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How once woman went from being a SAHM of four to a published freelance science journalist |
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I'm revising this intro after more than 15 years to better reflect my intention When I started this blog in 2004, I was a stay at home mom to two small children, a college graduate with a degree in English and Astrophysics. By 2007, I had four small children, ages newborn, 2, 4, and 6. For several years, Writing.com was how I kept my sanity. This blog began, first as a way of staying connected. Later, when I worked on a novel, I used it to stoke the writing fires as I plotted out short stories and the next step of my novel. Ultimately, I moved my writing preparation to "Invalid Item"  In 2010, I became a single mom who had homeschooled her children for several years. I had a 2, 4, 6 and 8 year old and had never had a "real" full time job, since I was married while in college. Everyone told me that I would have to buckle down and take on a "real" job. Instead, I decided to attempt to live my dream: to make it as a writer. I knew that if I didn't try then, I would never really dive in. I counted my money and set a deadline. If I hadn't began making a decent (defined) amount of money after so many months, I would suck it up and get a J-O-B. After some thought, I decided to play to my strengths. I served an internship at Sky & Telescope magazine while in college and enjoyed writing about space and astronomy. With an astrophysics degree, I thought I would be able to sell myself more easily, and a small niche should be easier to penetrate. It's been about ten years since I was first paid for an article on Space.com. In that time, writing - journalism - has been my primary moneymaker. I've often thought about setting up a blog on my website - www.astrowriter.com - but just haven't gotten around to it. There are a few things I would like to share for those who are interested in scientific journalism in general. Now that I'm back on WDC, there's no reason not to combine the two and use the site blog for that sort of interaction. There are certainly plenty of folks on this site interested in the publication process. So while I'll probably meander around some, that's the intention of of this blog: to share some of my struggles as a published journalist and to help answer oft-asked questions. |
| I just wanted to share the joy of this beautiful day. Today, we listened to two sessions of General Conference, broadcast to the entire church via satellite from Salt Lake City. This is one of the two semi-annual meetins of the church, where we as members (and any nonmembers who listen as well, LOL; I actually did listen to one session prior to joining the church) are counseled by a living prophet and apostles, and other leaders of the church. Today's talks were very inspirational, although I must confess that I listened to them at home courtesy of DirecTV and via the Tivo, which made it a little easier to handle with four little ones. We also took advantage of our physical location; following the first 2-hour session (which can be rough on little ones AND big ones, LOL), we drove up to the nearbye Appalaichan trail and took an hour-long hike. This helped little bodies get rid of some long-stored energy, as well as being enjoyable. We also started a new tradition tonight that I sort of stumbled into while reading a homeschooling book last night. Each of our oldest three kids (7, 5, and 3) are to help with "after-dinner cleanup"; although they do have chores they are paid for, this is one of those you do "because we're a family". But getting through these can be difficult. We also have some trouble after-dinner; I tend to want to hide in my bedroom, or we sit and watch TV; we don't really spend a lot of time together. So we started a new post-dinner tradition of playing games together. Since there are 6 of us total, we each get one day of the week, and Monday is our Family Home Evening, so we won't play a game that night. Tonight, the first night, was met with great success. Anyway, Conference was wonderful. I should confess that when President Monson announced the building of five new temples - and I crossed my fingers and said a prayer when he started - I let out a joyful shout when he named Philadelphia as one of the new ones. At present, we are driving 3.5-4 hours to get to the DC temple, which means finding a sitter for the entire day - and our four kids are tough on sitters. Although Philly is about 2 hours away (north end, she chants, build on the northwest end), that is still half the driving time as DC. I can't wait until the temple is built! All of the talks were excellent. I took notes throughout, and made a special note of things that really stuck out or that I was inspired to do. Some of those things were:  increase habits of thrift, frugality, and economy invite our neighbors over for dinner our spiritual journey is the process of a lifetime use the time before Sacrament meeting as a time of prayerful meditation - this will be a challenge with four little ones, but this talk will soon be an FHE lesson for our family the things we hope for lead us to faith; the things we hope in lead us to charity; the three together lead us to good works simplify my Seminary lessons, distill them to the principle taught (I was also inspired to do this at our Thurs training session) the building up of Zion should be our greatest objective; I also felt the Spirit testify again that our homes shold be a Zion (a place of peace and refuge) our morning, evening, and ongoing prayers are interconnected meaningful morning prayers are an important element in the spiritual creation of our day it becomes easier to offer sincere prayer as we remember our relationship to our Heavenly Father periodically offer up a prayer solely of gratitude, asking for nothingWow, I can't wait to see what will happen tomorrow! We had our kids through all of the first session and most of the second. I think tomorrow, we will let them take their naps during the first (which is their naptime; they chose to sit and listen/color instead of napping/reading during the first today), and then quietly color and listen during the second. I am also considering taking my oldest, 7, with me to church for the afternoon session, since it would be nice to attend at least one session at the church. Although all of the talks were uplifting and inspirational, there were a couple I earmarked as ones I need to study in depth; those were Elder Perry's, Elder Oakes', Elder Uchtdorf's, Elder Christofferson's, and Elder Bednar's. I am really looking forward to getting my copy of these to study! Alright, you may hear more tomorrow, LOL, or I may collapse into bed. One or the other! |
| Just thought I'd drop a few lines here. I can't believe it is October! In less than a month, we will be on our way to Disneyworld for our get-out-of-debt vacation! Okay, we still have the motorhome, but I'm not waiting for that stupid thing to sell...for some reason, they are rather slow-moving at present. <sigh> So we have been fairly consistant in our homeschooling over the last few weeks. This week, we have added something new to the mix. I was looking at an LDS homeschooling page, and it had a quote from Gordon B. Hinckley that said that we, as families, should memorize a scripture a week. We should choose one at our weekly family night and go from there. Since I have the kids do handwriting practice each day anyway, I found a page that lets you print customized traceables and printed out this week's verse. We discuss it at various points in the day. Actually, our "theme" this month is joy, and our scripture (remember, my kids are 7, 5, and 3; the 18 mos old isn't into memorization, LOL) is 2 Nephi 2:25 --> "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." Since DD7 is in the "my life is miserable" stage, we have discussed how part of God's plan is that we have joy, and be happy. Periodically and at random, I'll ask "Who is having a joyful day?!" We have also decided to work on a hymn each week; this week, it is "The Iron Rod." Anyway, today is Wednesday, so we've been doing that for three days, and the kids enjoy it. I attended the Relief Society meeting on Saturday. There is a broadcast from Salt Lake, and it is sent to the church buildings (and also available on satellite tv). It was one of those things where I didn't really want to go, because the stake center is a good 45 mts away, and I knew the broadcast wouldn't be over 'til about 9:30, so it was a late night...I am so glad I went. The program beforehand was amazing (it was "Woman at the Well", if any of you have seen it) and inspirational, and I absolutely loved President Uchtdorf's (sp?) talk, which I have listened to three times since Saturday. Very inspirational and uplifting. Bookselling is blechy and getting on my nerves. I think I made a bad purchase and am having little motivation for getting things entered. Plus I am trying to balance the homeschooling and seminary (which is going great!), and it gives me very little time to actually get books entered. I need to add that more consistantly to my schedule and quit taking naps. <sigh> Alright, that's the fill in, so off to bed with me! Night, all! |
| Just thought I'd put a random post in here. Random! Things are going fairly well. We're mostly easing into our homeschooling schedule. Since DD is only 7, she doens't have to be registered with the state (and have accompanying paperwork) until next year, so we are doing a "dry run" of keeping track of everything with the hope of finding a working system. For some reason, I seem to be needing a constant homeschool fix, so I'm immersing myself in a ton of "how to" and "we did" books on the subject. Mind you, I read extensively when I first came to the decision three years ago, and I usually have read at least one book a month on the subject. I'm just finding the subject more fascinating lately than even fiction. <gasp> Anyway, it's rest time, so I'm off. To rest. Which I need. In case anyone was wondering, tonight is the season premier of Supernatural! Which is my show. I'm looking forward to it, which means instead of going to bed at 10 like I have been doing lately, I'll start winding down about 10 when the show ends (it runs 9-10 on the CW). Now you know my guilty secret. (My other 'big' show is having its season finale at the same time; that would be 'Burn Notice'. But Supernatural takes priority; sorry Michael Westin! Gotta see my boys.) (And, oddly, both shows are on my hubby's fav list, as well. Actually, these two - and maybe Monk - are really the only shows I "have" to watch, LOL. Thank goodness for my dual tuner Tivo!) Wasn't that an informative post? |
| Ha ha, I just noticed, my title is well put for what I am doing. I picked it because I wanted to just sort of let my thoughts wander about homeschooling, but I am really focusing on is thinking about how I want my kids to think. It is really too easy for me to find myself amusing. So, it has been awhile since I've hit the blog. This is because I got what I wanted - the chance to teach early morning seminary - and now, foolish me, I have to get up at quarter to six each morning. I am sure this is a normal thing for most human people, but I am NOT a morning person, and I have been a SAHM for the last seven years - and my first child would sleep til 10 once she got past that up-all-night stage. If my kids tried to consistantly get up before seven, I might have to take steps that would get me in SERIOUS trouble with DFACs, or whatever the PA family people are. Okay, I'm kidding, so don't go running off and reporting me (besides which, it is all moot since I am up before the kiddos every day). Since I've had to get up way-too-stinking-early every M-F the last two weeks (I suggested this week that we have "early morning seminary" at noon, which was greeted with grins by my students), I have been in bed by 10 almost every Sun-Thurs night this week. Since my preferred lifestyle choice is hitting the sack closer to midnight, this is a big shift. And apparently I am much older than I was in college, when I could get by on no sleep. I have been TIRED! We have also started our homeschooling up last week. My priorities, then, have been: homeschooling, prepping Seminary lesson for each day, prepping the once-a-week-evening lesson, trying to maintain a reasonably clean house [my family was here over Labor Day weekend, and I am trying - and mostly succeeding - to keep the house as clean as we got it then], prepping the Sunday School lesson [I am subbing until they find a teacher; they've been looking for about a year], listing and mailing books for online booksales, and then in my occasional free time actually sneak a "fun" book or two to read. You can tell that free time is few and far between because I am on the FOURTH day of reading one book, a sad sad fate for me. Actually, though, part of the problem is that it is the 3rd book in a series on the Savior, so we have the crucifixion looking up, which I know will NOT be an entertaining/relaxing read (which is what I usually read for) so I am not reading as heavily as I might otherwise would, despite the fact that it is a well-written and engaging novel. But I've been moving through some other HS books. Also on my to-do list is: Become more organized. I, who am well known and laughed at for writing important dates and activities on my hand, have a pocket calendar and have been actually doing stuff with various groups and people. I am trying to get my kids more involved in activities outside the home, so girl scouts is gearing up for the year for DD, and we have a Wednesday church meeting each Wed for my three oldest. We had a start-of-the-year Homeschooling group meeting last week, and I am trying to organize a playgroup at my house next week, plus our HS field trip, which I think I'm taking. I also want to take the kids hiking next week, and we've invited a few friends who may or may not make it. We are only about 4 miles from the Appalaichin trail - I know I spelled that wrong but I am too lazy to spellcheck - and I'd like to head out there while it is still nice out, before it gets all "Northeast-wintery" on me. But all of that is not why I am here, although it does make one interesting "sorry for not blogging" excuse list, eh? I am, at present, reading yet another Alfie Kohn book. Kohn is all about educational reform, and if you have ANY kids - and, really, if you care anything at all about public education, which is where some of your tax $$ is heading - I suggest you read him. I know you think, yeah yeah, she's a homeschooling mom so I bet it's about homeschooling, but it is not. As I said, he is all for reform within the system, and I don't think I have actually heard (er, read?) him say anything about homeschooling. He talks about how standardized tests and homework inhibit rather than facilitate learning. One of the essays I am reading (I'm reading "What Does it Mean to Be Well Educated?", which is a collection of essays by Kohn) makes the point that educators should determine their goals and then take a look at whether or not their methods will help them achieve that. I have frequently heard the suggestion in various homeschooling readings that you should write down your "mission statement" or purpose in homeschooling, and I keep thinking, yeah, I should do that. But I haven't yet. Technically, in Pennsylvania, you do not have to register your child for school or homeschooling until they are 8 years old. My oldest is 7, which means that we won't have to register her until next year. Of course, that is just when we legally come under the gaze of the state. We have been engaged in learning activities for years, with a heavy slant on reading and exploration. (My oldest was reading by the time she was 4; she taught her brother, who could read three-letter words at 3; now they have "ganged up" on their brother and are teaching him letters and sounds. It is amazing how much easier the kids learn from their siblings than their parents, and the pressure is not as extreme. My 3rd thinks that his bro and sister are "playing" with him - because they are. Which, of course, is one of the benefits to HSing.) (I had to go back to the paragraph to get back on course.) So we are doing a "dry run" this year, to get an idea for what sort of thing we need to turn in, what kind of schedule works best, and so forth. I would like to put together our mission statement, then; what it is that I want our kids to achieve as homeschoolers. I may or may not finish today, I am really just brainstorming. One of the biggest reasons I decided to homeschool was actually after reading "Punished By Rewards" by the aforementioned Alfie Kohn (I actually recommend this one as your "first" read, because it sets the stage for the rest of his arguements in reform.) I don't agree with all of the conclusions he draws, although they would be great in a perfect world where things like money were unnecessary, I suppose. His basic premise is that when people focus more on HOW they are doing than on WHAT they are doing, they do worse. So, from a school perspective, a child who is focusing on getting an A will do more on a "checklist" (real or imagined) to get the A and spend less time exploring. They might stick with the "facts" behind why the Civil War was begun and not take that interesting tangent and wonder why one person would ever think owning another was a good - or even moral - idea. Or how a person who was enslaved would be affected. In short, they stick to the basics and do not give themselves the freedom to wander off and explore, and truly learn. At the time I was pondering this, I had a 14 or 15 year old sister-in-law and a brother of the same age, both coming home overloaded with homework, hours worth of homework. It was very easy for me to see that they did not have time to explore anything in detail because virtually all of their free time was spent "making the grade." I could also see my friends' elementary school kids, older than mine but not in those teen years, who were coming home with homework and suffering the same fate. And the homework trend has come down to first grade and, often, even kindergarden! So it was very clear to me that a child who risked exploring something that interested them, even if related to the "main" subject, risked failing or at least "not making the honor roll" and being scarred for life. I also had done some research into the history of education, which astounded me. Public education in America was spotty at best, until the Industrial Revolution. At that point, businesses were taking in factory workers who needed a basic education to survive. Public education was spurred into action so that children could learn just enough to become widgets in these giant factories - literally. In 1916, Ellwood Cubberley wrote that "our schools are, in a sense, factories in which the raw products (children) are to be shaped and fashioned into products to meet the various demands of life." And an article in Fortune Magazine in the 1950s, titled "The Low Productivity of the Edcation Industry" stated that public education should strive "to turn out students with the greatest possible efficiency...[and] minimize the input of man hours and capital. In this respect, the schools are no different from General Motors." It is easy to see that this is still in favor today. In classrooms across the nation, kids are taught to sit still and be quiet. Questions they have that drift "off subject" cannot be explored because the teacher must follow the daily planner. The purpose of education today seems to be to cram as much information in children's heads as possible, whether they want it or not. Mind you, I am not chiding teachers here, but the entire system. I was fortunate to have many excellent teachers who could see that I was bored with the class and provided me with alternatives, and who managed to push me ahead of the rest of the class. But the system does not allow this for all students, and I do not want my kids to get caught up in that. I think that most teachers are doing the best they can in the systems they are in, but that as a whole, the public education system is set up like a machine - and darn the seven year old who won't sit still and take it. (Speaking of which, a friend of mine in GA just enrolled her son in kindergarten this year, and was lamenting the fact that they do not have recess. NO RECESS for a five year old. Yet another reason I homeschool my kids. Her son was dealing with it alright, but the son of mutual friend of ours was struggling because he is very active and energetic.) So, some of the goals I have for homeschooling: 1. I want my children to enjoy learning, and to become lifelong learners. I want them to seek out knowledge and to have the desire to stretch their minds, rather than to do the bare minimums. I want them to be interested in the world around them. 2. I want them to have the ability to NOT be a factory widget in a huge conglomerate, but be one of those rare people with the ability to seek out employment that they will enjoy and thrive in. I want them to have an entrepreneurial (yes I know, spelled wrong again) spirit, so that they will be able to succeed finanically. If they feel they would be better employed in an existing business, that is fine, but I want them to make that choice because they want it, not because they fear failure. (That, by the way, came from some interesting points made in "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas Stanley. Most of those "millionaires" are entrepreneurs rather than employees. Mind you, I don't think that money is the be-all, end-all, but if you are going to spend the majority of your life working somewhere, why not do it in a field or business you love, and can have control over? I know this isn't for everyone, but I want my kids to have the option. I really think that public education, with its "beat everyone into the same mold" style, destroys the uniqueness, inquisitiveness, and vision needed to become a business owner. Perhaps that is why so many successful buisness folks did not do so well in public school.) 3. I want them to be close to their family, especially their siblings. Public school does a great job of teaching 8 year olds that we are only friends with other 8 year olds. Not only does this affect the socialization of a child by keeping them from meeting folks of all ages and learning from and befriending them, it also impacts sibling relationships. And having a bunch of 16 year olds agreeing (ie validating) that parents are evil doesn't do too well for parent-teen relationships, either. Since we believe that the family is an eternal unit, I naturally want to strengthen those relationships on earth. 4. I also do think that it is a parents responsibility to educate your child. Just like you can't turn your child over to Sunday School and youth teachers and expect them to do all of the religious teaching, I don't think it is right to turn my child over to the state and give them control of all the secular teaching. I know many people - my mom included - scoff at parents who want to brainwash their kids, but frankly, isn't that what our public schools do? The difference is that the brainwashing there is government approved. If there is any "brainwashing" to be done, I'd rather it be me than the government - but remember that my primary reason is to teach my kids to explore and think for themselves, which IMO public education does NOT do. 5. The fifth is safety reasons, shootings, bullyings, etc. This is a very miniscule reason for me, for a variety of reasons. First, although growing more common, shootings are rare and far between, when you look at how many public schools we have. Second, although I suffered tremendously at the hands of bullies and teasing, and do NOT want that for my kids, I do not plan to isolate them completely. They will be bullied, they will be teased. My daughter came home upset the other day that the girl next door called her crazy; they are at church on Sundays with other kids; they will be teased. I cannot protect them from everything; I admit that. I cannot even try. However, what I can do is do my best to strengthen them so that when they ARE teased, they have a strong foundation to fall back on (and also, are willing to talk to me about it). I think that is pretty much my reasons for homeschooling, from most to least important. The first two were really the catharsis; for those of you who would rant at me for being a Christian and putting the parenting third, my reason is because if I sent my kids to public school, I would certainly be involved in their education and do think it is possible to monitor that even at public schools. Thus ends my brainstorming. I'm going to let my brain rest, and then in the next few days I'll consolodate them into a "mission statement" or "purpose" or something. On a side note: Calvin & Hobbes (the comics) are a great reason to homeschool, LOL. Although I'm not sure I'd want to teach him all day, I think that is one imaginitive, intelligent kid (yes, yes, I know he's fictitious, from the mind of an adult) who would benefit from homeschooling. I'm trying to decide whether or not to hang a few of those comics around our "classroom" (and I use the term loosely, LOL). Thanks for bearing with me and my musings! |
Just wanted to say - I should trust my instincts. Re: "staunch family". Although her parents were sure that she would not want to increase the time spent in class, they were mistaken. She apparently is very excited about the "new" option. Which, incidentally, we chose to persue - two classes instead of one. I have been on cloud 9 for 99.87% of the day. The other .13%, I keep wondering what in the world I was thinking, volunteering to invest more time. But mostly, I am excited, thrilled, and flying like a kite.  I should spend less time worrying and more time cleaning. |
| Alright, sorry to have checked out so long after the last breakdown. I've been trying to reorganize, recatagorize, and sort things through. Hit some more dumps before getting better. I'm off to whine a bit more about people in general, since I don't want to be too specific. Although I may end up specific by the time I finish. I am just feeling frustrated because I proposed something at church that leaders have stated is a wonderful thing for our youth. I am already involved in teaching one class, and knowing that there was a desire by at least one of the five students to do something different, offered to add to my workload and teach a second class at the same time (I am periodically smacking myself and asking "what was I thinking?"). I honestly thought that we would have three students interested in this, including the first one. However, it looks like we will only have two - and maybe just one - student who wants to pursue it. So the things that are bugging me: primarily, that one of those "staunch" families that I thought would be more willing is actually less, and secondarily, well, I can't say but it has to do with the way the leadership is handling the situation. Frankly, I get the feeling they don't want to pursue the second class, but don't want to just say "no" - and I wish they would, and be done with it, if that's what is ultimately going to happen. I have been really struggling with this, because I have thought this program would be vastly beneficial as I struggled through last year with the "original" class. Let's just say that where some churches have a five hour slot (over multiple days) to teach something, I get one hour to cover it. I am currently still smacking myself for volunteering to add another five hours - plus prep time, so at least 10 hours - to my "to do" list, when I am obviously strapped. *BUT* I really feel like it is a great program, and I know it will really help our youth - especially the one who wants the program and is struggling in other aspects. After I heard that said "staunch" family was more interested in the original than the new (I use that very loosely), I kind of fell into a funk, but then today I thought, duh. If we were going to divide up 3-new, 2-old, then why not flip it and go 2-new, 3-old? I don't know if the leaders will agree to that, and I don't know what it will take to have them agree - voting? inspiration? something else? I hate not knowing, also bugging me - but I may go that way. Frankly, what it comes down to is the motivation of five teenagers. I am curious how that will play out. Also on my "irk" column is the excuse level that people use for all sorts of things. I was speaking to one mom (ie a woman who drives me nuts all over the place), and she was yet again telling me about her life is harder than everyone else's. Knowing nothing about my situation - despite the fact that, as my visiting teacher, she oughta at least know minimums - she said, "I'm sure you've had one or two bad days. My whole year is like that." Yup, that's me, the one or two bad day a lifetime woman. I should, of course, let go, but what do I know. The same woman told me that since my husband goes to church, my life is near-perfect. !!! <deep breaths> Okay, bedtime. We will see how everything pans out tomorrow, and whether or not next week will wind up being the last week I get to sleep in. Thanks for bearing with my sporadic griping.  |
| This is a dh gripe, so men, be warned! DH has been out of town basically Sun-Sat night for the last 2-3 months. I've been getting more and more stressed out; yesterday, I literally fell apart in church. Now, mind you, I am generally a very private person and pretty much no one realizes that I am seriously going crazy; I *did* try to tell two women (my visiting teachers) that I struggle with post-partum a lot, but they basically blew me off, because they figure, you know, I'm so strong. (Guess I should whine more.) Anyway, point being, for me to fall apart in public (we're talking, I was about to start teaching Sunday School when I burst into tears and fled), means I am really really not doing well. We won't even talk about dh's crap last night, but we'll just focus on tonight. The point of the stupid bookselling business is to try to supplement the income so that either a) he can be home more or b) we can have enough income to survive a career change without starving. So I ask him if he can watch the kids for an hour while I list some of the 5000 books in my living room. And I get attitude. Poor him, he never gets time alone. (Never mind all that hotel time he gets M-F to decompress.) And it's not even like I asked if I could just come upstairs and do nothing; I wanted to work. So then we are fighting. And guess what he said his BIG problem was? That I asked him. But if I just disappear upstairs to work/goof off, you wouldn't believe the crap I get. I can't even say what I am wanting to say here, because I am so angry. And so depressed. He doesn't understand that his whole attitude is a big problem-causer in our marriage. He has no respect for me, and he thinks my "job" is easy, and he could do it. Do you know, I read while eating lunch today, and I read one chapter while the kids were napping, and otherwise, I've been working my butt off cleaning the house or listing books. He doesn't even care. He thinks he should automatically get a clean house and a cheerful wife. He told me that his life is horrible because I won't just be happy. (insert some serious profanity) I keep forgetting that everything is all about him. |
| Dropping a line. I've been thinking, over the last few days, that I need to stop in and blog, but things are ludicrously hectic around here (par for the course, I know). I've been trying to do things like get to bed around 10 (as opposed to 12 or 1), which cuts out on my computer time. I've also been getting up stinking early (and I am not a morning person!) to run. I'll brag about that for a few minutes; I know I mentioned it in the past. I've been meeting with reasonable success...mostly on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I don't know what happens Thurs & Fri, but I seem to have sitter problems on Thurs and then it's too tough to pick it up again on Friday. <shrug> That said, I am up to 3 miles, all running, and it feels good. Last Wednesday, I finally hit my "runners high" point, where I was able to just zone out instead of spending the time mentally griping about the pain, how hard it was, etc. In the next week or two, I think I'll go for 4 miles. I don't know how much beyond that I want to go. I'd like to train for a 5K (3.1 miles), but I need to get up to about 6 miles, and I don't have a route for that yet. A couple of people have also suggested I try running a different route, so I may do that, if nothing else than to have variety. Or maybe a long run. We'll see how that goes. I'm also having a sitter come over during the day T-Fri next week, from 9-12. I'm going to spend that time busting my backside loading books and sorting books, and hopefully get a ton more listed. That will help with the sales. I'm still kind of blechy about the fact that I have bookstore castoffs, which lends less enthusiasm to the process. But anyway, it will be good to get a lot of work done sans kids. Alright, well, I'll wrap up. I'll try to write more, but you know how it goes. Incidentally, I am about ready to kick the daylights out of my motorhome. If anyone wants to buy one, please make an offer. Pics are in the 'misc links'. I'm just ready to get rid of it. For some reason, what with high gas prices and a dying economy, the motorhome market isn't working out so well. <sigh> Oh, I was going to say - I had one of the girls from church over last week and just did NOTHING while she watched the kids. I needed some down time and didn't want to go anywhere. But while she was gone, I wrote a story for the Short Shots contest. It felt good to just write again; it has been awhile. It's a cute little children's story, if you want to stop by:
/shameless plug. Seriously, it was really awesome to write something again. I think I'll just "force" myself to enter the WDC contest each month, just to keep the juices flowing. I've been writing book reviews and five minute "content writing" crap, but that is NOT the same thing.  |
| Well, I'm having a bookselling slump. I bought two large lot purchases, and they are both somewhat duds. Both because I was too ignorant to ask more detailed questions, and too - what's the word? people pleaser? didn't want to walk away? - to walk away based on the info I had. Lot A was $300 for about 550 books, or about .55 each. It turns out that they were leftovers from a book sale, ie the duds that none of the other dealers wanted. I've had two or three sales from that group, but that's about it. Lot B was a better deal in terms of per-book, but the estimates were off. The seller estimated it at 10,000 books. It was a set # of boxes - 160 - for $300. I've gone through 40 boxes and pulled out about 1000 useable books, so the total is closer to 4000 books. Some of the unusable were just falling apart, or were magazines, but I also have several - five or six so far - boxes of proofs and ARCs. The only place to sell those online that I know of so far is eBay. Out of the 939 books I've gone through so far, 602 are worth the effort of listing, which simply means that I should be able to list them for at least $3.95, or, after fees etc., I should make around $1, minimum. There are a couple of decently priced books in there, so we'll see how that goes, but most of them are in the $10 and under range. The other 487 (I know, 487 + 602 does NOT equal 939, but I don't know where the math error is and don't care quite enough doublecjeck; looks like I just forgot to carry a 1, or carried one too far, LOL) are "penny books", or your regular Danielle Steele, etc that have 25-50 folks listing it for a penny. Mind you, 5000 books for $300 is .06/book, so it's not a horrid price, but it is a lot of work for not a lot of money. And my living room is stacked full of books, LOL. So, all that to say that my last two months of book purchases have not been very well going. On top of that, the week before last, I had almost a sale a day, but they have really dropped, and so far we've only had two sales this week, which is further depressing.  I'm looking at the big stacks and just feel like throwing my hands up and giving up, if only to get the books out of my living room. My daughter's 7th birthday party (more sniffing) is on Saturday, and my inlaws will be here next week. I cleaned up everything but the book area downstairs, and we are holding the party outside, so it should be okay. Final reason for the blahs: I keep reading stupid books by these SAHMs. Some of them are good but some are just...not. I read one last night, some LDS fiction by some woman with 6 kids, and wanted to scream. It was a great story but the writing was fairly flat. I actually think she is probably a pretty good writer, but she was trying to do the story of Jesus' "brother" and basically the only thing Jesus said growing up were scriptural passages. So he was a very flat character that we were constantly interacting with, which messed up the whole thing. But I read a couple other LDS stories that make me want to rip my hair out. There are some great LDS writers out there in the actual LDS market (like Jack Weyland) but a lot of them are mediocore, IMO. I know it's prideful, or whatever, but I honestly think I could do better with them, which means I've got a good shot at getting published on the LDS market. But those six-kid writing moms make me want to scream; how do they manage that? Of course, I homeschool, so it's not like I can write while the kids are at school. Maybe in a few years, when they are older. <sigh> Which I don't want to rush. Now the positive. I've decided to be proactive on a lot of fronts. For instance, I am tired a LOT. Part of it, of course, is being a SAHM to four kids 7 and under, and homeschooling them (ie having them around a LOT). But part of it comes from my horridly unhealthy diet. *SO* I am trying to change that. I'm going through and putting out more fruits and veggies. I've changed breakfast around. Now instead of sugary cereal (for me and the kids) every day, we're having oatmeal, cracked wheat (don't ask), and pancakes, with cereal once or maybe twice a week. I'm trying to do OJ with the dry stuff, and we've been doing fresh squeezed, but that takes a lot of work so we're just doing once or twice a week. (DH got me a power juicer for Christmas, which I wasn't thrilled with but am enjoying more now.) I'm trying more oatmeal cookies, veggies, carrot sticks, and banana muffins for snacks (all of which the kids love but which take more work). I'm cutting back on the soda and trying to do more water. I've also made arrangements for a babysitter to come over in the mornings while I run. I went out two days this week - Monday and Tuesday - but I made the mistake of telling her I didn't need her this week because dh would be home, and dh left at 4 a.m. Wednesday. Now we're all in Atlantic City, but I wore sandals and left my sneakers at home so no more running this week. That said, I'm going to run again next week, and I am supposed to start up with my neighbor (the babysitter's mom) next week, so I'll have an accountability partner. I was very tired Mon & Tues, but the running forced me to drink more water (thus allowing me to drop the soda), and I enjoyed getting out alone with no one pulling on my pantslegs - I love my kids, but dh has been out of town for the whole week for the last month, leaving Monday and coming home Friday or sometimes Saturday night, and I need a break. I keep saying, it's nice to have some time to think, but on Monday and Tuesday, all I could think of was "Keep....running....get....up....hill...." We have a very big half-mile+ hill in the neighborhood that keeps killing me. I haven't made it all the way up at a run yet. Soon. So, I'm feeling negative about the bookselling, but I'm taking steps to make me feel better from a physical and mental health standpoint. I'm going to try a 5K road race over the summer, I think, which gives me something to aim at. I have to pick the race, but I'm excited about it. I'm excited about all of the pro-active steps I'm taking. I know things will get better, but I do need to be a bit more active. For instance, I'm pretty sure that not one of the 3000ish books in my living room will sell if I never list them. So I should do that more, and stop letting the stress keep me from working. |
| Yes, yes, after my fanciful trip to the moon, I have finally returned. No, seriously, I wish I could say I've been super-busy with the book-selling part of the biz. I've just been busy. Let's see, the quick rundown was: my bro graduated the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend, so we drove down to GA from PA on Tuesday/Wednesday (with a VA stopover), visited on Thursdady and went to graduation, and then drove all the way home on Friday, because I had to be back for my Seminary student's graduation on Sunday (spent Saturday recuperating). Then, dh has been working in Atlantic City NJ for the last several weeks, leaving Monday morning and coming home Fri or Sat night. So the first week of June, the kids and I came with him, which was exhausting. Last week, I had no car (and no excuse), but today we drove back down to Atlantic City to spend a few days on vacation. Nice to have a vacation where the mileage and hotel is reimbursed via the per dieum, even if dh has to work during it (but he has to leave the union jobsite by 3:30, so it's not a full full day). That is the travel perspective. Then there is the "other" perspective. Right after Memorial Day, I made a bulk purchase of books - we are estimating about 5000. So I have been sorting, pricing, listing, and selling those suckers. Okay, so far I've only sold one of them. (I also made another bulk purchase at the beginning of May, only about 500 books, which is what occupied my earlier time; I managed to finish listing those just before I bought the next batch.) On a humorous side note, several of the books are "penny books" - you would be amazed at how many books sell for 1c, and you basically make a profit only on the shipping, and that's something like 25c max - so they are not worth the effort of listing and selling (and sometimes those suckers can take a loss). So when I went to GA, I took about 75 or so books from the first book sale to a used bookstore I frequent down there and traded them for credit. I got about as much in trade credit as I paid for the whole lot - actually, I think I got a little more! They keep the credit on file on the computer (no slips of paper to worry about) and it never expires, so I can make trips whenever I get to Atlanta. For the rest of them, though, I am thinking about holding a book yard sale at the end of the summer. Right now, I have about 500 penny books, and I've only gone through about 20% of my 5k of books (yes, I know, an obscene number of worthless books, but several good ones thrown in there). So that has been my adventures of late. On a less joyous note, I left my laptop and the baby bed at home for this trip to NJ, so I'm on dh's laptop and wondering what we are going to do with the baby at bedtime (which is really, really soon!). |
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