"My Give-a-Damn is Busted"

I must admit that writing about my family is more fun than writing about concrete, heavy equipment, fishing and camping, cooking, or even woodworking, but the latter helps pay the bills. With my family, only I’m sure what is fact and what is fiction. (Hint: There is usually, if ever, any fiction thrown in. There is no need for “creative license”.)

Lately I’ve been getting some second-hand feedback regarding how my family feels about my doing “that writing thing” and it isn’t pretty. But then, I am the--insert your own description here--of the family and have always marched to my own drummer.

It was I who got the good grades in school and excelled at pretty much whatever I attempted. I’ve been publicly lauded for that—and made fun of behind my back.

It was I who took my college classes as I could afford them and could fit them into my work schedule—and around raising kids—which included my own and my parent’s. Not having a degree has been an obstacle to overcome, but I’ve found it doable.

There is a reason I live nearly 3,000 miles away from most of my family, Folks. It is peaceful here, away from the day-to-day squabbles and drama. I’m not called on to be the peace keeper. Hell, I’m not called on at all most of the time. Very peaceful, indeed.

It is however, unfortunate, that my biggest nemesis in life used a birthday call to my son to attack me over a little article I had written for Rewind the Fifties. Obviously that family member only read the first sentence. It was a light-hearted article with a happy ending. I’m sorry she missed that.

If you’d like to read the article in its entirety: www.loti.com/country_star.htm “I Wanna Be a Country Star”.

I’ll continue to write articles and short stories and at some point my novel will be ready for publication. When that novel is published, there will probably be more than a few small explosions occurring in Washington state, in addition to Mt. St. Helens’ huffing and puffing. You see, I can’t come up with enough fiction that doesn’t touch on what is actually happening in the lives of my family members to fit within a short story, much less, a novel.

Oh yes, tongues will be wagging. And you know what? I just don’t care.

$300M Fort to Port Article Published

Getting the mail some days is just more fun than others. Yesterday was one of those days! As hubby was walking through the door with one arm full of mail he asked, "Are you just automatically getting this Construction Equipment Guide now?" I let the comment pass as I sorted through son's and brother's mail, opened what needed to be dealt with and filed the rest. Then I sat on the sofa with CEG and scissors in hand. Yep, there it was! Another of my articles. Again, very little had been changed. Very little! Not only did I have a byline...I love this part..."CEG Correspondent" right there under my name. Doesn't get much better! Now, I like writing fiction and getting lost in another world as much as the next writer, but there isn't much better for me than that byline--even if I'm writing about concrete, and trackhoes, and cranes. Take a look and let me know what you think:Fort To Port $300M

An Invitation to Embrace Our Professionalism

T’is the time of year for traditions. Traditions come in all sizes, shapes and colors. Some are meant to be broken and some are meant to be kept for eternity.

We have family traditions, membership and club traditions, traditions at our place of work, and even some that we keep but never tell a living soul about. Those are the very personal ones.

My favorite chat group has a tradition I think every writer needs to embrace. To be an effective and successful writer, we need the support of our family. We need for our family to be proud of us. But first, we need to acknowledge that we’re proud to be writers.

Here’s a quote—and invitation—from Glenn Walker, who’ll be the chat moderator on Thanksgiving eve at our annual “A Writer in the Family” chat:

“Our chat topic this Wednesday night is "A Writer in the Family." What do you tell everyone you do when the subject comes up at the dinner table at Thanksgiving? Do you proudly say, "I'm a writer." Or do you quietly excuse yourself to the bathroom?

This discussion will be about how much support you get from your family and friends regarding your chosen career or dream as a writer. Come on by and talk about the struggle, or not, of
being a writer in the family. Discuss and sympathize with other writers in this casual pre-holiday chat. Hope to see you all there!”

The place: www.audreyshaffer.com/chat/chat/
The time: 10:00 pm Eastern USA
Date: November 23, 2005
Password: family

If you’re a writer, please join us. If you’re a writer and have a family member or friend you’d like more support from, ask them to join us, too.

Please remember to tell your family members who support your efforts “Thank You!” and tell them often!

Please feel free to pass this invitation on to every writer you know or to other writer groups you belong to.

Testosterone Levels

The testosterone level has reached a nearly tolerable level again. “Our” home was beginning to feel like what I imagined my high school boy’s locker room must have been like.

First, my youngest brother arrived. Well, actually I picked him up at the train station in Chicago. He had left Seattle a couple of days before. It would have been easier for me to wait until his train rolled into Cincinnati, but I just couldn’t leave him on the train for another night.

As luck would have it, our over-the-road trucker son had gotten a load into Chicago, so we all met up for supper. It was only fitting that Gary’s first Midwest supper was at Cracker Barrel!

Son went on down the road and Gary and I made the long drive back to my home outside of Columbus. We arrived just in time to offer to make breakfast for my hubby, Michael.

Much of the week after that became a blur of shopping, packing, more shopping, and re-packing, to ready Gary for his new venture as an owner-operator long-haul truck driver leased to the same company our son drives for. Just about the time we had everything packed and ready to go he got a phone call telling him he’d be doing his orientation in Minnesota rather than here in Columbus. More re-packing.

Son got home in time to drive to Kentucky to pick up his little boys and bring them back here for the weekend and then to take Gary to the bus terminal. If you’re keeping track, we’d added two big loads of testosterone, lessened now by one, and added two little doses.

We had a wonderful time with Nicholas and Zachary and even managed to get all the laundry done that son had been stacking up in his truck. He did his grocery shopping on his way through the kitchen and then took the little ones back to their mom in Kentucky.

Sunday night was relatively quiet. It was my turn to moderate the chat at The Writer’s Chatroom (www.audreyshaffer.com/chat/chat/), with a short staff business meeting after the chat. We all knew 4:30 Monday morning would come all too quickly.

Since Son’s birthday is the day after Thanksgiving this year and he won’t be home again until sometime the week of Christmas, we had our Thanksgiving diner with him on Sunday night. We also celebrated his birthday on Sunday.

When Gary gets back here with his truck later this week, we’ll be having our second Thanksgiving dinner of the week. He’ll be home sometime the week of Christmas and his birthday is three days after Christmas, so we’ll be celebrating his birthday then.

Our family is real good at re-arranging holidays.

I’m getting better at dealing with overloads of testosterone in the house. And to think, we were just learning to be empty-nesters…

It's in the Interview

I’m working on an article for a specialty magazine. It’s about the construction of a new highway here in Ohio. Or, more precisely, the re-construction of an existing highway by widening and straightening it and adding limited access on-ramps and exits. I’ve read through at least a ream of feasibility studies and studies for improvements (that started 40 years ago) and environmental impact studies and summaries of reasonable alternatives and study area and logical termini, until I was nearly blind. Most of this has been done with my atlas opened at my feet so I could follow the path of the words, hoping they would make more sense on the map.

Yesterday, I was able to actually make phone contact with the Project Administrators in both districts who are involved with the daily hands-on planning of this industrious project. Their main goal is to improve safety for the overload of semi trucks and their drivers who use this road for ingress and egress to carry goods into and out of major metro areas.

It seems this stretch of road is responsible for most of the traffic fatalities in the state. There are over 300 personal residence driveways and business driveways that lead directly onto the highway where the bulk of the state’s semi-trucks travel. Rail traffic is not a feasible alternative.

And then there are the bald eagle nests and the endangered bats and orchids to contend with. And other wetlands. And the farmers whose lands are being chopped apart as the road is straightened.

The article was just another assignment until I talked to the Project Administrators. It was when they described how they held meetings with the farmers and introduced the farmers to the persons who would be working with them on the right-of-way issues, the tone in their voices when they described working together with the environmentalists, when they described the homeowners who are losing part of their yards and driveways, but gaining the ability to be able to back out of that driveway without being run over.

No matter how much research I do for an article, it’s always during the interviewing that the real story gets told.

Life's Journey

There are so many things I truly enjoy about life I’d be hard-pressed to name them all. Of course, being a wife, mother, grandmother, and sister are right up there at the top. Being a writer would also receive top ranking.

I came to this profession via the long road. Just as my life has meandered through a wandering trail of joys and heartbreaks, so has my means of making a living. I’ve journeyed through the mindless task-oriented jobs and the high-stress corporate middle-management positions. I’ve allowed lapses in income to take me over the creative paths, as well.

Never before, in any job or career, have I been allowed the freedom of self-employment, the sheer joy of the freedom to create, and artistic license all put together. Of course there are deadlines. Of course I lose some sleep from time to time. Of course I don’t receive a “regular” paycheck. Would I trade my station in life now for any of those places in the past? NO!

And then there’s the sense of satisfaction of seeing MY words and photos in print! Yes, I’ve worked hard, but I’ve also been incredibly lucky. For the latest example of my work go to http://www.cegltd.com/story.asp?story=6212&headline=Unstable Billboard Bumps Up Demolition in Columbus, OH.

I’ll be writing for Construction Equipment Guide on a monthly freelance basis and I’m looking forward to getting my feet muddy in the process.