The marketing roller coaster

Wouldn't it be grand if every great idea simply sold itself?  Better yet, if every fabulous phrase ever penned (Well, we seldom pen anymore.  I call it "plunk out.") found its way to the eyes of a reader and inadvertently to the change in their pocket, writer's would be free to create and plunk out to their hearts' delight!  Unfortunately for us creative types, to fund our habits, we must market.  Creativity and the inspiration that springboards it is best accomplished in quietude. Marketing, on the other hand, involves telephones and messages.  It involves networking, both personal and virtual.  It involves copiers and envelops. It requires busyness.
While visiting with my sister the other day about an upcoming event and the work required to schedule another, she said, "I thought you liked talking to people."
She is correct.  I do like talking to people, even large groups of people.  It's the asking for permission to talk to them that challenges me!
For instance, I have a friend with a lead on a possible event (That's all the detail you get at this juncture). She gave me a phone number and said, "They are expecting your call." I was excited, but I put it off for a little while and when I did call, the contact was not in.  I have to call back!  I am really resisting the urge to see it as a sign that the event will fall through!
I am beginning to understand why so many people hire others to do their marketing.  I can tell you all the great things about a friend's product, but I keep expecting my books to speak for themselves.  I think they do, once they are read, but they don't call to people from a shelf, or the box in my car!
I'm trying some new things - phone calls for one!  I am also going to implement a newsletter for those folks who don't follow my blogs or Facebook. I am going to keep plodding along, because it's the writing (and the talking) that I love!

Homemade laundry soap and guilt

I love the scent of line dried clothing!

I just made my own laundry soap.  I didn’t do it out of a desire to connect with my pioneer roots or because I found a pretty picture on Pinterest that made me believe my house would be perfectly clean and organized if I made my own soap.  I didn’t do it because my mother made laundry soap with lye when I was a child and I was feeling reminiscent.  I did it out of guilt.

The leaders of my Faith have long taught that we should be prepared and frugal.  In event of an emergency we will not only be able to take care of ourselves, but lend aid to those around us. We call this preparation Provident Living. Some aspects of Provident Living are easier for me to comply with than others.  It’s easy for me to grow a garden because my husband does that.  He has a Green thumb. I enjoy reaping what he sows and find great satisfaction in filling mason jars with the bounty.  Physical health is also in my skill set.  I try to exercise regularly, eat a healthy (somewhat) diet and I know a few home remedies that come in handy on weekends and holidays. That’s when everybody always gets sick. Spiritual health is another goal I am continually pursuing.

I am not so good at storing sundries.  I told a friend once that I always think things should last longer than the do – for instance, a bottle of lotion.  She made a profound observation.

“I think that is just mortality.  Things are always wearing out.”  Good point.

Anyway, back to the guilt.  In our pursuit of Provident Living, we often have workshops aimed at Emergency Preparedness and Frugality.  I have participated in the Laundry Soap Lesson on more than one occasion and I have been skeptical.  I would rather clip a coupon than purchase all the ingredients to combine to make a mess while assembling the powdered cleaner.  I ignored the lesson and the counsel to store laundry soap. Recently, however, I was given a sample of the product and informed that it costs about $.03 per load.  Three cents!  My clothes seemed to come out just as clean as they did with my high efficiency, Oxi-added, liquid soap.  Maybe it was time to bite the bullet and be obedient.

The first step is a bit aromatic and my husband complained.

“What stinks?”

“It’s part of the laundry soap I’m making.  I’m trying to be obedient,” I replied.

“It’s making me sneeze.”

I promised it wouldn’t last forever and that it was a way to save lots of money.  That seemed to suffice.

I now have approximately six months’ supply of laundry soap in a bucket. It cost me about $15. I need to make another batch to be truly prepared.  Oh … and obtain a large bucket and a hand held dasher to really get the job done!  I’ve got a small washboard I use as a decoration.  I think that will have to suffice for now.  I would hate to get carried away!

What are you doing to be frugal, be prepared, or be obedient?

I did it! Just waiting on the review.

There is always so much to do!  I am grateful for the opportunities I have to pursue worthy goals.  Sometimes the prioritizing is what is difficult.  I have long been self-employed.  This has been a great blessing in my life as it has allowed me the flexibility to stay home and parent, participate in my children’s school activities and life pursuits, and go to lunch whenever my husband invites me.  The things that have been the most appealing about self-employment are the very things that can be the most frustrating.  Flexibility, or in my case, the ability to rearrange my schedule and put off those things that are good or necessary for those things that are better or more satisfying, has often allowed me to overschedule and delay some necessary things – like exercise and toilet cleaning!

Here is the good news!  Today I finished editing the second edition of Gold Pans and Iron Skillets and submitted it for self-publication.  Whew!  This book has proven a learning experience once again.  “Why a second edition?” One might ask. The reasons are plenty.

§  I am out of printed copies of the first edition.

§  I want to try my hand at self-publishing and a book I am familiar with is a good start.

§  I hope to sell more copies of Gold Pans as I build momentum for Milk Cans and Quilt Blocks.

§  I didn’t want to mess up Milk Cans on my first attempt at self-publishing.

§  And finally, the new cover design will be a better companion to the Milk Cans cover.

The best part?  It isn’t 2014 – yet!

I feel almost as good as if I were here!

So many options ...

Where to begin?

I’m in a bit of a pickle.  I have several writing projects in various states of completion and some days I don’t know where to begin.  Should I put finishing touches on Edition II of Gold Pans and Iron Skillets?  It isn’t available for release until December 1. Should I work on the book cover to Milk Cans and Quilt Blocks (a companion to Gold Pans and Iron Skillets) or do more editing of this work?  Should I polish my novel or visit with a man about a cover design?  Then there is the one about pain.  That one is still in the first draft process and I am still a little scattered as to the layout.  Here is a hint about the content. Oh … and I have two blogs to nurture!

I can let all of these writing projects overwhelm me or I can look at is as a smorgasbord. I have so many options in front of me that surely there is something that will satisfy.  Unfortunately, I often go for the simple carbs and head right for the blog post.  It’s quick. It’s fun.  The rewards are immediate because I can check post views in real time to see who is reading my stuff.  Those other projects?  I should spend some time on them.  They promise to offer more lasting satisfaction.  But then there are promises and there are sure things.  I’m a chicken – I usually opt for the sure thing! 

Any suggestions? 

Call me “Scaredy Cat!”

I have this little problem with technology.  I am a bit afraid of it!  I don’t have a fear that I might push the wrong button and crash my computer.  I am afraid of undoing something I have already done. (I hate wasted effort and wasted money, although I am very good at wasting time.) I am deathly afraid of updates! My wireless printer is so very convenient, but it keeps giving me an “Updates Available” message and I keep ignoring it!  You see, I am also a creature of habit and I am reluctant to create change in my workspace.  Comfort – it might be my undoing.  Imagine my dismay when my oldest son who was visiting for the weekend walked by my printer, noticed the message, and touched the “OK” button!  I gave him a threatening look.  He just shook his head and walked off.  I have yet to discover if he broke anything.

When I had my first cell phone I was notorious for letting the battery get too low.  My husband would chastise me for not carrying my phone.  “Oh, I had it, but the battery was dead,” was my typical response. I enjoyed my first camera phone and clung to it for years. My last camera phone recently gave up the ghost.  When the screen died and I could no longer tell if it was OFF or ON or whether I was sending or receiving a text, I knew it was time for a new phone.  Did I mention I’m not good with change? The same oldest son convinced me to get an iPhone. I didn’t want to pay for the data package (wasted money?) nor was I crazy about learning to use something different.  I was also feeling a little guilty about the indulgence.

For the first few days I took some really great pictures, sent text messages easily, and added my contacts. (By the way – you may want to message me your phone number as I lost them all when the flip phone died.) I continued to feel guilty about the data package. I then determined to use the phone as it was made to be used.  It changed my life! It is a much better communicator than my old phone friend.  For instance, I had a meeting the other for which I was going to be a few minutes late.  Unfortunately, I did not have the individual’s phone number in my contacts, but she is a friend on Facebook.  I couldn’t send a text message, but I was able to send a Facebook message!  Problem solved.  Everything from Map my Run to the organization tools it offers is making things better for me.  I have scripture references at my fingertips and a stop watch I can actually see. My grocery list is now on my phone. Not to mention being able to Face Time with my grandkids!

Silly me.  What took me so long? I’m loving my new phone!

What good things have you embraced that you were previously afraid to face?

Great Ideas Neglected

I hate it when I have a great idea for an essay or a blog post, but I can’t sit down and work on it at the moment.  Too often, the great idea escapes me when the opportunity to document it finally arrives.  Oh, I know the best answer is to jot the idea down quickly and refer to it later, but it usually seems so awesome that I am certain I will remember it. Alas, I do not! 

For instance, I had a Part II to yesterday’s post.  I think it had something to do with “How much is not enough,” but I can’t remember for sure!

Here is what really bothers me.  If I regularly write in my mind and delay putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard, can I really call myself a writer?   I know I am a runner because I do it often enough (and other people see me pounding the pavement) but what defines “writer?”  I have an author’s Facebook page.  Is that what it takes to be legit?  I published a book in 2008.

 

 

 

That was over four years ago.  Two blogs and a couple of online gigs can be added to my portfolio, as well as, a column for Blue Circle Sports.  For some reason, we writers think that dollars validate our talents.  Maybe they do and maybe they don’t.  This much I know – those of us who write HAVE to write and those who don’t write have trouble understanding why we feel compelled to write.  Maybe it’s an addiction.  Better yet, maybe it’s therapy.  You see, this 300 word post just helped me clarify why I write and where I need to focus my efforts.  I took the time to document it.  Maybe tomorrow I will remember why I write!

Hoarder or Procrastinator?

Just like it was yesterday ...

Okay, I’ve admitted that I am a bit of a hoarder.  See this post. I am beginning to wonder if I am truly a hoarder or if I just can’t measure the passing of time.  Hmm?
For instance, my husband and I were visiting a friend recently who confessed that she used to paint her walls every two years.
“Wow!  I probably haven’t painted mine in like … six!”
Hubby cleared his throat and informed me that it had been much longer than that!  I had no idea!
The same thing happened when I went in for what should have been an annual cancer screening.  (It’s the one us girls would prefer to have a car ran over our rib cage than endure.) 
“Um, it’s been a couple years …” I confessed.
“More like eight,” the not-so-cheerful receptionist muttered.  Who knew?
Today I replaced the well-used quilt covering my bed with a crisp new coverlet. It’s like I have a new room!  Now I probably won’t have to paint the walls for some time yet.  After all, it’s only been … oh … ten, maybe twelve years …

I have begun!

Okay, it's only 640 words of a rough draft of one chapter of one book, but it's a start!  I have been telling myself and others that I was going to write another book.  I suppose it's time to follow through.  Unlike the first one, Gold Pans and Iron Skillets, or the second one (a novel - yet to be published), this book is a bit more purpose driven.  I can tell you that the subject matter is pain and that I prefer to teach a lesson with a story.  I can also tell you that I intend to hold true to my motto, "Learn to laugh and laugh while you learn."  That being said, I also admit that there have been times when I have laughed because had I not, I would have cried.  Stay tuned for progress reports.  Unless you are one of my preferred proof readers, you shall have to wait on the body of the work until that magical day when I can say, "Whew! I have finally published that book I talked about for so long!"  In the meantime, please do not forget to laugh!

The Price of Procrastination

Yesterday was a windy day.  I made the mistake of putting off my run until today, thinking it would be a better day for running.  I should know better.  Oh, I am familiar with the old adage, "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today," but sometimes my hope of a brighter future leads me into trouble.  You see, had I faced the wind and gone for a run yesterday, today would be brighter because I could stay indoors free of guilt.  Alas, I must run.

Do I Blog?

I wish it would snow.

I don't know.  It seems as if I can't remember the last time a wrote a blog post.  It has been awhile.  I'm still writing, but I have been focusing on my Examiner column.  A friend recently gave me a piece of advice when I confessed that I feel as if I am getting away with something when I am writing.  I said, "It is fun and I feel like I am playing." 
Her counsel?  "You need to think of your writing as your work."
I've been trying to be a bit more disciplined in that respect.
There have been other distractions - a couple of them quite significant, but then, there will always be distractions.  The challenge is to work through the distractions, is it not?
So I write, and I run, and I redirect - and then I remember something I forgot to do.  I repent and then I repeat it all over again!

Reality Check?

I had to renew my driver's license this week.  That's right - I am having a birthday.  It's not a significant one.  That happened last year. 
I don't know why, but the driver's license renewal is just unappealing to me.  It is especially bothersome since Idaho went to the eight year plan. Daily stuff like making my bed and brushing my teeth do not present themselves as nuisances.  It's the annual things that get to me - taxes, vehicle registrations, and physical exams.  I just don't seem to have time for those! Those things on an eight year rotation ... why bother?
The driver's license renewal is a bit of an honesty check, is it not?  I'm really squeaking to pass the eye test!  I forgot and left my distance glasses home. (I seldom use them!) The weight question always gets me. 
"Is your weight still the same?"
"Well, no, it has gone down a bit, but actually it is closer to the weight listed.  Just leave it." (I've been lying about my DL weight for years!)
Hair color?  That changes all the time!
It is good, too, that they do the eye test prior to snapping the photo.  I couldn't see a thing afterwards!  I hope I recognize my signature.
Friends have been complaining about the "new" Idaho license design.  I don't think it has anything to do with the new design.  I think we just hate the whole experience.  It's just too revealing.

Just Run, Write?

I have raised a family of runners. Now one might think that because I run and my offspring run they must have taken after me. Not so. In this case the egg really did come before the chicken. The truth is these Greens run because we are not good at sports requiring a lot of equipment, especially balls. Baseball, basketball, football, volleyball, tennis, and golf just have too many parts to coordinate. So we run … and we do math.

“But in order to run 400 meters in a minute I will have to run every 100 meters in 15 seconds...”

“If my opponent runs his/her best time then I will have to run this time to beat him/her...”

“There are 10 hurdles in the race and I have to clear every hurdle...”

“If you run a 6 minute mile pace you will be way under 19 minutes on a 5k ...”

And so on …

My advice to my mathematician runners was always this, “Just run!”

If they would just stop fretting about the obstacles and run, they might clear all those obstacles in the process. They often did.

I don't heed my own advise.

I write because I enjoy it. I am better at writing than I am at crafting, scrapbooking, record keeping. So I write .. and I make excuses.

“If I take time to write and nobody ever reads it, then I have wasted my time ...”

“I have other things I should be doing, like housework ...”

I have writer's block!”

And so on …

What advice might I heed?

“Just write!”

Desktop

Dirty dusty documents deepening daily on my desk.

Do I dust, ditch, or determine direct destinations

Diminishing droves of data and debris?

Daydreams delay decision and divert the dread of debt.

Dynamite? Decomposition? Does dropping in the dumpster

Do dire damage or dispense delight?

Dear Blog, I've missed you!

I've been neglecting my blog a bit. I won't blame it on writer's block this time.  I've just had other things on my mind as in:

• How many hoops will Spence have to jump through to obtain his Utah Residency status and have out of state tuition waived to the tune of $6000 per semester?
• How many times will I tell my married kids and granddaughter "Goodbye" before they actually leave for Pennsylvania?
• How sad will it be?
• How long before I hop a plane to Pennsylvania?
• How am I going to get through another year with a high school senior?
• How much money will it take to fix the pickup so the "Service Engine" light will go off and an emissions test can actually be performed?
• How many pints of beans will I can this year?
• Ditto for quarts of tomatoes.
• When does An Eclectic Collage: Volume II (A collaborative work on relationships by female authors) come out so I can tell all my friends?
• What's for dinner?

 Well, I have some answers and they are all good!

• As many as it takes.  Residency Awarded!  No more out of state tuition hanging over his head - nor mine!
• About three.
• Sad.  Very sad.
• Five and one half weeks until I make my first visit to Pennsylvania and welcome a new grandchild into the world.
• Hang on!  It's a wild ride!  However, I am wiser and more seasoned than the first two times I rode this attraction.
• $175
• Between 50 and 60.
• Who knows?  They are just coming on.
• September 15!  I am one of the authors of this book.  More info to come!
• Whole wheat waffles - or maybe BLT's.  After all, the tomatoes are ripening!

I'd Rather be Writing?

Why is it sometimes so hard to write?  When I don't have the time, all I can think about is writing.  When I have the time, here is what I do ...

Turn on the computer and check my email.
Start a load of laundry.
View my checking account balance.
Look on facebook to see if I have any new friends.
Grab a snack.
Check my blog stats.
Check my other email account.
Look to see if I have written anything in the past worthy of posting today.
Google literary agents.
Read the blogs I follow.
Wonder how to get more followers on my blog.
Look for a cute photo to post with a blog I have not yet written.
Bake something.

And the list goes on ...