Life Should Be Lived Physically, Not Just Virtually

It's mid-term break and Baby is home all day for the whole week. So I'm facing the challenge of keeping her busy even as keep my normal work hours.

The challenge is that she will happily spend all day IMing her friends, playing on barbie.com and similar sites and watching girly movies ( The Cheetah Girls, Bratz, High School Musical etc).

I don't think that's healthy for a child to spend too much time watching stuff that doesn't even reflect real ife, or living life virtually, insteading of DOING fun things with real people she can see and touch.

So I became the heavy that said she was restricted to real life things. That is surfing, IMing, watching TV or DVDs is banned in this house.

Instead, she has fabric to sew, beads to make necklaces and bracelets and stuff, and a recipe book to cook/bake/whatever. She can also go for long walks, go play in the park ( accompanied by my helper), brush our dogs' fur. ( Edward is a Chow mix, and has really long hair that makes him look like a lion).

I wonder if she noticed I didn't ban reading novels? Ja, I'm a hypocrite, because reading novels is not a real life event.

Meanwhile, if you have a minute, hop onto the OneLove web site, where a discussion is going on about the emotional pain one sufffers when breaking up with a partner, even when tha person is already married to someone else.

Learn Some Things About Me

I found harassedmom's take on this meme very interesting, so I decided to play.

1. What is your current obsession? Books. It started when I was 12 and never let up.

2. What is your weirdest obsession? The Twilight Saga. Read all four books, bought the DVD and can't wait for the release of New Moon ( the movie). It's a young adult series, for goodness' sake!

3. Recall a fond childhood memory? The Christmas before my father died. We knew he wouldn't make it through the next year and all made an effort to have the most special Christmas we've ever had. Everyone made an effort to be extra loving to each other.

4. What’s for dinner? We had beef stew, rice and salad. Delicious!

5. What would you eat for your last meal? Seafood platter.

6. What’s the last thing you bought? River sand, for the couryard at the back of my house.

7. What are you listening to right now? Vuvuzelas. Watching 2009 Confed Cup. I was going to skip the game, but Baby talked me into it. Now she's fallen asleep in the middle of the game.

8. What do you think of the person who tagged you? I wasn’t tagged

9. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished, anywhere in the world, where would it be? Johannesburg. I live in my favourite city. I'd simply want a bigger house, still period style, in Houghton.

10. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? Durban, to see my newest nephew, Matthew Kabelo. He's soo cute!

11. Which language do you want to learn? Sign language

12. What’s your favourite quote (for now)? It's not a quote as such, but something a friend of mine said: "Pretend that you have a camera that is focussed on your problem. Then, zoom out. Look at all the issues and other things surrounding your problem. Chances are, if you're looking at the big, wide angled image of the whole picture, you will see a way around your problem." Gaynor Paynter, friend and small business owner.

13. What is your favourite colour? Red

14. What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe? Black leggings. They're very warm, comfortable and can be matched with other pieces of clothing to look stylish quite easily.

15. What is your dream job? To write novels.

16. What’s your favourite magazine? 25 Beautiful Homes

17. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on? A Day at Magwanani Day Spa.

18. Describe your personal style? In terms of clothing? don't know. I just buy what I like.

19. What are you going to do after this? Go to bed. It's after 22h00 on a Sunday.

20. What are your favourite films? Grosse Pointe Blank, Speed 1, Stargate, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, Twilight, The Matrix

21. What’s your favourite fruit? Avocado

22. What inspires you? Ordinary people doing extraordinary things

23. Your favourite books? Lord, there are so many! The ones that come to mind easily are are Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, Acheron by Sherilyn Kenyon, Restoree by Anne McCaffrey, Lightning by Dean Koonz, Dark Magic by Christine Feehan, Jacob by Jacqueline Frank, JD Robb's In Death series...More on my online library on Facebook.

24. Do you collect anything? It seems I collect books. I didn't set out to do it though. It's just that when I find an author I like, I end up buying everything they've written that I can find.

25. Any advice that’s come from bitter experience? Be the best person you can be, without anger or bitterness. Don't let people who hurt you decide who you should be or what you should believe in.

26. What makes you follow a blog? When the blogger says something that resonates with me/if they inspire me/continuously teach me something new/I suspect common interests (renovating old houses, parenting, writing).

I Have A Horrible Feeling That I'm Boring

Today I was chatting to a friend of mine who's a PR manager for a multinational IT conglomerate, and we were brainstorming about how he could use Twitter more effectively in his business.

We were also talking about mutual acquaintances who are also on Twitter, and the conversations that they are having etc. And it struck me that I'm not listening to many of these conversations. I'm not even following many people on Twitter. And I'm not saying a lot either.

In fact, I'm among the majority of people who register on Twitter and then hardly ever use it.

Lest I be misunderstood, let me clarify that I believe that Twitter is a great social networking tool for the individual, business and to campaign for social change. It works real well for me in the client campaigns, where I have a specific message that I wish to convey and Twitter is linked to the blog and other social media.

I also agree with Deboah Ng that writers should embrace social media as job search tools and have used Facebook and LinkedIn quite effectively. But somehow, when it comes to Damaria Senne being on Twitter, I'm not so effective. Here are the issues I grapple with:

1. Do I have something interesting to say: While I think my life and the projects that I'm involved with are interesting, I'm not quite sure that other people want to know. And what if, God forbid, my tweets go way beyond "not interesting" to "seriously boring?"

2. Microblogging is more intenstive - I like communicating through a blog because I can take time to decide what I want to say, then say it. It's still a conversation, but it is more structured, and I can come back at my leisure. Tweeting is more immediate, requires a quicker response and engagement. And as in real life, sometimes I'm left tongue-tied.

3. My time is limited - Sometimes I look at the Twitter conversations going on and I wonder where the people get the time. It's all I can do to balance my time to write, be a parent, renovate my property, be partner, parent, sister, friend, new aunt... and still have time for myself. And I do realise that we all get the same 24 hours in a day, I have to make time for things that are important.

I welcome suggestions on how I can use Twitter more effectively.

Bloggers Unite: National Testing Day (USA)

Tomorrow (27 June) is National Testing Day in the US, and I'm taking part in Bloggers Unite's National Testing Day campaign.

I have posted two stories on the OneLove Southern Africa web site:

A Faithful Lesotho Couple Find Out They Are HIV Positive
Get Tested: Learn Your HIV Status

You can use your blog to make a difference by blogging about the importance of knowing one's status. You can also join Bloggers Unite's campaigns that resonate your beliefs and life values.

When Disaster Strikes ( & You Lose 6 Hours Worth Of Work)

Let me start this post by stating that I should have taken my fellow blogger Kristen King's advice and emailed the document to myself as I worked on it. It would have made my life a whole lot easier.

And now for the story: on Monday I finished writing a lovely 1900-word feature which included a current affairs story with about 6 sources, a short profile, some fact boxes with web site links, pull-out quotes and some "did you know" bits and bobs.

It was not perfect, but I was fairly happy with it and planned to revise it the following day before I sent it to the editor.

After dinner, I decided to go through the piece again, because I'd had a couple of ideas on how I could improve it. And I could not find the article.

I searched by the article name, looked at recent documents, looked at recent items, went into the document folder itself and sorted it by date, and it was no there. I used keywords, looked for an autosaved document, checked the recycle bin ( in case I deleted it by accident ) and it was not there.

What was most disturbing was not that I could not find the article; it's that I had no footprint of ever working on that computer since mid-day that day, even though I only closed my computer after 6pm.

You can imagine how I felt when I realised that I was going to have to completely rewrite the article, in time to be submitted the following day.

Baby voted for me calling my editor to say, "sorry, the computer ate your article, so you're not getting it this year."

Poor thing, I think she's learning more than she ever wanted to know about having to deliver regardless of disasters.

I wrote well into the night ( I think I am a slow writer, and complicated pieces do tend to take time) and woke up early to finish it.

What surprised me about rewriting this article is that I could not replicate the first article. Obviously there were huge similarities, because I was writing to specific guidelines, and was using the same interview transcripts I used before.

But I also found my mind going into different directions, prompting me to find additional information that made the story richer. And if I do say so myself, the second take was a much better read. Not that I plan to use this system to improve my writing in the future!

As for the tech aspect of the problem, I reckon my computer must have had a small crash just before I closed it down, and reset itself for an earlier, much safer period. I could be wrong of course, not being a techie.

Anyway, if you want to see the final result, get yourself a copy of GradX at the end of July. It's a free annual student publication that is distributed to final-years students in tertiary institutions across South Africa.

This year 35 000 copies will be distributed from campus career counselling centres at public and private universities, universities of technology, colleges and other tertiary education institutions in all nine provinces, via Student Village promoters (www.studentvillage.co.za).

Automation Helps Me Stay Productive

One of the benefits of writing for online media is that I can write the stories in advance, and then put them in a publishing queue which allows them to go online without human intervention.

My ulcer flared up over the weekend, forcing me to spend all of Saturday and parts of Sunday in bed. I needed a more relaxed Monday morning, so when I did get out of bed, I wrote a couple of articles for the web site updates and queued them.

It was nice not to have to rush out of bed to start the work day this morning. I'm also thinking of talking to my doctor about changing my ulcer meds.

I don't look forward to that, because I actually prefer using the healing qualities of food and herbs to deal with my stomach ailments.

Happy Father's Day

A belated Happy Father's Day to all the fathers who visit this site , and the men in my family.

During my work-related surfing I came across an article that made me really said, and made me wonder if we as parents actually think about how our sexual behaviour impacts on our kids, or if we think it's none of their business/ they are too young to care and when they grow older they will understand that "it's complicated."

The article, published in The Times, was written by a young woman who says, "It's Father's Day
and I'm Feeling Robbed."

Read it, and tell me what you think about this father's behaviour. And how can we make sure that our children are not cheated as this young woman clearly was?

Reading Pride and Prejudice

I'm reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice to Baby as a bed-time story.

She picked it up at her school library for her two-week read. And despite the difficulty she has with the language, she's thoroughly enjoying the book. We're now on Chapter 5.











She already knows the basics of the story, as she watched Bride and Prejudice (the Bollywood movie) several times.


And to answer your question BeckyJoie, no, Baby's not really into fantasy. She did enjoy the Twilight series, but she still has a hard time getting into unfamiliar worlds.

A friend of mine bought her the Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix, and she didn't even finish Sabriel. Maybe when she's older, she'll appreciate the books more.

Relaxing while work still needs to get done

What do you do when you feel run down and need some rest, but you still have work to do and deadlines to meet?

I closed my eyes, listened to this song a couple of times:



Then I put a DVD of “Children of Men” , starring Clive Owen, to play in the background while I wrote.

Sometimes I need silence to write and the movie would have distracted me. But not today.

Instead of eating lunch at home, I brown-bagged it and went for a walk in the park.


And I chatted to a couple of friends on the phone

And I toured the blogs I usually read, and a couple new sites.

With all that activity, I’m sure you’re wondering if I did manage to get anything done. And the answer is yes, I did.

I set up two interviews (And this time I’m doing them by phone. I’m not driving to Pretoria for love or money!), posted a series of articles on the OneLove web site, wrote a press release, transcribed a video presentation that’s going to form part of my feature article on the public sector and started drafting the article.

So what’s my point?

I guess I wanted to say that even though many of us dreamt of being writers, writing is still a job, and you have to work even on days when you’d rather not.

BeckyJoie over at Rather Be Writing is talking about essay writing, and she’s asking how you write them (the process) and what your cause and motives are for writing them.

And my reply was that I write essays when I’m inspired. But those are personal essays, when I feel strongly about an issue.

But for the bulk of my writing, which involves articles, blog posts, press releases, case studies etc, I write whether I’m inspired or not. I do enjoy the work, but I still write because it is my job.

Writers Write

Congratulations to my friend and sister P, who just landed a contract to write a romance novel. I am so proud of you! And I know you will succeed at this venture as well as you have done other writing projects.

Had another interview in Pretoria on Wednesday, with 4 people across two government departments in addition to my normal web site content development and update work.

The trip was a nightmare: we came across three separate car accidents on the way, and one accident coming back. You can imagine the impact it had on traffic.

And of course I got lost in Pretoria. I can get around Joburg just fine, but drop me off in Pretoria and suddenly my sense of direction is completely gone. Too many one-way streets! Grrrrr!

Anyhoo, I was so annoyed I began to wonder if the assignment was worth the aggravation in terms of time and effort invested.

But the feature article is on a subject I like and am familiar with, so it’s all good. I also reminded myself that I am fortunate to work from home, dealing with traffic issues occasionally when the timing of meetings does not allow me to travel during light hours.

It could have been worse -there are people who make the commute back and forth between the two cities everyday.

Spent today writing like a mad person. I loved the Public Service Announcement that was developed by OneLove Kwasila (the OneLove campaign in Zambia), so I uploaded that and did a short piece about the launch of the campaign, which took place on the 16 June.

Drafted a couple of letters to OneLove campaign partners, suggesting ways they can use the web site as a resource for their own programmes.

Also did a couple of static pages for the blog I’m currently developing and a letter promoting a mainframe software development master class that is taking place on the 25 June. And the day is only half-way through.

Working through failure and annoyances

I guess my words have come back to bite me: yesterday I was chatting with Baby about career choices, and for now she’s considering being a fashion designer.

“What if I fail?” she asked me.
And I told her to prepare for failure, because at some stage in our lives, failure is inevitable. An important element in order to succeed is to be persistent until you get it right, I said. And to work as hard as it takes to get the job done.

I feel that when you do something that is important to you, that you feel passionate about, it helps on days when life’s little aggravations get to you, or when you have to face momentary failure. It gives you the motivation to try again.

I don’t think she was impressed with my philosophical view on the world of work. Part of her wanted me to say, “of course you won’t fail!” But I didn’t want to lie to her.

P.S. The insert director from the TV series liked the story I selected. So things are still moving along in that quarter.

Opportunity to tell one of my stories on TV?

It looks like opportunities are like trouble: when it rains, it pours. So, on Friday afternoon I had an email, and later a call, from an insert director of a TV programme, asking if I'm interested in working on one or two episodes with them using my children's stories.

I couldn't say YES fast enough!

The first season of the series is already being broadcast on a national TV station , so my story would be used for season 2. Sorry, I can't give details about which series, until details are finalised and i'm sure the production company is cool with my blogging about it.

The insert director has already sent a short brief, and I'm supposed to send her the chosen story I want to work with. Ideally, the story should have some strong visual opportunity.

Anyway, wish me luck, so this opportunity goes very smoothly.

Thank God for Exclusive Books/Seattle Coffee Company

I’ve previously mentioned that I love shopping at Exclusive Books? Well, today I decided I HEART them even more.

I knew that some of the bookstores had the Seattle Coffee Company attached to the premises, but I’d never gone into the coffee shop (opportunity never arose, and I don’t drink coffee at all).

Anyway, today I went to Pretoria for a series of meetings, and I needed a base of operations in-between going to people's offices.

The outlet at Brooklyn Mall was fantastic. They kept the tea coming, and the service was excellent.

Best of all, they did have plug points for me to connect my laptop, and offered me wireless for 10 minutes. Apparently the name and password I got entitled me to 10-minute usage everyday.

Next time I’m in a mall needing a base of operations, I will check them out. Pity the Exclusive Books in my suburb doesn’t have the coffee shop.

I'm on the front page of iWrite2Know

The good news today is that I'm on the front page of the iWrite2Know, where I chat about the OneLove regional campaign.

Please take some time to visit the iW2K site, and leave a comment.

I also want to offer thanks to the iW2K team for profiling me, and for the smooth interview process.

Read the article.

Old anthology story given new life

Some great news to warm me on this cold winter day: the publishers of an anthology I contributed to in 2007 have contacted me to say they would like to publish a second edition of the book.

Of course I'm saying yes, especially as they sweetened the pot with some kind of payment and immediately emailed me a contract when I gave a verbal agreement.

Details are still sketchy at this stage, but I'll keep you posted as developments unfold. And the book is expected to have a general release in national bookstores, which will be nice.

I love having some kind of body of work, especially when old works are given a new lease of life.

Grudgingly Learning How Stuff Works

The responsible parent in me knows we need to give our children as rounded an education as possible, so they get useful skills, gain understanding of how the world works and can find their own career interests.

But as an individual, I couldn't help but why my 11-year old daughter needs to know how hydroelectric power stations and geothermal power work.

Today I was testing her on sources of power; specifically looking at how hydroelectric and geothermal power is made. She has a cycle test tomorrow and wanted to brush up on stuff. Boy, was it hard on my old brain.

Her books explained some of it, but not wanting to rely on only one source of info, I suggested we do Google searches and see what other reports had to say.

Lots of it was incoherent tripe. OK, maybe that's a bit harsh, but why couldn't some of these writers explain things in simple English?

Amid lots of giggling over silly old Mum not getting it, we managed to work our way through the stuff. Hopefully, she'll pretend she's explaining things to idiot me during test, and be as simple but thorough as possible.

Desperately seeking used tween novels


Also spent a frustrating evening at CNA trying to find a book for Baby to read. The shelves were full of High School Musical and Hannah Montana books, with a bit of Nancy Drew thrown it.

I know High School Musical and Hannah Montana are extremely popular - and therefore cash-cows for the bookstores - but for goodness' sake, do they really think that's all young girls want to read/ should read?

And where can international and local writers who write for tweens ( but not based-on-TV series crap) sell their books in South Africa if CNA does not carry them?

Sometimes I think writers are really optimistic creatures, spending hours creating characters that hopefully, people want to know more about. Sometimes it works and people fall in love with the characters and want it as a movie too. (Harry Potter series and the Twilight series being good examples in my own household).

But too many times, young readers are fed the book franchise version of what's on TV.

Bah!

Ended up buying The Tracy Beaker Trilogy by Jacqueline Wilson. The deal-maker was that fact that I was getting three books in one, and the store had slashed the original price by 50%.

OK, I'm sure you can tell I'm not in a very good mood, so I'll toodle off to bed early. As Scarlett says, "tomorrow is another day."


P.S.

Work was great thanks, so it's not the reason for my mood .The grey, wet and cold weather and little life irritants are the sources of my discontent.

Finally figured out how to sort a web design glitch that was bugging me all week, had a good meeting with one client, posted content up as usual, and am working on a small article that stretches me out of my comfort zone.

Things are also rocking on the OneLove web site. In addition to the usual comment/chatter, I had three poetry submissions for the OneLove Poetry Competition today, and an online writer asked out of the blue if she could contribute an article in exchange for a link. So all the blog promotion I've been doing for the site ( and other sites) is starting to pay off.

P.P.S - Just found out that my post on blog promotion was published on the 12th Editiion of "Bringing More Traffic To Your Blog Carnival."

Nice! I should do more carnival submissions over the weekend.

ebook readers out of my price range

Did some preliminary research and found that ebook readers were completely outside my price range.

Here's a sample comparison.

For the amount it would cost me to buy a reader, I could probably get a laptop that Baby could also use for other things.

IF I had that kind of money to spare.

Which I don't.

I also came across this video which says that women are a viable market for ebook readers, and outline some the qualities that women require in a reader.

I’m dreaming about an ebook reader

I’m starting to fantasise about buying Baby and I ebook readers. She just finished Breaking Dawn, the fourth book in the Twlight Series.

And yes, she did read Twilight (and watched the DVD more times than I care to count), which is why I ended up lending her my copies of New Moon (954 pages), Eclipse (628 pages) and Breaking Dawn (754 pages) to read.

I thought being so young she would lose interest on the basis that the books were big. But she read them, and only skipped the “mushy bits.”

Oh, and she skimmed over Jacob’s book in Breaking Dawn because as she whined: “Why did Stephenie Meyer tell the story from Jacob’s view? It doesn't feel right; makes me to scream!”

But, I digress.

My point is, I’m a voracious reader and Baby seems to be on the way to being the same. And while I’m not giving up dead-tree books, they are too expensive and I want to buy ebooks to be be able to read as much as I like while keeping my expenses real low.

So an initial investment in two ebook readers is starting to look really attractive. But my second concern is that the Rand/Dollar exchange may not be in my favour either.

Anyhoo, for the past couple of months I’ve been buying ebooks from a nice online bookshop called Must Love Books (www.mustlovebooks.co.za) and was OK with the form. Baby does not seem averse to reading ebooks either.

The store is managed by Eldorette, who, as far as i'm concerned, rocks big time. Her prices are very good, with an ebook going for an average of R9.00. As usual for PDF docs, delivery is fast. And her service is excellent. She'll even source a book for you if you want it and she doesn't have it in her stock.

So, I’m going to do some research, see what options I have for ebook readers, if it’s even remotely possible for me to buy the readers on my current earnings, or if a reader is something I will have to keep dreaming about for a long while still.

A Taste Of "Urban Soul Poetry Sessions"

This performance was at the first ever Urban Soul Poetry Slam held at the Ster Kinekor, Maponya Mall in Soweto.

No I wasn't there!

And doing a poetry session just about intimidates me speechless. But I can appreciate an interesting session when I see one.



This is also a shout-out to my friend Ramon Thomas. Last we spoke, you mentioned wanting to check out urban poetry slams?

For more information about upcoming sessions, check out the Urban Poetry Soul Sessions on Facebook.

The next one happens this Wednesday at the Blues Room in Sandton.

And for those who write poetry that is softer, more romantic, please note that the OneLove Poetry Competition is ongoing. So please keep writing and sending us your poems.

We have begun to showcase some of the entries on the front page of the web site. Howevever, we will notify you you directly when you your poem is going online.

Thank you very much for participating.

Control Freak Mommy Has To Let Go ( A Little)

“You and relaxation are complete strangers, aren’t you?” 11-year old Baby said this morning.

I laughed, but there was a part of me that was horrified by her insight. Last night she announced that she was old enough to get herself ready for school, and I didn’t have to wake up in the morning to supervise her activities.

She took the alarm clock, set it for 5.30 and set out the day’s uniform. Breakfast was going to be a cold cereal, probably Wheatbix, with milk. “Enjoy the extra hours of rest and relaxation in bed,” she said.

We didn’t consider that I am a control freak when it comes to her, and couldn’t just relax, assuming all her morning tasks would get done.

I felt a little lost, not being in control of the alarm clock. So I didn’t sleep well, because I was worried that it would ring and she’d miss it.

As if!

She got up on time, ran a bath and did all the things she was supposed to do. Except Control Freak Mommy woke up before the alarm rang “ to make sure all was in order” and kept asking, ”Are you done taking a bath?” “Why haven’t you finished dressing yet?” “You should dress faster; you won’t have time to eat breakfast at that rate.”

“Stay in bed and get some rest,” she’d say. “I’m fine.”

I suspect what she meant was, “for the love of all the rotten tomatoes, will you just shut up and let me do this by myself?”

I know what Baby’s move to be independent in the mornings means: it means she’s no longer a baby.

And Control Freak Mommy has to let go a little. She has to trust that her baby can do certain things without help. She has to stay out of it while Baby gets ready for school, even if the tension becomes unbearable. And if Baby does not cope well, and ends up late for school, she has to be allowed to take responsibility for her actions.

Gah!

And the world keeps getting smaller

Work on a new blog for the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering is going well. The cache of articles that I said I wanted to build in preparation for the launch of the site are progressing well.

Domain name is registered, template selected, and now we’re doing a bit of customisation and branding of the site.

Launch will be in July, when the students are back from the winter holidays. Of course I'll invite you to view the site and give some input on what you love/hate/despise/like etc about it.

Another social blogging project?

Later this year I’m going to start work on another big blogging for social change project. It will be something similar to the OneLove campaign, but bigger in scope, and will possibly work out as a network blog.

Details are still being ironed out. But the wonderful thing is that the issue is not whether the project will get done, or if I will be involved, but when it would be best to get started on it for a February launch.

I’m sooo excited! It’s the kind of work I enjoy – where I get to use tech to make a difference.

Teenage friend back in the picture

Meanwhile, another old friend contacted me through Facebook to say “howzit” and “will you friend me on Facebook?”

We were really close when I was in my late teens/early twenties, but life was not kind to her during that time and she moved away for a new beginning. I guess I became a part of her life that she needed to forget, so we didn’t keep in touch.

Now she’s back, and I guess, we’ll have to see if we can be more than Facebook friends or not. I'm looking forward to it.

Blast from the past

I was going to a meeting that was due to start in 10 minutes, and I was more interested in mentally preparing myself rather than watching the people in the lift.

That's why I almost missed connecting with Simao Kikamba, an old friend from the mid-90s, when we both lived in Yeoville.

Luckily Simao noticed me when I was getting off the elevator, and his mind made the connection despite not seeing me since 1996 or so ( I think?)

In the seconds it took to close the elevator, he gave me his office suite number and suggested that I come see him after my meeting.

Of course I went, and we had a wonderful time trying to condense the past decade and a coupla years into a couple of minutes of conversation.

That didn’t work out too well, so we’re planning to keep in touch by emails. And when I’m in the building, I’ll make an effort to pop in to say hi.

The great thing about meeting Simao is that it reminded me that dreams do come true, even it they take time, and the road is tortourous.

Back in the day, Simao and I were aspirant writers with more dreams than track record, devouring books, writing every spare moment we had and knocking on publishing doors.

Now I work as a commercial writer and he has published his debut novel, Going Home, and won awards.


Going Home was published by Kwela Books in 2005 and was based on these events and on his experience as a black immigrant in South Africa.

The book won the Herman Charles Bosman award for English fiction in 2006. The book is also going to be translated into Italian.

If you want to buy it, Going Home is available through Amazon and Exclusive Books.

Keeping things fresh

Spent most of the afternoon doing monthly client reports ( traffic reports, recommendations on how to improve impact of media tools), and refreshing the OneLove web site design.

Didn’t really add new elements, but I grouped content so that similar content /tools were in the same region of the web site.

What do you think?

Does the new arrangement make it easier to navigate the site? Internet was very slow late afternoon ( as is becoming irritatingly usual), so I had to work offline a bit. Will have to catch up this evening.

German publisher knocks on my door

On Friday I received a Facebook request from the rep of a German publisher asking me to send him my contact details.

The publisher wanted to publish one of my articles in a textbook under development, and they wanted to send me details.

Within hours, the whole process was ironed out: they’d already worked out how the story would be used and had a draft lay-out of the page.

All they needed was to finalise the legal stuff and find out if I was happy with the way the piece was used.

It was a lovely experience, and improved my mood tremendously (I was very angry because I’d been robbed that morning/previous night).

Birthday celebration

Saturday Baby took a couple of her girlfriends to the movies. They eventually decided on Night at the Museum 2, as none of them had seen it before.

They had a lot of fun – lots of popcorn, slushies, sweets and McFlurry’s. Ja, I wanted to sneak in something nutritious in the mix, but the girls wouldn’t have it. And it was a birthday celebration, so I let it slide.

The girls spent the rest of the afternoon window shopping at the mall (under parental supervision of course). Baby used some of the birthday gift money to buy herself 2 DVDs – Beverly Hills Chihuahua and 5 episodes of the Mew Mew Power cartoon.

One of the mothers sent a big bottle of Givenchy’s YSATIS as a gift. She must have forgotten about Baby’s birthday (and felt guilty about not buying a gift).

I had a lot of fun trying to talk Baby out of it. Eleven-year old girls who still watch Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Mew Mew Power don’t need YSATIS, do they?

Baby wouldn’t budge: it was her gift, even if it was inappropriate and the fact that I wanted it so much must mean it was a good thing. Eventually, I managed to negotiate some usage priviledges:-)

Marketing is critical to business success

We spent most of Sunday with a good friend of mine and her daughter. My friend is a very versatile, talented artist and has recently finished doing artwork for a big hotel (artwork in my post was in line with interior designer's brief).

Unfortunately, she’s terrible at marketing herself, operating from the premise that all she has to do is produce good art and the work will come in. Hah!

Thankfully, she recognises that business doesn't quite work out that way ( and she has to be to a business person in addition to being an artist). So we spent a lot of time talking about how she can get her name and work out into the market, given the difficulty she has putting herself out to people.

I think it would be really lovely she could find a business development manager/artist’s rep who would take care of getting clients and doing the business management end of things. It would free my friend up to focus on what she does really well.

But I have no idea where she can find one ( not being in the business myself) and suggested she do a lot of internet research. Hmm. We’ll see if something comes out of it.

OneLove Poetry Competition: The call for love poems continues

Over the past month, we received a couple of entries (poems) for the OneLove Poetry Competition. Not as many as we need, or what I hoped for. So we’re going to run the competition again for the next couple of months.

So if you write poetry, please submit your poem to the competition? The theme is love and respect.

You can submit the poems directly on the comments page ( which no one had done:-) or you can email me at admin@onelovesouthernafrica.org ( as some people have done)