#Tishspiration Tuesday: What’s New?

#Tishspiration Tuesday: What’s New?

by | Feb 27, 2019 | #Tishspiration

About a month ago, this website was relaunched for the third time. Why is it such a big deal for me? This can be a daunting task when you are new to building websites and maintaining them. Therefore, I am still learning, and working on this new website design when I get time. It is going to need more work in terms of housekeeping and keeping things fresh. If something is left alone long enough to go stale, it gets thrown out. I hope to keep injecting enough excitement here to create a buzz, and to excite you enough to keep coming back. If you do enjoy the blog or other parts of the website, don’t be shy! Tell people about it. Share it for your friends to see. If you like it, maybe they will like it too!

There is a new chapter coming with #Tishspiration. All the cool kids are sending out newsletters, and as an author, I have been struggling with what to use for content in a newsletter. Sure, you can expect to see recent blog posts, some cool graphics, and a surprise. The surprise might be something I write, or a picture you haven’t seen anywhere else. When I am feeling braver, more downloadable content might be what the surprise will be. I do plan to write a continuation of the first place winning short story from November. The link is in the previous blog post in this category and will be in the first newsletter.

Since I am going to be working hard on this, I am going to make as much as possible exclusive to the newsletter. So if you liked the first place winning story, and you want to read more, I will be happy to work on the continuation of it.

If you want to sign up for the newsletter, scroll to the bottom of the page.

Really easy to do. I will be publishing it once a month, and it will arrive in your inbox. There are so many newsletters and blogs in my own inbox, I know I have to work hard to make sure you want to open mine. I will do my best, and it will be only once a month. Once a month was picked for the newsletter because I don’t want to overwhelm myself, or your email inboxes.

Today, I am cleaning my desk.

Although I know the value of being organized, it is exhausting. It takes so much time! I think that is why I fall behind. I am, as I wrote more than once, an all or nothing person. Once I slack off, I start to lose all willpower when it comes to things like being organized. I am again working on it and trying to overcome the clutter. It is a lengthy process when you are so far behind it is overwhelming. This is why I have to really want to make the effort before starting.

This is not a Weekend Warrior post. Why am I writing about cleaning and organizing? If you are a regular reader of my blog, first of all, thank you. Secondly, I do have a point. I have been wanting to really dig in and write my second book. It has been on my mind, frequently. I need to get it written if I am going to keep my deadline.

Guess what I found today? The whole reason I wanted to work on my desk organization was to find my one page, rough draft for my second book. There will be more to add to it in the second draft. There are things I need to write about which had not been on my mind when I made the one page, rough draft. This is good because I want to have a book that has a bit of depth to it. In addition, it will add more substance to my story. See, there was a point there, it was related to my #Tishspiration book.

I have been working on myself, lately.

I am working on a better sleep schedule. This helps me to have more productive days. More productive days mean I do have some time to relax in the evenings, which has been a nice bonus. Appointments are being made and they are for my health, and to help with a job search. I want to be my own boss all of the time, however, I understand that I need to earn an income. Meanwhile, I have faith that things will work out, no matter how scary they might be at times.

Since I am working on myself, I enrolled in a Lisa Nichols course. It was free, for 5 days. She had different options for paid coaching at the end. I am interested, but not at this time, because I have a more important task right now. Freelance writing is something I need to spend a lot more time figuring out. It might will be my answer to replacing a traditional full time job.

On the other hand, I have to look for work in traditional jobs too, because I need to explore all of my options. Today, I printed out some jobs to prepare for an appointment with the same office where I got help with my resume last year. At the time I saw them, I was working, and looking for a way to find a different job. I don’t want a traditional job, but I can’t afford to not look at all of the possibilities.

Most importantly…

Between freelance writing, job searching and working on myself, I will also be writing my second book. #Tishspiration: The Art of Surprising Yourself has so much potential. It is going to be an important book for me to write, because of the concept it will explore. I found the rough draft, that excuse is no longer a valid reason to put it off any longer. I am happy that I was able to find it in a day, I knew it was here, somewhere. As a result of finding my rough draft, I can continue writing #Tishspiration: The Art of Surprising Yourself. In my heart, I know someone is waiting for this book. Therefore, it is time to get serious about writing it.

What makes you open a newsletter when it arrives in your inbox? I want to make sure it is something you look forward to reading every month! Your comments will help me identify what to include and consequently what to avoid. Please let me know.

Weekend Warrior # 38

Weekend Warrior # 38

by | Nov 14, 2017 | Weekend Warrior

Another weekend win for me this week!  I was kidnapped on Friday night while driving my own car of my own free will and coerced into a girl’s night out with a friend. We hadn’t had a lot of fun It had been a while since we saw each other, so I decided it was worth it to spend time away from writing and be with a friend.  We went out for dinner and a movie. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday had a slow start. I watched the Remembrance Day ceremony held in Ottawa on TV. I do appreciate the sacrifice that anyone and everyone made to give me the freedoms that I enjoy today. I also watched a show on the History Channel. It was a roundtable discussion of veterans and they were sharing some of their experiences. For the better part of 3 hours, I thought about my grandfather, listened to the stories, and watched the ceremony. I also was away from social media for those hours. It was how I wanted to remember, and I am incredibly thankful that I have the choice to do it in a way that felt personal to me. I had a root beer in honour of my grandfather, he used to drink root beer.

I then took my time on social media, sending out a few things, to let people know I was back. I planned to clean my desk and the living room. While I was watching TV, I was thinking about the furniture arrangement. Roy had suggested a plan to move things around, but I wasn’t sold on his plan. I saw an alternative to it in my mind, and when I described it to Roy, he thought about it, and he liked it too.  He modified the idea I had, but we are now on the same page and we started cleaning to prepare. Stores were closed on Saturday. That night he went out to hang with the guys. I worked on the cleaning.

I got up and wrote something Sunday morning. Early. I went back to bed, and I dreamed about the thing I wrote being stolen, changed, and passed off as the original work. I thought my life was in danger, but it was just my writing. After I got up I calmed down; and made breakfast.  Then I waited and waited. Finally, we went to buy the DIY project supplies and a few other things we needed. Later on, much later on, Roy pulled out the saw he bought and started cutting wood. I made him stop, it was late and too noisy. He will finish another time.  We want the room to be reorganized and ready for next Saturday. I am hosting a NaNoWriMo write-in and then heading out to watch my friend in a Karaoke competition.  So next weekend will be busy, but I have time scheduled for writing! Finally. Once this room is moved around, then we can settle in for the winter, and enjoy living in it again.

There you have another busy weekend. I may not have things on time, but I am still writing, something, when I get a chance.  How was your weekend?

#WeekendWarrior