#ROW80: That’s right, we bad…

I found this on Facebook and just had to share…

I had a couple of good experiences today. One was hearing from a local recruiter who said that there are several companies interested in someone with my skills, and when I explained that I’m handicapped and need a situation which is 100% telecommute, she didn’t see that as a problem. I also heard from a company I contacted over the weekend who wants me to complete a coding exam over the next couple of weeks so that they can map me into situations that they need to fill. My objectives over the next several weeks are to refresh myself on the technologies in demand (many of which have changed) and to fill in the gaps in my skill set.

Does this mean that I’m giving up on writing? Hell, no! It makes time management far more critical than it’s been in a few years, and it means that I’ll be spending my nights and weekends writing. But give up? Not a chance. In fact, to make things even more interesting, I’ve signed up for this:

To quote from one of the last century’s greatest philosophers, Woody Woodpecker, “So I’m crazy, what what what can I do? I ask you!” (I tried to find him singing this on YouTube, but failed. Lots of Woody out there, just couldn’t find this.)

Okay, so how did things go this week?

• Write 1.000 words a day: Done. I may stay with this for a while, given the amount of “busy” I have to deal with, but this seems to be a good quantity for me.
• Master Scrivener: I’ve been using it to write a nonfiction piece on, of all things, the Emergency Alert System and its predecessors. Why? Because I want to. It’s been on my mind for some time, and it’s a subject that I like talking about (which should tell you just what kind of a wacko you’re dealing with here). The fiction piece that I’ve been writing, code name Blake (maybe I’ll name it Code Name Blake when all is said and done) will be a project for NaNoWriMo; I’m using Scrivener now to plot it out and write character sketches. I know, I keep saying “I’m not gonna do NaNoWriMo,” and every year I end up doing it anyway. I’m looking at it as a way to take a writing project from concept to completion with Scrivener. When I was playing the guitar I found that it was easier to learn theory (scales and harmony) in the context of playing songs that use the theory, instead of learning the theory first and then the song. That’s the principle I’m applying here.
• Learn to write left-handed: I need to get back to this. It’s really slipped to the back of the line.

I’ve taken the fourth objective, to write an article to send out every week, off the table for the time being.

That’s it for this week. I really made an effort to check in with other participants this week, and I really learned a lot. Have a good week!