Category Archives: Writing

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.

Engineering, flood studies, Suite 101, Writing

Two Down, Two to Go

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Yes, yesterday the SW “I” Street CLOMR project was stuffed into a FedEx envelope and today was dropped off at the LOMC Clearinghouse in Maryland. My second flood study is done–until I get comments back from FEMA, if they don’t approve the submittal. While the work was tedious and intensive, I actually enjoyed doing this project, or so it seems in hindsight. I just need to figure out how to generate some articles for Suite101.com from the project.

Speaking of that pursuit of mine, I published my 99th article there last night, about recent stock market trends. Despite that, my page views are considerably below where they were two months ago, and still well below my highs from October 2009, when I had just 50 or so articles posted. Today looks better as far as page views are concerned. Revenue is still in the toilet, however, with no turnaround in sight. Oh, well, I guess I can go back to thinking of Suite as just “platform building”.

The rest of this week at work I’m trying to do some miscellaneous tasks that I’ve put off for a month or longer. One is a water system evaluation in my own town, Bella Vista. I had the first of two site visits scheduled for tomorrow morning, but will have to put that off one day due to a health situation with my mother-in-law. That will give me more time in the office tomorrow to get other miscellaneous projects out the door. It feels good to finally have some time to spend on them.

As far as getting back into the thick of writing, I don’t see any light yet. My wife will be gone for ten days beginning today. Normally I get lots of writing done at those times, but if I have m-i-l duties in her place, writing time may be difficult to come by.

So next week I begin flood study number 3, the Perry Road flood study. We’re designing the widening of Perry Road, and installing larger and longer culverts. This will affect the floodplain, though I’m not sure how yet. On the heals of that will be the McKisic Creek flood study in Centerton. I may actually try to work on that simultaneously with Perry Road. I’d really love to knock both of them out in a month and see my way clear to get back to training.

Engineering, flood studies, Writing

Not Much Time for Nothing

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I had great plans to write some blog posts last week and over the weekend. Life got in the way, however. This second flood study has become an all-consuming monster as I try to make an extended deadline—extended through the goodness of the reviewer for FEMA’s consultant. I even went in to work about four hours on Sunday. Today, finally, the three drawings are done, my computer models are correct, the request to burn CDs has been turned in. And the original of the computer models and my engineering mini-report are on my desk, ready for making hard copies tomorrow. All that remains is a title sheet and dividers between the sections. Well, I still haven’t seen the drawings off the plotter. I still have to put my seal and signature on them, and write a certification, but those are minor. I’d say it’s a guarantee I’d have it out the door tomorrow except…

…I’ve been called on to go to Eureka Springs (an hour east of our office) tomorrow, to chase a new drainage project. That will consume my day from 8:30 AM to about 2:00 PM—prime time for copying, assembling, and packaging submittals. We have an admin assistant who can do most of that, but it’s nice to be available for the unexpected glitch.

I find these flood studies to be all consuming as far as brain power is concerned. I get home at night drained, and don’t feel much like writing. What time I do have has gone to study for the Life Group lesson series I’m teaching. Perhaps I can cobble up a post on that this week.

After this flood study goes out the door, I have two other things I have to jump on real quickly, get them knocked out, then go to the third flood study. This one will be from scratch, I think. I won’t have to struggle over whether to fix other people’s mistakes or just let them ride. Won’t have to second guess how another engineer built the model or drew the map. That, at least, will be a nice change.

So when will I get back to writing? Don’t know. The situation at Suite101 is not good. Something has happened to the web site business model. Page views and revenue has tanked. I’m not writing hardly anything there any more, though that’s partly because of the time and brain drain thing. I’ll try to keep posting here, but I see lots of difficulty ahead.

flood studies, Writing

Holiday’s Over; Back to Work–But on What?

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Well, the Memorial Day weekend is over. I’m back at work and trying to put my mind and heart into it, finding that difficult. We had five guests at the house Saturday through this morning, relatives, most traveling from southwest Kansas to Louisville for a family wedding, breaking their trip with a visit to us. They left this morning, probably ten or fifteen minutes after I left for the office. It was a good weekend. Lots of good meals, relaxation, conversation, some war movies yesterday, game playing (by some; I didn’t take part in that), and sitting on the deck conversing and watching birds.

But that meant I didn’t take much time for writing projects or research or reading. I read about ten pages in the book on which I’m basing the Life Group lesson series I’ll begin teaching this coming Sunday. And I re-read the last couple of chapter in The Shack, just in case I was called on to teach the final lesson in that series last Sunday. But other than that, no reading. And no writing on my blog.

I have three or four posts I’ve been thinking of, which wouldn’t take too much time. I guess I’ll be fleshing them out and trying to post daily this week. I’m not going to post goals again this month, as I still am uncertain of where I’m going with my writing career.

Last week I contacted the principal of the Christian school our daughter graduated from, to discuss whether their art teacher would be interested in having their art students illustrate Father Daughter Day as a class project. He sounded interested, but said he had to run to a meeting and would get back with me. That was last Tuesday, and I’ve yet to hear from him. Is he uninterested, or just forgot? Should I call him, or just let it go as another rejection? For now, I’ll do the latter.

Well, back to the grind. I reviewed one drainage project today, and will now jump back on that flood study I wrote about last week. Only a day or two to go on that, methinks. Then I have two or three more flood studies backed up, waiting for me to release them from their current impoundment.

Engineering, flood studies, Writing

Will It Never End?

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You can’t say “will it never end” about “Lost”. That ended last night. I didn’t watch it because we haven’t seen seasons 4, 5, 6, and 7 yet. At least, I think it was season 3 where we ended. Maybe it was 4, but I don’t think so. Anyway, some day we’ll catch up and see those other seasons, but without that we weren’t about to watch the grand-finale. There would be some better things to do with 2 1/2 hours on a Sunday evening.

But what there never seems to be any end to is work to do, and things that interfere with writing. Today I’m working on the next flood study, and have found it to probably require more work than I thought it would. This won’t keep me away from writing–unless overtime is needed to get this thing out the door by early next week–but it will mean I won’t be able to move on to the next work task as soon as I’d like. And it means this week will be pressure-packed, just like last week.

Company arrives on Saturday to spend two or three days with us. We’ll have five guests staying at the house. That’s okay. We’ll have a lot of clean-up needed over the next few days, and there’s plenty of yard work to do. The checkbook is balanced, and I’ll pay bills tonight. The parking lot project is winding down, but this week there are still things to be done for it.

What little writing I managed over the weekend was on the Harmony of the Gospels and on the next Bible study I’ll be teaching, beginning June 6. I guess that qualifies as writing, but it may never progress to something publishable, so I can’t really count on it.

So it looks like another week without being able to jump back into writing as I want to. I’ve got a couple of blog posts I’m planning for this week, so check back in every couple of days for new material.

Engineering, Writing

Transitions

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Yesterday was a special day at church: our pastor’s last Sunday. Their good were packed on Saturday, all but the furniture, which ten of the younger men were going to load up Sunday afternoon and so they are off. To Columbia Tennessee, an outer suburb of Nashville. To a larger church in our denomination.

We had Mark and Kelly for almost seven years, and little Ivan for less than two. No one suspected this was coming, as everyone was happy with Mark and hoped he would be our pastor for years to come. Unlike past pastoral changes, I had no inkling of this coming. Previously I’ve been able to sense that a pastor’s ministry was drawing to a close in the congregations I attended. This time, not so. The transition was abrupt.

Transitions happen in life all the time. Not always as momentous as a pastoral change, but they happen. I wrote once before in this blog about this, using the words of Pamela Tudsbury, a character in Herman Wouk’s Winds of War and War and Remembrance: “Some moments weigh against a lifetime.” I’ve had a few such moments in my life, but it seems to me that transitions often happen gradually. Condition A changes to Condition B. You’ve been in Condition A for a long time. Then one day you wake up and realize you’re in Condition B. How did it happen?

I’m in the midst of two such transitions right now. At CEI, it appears my time as a corporate trainer is drawing to a close, and I’m transitioning back to being a project manager. I have no official word of that; in fact, my supervisor hasn’t talked to me about my status since the last round of layoff last month. With those staff cutbacks we are no longer large enough to either need or support a full-time trainer. Every week I find my time more and more consumed with managing project, less with training issues. Is this a permanent situation? Stay tuned.

The other transition is in my writing “career”. But this transition is confusing at the moment, the ultimate direction not yet clear. I haven’t worked on a novel for about three months. I wrote only one Suite 101 article in April, three so far in May, with one more in draft status, one other in research status. I’ve written no other freelance articles during that time, nor submitted anything. Poetry no longer comes to me either by inspiration or perspiration. I continue to monitor writing blogs and forums, and of course keep up this blog. In the last month I’ve critiqued only one poem at Absolute Write, doing it last Friday.

So what’s going on with my writing? Am I losing my desire to write? Ideas still come to me, and I capture some of them. Ideas for improving works I’ve already written but not yet published still come. I’m still spending a little time researching markets and marketing methods, as well as studying the craft. But as to actual writing, very little accomplishment.

The problem with transitions in progress is recognizing the start, middle and end. It’s kind of like a stock chart. After the price movement is over, the signals that it was going to make that move are obvious, but as the movement is in progress, one doesn’t see it, or refuses to believe that’s what’s happening.

With this writing transition, all signs seem to be pointing to this as the cause: The dream is dead. I don’t want to believe that. I’d rather believe it’s just the busyness of life in these couple of terribly busy months. But I’m afraid it’s the other. The key piece of evidence, of course, is that I haven’t submitted anything to potential markets. I have enough things written that I could be submitting constantly. But it seems the work of making the final selection of the market(s) and actually going through the motions of making the submittal, just don’t excite me, and so I don’t do it.

So where is this transition taking me? I don’t know. Stay tuned.

Engineering, flood studies, Writing

Rain and Progress

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As I drove to work today the rain began, about halfway from Bella Vista to Bentonville. By the time I reached the office, about 6:50 AM, a downpour had passed and light rain was falling. The winds were really gusting, however. This cheered me up. Although I knew the rain meant no work would be done on the parking lot project, it also meant I could spend the day in the office, getting things done. Plus, rain usually perks me up.

So I stayed in the office, and I got stuff done. My Centerton flood map revision is fully recalculated, and the revised map further revised, and ready for the CAD tech to do when he gets back on Monday. Tomorrow I’ll print the report, then start on the next flood study project.

Several items on the big street construction project I’m watching in substitution for our out-of-the-country department head had a few things go right today (paperwork, of course, since the rain prohibited site work). I answered a couple of e-mails that had sat in my in-box for several days. By the end of the day a load had been lifted from my shoulders. Part of that was making a difficult report to the church trustees on Wednesday. With that behind, and a number of major office tasks completed, the load finally lifted. I left the office about 5:20 PM, and for the first day in over a week I was not the first man in and last man out.

Today I went through a stack of mail, much of it junk but some of it keepers. I read a newsletter, slightly reducing my periodical reading pile. And I filed, in my filing cabinet, this year’s taxes that had been sitting around on the work table in the Dungeon.

I still have a killer workload, but it feels better. I’m going to write a passage note for the Harmony of the gospels before I look at stocks. That will be the first writing I’ve done (well, except for this blog) in about two weeks.