Writing for fun versus writing for work

There are quite a few people; me included, that write for both fun and work.  The writing styles that we use are different for each of the various pieces of writing we are working on. 

Writing for fun, this is something that I do when I am writing my craft blog because my crafting is what I do to relax, and it is fun, so I want to ensure that when I write the blog, I am showing some fun in my writing style.  I understand that not everyone understands that you can have a different writing style for the different parts of your life, but it is common.

Writing for work, now this is what I do for clients and when I write my other blog.  The writing style that I use then is a lot different from when I am writing my craft blog, and it should be.  The work writing is a lot clearer and to the point where I need to get the details out, and that is it. 

I have the experience of someone reading my two different blogs and not realizing they were both written by me.  Yes, this shows that there can be two different writing styles used by one person and that you can achieve a different imagine just by how you write.  There are days when writing for fun isn’t something that comes too easily, but I can write the work items with no problem and vice versa.  Yes, writing is a challenge, and it is something that we need to work on and get everything done that needs to get done.  One of my tricks is that I normally have both work and fun writing that I need to do and when one isn’t working, I will quickly flip to working on the other and get that one done.  I have found that once I have been able to work on one style of writing for a while, the other method is a lot easier to do because it is a change.

I have heard authors say that they can write a lot of short stories easily, but the novel is a challenge and then other authors can write the 100,000-word novel, but a short story isn’t something they can manage to do.  These are the challenges that they face, and they understand how to handle them, like I know how to manage the problems that I manage.

Writing for work and writing for fun are both things that I enjoy doing.  Sure, people that understand that I write for work may not know that I can have two different styles, but I can.  I have also been able to say to some people that if they don’t like my fun writing, they don’t have to read it because I am not going to change that writing style as that is how I want to write those blogs.  Writing for me is something that I do most of the day every day, so I need to ensure that I am enjoying the writing that I am doing.  My goals with my writing are to ensure that I can keep the clients happy with what I write for work, and that I can keep myself happy with the writing that I do for me.

Wearing many hats in a business

I think a lot of small business individuals know that they are going to be wearing several hats as there just isn’t the staff to do each job separately. The wearing of many hats can be something that you do daily, or then there are the times that you will be wearing many hats in one day. I know that there are times that as a business co-owner, the number of hats that are juggled in a day can be quite a few. Sure, it is something that you realize when you start the business and for some people, I think it is something they only realize after the business is started. I think some small business owners forget that when they first start the business that they are going to be the person doing everything, and sometimes the list of things to be done can be rather long.

For us, the habit of wearing many hats is something that we do, and I don’t think we think about it very often until someone asks who does a certain task. In our business, there are some tasks that only one of us does regularly, but in a lot of cases, the tasks could be done by the other person. Sure, we both have what we are the expert on, but if things start to get extremely busy, we can hand some of our tasks off to the other person.

There are days when you can sit and work on one job and that is all that you do, and it feels great and then there are the other days when it seems like there are so many little tasks that need to be done and of course they are all a little different in nature. As a small business co-owner, there isn’t the staff where you can delegate tasks to and know that they are going to be done by someone else. In our case, we can sometimes ask the other person to help out or do the task, but in a lot of cases, the task is just part of another hat that we wear for the business.

We often laugh when people talk about some of the joys of being a small business owner, and yes, there are a lot of jobs. One comment people make is that as a small business owner you don’t have a boss, but in reality, when you are a co-owner of a business you do have a boss, and it is the other co-owner and even yourself. See, so we do wear many hats when it comes to being a small business owner, and that is part staff and part boss, and sometimes both of those happen at the same time.

As a small business co-owner, I love wearing the many hats in our business as it means that daily there can be a lot of variety in the job. Sure, there can be a lot of fires that need to be put out all at once, but at least at the end of the day, you know that you have done a good job. Being your own boss can be a challenge sometimes because you have to figure out the priority of the various tasks, but in a lot of cases, the priority is figured out pretty quickly.

Wearing many hats in a small business is normal, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I enjoy the job and the variety that we deal with, and at least we know that in our case there are two of us that are accountable to each other, and we love that.

I am who I am

Have you ever had someone try and change who you are? Well, I am going to tell you it is difficult, and it just isn’t going to happen.

I use the words “I am who I am” to explain that I am happy with who I am and that I am not going to let other people try and change me to be what they expect me to be. Sure, I may listen to the person and if it is something that I also see that could be improved I will work on changing it, but I will not let anyone dictate who I should be and how I should act. It is amazing how many people will try and make you fit what they expect even when it isn’t who you are, and it is never going to be you.

I have heard people say that I should be taller, or I should be thinner. Yes, I know I would like to be a little thinner than I am, but at my age, I won’t be growing any taller, so that is something that just isn’t going to happen. Being a certain shape is something that I manage, and I will not let anyone force me to change my shape if it isn’t something that I would end up happy with. I have been extremely skinny before, and I had to admit, sure it was nice in some ways, but I wasn’t happy so why would I want to go back to being that person again.

What is important is making sure that you are happy with yourself and changing just because you want to make someone else happy isn’t a good idea, but you aren’t going to be happy with the results no matter what. The reason you change is to make yourself happy, and that is the biggest reason to make any changes. Sure, people can make suggestions, but that is all they are and that is how you should hear them. If someone doesn’t like how you act or how you look, remember it is just their personal opinion, and you don’t need to make them happy if it isn’t going to make you happy as well.

Pleasing others instead of pleasing yourself isn’t good for you, and that is something that everyone needs to understand. Knowing that you are happy with who you are and being able to stand with your head up high is what is important. Being you and not letting others try and change you to just meet their expectations is important. We are all a little different and no matter if you change for one person, you aren’t going to make someone else happy, so that is something else you need to remember.

I am who I am is what I say to people that try and change me and I know that as long as I am happy with me, and I please some people especially those that love me unconditionally, I will remain that person that I am happy with.

Social media

It is amazing how many people think that Facebook is a place where someone else will help them with everything, especially if they are in a group.

I belong to a number of groups on Facebook and have seen some very interesting questions that people have asked. Here are some of the questions that I have seen and some of my thoughts about them:

1. I’m in desperate need of a new project, haven’t crocheted in months! What’s everyone working on?

I immediately see this and think you belong to a group that shows projects that people are working on so why do you have to ask to see things, just scroll down the page, and you will see a lot of projects that are just finished or are being worked on currently.

2. Are there any patterns that would be considered beachy? I searched the site and didn’t see any.

What site are you looking at because this is a Facebook group, but you really didn’t give us enough information? This is something that I have seen very often when someone mentions that they have checked the site, but they don’t say the site they have looked at.

3. Where can I find free patterns?

Now this question is from the Crochet Crowd Social Facebook page, and it does make me laugh because it is a group for people that crochet and know about the Crochet Crowd website. There is an entire Crochet Crowd website, which is identified in the group, that has patterns and a lot of other information provided, so why not check there. My other reply might have been have you googled “free crochet patterns” and what you want to make, or are we supposed to guess what you are looking for.

4. Where can I find tutorials on learning how to crochet?

Now this question is from the Crochet Crowd Social Facebook page, and it does make me laugh because it is a group for people that crochet and know about the Crochet Crowd website. There is an entire website (The Crochet Crowd) that has access to tutorials and a lot of other information provided, so why not check there. Again, the website is identified in the group.

5. Where can I find a pattern to make a shawl for myself?

My immediate answer to this question would have you tried googling for ideas, or have you checked out Ravelry, which is quite often found through the various Google searches? Of course, there are times that I just scroll by these questions because I think it is best, otherwise my answer wouldn’t be very friendly. I understand that when you are in a group, you can get help from other members of the group, but the idea is also not to use the group as your personal Google.

As you can see, there can be some very interesting questions asked within social media and especially Facebook. I understand that not everyone knows how to use Google extremely well, but at least trying to find things and then asking for help is better. I have seen some questions in one group, and they are very clear, and it makes you feel good.

Here is one of those questions:

1. I'm looking for a chart, but I can't remember the name of it or who the artist was. The chart had an owl flying a key to a lock in the ground. It was a relatively recent release. I remember it being a very beautiful chart with lots of soft colours. I've put every keyword I can think of into the search bar, and I am coming up with nothing (though my wish list keeps getting bigger every time I try to find this thing). Can anyone help me out in identifying the chart that doesn't want to be found?

This question was on the Heaven and Earth Design Facebook group and of course the person provided enough information that someone was very quickly able to tell them the name of the patter as well as the designer. This is the type of question that I enjoy seeing because at least it gives enough information so that people know you have done some looking and just need a little bit of help.

Social media is something that a lot of us understand and are part of, but knowing when not to reply to a question that is posted is something that I have learned to do. If you are part of a group and have a question, make sure that you are asking the right type of question and also try and show that you have done some of your own research before asking your question. You will probably be surprised at the type of answer you will get, and it will probably help you a lot more than just asking a general question.

The other thing that really bothers me about some groups is when people ask what is on your hook tonight or spam me with ideas for a baby girl afghan. Both aren’t great for the group because it just means that one thread ends up with a lot of pictures but no descriptions, and they really aren’t very useful. Think before you ask this type of questions because remember with all the various groups there are it can get overwhelming to see all of this type of chatter.

If you are working on something or have finished something, and you think the group would like to see it, go ahead and post it and remember you will probably be asked a few questions about it so if you have to answer them in your original post it makes things a lot easier for everyone.

Social media is something that can be very helpful when you are looking for things, but that is after you have done your own searches. Remember Facebook isn’t a replacement for Google so try that first and then when all else fails ask a question in a group but make sure the question is clear.

Blogging and life

As you can see, the blogging that I was doing every week hasn’t been happening for the last little while. It has been a challenge for me to think of the various topics and get the words down on paper. Yes, life has decided to get in the way of me doing a lot of the writing that I like doing, and now to see if I can get back to doing the writing that I love.

Blogging is something that I really enjoy doing but when life gets busy, and it is a challenge to get thoughts down on paper that is something that I need to think about. I have found that the last few months it has been a challenge for me to get thoughts out of my head and into the various blog posts. I hope that once life slows down just a little bit, I will be able to get back to writing like I have been writing.

I have a list of ideas that I would like to write about, so now I just need to find the focus where I can sit and get all the different ideas written up. Sure, I know that I have been able to continue to blog at least once each month, and I should be happy with that. Now I am going to try and see if I can get back to writing a little more. I don’t think I will be seeing a big improvement in November, but I hope that once 2019 rolls around that I will be able to get back to seeing the blog a little more active.

Hotel experiences

For a lot of people, staying at a hotel is a pleasure event and normally is part of a vacation away from home. For me, I have stayed in a number of hotels both for pleasure and also for work as I have done quite a bit of travelling for work.

A hotel experience can really have a negative or positive experience, and lately I am finding that a number of hotels are resulting in a negative experience, which isn’t good. I recently was staying at a hotel for work and had asked for no feather in the room. This is a simple request, or so I thought because it means that housekeeping has a note about the room for when they are doing the cleaning the morning of my arrival. Upon arriving at the hotel and checking in the room, I discovered that two of the four pillows on the bed were duck feathers, which wasn’t supposed to be there. As there were two of us in the room, we walked down to the front desk and reported the issue and sure it was resolved quickly, but again it shouldn’t have happened.

So, the frustrating part of the pillow experience was the answer that we received from one of the staff at the front desk, his comment was “We were fully booked the night before, so the staff was busy, so it was missed”. A fully booked hotel should have meant that the pillows would have been addressed because someone would have had to clean the room the morning/early afternoon of our arrival. Also, there is a minimum 4-hour time between last check out and first check in, so if there have the right number of housekeeping people on staff, getting everything done would have been no problem.

Now I thought that was going to be the only issue at the hotel, but it continued with some lights in the room not working. So, one lamp was actually unplugged and couldn’t be plugged in because the plug was all bend. Two other lights one over the desk and one that lite an area of the room were also not working so that meant another report to the front desk of the issues. Maintenance did come and fix all three of these issues, but again another excuse was given “Oh, these two lights probably have a loose connection”. If there are loose connections that need fixing, say thanks for letting us know, and I will get it fixed.

how can I reach the pots and pans?

Hotels make their money ensuring that the guests are enjoying their stay and not having to deal with all of these issues. The other thing that made me laugh was where the pots and pans are, as this room has a small kitchenette included. The fridge is a normal size fridge, and the pots and pans are in a cupboard above that. Now is someone suppose to get these things out easier without having to stand on a chair. Thank goodness there is a stool in the room with a hard top on that can be used to get the items out of the cupboard if needed.

The hotel seems nice and clean which is one main thing and the staff in general are friendly, so now to see what the rest of the stay is like. I hope it is going to be better than this part, otherwise I am not going to be very happy.

IT Security Conferences

Going to various IT conferences you get to hear a lot of different talks and also get to meet a lot of different people which is nice. Recently we were at an IT Security Conference in Toronto and had a chance to help out at a booth for the two days of the event.

Now, working at a booth can be challenging because you can be extremely busy one minute and have no one around the next minute. This year it seemed so different because we were extremely busy on Tuesday, which is the first day of the show, but we were also busy on the second day, which was nice. Sure, we had sometimes where there weren’t a lot of people walking by, but I have to admit that it was great to see the number of people that stopped and chatted with us.

The booth was manned by four of us and yes, I was the female at the table, but that didn’t bother me at all. We were talking about a Security community called TASK (Toronto Area Security Klatch) and it was a great couple of days doing just that. Trying to show people that there is a strong community within the IT Security industry is always a lot of fun.

The four of us also get along extremely well, so it means that we work well together, and of course there is a schedule so that everyone knows where everyone else is. We also have the ability to text each other, so that makes it great so that if you are away from the booth and are needed, it is a quick message to find each other. This year what was nice was the number of times that there were three of us at the booth instead of one or two, and I have to admit that there were times that we really needed everyone to talk with the various people that came over to the booth.

During our time at the booth, a number of people asked us about the community and actually figured we worked for TASK instead of being community members. I am thinking that we need to figure out a way to show that we are community members that are at the event to explain what the community is all about. I know some people understood we were community members, but there were still a lot of people that figured it was a company that offered the community, not just a group of companies that sponsored a community.

IT Security conferences can be interesting to attend, and who you meet is also a lot of fun. You can be meeting with someone from a big business or someone that is just learning about IT Security and attending to gain an understanding. The IT Security community is a great community as most of the people are extremely friendly.