Small Steps and Big Changes

I was supposed to put up a post last week but there was a lot going on and I really didn't have the heart for it at that point...

What do I mean by a lot? Well, in addition to the standard "I'm working on a book," and "Lisa's dissertation..." There's the other book, and the videos, and calling and setting apart a whole new ward council to go with our new ward, and calling and setting apart all the other callings in the ward, and the training class I'm putting together, and Lisa's mom had health issues...
Oh yeah....
And my mom died last Sunday...

I'm not going to talk a lot about that last one right now (I'd rather wait till the memorial service is over and since I have no idea when that's going to be yet...) For now I will say that she will be missed. And, in about a year we can do her temple work...
Beyond that I'm really not going into that one right now.

In happier news my third editing pass on Johnson Farm is going really well. Hopefully at the beginning of next month I can get it out of my hands and start the next phase of my plan for that book. Hopefully it will be coming out in fall 2016 or spring 2017 (no I have not forgotten the novella (Abadon Woods) it is in the working schedule too; it's just that Johnson Farm is getting some traction...)

I am also moving forward with the chainmaille book. I'm on course to pick up editing the book again in March and to put it on the market in April. CBK has another first for me, it's the first book I've done that specifically includes links to video supplements.

Speaking of the video supplements the first one is live today!



The video is teaching a step in one of the projects that's easier to show than write about...
I've got scripts for three others ready to go as soon as I can get a volunteer to run the camera. They need live action and I've learned not to try to film and be the talent in the video!

There is a fourth video in the works (script in edits) and I have a glass project video in production as well. (see, I told you this stuff was coming!!!).

Lisa is working on chapter 2 of her dissertation as well as the actual materials and mechanisms for the data collection. Her adviser is reviewing chapter three. She is also working on conference proposals - a total of 4 (yes it's that time of year again...).

Until next time,
Try to have some fun and take care of each other...
(meanwhile I will be pondering fun terms like "search engine optimization" and "funeral urn")

Something I've learned

OK gang, today's post is a little bit different. Specifically the main point of the post isn't here!

Actually it's here, on Wordsmeanstuff.  Yes, the main point of today's post is on my other blog (not really planing on writing it twice!)

This is something from an actual event in the process of changing ward boundaries... which by the way is a pain in the (explicitve deleted).

In other news Lisa is hoping to propose her dissertation and gather the data this semester. Over on his side of the house Patrick has finished the first major editing pass for the novel Johnson Farm which, in spite of heavy pruning of words, has managed to gain 10 pages and about a thousand words in the process. There is also something about entering a national short story contest, but I'll get back to the fiction stuff in two weeks, or when I'm $3,000 richer which ever comes first.

That's it for this week.
Until next time remember,
no idea is a complete failure...
it can always be used as a bad example!

Let's hope this year is calmer than... ok... maybe not!

Well, Christmas went well around the Kidder household, and relatively calmly since it was just the two of us. Significantly we made it through our first post diabetes diagnosis Christmas without too much trouble over the yummy food (though Lisa is basically having to finish a box of See's candy by herself...).

And then the new year started, and was pretty calm until about 10:00 AM on January first!

Words 'n junk...

This month I'm editing that novel Johnson Farm that I started as a NANOWRIMO project in November and I started on the first. So far the revisions are pretty good! There is one three line change and a couple of paragraph re-formats but those are the biggest items in the first 50 pages. I'm moving at about double the pace I was writing at, so the first editing pass should be done in about two weeks. The goal is to have the book ready for people to read by the end of February. Then in March I have special plans for the book that I will be officially announcing in a couple of weeks (if the events of this month haven't killed me by then...)

Also in March I will be doing final edits for my chainmaille book that's do to be published in April... I am also cranking away on the videos, but not as fast as I would like... Still I have one that should be up on the YouTube channel in a couple of weeks at the latest.

Since Lisa's dissertation has a lot to do with her work she's been doing less writing and more 'thinky stuff' over the break. Note: you don't really understand the value or real nature of 'thinky stuff' until you've done serious writing (and a fair amount of it). But she's moving forward again. She has also been doing A LOT of knitting. Don't worry no sheep were actually harmed in her efforts but a few  really resent the bad haircuts ;-)

The rest of the story...

That gets us up to January 3rd which was supposed to be a 'day of rest'. Well for Lisa it was, she was home sick... For me it was the day that they informed the members of the stake that all the ward boundaries are being redrawn... There's more to it, but I officially don't know about anything else until the official meeting next week...

I say officially because, lets face it, I've been a ward clerk for the better part of the last 15 years and a data analysis guy for longer than that... If I can't put together a thing or two by myself then there is a problem...

The first hint was at the beginning of December when they announced that all the wards were to have all the end of quarter and end of year stuff done by January 3rd... (we usually have at least until the 15th for a lot of it...

So to quote Apocalypse Now..."I wanted a mission, and for my sins they gave me one." This is quite probably the only process I've never had to deal with as a clerk. This is happening fast and I'm fairly close to the center of it.

Yes, the bishop has more responsibility. But, I'm the one that gets to make sure that all the records, data, ordinances/ordinations/callings, and related stuff get moved; happen; get recorded; or whatever else is necessary (and that it's all done by the book...). On the bright side, I'm sure that I won't get stuck with a calling I don't want in the next few months; and at least I'm not the executive secretary ("I have two phones and neither one will stop ringing!!!").

That's about it for this one...
Till next time...
This just seems like the thought to end on...