End of the year

2025 has been a bit of a mess. I tend to prefer odd years, but the current administration, my father's health challenges and an exploding freelance business made the year exhausting. I'm blessed by where we are ending it today, but I'm truly tired typing this annual note. 

According to the blog views, we had a bunch of hits. I have no idea how, honestly. I didn't even post here in July. I'm guessing LinkedIn helps drive traffic, but this is all accidental. I should be better at pretending I'm a social media savant, but these posts are just for me I think and I find them amusing. But hello if you're real and not a bot! 

Social media wise, I'm still on Facebook (but muting people and blocking trolls), and regularly using LinkedIn, Tumblr and BlueSky (under the cpd623 handle). Zips drives me to LinkedIn daily, so if that helps this engagement over here that's really funny. 

Even with the chaos this year, I finished 52 books (see me at StoryGraph). In full disclosure mode I'm almost done with one more book but I'll wait until tomorrow to finish it :) 

My husband and I purged another 50 boxes after finally clearing out the storage unit. There is still so much to clear out of the house, but I can see pathways now. Will continue to try to make the house more functional, less messy and better for my kids to deal with someday. I have about 30 years left to fix my piles if the family life expectancies run true. 

My obsession with Polin continued this year. It was the only consistent fun in the midst of a lot of sadness. I'm up to 18 stories now, including the first ever original cross-over piece putting Penelope and Colin into Narnia based on a prompt challenge. I have three more stories started and I hope to be able to finish them. I can see myself sticking in this world for my own amusement, although I know the fandom will shift with Bridgerton Season 4 coming out soon. 

Bridgerton (TV)

• Filling in the gaps (20,397 words)
• Subscriptions: 51 Hits: 12,392 Kudos: 551 Comment Threads: 74 Bookmarks: 169
• Fever Dreams (6,565 words)
• Subscriptions: 55 Hits: 7,050 Kudos: 239 Comment Threads: 14 Bookmarks: 66
• Just What The Doctor Ordered (13,955 words)
• Subscriptions: 41 Hits: 3,781 Kudos: 159 Comment Threads: 17 Bookmarks: 35
• Polin Bees (3,029 words)
• Subscriptions: 30 Hits: 3,745 Kudos: 151 Comment Threads: 34 Bookmarks: 16
• Follow You, Follow Me (3,363 words)
• Subscriptions: 7 Hits: 3,426 Kudos: 149 Comment Threads: 4 Bookmarks: 42
• It's A Date (5,344 words)
• Subscriptions: 10 Hits: 3,314 Kudos: 217 Comment Threads: 9 Bookmarks: 49
• Christening the Library (100 words)
• Subscriptions: 5 Hits: 2,679 Kudos: 82 Comment Threads: 2 Bookmarks: 10
• Impure Thoughts (100 words)
• Subscriptions: 5 Hits: 2,653 Kudos: 108 Comment Threads: 2 Bookmarks: 16
• What Kind of Game is This? (3,764 words)
• Subscriptions: 14 Hits: 2,624 Kudos: 274 Comment Threads: 16 Bookmarks: 49
• Lady Whistledown’s Secrets (10,625 words)
• Subscriptions: 32 Hits: 2,157 Kudos: 78 Comment Threads: 5 Bookmarks: 24
• Time Moves in Mysterious Ways (15,441 words)
• Subscriptions: 42 Hits: 1,489 Kudos: 93 Comment Threads: 21 Bookmarks: 23
• Invisible (200 words)
• Subscriptions: 5 Hits: 1,449 Kudos: 100 Comment Threads: 7 Bookmarks: 16
• Waking Up With You (2,581 words)
• Subscriptions: 2 Hits: 1,356 Kudos: 82 Comment Threads: 3 Bookmarks: 16
• That One Time (500 words)
• Subscriptions: 2 Hits: 1,343 Kudos: 63 Comment Threads: 4 Bookmarks: 14
• The Spelling Bee (500 words)
• Subscriptions: 4 Hits: 453 Kudos: 77 Comment Threads: 8 Bookmarks: 6
• Quiet in the Storm (2,919 words)
• Subscriptions: 3 Hits: 174 Kudos: 24 Comment Threads: 3 Bookmarks: 7

Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis

• Time Moves in Mysterious Ways (15,441 words)
• Subscriptions: 42 Hits: 1,489 Kudos: 93 Comment Threads: 21 Bookmarks: 23

Original Work

• A Green Leaf in Winter (1,941 words)
• Hits: 56 Kudos: 8 Comment Threads: 2 Bookmarks: 1
• Memories (100 words)
• Hits: 52 Kudos: 5 Comment Threads: 2 Bookmarks: 1

Welcome Fall!

 Yesterday I participated in a 30 minute discussion about the use of the words leafed and leaved. Apparently the trees are leaving outside my window as I type.

Also yesterday, I got a notice from Analytics that I had visitors around here. Like quite a noticeable spike. 

Now, "the visitors" basically hit my front page and did a quick lap around the tags, but I have no idea what triggered the spike. I don't hide this blog, but I don't promote it either. I have plenty of work to do and it feels odd to be "advertising" with it when I'm fully booked and happy with my current crop of clients. 

I figure the traffic has to be coming from LinkedIn. They are the only place where I still share my business. But, I've been super lazy over there lately because I'm busy. Maybe I'll regret not fanning the freelance flames more, but banking my coals seems like a better idea right now.

In fact, I'm already starting to wind down clients for the year and booking them into January to start the new year fresh! 

April showers

 I'm starting to think that the old adage April Showers bring May Flowers has more to do with the phrase "when it rains it pours" because every one of my clients has a deadline this month. EVERY ONE. 

Which is a blessing because they need me and a curse because I've got so much to do!! Add in Easter and family travels alongside multiple family members needing medical help and boom, it's April 22 already. 

I'm "venting" here cause I need to do that and I'm not sure anyone reads this blog :)

And in the midst of the chaos, a pitch letter I sent in January might bear fruit. Of course, they called for a meeting this month LOL. If you want something done, give it to a busy person. 

I know that I could balance things differently, but I like all of the people I work with and want to keep them all. I think if I can pull off the deadlines this month that I will be a good place for the next year and that's really the goal of freelancing isn't it? Stable income with engaging work and wonderful clients. 

Year end data dump

 

If you write a blog but don't share it anywhere, will people find it? Apparently yes. That "big" spike is when I wrote about leaving Twitter. Guessing this was all bots, but who knows, maybe a real person snuck in there too. Hello if yes! 

Social media wise, I'm still on Facebook (but muting people), and regularly using LinkedIn, Tumblr and BlueSky (under the cpd623 handle). 

Next stop today as 2024 comes to a close is to pull data for my clients, but overall, I'm pleased that I hit all of the goals I set and will kick off 2025 with a "new" client. I'm still stressed a bit about time management and getting everything done, but overall, the first year of "retirement" was good. And full-time caregiving went well. E is gaining skills as my dad is losing his and so there is some balance during the day. 

On the other data points that I like to track. I read 52 books (and moved to StoryGraph). In full disclosure mode I'm almost done with three more books, but won't finish them til after tomorrow so I can start 2025 off strong :)

We managed to get sort the equivalent of 54 boxes of stuff (and donated a bunch of that away) just in time to finally close the storage unit we set up when Dad moved in. So, all good news, but I still have piles all over my house!!! 

My biggest engagement of the year happened on AO3. As I posted earlier in September, I fell into the Bridgerton rabbit hole and wrote some stuff about Polin. It started with one story but then I got pulled into the Flufftober challenge on Tumblr and well... I wrote some more. Eight stories in all and two of them are original pieces. 

There is a part of me that wishes I'd tracked things better and watched if I posted something someplace how engagement changed, but then I realized I don't need to do that and I should just enjoy the fact that other people might be enjoying my work. Today I learned that my Reddit group's reading club picked my first story for this week and I'm freaking out a bit about the fact that everyone will be invited to read it. A lovely way to start 2025. 

Bridgerton (TV)

• Filling in the gaps (20,397 words)
• Subscriptions: 45 Hits: 8,191 Kudos: 300 Comment Threads: 55 Bookmarks: 124
• Fever Dreams (6,565 words)
• Subscriptions: 61 Hits: 4,935 Kudos: 170 Comment Threads: 6 Bookmarks: 42
• Impure Thoughts (100 words)
• Subscriptions: 5 Hits: 2,173 Kudos: 93 Comment Threads: 1 Bookmarks: 13
• Follow You, Follow Me (3,363 words)
• Subscriptions: 4 Hits: 2,049 Kudos: 93 Comment Threads: 4 Bookmarks: 25
• Christening the Library (100 words)
• Subscriptions: 3 Hits: 1,763 Kudos: 47 Comment Threads: 1 Bookmarks: 4
• Invisible (200 words)
• Subscriptions: 5 Hits: 1,041 Kudos: 75 Comment Threads: 4 Bookmarks: 14

Original Work

• A Green Leaf in Winter (1,941 words)
• Hits: 52 Kudos: 7 Comment Threads: 2 Bookmarks: 2
• Memories (100 words)
• Hits: 36 Kudos: 3 Comment Threads: 0 Bookmarks: 1

Bye Twitter

 Leaving Twitter for real this time. I tried last year but Mastodon was an epic fail with the first server crashing and me being unable to migrate data to launch a second instance. I'm willing to start over, but that was ridiculous. 

So, I spent the last year using it in small doses. And with the election outcome and X planning to use data in the site to train AI, I am really leaving. Just purged the Off Peak Productions account.

And am starting the purge process for cpd623. It's taken me two days so far to go through 700 of the accounts I followed to try to find them again. I've found a decent number but I'm sad. Not sure exactly how I'm going to delete 11.9K tweets, but I'll try to beat the 11/15 deadline. 

If you find this blog, you can find me most places as cpd623. I'd love to connect. 

Filling in the Gaps

I fell into the Bridgerton rabbit hole this summer. It was a welcome respite from the insanity of politics, elder crises, and family members moving and getting new jobs. 

As part of my deep dive, I discovered the Archive of Our Own (AO3) which is a repository of fan fiction. I wish it existed 30 years ago when I was in my Star Trek fandom. Oh well, those stories are long lost. 

I ended up writing a novella, called Filling in the Gaps, almost by accident, since the words flowed out of me. I was hoping a few people might find it, but today, one week after I released it, I've got far more views (3,676), kudos (179) and comments (30) that I thought possible. I am grateful for every one of them. 

It was nice to do creative writing again. It's been a really long time since I've even tried. Not sure where this takes me, but it's also nice to have new doors open. 

My blog suffers....

The beauty of a freelance life is that you feast when you can and you do other things when it gets quiet. I am proud to report that I've had no downtime this year. I am embarrassed to realize my last post was a Happy New Year one. So, I'm delinking this blog from LinkedIn. I'll keep it alive in case, but really, I'm plenty of busy right now and not seeking new clients. This is a happy repository of useful links and thoughts, but it does not need to be featured! If you need me, send a LinkedIn message!

Happy New Year - 2024

This year is starting off super busy but it includes many things I've wanted to do for a long time. After announcing my retirement from UB, I picked up two new freelance clients and confirmed two continuing ones and am juggling deadlines between them. I admit that I forgot how busy it can get when you're the only person working on a project, but it has been exhilarating at the same time. If you need help, let me know. I'll be able to expand my availabilty in February after I finish a lot of content migration!

Future planning

Well, this post might show if people are actually reading my blog. I am starting to envision how my post-UB life will look. Timing is changing, but it should happen by the end of 2023. So, if you are looking for freelance help with web content, social media, WordPress, technical writing, proofreading or special events, let me know. I'd love to talk to you.

Curating Twitter to "shut down"

Concerned about deleting my business Twitter account fully, so instead I'm parking it. I deleted all of my followers and stopped following everyone, and turned the account private. The I discovered that they created an "interests" section where they checked everything I ever tweeted about along with the current owner's name and his personal interests. I'm now unchecking all those boxes. In the process of deleting some old tweets I was reminded of all the ways I worked to start this business again in 2009. I took a class and started a website at http://offpeak DOT comxa DOT com/. It no longer exists, but I did one. I also brainstormed lots of ideas and wrote a lot of pitch letters. And 14 years later I continue to have a side hustle. Perseverance does pay off.

Saving cool stuff

Off Peak is leaving Twitter. There is so much spam on X now that it is not worth the time. And so many new followers I don't understand. 

Anyone remember Empire Avenue? I am starting to think somebody thought the gamification process was real. 

I learned the hard way with another job not to delete an account, but only to cleanse it and park it. That way no one can steal your handle.

As part of the curation process, I'm saving some cool things and wondering if I need a link tree :)

https://linktr.ee/efa_editors

https://linktr.ee/bels_editors

https://linktr.ee/Thewriterscoop

https://www.webemployed.com/

https://linktr.ee/mrdeadlier

https://linktr.ee/buffalofambase

https://www.upwork.com/

https://www.fiverr.com/

https://linktr.ee/fwj

I am also sad to see how hard it is to find people I already like on Mastodon and I already lost one iteration to a dead server farm and overwhelmed admin. Pinning my first account (@cpd623@masthead.social) in case it ever comes back. Launching new social feels much harder this time. 

Twitter is now X

 And all I can think is that the new owner is a quitter. Although the person who called it Xitter and pronounced the X like SH might have a point. 

Going to delete my Off Peak Twitter account this week. Currently running my archive and then I'll delete everything and make it private. I don't want someone else to take my handle, but I'm not going to engage over there anymore. 

Twitter was such an astounding place once it got going. Mastodon isn't quite there yet and I don't trust Meta.  

Where are you heading now to participate in a social space? 

GA4

On Saturday, Google Analytics as we know it will stop. 

This is a Google blogging platform. It does not play well with the new GA4. 

Crossing fingers that the code snippet I just added to the site works. I don't get a lot of traffic here, but I do like to know what works :)

And now for something completely different...

I had the opportunity to attend a student convention on campus last year. It was one the geekiest events I've ever attended and one of the best things was the pop-up shops all over campus. I had so much fun browsing and adding games to lists and buying stuff, but one game in particular stood out.

Dino Dude Ranch: https://www.letimangames.com/dino-dude-ranch.html 

It's a kid's game for learning how to manage resources and start to learn how to prep for more complicated games. The store only had one copy for ordering and I forgot to put my name down. Tagging here so I remember to go shop for it again! 

2023: A year of change

Looking back at this blog, I see how much has changed AGAIN.  Not only is Facebook still being difficult, now Twitter is no longer a positive place to be. I'm hanging in with it to stay connected to people I've learned so much from, but I'm finding more connections with LinkedIn alongside dipping my toes into Mastodon.  

From a work perspective, this image represents my year. Do you think it means taking a chance on change? Or make a change to get a better chance? I think both-and will be the goal for the year. 

The number 23 is significant to me and I am happy to be in 2023 contemplating next steps across the board. Let me know if I can help your business do the same... what changes do you need to make? What cleanup are you doing post-pandemic to clear the decks for your next big adventure? 

Wow the landscape has shifted

My headline means two things to me today. First, the social media landscape. This was my post on Facebook this week. 

Social media is a mess right now. The new Facebook interface is convinced I want to be one of the groups I support all day long (and not myself) which completely confused a friend this morning. Twitter keeps changing its interface and asking me to give them money (no way, you should be grateful I'm still logging in and seeing any of the ads on the site). Instagram keeps sending me videos of strangers describing knitting hacks in languages I don't understand (and I'm not entirely sure why except for the one "how to crochet a penguin video" I did watch once about six months ago). I'm not job hunting so LinkedIn is not a destination and I prefer to read instead of watching videos so YouTube is not the best place for me either. 

But, I do like to know what you're all doing. Going to try to keep hanging in here to see the people I love doing the things that they love and chuckling about LOTR memes and Mariah Carey on her way.

It's getting worse. And now I see people going to Mastodon, Tumblr, Reddit and Discord. I'm in a few of those places, but I'm not sure that this business needs to reinvent itself again in social. I'll keep this blog going and I'll stay active on LinkedIn, but I think I'll be closing my Twitter account after I get my data. I don't use it enough and he doesn't get to count it. 

And now my second point.

The freelance world has changed since the pandemic. I used to see dozens of options available to connect with potential clients for reasonable rates and now FIVERR is advertising on TV, PhDs are taking editing jobs, and more people have jumped into the remote world. Many of the places where I used to find gig work at night (EST) are already finished by the time I can log in. I'm happy for the companies but sad my routine is broken. I will be honest I was hoping that my business model would last another 20 years, but the world changes constantly. 

I am fortunate to not be desperate enough to write for pennies. I am also fortunate that I am not homebound and can flex in different ways to support myself and my family. After a few months of frustration, I am moving forward again with a new part-time gig and it's exactly the bridge I needed. When it's time for me to leave my full-time job, I'll be able to focus more on Off Peak again.

How are you navigating this changing landscape? 

Treating myself like a client

Decided to apply for a Google scholarship to Coursera yesterday (see previous post) and it got me wondering about the analytics for this blog and if there is still any useful info buried deep within it. 

So, I went back to the beginning and started reading and realized a few things.  

First, I am not a good blogger. I rarely spend time here. I do leave myself some really useful tips that I regularly come back and review (ie, how to Adobe with difficult PDFs) but I'm not really consistently acting like a thought leader! 

Secondly, shame on me for not checking my analytics and realizing that I don't have data on the early years. Or to make sure that all my links work etc. I do those tasks regularly for my clients, but fail on my own site. That's not a great business plan if potential clients are coming here first. 

Finally, I need to hold myself accountable for making connections, celebrating them and being prepared to reinvent myself for another 10 years. So much has changed since I launched this blog (my third LOL) but I'm still here. 

Task for the week: Checking and fixing broken links in the old content. You'll see notes when I update the old posts:) 

Google Career Certificates

Spotted something interesting at the bottom of the Google search bar today. 

Google Career Certificates 

Google is working with Coursera to allow individuals to complete Google certificates. Up to 500 employees per company, but it looks like solo practitioners can also participate. 

Thought I'd share and encourage you to check it out. 

Memories

Had a pipe burst in my basement.

Didn't realize it was dripping for a few weeks/months ?!? before it went completely.  When we stopped the water and moved stuff out of the space, everything on the top shelf was moldy. Things got better the farther down the damage went, but  I lost two garbage cans full of stuff right off the bat. Luckily really dear items were in plastic totes and are totally fine, but I had some files and archives in cardboard boxes that got damp. 

I'm now sorting through all of those boxes to see if I can salvage things and if I really need to keep them. 

It's been a wild memory trip. 

I've forgotten so many things I did as a student and professional. I worked for many companies who have closed (Ampersand Graphics, BANCO, Metro Community News, Oncology News International, Advance (Radiology News), and Sibley's). I've left some places (JWU, RPCI, Cambridge Proofreading, WordVice, and JCPenney) but I'm still connected to many people from them. 

I wrote a lot. 

I worked a lot.

I am still working hard, but I really did not remember just how much hustling I was doing when my kids were small. So many clippings that I have to throw away. It's OK, my kids were really never going to read all of that and I don't need that kind of portfolio anymore, but I HAVE A LOT OF CLIPS. 

The scary thing is that I know I've gone through these boxes in the past. So, while these items bring back memories it makes me wonder what else am I forgetting? What will I never remember again because I've lost these? Is this why the elderly hoard things?  

I had a horrendous time cleaning out my parent's home. So, I really do know that this experience is for the best. It's better for me to spend some this time remembering and paying homage to my past. I can probably save a few triggers for myself that my kids will love to find someday. And they are more likely to see them if I can clear away the excess junk that made me feel productive. 

Writing this post as a nod to my future self for when I'm no longer capable of moving the boxes around.

Dreamweaver

 Spent several minutes swearing at Dreamweaver today before I found this help article.  Thank goodness for Nancy Shea.

It's a lot easier to work with data tables in Design view or more specifically, Split with Code / Design.   See screenshot from Document Toolbar.

 

And Ben is right about opening the HTML Property Inspector (Ctrl + F3) for making links.  That's what the link field is for.