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Even though I’m not one of those uber organized people, I would like to be exceptionally more organized than I am. And I used to be – way back before I had a house full of kids running around. Not so much anymore. I still try, though.

One of the things I do, is make forms for myself. It helps me keep things on track and pretty much eliminates missed or forgotten things. Plus, I like to write (who knew?). Anyway, I have 3 forms to share with you today that I use regularly and I thought you’d like them as well.

The Menu Planner. It’s fairly colorful, easy to use and simply designed. But anyone from a small child to an adult can follow along and see what food is planned for what meal any day of the week. Even my youngest has learned to tell which color block is which.

Student Assignment Sheet. Even though I no longer homeschool my kids, I kept this form for myself and it’s been nice to have on hand for my college courses. It’s a plain form – no color embellishments or anything here, but it’s still simple and easy to use for most grade levels if you need to keep track of assignments. It’s 2 pages long and has lots of room for all the details you’ll need to know what assignment is due and when.

Mini Character Sheet. This is a form I use for writing fiction stories. It’s a simple sheet where I can put all of the details about a character when I’m sketching out a storyline. It lets me get to know the character and help develop a background for them. There are 2 character sheets per page which I usually cut in half but sometimes, it’s nice to leave them together. Depends on how many characters I’m sketching out.

I hope you enjoy them!

And please, let me know if you use any of them and what you think. Also, if there’s a form you’d like to have, whether for business or school or home, let me know. I’ve made so many different forms, it’s likely I have something similar to what you want.

Be blessed,

{ write * design * blog }

Just over 24 hours from now, it’ll be 2010!

There’s just something refreshing about a New Year. Like the slate gets wiped clean and one can just start over from the beginning. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but that’s how I feel about the turning of calendar. (Yes, I do realize I said “just” at least once in every sentence in this paragraph.)

And I’ve already posted about New Year’s over on margin of {error} so go ahead over there to read all about it. It’s a short ‘n sweet post.

Be blessed,

{ write * design * blog }

Well, with all of the other housekeeping things for both Christmas and my bog(s), it looks like I’m just NOT going to get to the {W}rite of Passage Challenge this week. Guess I’ll just have to pass this week unless I have some time over the weekend – after Christmas.

I do want to tell you about two things, though.

Way back in 2006, I started a blog about the writing life over on wordpress. At the time, I also owned another domain name but I really had no idea how to install wordpress on my own domain so the blog remained on wp’s own hosting. After I started blogging here, I only blogged over there for about a year or so and eventually stopped altogether. Which is pretty sad, really.

Anyway, I’ve decided to revive that blog so I’ve spent the past few days moving everything from over there to a new subdomain here on AA|Blog. Now that I’ve got some of the tweaks accomplished, I’m going to give you all that link so you can check it out if you’d like.

Visit Margin of Error here.

If you decide to take a peek, let me know what you think.

In the meantime, I hope you have a fantastic Christmas and that you’ve got all of your shopping done. I am – admittedly – a little behind on mine and have a few more things to go finish up. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow during the day.

If it doesn’t snow. Which it better not . . .

And the other thing I wanted to tell you is – well, to ask you, actually. One of my former sister-in-laws, Helen, is having some health issues. She’s had a couple of small strokes in the past week and I’d appreciate it if you could send her and her family (husband, 2 children, their spouses and 2 grandchildren) some healing thoughts and energies. If you could do that for me, it would make my Christmas! Thank you! Helen is a great person and her family needs her.

Be blessed,

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

I’ll have the entry for this weeks {W}rite of Passage Challenge up Tuesday. Oops!

Got busy with other stuff and totally ran out of time.

See you tomorrow.

Be blessed,

Week 2 of the {W}rite of Passage Challenge. This weeks challenge is to write about your elementary school lunch. Describe taste, smell. Who’s there, where are you and what are you eating?

Big, Bad Bathroom Doors

I always hated school lunch. With my mom and I’s abundant allergies, we often didn’t eat what other families ate and so the other kids always wanted to snoop at my lunch. And if they thought it was weird or something, they made no bones about it. Sometimes, those kids could be downright cruel. And that was only lunch!

The one lunch time meal that really stands out in my mind, though, was one from where I went to pre-school (though it was called pre-k at this place) and it was a christian school. I was 4 or 5 at the time and we lived in Redlands, California. Since my mom worked at the school, I went there. I thought it was so cool that I got to go to school with my older cousins. It was cool, too, that we got to eat outside.

Somehow, I remember several picnic benches around the outside courtyard area where everyone ate. I don’t know if that’s really true or not, but I think it must be. And the thing I remember most is the bathrooms. Because I always had to go to the bathroom at lunch.

Now, I was always on the small side for my age and those doors to the bathrooms at the school were just huge! And they were really heavy. So heavy that I actually had to have help to open them. They were big, solid and metal with those huge hinges at the top that are shaped like a V and attach to the door and the frame.

One day at lunch (I have no idea what I was eating, sorry!) I went to the bathroom and an older kid went in with me. Well, she must have forgot I was in there because when I went to go out, I was alone and as usual, couldn’t open the door. I pushed and shoved with no luck.

Finally, I decided I was going to run for it and push as hard as I could. And when I hit the door, I felt it move! It opened! I could hardly believe it. I knew I had to be fast or it would shut on me. I was so excited I got the door open and tried so hard to get out before it shut.

But then . . . I felt it hit my hand.

One of my fingers got caught in it. I started to yell and cry. There was no way I could get my finger out of the door. It was pinned shut. Luckily, I was on the outside and people came running.

My poor finger was mangled. It hurt like HELL.

And then some.

I remember my mom coming after that and bandaging up my hand. I also remember the other kids getting chewed for leaving me in the bathroom alone. Oddly, though, I don’t remember much else about that school or much about what happened over the rest of the year.

My finger is still somewhat misshapen from that damn door. It still hurts every once in a while too. But at least I’m finally big enough to open the door myself!

In the arena,

I hope you have a great week, that all your shopping is done, and for God sakes – don’t drive in bad weather unless you really have to and you know what you’re doing. Better to be safe and be here for your loved ones than risk life and limb for something trivial. Stay safe and warm, dear readers!

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

{W}rite of Passage Writing Challenge, Week 1 – Find a person in public today and study their character. Make a story surrounding them. Build them in to your shorty essay.

Since I am not in public today, I’ll be using a character I saw a while back walking up the street. And also, a fire truck I saw on the same street just moments later.

==================================

Fire

Fire lit the night sky as he stood watching, the clock on his wrist ticking away the seconds. He knew with certainty the house was all but gone. “At least I got the cat out safely,” he thought as he heard the sirens begin to draw near. He hoped they could save enough of his home that he wouldn’t be without his treasured photographs, the ones his mother had sent before she passed away.

The cat shivered in the chilly air and he hugged her tightly, gently stroking her soft golden fur. Sparkles had been his mothers cat, another of her gifts to him before her untimely death the previous winter. He wondered if she had known her time was near. He tried to shake the unpleasant thoughts from his head as the fire truck roared up the street, stopping just short of where he was still clutching poor Miss Sparkles. He wrapped the blanket around them a little tighter and whispered to the cat.

A whirlwind of activity erupted as the firefighters jumped from the truck, pulling hoses and shouting to one another. Miss Sparkles tried to free herself from his grasp but he clung to her and talked softly trying to calm her. She began to purr and finally sensing things were going to be alright, she settled down and went to sleep, with him still standing there in the street.

The smoke was thick and the wind started to blow it towards him. An ambulance had arrived as had another firetruck and some police cars. Someone approached him and began to speak, but his mind was so numb and jumbled with thoughts that he couldn’t concentrate on who was talking or what they were saying. So he just stood there and stroked Miss Sparkles, staring blankly.

The officer took his arm, steering him away from the smoke and to an ambulance where the medics were readying a gurney. He took the seat they offered him and shivered in the cool night air. Miss Sparkles began to stir, poking her head out from the blanket and he talked softly to her. She shivered too.

A medic took his temperature, asked him routine questions, checked his pusle, his blood pressure. He was fine, just somewhat dazed. And cold. Someone offered him another blanket, wrapping it carefully around his shoulders so as not to disturb Miss Sparkles. It was rare that she would allow him to hold her that long. She sensed that he needed her comfort.

Just then, Marla, one of his neighbors walked up and sat down beside him. She knew he’d need some support and her mind was racing but she sat quietly, rubbing his back. The officer was asking him questions and he tried his best to answer but it all just seemed so unreal – first his wife, then his mother and now his house.

“What am I going to do?” he thought. Tears began to well up in his eyes and a lump formed in his throat.

Sensing his emotion, Marla said to the officer, “Perhaps this can continue at another time. He’s pretty shaken up. I think the shock is beginning to hit him.” She told the officer and the medics that she was his neighbor and it would take him into her house until morning and until the fire was put out. The medic asked if he wanted to go into the hospital just to be sure and he shook his head, beginning to sob.

Marla put her arm around his shoulders, but he seemed rooted the spot on the gurney. She tugged at him and tried to reassure him that he would be alright. It didn’t help. He still just sat, still stroking the cat who was purring again, and sobbing.

“What am I going to do?” he finally said aloud. “What am going to do?” He sat rocking back and forth as minutes passed and the firecrew tried desparately to douse the flames. Though they were now under control, the fire still burned. Marla didn’t answer, she just sat and rubbed his back, partly not knowing what to say and partly knowing that whatever she said would somehow sound out of place.

“I have to check the photographs. I have to get the pictures out. Where are Mother’s pictures?” And suddenly, he sprang up, still cradling the cat in his arms and began to walk quickly towards his house.

Marla stopped him. “No, we must go inside my house where George has made coffee, where it’s warm and you and Miss Sparkles can get the chill off before you catch cold.”

He was unaware now that it was cold, unaware now that he was shivering. The only thing he could think of was those pictures. Pictures of Pop and Granny. Pictures of Jason. Pictures of his beloved Andrea. And of Mom and of Father. And Nick. Pictures of the islands he and Andrea took on their honeymoon.

“Oh Andrea!” he cried. And he fell to his knees in a heap on the street. Poor Miss Sparkles dug her claws into his skin as he cried, not knowing whether she should stay put or leap out of his grasp. “Oh Miss Sparkles! What are we going to do?” He asked the cat through his sobbing. She mewed quietly in answer and licked his cheek.

“Marla, perhaps you should convince Paul to go to the hospital after all. I’ll take Miss Sparkles,” said George as he came up to them, having rushed out of the house upong seeing Paul collapse to the ground. “Maybe he needs more than just a cup of hot coffee.”

Two medics came and helped Paul up off the cold, wet ground, leading him to the waiting ambulance. He was sobbing uncontrollably now and had let go of Miss Sparkles so George could take her. Marla stood closely still just in case Paul needed her reassurance. He knew that she was there and he felt comforted, though he continued to cry.

It was late now but with all the raucus on the street, many of the neighbors were up and watching silently from their windows or huddling around outside. Someone brought a carrier for Miss Sparkles and some food and water. Another neighbor brought out a thermos of hot coffee and handed a cup to Paul. George put Miss Sparkles inside the carrier along with the food and water and set her down on the grass so she could see Paul inside the ambulance.

He began to calm as he watched the firefighters as they doused the remaining flames. “I really do not want to go to the hospital,” he said to no one in particular. “Maybe this cup of coffee will do some good. I just feel so cold.”

====================

Be blessed,

Come join the challenge! It’s open to anyone who wants to give it a try. Check it out at {W}rite of Passage.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

I have a really strong desire to write about a certain American college student who was convicted of the murder of her roommate in Italy today but I don’t want the enormous amount of traffic such keywords could generate to my humble lil’ blog here so I’m not going to.

(If you even remotely read, watch or listen to anything news related, I’m sure you know exactly whom I am talking about. You’d have to be living in cave somewhere in the middle of no-mans-land not to know her name and the situation.)

Even *I* know who she is and I haven’t watched TV or read the news in years.

But anyway, instead of stating my opinion about her, I’m going to talk about some of the tools I use daily and discuss my plans for a potential app I’m thinking of building.

First – what tools do you use in your business and personal life to keep organized? Is there a particular application you find indispensable? Do you use offline or an online apps?

I began using the 37Signals products about 5 years ago, I think. Maybe 4. I don’t really remember. But the real estate investor/trainer I worked with at the time, used them for his business and since I did 90% of his admin and teaching stuff for the training programs he ran, I learned to rely on them. As a result, I have continued to use them for both my own business as well as personal related things.

They’ve become invaluable tools to me over the years. But to really get the use out of them I need, I would have to upgrade to their highest level to get the full potential out of them. Instead of doing that, I am seriously considering writing my own application that I can install on my own server.

In some ways, this app will be fairly basic. In other ways, it will be quite robust, adding in features that just aren’t in the 37Signals group of products. Also, it will include the pieces of the various 37Signals products I use, like Basecamp, Backpack and Highrise that I find most useful. (And yes, those are affiliate links.)

Now, I’m not an app developer so this is going to take some time! I’m hoping I can have at least a good working model in place by Spring 2010. At this point, I have no idea if I will be releasing it for public use or if it will just be for me. But we’ll see what happens as the project moves forward.

Right now, my idea is only in the outlining and thinking stage. I’ve spent a good portion of today thinking out the details and getting them written down. I’m hoping to get a visual design this weekend as to what I want it to look and feel like mocked up. If I do, I may post a few snippets here.

I am also considering developing an app for my cousins hair salon business. She wants something to keep track of clients, bookings, co-workers, schedules and all that fun stuff associated with running a growing salon. (If you’re in Whatcom County, Washington, let me know and I’ll send you her way. She’s a fabulous stylist and nail tech and I’m not just saying that cause she’s my cousin! She is truly that good at what she does.)

Anywho, it’s getting late and I’m suddenly quite tired. I’m glad the weekend has arrived! Hope yours is a great one!

Be blessed,

I’m going to run a special soon for graphics stuff so if you’re in the market for a new header, new logo, or whatever, keep an eye out here. It may be a buy one get one free type of deal.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.