Hiatus: Gotta Make Some Cash

I am going to take a break from blogging for a while to, um, blog. What I mean is I have a commercial blog I am working on and I need to focus my writing there for a while. In the mean time I won’t be posting here or over at the church. I may be posting some to my redhead blog, since it jives pretty well with my commercial blog which is on marriage.

Been Ignoring My Blogs…

I just quit work. It’s 12:15 am. I am going to chill out and go to bed. I haven’t had time in the last couple days to catch up my free blogs so I guess it will have to wait until tomorrow–though I think I will be going to Knoxville tomorrow afternoon (4pm or so) so it’s hard to say when I will have time to play catch up.

We’ll see.

15K Finished Words and Nothing Left for Blogging

I am checking out today. I may come back later and write some blog words, but I suspect I am pretty much done. We’ll have a houseful by 7pm or so with the boys, their friends and the curvy girl-things they carry in tow. My eldest requested a roast and potatoes for this evening so my redhead has been slaving over a hot oven. I can tell by the smell she put in too much garlic for her taste, but I love garlic so it will be perfect for me.

I wrote all I could handle this week. Looking back I am surprised I got as much done as I did. I finished just over 15,000 words this week. It’s easier to write for blogs, etc. but these had to be done at a higher level. It drives me crazy.

(Though I thoroughly enjoyed a bit or two of humor I wrote–the one about Brad Pitt’s butt was priceless.)

3 Paragraphs and 3 Beers

OK, I am about 3 paragraphs short of finishing the booklet I started on Monday. So far it is 35 pages; 48,635 characters; 9,058 words and I am spent. Those three paragraphs have to wait until tomorrow.

I went ahead and signed up for the novel writing month in November. I’m not sure how I will get a book done plus start my new commercial site. I will keep my priorities, so it may mean writing an extra 50,000 words just won’t happen in November.

I gotta make a living and I’ve made so little this year I can’t keep avoiding work.

I want to write another post over at the church, but I don’t know if I have enough left today to make a meaningful posts. There are some idiots who feel a need to tell others just how guilty and full of shame they must be despite not only scriptures to the contrary but my best efforts at posting. This week just hasn’t been a good week for volunteer writing for me.

Maybe I will put up some posts later.

Tonight looks like a beer or three might help lubricate the creative gears.

3,000 Words Today and I am Spent

Lots ‘O writin’ today. 3,000 words for a booklet. My redhead says it’s pretty good. I trust her. She even laughed out loud. She didn’t reveal whether she was laughing at a joke in my writing or just at the writing itself. Let’s hope it was the former.

I still lack another 5-7,000 words to finish the thing, and I would like to have it done tomorrow, though I suspect it is more reasonable to let it be done Wednesday.

My mind is fried so I probably won’t blog tonight. The Bengals play the Pats at 8:30 and my redhead mentioned beer and pizza, so we will probably call Little Caesar’s for a sausage and pepperoni later tonight.

Ideas for Books on Marriage/Sex

[Cross posted from my creative writing blog: Soylent Green - ItsPeopleDammit.]

I am in the process of starting a new commercial site on marriage and I have found in the past the best way to write a book is to outline a book with a killer premise then outline each chapter and sub-chapter, then make each sub-chapter an article (or blog post.)

So I am again asking you, my blog friends, to help me choose the most compelling book themes from the ones below. In your comments list the numbers of the top 2 title choices you like as well as any ideas to improve them.

Thanks in advance:

1. Charisma – How to be the person everyone wants to know (By the way, I know this doesn’t have lots to do with marriage, but it’s a book I’ve been pondering for some time…)
2. Mutual Fulfillment: How to Have the Marriage of Your Dreams for Life
3. Full Tilt Marriage: How to Have the Marriage of Your Dreams for Life
4. Your Next Honeymoon: How to Have the Most Romantic, Sexually Fulfilling Vacation of Your Life on Any Budget
5. Sexual Intimacy: How to Have Mutually Fulfilling Sex for the Rest of Your Lives
6. Hot Marriage: How to Have Mutually Fulfilling, Explosive Sex for the Rest of Your Lives
7. Peaceful Intimacy: How to Stop Arguing and Start Enjoying Your Marriage
8. Partners: How to Stop Arguing and Start Enjoying Your Marriage Partnership
9. Finding Peace: Understanding and Living with the Angry Spouse

Again, thanks in advance for your input.

WHEW! I just quit working today…

Well, I am taking the plunge. I worked all day setting up a new website that I intend to use to make money. We’ll see.

I’ll probably make some comments on other people’s blogs and call it a day.

The Paperless Home Office

I Finally Drank the Google Kool-Aid.

We have 6 active computers. At least I think that’s about right. Let’s count: 1 Averatec 17” wide-screen laptop (which I love despite it’s weight), 1 15” Dell laptop (which was my son’s but now the school furnishes laptops), 1 Dell I use for writing (it’s at the desk in my den), 1 Dell in my redhead’s office (mostly checking email and weather), and each of my sons has a desktop Dell they use at school.

I need to point out that I am not a geek. I can’t take them apart. I don’t know how fast the processors are or how much memory they have.

Why do I have so many computers? Well, it’s a long story. Computers are cheap. For the last several years instead of “upgrading” my computers it was cheaper to simply buy a new one (except for the laptops.)

On a regular basis I have found myself opening up my laptop only to find the file I needed was on one of the other computers. While they are networked when I am at home, if I go out of town I have to think ahead to any files I might need and make sure I have them on my laptop. At home I often find I need to power up my laptop just to retrieve a file to my main working computer.

It was getting old.

Several months ago I tried out Google Docs, thinking I could them have my working files online. That worked OK, though the document tools are a little limited.

But today I explored other things Google can do for me—since I was well aware of the Google docs and Gmail, I wondered what other online tools I could utilize to make my life better.

Google calendar is wonderful. I could do a whole post on how I am using it. I probably will one of these days.

But that only whet my appetite. The real killer app I had never tried before was iGoogle.

iGoogle is a application that allows you to create an individualized home page where you can put all sorts of things to make your life more interesting and your workday easier.

Here’s a screen shot of my homepage (click for full size):

If you haven’t tried it, give it a shot. It makes me excited to have a web page where I can organize all my work and access it from any internet connected computers in the world.

Now I am basically paperless. And thumbdrive-less.

Pretty cool.

A Little Help Here….

This is open to anyone who wishes to comment. Seriously. Even if this is the first time you have visited one of my blogs.

I am in the process this week of figuring out what I want to do when I grow up. At 44 I figured it was about time.

For those of you who know me, you know I make my living writing from home now. For those who didn’t know me, now you do. Almost 7 years now.

If you want more info about my career ramblings, click here.

OK, so here’s the thing. I hate the technical stuff I write and I want to make a change. I have settled on creating a membership site. But I have several topics and I am wondering if you all can help me figure out which one has the most appeal.

Ready? Here goes:

1. A Comedy Writer’s Site

   This site would allow members (comedians, radio personalities, etc.) access to current event jokes for a monthly fee. It would also allow them to have exclusive jokes written for them ala carte. I would collect some of you blog friends to create the jokes and on any jokes used the writer would receive a royalty.

2. A Parenting Site

   While there are many things I am terrible at doing, I am an excellent parent. A parenting site would be a place with articles and tips of successful parenting for children of all ages. Again I would utilize the resources of other writers (like you) to help create content.

3. A Marriage Site

   This site would provide resources for married couples.

   This would include everything from recipes for romantic dinners, reviews of getaway spots, sex tips, romance ideas for men and women, gift ideas, discount coupons.

4. A Family Site

   This would be a combination of the two above, focusing on building a strong family.

5. A Marketing Site

   I’ve written a fair amount on marketing and have written a good deal of successful ad copy. A marketing site would focus on how to market your existing business through new channels.

6. Personal Success Site

   This site would be about how to have success in every area of your life, rather than just one or two. Most people are naturally motivated in one or two areas, but are unmotivated in others. This membership site would help them find low motivation ways to be successful so they can have a happier, healthier and more fulfilling life.

That’s pretty much the ideas I am considering. I’m interested in your feedback.

Brother Can You Spare a Dime…

…oh heck, how ’bout a twenty?

This week has been all about the Benjamins. I have been thinkin and thinkin about this next stage of my life/career and trying to figure out something I want to do to put chili fries on the table, while having something I look forward to doing every day.

I can write and people enjoy reading what I write. I have made and can continue to make a good living as a freelance technical writer.

I enjoy teaching. Or at least I used to when I was in ministry. I enjoy college students and I might be interested in teaching. Problem there is I would need to go back to school if I want to teach. Bible college degrees are pretty much worthless outside of Fundyville.

It’s cool with me to go back to school, but I don’t want to take that step until I find something I’m passionate about enough to want to teach it.

I can work with the poor/people in crisis. I had an encouraging encounter the other day at Wal-Mart’s jewelry counter that made me very happy. Since I’m rambling I’ll share it with you.

When I think back on my 18 years in ministry I’m a little embarrassed. The absolute authority with which I taught things that now seem less than certain. The amount of time spent doing “ambitious” things that fed my ego and looked good to others. The impatience I exhibited to those who worked with me who didn’t have the ego-driven ambition I did.

I also think about how 18 years of 60+ hour weeks didn’t seem to make much of a difference. We (my redhead and I) thought the people we ministered to had changed; that they had come to adopt a value system much closer to Christ’s. After all, almost all of them had become a part of the church after we arrived (I was at my last church 8 years, starting with just 10 people or so.)

Almost as soon as we left the church, the values changed back to exactly what they were before we arrived.

One of the things I believe we failed at was our ministry to local prostitutes. It was gut wrenching work and when we began we had no idea how difficult it would be. We were in a small town but it was surprising how many women we came across who survived through low-rent prostitution. Most all of them were drug addicted, on welfare and had young children.

One of the women we worked with was Jodi (not her real name.) You could still tell she used to be a very attractive woman, but drugs and hard living had left her haggard. She had a young daughter, probably 8 or 9, when we met. Her name was Summer.

Being the child of an impoverished drug addict prostitute is not an easy life. You move often–one step ahead of the Sheriff and eviction. Your mother is constantly with a man, high or both. You fend for yourself from an early age.

Summer had all of her mother’s pre-drug beauty. She was also wicked smart. While you could see the physical resemblance, she otherwise had no trace of her mother’s recklessness. Even at such a young age she was responsible, dependable. She worked hard to look normal.

When Jodi started going to the church, so did Summer. Summer was active in everything she could be. Different adults would make sure every time we had services or a young person’s event, she could be there. Like most of the extremely poor, Jodi had sold her car years ago.

Summer was a part of the church for several years as we tried to help her mother get off the drugs and out of the life. She became friends with my boys–she was between them in age–as well as the other kids at the church. She was in our home often. Lots of hugs.

At some point–probably when Summer was 12 or 13 and was beginning to blossom into a beautiful young lady–Jodi was sent to a court ordered drug rehab. Summer went to foster care and we lost track of her.

A week or so ago I was walking by the jewelry counter at Wal-Mart and I heard someone call my name. It was an attractive young lady behind the counter. I didn’t recognize her until she told me her name: “It’s me, Summer.”

I asked her about how she was doing–she’s now a college student–and a little about her life over the last several years. Of course I didn’t ask about her mother.

Summer is doing great. Summer is building a great life. But the thing that almost brought tears to my eyes was when she said, “I don’t know what I would have done without you and Kendra when I was a kid.”

So maybe, just maybe, some of the things we did had impact we don’t know about.

It made me think a lot about what I really enjoy doing and not doing. I can make plenty of money, but money doesn’t motivate me. I wonder about doing something that is more helpful to struggling people without being in “ministry.”

Well, I’ve been rambling on about this for 30 minutes. If you have any input or comments I would be glad to hear them.