This cardinal paid a visit to my Birdbuddy yesterday. He was fascinated by the camera.
I have struggled this week. Maybe it’s because it was a three-day weekend, we had guests and I got really, really tired. I think our eight-mile hike had something to do with that. Plus, my guests are always on the go and don’t stop to relax. Personally, I need some downtime and quiet.
I had hardly anything scheduled this week. Only a meeting about my HOA newsletter and a zoom call. You’d think I could relax and enjoy my days and evenings. Instead, I felt anxiety. I tend to be a worry wort.
Next week, I have a ton of things to do, appointments, lunches, and I’m throwing a belated birthday party for my husband. I spent this week worrying about all I have to do next week.
Walks and birdwatching help me to relax. But I was thinking if I was being present in the moment, I wouldn’t be anxious about next week.
How do you focus on being in the moment?
Watch as the cardinal pecks at the camera. After the cardinal leaves you can turn off the video 😊
This is a photo of my daughter (center) swimming with two club teammates
I wrote this January 2015. There’s not much I’d change nine years later. As far as my New Year’s Resolution that year to swim with my kids’ club team in their Master’s program, it took me until April to get up my courage.But I did it. (Master’s is swimming with a coach for 18 year olds and older.)
Kick It up a Notch! Or How to Build on Last Year’s Resolutions
This year, I might start swimming Masters.
I sat down to write my New Year’s Resolutions story for my blog when I got distracted by checking out FaceBook. Just for a few mintues, mind you.
What did I see? An article written by a friend of mine, Susan Murphy, published in a local wellness and health publication, called Desert Health. She wrote about New Year’s Resolutions, too. You can read her article HERE. Susan’s a Ph.D., life coach, business advisor and author of several books.
I tried a couple of her tips last January. I made goals that were small. They weren’t overwhelming. And, they were specific.
Too many people fail at their resolutions. Last year, I managed to make four of my goals happen.
My successes: writing, exercising and reading the Bible every single day. I’m proud to say I did it! I also started bleuwater a year ago. I posted at least one story a week. It’s rewarding to look back on my work and know that I didn’t give up.
I also have a list of failures. But, I don’t care to discuss them right now.
So what am I going to try to do this year? As Emeril would say, “Kick it up a notch!”
I write my morning pages without fail. I have several writing projects I’m consumed with. But I want to do more. Make more progress.
My exercise is very consistent, but not challenging enough. I am getting stronger, but I need to kick it up. I walk several miles every morning and then in the evening with my husband. I am thinking about either joining a gym or swimming with masters.
What are your New Year’s goals?
How did you do with your resolutions last year?
A look at a goal for 2024:
FYI, I want to revise my rough draft of my NaNoWriMo project from two years ago. I struggled with it in 2023. I took a suggestion from LA from Waking up on the Wrong Side of 50 and signed up for an online writing class. It begins in two weeks. I’ll be off and going on one of my New Year’s resolutions.
I saw a story on TV that intrigued me to find out more.
Here’s a summary from Quartz:
Author Jane Friedman spotted more books on Amazon this week that falsely claimed to be written by her than ones she actually wrote.
At least five books under her name were taken down fromAmazon yesterday (Aug. 8) after Friedman wrote a blog post on Aug. 7 detailing her experience findingbooks under her name being sold on Amazon and listed on Goodreads, the Amazon-owned social media and book-logging platform for readers.
With the advent of AI, people are creating books in the voice of authors and selling them on Amazon as that author’s book. Jane Friedman had trouble contacting Amazon and getting the imposter books being sold in her name off their site. She discovered she needs to trademark her name to have more protection against this scam.
Here’s another story about the fake IA books on Amazon:
Five books for sale on Amazon were removed after author Jane Friedman complained that the titles were falsely listed as being written by her. The books, which Friedman believes were written by AI, were also listed on the Amazon-owned reviews site Goodreads.
“It feels like a violation, because it’s really low quality material with my name on it,” Friedman told the Guardian. The Ohio-based author has written several books about the publishing industry, and the fraudulent titles mimicked her real work. How to Write and Publish an eBook Quickly and Make Money and A Step-by-Step Guide to Crafting Compelling eBooks, Building a Thriving Author Platform, and Maximizing Profitability were two of the listed books. Friedman’s real books include The Business of Being a Writer and Publishing 101.
One of the falsely attributed books’ descriptions read: “This book offers practical strategies, tips, and techniques to help writers streamline their writing process, accelerate their eBook publication timeline, and maximize their earning potential.”
With vacation coming up and a busy schedule of getting things done before I leave, I’ve decided to change my blogging schedule. Currently, I’m posting Monday through Friday. I’m going to cut back to Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I think the new schedule will keep my blog fresher and also allow me time to work on other projects like revising a novel.
After reading Ally Bean’s AMA (Ask Me Anything) post, I learned a good tip from her.
“As a newbie I wish I’d understood that LESS IS MORE. Early on I drove myself batty posting daily, often long wordy posts, because I thought I was supposed to do that. But I learned otherwise and scaled back to a weekly-ish schedule. Readers seem to respond positively to less from me, than to more from me. That’s the lesson. “
I know many people post seven days a week. I don’t know how they do it. I have the hardest time coming up with ideas five times a week, let alone daily. I need days off to recharge my brain.
I’ll try this new schedule for the rest of the summer and re-evaluate it in September.
What are your thoughts about “less is more?” What is your schedule for blogging?
Ally Bean from the The Spectacled Bean blogged about rereading books the other day. She has an impressive list of books she rereads. You can find HERE.
I was looking through my bookshelves for something I may want to reread. I picked up Ray Bradbury’s Zen and the Art of Writing: Release the Creative Genius Within You. It’s a small paperback book. I opened the cover and on page one the autograph of the author and the date May 1996 stared me in the face.
That’s the first time I heard Ray Bradbury speak — and the first time I asked him to sign a book. My daughter was three months old, and my son was three years old. That’s a lot of years to have this book sitting on my bookshelf. It’s time for a reread.
His book of essays reminded me of how inspiring his talks were. I heard him speak at two writers’ conferences and at a small movie theater downtown Palm Springs. The first time I heard him speak, I saw him that same day in May 1996 at Las Casuelas the Original, a small Mexican restaurant. I introduced myself to him, as he ate alone, and said I couldn’t wait to hear his talk. He was happy I stopped by to say hello.
It was one of the first writer’s conferences I had attended, and I was kind of in a fog, having a newborn child and little sleep.
Ray Bradbury was amazing. He reminded me of a young child, finding wonder in the world. He had the ability to stay young at heart and observe the world as though seeing little things for the first time. I loved his story of how he wroteFahrenheit 451 in the basement of the UCLA library at a rental typewriter paying 10 cents a half hour. He said he was literally a “dime novelist.” It gave me courage and the belief that we can do anything — if you want it badly enough.
“Garbage in, garbage out,” he said. He advised us to turn off the TV. Don’t watch the news. He said they were selling soap and there was little or no good news and it would rot our minds. Instead, “Read the Bible, a poem and an essay every day.”
How I’d wish I’d listened more carefully and followed that advice . How different would my life be today? The good news is, it’s not too late to start.
My all-time favorite Ray Bradbury book is Fahrenheit 451. My son loves this book, too. I took my son to meet Ray Bradbury during another local speaking engagement years later. My son now has a signed copy of Farenheit 451 that he treasures. Ray Bradbury was a very accessible and kind man, willing to share with all of us enjoying his gift and genius — and striving to be 1/100th the writer that he was.
“What do you love most in the world? The big and little things, I mean. A trolley car, a pair of tennis shoes? These, at one time when we were children, were invested with magic for us.” — from Zen and the Art of Writing
Who are your all-time favorite authors? What are your favorite books?
I’ve been having a few quirky issues with WordPress.
I’ll comment on someone’s post and I can’t type the letter n. All the other letters work, but not n. It’s beyond frustrating.
My work around is to quit WordPress. Quit my browser and start over.
Another quirk is people I follow no longer show up in my “reader.” It may be weeks or days before I notice. It’s “out of sight, out of mind.” Then I’ll think to myself, whatever happened to that lovely blog I used to read? I type in the name and up it pops. I’m still following it, but it doesn’t always show up.
One day my stats disappeared. I don’t spend much time on stats, but from time to time I like to know if my engagement is up or my readership is growing. I reached out to WordPress and they were able to reload them for me. I will say that WordPress has a good support team.
Is anyone else having trouble with the letter “N?” What other quirky issues have you had? How often do you check your stats and insights?
On Mother’s Day, I was feeling a little weepy since it was my first since I lost Mom. But I did have some pleasant moments, too. My kids called and I learned how to “merge” their calls so the three of us talked together. My husband and I went for an early morning walk before it was hot.
We went to our favorite Carefree Coffee Roastery for breakfast. We got there early, believing we’d beat the crowd. No, there was a line waiting for the cafe to open! We got a table and didn’t have to wait too long. I had an everything bagel with cream cheese and lox. It was delish!
We had a lap swimming reservation later in the day and we had the pool to ourselves. The hour was booked with six swimmers, but we were the only ones who showed up! That was a treat in itself!
With nothing planned the rest of Mother’s Day, I dove into “Remarkably Bright Creatures” which was recommended to me by no less than three bloggers I follow. THANK YOU for the recommendation!
WOW! I was reading stretched out on the sofa in the casita with Olive the cat purring on my tummy. At eight o’clock I finished the book and walked into our bedroom in tears.
“What’s wrong?” my husband asked.
I sobbed and said the book was so good.
I’ve read two debut novels in May that were excellent. The other was “Black Cake” that I wrote about HERE.
Of course, I also loved Cheryl Oreglia’s “Grow Damn It” weeks before. A debut book by blogger of Living in the Gap fame.
“Grow Damn It” by Cheryl Oreglia
I’m looking forward to reading the debut novel by Eve Marie from the blog CupCakeCache called “The Bayou Heist,” available on Amazon.
