Alphabet Salad

It’s the last day of January today, which means that when I click “Publish” on this post I’ll have tied the ribbon on a full month’s package of daily blog posts.

Happy NaBloPoMo to me!

As I look back over my participation in January’s NaBloPoMo and consider whether or not to sign up for another month, I’ve decided that if I want to continue on the path to becoming a better writer in 2012 I can’t afford not to carry on with NaBloPoMo in February! It’s just such a fantastic way to give yourself that extra little push to write every day, even when you don’t particularly feel like it, and in my mind the benefits far outweigh the minor inconveniences.

I know there may be the odd occasion again this month – you know, those “I don’t wanna” days – where I end up posting lousy entries simply to satisfy my NaBloPoMo commitment, but I’m going to make an effort to minimize those “throwaway” type of posts. One of the strategies I’m going to try was sparked by a comment made by Sabrina on one of my earlier entries; that is, to write additional posts when the inspiration is flowing and use them on the don’t wanna days.

So, anyone care to join me? Link me to your blog and I’ll be glad to follow along!

Last night was mostly spent tossing and turning and trying to figure out WHY yesterday’s efforts had all been in vain. (No, really. For some reason my Sunday nights are usually marked by bouts of mild insomnia anyway, and ending the day with no resolution to my blog problems made sleep last night all the more difficult to achieve.)

Anyway, this morning I was all prepared to go right back to the beginning and start over (though the thought of it made me weep a little), but before I did that I decided to try one simple little thing that I hadn’t attempted before and, as you can probably tell from my post’s enthusiastic title, IT WORKED!

*happy dances*

So Alphabet Salad is now happily ensconced at its own domain (https://alphabetsalad.com), and as far as I can tell I’ve configured my settings so that anyone going to my old blog address will automagically be redirected to the new one. I think I’ve even updated the feed and subscription links so that anyone who’s already signed up shouldn’t have to go to the trouble of resubscribing.

*pats self on back*

Now, with some success under my belt, I’ll get back to my real work (you know, the stuff that actually pays me cashy money for my efforts).

Have a fabulous day, everyone!

Today has been, for the most part, a real exercise in frustration. I’ve been trying to move my blog from the subdomain where it currently resides to its own dedicated domain, which I would have thought would be fairly straightforward (ha!), but have been having a real hair-pulling time of it. In addition to the problems I’m experiencing because I’m a rank self-hosting newbie who’s stumbling my way through the technical side of things, my hosting company has been having problems all day with their FTP servers, which has meant that much of the time I’ve been trying to do things, I haven’t actually been able to access or upload/download the files I need. PLUS, I got a message from my ISP that I’ve almost reached my internet usage capacity for the month (and there’s still two more days to go!). (I blame work for that – I had to download a whole whack of files last week that took more than three hours to complete.)

So, since my hosting company still appears to be having glitches, and my laptop’s cooling fan is whirring at a startling volume, I think I’ll shut down for the night and go watch last week’s Castle (which we missed on Monday, but which my dear husband thoughtfully DVRed for me just now).

Hopefully things will be better in the morning.

The end of January is fast approaching (unbelievable!), and I’m really pleased to say that I’ve been successful (so far, at least!) at posting something here (or in one of my other blogs) every single day as part of my commitment to finishing NaBloPoMo in January (National Blog Posting Month, for the uninitiated and/or those who wondered why on earth I bothered to share some of the stuff I posted on certain uninspired days!).

I’m also happy to say that I’ve been meeting some great people and reading some really wonderful blogs, both through NaBloPoMo and IComLeavWe (International Comment Leaving Week January – last day today).

The self-imposed discipline of posting every day has been absolutely fantastic. Already I notice an improvement in my writing, both quality and process – not just on my blogs and column, but also in anything I’ve had to write for work. Daily practice in developing my voice means that I’ve been able to find words more quickly and say things more effectively, which is always a benefit even when you’re writing an e-mail to a client.

I’m trying to decide, now, if I should sign up for NaBloPoMo in February. Seeing the improvements and benefits that came to me through my participation in January makes me shout a resounding, “YES!” On the other hand, there were times when I just didn’t feel like writing (as there will be), and I ended up posting garbage just to fulfill my commitment, which is NOT such a good thing. There’s already far too much junk on the internet – I certainly don’t need to add my contribution!

So I’m torn.

If you’ve been participating in NaBloPoMo this month, are you going to do it again in February? Why or why not?

One of the first things you need to do, it seems, if you want to start on the path towards becoming a successful problogger, is to choose a “niche” for your blog: that is, narrow down your focus and target your content to appeal to readers who are interested in that niche topic, so as to establish yourself as an expert and build a loyal following. The catch, though, is that in order to keep your niche blog going long-term, you need to be passionate about the topic you’ve chosen, so passionate that your words will carry conviction and you won’t soon tire of writing on the subject.

I would really, Really, REALLY like to try my hand at becoming a problogger. Everything about blogging interests and thrills me – the writing of the content, the design and layout of the blog itself, the technical details that make things run properly, attracting and keeping an audience, the continual learning curve… everything. I have a background in web design that started when I taught myself HTML, I know (and am always learning more) about using CSS, and I’ve been blogging for years – so the basic skills are in place, and I have a willingness and excitement to learn anything new that might be required along the way. On top of all that, I’m in an excellent position to pursue problogging: I have a part-time job that pays my living expenses (so I don’t HAVE to make money from my blog), I have plenty of free time outside that job to devote to whatever I choose, and I have a great home office setup.

So what’s the problem?

The problem is, I have no niche.

• I am neither a mommy nor a homemaker.
• I am childfree by choice, but not militant or outspoken about it.
• I appreciate finding a good deal as much as the next person, but I’m not particularly frugal or into clipping coupons in any noteworthy or shareable way.
• I don’t make things to sell.
• I’m not going to school at the moment.
• I don’t travel anywhere exotic.
• I am not a photographer.
• I’ve tried all sorts of crafts and hobbies, but wouldn’t say I’m passionate about any of them (except blogging).
• I am not a professional anything.

What on earth AM I, then?

What it comes down to is this: I love writing, I love blogging, and I love making connections online. And since I’m already doing all that stuff anyway, wouldn’t it be nice to try to earn some money while I’m at it? So that maybe, some day, I can do more than just pay the bills?

My kingdom for a niche!

Thoughts, comments, suggestions, ideas… I welcome them all!

A saying often heard among readers is, “So many books, so little time.” My husband and I have often bemoaned the fact that we will never, no matter how hard we try or how much time we dedicate, be able to read every good book currently in existence… and to make it even more impossible, good books keep being written! We’ve both felt a sense of frustration tinged with panic when we realize how quickly time passes and just how few books we will actually be able to absorb in this short life of ours.

This morning I was musing on how many fabulous individuals I’ve met, and continue to meet, as I get more and more involved in the blogosphere, and came to a sudden realization.

I am starting to feel about people the way I’ve always felt about books.

Sure, there are plenty of jerks out there on the interwebs (and elsewhere, for that matter). There are scammers and spammers and people who make creepy comments on your public profiles, and I’d prefer to avoid crossing all of their paths, thank you very much.

But oh, there are some amazing souls to be discovered! These people are warm and kind, wise and witty, helpful and ethical. Their words will make you laugh, think, sometimes even cry. You will feel as though your day (maybe even your life) just got a little better because you were fortunate enough to have stumbled across their blog.

And that frustration sets in when you realize that you will never, couldn’t possibly ever, meet them all.

No matter how much time I spend bloghopping, there will be fabulous bloggers who I will never even hear about. And that’s just the blogosphere! No matter where I travel, or how many social activities I attend, there are fabulous people I will never meet face-to-face and who will therefore never touch my life.

There’s just so little time.

Over the past while I’ve been pondering the time and energy I currently spend on the various components of my life – work, play, relationships, writing and blogging, other hobbies and interests… how much value and enjoyment and satisfaction I’m reaping in relation to the time and energy spent in each of those areas… what, exactly, I want to do and where I want to go in life, both immediately and long-term… the options and possibilities available to me… the limitations that hinder me… that sort of thing.

You know, no big deal. Just your basic mid-life question period.

There’s a part of me that is afraid to even admit to myself – let alone express in words, out loud – what I think I might want, for fear (hope?) of what might be set in motion. In some cases, I’m also trying to separate frustration and disappointment from reality and practicality so as not to blunder irreversibly into or out of something that might later bring regrets.

I want to make wise decisions and choose smart, profitable ways to invest my time, talents, and energy, and in many ways I feel as though I’m being gently guided onto a good (perhaps even exciting) path headed in a positive direction.

Yet the destination itself still seems somewhat out of focus, and the path littered with stumbling blocks and shiny objects.

Note to Self: Time. Patience. Faith.

(Note: This post was written by Laurel Regan and originally published in a separate blog called “Why Windsor…”, which was later merged with Alphabet Salad.)

My weekly Windsor Square column has been posted:

Why Windsor:
Gettin’ Around Town

Please take a look and let me know what you think!

Given the choice, would you prefer life to come pre-installed with…

…an “Undo” button that would allow you at any time to backtrack and choose different words said or choices made,

OR,

…an “Are You Sure?” warning that would give you those extra few seconds of pause before speaking or acting?

Enquiring minds want to know…

(Note: This post was written by Laurel Regan and originally published in a separate blog called “Why Windsor…”, which was later merged with Alphabet Salad.)

The weather in Windsor – at least the weather we’ve experienced since we moved here at the end of October – is thoroughly confusing me. (I think it’s confusing my non-Windsor friends and family, too, as they keep asking me if we’re getting a lot of snow, and are surprised when I say no! I mean, we’re in Ontario, aren’t we?!)

Oh sure, we’ve had snow since October – several snowfalls, in fact. I think some even fell the first week we were here! But so far we haven’t had what I (and quite possibly my friends back home) would define as real winter weather – that is, enough snow to fully cover the grass, snow that sticks around longer than two or three days. If that was the official definition of winter, well, I’m sorry, but we haven’t had it.

I thought it might have finally hit us this past weekend. We did get quite a bit of snow starting on Friday (though still not enough to fully cover the grass!), but then last night a huge dump of rain stormed through and pretty much washed every last bit of the white stuff away.

I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised – after all, part of the reason we chose Windsor over some other city is because our research indicated that in general the winters in this city are usually far milder than in most others in Canada. And I’m actually pretty grateful that so far we haven’t had to deal with a serious dump of snow, partly because I’m not all that excited about driving in the stuff, and also because my boots are still packed somewhere, most likely in the depths of the basement!

Any of my fellow Windsorites care to chime in and let me know if this year’s winter is typical for our city? Enquiring minds want to know…

You know how sometimes you read something that is so spot-on, so exactly what you needed to hear, that you almost wonder if the writer was somehow able to read your mind and understand precisely what had to be spoken at that very moment?

For me, today, it was this post by Sabrina at Much Needed Advice for Women.

It’s easy to become discouraged with the effort and energy you spend on blogging when you feel as though your words are being sent out into the void, lost among the multitudes of other bloggers sending their words out into the void. It’s easy to develop a “poor me why do I bother” attitude when people don’t subscribe, or comment, or “like” quite as fast or as often as you wish they would. On the other hand, it’s easy to forget that WE are responsible for doing our part to help people find us, for making our own blogs and writing stand out from the crowd in some way, for taking the time and making the effort to pay it forward to other bloggers. If we don’t take these responsibilities seriously, we shouldn’t be surprised or hurt when we don’t receive the desired response!

So thank you, Sabrina, for speaking some important words I needed to hear today.

No more passive self-pity – instead, action!

I‘m guessing I was not all that different from most kids in this regard, but the first words from my mouth when I bounded into the house after school was, “What’s for dinner?”

On the very odd occasion, my heart was filled with dread because my mom’s quiet answer to my question was simply, “Meat.” See, I knew that if we were having chicken, she’d say chicken. If she’d made a roast, she’d tell me we were having roast beef. But if she said “meat” – oh, the horror! – I knew the feature at dinner that night would be my worst nightmare: liver.

I don’t believe she served liver all that often (though in my mind, even once is far too much), but when she did my sister and I were obligated to eat just one tiny square of it, no exceptions and no excuses. My mom is an amazing and talented cook, but no one – not even Mom – could make anything appealing about that horrible piece of vile-tasting “meat” sitting on my plate waiting to be choked down. During those meals the faces of my family around the table blurred through my angry, frustrated tears as I held my nose and forced down that nasty morsel (doused in ketchup to hide a taste that simply couldn’t be hidden) with as little chewing as possible.

To this day, even ketchup on a hamburger has the potential to trigger an involuntary gag reflex.

But sometimes… sometimes I’d come home to the most intoxicating smell of all – bacon frying! – and realize with a thrill that one of my most favourite and beloved meals was in the process of being prepared for our consumption:

Breakfast for dinner!

I think in part I loved breakfast for dinner so much because it broke all the rules. There was something so delightfully naughty, somehow, about sitting down to a sanctioned plateful of “morning food” in the evening. Eating breakfast for dinner brought us together as co-conspirators, thumbing our noses at convention and propriety.

And it was good! Bacon and eggs, sometimes sausages, fried tomatoes, occasionally blueberry pancakes or homemade biscuits. And the biscuits! Back in the 1970s I don’t remember anyone knowing much or caring about heart disease, so Mom’s biscuits were rich and often delightfully flavoured with bacon grease and served hot, dripping with butter and melting in our mouths. Those biscuits tasted like small pieces of heaven… delicious, delicious heaven.

Mom was a full-time homemaker who often stayed up through the night in the summer, when it finally cooled down, to preserve bottle after bottle of fresh fruit brought back from the Okanagan to feed us throughout the winter months. It’s no surprise – and in fact was tradition – that “dessert” after breakfast for dinner was always a big bowl of fruit salad, the perfect ending to the perfect meal.

The memories of the hated “meat” are strong, but my memories of breakfast for dinner are stronger and sweeter.

I‘m having a whole lot of fun redecorating this blog – learning the ins and outs of the Thesis Theme (which is, thankfully, getting easier as time goes on), finding photos of vintage typewriters¹ to rotate through the multimedia box, choosing colours and fonts and widgets. I swear I could do this sort of thing all day long – sometimes I really have to force myself to get up from my desk and go do something that doesn’t involve the computer!

Yesterday evening, after several consecutive days of staying at home (I think the last time I left the house was to shop for groceries on Monday!), I did just that: my husband and I braved the weather and headed out to book club. It was our first time there, so we were meeting a bunch of people we’d never seen before, and weren’t sure what to expect. I’m so glad we went! Honestly, sometimes I get so wrapped up in my online life and connections – particularly now that I’m working from home and communicating with my co-workers electronically – that I forget just how important face-to-face human contact is.

Spending a couple of hours with interesting people also made me realize that I really need to get on with making some good friends in this city. For various reasons – different lifestyles, moves, conflicting schedules, laziness, and so on – over the past several years I’ve suffered from a dearth of available friends to call up for a chat, or visit with over coffee (more in this post). I knew it, but never really felt it as acutely until I moved to a new city where I only knew one person outside my household. I guess when I was back in Victoria, the daily in-person contact I had with my co-workers was enough to somewhat fill the void, but now that this contact has shifted to long-distance I’m really noticing my lack of “real life” friends.

Book club was my first tentative foray into establishing contacts in my new city, and though I don’t know where it will go or if any friendships will develop because of it, I’m pleased with the start.

Do you have many good friends in your own city? How do you go about meeting new people?

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¹ It does occur to me that the term “vintage typewriters” is rather redundant…

NaBloPoMo Writing Prompt for January 20, 2012:
Which do you enjoy more – the start of a book or the end?

The start of a book offers promise, potential, anticipation – all generally positive things, really.

The end can evoke different feelings, both positive and negative, depending on the book: bittersweetness, because I loved it so much and I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to the characters yet; relief, because I have finally finished struggling through that tedious tome; annoyance, because I’m unsatisfied with the author’s conclusion; excitement, because I want MORE and I know there’s either an unread sequel or other work by the author just waiting for me; frustration, because I want MORE and this book is all there is; satisfaction, because I’ve added another completed read to my mind’s library; gratitude, because I have learned and grown from the author’s words.

Though it’s not always positive, it’s always good, so I’d have to say that all in all I prefer the ending.

I’ve been experiencing some technical problems with the plugin I’ve been using for my blog’s e-mail subscription list, so I’ve switched over to a new service (Feedburner), which will hopefully be more reliable. If you had previously subscribed to my blog and receive e-mail updates when new entries are posted, and would like to continue to do so, would you please take a second to enter your e-mail address again using the new form at the top right-hand column of the blog.

For those of you who have not yet subscribed… well, I invite you to use this opportunity to do so now! 🙂

Thank you very much – I’m sorry to trouble you, and thank you for your patience!

I received some news today about my job that I was expecting would come at some point or other, but wasn’t sure exactly when. As it turns out, the changes that I’d anticipated will be happening sooner rather than later. Without going into great detail, as of April I’ll have some more free time – 5 hours a week, to be exact. Though I’m a bit anxious about the financial impact this will have on our budget, I’m actually rather excited about the possibilities that this change opens up for me.

Increasingly I feel as though I want to throw myself into doing more of what I love – blogging and writing – but there are only so many hours in the day. Now with what will probably amount to a whole extra day off every week, I suddenly have a chance to do just that. The possibilities are exciting!

Sometimes I wonder if we need someone or something bigger than us to come along and give us a gentle kick in the butt to get us up and doing what we’re supposed to be doing. I started off intending to be in this very position – that is, working at my current job for somewhere around three days per week – but for various reasons ended up at four days per week, and grew rather comfortable with the increased income. The result was that I let go, a bit, of some of the dreams I had since we first started talking a year and a half ago about making a choice to change our lifestyle. Now it seems I’m being gently nudged back onto the path I’d originally chosen.

When I think about the future, the anxiety and discomfort is tempered by a bubbling up sense of excitement and possibility that threatens to take over and push out the fears.

Changes, chances, choices. It’s all a matter of perspective.