Tag: digital nomad

the Writing Process

The Writing Process – Preptopber 13, 2021

 

Also known as a habit, whether you develop the practice of writing ten pages a day or continue with the speed of NaNoWriMo at One thousand six hundred sixty seven words a day, the key to being an accomplished writer in my point of view is to continue with one story until it is finished. 

If you can not finish the story, and you constantly go on to the next story idea you have, oftentimes you will find other authors no longer take you seriously in the craft of writing. 

Consistency with word count – Five hundred words consistently written each day will produce a One hundred eighty-five thousand five hundred word tomb by the end of the year.

Regularity with page counts – two pages written each day will produce a seven hundred thirty page epic saga by the end of the year.

Viscosity – using a flow of time to create words of fifteen minutes a day, will produce at least a novel by the end of the year. 

Bullet points to strive for: 

  • Consistency – word count, page count, allotted time
  • Consistency – page count, allotted time, word count
  • Consistency – allotted time, word count, page count
  • Follow through and type “The End” or “The End for Now”

 

Write for the story. Do not get attached to the outcome of your story. Let me explain, if your goal is two pages a day or five hundred words, sometimes dialogue will fall short of that five hundred, yet you have a full two pages.

So open up your document, set it to your favorite font or use one of mine (Merriweather, Book Antique, Crimson Text) and 12 px font.

Have fun writing and building a new habit.

Books, Books, Books

September brings another chance for my east coast readers to meet me in person.  This event, originally scheduled for Harrisburg, PA has moved to Carlisle, PA.  I hope to see you there.

My new-to-me RV

These last couple of exciting months have provided me with the sale of my old class C RV and a new-to-me RV. As some of you know from my meanderings, in 2017 I was suppose to purchase a Class A Rexall that my friend had renovated and that fell through when she decided to keep it.  It had the floor plan I dreamed of and zero slide-ins to have anything go wrong. Then 2021 came along and another buddy had a lifestyle change and decided to sell her RV.  I hired Vagabond RV Solutions to do an inspection and bought my airline ticket to go retrieve my new to me RV with slide outs. My old class C sold in less than two days after I put it on Facebook Marketplace. I had my license plates in hand and ready to get my new home. Well, my luck did not hold out and she reneged on the sale two days before my scheduled flight making me houseless.

On the upside of things, I have an RV site on the river for my spring/summer time in Ohio. I love my spot on river.  When it rains on the river and floods, I will then move to my home in the hollow or travel. So far, I haven’t spent any time on the river due to decorating and making the RV I did purchase mine.

Things really looked sad in June when things were falling apart left and right. I’m so glad I took the set backs in stride and began looking again.  My eldest says, “Mom, let’s go look at this one.” I told her I was looking for a condo and not a quan set hut. Then we went to see what this offered.

Ignoring the custom paint job, I viewed the interior.  It is not the Rexall, but it is a close runner up.  The floor is wood plank.

The front seats swivel for additional seating. The fold out table against the wall at one time had a chair beside it. The TV is the Panasonic in the cockpit dash. The walls and upholstery were denim blue-gray. I felt as if I had stepped on to a USN ship once again.

Fast forward. I bought it after I had my mechanic check it over.  Now, unlike the Class C, he can not work on it because it is 34 feet long and a tri-axle. It has a Chevy workhorse chassie and a 454 engine, plus an aluminum frame and roof. It is a 1990 Holiday Rambler Imperial, that sports a custom paint job in a classic rendition of the WW2, Bomber aircraft.

Say hello to Lucy Shark, and her theme song is the verse: Grammy Shark, doo doo doo doo doo.

Next Blog post will be a tour inside of her since I have made her mine.

Do you really live in an RV?

Do you really live in an RV?   Why, yes I do. I’ve lived in an RV for a couple of years now.  Recently I moved back on to the farm while repairs are made. Some might say well then you don’t really live in an RV… I would have to disagree because of eight percent of my time is spent on the road.  I’ve had renters that lived on the farm, and now it is my time to fix and repair before I hit the road again.

It does seem odd to me not moving daily, weekly, or at least a couple of times a month. This fall and winter, I will be taking short trips here and there.  Always returning to finish projects that are in process. Currently, the bathroom is under construction including an actual new tub.

After this project, then I’ll begin in the master bathroom and rehang the door, change paneling and add new curtains.  I know the rooms I want to remodel. I’m waiting on each room to let me know how they want to be designed. I know it sounds a bit weird, but the bathroom my ideas just wouldn’t become concrete as to what I wanted to do.  Now they are very solid as well as the colors.

My thoughts on the current bathroom remodel.  I would like the long wall corrugated barn siding galvanized metal and each end a white fiberglass. The tub is white.  The walls will have a wallpaper above a faux wainscoting and all colors will be white, sand, turquoise and accents of a navy.  I’m excited to see it finished and thoughts becoming things of beauty.

The RV is parked until my next trip.  I do love to travel, meet new folks, and see new sites.  In 2019 I want to make it to a couple of writers conferences and return to New Orleans again. Until next time…

 

When you run short on time and still want to write

When you run short on time and still want to write you either make time or dictate on the go.  If you choose the later, then transcribing can be a chore. There are a lot of virtual assistants that do transcribe only and nothing else.  Which means you will need to do all the edits yourself.

I have found that google docs have a voice typing tool.  You dictate to google docs. This feature is not always accurate and sometimes when I use it, my article reads as if the aliens dictated it.  Speak slowly, enunciate clearly, and read it often to make sure you are actually capturing what you dictate.

At times my southern twang drives it to the brink of a chaos hijinks. I do like and recommend it as a form of the old Dragon Speaks program.  The drawback is it doesn’t work on all my devices.

Log into docs.google.com with your Gmail account and you have an online equivalent to Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.