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Over on Facebook, Celina was grumbling because her internet service went down yesterday and, while that made for an effective writing day, when it came back up today, it meant she had 37 messages that had to be dealt with. She didn’t mention it, but I imagine there might have been about the same number that didn’t have to be dealt with, too. I imagine this because that’s often how my e-mail looks.

 

When I went away to the writer’s retreat last fall, I managed to check my e-mail three times. The lowest number of e-mails I received in any of those times was in the upper 60’s. The other two times I had 80 or more e-mails waiting for me. I was officially out of e-mail account for 9 days and none of my friends were e-mailing me because they knew I was out of contact.

 

Right now, my e-mail’s not quite that bad, because I’ve cut back on so much while finishing the thesis, but as soon as I’m done with that, I know my e-mail numbers will be right back up there again. It’s reached a point where my mother feels guilty for adding to the numbers, those she also recognizes that it’s often the best way to leave me a message without disturbing me while I work.

 

Next Christmas, my mother and I are planning to travel. She has already asked me if I plan to take my laptop with me or not. On one hand, a true vacation without it would be wonderful, but on the other, if I don’t take it, what will I have to dig out of when I return?

 

These things – the almost constant need to be connected – the increase in average communications – these things they don’t mention when you announce you want to be a writer and they’re the things most people don’t think about, but once you start actually being a working writer, these are they types of things you have to learn to juggle and quickly.

 

In response to Celina’s grumbling, I pointed out that we chose our careers. Deciding to be a writer is not a passive choice. It’s not like anyone has ever answered a vague newspaper classified and discovered they will be writing a novel or a short story or a children’s book. Writing is something you both have to decide to be and then actively pursue. It’s not something you can do in your spare time whenever the muse moves you. But, my off-hand comment to Celina, got me wondering: What would a newspaper ad say in order to entice the unsuspecting to apply?

 

 

A Writer's Mind

I am in the process of being tested for, and possibly diagnosed, with a couple of chronic – would that be the right word choice? I think it is – conditions. By chronic I mean they are not terminal in and of themselves, but a shot of penicillin and a couple of weeks won’t make them go away either. They’re something will have to be managed and dealt with for the long-term. Possibly forever.

 

I’ve been debating about how much to say online because – quite frankly – there comes a point where I want my privacy and I should be allowed it. On the other hand a great deal of my life is lived in the goldfish bowl that is the internet and I know, eventually, this will make it’s way there, too. Regardless, as I argue in so many cases, I am an individual and deserve to be treated as such. I am also a person, a human being, and entitled to the same respect as the stranger on the street. If I wish to keep my private life private, it is my right to do so.

 

With all that said, this week has been a rough week. Monday was a very emotionally draining day. There were tears and there were rants. By Tuesday morning I wore casual capris pants and a hoody to the part-time day job. Something I normally would not even consider an option outside of Saturday morning, a bonfire, or hanging around the house, but after the previous day, it was all I had the energy to put on.

Yesterday, I left a message asking for the status of my blood work. What were the results and when could I expect it to be back. Sometime yesterday evening – I’d forgotten to take the phone off silent after work so had not heard the call – there is a cheeful voice on the other end indicated to me that my <alphabet soup> levels were x.x which meant my <condition> was under control because the doctor liked to see levels under y.y.

 

Um, excuse me? Back up. Rewind. Did the cheerful voice just tell me that I had the condition we were testing for? It sounded to me like she had. Okay, now what did that mean? What was I supposed to do at this point?

 

A couple of phone calls, another doctor’s appointment made – because at this time the doctor I am seeing is on vacation – so I can say “It appears we’re having a communication issue,” arrangements to take off work, and some hysterical laughter later, I’m back to my daily routine. More or less. And the mind is free to wander while I label file folders and file away last month’s documentation. And where does my mind wander? Not to, ‘How am I going to live with this?’ Not to, ‘What do I need to change?’ Not to, ‘I wonder how much trouble that nurse is going to get into?’ No. My mind goes to, “I wonder how I can turn this into articles that I can sell? What are the markets? What are the angles  I could cover? Who should I query?”

 

That’s how the writer’s mind work. Everything is something we can write about and sell to someone.

 

 

 

The Economy

I don’t care what the government and the financial experts try to tell us, folks. The economy is not going to truly improve until after we hit rock bottom and we’re not there. The world is still a scary place. Freelancers are not immune to job loss. Continue to be professional. Continue to work on diversifying your portfolios, and don’t ever rest when it comes to looking for new markets and publications.

 

 

 

Weather Lore

Growing up, I was taught a lot of the old weather lore – the phrases and quotes passed down from our ancestors who did not have the benefit of satellite technology or meteorological data to predict tornados and thunderstorms and track hurricanes. There was, of course, the fact that if the groundhog saw his shadow, in other words if it was sunny, on February 2nd, we would have six more weeks of winter, but if it was overcast, spring would soon follow, as well as the corresponding March proverb:

If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb.

Science has proved most of those false, there being little correlation between a sunny/cloudy February 2nd and the weather that follows shortly thereafter, or the beginning and end of the month of March. The old sayings just don’t seem to be that good at predicting long range forecasts. Still, they persist, for a variety of reasons.

Still other sayings, the majority of which are short term predictions, have been found to have a scientific basis:

Red sky at night, sailors’ delight.
Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.

This saying has to do with the movement of weather fronts and the scattering of the light rays off dust particles and moisture-heavy clouds. All this means, if one sees a red sky at morning, rain is probably on the way. Rain when you’re out to sea, is reason enough for a sailor to take warning.

Similarly, the old sayings about halos around the sun and moon? Equally true. It has to do with the refraction of light through ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.

But what’s brought all of this to mind? Why, yesterday was Easter Sunday and it rained. You know what that means, don’t you? It’s going to rain for the next seven Sundays.