Tag: postaday

  • I Need a Nap.

    \’Nuff said.

  • Tue Cent Twosday – Empowerment

    I remember where I sat at 9:00 in the morning on that fateful Tuesday, Central Daylight Time. Work began as usual, with a whirlwind of tasks. The entire Executive Committee headed for Europe; in fact, half already waited “on the ground” (the term for having arrived at their destination) and the other half staged to leave for the airstrip in an hour and a half.

    The news already came of the first tower. I couldn’t get my head around the news of the second one, no one could have predicted it. I knew in my gut that this day wasn’t like any other day. I went to one of the managers to ask him to start the evacuation of our building, but he laughed it off as premature, the worry of a young and inexperienced admin. But I wasn’t; I’m a trained triage officer from the crucible of Silicon Valley and quakes like Whittier and Loma Prieta.

    Then the events sped up. The second tower. People leaping out windows. The CIO showed up in my office and said, “It’s time to start the evacuation. Call the boss.”

    Relief. I could do something.

    Over the next two hours, the entire Executive Committee met to review our company’s disaster plan. Ten thousand employees worldwide, and a flagship office building in the third largest city in the United States, meant that we couldn’t act on a whim. Our behavior must be calm and reasoned. People watched us.

    It wasn’t until one of the Senior Directors drove me home that morning at 11:30 that I heard on NPR that the towers fell.

    No one in that room thought to tell me.

    I learned something important that day from the smoke and twisted metal, the lives destroyed and hope rekindled by a mayor who rose to the occasion and a President who did not. In times of crisis, it is critical to remember one thing: focus on what you can control. Communication is key. Keep your head and breathe. Feelings are not facts, but they are necessary. Respond, don’t react.

    On the anniversary of those terrible events, I want to remind myself that I can control how I respond to events. I can write. I can talk. I can cry. I can work. I can take positive steps on my own behalf, even if that means cleaning out the sock drawer or petting my cats. The news media wants to sell us advertising, which means they must induce us to watch – and empowered people act, they don’t spectate. Remember that. The motive of the news media is to have a passive audience. For our own sanity, we cannot afford to be passive. That’s true for the awful days like Tuesday, September 11, 2001, as well as ordinary days like Tuesday, September 11, 2012.

    Remember. Act. Write. Breathe. Claim your own reality. In all the world, there is no one just like you. Your gift to the Creator is your use of that creativity you were given.

    Write on.

  • \”Taking a Chance\” on Wednesday!

    For 2012-2013, Torquere\’s authors have chosen the theme \”Leather Bound\” in honor of Torquere’s ninth anniversary. The ninth is traditionally the leather anniversary; what better theme to let GLBTQ writers go wild? The charity which will benefit from this year’s Charity Blitz is NOH8, whose mission is to promote marriage, gender and human equality through education, advocacy, social media, and visual protest. More than twenty-five authors have written short fiction pieces and have agreed to donate all proceeds of the sales of these stories to this year\’s charitable organization. Torquere Press Inc. will match the authors\’ donations completely.

    This year, we\’re also pleased to announce that our distribution partner, Rainbow eBooks, has agreed to once again be the title sponsor of our Sip collection, and will be our sole distributor outside of the Torquere Books website. Please support our sponsor by visiting their website. at www.rainbowebooks.com.

    Rachel and I are participating with our short story, \”Taking a Chance\”, which will be available for purchase on Torquere Books and Rainbow Ebooks.

    \”Taking a Chance,\” by A. Catherine Noon and Rachel Wilder
    Doctor Jacob Davison has outgrown the hookups of his younger days and wants to settle down. When he’s abandoned by the side of the road, a leather-clad stranger stops and offers him a ride. Chance Renton is different from anyone Jay’s ever met. He’s caring and helpful, yet cynical and world-weary.

    From the first moment of their shared motorcycle ride, an attraction begins to simmer between them. Between Jay’s ex-boyfriend showing up and the misconceptions they have about each other, does this relationship have a chance?

  • \”Taking a Chance\” on Wednesday!

    For 2012-2013, Torquere\’s authors have chosen the theme \”Leather Bound\” in honor of Torquere’s ninth anniversary. The ninth is traditionally the leather anniversary; what better theme to let GLBTQ writers go wild? The charity which will benefit from this year’s Charity Blitz is NOH8, whose mission is to promote marriage, gender and human equality through education, advocacy, social media, and visual protest. More than twenty-five authors have written short fiction pieces and have agreed to donate all proceeds of the sales of these stories to this year\’s charitable organization. Torquere Press Inc. will match the authors\’ donations completely.

    This year, we\’re also pleased to announce that our distribution partner, Rainbow eBooks, has agreed to once again be the title sponsor of our Sip collection, and will be our sole distributor outside of the Torquere Books website. Please support our sponsor by visiting their website. at www.rainbowebooks.com.

    Rachel and I are participating with our short story, \”Taking a Chance\”, which will be available for purchase on Torquere Books and Rainbow Ebooks.

    \”Taking a Chance,\” by A. Catherine Noon and Rachel Wilder
    Doctor Jacob Davison has outgrown the hookups of his younger days and wants to settle down. When he’s abandoned by the side of the road, a leather-clad stranger stops and offers him a ride. Chance Renton is different from anyone Jay’s ever met. He’s caring and helpful, yet cynical and world-weary.

    From the first moment of their shared motorcycle ride, an attraction begins to simmer between them. Between Jay’s ex-boyfriend showing up and the misconceptions they have about each other, does this relationship have a chance?

  • Sleepy Sunday

    I worked on the garden today and met a friend for lunch.  Other than that, I studied for my exam next Saturday and set up a new forum.  Very sleepy.

    What do you have planned for the weekend?

  • Saturday – Zoom!

    I\’m went to day two of my class today.  I\’m afraid I have nothing more intelligent than that to say – my brain is leaking out of my ear! 🙂

  • Class

    I have class today and tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

  • Rhymes with Foreplay

    If you haven\’t visited author PG Forte\’s blog or books yet, you\’re missing out.  She\’s a lot of fun and has a great sense of humor.  I\’m so tickled to tell you that she interviewed me!  I\’m on her blog today, Rhymes with Foreplay.  Please stop on by and check it out – you\’ll be glad you did!

  • Writer Wednesday: Why Blogs Are Good For Writers

    Join me today at the Writer\’s Retreat for my thoughts on Why Blogs Are Good for Writers, and let me know your thoughts.  See you there!

  • Tue Cent Twosday – In Defense of Learning to Type

    If you’ve been reading my recent series on writing by hand and the pen vs. the keyboard, you may get the impression that I’m against typing or using a computer to write. Nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve been employed since the age of seventeen in some form of office work, all of which involve typing – with the possible exception of the job I had as a gardener, though I did do some freelancing for my client when he needed some office work done on the fly.

    I love typing. I learned to type in my freshman year of high school on a manual typewriter, then graduated to the Selectric typewriter (a fancy electronic typewriter) and then onto the word processor. In fact, a bit of trivia that no one except my mom cares about anymore: in tenth grade, I was California state champion in keyboarding and won $500 from Bank of America for college. I even got a special certificate bound in leather when I graduated high school.

    I didn’t want to be a secretary, though. I knew I’d need typing because of college, and had quite a chip on my shoulder about all the vocational training my high school offered. In hindsight, it was a very good thing they had it, since the first five or ten years of my working life involved skills I learned not at university, but in those vocational training classes. Since then, I’ve observed that others have also had a chip on their shoulders about not wanting to “waste time learning to type.”

    This is silly, folks. If you’re one of the folks who doesn’t want to take the time, then put on your big girl or boy pants and sit down. You need to learn to type. You can’t afford not to.

    Look. The internet is not going away. Keyboards are not going away. Maybe in twenty years, we’ll start to have more widespread voice-activated systems. But twenty years ago, they predicted that today we’d have paperless offices. How many of you actually have a paperless office? In the meantime, much time is wasted not knowing how to be efficient with the keyboard.

    If you have no clue where to go to get better, check out the Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing program.  You can also do it the old school way and get a typing book out of the library. Here’s a useful website that talks about typing and learning to do it.

    In short, you can become a better writer if you know your tools better, and any practice with typing will serve you well.

    Next time: “How To Use the Pen More Effectively – Suggestions”.

    Looking for more reading material? Stop by Taurus and Taurus for Tasty Tuesday.  Find out how the romance is in the mayonnaise.

  • Back Up On WitchVox

    The mods over at WitchVox are awesome.  I realized it\’s been an embarrassingly long time since I went onto the site and my account had been put on hold (which is totally reasonable).  I wrote the mods and asked if I could be re-activated, which they not only did within a couple hours of my request but they also re-posted my article that I wrote some years ago!  Thanks, guys.  You rock.

    If you have questions about Wicca and paganism, this is one of the best sites on the internet.  A growing international community of folks from many areas of pagan practice, it\’s full of information and links to community groups and public events.  Well worth checking out.

    And if you\’d like to read my article, the link is Five Tools for Divination.  Again, thank you to the mods for being so helpful.  I appreciate your time and efforts!

    (Image from The Witches\’ Voice website, accessed 09/03/2012 from the following URL:  http://witchvox.com/)

  • A Love Affair

    As I listen to the music of Sting, I am struck yet again by how talented this man is.  His songs tell stories, and inspire me to see more in the lyrics.