[LS] Catastrophes that Didn't - with Endless Books and Fences
Enjoy the eclipse? We did. Off our own deck. In between my fencing chores and moving my next book forward.
Hi,
Short on writing time this week. I had the cows mowing my front and back lawn this week. And of course, they still found ways to get through any weak fencing to go where they shouldn’t…
Again, check your subscriptions if you’re getting too few or too many of these newsletters.
Farm News - Grass is still too short everywhere but they are great lawn mowers.
Writing News - The Copywriting book (2nd in Writerpreneur series) is coming along well. Providing I make time to work on it.
Expectancy and Survival - There are a couple of four-some sets of principles you can apply to even out how life treats you.
Farming News
One good point about cows is they eat grass. So I quit mowing our big lawns a couple of years ago, so they could. This year is the first I’ve had the entire herd employed.
Yes, we have big front and back yards. And that’s a 3-acre pond (lake) out back. Used to take me a full day, every week, to keep things mowed. Now, it’s just a fifteen minute job to set the polywire electric fences just right. The cows smooth it right down - fertilizing as they go.
Oh here’s something I bet you don’t see out your living room window:
That’s Big Red, our herd bull. He’s resting and ruminating. Something they do about four times a day. (That’s yellow polywire running between him and the window.)
After those two cows got out last week, I realized that there was plenty of grass in the lawns they could feed off of. Way away from the creeks. Where I could keep a closer eye on them. So they’ve spent this week there, mostly.
Meanwhile, I’ve had to repair a fence by the house. It’s been neglected, and was a bit loose. So I took almost a full day to tighten it up. The old phrase is: make it bull-strong and calf-tight. My use is keeping it tight enough to discourage the cows from trying to squeeze through.
Fencing has continued almost every day this week. And yesterday, I found where the entire herd found a big hole I’d missed. Yes, they used it. But more on that story next week…
Tiny Home News
We had planned to go down to the total eclipse and watch it. But then we had second-thoughts with all the National Guard notices.
So we skipped the tourism crush, decided to take took an hour away from everything else, and just sat out on the deck to do our viewing and notice the changes. Fun.
We were in a 95% zone, so it was nice. Still watched the color shifts, multiple shadows, and enjoyed the temperature drop.
Then my wife heard the reports of that Interstate highway we would have used being turned into a parking lot of cars. And the infinitely long lines at gas stations for the ladies’ restroom.
Blossom Jelly update: My mother decided to make some redbud jelly - and then saw the crabapple in our front yard. So she did both. I should have some samples shortly. As mentioned last week, you can make jelly out of almost any flower. Dandelions are the trickiest. But you can do it with roses from your yard. I looked out of the window yesterday, and realized we could make apple blossom jelly if we just collected enough spent petals - fun.
Writing News
I’ve been working on my Copywriting book, in between fencing and eclipse-watching. It’s coming right along. Hopefully will be to a decent proofing stage this week. I think all the surprises and shifts are over. It’s down to finishing with a light sandpaper to smooth it down. No more sawing or chiseling.
It’s quite interesting now to be able to spot what type of ad (there are only three types), how it’s been built (and one model, really), plus what audience it’s built for. Then learn from their techniques and technical devices about how to write a better one. Feels great to have that certainty. A new approach, completely.
Again, the beta-readers version of Writerpreneur OS is still available, still free. I do have to get that newest version up there - if you’ve downloaded it already, then just download the new one again from your Gumroad Library.
But if you download before I get to it - you’ll find some great stuff that’s now cutting room floor material. Just sleuth it out by comparing the two versions. Fun.
Here’s the link: https://livingsensical.gumroad.com/l/WOS01-beta-readers
Find the oopsies. Leave comments, reviews. Ask questions. Be one of the first anywhere.
Between 250 and 300 pages, depending on format. Available are epub and PDF. No charge. (Free download, in other words.)
Nearly 20 years of writing-publishing-entrepreneuring - all rolled into a single book. And updated. Condensed.
Newsletters Consolidated
I found that people are really only reading three of the many newsletters I’ve been posting. And in favor of having more time to edit books, I’ve cut down to the three most popular. You’re probably reading them already.
In this Monday’s Writerpreneur, I’m going to start revamping W. S. Campbell’s texts on writing. Updating the language, consolidating. If I can get 3,000 words a week on this project, I can have at least a couple of 200-page books out by the end of this year. Train myself meanwhile. All to bring his amazing insight back to this world.
So: This newsletter on Thursdays, Original fiction on Saturdays, and Writer’s Craft on Mondays. Plus my daily Notes in my spare time on Substack. (In that app.)
The extra time will also afford me offering my course-students the option of helping them with the book they are writing. We’ll see where that goes, but it should be fun.
Expectancy and Survival
With all the hysteria about the eclipse, I was reminded about some tools I’d worked out years ago. They help keep me balanced.
Lester Levenson worked out the four Wants all people have:
Security
Control
Approval
Belongingness
He worked out how you can release these wants and their underlying fear, and then your life is back to you to create what you will out of it. (I’ve covered a bit of this in “Freedom Is.”) It doesn’t matter what the world throws at you. and you can develop an always on atttitude of calm, cheerful expectancy.
Years later, I worked out a positive set of four questions to gauge my daily living. It started when a writer I knew shared the advice his lawyer gave him.
Does this make your life simpler?
Does this bring you more peace?
Does it bring you more joy?
Does it bring you more abundance?
Run any decision or choice or opportunity that comes into your life thorugh that gauntlet. If it answers positively to three out of the four, it’s probably worth a test run.
Again, the advice here is that you simply need to upgrade your expecancies, to pay attention to dissatisfaction with your outcomes. Refine exactly what you want ouf of life. Be satisfied only with the exact fulfillment of your vision. The more and harder you work or strive to make that expectancy complete, the faster it will arrive.
Just the way it is. From parking spots and road traffic right out to your salary and how people treat you in general. Settle only for the best - or whatever your expectancy really is. Chances are, you’re already getting what you expect ouf of life. So upgrade your expectancies if you aren’t satisfied with what you already have…
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I hope your life is not too interesting to be overwhelming, but sufficiently engaging to keep you amused. (Like some of us here...)
Robert
PS. Again, you can always email me about anything.
PPS. Again, do upgrade to the paid newsletter version. That helps me keep the lights on - so I can keep all this coming to you. As much or little as you want…
