Tag: self-care

Other Cool Blogs: Escape (Liana Brooks) (X is for X-scape)

Erin Penn 6 Comments

Photo by Eriks Cistovs on Unsplash

Do you have a Bug-Out Bag for when disaster strikes? Or a “stay-in-place” for three days – the things in the backpack are the same either way usually.

My area is hurricane season (June to November with the focus August to October). Further North could be a snow or ice event. Out West fires. Recently for Hawaii, volcanoes. Also on the list are man-made issues with nuclear plants and riots. Recently in North Carolina, some eejit decided to disable the electric grid for Moore County by shooting it up right before a cold snap in early December, leaving forty-five thousand people without power for nearly a week in border-line freezing temperatures. Christmas shopping was shelved for survival spending – the entire county businesses had a devastating hit right before their biggest money making of the year, and all those people expecting overtime instead scrambled to find a shelter not filled to capacity.

Anyway, Liana Brooks put together a basic checklist for a 72-Hour Kit (basically the three days it takes relief organizations to mobilize). Whether shelter-in-place or getting the heck-out-of-Dodge, X-scape is the key (okay, not the perfect X for A-to-Z, but still important).

“72-Hour Checklist” by Liana Brooks (9/11/2018) – (spelled out URL: http://www.lianabrooks.com/72-hour-checklist/?fbclid=IwAR3aoCd6fjz3n29BWrJwv65oTBEQRluS3Wpvs3BOkgRiZhEk5VQrH6zkhL4) – Last viewed 12/13/2022 – note that the site is HTTP, not HTTPS (secure).)

Other helpful sites and lists:

(Bug Out Bag Builder . com)

WRITING EXERCISE: Okay, not really writing this time, but still essential. Make your WUSH kit (Wake Up, Stuff’s Happening) for by your bed. As a writer, I really like the suggestion by the Bug Out Bag Builder to keep your USB backup drive there. Yes, I will still be freaked out about losing my computer to a fire, but I won’t have lost everything.

This is the minimal kit – just grab and go to escape a fire or other house disaster. Store it by your night stand or under the bed, so you can wake and get outside in seconds. This go-bag is small; it should sling over the shoulder like a purse to keep the arms free to grab the children and pets.

May you never need it and may you have it if you do need it.

A) Wallet and Cell Phone – either store them in the bag at night or set things up so they are easily sweep into the bag in an emergency. Store an extra phone charger for your phone in the bag.

B) Keys – one for the house and one for the car. These are the extra keys and should live in the bag. Don’t waste time looking for keys – these should be there.

C) USB backup drive – As a writer/creative, you should be backing up your computer at least monthly. Store the backup in the WUSH bag. Digital copies of the following should be in a fire: Driver’s License, Passport, Marriage License and Birth Certificates, Social Security Cards, Deed for House and Car, Insurance Polices for House and Car, Health insurance info, Credit cards (front and back – so you can call the issuer if they get destroyed).

Bonus storage for family photos, phone numbers (in case the phone is lost), and other things you don’t want to live without.

(Set a calendar alert on your phone or computer to remind you to backup the computer once a month.)

Store the backup drive in a ziplock bag in case of wet.

D) Physical copies of: Passport (if you don’t carry it daily), Marriage License and Birth Certificates, Social Security Cards, Deed for House and Car, Insurance Polices for House and Car, Health Insurance info, Physical print off of copies of both sides credit cards and driver’s license (so you don’t have to find a computer for the USB backup), blank checks (if you have them), printoff of phone numbers and addresses of family, friends, and neighbors emergency contacts.

Plus some extra cash. A mix of small and large bills, enough to get a single meal and pay for overnight stay in a hotel.

E) Medications and prescription glasses – Remember to rotate the prescription medications. Keep three days in the WUSH bag, the full bug-out kit should have another four days for a total of seven days between them. For the glasses, when you get a new pair, the old pair goes in the bag. They won’t be the best, but at least the old glasses are better than nothing.

F) Flashlight – because 50% of the time, disaster will strike during night hours.

G) Food – Just one or two snack bars, especially if you have kids. Not much though, so you don’t attract ants to your bedroom.

H) Small first aid kit – a couple Band-Aids, nail clippers, and some tweezers will do. One mensuration pad (doubles as a big bandage). Don’t go nuts, this is a small kit.

Now that you have the WUSH, set aside time to put together a full go-bag as well. Remember to rotate stock in both regularly – maybe set a calendar reminder like that USB backup.

O is for Other: On the Other Side

Erin Penn 2 Comments

Meme created by Erin Penn

During the SAGA Professional Writer’s Conference in 2023, Gail Z. Martin quoted a motivational speaker, saying the words changed her life. I webcrawled until I found the original speaker then made a meme with the appropriate attribution. It was the first of the memes I envisioned during the conference, down to what the picture should look like.

That is always the problem with meme creation, finding the right picture. I was ecstatic when I found the fissure against the fire background. Exactly what I wanted.

Now onto why acknowledging fear is good writing advice. “You can’t write a novel.” because it will impact your social standing, or your ability to make a living, or is too hard and there is a chance of failure. Each of these arguments are based in fear. Because, really, you can write a novel.

It might not be a good novel, but if you want to write a novel, stringing together enough words is the only requirement. Making something good enough to sell is a different issue, but if you WANT to write a novel, there is no deadline, no judge, just time spent doing what you WANT to do.

Anything you WANT to do is possible. Want a new job, then job hunt. Want a vacation – maybe Cancun isn’t in the budget, but a beach vacation is within reach.

Now, you might not WANT to do the work. Writing a novel is lot of work, but don’t let anyone say you can’t when you are capable of writing.

Also remember writing is a learning process. No one masters a job in one year. A person goes through years of training in normal school, then months of specialized training, then “probation” on the job. And still it is three-to-five years before you are really, really good at it. The first novel will suck – it may be possible to polish it to good – but the first draft of the first novel is going to be bad as the first picture you ever drew. You know, the one with your mom’s arms growing out of her neck.

Still, first that first draft of that first novel.

If that is what you WANT.

Meme created by Erin Penn

Other Cool Blogs: Medium – Murray Blehart

Erin Penn

Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash

How much is too much?

Murry Blehart asked this question back in December in his blog “Is There Such a Thing as Too Many Stories in the Queue?” (Medium, 12/13/2022). (The link written out is: https://mjblehart.medium.com/is-there-such-a-thing-as-too-many-stories-in-the-queue-266e53926f29)

He gives a comforting answer of find your own path and be aware of your joys and limitations (his blog on medium is about mindfulness).

Do I have too many jobs? At present count, now that the political job four-year term is over (and related supporting political job), I’m down to ONLY seven gigs. 

Do I have too many stories? (Looking over the blog, with flash ideas in the hundreds.)

Do I have too many projects? (Looking around the room at the to-be-done piles.)

Yes, and yet, no.

The jobs are needed to pay the bills and that loss of income from the political jobs – small though it is – hurts and I’m trying to figure out a way to make it up. But the keeping track of them and switching between them sucks up executive decision-making energy better used for creative vitality. I have fun with them, but I could have fun with other things too.

The stories just keep coming and I have no more control over them than the weeds in the yard – write them or pull them, the project is not a project but a process. (Project in business-speak has an completion-date, Process is on-going tasks like cleaning the home, making meals, or a manufacturing line. Individual tasks within a process many be completed, but the task will be there again tomorrow because most things in life is about flow. Life is a river, not a port.)

Projects? Well, I also try to keep the new shinnies down but…

Find more Catana Comics at: https://catanacomics.com/ (and many other web locations and in book stores)

WRITING EXERCISE: Take a moment and think mindfully. Are your “stories-in-queue” (or pictures to be drawn, or embroidery to be done, or tasks) bringing your joy or burdens? Is it too much? If too much, think what to trim to bring it under control. If not, celebrate the Joy and take a moment on your queue.

Magical Words: Capacity

Erin Penn

Photo by Natalie Grainger on Unsplash

It’s tax season and every day is get up; figure out which office I’m assigned to and get to work;  work, work, work. Get home; do a survival chore (dishes, laundry, groceries, etc.); slip in some writing; and at least one thing for my other gigs (edit, review, read). Go, go, go. Remember to eat and sleep, because I’m in a marathon and I can’t fall down because I forgot basic chores for keeping the body running.

I’m at capacity. Especially right now when W-2 are landing in mail boxes every day.

My cup overflows.

John G. Hartness wrote a Magical Words post on October 3, 2016 about “Managing Your Capacity.”

Right now, my capacity isn’t dedicated to writing. Basically six months of the combination of package then tax season, then a calmer six months of conventions with some gig work. During the Convention season, writing and editing will increase.

Mr. Hartness points out your capacity changes, and that is okay. Work with your creative energy to get big projects done with big energy and small projects done with small energy. Right now, I got small creative energy, but that works just fine for putting up a blog.

Again the URL is: http://www.magicalwords.net/john-hartness-2/making-money-mondays-managing-your-capacity/

Other Blogs: David B. Coe, Author of Fantasy

Erin Penn

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

January brings a host of resolutions and resolves – the biggest combo is work better and clean stuff. Strangely the work better often comes from cleaning stuff. Having room to work without the mental fatigue of seeing other tasks and duties can make a huge difference in attitude.

David B. Coe describe this dilemma and solution in his Professional Wednesday: Tending to Our Work Space (May 18, 2022). (The direct link is: https://www.davidbcoe.com/2022/05/18/professional-wednesday-tending-to-our-work-space/ – last viewed 12/12/2022)

Between package season for my post office job and tax season for my other day-job, my desk is buried in paperwork and project lists and I don’t know when I will get through it all. There are tasks years old that I still mean to get to someday. My honey-do list to myself.

When I did the yard hole-fill-in last year (see lawn leveling), I got rejuvenated. A task weighing me down was released to the ether. Hope raised and danced the jig for a time.

WRITING EXERCISE

Take two hours (or whatever the project needs) and clean one thing you’ve been meaning to clean. This isn’t a procrastination from writing, but an energy building project. Clean something bothering in the line of sight of your desk. Squeaky wheel – WD-40. Leaky pen – throw it out and replace. One stack of papers that keeps shifting – actually clear it. If it drains energy instead of putting a smile on your face when sitting at your writing desk, fix it.

Just one thing today.

Maybe you need to have one hour of your writing week set aside to maintaining your HAPPY work space. Think about it. If the mess is draining your writing, making it hard to start or to maintain, then something needs doing. Maybe an all out attack like Mr. Coe did over several days (he is a full-time writer, so take that into account on his ability to focus), maybe a happy tree fix once a week.

Comment below on what you did to make your writing space more pleasant to work in this week.

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