All Those Revisions

It may not seem like good news, but I've ran out of things to submit. I've been able to put my best stuff out there to see if anyone wants to pick it up, but the rest of it needs work. I'm still continuing to research lit journals and publishers, but for now I'm going to concentrate on revisions. Hard revisions. I'm like most writers--I love the craziness of the first draft, I'm impressed with myself on the final draft, but the middle is a wild mess of paper cuts, nail biting, procrastination and internal screaming. You know, the usual.

If you want to join me on this crazy ride, you can still come by Patreon and check out what I have there. Just a buck gets you access to some pretty cool stuff. A few more bucks gets you access to a few more cool things. And of course you can check out all of the public posts too--those are a more subtle type of cool.  Sunglasses emoji cool. We know we're cool but we'd never say it kind of cool. Like a type of cool that just... okay. You get the point.

On the freelancing front, I'm ramping up my qualifications. It was suggested a few weeks ago that I get my HubSpot Inbound Marketing Certification. This is apparently something a lot of clients are looking for now when they hire freelancers (especially for writing branded blog posts). I've jumped in and am learning about a lot of things I already figured out over the past ten years, but now I'll be able to prove that I know it.

Before this I was also working on certification from Google, and honestly I don't know what the specific certification is called, though it seems to be geared towards European business owners. Still--very useful information, and certifications don't hurt to have on the old LinkedIn profile.

An Unplugged Moment

The cable company struck again on Friday. From noon until noon the next day there was no cable, no internet. It's not like this doesn't happen around this time every year, it's just usually shorter outages, maybe four hours or so.

I took it in stride. After all, I was already prepared because my schedule had been varied. I was all set for a potential disaster. So, all of the work for one of my freelance jobs was in my email, totally accessible from my phone. No problem there. I put a record on the turntable and relaxed. But one who is used to digital streaming quickly realizes that records are not easily paused. So I moved on. I had a number of previously downloaded podcasts on my Kindle that I could access (and had to get rid of anyway--memory shortage).

After a few entertaining podcasts, I moved on to reading. Without online access I had at least 100 different books at my fingertips. I read for awhile, skipping from book to book. I then looked at the clock. Surely hours had past? Nope. Just two.

By the evening, I was itching for some news. No, seriously. I get a little edgy when I'm out of the loop for more than a few hours. I decided to use my phone and stream my local news station's broadcast through their app. No problem for the first hour, but my cell service provider must have realized I had it too good and slowed my speeds so the streaming stopped working. Just as well, because the streaming used a quarter of my monthly data in just an hour. Hmph.

The rest of the night? Switching between season two of Get Smart and season four of Emergency! Thank heavens for my unruly DVD collection.

The next morning wasn't too bad because I try to limit my online access on Saturdays anyway. I went and got a coffee. I read some more. Played a little Mario on the Wii. But what angered me the most out of this whole matter? I didn't write. The absolute perfect time to write, and I didn't do it. Okay, maybe I snuck in a few sentences, but once I realized I needed to Google a question, I gave up. This experience made me realize how, even sitting watching TV, I'm addicted to Googling things I don't know. How did I survive before that search engine existed? Did I just walk around like a dummy, not knowing the answers to weird, random facts?

All is right with the world again, so it's time to get to work on August's projects. They are big ones, so get ready. It's going to be a wild ride and I'm taking you with me.

Here's a Chance For #Freebies!

Hey guys -- Happy Labor Day weekend!

I know that most of you are on vacation, or at least relaxing at home with your long weekend (if you don't happen to work in food service or retail). So, I thought I would brighten your day by bringing you a special offer. This is an awesome chance to help influence what products people are using and talking about and get a chance to get free stuff. I know I love free stuff. Do you? Read on.

Recently, I joined a program called Influenster that rewards its members who are influential in different expert topics. They are looking for more members, but it is an invite-only program. And guess who just happens to have 5 invites left to give out? Yep, that's right. Me. I do. Want one?

You may want to know how Influenster works to see if you are interested. You can read all about it at their website, but I'll give a quick overview. Once you sign up, you take a few short surveys about topics you are interested in, then you are awarded badges and an Influenster score. My topics include beauty, fashion, food and pop culture. There are also topics such as eco-friendly, wine enthusiast, debonair man and home decor. You can also earn other badges for lifestyle topics such as new mom, pet owner and bookworm (yep, I've got that badge too).

Once you earn your badges, you can improve your score by sharing product pages on social media, writing reviews of your favorite products and answering questions other users have about those products. The higher your score, the greater the chance you will be able to get freebies, such as a VoxBox full of goodies.

If you take my invite and sign up this week, you can have your own chance of earning qualification for the next VoxBox just by using your own invites to give out and let your most influential friends shine along with you. If you get three active invites of your own, you are one step closer to those freebies. Can't you just imagine it already? There's no cost, you don't have to do stuff every single day--all you have to do is link your social media accounts to your profile and your set!

In order to get your invite, I will need your email address. I promise, you will not receive any other email other than the invite. You can EMAIL me with the subject line "Influenster Invite" and I will send it out ASAP. Or you can send me your email in a DM on Twitter. Or on Google+. Or Instagram (trying to make this as easy as possible!). To automatically qualify for the next VoxBox, you have to sign up and send out your invites before Friday. I can't wait to hear from you!

I must begin with a complaint. Blogger is a goober and MADE me change to a Google account or whatever just to log on today. I'have had this blog here for four years and I just all of a sudden had to redo my username and password. What's with that? Why didn't they warn me when they were going to switch? You can't tell me they don't have my email.

Okay, on to what I really wanted to talk about...

Music. Yes, music. More specifically, my iPod playlist. Is it just me, or is there always one song that makes you feel like smiling? I have one. Right now, it's Rob Thomas, "Little Wonders." I went through hell trying to get it--you can't buy it anywhere! But through various means I did get an mp3 of it. It's just one of those songs with great lyrics, and lyrics are the first thing I notice when I listen to a song. I know that it's featured in a Disney movie and I'm completely anti-Disney, but that doesn't matter. Rob Thomas is a genius. It's true. I want to say that I just like his songwriting, but that's not the whole truth. I have attached significant, life-altering moments to every single one of his (and MB20's) songs that I like. It's strange and sad, but oh well. Keeps me looking sane in public.

Another really good artist I can't get enough of is Sean Lennon. I know I began listening it him because I'm a huge fan of his father, but I'm not like everyone else. I don't compare his music to his father's. It's not right to do that anyway. You wouldn't compare The Backstreet Boys to the Beatles, would you? But hey, people do. My brother says his voice sounds to whiny. I don't see it. It might be higher than most male vocals, but again, it's the lyrics I'm after. His lyrics really hit home, especially in Parachute, Spectacle, and Friendly Fire. The only thing I'm pissed about it that he made a movie to go along with the album, but because I bought it from iTunes I didn't get the movie. I want to see it. Harper Simon is in it. I've never really seen Paul Simon's son, and I think it would be interesting to do so.

I just got a free Augustana CD yesterday. I had NO IDEA they were the ones that performed the song Boston. I love that song, but I haven't had a chance to listen to the rest of the album yet. This, unfortunately, isn't on my iPod yet.

The one CD I'm interested in purchasing right now (which isn't available to download online) is Alexa Ray Joel. Yep, just another famous artist's kid. But I've heard her stuff and she's really good. She needs to get on my iPod as soon as I get a summer job... otherwise, I don't think I'll be able to scrape up the money to get the CD. I gots bills to pay.