Sunday, January 27, 2019

And ... I'm Back

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I transferred my domain to a new company and experienced an outage for a short time. It was not the
fault of the new company. After a few frustrating days of this website being down and researching potential problems, the new company asked me a question which led me to the answer. Apparently the previous company did something which, once the domain was transferred, the DNS was not being read.

I tried to contact the original company via phone, but the wait time was longer than the time I had available. Later, after work (meaning at 2AM), I was going to try again and discovered that they had a 24-hour online chat available, so I decided to do that, so I could attend to a couple of other things during the inevitable wait.

The wait. Yes. at 2AM I was #164 in the queue (no exaggeration) and the wait was estimated to be at least 58 minutes. At 2AM.

No.

I gave up, disconnected, and went to bed.

As happens from time to time, a potential solution came to me while I slept. Combined with the information from the new company - which I was able to contact via email (go figure! a tech company I can correspond with via email) - I remembered that there was a workaround on this website a few years ago when the original domain company made a change in their process.

Armed with the while-I-slept insight and the new company information, I found some articles online and I was able to repair this website and get it up and running.

So what does this have to do with writing? Well, authors are expected to have websites and this is the one I have right now. We often have to depend on others for hosting and domains and design and so on. But it can also be useful to have some basic knowledge to be able to do it ourselves. And enough knowledge to know when we can't and we need the help of people more knowledgeable.

It also has to do with selling books, because until today, this was the only place my book was available for sale. Unless we happened to be in the same place at the same time, and I happened to have some books with me (which I almost always do - just in case).

As of today, my book, Pickle Blanket Chronicles: A Flash Mixtape, is also available at Literary Kitchen online. Thank you to Ariel Gore and the Lit Kit Collective, my book can be purchased through that website, too.

Website up and running again? Check.
Book available for sale? Check.

Other current happenings:
- the POC interpreter performance interpreting workshop is going well. We had our last in-person all group meeting last week. I am currently working with two participants on one show and one participant on a different show. We will begin the process of the final project in a few weeks (a group of them will interpret "Crowns," with additional mentoring from an experienced POC performance interpreter and theatre person).
- I am in a Write Now workshop/collab with Lidia Yuknavitch and Domi Shoemaker; we are in the final week right now. This is a process created by Lidia this time around, called Narrative Palimpsest and I love it. It is a wonderful group of writers and we are creating new writing with this new process. I can't wait to see how they develop and grow.
- I am still editing the memoir. I believe I am nearing the end of the hand edits - then the giant task of getting all of that into the computer (along with the inevitable edits and rewrites which will result from that process).
- I am signed up as a participant in an author reading during the AWP conference, in an offsite event. I am nervous (always) and excited. I don't know what I will read, yet - but I have plenty of time to decide.
- and more. But that's enough for now.

Thank you for reading.

If you're curious what's happening in my performance interpreting world, here is one resource where I post upcoming shows and information related to those plays. I also sometimes post information for other interpreted or signed performances, as well: Performing Arts Interpreting Alliance Facebook page.

If you are looking for a new domain company, check out Porkbun!


Friday, January 4, 2019

A New Year Without Resolutions

Yes, it is a new year : 2019.

Seasonal/solstice dinner with friends.
A night of good food, laughter,
drinks, and game-playing.
Nope, I did not set any New Year resolutions. Nope, I won't.

I do have a few things I'm working on in my life, like not getting triggered by aggressive personalities (had a "learning opportunity" setback on that one recently), and making choices based from my inside to looking out rather than the other way around. There are some other shifts in my writing, my writing practice and writing goals and inspiration.

But these are changes based on personal development, focus, and over time.

I am totally fine with not setting New Year's resolutions which have a high chance of failure. Instead, I have steady development and growth in areas which are already showing results and improving quality of life. I understand people who like to set goals and have a traceable starting point and maybe a community of newness and hope in starting to develop new habits with the incoming new year. It's just not for me.

My writing has moved to a new level and this feels like a permanent shift; one which may stick around this time. This week I made some major edits on the long-running book project and I can see that light at the end of this particular tunnel (handwritten edits); there is a long and tedious tunnel right after this where the edits go into the computer document (which I am confident will result in more edits). Giant strides forward happened this week and I have just another inch or inch and a half of printed pages to go. It has seemed very daunting, looking at hundreds and hundreds of printed pages, going over every word, and multiple times, for content and style edits, with an aim of consistency and congruency.

I also had a breakthrough this week in structure; I have an idea of how I can weave some sections together and perhaps spackle in a few gaps in the timeline in a way that will work.

It is exciting and not overwhelming.

It is also 2019 and this one really did come on fast. Another saying I've grown tired of and rolled my eyes at ("time has flown" or "I can't believe it's already _____") which is Now Actually True. Year 2018 feels like a blink.

Whatever your personal perspective on to resolution or not resolution, I hope that your holiday season brought you some peace and joy and that the New Year was ushered in with ease and friendly companionship (or whatever brings you contentment).