Tuesday Thoughts on Writing Accomplishments

Tuesday morning started out better than Monday. This morning when I went for my walk I felt a cool breeze caressing my bare arms. I have taken to wearing a sleeveless black dress with a Christmas design on it. A cool breeze feels good because on Monday the breezes was a little warmer. I think the cool wind energized me today because I have managed to get a couple more chapters of Scavengers edited/rewritten. 

This evening I have to finish a poem that is due on the fifteenth. The poem is complete, I just have to remove some extraneous characters. When I started the poem, I did not have any idea what I was going to write about.  I found a theme when I read a news article online. I read most of the news articles online instead of an offline printed copy of a newspaper. After I finish the poem, I will edit another chapter of my novel. Once that is done I will do a couple of surveys. 

Fifteen Years Later

Fifteen years ago today, on September 11, 2001, our world suddenly changed. Two plane struck the Twin Towers in New York City. I visited New York a couple of years or so before the Towers were destroyed. I remember looking up at them, from wherever I was in New York City. I remember thinking I'd never seen anything so tall.  I didn't go to visit them while I was there, which I regretted later. 

September 11, 2001, I didn't hear about what happened until I arrived at work. At that time we, Mom and I, lived in the house on Bracken Avenue. Mom worked at the Old Showboat on Boulder Highway and I worked at the Henderson Campus of the Community College. I had gotten up late, so I wasn't able to watch the morning news before I left for work. After I got to work, I called Mom to turn on the news so she could hear what happened.  

Every  year, on September 11, I remember that day. Every year I write something about it in one of my blogs. The first year, I wrote a poem. On the one year anniversary I wrote another poem. I haven't written a poem about it since. I contemplate writing a poem, but I can't seem to find anything new to say about it. Perhaps I should try writing a personal essay about it. 

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Link to Writing.com

Motivational Monday: Today's motivation a writing prompt

Today my writing motivation is a writing prompt sent to my writing.com inbox by the Blog City blogging group on writing.com. I'm responding to the prompt in this blog because I used Labor Day prompts in my writing.com blog Melting Snow. The prompt is "What do you do to adapt to change as a writer? Did any life changes have demanded or can demand such an adaptation? " 

I say prayers and meditate to help me adapt to change. I also use free writing to assist in the process. When I use free writing I set a time limit of five or ten minutes. The time limit forces me to write without thinking about what I'm writing. I can write for about ten minutes before I have stop, reread and then edit  what I've written. Through the editing process I discover the theme or subject that is most important at a given point in time. 

The main life change that caused me to adapt was first becoming my mother's caregiver and then her death. I suspect the next thing that will influence my writing is the presidential election in November. This year's election has caused me to do a lot of thinking about my political views. I used to think I was a conservative, but I now realize that I lean toward the liberal. I'm registered nonpartisan, which suggest impartial or unbiased view. The problem is that the speeches I've heard and the ads I've seen are neither impartial nor unbiased and I can't seem to find anything that reveals the truth of what the candidates are saying with their speeches or ads. 

The events happening in America and across the world are having an influence on my writing. These events are causing me to adapt my writing so that it is more inline with my changing attitudes. The only thing I can do is pray and meditate on a subject followed by a free write to see how my attitudes and writings are changing. 

Success Saturday: August 28- September 3, 2016: Was it a successful week?

Was the week of August 28-September 3, 2016, a successful week? It was an interesting week, but that doesn't say whether it was a successful week. Interesting can mean a number of things from "I didn't accomplish anything this week because of interruptions and technical difficulties" to "I accomplished all my goals and I'm going out to celebrate tonight". My accomplishments fell somewhere in between those two options. 

I wrote a song parody, completed all my writing.com reviews, and responded to the prompts sent to me by my writing.com blogging groups. I completed several surveys and, against my better judgment, joined several more survey groups. The main problem with the surveys is that I don't make very much money from them because it takes so long to build up the points count to have money sent to my PayPal account. I think I'm going to resign from some of them because I earn merchandise instead of money. Some of the merchandise I like and can use, but most of it doesn't appeal to me. 

Any amount of success is good. Failure is good as well because it teaches a lesson and eventually leads to success. Most people don't like to discuss failure because to do so means admitting failure, which many see as a weakness. Admitting failure isn't a weakness it’s a strength because it means you are on your way to success. 

Midweek Reflection on Wasting Time

I do surveys, but sometimes it feels as if I'm wasting my time. I feel this way when I do survey after survey without earning any points or cash in my account. At other times I do the survey, earn the points and then wonder if the time I took to do the survey was worth it for the amount of points or cash I earn. When this happens I get frustrated and then I get depressed. I have writing and editing to complete, but doing the surveys gets in the way because it takes so long to complete a survey for so little reward. 

There are other times when I do surveys and don't feel I'm wasting my time. At these times it doesn't seem to matter how long it takes or how little the reward. I'm not sure why this is, but it could have something to do with my financial situation. It could also be the time of the month especially when I know I have money coming out of my checking account and I'm not sure if I have money to cover it. Doing the surveys frustrates me in the first and last weeks of a month. 

I think the best thing to do is withdraw from some of the surveys groups, especially those that I can earn cash or points toward cash. Sometimes I find something I want to save my points toward other than cash, but not often. Cash I can have transferred to my PayPal account and then directly to my checking or savings account. Merchandise I have to make sure I'm home when it's delivered which is sometimes inconvenient. I think I'll make a list of the survey groups I want to stick with and then withdraw from the others. 

Surveys can be fun 

And sometimes they're frustrating 

Is it my mood or the time of month? 

Sunday Speculations - To Blog or Not to Blog that is the Question

I'm making an entry today because I've managed to mess up the every-other-day routine of blog entries. I'm behind on most everything because I let worry overtake me. When worry overtakes then depression sits in.  The only thing I seem to worry about lately is money and the weird thing is that by the end of the month I'm almost caught up. I always end up with on item that I have to put off for a few day, but somehow I always find the money for it. I'm not sure if that pattern will hold in September or not. 

The problem always comes down to the internet bill. I have my internet, landline, and television bundled. I've been thinking of giving up the land line, but that isn't going to make much of a difference. I decided to call my provider on Monday to see if I changing over to WiFi would make the bill any cheaper. That way I could get rid of the landline, get the WiFi and keep the television the way  it is. I can't think of anything else to do (well I can, but that means getting help from relative who's already helping me with the rent). 

Anyway the question comes down "To blog or not to blog". I once thought I could make money from blogging, but that hasn't been working out for me lately. In fact that hasn't been working out for the last year or so. I haven't even been able to use my smartphone for anything else except calling because I don't have any data. I get the phone minutes free, but I have to pay for the data. The problem is that I haven't had the money to for the data so it ran out about a month ago. 

I'm going to post this now. Writing about the problem helps overcome the worry and find a solution to the problem. I'll check my smartphone account to see where I can purchase a data card here in Las Vegas. I've been using the money I earn on surveys to put in my checking account, but I might change that to using that money to purchase data.