Saturday, June 18, 2011

Typing Dyslexia

I have no idea if this is a "formal" term, but I seem to have a lot of it these days...especially with acronyms that I'm very familiar with. I know what it's supposed to say, so I don't catch the typo until someone else points it out. Which is why I'm such a terrible editor/proof reader of my own work.

Editing is a special skill set that I simply don't seem to have in my genes. My mom is much better at this than I am, but she won't read my writing because of the swearing. I'm in desperate need of an editor but I'm not sure how to go about getting one. How do others go about doing this? I guess that is a question for my mentor. But she is, quite happily, planning for her upcoming nuptials, so I hate to bother her.

Do critique groups have suggestions as to how to find an editor? Are all editors paid? How does this work? I've yet to figure it out, but I'll keep learning.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Thankful for Friends

Another person in my writer's group wrote about friends and friendships earlier this week. It's kind of odd, in a funny way, that this was brought up as another friend (one much younger than me) had asked all of his friends how we would define friendship.

Then tonight, a friend of mine checked on me because of a FB post I'd shared just minutes earlier. He was genuinely concerned and I was once again reminded how many truly wonderful people I have in my self-selected family. I wasn't down in the dumps like he thought, just annoyed with my dysfunctional family for the upteenth time.

Then another one messaged me about not being able to attend Pride this weekend due to work and apologizing once more for not being around on my big birthday that just passed. She sent along lots of love and "mwahs" which made me smile and laugh. My friends always know how to perk me up.

It's funny how many friends I have that I seldom get to see but are always there for me if I need them. My BFF has flown out more than once to hold my hand while I was impatiently waiting in a hospital waiting area. (They're no longer rooms, they're mezzanines or some other such name).

My definition of friendship was as follows:
The ability to continuously move in and out of the immediate presence of another person and reconnect after variable lengths of time as if no time has passed, with mutual respect and affection for one another.

Tonight that was proven again to me. We may weave a fabric of friendship that has large gaps, but on the whole it's a warm, fuzzy, soft but strong, loving blanket that is always available if we just reach for it.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Summer = Busy, busy, busy, busy

I either need a clone or a drudge to give me an extra hand. I would not have been able to finish my raised bed planters in time without the help of my dear husband, but I could still use more help for juggling all my plates.

Summer is always highly anticipated for me. I'm a "Sun Child", and the snow was way too long this year. I've finally been able to get my some of my seedlings into one of the raised beds, but I still have tons of sewing and needlework projects that need attention.

My writing ends up being shelved during the first busy months and by August the girls are hollering so loudly that I have no chance but to sit down and crank out pages and pages on each of their stories. This year, they seem to have been affected by the longer cold season and want attention NOW! For this I need an extra one of me, or a jack to download my stories as I barely have time to blog posts done for the all the sites I maintain or am an co-editor for.

Unfortunately, summer also ramps up my busy season for work as schools start their summer rush to get new tech systems in place. I guess I don't really need to sleep.