Blogging Is Fundamental: Advice to Jen Sexton from her Trusted Advisor, Jen Sexton

The first thing one must to is determine that blogging is vitally important. Move it near the top of the To Do list, alongside sleeping, eating, showering, washing clothes, remembering to not wear the same clothes every day, getting a spot of exercise, and showing up to work once in a while.

Number two: juggle the many things in the day. Juggle additional things at night. Try not to juggle in dreams. Fail.

Step C: invent a new type of timekeeping which allows one to physically insert one's person directly in between moments of time and take a biiiiiiig breath, thus pushing the very moments of time apart with one's expanding ribcage. Quickly exhale and shrink back down. Write as much as possible before time contracts back around you, squeezing your very life out.

And finally: just do the thing that you can't help but do. Let the juggling knives and clocks fall where they may. When the phone rings, sneer at it. Good things happen to those who swing up on the horse and hang on. Not so much to those who walk all over town saying, "Anybody know whose horse this is...?"

It's my freaking horse.

I remain,
Your Blogstress

MAY DAY, MAY DAY... Oh, wait. It's May 3.

Hello, Bloggity Blog!

Here is a lovely view of Valparaiso, Chile from our recent Through My Eyes adventure. LOVE that pile of rainbow blocks with windows that calls itself a town.

Today is the Three of May, and I am all a-scatter with crazy to-do lists and piles of projects to get to. I am making slow but steady progress on my novel, and trying not to be discouraged about it not being FAST and steady progress. I am managing to keep up with my newspaper deadlines just barely, and I have no freelance deadlines at the moment, which is great. Cape Horn: Through My Eyes is here with me on my desk in the form of a tall pancake stack of discs from the amazing Clayton Harper, photographer and videographer extraordinaire. I have my footage and stills, and everything is coming along as everyone on the crew juggles his (or my) various lives and duties.

Also I am catching up on Kickstarter rewards that have yet to be delivered. There are even a handful that haven't yet made their way to the Beloved Backers of China: Through My Eyes-- but they are coming very soon, I promise.

Here's Ava in Valparaiso. Woo!

I am organizing myself to do a series of presentations about Through My Eyes in elementary schools and libraries in upcoming months. Through My Eyes received six cultural council grants, and this is part of the deal. I need to prepare some video to share and a series of images and what I am going to say... I am much better at writing than I am at any of this. I would like to have an assistant who is really good at filling out forms, giving presentations and readings, doing my taxes, organizing giant piles of papers and fixing the deck stairs. Please fill out an application at your earliest convenience.

Gumballs are really expensive in Chile!

$100 for a gumball? Well, OK!! They must be spectacular! ...hmmmm. What do you know! They just taste like gumballs. Oh, well! Live and learn! Actually that was 100 Chilean pesos for a gumball, which is just under 21 cents. Pretty good deal! If you want an excellent price on Chilean gumballs, I can hook you right up. 

Now if you will excuse me, I have three newspaper stories due today, so I guess I'd better start making phone calls. Wish me luck! I leave you with Ava and Menina, the Chilean Street Market Cat. She has the cutest little cat chin ever. I mean-- just look at that chin! 

I remain,

Jen the Regular Blogger