Tag Archives: General

Here’s a question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately.

If I were doing something else, what would it be?

Or, how about:

If I could do anything I wanted, what would it be?

Sometimes life imposes changes that you have to make, and this can be hard and frustrating. Heart-breaking. Terrifying.

Life changes are scary, people.

But, here’s the thing. Change can be scary, but it also opens up the door to so many possibilities you might not even be aware of.

I’ve been told by many people who lost their jobs or otherwise had unforeseen Life Changes forced upon them that, after they’ve gotten through the accompanying trauma, it was the best thing that ever happened to them. The big, scary change made them stop and take stock about what was important, what they wanted, where they wanted to be in ten years, or twenty.

There are things we all need in life. Things like food on the table, a roof overhead, clothing, transportation. Things like security for the family, healthcare. I think we can all agree that, if you can’t buy food, you’ve got some serious problems. Very urgent, serious problems, in fact, which that might not give you the luxury of a nice, find-yourself self-exploration.

But … even at subsistence-level, survival time, isn’t it better if you can find a direction that will lead you someplace happy? Sure, if a job at McDonalds is all that’s between you and starvation, head to the golden arches and don’t dawdle. You have to do what you have to do.

Just remember that there’s more to a job than the paycheck. You’ve got interactions with co-workers, chats on the phone with clients. There’s the work environment which can be inspiring or stifling. Your commute can give you time to decompress from your day–or it might drive you up the wall. The work could be stultifying or it could be the kind of creative endeavor that has you jumping out of bed in the morning.

Goals change, of course. There were a few minutes when I was six when I desperately wanted to grow up to be a ballerina–before I realized I not only had no skill, nowhere near enough flexibility, and would never grow past 5’3″. I toyed with the idea of being a doctor once, briefly, before accepting the fact that I really don’t like sick people. (Honestly, you do not want me taking care of you if you’re sick. I’ll cook, clean, and run errands, but you’re on your own in your sickbed.)

My current job, even … I sort of fell into it a couple decades ago and have been there ever since. In some ways, that sounds dreadful–it was never a choice, never a decision, but in many ways it’s been a blessing. The small company I work for ended up creating a job position perfectly designed just for me and my skills. It’s nice. It’s comfortable.

But sometimes you have to make a change.

So–what kind of job would you pick, if you could pick anything? What measuring stick would you use to determine what makes one choice better than another?

And, if you’ve got a dream job out there … why haven’t you taken it yet?

Here’s a question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately.

If I were doing something else, what would it be?

Or, how about:

If I could do anything I wanted, what would it be?

Sometimes life imposes changes that you have to make, and this can be hard and frustrating. Heart-breaking. Terrifying.

Life changes are scary, people.

But, here’s the thing. Change can be scary, but it also opens up the door to so many possibilities you might not even be aware of.

I’ve been told by many people who lost their jobs or otherwise had unforeseen Life Changes forced upon them that, after they’ve gotten through the accompanying trauma, it was the best thing that ever happened to them. The big, scary change made them stop and take stock about what was important, what they wanted, where they wanted to be in ten years, or twenty.

There are things we all need in life. Things like food on the table, a roof overhead, clothing, transportation. Things like security for the family, healthcare. I think we can all agree that, if you can’t buy food, you’ve got some serious problems. Very urgent, serious problems, in fact, which that might not give you the luxury of a nice, find-yourself self-exploration.

But … even at subsistence-level, survival time, isn’t it better if you can find a direction that will lead you someplace happy? Sure, if a job at McDonalds is all that’s between you and starvation, head to the golden arches and don’t dawdle. You have to do what you have to do.

Just remember that there’s more to a job than the paycheck. You’ve got interactions with co-workers, chats on the phone with clients. There’s the work environment which can be inspiring or stifling. Your commute can give you time to decompress from your day–or it might drive you up the wall. The work could be stultifying or it could be the kind of creative endeavor that has you jumping out of bed in the morning.

Goals change, of course. There were a few minutes when I was six when I desperately wanted to grow up to be a ballerina–before I realized I not only had no skill, nowhere near enough flexibility, and would never grow past 5’3″. I toyed with the idea of being a doctor once, briefly, before accepting the fact that I really don’t like sick people. (Honestly, you do not want me taking care of you if you’re sick. I’ll cook, clean, and run errands, but you’re on your own in your sickbed.)

My current job, even … I sort of fell into it a couple decades ago and have been there ever since. In some ways, that sounds dreadful–it was never a choice, never a decision, but in many ways it’s been a blessing. The small company I work for ended up creating a job position perfectly designed just for me and my skills. It’s nice. It’s comfortable.

But sometimes you have to make a change.

So–what kind of job would you pick, if you could pick anything? What measuring stick would you use to determine what makes one choice better than another?

And, if you’ve got a dream job out there … why haven’t you taken it yet?

Physician Heal Thyself: The Writers’ Edition

How can you call yourself a copy-writer if you can’t sell yourself?

Here’s a nice little catch-22 for you.

How many copy-writer freelancers do you know? People who write sales copy (and other things) for their clients?

More importantly—Are they promoting themselves?

Everyone is agreed that, if you want to succeed as a freelancer, you need to promote yourself and your business. Ads. Blogs. Personal recommendations. Twitter. LinkedIn. Word of mouth. Links in articles. Websites. Guest posts. You’ve heard them all, right?

But, how many freelancers are promoting their own businesses?

I’m the first to admit, I’m not. Oh, a little, in a half-hearted kind of way. But I’m not making half the effort I should be to grow my business. My personal marketing strategy belongs to the “If I build it, they will come” methodology, rather than the “Go Get It!” school of thought.

I know that I should be doing more. I know that I should be promoting my writing skills and availability all over the internet, to local businesses, to other freelancers who might need help or want to pass on my name to prospects they’re too busy to need.

Which brings me to the real irony.

If I truly believe I can write good sales copy—and I can—and I truly believe that my services are worthwhile—which they are—how can I justify doing nothing?

Talk about the ultimate “Show, Don’t Tell” rule.

If you can’t promote myself properly, what’s going to make a prospective client think you can promote them? You can say you understand basic marketing techniques and know how to write killer copy, but if you don’t bother to do it for yourself … why would a prospect believe that you can do it at all?

There’s an old aphorism that says that doctor’s wives die young—the idea being that the (male, naturally) doctor is so busy running around saving his patients, that he doesn’t take proper care of his wife.

What does it say about a copywriter that can’t be bothered to write good copy for their own business? You can make all the excuses you want … too busy writing good copy, too busy developing contacts, too busy with current clients, too busy, too busy … but ultimately, it comes down to putting your money where your mouth is.

You, a copywriter of all people, should know how important this is.

The best part, though? Unlike your clients who have to hire someone to get great copy, you can write your own. And then, not only will it be good for your business, it acts like a resume and advertisement rolled into one for how good you are at your job. Your prospective clients will see for themselves that you really know what you’re doing.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go and put an ad up at Craigslist. It’s really the least I can do. And I haven’t updated my status on LinkedIn in a while. I’ve made enough excuses. Time to be professional.

What are you waiting for?

I never thought I would love Weird Al Yankovic, well, at all, but right now? I think he’s wonderful! If you haven’t seen/heard this yet, you absolutely must.

No, seriously. You must hear this!

So, say you’ve been writing for years. You’ve pretty much mastered the niceties of punctuation, you know your grammar and can parse a sentence with the best of them. Your vocabulary would blow away the SAT people, and you read, read, read just like all the writing books recommend.

Yet, you still can’t get people to read your work.

Queries get returned with “not interested, go away” stamped on their envelopes. Articles come back with “Are you kidding?” Your book has been out on submission for so long, you think it’s run away and is sitting in some dive somewhere, stale beer soaking its pages, lost and adrift.

When you read your work, however, you see nothing wrong. You chuckle at the jokes. You nod in admiration at a well-turned phrase. You’ve hammered away at the prose until it’s lean and fit and ready to make its way in the world.

Yet, here it sits, figuratively slumped in front of the TV, wasting its prime on reality shows and eating potato chips.

So, what’s the problem?

Is it that your writing isn’t as good as you thought?

Or is it that you’ve been lazy and haven’t been encouraging it to get off the couch and go out the door?

Yeah, my guess is it’s the second option. If you’ve worked hard at your writing and it’s as good as you can make it … WHY would you let it sit around instead of going out to conquer the world?

First, the facts:

Title: Knitted Farm Animals: 15 Irresistible Easy-to-Knit Friends

Author: Sarah Keen

Published by: Potter Craft, 2012

Pages: 127

Type: Knitted Toys

Chapters:

1. The Farm Animals
2. The Techniques

The In-Depth Look:

So … this is going to be quick and to the point.

This book is adorable.

Bright. Cheery. Cute. Lovable. Fun. Sweet.

Yes. All the adjectives I can think of are all of that “cute” variety because, well, it IS.

This is a happy little book filled with cute little faces of three-dimensional farm animals that you can knit and play with. They’re toys, and they seem happy to be so. They clearly all get along together when they pose together and, generally, it’s, well, cute!

I honestly wish there were more to say, but … what else is there other than “Awww!” The cover says “15 irresistible easy-to-knit friends” and, well, they ARE. Okay, the sheepdog looks a bit more like a panda and the cat looks a bit like a raccoon, but does that matter? They’re all kind of lovable.

They’re also knit out of light worsted-weight yarn on US size 3 needles, so they’re not impossibly small and tiny, either. And the primary-color-based photos really ARE cute.

This cheery bit of adorableness can be found at Amazon.com.

Want to see bigger pictures? Click here.

This review copy was kindly donated by Potter Craft. Thank you!

Looking for a good book for a gift? Or to find something to make as a gift (though I’ll admit time is getting tight for that)?

Here are some new books to inspire you.

100 Snowflakes to Crochet

Animal Hats

Boyfriend Sweaters

Crochet Noro

Creative Knitting: A New and Expanded Edition

Finish-Free Knits

Inspirations for Crochet

Knit a Monster Nursery

Knitologie

Knitted Farm Animals

Knitting Clothes Kids Love

Knitting from the Center Out

Knitting Masterclass

Literary Knits

Little Christmas Decorations to Knit and Crochet

Medieval-Inspired Knits

More Than a Dozen Hats and Beanies

Nicky Epstein: The Essential Edgings Collection

Nordic Knitting Traditions

Northern Knits: Gifts

November Knits

One + One: Hats

Shades of Winter

Short Story

Sock Yarn Shawls

Sock Yarn Studio

The Spinner’s Book of Yarn Designs

Step It Up Knits

Sweater Girls

The Twelve Knits of Christmas

Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Hat Book

Warm Little Knits

We Knit You a Merry Christmas

What to Knit When You’re Expecting

If you know of any books that are coming up that are not on the list, please drop me a comment. Though, of course, this list is not meant to be complete, so I’m sure there are plenty missing.

(And, please, if you’re thinking of buying any of these books, please consider using the links here at Knitting Scholar–I’ll get a couple dollars from Amazon.com to go toward the cost of this site. My grateful thanks go with every order!)

I was watching Downton Abbey the other night, and there’s a scene where the Dowager Countess, played by the wonderful Maggie Smith, is trying to work her wiles on a bureaucrat via telephone, and at one point looks at the receiver and says something* like, “Is this a a communication device or a torture device?”

This is a perfect line in the show, because the Dowager Countess has already expressed her distrust of new things, shielding her eyes from the imagined rays of electricity emitting from the chandelier in season one. But it also made me think of how communication has changed in my own memory.

Without wanting to sound ancient, mumbling “In my day, things were different” in a querelous voice, still … things have changed. When I was born, the Beatles were still together, and I’ve always been rather pleased that my first summer here on earth is known as the Summer of Love. (I mean, how flattering!) We had color television and polyester clothing. Telephones, but the long distance charges were a killer. If you wanted to contact someone, you had basically three choices: see them in person, call them on the phone, or write them a letter.

Fast forward several decades, and oh, have things changed–with a speed that would leave the Dowager Countess reeling. Now, there might be telephones in every room in the house … or there might be none at all, because people choose to use the one in their pocket instead. Everybody has a cell phone, and long-distance charges might as well be non-existant, but that doesn’t matter because you can always get around them by using Skype to video chat with your friends, a la Jane Jetson.

Everybody has email and text messages available with a flick of the finger. You can ask questions of your social network and get answers, virtual hugs, moral support within seconds of a plea for help. You can watch television being broadcast half a world away and then discuss it with friends scattered around the globe, all while sitting in your footie-pajamas on your couch. All the world’s information is available with a quick query to Google.

It’s EASY to keep in touch, make contact, make friends.

But … is it necessarily better?

How many times have you posted something on a forum and had it misunderstood because your audience didn’t know your wry sense of humor? Is a quick text message exchange of “R U feeling better?” “Yes, lots” really as satisfying as a friend stopping by when you’re sick, or sending flowers to brighten your day?

The old-school methods of communication took EFFORT. You had to devote the time to picking up the phone and then standing there for the entire conversation because the cord kept you within 6 feet of the wall the whole time. Handwritten letters involved nice stationery, a pen, and legible handwriting. (Remember that?) Getting together for drinks or coffee might not be an enormous amount of effort, but it does show you’re committed to the conversation.

So many of our modern, convenient, effortless methods, on the other hand, are almost too easy, too diffuse. Why write to one person when you can post a blog entry for dozens to read at once? Why ask one friend for advice, when you can ask hundreds of your Twitter followers with just 140 characters? We no longer connect with each other on a one-to-one basis. It’s all multiples. We tell ALL our friends that we’ve had a bad day. We ask ALL our friends for advice.

The very essence of communication is being diluted.

People have always had group, interpersonal activities. Politicians have always given speeches. Friends have always hosted parties. Groups have gotten together to sew a quilt or raise a barn since time began. Well, okay, maybe not exactly sewing quilts, but you know what I mean–groups gathering to do tasks too big for one person, and throwing in some socializing for good measure. As Elizabeth said to Mr. Darcy, “No one can get acquainted on a dance floor.”

But group activities aren’t really about communication so much as socializing.

I just wonder if, by having so much of our socializing–especially the virtual kinds of forums, emails, text messages, and so on–combined with the communication needs of sharing ideas, asking for advice, spreading news … I wonder if we’ve lost something.

Sometimes when things are too easy, you take them for granted.

But when they’re so easy, you forget that, sometimes, easier isn’t the same as better. (Is a frozen dinner out of the microwave better than a home-cooked meal?