Category: Uncategorized

Not a cryptid, but…

So I love this video, in part because the Kansas Department of Wildlife used to insist there were no mountain lions in the eastern half of the state, and it part because who would expect a mountain lion in the middle of a city?

To me it’s proof that “experts” sometimes have no clue, and that the unexpected can still be found in unlikely places. If it weren’t for the doorbell came, we wouldn’t have known this beastie took a stroll through the neighborhood.

Makes you wonder what could be caught on a cam in a rural area…

https://www.ksn.com/news/local/caught-on-camera-a-mountain-lion-in-the-middle-of-wichita/


Kicking off the year with the Kansas Writers Association

This Saturday I speak at the Kansas Writers Association meeting about editing.  I’ve jotted a bunch of notes in my journal, and am now in the process of creating handouts (which I will post later).  I am currently planning to do a series based around those handouts.  Of course, even though I’ve been working on my thoughts since I was invited to speak, the idea of connected posts only occurred to me this week.  There won’t be quite enough time (there never is) to cover everything, so a series seems like a great way to go more in depth.

I’ve been a member of KWA since 2006 (if not earlier).  It’s gone through a lot of changes with the advancement of the internet.  Less people attend, which I think is a shame.  I’ve learned a lot – but to me it’s about meeting local writers.  Most of the friends I have made as an adult have come from KWA – either I met them there or I met them through someone I knew from KWA.

I’ve met fascinating people from a variety of backgrounds.  KWA is a group for all genres that attracts all levels of writers, and because of that it’s easy to find people with knowledge of just about anything.  You can learn something from everyone.

So, stay tuned for a series!  And join your local writer’s groups.  Really.  Nothing beats having a writing friend to call up and discuss writing with over coffee (or something stronger).

Hope to see you there!

 

The Kansas Writers Association typically meets the third Saturday of every month at Rockwell Library in Wichita, KS.  For more information, visit http://www.kwawriters.org or look them up on Facebook.


It’s been a long year

I had thought that I’d do so much more with my writing and editing this year, but I guess that the fact I have achieved something (setting up this blog, restarting Heartwood) counts.  I’ve had a few editing jobs, but hadn’t seriously settled into trying to drum up business as I knew that I would be too busy to dedicate myself as fully as necessary.

The wedding was successful, and the honeymoon lovely,  We went to Albuquerque for a week.  The high point of the trip was taking a balloon ride during the Balloon Fiesta.  Incredible.  I hadn’t realized that it would be as much fun to watch balloons land as to see them ascend.  Took the train there and back, which was awesome and makes me wish that there were more routes available.

Participated in NaNaWriMo (www.nanowrimo.org), although I didn’t “win.”  For some reason, started writing by hand, which was going well, and then I got totally derailed by the election.  I wish I could say that the results surprised me, but the reason we got married this year was because I was afraid that this would happen.  I get knots in my stomach just thinking about it,  Nothing that’s happened since has made me feel any better.  Anyhow.  I ended up with around 20.000 words (I’d guess).  The idea had occurred to me last year, and I had taken notes but not written much on it as I was trying to work on Heartwood.  In hindsight, I should have worked on this idea instead, as it faded as I wrote it this year.  Currently I don’t even have a working title for it, which probably says a lot.

I did rearrange my office, which has made me feel much more sane.  It was a lot of work (I moved furniture and went through everything), which was a reason I hadn’t done it before.  I should know better.  It’s still not quite finished (I need to hang my small white boards and some decorations back up), but it’s so much better.  I crave order: a place for everything, and everything in its place.

I still need to do all my name-change stuff.  Sigh.  So many places to update.  But it’s one of those things – better to do it when you think about it and get it over with.

 

 

 


The keyboard chronicles

I’m not sure where I first learned of the DVORAK keyboard layout (named after the guy who invented it, not the composer).   Anyhow, it’s supposed to make you type faster, with less strain, as the letters that are used most are on the home row of the keyboard.

I’m a lousy typist. I didn’t learn to properly type until after I’d graduated college – a severe handicap for someone who has always wanted to be a writer,  and who majored in Creative Writing.  I’m sure I’d have had much more fun at college if I hadn’t spent so much time hunting and pecking.

So, this year I decided that I would finally convert.  DVORAK typists are supposed to be faster, which has a huge appeal.  I originally ordered stickers to cover my keyboard with the appropriate letters, but after a week realized that I’d be staring at my hands so I ordered blanks.  I covered up most of the numbers as well, since I have a bad habit of looking at the keyboard which I’d like to break.

It’s been slow, but I think I’ve passed the point of no return.  I got frustrated yesterday and tried to switch back to QWERTY.  Turns out I can’t type in that at all (at least when the keys aren’t visible).

I probably need to log in some actual practice, rather than just learning through doing.

I wish I’d done this sooner, because there are moments now when I can see that this would be faster and have more flow.  At least I’ve started now.  I’ve memorized the keyboard layout, something I could never claim for the QWERTY although I’ve used it for decades.  Now my challenge is mastery – and forgetting a few old locations.

To learn more about the DVORAK layout:  http://www.dvorak-keyboard.com/

 


Not My Darlings

My day job is adopting the ISO 9001:2015 (quality) and 14001:2015 (environmental) standards this year.  The biggest change, at least as far as I’m concerned, is that they require less documented procedures.  With the prior standards, you had to have a manual, as well as documents for training, documents (how meta can you get?), records, nonconformances, and so on.  Now you don’t.

My coworker was horrified as my boss and I discussed some of our existing documents and decided that we didn’t need them.  “I don’t see how you can be so calm about getting rid of them after all the work you did on them.”

That was a tough thing to explain.  Yes, I’d done a lot of work on them over the past four years, and I was proud of them.  At the same time, they were something I’d created specifically for my job as Document Control Specialist.  They weren’t mine.  They weren’t things I would have created on my own.  Save for the experience of creating them, and thus having learnt what to take into consideration if I ever need to write such a procedure again, they are documents that I can’t use elsewhere.  They are not my darlings, so it is easy for me to let them fade away.

Besides which, it’s my job to make documents for the day job.  I get paid for that, whatever they decide to do with them.  There’s not a huge sting if someone hates what I’ve created, or suggests vast revisions.  It’s easy for me to send out a procedure and solicit feedback.  It’s so much easier to fix things in the draft stage then after it’s been finalized and uploaded to our management software.

It’s easy to overlook the fact that the documents still exist.  That I did gain through the doing – it doesn’t matter that they’re no longer used.  They served their purpose well, and taught me along the way.

 


Intentions

I’m only writing this because I got tired of staring at Hello World.  I’ve been having fun trying to set up this blog for the past few hours (that’s “fun” – ugh).  It’s amazing how much time it can take it fuss over details.

My intention with this blog is to discuss writing, editing, and using Word (I’m a Power User, and by December I will be a certified Microsoft Office Specialist Expert).

Update:  still working on the MOS Expert Specialist certification – 2 tests down, 2 to go.