Voting

I know this election is very derisive and I am not about to talk politics but I am going to stress how important it is that you exercise your right to vote. Sadly only about 50% of eligible voters actually vote.  I have heard many people say they hate both candidates so much they will not vote.  Not voting does not solve any problems and doesn't allow you to throw up your hands and say you are not responsible because you still are.

 

What got me thinking about voting was a story I heard on NPR.  I am not going to mention the name of the foundation because I believe that their whole platform is misguided and not founded in facts.

The person being interviewed stated that his foundation needed to exist because America is one of only a few countries that votes on a weekday and that we should vote on the weekend. But this was not what he was advocating for. No, his foundation wants companies to give employees the whole day off to vote.

I heard this and thought that he started with a strong case, many countries vote on the weekend, and then abandoned that for the argument that businesses must give employees the whole day off to vote. That seemed ludicrous to me. It doesn't take a whole day to vote and the polls are open before and after work. Not to mention that many states allow time off to vote without retaliation from your employer and in some states that time can be taken with pay.

I was discussing this with my husband and said I couldn't understand why this person is pushing for something that is covered by laws in so many states. I was shocked when my husband said he was completely unaware that we lived in a state that allows paid time off to vote and that there were such laws in place.

Since voting is so important, and it seems that people may not be aware of their voting rights I wanted to take a moment to share information about your right to vote, depending on where you live.
Voting laws by state

I hope that everyone who can will exercise their right to vote.

Happy Writing!
Kat

In case you were interested in the arguments for switching our voting from a weekday to a weekend here is some information for you.

NPR 2012 article about voting on the weekend

NY Times 2008 article about voting on the weekend.

Voting

I know this election is very derisive and I am not about to talk politics but I am going to stress how important it is that you exercise your right to vote. Sadly only about 50% of eligible voters actually vote.  I have heard many people say they hate both candidates so much they will not vote.  Not voting does not solve any problems and doesn't allow you to throw up your hands and say you are not responsible because you still are.

 

What got me thinking about voting was a story I heard on NPR.  I am not going to mention the name of the foundation because I believe that their whole platform is misguided and not founded in facts.

The person being interviewed stated that his foundation needed to exist because America is one of only a few countries that votes on a weekday and that we should vote on the weekend. But this was not what he was advocating for. No, his foundation wants companies to give employees the whole day off to vote.

I heard this and thought that he started with a strong case, many countries vote on the weekend, and then abandoned that for the argument that businesses must give employees the whole day off to vote. That seemed ludicrous to me. It doesn't take a whole day to vote and the polls are open before and after work. Not to mention that many states allow time off to vote without retaliation from your employer and in some states that time can be taken with pay.

I was discussing this with my husband and said I couldn't understand why this person is pushing for something that is covered by laws in so many states. I was shocked when my husband said he was completely unaware that we lived in a state that allows paid time off to vote and that there were such laws in place.

Since voting is so important, and it seems that people may not be aware of their voting rights I wanted to take a moment to share information about your right to vote, depending on where you live.
Voting laws by state

I hope that everyone who can will exercise their right to vote.

Happy Writing!
Kat

In case you were interested in the arguments for switching our voting from a weekday to a weekend here is some information for you.

NPR 2012 article about voting on the weekend

NY Times 2008 article about voting on the weekend.

Odd Story Inspiration

I had to go to downtown LA for work recently.  I got on Google and looked up the address and then went to the street view so I could recognize what I was looking for.

Ever helpful, Google brought up locations near where I was going.  It suggested a breakfast place with a terrible name, Eggslut, and then right below that Google offered the Guadalupe Wedding Chapel. 
The juxtaposition of Eggslut and the wedding chapel gave me a chuckle.

Then I noticed the photo of the chapel and what struck me first was the big income tax sign. I wondered if they were pushing weddings as a tax benefit and then, when I looked more closely, I saw that not only can you get married at the wedding chapel and get your taxes done, you can also get divorced!

 

I am sure that is every woman's dream to get married with as much convenience and as little hassle as possible. You can even rent or buy your dress there.  And they can tell you if your dress rental is a tax write off or not.
Putting that wonderful perk of convenience aside, I know that I would not have been happy seeing a sign advertising services for divorce on my wedding day.

I think the only service that is missing from this wedding chapel is Immigration.  Oh, maybe paternity testing! But once they add Immigration they will truly be a one stop, full service wedding venue.

To all the writers out there, don't you just want to write the story about the girl who has to get married here or the one who chooses this as her perfect option?!?

Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to leave my meeting site and check this place out before having to leave the city.  I hope to make it back there and read the sign on the sidewalk and even go inside and check it out.

For now I have a few items outlined for a story that I hope to flesh out once I see this place in person.

Have you run across a place that inspired a story or a character?

Happy Writing!

Three Weeks

It's been three weeks today since I submitted my manuscript to an agent. This was not a blind submission, he asked to see the full manuscripts for two books. Yeah! I still get excited saying that.

Knowing that it is two full manuscripts I figure I should give him a month before I try to contact him again.  I was thinking just a quick remember me email.  I don't want to let it go too long and have him think that I am not interested or lack drive and follow up.

Is a month too long to wait?  It's been a bit tough on me but from his perspective when you are busy at work a month can just fly by with that pile sitting on the corner of your desk growing.

What do you guys think?  What is the best next step and when should I make it?

I'd love advice from anyone who's been through this before.

Thanks.

Happy Writing
KAT                            

Searching for a job?

As you may or may not know I am a Human Resources Manager.  I have been helping the wife of an employee this week with her resume and cover letter as she tries to re-enter the work force.

I thought I should take a few moment with an actual email exchange to give you all some advice to help you have a successful job search.

Below are actual emails. The only items I have changed are the person's name, email address, and company identifying information.

From: Hopeful job applicant [mailto:rowdydrunk@partyon.com]
Sent: Monday, June 29, 2015 4:30 PM
To: Human Resources
Subject: Job opportunity

 

Hello, my name is jonathan smith and i am writing this message because i am intrested in a position with abc turnstiles . i am a former welder for ampco out in the job sites sam, sepulveda, and sierra. I became close friends with alex vasques and a couple of employees who encouraged me to appy for abc. if you guys are hiring by any chance. Please give me and email message or a call on how can i apply. Thanx you..  

(Sadly posting the email took out ALL the wavy red lines which highlighted all the mistakes he had made in this email.)

On Jun 30, 2015 5:24 PM, "K; wrote:

Jonathan,

Thank you for your interest in a job opportunity with ABC Turnstiles.  Unfortunately there are no openings at this time.

Please take the time to read and apply these helpful pointers so that you will have better luck in your job search:

1)      Always attach a resume
2)      This is your first and only chance to impress the hiring manager- so work hard to impress them

a.       Use proper grammar (for example capitalization)

b.      No spelling mistakes

c.       No text short cuts, use the whole word spelled out properly.

3)      Always mention that you were referred by someone and spell their name correctly.  In this case you should mention all the employees who would give you a recommendation. More is better.

Your email is all stuffed together and without the proper capitalization it is harder to read.  You could easily have spent just a couple of more minutes and done a lot better on this email and made a much better first impression. 

I am not saying this to discourage you but to assist you in your job search.  I wish you good luck.

From: Hopeful job applicant [mailto:rowdydrunk@partyon.com] 
I appreciate your help kathryn thornton. Yes you are right, i should have double checked my grammer. I will keep trying. Thank you.

Do you see all the mistakes he made with the second email?   

• Obviously the capitalization, spelling and grammar did not improve.  He didn't even try. This shows me this person cannot take or follow directions well. 
• He didn't try to improve at all. He is not someone who will grow or have a lot of upside potential.
• He didn't attach a resume. Again not following directions and paying attention to details. We are a very safety conscious company. Our work is inherently dangerous and if this person can't follow directions or pay attention to details he is going to get himself and others hurt.
• While I did change the email I have seriously gotten emails from email addresses that are completely unprofessional and cast the sender in a terrible light. The email address I created is a good example of ones I have seen.  Email addresses are free. Get one that shows you are a serious, respectable person I would want working for and representing our company.
• He did not Google our company. If he had he would have found our website which has a job section and all the information he needed to know to apply.  Lazy, wants the easy way and everything handed to him.
• He didn't take the opportunity to sell himself. He has a leg up over everyone else. He's worked on our work site and he can tell me exactly what he does well that we need.  Big opportunity lost.  Your resume may not illuminate your intangible soft skills that set you apart. Always put that information in your email and cover letter.

I bet you didn't realize how much the people you are interacting with take away from every interaction you have with them. 

What he did right:

• He listed an employee who referred him. We always look at referrals before anyone else.  They know a current employee, that means they know the job and the company. It also means that they don't want to embarrass the person referring them or burn that bridge by screwing up at work.
• He explained how he knew our company and that he had worked on-site through a contractor.  This means he knows our work site, procedures and employees.  This can also be a problem since there are some contractors that will not allow their employees to be hired by companies they work for but you have to divulge this information better up front than later. 
• He did not badmouth his employer or tell me personal information that has nothing to do with his job. I receive more than a few cover letters and emails that explain that "I need a job to get money to pay for..." my daughter, or my stupid brother's drug habit, or my wife lost her job so you have to hire me.  We all need a job and have bills, I want to know why you want to work for us specifically or why this job is the best fit for you and you are the best fit for us.
• He wrote back and said thank you.

I was impressed that he wrote back and said thank you.  I was really hoping he was going to redeem himself.  Even if I don't have an opening now you never know when I will have one or what other HR professionals I know that I would refer you to if you impress me.

I hope you find this helpful.  I know a lot of people are looking to move jobs now that the economy seems to be getting better and more employers are hiring.  If you are looking good luck in your job search.

Let the waiting begin

Living through construction is tough. It disrupts your life in more ways than you imagine.  We were assured that all our new flooring would be installed in a week and made sure we would be out of the house.

My husband's boss generously lent us her vacation house for the week.  We jam packed all of our belongings into the garage and bathrooms leaving every bit of floor space bare. Then we headed off for our week of vacation.

We were supposed to return to our beautiful new hardwood floors, but sadly we returned to exposed sub-floor and no progress on laying the new floor, which still had not arrived! UGH!

We had no clothes, no electronics, no WiFi or printer, everything was shoved into the garage and bathrooms.

Two weeks in there were finally a few rooms done allowing us to unload our clothes and a few other essentials. One of those being the WiFi, my kids were jonesing for video games and You tube.

After an exhausting day of moving heavy items back into our newly floored bedrooms I collapsed onto the couch and checked my personal email, something I hadn't done for three weeks.

That is when I found the email announcing a CBW-LA writing seminar hosted by agent, Steven Hutson of WordWise Media Services with a chance to pitch your story to him!  I excitedly looked for the date hoping I would be available. Oh, tomorrow. Tomorrow!  This was too good an opportunity to pass up so I dragged my exhausted husband off the couch with me to find the printer and get that hooked up so I could print the query page we had to bring.  An hour later the printer was hooked up and finally working. I signed up for the seminar and got to work writing the query.

Now this was only my second attempt at writing a pitch for this book so I expected to spend hours trying to get something I liked.  It came together surprisingly fast. I was in the zone.

Why not try to write one for my other completed manuscript?

I was definitely in the zone. I had completed two queries. Not just completed but produced two queries I was happy with. I felt ready to go to the seminar tomorrow and pitch for the first time.

Sadly, I hit terrible traffic and walked into the seminar late. Not a good way to make a first impression.  I meekly took my seat and started taking notes.  Steven Hutson had a lot of good information, was an engaging speaker and I had written two pages of valuable information.

There were only 17 people there and with everyone getting a chance to pitch I figured I was going to be here a long while after the seminar ended.  I was shocked when almost half the people opted out of pitching!

When you get a chance to meet a professional in the industry you wish to become a professional in you take it!  Even if you had pitched your book 100 times you should do it again. Practice makes perfect and this could have been the chance meeting that made all the difference in your career.

We queued up and I waited patiently for my turn.  We were all reviewing our queries and running through our pitches in our head.

During class when he asked me to introduce myself and my work I was inexplicably nervous and screwed it up.  I was determined to present myself much better this time.

I must have done a great job of presenting myself and my work because he asked to see BOTH yes both full, yes I said FULL, manuscripts!

If you are a writer or trying to become a published writer you know this is the holy grail of responses when you pitch your work to an agent or publisher.  I was over the moon.  Still am a bit.

But now the waiting.

Tomorrow will be a week since I submitted my manuscripts and I am still waiting.  I know not to pester him.  They are both good size books 70,000 and 77,000 words. I know he was going to give them to someone else to read first and then he would read them so what is that a week maybe two before he sees both my books; that is assuming that person tells him to read them.  They could be dead in the water with the first assistant.  Maybe they have a back log of books and they won't get to mine for two weeks.

I am trying to check my email only twice a day.  I keep telling myself that even if he doesn't chose to sign me I had practice pitching my books, wrote my first two query letters and I may get some great advice back from him.
Then the little voice in my head says yeah and the next eight times when you pitch this book and get no response you'll be even more let down after such an amazing response to my first pitch.  I quickly shut the door on that little voice.  If this is meant to be it will be.  If not then when it does work out it will be even better.

I will keep you all posted.  Crossed fingers and prayers are happily accepted.

Happy Writing!

Seriously, this is an actual thing?

I tend to spend my time on the internet very selectively. I pay attention to and visit the sites my kids go to ('cause they are young and I have to), anything having to do with writing, and then my favorite, The Awkward Yeti (www.theawkwardyeti.com).

But it is the holidays and I live on the other side of the country from all of my family and many loved ones; that means internet shopping so the shipping is done for me.

I have run across some odd things in my hunt for unique gifts but this one took the cake:


Seriously, this is an actual thing?


Clip-On Man Bun
https://www.groupon.com/deals/gg-instant-man-bun?deal_option=d75b6c88-78d2-11e5-89ac-002590980a5a&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=US_DT_SEA_GGL_TIM_TTT_PADS_CBP_CHP_NBR_g*gg-instant-man-bun_c*81522506101_k*_m*_d*Goods-Product-Ads_keyword*_target*_adposition*1o1_prodtarget*136840567501_adtype*pla&mr:referralID=89cf91ce-9eb6-11e5-b0f7-0050569451e5&gclid=CPTahfnTz8kCFQoVfgodkOQJDA


It looks like that was just photo shopped on to the person's head. The description on the Groupon website was hysterical. You may want to check it out for a laugh.

I'd love to see what wacky things you have come across!

Happy holiday shopping everyone!

Focusing on what is really important

We had a car break down and it was expensive to fix, we came home to find that the dogs had left us a very wet, smelly spot on our rug (there is hardwood all over but, no, they preferred the rug), but we all came home from work and school alive and unhurt. My heart goes out to everyone effected by the the shooting in Oregon.

My cousin was in a very serious accident and is expected to be in the hospital and a rehabilitation facility for a year or more.

My friends are fighting cancer. And I have co-workers who are fighting cancer, lupus, kidney failure, loss of lung function. I could go on, but I don't want to make any less of the issues these wonderful people are saddled with and fighting.

This litney of tradgedies has been tearing at my heart and making me feel useless and left me wondering over and over what more I can do to help.  Then it occurred to me that I should be remembering the advice to live every day as if it is our last.

There are so many things that vie for our attention but so few of them are really what is important. I am working to keep that in perspective and spend more time with my loved ones.

I did not clean the house this weekend. We saw friends, went out to eat, and made sure we spent time together as a family.  We all discussed, planned and booked a weekend away as well.  I hope we continue to make time together a priority.

I hope that this post will inspire others to take a moment to remember who is important in their lives and spend more qaulity time with them too.

Rite of passage

Not growing up in California I had a lot of different experiences than my friends who grew up here. I did not make a mission in the fourth grade.  I did not go to outdoor science camp in fifth.  The one thing we have in common is that we had to play an intstrument in the fourth grade. And now so do my children.

I remember being forced to pick an instrument I did not want to play because I had to play a lady-like instrument, which was not the drums, stand up bass or the sax, my orignal choices. I was allowed to play the flute. I ended up loving playing an instrument. I loved the feeling of accompishment, the creativity, the collaboration and the challenge. I ended up loving my flute. Especially when I watched my friends lugging their larger instruments. There was no way I could have lugged the bass around.

                                      


My daughter chose to play the flute because I had played it.  I pushed back and made her try a couple of other instruments before settling on the flute. I did not want her to start out feeling that the flute was not the instrument she wanted.

I hope she loves this experience and grow to love music and have a creative outlet she can cherish her whole life.  We're off to a good start; she spent the weekend learning how to make a sound with the mouthpiece.  She did not give up and powered through it.

I'd love to hear your school music stories or any creative outlets you cherish.

As a writer and a lover of the English language...

As a writer and a lover of the English language my daily emails at work are like fingernails dragging painfully down a blackboard.

Here is an real life example of two emails I recieved.  I have changed the proper names to protect the offender.

From: joseph rubens
To: Human Resources
Subject: Job opportunity

Hello, my name is joseph rubens and i am writing this message because i am intrested in a position with wilco standards. i am a former welder for stuts out in the oil platforms. I became close friends with juan vasques and a couple of employees who encouraged me to appy for wilco. if you guys are hiring by any chance. Please give me and email message or a call on how can i apply. Thanx you..  

MY RESPONSE:

Joseph,

Thank you for your interest in a job opportunity with Wilco Standards.  Unfortunately there are no openings at this time.

Please take the time to read and apply these helpful pointers so that you will have better luck in your job search:

1)      Always attach a resume
2)      This is your first and only chance to impress the hiring manager- so work hard to impress them

a.       Use proper grammar (for example capitalization)

b.      No spelling mistakes

c.       No text short cuts, use the whole word spelled out properly.

3)      Always mention that you were referred by someone and spell their name correctly.  In this case you should mention all the employees who would give you a recommendation. More is better.

Your email is all bunched together and without the proper capitalizations it is harder to read.  You could easily have spent just a couple of more minutes and done a lot better on this email and made a much better first impression. 

I am not saying this to discourage you but to assist you in your job search.  I wish you good luck.

From: joseph rubens
I appreciate your help kathryn. Yes you are right, i should have double checked my grammer. I will keep trying. Thank you.

Don't you love this? Does he not see that he is thanking me and he should've double checked his "grammer" and then he does everything I have told him not to do in the email to me?  If he had shown that he could follow directions by at least captializing, the one thing everyone should know how to do, I would have saved his email for when we are hiring again. Had he attached a resume I would have saved it was well.  He did neither and his email was discarded, at work at least.

It found its way here because I have complained about the emails I receive, honestly this is one of the better ones, and the state of the English language only to be told that there is no way people are making those mistakes. So here is proof of a few of the most common mistakes I see. I don't think many of you would be able to read some of the emails I recieve.  It took my assistant months to learn to decipher them.

Does anyone have any examples of poor grammar that are their pet peeves.

It is finally Friday

This has been a week when I have been a day ahead all week. I have not been the only one. The teachers at summer camp, two of my co-workers, and my daughter have all been a day ahead as well.

I am so glad it is finally Friday.  It has been a tough week for me but so many people have it worse. They are all in my prayers and I hope that God is listening.

I have been away because I have so many things going on at work that I cannot discuss and they have consumed all my thoughts and I cannot write about them. Since I cannot think past them I needed to stay away.  Since they are mostly behind me I wanted to try coming back to the blogosphere and see if I could post something worthwile that would not get me fired if found by my co-workers and bosses, of which I have many.

I have been pouring my energy into a story for Wattpad.com.  KathrynThornton2. The new story is called "New England, New Romance". If you haven't guessed it is a romance genre story.  I hope you can check it out and enjoy it.

I love writing for Wattpad because I take the opportunity to write freely and not over analyze or edit too much.

I look forward to your comments on the story thus far or my other stories that are posted.

Making a Better Life

Why do we as a people all believe that the grass is greener somewhere else?

My job is a source of major stress right now. Without my salary we cannot afford our home.
I broached the fact that maybe we should not be fighting to save a home but a quality of life. Maybe we could have a better quality of life somewhere with a cheaper cost of living.

I have spent a few hours searching for alternative places with a lower cost of living. Southern CA is quite expensive. It is also so different from what I grew up with. I grew up in a small town, surrounded by family, with lots of open space.

My husband will never live anywhere with weather.  He wants temperate 70 degrees all the time. That rules out being near my family, it snows where they live.

Quality of life is something we keep saying we aspire to and yet it is a vague idea. Maybe it means I stay home, maybe it means we can see family more often, have more money to spend on trips and save for college, have the best school system for our children.

I did a search of the best places to live in the US and so many towns in California were high on the list. So if this is the case why am I so anxious to leave?

It is the strange, seemingly universal, unfounded belief that the grass is going to be greener if we move somewhere else.  I hear this constantly. My co-worker who finally moved out of her mother's house, my friends who keep talking about moving to Oregon and Washington state; one of whom moves in August.  Yet my co-worker who finally moved out of her mother's home has found some difficulties she did not expect and spends a lot of time helping her mother now which is not as convenient as when she lived at home.  Will the transition pains be worth it? Would we end up in a better place?  Would we make closer friends than we have here?

I think our best next step is for us to decide concretely what we want, what we think would make for a better quality of life and then see if we can make that happen here or if we really thinking moving is the only way to achieve those defined measurable goals.

As much as I want to assume, maybe irrationally, that things will be better if we move and start over I need to find a way to make a decision free of this irrational hope and temper the unreasonable belief that the grass will be greener somewhere else.

Time for a Laugh

My son introduced me to a Weird Al song that I readily agreed with and love.  Please enjoy the video of Word Crimes by Weird Al.

I like this post because it is so true.  I have received comments before that people really don't make these mistakes.  If only I could post my emails from work. Reef for wreath, do for due, grate for great, etc. I have to read emails aloud to sound out what they are trying to say because the English is so bad.  I have this posted on my office door. I wonder how many of the words my co-workers actually recognize as an acyrologia.

The final chuckle for the day from my favorite cartoonist Nick Seluk at The Awkward Yeti. Love him.


okay one more from him


I hope you enjoyed your visit.

Happy writing!

Writing exercise -making it part of your daily life

Writing- you get better the more you practice.  We all know this but finding the time is hard.
I don't always have time to practice traditionally because I spend a lot of my time sitting at the ball park for my son's games and practices. I cannot whip out my laptop or notebook there but there are plenty of times when my son is on the bench and I get a little bored cheering for the other parents' kids.  Nothing against the kids I just do not like baseball. I know, very un-American of me.  During these times I love to practice my writing.  How do I do this when I can't use my laptop or a notebook?  I observe the people around us, the location, listen in on conversations and write them in my head.  Bear with me here and you will be doing this soon yourself.

As I sit and cheer mindlessly with the other parents I image how I would describe the scene; the cool breeze chilling the metal seats as it wicks the heat from my body, the sounds of the younger siblings playing around the bleachers, the grandmother knitting juxtaposed next to the grandmother who is pretending she is too young to be a grandmother.

I don't limit myself to "writing" only at the ball park. Today at lunch I watched an employee walk by the open door and instantly started "writing" how I would describe his gait if he was a character in my book.  Here is what I came up with: ...his feet shuffled resistently along the carpet as his bulky hands worked like paddles moving him laboriously towards his destination  Or worked like paddles as he lumbered towards his destination.

I love some of the things I have come up with during these sessions and have quickly jotted them down or secreted off and recorded them into the voice recorder app on my phone.

I have heard some interesting conversations, observed some interesting behaviors and people and paid more attention to my surroundings.

Writing in my head, creating scenes, using bits of dialogues as prompts, creating character back story, and describing what I am seeing have all helped me exercise my writing muscle and I am a better writer for it and my time in line, at the baseball park, on long drives, etc. all go by more quickly.

I hope you find this technique helpful too.  I can't wait to hear how it has worked for you.

Happy Writing!

B.B. King

I was sorry to hear of the great Mr. King's death on May 14th.  Sometimes when I hear of someones death it seems too soon or I feel sorry but B.B. King was an amazing man who lived his life to the fullest and shared his love with everyone who listened.  He passed away at age 89 and had still been touring into his 80's.  I have been lucky enough to see him play in a few small venues.

I always liked his music but seeing him play live was amazing. He played with so much passion. In fact I was so inspired by him that he plays a part in my first MS. Now I have to decide if he stays in the book or if I take him out so the book is not dated.  I can't think of anyone else who would be as amazing and inspirational a musician with such a long career.

I couldn't let his passing go by without saying something.  Thank you B. B, for all the music and wonderful concerts.  Peace be with you.

33 and stuck in your ways?

I read in the elevator- so it must be true- that once you are 33 you are stuck in your musical ways. That seemed completely unbelievable to me so I searched for the study and found this site:

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/age-33-your-musical-life-officially-over-says-new-report-437371

If you don't want to read it, it basically states that, from research gleaned from Spotify and Echo Nest, people's musical tastes are cemented at 33.  You will no longer discover new music or listen to music out of your genre.   For some reason this happens earlier if you have kids.

 I cannot believe this.  I have kids. Nine years after my music exploration cut off date I started liking Country music.  I had never listened to it before. Over the last year a new employee has shared a lot of music I never listened too before with me and I love a lot of it.

If this study is true than I am an exception. Which feels kinda good.

What do you think?  Please share your stories. I can't  wait to read them.

If you like music Arlee Bird's blog "Tossing it Out" usually has a battle of the bands where you can listen to the same songs by two different bands and vote on which version is your favorite.  Arlee is the founder of the very popular A to Z Challenge and is focused on that right now but I am sure he will go back to his regular format soon so check it out.

http://tossingitout.blogspot.com/

Crazy Times

These last two weeks have been crazy busy, stressful, injury laden and exhausting.

I cannot talk about most of it because it pertains to work.  But I can say that is where most of the stress and exhaustion have come from.  On a lighter, strange but true note, I have an email correspondence at work going back and forth between the following people, (These are their first names only and they are their real first names. I wish I could use whole names because one of the full names is great.) Decolia, Tip and Passion.  If I wrote that in a book no one would believe that I had put any work into coming up with names for my characters.

Some of the exhaustion is due to having to sleep in a different bed in another room in our house.

We recently had a guest stay with us from Nicaragua, she was a lovely women here through an exchange with our church. The day she left we had to move into the guest room she had been occupying so that we could finally finish fixing the bathrooms from our massive Thanksgiving leak.  Since then we have not had a working master bathroom and for them to fix it we had to be out of our master bedroom.  While moving was a pain at least we have somewhere to move in to.  The more my husband has bemoaned not having a master bathroom the more I have realized how amazingly lucky we are.  I grew up in a home with one bathroom for a family of four.   We currently have two working bathrooms, soon we will have three, for a family of four.  We honestly are not having any issues with everyone having to use the one upstairs bathroom at the same time and if it was a problem we could always use the one downstairs.

I spent the A to Z challenge talking about all the things that have come and gone in my lifetime and the normalcy of multi-bathroom homes was one that I didn't realize until this week.  I grew up in a neighborhood where all the houses had one bathroom and some had a powder room on the main floor.  My grandparents houses all had one bathroom as well.  Now, the room that everyone hates to clean is a must in multiples in every home.

The stress at work, the stress of our escalating cost to fix our bathroom, the lack of sleep, the injuries, the after school activities, the end of year projects and testing; it will all be coming to and end soon and what that end will be I will only know when we get there but I hope that the end brings some serenity and good health.

I need to carve out some time for writing again.  Hopefully that will come with the transition to summer.  No homework will free up a lot of my time. I know it is not my homework but I still spend so much time overseeing and assisting with said homework.

Happy Writing.

May the 4th be with you

I still find a lot of people who don't know about today being Star Wars day, but I am sure with Disney promoting it now that everyone will know next year.

I visited  http://www.lunchboxdad.com/ last month and picked out the Chewbacca meal for my daughter and son's lunches for today. Although my son would have been happier with the one he is highlighting today with the storm trooper.  Maybe I'll do a version on the veggies tonight with the tie fighter and storm trooper.

Have a wonderful day and May the 4th be with you!  (I am the only person in my office saying this today.)

A to Z - Z!!!

The FINAL letter of our wonderful countdown!

For my A to Z Challenge theme I will be posting items that are no longer with us or are close to becoming extinct.

These are great items to use if you are trying to set a time period in your story or to stay away from if you want your story to be timeless.

The Zoot suit was popular in the 1940's. They were eventually banned, ostensibly because they used too much cloth, for the duration of WWII.  The suits had long jackets with padded shoulders and wide lapels, with high-waisted, wide legged trousers that were tight cuffed and pegged.  The suits were usually paired with a fedora and a long watch chain that hung down past the knee.




Zayre- Like so many of the stores I grew up with; Ames, Bradlees, Globe, Porteous, and yes Zayre, they are no longer with us.  Zayre was very similar to a KMart.  1956 to 1990.  Although my local Zayre's didn't last until 1990.  I loved Zayre because with my piddly allowance I could afford stuff there.  The first thing I ever bought with my own money was a lime green plastic skateboard. My prized possession of my six year old life.  I lived on the top of a hill. I loved my skateboard.



Zenith  While the company technically exists it was bought by LG Electronics in 1999 and you never see any Zenith branded items anymore.  Zenith was founded in 1918.  Zenith was the inventor of subscription television and the modern remote, they were also the first to develop HDTV in North America.



Thank you so much for joining me on this ride.  I have found a lot of wonderful blogs that I can't wait to follow and see what they are like when not blogging from A to Z.  Congratulations to everyone who finished!  We did it!

A to Z - Y

For my A to Z Challenge theme I will be posting items that are no longer with us or are close to becoming extinct.

These are great items to use if you are trying to set a time period in your story or to stay away from if you want your story to be timeless.

Another tough letter.

Yellow Pages  The Yellow Pages used to be a necessity. They were the only way to look up the businesses in your area and the phone numbers of friends, associates and co-workers. I felt like such a grown up when my phone number was listed.  They were also the booster seat. We didn't have fancy plastic seats with straps if you couldn't reach the table you sat on the phone book.
Now they are a nuisance and when they are delivered they go straight into the recycle bin and I mourn the loss of all those trees for naught.  We do get less and less of them delivered each year and I doubt we will be getting them delivered much longer.  The old fashioned book has been replaced by the internet.

When ever I think of a phone book now I think of this episode of Mythbusters.  Check it out.



Happy writing!