Hello everyone in the blogosphere,
It’s time for another trip down creation lane. This time, I’m going to explain how my muse and the music I listen to can inspire my writing. Let me set the scene for you.
I either lie in bed or relax in a recliner or lounge chair. Soft instrumental music playing on my computer or my phone. I feel myself mentally floating on the wings of the music, and it takes me to faraway places, where I can fly free as a bird.
The music shifts, and I begin to sway with the rhythm or the jazz piece. The breeze is blowing in my hair, and all I can do is ride the ocean waves. As that piece comes to a stop, I come back down to earth, still lying in my bed or chair.
I gracefully rise from my relaxed position and turn off the music, pick up my singing bowl or thumb piano and play the tune or rhythm in my head. After my little jam session, I sit down at my computer and write this post. I love musing like this, because this is when my creative juices start flowing, and I can really let my mind wander.
Thank you for reading, commenting, and sharing my posts.
Sometimes these musings happen as I described in the scene above, and sometimes I mentally go into that relaxed mode, floating on the wings of the music in my head. Does this ever happen to you? If so, what scenes come to mind? How do this musing moments, or daydreams inspire you. I’d love to read your feedback in the comments.
Happy musing and writing.
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Musings about music and inspiration
Guide dog discrimination in Athens Georgia
This evening, at the ?Georgia Square Mall in Athens, GA, My husband Michael Barnes and I, along with a couple of friends were taking care of some personal business, when Michael was approached by a security guard by the name of G. Keene. Keen asked whether Michael’s dog was a service dog.
“Yes.” Michael said.
“Well, your dog needs to wear a vest,” Keene replied.
Michael pointed out to Keene that his guide dog wasn’t required to wear a vest, because as any guide dog user, or establishment will, now, that the harness is identification enough. Michael got his black lab guide dog named Indie, from Pilot dogs Inc., located in Columbus, OH.
Keene continued to argue with Michael, and our friend and driver Pete Nichols, stood up for Michael, and Keene threatened to call the police and escort both Pete and Michael from the Mall.
When Michael left the mall, and became very irate, he said “Blind Power!”, and others followed suit. After this scene, Keene left him and us alone.
This is not the first time my husband has been bothered by management or security because of his guide dog. This type of incident has happened more than five times at the same mall by the same security guards. He had a recent incident at Kroger on Alps Road, where the manager supposedly banned him from coming into the store, because the lady running the self-checkout machines was scared of Indie. However, we have been back in the same Kroger, and the same manager has said hello to Michael, and said nothing about Indie at all.
He’s not the only one who has been accosted by managers of businesses about a guide dog. I have had a similar problem myself when I had a black lab/golden mix named Star, from Southeastern Guide Dogs in Palmetto, FL. My x-husband I along with my in0laws were at Ryan’s in Canton, GA. David Carter was the manager of that particular store. He and his assistant manager were trying to say that we needed identity tags for our dogs, which isn’t true. We were seated at the back of the restaurant, and when we showed Carter the laws and our ID cards, he wanted to start a stink. We went somewhere else to eat, after getting our money back, and I found the phone number of the Ryan’s corporate office and put in a complaint. We received a return call introducing us to the district manager, who “educated” Carter. I believe that he was fired.
I had a friend who was refused a room at the Ramada Inn because they thought her dog was a pet, and not a service dog. She sued the hotel for noncompliance of the ADA.
There are countless incidents of people not complying with ADA laws where dog guides are concerned. If you are a business owner who has denied a blind person access because of a service dog, I suggest that you do your homework and google the guide dog laws in your state. If you are a guide dog handler and have been denied access, contact the owner of the company, the security company who runs security, or even the news media to make a formal complaint. If you know of attorneys who handle discrimination cases, please feel free to share links to these sources in the comments below, so that other people who are harassed because of their service animals can have a point of contact. This is one of many disability rights that need to be advocated for. Please educate your local law enforcement, so you don’t run into the same problems that I and others have run into in the past.
Thanks and happy reading.
Author spotlight: Sandra W. Burch
Sandra W. Burch is an award-winning poet and the author of the Seaside Series. Her work has appeared in over a dozen venues, including Piker Press, Torrid Literature Journal, Best New Poems, Room magazine and Page & Spine. She is an editor with Revival Waves Publishing. You can visit her at http://www.sandrawburch.yolasite.com and connect with her on social media @sandib966 on Twitter.
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My new site
Hello everybody, I just upgraded my blog by purchasing a domaine from wordpress. My new site is http://www.annwritesinspiration.com. Keep checking the site periodically for updates, as I add links to where people can purchase my books, and as I start my email list. Please send an email to annwrites@annwritesinspiration.com pleas let me know what you think of my site, and let me know how I can improve it. Blessings to all my visitors!
Preparing for Spring 20017
Are you ready for Spring? The reason I ask this question, is because I just wrote an article about preparing your garden for Spring planting Located at
http://www.ernestdempsey.com/four-steps-to-prepare-your-garden-for-spring-planting/ . This got me to thinking about the sounds and smells of Spring. The weather warms up, the birds start to sing, the rain falls, and the flowers bloom, filling the air with pollen.
After reading the article I have linked to in this post, please leave comments about your Spring thoughts, what you do to prepare for Spring, and what aspects of the season you enjoy the most. I’d love to start a lively discussion.
Blessings to everyone.
Is It Necessary to Attend a University to be an Expert in Your Field of Work?
In today’s job market, many employers want employees to have several years of experience, and a bachelor’s degree in a certain field of study, so they can do the job efficiently. In many cases, this may hold true, but there are some cases, where the experience you get on the job, conforms to real life situations, instead of what a textbook tells you to do.
In order to be an engineer, a nurse, a computer programmer, a psychologist/therapist/doctor, or even a college professor, having a Bachelor’s, masters, or even a Doctorate degree is essential. However, as a professional writer, I have found many jobs where the employee required a bachelor’s degree, in the field of communications, or journalism, but I still felt that I was qualified to do the job, based on my experience. I have a friend with a Master’s degree in English, but in order to get a job as an Adjunct professor, she has to have so many years of experience. I also read an article in Reader’s Digest, a couple of years ago, that talked about the lack of jobs for military veterans, who have the skills to qualified for high profile jobs, but the employers want these veterans to get a degree in the skills, for which they received training, during their tour of duty.
To further try to answer this question, let’s take a look at what a well know expert has to say on the subject. According to George D. Kuh, working while in college, is a viable way to gain required work experience in your chosen field of study, so that you will have the education and qualifications necessary to apply for and land the job you want, while making money along the way. However, another real world answer to this question, is that a degree that you earned in a field such as technology or engineering, 20 years ago, won’t qualify you for the jobs in those fields, by today’s standards, because these fields have changed drastically in that length of time. You must work in these fields and educate yourself as to the new trends, to remain qualified in your chosen line of work.
I make these statements, to say that the answer to this question, is six in one hand, and half a dozen in the other. This simply means, that in some cases, it’s necessary to have a degree, but if you don’t have experience in your chosen line of work, you won’t get the job you’ve always wanted. However, it’s hard to gain work experience, if a company won’t hire you, due to your lack of experience. So the question that I asked a lot of people is this, how can a person fresh out of college, get a job in today’s economy?
Tips for finding freelance writing gigs
As an author, I’ve been looking for freelance writing gigs, to suppliment my income. However, finding writing and blogging gigs isn’t as easy as you might think, but here are a few tips I follow when I’m looking for new gigs. I actually found my new web developer client by using this formula.
Use social media to find job boards and gigs.
When I started surfing the web for freelance writing gigs, I read a recent blog post that advised beginning freelance writers to search for #FreelanceWritingJobs, Freelance writing gigs, #WritingOps, freelance blogging jobs, freelance blogging gigs, write for us, and other such hash tags and search strings to find writing and blogging jobs. By searching for these search strings, I found newsletters that i get in my inbox that are full of writing jobs, some of which I have applied for, and others that don’t fit my experience. However, if a job doesn’t fit my writing experience, I send it to a friend that can possibly apply for it, so share jobs with other writers you know, you just might help someone land a gig.
Don’t put your eggs in one basket
When looking for a writing job, don’t just email one company, or type of company and expect to land your dream job. I emailed all three Athens Georgia newspapers, and only one has responded and told me they didn’t need anyone at the moment. A lot of companies won’t respond, so it’s best to keep looking elsewhere. Sites like http://www.problogger.com, http://www.bloggingpro.com, onlinewritingjobs.com and freelancewriting.com are just a few of the sites that post jobs on a daily basis. Back to social media, look for writing gigs on LinkedIn and Indeed. These are also great places to look for jobs.
Network network network
As I suggested earlier, share jobs with your friends, and ask friends and other professionals if they know of any writing jobs available. Even though the Flag Pole magazine didn’t have any jobs available, I did ask if they knew of any other publications looking for writers. Although the answer was negative, it doesn’t hurt to ask. One final thought, when looking for writing jobs on social media, read the blog posts that people tweet, because you may find some solid advice, and a few links to writing gems that will eventually land you a gig.
I hope these suggestions have helped you in your quest to find freelance writing jobs. If you have any other suggestions, please leave them in the comments below.
