neXtDRAFT 40. Goodbye to the rain

Published: Sun, 10/07/18

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. Every week 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 from a rural municipality with food, school supplies and love; while encouraging them to go to school. 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 every Sunday(ish) depending of course on the frequent monsoons, powercuts and WIFI outages (which sometimes interfere with my publishing schedule).

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

Melinda J. Irvine

https://melirvine.com.au/

Hello, happy Sunday, and welcome to neXtDRAFT 40. Goodbye to the rain.

Landing in Sydney this morning I was expecting to say goodbye to the rain, but instead I am saying ... hello. Wonderful to see rain falling in Sydney now up here at Blackheath, NSW where I a staying.

This is a quick neXtDRAFT, I had planned on creating something a bit more substantial during all my airport waiting time yesterday BUT the new security checks from Manila airport to Australian destinations are pretty intense. If you're heading from the Philippines to Sydney or Melbourne friends, allow plenty of time for boarding. And you can forget that massage you promised yourself.

Every single item of luggage: boxes, suitcases, bags, guitar cases, garment bags ... must be opened and inspected. Stuff pulled, compartments opened. Even luggage that had been checked through on a domestic flight with the same airline needed to be collected and rescanned. Wow.

I saw bags that had been stretch-wrapped cut open and inspected. My own bag had been carefully tied together with rope, but all of that was disassembled too. Then at the boarding gate a second inspection of hand luggage, every single bag opened, pulled apart and inspected. Then taken by the security staff (you could keep your passport and boarding pass) while you underwent a full body screen. No random stuff. Every passenger. (You get your bags back on the other side of the gate).

Amazingly the flight left on time and arrived early.

I haven't flown internationally for a year so I don't know if anyone else has experienced this type of intensity during flight preparation and check-in. Maybe it's been happening for a while and I'm just clueless to it. Still it was nice that the plane didn't blow up during flight, which I imagine was the point of the whole exercise.

So I'm here in Blackheath in the peace and the cold and rain. This time last year I was writing poetry about the intense dry weather and the dying trees. (see below). I'm looking forward to visiting the wet garden (and comparing it the photograph from last year) tomorrow in my cousin's backyard, it was too dark when I arrived here late this afternoon.

the rains are still

and the flowers quiet

stepping over

mid-spring holly

and a few eager blooms

willing to risk the sun

without water

my feet crunch

a tiny piece of the earth

planet focused

(old mountain patch)

full of weeds

and dead

and drying

drying trees.

So for the next 6 weeks I'll be blogging Australia, writing till the sun comes up and tapping these keys with a ferocious intensity. Six weeks of no Jerry and no excuses. Yes I'll be writing and photoing -- sorry no Jerry and Tita Mel selfies either though. (Yes I do take those selfies live each week when I write up neXtDRAFT).

Wherever you are I hope you feel the rain that brings growth, nurturing, irrigation and new life. I managed a few rain photos and a quick poem before I left the Philippines and I'll no doubt be writing a few more while I am here in Australia.

Till next week.

Mel xx

PS: We've setup a phone on WIFI back in Iloilo City for Jerry and (I've just counted) he's already Facetimed me 20 times since I left the house just over 24 hours ago (I didn't answer all of them).

Sincerely,

Melinda J. Irvine

[email protected]

wet

dark brown

muddened bract

rain leaves the garden

1959 Australian Native Flowers 3/- Waratah First Day Cover

Stamp Corner: Spring Flowers

Arriving in the Blue Mountains to the spring wildflowers I wanted to share a couple of stamps Uncle Richard has listed that feature wildflowers. Blackheath and the neighbouring suburbs is famous for their waratahs and rhododendrons which are just finishing up here.

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.

1975 Aust Wildflowers Set of 2 18c Block of 2

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.

PROFESSIONAL WRITER TIP #2: Get in the business mind-frame by setting routine work hours

When you’re a writer and small business owner, your ability to manage your time is just as important as your ability to write. Though sometimes I think time management and personal productivity is such a fundamental part of writing that it cannot be separated. You must manage your time in order to finish the novel or get that client’s website copy finished.

When you’re working on a project you need uninterrupted time. I learned very quickly that setting dedicated work blocks and sticking to those routines was essential if I wanted to complete client deliverables; do my billing; and still have time to work on personal projects like blogs, newsletters and poetry. Also if your work hours are consistent, it doesn’t matter so much if your office is in the back shed or a coffee shop.

Setting routine work hours the same as if you were working for an employer creates an expectation in your own mind. When you are working for an employer, you don’t wake up on a Monday morning wondering if you’ll have coffee at 9:00 am, or take the dog for a walk, or catch up on a bit of reading; you get up and get ready for work without even thinking about it.

A big part of being a successful writer and small business owner is re-creating a business mindset inside your own home office.

Guest Posting and Link Building

Guest posting is a blogging strategy to improve your website rankings with major search engines. Basically you write an informative blog post for the owner of another website (one that has a lot of followers and a lot more traffic than yours), and include links back to your own website as a reference. In very simple terms, the more links you have the better you rank with google.

Note: there is a lot more to it than that but this is the simplest explanation.

A great example would be bookkeeper who wants be recognised as an expert at using Xero Accounting Software. If the bookkeeper could get some links from a big well-known website like or CPA Australia or even Xero themselves, Google might recognise that bookkeeper as a Xero authority. Then when someone googles 'Xero bookkeepers Timbuktu' they'll be ranked highly on the search results page.

To be successful at guest posting and link building you need a credible website (no authority site will link back to rubbish) and content that is going to benefit the readers of the authority site. For my writing clients I can write your guest blogs as well as contact the authority site in advance to review their content guidelines and negotiate the link arrangement.

#blogging #guestposting

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.

From the vault: Oct 2016

Forty-one Kids

In October 2016 I was still living in Estancia and struggling to manage the 12 kids (that had grown to 40+) who were coming to visit me after school finished in the afternoons. Despite putting the kids into groups based on age and school grade, on this particular day I had more than 40 kids all demanding my attention, resources and toilet.

You can see in the video some of my creative uses for the TV and amplifiers. On this day the kids were dancing but many times we would watch documentaries or Disney movies.

It all looks very civilised there but it often would get out of hand if some of the street boys started fighting or they all wanted to use the toilet at the same time. Then Jerry would get jealous and start acting up. Sometimes it was really stressful.

That said, I do miss these children terribly and try to stay focused when doing my writing work to find a way to give them a permanent after school learning centre and safe space to hang out.

no more than 12

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