zDave40's Goals

[phoenix.writing]

Congratulations of meeting your writing and editing goals even with so much else going on in your life, Dave!

I will keep my fingers crossed for the continuation of your job and those of all the other state park workers. It would be such a shame if so many of them were shut down.

I hope that you can finish Holly Lisle's course in the upcoming month (as well as meet any writing goals you have--if you have any time for any writing, of course).

Best of luck with everything.

[zDave40]

This is going to be long. Too long, so I'm making headings for the different main parts.

JUNE GOALS REVISITED

I haven't updated this in a while, and I no longer remember exactly how I did in June. I did meet my two goals of editing and writing. I finished all but three of the Holly Lisle lessons. I think I set a goal for hours of research, and I exceeded it.

JULY GOALS MET

In July, I set a goal for 50 hours spent doing research, but only managed 41. I finally finished the "red pen editing" of a hard copy of Transference, which I started back in March for NaNoEdMo. The Holly Lisle course really helped direct me toward a successful editing, but in order to do it properly, I needed to do some extensive revision in places. (Too many places!)

After about 40 hours of editing, I finished the red pen copy and started changing the (new) copy on the computer. I increased my goal from 50 to 75 hours, and I made exactly that many.

I managed to finish just one lesson for Holly Lisle.

AUGUST GOALS

I don't know how long it will take to get the entire book revised on the computer, so this month, I'm just going to edit like crazy. My goal is to complete the computer edit by the end of August. I probably will not keep track of my hours--unless the habit has become so great that I feel like I have to do it.

If I finish before the end of August, I want to try to finish the remaining two lessons of the Holly Lisle course Two--and then I wll graduate! And she has added three more plus new activities for her graduates. This course has turned out to be wonderful, especially considering the cost and what I have learned.

UPDATE ON CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS

This has been long enough.I'll break it here and add the update on a new post.

[zDave40]

This is post number two of my recap of my goals for June, July, and August. The goals are in the previous post, so scroll up and read them there (if you arrived her by clicking the most recent post).

UPDATE ON THE CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS

1. The governor's budget in May eliminated all funding for the parks, which meant closing 220 parks and beaches. Only about 50 parks are completely self-sustaining, so they would all remain open.

2. The legislature wisely decided to fund the State Parks enough to keep almost all open. Maybe 10 would have to close.

3. The governor cut that funding so much that 100 parks will still have to close.

That's where things stand right now.

Organizations and people are working to get the legislature to override the governor's line item vetoes, but State Parks isn't waiting to see what, if anything, may happen. Parks personnel on the higher administrative levels are seeking corporate sponsors for different parks, and the sposor will not be able to rename the parl or put up garish signs to advertise themselves. They will have to be content with being mentioned in brochures and on small, nearly invisible signs.

Parks stopped all hiring last May when the governor's budget proposal came out. By now, there are many vacancies, and almost none of them will be filled by hiring anyone from outside Parks. Those vacancies mean the rest of us will have to work even harder, but there will be more money to sustain the remaining jobs.

Some legislators are moving to create a bill that will support the Parks through car license plate renewals. In exchange for paying an extra 10-15 dollars, every car with a current California license plate will get free admission into every California drive-in park. The people will have to pay for campground and to visit walk-in parks.

If this idea fails, the California State Parks Foundation, a nonprofit group, will try to qualify it as an amendment to the ballot for nex June's election.

At the present time, no parks will be closed before Labor Day (September 6), but it is planned to keep them all open. The thought is that if just one is closed, then it will start a disastrous precedent, and it'll be easy to close more. Parks may be closed for a season, at worst, but most may have to shut down for one to three days a week.

In addition, the State Parks Director, the top position in Park has vowed that no one will lose their job if she can possibly avoid it. If she can't, then the last to be hired will go out first. I was hired in April 2001, so statewide, there are many in my same job classification who were hired after me. (Although that isn't greatly comforting because my job is not permanent, and the permanent employees can bump seasonal employees (even ones that work all year).

So, that's all I know--all anyone knows--at the present time. As before, I will keep you posted whenever I know something new, and hopefully definite.

[zDave40]

AUGUST GOALS REVISITED

My goal is to complete the computer edit by the end of August. I finished the paper edit in July, so I thought maybe transferring it to the computer would go rather fast. I have over 104.5 hours and have only reached p. 107 out of 373. In the paper edit, I made several significant changes in sequencing, so catching mistakes in continuity caused by those changes is taking a lot of time.

If I finish editing before the end of August, I want to try to finish the remaining two lessons of the Holly Lisle course. At this time, it doesn't look very likely that I will even get started on Lesson 23, let alone finish both of them.

[maitressekatje]

Good luck with your goals, Dave!

[phoenix.writing]

Good luck indeed (if a bit tardily)! I hope that your editing has gone smoothly, even if it's taken you longer than you thought it would (which is what I always find with editing).

And I really hope that everything works out as advantageously as possible for the State Parks and your (and everyone's) jobs.