Category Archives: Writing

Buildipedia, home improvements, reading, Suite 101, Writing

Reading, Writing, and…Demolition

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After a busy weekend last weekend, painting the walls in the family room and stripping wallpaper in the downstairs bathroom, I took it easy on the physical labor this past week. Did some light work in that bathroom, removing bits of paper we’d missed. Put some pictures back on the walls, and restored some other things in the family room. But I didn’t undertake anything major.

During the week we had the air conditioner man out to look and see if he could see what is causing the staining on the ceiling in our computer room and in the guest bedroom next to it. He said he couldn’t see anything with the limited view he had, and that we would need to tear out some of the fixed ceiling to tell anything. The restoration people said their meters detected wetness in the ceiling. Insurance wouldn’t cover what caused the problem, but after we fixed the problem they would restore everything, including ceiling that we had to tear out to find the problem.

So yesterday, after washing windows, screens, and window sills in the computer room, I began tearing out ceiling. The first piece comes out with the most difficulty, of course, as you pierce that nice finish and use the hole to begin the tear out. I started where the stain looked worst, and the first piece felt a little wet to me. But it was cold, being right near an AC duct, so maybe I was feeling the cold and thought it was wet.

I kept at it, removing enough so I could see what was up there. It’s a spaghetti mix of water pipe, AC duct, drain lines, and electric and telephone. All the ceiling board seemed dry, though staining on the back side sort of mimicked the stains visible below, except more extensive. Looking through the joists, into the ceiling above the bedroom, I could see that the hot and cold to the washing machine was right above the stains. But nothing looked wet.

So maybe the water came from two problems. A year (or maybe more) ago we had to replace the garbage disposal, a hole having been worn into the side of it. We figured this was the cause of the staining, as the kitchen if right above that part of the computer room (The Dungeon, as I fondly call it). But the staining in the bedroom showed up much later. Maybe it’s a leak associated with the washer. Or, the main house drainage line for the upstairs is right in that area too. Maybe it’s something to do with that.

It appears that we will have to run some appliances and watch and see if the area above the stains looks wet. That means everything will be torn up for a while, since we won’t have the new carpet put down (as a result of the hot water heater leaking) until we have the ceiling fixed, which won’t be till we find the leak.

In the meanwhile, I’ve got lots of reading done, not in a book, but in accumulated magazines. I finished the latest edition of Poets and Writers today, finished an old (2008) National Geographic yesterday, and got some good information about a sci fi subject I was thinking of. Have about finished reading the latest Quadangles, the URI alumni mag. And it seems that I read something else earlier in the week. Oh, I’ve read some in an investment/trading book, and have brainstormed a series of articles for Suite101.com on the subject. I hope to write one tonight.

So all in all a productive time. I’m fairly well caught up on mags, so will go back to my reading pile and see what book is next.

Buildipedia, Engineering, flood studies, Life Group lessons, Suite 101, Writing

A Full Week Ahead

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Yesterday was restful, sort of. I began the day with lots of aches and pains, especially in my left arm, after the home improvement work of Wednesday through Saturday. Even the after-church walk down the trail to the Crystal Bridges Museum construction site overlook was restful. Ten minutes each way in 95 degree heat, but with clouds obscuring the sun.

So I face the new work week a bit tired, but not so much as late last week. My main engineering work this week will be two flood studies: Little Osage Creek in Centerton AR and Blossom Way Creek in Rogers AR. The Little Osage one is tweaking the computer model based on recent survey information and tweaking the mapping as a result, and getting it sent off again to FEMA. The Blossom Way one is more substantial. I finally have data on the previous study, and need to extend that floodplain into new areas upstream and merge new survey data with the existing. There is a major difference in the amount of flood water between my calculations and the previous study, and I have to work that out this week. Some training may also be on the docket this week.

For writing, I have an assignment for Buildipedia, deadline next Monday. I’d like to have it wrapped up and in the mail this week, though. It’s on America’s wastewater infrastructure, a subject I know fairly well but haven’t looked at for a while. Still the research will be easy. I may also receive a contract this week for the series of articles they want me to write on construction contract administration. Those will be shorter (300-500 words), and should appear on the site during September, maybe four or five articles, though I proposed as many as seven.

I’d also like to get two articles written for Suite101.com: the next one in my series on technical analysis for stock trading, and one about the St. Jacob’s Well site in southwestern Kansas. I’m ahead of the article quota required by my Suite contract, but these are two fairly easy articles. Might was well get them written and posted and give them a chance to be earning a little revenue.

I also have two more lessons to write in my adult Sunday school (a.k.a. Life Group) series Sacred Moments. I taught one on ordination yesterday, that seemed to be well received. The next one is on last rites/death, then one on foot washing and the series is over. I will need to write a sell sheet on this and perhaps market it as a potential publishable Bible study.

I don’t anticipate that the week will give me time to work on my novel. I’m not sure about carving out time to go to writers guild meeting tomorrow night, though it’s possible. If I complete the other items, that will be enough.

poetry, writer's platform, Writing

Why Do I Write?

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Two different writers sites/groups that I visit on the Internet asked that question this week. Chip MacGregor, in his blog post on Wednesday, answered the question “Why do I write?” And The Writers View 2, in their Thursday question, asked us to answer, in a sentence, the question, “What is your motivation for writing?” Interesting that these two sites should ask basically the same question at the same time. They set me to thinking about my own motivation for writing, and how I got to the point I’m at now.

It started back in the late 90s, I guess. I wrote some letters to the editor, and a couple of political essays. And a couple of work-place ditties. At the same time an idea for a novel started floating around in my head. Almost instantaneously I saw the beginning and the ending. The connecting scenes came to mind a bit later. I made a start on it, getting 15,000 words typed by December 2000. Meanwhile an idea for a second novel started to come together.

By this time I was attending a writers critique group twice a month, sharing my essays and chapters. I began looking for writing advice on the web. My goal was to complete my novel and have it published. My goal was to tell the world a story; a Christian story that might encourage people and change some lives.

I completed that novel in January 2003, and began to rework it while at the same time market it. I attended my first writers conference in March 2003, just a regional conference in Oklahoma City. I learned a lot there, especially how difficult it would be to find a publisher–unless I wanted to self-publish, which I did not. I learned that publishers really weren’t interested in writers who wanted to tell a story. They wanted writers who wanted careers as writers.

So I branched out. I found an outlet for some of my editorials in the local newspaper. When we moved from Bentonville to Bella Vista I changed writers groups to one that met weekly. Through that group I was able to get five feature articles in our local newspaper. I went to other writers conference and read other blogs. Since I prepared and wrote my own adult Sunday school lessons, I began to do these more formally with the intent of making them “publishable”. The road to being published looked harder with each conference session I attended and each web page I read. But I began to diversify and write articles. Oh, year, somewhere along the way I became interested in writing poetry, and realized I could write it and should write it. And then in 2006 there was the short biography I wrote of one of Lynda’s great-grandfathers.

That brings us to today. Novel 1 is finished, polished four times, and in the drawer biding its time. Novel 2 is at about 17,000 words on its way to 80,000, waiting for me to get back to it. My poetry book is finished, in the drawer waiting for me to decide how to market it. I’ve got lots of articles written, one published in print and 110 published at Internet sites with more on the way. I’m building a stable of articles. Whether these will develop and demonstrate a platform or simply be an exercise will be seen in the next few years.

So where does that leave me? I wanted to tell a story, but that’s not what publishers wanted to buy, so I’m trying to do what the publishers want. But the writing bug has definitely bit me. I want my words to have an impact on the world, specifically to further the cause of Jesus Christ. I want my secular writings to be underpinned by a Christian worldview that comes out in very subtle ways. I want my Christian writings to be directly helpful to those of the faith.

I’m not sure where I stand. It’s been an interesting journey so far, a journey that I’m not about to give up, but which I can’t tell where I am on it. I hope someday I’ll be able to write my autobiography and title it The Journey Was A Joy. Guess I’m still heading in that direction.

Buildipedia, Writing

Time Short for Writing

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Yesterday I turned in my first article to Buildipedia.com. If accepted, and I feel confident it will be, it should appear on the site in a week or so. Payment is supposed to come in not more than a month. I can sure use the payment. And I’m looking forward to the next assignment…

…so long as they don’t give me too tight of a deadline. I don’t like to give much about my schedule on-line. I’m sure thieves/home invader professionals have set up Google alerts for the words “I’ll be away”, and then go after homes during that time and clear them out of all valuables. Yes, I’m sure these hoodlums have become quite tech-savvy.

But I’ll go ahead and say it. I’ll be away for a little over a week, on a 3500 mile road trip. I’ll attend my 40th high school reunion back in Rhode Island, visit with family, visit with friends, and maybe see my sister on the way back. This will be the first of my h.s. reunions I’ll have attended, and I’m looking forward to it.

I’m actually prepared to be disappointed in it, however. Our graduating class was about 700 people. Of those 80 some odd are on Facebook, and the report given on Facebook is that about 50 alumni will attend. Is it possible it will be that low? Perhaps that is only those from Facebook who are attending, and there will be many others. My best friends from school, who all live in RI, are ducking the main reunion in favor of a private get together of a few of us. Perhaps a lot of our class still live in RI, and for them the reunion doesn’t hold much interest. Or they’ve been to them in the past and they don’t feel the need to attend again.

Actually, I probably won’t attend again. High school was not my favorite three years, for a variety of reasons. College was much more enjoyable for me. But I want to see of those I haven’t seen in 40 years one last time. I can’t explain it, but I want to be there. I think that will satisfy me. There are fewer reasons to visit RI the older I get. Who knows when the next time will be.

I obviously won’t be on line much for the next week. I may work on some draft posts for this blog. I have five book review type posts to do, and a few writing ones. No shortage of things to write about, just little time. Still, if the opportunity arises, I’ll try to get on line and post an update. While I have few readers here, I want to give you all reasons to keep coming back.

Buildipedia, holidays, Suite 101, Writing

A Long and Busy Weekend Lies Ahead

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Well, the boss just sent out an e-mail: Anyone not pushing a tight deadline may leave at 3:30 PM. I may just do that, if not quite at 3:30 then at least somewhat early. The pick-up needs an oil change, so I may go and do that.

We have Monday off for Independence Day, so it’s a three day weekend. But I enter it feeling as if I have a to-do list a mile long. Of things to do at the house, that is. At work I’m in the middle of–shall I say bogged down in–the next flood study, with it going much slower than I would like. But at home I have a ton of things to do. Here’s a few of the major tasks.

  • Finish writing and studying for the Life Group lesson I’ll teach on Sunday. The series is called “Sacred Moments”, and we are on lesson five this week. I’ve done the basic research, but each week I prepare a class handout. That’s only half done. Then I have to do some more studying. I should read at least two more chapters in my reference book and have separate teacher’s notes.
  • Write my assigned article for Buildipedia.com. It’s not due until July 14, but I’ll be driving east on that day, and I want to beat editor expectations. It’s to be 500 to 1000 words, though I think I’ll need about 1200-1300 to do the subject justice. The editor said that would be fine. Most of my research is done; it’s a question of pulling the final information together and write it.
  • Pick blackberries. I went last Saturday and picked 3 quarts. I’d like to get that many again today. The patch is huge, and I don’t think too many people know about it. If I can get 3 or 4 quarts between tomorrow and Monday, I’ll consider it a good year.
  • Finish cleaning the interior of the pick-up. I started that two weeks ago, and should be able to finish with another hour of work.
  • Take down a “leaner” from the back of my lot, before it falls where I don’t want it to and it takes two other trees with it. In North Carolina they called these “widow-makers”, so I’ll be careful. It’s cut about 1/2 way through, and I think I should be able to finish it this weekend.
  • Filing and clean-up. Always have this kind of work.
  • Adding an article to Suite101.com would be nice as well.

I think that’s enough. I’m sweating just thinking about it all. I’ll get in some good relaxation too. The weather should be nice, so maybe I’ll get a couple of long walks in as well. And maybe post here.

Buildipedia, flood studies, Health, stock market, Writing

Expectations: Some met, some Waiting

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On Monday I wrote that this would be a week of expectations. Many things of somewhat momentous consequence in my life all seemingly coming together. It’s now Wednesday, and I thought I’d give an interim report.

The stock trade I wrote about was for a down market. With the market plummeting yesterday, I made money and closed the trade not too far from optimum. This is my first trade since coming back to stock trading after a two year hiatus. Of course, my friend Gary is right when he commented that a single trade doesn’t mean a whole lot, and that stock trading (as opposed to investing) is more chance than skill. Those that employ this full time would disagree. In fact, on my personal trade development sheet, I wrote where I thought the downtrend was most likely stop. It was right where it did stop yesterday. Time to reassess now, see where investor sentiment takes us (a pause on the way down or a rebound) and plan the next trade.

My flood study, of two tributaries to Blossom Way Creek in Rogers, Arkansas, goes slower than hoped. CAD help is the problem, as horses switched in midstream and I have received nothing to key-in yet. Hopefully this afternoon or the first thing tomorrow morning I can work in earnest. Completing the keying-in this week is in jeopardy. But I’ve used the time wisely in studying in the handbooks a new aspect of floodplain analysis that applies to this project, so that’s good.

No word on those three proposals for conference papers, yet. Today was the published deadline for submitters to hear back. Down to four business hours (five; they are on mountain time).
Edited to Add: The e-mails came through a half-hour ago. All three abstracts were accepted! Two are for 1-hour workshops, and one is for a 1/2 day training class. More about these in future posts. I should say that acceptance is conditional–upon my meeting certain deadlines for increasingly more detail about the presentations, and upon the reviewers liking the extra material. “There’s many a slip,” as Pamala Tudsbury said. [in Herman Wouk’s Winds of War]

Yesterday I spoke with the editor of Buildipedia.com, and we had a great visit. He liked my ideas for the first article in the infrastructure series, and confirmed that I can do that and pitch many other things to him. He liked the three or four ideas I gave him for articles and features. I received the contract in the mail today, complete with deadline, word count, fee, and copyright info.

Weight wise, I can’t seem to lose any more. I have had three or four consecutive days of eating right and getting good exercise. Normally when I do that, especially when I start at the top of a recent range, I lose four or five pounds. Not this time. Two only. I’m not sure what’s going on, unless the extra exercise I’m doing has signalled my body to shut down its metabolism a little. That doesn’t make sense, but I can’t think of what else it could be.

So, two of my expectations have not been experienced yet, the others have or are in progress. It’s a good week so far.

stock market, Writing

Money, meet Mouth

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Three weeks ago I wrote on this blog of how I had been doing some research into stock market trends, and that from the research I saw signs in the trading of 25 May 2010 that the market would turn around and begin an uptrend. That’s exactly what happened. A couple of days later I told my wife that I had accurately made the call, and she brought me up short. “It’s only a call,” she said, “if you put some money into it.”

Of course, she was right. I took all the stock trading training with her that we originally had, though she’s had some more since then that I didn’t have. But wanting to concentrate on my writing, I let stock trading go, and barely looked at it all through 2008-2009. What little time I did spend on it, I spent on overall market research. I found a pattern that looked promising to me (wrote about it later in a Suite 101 article), but really didn’t want to get back into trading. Consequently, that pattern I’d watched came and went in February of this year, and I wasn’t watching to see it happen and take advantage of it. It happened exactly as my research suggested it would.

In the spring, when I decided to come back to trading, I also decided I would study the major market movements for a while prior to placing trades. So I began doing that, and wrote a number of articles from that research–but placed no trades. Until yesterday.

The research I did Wednesday night convinced me that we were in a short-term market pull back, one that might give up as much as 10 percent of its value. Already it had fallen 5 percent. I had done several paper experiments with trades designed to take advantage of these short movements, including to the downside. I didn’t get the trade ready on Wednesday night, but decided instead to watch the market opening on Thursday and be ready to enter a trade if 1) the downtrend continued for the first half hour of trading, and 2) it did not exhibit any reversal just after the first half hour.

That’s exactly what happened. So I fired off my trade, a put option in the S&P 500 index. It filled at my limit price. I could make this trade because my work yesterday was to be all at my desk, on the computer, so watching the trade during the day was easy. Easy to sneak a peak at the market from time to time.

Well, the market went down, and the value of my trade went up. It wasn’t a large trade; I’m not about to retire on the gains. But it was nice to be able to say: I studied the market; determined its probable direction; planned a trade to take advantage of that movement; placed the trade; and by the end of the day saw the value increase by 5.6 percent. That’s a good result.

Of course, it kind of makes me wonder why I’m bothering with writing, which pays next to nothing even if you are successful. Both writing and stock trading have their own type of creativity. Both have subjective and objective elements. Both can be frustrating and fulfilling. But due to time constraints I can’t be both.

What’s an engineer to do?

Writing

The Other Shoe Dropped

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I can’t believe I haven’t written anything here since Wednesday.

Well, yes I can. On Wednesday the other shoe dropped. I wrote about this in a post last Wednesday, that every time I try to ratchet up a little the amount of time/effort I put into my writing, something happens in life to negate those intentions, something to prevent me from more time writing. Having applied on Wednesday for a contributing writer position to an on-line magazine, I said I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, for something to rear-up in life and prevent me from doing that extra writing should I be accepted. It happened Wednesday night.

My wife was in Oklahoma City. My mother-in-law was staying with me, since she had been having low blood sugar attacks due to her difficulty regulating insulin doses and eating to be in sync. Wednesday night I rushed home from work so we could eat a rushed supper and rush to special church services in Rogers, our denomination’s district assembly for North Arkansas. We arrived right as the service started, getting the last handicapped space and convenient seats on the back row.

It was hot in the church, way too hot. Lots of standing during songs and up and down during the service. Then making our way to the car, greeting people as we went. By the time we got to the car I could tell she was having a low blood sugar attach. Unfortunately I didn’t think that she probably had some glucose pills in her purse. As the attack deepened on the 30 minute ride home, I considered stopping somewhere to buy her a sugar drink, but decided instead to get home as fast as I could.

By the time we got home I had to almost carry her in the house. Now sparing some of the details, I called 911, the paramedics were there 10 minutes later, her blood sugar was 35 (dangerously low), they pumped a glucose feed in her and her sugar went up to 371. Because of the wild swing, I had them take her to the hospital; it was by that time 10:30 PM. At 15 minutes after midnight they called me to say she was fine and could come home. So I went there, another half hour drive each way, picked her up, and wound up home and in bed about 1:30 AM.

I’m sure my mother-in-law will be staying with us for a while, perhaps permanently. That’s fine, but I know it will be one more drag on writing time, on research time, on pleasure reading, on just about everything. Call it a reduction in already limited discretionary time.

I haven’t heard from the magazine yet, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to write for them even if they accept me. The other shoe did indeed drop, on the same day.

Magazines, Writing

Waiting for the Other Shoe

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That’s a horrible cliche, I know: waiting for the other shoe to drop. But that’s the way I feel today. My reason for saying that is that today I took a big step in terms of writing assignments. I applied to an on-line magazine for a writing position. It appears it can be part time, and either replace my Suite101.com writing or go along side of it.

The magazine is for the construction industry, both buildings and infrastructure, and includes engineering topics. They pay very well for on-line writing. If accepted, and if my articles pass muster, I could make some real spending money through this site. They have several types of articles to write, of varying lengths and for different payment. I don’t know how long the evaluation process will require, but at midday, Wednesday June 16, 2010, I’m optimistic.

So why am I waiting for the other shoe to drop? It seems that every time I try to ratchet up my writing activities, something gets in the way. My time gets usurped for things that must be done. My CEI work suddenly increases. I’m expected to do something else. Computer crash, car crash, home repairs, etc.

It is predictable. If I try to increase the time I spend on writing, something will come into my life that prevents my doing so. I have wondered if this is God’s way of presenting closed doors, an indication that writing is the wrong direction for me to go. When I put writing aside for a time to do some other needed item, nothing ever interrupts my doing that item.

So we’ll see what happens. Maybe this e-zine won’t accept me. Maybe I’ll get into it and discover it’s not as lucrative as it appears. Maybe I’ll find it’s not a good site to write for after all. We’ll see. If the other shoe does drop, I’ll fall back on one of my standard comforts: Retirement is only 7 years, 6 months, and 14 days away.

Writing

To Write or not to Write

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I had a weekend that should have resulted in some major writing accomplishments. My wife is in Oklahoma City, helping the kids and grandkid out. My mother-in-law stayed at my house from Thursday through Saturday, because she had been having low blood sugar blackout. But by mid-day Saturday she was much better, and decided I should take her home. I did so, going on to the office to complete my Life Group lesson for Sunday. Saturday night I had to prepare some breakfast food to take to church Sunday, consuming an hour of time. Sunday was Life Groups and church and then home. I should have had an easy time of accomplishing much in the way of writing.

So what did I accomplish? In terms of writing, only the Life Group lesson, nicely presented on two sheets, in columns, with photographs, and lots of fill-in-the-blanks. In terms of enjoyment, much. I watched the USA-England draw in the World Cup on Saturday, punctuated by my weekly trip to Wal-Mart during the halftime and early second half, for groceries. And I read a couple of hundred pages in the book I purchased last Friday. It’s a biography of John F. Kennedy that I hadn’t seen before. I’m sure I’ll post a review of it when I’m done.

I probably should have read more than 225 pages, but I watched four episodes of “Criminal Minds” and two of “Forensic Files”. I enjoy both those shows. I read on the commercials, but I imagine if I hadn’t spent those five hours with the TV (actually, six and a half hours including Germany vs. Australia), I might have come close to finishing the book.

But I really should have been writing. I could have had more than ten glorious hours of word-smithing. Sunday late-afternoon I went to The Dungeon intending to do some writing, but got in front of the monitor, fingers on keyboard, and couldn’t write. It’s not writer’s block, for I had plenty of ideas. It was more, “Why am I bothering? Am I ever going to sell anything?” And I decided to not waste my time on that.

I don’t know what I’m going to do. I imagine this funk won’t last forever, and I’ll be back writing again. Meanwhile I’m committed to this series of Bible study lessons, and will write that weekly. I shared a synopsis of my China Tour novel with our Life Group on Sunday, and everyone said it was a book they would buy and read. So I’ll continue on. But man, it’s difficult right now.