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Showing posts from November, 2013

Stay in your lane

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I was roller skating on my local rail trail recently and coming up to an intersection, so I was slaloming slightly (barely more than C-cuts) to slow down. Someone on a bike came up behind me and said, "On your left!" Alerting people that you're passing is customary and courteous, though I don't know if there are signs suggesting we do that on this trail, like there are on the trails where I skate in Florida. There are also no alligators or exotic birds on my local trail. I was startled and swerved back towards the far right. "Thank you," I answered with a little wave. As the guy passed, he tossed over his shoulder, "Stay in your lane!" My initial reaction was WTF, dude!? You @$$ 4073! However, I said nothing. First of all, are there lanes on the trail? No. The picture above is the actual trail, and that person on the bike is the actual guy. Is he in a lane? No, he's right in the middle of the trail. ( Hypocrite! ) Furthermore, a g...

Writing multiple blogs

I have -- and have had -- other blogs. I deleted at least one of them (started on BlogSpot, the precursor to Blogger, or perhaps still related in some way...??), which was kind of dumb in retrospect...at the time I didn't know I could just change the name and thus preserve the longevity of my blogging ("member since..."). At the time, I only had an inkling of why it mattered.* I have other blogs besides this one (formerly " Write On! "). One is MotherMorphosis . I do not write in that one anymore, but leave it up because it contains a ton of stories and is connected to my book by the same name, as well as another book I wrote, What Would Mary Do? Another is Boy To the World! This has the stories that are going to go into the book I want to publish next, also by the same name. This one is a hosted blog on Wordpress, which was recommended to me by a marketing/business consultant. I followed all her instructions, and many times since, I have wondered why, because ...

Writing multiple blogs

I have -- and have had -- other blogs. I deleted at least one of them (started on BlogSpot, the precursor to Blogger, or perhaps still related in some way...??), which was kind of dumb in retrospect...at the time I didn't know I could just change the name and thus preserve the longevity of my blogging ("member since..."). At the time, I only had an inkling of why it mattered.* I have other blogs besides this one (formerly " Write On! "). One is MotherMorphosis . I do not write in that one anymore, but leave it up because it contains a ton of stories and is connected to my book by the same name, as well as another book I wrote, What Would Mary Do? Another is Boy To the World! This has the stories that are going to go into the book I want to publish next, also by the same name. This one is a hosted blog on Wordpress, which was recommended to me by a marketing/business consultant. I followed all her instructions, and many times since, I have wondered why, because ...

The Authors' Fair

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I was traveling for business last a couple of weeks ago and got an email about participating in an authors' fair at our local library. Normally I don't find typical author events (like book signings) worth my time (e.g., nobody buys books), but this one was going to include several other authors I knew and I figured it would be fun to get together just for that reason. The first pic below is me with Christine Lindemer and Cindy Reynolds; the second one is Ellen Olsen-Brown and me. I think in all there were 20 or so authors, plus the editor for our local online newspaper and one of the stringers for the local paper where my "Boy To The World!" column appears. You can see more pictures at Dale T. Phillips 's website .  I was inspired to think about finding an illustrator for my next book, syndicating my column, and what other things might I write about besides my kids (such as actually doing this blog, which was my vision four years ago!) And, no, I did not sell an...

The many paths to success

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“Is that what you wanted to be when you grew up, Mommy?” my eight year old asked me at the breakfast table after I told him exactly what it is I do on the computer and phone all day, until 5:30 – when, if they are home, they are allowed to turn on the TV – and sometimes later at night when they are supposed to be sleeping. “Oh, gosh, no! I didn’t have the words for what I do when I was a kid. What I do now wasn’t even possible then.” (I manage a corporate marketing program – remotely – for a technology company.) “What did you want to be, Mommy?” “Well, when I was about your age, I thought I would like to be the President of the United States. But I didn’t like the risk of being assassinated so I decided I might rather be a jockey because I loved horses so much. But then I got too tall, so I thought maybe a veterinarian. Or an artist, or a hairdresser… I really wanted to be a hairdresser…” “Why don’t you go to school to be one?” my oldest chimed in. “Well, hon, I can’t just drop out o...