Sucked Into The Negative / Happenings In The Outhouse 19-April-2024

It's so easy to get sucked into the black hole that is negativity.

Happens all the time in social media and even in real life.

A few weeks ago, the company I work with made a decision on shifting some employees around to other departments.  They even so far as to offer them the opportunity to work in newly formed departments or offer positions in a variety of other departments.  The department they were currently in was being shifted overseas (where there was already an office).

Now, where is the negativity in this?  Online via social media, of course.  And across the region's news outlets.  The majority of the headlines and articles were slanted against the company, and did not reflect the true picture of what was going on.

I am in no way, shape, or form backing what the company was doing, as it could have done a much better job of communicating.  That being said, it brings to light the bigger picture of negativity.  I read the comments and shook my head at how misinformed people are.

So I digress: do not get sucked into the mire of negativity.  Move on.  Take a step back and see the bigger picture.

Natural Born / Happenings In The Outhouse 12-April-2024

No one is a "natural born" anything.

Yes, I agree that we're all inclined one way or another when it comes to certain tasks.  Some have innate abilities toward gardening or automotive repair or cooking or carpentry or writing or drawing or whatever else, but no one comes right out of the womb with abilities born in us.

What brings this on was the newest season of Hell's Kitchen on Tubi.  My wife and I watched it, and so many of the aspiring chefs kept saying they were a natural born leader, etc.  No one is a natural born leader.  Or anything else, for that matter.

And if you need to say it out loud, clearly you're not one.

Rant over.

What are some things you naturally aspire to do?

When Cop Stuff Is Not Told Right / Happenings In The Outhouse 05-April-2024

This goes with any profession.  From law enforcement to nursing, from plumbing to pilots, and a host of other things, it's difficult to get all of the details right.

As a former law enforcement officer, with years of experience throughout many aspects of that profession, it irks me when I see shows where things are so wrong.  My wife and I just finished watching the hit TV show Sons of Anarchy.  We loved it, but there were aspects of both law enforcement and nursing that struck us both.

It's difficult to get all of the details right, but when some are so blatant (cocking back the hammer on a Glock pistol, for example) I just shake my head as it throws me right out of a story.

The storyline for SOA was complex and entertaining.  Yes, you were cheering on the bad guy, but when there were varying degrees of badness, you seemed to be cheering on some more than others.

The first thing that struck me was that city cops typically wear blue.  County deputies wear brown.  All of the city cops in SOA wore brown.  And when it came to hospitals and security, that seemed to be thrown right out the window with SOA.  No one should be able to walk into a hospital administrator's office or a doctor's office that is closed.

In a nutshell, if you're going to make things far-fetched as SOA had done, do it well when it comes to story.

It's all in the details.

And I could go on with this.  I probably will in future posts . . .

End of Q1 2024 / Happenings In The Outhouse 29-March-2024

We are nearing the end of the first quarter of 2024.

What does this mean?  It means I will review my "Next 5 Things" list for this quarter, what I accomplished, what I didn't, and will then write up my list of goals for the next three months.

I have been doing this for quite some time.  I like the process of narrowing my goals to 5 major things.  If I need to add or revise (I rarely subtract; in fact I never do), then I'll do so.

These 5 things revolve around the 3 major segments of my business: research and development, production, and sales.  In other words, I keep feeding my learning of this business, I work on whatever I'm working on, and will also get them out into the world.

Another Short One / Happenings In The Outhouse 22-March-2024

Another short one today.

Still writing, working on a new short story.  More on it next week.

Organizing Stories / Happenings In The Outhouse 15-March-2024

I have kept a spreadsheet of all my writing--from finished and published stories to works in progress--for a long time.  It's interesting to see this list grow over these past number of years.

But I have been running into an issue lately that I may need to revamp it.  It's a good problem to have, truth be told.  With close to 60 stories to keep track of, I need to rethink how I have them organized.  Specifically, the short stories that I am submitting for publication or contests.

How you organize your stories is up to you.  But I stress that you at least keep track of them, even if all of them are self-published.  Whether you go physically writing them down to organizing them electronically (or both) is what you feel most comfortable with.

As a side note: I will NOT share how I'm organizing because it's unnecessary and it may not work for you.  So please do not ask.

Another Story Completed / Happenings In The Outhouse 08-March-2024

A short one today.

In the next week or two, I'll write a post on the hit TV show Sons of Anarchy.  My wife and I have been binge watching it--she had already seen the entire series 5-6 times and loves to watch my reaction to each twist and turn.  As of this writing, we have finished the 5th season (there are 7 seasons total) and are well into season 6.

I finished a short story, as part of an online class I had taken several months back--the assignment had no time limit, which gave me ample time to complete it.

I have two stories now completed lately, so now I'm going back for a final sweep and then sending it out.