Posts Tagged "writing"

Do I miss it?

Posted by Michelle on Dec 12, 2008 in Life, WAHM, writing | 0 comments

While surfing LiveJournal’s attachedparents community, I backtracked a little to read a post by a mother who was currently on the fence about becoming a stay at home parent. She asked a couple questions of others who have given up their careers for the sake of raising their children including this one:

What about doing so [giving up your career] do you regret?

The question struck a chord with me and has been in the back of my mind for the last day or so. What, if anything, do I regret? And I realized… I don’t miss my former job. Furthermore, I realized that I don’t miss my former career. It was something I had worked at, toiled at and frankly, was good at. Very good. I recieved nothing but universal praise for the work I did.

But when it came right down to it, I didn’t love what I did. Even before I became pregnant, I began looking for ways to do what I loved — writing. In between doing work, I’d jot things down in a notebook, write snippets of stories, write reviews and articles for the sake of doing something I loved to break the monotony working.

Now, I’m doing two things I love: taking care of The Little Empress and slowly but surely, making a new career as a freelance writer. Nope, I don’t miss what I used to do but I absolutely love what I am doing now.

Wow! WordPress 2.7 – Coltrane

Posted by Michelle on Dec 10, 2008 in blogging, Observations, Techie Mama | 0 comments

So WordPress just came out with a new version — WordPress 2.7 Coltrane. While I haven’t updated this blog yet, I have to say that Coltrane is quite sexy looking.

Yes, I called a blogging app “sexy”. Sue me, I’m a geek. Obviously, I need to get out more.

Anyway, 2.7 has a wonderful new customizable dashboard as well as post page, easier comment management and you can move the little boxes to suit your need. COOL… and more importantly, useful. I like useful.

So why haven’t I upgraded, you ask? Simple. First rule of anything IT related — before implementing any change, test, test and hey, test again. Of course, in the real world, sometimes it goes more like…

Management: It’s something we don’t fully understand but it is NEW! Implement NOW.
IT: No. We need to test it first.
Management: NOW.
IT: But we really ought to test it first….
Management: NU TEKNALOGEE NAO!!!!
IT: *sigh* *implement*
– And then everything breaks in the most spectacular fashion ever. –
Management: WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?! FIX THIS F*CK UP NOW!!
IT: *grumble*

(And some people wonder if I miss my former career )

Besides, I learned my lesson with upgrading before testing to make sure all my plugins worked. I rely on plugins for several things so I’d rather make sure they worked before moving on to new, shiny technology.

But oh baby, when all my necessary plugins are 2.7 compatible, I am so upgrading.

The search continues…

Posted by Michelle on Sep 4, 2008 in WAHM | 0 comments

My resignation was accepted. I admit to holding out a slight hope that my former workplace would pull some strings and try to retain me but no such luck. Though to be honest, I didn’t really expect them to. The company has lost so many new mothers for the fact that they outright refused to let anyone work from home for any extended amount of time, despite the fact that most jobs could have been done remotely. In a double disappointment, a seemingly perfect job opportunity that I had interviewed for earlier this month chose another candidate.

And so today, I resume the accelerated hunt that I had put on hold for the past few weeks. Specifically, renewing my determination to become a freelance writer. I’ve always loved to write and it seemed that writing would be the perfect WAHM job for me. When I first went on leave, I devoted most of my job hunting time to this before getting sidetracked by possible other opportunities. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have slowed down as much as I did. On the upside, it has given me the clarity of mind to take another look at my situation and plan accordingly. I have a better idea of what I need to do in order to market myself and more ideas for samples and pitches to make.

In the meantime, I have been lucky enough to score one online gig. It pays peanuts but even peanuts add up. I’ve also gotten some interest in a series I pitched to a local newspaper. So there’s plenty to do and it’s time to get to it!