The Day After—Writing Hangover

Dear Gentle Reader: My brain is sore from writing and thinking about writing yesterday. I am so out of practice. I feel spent. Sleep deprivation can do that to you. I did my exercise of brainstorming and listing all the possible things I want to write about, but nothing seemed to scream “pick me.” Maybe I need to let it rest; let me rest. But I did promise to try to write a post or thought each day for Blogadays, so I will massage my aching head and try again tomorrow.

Thought for the day: Permission to rest. Sometimes one needs it.

Counting Down to Nanowrimo 2016

Nanowrimo is just around the corner. Although I’ve participated since 2007, I have yet to reach the goal of 50,000 words. Like many folks, I make the usual excuses—too busy, too stressed, too tired—but the truth is, I’m always busy, stressed, and tired. And yet, this year feels different somehow.  

How so? I am more self-aware. After ten years of “failing,” I’m practically an expert. I’ve learned how I work and why I don’t. My strength is that I’m a great starter with lots of energy and ideas in the beginning. However, I know that after a few days I burn out, or I lose momentum very quickly once I see how far behind I’m getting. Therefore, I really need to stay on target with little tricks and incentives/disincentives along the way.

What I plan to do differently this year for Nanowrimo:

Effective HTML Email Tip #1: K.I.S.S. (Keep It Short and Simple)

Twitter has been instrumental in teaching me to cut the fat/filler from my writing. I still have a ways to go, but compared to how I used to write, the difference is amazing.

Some of the projects I work on involve designing templates for HTML emails. I am given text to get a sense of how much space is needed, but inadvertently I end up reading the content and asking myself: