Eliminate Work Distractions at Home

There's the second link, as promised. Oh and I also went back and added in all the links I forgot in my last post. It'll will make a heck of a lot more sense that way.

Last month I decide to take myself and my writing abilities more seriously. I have never been the type of person to give myself credit for the things I'm good at. In fact, I have a hard time believing that I'm actually good at anything. So this jump into freelance writing was a huge move for me. I probably would have never had the confidence to try it unless someone very close to me made the simplest, most logical statement I've ever heard. Nope, I'm not going to tell you what it was. Suffice to say, it was the kick in ass that I needed.

First I tried Shared Reviews, but found that it really wasn't a source of income so much as a hobby. To be honest, it was a hobby I didn't particularly enjoy. When I asked about removing my content, I was reminded that they own it. (Lesson 1: read the fine print) But my account is 'suspended' or something because that was all they could do, no canceling of accounts. I earned no actual money from SR, but if you look at my account it shows earnings. That is my list of things to email and discuss with someone in charge.

I am blogging book reviews through Today.com. That was the first time in my life I got paid actually money for writing actual words about actual things. No, seriously. Reading is Sexy! I'm not updating that as much as I'd like to. As I get myself into a stricter regimen, that will change. Just want to brag a tiny bit that Brian Turner (author of Here, Bullet) left a comment on my review and we emailed a bit. Good stuff. Made me feel special. =)

Next step, I applied at Demand Studios. I am currently writing How-to articles through them for eHow.com. Those pay $15 each, which is pretty darned decent. DS owns all rights to that work, but it's worth it to me and for what the articles are.

I had been shying away from the many, many, many sites that pay content writers via page views, ad clicks, or profit-sharing. This morning while digging for How-To articles to write, I finally caved and signed up for Triond.com. I have submitted two articles, one that is not my most prized work ever, but it was my test run. The second one I submitted today hasn't been accepted yet, but I will post a link to it later. Here's the first, test run article. This is a quote from Trion.com about how they pay writers for their content:
"Your earnings are equivalent to 50 percent of the net revenue generated by advertising that appears on the pages alongside your content. The Triond income for each content item is calculated as follows:Earnings = page views * eRPM / 1000
eRPM stands for effective-revenues-per-millennium, or, more simply, the amount of revenue generated for each 1,000 page views."

I am still transcribing for one client also, but that is on hold for the next couple of weeks while I pack and move. More about my impending move to California later - leaving on July 10th, so if it's not up by then...it could be another long break before I'm back to Vox. =)

National Autism Awareness Month was established in 1972 by the Autism Society of America (ASA). According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) reports that autism in children ages 3 to 10 is about 3.4 in 1,000. Autism is more common in boys than girls, but girls tend to be affected more severely.

Autism Spectrum Disorders/Pervasive Developmental Disorders:
Autism is one of multiple ASDs including Rett Syndrome, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Asperger Syndrome, and PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified).

They range in severity from child to child, but they all share some similar characteristics. It can be a very lengthy process to find an accurate diagnosis. Behavioral treatment and medication can range from extremely effective to minimally effective.

Parents and school employees need to be continually educated about ASDs. Seek out this knowledge! Children with ASDs can often be misdiagnosed as having ADHD or just be categorized as "bad" kids. Children with ASDs may be very high functioning and this adds to confusion and misdiagnoses, along with doctors who do not collect as much information as they should before making a diagnosis.

Autism Spectrum Disorders are increasing continuously at an alarming rate in the United States. Knowledge IS power. We still do not know precisely what causes these disorders and there is NO CURE. Assistance in schools varies widely. Medical insurance, if you have it, may not cover everything a child with ASD needs to thrive.

If you have not been affected by ASD in one way or another, it is a matter of time until you are. Please learn more about Autism. Take even just five minutes to learn more than you know right now. If you can afford to, make a donation to the Autism Society of America

Autism Speaks will allow you to purchase a piece of the autism puzzle for $1 at checkout when you shop at TJMaxx starting April 9th and they have organized many Walk for Autism Research events across the country. Find out more at Autism Speaks 

After reading Swallows of Kabul and then Lucky back-to-back, I needed something a little less heavy to read. I decided I would try Magical Thinking on for size. The USA Today is quoted right on the cover using the terms "compelling" and "screamingly funny."

The first page defines Magical Thinking as "A schizotypal personality disorder attributing to one's own actions something that had nothing to do with him or her and thus assuming that one has greater influence over events than is actually the case." It is apparent throughout every story that Burroughs suffers from this personality disorder.

About the first half of this books had me laughing out loud. Some of it was indeed "screamingly funny." The book starts off very strong with a story about Burroughs acting debut as a child, then blows through his adolescence and onto adulthood. This book did serve as a decent pick me up, but around the middle Burroughs started to lose me. Somewhere around the time he tried, through three examples, to explain why he believes that priests give the best blow jobs, is where I wasn't laughing so much. The book sort of slowly leads up to the more graphic encounters he describes, and I found that one story to be the most visual. It was just too close to reading pornography for me to enjoy the "humorous" parts, I guess.

As I continued reading though, Burroughs pulled me back in and by the end I was laughing out loud about old ladies and Dr. Pepper enemas. This book is definitely only good for those with a twisted sense of humor who can laugh at damn near anything. Burroughs vivid descriptions can make you laugh out loud or turn your stomach, depending on how you look at the world.

Since I never "reviewed" Lovely Bones...I am going to post a blurb about that and talk about Lucky, which I just finished reading. So this is a special, one time only, two for one deal. You're special. Enjoy it.

In the early 1980s Alice Sebold attended Syracuse University. While a freshman at SU, she was brutally attacked and raped at night, by a stranger. That attack is where the memoir Lucky begins. Her description of the rape is a detailed, play by play that she worked to etch in her memory. The first chapter is so disturbing and gut wrenching that if written by someone else, may have made me put down this book. I had to fight the tears welling in my eyes to continue reading. The bulk of the memoir entails the aftermath of her rape. Her own before and after. Her two lifetimes. Sebold did intense research to include actual transcript quotes from court proceedings, her interviews with police and a flawless timeline, which I believe is what pulls you through the murky depths to keep going, as she did.

In Lucky, Sebold focuses much attention to the role her rape plays in relationships. Not just romantic relationships, down the road, but every single human encounter she has. Her parents, her sister, her friends, boyfriends, classmates, campus security guards, employers...everyone. Even though she never hides the rape, the window of perception she provides made it clear to me how so many women choose to hide their own rapes. The drive to do the "right" thing never escapes Sebold, but she suffers the consequences long after she believes she's moved on.

My only complaint about this book was that it seemed to end multiple times. I would get to a point in the story and feel as though it was wrapping up, then the next chapter would jump into another catalyst for action leaving me with that feeling of "And then...and then...and then." As much as it annoyed me, it did serve to show that she, too, had that same feeling. Every time she closed a chapter in her life...something reopened it.

I thoroughly enjoy Sebold's voice. This book opened my eyes to perspectives I would have never been able to glimpse.

I read The Lovely Bones about a year ago. I found it interesting, after reading an interview with Alice Sebold in the back of Lucky, that she wrote the begining of The Lovely Bones before starting Lucky. She said she didn't want the narrator, Suzie Salmon's story to be infused with her own, so she put it down. She wrote Lucky. Then she went back to tell Suzie's story.

This novel also begins at the toughest part. Suzie is attacked on her way home from school and killed in the most horrific way I can think of. While not quite as descriptive as Sebold's own rape, Suzie's is just as stomach turning especially because she's a child.

Narrating from Heaven, Suzie focuses predominantly on two things: the effect of her disappearance on her family, and their relationships with each other and everyone around them, as well as needing to reach out to the people she left behind so they can find the truth about her. The point of view is a bit fantastical, but was never distracting. Sebold managed to effectively tell a story through the eyes of a ghost without ever losing the reader or discrediting her narrator.

There isn't as much of a drive for Suzie to heal since she is already in what proves to be a wonderful place, albeit temporary. Her need to connect is less about justice for herself and more protecting and aiding the people she loves.

While there are a number of similarities between Lucky and The Lovely Bones,  the sense of Sebold being a formulaic author is a fleeting one. The most glaring contrast is that Alice herself dealt with post-traumatic stress and living every day as a "rape survivor." It became part of her identity. Suzie, in a fictional Heaven, was able to essentially put herself aside and focus her intentions on her family and her attacker.

Both of these books are must-reads.

*As a side note, I want to mention that Sebold found healing in reading a book she was quoted in about PTSD, Trauma and Recovery. I think that anyone dealing with PTSD from a traumatic experience like rape or sexual abuse would find these books very difficult, if not impossible to read. I'm not a mental health professional, but I suggest that anyone who's suffered a traumatic experience like the ones Sebold writes about should discuss these with a counselor or psychologist before reading.

Written by Yasmina Khadra (actually Algerian army officer Mohammed Moulessehoul), Swallows of Kabul is a work of art. It's been quite a while since I've read a novel with such beautiful prose and sensory-fulfilling imagery. Khadra's words have a lyrical quality that sweeps you through the story. I should insert some kudos here to the translator, John Cullen.

The novel takes place under Taliban rule in a city that has all but forgotten its history and yet lost its way. The novel follows the story of two couples: Mohsen and Zunaira, and Atiq and Musarrat. The former were well educated, middle class career people. Zunaira and Mohsen actually met in college. Zunaira struggles with feeling like a caged bird in a city she where she was once free and successful and happy. Mohsen borders on insanity and constantly struggles with his humanity. His struggle to balance the person he used to be with the life he is leading now is so powerful and terrifying. Atiq the jailer and Musarrat, his sickly wife, are in their 40s. They lead a barely tolerable existence with each other. Atiq, seemingly on the verge of mental breakdown, wanders the streets fighting with his own mind. He becomes so angry with his life that he begins to take it out on the only person he can.

While I admit that much of the time I was reading this novel I was paying so much attention to its language that its movement seemed rather slow, but the moment steadily increased without my noticing it. When I reached the end, it was like slamming on the brakes in a car doing 60 mph.

A remarkable love story with shattering consequences...this book left me stunned.

I never heard of Colby Buzzell's blog "My War" back in 2004 when he started blogging from Mosul. He was there with the 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3/2 from Ft. Lewis. I did however receive a phone call from my boyfriend from Mosul in 2004. It wasn't the longest call ever and he wasn't my boyfriend at the time. We said the things you say to someone you care about, but haven't spoken to in years and the things you say when you know it could be the last time you get to say them. I didn't have much insight at the time into what his life was like. I watch and read news, but no one can fully understand anything they haven't live. I firmly believe that.
Enter: Colby Buzzell's "My War-Killing Time in Iraq."

The book came out in 2005. I (oblivious to many things) didn't hear about it until I watched some TV program about war writers. It was speckled with commentary by Vietnam Vets/authors, but primarily focused on soldiers who served and wrote in Iraq. It didn't delve into the now numerous soldier blogs, but Buzzell's book had its own segment and after hearing the commentary and finding out he had been in my boyfriend's battalion's sister battalion, I knew I had to check it out.
Three days ago I started reading this book and never wanted to put it down. Its primarily a narrative, but there are exact blog entries included as well as copies of the Army's nifty little note-cards and official "handouts." I actually found most of those pretty much hilarious. If you have nothing to do with the military in any way, you might miss the humor.
Buzzell starts by giving us a good snapshot of what his life was like as a mid-20s California boy with no plans in life. He gives a comical play-by-play of his encounter with a Marine recruiter, then an Army recruiter. We read a little about basic, then his FNG time at Ft. Lewis and JRTC. The bulk of the book (and the birth of his blog) take place during his 12 month deployment in Iraq (primarily Mosul).
His writing is smart, vivid and sharp. He doesn't pull punches, but this also isn't some glorified "Look what I did" war story. He had journaled for years and started blogging after reading an article about it. He saw it as his online journal where he could be anonymous and still gain feedback.
This is a fairly fast paced read. It isn't heavy or consuming. I found his descriptions of firefights incredible. He really sticks true to his own pov and doesn't give us any heady, birds-eye-views or confusing descriptions.
He explains almost all "Army talk" but without insulting the reader's intelligence, which I think is fantastic. I imagine the editors can take some credit there. Any person can read and understand this book. No one will find the descriptions obnoxious or excessive...even when you already know what he's talking about.
Buzzell gives the average person a clear picture of what war is like for a grunt in Iraq. I think this should be required reading for citizens in this country. Not because it's somehow shocking and I don't think it will cause anyone to have any kind of huge revelation or awakening about war, but because it will definitely breed a level of understanding that seems impossible for most people right now.
I highly recommend this book to everyone. Go, buy, read.

A couple of months ago I saw an interview with Ishmael Beah on the Daily Show. I am not usually a non-fiction reader, but I was so moved by Beah's interview that I immediately went upstairs and ordered the book. I have finally gotten to reading it. I started reading it yesterday and devoured all 230 pages by 8pm tonight.

The book begins like this:
"There were all kinds of stories told about the war that made it sound as if it was happening in a faraway and different land. It wasn't until some refugees started passing through our town that we began to see that it was actually taking place in our country. Families who had walked hundreds of miles told how relatives had been killed and their houses burned."

Beah tells his story from his perspective at 11 to about 15 years old during a horrific time in Sierra Leone. He gives us a glimpse of his life before the war enters it. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) formed in the early 90s in Sierra Leone with the goal of overthrowing its corrupt government the All People's Congress (APC). This began over a decade of horrific fighting and multiple, equally ineffective and corrupt governments in Sierra Leone. There isn't a lot of deep discussion about the government and the rebels, he sticks true to his knowledge and perspective at his age and during that time. After losing his family and having his home destroyed, he embarks on a journey which purely consists of surviving. His descriptions of his experiences are remarkable and terrifying.

I will not get deep into the storyline because I firmly feel that every single human being should read this book. My ignorance of the events in Sierra Leone, in the very very recent history, was shameful. It is absolutely the most moving book I have ever read in my entire life. To quote John Stewart, "It made my heart hurt."

I am usually annoyed by internet radio. Basically, it is generally garbage music by artists I've never heard of or ones I don't like, so I had given up on it a long time ago. Joe sent me an invite to Stumble. One of my selected interests sent me stumbling over to Pandora Radio. I might be behind the time with this one, but I just found it so I am sharing.

I have a gazillion mp3s in iTunes. So many, in fact, that they don't all fit on my 80g iPod. Because of that little fact, I have to make a playlist of hand-selected music to put on my iPod and frankly it's a huge, annoying process. I personally like to listen to certain music based on my mood and I get sick of "my music" very quickly. That brings me back to Pandora.

I don't like to open iTunes, wait for it load, dig through my music, and decide what to listen to. Unless I have something specific in mind, I usually surf in silence. Pandora has fixed my problem. You go to the website, sign up for an account, and you're on your way to listening to great tunes. When you select "create a new station," Pandora lets you type in a specific song or artist. It defines the structure of the tune/band you selected, then creates a radio station based on the "genome" of your preferred selection. It will play artists you've surely heard of and probably some you haven't. It's a good way to find music that fits a certain mood and to find artists that are new to you.

You can share your stations with friends. Apparently you can also buy stereo-type equipment (multi-room Sonos Digital Music System) to use Pandora wirelessly in your home. Once you sign up for an account, Pandora Internet Radio is free to use, but you can obviously upgrade to a pay version as well.

Finally, here's an example of one of my stations, "Don't Let the Bastards Grind You Down" (The Toasters)
Pandora picked the following songs for my listening pleasure:
-Weekend in LA - The Toasters
-Unstoppable - The Planet Smashers
-Superman - Goldfinger
-They Drive You Crazy - The Scofflaws
-The Bumble Bee Tuna Song - Mephiskapheles
-Carlita - Goldfinger
-Run, Run Rudy - Babylove and The VanDangos
-Question of Life - Fishbone
-Keep it Simple - The Slackers
-We All Move On - The Samples

Other features include the ability to bookmark a song, so you can easily find it in your profile to listen to again and again. A quick link to Amazon.com and iTunes, so you can buy whichever tune you really enjoyed, one for bookmarking, and one for creating a station from that tune. You can also rank a song with a thumbs up or down. You can create a quick mix and share you quick mix with a friend.

Thank you Pandora, for letting me surf and rock out simultaneously once more.