Closing Out a Writer’s Block Week

This week is then filled with lots of writers block. All week long I’ve not been able to write to save my life. To put the icing on the cake, I took a small crash on roller blades today and even spring my hand a little bit, and that’s not helping my writing motivation of it either.

Now a lot of times I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking to write. I find however, that sometimes I forget to turn the program on. Before you know it, a month has gone by and I haven’t written anything with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

Since I was in high school, I could type very fast. It’s just second nature for me to type with my hands. Even though I’ve been using Dragon NaturallySpeaking for over two years now, it’s still something that I have to consciously think about before I begin.

So tonight, I finally got around to writing something.

(This article)

I am using Dragon NaturallySpeaking to do that. Since it’s been a month or two I’m a little rusty. But I have a lot of articles in backlog that I need to write, and there’s no better program for writing a lot the Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Hell, I even wanted to write a script for the script writing contest this month, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.

Traveling to Vegas

On Sunday, Easter Sunday that is, I will be flying to Las Vegas. I have a lot of business to do in Vegas this week. On Sunday, I’m going to swing through and visit with Warren Whitlock. I have been working with Warren on some website redesigns for a few of his websites. I’ve also known Warren for a couple years now, and what to say hello and maybe talk over some new business potential.

After that, I’m driving from Las Vegas down to Laughlin Nevada. I’m going to be meeting up with my business partner Joe Klein.  We have to build out pricing packages for some of the services that we offer together. This is going to involve a lot of business planning, and comparing packages and prices to ensure that the race that we offer together don’t conflict with the rates and services that we offer separately.

That is one of the challenges that contractors or consultants like Joe and I face when we need to partner up to form a larger firm.

Family time

My kids have been on spring break all week long.  My wife, who is a teacher, has also been on break. So all week long I’ve been able to see the family quite a bit. This is then good for all of us to have a bit of a chance to relax, but it is also part of the reason why I have writers block. It is always difficult for me to concentrate when my schedule gets changed around a little bit, such as when her kids in the office.

Next week, actually in about three hours, my nieces are going to arise and the kids will be playing with their cousins all week long. They were just here a few weeks ago, so it hasn’t been too long since I’ve seen them last. Unfortunately, I will be out of town for part of this visit.

My own poor planning resulted in me flying out of town on Easter Sunday. I booked a flight, and didn’t even realize that it was a holiday weekend. We are not religious, and we do not celebrate Easter for religious reasons. So, while I am eager to take a trip and get some business done to improve our finances, I’m a little torn because I’m going to miss Easter with the family.

Allergies

All week long, my allergies have been kicking my ass.  This time of year, you can literally see the pollen falling from the sky. It is visible and coats everything with a fine yellow dust. It doesn’t take long, it can coat any given thing you set them outside in just a few minutes. I am told that the pollen that you can see is not the pollen that makes you sneeze. There is also pollen that is so small that it makes it difficult to breathe and triggers your allergies. I don’t know if I actually believe that, but I do know that my allergies have been going berserk. Claritin is helping a little bit, but after several days of allergies on red alert, my body feels a little bit worn out for no apparent reason.

Books

I’ve read lots of books over the last few weeks, most recently Son of a Witch. I will probably read a couple of the trip. I’m working to finish the book "landing page optimization" by Tim Ash. I started it back in February and run about half the book, and then got distracted and I’m working to finish the other half of the book now. I will probably also take a copy of the book twilight, some vampire book. My wife just read the whole series in a single week. She saw the movie and flipped out over the whole thing and sat down and read the whole series cover cover. My wife almost never reads books, so this is a little extraordinary. Anyway, she won’t really talk to me about the books until I’ve read them too.  I am a bookworm, and I will read just about anything. So I’m going to read the books myself, and for a change that will give me something in common with my wife to talk about.

Web design

I have been designing websites left and right over the last few months. This has definitely become a prominent feature of my business, which does fluctuate from cycle to cycle between web design, general business development consulting, social media consulting, and writing. I’ve been doing a little bit of everything else, but web design has been the heavy hitter. That’s fine with me, because I do enjoy the work. I do find that the more web design work I do, the less writing I do. There’s something about the two that just doesn’t mix inside my brain.

While I am in Vegas, I may even give a presentation on how to design WordPress themes with the local WordPress Meetup group. I’m actually a member of the group even though I don’t live in Las Vegas. I went to the Las Vegas WordCamp back in January and joined the group both organized by John Hawkins. I do know a number of the members through various online social media groups and from all my travels to Vegas. I gave a similar presentation here in the Charlotte area (WordPress theme software, I covered) not too long ago, and I’m looking forward to giving the new improved version probably next Wednesday.

Exercise

I have been running quite a bit lately, but I haven’t been doing a lot of other exercise. I need to balance that out a little bit more and start working on my abs, actually I should call up my flab, and lifting weights a little bit.  I’m not fat by a long shot, but I have gotten a little softer this winter than I normally do. 

Audio video

While I am in Laughlin, Joe is going to help me with my microphone technique. I don’t have very strong voice skills, and Joe is an expert. So I’m going to get some expert advice. I’m hoping to incorporate this more in my video work, especially some of the screen casts, tutorials, and training programs and sessions I am presenting online. I’m also going to do a little brainstorming with Joe about ways that I might feel to produce video here on the lake in a way that is a little more presentable than what I’ve done in the past. I’ve become good at editing video, but my production skills especially as it relates to the lighting and camera angles could use some work. I think I also need to fix up my WiFi dock office a little bit slip able to get a better appreciation for just how cool it is to work on the lake.

Broke out of writer’s block

Well if you haven’t noticed by now after 1400+ words, it would appear that I’ve broken out of my writers block. I most definitely think Dragon naturally speaking for that achievement. There is nothing better than Dragon for breaking writers block in my experience. The only bad thing is, it’s 1 AM, and due to my allergies I’m feeling a little tired. So now that I’ve finally broken through writer’s block, I’m thinking about going about getting some sleep.