This blog is now on a new URL at http://writeyourmindjournals.com/blog/
I hope you enjoy the updates and new look. The blogroll and links moved also.
B J Keltz
Just Stuff
I have been so inspired by several of the writer blogs I follow and a forum I am part of that I sat down this week and outlined a full non-fiction book. I have a passing familiarity with book proposals; when this book is finished, I’ll have to learn about them in earnest.
When I told a friend I had done the full outline, his first response was to ask how I would publish it. I told him honestly…I don’t know. The publishing industry is not the same animal I had flirted with 17 years ago. Credibility and authorship no longer come in a packaged set. Book buyers are driving changes I don’t fully understand, though I spend hours each week researching the publishing industry. There are so many options today and so very many opinions.
I’ll worry about publishing later. I am enjoying working on my business, doing research, and working on the book. Because of the current commitments of my life, it will be some time before the book is completed. Who knows…in two years, the publishing industry might barely resemble what it is today.
I’ll be starting a new journal soon and will give you the review sometime next week at Write Your Mind Journals (.com)
Beautiful Journals
Inventory is fun! No! Wait! Let me clarify before you burn me at the stake. Receiving new inventory is fun! Better? J
It doesn’t matter if it is reordered or brand new. I just love opening big boxes of beautiful journals. Each one is wonderful. As I prepare them for storage and shipping, I often think about the hands that will eventually hold them, write in them, dream in them.
With clean hands and work surface, we prepare the journals to be shrink wrapped so they stay pristine through the mail. We put our inventory tag on the outside of the wrap so the journal is never marred by it. When done with an inbound shipment, I have these beautiful gems all over my work surface, ready for new homes.
Though most of the receiving and shrink wrapping is now done by someone else, I find it irresistible. I sneak in quietly, prepare the journal—and promptly get busted when I turn on the heat gun, lol.
I get to see, touch, and admire journals whenever I want. Talk about a dream job! When I get ready to review a journal, I purchase one (at retail, tax included) and enjoy it even more as I remove it from its protective cover…just as our customers do.
Every time I start a new journal, I will review it for you. From paper quality to durability, once it’s mine, I’ll put it to the test and let you know what I think.
For now, I’m going to enjoy getting the new shipments ready and gazing at all the “eye candy” only a journal keeper can truly appreciate. Come join me at http://www.writeyourmindjournals.com!
Reading Old Entries
About three months before we opened up shop, I spent some time going through old journals. I started out looking for the journals I liked the best so I could contact the manufacturer. I ended up on the floor, surrounded by memories, laughing and crying and generally having a great time.
Not all journals are meant to be kept. There are periods of time in my life when anger was volatile and circumstances designed to push my buttons were a daily occasion. I have a few notebooks full of anger. The catharsis for me was in the venting, in the writing down. I burned the journals, unopened, a year later.
The nine to twelve notebooks I filled up over the loss of a relationship and a violent physical act I suffered are still in a box in the attic. The relationship was not a healthy one. The attack was emotionally damaging. I have no desire to torture myself again by reading those journals. When they come down from the attic, they will get burned.
The journals I wrote in while working with Dr. Frank Bell are ones I will keep forever. They chronicle the transition from working to being…the flowering open of my hopes, dreams, and career aspirations. His counseling as a boss and mentor were priceless to me and opened up so many new ideas and possible roads, I can’t bear to part with the record of that portion of my journey.
I keep my prayer journals and the journals in which I recorded study, insights, and growth.
As more and more of my journaling makes it into electronic media, I’m not certain if my paper journals will continue to be as prolific as they have been for years. So much of my private world finds its way into my blog and the E-Zine that I write less on paper in a personal way. I still do, but my 140 page monthly quota now encompasses all I do for the company as well as personal writing. There simply isn’t enough time in the day to keep up both. The articles and blog do satisfy my need to put my thoughts into words and exercise the writing muscle, so I’m not driven to my journal quite as much as I was a year ago. However, nothing can replace pen on paper for me and I still write a minimum of five pages a day by hand.
My old journals serve as a source of inspiration for article ideas, especially since I began taking my research notes in them about six months ago. Zotero and Clipmarks are a great add-on to my research, but the seeds and kernels of ideas still appear from my pen.
How are you using your old entries? Do you burn your journals or keep them? How often do you go through them and use the words in them?
Decision-Making Through Journaling
Journaling has always been a key element in my decision-making process. The more difficult or complex the decision, the more journaling helped me find my way. Decisions that have too many variables usually trap me in a quagmire of “what if.” Journaling is my shortcut out of the morass.
In the past six years, I have journaled about the decision to move from Oregon to Tennessee. I spent time talking to my journal about deciding to form a relationship with the man who became my husband. I spent two full journals deciding what I wanted to do with my life after an illness almost took it from me. In each case, the insights and concerns revealed through the journaling process helped me to be content with each decision made, even if it didn’t turn out the way I had hoped or the results are not yet in.
If the decision is a major one, such as a cross-country move, it can take some time. Every day, for as many hours as it takes and as many days as it lasts, I will explore the decision in my journal. Basic pro and con lists start me off. If I still feel conflicted or concerned, I follow the road of one choice as far as I am able, then another option, and so forth. Every day I will write myself out on the topic.
The benefits of this process are logical as well as emotional. Giving yourself freedom to really dive in to what the future might bring can reveal hidden issues and motivations. It also brings clarity. This allows you to apply logic to your intuition and emotions by reading what you have written and examining your words critically.
The evolving process allows an emotional adjustment to the outcome. Getting your feelings AND your thoughts on paper in continual fashion allows fears to subside as well.
Toward the end of this process, which could take an hour or a year depending on the scope of the decision, your reasoning and your reactions come together in a cohesive whole. You are able to say “this is my decision. It is best because…” You will find great peace then as you move through and beyond the decision to be made and be comforted in the knowledge that you examined all sides and decided what was right for you.
B J Keltz
New Journal Day
I started a new journal today. I will start it. I’m still absorbed in the newness—the smell, the feel, the unblemished pages. It’s my favorite day of the month. New Journal Day, full of new possibilities and fresh insights. It never ceases to delight me.
The first of the month is a good day to begin something fun or exciting. It helps balance the bill paying and hectic first-week tasks elsewhere. What are you starting today? A new writing project, short story, revision, or a new journal?
This month, I will be writing in the Floppy Disk Journal by Retro Printing and Publishing. The dark cream pages just seem so inviting, though they are still pristine. The paper reminds me of Autumn. Fall is my favorite season. I wanted a journal that reflected the mood of falling leaves, clear blue skies and chill-kissed noses. For more information on this particular review, head to our E-Zine for a product review.
How do you select your next journal? Are you due for a new one?
Choosing a Title
One of the cool things about starting your own business is getting to choose your title. there are plenty of legal documents and licenses in which I’m listed as “owner” and “proprietor,” but…well…<yawn>. Perhaps it’s my exposure to the MMORPG world, but those titles are just boring. (They are also a little scary, but don’t tell anyone I said so!)
So what is it I do around here? I write. I design. I maintain, update, research, and crunch numbers. I could extract a lot of titles from such tasks. I’m sure they’d all sound professional and look great on business cards or a resume. But…Do they describe me? Am I willing to settle for a run-of-the-mill designation?
These days, the web is all about community and the sharing of information. With this has come the acceptance of a little whimsy and the individual personalities of your favorite bloggers and editors. There is no way you can come to Write Your Mind Journals on a consistent basis and not learn about me as a writer, teacher, or encourager. My passions–love for the creative process, journaling and metaphor are all out there and exposed as well.
Since all these things are clearly exposed, you learn quickly that I’m a “half fun, full earnest” kind of gal. Humor might be subtle, but it’s usually in there somewhere.
If you are accustomed to the spirit of Web 2.0, you’ll be able to handle a little whimsy and humor without a blink. Keeping this in mind, I have chosen my title. It’s descriptive enough for all but the tax men.
Everyone here at B J Keltz Company has been invited to create their own title. We already call our web guy the web maestro, for example. We all wear many hats, but have one primary area of responsibility. Why not choose our own? Created titles are far more descriptive than “shipping manager” or “bookkeeper.”
So, given that I enjoy humor and a bit of whimsy and believe our readers do as well, I have appended the title “Chief Pen” to my name. It is, after all, the most indicative of my personality and my primary responsibility.
Create your own title! Why not?
B J Keltz, Chief Pen
Write Your Mind Journals and B J Keltz Company
We Are Now Live!
Welcome to my first official blog entry as the owner and Chief Pen of B J Keltz Company and Write Your Mind Journals at http://www.writeyourmindjournals.com.
There are so many people to thank for getting us to this day. Mark, I love you forever. Pablo, I owe you one (or a dozen) forever. Jason, Amy and Brandy, we’ll make you proud. To all the parents, thank you for your faith and encouragement. Will, thank you for your encouragement and support. And to The One who makes all things possible…thank you.
For all the individuals who put pen to paper or are considering doing so, this is for you. We put together an E-Zine that will grow into a strong database for you. Please feel free to tell us what you do and don’t like, and what topics you’d like to see. YOU are my priority.
Head on over to our shop for a great new journal or to the E-Zine and check it all out. I look forward to hearing from you. If I’m not helping you put pen to paper a little better, I’m not doing my job. Feel free to tell me about it.
Okay, enough blab. Let’s write!
B J Keltz
Write Your Mind Journals
Launch Day Came….and Went
We missed our target date. Some last minute issues with shipments and getting code to integrate left us behind schedule. We hope we have only been delayed a week and our site will be on line by Sunday night.
We have no major time constraints. Given the choice, we will always wait for quality before moving ahead. For that reason, none of us are too stressed about the delay. Disappointed, yes, but we know we’ll get there soon. It gives our webmaster time to double check everything, it gives our shipping and receiving manager more time to perfect the process, and it gives me more time to write. However, we all know the deadline is there and we’re all working hard to make it happen.
We would like to thank family and friends for their encouragement, support, and tolerance of late hours. 🙂 Just a little while longer.
Harry, I hear ya!
Echoes of Harrison MacLeod’s recent posts on the Men with Pens blog about the sudden desertion of his external hard drive wafted through my mind Saturday afternoon. Harry’s experiences with recovering his data make for sympathetic reading…a wake up call for all of us. Here’s another one:
A week before the launch of a new internet business, I’m working hard on Saturday morning. Articles are coming at a good clip. Save one, start another, keep moving. “This is great!” I thought to myself. “I’ll be back on schedule in no time!”
Enter a text message from one of my photographers asking if I had reviewed the photos he sent. I replied quickly that I didn’t have the software to open the file. Did he know of a free version for viewing? I was promptly provided with a URL and opened up Foxfire.
The download didn’t work. I saved it, but the file wouldn’t open, nor would it open the file the photographer sent. Still wrapped up in production, I shrugged my shoulders and put in on my list for later that afternoon.
Ten minutes later, while trying to load a document in Adobe Reader, I had an inkling. Five minutes after that, my heart dropped to my knees and my face went pale.
I had a bug.
Or rather my computer did. I would be happy, thrilled even, if it was a run of the mill stomach virus, but no. For those of you experienced with the frustration of malware taking over your computer, can I have a sympathetic hug?
Of course, I scrambled for my anti-virus software, only to discover it had expired and would not cooperate. Reluctant to continue on line or opening files of any kind, I tried the home remedies. I had just begun to scan my internal hard drive with my back up plan when I received a phone call from my business advisor. I explained the problem with concern. My computer had been scheduled to attend a meeting with us that evening.
“Sounds like malware,” he said. “Bring it over and we’ll clean it up.”
I dutifully loaded up my life (computer people know what I mean; please, for the rest of you, don’t get offended) and drove to the meeting.
He immediately set to work putting my tower’s video on his laptop. No go. An hour later, we resorted to “borrowing” his wife’s monitor. Relief! We could not see my computer and start the process. At this point, I was kicking myself for not bringing my recovery disk. He laughed and said we shouldn’t need it. My mind kept going back to 2005 and the last time I had caught a bug. That nasty Trojan resulted in a formatted C drive. I had my software, but could I re-create all the writing I had done that morning?
Once we could talk to my computer, we located the file names (and one ominously blank line) in the applications list and he set about working his magic. Our meeting that evening was punctuated with soft (and not so soft) swear words and the transfer of a flash drive back and forth with scans and cleaning software. We gave up at 2 a.m. and I headed home alone. As he glanced at my woeful expression, he chuckled. “It’s just malware. We’ll get it.” It was a long night.
By the following afternoon, my computer was cleaned and backed up. Whew! It had taken him more than eight hours to complete the extermination and restore my registry. As I dug eagerly into my files, I was startled to find how much information I could have lost. I thought my backup plan was adequate, especially since I had begun using Google Document (“the cloud”) to store important articles for the web site. Only afterward did I realize just how much volume I had produced in a five day period. Roughly a third of it had been moved to the cloud. Not good enough.
While Harry and the Geek Squad reminded us how important back up systems (and redundancy!) are, let me remind you how important it is to keep your anti-virus software up to date and your subscription active. Always verify what you are attempting to download. I had recently loaded quite a few plug ins and widgets, so had become subtly used to the “unsigned” notice my computer gave me when I downloaded the bug. And one more thing…excellent and redundant back up systems can’t do their job if you don’t back up often. In my case, I should have moved every document to the cloud as it was completed or stopped every hour or two to back up. I did not and nearly paid dearly for that mistake.
Harry’s loss was far greater than my potential loss professionally, though we both stood to lose irreplaceable items such as photos and personal records (Harry did). If you’re in a commiserating state of mind, Harry’s posts on his recent experiences can be found at http://menwithpens.ca/.
Bjkeltz's Weblog 