Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 75
August 30, 2018
Screens, Screens Everywhere
I blogged previously about one of my Rally goals being to go without looking at a screen for an hour and how difficult that was to do. It's become more difficult at work than ever.
My day job recently remodeled the building I work in--it needed it because of how long it had been since the last refresh--and one of the additions has been large televisions everywhere. When I walk in from the parking deck, I pass two of these TVs in the main hallway and when I turn down another hallway to get to my office, there's another one. Then there's the TV on the back wall of my office.
It wouldn't be too bad if they were locked to the company's news network, however, they're not. The first screen I usually see will show company news. This is okay. The second screen, however, usually has some kind of station playing on it. This is not the way I want to start my morning. I need to ease into the day and the TV blaring whatever is like a rude slap. It usually makes me tense as soon as I can see it as I come down the hallway.
The third TV is one that is never on and I'm not sure why they installed that one since I've never seen it being used. The television in my office is generally okay, too. It's normally set to a camera that shows us a view of the airport. It's our version of a window.
Maybe I'm the only one who doesn't appreciate all the screens, but I look at computer screens all day for my job, I have a phone with a screen that requires attention, my car has a screen to control navigation, radio, temperature, and the phone, and when I get home and write, I'm staring at the computer again. Taking TVs out of the hallway isn't going to change these other factors, but it sure would be nice to have a break as I walk around the office.
My day job recently remodeled the building I work in--it needed it because of how long it had been since the last refresh--and one of the additions has been large televisions everywhere. When I walk in from the parking deck, I pass two of these TVs in the main hallway and when I turn down another hallway to get to my office, there's another one. Then there's the TV on the back wall of my office.
It wouldn't be too bad if they were locked to the company's news network, however, they're not. The first screen I usually see will show company news. This is okay. The second screen, however, usually has some kind of station playing on it. This is not the way I want to start my morning. I need to ease into the day and the TV blaring whatever is like a rude slap. It usually makes me tense as soon as I can see it as I come down the hallway.
The third TV is one that is never on and I'm not sure why they installed that one since I've never seen it being used. The television in my office is generally okay, too. It's normally set to a camera that shows us a view of the airport. It's our version of a window.
Maybe I'm the only one who doesn't appreciate all the screens, but I look at computer screens all day for my job, I have a phone with a screen that requires attention, my car has a screen to control navigation, radio, temperature, and the phone, and when I get home and write, I'm staring at the computer again. Taking TVs out of the hallway isn't going to change these other factors, but it sure would be nice to have a break as I walk around the office.
August 28, 2018
Character Possession
My characters rub off on me. This is both good and bad. Good because I develop interests in a wide range of topics that I otherwise would have zero interest in. Like surfing or vintage cars. There are times, though, when this isn't so good.
In the Work In Progress (WIP), my hero swears. A lot. One of his favorite phrases is F**k that, but he loves the F word in general. He doesn't limit himself either. There is much profanity.
So here I am at my day job, and since I've moved to Atlanta, I've tried to cull all swearing from my work vocabulary because I think there are some people who'd clutch their pearls figuratively speaking, of course. I'm not talking extreme language like the F word--I've never used that at work, at least not out loud. :-) But in Minneapolis, swearing was a little more accepted and I did do some of that.
I'm talking to my former boss's boss who is now promoted to the next level. He said something right on the money and what came out of my mouth? "No shit." sigh. I meant to say no kidding, really I did. I'm totally blaming my hero from the WIP for that slip.
In the Work In Progress (WIP), my hero swears. A lot. One of his favorite phrases is F**k that, but he loves the F word in general. He doesn't limit himself either. There is much profanity.
So here I am at my day job, and since I've moved to Atlanta, I've tried to cull all swearing from my work vocabulary because I think there are some people who'd clutch their pearls figuratively speaking, of course. I'm not talking extreme language like the F word--I've never used that at work, at least not out loud. :-) But in Minneapolis, swearing was a little more accepted and I did do some of that.
I'm talking to my former boss's boss who is now promoted to the next level. He said something right on the money and what came out of my mouth? "No shit." sigh. I meant to say no kidding, really I did. I'm totally blaming my hero from the WIP for that slip.
August 23, 2018
Seven Months
Last fall, I moved into a new house and the woman from whom I bought the house had two televisions mounted on the wall. She was supposed to leave those mounts because anything attached to the walls are supposed to stay, but not only did she take the TV mounts, she left holes in the walls. She didn't even spackle them!
In November, as I was getting my old house ready to sell, I had a painter come out to give me some estimates on painting a few rooms that were really banged up. The joy of tall bookcases anchored to the walls, but I wasn't giving up my books! While he was looking at the old house, I had him come over to the new house and estimate the cost of fixing her mess and painting the hall from the garage (also very banged up) and a few other areas.
It started out well. He was at the old house within 2 weeks or so, got it painted in one day, and we had the house on the market and sold within two days of that. Yea! And then the waiting began for him to come to the new house.
I take partial blame. I was stupid enough to say to the painter that there was no rush on the new house. I said that because there was a rush on the old house. I needed to get that baby on the market! Sadly, he took me at my word on the new house and the waiting began.
In the meantime, I'm staring at these ugly holes in my walls--bedroom and family room--day after day after day. Ugh! My dad called periodically to find out when he was going to come out. Finally, after my dad started calling and leaving a message every day, we got our walls painted. SEVEN months after the estimate.
The reason why we didn't look for another painter is that painters are hugely expensive in Atlanta and most don't do a good job. This man was affordable (for Atlanta!) and did excellent work. It was him or no one unless there was no other choice.
Here's a picture of my newly painted family room wall! Hurrah! I need to work on my decor some more, but that's a minor thing.
In November, as I was getting my old house ready to sell, I had a painter come out to give me some estimates on painting a few rooms that were really banged up. The joy of tall bookcases anchored to the walls, but I wasn't giving up my books! While he was looking at the old house, I had him come over to the new house and estimate the cost of fixing her mess and painting the hall from the garage (also very banged up) and a few other areas.
It started out well. He was at the old house within 2 weeks or so, got it painted in one day, and we had the house on the market and sold within two days of that. Yea! And then the waiting began for him to come to the new house.
I take partial blame. I was stupid enough to say to the painter that there was no rush on the new house. I said that because there was a rush on the old house. I needed to get that baby on the market! Sadly, he took me at my word on the new house and the waiting began.
In the meantime, I'm staring at these ugly holes in my walls--bedroom and family room--day after day after day. Ugh! My dad called periodically to find out when he was going to come out. Finally, after my dad started calling and leaving a message every day, we got our walls painted. SEVEN months after the estimate.
The reason why we didn't look for another painter is that painters are hugely expensive in Atlanta and most don't do a good job. This man was affordable (for Atlanta!) and did excellent work. It was him or no one unless there was no other choice.
Here's a picture of my newly painted family room wall! Hurrah! I need to work on my decor some more, but that's a minor thing.
August 21, 2018
Re-Learning
From 9th grade through my freshman year in college, I took German classes. I was actually dreaming in German about the same time I quit, which IIRC someone mentioned is a precursor to fluency. Of course, I didn't know that at the time and 19 year olds shouldn't be allowed to make life decisions. :-) Or at least me at 19 shouldn't have been making these types of decisions. By the time I realized my mistake, the university wanted me to take the placement test again (I'd already taken it before my freshman year because of my 4 years of high school German) and the cost of this test was expensive for a full-time student.
Since then I've entertained the idea of taking German again because it can't be as hard to learn a second time as it was the first, right? But while I did buy a computer-based German language program, one lesson showed me that it was going to be a challenge to relearn. This was at the same time that I was dealing with a house in Minnesota while I was living in Atlanta, aging parents who were still living in Minneapolis, and later, moving, my mom's death, moving my dad in with me, writing, etc. It went on the back burner.
In June, I received an email that I could get two audio programs for one credit, and of course, I went to check it out. There at the bottom of the page was a language learning system. I perked up. One credit would get me lessons 1-5 and 6-10 in German. I decided it was worth a shot.
At the time, I figured since it was audio learning only, I could listen to it in my car while I commuted. But I tried out the first lesson at home one evening and decided it required too much focus and I needed to keep my attention on the road. I decided to keep it to the evenings.
I'm through lesson 2 now and this method seems to be working for me better than the computer-based program did. Words started coming back to me and I was able to understand the rudimentary conversations on the audio. I'm not getting too excited yet. Lesson 2 is pretty darn early in the learning process and things will only get more difficult going forward, but I'm heartened that I am managing to re-learn.
Since then I've entertained the idea of taking German again because it can't be as hard to learn a second time as it was the first, right? But while I did buy a computer-based German language program, one lesson showed me that it was going to be a challenge to relearn. This was at the same time that I was dealing with a house in Minnesota while I was living in Atlanta, aging parents who were still living in Minneapolis, and later, moving, my mom's death, moving my dad in with me, writing, etc. It went on the back burner.
In June, I received an email that I could get two audio programs for one credit, and of course, I went to check it out. There at the bottom of the page was a language learning system. I perked up. One credit would get me lessons 1-5 and 6-10 in German. I decided it was worth a shot.
At the time, I figured since it was audio learning only, I could listen to it in my car while I commuted. But I tried out the first lesson at home one evening and decided it required too much focus and I needed to keep my attention on the road. I decided to keep it to the evenings.
I'm through lesson 2 now and this method seems to be working for me better than the computer-based program did. Words started coming back to me and I was able to understand the rudimentary conversations on the audio. I'm not getting too excited yet. Lesson 2 is pretty darn early in the learning process and things will only get more difficult going forward, but I'm heartened that I am managing to re-learn.
August 16, 2018
Chaos
They remodeled the building where I work. It's an old building, built in the 1960s, and probably hasn't been updated since the 1980s, so it was kind of overdue. I mentioned this before when I talked about the hideous open-office concept where distractions are rife and quiet is hard to come by. This would have been last summer when my department moved.
Construction is just about finished now, although I believe there are few small pockets left because I still see the guys working on the project leaving work when I do. During this year and a half, departments have been moving around, parked in temporary locations until their permanent spot was finished. We were lucky. My department only had to move once because our forever location was completed early in the process. Other areas haven't been so lucky.
One of these departments is the one that processes airport badges. They moved three or four times in the past year and people are having a hard time finding them. I know this because I sit near a doorway and almost every day someone is asking me where they're located.
That's not the only area people are looking for and can't find. Unfortunately for the people who think I can help them, I have no clue where most of these departments are now.
In the old configuration, I would have been able to guide these people, but now? Their guess is as good as mine. It's chaos!
The only good thing is that now that construction is wrapping up and the moving has stopped, I'll eventually learn where departments are located again and so will the people trying to find said departments. It's just confusion until that happens.
Construction is just about finished now, although I believe there are few small pockets left because I still see the guys working on the project leaving work when I do. During this year and a half, departments have been moving around, parked in temporary locations until their permanent spot was finished. We were lucky. My department only had to move once because our forever location was completed early in the process. Other areas haven't been so lucky.
One of these departments is the one that processes airport badges. They moved three or four times in the past year and people are having a hard time finding them. I know this because I sit near a doorway and almost every day someone is asking me where they're located.
That's not the only area people are looking for and can't find. Unfortunately for the people who think I can help them, I have no clue where most of these departments are now.
In the old configuration, I would have been able to guide these people, but now? Their guess is as good as mine. It's chaos!
The only good thing is that now that construction is wrapping up and the moving has stopped, I'll eventually learn where departments are located again and so will the people trying to find said departments. It's just confusion until that happens.
August 14, 2018
Stop the Emails
Long time readers of my blog will know that I've complained about companies who sent me promotional emails daily. I said something like once a week is enough. Well, these companies have not heard my complaints. In fact, they've gone the other direction.
There are companies who are literally sending two and three emails a day!!!
The first email in the morning is usually the offer email. The second email will be a reminder and generally comes mid afternoon. The third email comes at night--sometimes really late for the east coast--telling me it's my last chance to get their fabulous offer.
Once a day was annoying enough. Two or three times a day is ridiculous. I'd been hesitant about unsubscribing because when I want to buy something, I'd like to see the deals available, but I can't do three emails a day from one company. I've started to click the unsubscribe button.
The smart companies will offer an option on their unsubscribe page to receive fewer emails. That's the option I click if it's available. The rest are just an unsubscribe.
What marketing genius said, Hey, this person signed up for our emails, let's bombard them until they hate us and never want to see an email from us again? That's how I'm feeling right now about a number of companies. We're not talking one or two doing this--it's at least a dozen!
Dear companies promoting via email. STOP it or I will unsubscribe from you, too!
There are companies who are literally sending two and three emails a day!!!
The first email in the morning is usually the offer email. The second email will be a reminder and generally comes mid afternoon. The third email comes at night--sometimes really late for the east coast--telling me it's my last chance to get their fabulous offer.
Once a day was annoying enough. Two or three times a day is ridiculous. I'd been hesitant about unsubscribing because when I want to buy something, I'd like to see the deals available, but I can't do three emails a day from one company. I've started to click the unsubscribe button.
The smart companies will offer an option on their unsubscribe page to receive fewer emails. That's the option I click if it's available. The rest are just an unsubscribe.
What marketing genius said, Hey, this person signed up for our emails, let's bombard them until they hate us and never want to see an email from us again? That's how I'm feeling right now about a number of companies. We're not talking one or two doing this--it's at least a dozen!
Dear companies promoting via email. STOP it or I will unsubscribe from you, too!
August 9, 2018
Writing in Order
There are some writers who are able to write whatever scene is coming in strongest for them and hop around their book, seamlessly writing out of order. I am not one of those writers. One little change in the beginning of a story can cascade through the entire book for me.
An example is when I wrote The Power of Two. Cai's age was changed, making her younger, and it literally caused me to rewrite almost every scene in the book. It had impact even though, theoretically, it was nothing more than changing a number.
In my latest project, I started the story with my heroine's daring escape. (Let's not discuss the prologue yet, although that had impact as well.) I wrote about 40,000 words in this draft (The draft was not finished) before I went back and started to revise, and on revision, I began the story earlier. Like 8 chapters earlier, IIRC. (I'm going by memory and not opening up my files to check.)
As I'm writing these new chapters, I'm thinking, I hope I can cut and paste from the other draft once I reach that point, but I have a bad feeling things aren't going to work out that easily.
I was right to worry.
At first I thought it was only because some of the early stuff needed to be integrated into the current draft. Like the daring escape. It's largely the original version, but not quite because of feedback and because some previous details had changed. This meant I couldn't cut and paste in bulk, but I could cut and paste paragraphs at a time. I was okay with this because this was all hybrid stuff.
Then I hit the point where I should have been able to cut and paste entire chapters. Um, yeah, no. Too much had changed from the draft and I had to rewrite or tweak just about everything.
The prologue changes also had a major impact on the romance part of the story. The new prologue is stronger and shorter, but it turns out that the changes I made there are impacting the entire romantic arc of the story. Damn it. This really makes me wish I was one of those writers who seamlessly jumps around their story, but sadly, I am not one of them.
There went my dreams of a quick revision round.
An example is when I wrote The Power of Two. Cai's age was changed, making her younger, and it literally caused me to rewrite almost every scene in the book. It had impact even though, theoretically, it was nothing more than changing a number.
In my latest project, I started the story with my heroine's daring escape. (Let's not discuss the prologue yet, although that had impact as well.) I wrote about 40,000 words in this draft (The draft was not finished) before I went back and started to revise, and on revision, I began the story earlier. Like 8 chapters earlier, IIRC. (I'm going by memory and not opening up my files to check.)
As I'm writing these new chapters, I'm thinking, I hope I can cut and paste from the other draft once I reach that point, but I have a bad feeling things aren't going to work out that easily.
I was right to worry.
At first I thought it was only because some of the early stuff needed to be integrated into the current draft. Like the daring escape. It's largely the original version, but not quite because of feedback and because some previous details had changed. This meant I couldn't cut and paste in bulk, but I could cut and paste paragraphs at a time. I was okay with this because this was all hybrid stuff.
Then I hit the point where I should have been able to cut and paste entire chapters. Um, yeah, no. Too much had changed from the draft and I had to rewrite or tweak just about everything.
The prologue changes also had a major impact on the romance part of the story. The new prologue is stronger and shorter, but it turns out that the changes I made there are impacting the entire romantic arc of the story. Damn it. This really makes me wish I was one of those writers who seamlessly jumps around their story, but sadly, I am not one of them.
There went my dreams of a quick revision round.
August 7, 2018
Pronunciation
Until recently, I've always heard the word BETA pronounced bay-ta. Lately, though, I've been hearing two other pronunciations: beet-ah and bet-ah.
At first, it was only one or two people, so I figured they were saying it wrong. Then it seemed as if everyone I heard using the word said it differently than my bay-ta pronunciation. I never automatically assume I'm correct on how to say a word because I've had a couple of lessons in this over the years. My reading vocabulary is large because of all the books I've read in my life, but there are words I've literally never heard spoken before. When I've tried to use a couple of them, I learned I had them wrong.
First up, and the most embarrassing, was FACADE. I pronounced it fay-kade. That's not even close to correct. The way to say it is fuh-sahd. I was laughed at for how I said it. But I literally had never heard it spoken aloud before and that was how I worked it out as I read it.
Second was the denouement incident. I said it day-nou-ment. It's pronounced dey-noo-mahn. I actually said this at work. One of my guys turns around in his seat and says, "Did you mean dey-noo-mahn?" Yes, yes, I did. Again, another word I'd never heard spoken before.
So when I started to hear pretty much everyone not saying bay-ta as I always had, I headed over to the online dictionary to find out if I'd been embarrassing myself all my life and no one had bothered to correct me. It was a relief to discover that I was saying it correctly! In American pronunciation, it is bay-ta! British pronunciation is beet-ah. I have no clue where bet-ah is coming from unless it's someone having a facade moment. :-)
At first, it was only one or two people, so I figured they were saying it wrong. Then it seemed as if everyone I heard using the word said it differently than my bay-ta pronunciation. I never automatically assume I'm correct on how to say a word because I've had a couple of lessons in this over the years. My reading vocabulary is large because of all the books I've read in my life, but there are words I've literally never heard spoken before. When I've tried to use a couple of them, I learned I had them wrong.
First up, and the most embarrassing, was FACADE. I pronounced it fay-kade. That's not even close to correct. The way to say it is fuh-sahd. I was laughed at for how I said it. But I literally had never heard it spoken aloud before and that was how I worked it out as I read it.
Second was the denouement incident. I said it day-nou-ment. It's pronounced dey-noo-mahn. I actually said this at work. One of my guys turns around in his seat and says, "Did you mean dey-noo-mahn?" Yes, yes, I did. Again, another word I'd never heard spoken before.
So when I started to hear pretty much everyone not saying bay-ta as I always had, I headed over to the online dictionary to find out if I'd been embarrassing myself all my life and no one had bothered to correct me. It was a relief to discover that I was saying it correctly! In American pronunciation, it is bay-ta! British pronunciation is beet-ah. I have no clue where bet-ah is coming from unless it's someone having a facade moment. :-)
August 2, 2018
Writing Craft and Instincts
I believe a writer should always strive to improve themselves and hone their skills. There is no one who can't get better because there's no such thing as the perfect book. Recently, I was listening to an audio book that went into how to structure a novel. Turning points, pinch points, etc.
It make me start to get panicky. Some writers are very analytical and structure their writing on principles like these. Me? I'm not analytical at all. I tend to go with my instincts on when to do what. My panic only increased because the story I was working on at the time had a more unusual structure than normal. As I listened to more and more of this how to book, I became more and more concerned that I wasn't following these rules.
This isn't the first time this has happened to me. I have this really weird thing about wanting to read craft books, but also getting panicked every time I do because I'm more of a seat-of-the-pants writer. Not completely. There's a spectrum and I'm probably in the middle, but leaning toward pantsing. I've had writing friends assure me that I am hitting these "beats" that are laid out in these books, but that I'm doing it unconsciously. It doesn't seem to matter. I still get worried and stressed every time. It would probably be smarter to not read or listen to these books/authors, but I can't help myself.
I've reached a point of mostly calm right now. It came because I reminded myself that every time I write, I strive to create the best story I'm capable of at that point in time. As long as a writer is doing their best work and not banging something out without care, they really can't ask more of themselves. Sometimes the best you can do has to be enough.
It make me start to get panicky. Some writers are very analytical and structure their writing on principles like these. Me? I'm not analytical at all. I tend to go with my instincts on when to do what. My panic only increased because the story I was working on at the time had a more unusual structure than normal. As I listened to more and more of this how to book, I became more and more concerned that I wasn't following these rules.
This isn't the first time this has happened to me. I have this really weird thing about wanting to read craft books, but also getting panicked every time I do because I'm more of a seat-of-the-pants writer. Not completely. There's a spectrum and I'm probably in the middle, but leaning toward pantsing. I've had writing friends assure me that I am hitting these "beats" that are laid out in these books, but that I'm doing it unconsciously. It doesn't seem to matter. I still get worried and stressed every time. It would probably be smarter to not read or listen to these books/authors, but I can't help myself.
I've reached a point of mostly calm right now. It came because I reminded myself that every time I write, I strive to create the best story I'm capable of at that point in time. As long as a writer is doing their best work and not banging something out without care, they really can't ask more of themselves. Sometimes the best you can do has to be enough.
July 31, 2018
These Are My Recommendations?
One of the marketing emails I get is from Audible with recommendations for books I might like to listen to. Here's a new book by one of your favorite authors! Or so they say. I open the email and almost every time it's recommending an author I don't remember ever reading/listening to before.
Audible is owned by Amazon and I thought they had some pretty strong algorithms based on past purchases. Literally 99% of the books I spend my credits on are non-fiction, but 99% of my recommendation emails are for fiction. Say what? Also, they seem to be heavily weighted toward authors that I downloaded via a free listen promotion. Um, just because I took advantage of the free book, doesn't mean I want to listen to every book that author has ever written.
I wondered if maybe my Audible recommendations were skewed by my Kindle purchases/downloads, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I get recommendations for books that I never downloaded in ebook form, but did download in Audio.
There was a free download of the book American Pharaoh because of the Kentucky Derby. Guess who's getting recommendations about books with horses now?
What I'd like to see is recommendations based on what I used credits for or even spent money to purchase. Free downloads are like, well, okay, yeah, maybe I'll listen to that some day and it's free so why not? They are not anything to base my likely future purchase history on.
My favorite audio books are educational. For example, The Great Courses which are recordings of college professors lecturing about subjects they teach about at university. I totally geek out over this and have a huge number of these in my library. Do you think I ever get a recommendation for another Great Courses listen? Do you think I get notified when there's a new Great Course available? The answer to this is apparently not.
Since Audible doesn't seem to know me at all, I mostly delete all their recommended listen emails after a quick scan. Just in case they finally figured me out.
***This blog is solely my own opinions and not sponsored in anyway. I pay for my Audible membership and my ebooks on my own with no promotional considerations of any kind.***
Audible is owned by Amazon and I thought they had some pretty strong algorithms based on past purchases. Literally 99% of the books I spend my credits on are non-fiction, but 99% of my recommendation emails are for fiction. Say what? Also, they seem to be heavily weighted toward authors that I downloaded via a free listen promotion. Um, just because I took advantage of the free book, doesn't mean I want to listen to every book that author has ever written.
I wondered if maybe my Audible recommendations were skewed by my Kindle purchases/downloads, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I get recommendations for books that I never downloaded in ebook form, but did download in Audio.
There was a free download of the book American Pharaoh because of the Kentucky Derby. Guess who's getting recommendations about books with horses now?
What I'd like to see is recommendations based on what I used credits for or even spent money to purchase. Free downloads are like, well, okay, yeah, maybe I'll listen to that some day and it's free so why not? They are not anything to base my likely future purchase history on.
My favorite audio books are educational. For example, The Great Courses which are recordings of college professors lecturing about subjects they teach about at university. I totally geek out over this and have a huge number of these in my library. Do you think I ever get a recommendation for another Great Courses listen? Do you think I get notified when there's a new Great Course available? The answer to this is apparently not.
Since Audible doesn't seem to know me at all, I mostly delete all their recommended listen emails after a quick scan. Just in case they finally figured me out.
***This blog is solely my own opinions and not sponsored in anyway. I pay for my Audible membership and my ebooks on my own with no promotional considerations of any kind.***
