When I was being ambitious last week, I planned for Tuesdays to be the post-a-list-of-things day. All because I posted the list of fellow WordCount Blogathoners.  Now here I am several hours before my imposed posting deadline with no desire to think about putting a list of something together. Oh, well. The rules I make for myself are not set in concrete. I can be flexible. That's my lesson for me this moment. It's a lesson I need to reinforce every so often; otherwise, I'll miss so much. Like this evening, actually yesterday evening. As I was dumping a bowl of green waste into the compost bin, a bit of yellow caught my eye. The first sunflower of the year was opening up. It was a volunteer growing in a pot of another plant that had volunteered on its own. Flexibility. Of course I had to run inside for my camera. Flexibility.  After taking a photo of the sunflower, I looked around the backyard and saw other wonders. Flexibility. Looking at the photos I took, I realize that

What a ditz I am! What a dope! I could blame it on my  progressive lenses that give me trouble finding the  sweet spot in which to read my computer screen. Yeah, I can blame my glasses. No personal responsibility here for reading $.045 as 45 cents instead of 4 1/2 cents. What a big difference that is! Last month, I contracted to write three articles for a reputable publisher based on $.045 per word, which I read as 45 cents a word. I would've been none the wiser if I hadn't received an e-mail yesterday from the editor seeking writers to complete a few  rush articles. He wrote that the pay would be the usual "4 1/2 cents per word." What? I quickly looked up the initial query I received and my contract. The wording was "$.045 per word." Such a dumbo, I am. Sigh . Now I could turn my frown upside down by saying that 4 1/2 cents per word is better than the zero cents per word I give myself for blog posts. Four and a half cents is better than nothing, right? So

Whoo-hoo! It's the fourth day of the  2010 WordCount Blogathon, and look, you're reading my fourth post for the month. Today, I thought you might enjoy checking out some blogs of the other participants in the blogathon. So, here you go: Rebecca I. Allen   356 No More   A journey from couch to fit. Christa Avampato  Christa in New York   Curating a Creative Life. Anjuli   bhulbhulaiyan   A complicated entanglement of zigzag pathways. Joan Lambert Bailey   PopcornHomestead   Gardening, place and my life in Tokyo. Karen Bannan   Natural as Possible Mom   Because natural isn’t always possible—or easy. t.a. barnhart  Left Coast Foodie   Damn, that’s good: a foodie blog by someone who knows what he’s doing. June Bell   Enough is enough!   Advice and support. Athena l. Borozon  Altar Valley Daily Orb   The Desert Rat Dialogues. Jane Boursaw   Film Gecko   Cool movie news and reviews. Alisa Bowman   Project Happily Ever After   Marriage advice from a recovering divorce daydre

I'm not much of a joiner. Then something happens. Maybe the wind changes direction, or perhaps I blink and a lapse in judgment occurs, and I do hop on a bandwagon. Like now. I registered myself for a blogathon—a marathon of blog posting, that is. Every day in May, I'll be posting something because I signed up for the 2010 WordCount Blogathon. This is an annual thing put on by Michelle Rafter, the owner of WordCount, a blog about digital freelancing. She started the blogathon as a way to motivate herself to "post consistently" and to do it with company. To read more about the 2010 WordCount Blogathon, check out this link . So, here I am with my first post. Can I think up something to post everyday for the next 30 days?  Will I miss a day or two because I've forgotten? Shall my slacker self balk at the discipline? Stay tuned.

I bought a 2010 calendar last year. I don't know where it is. I only care now because I have work assignments for different clients that I need to keep tabs on. Don't worry clients, if you happen to be reading this. I know my deadline for each of you. Some moments, I just feel anal-retentive and wish to have a calendar that's not on my computer (as if I look at that one) but strewn on top of a noteworthy pile on my desk. That's just how I operate.

I learned this about myself today: I NEED access to the Internet. If you heard a whine in that, then I probably was being a whimpering witch. It's 3:08 p.m.  as I'm writing this sentence. I haven't been on the Internet for 14 hours. I had big plans for today. I was going to submit my first article to Demand Studios, do research for a writing sample, and update my Web site. OK, maybe not the last bit, but I would have found out what freelance writing jobs are available by now. I also would've been to Facebook a few times to catch up with with friends as well as play a few games of Bejeweled Blitz and Jungle Jewels to keep my hands busy as I thunk out thoughts.  Not to say there may be an e-mail message from a publisher wanting me to do a project for it. Sigh. At this moment the husband is setting up the new DSL modem that we bought an hour ago. To help him along, I stay quiet and out of the way until he wants my assistance. Oh, wait. He just asked, "What shall I do

Hmmm. I just noticed that Tuesday was the last day I posted. How time flies when you're having fun. And fun was what I was having the past few days as I slowly figured out how to create a lens (or page) at Squidoo.com. Yep. I've become a lensmaster, at least I think that's what I'm called. Today, I published my first lens about Hollister California, my hometown. I invite you to take a look-see. I double-dare you. :-)  Here's the link: Hollister California—The City That Is! If you're a creative type and want to try your hand at making a bit of cash on the Internet, take a look around Squidoo. It's all passive earning though. You receive  a certain percentage from advertisements that visitors click on your lens. Signing up for a Squidoo account is free. Last week, after much research, I finally decided to try my hand at writing for content mills. Squidoo is my first experiment. We shall see how it goes.

Yep, more nature photos. It's a bright, but chilly, day outside right now. Just right for a stroll to somewhere. In our case, it will be down to the photocopy center. The husband and I have our 1,000+ page copyedited manuscript to send back to the editor. That was a lot of  sitting at the desk. Glad it's over. Now it'll be a lot of standing at the copier for a bit. Knock on wood, the machine menehunes keep the photocopying running smoothly for us. I've been wanting to post memories of our walk through a mustard field a few weeks back. It was full of bees. The noise you hear on the video is that of the bizzzzy bees hard at work.

I've been thinking, wanting, and needing (yes, needing) to begin a new blog for several months, since the hubby and I finished our last writing project. I have been lagging in some tasks, such as updating my web site, because I was awaiting the start of this here blog. What has kept me from beginning is my vacillation about choosing the right title and the right look. That can also be another way of saying I’m simply mentally tuckered out from words. But, that’s if I was being honest...to myself. After all, the title did pop out of my cobwebby mind a couple months ago while gathering chestnuts. Really, I was. Gathering chestnuts that is, but that will be a tale for another day. So, here I am, a 56-year-old woman. There's nothing like blogging about this and that and about here and there to find my voice and rhythm. Again. Thanks for visiting. Please stop by often.