Friend Terri Nakamura and I have been talking (via tweets, mostly) about home generators and power outages lately. And she said she thought I should write about having a generator, which never occurred to me! But many people could use a home generator right now. If you’re thinking about getting one, here are some reasons you should. While I haven’t written about home generators before, I’ve written about emergencies. You might like How Natural Disasters Can Make Us More Grateful.

Peace of Mind

Knowing that you can keep your appliances going (especially if you have medical appliances such as a CPAP machine), your refrigerated items cold, and your heat on for your babies gives you peace of mind. Now a generator won’t necessarily run everything in your home, but you can get by with one. A whole-house generator will cost you a lot more, but give you even more peace of mind if outages are really bad where you are. For me, a home generator is just the right size.

Climate change is getting worse

When we first moved to the Santa Cruz Mountains, we rarely had power outages. Even though it seemed like we lived in the middle of nowhere, the power stayed on. And even though I could’ve gotten a Tesla Powerwall, I didn’t. Now of course I wish I had! Because they were around $5,000 then and now the price has tripled, if they’re available at all. And our power outages are happening all the time. To give you an idea of how often the power goes out, we sometimes don’t even bother resetting the clock on the microwave after it goes out. If we’re having a bad storm, we’re certain the power won’t stay on, and we’ll just have to reset it again. This time around, the power only went out for a few minutes, but we still didn’t reset the microwave clock.

Independence during storms

As I write these words, we just went through a pretty bad storm. Our area got about 10″ of rain. We were warned to stay off the roads, and watch for fallen trees and downed wires, which we did. With a generator, we could stay home, be able to cook and charge our devices, and stay out of the way of the emergency vehicles. Police and fire departments were out mopping up debris, downed trees, and helping people who got stuck in the storm. Even though we didn’t have to use the generator (this time), it was a godsend knowing it was there .

Losing food, even if you get reimbursed, is a hassle

You really don’t want to lose everything in your frig. Even if your local power company reimburses you, do you really want the hassle? Filling out forms, saving receipts, and waiting for reimbursements? Don’t we already do that with insurance claims? Who wants more bureaucracy? A generator costs relatively little when you measure what your time and the hassle cost you. Mine cost around $500, by the way. And also, if you don’t have food you’ll have to run to the store during a storm or emergency, which is not fun–and that’s if you can find one that’s open and has the supplies you need. During the early days of the pandemic, some of our local stores didn’t have much fresh food, and many lost their frozen food as well, since they didn’t have backup generators!

You can set up a home generator!

There’s no reason you can’t set up a generator. If I can do it, you certainly can, too! It’s really not that difficult. You may need some additional things, such as the following:

• A heavy-duty extension cord to go from the generator to the frig;
• A gas canister (make sure your generator uses the type of fuel you’re buying!);
• Gasoline or some type of fuel (check which type of fuel your generator needs–I know I said it twice, but it’s critical);
• Some fuel stabilizer so the gas doesn’t go bad when you store it. Bob Vila has a good article on gasoline and keeping it fresh.
• A place to store your generator when not in use. You can get a shed if you don’t have an ideal spot to store your generator.Other than the above supplies, a generator is fairly simple to operate.

There are people to help you

Odds are one of your friends in your neighborhood already has a generator and can help you set it up and learn to use it. When there’s a storm, walk around your neighborhood and listen for who has one. There is also YouTube University, where you can learn more than you’ll ever want to know about this or nearly any other subject. Luckily for me, my friend Annie and her wonderful husband offered lots of help. Maybe you have an Annie in your life who could help you! Actually, she volunteered her husband and that worked out perfectly!

Right now, we’re experiencing a number of transitions. You may be facing some of these transitions, too. So here are some ideas for writing about those transition times. After all, you never know who is handling the same transition. Your words might make a difference for someone in a similar situation.

Transition between fall and winter

It’s not quite Halloween, and the weather is warm during the day but cold at night. So why not write about how to prepare for the upcoming winter season during the quiet time when not much is happening? With climate change affecting nearly everyone, we can all learn from each other. For instance, how do we prepare for flooding if an evacuation is needed? How do you stay on a diet during a pandemic and have a good holiday season? Here’s an article you might like: 10 Social Media Transitions and How to Use them.

Fire and rainy season

Here where I am, we’ve had a horrible fire season. Much of California seems to be on fire. So one transition for us will be between the dry (fire) season and the wet (rainy) season. This upcoming week we are promised an “atmospheric river” with possibly over 5″ of rain. Yikes! Again, why not write about how to prepare for the rainy season? Are there things your readers can do now to get ready?

Time before winter holidays

We’re coming up on Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve and Day. So you could write about how to prep for those. What will you say during those holidays? Time tends to speed up during November and December and now is a good time to prepare! Get those articles written, or at least started now. Don’t think you have time? Here’s an article that could help: Time Management for the Busy Professional.

Covid and post-Covid

For most of us, this is a huge transition. And the transition is happening at different speeds for different parts of the country, and the world. Here in California, the transition seems fast. People are almost acting as though there never was a pandemic. You could write about what that transition is like in your part of the country or the world. Or how you wish the transition would be, or how the transition could be eased or improved.

Personal transitions

Have you had a major transition? Maybe one of your parents passed away, or you lost a partner or beloved pet. Chances are, someone else has gone through the same transition. Your words could help soothe someone else. Or your words could help someone know what to do and how to emotionally handle such a transition. For instance, what is the mourning process like for someone who’s lost their partner? That’s a process that we rarely talk about. By the way, I highly recommend the movie Departures, about a Japanese man who is a ritual mortician. Don’t be put off by the subject matter–it’s very sweet! And that was recommended to me by a friend, Terri Nakamura!

Do you ever feel like social media is making us all stupider? I’ve been feeling that way a lot lately. People making things up, fake science, and people quoting from junk articles they’ve seen on Facebook. Can it get any stupider? Well, yes. Yes, it can! Let’s not travel down that rabbit hole just yet, though. Let’s talk about reversing the tide a bit. Let’s talk about slow social media. By the way, I enjoyed this article about Slow Social. You might, too.

Stop the ten-second videos

One reason I don’t log into certain video-sharing apps is because it’s easy to spend 15 hours looking at 10-second videos. You know what I’m talking about, right? Besides making me stupider, there’s a certain meanness to many of the videos. As if seeing someone falling down should be funny. Or hurting an animal should be entertainment. Or what about the “pranks” where someone pretends to spend $10,000 on a buttlift, and then the poor guy’s reaction. Really? How about if we just skip it?!

Social media whiplash

Watching non-stop videos of ridiculous subjects can give us all a kind of whiplash. You might not even remember what you just watched if you watch too much. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. Before you even open that app, know why you’re there and what you’re going to do. If you want to engage for ten minutes, do that. Set your timer, then get out! It’s kind of like going to the grocery store when you’re hungry. You end up mindlessly buying (or watching) things you don’t want. And you might not even remember why you bought something when you get home. If this rings a bell for you, you might like: Organizing Your Social Media So You Can Have a Better Life.

Fear of missing out (FOMO)

Do people really fear missing something on social media? Do you? How do we get over this idea, as a culture? If you take a break from being online, you’ll see that you’ll hardly miss anything at all. Try it! Did the world end? No, it did not! The only thing that will change, probably, is your level of relaxation. So take the yoga class. Go for a walk. Or eat the ice cream. Avoid Social Media Decision Fatigue Three Quick and Easy Ways.

Can we use the slow-food movement as a model?

With the pandemic, many people began to spend more time at home, cooking more. Slow food was already gaining ground, but it became even more important as we had more time to spend baking banana bread. I like to think that we could all use a little unscheduled, boring time, if you will. Times when nothing happens. Like rest notes in music, for instance. The slow-food movement began as a protest against fast food. Could we start a protest against fast social media? And even though I’m a social media manager, how about if we have a day when we stay off social media? Who’s with me on this?

If you’re a writer, blogger, or content creator then you know how much a good editor is worth. They can seemingly work magic with their red (or virtual red!) pens, sculpting and reshaping your badly-written words into something artistic. If not artistic, then at least something less bad! Here are some of the ways they can assist.

View your work from 20,000 feet

There may be some things you’re doing that you’re not aware of. Maybe you always make the same spelling errors, or use too many commas. Oh, wait! That’s me. My editor is always saying to remove commas. Not Oxford commas, of course, but some of those other ones that sneak in there. By the way, I’ve written about writing before. You might like: Content Creation: How to Make Your Writing More Fun.

Do a structural edit

If you know a really good editor, she can actually restructure your writing. For instance, create one chapter out of two, or change the order of paragraphs. Or say that what you’re really saying doesn’t match your premise. He can check the logic of your words. Wouldn’t you like someone like that to look over your work? I know I would!

Use a style guide

If you’re adhering to a style guide (hello, Chicago Manual of Style!), your editor can see that you’re following those rules. Do you like the Oxford Comma? Or are you one of those renegades who doesn’t bother, doesn’t care, or doesn’t even notice (do you see what I did there?)?

Check your grammar

Are you using active voice in most of your sentences? An editor can double-check and fix your writing if you’re not. In some types of writing, you may not want to use active voice, but that’s a whole other story. Technical writers, for example, use passive voice quite often. I dislike most automated apps for checking grammar, since they tend to simplify my writing style. Although writing for 12-year-olds is what a lot of people do, it doesn’t work for me.

Do some unfun jobs

Are you mixing up your bullet styles? Your editor will probably notice and fix that! Do your captions match your graphics? Again, that’s something an editor can check for you. Sometimes your editor has the completely unfun job of telling you your manuscript is trash and you should start over. Would you like that job? NO!

Ensure your formating is consistent

Does your formating change every other paragraph? An editor will mark that up and either you or she can fix it. That’s also an unfun job, but one every editor has probably had to do at some point in their career.

Be nice to your editor

Some of you may have the mistaken belief that editors are mean people, gleefully sitting around with their red pens poised to find mistakes. They are kind people, and they make your writing better! So bring them cookies if they’re nearby. Or send them something in the mail–cash is good, but even a cup of coffee would probably be appreciated. Editors are the unsung heroes of the world of writing.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about blogging. I’ve been blogging for a long time now (nine years? ten years? who knows!), with no thought of stopping. But maybe I’ll write in a different way. Have you considered changing the way you blog? Stick around while I explore this topic.

Why do people read blog posts?

There are many reasons, but here are a few:

• To learn about something they know little about
• To amuse themselves
• To connect with you and others in an online community

I really liked this article: Do People Still Read Blogs? And you might, too.

How do people find you and your blog?

Of course, there’s the usual Google search. But there’s also email marketing and social media. People may find an enticing headline and jump over from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Possibly a friend may tell them about your blog. If you know how people find you (via your Google analytics), you may want to give them even more reasons to find you. If you have analytics of some sort, then you can see how people are finding you.

Blogging on other platforms

There are different ways to blog besides the cost of getting your own website. For instance, Terri Nakamura blogs on Instagram. She has a much different approach, and I highly recommend her new book, Blogging on Instagram, available on Amazon for a song. If you’d like to connect with others, you’d like this book. Others may want to syndicate their blog posts with an organization such as Business to Community. I did that for a long time and really enjoyed it.

Video blogging

Is video blogging a thing? Yes, it is! Friend Mitch Mitchell talks about quite a lot of different topics on his vlogs. And no, he’s not Jimi Hendrick’s former drummer. If you prefer talking to writing, or in addition to writing, you might enjoy making videos and telling your story that way. You may want to have more than one channel, especially if you have different businesses, or divide your personal and business vlogs.

Blogging as a creative exercise

Some people write because they love to write, and others write because they want more followers or better SEO. Whatever the reason, you may be rethinking your need to express yourself in a standard blog. Journaling may not hold the same interest for you that it once did.

Other types of blogs

Some people create blogs for travel or photography and use hardly any words. That might be a good way to document your life. Other people use all words and barely any images. I’m of the belief that you need both words and images to tell a story or create a blog. There are personal blogs, business blogs, and affiliate blogs, where you make a little money by recommending a product.

Do you have a favorite kind of blog or blog post?

Do tell!

Have you ever considered writing a book? Recently, I’ve been writing about how to get started turning your blog posts into a book. This is the third in the series.

Here are the previous parts:

• Part One
• Part Two

What do you do next?

If you get stuck at any point, realize that you’re going to need someone to edit your book and someone to create artwork for your book. You could ask among your friends or you could also check Fiverr. Fiverr is an awesome place, with lots of experts. I think Fiverr’s reputation has grown by leaps and bounds, so check it out! I’ve used Fiverr to help with formatting and to find someone to create infographics for my second book. You might find it helpful, too.

Get more than one edit

My recommendation for anyone writing anything is to have more than one edit. You may want to have two, or possibly three edits. That gives you time to let your writing stew a bit. Then you can incorporate your editor’s comments, and rewrite some more. That time on the back burner really helps–so long as you don’t completely forget that your draft exists, that is. You can use Fiverr to find editors, too, if you don’t know one personally.

Choose an artist, editor, formatter whose work speaks to you

When I was trying to find someone to create infographics for my book, I worked with three different artists. Eventually, I settled on one person to help. That person not only had an eye for infographics, he was someone I could easily communicate with. He got back to me quickly and understood what I said, although his first language wasn’t English.

Find someone generous and be generous in return

While searching for someone to format my drafts, I wanted someone who didn’t charge extra for little things. And I gave her a generous tip. I recommend doing the same. Not only does this create good will in the present moment, but when it comes time to use that person’s services again, they will remember you with fondness!

Keep writing

You may have several pages of writing at the point. Keep writing, even if some of it is garbage (and it will be!). You can rewrite, delete, and expand your writing. But if you don’t continue to write, you’ll never reach your end goal–a finished book! Another trick is to talk while you write. That is, read your words out loud. You’ll most likely find some things missing and your writing will be more conversational that way.

Enlist friends

You may know others in your community who are trying to write. It’s more fun when you’re writing with others! If there is no community, why not create your own? Meetup has many different groups, and you might find one that’s perfect for you. You might also host a virtual writing day or join NaNoWriMo and write 50,000 words in one month. Although that’s a lot of words, having others writing with you–even virtually–can help a lot.