It's Okay if You Get Sidetracked. Just Re:Focus.

I know it’s been forever since I posted. But I’ve still been journaling on an almost daily basis. Here’s an entry for your enjoyment, and possibly amusement. Don’t judge me, lol.
There’s stuff that's a lot more crazier than this in those pages. :)

Image  ©Helen H. David

Well, I just commented on a blog. May not seem like such a big accomplishment, but it is for me. I did something on my checklist. That's great progress for my ADD self that finds it really hard to join in on a conversation. I'm a pretty quiet person around people I don't know. I usually don't talk at all. I'm too busy observing. But I digress... 

Back to leaving the comment. I haven't done that in more than a year. And I was so ashamed that I haven't posted anything to this blog in so long, I wouldn't even put a link to it in my comment. Sigh. I only made that checklist last week. I love my blog. Really, I do. But seriously, I've got to get on the ball. I can't neglect my writing anymore. Now that Angst and his other half are gone, my life has returned to some sense of normalcy. Thank God. Don't get me wrong. I DO miss them. Some days I miss them terribly. But it's better for all of us this way. Anyway...

The good news is that VACATION from the day job is August 8-12! I'll have a whole week to work at home! WOOT! I've been really busy. I've found some more content sites, and joined two new freelancing groups on LinkedIn. I really like that site, and I've got to network more on there. I've got Google+ now, but I haven't really done anything with that.

Really, the last thing I need is another social network time suck. Seeing as I strongly dislike Facebook, I'm hoping I can use Google+ for my writing. I spend way too much time on the internet (mainly reading Tweets) and not putting words down as it is. And while online I found some videos on YouTube about writing for Demand, and I'm watching them. So I'm still online and not putting very many words down. But, I'm learning about SEO and keywords, and branding and how to use social networking to further my business. So it's not totally unproductive. A writer has to find these things out to be successful. I've been looking at how much domain registration and hosting will cost, and trying to think of a name for my website besides helenhdavid.com. That just sounds so boring to me. 

And I'm working it out in my brain how I can travel and do travel articles and have the writing pay for my traveling. And in the meantime I've been trying failing at Camp NaNoWriMo. I'm supposed to be at, oh, 29k or so today. I'm at 6200 or so. And I'm trying not to beat myself up about it, because that's more fiction than I've written in about eighteen months. I'm still working on the guilt of not doing NaNo last November. Moving TWICE in the thirty days of November is a damn good reason, and I have to keep reminding myself that it's a reason and not an excuse. And when I moved I accidentally packed up my Writer's Planner! I know, right? And I just found it the other day and went and bought ink and printed a new one for the rest of the year. It's the only planner I've ever stuck with for 10 straight months, and I was lost when I didn't have it. Now I can get back on track, and try to find some sense of balance between getting the words down on the page and learning about the writing business as much as possible.

Sometimes I hate the internet because it's such a time suck. It draws me in, and before you know it, I've clicked a hundred links. It's just that there is so much interesting stuff on there! But it's really not the internet's fault. It's my time management. And I'm working on that. No more internet until I get some words down as a warm up when I get home from work. Most days 700-1000 or so words is my usual warm up.

I've had to quit worrying about if Jesus is coming back, if the NWO is going to take us all to the FEMA camps tomorrow, and if Elenin is a meteor or a brown dwarf. And speaking of Elenin, just what the hell is it? And is it going to come between the earth and the sun and give us three days of darkness like it says in the book of Revelation? I don't know. And if it does, there's not a damn thing I can do about it. So why worry about it? Why worry that the banks are going to fail when your balance is $10? Why worry if Michael Jackson is really dead or if he faked is death to get back at the media for crucifying him? Either way, life will still roll on. It's just a waste of mental energy and it ends up affecting me physically. And I can't keep worrying about if there's enough time to make all my dreams come true before Jesus comes back anymore. (I still love Jesus, though. But Buddha saved my sanity. I don’t have to worry about if he’s coming back or not.)

Worrying about things I have no control over is paralyzing me. Even though it’s in my nature to worry, I’ve got to stop. Seriously, I have enough grey hair as it is. I've just got to keep taking those steps. Baby steps they may be, but I've got to keep moving forward.

Like writing more sample articles for the applications to those freelancing sites I found, which I'm going to do this week. I've joined Klout, and it's helping me see what I've been doing wrong in the social network realm, and what I've been doing right. I've been working on my platform for three years. Sometimes I think that's way too long, but I remind myself that I only started thinking about my writing as a business three years ago, and that I've been doing this in my spare time while honing my writing skills. I think I've made progress, but I've also wasted some precious time. Time that I can never get back. I'm going to use my time more wisely. Having my planner will help tremendously with that. Don’t worry that I won’t use it. I made it myself, and it’s amazing! It went through some changes, but it works for me, and that’s what matters. And I’ll use it to block my time to keep my internet addiction under control.
    I've heard that a person will work harder for themselves than they will for anyone else. I'm willing to do that to make this dream come true. I don't want to get rich. If that happens, then great! But I just want my writing to pay my bills and have some left over for a change. I don't want my picture beside the definition of "starving artist" in the dictionary. And I don't think that's too much to ask.
     And my biggest dream is that I want my writing to change the world. It's already changed me. And if it is a blessing to just one person, I've done a bang up job. If it blesses hundreds, well that's wonderful. If more, then YAY! But I've got to do it. I have no other choice. Seriously, there are other writers in my family. I think it's in the DNA or something. It has to be. Because...

You had me at "Write."

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Steal This Post and Show the World: Please Copy, Please Share. Please Care Enough Paste Everywhere

This is the ONLY time I will ask you to PLEASE STEAL THIS POST. Please, please copy and paste this video everywhere. Permission from the creator of the video to copy and distribute this video is given in the video information.
Thank you DreamChild777 on Twitter for the link love, and JimUFO on YouTube for creating this video.

I fear for my planet. Even a dog won't soil his bed. We are the most intelligent species on the planet, and this is what we have done and continue to do on a daily basis. *smh*

No more words are needed for this post.

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The Lessons of Susan Boyle

Everyone has been talking about Susan Boyle. If you haven't heard of her, remember her name because chances are very good that you will hear a lot more about Susan Boyle in the near future. If you don't know who Susan Boyle is, or why everyone is talking about her, watch this video. Similar videos on YouTube have had over 35 million hits: Susan Boyle

The YouTube videos have gone so viral all the YouTube links have been disabled. I had to go searching for an imbed code. This one is courtesy of MySpace. The YouTube videos of Susan Boyle have reached over 100 million views so far.

I love Susan Boyle, I truly do. For a lot of reasons. I think the song she picked out was wonderful, and it spoke volumes both to her and to the audience. She's only 4 years older than I am. she had this dream of being a singer all her life. She'd never been given a chance to birth this dream. But when the chance came, she grabbed it and ran with it. She knew it was now or never. Most chances that will change your life forever don't come around more than once. Forget fear, forget embarrassment. Susan knew what was inside of her. She knew it was good because others had told her it was good. But most of all, she believed in herself.

I love what Susan Boyle teaches us, just by her very existence. Don't judge a book by it's cover. Real beauty comes from the inside. Believe in yourself even when no one else does. Never give up on your dreams. Those dreams aren't just for the young. Age is life experience, not a disqualification. Don't let life kill your dreams. Never give them up. They just might come true when you least expect it.

What lessons does Susan Boyle have for me? The first lesson she teaches me is: Feel the fear, then do it anyway. Even if you are shaking in your shoes while you are doing it. But do it. I wrote my first novel. Now I need to edit it and submit the manuscript. I can't let the fear of rejection paralyze me anymore. If it's rejected, I'll go to the Dollar General and buy a frame. I'll take that rejection slip, frame that sucker and hang it on the wall beside my computer. Then submit the manuscript somewhere else. Repeat if necessary until submission is accepted.

The second lesson is: When one dream comes true, dream another one quickly. Dream fulfillment works in steps. Susan got three "Yes" votes on "Britian's Got Talent" but she's not stopping there. She's made television appearances, and given interviews. And I'll bet that when that video hit the U.S., several music label execs were booking flights to Britain to join the British music execs who were contacting Susan. So now Susan will probably have another dream come true. She wants to be as famous as Elaine Paige. I'd say Susan is well on her way. For those who haven't heard or don't know who Elaine Paige is, check this out:
Susan's dream is a realistic one. The third lesson is: have an attainable dream. I'm a writer, so my dream isn't to win American Idol. I had a dream that I wanted to write a novel. That dream came true. I've gotten the first draft written, and I'm working on the second draft as we speak. So I had to dream a new, attainable dream. My current dream is to have a published novel.

And one lesson that I've learned on my own: Gratitude. Never take your success for granted. Life turns on a dime. Appreciate it all, the good and the bad. You cannot know joy if you don't know sorrow.

P.S. Simon, shame on you. You should have gotten off your arse and given Susan Boyle a standing ovation just like the whole audience did, and the other two judges.

There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Then it all went wrong

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame

He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.


I can so relate to this. Can you?

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