Motivation for Mondays: This job ad will do it

If you're one of the writers who saw this ad today...

I need writers that can write on a variety of subjects. These are
mainly research articles in different formats and with varied
subjects. The subjects vary and include:

home and garden
technology
children
animals
art and culture
cooking
automobile
arts and entertainment
Business
Computers
Health and fitness
science

Will train the right people. Pay varies but averages about .08$ per
word and articles range from 300 to 500 words. If interested please
email and I will have you do a test article, which you will be paid
for if its accepted.

...I hope you deleted the e-mail right away. Aside from the typos included in the ad, there are at least two other things wrong with this "opportunity": the pay (8 cents per word? Kidding, right?) and the fact that you'd have to do a "test" article first. Kidding again, right?

If this doesn't motivate you to get your work done so you don't feel like you have to resort to even considering an ad like this, I don't know what will.

In a phrase, content mills suck. And I think starving writers should unite against them.

Your voice, your vote--be counted

Last night at 6:29 p.m., I realized, "Oh, crap! I forgot to vote in the primary."

So I quickly got dressed, fed my dog, and headed out the door.

Then, "Oops! Don't know where the polling place is."

Since it changes every year, and I'd trashed the mail-in documents with the information I needed on it, I couldn't be sure where I needed to go. So I quickly got online to find the location. I googled "Arizona polling sites," by the way, because I didn't know exactly where to search and didn't remember I could go straight to the Arizona Secretary of State's office to get the information I needed. Well, now I know.

By the time I found what I was looking for I only had 10 minutes left before polling closed. And wouldn't you know it? I got in my car to drive over and realized I had left the directions inside the house. No worries. Didn't need them. I'd been to the place before and thought I could find it easily enough. Nope. Took two wrong turns in my neighborhood before I found the street I wanted and saw the Greek Orthodox church I remembered from last time.

As soon as I started to walk up to the building, a man yelled across the yard at me, "Two minutes!"

I had to laugh because I thought I was down to one.

But I made it in time. As soon as I walked in the door, I saw my neighbor who was working the polls. She showed me where to sign, and I received my ballot. I was the last person to vote there that day.

Another poll worker stuck a sticker on my shirt. Whew! I served my duty.

The thing is. I didn't want to.

That was no accident that I "forgot" to vote. I didn't want to. I've been feeling more and more disaffected with politics and government in the last four years than I ever have in my entire life, to the point that I don't care to participate. And, yet, I know on some level, it has to make a difference when you do.

In my youthful years, particularly the college years and the early years of my career, I loved to talk politics. Loved it. Read every single thing that was newsworthy and politically-related. Subscribed to political magazines. Read biographies of important political figures. But I almost never do that anymore. In fact, I've avoided it altogether.

Until this year.

I've started to regain an interest because of the immigration bill my governor signed into law this year. It was horrendously controversial. And it really made me realize, "I don't have a voice."

At least, not unless I use it. So that's why I voted.

Will you vote in your primary?

Motivation for Mondays!

There's nothing so fun (and flattering) as discovering who else besides your publisher is carrying your book and selling it front and center. I made the above discovery on Sunday, while researching another book project I'm hoping to write in the future.

Can you see my book? It's right there on page 1 of the Southwest Books section at this online bookstore. It might seem like a little thing to some, but to me it was highly motivating! It made my day, as if it were a little shot in the arm for self-esteem health.

For the week ahead, so you're sure to stay motivated and productive, consider what little things like this have motivated you in the past, or what's pushing you now. Make a list, and stick that in front of your computer or somewhere visible near your work station. Let yourself be reminded of your contribution to the world.

Even if you haven't received any recent feedback, your work matters to someone. And sometimes we find this out unexpectedly, or by accident, as I did on Sunday. After I stumbled upon this site, I realized my book provides this online bookstore with product, and that's something that matters to them. It helps the store stay in business, and that's a nice way to think about what I created.

So think about what you're creating (a book, articles, artwork, etc.) or think about what service you provide to others. Who benefits from your work? Remind yourself why you keep doing what you do, and let that be a motivating force for you this week.

By the way, the discount offered for my book at this site is a better bargain than what I've seen lately at Amazon.com. So if you know anyone who's looking for a great guide to Arizona's backcountry, spread the word. Send them the above link, or refer them to my site. I appreciate any and all referrals--and purchases. Thank you. Have a great week!

Where would we be without friends?

You can find out the answer to that and more over at Irene Levine's Friendship Blog.

Today, Irene, the author (pictured above with me in Quebec City this summer) of Best Friends Forever, features a post about traveling with friends--and lessons on how to do it right. Her post includes a photo with "yours truly" from a whirlwind girlfriend getaway I took with new friends through the Eastern Townships of Quebec this summer. Obviously, we were all enjoying fresh made ice cream right off the dairy farm.

Click over and guess which one is me!

Need a hug?

I do.

I need a hug or two, or three...[[[hug]]].

Why? I'll tell you why. It started yesterday, when I began experiencing technical difficulties with my computer/network/Internet connection. Missed a deadline. And the computer didn't seem to care. No matter how much troubleshooting I did with him. Frustrated, I went to sleep. It was already late for me, anyway.

Then, this morning, I was on the phone for THREE HOURS with the computer technicians who could only TEMPORARILY fix my computer. And you know how you have to answer questions, do all those things, check this, check that, disconnect this, try this, try that, and converse back and forth to the guy you wind up interrupting most of the time because you need to clarify a command or question? Well, I have a cold--a hacking, nagging cough kind of cold--and I kept hacking over the phone, not hearing him over that, and then finally we reached a conclusion. The temporary fix. It's probably my computer, not the connection. So I'll have to go through this again with someone else. But what else can you do when your computer goes on the fritz?!

Ya gotta do it. Just not now.

I need to give my voice a rest. And I have a meeting in a half hour.

Needless to say, I am NOT having a good day, and I just want to go sit in a dark room and cry. But I can't. I'm heading out to my meeting, and then getting right back to work. The deadline is still there, and now it's nagging me.

You know what else? Even exercise didn't help much, though it probably helped me suffer through the phone consultation with the computer guy who could not really fix my computer. At least he kept apologizing and was nice. Still, that whole situation was, well, you know, aggravating.

And did I tell you my eye is watering. Just my right eye. Don't know why. Allergies, maybe? Not sure. But it's probably not good, and I'm going to have to do my best to ignore it for now.

Yes, even the lady who usually motivates and inspires you has a bad day every now and then. And, boy, did it feel good to get that off my chest!

Anyone else need to rant? Post your lengthy rants here, so we can all commiserate together.

Hugs to you!