Busy Day Makes for Last Minute Post

Today has been jam-packed with things to do. Our organization hosts monthly technical webinars for both members and non-members, they are usually held on the second Tuesday of the month. This month was on "The Fundamentals of Wind Flow and Wind Design." I was the only one in the office, which made it difficult to help anyone who called in with technical problems. Our presenter wasn't able to get his screen to broadcast, even though we practiced with him last Friday. Minutes 12 - 20 of the webinar was us attempting to fix his problem. Eventually, I had him email the presentation file to me, I displayed it on my screen and gave him control of the keyboard and mouse. It worked well, except I was not able to use my computer at all during that time. I wasn't able to chat with viewers in the chat box because it would take the mouse control away from our presenter. So, crisis mostly averted.

Attempting to do some writing

I've realized I have some serious work to do on my writing skills. Being a visual designer, I've always relied on others to create copy for me to use with my designs. Now is the time to up my game and become the writer and the designer. My career has started to stagnate, and I feel it is time to push my abilities and exercise my brain in a new way. One of the first steps I took was to do some research. I found the book "Everybody Writes" by Ann Handley and gave it a good read. I've found it very helpful as a refresher in basic grammar and its suggestions for creating content for multiple outlets - Facebook, Twitter, blogs, magazines, and books. I plan on reading it again, it seems as I get older it is harder to retain information upon the first read. My mom says it only gets worse. Oy vey! I've also started to read "The Copywriter's Handbook." This book is very advertising focused, and may not exactly be what I'm looking for at this point in my career, but I'm going to keep reading it anyway. I feel it could help me design better brochures and write better copy for the materials I produce for the annual conference my association holds. And now the reason for the writing resurgence on this blog, which I haven't touched since February 2012 - exercising my writing skills. How do we learn? By doing. I figured this is a safe arena for my writing and a nice place for me to review my work over time. It would be very exhilarating to have a record of my progress and be able to measure my success from beginning to end. I hope to find fulfillment through expressing myself with the written word. It feels like stretching muscles that have gone long unused. I also hope to find my writer's voice, through more frequent writing I hope to understand more about myself and how I think. I also hope to train myself to become more verbose and well rounded in my writing. As a Communication Manager, I hope to find it easier to communicate better, explain things more thoroughly and utilize better grammar. In "Everybody Writes" Ms. Handley lists many tools to help edit for grammar as well as polishing and organizing a writer's thoughts. One of those tools is WeaveWriter, a daily roadmap for writing. So far (Part 3) I've found it helpful as a guide to finding a place to start with my writing. Most often the advice I hear from successful writers is "just write." Make it a daily habit is something I've heard from David Sedaris, one of my favorite authors. When asked how is it that Mr. Sedaris' writing is so prolific, he says I started writing one afternoon when I was twenty, and ever since then I have written every day. At first, I had to force myself. Then it became part of my identity, and I did it without thinking. It helped to have jobs that involved running around, pushing things like dish carts and wheelbarrows. It would be hard to sit at a desk all day, and then come to sit at another desk. Also, it helps to abandon hope. If I sit at my computer, determined to write a New Yorker story I won’t get beyond the first sentence. It’s better to put no pressure on it. What would happen if I followed the previous sentence with this one, I’ll think. If the eighth draft is torture, the first should be fun. At least if you’re writing humor. I'm pretty sure I'll never reach the publishing level of "Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls" but I hope to escalate my career and develop myself for the future. I hope to gain confidence in my writing and pride in creating content for all manners of writing outlets.

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