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No matter how hard I try, I can’t possibly be productive before 9:30 a.m.

It never fails, every morning I find myself looking at the clock at 9:30 a.m. and realizing that I am, once again, just now getting down to business.

I don’t think it’s just because I get to work from home most days and can take my time showering, getting a cup of coffee, throwing a load of laundry in the wash, and just generally screwing around until I feel like accomplishing something. When I had a full-time day job where I had to actually be someplace at a certain time, I was still incapable of accomplishing anything before 9:30 a.m.

I remember when I used to get to work at 7:30 a.m. at one previous job. That sucked. I had to get up pretty early to get myself and my kid (I only had one at the time) and my husband-at-the-time (who is now, thank God, my ex,) up and ready to go. (Seriously, I may as well have had 2 kids.) I would get all of us dressed and ready to go, and usually get us where we needed to be on time (unless my BIG baby decided to oversleep or throw a temper tantrum on the way and make us all late.)

I digress, as usual.

So, I would be at work by 7:30 a.m. (usually,) and I would sit at my desk and screw around for 2 hours. Every day.

I’d busy myself with busy work, play around with my e-mail, check my personal e-mail, look at some news articles online, go to the restroom 3 or 4 times, maybe stop at the vending machine, chat with a co-worker (my supervisor was notorious for helping us waste large quantities of time on office gossip,) whatever, anything to avoid sitting down and actually working. And I wasn’t the only one. It always seemed to me like everyone in the office took at least an hour or two to settle in each morning. Luckily, I could usually get twice as much work done in half the time it took most my co-workers. It’s a wonder some of them ever accomplished anything.

So what’s my point, anyway? My point is, we all seem to have a specific time of day when we are most productive. My productive time is from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and once in a while I wake up at 1:00 a.m. and scribble furiously in a notebook for 3 or 4 hours. That’s my productive time. Those are the times when I know I can count on myself to accomplish something.

Now that I only get paid for the hours I actually do something, that kinda sucks. Gone are the days when I could screw around for 2 hours each work morning and still get paid for it. But, don’t you think employers would start to realize that most of their workers waste a good part of the time they spend at work? Don’t you think employers should makes some effort to try to figure out when their workers are actually productive and have them come to work then? What is the point of paying a worker to simply “be there” during a time of day when he or she is simply not going to get anything accomplished?

I wonder about these things sometimes. Do you? Comment below and tell me what you think.

~Mandy Webster

P.S. The reason you’re able to read this post so early this morning is because I wrote it yesterday and scheduled it to post itself this morning before I was even considering getting out of bed.

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Seriously cheesy title today. Seriously. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. I won’t let it happen again.

Well, I’m not making any promises.

OK, “So, what did go down on Wednesday anyway?” you’re probably wondering. (Or maybe not, maybe I’ve already lost you.) I teach 2 courses on Wednesdays; Communication Technologies and Business Communication. And, I thought Comm Tech was fun yesterday. I mean, sure it could have gone a bit more smoothly, but this is the first time I’m teaching this course, and I still have a lot of kinks to work out. 

Why was class so much fun yesterday? Well, we finally got down to creating blogs. (Yay!) I seriously (I say “seriously” a lot don’t I? And use parentheses a lot too, I should work on that) would love to work with blogs all day every day. I think it would be great fun to help people set up their own blogs for a living and set them off in the right direction. In fact, if I could get a PhD in blogging, I totally would.

Like I said, I still have a lot of kinks to work out in this course, and I’m already planning to make some changes to the assignment. I don’t think it will achieve the objectives I’m hoping for the way it’s set up right now. I could write a whole other post on that, and maybe I will another day. My main objective for today is to share links to my students’ blogs. It would be totally awesome if you could have a look at a couple of them and give them a little encouragement and feedback. I do so hope they keep up with their blogs after this course is over.

Student Blogs

• Blogging Newbie
• God’s Fedora Punk (this student already had a blog, so I’m letting him use what he already has and just pushing him to improve it with the aim of improving his traffic numbers.)
• Sarayeske
• TLHERRICK (Some of them are still thinking of names for their blogs.)
• Learning to Relax… Take a Mini Vacation
• OCakes
• Austin’s blog
• Hazel Applegate
• How to Organize Your Life
• Mike Bzzz

Please keep in mind, the students just created these blogs yesterday. So, they still have a lot of work to do. I think one of the things I need to do next is to create a weekly checklist of items for them to make sure they’ve completed on their blogs so they can improve each week. For example, this week, all of those “Just another WordPress blog” taglines need to disappear.

So, that was Communication Technologies for this week. Business Communication was cool too, my students spent a large part of the class working on their final collaborative analytical report that they’ll be turning in a few weeks from now (it’s an accelerated course.) We’ve spent a lot of time this semester playing around with Survey Monkey so they can create online surveys to collect primary research for their research reports. I figured, as long as I’m sharing links, I’ll also share links to their surveys. The more survey responses they get, the better. Please help my students out and take their surveys:

• MP3 player use in the workplace
• Jams and Jellies

Do you have any ideas for how I can help my students improve their blogs? If so, comment below.

~Mandy Webster

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Endless grading of term papers (Photo credit: joguldi)

It happens to the best of us. We want to write more often, but life somehow gets in the way. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got so many different projects in the works, I can’t seem to focus on any of them. And, I’m spending so much time worrying about getting my final project and paper written for one course, and my mid-term paper written for another, I have very little time left to write something I actually want to write.

Yes, here I am, complaining once again. *sigh*

I seriously need to stop making excuses. My Communication Technology students will be starting their own blogs in class today, and I need to set a better example. How can I expect them to post to their blogs at least once a week if I can’t get around to mine? (By the way, if they give me permission, I will be sharing links to their blogs here so you can see what my students are up to.)

One of my plans for today, when I have a few minutes between classes, is to sit down and brainstorm blog post ideas. I’d like to begin to include some of my teaching work so you can see what it’s like to be a teaching writer. For example, I’m planning to write essays this semester along with my Written Communication students so I can give them some well-written examples to look at. Maybe I’ll even share a couple of my essays here on my blog.

So tell me about your blogging experience. Do you have trouble coming up with things to write about? If so, how do you combat blogger’s block? Post your comments below.

~Mandy

Beautiful Bookmarks by Kate Aspen

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I’m going to a convention in Chicago in a few weeks, and I need to get a hotel room. Of course, I’ve waited too long, and now the Palmer House Hilton, where the convention is being held is all booked up. So, what next? I’ve been looking at rooms online, and there are just way too many options. And way too many questions.

For example, where do I park my car that isn’t going to cost me $40 a day? Am I going to have to park my car someplace and just leave it? Am I going to end up walking several blocks from my hotel room to the convention on the 2 days I’ll be there? Could I take a train into the city? If I do that, where do I leave my car then? And how the heck do I figure out what train to take to get where I need to be? 

Someone please tell me… What hotel do I choose? And what the heck do I do with my car?

I think my head might explode. Would someone please just tell me what to do?

~Mandy

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Dear men,

It really is the thought that counts. As long as you show her that you think she’s worth thinking of, no matter what you do, it will be plenty.

Unless, of course, you’re one of those men who will go out of your way to show her she’s worth thinking of, only to find out it’s not enough because you didn’t spend enough… in which case, it’s time to exchange her for someone who deserves you.

Happy Valentine’s Day
Mandy

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Hot Pads: $12.50 + S&H per set of 2

I’m a crafty writer. In fact, I probably spend a bit too much time making stuff when I should be writing. But, crafting gives me a good excuse to sit in front of the TV once in a while. Anyway, I’ve been working on a lot of crafts for Christmas lately. I like to have a good stock of little things put aside each year, and I pretty much used up my stash this past holiday season. 

One of the things I’m planning for this year is to make up a bunch of these flowered hot pads (pictured above.) I made these with yarn left over from some other projects, but I’m also planning to make some more Christmasy ones using red, green, and white yarn.

I’m also working on Christmas stocking ornaments and scarves. I mostly make these to have on hand for gifts throughout the year, but might also be talked into selling them for the right price. In fact, I could possibly take special orders (in your choice of colors) if you have time to wait for me to make the product for you. Or if you know how to crochet, feel free to copy my patterns and ideas. Whatever works for you.

Christmas stocking ornaments: $5 each + S&H

Pink and purple scarves: $10 each + S&H

Camo blanket I made for my son: I'd be willing to make this for around $60 + S&H, but you'd have to give me at least a month or two to finish it.

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For this week’s Poetry Friday, hosted by Writing the World for Kids, I am sharing another original poem. This is a rough draft I think could use some revisions, so I would love to hear any feedback you might have on how to make it better. I am especially having some problems with the rhythm in a couple of these lines. Please post your feedback in the comments below.

Church on Time

Red painted church marm in a
white Grand Prix
squeals around the corner and
glares at me.

Don’t you dare step out there in
front of me,
says the glaring red face from the
white Grand Prix.

Got to get to church on time,
young lady.
Got no time to slow down for a
God-less freak.

~By Amanda L. Webster

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I wrote this poem in the middle of the night. I’m sure you can deduce what I was doing at the time from the poem.

Dear Brain

Please shut up so I
can sleep.

Ideas I have will
surely keep.
Please shut up so I
can sleep.

You’re really ‘bout to make
me weep.
Please shut up so I
can sleep.

I told you, not a-
nother peep!

Please shut up so I
can sleep!

~By Amanda L Webster

This week’s Poetry Friday is hosted by The Iris Chronicles.

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The other day, I stumbled upon Pinterest. It is awesome. Seriously. Avoid it at all cost.

I mean it. If you are a busy person who does not have time in your life to spare, you need to stay away from Pinterest. It is a huge time-sucker, maybe even worse than Facebook. I can’t get anything done anymore!

Like I could ever get anything done before.

“What is Pinterest?” you might ask. Good question. It’s basically an online pin board where you can post pictures of cool things you find around the internet. For example, say you find a blog post with a craft idea you’d like to save for later. Instead of sticking it in your bookmarks with the rest of the unorganized crap you’ll probably never look at again, you click the little “Pin It” button in your toolbar (you’ll add it when you sign up,) and categorize the image in one of your online pin boards. In this case, I’d pin an image of the craft project to my bulletin board labeled, “Stuff I’d Like to TRY to Make.“

So now when I’m in the mood to craft something new, instead of wading through a bunch of useless, non-descriptive URLs and website names in my bookmarks, I can go to that pin board and look at pictures of the craft ideas I’ve saved and go from there. It’s pretty cool.

What makes Pinterest a huge time-sucker is the fact that you can follow other people on the website and see what they are pinning and then repin what they pin. So, you end up spending a ton of time looking through the blog posts, etc. that others are sharing. You sit down to browse for a few minutes, and then next thing you know, an hour has passed. No kidding.

As Seen on Pinterest

• I just ran out of laundry detergent and am broke, so I borrowed a cup from a neighbor and was wondering how long I could make it last. Then I saw this recipe for homemade laundry detergent. Store-bought laundry detergent is way too expensive. Seriously, why does it cost so much for a bottle of something that’s mostly water? So, I went out this morning and bought a box of Borax and a box of washing soda to give this a try. Now I just have to drink a couple of gallons of milk to get the empty gallon jugs. I pinned this to my bulletin board titled, homemade cleaning products.
• I love this rag quilt project. See more craft ideas on my pin board labeled, Stuff I’d Like to TRY to Make.
• Click here to find me on Pinterest and see what else I’m pinning.

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This is how busy I am right now, in case you wondered. I have a bag for each day of the week so I can keep everything organized!

Please feel free to skip this post, as I have nothing to say today.

One of the secrets to running a ‘good’ blog is to blog often. So, I feel the need to write something today, considering I have posted nothing since Friday. I hate when life gets in the way of writing.

I’m back to school – playing both student and teacher, for the semester – so I’ve been fairly busy lately. Not to mention the fact that my kids have been sick this week, and I am trying desperately not to get sick myself until at least tomorrow. I teach two classes on Wednesdays, so I just can’t afford to be sick today. I’ll be sick tomorrow and get well in time for my Friday morning class. 

Then there’s my Saturday morning class to attend, and a writer’s workshop group to meet with after class Saturday. I suppose I could rest up and do a little writing over the weekend, but then when will I grade this week’s homework assignments?

Yes, this entire post is about me complaining. I told you to feel free to skip this one.

Anyway, I’m not complaining too hard. I’m actually thankful that I’m so busy, as it sure beats the alternative. I’ve actually been writing fairly productively lately, just not blogging. So, that’s a good thing, right?

OK, since I am just not coming up with any useful thoughts to blog about today, why don’t you tell me what you want to read about? What have you always wanted to know about writing? I may not be a top expert in my field, but I do know quite a bit. I’ve been making a living at writing for almost 3 years now. Ask me how I did it if you want. Go ahead, ask me anything.

~Mandy

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