Day 166 - Clearly, superwoman...xx

Saturday 15th June

Sometime during the night the heavens opened and starting dumping rain on the island. It has not stopped since.  A bit of a soggy day and one spent indoors.  This is always a useful option for me as I get some dedicated time on my writing.  Less of the writing today and more of the fiddling about with my new site One soul many hearts.  I am teaching myself all sorts of useful things to ensure that the launch is everything it needs to be.  Today was creating a Google group and embedding that as a forum on the site.  I will not confess to how many attempts it took but it is up and that is all that matters. 

Work then began on the pre-launch and post-launch timetable and it is already far too crowded.  This is not a good place to be so I am going to have another bash at that tomorrow so if I can bring some more sensible thoughts to this task.  I am working hard at resisting the thought that 'I just want it up and going' and focusing more of getting it into the shape I want it in before I launch.  I used to do everything at 100 miles an hour and I am teaching myself not to do that now.  I am still committed to the autumn but I think it might have to be October to allow me to wind up the Butterfly Tree fundraising campaign first.  Proper good sense tells me spring next year would be better but that is too much good sense for me.  It will be autumn and I will confirm a date as soon as I can.  I have lots of people lined up to make contributions and they will be needing some dates as well.  This rather focuses the mind in the right direction. 

The world of technology moves on so fast every day that I am always playing catch up.  If I truly want to move my professional life online I need to take in information a bit quicker than I do.  I don't have anyone to hold my hand so I will just have to apply myself more to the tasks.  I put them off because each one seems like a mountain to climb.  That said, when I master a new skill I feel really pleased with myself and it seems to make it worthwhile.  At the beginning of the week I didn't know how to set up and run a forum and I now have one running for my new course 'Meditation through Writing'.  That then led onto wanting a simpler version for my new site and that led to Google groups and now that is set up too.  You will be laughing at me if this has come easy to you but my mind doesn't work in such ways.  Give me a creative task over a technical task any day. 

I had an interesting email yesterday which rather stopped me in my tracks.  A fellow islander asked if I did 1:1 meditation sessions in people's homes.  I was going to say no until I considered the value of it.  There are many people on Arran who find getting out and about difficult and these are often the same people who may well benefit from meditation.  I am going to give it some thought and see where it leads.  It would certainly allow me to extend and deepen my practice and that is one of my goals for the next 12 months.  Arran is amazing as news of my course seems to have got round really quickly.  Good for Arran. 

I am about to start work on designing the tickets, flyers and posters for the Butterfly Tree supper on the 10th September.  It does seem fair to offer pre-release tickets to those who have been involved with the campaign from the beginning.  We only have 40 tickets available and I have already accepted reservations from 10 people so take this as advance notice.  If you would like a ticket do let me know and I can reserve you one.  Facebook will be next and then the tickets will go on sale in the next week or so.  I am also looking for a merry band of helpers to work on the design for the evening so if anyone can help with that I would be hugely grateful.  The evening will close the campaign and promises to be a night to remember. 

I am definitely taking a year off from charity work next year.  I know I said that this year but I have a better reason for next year.  A major part of the new site One soul, many hearts is dedicated to the sharing of fundraising campaigns and I want it to be space where we not only promote our campaigns but also share creative ideas on how to raise money.  I want to dedicate as much time as possible to that and ensure that other people's campaigns are given a real and worthwhile boost.  I am looking for someone to give me a hand with this part of the site.  If you have experience at fundraising and have some spare time you might be interesting in jumping on board.  I envisage this part of the site being quite busy and I need someone who has the time to visit it regularly and post content with creative ideas and relevant web links.  I will, of course, be working to achieve this as well but having another pair of hands and virtual eyes would be so useful.  Do drop me an email you would like to find out more. 

My lovely male readers might want to skip the next bit.....

I had a little giggle this morning reading an article written by a 'woman of a certain age' and she was talking about the joy that is hot flushes.  She was telling her readers that hot flushes should be seen in a more positive light.  She informed us all that we should see them as surges of power.  That being the case I must be superwoman by now.  This dinky little train of thought has led to the beginnings of a piece that I hope to be able to share soon.  As I crash towards my own personal menopause I have had lots of occasions to giggle and I thought I might share.  I am sure that, for many, the menopause is not a giggling matter but perhaps it will lift our spirits a bit. 

So, off to get on with the marketing for the Butterfly Supper.  I note that the sun is trying hard to break through so we might expect a lovely evening.  Of course our little island might just sink under the weight of all that heavenly rain. If so there will be no post tomorrow. 

Until tomorrow. xx