Listening Final Completed

Goodness that was an interesting assignment. We were supposed to work in a group of four students on the paper, but it ended up being just the two of us my new, dear friend from Alaska and myself. We worked really hard and collaborated very well, she was awesome.

The final assignment was to write a Listening Analysis on a Film. We decided on The Prince of Tides and set about creating a document that ended up being a full 16 pages long. I think we did a great job, we'll see what our Professor says, he is a tough one. We have been getting good grades from him but never a perfect score. Some classes are just like that.

So, if your interested in checking out the Effective and Ineffective Listening Analysis of The Prince of Tides, you can check it out on my online portfolio.
http://arvillasportfolio.webs.com/

My listening class was a great experience. The professor was tough but fair and gave the best feedback that I have gotten through NEU from any professor. I wish my writing professors gave such fabulous detailed feedback on our work. I learned many things that I sort of knew about just through life and many more things that I had no idea about. I think that the Listening class was a great success. Although I was skeptical of it in the beginning, as a Junior in college having to take a listening class, I have learned valuable skills that will serve me well throughout the rest of my academic career and into my writing career.

Learning about WordPress

Yesterday I decided it was time to force the freelance writing desires into reality. I am now, once again only a full time college student and stay-at-home mom, so I am going to work as hard as I possibly can to become a freelance writer.

I searched freelance writing and found a place called Odesk and several other places that I may use in my adventure. The one common denominator that I noticed was that many possible clients wanted me to have knowledge of WordPress. So, today I set out to gain knowledge of WordPress and make myself more valuable in the freelance writing industry. The first place I visited in my adventure this morning was Wikipedia and that linked me right up to the WordPress site that allowed me to download the program for free and is where I know I will find out all I need to become a WordPress expert.

As for what I am writing at this time, my Online Documentation class has me creating a help file for a retail business. I picked the Furniture Row website since they currently have no help feature. I am creating a Design Specifications Document about the help file which I will upload to my online portfolio.

My Listening class has me creating reports about podcasts and movies on the topic of listening. When the class ends I will pick the best report on listening and also upload that to my online portfolio.

It has been a while...

Okay, I have got to admit life got crazy and busy and I haven't posted in quite a while.

I got a full time job as a salesperson at Furniture Row in Las Cruces, NM. I am still taking full time classes but now they are online. I am in Listening and Online Communication presently. Life is still crazy but I am going to take a few minutes every week to write something.

So, I am officially back and would like to suggest a great website for tech writers with a blog and podcasts. One of which I am currently using for an assignment for my Listening class. http://www.idratherbewriting.com

I will be better this time more consistent, I'm gonna write it in my calendar to post.

Read an entire Freelance writing book yesterday!

The book is called Getting Started as a Freelance Writer by Robert W. Bly.

It was well written, and kept my attention from beginning to end. I must admit there were a few paragraphs here and there that didn't really pertain to me so I breezed over them with a quick scan.

He starts with discussing what and how you need to set up your home office and your schedule. Goes on to money matters, fee negotiations and such. Then Bly talks alot about self-promotion throughout the book but Chapter 8 is devoted to it. It makes sense if your self-employed to self-promote. He gives great suggestions.

The hardest part for me, is probably what should be the easiest. He says early on that I need to pick specialties, things I know about or have experience in to write about. Bly says not to have more than three. I can't think of one good one. UGH! He has a Bachelor's in Chemical Engineering, there is one of his specialties, he worked in marketing and direct mail is another of his specialties.

I have always been the "jack of all trades and master of none" type of person. I've cooked in restraunts, raised and raising four kids, homeschooled for several years, opened and closed a business, I'm crafty, and I can sew clothes.

I keep coming back to homeschooling to write about I researched the idea before I homeschooled for a year and then I was very involved and researching things for several years as we were homeschooling. I have been out of the loop for a little while but I think it would be easy enough to get back into researching even if I'm not actually homeschooling at this time.

So, I am off to research the world of homeschooling.

Several wasted hours on Google

I jumped through so many hoops to create a site through Google. First I spent a day putting my documents on Google docs, then I spent a day creating the site. Finally I spent three hours last night attempting to verify the site to publish it. Finally, after hours of blog reading to try and figure out what to do, at midnight I drug my frustrated self to bed.

This morning I came to the determination that it was time to start over with a different web host. So after a short search I came across webs.com and it has been a breeze to use. Now I just have to finish putting all my documents on it to show what I can do. I'm very excited that this online portfolio could help me possibly get a writting job.

Last week disappeared

Okay so last week was a total wash as far as writing anything but cover letters and applications. I had a few interviews. So, the week wasn't wasted but no call backs. My biggest hurdle here in El Paso is that I don't speak Spanish. Or, at least I hope that is what it is because they all want to know if I can.

Anyway, we went to the Library on Dyer St. for the first time on Saturday. WOW, I'm liking it alot. I took out three books but at the rate I have been reading lately we'll see if I get through them.

Monday I figured out all the kinks from registering and getting my classes lined up for fall at Northeastern University. I am excited they have alot of classes I'd like to take and can online. I figured out that if I wanted to I could keep going till I had my Phd from them online. That is an idea anyway.

Tomorrow it will be back to the grindstone for me. I need to come up with an awesome post for my Handcrafted Mom blog.

Goodnight.

Friday - Cleaning, Blogging and Reading

I have no idea how Friday became my cleaning day once we moved here. We have only been here a month. Maybe, I still have time to change this habit. The chores could be divided up and I could do some on Tuesday and the rest on Thursday. Sweeping and mopping this entire house, cleaning two bathrooms, the kitchen and making the usual three meals for the family gave me no time to read or work on writing until after supper.

I did read several posts from the Ten Tips for writing a blog and a few from About Freelance Writing. I plan on catching up with the NYT and a few other news sources before I finally call it a night.

I did manage to get a nice post created for my Handcrafted Mom blog, this one came kind of easy because I wrote about one of my favorite things to do with the kids. Combining my memories, storytelling and a link to a good recipe. I ended with a couple of questions and hope that someone will respond to them.

Good night.