Rain today all day, varying from a light drizzle to a steady gentle rain. Not cold, but if the humidity is 95% and the temperature in the 50s, it always feels chilly. A good day to stay inside with a good book and take a long nap, but that's not what I did. I was at TCU at nine o'clock for a mass media communications career conference presented by the Society of Professional Journalists (Fort Worth chapter) and TCU's Schieffer School of Journalism. College students and others from all over North Texas attended--I'd say at least 175, and the keynote speaker, a woman I greatly admire, gave solid information on sending out your resume, doing the all-important interview, etc. From my point of view, I should have stayed in that warm bed an hour longer, but I admired the very practical information she provided. It's just that I doubt I'll be sending out any resumes soon.
Then the breakout sessions--on pr, broacast, online work, newspapers, visual communication, and magazine and book publishing--the latter where I was on a panel with Skip Hollandsworth of Texas Monthly and Bob Francis of Fort Worth Business News.
It was fun. There was a moderator, but Skip, a talkative and gregarious soul, did the actual moderating and kept things moving--blessings on him. The students were focused and responsive, anxious to talk about their varying goals. In the first session, most of them wrote daily--journaling, a couple of bloggers, etc. I was surprised that in the second session only one wrote with any frequency--a young woman who had a blog about what she and her children did. We tried to stress the importance of writing daily and of discipline. I thought maybe the second session was less sucessful than the first, but as I left a young woman who had been honest in revealing her uncertainty about what she wanted, thanked me and said, "You really inspired me." That made my day, and I told her so.
Home to lunch, some odd work at my desk, a bit of reading, and that long nap the day deserved. Woke up so loggy that I haven't been much good all evening, but I did make the last spread for tomorrow's fundraiser.
Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and pretty--perfect day for the thirty to forty people at the fundraiser, though I haven't cleaned the porch. I'll consider that in the morning. But today is muddy and wet, and I have dirty dogs. And a very clean house. I've worked hard all day to make the two compatible. My old dog is content to lie on his bed most of the day, although he refuses food if it's raining--haven't quite figured that one out, except that maybe he considers the rain a personal affront and his way of protesting is to refuse to eat. The young one gets bored and wants to go out every so often. Then she doesn't like it, especially if she's alone, so she sits by the door (under the eaves fortunately) and looks pitiful. Cross your fingers please that I can avoid muddy footprints until tomorrow evening.
Then the breakout sessions--on pr, broacast, online work, newspapers, visual communication, and magazine and book publishing--the latter where I was on a panel with Skip Hollandsworth of Texas Monthly and Bob Francis of Fort Worth Business News.
It was fun. There was a moderator, but Skip, a talkative and gregarious soul, did the actual moderating and kept things moving--blessings on him. The students were focused and responsive, anxious to talk about their varying goals. In the first session, most of them wrote daily--journaling, a couple of bloggers, etc. I was surprised that in the second session only one wrote with any frequency--a young woman who had a blog about what she and her children did. We tried to stress the importance of writing daily and of discipline. I thought maybe the second session was less sucessful than the first, but as I left a young woman who had been honest in revealing her uncertainty about what she wanted, thanked me and said, "You really inspired me." That made my day, and I told her so.
Home to lunch, some odd work at my desk, a bit of reading, and that long nap the day deserved. Woke up so loggy that I haven't been much good all evening, but I did make the last spread for tomorrow's fundraiser.
Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and pretty--perfect day for the thirty to forty people at the fundraiser, though I haven't cleaned the porch. I'll consider that in the morning. But today is muddy and wet, and I have dirty dogs. And a very clean house. I've worked hard all day to make the two compatible. My old dog is content to lie on his bed most of the day, although he refuses food if it's raining--haven't quite figured that one out, except that maybe he considers the rain a personal affront and his way of protesting is to refuse to eat. The young one gets bored and wants to go out every so often. Then she doesn't like it, especially if she's alone, so she sits by the door (under the eaves fortunately) and looks pitiful. Cross your fingers please that I can avoid muddy footprints until tomorrow evening.
