Slowing down to keep pace with

Hey, friends. Here we are on almost the last day of July 2023.

Yup, I have some goals for this year and so far some are on track:

• Relationships as a priority, including God, family, friends, co-workers and new-to-me people
• Intentionality and being present to the moment as a daily practice
• Slowing down enough to encounter Jesus as often as possible throughout the day
• Pursuing creative/life-giving practices weekly
• Vulnerability and showing up as my true self to the measure that He enables me to do that
• Saying yes to some things that are outside my comfort zone and that are not necessarily in my skill set
• Reflection about the events of the day and my responses throughout the day
• Personal retreat in the spring

Some of the things that I have not successfully pursued as of yet:

• Quilting – repairing a quilt and sewing a new quilt are on my list
• Learning to use my new-to-me sewing machine – it’s computerized and has so many amazing features
• Gardening – my “Charlie Brown” garden is kinda sad. Not sure what happened to some of the seeds, but they did not sprout. I even tried a second replanting and still nothing in those bare spaces. To be fair, I have probably had a return on my investment that matches my investment. I would like to be more knowledgeable and prepared for next year.
• Hiking and camping combined
• Frequent visits to a beach
• North Carolina trip to visit our daughter and her family out there
• Personal retreat in the fall
• Blogging more consistently and more often than once a year

In other news:

I have started learning to play Pickleball thanks to some friends from our church. I think I could get to the point where I truly enjoy playing for the fun of it. Time will tell.

Due to lack of clients, I deleted my VA website. I am still available for projects; I’d be happy to discuss the possibility of working with you: https://calendly.com/amydemoss/ .

And yes, the team I am a part of at one of my jobs is STILL working on the project we were assigned almost two years ago. It continues to astound us with its intricacies and complexities. I think the seemingly never ending new scenarios in this project reflect the challenges of being a company that innovates in response to customer requests for products which meet specific needs in the niche. Our team has a BIG goal of being completely finished with this project by the end of 2023. . . And then one of our team members is being pulled into a different team to help until a key position is filled. That’s life.

~still living large, on the Indiana prairie

November yesterday

and here i am again, playing catch up.

simply put, november was a blur, though the wedding in north carolina was a definite highlight, along with the choir concert and Thanksgiving Day.

as a sneak peak into december, sometimes a task that needs to be done or a decision that needs to be made is obvious.

i made two such decisions today, and i am now experiencing more freedom and peace. good call!

one of those decisions was to stop posting at another blog site in order to simplify. the other decision was about simplifying, also, but this is not the forum.

simply put, i will be transitioning from my role as a home school teacher, et al, to somethings new in the near future. it is time to evaluate my choices and priorities.

are you in a new season or about to start one? i would love to hear about yours.

~refocusing, on the Indiana prairie

 

Discretionary

I almost feel guilty.

almost.

Using the hours during which I am not at work to expand my job search is sometimes engergizing and sometimes draining.

Today, I am energized and encouraged.

Hence, here I am blogging about it.

I have created several versions of my resume and a cover letter, which I have been submitting and posting various places. I had no idea how much effort this process would take.

And I am only half-serious about finding a new job. My heart goes out to all of you who are without a job or who find that your current job is coming to a hard stop. May you experience favor in your search.

I feel like one bonus resulting from this new “project” is that my dreamer is awakening. I am exploring more possibilities and wondering about ideas that are floating around out there.

Like, what if I could find an entry level writing job, what if I could offer my secretarial services on an hourly as-needed-basis, what if I could find a virtual assistant job? I like the idea, at least, the picture that appears in my head from of each one of these possibilities.

And I like it when I “make it” through the initial screening questions and into “round two.” That has happened twice in the last week. No interviews as of yet, though.

It’s going to be interesting to see what happens  between now and the end of the year.

What advice do you have for me? I’d love to hear from anyone out there who is reading this li’l ol’ rag o’ mine.

~applying, on the Indiana prairie

Blogs read

An item I’ve been migrating in my BuJo for the past several weeks, is to read through all of the blog posts from my two blogs.

Finally,  I have managed to read all of them!

And as a result, I realized how the shift in busyness affected my posting habits. Had I put more focused thought to it, I might have set a goal of posting a least one time at each site (theme song Thursdays won’t officially count) each month.

Sound like a good plan, and I will go with it for now.

I have gleaned some ideas for those monthly postings, which also motivates me to write. Hopefully that momentum will build.

For whatever reasons, having these two blogs is still a thing for me. I wonder how long that will last? I find them life-giving and joy-giving for me. If others are helped or benefit, then that’s a true bonus.

Check back in each month because I expect to be writing about my keto lifestyle along with giving updates about work and home schooling. . .

Did I mention that I wrote another novel-in-30-days over the summer? I’d like to try to do that at least once a year.

It feels good to have some writing goals to aim toward.

~experiencing increase, on the Indiana prairie

Just Sayin’

Two of my kiddos have remarked at separate times that he/she thinks that I am replacing children with our hens. My husband and I are highly entertained by this entirely false thought. Yes, the time that was spent on child rearing small children is now being spent on other pursuits, (like blogging). But hens could never replace our children.

Though I do love our pets and our hens, I do not feel the same connection with them. From my earliest childhood years, I have had the kind of connection with pets/animals that I have today with our current creatures.

And it is distinctly different than the wonderful/terrible, full-on, relentless love that guides my heart in relationship with our kids. Lest any of our kiddos reads this and misunderstands — the terrible part is the incredible, intense pain that my heart feels when you experience pain, disappointment, struggle, fear, sickness, injury, conflict, failure, and a multitude of other difficulties; it’s like I really do fell your pain, only exponentially because I also feel  my own pain, too.

And then I want to fix it, rescue you, avenge all wrongs, bring swift justice to the one who hurt you, make everything better at every level, protect you from ever experiencing this again, etc. Wading through all of those mama bear emotions and reactions in search of the wisdom to know how to respond is also painful and challenging. I know that I could probably DO lots of things that would make you and me feel better in the moment. In the long run, if I do so, neither of us will learn how to handle the next situation in our separate roles. It is a delicate walk of knowing how much to help, while listening and comforting and encouraging and offering asked-for input. I love you each, fiercely.

As for the hens, they are lovely and interesting — a new adventure that has the promise of a bonus: fresh brown eggs. But I never experience the process described above at any point in my dealings with them.

Just sayin’. . .

~random brain dumping, on the Indiana prairie

Another writing project update

Housekeeping Note:

I switched from the Day 1 format to the Date format at some point; because April is 30 days, it works, though.

April 14

Not sure where my notes went for yesterday. I did write though it was limited. Probably I didn’t make any notes.

Pushed my word count up to 4 days ahead. I am trying not to be discouraged and negative about my story. This is an emotional roller coaster ride. Most of the time, though, it feels like flying downhill.

April 16
Stagnating it feels. My inner editor is too loud. I must jump start this thing or just type boringly onward. I vow to consult the book for ideas and inspiration. If only I knew where I wanted it to go, I could aim the plot that direction. I thought it would happen organically, magically. Hahahaha!!!

Have a word total for 20 days of writing. That’s cool. Praying for God, the author, to download the plot developments which will lead to an ending close to the 50,000 word goal.

April 17

So Little Duke will return along with her actual owner and her real name, Princess. Her owner is a hometown boy that Lanie knows from the past.

Passed the 21 day word count mark. Going fishing soon — wahoo! what a treat.

April 19

Doing great at keeping up with writing every day and still ahead, but not so great at making notes here about the process. I think I just need to commit to a direction and run with it now. Not many words left and I need some kind of resolution. My hope was that
I would surprise myself with an amazing novel first time out, thought what I said was “it’s just practice.” It’s not an amazing novel. But it will be a completed one. And I am excited about that. Our internet is horrible and unrelieable at present, so backing up via email is not an option. I’d better put it on my memory stick before I shut ‘er down.

April 20
Try as I might, it’s hard to find time to put words down both places of late. Still tooling along toward an ending that could also become a beginning of a sequel. . .just in case it’s actually redeemable when the month is over. 🙂  Posting while the internet is kinda sorta cooperating.

~determinedly creating, on the Indiana praire

Writing Adventure Update

I have challenged myself. Can you guess what I am doing this month?

April 1

Lanie – her name just came to me this morning. Wild! have also had many ideas, which I did not write down — yikes! for the plot and details. Must be more diligent to save that string as I am sure I will need it!

Oh wow, I am having so much fun! Who knew i had these ideas inside of me?

I must stop re-reading and editing though. Seriously, ain’t nobody got time for that!

BAM! 1742 words total count so far – Day One

April 4

Day 4 already, and yes, I have kept my word count/writing on track, though I was unable to get ahead as I had hoped. Maybe today will be that day. I am trying not
to think to much about how boring my novel is already. just keep putting words on the page, I coach myself. Inner editor is not invited to the writing party.

When I get stuck I figure out a way to work into the storyline the ordinary things that fill my day. So far, so good, though probably exactly why I fear that the
novel is boring.

I do find my mind wandering back to the project and wondering what will happen next at odd intervals throughout the day. I was dubious of how this process would
affect me. Seems like I am having a “normal” and “expected” experience so far.

No matter what, the sense of accomplishment I feel when i email myself the day’s version is worth staying up late and getting up early and drinking more coffee and
power napping.

April 5

Day 5 — So far so good, and my intention to think about the plot of the story before falling asleep seems to work like a sleeping potion for me. So far, I can never
remember thinking past where I just left off in the story!

Yesterday when I was doing another sprint to achieve my word count goal, I suddenly realized that it was only minutes before my husband would be home for supper — zoikes!
Thankfully I had started a crockpot meal earlier in the day and had only minor things to add in order for the meal to be complete.

this morning the pull of getting to write again was what prompted me to get out of bed and not wait for the snoozed alarm to go off again.

Addicting it is for me!

I worked to get a day’s worth of words ahead today, since I was home the entire day — YES!!! Happiness!!!

~pressing onward, on the Indiana prairie

Long Time, No Write

Wow.

March is almost gone.

What can I say?  I have been reading a lot this month.

And I have been writing, every morning when I first get up.

Just not here.

So, I plan on that changing.  I have a few ideas in my mental queue (used that word earlier in an email — love how it looks!  It’s like an imposter word with all of those vowels and only one quasi-consonant.)  Better dump those into my Bullet Journal!

I will be visiting here more often in April — I promise.

Looking forward to seeing how it all plays out, but most of all to enjoying the journey.

~on tiptoes with expectancy, on the Indiana prairie

 

Looking back

Whew! After successfully completing the challenge of blogging every day in November, I am relieved.

And yet, I kinda miss the “thrill of the hunt” — you know, the “what am I going to write about next?”

Finishing

I mentioned in an earlier post that our daughter lost all of the words she had written for her NaNoWriMo novel.

This sad event’s timing intrigues me because during the last two days I have been evaluating my decision to participate in NaBloPoMo.