Category Archives: Writing

Engineering, Writing

New Assignment – am I a glutton for punishment?

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A couple of posts ago I wrote about how I was preparing (or maybe had already prepared) a pitch to Buildipedia.com for a long article about asphalt solar collectors (ASC). This was a bit of emerging technology I came upon, somehow, that looks to have a lot of potential. I began looking at it and saw some advantages and pitfalls. In three on-line articles, two on-line research summaries, and a press release by Worcester Polytech I didn’t see any mention of the things I thought of. Immediately my mind said, “If you don’t see an adequate article on-line, write your own.”

So I made the pitch. This morning I had a call with the editor, and he assigned the article to me. A bit smaller at first than I planned for, but with two potential follow-up articles covering the other things I wanted to say. This will be a feature article, so for the better money they pay.

The research on ASCs (which, BTW, should really be APSC for asphalt pavement solar collectors, since it’s the pavement that we’re interested in) seems to be in its infancy. WPI has done computer modeling, and lab-scale tests, and larger-scale tests of the technology. They’ve determined the potential is there for significant energy recovery from asphalt pavement. But are ASCs economical? Or do they have the potential to be economical? That question has not been answered. Much research will be required, including a full size demonstration project with the asphalt under load and energy being used.

Given what I’ve written the last two days, with my work and home time about to be under a busyness siege, why would I take on such an assignment? Well, the article won’t be published until November 4, and the due date will be October 21 (or 28th if I need that long). It fits in well with a theme they planned on for November. I need the money. I need the writing credit. I suppose I need the goal to keep me on the straight and narrow of time management. And I see considerable spin-off type articles coming from this, coming over several months or a year.

So, all things considered, I pitched the article and accepted the assignment. I don’t have a contract to sign yet, but I should receive that on Monday. Looks like my writing career isn’t dead. I just hope all this magazine article stuff someday pays off with creative writing assignments.

Engineering, Writing

Under Siege Again

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Yes, the siege has begun. It seems all areas of busyness come together in life. At work, I have almost missed a FEMA deadline and in the next two days need to rush a submittal to avoid having to re-pay a fee. At the same time, the next FEMA project is about to start. Well, I’ve started it, but have been waiting on CADD tech help to both do it better and save a bunch of hours. That help is about to arrive, and then I’ll have to hit it quick.

Also at work, a fairly good sized water line relocation project got the go ahead yesterday. This one I will only be managing, not doing, but I’ll be writing the specs for it and doing a few other things. It will consume hours.

The biggest hit of all will be having to do a large chunk of another man’s work for some time. That won’t start right away, but surely within a month, lasting for at least three months.

At home, we have about resolved all issued related to the water damage, other than completing an inventory of damaged books and furniture and sending it to the insurance company. We have pretty much shown there is no more water damage occurring above the fixed ceilings in the basement, so we need to proceed with getting that work done. Then we can get the carpet replaced, then put everything back in place. Four of the movable bookcases sit directly on the floor with no false bottom. Those I want to set on a board of some kind. I’ll have to figure that out, buy the boards, and stain them. Not a major project, just symptomatic of the siege.

For sure work is going to be busier than home. I anticipate some extra hours, probably in mid-October for a couple of weeks, probably longer. My writing assignments and desires are not terribly burdensome at this time, so I should be able to maintain that work. This blog is the easiest thing to give up if the siege gets too great, but I hope to keep posting, maybe shorter pieces.

So, today is not earth shattering news; just an interim report, a diary entry, if you will. Let’s see if I can do things more substantial over the next month.

C.S. Lewis, Emerson, reading, Writing

New Books or Old Books

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Each age, it is found, must write its own books; or rather, each generation for the next succeeding. The books of an older period will not fit this. Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar” 1837

Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old. C.S. Lewis, Introduction to On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius, 1944

So, two eminent scholars seem to disagree! Why am I not surprised. Emerson says read the modern books. The generation right before you, after they observed the world and digested it, shared the knowledge they had for my generation. C.S. Lewis says not so; read first the old books, then if you have time and inclination read the modern as well.

This came up because, at my last foraging in a thrift store, I found the Athanasius book. I might not have bothered with it except I have an interest in the early Christian writings, and thought this slim paperback would be a welcome addition to my reference library. Also, in 2005 I first read a seminary paper by my son-in-law on Athanasius’ de Incarnatione Verbi Dei. I didn’t understand it, put it down, picked it up again almost exactly a year later, didn’t understand it, put it down again, etc., until finally I was able to glean enough from it to understand it (I think) the discussion and write a review. When I saw the book I thought, “I’ve read about this writing of Athanasius; now I have the chance to read it in modern translation.”

When I got it home I read the Introduction. C.S. Lewis’ words stood in stark contract to what I remembered reading in Emerson. “The American Scholar” is actually the only essay of RWE’s I’ve gotten all the way through. Others I’ve picked up and put down, but that one I really liked. Emerson’s words had seemed true to me. That’s why every American generation writes another biography or two of George Washington, and why the shelves of our local libraries are constantly rotating books, selling off those more than fifty years old and replacing them with newer distillations of the same subject.

Lewis has more to say about this than does Emerson. He goes on to discuss the importance of reading the original sources. Commentaries on Plato are more confusing than Plato, he writes. Just read Plato. He’s not so hard to understand in modern translation. Since that is exactly what I am attempting to do with the Athanasius book, I could understand Lewis’ remarks. And, as a writer I’d better figure out how to write materials for the next generation while at the same time directing them to the old books.

We’ll see how this goes. I’ve read about fifteen of the 95 pages of Athanasius, and sort of understand what he’s saying. I haven’t gotten to the meat of his argument yet. Of course, when he began by saying, “In our former book”, I had to divert to various on-line sources to see what that book was and what it is all about. That led me to some letters he wrote. That led me to some biographical materials, and even a compilation of his works. The tentacles of research are at work.

It is taking me much concentration to read De Inarnatione. I can’t do it while also watching television, or even while that noise is on in the house. I can’t read it if I’m also thinking of articles to write or blog posts to post or bills to pay or work issues the morning will bring. So I may not finish it quickly, may even put it aside and go to some other book in my reading pile. We shall see. The experiment is on.

Buildipedia, content writing, Suite 101, Writing

Writing writing writing

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Well, my third article is up at Buildipedia.com, the second in my five part series on construction contract administration. These are shorter articles and pay $100 each. I have also submitted my second feature article but they haven’t posted it yet. These are longer and pay $250 each. I’m quite pleased with the site, and hope they keep giving me assignments at a similar rate as now. I’m under contract to do three more contract admin articles, and one news article on the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

I’ve also been preparing a longer article pitch (or could be three feature articles), on asphalt solar collectors. Not sure how I came across this concept, but I’m intrigued by it. Use existing and new asphalt pavement as solar collectors, with required retrofit. Worcester Polytech (the university I was accepted to but couldn’t afford to attend) is doing some good research into this, though the data I found is about two years old. I hope to make this an interview article, as well as research and apply good old common sense and engineering judgment.

At work today I wrote also. Item 1 was to re-write a contract for a water transmission main relocation. We are already under contract for this, but since the Arkansas transportation department is paying the bill, we have to restructure our contract in accordance with how they want to see it. As I worked on that, I had to retype the whole thing because the electronic file mysteriously disappeared. And I found the description of the work to be performed very inadequate. Item 2 was also marketing related, a brief scope of work to go in a proposal for a major development in the Tulsa suburb of Catoosa. Naturally the developer wants to destroy a floodplain and wants us to assist him. I wrote the scope for the flood study portion of the project.

Ideas for articles for Suite101.com continue to flow into my head faster than I can capture them on paper. The Catoosa flood study has given me ideas for about three articles I could write—and that’s before we do the study! The flood zone we will be working in is a Zone A, which has the least degree of attention to establishing it of all the regulatory flood zones. Consequently it is least written about of all the flood zones. I have an excellent FEMA manual on these zones, but it’s a difficult read. I could see doing a Frequently Asked Questions type article, or the three I mentioned, and doing a real service to the regulated community, maybe even my wallet.

My other area of concentration at Suite is in stock trading articles. I have four or five planned, and maybe over the next week I can get a couple of them done. I feel good about these articles being better earners than my US history and Robert Frost poetry articles. The ads Google puts on the pages are all relevant and reasonably attractive. A couple of Suite veterans (I don’t consider myself a veteran there yet) have said I ought to write about 20 trading articles and see if that makes a difference in my revenue. Since I earn less than 50 cents a day there on average, a hub of 20 articles should tell me something.

We, I’d better run and do some of that. Those articles don’t get written when I practice Internet writing on this blog. Also better add the checkbook since I paid some bills tonight. And, St. Athanasius and a NatGeo issue are beckoning to me.

freelance writing, home improvements, reading, Writing

Oh for a Holiday Weekend

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Labor Day weekend is upon us. My supervisor, the CEO, usually comes around early afternoon and tells us we can leave early, somewhere around 3:00 or 3:30 PM. I usually don’t, but might do so this time. While it’s a holiday, with one extra day, I have much to accomplish. Here’s a sampling.

  • We had a strong rainstorm last night, and one of the skylights leaks in our living room. It was a slow drip, but it followed the ceiling slope to the wall and then down the wall. We protected the carpet right away, but now I have to deal with this. Water in the living room, water in the basement. What’s a homeowner to do?
  • Speaking of water in the basement, we are in a testing phase right now. Had the plumber out yesterday. He couldn’t find any water, but wants us to watch it for a while before we do the ceiling re-installation and then the carpet installation. Another week at least with The Dungeon torn up.
  • Speaking of The Dungeon, I’m going to at least clean up the mess in it this weekend. We put down plastic sheets to catch the sheetrock and dust, but the sheets were so old that they kind of crumbled. Who knew? So I’ll get them out and vacuum up all the stuff that fell through the sheet cuts.
  • Speaking of cuts, it would be nice if I could finish taking out that leaning tree this weekend. The cut I made through the large branch that is preventing the tree from falling is mostly through the branch, but it closed up under the weight and I’ve got to start a cut from the other side. Weather is supposed to be good this weekend for working outside.
  • Speaking of working outside, I’ll have a little grass to weed-eat, and maybe I’ll take out those two bushes Lynda wants taken out. That will take an hour. And a few other bushes need trimming. Another hour.
  • Otherwise, I have two Buildipedia articles under contract that I need to finish or at least work on. I have three others under contract that I should start on. And it would be nice to write two for Suite101. Ideas are on my mind; I need to help them find an outlet.
  • Otherwise, I plan on reading, reading, reading. 150 or more pages in the book I’m working on, three or four newsletters, one Geographic, and one Poets and Writers.
  • And last, it would be nice to begin work on the next Bible study that’s on my mind. Actually, I started it last Sunday, but quickly saw it was a lot more work than I had envisioned, and so laid it aside.

That sounds like enough. I’ll perhaps make a couple of posts to this blog, get a few walks in, play Scrabble with Lynda, and enjoy the weather on the deck.

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.