[LS] Finding Water - Copywriting Breakthroughs
Cows insisted on having their particular pond for water - until they found another pool just next door... Meanwhile it's writing about copywork.
Hi,
Spring is still keeping my writing time short this week. More jellies from blossoms this week. Moved the cows to yet another pasture and they didn’t find the new water pool - until they did…
Again, check your subscriptions if you’re getting too few or too many of these newsletters.
Farm News - Lawn mowing done, I moved them to a new paddock which they loved, but they didn’t find the water nearby…
Writing News - The Copywriting book (2nd in Writerpreneur series) is coming along well. Still making breakthroughs, providing I make time to work on it.
Expectancy and Luck - A one-word definition of luck came by. Thought you’d find this interesting.
Farming News
Yes, we got the rest of the front yard mowed, as the cows came back up that night and knew they had left some - so I let them back in and, after over-nighting nearby, by mid-morning they had all left again. Grass cropped like it was mowed. A successful experiment.
I knew they had created a hole in that fence (as you may recall from last week’s newsletter) as well as they did, since they came right back up through it to get their second helping, and then went back down through it.
Now, the grass is still short, but the temperature is rising and we got a sparse set of rains recently, so grass growth is coming around. I put them into a new paddock and they delighted eating it off, but also kept coming to wait by the now-shut gate twice a day. Then I got it through my head - they needed water. Opening it up, they all single-file marched up and went all around to drink out of a big pond on the side of the hill.
I went to check other things, figuring that I was going to have to go all over to find them - and came back by later on my way home again, only to see them eating the grass in that new paddock again. Happy days.
That afternoon, they found the water (a run-off diversion). And took their rest stop at the small grove of trees nearby. Now they seem to have a habit of drinking at the pond in the am and then the other water hole in the afternoon. The idea is to get them watering out of that diversion only and trimming down the miscanthus nearby. Their usual habit is to graze and drink until full, then ruminate, then start grazing by the water and working their way over to where the grass is longer. Rinse/repeat, every 2 1/2 to 3 hours.) It’s Just the way they are wired.
Two and three times a week, I’m moving the herd to get them enough grass, yet let the grass regrow. It’s still tight, but we’re working with what we have this year.
Here’s a view of what I see daily when I’m walking to check grass height and cow condition. (Oh, remember that it’s Spring and we should be getting young calves this time of year?) Since Substack has started including video, here’s a short one that shows how peaceful my daily pasture walks are.
The blueish-purple flowers are Sweet William’s. The trees look to be ash and maple. I couldn’t tell you that bird call right off, except it’s not a cardinal or crow.
Tiny Home News
Oh, here’s what some of the the cows did during that eclipse last week:
Took that picture from the tiny home porch. That’s an old heritage pear tree that’s probably over a hundred years old. Next to our lake. (You can just see a blob of apple blossoms upper right, from the Black Arkansas apple tree next to us.)
Blossom Jelly update: Here’s that crabapple jelly. It turned out great. Somewhat tangy and quite sweet. In this picture, they’ve finished cooling, sealing, and jelled.
Missed out on the apple blossoms from that Black Arkansas that is huge behind our tiny home cottage. A storm came up and blew most of them somewhere. Maybe next year we can try again. These blossoms have short windows for collecting them. Mother is doing violet jelly next, since the wild flowers are currently out for maybe a week or so more.
Writing News
The Copywriting book is moving along. Some days, with farm work, I’m only able to put in an hour or so. I take every chance I get.
And this week ran into a way to learn any writing craft - called “copywork”. There are a few people who negate this, as it’s laborious hand copying of any text. Hand written seems to get the best result, but you can type it out as well. W. S. Campbell covered it well by mentioning that you have to be aware of what you’re copying. You aren’t just copying word for word, or a line of words, but writing to understand what word choices that author was making - why was it this word or phrase instead of another? Then you get the benefit.
Copywork is mentioned in Dorothea Brande’s “Becoming a Writer”, and the technique was used by Jack London, James Joyce, Hunter Thompson and others.
ONCE AGAIN, the beta-readers version of Writerpreneur OS is still available. It’s still being proofed, so there will be revisions coming that makes your reading easiter.
But if you download before I get the most recent version up, you’ll still find some great stuff that’s relegated to cutting room floor material. Keep copies of your versions to see the changes. Gumroad will allow you to download it as many times as you want.
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.
Expectancy and Luck
This was a bit of a surprise.
I was messing around with changing my expectancies and extended it to lotteries. Not anything big, but if you’re smart with lottery tickets, you can find the ones that pay off more frequently - not just Powerball and MegaMillions.
There’s a local Missouri-based lottery (which keeps the winnings in-state here, instead of paying someone in California or New York.) And it has additional options that pay better. This reminded me of the constant use of expecting good parking spaces. And I heard about this first on “The Secret” DVD. The trick with good parking spot is weird when you start seeing it. But after that, I’ve found that not only are the great spots there when you need them most, but frequently you’ll also get a wide selection of “good” ones. So you learn not to settle too quickly, but go ahead and look for that Easter egg of a really good one. Or not.
When you get the small wins, you validate them. Recognize that feeling. Plus, always be grateful when one of your expectancies is met. That’s the other half of expectancy. Your “attitude of gratitude”.
Anyway - that’s what Luck is. You “feel” lucky when you have an expectancy of good things coming your way. And like that DVD, start small with stuff you can observe. Yes, you can get frustrated with the Big Ticket never giving you a billion or so, but if you start with smaller lottery tickets that pay out more frequently, then you’ll be able to build up your certainty.
Luck is expectancy. An attitude. Something completely in your own realm of control. As in last week, release any discouraged ideas or doubt. And simply start being optimistically expectant for your goals and surprises to show up around you constantly. And they will.
If you expect that your bonuses are limited in some way, they will be. If you tell people about this and they scoff - let them go. That’s their limits talking. You don’t have to have limits.
Test this for yourself.
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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…