New series: 56 My Ambiance Life things

Hello, long time, no see, rather no write.  I have been thinking.  They say that if you think too hard, something ugly might come up.  OK, I am the only one who said it, BUUTTT….

I just celebrated my birthday.  Yeah, that one.  July 21 is the date.  I am not one to reveal my age because I do not feel it and I do not think it.  Let’s just say that I am a Gen X, the forgotten generation.  They talk about the Baby Boomers and they talk about the Millennials, and they talk about the older folks (my parent’s age group) but they never talk about mine.  I guess that we are the people that others warn each other about.  So, if you were born between 1964-1979, you know exactly what I am talking about, but this is not that conversation.  Not here, and not on this blog.  I can explain further as I go through “56 My Ambiance Life Things on that blog, or not.  You never know until you read all 4 blogs.  Did I say 4?

So, today and for the next couple of weeks or so, I will have 56 Home Prep things on that blog, 56 My Ambiance Life things on this blog, 56 P. Lynne Designs things on that blog and 56 Miss Froggy Loves Traveling things on that blog.  Each series has no rhyme or reason except that it has to do with what each blog has in store for the reader.  In My Ambiance Life’s case, it is about writing, blogging, and inspiration to name a few. So here’s a start.

 

Today’s topic:  Writing during Covid

Today, I want to talk about being a writer during this time.  You can call your profession anything you want to help you sleep at night.  I call myself a writer.  I am not comfortable at the moment of calling myself a blogger, and the reason is I am not basically at the moment putting down my feelings.  I have 3 other blogs; one that covers home life (Home Prep), one that covers my business and crafting (P. Lynne Designs), and a new one that covers travel (Miss Froggy Loves Traveling).  I have enough content that can cover this blog (My Ambiance Life) and the other two blogs, but, as soon as I announced that I was putting the travel section into another blog, Covid-19 hit with a vengeance.  The only place I have been since that time is to my brother’s house in Dayton, which is an hour and a half from Columbus. 

Currently, if I were to go to Walt Disney World, I would have to self-quarantine for 14 days before going into the parks, since I am from the state of Ohio, which is now one of the high risks states in the country.  Yeah, idiots who refuse to wear a mask around here.  I hope you are happy about your right to not wear a mask.  Thanks to you, I cannot move freely throughout the country with one on.  You have impeded on mine.

Back to the subject….

As you can see, I am kind of sore about that, and thanks okay.  As a writer (blogger or not), you can write about your experiences with Covid.  There is plenty to write about, and you can put as much or as little details as you want.  After all, it is your article/post/novel.  You can have it fictionalized into something like the “Virus that Ate Manhattan”, or something that Robin Cook could only visualize in his mind.  Humm, I wonder if his book, Pandemic (2018) was about Covid in the future.  The virus in the book describes a “flu-like” virus invading parts of the world.  This is hitting to close to home.

How about writing about your personal experience with the virus, being “Stuck in the house and in the house bored” as the famous Tik Tok video suggests? I was thinking about trying some of the cute recipes that are on Tik Tok.  I already failed that breakfast sandwich trick.  I do plan on writing about it in my Home Prep blog and have a video on my YouTube channel.  Let me give you some other examples.

Examples for Motivational and inspirational type blog posts

First off, if you write motivational and/or inspirational type blog posts or want to start one during this pandemic (or any type of blog post for that matter), do not start on the negative side of it.  February and March 2020 was a shocker in the first place.  I cannot remember in my lifetime where I am ordered by the local or federal government to stay inside.  I also cannot remember a time where there is uncertainty throughout the country.  In fact, by the time I was born, the civil rights movement was almost over and by the time I started school, I was able to be in a classroom with children of different races.  I never experienced a time when I was told that I could not do something during my childhood unless my parents did not want me to do it. They tried to give me every opportunity to make a living, and have a better life. So, start with your own life.  Recall life before the pandemic. 

• Who are you and what is your background?   
• Where do you live?  For this, do not give out your exact location.  Notice at the beginning of this blog post, where I mentioned where my brother lives.  I said only the city and state.  Giving out your exact location can be bad for privacy. 
• What have you been doing during this time?  While you are in your home or if you are working during this time, how has it been? Have you been displaced in your job?  An example of this would be “that as a gig worker and entrepreneur, it has not been easy for me, but I have been trying to stay positive by improving on my skills and creating work for myself to do.” This is how I came up with the 56 blog posts idea for all of my blogs.”  You may have something similar or mention that you have been working remotely.  I am only mentioning things that are allowed in the United States, it may be different in your country.

Examples for “Home living” type blog posts

This is easier than the motivational and inspirational blogs.  The reason is it brings together something that most people during this time, working in the home.  I am not talking about your job, but renovating and doing little remodeling jobs around the home. 

• Have you an increase in your shopping habits? Talk about what you have bought during this time.  Haul videos and haul blog posts have become very popular during this time.  I have made a couple myself.
• Have you discovered a new way of cooking?  Food delivery has increased since we are still limited from going into a restaurant and having a sit-down meal. 

In my first “56 Home Prep things” blog post over on my Home Prep blog, I mentioned that Uber Eats has sort of becoming my BFF, and now I need to rediscovery my cookware and other things because it is eating into my budget. Yes, you can get carried away with the idea of someone bringing your food to you, and they can sit it in front of your door with you making contact.  A word of advice, have the grocery store bring you some goodies.  I gained 20 pounds in delivery prepared food and my Ipad has become my new timer, LOL.

• How have you organized and decluttered?  Talk about the space that you are trying to organize and what you want out of the space.  Come up with a plan and make it a journey. 

My craftroom, kitchen, and home office are three spaces that needed attention.  I am almost done with the kitchen and home office.  My main attention is now on the craftroom. For the craftroom, I mapped out my plan, the furniture pieces, which began before the pandemic, and now I need to order, build (most of it is from Ikea), and plop stuff in place.

• For parent eyes ONLY… how have your kids faired during the pandemic?  Does your school system have at least a partial plan for August and September?  What have you done to keep them occupied?  Are you considering permanent homeschooling your kids?  Pet Parents… how has your furbaby felt about you staying at home?  I have a niece furbaby, and I know she is wondering why everywhere she turns, I am right there.  In fact, she has hidden from me on several occasions during this time and tried to escape, LOL.  Most times, she has enjoyed my company, and I have enjoyed hers.

Tips on making writing work for other types of writing besides writing in a blog…

You do not have to write to keep others happy in this form.  If you are a novelist, this is a great time to start that novel.  Of course, if you have already written your first novel, you already know this.  This advice is for those who have always wanted to write one. 

So, what do you write about besides the pandemic around us?  You do not have to write about the pandemic as I previously mentioned.  You can go to another space in your head that speaks to your desires.  For this, there are some wonderful articles on how to start a novel.  I am not a novelist.  Sometimes I wish I were that person, or I can advise you better.

Do you like poetry?  Prose? A good non-fiction how-to book?  All of these would make a good book if you put your mind to it.

Well, it’s the end…

But not for long.  I have lots to say and not enough time to say it.  Some posts will be short and some long-winded, but never boring.  If you like this, stay tuned, there more posts to come.  If you have any comments, questions, and suggestions during this “challenge” (yes, I officially calling it that), please put it in the comments section of this blog or any of my blogs.  You may also address it to my email address, plogan721@att.net.

Until then, see you next time.

 

Clean Up, Clean Up, it’s time to Clean Up the Blog Space

No, I have lost my mind, nor this is not the new adventures of The Wonder Pets (parents, you know who I am talking about).  This is an update on how I am progressing into the world of organizing my Social Media and blogs. This is also a Motivational Monday, which may turn into a Tip Tuesday depending on when I upload this post.

Side note: Ok, this aunt realized that “Clean up, clean up” did not come from The Wonder Pets, it came from my childhood memory of my preschool teacher urging us to clean up our toys, sorry.

Well, I am cleaning up my toys in a sense.  I finally got the go-ahead to switch my blogs and business handmade website to SiteGround.  I will explain to you in a later post on how to get your own website with Siteground at a later time.  So far, I like what I see, and around March 31, you will see a brand new My Ambiance Life, At Home with Tricia's Baskets, and P. Lynne Designs blog and website in much cleaner light.  They are going to be lighter (white background on all of them).  I love all the websites and blogs I visit with clean, uncluttered backgrounds, and it seems to be the trend that is continuing well into 2019 and 2020. 

To give an example on what I do not like:  My blog, At Home with Tricia's Baskets, has this brown background, which was great for the 1990s and 2000s, and maybe even 2010-2012, but starting 2013, everyone was leaning towards not having any background images.  Having a background image makes the blog and websites look cluttered, dated, unorganized, and hard to read, especially since

An example of a clean-looking
Blog (Story of Five Blog)

there are a lot of seniors who are turning older, and their eyesight is not what they used to be.  With that comes background colors with little to no color in them.  In other words, a white background with little to no color in it.  In your foreground, your fonts need to represent manuscript writing.  Save the fancy stuff for invitations, cards, and other things of that nature.  I am going, to be honest, to tell you that it is harder to read script writing than manuscript writing.  Ask any 7-year-old.  In fact, they do not teach cursive writing in schools now.  So, this blog is the first to get an upgrade to Siteground.  I have not decided which of my domain names I am going to choose for this site.  It might be the one I registered or a subdomain.

Speaking of Domains…

I am having a hard time with my plynnedesigns.com domain name.  I do not know if Google is still banning it to show up or what.  Not to get into why I am changing it to plynndesigns, but Google thought the old one was phishing.  Someone back in September had hacked into my account website and killed the whole mood for me using that domain name again after I removed the affected file.  I have been fighting with Google for a whole month to prove that I am the owner of the domain name and to let me use it.  I gave up last week, and now I am using the new one for the website and blog.

Some takeaways from this:

1. When creating your website, either on SiteGround, GoDaddy, Wix, Weebly, or some other website, make sure you are covered.  This includes being able to create as many websites on your account with a plan you can afford.  I use the “Growing Up” plan from Siteground.  At the time of this writing (February 25, 2019), the Growing up plan is $5.95 a month. 
2. Also, make sure that your domain name is available.  I was lucky that the new name (plynndesigns) was available.  The current domain name for it plynnedesigns was available when I created that domain name as well when I got it in 2016. The name I wanted as well was PLDesigns, but it would cost me a pretty penny ($4,800) to have, which is another thing.  I looked it up, and anything with the word “design” in it is considered high-end, but I am confused because both domain names also have the word design in them, but they cost me $2.99. Make sure you can afford the domain name price.  All 4 (those two, plus PLDMDN and patriciallogan were $2.99 each).  You can renew them once a year, but if you know you will have them for a long time and can afford it, renew at some point for 10 years.  So, far, I have only been able to renew the domain names annually.
3. Make sure you protect your websites and blogs.  I protect my websites for $19.95 a month through Siteground.  I learned my lesson from Hostgator, who I no longer recommend as a hosting site.  I also do not recommend Blogger, unless your website and blogs are very simple.  More on Blogger at a later time.
4. SSL certificates are FREE.  Unless you are doing something complicated, Use the site’s free SSL certificates.  What is an SSL and why do you need it?  Think of it as an added layer to id your site or blog.  In other words, it authenticates it.  Google is cracking down on sites who do not have the https:// on it (most sites still use HTTP:// which is supposed to be not secure).  There are more advance SSL certificates, but they cost more and are not really needed for blogs.
5. As I always say, plan out your website or blog.  Know what topics you want to talk about, the categories you have those topics under, the color scheme, theme, and do not forget to name your site.  You can read about how I came up with my names in another series I am developing about blogging.

One thing I do want to say about these tips is do not worry about it if blogging and creating a website is not something that you want to do.  You can hire someone to do it, but it will cost you more money, instead, check out this next item, challenge yourself to something greater.

I am bored…

This phrase is not only for children who have nothing to do but adults as well.  We all get that way from time to time.  Boredom comes to the best of us and it sometimes brings out the worst in us.  Think about it, have you sometimes thought about these types of scenarios and said to yourself, “hmm, they must be bored”:

• Hackers or ID thieves.
• Children throwing flour all over the house or getting into mommy’s cosmetics or dad’s shaving cream.
• The police issuing out a bunch of tickets
• Full Moon

All of these sound good.  I mean, yes, people who hack on the computer to get into someone’s bank account (It happened to me this past weekend) could have been bored or need a job.  Same with the children, but the police?  Humm, maybe some of you have been pushing the snooze button way too many times.  I can always blame the full moon theory, especially on hackers and children, or as my grandmother used to say, “the Devil got to them”.  Either way, the true culprit is B.O.R.E.D.O.M.

So, how can I combat Boredom?

Boredom does not mean that you are sitting around the house doing nothing.  Boredom means you are sitting around doing nothing in your business, your home, as a parent, and even in your church. Boredom can even be in your food choices, your clothing choices, even your vacation choices.  So, how to get rid of it?  Simple, challenge yourself. 

How do I challenge myself?

1. For business and work:  look at your current skills.  See what you can improve on in terms of weaknesses.  If you cannot see it, ask a supervisor or a trusted co-worker a critique on your skills.  This should be part of your talk with your supervisor during your annual review.  If you own a business, as yourself what is the one thing you wish your company could do for a customer or client.
2. At home-organizing. what is the one area in the home that could use a little sprucing up within your budget?  This is not the time to do a major renovation to this area.  If this is what you are aiming for, it is fine, but take baby steps.
3. Self-improvement:  everyone can use a little self-improvement every now and then, but, how challenging is it?  One thing is once you stop learning, you are dead.  If you can afford it, go back to school or take a class online on a site like Lydia.com.  if you hate classes or cannot afford to go back, read a book or if there is something you want to do, search for it on Google or Bing or watch a skill on YouTube.

For an example, when I was getting my bachelor’s degree in Marketing from the school I graduated from in 2003, I was not interested in graphic design or writing at all.  Now, I find myself on an impasse of sorts.  When I started my blog, MDN Creates (now P. Lynne Designs), I knew I needed photos, but I did not have photos nor the skills to edit them.  I am old school.  My parents taught me that you take pictures on 35mm film, take them to the store to get them sent away, get them back in a few weeks, and display them in a photo album.  The camera on my mobile phone was new and foreign to me.  I taught myself to move the photos from the phone to my computer, then I started a trial of Photoshop, and fell in love with the aspects of it.  I have taken myself as far as I can go on my own.  Now I am hoping to gain more knowledge from an instructor at the school I graduated from.  The same with writing.  I have taken myself as far as I could go, and I hope to get a degree in entrepreneurship, which is a subsequent degree.

One of my personal challenges is to create a new craftroom. I have a budget and a plan.  My takeaway for this challenge is already listed. 

So, if you feel bored, challenge yourself and do not let fear get in your way.  Life is a challenge by itself.  You can do this.