Week in Review

Lame title is lame.  I know.  Couldn't think of a better one.  Since this a week in review, you deserve to hear some of what happened to me this week.

Classes started up again on Monday.  Business Communications is this months topic.  So far, this is probably the one course that Rebekah Loper and The BNC wished I had a long time ago.  It isn't just about the different ways we communicate in a business setting, but make it legible, readable, and professional from the more casual co-worker to co-worker  messages to the more formal business to business communiques we see fluttering about the business world.

What this means we do a lot of editing practice, typing tests to get our speed up to the minimum of 45 WPM, which I'm doing fairly well with my average around 38 WPM currently, and working on proper grammar, sentence structure, and when and how to use a comma.  In other words, this is an advanced English class.

I LOVE it!

Now, this goes beyond English and all those crazy rules, we also go over basic etiquette in the office setting, and all that fun stuff.  To make it even better, my professor is an English Major, so he is up on all the writerly dos and don'ts we should know.  To help us, he has posted the various rules for punctuation, comma usage, and other need to know items that I honestly do need to keep in mind.  Much of it has already been printed off for easy use and the rest will be done very soon.

A month of this course and I should have it memorized, or at the very least close to it for use in my own writing.  This professor and my Comp I professor have done so much in helping me improve my own writing.  Both do understand that most of the shorthand we see running rampant on the internet now causes a lot of twitching.  *shudder*

Other than college, I have been working.  Wal-Mart is still where I can be found when I'm not at home or in class.  The days I do have classes, I work evenings until 11 p.m. then the rest, with the exception of one, I can work normal hours and have a full eight hour shift.  Part-time sucks, but it gets the bills paid.  We just won't have much to do extra until we can set aside some hobby funds for printing my art work and making small items for sale at a swap and shop in Pryor a dear friend of mine runs.

Finding time to work on small hobby stuff and writing is easy enough to do.  What is difficult is tearing myself away from distractions long enough to do them.  *flails*

By the end of this month, I should have everything back on track so that I can sit back and focus on plot and other things better than the worry of how to meet bills.  Of course, selling artwork and other things will help alleviate that, too.

That is my week in review.  Not much outside of school and work.  *shrug*

Now, honest opinion, please.  The hobby items I plan to sell along with my artwork are handmade soap and key chains.  I don't have the dexterity or feeling in my fingers to manage jewelry since they require intricate stitch work, but leather strips, large beads, and some key rings don't require a lot of either, just time and patience.  The soap is something I picked up via a kit I found on sale and I like it.  It's easy and not too messy.  Even if it did make a mess, the clean up is a breeze.

Think on those ideas.  I'll be researching different recipes for soap bases and the different types out there.

Happy New Year

More to celebrate coming soon. :D

So, the new year has begun and we are six days into it.  I could say I was busy as an excuse for not posting before now, but that wouldn’t be true.  Yes, I am working.  But not full-time.  As long as I’m in school, I’ll be working part-time hours just to have the extra study time.

In all honesty, I haven’t posted since November, maybe October.  Not because of work or seeking work,but because I have not felt like writing anything.  I barely managed to get through NaNoWriMo and most of that was due to the fact that I was doing a lot of writing in English Comp and my teacher was cheering me on in class as well as encouraging me to help others.  He’s an English major and thought I did well in my writing and better in my editing.

The primary reason for not writing or posting is simply stress over how I was going to meet bills and the huge amount of worry I was under.  Thankfully, I’m back with Wal-Mart as a cashier, now, so there’s income and they are doing well to give me my days off together when they can and as many hours as possible while working around my class schedule and Colin’s therapy day.

Between classes and work, finding time to write hasn’t been easy, but I do have time, just no weekends to go write-ins or much else.  Thankfully, the stress and worry about the bills, especially rent, is lifting.  All I need now is for tax time to roll around so I can use the refund to get my rent caught up again and the power bill current.  Then, maybe, I get the medical stuff took care of though I may do a fund-raiser type thing to help with that.  I've a few sites in mind which are reputable.

With the worst stress lowered, I feel like writing, but now I need to reacquaint myself with the characters and plots.  Which starts the whole process over again.  *flails*

So, I am setting myself a couple of goals for the year since I didn't sign up for #Writemotivation this month.

Holy Mackerel! That’s more than two goals!

1) Finish current edits on SoNL and get at least one round of beta/critiques done on the full manuscript.  stretch goal: two to three rounds of beta/critiques.

2) Finish editing on Test of Ascension and one round of beta/critique.  (18+ if interested in this one)  stretch goal: three rounds of beta/critique and submission to Smashwords or other site for publication under my net name.

3) Finish rough draft of Black Friday 2.  stretch goal: finish rough draft and one round of edits (not counting the spell and grammar check)

4) Finish edits/rewrite of Black Friday (book one).  stretch goal: finish edits/rewrite and submit for republication.

5) Lose 20 pounds and stick to some kind of exercise program.  stretch goal: Lose 50 pounds and stick to an exercise program.

6) Be more active in Colin and Adam’s lives.  stretch goal: Take the boys on a real vacation we will all enjoy.

7) Get all bills current or eliminated completely.  stretch goal: Have all bills gone, except for power, rent, cable, etc, etc, etc, by the end of July, or very close to gone by then.

8) Post more often even when depression sends me to bed more often than what I should.

We’ll see how well I keep to these throughout the year.