Importance of Choice of Words

As a writer, words make up a key part of my daily life. What we write or say can be ignored or can have a significant impact. It still amazes me that when I sit down at the keyboard in the morning to write, magic happens. Well not all the time. Some days it’s a struggle, and on other occasions the words flow.

I was reminded of the importance of words two weeks ago when I watched a program on the History Channel about the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. After FDR was notified of the event, he prepared a speech to give to the American people. In the original version he had written, “a date which will live in world history.” This didn’t have much impact. He later rewrote it so when he gave the address, he grabbed people’s attention with the phrase, “a date which will live in infamy.” That one small change made all the difference.

Words. Choose them and use them wisely.

Housing Options for Seniors

Since most of my mystery novels feature older characters, I’m interested in topics that affect the older populations. Because of this interest, I volunteered to be on the Boulder County Aging Advisor Council a number of years ago. This year our council has been focusing on the topic of senior housing.

At our most recent meeting, we convened as Silver Sage, a senior cohousing project in Boulder. There are sixteen units built around a courtyard, ten market price and six affordable housing units. It’s an interesting combination of individual homes with a shared facility for events and some meals.

One of the goals of our council is to help elders age in place in our communities. Rather than being forced into congregate housing options, it’s important to have a variety of other options available as well. The cohousing model provides the benefits of aging in place among peers who support each other. It’s a great option for people who like working in community. This is not for everyone, and other seniors want to stay in their separate houses as they get older.

Another important option is a variation on shared housing. Picture a widow who lives in a five bedroom house, who needs financial assistance to pay property tax and maintenance. If she is open to the idea, she could rent out four rooms to other widows. They all benefit, those that are looking for a reasonably priced rental living option and the property owner who is looking for a means of offsetting expenses. Unfortunately, in many communities there are zoning restrictions on the number of unrelated adults who can live in one house. These types of restrictions need to be revisited and opened up for more flexible living arrangements.

One of the concerns is the number of parking spaces required if people share houses. Five older people in one house, some of whom may no longer drive, is no worse that a family with three teenagers and five cars. Solutions can be found. It takes looking into alternatives and providing a breath of solutions for senior housing.

Gratitude for Being Healthy and Alive

It’s so easy to take good health for granted. I was this way until the wakeup call two months ago in the form of a severe heart attack. I thought I had been living a healthy lifestyle but discovered there were still areas for improvement. Since then I have continued to watch my diet, maintain a good program of exercise and simplify my life to eliminate area where I had overcommitted, leading to stress.

I never expected a heart attack, but stuff happens. I’m now taking medication which will help minimize the change of another heart attack. And the best news. Three days ago I had an echocardiogram and the results showed no permanent damage to my heart. The combination of quick treatment and excellent medical care led to this positive result.

I am sitting at my writing desk grateful for the outcome and looking forward to the gift of each new day.

Thanksgiving

This has been a year of ups and downs. I’ve been fortunate that members of my family have been healthy and that I’ve had three books published. On the downside I had a heart attack nine weeks ago, but even with that, I’m thankful to be recovering and getting back to writing, walking and giving presentations.

Right now I’m looking out my window at a perfectly blue sky with a section of the first Flatiron above Boulder in view and in the distance the snow-covered peaks of the Rockies. All the leaves are off the trees, which allows more of a panorama that during the summer. I’m alive and kicking. Life is good!

Priorities

Do you ever struggle with setting priorities? Do you look at the dreaded to-do list and try to decide what’s important and what can wait?

In the last two months I have reassessed a number of my priorities. I always pride myself on meeting my commitments, but I’ve decided to not make as many commitments as I did before my wakeup call eight weeks ago. I have resigned from several positions and said no to several requests for my services. This is because I plan to focus on the important priorities in my life, but not to become overwhelmed by too many action items.

My top priority is my family. My wife and I just returned from a trip to see two of our kids and two grandchildren. I admit the trip was also for a one-day mystery conference, the always enjoyable Men of Mystery in Irvine, California, but there’s nothing wrong with mixing work and pleasure on trips.

My writing is also a priority, but I’m not going to put as much time into it as I did BHA (before heart attack). I’m going to allow myself to take naps and relax and not be as compulsive about my writing.

And I will continue to do promotional events. I enjoy giving presentations and will give talks as schedule permits, again keeping a balance so I don’t spend too many hours a day on my feet.

And exercise. I enjoy walking and will continue my regular walks, hikes and snowshoe expeditions, again for reasonable amounts of time. I don’t need to scale any mountains or complete endurance hikes.

Finally, I will continue my volunteer work in the world of elders.

Those are my top priorities. How about you?

Toxic Success

A friend of mine introduced me to the concept of toxic success. Some of the elements that struck home included: 1. Enough is never enough, and 2.Hurry to use every minute to make up for perceived inadequacy. I’ve been writing since 2001, and in 2007 I retired to write full time. I’ve had some measure of success: seven published novels with one more due in May of 2014, two nominations for The Lefty Award for best humorous mystery novel and twenty-seven completed novel-length manuscripts.

The challenge for me is finding the right balance. Part of my success has been my perseverance,  and a strong work ethic. I wrote every day and also dedicated time to giving presentations and promoting my books, but I definitely had become wrapped up in the two points of toxic success listed above. I put pressure on myself to always be doing more. Part of that led to more completed manuscripts, but I could also get compulsive about my writing.

My wakeup call was the heart attack I had seven weeks ago. My goal is now to keep my writing life in proper perspective. I will keep writing and promoting, but if I miss a day, take a nap, stop to chat with friends or just relax, I will no longer view these as taking time away from my “success.” As they say, “Stop and smell the roses.” I’m glad to be alive.

Amazon Kindle Programs

Now that I have put four of my Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mysteries on Amazon Kindle, I’m participating in a number of different Kindle programs. The first book in the series, Retirement Homes Are Murder, is on Kindle Select. I’ve also placed all the books in the Kindle MatchBook program so they can be purchased at a discount in conjunction with purchasing a print copy.

The most recent program is Kindle Countdown. It starts today and Retirement Homes Are Murder will be priced at ninety-nine cents for a week.

The other thing I’ve done is to add hypertext links to all of these four books that point to the other books in the series including one put on Kindle by my publisher and my two paranormal mysteries, The V V Agency and The Back Wing, put on Kindle by other publishers.

I’ll be monitoring how these programs work.