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? 

Prepping for a meeting

And just completely cleaned off my desk at work. That almost never happens, but finally all the pieces spread out across the desk came together. Kind of amazed actually. I think I like my piles better.

Resolutions

So every year on December 31 I sit down and create a list of resolutions for the new year that I then fold up and put into my checkbook. This is a 25+ year tradition for me and last year I was remarkably successful with my 11 goals for the year. Three were completed, four were started (and were in good order by December) and two were changed for good reasons. There was only one item that really didn't get touched and it had to do with my writing, but as I came up with a good idea for a story I think it wasn't a complete loss.

Most of the time my goals are financial. I'm a Capricorn and that rings very true for me. Many of my money goals feel like pipe dreams when I put them on the paper but I think that was part of my happiness on Tuesday.... for the first time I actually crossed off the majority of those goals in a calendar year. Either I'm getting more realistic as I age or I'm honestly doing better tightening my belt.

I'm not prepared to share my list of 12 goals for 2014, they are pretty detailed and personal, but Rachel Reuben shared some of her goals today (http://rachelreuben.com/things-ill-be-working-on-in-2014/) and she gave a shout-out to Chris Brogan's technique of three words (http://www.chrisbrogan.com/my-3-words-2014/) which I will try.

Here goes: Create ~ Nurture ~ Support

Create: I want to be more crafty, I want to write, I want to garden, I want to find news ways to make things last so I can be more thrifty. At work I want to generate new content and make more people connect.  I think this word is a strong action word (with many meanings) for my personal and professional goals.

Nurture: I want to be able to nurture relationships to celebrate good things and for when things get tough. I also want to figure out how to keep nurturing our financial life. I need to keep nurturing myself so that I have resources when things get tough.

Support: I need to learn how to lean on others for support as well as determine how to best balance the fact that I am the major support for several people. I want to strengthen old and new friendships so that the online network I've developed can become more "in real life."  I am consistently amazed at the new ideas I learn each day and I have to be better at migrating those ideas into real sustainable supports for myself and my family.

End of 2013

I love odd years and feel a sense of dread as an even year approaches. I'm not sure when I made that connection... but some how odd years are less bumpy. I mean bad things happen and good things happen all the time... but some how in the odd years those negative situations are never as bad. I have a very good friend who has synesthesia and she tells me that odd years are more calm when she views those dates. I believe her.

So, as 2014 approaches... I prepare myself for a roller coaster of a year. I hope this one isn't going to be hectic but I know in my heart that there are sick relatives and broken cars and lost dogs ahead and I hope for happy endings. Perhaps this will be the year that changes my mind about even ones.

Happy New Year!

Connecting my Tumblr account

I'm new to Tumblr. Wanted to connect a few things and discovered that they no longer connect rss feeds. I am using IFTTT to create a work around for this problem. I love IFTTT, you create recipes and they respond for you.

So, if this works, this post will automatically go there. And I'll be one step closer to solving as issue at work.