Blog – Linda Nelson

Goings On-

No, I did not work on any of my wips this week. I still did do some writing, with my weekly assignment for class. This term is Organizational Behavior and Fundamentals of Taxation. I never knew that doing taxes could be so interesting. I am already compiling a ton of deductions that I may be able to take in the coming year.

Since I was not working on any of my manuscripts, what have I been doing?

InDesign –

I have played around some more with the Adobe software, InDesign. The more I use it and poke around with it, the more I like it. I can see that once I have mastered that program as much as I have mastered Microsoft Office we are going to get along really well.

I am hoping to have my skills up to par by either February or March when I plan to tackle more of my backlist and get them transferred to Ingram Spark. With any luck, maybe I will have a new title to publish by then.

School – Is going well.

I am about to hit another milestone next month. I will be on the last leg of my bachelor degree. October will see me become a senior. Graduation for the Bachelor degree will take place in October 2019, but the official commencement will be May of 2020.

I will then continue to complete a Master’s of Science in Accounting.

Ten years ago, I never thought I would be learning to crunch numbers let alone go back to school. College was nothing more than a long-lost pipe dream that I had given up on, but things changed in 2016 causing me to see that it was possible to go back to school 30 years later.

It has all been hard work, but well worth the effort. I feel so much better about myself. I even have a better understanding of people because of it.

When I first started out with my education, I was pursuing an Integrated Study plan of Business and Social Services with the hopes of becoming an HR Manager someday. But several people pointed out to me that the job market for HR was too competitive, and my education could be a waste of my money. So I decided to change my education track to accounting which will come in handy as a writer. Who knows what might be waiting for me around the corner in the next five years? I certainly never suspected that I would be going to school five years ago.

Keelaa B Publishing

IMG_20170509_191045 — Keelaa B models for the position of company mascot.

I have created my publishing house. I am in the beginning stages and will continue to develop my marketing and business plan. The first step was to secure the company name, which I completed. Next, I will use my publishing house to publish my books, and as I gain more knowledge about using InDesign, I will be able to open my submission door to providing services to others to help them get their titles published with Ingram.

The decision to go ahead with my own publishing company is an inspiring time for me. With only two years left of school, I am looking to get this company up and running by 2021, and I can’t wait!

Today was the day – Graduation Day! A day that I never thought would come until two years ago when I started my academic journey at Franklin Pierce University in the Associates of Arts for Business program.

The weather was blah, but that didn’t matter, I dressed to meet the challenge of staying warm and dry while waiting for my turn to walk across that stage and receive my announcement of conferral. When I left home at 8 in the morning, the clouds had just started rolling in. The weather forecast was cold and light rain. Not the best combination for a graduation ceremony.

Some used umbrellas while other wore sandwich-bag style rain coverings only to throw them off just before joining the line to walk across the stage.

I wonder if the same saying for having a wedding on a rainy day brings good luck applies to graduations too?

Since my degree was for Associates, we were last. Shivering and waterlogged we couldn’t wait for our turn to walk the stage. Out of 16 graduating Associates, only four of us showed up for graduation.

My day was made even better by the sudden appearance of my daughter as my turn had come to walk across that stage. She brought her new boyfriend for me to meet along with the new grandbaby that I had not seen yet. My granddaughter will be 2 in four more months. Jasmine, my older granddaughter, did not make the trip because she is at that age where long trips bring conflict in small cars. They were joined by Mike, my mother, and my son.

Later I was told, that mom took a tumble out the door on their way to graduation. I will have to keep tabs on her condition because she is prone to blood clots. Her tumble means that it is time to repair the front step before it happens again. Sounds like a good Memorial Weekend project if it warms back up and doesn’t rain. It always rains Memorial Weekend.

I am looking forward to the coming year. The next graduation is scheduled for 2020 when I will have my bachelor in Accounting.

— Go Me!