So she's studying something? University, technical college, adult evening college... what new qualifications is she after? What kinds of jobs would she be qualified for?
She's always been very private in some ways, yet very open about being a single Mom, and open about her values. I can't see that either studying or having a second job could compromise her anonymity.
lol You can ask anything. It's just that you've been with me on this whole journey and have been privy to all the happenings in my life since I took over the Mug. My divorce, caring for my mom, working 90-hour weeks. If the Mug stayed up through all of that, why would it shut down the very moment it would become easier to run it and improve it?
Hiya. I still pop in a couple times a day to see what's happening. Lately I've been...
-Taking care of my two younger kiddos. The oldest moved out earlier this year.
-Managing my mom's stuff. I just moved her to a new facility last week.
-Running my writing business slightly more than full-time. I have a backlog of like 80 hours of work.
-Attending school. I'm majoring in psychology. This past trimester I took 14 credit hours with honors classes. HUGE mistake. It's killing me. BUT, if I survive through Saturday, I'm done with the trimester and am taking a month off to recover and reevaluate my transfer options. All As, BTW. Go me! I had plans for the degree, but they may have been thwarted by the last item on the list.
-Taking on a new role with one of my clients. A client I really, really like asked me to step up as their content director on a trial basis to see how it goes. That is also a full-time job, which I'm somehow doing on top of everything else. If this goes well, there's literally no point at all in my degree aside from the personal satisfaction it brings. There's some irony for ya. Start a degree to enhance your career options and then get a gig that in no way relates to the degree but pays way more than the degree ever would have provided. But, it's not permanent. Yet. So, I'm not counting any chickens before my eggs hatch. Or coffee beans before they're harvested. ;)
I haven't slept in like a month. Maybe two. What day is it? Viva coffee!
That's baffling--almost too much for me to read, never mind do! I bet you read that question and went: "Gotten only a second job? Pssh, I wish."
This post was edited by Danilo_G at December 9, 2019 5:57 PM MST
Hi JA, Feels so good to be in touch again. Thank you. :)
I'm generally well. Have been writing prolifically - poetry, short stories, another novel.
Am two-thirds of the way through my Associate Degree in Creative Writing. Have dropped down to a very slow pace - only one subject per semester. Lets me read, think and write as deeply as I can. It's been working so far - giving me a broad understanding of the basics for poetry, short story, non-fiction, journalism, genre writing, literary theory and a few specialised subcategories. I've managed to become part of a few loose circles of literary friends and now have three close writing buddies. That's fulfilled a whacking great hole in my life that previously felt like aching loneliness and despair. I get invitations to read or recite in public about once a month, which feels good and is excellent training - audience reactions help to show me how to catch and hold a reader's interest.
My once grandiose dreams of the Pulitzer, Booker and Nobel prizes have died. To succeed requires that one deal with the world's current major social, psychological, ecological and political issues - but to do so effectively requires first-hand experience. I'm out of the loop - except on the environmental. I probably don't have the level of poetic skill that it takes, and might never, having started so late in life. And to try to attain that level would likely to leave me penniless.
Technically, several writers now think I've reached at least a publishable level. I'm still not sure. And I'm aware that even the best writers often have to submit to more than 26 different publishers before finding one that will gamble on them. So facing the publishing hurdle means calling on courage, patience and persistence. Next year in March, I'll be starting the unit on Editing and Publishing.
Money has been perilously tight. Due to the drought and rising cost of feed I had to give away two of my home-bred and trained horses. It felt like betraying them. Fortunately, they are loved and well-cared for in their new home (very hard to find - it took five months of vetting prospective owners).
Have decided to write a thriller-romance set on the New England Plateau in the endurance riding scene in Australia. Have completed chapter one - and the feedback has been "when do I get to read the rest?" - which I take to be a sign that I'm on the right track. Not easy. Took 6 revisions to get it right and will probably take far more once I have all the chapters. The goal is money.
The drought is bad. Our grass dead, leaves dropping from the trees, the surfaces of our two spring-fed dams have dropped by four feet, and the smoke from distant bushfires fills the air so that we suffer constant sore eyes and throats. We are preparing to evacuate the moment catastrophic danger is declared for our area. No matter how prepared we are, it will not be easy. Three horses but only a two-horse float (hence must make two trips) and no way out to safety except through many kilometres of tinder-dry forests.
I don't know how you manage to juggle so many things simultaneously. Can understand the role of coffee - but suspect there might be great strain and sleep deficits. Risk of burn out.
Hope the new place for your mother works out well for both her and you. Having worked in three aged care residences and in community aged care nursing for a few years, I saw behind the scenes. There are so many things about the systems which are causes for concern. And yet the best places are excellent.
What is the nature of your writing business?
That irony thing - about starting in a psych degree and ending up in writing... I think there's a chance that one can (indirectly) lead to and enhance the other - both ways. As I see it, there's a massive amount of psychology in writing. The only difference is the method of expression; in psyche, one says little but listens and asks questions in a way that helps the client solve their own problems, while in writing one does not tell but shows in a way that allows the reader to draw their own conclusions. Both require a background field of similar kinds of knowledge that is kept mostly hidden.
I did Psyche 101 at UNE. Bombed out in the second year - spent my time reading up on horse genetics when I should have been studying statistics. Withdrew before the exams because I knew it would be pointless to sit them. Have heard that the standard for a clinical psychologist in the USA, England and Europe is about double that of one here in Australia. Am intrigued. What aspects of the course bring you the most satisfaction? What attracted you to psychology? What were your original goals? If you press ahead all the way through and become qualified, what kind of work what you ideally like to do? Could your writing business and the psychology qualification work in tandem?
WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH 