Patrick Alan

I’ve finally got Oliver reading Harry Potter. He’s been capable for quite some time, but wouldn’t do it. I read the first one to him last January, I think. Now I’ve talked/tricked him into reading book 2 on his own.

You may wonder why I would do this, or why I am excited, but raising an only child is a bit of a challenge when it comes to challenges. It may be a result of first time parenting when he was young. We kept him from doing lots of things, because we, as first time parents, were - ummm - cautious. Right or wrong, we now have a very cautious child.

This is not a bad thing, but it has presented a challenge when it comes to him challenging himself. So I am excited about him reading Harry Potter. I talked him into reading chapter 1 to me, and then let him keep reading on his own.

Another recent event, with his cousins visiting, Oliver saw his older cousin Jay playing Wii Rockband - playing the drums and guitar. Up until then, Oliver would only sing. Now that he has seen his cousin doing that, even though Melissa and I have been doing it, Oliver is now gung-ho on playing Rockband guitar and drums.

I might have to borrow my nephew more often just to motivate Oliver.

And in other news, owning two houses is not fun. See, the thing is, you don’t live in one and you discover at a later time things are happening at the one you don’t live in. Like today, when I stopped to check on the lawn only to discover that the power has been turned off… So, no sprinkler = lawn still dying, and oh year, the AC unit and fridge are off, so that’s not helping the inside either.

I’m finding that I spend more and more time reading people’s twitter feeds and also that I don’t really have the motivation to write coherent blog posts. I have lots of thoughts which I think might make a post, but rarely do.

I’m not quite ready to make that leap yet though. Still battling procrastination.

I’m now in the early process of joining my local RWA chapter. I went to their meeting this past Saturday and what a wonderful group they are. They noticed I wasn’t female. Sometimes.

Me and about 20 women. Yeah, that seems about right.

For me, joining a writing group is more for the social aspect of it. I’ve been to many workshops, conferences, and retreats and learned a ton. I can regurgitate lots of standard writing advice, both business and craft. And I can even regurgitate advice that doesn’t work for me.

Julie Leto gave a wonderful presentation on protecting the writing and finding time to write. I’d like to say I had an epiphany, but for me, it was the 20+ writers, many professionally published, hanging out for four hours. Listening to a writer talk about some of the challenges and decisions she has been dealing with(in limited detail) in her recent contract negotiations. Listening to many writers describe their process and talk about the parts they get stuck on. Watching everyone sign on their progress report and hearing a few get competitive about it. These are the things that I need.

I’m surrounded by supportive people at home, but sitting with writers talking about the nuances of process, business, craft helps me stay motivated.

I’ve been part of an online group for the better part of 3 or 4 years, but I am an in person sort of person.
So, I’m excited and am slowly getting back to work.

These remind me of when I used to do Horoscopes for my high school newspaper. I had such a blast doing that and the top 10 best/worst lists.

Anyway, here’s Steve’s Writer Horoscopes. Enjoy
http://www.yorkwriters.com/2009/06/writers-horoscope-3.html

You know, I prefer to ignore Michael Jackson’s tabloid life. I was definitely influenced by him. I am a music lover. I remember listening to a tape that my mom had, I think it was a greateast hits compilation of the 70’s or something, but I would listen to it over and over at a young age. It had both Rock With You and Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough. It’s really before my time musically. I think there was some Abba on there as well.

It’s funny because I think about those days a lot now, since Oliver is going through those stages. It’s amazing to see how much he is being influenced by Rock Band, or really any music he is exposed to. He also has a few Kids’ Bop CDs, from McDonald’s or some other place that was giving away free CDs. The number of times he has played Kryptonite by Three Doors Down is quite staggering.

Today he asked me about licensing music. He was trying to figure out how he was going to make money when he joined a Kids’ Bop band when he is a teen. Explaining Intellectual Property rights to a 7 year old is a little challenging.

I just thought I would note Michael Jackson’s passing. I generally cite him, Madonna, and Eddie Murphy as my childhood idols. There are other influences, but those three have to be my top early influences.

I’ll admit it right away. I’m a computer geek. When I was 12(or some time around that age range) I would go down to the Commodore64 and write a password program so people couldn’t access my super secret computer program. It would start up and ask you for a password and if you entered it, it would say “Welcome to Patrick’s Secret Program!” and then it would end.

So, now we have it. There’s no question that I am a computer geek. Sometimes I have a hard time realizing that not all people are. I check out websites on any business that I deal with. I just like to look to see what they say. Sadly, I sort of judge things based on their website and their internet literacy.

No. Really. I found the guy who repaired my sprinkler pump using google and his website made it clear that he did indeed fix sprinkler pumps. Several of the sites I looked at weren’t clear if they dealt with sprinkler pumps, though they seemed to. I found my first lawn guy through the internet and hired him through email.

I’m just saying. There’s a large portion of the population that finds websites important. I expected a LAWN guy to be online. Why doesn’t the lawn guy have a blackberry and respond to my emails within an hour?

I suppose I take it for granted that I know how to build and create websites, though I am not a web designer. I’m not even close. I’m enough of a computer geek that I understand web hosts and basic programming that I can do it, but I am sooooo graphically challenged that I need pre-selected colors and pre-defined fonts.

Even though I ‘designed’ this website, you’ll note it says “Powered by WordPress - Theme design by Andreas Viklund” at the bottom. It’s a free template to build from. I can do that. I looked at over 100 templates before picking this one.

I think if you are a small business, you need a webpage with certain information on it. I guess I am just lucky that I understand enough to put something together.

This came up as I was emailing with a friend today who needed to add something to her website.

It’s something I had thought about posting a while ago. I was trying to research Jenn Schober, an agent at Spencerhill Associates, who has come to the local SCWG conference for the last few years. Spencerhill Associates doesn’t have a website. Well, they do…. but… no. That just baffles me.

Anyway, this is prompting me to go back and finish the plan to write a primer on how to create a basic business website that I’ll put up in the ‘about’ section of this website.

Ever notice that your brushing and flossing habits get better as soon as you realize you have a dentist appointment coming up?

He says with a very clean mouth…