General life update plus new book covers

 As you may have noticed, I haven't been blogging much.  On the whole, blogs are on their way out and Social Media is the big thing right now.

I've had lots to say over on my YouTube channel about writing and other cool things. Feel free to check it out, drops some likes, maybe a subscribe if my topics catch more than a passing fancy in your heart.

Recently a cousin of mine, who is a Historian by profession, was speaking about the archiving of one's personal history--journals, diaries, that sort of thing. She's been working on a particular project that involves reading diaries from over a hundred years ago. She experiences some vicarious regret that more people did not leave more imprints of their lives. She has a story about how the record of some people's lives were little more than an entry in the local gravedigger's diary.

That's why I popped into here. I came to make an archive of this blog's contents for posterity's sake. Back when I needed to discontinue my LiveJournal for a very good reason, I learned it had an archive feature that permitted me to download my content and save it on my hard drive.

Blogs are good like that. They're about the retention of information--hopefully useful--for the sake of others. YouTube (as I mentioned before), also acts as a repository of information.

Social Media, on the other hand, isn't so much focused on storing information in the long run, but focuses more on interactivity between humans within the moment. "What are you doing today?" is the question.  Then tomorrow comes, and yesterday becomes forgotten.

But what happens to all that information you've put up on social media? Where is it stored, how can you search it, where does it go? In ten years', a hundred years' time, would historians be able to trawl through the repositories (if they exist) of social media and put together a picture of your life? 

We don't have that guarantee.

Sure, the social media sites do store the information. And why not? Information is useful. It's worth money, potentially lots of money, to them, for various reasons. Is it worth money to you? Not really, no. You are the commodity being sold. You are the eyeballs in which they drop adverts.  (Oh, buy my books.)

If you are interested, here's my social media links:

• Website: https://heidikneale.com.au/
• Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Heidi-Kneale-author-682340831889134/
• Threads: https://www.threads.net/@hwkneale
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hwkneale
• Twitter:  long gone. Ditched that as it became more of a cesspit.
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/hkneale
• Blog: http://romancespinners.blogspot.com/ (Clearly self-referential)
• Authorly Monthly Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/c9vM9L Consider this the replacement for a blog.
• BlueSky: hwkneale.bsky.social
• Goodreads profile: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2899577.Heidi_Wessman_Kneale
• Amazon profile: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Heidi-Wessman-Kneale/author/B01890EKFI

So, what's been happening in my life:

Well, I got a new job. Took me several months after my previous blog post, but I did it. It took some time because I had a question I needed answered: was it the Old Job or the Career that I didn't like?

Applying to new places would answer the first half. Applying to non-IT jobs would answer the second.

But when I applied for non-IT jobs (even if they were similar fields), I got no nibbles. It seems the world thought I had to be placed in a niche.  That sucks, because I am a polymath. Not only do I have knowledge in several fields, I'm experienced in those fields. 

Eventually, I gave in and applied for IT jobs. Bah. Within three interviews, I scored myself a position. Am now gainfully employed.

Benefits of the day job:

• It's in an Educational Institution. This suits my personality better. (Not sure if it's because or in spite of the fact that Educational Institutions tend to be run by Chaos Gremlins.)
• It's a step down in level (from 4.4 to 3.1).  If I was building an IT career, this could be considered a detriment, but for me, the responsibility burden was much less, and I like it like that. Another reason I don't mind is...
• It's a step up in pay.  Yeah, you heard me. A 3.1 position (same area, same skill set) at this new place was paying $5K/a more than a 4.4 position at the old job. 
• It comes with incrementation. With my old job, I'd reached my maximum earning potential. But here, I'm at the bottom and only way to go is up. I've had several pay increments already, much to my delight.
• It's a larger organisation. This means more opportunities for career growth (if I wanted to go that way) or lateral movement (if I get bored of IT). I didn't have that at the old job. Now, I am in the process of tapping into some of that lateral movement opportunity, but this will take time.
• It comes with some built-in writing time, should I choose to take this up. This is not part of the job itself, but due to the commute. Yes, I write novels whilst on the train.

Detriments of the Day Job:

• It is not geographically convenient. It takes me approximately an hour, sometimes longer, depending on which campus I'm at. While this does afford me an enforced downtime in which I can read/write a novel, edit a short video, or even just zone out should I choose, it does take a significant chunk out of my day in which I can't re-devote to something else.  I can't just pop out for an hour for a doctor or dentist appointment, that sort of thing.  
• It is run by Chaos Demons. This is not unique to this one organisation. But sometimes it does have a negative impact.  Fr'ex, I had an opportunity to move up into a Level 4 position permanently. While it would have made me a lot more money, and it is, in previous practice, work I can do, the structure of this one particular role was so chaotic and undefined that it made it almost impossible for me to carry out this work. (Yeah, I did cover for someone for a month during leave, so I had first-hand experience. It was nuts.)
• I'm getting too old for this type of work, at a full-time schedule. My body has hit Mid-Life. It's starting to fall apart. Some of the physical demands needed from me for this job are taking a toll on my poor limbs. Now, while there is something medical going on that my doctor and I haven't been able to figure out yet, until we do, I'm working my body a little harder than it can handle, and I'm paying the price. If my doctor and I can't diagnose and treat whatever it is that makes my legs go Ow!, I'll be needing to find a work alternative in another couple of years anyway.  It's a good thing I've got a couple of plans already set in motion.

And that's my update. 

Books

I wrote these two books on the train:

Things One Can't Do with Only One Working Thumb

Actually, his hand looks an awful lot like this,
for the splint he has to wear makes his thumb stick out.

Last month His Grace suffered a hand injury that put his right thumb out of commission for a Very Long Time. This has been a challenge for him, for he is very much a right-handed man (unlike my good self, who is rather ambidextrous).

Thus, His Grace has been quite challenged. As he goes about adjusting to his new life, he regularly encounters things he cannot do because he does not have two thumbs.

You'd be surprised at what one can't do when one doesn't have a working thumb.

Now, some things aren't completely impossible, but sure are rather difficult when one attempts it with only one functional thumb.

This is the list of things His Grace can't do (or finds very difficult) without two working thumbs:

• Tie his shoelaces 
• Button up shirts (Guess who'd been helping him get dressed in the mornings.)
• Completely towel off after a shower
• Pull on thick socks
• Drive a manual vehicle
• Use the pepper grinder
• Remove an omelette from the pan.
• Cut Roma tomatoes or onions
• Certain sexual positions
• Type on a keyboard
• Play the entirety of Für Elise (and not just the noodly part everyone knows)
• Cut a piece of paper with scissors
• Read a hardbound book
• Climb a rope

No doubt we will add to this list as time rolls on.

Things His Grace can't do because it's his right hand:

• Left cuff button
• Fence
• Drive my car (the indicators are on the wrong side for him)
• Sign legal documents

All hail Sir Lefty.

____________________________________________
Okay, with Für Elise, His Grace can't play it even when he has two fully-functional thumbs.

What Her Grace Has Been Up To

Hello Gentle Readers,

Apologies for the long period of silence. I've been busy.

I recently had a gastric sleeve procedure. This was to correct a long-standing issue I had with the overproduction of the hormone ghrelin.  The surgery went well, though recovery has had a minor complication, which I've mostly recovered from. Due to the impact this surgery has for my whole system, I've not had much energy to do much of anything over the past few weeks, much less get online and blog.

So as I stuff my tiny little tummy on a jar of Beef Casserole with Quinoa baby food, I'm hoping you all have a Happy Holidays.

Wishing you a Happy Solstice for yesterday. I had solstice plans, but with a splitting headache with accompanying photophobia, those plans came to naught.

Speaking of light, wishing many of you Happy Hannukkah for Saturday and the rest of the week. May your hope and faith endure.

Wishing my fellow Christians a Merry Christmas and everyone a Happy New Year.

One of the few things I have been able to do is read.  I got the first few books of a series called "Legends of Dimmingwood" by C. Greenwood.  I've grown attached to the main characters. It's my kind of escapist fiction. I like what I've read so far and am happy to recommend this series to other fans of Fantasy

Unfortunately, the rest of the series is exclusive to Amazon only, so I've got to figure out if I'll be able to read it via a Kindle reader on my laptop without my eyes going spare from the light emissions. I tend not to read books on a laptop or computer because my eyes can't stand the electronic screens. eInk or paperback is much kinder on my aging eyes.

I love my Kobo eReader because of its eInk. It does have self-lighting, but this is reflective, which is kinder on eyes in the long-term.

Here's a  thought: does the Kinder reader app on a laptop do out-loud text reading? If so, I'd totally be in to that. Must investigate further. Or does calibre? I am fond of audiobooks, though I can't alter the pacing like I can when reading text.

Are you fine with reading books on a computer screen, or do you prefer something less... bright?

Anyhow, I'm rambling so I'll wish you a safe and sane Holiday season and I'll see you in January 2017.  In the new year I hope to post more Tuesday's Tales and have more publishing news.

_____________________
Her Grace believes in taking the holidays easy, not rushing around like a madwoman. She advocates this approach.

Comparisons - the Bad and the Good

The other day I was doing a regular review of my career path. (This is a good thing, if one wants one's career to go in the direction one wants it to.)  I asked myself these questions:

Where am I?
Where do I want to go?
What do I need to get there?
What's stopping me?

This last question is rather important. It reflects upon those things that keep me from where I want to be. Without stoppage, any career would be stellar and magnificent.

Right now, mine's not.

It's a necessary question, but comes with pitfalls. One of those is comparisons.

Comparison can be a useful tool, but only if applied correctly. It is all too easy to fall into a false comparison trap. Fr'ex: one of your peers had three books released last year, one of them award-winning. It's too easy to look at that, look at the pathetic one book you just managed to eke out and wonder why your career's in the dumps.

Or maybe you did release three books, but none of them won awards, or sales weren't that great, or you have no idea when your next book will be written, nevermind come out. Or maybe you realised you needed a Pullman option for your ticket for the Query Train as you watch fellow travellers hopping off left-right-centre.

I gave in to a moment of self-pity. Why is my writing career not where I wanted it to be? We all have twenty-four hours in our days and I only spend eight of them sleeping. What have I been doing instead of turning out high-quality books at a phenomenal rate?

Then I look at the products of my Twenty-Year Plan. They have grown up to be strong, capable, respectful and respectable members of society.  When I compare them to the products of others, the real truth comes out. All the energy I've been pouring into this project rather than into my books has paid off better than if I'd turned it the other way.

I have five more years left of the Twenty-Year Plan. Then, when that's done, I can turn myself fully to the Fifty-Year Plan.

But for now, I shall be mostly content with the process I've got now.

(Mostly.)

________________________________
Her Grace is doing NaNoWriMo this year. She will have a publishable book at the end of it.

Regarding yesterday's funeral

I went to a family funeral yesterday.

Arthur "Jack" Johnson, age 92 was laid to rest. He was the patriarch of the Johnson family, to which my nieces belong. I was considered a close enough connection to be able to sit with the family and help attend the nieces while their father helped with the funeral and their mother mourned her grandfather.

I've known Jack, his wife Josie and their family for more than fifteen years and have been connected to them by marriage for nearly as long. Jack was one of those men with a great sense of humour, who instantly brightened a room when he entered it. His pockets were full of lollies and his heart full of jokes.

This is a guy who will be sorely missed.

An interesting thing about Latter-Day Saint funerals, they're  not as grief-stricken as you'd expect. It comes from the Latter-Day Saint beliefs regarding an afterlife and of the eternal nature of family connections. Sure, you'll miss someone when they're gone, but it's not a forever thing. Families are forever. That's what's forever. Not separation, not death.

I thought it was lovely that the great-granddaughters wore pink. Grandma Josie wore green, in which she always looks good. Aunt Margaret, who couldn't be at the funeral because she was on the other side of the planet, sent along a video so she could be part of it. All the men wore a sprig of rosemary for remembrance; I had to explain its significance to a niece, because she thought they'd all lost the flowers to their boutonnieres.

The music was lovely, the jokes were appropriate and the floral tributes were tastefully nice.

Bowra & O'Dea did the funeral and they did a nice, respectful job.

After the funeral we went to a beautiful cemetery for the interment. There were peacocks, which delighted all the grandchildren. For Grandma Josie and a few of the more pregnant members of the family there were chairs.

A few good words were said and the grave was dedicated as per Latter-Day Saint ritual. Then, to some very Jack-appropriate music, the coffin was lowered into the grave, and the family got to toss in rose petals.

Then the tarps were removed from the gravedirt and the men of the family didn't just toss in a symbolic shovel. They got to completely fill in the grave. I thought this was a lovely, cathartic practice. I want this at my funeral.

Lives begin and lives end. I aim to do the best I can in between to make sure my life has as positive an impact as Jack's did.

Rest well, Pappy. We'll see each other again (just, not that soon).

_________________________________
Her Grace is all funeralled out.

Memory Shirts

I have a box of T-shirts from my younger days. This is my box of Memory Shirts.

For years it lay hidden in the back of my shed until it was time to move house. I kept the box instead of donating it, as I did with so many other items of clothing.

I didn't open it again until a few days ago.

As it is autumn in the Southern Hemisphere now, the nights aren't as warm. I offered my daughters some T-shirts in which to sleep and went digging in the box for Memory Shirts.

The first I pulled out was a gray Les Miserables shirt I acquired in New York in 1990. I was on tour there that summer with the Granite Youth Symphony, and one of the many activities was to go see a real live Broadway Show--Les Mis.

It was wonderful! I bought this T-shirt in commemoration. (I also acquired a T-shirt that says Carnegie Hall. I'll let you guess that memory.)

I think often and fondly upon my GYS days. Even dreamed about it last night. I still keep in contact with many of the friends I made there. Good memories.

For the other daughter, the next T-shirt I pulled out simply said "Star Trek".

This T-shirt I acquired in a box of auction goodies at a Star Trek convention. The auction had gone on too long, and they'd run out of time. So what they did was say, "We've got a whole box of stuff left over. What will I have for this box."

I conspired with a friend of mine, Karen J, to go in together to buy this box. We managed to outbid this one guy to the tune of US$290.

Oh, what a jackpot! There was a leather varsity-style jacket that Karen claimed, a Star Trek umbrella, figurines, books and, of course, the ubiquitous T-shirts that peppered the fandom.

I loved being a part of the Star Trek Fandom and not because of Star Trek being awesome (because it is). I loved it because the fen were a wonderfully-accepting bunch of people who were not afraid to be who they truly were.

Karen died about ten years ago from cancer, but every time I see this T-shirt, I still think of her.

Most people might have just given old T-shirts to their kids for nightwear without a further thought.

Me, I gave my daughters something to sleep in and a darn good story to go with it.

Plague!!!

Alas, both Their Ladyships have caught the dreaded Chicken Pox.

Essentially, this means a week of cancelled life while I tend to two cabin-fevered daughters.

While I haven't been taking them to school, going to work, dragging them to extra-curriculars or everything else that comprises our busy lives, I've been thinking about doing a brief series of love letters based on some writing tool generators I came across.

Come back tomorrow (or the next day) to see what I've come up with.

Meanwhile, y'all enjoying The Enchanted Faerie?