Sunday, January 28, 2007

Five Things

David Bowles at Writing the Western Sagas tagged me to tell five things about myself you probably don’t know. Then I get to tag five more bloggers by leaving comments on their blogs, and they tell five things about themselves, and each tag five more, and on, and on, and on.

If you read this blog and have been to my Web site, you probably already know more about me than you really want to know. But you probably don’t know:

1. I’m one of “110,000 of the nation’s most noteworthy people” included in Who’s Who in America®. You’re probably wondering how that happened; Who’s Who is supposed to list important people. Actually, I’m wondering the same thing. Back when I started my interior landscape business, women entrepreneurs were rare. Somehow I ended up in some of the regional (South and Southwest) and specialty (American Women, Finance and Industry) Who’s Who editions that Marquis publishes. Then in 2000, I made it to the big time: Who’s Who in America. My husband was so impressed that we bought a copy of the book. Since then, I’m notified that I’m in each new issue, but I can’t say for sure because I’ve never looked at another edition.

2. My first editing assignment came about because I wrote to a publisher expressing disappointment in the poor editing of some books I read. The company (which was new and small) recognized it had a problem, and instead of taking offense at my unsolicited criticism, hired me to edit some of their books.

3. I finished Southwestern University in three years with one summer semester at San Antonio College (SAC - a community college). My husband and I were married between the end of the regular school year and the start of summer school. SAC allowed me to take the first and second semesters of American history simultaneously so I could finish the six hours I lacked for my degree in one semester. But since Southwestern didn’t have summer school and had graduation only in the spring, I officially graduated the following year.

4. My degree is in sociology with a minor in psychology, and my first job was as an employment counselor in one of the poverty programs of the 1970s. That job involved a number of adventures: I visited a client in jail and testified in court for her. I was the last person to talk to a Vietnam veteran with a mental disability before he robbed a fast food restaurant and slit the throat of the manager. A client’s irate wife came to the office and asked to see me; when she opened her purse the receptionist saw she was carrying a gun; my boss got her out of the building without any trouble. I was sent home early one day because a man whose application for a training program I rejected threatened to be waiting at my car with his “piece” when I left work. One of my clients (an 18-year-old girl) told me she took her baby to the emergency room, and “they kept my baby!” It turns out she had baby-sat the child two years ago when he was a tiny infant and she and the baby had disappeared when the parents returned. Her explanation to me: “I prayed to God for a baby, and He gave me a baby.”

5. My husband and I have been married for nearly 40 years, and we’re both perfectionists (some would say obsessive-compulsive) … but in different ways. Jack likes all the labels on the cans in the cabinet to face forward; I don’t pay attention to what direction the labels are facing. I like everything organized and put away; he likes everything out where he can see it so he can find it. Of course, he has so much out where he can see that he can’t find anything!

OK – enough about me. Now I’m tagging five more bloggers to tell five things we don’t know about them:
Robin Bayne at Between Sundays
Vikk Simmons at Down the Writer’s Path
Georganna Hancock at Writer’s Edge
Denise Jacleen at Freelance Writing
Evelyn Bourne at a productive pen

These ladies are bound to have interesting things to share.

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Sunday, January 07, 2007

Looking Ahead ...

First, I looked back on 2006 and thought about SMART goals. Now it’s time for me to look ahead and set some SMART goals for 2007.

First, I plan to improve two areas that were disappointing this year.

As I wrote in Rebooting and the Fourth Commandment, I plan to keep the Sabbath and not work on Sunday. Although reducing the amount of time I work may seem an unusual goal, as most of the time we make goals to do more, for me it’s important. The main purpose of my life is to honor, worship, and serve God, and disobeying one of His commandments goes against that purpose. And from a practical perspective, a day of mental and spiritual refreshment each week will make me more productive during the days I am working.

The work project that was pushed down lower on the priority list this year than I would like is Your Information Center. I plan to remedy that this year.

Several of my business clients have work for me on a regular basis, and they have come to expect a fast turn-around time. My mission is to make my clients’ lives easier and their projects successful, and availability and speed are important.

I am also working with several authors on book projects:

* Editing a self-help book based on Christian/Biblical principles.

* Editing a book written by a psychiatrist for depression patients to use as an educational and self-help adjunct to medical treatment.

* Compiling a book that is a combination of memoir, family history, and motivation, including poetry.

* Editing an inspirational book based the author’s personal Christian journey.

* Editing Adam’s Daughters: Book 2 in the Westward Sagas.

I'm discussing book projects with two more prospective clients, so I may have more projects starting soon.

In addition to working with my regular business clients and editing books for authors, I am scheduled to edit a doctoral dissertation in a few months, and I am working on content for three Web sites. With several other projects pending, I expect to stay as busy as I have been, though when I work on a project is dictated by the client’s timing, not my own. In fact, I often find myself gently (I hope!) nagging clients to meet deadlines.

And this is the year I expect Dream or Destiny, a romantic suspense novel I wrote several years ago, to be published.

Volunteering is important to me, and I will continue the work I do for my church on its Web site, bulletins, and newsletter. Also, I will serve on the committee for the EPIC New Voices writing competition for middle school and high school students, for which I’m committee chair this year.

And I won’t forget family. I’m a night owl who doesn’t do mornings, so I work in the afternoons, evenings, and into the night. But I’ll take two breaks each night (in addition to a dinner break) to spend time with my husband. Writers in an e-mail group I belong to recently had a discussion about the holidays taking time away from writing. Several people complained that they had to give up precious writing time for family get-togethers and holiday preparations. Then one woman put things into perspective - she said she would love to be giving up writing time to spend with her husband and her brother this Christmas. Both have died, and she has plenty of time to write but she’d rather be with her loved ones. I will remind myself of this when I think I have so much to do that I can’t possibly take time away from work. I will spend time with my husband daily and talk to my sister and my brother at least once a week.

Well, that’s far more than you want to know about my goals for 2007. But I hope I’ve helped you think about your own goals and priorities in the coming year … and in your life.

And I hope you’ll give me a gentle nudge if you see me getting off-track!

Happy New Year! May 2007 be a year of joy and blessings for you and your loved ones.