neXtDRAFT 50. New Year Reflections

Published: Sun, 01/06/19

Welcome new subscribers. If this is your first neXtDRAFT you'll find poems, stories and pics about my life as an adopted mum (and freelance writer) living between Australia and the Philippines. Each edition I also share my best tips for making money as a professional writer and how to navigate your home office workplace while serving clients from all over the world.

Here in the Philippines I support about 20 kids (and their families) from a rural municipality with food, school supplies and love; it's my way of encouraging them into school and maybe one day out of poverty. You'll read their stories here too. And if you are a stamp collector, you'll be the first to see the newest listings in the STAMPS FOR THE VISAYANS eBay store -- where 100% of the proceeds support the kids here.

neXtDRAFT is delivered to your inbox most Sundays depending of course on the frequent monsoons, powercuts and WIFI outages (which sometimes interfere with my publishing schedule). Sometimes I get a bit overwhelmed but there is usually a neXtDRAFT somewhere in the making.

Again welcome, I'm so glad to have you part of the neXtDRAFT community. Unsubscribe anytime using the link at the bottom of this page.

Melinda J. Irvine

https://melirvine.com.au/

Hello, happy Sunday, and welcome to neXtDRAFT 50.

The first of 2019. New Year Reflections.

I'm here relaxing late on Sunday afternoon and Jerry has been preparing his things for return to school tomorrow. Here in the Philippines the school year stretches from June to March each year and normally the Christmas break is only about 10 days. This year the President arbitrarily increased the school holidays to extend a 3 full weeks. The kids were pretty happy about it, but I confess I would have preferred them all back at school (don't tell 10 year old Jerry that though).

Our 2019 arrived here in the city of Iloilo and I've spent the last week in such a state of gratitude as I compare life now to what it was a year ago (living in the rural province). New Year celebrations are filled with fireworks and loud noises to drive away evil spirits and demons, and Filipinos improvise with anything likely to make big racket. Gunshots being an easy favourite.

In the city these old traditions are becoming more regulated, whereas back in Estancia last year the bangs, crashes, and thumping all-night party music went on for weeks and weeks and weeks. This year's new year parties in city didn't extend beyond a few days. Much much much nicer.

Now if you think I'm sounding all boring, just imagine groups of teens and youths throwing crackers that have been banned in Australia for decades into the shop your standing in - or behind you on the street. And that this has been going for 3-4 weeks. And guns, being fired randomly in the air all through the night. Night after night. Last year I was so happy when the revelling was finally over.

I can clearly picture myself lying there in the one-room place we lived. Jerry was asleep in his bed next to me. I was overtired and grumpy. It was pouring with rain and there was no power. We'd had floods, several typhoons, and many many power outages in the weeks prior so I was still stressed because I'd hardly been able to work.

Now suddenly at 4.45am everything stopped. No music, no gunshots, no crackers, no cars, no dogs. My whole body breathed in the quiet. Wow I thought, it's finally over. I smiled and closed my eyes.

UNTIL suddenly the family in the next room decided to wake up before 5am and sing church hymns at the top of their voices to welcome in the new year. And sing praises to their Lord.

After literally weeks of limited sleep, there was absolutely nothing left in my body for compassion, empathy, or even the smallest amount of religious respect. 'YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FXXXING JOKING' my mind raged. And vowed then and there I would leaved that damned province and find a new life in the city. With or without Jerry.

And Jerry took some convincing too - he did NOT want to leave Estancia at all. I was plagued with guilt for leaving behind the children and families I had been supporting for the last past 3 years. But we did it. We did leave. It wasn't easy, and more than a few times Jerry begged me to take him 'home'.

But we persevered and navigated the move: 2 x news houses, new school, new routines, new people. All those trips to the telcos and utilities offices to get services and connections (big yuk). New challenges. All those floods and 12 typhoons (yes I"m not joking 12) in 2 months (June-July). Jerry being diagnosed with recurring allergies and hives, anaemia and tuberculosis.

But here were are.

A brand new year beginning and we're so happy. We've had this amazingly joyful new year celebration, and a lovely Christmas. AND the hard stuff behind us (for a while at least). Jerry's responding perfectly to medication, making lots of new friends, and showing big improvements in his grade, singing, dancing, and attitude.

We spent all last year making this new 2019 possible. And now it's finally here I have to take a step back and pinch myself. Yes we did it. I have enough work secured to have a profitable business year and retaining enough money to take a few holidays (as well as continue the projects for the children of Estancia). I'm ready to soar. To work and write and write and write.

I feel so gratefully blessed.

Till next week.

Mel xx

Sincerely,

Melinda J. Irvine

[email protected]

Our new year burst into view through a network of fireworks, unison’ed countdowns, and plastic horn blowers that stretched as far as we could hear and see from our little balcony.

And I remembered what it was like to be 10 years old, thrilled at the thought of a brand new year that would make me 11.

1955 China People’s Rep. Scientists of Ancient China

8f SG1662x2, MS1663a CTO

Stamp Corner:

1955 Scientists of Ancient China

Having just read Mao's Last Dancer I thought I'd feature some of the Chinese stamps in our collection. Uncle Lincoln amassed a wide range of Chinese stamps including this selection from the Scientists of Ancient China (1st set). The listing ($17.99) includes the following two ancients:

Zhang Heng - 8 Fen (large white sheet) lived from AD 78-139 and was a noted astronomer, mathematician, scientist, engineer, inventor, geographer, cartographer, artist, poet, statesman, and literary scholar. He invented world’s first seismoscope which was used to decide the time and the direction of earthquakes.

Seng Yi Xing - 8 Fen (2 x stamps on the left) was an astronomer, mathematician, mechanical engineer and Buddhist monk of the Tang dynasty (618–907). He constructed a celestial globe (spherical model of the earth and celestial features) featuring a clockwork escapement mechanism.

PS: Stamps for the Visayans is a project of my Uncle Richard. In 2014 he inherited the family stamp collection which dates back 3 generations. He sells the stamps individually on eBay and sends the proceeds to help me live in the Philippines with Jerry (as well as run small projects for other disadvantaged children). It's incredible how these $5, $10 and $20 stamp sales (plus the odd big one) add up and make our life here possible.

I’m a professional writer making my way in the world of business. The WritingBiz section is for anyone wanting to make writing a career (or at the very least make some money writing). Each week I share a few ideas on how to find writing jobs, self-publish your own eBooks, as well as how to setup your writing business and run it profitably.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Writers

When I first began reading Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in 2005 I was expecting a business book filled with business-speak success techniques. But instead I found a book about building character (and by default success) by applying 7 fundamental principles to the very essence of your life. Live in accordance with those principles and you could truly create an amazing life.

So here’s a few suggestions for how you could apply each of the 7 principles in the book to your own professional writing. At the end of the blog you'll also learn which of the 7 habits Mr Covey claims is the most important.

#amwriting #7habits

Reade more

Book Review: 'Mao's Last Dancer'

by Li Cunxin

'Mao's Last Dancer' by Li Cunxin has become a favourite of mine and I read it again between Christmas and New Year. First published in 2003, if you haven't read it yet grab a copy and put it on your holiday read list.

The book takes us through the transformation of an uneducated peasant boy; to a hardworking student, to one of the world's most gifted male dancers. At the same time it details the defection of a young man from China to America; the dangers he faced and the personal guilt he felt as his career began to soar while his family remained in poverty.

You can check out my full review of this incredible story on the blog. It's definitely 5/5 stars from me.

#amreading #inspiringstories

FREELANCE WRITER TIP # 12

Create an Upwork Profile

Upwork is a great place for freelance writers to find clients as the site hosts more than 14 million users in 180+ countries. Every year more than USD$1 Billion is turned over in freelancer revenue.

Clients post jobs writing jobs in a range of categories:-

creative writing
technical writing
copywriting
editing and proofreading
article and blog writing
web content
grant writing
academic writing and research
other writing

Freelancers send a proposal to the client which includes a private quote in USD. The freelancer can attach portfolio items and other supporting material as well as refer the client to your writer website. Clients then engage the freelancer of their choice, and all payments are made though the Upwork system (retaining fees from 5%-22%). The fees are tiered depending on how long a freelancer has been working with the client. Bids/quotes remain private between Freelancer and Client.

I've use Upwork extensively and have found some great long-term clients on the platform. There’s always writing jobs, of course a lot of them are quite low paying but you can usually find something decent.

Using Upwork I have completed hundreds of writing assignments including blog posts, web audits, editing and proofreading a set of operations manuals, transcribing video and audio files, eLearning content, email marketing campaigns, Linkedin profiles, resumes and CVs, grant programs, nationally recognised training course materials, product descriptions, recruitment tools, business letters and correspondence, company descriptions, professional bios for artists and musicians, job applications, web content.

Upwork was previously known as eLance and oDesk.

Free account: yes but limited functionality
Private bidding: yes, only the client can see your price
Fees: 5%-22%
Bring your own clients for free: invitation only for top-rated freelancers

Currency: all transactions are in USD

More poems and stuff on the blog

For more stories, poems, articles and reviews follow my Wordpress blog. More than 700 posts and 1,000s of photos. Tell your friends too.

Back Issues of neXtDRAFT

https://melirvine.com.au/nextdraft-back-issues/

From the vault: Jan 2018

Christmas Reflections 2017

This time last year we'd just survived Christmas 2017: floods, typhoons, no electricity, and a very sick little boy. Christmas 2017 was certainly challenging but we made the best of it and I'm thrilled that our Christmas just gone (2018) was fabulous.

Sharing here this post from 2018 as I reflected on that challenging Christmas season (2017) when Jerry came down with a terrible fever and virus about 2am on 24th which lasted until the 28th. Poor little bugger had been dreaming all year of our upcoming Christmas party and his gifts, but spent the entire party lying on a mat in the middle of a crowd of screaming (mostly uninvited kids).

I learned something important that year about parties in the Philippines: invitations are actually irrelevant.

A recovered Jerry several days after Christmas 2017 with our cat Maxine in her Christmas clothes. She returned the favour by sneaking and out and getting pregnant at just 5 months of age. I still remember Jerry saying to me as we locked her in our one-room dwelling mid-estrus "Tita Mel, why has Maxine got her bottom in the air?".