Well, it's a resume', for goodness sake. You are supposed to write in sentence fragments!

Conquering the summit

I have been watching Clean House and Clean Sweep and Mission Organization for several years now. For those of you who don’t know, they are all television shows about how to organize your possessions. They really have been inspiring.

Last year, I had a yard sale to get rid of un-used or under-used possessions. I made over three hundred dollars in one day, selling nothing for over forty dollars (and that was only one item). I wasn’t there to maximize the cash. I was there to minimize the mess. And it worked. I’ve got fewer possessions that I have to deal with. The ones I kept have a purpose, and I know where they are.

Believe it or not, I work as a professional organizer in addition to being a writer and a teacher of writing. Other people’s stuff? I can sort, keep, recycle, containerize, with no problem. Same thing for my possessions. But…

My bug-a-boo is paper.

Several decades ago, I developed a phobia about opening my mail. I don’t know why. Perhaps it is because the only mail I ever seem to receive is bills or junk mail. I’ve never had a snake show up in the mail box; no one has ever put an envelope full of dog waste in my mail either. (I once had an unpleasant roommate who sent dog poo to our frat-boy neighbors, but she did not send it to me). I really am perplexed about this mail-opening phobia. In addition, I have always been scared that if I throw something away, that I will need it later. So I keep things—receipts, instructions, interesting news articles, old magazines. Rather than filing these things, I stack them. And the stacks have gotten out of hand.

Recently, I decided that my life will be better if I follow through on all my efforts to get my office neat, so I have begun dealing with all the paper. I set the timer for an hour, and work to sort, file, and purge my papers. After an hour, I stop. It doesn’t matter if there is more to be done tomorrow. There will always be paper to deal with tomorrow. And the day after that, too.
I am actually managing to dig to the bottom of piles. I find that I keep far too much—stuff I really don’t need. If I haven’t referred to it in months, I probably will never need to.
I am also finding that I am glad that I have kept some stuff—not kidding, the notes from the “how to open a business” seminar I took ten years ago—yes, ten years ago—are worth reviewing and working on again. Luckily, I have those notes, and they are in good shape. I actually filed them away in a three-ring binder, so that they will look good on a shelf, not filling up a pile.
And when I am done with the paper purge, I will really be confident in my organizing ability and more confident about hiring myself out as a pro-organizer. Paper is the summit of the profession.

I know that a lot of writers have a problem with too much paper. Hey, we are writers aren't we? Isn't paper a large part of our lives? Just make sure that you don't let it take over yours.

Procrastination

Well, I've finally read Eat That Frog, a book that has been recommended to me by many friends, due to my unfortunate tendency to procrastinate. I found it a quick read, and, if I actually follow the advice the author gives, I will probably procrastinate less. But I'm afraid that I feel like a little kid, just itching to be bad. No! I don't wanna be good! I don't wanna change! I don't care if I'm not happy like this! It's scary to change! I wanna go back to bed rather than accomplish my goals!

Boohoo.

Wish me luck.

Creativity v. conditionals

I teach developmental English at a community college. Since I started the gig, I have become very attuned to grammatical errors in published works. Currently I'm re-reading the Harry Potter series and I am extremely annoyed with J.K. Rowling's misuse of "was" in conditional sentences: "If I was a better magician..." (No, that is not a direct quote...I don't have the books with me write now.) The correct form is "If I were...." Of course, when reading the books the first several times, I was so thrilled with the plotting and characterization that I skimmed right past any errors. Now, this one jars me every time that it recurs. Where was her editor?

As I try to teach my students to develop their thoughts and get those thoughts pinned down on paper, I worry that by teaching them about sentence errors, I will be also inhibiting their creativity. But after the creative part--boy, do I hope they learn to fix mistakes like this one.

(No, I don't worry about grammatical errors in blogs...well, not so much, anyway.)

Wish me luck!

A full time English teaching position has opened up at my college. I will be applying for it, so please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I really need a full-time position because of all those added benefits--like a living wage, health insurance, etc.

I haven't made a whole lot of progress working on finding a new job, handicapped by the fact that I really like what I do, tutoring and teaching (Developmental English and speech). I'm presently working as an adjunct. All those horror stories you have heard about the poor pay for adjuncts? They are true. Particularly if you factor in planning and grading hours, which adjuncts are not officially paid to do.

I'm not complaining. I took the job fully aware of the requirements. But I never realized I would like it so much, which means I haven't been motivated to look for more remunerative work. But it's certainly time that I consider the fact that one day, before I know it, I will have to retire. And that takes cash.

Teaching English and speech at my local technical/community college is the most rewarding work I've ever done. I find the people I teach to be fascinating. For instance, I have immigrant students that have bachelor's and even master's degrees from their home countries, but in order to get a good job here in the U.S., they are starting again. In the Learning Center a few moments ago, I worked with an African student who has a bachelor's degree in philosophy and wanted to review the meanings of "character" and "symbolism" in literature. (He's got a test tonight. Good luck to him.)

And wish me luck too.

Woe is I.

It's happened. What I have been dreading. What I KNEW I was unprepared for.

My computer has crashed, and it's time for a new one.

Wish me luck that MicroCenter can recover my data for me.

Writing Stress

I wish that I could say that I've decided to add a post to my blog for any reason other than I am delaying finishing an essay that I'm writing for my capstone project (think creative thesis). The drawback to writing personal essays is that you have to examine all your "stuff." Was it Emerson or Thoreau who wrote "an unexamined life is not worth living"?

Liar. An examined life is scary. The essay I'm working on is about what makes a house a home. And I started bawling about a very trying time in my life. I picked up the phone to thank two people who really helped me through that awful time in my life and I ended up bawling on the phone to them. And then laughing because I was acting like such an idiot. Neither emotion reassured them that I was okay, although I tried to let them know that I really was. I just wanted to thank them again.

At the moment I have gotten to a point where I am about to write about the most trying time in my life, and, as you can see, I'm avoiding it. I've written four paragraphs in the last 24 hours. Not making much progress am I?

On top of this, I suspect that this essay is going to take a massive re-write. I'm not sure that the structure I've chosen is really good, or if it's going to feel long and boring to a reader. I think I have to finish the whole damn thing, though, before I'll really know.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAgggggggghhhh.

Writing Info Sites

There are two writing sites that I really like that I'd like to recommend to people. WritersWeekly is one that I mentioned back in 2006. It is an on-line magazine in the best sense. It updates regularly, maintains its focus on helping writers learn to make more money, and pays writers for articles. Best part? The vast majority of the content is free. They also sponsor on-line classes that I have found beneficial. Those, obviously, are not free.

Another site I like is called MediaBistro. A lot of its content is free too, but my favorite parts of the site are not. To reach my favorite parts, you have to join AvantGuild. It has a reasonable yearly fee, which not only gives access to the proprietary sections, but also gives discounts on the classes that they sponsor. One of my favorite parts of the site is the "How to Pitch" section, where there are interviews with the editors of different magazines focusing on how to pitch to each of those mags.

Once more into the brink...

The new creative project is developing, though more slowly than I would like.

Well, that's such a cop-out line, isn't it?

I have total control over the new project. It's one of the reasons I've chosen to be a writer...no collaboration necessary, unless I request it. Especially these days, in the days of self-publishing.

I majored in theater in college, then worked in the film and television industry for fifteen years or so... Those art forms require so much collaboration (unless you are doing a one woman show, but even then, a performer can't be her own audience member).

But back to the new project--I have interviewed two very inspirational people as the basis of the first endeavor, and will soon be putting together a--- well, I don't really want to let the cat out of the bag. (Yes, this is a teaser...)

But it is a lot of fun to work on!

Timing!

So, I'm working on the creative project that I've mentioned before. I am getting awesome support from some of my creative friends.

However, I find it frustrating when THEIR time schedule conflicts with mine. I mean really, people. Don't you think MY goals and intentions are more important than YOURS? Can't you make time when I want?

Obviously, I'm kidding...sort of. I am so enthusiastic about my project that I want to move forward on it quickly, and other people have the things they need to take care of.

I ended up freaking out a friend whom I want to interview by sending her multiple messages through multiple channels. I'll try to calm down...sorry, Samantha. And thanks for agreeing to be interviewed!

Big step!

I took a big step forward on the journey of my new creative project yesterday, with the help of a supportive writer friend. It is always so good when friends are supportive of what you do.

Is there anything worse than someone you love and appreciate standing there and giving you the skeptical eye when you announce you are going to become a writer/painter/sculptor/dancer/musician? No. There is not!

I admit, however, that I have been guilty once or twice in my life of being the skeptic, when other people have announced their grand plans. Then, the skeptics looked at me, and I realized how bad that feels. I have learned a) not to talk too much about my plans unless they are well under way and b) to be loving and encouraging of others, even if I think that my friends' plans are too grandiose. Who knows what knowledge and reserves of strength really lurk in the hearts of men and women?

Hope all of your creative projects are going well!

Time to write

Sad news, at least sad to me.

My relationship with my boyfriend has been rocky over the past month. And last Friday, I think the final bell rang.

So, in attempt to look at the bright side...I now have lots more time to write, and nobody to make me feel guilty if I take time to write.

And that guy I saw at a party last March or so...? The one whom I might have like to go out with if I didn't have a boyfriend...? I saw him at church yesterday....

Wish me luck!

I have come up with a creative idea that I am very excited about. Please wish me luck in carrying it through.

Don't worry, I won't keep you in the dark forever, but this idea is in such a new stage that it's not ready to be talked about. You know how it is: women who are pregnant don't tell people about the baby until several months into the pregnancy. NO! I am not pregnant. This is just a metaphor. You know how it is...when you get a creative idea, it has to grow and develop a little before it can survive out in the big, bad world.

Recommended article

Angela Hoy, owner of Booklocker, a print on demand publisher, and Writersweekly.com, has written a great article on publicizing your books and writing. I think her site is one of the best on the web for writers and really recommend your bookmarking it.

Character Creation

When you write characters, even if--especially if--the characters are fictional, how much do you base them on people you know in real life? I like to borrow names from my friends, as an homage to them, but I don't base the character named after them on those particular friends. But am I still setting myself up to be sued? It's not something I'm going to worry about very much, but then again, I'm not published yet, so there IS nothing to worry about. But suppose a publisher wants me to change a character's name. Once I'm using a particular name, I have a real problem changing it in the middle of the manuscript. My brain latches onto details like that and won't let go.

How do you handle character name and inspirational real people?

Keeping in touch

One of the amazing things about blogging is the ability to connect with people. I have been contacted by an old friend...no, that's not right. She's not old....--a friend I lost touch with many years ago. I, one day, would very much like to be able to bring all my friends, many of whom I have lost touch with, together for a big party, the Willena's Friend's Bash. That would be fun. Poker player Jamie chatting up poet Debra, epidemiologist Lou debating with writer Tim, all under a great big circus tent. What a fabulous idea.

I'd like to invite all my favorite writers to the party too, whether they know me or not. Don't you feel like the books you read are all old friends when you re-read them? I do. Which is why I have such terrible trouble getting rid of books, even if I no longer have any bookshelf space. The folks from Designed to Sell would have a field day with my home, since I have bookcases blocking the top and bottom of my staircase. Several times I have moved and given away some of my books, an act that I have always regretted. Always. Does anybody know the name of a children's book, set in London, the main character is a lonely little girl who discovers she is a witch. There is a scene in which she ends up inadvertently shoplifting candy from a store and she gets in trouble... I loved that book when I was little, and I can not remember the name of it. It drives me crazy, because I really would like to re-read it, but I gave it away over twenty years ago....

Updating my life

It's been since the first of the year since I last blogged. I've been bogged down in obsessing about teaching--remedial English and speech at a local technical college. I also tutor in the learning center. Sometimes it's the most frustrating job in the world. It takes a lot of time. Have you ever tried to grade essays? It is paid poorly, especially when grading time is figured into the equation. But I love it. I like working with students, although it is frustrating to me that they have missed so much of the foundational work--basic grammar skills--to be able to successfully write essays. It's rarely that my students can't think. Many of my remedial students come to me with full-blown writing phobias and do have trouble translating their thoughts into written form. I work really hard on getting them over that problem. It's the same with speech class. It's true that many people have phobias about public speaking. And it's hard to work with 25 students for only 10 weeks. They are barely out of the dead-beginner stage when the quarter is over and just don't have enough time to really get good at speaking in front of others. So, the job is frustrating, and time consuming, and I don't know what to do, since I really do feel as though I am contributing something to the world. And except for the poverty level wages, I'd probably be very happy doing what I'm doing.

Happy New Year

May all your writing and creativity resolutions come to pass during 2008!

Posting anxiety

I haven't been updating my blog lately, even after swearing that I would, due to what I can only call "posting anxiety." The belief that though this blogging medium is designed to be something different, to be less formal than previous mass communication media, my blog posts have to be perfect little essay masterpieces.

Obviously, my blog didn't start out to feature little essay masterpieces. I started this blog because I was forced to as a school assignment. But in a way, writing a blog is compelling. It's sort of like writing in a journal, but different because it is designed to be public. It's designed to be a communication to others, whereas a journal entry is designed to help one remember, or to sort things out, ruminate to one's self.

But I know that as a writer (future published writer), it's good to have a blog. Readers like them. Hey, I'm a reader, and I like to read author blogs. Especially Stephanie Bond who writes romance, romantic suspense, and romantic comedy. And Chad Darnell, who is a screenwriter. I check in with Tanya Michael's blog on a regular basis too. So, as they said in the recent Moonlight and Magnolia's session on author generated publicity, a blog is perhaps one of the best self-advertisements.

As I said though, I'm not yet published in book form. So I don't yet have any books to promote. And I'm going through this anxiety about posting--it must be good! It must be good!

Oh well, I'm really trying to get over that. I should accept the conventions of the medium. Write off the top of my head. So, that's what I'm doing now. Writing about writing once again.

I bring you:

The Tree Shepher's Daughter, a wonderful new young adult novel by my friend Gillian Summers, a fellow member of the Georgia Romance Writers. I admit, I'm sometimes hesitant to read my friend's books. What if I don't like it? So, even though this book was published several months ago, I have just gotten around to buying it and reading it. And luckily, I have had it signed by the author too! It's marvelous. I started it last night and I finished earlier today. (I decided to pick it up and read it when I woke up from insomnia. It was the wrong book to choose. I couldn't put it down, so I read from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. If you need to get up early the next day, don't pick up this book.)

The target audience for this book is preteens and teens. It falls in the category of fantasy, although it's not the sort of fantasy that is on another planet. In fact, it's set in Colorado! That's one of the things the author did very well. The setting, a Renaissance Fair in Colorado, is beautifully incorporated. The author doesn't go on gushing about how beautiful it is, but you understand that because of the way that the trees, the stream, the meadow are incorporated into the plot line. The leading lady is fabulously written--a real teenager with real feelings of loss and abandonment (and a real twist too). And the supporting characters--there isn't stock character in the bunch. Well, yeah, there is--the best friend, the dad, etc. But they all are written as real originals.

I'm really looking forward to the followup to this book. Hopefully, book 2 in the Faire Folk Trilogy will be out soon.

This week, I have been working on writing a new essay. I've been exploring essay writing since I took creative non-fiction at Kennesaw State. The interesting thing is that the creative non-fiction course should have been named memoir writing. We did nothing else in there except memoir. Now, don't get me wrong, I learned a lot in the class, but I still say it was terribly miss-advertised because miss-named. Anyway, we didn't study essays in that class, so I've taken on the study and practice of essay writing on my own. It's definitely a genre that I enjoy and admire a lot.

Have you ever noticed that when you learn a new word that it all of a sudden starts popping up everywhere? Well, since I've decided to start working on essays, I realize that I have all this information to refer to, but that I haven't paid attention to it until recently. For instance, I have a two-year old issue of Poets and Writers in my tub-side magazine rack with a lovely article by Sven Birkerts about memoir and essay writing. I suppose it's been waiting for two years for me to get around to needing it.

Today, I attended a good workshop/Q&A session given by the Georgia Writers Association. Marc Fitten, editor of the Chattahoochee Review, a 30 year old literary magazine, spoke on literary mags and what they are looking for...especially, of course, his. It was very informative. And he happened to mention that not as many people are submitting essays as are submitting fiction, so it's actually a little bit easier to get published with essays than with short stories. But of course, he also said that he gets about 6,000 submissions each year for a lit mag published four times a year. So the odds are long, for either essay or fiction. He noted poetry is easier to get published. Why? Because books, magazines, etc. are published with pages in multiples of 8. It has to do with printers, the size of the paper used, how it's folded and bound. (I'm temporarily blanking on what those booklets are called....some funky name...register, maybe?) So, if a story runs six pages, they fill in the other two pages with poetry.... Interesting, eh?

Here's a shout out to my friend Debra Ann Shirley who has a poem published in issue #36 of the Cortland Review. Here's a link to it: http://www.cortlandreview.com/ The poem really speaks to me, and is a great reflection of Debbie (as I new her when...) who grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of North Georgia.

Another shout out to my friend Chad Darnell, who has recently had several successes with his scripts. Check into his blog http://chaddarnell.typepad.com/runchadrun2/ to find out all about it. I read some of his scripts when he was in college. I can say that I recognized his talent way back when! Plus, he's a fabulous actor, although he doesn't seem to do any acting anymore.

Happy birthday to all my Leo friends: Karen, Sarah Jane, Kailey, Angela, Shannon... Lots and lots of my friends are born in late July and August! Must be something really there when they say that Aries and Leos are compatible.

Once again into the breach...

In an effort to make my writing more meaningful, when I'm in this "minimally published" phase of my career, I've decided to start blogging once again. I started my blog due to a class I was taking in my Masters of Professional Writing program at Kennesaw State University, and found that I both loved and hated blogging. -

I have a friend, Chad Darnell, that blogs about his daily life. He is dedicated to a career that most people fantasize about, and he lives his life with a sardonic attitude that he translates beautifully into the words of his blog. But I don't think my daily life is that interesting.

I admire Stephanie Bond, a multi-published author of romance novels, who blogs about writing and gives advice to aspiring writers. I don't think that is my oeuvre either.

Although I initially named my blog "Musings on Creativity," it has actually developed into musings on the composing process. It's too late to change the name now, though. So, I will continue to blog about composing, writing, and the creative process, but I attempt to share more information about specific projects that I am working on, not just whine about my inability to write.

And with a fresh start on my blog, I have chosen a new template. I think it's an appropriate time to do that.