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Dialogue with my muse |
| I have been carrying on a dialogue for almost a year. During this time we have discussed the progress of my writing, editing, and publishing efforts. Join in to listen to our conversation about my daily writing life and add your comments if you think of anything Calliope and I miss. |
| JOE: Good morning Calliope. CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. What's afoot today? JOE: Decisions, decisions. CALLIOPE: Of what sort? JOE: Tuesday I learned quite a bit about business plans and marketing at a Score workshop. CALLIOPE: So what's the problem? JOE: I'm not getting any younger. Where to put my effort keeps nagging me. CALLIOPE: Tell me more about the conflict. JOE: Do I spend my time writing, developing my business skills or look for a balance of both? CALLIOPE: Maybe you need to decide what's important to you. JOE: As usual, you hit the nail on the head. I find more satisfaction from writing but would also like to earn more money from my efforts. CALLIOPE: How will you decide? JOE: I don't know yet. But I will put on my thinking cap, talk with some friends and consider the possibilities. Talk with you tomorrow. |
(Astoria Figs) JOE: Good morning Calliope. CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. Welcome back from your travels. JOE: Thanks. We rode a whirlwind through Manchester, Connecticut to New York where we settled for a few days. CALLIOPE: Tell me the highlights. JOE: As for simple pleasures, eating fresh figs from Mike and Joe's patio fig tree. CALLIOPE: Anything more complex. JOE: We saw Next to Normal, a musical about the effect of mental illness on the family. CALLIOPE: Sounds strange. JOE: It sounded that way to me too. But then music, better than writing, portrays emotions and relationships which can sometimes elude words. CALLIOPE: Tell me more. JOE: The show showed musically the struggle of a woman with her emotions and the effect of her illness on her daughter and son in very immediate and graphic, or should I say musical, terms. CALLIOPE: Words sometimes struggle to show raw emotion. JOE: I agree. Music seems to do a better job. CALLIOPE: Something to consider for your writing. JOE: I will remember that. I'm not quite sure of the implicati0ns though. Talk with you tomorrow. |
JOE: Good morning Calliope. CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. What's up today? JOE: Packing. CALLIOPE: For what? JOE: I'm headed for Connecticut and New York City to visit friends and relatives. CALLIOPE: Do you feel like you need a break? JOE: I've been working pretty hard lately getting out Conversations with Calliope and tracking down information on marketing. Yes, I'm ready. CALLIOPE: What have you discovered about marketing? JOE: It quite complex. I have found endless information and now need to sort through it and settle on a plan. CALLIOPE: How will you do that? JOE: I am attending a workshop on business plans next Wednesday and expect that will be a chance for me to finally get focused. CALLIOPE: Sounds good. What will you do in your travels? JOE: Catch up with old friends, solve the world's problems and relax a little. CALLIOPE: When will we talk again? JOE: I will contact you on September 16 and tell you about my trip. |
| JOE: Good morning Calliope. CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today? JOE: No complaints. How about you? CALLIOPE: I have one. You told me yesterday that you would share your column idea about seventh generation decisions and you didn't. JOE: My apologies. The idea came from an Iroquois tradition which formed part of their Great Law. CALLIOPE: Which was? JOE: "In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation." CALLIOPE: An interesting thought. Tell me more. JOE: I have been concerned and written before about the cult of immediacy. We need to have everything right away and don't stop to consider the consequences. CALLIOPE: Such as? JOE: Destroying the earth's resources and leaving a pile of toxic garbage in our wake. CALLIOPE: Have you been reading about it? JOE: Yes. Lester Brown lays out the problem and proposes solutions in his book Plan B 2.0. CALLIOPE: I'd like to see what you have to say about it. JOE: You can read my thoughts in this weekend's Sliding Otter News at http://www.slidingotter.com/sliding_otter_news.html. Talk with you tomorrow |
| JOE: Good morning Calliope. CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. Ready to go again after the Labor Day weekend? JOE: I am. I started my day yesterday with an organized list of things to accomplish. CALLIOPE: How did that go? JOE: Very well. I finished my two top priorities, writing my Seven Generations column for this Saturday and finishing Plug Your Book by Steve Weber. CALLIOPE: Anything else? JOE: I also explored Barnes and Noble's e-reader which I think has possibilities. CALLIOPE: What's up for today? JOE: Getting organized. I have too many piles of papers. I've lost track of what they are about. I did start putting them in files so I can find things, but have quite a bit more to do. CALLIOPE: That should keep you busy. Anything else on the agenda. JOE: I plan to visit the web sites and groups which I joined but with which I have not been very involved lately. CALLIOPE: I hope you are enjoying all this. JOE: I don't enjoy the process of getting organized but work much more efficiently when the process is done. CALLIOPE: Good luck with it. JOE: Thanks. I'll talk with you tomorrow. |
| JOE: Good morning Calliope. CALLIOPE: Good Morning Joe. I missed you Saturday. JOE: I wanted to stop by but was worn out from wrestling with my computer all day Friday. CALLIOPE: Over what? JOE: E-mail post and general slowness. CALLIOPE: Is all back to normal now? JOE: I hope so. CALLIOPE: So what's up this week. JOE: Yesterday I set a list of priorities for the week and began working on them. CALLIOPE: What's on top of your list? JOE: This week's column on making decisions in light of how they will affect the next seven generations. CALLIOPE: Where did that come from? JOE: The Great Law of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy.) CALLIOPE: Sounds like quite a context for our decisions. Why did you choose that topic? JOE: Because of our society's trend toward making decisions based on the next seven seconds. I'll report my progress tomorrow. |
| JOE: Good morning Calliope. CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today? JOE: Fine. Yesterday I talked with you about getting serious about the business aspect of writing. CALLIOPE: Was that just talk or did you do something about it? JOE: I did something. First I signed up for two workshops through Score in Rochester on Writing a Business Plan and Marketing on the Internet. CALLIOPE: Good start. anything else? JOE: I started looking for what I could find on Internet marketing in the obvious place, the Internet. CALLIOPE: What did you find? JOE: Lots of things, mostly advertising for expensive programs. I started wading through some of the offerings. CALLIOPE: Did you reach any conclusions? JOE: No. I felt overwhelmed and had to take a break. CALLIOPE: And then? JOE: Then I looked through my bookshelf to see if I had anything useful. CALLIOPE: What did you discover? JOE: Steve Weber's book Plug Your Book: Online Book Marketing for Authors, which I read a while ago. I realized that most of what I have done so far to market my book was based on his excellent suggestions. I started reading it again and found a treasure trove of ideas I did not explore before. I'm excited about the find. Talk with you tomorrow. |
| JOE: Good morning Calliope. CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. Where do things stand today? JOE: My computer seems back to normal and functioning well. I finished posting online announcements of our book, Conversations with Calliope. CALLIOPE: Good progress. Now what? JOE: My friend Dick has pointed out several times the advantage of a business plan. It's like taking a trip without knowing what transportation you will use or what roads to take or how much it will cost. CALLIOPE: Is that something new to you? JOE: No. I have had plans for my psychology business and have made some cursory attempts at a business plan for my writing. CALLIOPE: But? JOE: But I don't like to think of what I do as a business. CALLIOPE: What are the associated consequences? JOE: I enjoy writing but am not making any appreciable money. CALLIOPE: And you think you could with a good business plan? JOE: I don't know of any businesses which make money without one? CALLIOPE: Where does your reluctance come from? JOE: I think from living in a monastery for a while with a vow of poverty. Maybe I haven't gotten past it yet. But I guess it's about time. Talk with you tomorrow. |
| JOE: Good morning Calliope. CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today? JOE: Better. CALLIOPE: On what account? JOE: Whatever was wrong with my computer isn't any more. CALLIOPE: What was the problem? JOE: I wish I knew. I don't even have a guess. CALLIOPE: How did you fix it then? JOE: I kept cleaning it and deleting everything I didn't need until it was back to normal. CALLIOPE: That's a relief but also a mystery. JOE: Right on both counts. Now back to work. CALLIOPE: Which is? JOE: Finishing my announcements for Conversations with Calliope- the book. CALLIOPE: Anything else? JOE: I have a new idea which I'll tell you about tomorrow. |
| JOE: Good morning Calliope. CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you this morning? JOE: A little frustrated. CALLIOPE: Not with your writing I hope. JOE: No. My email program is acting up for some reason and refused to cooperate. CALLIOPE: I assume you are working on the problem. JOE: I am but I don't like all the time it takes from something productive. CALLIOPE: Like what? JOE: Lately I have been thinking about how our issues with the economy tie in with concerns about the environment and with how we treat each other. CALLIOPE: A big order. JOE: It is. I have been wondering just how they fit together, what we can do about our world and relationships and what I can contribute. CALLIOPE: That's quite a bit to think about all at once. JOE: I agree, but I don't think any of our earth problems can be resolved in isolation. CALLIOPE: I expect I will hear more about these ideas. JOE: You will as I am able to digest them. Talk with you tomorrow. |
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Hope they like snow! 
I just tell them to go get a life...
It's a sunshiny 24 here at the moment; 19 in Buffalo.