Monthly Archives: November 2016

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Cut the — and make time to write

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Cut the bull shit and make time to write

That’s the title of a blog post by Alejandro Escamilla (found here) that I found inspiring and hung on my wall over my desk and computer.

Cut the bull shit and make time to write.

So elegant. So simple. Exactly what my inner writer needed to hear every day to get motivated and get writing- blog posts, articles, queries, that novel I have 30 K words in.

And you know how much I got done while that was hanging on my wall? Nothing. Well, barely anything. I got a few letters done, I got lengthy facebook arguments typed and mostly deleted, I got work that had to be done, done.

But those blog posts, articles and that novel (it’s brilliant, btw. Makes me cry at parts)? Nada.

I obviously couldn’t cut the bull shit and simply make time to write.

I felt like a failure. Those words, up there, that started as inspiration, were mocking me. It was my fault I wasn’t writing, I simply needed to make time for it. I mean, “If you can’t spare 20 minutes to devote to your shitty novel then you’re in the wrong circus, clown.”

I tore it down from the wall, my stomach sick with all the dashed hopes and the realization I was a failure.

Then it hit me, though. I am not a failure. Just because I had found the 20 minutes to write (and delete) an obnoxious, infuriating face book post and yet could not find the 20 minutes to work on that novel (trust me, it’s great— it’s the rewriting of a classic story) did not mean I had frittered away 20 useful minutes on junk rather than gold.

Because every 20 minutes, every 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week is not the same.

Repeat that with me: All time is not created equal.

Every minute you have you spend differently based on the time before it.

Saturday morning. You wake up, get morning chores done, and get a hot cup of coffee. You sit to write your novel that you have been thinking about since you left off of it last night to get to bed. Mail comes, and you glance at it. Some junk, a bill, nothing much. You settle in and grind out 30 minutes of hard writing and arise, pleased with yourself.

Or.

Saturday morning. You wake up, dreading to get up because the kitchen is a mess. It takes you forever to find the coffee because someone put it away where it didn’t belong. You want to sit down and write that novel, but the dog throws up and the kids are fighting and your mom calls that she got into a fight with her neighbor and you need to play grown up. You get a hot cup of coffee, and mail comes. Bills, including something over due (how did that happen) a letter from your kid’s school about a lice break out, and a notice you have 30 days to repaint your house because the paint is peeling. You look at the computer, and even if you could lock the door for 30 minutes, what’s the use? You don’t have the strength, even if you had the time.

Yes, each of those Saturday mornings has an identical number of minutes in them. But your ability to use those minutes is completely different. Add to the second Saturday the knowledge that you are a failure because you can’t even get 30 minutes writing done, and you’ll be lucky to ever write again.

Writing, real writing, is hard work. It’s not something you can just jump into, with no prep work. You’d never expect an athlete to be able to lunge into work not being physically prepared, but helpful advice columns think we can leap into writing because we have a spare 20 minutes. With no stretching, no nourishment, no warm up. Yes, if we were doing it 30 minutes or more a day, we probably could jump in, because it’d all be fresh in our minds and our writing muscles would be practiced. But they aren’t. I’d need to reread my 30K words and my notes to get back into my heroine’s head and speak with her voice again. Writing 20 minutes worth of ‘crap’ just to get something written is still 20 minutes wasted (and this is NOT the same as perfectionism), regardless of what the motivators say.

So yes. I need to write. I need to carve out time for myself every day. But when some days finding the time to take a shower is hard, I also need to be gentle with myself for not finding the time to write.

There are ways to motivate yourself to write, or indeed, do anything. Beating yourself up or allowing someone else to is not one of them.

So, cut the bull shit, be good to yourself, and figure out what you need to do to get time to write.

Maintenance, Safety, Vehicles, Winter

Quick checkup for your car’s health

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Regular maintenance to keep something running smoothly often slips our minds, whether it is for us or for our things. But sometimes just checking things out to make sure they are ok can save you money and keep you safe. Especially when you are checking your vehicle.

 

This is a quick checklist that if preformed often will let you know if there is a problem and stop them from showing up, keep you safer, keep your fuel consumption lower, and keep your car on the road longer. And it’s easy enough to teach your teenager to do.

 

Windshield Washer Fluid

Check: monthly or if you use it a lot.

How: Check the reservoir located in your engine and marked with the universal wiper fluid icon. Keep some in your trunk or (if there is room) hooked in your engine compartment.

Why: grime, insects and rain can impede your vision and add glare at night. Your wipers can’t do all the work themselves, but like a dishrag with no soap won’t really clean your dishes.

wiper-fluid

 

Windshield Wiper Blades

Check: with each oil change and if you notice them not clearing rain in a single swipe, or leaving streaks or vibrating against the window.

How: Look for worn cracked or stiff areas. They ought to be smooth and flexible. Remember, they only last 6-12 months, depending on use and conditions, so purchasing a pair to keep in the garage or in the trunk is not a bad investment.

Why: Just like with fluid, if you can’t see, you can easily be extremely unsafe while driving.

 

Tire Pressure

Check: Once a month before driving.

How: Use a simple mechanical gauge to compare the pressure with what your car (not the tire) recommnds (this is located normally on a sticker in the glove box, door jam, or trunk.

Why: Over inflated tires wear the center of the tires faster and will give you a less than smooth ride. Under inflated tires wear the edges of the tires faster and give you less control of the car and worse fuel mileage.

 

Brake Fluid

Check: Every 3-6 months, or if your brakes feel odd. Replace completely once every two years.

How: Check the reservoir located in your engine and marked with the universal brake fluid icon. Keep some in your trunk or garage to top it off.

Why: Brake fluid allows your foot to communicate with your brakes to come to a smooth stop when you need to. If your fluid is low, or old, it can allow air bubbles to enter the fluid, causing you to brake unevenly or lose your ability to brake completely.

brake-fluid

Power Steering Fluid

Check: Every month, or if your steering feels stiff. Unlike brake fluid, you probably will never have to replace it, only add to it. Check your car’s manual for this.

How: Check the reservoir located in your engine and marked with the universal steering fluid icon. Keep some in your trunk or garage to top it off.

Why: Checking if your fluid is low will alert you to a leak that could potentially cause serious steering issues when you don’t expect them. Just like brake fluid, steering fluid helps you communicate with your car. If your fluid is low, you can suddenly lose your ability to steer.

power-steering

 

Belts

Check: Every 4-6 months.

How: Look for worn or cracked edges. These need to be replaced every 3-4 years. Look for specifics in your car’s manual.

Why: Belts help your engine control your car’s varies parts. If the belts are too lose, they will slip and waste efficiency. If they are too tight, they can cause permanent damage. If they are too old, they can snap and leave you stranded.

 

Battery

Check: every 4-6 months

How: The battery’s cables, clamps and connections ought to be checked for corrosion at least twice a year.  If the battery is showing other signs of weakness or age, like dim lights or slow engine cranking, you can have your battery checked. That’s actually a service AAA will provide for free.

Why: No one wants to be stuck with a dead battery.

 

Lights

Check: every 4-6 months

How: Simple enough if you have a partner to walk around the vehicle and check if lights are out. If you don’t, check while stopped in front of a glass window and you can see your own reflection.

Why: It’s way safer to have working lights, and you can avoid a ticket.

Safety

Phishing Scams- will you fall for one?

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It’s easy to think that only newbies and innocents will fall prey to a phishing scam, and that you are safe. After all, you know better than to believe there really is a Nigerian Prince who wants to give you free money.

But it’s not just the ‘send me your bank account information’ that can cause issues. Phishing scams can include password captures and sabotaging systems, among other malware. It’s estimated it costs one trillion dollars worldwide.

Part of the problem is that there really is little proof that training and explaining what the threats look like actually helps prevent the crimes. There is a chance, actually, that by ‘knowing what to look for’ and feeling confident you won’t get scammed, you are actually more likely to be a victim. (This has actually been common for centuries, and played on by confidence artists and magicians both.)

So, while I do not want to contribute to this ‘I know more therefore I am immune’ idea, here are some things modern research are showing that allow otherwise smart people to get scammed.

The belief that email is pretty much safe. It leads people to think that that their email is perfectly safe and to ignore red flags within messages. I’m writing this partially because I got an email from someone I knew asking me to open an attachment because it was what I had requested. I had recently asked for a file to be sent to me, and I gleefully went to open it, before I noticed the spelling was atrocious. Two days later came the message ‘don’t open any attachments from me!’

Being on autopilot. You know, you aren’t really paying attention because you are checking email while doing something else and you are clicking on things before you even realize what it is you just clicked on. I know I have done that, and close out of it very quickly, hoping no damage done.

And checking your email constantly actually contributes to this. If you do it all the time, like a habit, you can easily simply ignore red flags and click where you shouldn’t.

So your best bet is to remember all the signs you already know and all the ways to verify that an email is from who it says it is, that links go where they say they will, and that it hasn’t been hacked. And to be aware— it’s still a dangerous thing. If you are just cleaning up email in between other jobs and not paying real attention, you can get burned. No matter how smart you are. Because, in the long run, we users are the weakest link in security.