Pen and Moon

musings, life lessons & poetry from Theresa Jarosz Alberti

Page 26 of 39

What’s in a Year?

New Accoutrements

My Facebook Memories has reminded me that it’s now been a year since the cortisone shots stopped working for my knees. This began a long trip down the rabbit hole to a kind of year I didn’t know was in store for me. Instead of getting my freelance writing gig going or finding a job, I started dealing with Pain–  stabbing, burning, achingly sore, white-knuckling-it, limping my way through my days. Bone-on-bone arthritic knees end up throwing off the whole body, and the pain over here can lead to pain over there. And sleep, which should be a rest and a respite, gets mucked up by Pain, and leads to a night of tossing and turning with soreness.

My, that sounds fun, doesn’t it? Continue reading

Dragons and Mermaids and Unicorns, Oh My!

The truth is, the more I researched my topics, the more I discovered that maybe these creatures aren’t entirely fictional to everyone…

Last week I finished writing my third book in 3 months, (huzzah!). It was fun, it was grueling, and I learned some pretty weird things.

As some of you know, I sometimes write nonfiction educational books for kids. I hadn’t done one in a few years — unfortunately these writing jobs pay poorly and are a lot of work. But when an editor contacted me last fall, the topics were mythological creatures: fairies, vampires, werewolves and such. Irresistible! After all the frustrations I’ve had lately dealing with medical stuff and battling health insurance, I wanted some writing work. I requested the titles that sounded most fun to me: dragons, mermaids and unicorns. Continue reading

Warning: Detours and Crisis Ahead…

A lot has changed for me in the last 6 months. Spring and summer are known as road construction season in Minnesota, and I find I’m on a long detour now, off-road from where I thought I was going. It’s not horrible — I know some people going through really horrific detours in their life. Mine is challenging and difficult, but really just AFGO (Another Fucking Growth Opportunity, or as we writers say: more material).

In the previous post, I wrote about my efforts to go from temping jobs to pursuing freelance business writing full time. Just as I was putting the final touches on my planning and research, I started to get hit by some things that threw me off track…. Continue reading

The Work of Not-Working

A bit about me and jobs, and no-jobs…

I started working as an office temp a few years ago. After a short and challenging stint as a  Personal Care Assistant, I had been job hunting for several months. Even though there were employers looking for my skills and education, I was having a hard time getting interviews. I’m sure there were many reasons for this, but it didn’t help that I’d been out of the work force for years to raise kids.

So temping it was. I had done it in my 20s and enjoyed the variety. I knew it would give me more experience and a chance to prove myself in more traditional workplaces again. And it worked– I soon had a good reputation and repeat customers. Better yet, I made money while doing it!  I also got to work at some interesting places–  like MPR, WCCO-TV, and even an in-patient drug rehab center.  I have some interesting stories to tell from each of these places! Continue reading

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