After three and a half years of useless job searching around Chicago, I was forced to move in with my folks.  And now, after TWO WEEKS of job hunting, given that all the paperwork goes through without a hitch, I'm employed!  :-)  Wow!!!  I guess the move was the thing to do.

It's a contract-to-hire Tech Writing job for Dell in Round Rock, TX, outside Austin.  I will probably start a week from Monday.  And it's for good money!

Tomorrow will be a very busy day getting all the paperwork filled out and faxed back and forth.

I'll be living with my brother's family, sleeping in the camper in their driveway, as my hide-away from all the kids.  :-)  I've got the greatest sister-in-law to put up with this.  :-)

Sooo... changes are underway, yet again.

A head-hunter called yesterday, and I am now submitted for two Tech Writing contract jobs at Dell outside Austin.  For one of of the two jobs, my brother already gave my resume to the hiring supervisor.  So that's all good news.  :-)

Then I just got a phone call from that brother, and he says the supervisor he's been talking to is intending to call me tomorrow for a phone interview, so she can snap me up before the other department does.  Even better news!  :-)  Keep your fingers crossed for me. 

I'm not looking forward to moving again, but I much prefer Austin-area to Dallas-area, so that would be good.  And my brother has told me that I'm moving in with them until I can get my feet on the ground.  Wow!! 

<<teasing my little brother as big sisters are supposed to do>> Although I do suspect that this brother has an ulterior motive or two.  :-)  This is the brother who is writing the book that I've been helping him edit.  So having me there would make the process go a lot faster.  Plus having me work at the same place he does would give him somebody to commute the hour-drive with, and cut his commuting costs.  Plus all two of his three cars are broken and he doesn't have the bucks so fix them, so having my minivan down there would be a big help to them.  But even with the ulterior motives...

I've got such a great family!!!!   :-)

Update (11:30am):  Do have phone interview tomorrow!!  Yah!!!

I finished the latest book by my favorite author, and then the next day I picked it up and read it again.  In the process of reading it the second time, I revised my "The Perfect Book" criteria.

My "The Perfect Book" criteria used to be:

When I pick up The Perfect Book a second time, I read every word again.

Because when a book is good enough that I want to read it again, the biggest issue I run into is that most of the time the authors dump big chunks of too much information and backstory into the story.  So when I go back to read the book again, I already know all that information and end up skipping big chunks of the book the second time around.

It's a joy when I run into a book that's so skillfully written that the backstory is seamlessly interwoven into the story and it's no hardship to read every word the second time.  I really, really enjoy those stories, and applaud those authors.  I want to write like that!  :-)

After I read this book, I was able to verbalize this situation and thereby modified my criteria:

When I read The Perfect Book a second (or more) time, not only do I read every word, but each time I reread it, I pick up new information and nuances, thereby learning more about the plot and characters, and deepening my experience with every reading.

Wow!  :-)  Not only was the book a great read the first time, but I got so sucked into the action of the story and I was so focused on the action, that I missed nuances.  Then I read it a second time, and because I knew what was up, I was able to enjoy it even more, because I was able to pick up the little bits I missed the first time.  And I suspect that if I read it again, I will pick up even more. (Read more)

Today, I surprised myself.  I thought I was just going to type in the notes that I made early this morning, but by the time I was done, I had written 1500 words, and the introduction to the new book: "Do It Yourself Happiness".  That is way cool!  I had honestly thought that it'd be another week or so before I found the ambition to work on it, but it's night out, and I've got words on the page and the first draft of the book begun.

Along the way today, I also messed with a lot of document formatting, so it's kind of a cross between manuscript format and the finished product, so I have some idea of what it's going to look like as I'm writing it, so that took a while, but wasn't wasted time.

Tomorrow, I may have new words to write, or if not, I've got tons of notes, processes and exercises stashed away that just need to be edited.  So when I'm mostly brain-dead, I can be useful, edit and insert them, and worry about order later.

Wow!  I started!  That's so cool!  :-)

For the first time in literally years, I woke up in the wee morning hours with book-stuff running around my head, enough so that I had to turn on the light and write it all down before I could go back to sleep.  That's kind of cool.  :-)  And a sure sign that-- even though some people might think the stress would be higher now that I've utterly "failed", lost so much and moved in with my folks-- instead of being stressed, I'm finally recovering.  Which all feels very good.

I woke up with a title that I really like for the non-fiction book that I've been calling "my beliefs book" for the last couple years: "Do It Yourself Happiness".  With the sub-title: "The hardest DIY project you'll ever take on, but worth it".  :-)

Heaven only knows if I'll stick with the title, but I thought it was way cool, because that's the premise of the whole book.  We don't need therapists or coaches, seminars or classes, or anything that costs money (beyond the price of my book. *smile*) to find happiness.  All we need is an understanding of the way our buried beliefs run our lives and make us unhappy, plus methods for finding the buried beliefs and fixing them.

The whole process is really simple, and worked great for me... I've never been happier... but it's also the hardest thing I've ever done... and worth it.  :-)

So, I don't know how far I'll get today on actually starting anything for the book, but it's really nice to finally feel some momentum, and being able to have the thought that the first draft is a do-able project.

Wow!  I'm getting there.  :-)

After 6.5 continuous hours of direction, mis-direction, wrong-direction, missing-direction, and general run-around, I have my new drivers license today.  What a waste of my time and theirs, and an unbelievably stupid system.  I am not impressed by Texas' bureaucratic efficiency.

Ah well... I'll just tag the day as a practice in patience and be glad that it's done.

Today is the first day since I've been down here that the high temperature has been under 100-degrees.  And, I must admit, with the new perspective of the last couple weeks' heat, 82-degrees feels downright cool.  :-)  I'm enjoying every minute of it.  :-)

But while I'm doing that, I'm anxiously checking the news and IM-img my brother who lives east of Austin, TX.  The big wildfire there is within miles of his house.  (Picture is him standing in the street in front of his house.)  So far, he's okay.  But this afternoon he gassed up the RV and got some preliminary stuff done, in case he, wife and kids are required to evacuate.  He says he knows many people who are among the ~500 homes lost so far... and they've not even begun to get the fire under control.

And, having a fire that close to a loved one, can't do anything but put even more things into perspective.

Sure, I "lost" my house, and I "lost" a fair amount of the stuff in it (either by selling it, giving it away or leaving it), but I still have all the stuff that matters to me.  Sure, I "lost" my phone and wallet, and have to deal with all the paperwork that goes along with that, but I don't have to deal with the papwork nightmare of having my house and everything in it burn to the ground.

So... my folks, kids and I are keeping an eye on the news and being grateful.  Things could be a whole lot worse... puts a lot of things in a whole new perspective.

I lost my wallet and cell phone, so I'm busy putting things back in place. 

In the process, I've discovered the hardest thing I've found to put back is all the phone numbers in my contact list.  Bad me, a lot of them weren't duplicated elsewhere.  :-(

So, if I had your number, I don't have it any more.  And if I had your number, it was listed under your name and not your number. 

Therefore, if you call or text, don't assume I know who you are.  :-)  Like somebody did yesterday, expressing sympathy for losing my phone.  I appreciate the sentement... but who the hell are you?!?  :-)

After much work, angst and adventure, I arrived in Texas early Thursday morning.  Unpacking the truck took all day Thursday, as it was 104-degrees out.  Not fun.

Since then we have all been unpacking, sorting and arranging.  Finally, today, I found the box with my computer cables, so I'm back online.

Much to do.  Many adjustments to make.  But, it's good to be with my folks, and #1-son and #2-son.  Today we all went down to visit with two of my three brothers and their families, so that's nice, too.

I miss #3-son and #4-son, though.  :-( 

#3-son is off to college and having a grand time, so I can handle that. 

But I haven't been away from #4-son for more than the two-weeks he went on vacation last year, so this is going to be a challenge.  I haven't had a chance to do more than text with him a couple times, but now that I'm finally back online, I should be able to talk to him more, which will be nice.

Now that my computer is together and I've said 'hi' to everybody online, I'd best get this place cleaned back up and head to bed.  The lack of sleep and stress from the last couple weeks is catching up with me, and I'm exhausted, but all-in-all, I'm doing really well.

I am so tickled!  Adrienne Giordano's second book, "A Just Deception", is about to be released from Carina Press and she passed along the finalized copy and see what it says in the acknowledgements:

I must, must, must acknowledge Jackie Powers and her wonderful insight when working through early characterization issues. Your advice helped me dig deep and I’m so grateful.

She wanted to surprise me, and I was surpirsed, and gratified.

Thanks, Adrienne!  I had a great time talking with you, I didn't expect this, and I'm really looking forward to reading the final draft.  :-)

Wow!!  **grin**