Being a Planner

It has been a while, but I am finally able to sit down and get things organized. One thing that I have found that has helped me immensely is planning. Whether that be with a digital planner or a good old paper version, it helps me and my executive dysfunction issues.

I’ve always been good at organization as a teen and into adulthood. I can organize things very well. It took many years to get myself to that point, but I am able to enjoy it now.

With so many things coming up, I’ve found that I’m sitting down and using those planners to outline how I’m going to be doing with my podcasting and video game streaming. One thing I’ve understood for a long time is that consistency is important, but so is flexibility.

A planner helps me to get organized and stay motivated. It helps break things down from what seems like huge insurmountable tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks. Being able to check off that I’ve finished those chunks gives me satisfaction and that satisfaction keeps the motivation going.

So far I’ve got plans to do two podcasts a week, and stream three days. This isn’t set into stone yet, and I as I said before – flexibility is just as important as consistency. I don’t want my podcast to become an online journal. There are many blogging platforms for that type of thing.

While I’m working on getting my own podcast on the air, I want to give a shoutout to two of my friends – Julie and Renée – who have their own podcast – Ravage Love. Check them out!

And in this spate of planning, I also have included writing here and working on the novels that I want to get done. The pandemic has slowed things down, but while it’s slower, there is still progress to be made.

Podcast Plans

Photo by Abhilash Sahoo on Pexels.com

I’ve been thinking about doing a podcast for years. I had started making plans back in 2011 to do so, and due to my life deciding to take a much different path, I had to abandon them.

Now, a decade later (give or take a few months), I’m back to where I was considering it.

Twitter Poll

So I asked if there was any of my followers on social media who may be interested in it. Turns out, yes there is. I’m also pretty sure I know who the nay-sayers were and well, it comes down to tough luck to them. They’ll probably hate listen anyway, which pays off for me in the end.

I’m preparing to get my podcast on the “air” soon. While I could just hook up my phone to my headset, I would much rather prepare and provide a polished end product.

When I get things finished, I’ll be posting here and on my social media about where you can find the podcast and subscribe to it. I haven’t decided on what platform I’ll be making it available, but the majority of them send it out to the big players like Spotify in the end, so I don’t anticipate any issues in getting it to you.

I’ll be talking about the things I do here to start, but I am open to other topics and guests! So, expect a lot of talk about writing, music, and mental health.

So stay tuned to this space for more details soonish! I’m also hoping to get back into a regular posting schedule here and a few other places. Keep your fingers crossed that things work out this time. This year has been very stressful for everyone and I am definitely not immune to that. It has taken its toll on me and my writing – and I’m hoping to get back to a routine very soon!

Let’s Talk Accessibility

This past weekend (July 13, 2019) I spoke at WordCamp Ottawa about Accessibility and WordPress.

I had some epic nerves, in part due to some personal issues. But it was nice to see such a full room!

Now, I promised that I’d talk about it more here. You can find my slides on SlideShare.

One of the big things I talked about is the WCAG guidelines. The W3.org site has the official word on it. The WordPress Codex also talks about it. Unfortunately, they’re extremely technical, and as I had said, the Codex outlines child themes and how to do them, but it’s so indecipherable that even I went “WTF”. For those who are wondering about how to create a child theme I’ve also got my 2014 slides up on SlideShare.

One site that I found helpful, and had wanted to include was this one by Alexander Skogberg, but as my internet connection was being a twit and the graphics in it that I wanted to show, I didn’t include it.

SpeckyBoy has a list that is relatively current of 10 WordPress Plugins that can help with accessibility.

Remember, accessibility doesn’t have to be a chore. Simple things like good descriptions of links and images help immensely to those like myself who are visually impaired.

I have been debating about doing up a podcast or similar about this. If you’d like to see that, please let me know!

Building Behind The Scenes

You probably won’t notice it, but I’ve been busy building things behind the scenes. Not going to spring things on folks until later on, but rest assured that I’m more than busy on the cellular level.

I’m also learning how to use software that I’ve had for a while but haven’t used because I didn’t see a point. In a world of planners and pantsers I’m a pantser. I don’t like writing out a whole map to get from point a to b to c. I always had felt that it was more constricting than helpful.

Well here I am on my second book, and I see a need for it.  Yep, I’m willing to change, and I’m open to it. Even when there is a learning curve. 

But, all that said, I am working on getting things done. I do have chronic illnesses and a toddler who has endless energy (seriously, where the hell do they get it from?) so it’s not always easy. I am working on getting my mental health better, and on that front, I feel like I’ve made great strides. It helped to share something that was bothering me with close friends. I had felt that I was losing my mind, because it was something that I had been gaslit over.  I now know I wasn’t losing, and am not currently, losing my mind. 

Until next week, enjoy a blast from the past.

Backup Backup Backup…

Or When It Goes Horribly Awry…

I’ve been in IT for longer than I care to think about. I have preached for years about the need to backup. I try to live that myself. 
But sometimes it goes rather awry.

Right now I have at least three backups of the original copy of the second book in what’s become known as the Rock and Roll Angel trilogy. We’re not counting the hard copy print out that I have of what I managed to get done. 

I’m trying to pull from those prior copies to bring it into the newer version, but considering that I have multiple copies… it’s a fun thing to deal with. 
While it’s important to keep backups in multiple locations, I will say that getting to the point I’m at takes a combination of both well intentioned thoughts, hardware failures and ADHD level forgetfulness.

Still, backups are important. Keeping an offsite backup is important too. Just… don’t let it get to the point that I am at, dear friends. 🙂 

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