this woman's work

I drank cold coffee this morning

Dawn — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:16:34 +0000

This happens more often than I care to admit. We have a french press because my husband likes to have these little morning rituals like grinding his coffee beans and boiling the water and plunging the plunger and sitting down to one perfect cup of coffee. Me, I just want caffeine so some mornings — like today — I just drink the cold coffee he left in the press instead of going through the bother of making more. Some mornings I’m just that desperate. If I really cared I’d make up a new batch or go drag our old, convenient coffee maker out of the basement but I think of cold coffee as a gift horse — why look it in the mouth? It’ll get me moving even if it tastes like old socks. I’m not picky. Put enough cream and sugar in there and you can’t even tell it’s been sitting on the counter for a couple of hours. I’m just wishing he left enough for two cups so I wouldn’t have to decide whether I should stay groggy or go through the bother of brewing more.

WordPress 2.7 is about to come out and I’m trying to decide whether or not to approach my clients and offer upgrades. It’s a huge change and for some of my clients, it may not be worth it. It might break their themes and likely some of their plugins and the interface is so different that it might also send them on a whole new learning curve. My typical client doesn’t love the backend of technology, which is why they hire me to make it easy-peasy for them. I think some of ‘em ought to just stay put if they like how their site is functioning. I need to look into how to turn off the pink “hurry up and upgrade!” warning bar that shows up in WordPress so that I could offer that as a service, too. I mean if you know you’re going to stick with 2.6, you don’t need to get hollered at every single time you login to your site.

I’m thinking I need to give it more time and test it out on some of my false installs to make sure that the common plugins I use work and also test out some of my clients’ themes. That way I’ll know ahead of time if the upgrade would make sense for them.

I’m even hesitant to upgrade here just yet because I’ve had trouble making giant upgrade leaps what with my blog being so big. I need to have enough time to back everything up four hundred different ways and time is precious right now. And when I type right now, I mean right NOW because Madison is calling with some small disaster (I think she’s got her shirt all twisted so she can’t get it on right — it’s driving her insane).

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I got the ok to blog it

Dawn — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:40:12 +0000

The contract is signed, waiting to be mailed tomorrow. Once it is signed, sealed and delivered back to me, I will be officially represented by the Doris S. Michaels Literary Agency! (But they said it was kosher to blog it now.)

Short story: Director of Development finds my blog and likes it. Sees I’m looking for an agent via my “about me” page, (which I will change tomorrow). Asks if I have a proposal, asks to see it, tells me she’ll get back. And she got back!

Lesson here for other writers: Put it out there if you’re looking for representation. Put it everywhere. You never know who you might meet.

I’m very happy (obviously) but being intrinsically Jewish, I am hoping for the best while expecting the worst. I really don’t know what it is to be happy without also being sad because I’m like that — bittersweet is my favorite flavor!

The big thing for me (besides the possibilities) is that I was casting around for some encouragement to keep going on this front because in my quest to be my own patron — as in working to pay the bills so I can write and finding it increasingly hard to justify finding time to write — I was letting myself down. This was the encouragement I needed.

I don’t know if I’ll get a book deal or not but I at least feel very NEXT STEP about it all and like I’m at least on the right track for whatever happens next. (I should write that like Whatever Happens Next).

In honor of my momentous news (and unfinished to-do list with writing group still to get to tonight), Brett will be making dinner. He’s a good man, that Brett!

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Happiness

Dawn — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:30:57 +0000

I’m not going to write about this happy event here — not yet but soon. If you follow me on twitter or friend me on facebook, you already know about this happy event or have means to find out. (I will say that it’s career not family related.)

But what is wrong with me that the first thing I thought upon opening happy event email was, “I wonder how I’m going to screw THIS up!”

Happily Leslie sent several emails meant to rev my happiness right back up! AND I get to see her tonight!

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Brushes with Evel greatness

Dawn — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:01:48 +0000

Tracy’s auction chronicles post today reminded me of something — Evel Knievel owed his career to my dad. Ok, that’s an exaggeration because after all Evel had the idea, he had the jumps, he had the bones to be broken but he was working for my dad when he first got started; Evel was selling insurance with him. My dad helped him get the money for his first jump by vouching so he could get financing. My mom typed up his PR letters. (Or maybe they loaned him the money for his first jump — I’m a little high on caffeine and my brain is not remembering things properly.)

We had a framed, autographed picture of him on his motorcycle jumping over barrels that hung in our family room — our friends were impressed. But I never got to meet him. Rats. That would have raised my cool factor a few notches in elementary school.

My dad said Evel was a nice guy (my mom concurs) but crazy (my mom concurs again). He said that at the beginning he had this whole routine where he’d jump barrels and a very small man (a little person) would replicate the jump with very tiny barrels. They’d both be dressed alike.

My parents both grew up in LA and if you grow up in LA you will have stories about the rich and famous. My mom’s stories include being mauled by Denny Miller (Gilligan’s Tarzan character). I found this out while enjoying this semi-wholesome sitcom one day after school. My mom wandered by with a load of laundry and said, “I went on a date with that guy — he was only after one thing.” (Being about ten I pictured that like this: He rings the doorbell holding flowers. She opens the door. He hands her the flowers and tries to rip open her shirt.)

She also used to party with Louis Prima and his band when she and her girlfriends would head to Vegas for the weekend.

Now my dad, I’ve always thought he should have a blog called “I dated Barbie and other tales from 1950s LA” because he dated Barbie-inventor Ruth Handler’s daughter, Barbara, in high school. And he used to run around with Phil Spector back in the day.

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Dames Bond tonight

Dawn — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:21:58 +0000

I’m headed out to the Dames Bond end-of-the-year celebration tonight. I love Mary B and I always love the Dames Bond meetings. She’s done such a terrific job of infusing the group with her warmth and generosity! I’ve made some great professional and personal connections there (including Katawi; MotoMedics; Cindy Dunigan, whose new site will debut around the new year; Brenda Direen and it’s where I first met Liz Lessner) but the real value has been the supportive spirit and camaraderie that makes every meeting a pleasure.

You guys know that in-person networking can be hard for me but Dames Bond is the exception to my rule!

I think tonight there’s gonna be some torch singing, too, which my jazz-centric, showtunes-loving heart adores. I just need to figure out what I’m going to throw into the raffle!

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