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 |   The Good Life. |
I am a professional musician  , worship leader , small business owner , songwriter , aspiring author and freelance nonfiction writer with a chemical engineering degree . But that's just my resume. My profile of qualifications is only one of the ways in which I am unique. Here I chronicle my personal and professional goals and my efforts to achieve them. Occasionally I fail. Mostly, I take daily baby steps toward all my long-term goals. Much like the stories I pen, the songs I compose, and the businesses I run, I am always a work in progress. ![Merit Badge in Music
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To a dear friend whose talent for writing music is sensational. May you have a fabulous New Year, (((Brandi)))!!! *^*Kiss*^*
Big hugs,
Sherri *^*Heart*^*](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Music-1050.gif) ![Merit Badge in Organization
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I don't know how you do it, but I assume there's magic involved *^*Bigsmile*^* I have really enjoyed this month of planning and preparation for NaNoWriMo and I love how organized it all is. Thank you for hosting a great challenge and for your dedication to helping so many of us prepare with confidence and trepidation for National Novel Writing Month (known to sane folks as 'November' *^*Laugh*^*) at your [Link To Item #1474311]](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Organization-1150.gif) ![Merit Badge in Leadership
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For your hard work, commitment, talent and innovation in running the October NaNoWriMo Preparation each year, which helps many of us get our scattered thoughts together for November's novel-writing. And also because this badge has ducks on it.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Leadership.gif) |
I think about business a lot lately, and an article that Storm Machine  sent got me thinking about it more. The article was about blogging to make money, and here's a summary:1. A good blog post turns a STRANGER into a LEADS by attracting new readers interested in the topic (aka, "traffic") 2. A good blog turns LEADS into PROSPECTS by attracting repeat readers. 3. A good product turns PROSPECTS into CUSTOMERS by compelling prospects to buy your product. And here's the key: 4. A good customer relationship turns CUSTOMERS into REPEAT CUSTOMERS who buy from you over and over. One major takeaway: Stop trying to earn money just by writing a blog. Of course, the article was referring to blogs, but let's look at the business of writing a novel. You don't get repeat customers as a novelist unless you write multiple novels. Of course, the highly successful novelists have loyal followings, which validates the chain of conversion model outlined above. But in order to keep making money as a novelist, you have to not only write and sell a successful novel in the first place, but then continue to write and sell successful novels. That sounds sort of like work to me. Heh. The chain of conversion applies directly to the business of music lessons. The majority of our customers are repeat customers, because they come back for lessons month after month and continue to pay. We do have occasional one-time customers who buy trial lessons and sampler classes, but that's not our norm. Student retetion is important to our business, and we offer teacher incentives for keeping students. We still lose them. Either it's not fun, or they don't practice, or they'd rather play soccer. In the case of adults, it's hard to get to lessons, because they're always at meetings or out of town on business. We continue to lose customers every week, and we continue to gain new ones who may or may not turn into repeat customers. Reach 300 students at MTMS by 12/31/11. 214 and holding steady, mostly because we're closed for the holiday weekend.  Writing: (1)  Blog at MT.com by the end of Wednesday: No.(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: No, but that sounds kinda like a good idea. Wish I'd have thought of it myself.Count points: TODAY: Look, it's my birthday weekend AND Labor Day. What the hell do you want? |
| Sometimes I think I would write more if I had a comfortable place to do it. Looking for comments: Where do you normally spend time writing? What setup / posture / furniture / room do you find most conducive to your productivity (and creativity)? Music or quiet? What tool do you use most often (laptop? desktop? word processor? pen-and-paper?) Personally, I need a bigger house. I need a quiet room way on one end, far away from kids and TV and garage (where Keith and the boys like to jam to hard rock and drink beer.) Music is okay for writing sometimes (classical music), but usually to drown out distractions. I prefer silence. I would like my room to be a library, with built-in bookshelves stacked floor to ceiling, with a big, comfortable, leather office chair tucked under a pretty mahogany desk. In the corner of the room, there's a recliner - or even better, a stuffed chair with an ottoman - with its own little end table and tall floor lamp. A fire is crackling in the fireplace, and there's a refrigerator stocked with beverages. No snacks, though. Snacks for me are procrastination, because I'm rarely *really* hungry. And of course I need a guitar stool in the other corner, set up next to a small table, with a music stand, a microphone on a stand and an acoustic guitar amp. Sadly, all I have at home is a reclining couch in the living room and a coffee table with a top that lifts over my lap. On occasion, sprawled across the bed with a notebook and pen work, but only for ten or fifteen minutes at a time, before my back and neck start to ache. I have a better setup at work, but I can never write at work. I can only work at work. |
| ...my mother redefined "Labor" Day. Today, I get all the credit in the form of presents, well-wishes, candy and tequila! Go me! My puppy is spending the day with me, which is nice. He's so adorable. He reminds me of a Muppet. Animal, usually. Right now, he's chomping on a Nylabone, which is the ideal replacement for the fingers (attached to my hand) that he was chewing on a few moments ago. I wrote a Textbroker article today. I may write a couple more. TB has a slew of orders from Sears, and the project is expected to go into November. Once you write one or two, you get the hang of it, and they're pretty easy. Or I may play video games all day. |
| Tomorrow, I'll be 36. September 26th is the one-year anniversary of my business. It's a month of celebration! Reach 300 students at MTMS by 12/31/11. 211 and fluctuating.Writing: (1) Blog at MT.com by the end of Wednesday: No.(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: No.Count points: TODAY: 2 Coffee 2 Banana 3.5 Protein bar... Yesterday was soooooo bad. After a good start that included a 4-point protein bar and a coffee, I gorged on Frito's scoops and at least a half a jar of chili cheese sauce, a handful or two of Coconut M&M's (in the white bag, OMG, they're so delicious), and then two margaritas, half a basket of tortilla chips, a taco and an enchilada. Really? Could I have crammed more fat and carbs into my body? ...and will I cram in more today, since some Fritos and dip remain? |
| So, I wrote another Textbroker article today. It was worth about $20, and it took me about an hour. That's decent wages for any job, so I should do more of it. It was a sales copy assignment, which tend to be my best gigs. They require minimal research - just enough to read the company's website and learn about the product, then use sales language to explain why you should buy it. I always want to buy stuff, so it comes easily. It doesn't take much to convince myself that I want that awesome thing, so why should it be hard to convince someone else? Sales copy may be my favorite kind of writing. Yes, it ranks higher than songwriting. Truth be told, songwriting is my least favorite kind of writing. It's too much work. Even fiction comes much easier to me, OCD planner that I am. Sadly, I enjoy the finished product of the songwriting process, so I do force myself to write songs now and then. It is GORGEOUS today. I'm sitting on the deck soaking up rays and letting the pup run loose in the back yard. It's so nice and relaxed, even the cat braved a trip to my side for a head scratch, despite the hovering threat of a vicious six-pound dog running loose. (Did I mention that the cat is 13 pounds?) I wish I could write out here, but I can barely see the screen in the glare of the sun. Am I the only writer annoyed by that?? Reach 300 students at MTMS by 12/31/11. 215, but it's the end of the month again, so we're expecting withdrawals. After hovering at 200 for a month, now we'll probably hover around 215 for a month.  As an example, I enrolled three new students last night, and I withdrew three students last night, and that was just in private lessons. I also withdrew two students from classes, but enrolled eleven students in two new band classes that start next month.Writing: (1) Blog at MT.com by the end of Wednesday: Not this week.(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: Not deliberately. I did write a Textbroker article and this blog post, so it's not like I slacked in the writing department today.Count points: TODAY: Meh. |
| I spent my morning reading reviews of Textbroker.com, where a writer who earns at least a Level 4 rating can earn a decent freelance income. Opinions from both customers and authors vary, but generally speaking, the reviews are good. I personally earned enough Textbroker income to receive a 1099 last year, and I wrote all the articles in my spare time and with minimal research. While not nearly enough to live on, I could have, for example, replaced my laptop with my Textbroker income. However, I stumbled across an article that contradicts the value of Textbroker, lumping it with other Internet "content mills" whose sole purpose in life is to maximize SEO and lead Google searchers to your website: http://www.wolf-howl.com/seo/is-your-schlock-writing-dismembering-infants/ I love this article. Every article you read about SEO reports that "content is king." But everyone knows it, so websites publish more and more content every day. Blogging used to be the future of writing. Like any market, supply and demand drives the success of blogging, and these days, bloggers outnumber readers. When supply exceeds demand, competition for buyers gets fierce. I should know. I've been trying to sell my house for two years. I originally searched for Textbroker reviews because I was mulling over the company's successful business plan. I enjoy writing for them, but I would be happier running my own writing-related business, so I was evaluating their model. I'm not sure if the web content business is on the upswing or downswing, but the wolf-howl.com blogger opines that it will decline at some point. I see the logic in his argument, which makes me wonder if I missed that boat already (as a business owner, not a writer. I think I still have plenty of earning power at Textbroker.) On the other hand, he suggests it's not the sheer volume alone diluting the readership of Internet content, but the substandard quality. Society will always have readers, and the number of readers has not decreased. People may at some point be willing to pay for good writing again, possibly in the form of subscriptions to high-quality content sites. It's an interesting paradigm shift, since I've considered the book industry fading due to the popularity of Internet content. I'm not sure I agree that subscriptions are the future of the reading business, since a number of huge corporate sites already own reputations as "the" homes for quality content (e.g., Yahoo and Huffington Post.) I'm still watching the market, but I'm not ready to get in yet. Maybe once my music school business earns me a substantial income and grows to several campuses, I might consider investing in the business of reading. As another entertainment venue, it's not so different from what I already do and would fit my portfolio nicely. Heh. My "portfolio" - like I have a whole collection of businesses. IN OTHER CAREER NEWS: Tonight I have an audition with a band. Not sure if we're a fit - the last singer was sort of a hard-core belter, and that's not really my style. She had some accuracy problems, too, though, and they might like my polish. *shrug* We'll see if it's my path. Meanwhile, my church is hiring a new worship leader, and I may consider the position. *considers* Reach 300 students at MTMS by 12/31/11. Starting to climb: 212 at the close of business last night.Writing: (1) Blog at MT.com by the end of Wednesday: Heh. More content?(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing:The huge introduction to this blog post should count, but I think I meant fiction or songwriting when I devised this goal.Count points: TODAY: 8 6 Mini-bagel with cream cheese 2 Coffee |
| Tuesdays are kind of nice. I don't have to work until later in the evening, like 4pm-ish. Fridays, I have the day off, and that's even better. I might take on a new (additional) role at church. I didn't plan on it and was going to hire someone, but when a peer suggested I just do it myself, the pastors basically said that if I'm interested, they won't even bother to interview anyone else. It's a little outside of my comfort zone, but I think it's supposed to challenge me to grow. I'm not sure yet, but it shouldn't be that big of a time commitment. Reach 300 students at MTMS by 12/31/11. 200-ish. It was like 203.5 when I left last night, but it hit 207.5 at some point, before I processed a couple withdrawals. I've been thinking of expanding early. Our current target is fall of 2013, and I'm considering pushing it up to fall of 2012. Most of my advisors think it's a bad idea because the two biggest reasons small business fail is (1) they don't properly manage cash flow and run out of money, and (2) they try to grow too fast. However, I think we're going to run out of space before fall 2013. So I'm on the fence. Writing: (1)  Blog at MT.com by the end of Wednesday: Yes.(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: I wrote a Textbroker article today. There are a ton of Level 5 Open Orders, and if this one is accepted with minor or no revision, I may write a slew of them. Or at least a couple.Count points: Monday: 35-ish. Tuesday: 16.5 (so far) 2.5 Coffee 2 Banana 2 Special K granola bar 7 Lasagna 3 Chips |
| Reach 300 students at MTMS by 12/31/11. 200-ish. On the plus side, our inquiries have picked up substantially in the last couple of days. That's a good sign. Writing: (1) Blog at MT.com by the end of Wednesday: Yep.(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: Ha ha!! I revised two very, very short poems. This is going to be a controversial statement, but I believe a vast majority of the poetry on WDC, including my own, is the lazy man's writing. I'd like to be a writer, but I only want to invest ten or fifteen minutes at a time, so I'll throw two verses of poetry together. Once you get to verse three, you have to work at it to make the patterns fit.. Likewise, flash is the lazy man's fiction. The truth is, if you want to be a professional writer, you have to carve out larger chunks of time for writing and stick to the schedule with commitment and dedication.I, sadly, don't have that level of commitment to writing. At some point, I may need to acknowledge that I wasn't meant to be a professional writer. Count points: Monday: 19 (so far) 2 Special K granola bar 4 1 cup Raisin Bran with 1/2 cup skim milk 1.5 Coffee 2 Lemonheads 2 Nutrigrain Bar 4.5 Coconut M&M's 1 Peanut butter pretzels 2 Soup |
| 1. After about five days of illness, my fever finally broke. It took me the next ten to catch back up. 2. To the people who post on Facebook that they're bored or have nothing to do, I have several volunteer opportunities for you. Shoot me an email. And if you don't want to volunteer for me personally, I get that, and I'm not offended. I can give you a list of ideas on how you can volunteer your services for the good of society instead. Helping others not only cures boredom, but it's also a great remedy for depression. You should try it. 3. I have got to stop overeating. Please ask me what I ate today. Ask me again tomorrow and the next day. Embarrass the shit out of me. I'm pretty sure that's what it's going to take. Reach 300 students at MTMS by 12/31/11. Still around 200 +/- 5. The fall ramp-up isn't happening as quickly as I'd hoped. *pokes the enrollment list* Grow, damn it!Writing: (1) Blog at MT.com by the end of Wednesday: Yes! I blogged, yay, go me!(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: Um... Okay, so I find myself sadly uninspired to write. My innovative tendencies lean toward generation of business growth and improvement ideas instead. I did try to compile an emotional inventory to see why inspiration is lacking, and on analysis, I find myself overwhelmingly content. People just don't write about being content. Hence, I haven't written anything original in over a year. If I weren't such a slacker, I might use this time of clearheadedness to revise my lackluster portfolio.Count points: OMG I AM GETTING SO FLIPPING FAT. |
| Bleh. Unproductive. Who gets sick this long? |
| Well, I've had the flu. That set me back approximately three days... on everything. Blogging observations: At its peak, my WDC blog had about three times as many readers as it does currently. Since I stopped scrolling and writing new pieces, I've become less visible. Visibility of the author = interest in the author's blog? As my local celebrity grows (mostly due to the 30-foot sign on Hamilton Road proudly displaying my stage name), will my visibility yield interest in any writing I might pursue under that name? Alexa still ranks my site at just over 600,000 global (146,000 in the US), with about 1/3 of visitors bouncing, and the other 2/3 spending an average of 10 minutes on the site viewing an average of 10 pages. Interesting, but it doesn't answer the visibility question. Google Analytics reports 84 visitors in the last week. Reach 300 students at MTMS by 12/31/11. Still hovering around 200.Writing: (1) Blog at MT.com by the end of Wednesday: Nope.(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: Nope. I've been toying with the urge to go through my port and edit.Count points: Nope, but I didn't eat much of anything yesterday. |
| I need to boost my income stream a smidge. There are about four ways I could do that: (1) pull a salary from the business account; (2) sell my house (although that's technically cutting expense, it amounts to the same thing as pulling a salary, because paying for that stupid house is an unbudgeted business expense that I've managed to support); (3) write articles, and (4) gig. Option #1 makes the most sense. The more time I invest in the finances of my business, the more savvy I'll be as I start implementing expansion plans. I'm holding out for our August/September volume ramp up, because we're counting on big fall growth based on our experience in this business, but I don't know yet exactly what that will look like. Also, pulling a salary for myself now will push back other staff additions that I've promised. So at this point, I plan to add an owner salary, but not until I reach a certain volume. ...and I'm not there yet. I project that I'll be there around November, which is *gulp* sooner than we all think. Option #2 is theoretically the easiest. Somebody tell that to my real estate agent, who is the fourth I've had in two years on the market, since I first listed in August 2009. Happy Anniversary. Option #3 has the benefit of brushing up my writing skills. It doesn't take a lot of time, and I can pick and choose the articles I write, basically deciding how much time I want to invest and how much I want to earn. I would need to budget time for this. I can't even keep up with my business blog or my Writing.com blog, so what makes me think I can find time to write articles?? Option #4 is my favorite. But the gigging itself is the easy part. Cutting a new CD, creating business cards, and marketing to local venues will be expensive, time-consuming, and frustrating. This is why entertainment acts have managers. Option #5, which I did not mention, is to get a part-time job. I deliberately didn't mention this one. My problem is that I'd like to do all of them, so I waffle. Story of my life. I should pick one and focus. Reach 300 students at MTMS by 12/31/11. Hovering around 200. For the curious, if I sell my house, I can redirect funds and pull an owner salary immediately. Otherwise, I'll start earning when I hit around 250.Writing: (1) Blog at MT.com by the end of Wednesday: Nope.(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: Nope.(3)  Search top blogs and analyze: I feel like this was a one-time shot, which I accomplished. I would set a goal to read top blogs, but I do this every day, every time I open Yahoo to read my email and catch the latest title on the Yahoo front page. I keep thinking that I'm smart enough to launch a successful Internet business or publishing business, so I keep trying to research these things. But neither of those made the Top 5 list above. Maybe once my current brick-and-mortar business is running itself, then I can think about starting additional businesses.Count points: Nope, and I feel ill. |
| Reach 300 students at MTMS by 12/31/11. Hovering around 200. Writing: (1) Blog at MT.com by the end of Wednesday: Nope.(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: Nope.(3) Search top blogs and analyze: I spent a big of time on this today. I reviewed two lists of top blogs to identify the most popular Internet reading material:LIST #1 (from top-blogs.org): Autoblog: Covering the auto industry with test drives and commentary on articles from other sites. TheHuffingtonPost: Breaking news and opinion on The Huffington Post Engadget: Obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics. Business Insider: Deep financial, entertainment, green tech and digital industry news. Serious Eats: Sharing food enthusiasm through online conversation, multiple blogs, and video. The Boot: All about country music. Cinematical: Movies, celebrities, and entertainment. Bleacher Report: Sports journalists and bloggers. Mashable: Social Media news blog covering cool new websites and social networks. Etc. The ongoing list addresses more technology, music, pop culture, weather, science, and politics. LIST #2 (from Time Magazine): The Everywhereist - quirky journalist who documents travel and highlights funny links from outside sources The Big Picture - the coolest photos EVER taken by daredevil photographers, mostly re:current events The Truth About Cars - self-explanatory OkTrends - uses math to make dating fascinating (creative analysis and infographics) Videogum - covers TV, movies, and viral Web videos This Is My Next - covers upcoming hot gadgets, e.g., "This is my next CAMERA" Etc. Very similar to the previous list. What? You mean people are searching the web for my top-quality fiction, original songs, and sub-par poetry, let alone my fascinating personal and business life? Apparently not. This prompted me to determine the top Google searches, which today include: 1. vindictus 2. maplestory 3. tca 4. deion sanders 5. viggo mortensen 6. spiderman 3 7. elisha cuthbert 8. the girl next door 9. enfield 10. amazon If I want to write a highly acclaimed blog, I apparently need a degree in journalism. And a lot of time on my hands. ........or a really original idea. Count points: Nope. |
| I had a tenant... again... and it fell through... again. At least this one didn't tell me, "When I said I could pay $900 a month, I meant $650." Why is $650 the magic number? People, if you have $650 to pay on rent, then rent an apartment, not a house. But this guy doesn't even have $650. From the time he agreed to the rent on Friday until he was supposed to pay yesterday (the 1st), he lost one of his major landscaping contracts. So now he can afford zero. I know I should not be griping. Our budget may be tight, but we can afford all our bills, even with a mortgage on a house we don't occupy. The would-be tenant who lost his contract isn't sure where he's going to sleep this weekend, and that sucks. What sucks even worse is that it's par for the course. But I can't help but feel frustrated over the status of a house I've been trying to sell for two years. I got a random private query at Textbroker. It's been awhile. Maybe I should write a few articles. I lost track of all my goals in the weekend frenzy to get my house ready for a nonexistent tenant, but I had been thinking about writing again. In fact, I have a new goal on my list: Search top blogs and analyze. If I meet my goal (always a challenge), you may see analyses posted here at WDC for comment. I'm always interested in analytical discussions over writing. Reach 300 students at MTMS by 12/31/11. We're hovering around 195 while we wait out the week and see who ends up withdrawing this week. Reading: One book per week. No activity... and I plan to cut this goal. I've been reading fiction often enough, and I plan to add blog analysis, so  Writing: (1) Blog at MT.com by the end of Wednesday: Not yet.(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: Not yet.(3) Search top blogs and analyze: Not yet.Count points: 2 Coffee 6 Bacon |
| I finished Brisingr today. I have mixed feelings about Paolini's descriptive writing. It's an interesting case study in how action verbs keep even a setting description moving: "Hundreds of feet below Tronjheim, the stone opened up into a cavern thousands of feet long with a still black lake of unknown depth along one side and a marble shore on the other. Brown and ivory stalactites dripped from the ceiling, while stalagmites stabbed upward from the ground, and in places the two joined to form bulging pillars thicker around than even the largest trees in Du Weldenvarden. Scattered among the pillars were mounds of compost studded with mushrooms, as well as three-and-twenty low stone huts. A flameless lantern glowed iron red next to each of their doors. Beyond the reach of the lanterns, shadows abounded. Inside one of the huts, Eragon sat..." ...and we finally get back to action on the part of the character. The action verbiage does keep the description moving: stone OPENED, stalactites DRIPPED, stalagmites STABBED, the two JOINED, lantern GLOWED, shadows ABOUNDED. Very well done. However, the plot isn't even taking place outside of the hut, so I wonder how necessary the description is. The lake of unknown depth, the marble shore, the thick pillars, and the mounds of compost never enter into the story. Is an assassin waiting behind one of those pillars? Are we going to cross the lake by boat? I'm amazed by the pictures his descriptions paint in my head, but they slow the story wayyyy down. And, frankly, I would like him to allow me some imaginative license. That said, I teared up a little at the end of Brisingr, which means Paolini hit a home run with his characterization. Reach 300 students at MTMS by 12/31/11. We reached 200, then we dropped instantaneously down to 18x. This was not the result of a flurry of withdrawals, but rather a change in the way we counted certain students. If a student had an extended lesson, which is double the time with the instructor, we counted them as two students. But the lesson was really 60 minutes instead of 40. That was just an extended lesson for a single instrument - say you wanted a 60-minute voice lesson instead of a 40-minute voice lesson. Now, by consensus among the staff, we added a new extended lesson product that we think will be wildly successful - a multi-instrument extended lesson. Now, if you want to study voice AND piano, you can do it in a 60-minute lesson and pay the extended lesson rate instead of paying for two separate lessons. I agreed to the change on the condition that we change the way we count extended lessons to 1.5 instead of 2, which affects the staff goals, but also more accurately reflects our budget situation. Although it immediately dropped our numbers by about 10%, it also made for a really easy up-sell, and we've sold the extended lesson to several existing students and a couple new students just this week alone. We're back up to 195.And climbing. We has a smart staff, yes, we has. Suppose I'll keep 'em.Reading: One book per week. It took much more than a week, but I finished Brisingr. I'm on a fantasy kick now, and I have a series by Jane Yolen, the first book of which is entitled Dragon's Blood. I don't remember if it was recommended, or if I just bought it because it has a shiny cover with interesting artwork. It looks like a youth novel and an easy read.Writing: (1) Blog at MT.com by the end of Wednesday: At least, I blogged recently enough.(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: While cleaning out desk drawers and old planners, I found some writing dating back to a rough patch in 2005. Am I the only one who writes angry rants directed at other people, speeches I wished at the time to deliver directly to the recipients, but which I committed to paper instead, probably out of some deep-rooted wisdom? I read the rants now and realize how stupid I would have sounded, had I yelled the words instead of writing and hiding them. The rants ended up in yesterday's shred pile. One or two song seeds survived the shredding, though it may be awhile before I do anything with them. For the time being, they're stored in my "Muse Spews" journal.Count points: 1 Coffee 4 ZonePerfect bar 2.5 Turkey kielbasa |
| I typically have Fridays off, and I had most of yesterday off because I had to take the 10-year-old to gymnastics in the morning. It was kinda nice. I feel mildly guilty until I remember that I don't get paid while all the rest of the employees get paychecks every month. Still, I need to work on the business plan. Reach 300 students at MTMS by 12/31/11. I have no idea. I haven't been at the school in two days. Reading: One book per week. None. I'm still at 53% in Brisingr, and I actually tried again last night before bed and this morning while trying to get the dog to pee. I'm not sure if I'm distracted or not getting enough sleep, or if this section of the book is boring.Writing: (1) Blog at MT.com by the end of Wednesday: I squeezed out a good-quality blog post today. (2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: Count points: ...and I'm eating at a Chinese buffet for dinner. |
| Something feels strange... like I should be having a hectic day, but instead, I had a relatively calm, leisurely summer day. Reach 300 students at MTMS by 12/31/11. Dropped down a couple, which is typical for the second half of the month. Right now we're just trying to get ready for the fast-paced ramp up we expect in August and September.Reading: One book per week. I got about halfway through The Everything Dog Obedience Book and then stopped after the part about biting. And then I picked up Brisingr and read the same page three nights in a row before setting the Kindle back down on the nightstand and passing out. The reading is a bit stalled, but I did two loads of laundry and taught the dog to come, lay down, drop it, wait, and look. Sadly, he's still biting.Writing: (1) Blog at MT.com by the end of Wednesday: No, but I was thinking of working on that now. It's the thought that counts, right?(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: Hmm. Actually, thanks to a prompting from Storm Machine , I stopped in at Helium, caught up on my rating, and edited a few of my articles. She's thinking of exercising her article-writing muscles, and I'm thinking of following her example.Count points: Umm. |
| Reach 300 students at MTMS by 12/31/11. 202 today! Reading: One book per week. Brisingr: 53%. The Everything Dog Obedience Book: 22%. I was also proud to be the first person to download the newly-available-in-ereader-format Burning Bright by Storm Machine ! Writing: (1) Blog at MT.com by the end of Wednesday: No.(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: No.*kicks self* I can't even write my WCD blog on a regular basis anymore, thanks to every waking (and some of the sleeping) moment dedicated to the new puppy. On the bright side, I think we had a breakthrough this morning, and he finally started to understand what I mean when I say, "Potty!" We definitely have "no," "come," "drop it," and "look" down pat. But the P-word is the ultimate. Count points: I'm going to give this a go again. Maybe tomorrow. |
| Whoever said puppies love us unconditionally was full of puppy shit. They don't love us when we wake them prematurely from their naps; lay them down prematurely for their naps; try to remove mulch from their mouths; try to remove poop from their mouths; try to remove chair legs from their mouths; try to remove anything from their mouths; or try to feed them boring puppy food when you're eating delicious-smelling bacon. On the other hand, they get awfully excited when you come home.  Reach 300 students at MTMS by 12/31/11. I blinked. We skyrocketed to 195.Reading: One book per week. About 50% of the way through Brisingr and tearing it up.Writing: (1) Blog at MT.com by the end of Wednesday: No.(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: No.Count points: No, and I want chips. But I also want to fit into my jeans again. Ah, when desires conflict... plots are developed! |
| Sammy the Yorkie: He's cute as a button! And though this isn't saying much, he has more energy than I. Thankfully, we've had the kids all week, since we're both on vacation. This is good because the four of us combined come close to Sammy's energy level. About vacation: In my family, this is when you do a bunch of stuff together. Typically, we do that somewhere out of town, but due to puppy expenses, I convinced the boy to do local day trips instead. It's been much better, but we still have to plan, make checklists, reserve, leave on time, and follow a schedule. Plus, activities like hanging out on a pontoon boat all day, which should have involved me reading, actually involved me feeding the kids, hauling the kids out of the water, and teaching the dog how to swim. Couple that with daily puppy play and potty training, and I find myself beginning blog post, walking away, and letting them time out before I finish what I started. I've also been helping the 13-year-old edit and publish his debut movie, Mezesoic Park. Yes, he spelled it wrong, LOL. Check it out anyway, it's rather hysterical. Plus, we could use the views and "likes" so he'll show up in the YouTube search: CLICK HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZesAEhmy3Q I also find myself yawning a lot. Is it odd that I look forward to returning to work tomorrow and all of next week? Reach 300 students at MTMS by 12/31/11. Still in the 170's, but we've been closed all week.Reading: One book per week. Not since Eldest, though I did see Transformers yesterday and was pleasantly surprised by the engaging and innovative plot.Writing: (1) Blog at MT.com by the end of Wednesday: Not for probably a month.(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: No.Count points: No. |
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Aw, thanks, 