Tag Archives: creativity

The Country Girl Meets The City Girl!

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farm girl1Something About Nothing by Julie Seedorf published week of February 16 in the Albert Lea Tribune

I once wrote a book for a friend. I called myself the city girl in the story, which of course, was a little far-fetched because I live in a small town in the country. Last week I became a city girl for a week, spending time with my kids and grandchildren. It was somewhat of a retreat because I had the house to myself for the day while the others were at  school and work. I also had time to myself to flit around town whenever the urge for coffee and conversation would drive me out of the house.

I am out of the loop, very far out of the loop. Since making writing my business of choice, I hide away in my home, fast forward through commercials because I don’t watch live television, ignore the news and live in the fantasy of writing.

A look of amazement covers my face when I finally come out of hiding and visit the big city. I am a country bumpkin.

In earlier columns I mention being challenged by faucets on sinks, towel machines and flushing toilets when I am out and about in the big city and visit public restrooms. It hasn’t been long since I visited, perhaps November, but I wasn’t expecting any new challenges in the public restrooms. I did notice I was not the only one restroom challenged, as other women were swiping and waving, trying to get machines to work.

I always hold on to my cellphone tightly when using the bathroom in public restrooms. Those toilets flush the water right out from under you and a falling-out-of-the-pocket cellphone dropped in the water  would flush faster than the average hand could move, but then, who would want to move that hand before the toilet flushed?

This time on my visit to a public restroom in a major department store I was ready to pay attention to the towel machine so I knew if I had to wave or swipe. I was ready for the automatic faucets which might require a dash underneath them to get them going. I encountered my problem before I dashed my hands underneath the faucet. I pumped the soap dispenser. It didn’t work. I looked for a button to push. There was no button. Just for kicks I dashed my hand underneath the soap machine and it dispensed soap. Very clever, now I have to watch out for soap machines too.

This public restroom made drying hands easy and fun. It doesn’t  take a scientist to figure out you put your hands, pointed down, in the machine slots to dry your hands. I loved the hand machine as it felt like a massage on the hands. It doesn’t take much to make me happy.

I remember a time when the thought of the big city scared me because of all the crime.  I was leery on my visits, checking out my surroundings all the time. Since I quit listening to the news that phobia has gone away. At least it did until I took time to watch the news while I visited the big city. The swat team was entering Byerly’s in St. Louis Park, and the hunt continued in Jordon which was not far from where I was. I listened as more dire things were reported. It scared me that the news didn’t scare me.  The types of incidents I was hearing that were happening seem to be the way of life and normal. Nowhere are we safe, and we accept in 2015 this is part of our life.

I find the fact unacceptable and scary that I would accept news of that type as normal.

I have heard of the unfriendliness of people in big cities. I found that not to be true. I had people to chat with wherever I decided to go. I made a new friend over lamenting about weight gain over a rack of clothes. We exchanged numbers and will meet again. Perhaps it is my chatty nature. People from big cities seem to be getting a bad rap for being unfriendly.

Because I had a chance to spend time on a walking track at a large community center that is not available to me in my town, I decided to purchase some cheap walking shoes. I hadn’t planned on doing much walking since it was chilly and I am not a cold weather person, so I didn’t bring my walking shoes this trip. This is where I found I need to pay more attention to commercials.

I grew up in a shoe store. As an adult, I don’t care much about shoes. I don’t shop for shoes very often. Imagine my surprise when I found out that many brands of athletic shoes come with memory foam insoles. I have bad feet and when I tried the new memory sole shoes on I felt as if I was walking on a cloud. Do you suppose if we wore memory foam in our shoes our memory would improve? After all, our skin and feet are very absorbent. Vicks absorbs on the feet and stops a cough; maybe memory foam would do the same? I tried to talk myself into spending the money on the shoes that had memory rather than the cheap ones I had intended to purchase. I had perfectly good shoes at home. I couldn’t justify the purchase and I picked up the $15 rather than the $60 shoes.

The manager and I had a conversation earlier on and he was teasing me about my purchase when I brought it up to the counter. I told him my dilemma and he said, “They make insoles from memory foam and you can move them from shoe to shoe.”

I was shocked. I didn’t know. I don’t buy insoles. I don’t look at insoles and I don’t usually wear extra insoles in my shoes.  Insoles were much cheaper than the $60 shoes. My new $15 walking shoes now have memory and so do I.

I am left with the memory of my week in the Cities. I am left with the realization I need to expand my horizons more so I can keep up with conversations of those younger than I am. I want to be a well-informed older person, not stagnating in my old age. Will I be able to broaden my horizons? Stay tuned.

 

Where Did You Find Your Treasure?

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Something About Nothing by Julie Seedorf published week of January 13, 2015 in the Albert Lea Tribune and Courier Sentinel

I like treasure hunts. Almost every day I seem to be on a treasure hunt in my home. The treasure I am usually hunting is my sweet shyster Natasha.natasha

I have two shysters, but Natasha, who is part Siamese and part something else, gets into more trouble than my 14-pound Boris. Maybe when we named her we were asking for trouble because she does act a little like her namesake Natasha, from the “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show” cartoons.

This week while working on the edits for my new book that will be titled “Something About Nothing” after this column, I was reminded by Boris and Natasha, who were helping me edit, that they do not get enough page time from me.

I was reading my columns about Sambo, my beloved pooch who no longer resides in our household. Natasha and Boris took the time to point out by their scratches and their meows that they are often absent from my writing. My granddaughter reminded me that it was time to introduce the shysters into my children’s books where Sam already has a starring role. Who would have thought the shysters would be jealous?

Though they don’t bury birdbaths, hang their fur on my floor giving me new carpeting as Sam did, they provide hours of entertainment and trouble. I decided to relent, and thus begins my story of my everyday treasure hunt.

Natasha along with Boris is my treasure. At some point during every day either my husband will ask, “Have you seen Natasha?” or I will.

Laidback Boris usually doesn’t care where Natasha is if he is trying to sleep.

The hunt begins. We check under the beds, under the covers, all chairs and after we have exhausted all boxes, we begin opening doors. We open closet doors, cupboard doors and the basement door. There are a lot of doors to open. We know a disappearance by Natasha is trouble.

Most people would not be concerned if they haven’t seen their cat in their house for hours. It isn’t unusual for cats to be shy and find somewhere quiet to sleep. Our shysters are anything but shy and usually are out in eyesight helping us with every step of our household duties.

If they are sleeping they like to be near us. Other cats hide; ours like to play hide and seek. Natasha hides and we seek.

Natasha is sneaky and quick. We know this, but she is quicker than the average eye, and can sneak into a closet and through the basement door quick as a wink without us seeing her. She is always in stealth mode.

You would think she would give us a small hint as to where she is by a meow or a scratch but no — she is content to wait for us to find her no matter how long it takes.

Before we leave the house we always have to make sure our treasure is safe and that means in plain sight.

One day when we left the house I forgot to secure my treasure. I was gone all day. On arriving back at my house I put my packages on the counter in the kitchen only to look over to the bathroom to see Boris sitting by the bathroom closet door. He wouldn’t move. There was no noise.

I thought it was strange so I decided to open the bathroom closet to see if he was waiting for a beetle or ladybug to pop out. He was waiting for Natasha to pop out. She had been left in the closet all day. Apparently she didn’t mind because there were no accidents and she calmly crawled out and kissed Boris.

The other part about Natasha is the fact that even if we did not open the door for her to sneak in, she can open doors herself. She has taught Boris how to open the door under the sink to get treats. We had to put a childproof lock on the door.

Natasha can open the bi-fold door on my closet and jump in. It is not unusual for me to hear a prowler during the night opening my closet door. Some nights she climbs in and closes it.

Natasha takes an interest in helping me with my writing. She likes to take the paper out of the printer when it is printing. Yesterday she climbed on to the top of my printer, stood up to a shelf on her hind legs and opened my plastic drawers where I keep my pens and pencils and tried to toss me a pen.

Yes, life with our two shysters is interesting and some wonder why we put up with their antics. Boris and Natasha are two of our treasures. They are two of the treasures that we seek that we always find. They are easy treasures to find. Other treasures in life may be hidden.

Treasure is defined in the dictionary as wealth or riches stored or accumulated; any thing or person valued highly. In our world today when treasure is mentioned the first definition of wealth or riches is what is sought and what comes to mind.

We get excited when the word treasure is mentioned. We buy lottery tickets; we search for the magic fountain of youth in bottles or the knife. We search for fame so it will bring us fortune. Our treasures might be the next super sale at a big box store

My treasure hunt reminds me of the book, “The Alchemist,” by Paul Coelho. Santiago, the shepherd boy travels from his homeland, which is Spain, to the Egyptian Desert to find a treasure buried in the pyramids. We don’t know what the treasure is. There are obstacles in the way of finding the treasure.

Santiago found his true treasure, but where and what he found might surprise you, just as your search for your treasure might end in a surprising place, right where you started, at home with those you love.

It’s Hard Being A New Author!

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I consider myself a new author even though I have had a contract with a small publishing company for the past year. I consider myself a new writer, even though I have had a successful column for an area newspaper for the past eight years. I consider myself a new writer, even though I have four books published, and have had excellent reviews for the most part.

I consider myself blessed as an author, and a member of the Cozy Cat Press family, not only because of my books, but because of the other authors who have given me valuable insight into working as a new author.

This blog post is for new authors and author wannabe’s. There is occasionally a misconception by new authors on  their role  after the book is published. That misconception revolves around the idea that your work as an author is finished when the writing and editing are done.  You write a book, someone else pays to publish it, and you collect your royalties in whatever fashion the publishing company’s policy pays those royalties. That’s it. Done. You’re on your way to the next book.

I don’t know how it used to work. I don’t know what big name publishing companies expect, but I do know that many smaller publishing companies expect their authors to do a little tap dancing in the social media, and getting familiar with blowing their own horn.

Remember when your mom told you it wasn’t nice to brag? So, you didn’t. After you write a book, and that book becomes a published reality, you need to throw out the niceties and brag. How else will you sell your book if no one knows about it? Life has changed and social media helps you promote you. It is up to you as a new author to promote your book on social media sites, author and readers groups that  you join, and utilizing guest stops on blogs. It is up to you to promote your work on your own blog and website. The promotion is endless,  time-consuming, exciting and exhilarating  at the same time – and it can work.

I am the perfect example of teaching an old dog new tricks. I was older when I got into the writing business. Granted, I did have some computer experience in computer repair but not promotion, website building,  or social networking. These things I had to learn on my own with the help of Google, asking questions and doing a lot of research.

You write your book. You get accepted by a publishing company or you self publish and that is where life gets fuzzy for many writers. The roadblocks kick in worse than the road construction on our highways this summer. Detours prevent new authors from moving forward. Roadblock # 1 on the detour in the life of a writer: Spouses, family and friends don’t understand the work it takes to write a book, research a book and then promote and market a book. “You wrote your book, now get back to the real living.”  “It’s done, it’s out there, I want my dinner.” Have any of you heard that? And then they qualify it with “Why isn’t your book selling?” A new author has to move beyond other’s expectations to move forward, market their book and start another if they are serious about their craft.

Roadblock #2: “I don’t do social media.”  ” I don’t have time.” “I don’t know how.” “I’m not computer literate.” Those are all statements made at one time or another that hold a new author young and old, back from accomplishing their dream. If you want success as an author in the world of 2014, you have to remove those roadblock statements from your mind. Ask for help. Do your own research. Anything worth achieving takes time and hard work. If you believe you can’t, you won’t. There are tons of tutorials out there on any given subject for navigating your way around the vast social internet world.

Roadblock #3: You don’t believe in yourself and what you wrote. You have to become your own cheering section and tell people about yourself. Join other writers and readers groups to learn the ropes and network with other authors and readers. Their advice and friendship are invaluable. Don’t expect your publishing company to do everything for you. The world has changed when it comes to what publishers do for their writers. I would guess that the most accomplished, famous authors put in much time and sweat too. Their publishing company expects  great things from them too.

Why am I qualified to write this blog about this subject. I am, because I have a lot to learn. I am, because I have met those roadblocks in my mind and in my life. I don’t know everything about Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and Amazon  or other social media. I have a zillion things to learn about my website and my blog. Every day is a learning experience. Every day is a juggling act between writing and publicity and learning. And yes, it get’s frustrating, when my brain is challenged with things it doesn’t want to learn and I want to give up. When those things happen, I take a breath, maybe retreat, and do something else creative or spend time with a friend but then –I come back to my work and ask for help.

Am I successful? It depends on what one’s definition of success is. Yes I am successful in that I am learning many new things in this old brain. I am successful in that I have met many new valued friends. I am successful in that I am living my dream-writing. Am I still comma and grammar challenged? Yes.  Do I sell some books? Yes. Would I like to sell more so I don’t have to worry about paying my bills each month? Yes. Am I willing to work hard to make that happen? Yes.

As a new author, wish yourself success, prepare for a lot of work for a life of loving what you do. Believe in yourself.