The Next New Thing

So, in the past few weeks I've been caught up in a whirlwind. I applied for a job and got called in for an interview, then another interview, then I was offered the job and I accepted it.

My new job is being the Training Coordinator (aka staff trainer) for an organization that works with the developmentally disabled. It's an exciting opportunity and I'm really happy about it. Of course, since the organization is nearly 70 miles away, it's meant some very early mornings for me lately. It's also meant looking for a new place to live and trying to get settled into the new job and remember the names of a lot of new people.

It's a lot of work and a lot to sort out. But, on the whole, it's a very good adventure.

August Photo Contest

I'm off to photo club soon. Every meeting features a contest, the themes for the year are announced each January with one theme per month. This month's theme was sunset/sunrise, and it was tough. I had a hard time getting photos because there are so many elements that go along with the perfect sunset photo, like timing (obviously), clouds to reflect the sunset color off of, and things like having a focal element aside from just the sunset because have you ever seen a photo of a straight sunset? It's kind of boring, actually. You need good landscape, or a good subject, etc. to really make the photo work. In the end, I'm not all that satisfied with the photo I'll be submitting, but I'm still submitting it because it was the best photo I got for the theme and a huge reason for participating in the contests is the participation itself.


Things I like about this photo: the sunset was a beautiful one, with pretty clouds and bright reds.
Things I don't like about this photo: the angle (I think it would have worked better if I'd been able to get a lower angle) and the sharpness isn't all it could have been.

Radio Silence

No posts lately, but for good reason. Something's come up that's made me very busy. I'm holding off on commenting just yet, but I'll post details next week.

Unwrapping Old Stories

The first thing I had to do with my 100 pages challenge was decide what to print on those pages. Cue a trip to my old computer files. I skimmed over file names, focused on finding stories that were old enough that I could look at them with fresh eyes.

Suffice it to say, there were a solid handful that I haven't looked at in a few years. One or two, I didn't even recognize the file name. I saw a file and literally had no idea what it was. Then I opened it and viola! It was kind of like Christmas morning.

Current printed page count: 33

100 Colorful Pages

After all of this drafting during the past two months, I think it's time to shift gears and focus on revising.

Jenny does this thing where she prints out drafts on colored paper. First draft is one color. Second draft another, and so on. The idea is that each draft is then color-coded and she can easily track how the work has evolved.

Well, I don't know about all that mumbo jumbo, but I do know that office supplies are fun and they make paper in so many pretty, pretty colors these days. Yesterday, I picked up a pack of bright yellow paper. In this pack there are 100 sheets and in August, I am going to use them all.

My goal for August is pretty straight forward. I'm going to look at some things I've already written and I'm going to print them out on my new colorful paper. Then I'm going to read through the pages and write all over them. Simple, isn't it?

I've got 100 pages to print and write up. Now I just have to look at what I've got in my files and decide what to print. Here goes step one of a great revision adventure. Stay tuned.