Jolene's Writings Around the Web

YES! I made it through the first day. I got all my assignments done and now I am listening to my only textbook online. There was a little snafu on getting access to that but with a flurry of emails between me, the textbook host, the university bookstore reps and someone else I cannot remember I finally have access to the book and have been listening to it this afternoon. I do love to create videos on PowerPoint and this is one of the three different introduction videos that each class wanted the students to create. I switch around some things, added a bit more to one than the other and of course the ever present question: "What do you hope to learn in the class" is different as well.   

  Check out one of my learning sessions I gave at the Writers Alliance of Gainesville Marketing Coalition group on Zoom. Now I may even be given a 45 to 90 minute talk at the 2026 Sunshine State Book Festival at their Writer's Day Conference the day before the festival. - (Oh My!!!) Yes, I will be graduating from Florida State College Jacksonville this month with my first bachelor's degree. You know it took 3 other tries and 40 years to get it. And YES! I have been accepted to the University of Florida - College of Journalism and Communication online masters program in Social Media! Now all I have to do is find the funds to pay for it all. I have been given the federal student loan limit for graduate students with will pay for tuition and books but I have to pay off the new Apple laptop (Baa Hum Bug!!) that I need to learn now to use efficiently as well as pay for some software to help me in my course. They were very sweet and gave me a $1500 per semester grant. (YEA! don't...

There are a lot of things happening in the world today that are just pressing on our hearts and minds. Why in the world humanity is such as dumpster fire I truly cannot comprehend some times. I mean, I get there are bad people and there are good people and then there are those just trying to figure it out. But the shear amount of creeps, Karens, and crooks who are bound and determined to destroy what they cannot possess is still so staggering. Common sense and decency seems to have been squashed and pushed aside for the majority who feel, "It is all about me!" and everyone else can just take a back seat and do without.  Since I do not have a solution to humanities stupidity or a magic wand that will allow me to erase all those who just do not really need to be on this earth a moment longer I think I will just say, "Have a great weekend", for my oldest son out there somewhere, "Happy Birthday and be safe", and finally all those brave souls out there who are...

In the Dystopian Worlds I have Read and in Real Life History We are Repeating Ourselves https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/tell-president-trump-and-elon-musk-hands-off-our-social-security Elon Musk's DOGE (the "so-called" Department of Government Efficiency), only cares about taking money from everyday people to line the pockets of himself and his billionaire buddies. Despite President Trump’s many campaign promises to serve the American people, he is not only allowing but endorsing Musk coming after your hard-earned Social Security benefits.  Since Trump's inauguration day, Elon Musk has been running amok to take away resources from programs like cancer and health care research, SNAP, Medicaid and Medicare and more. In just the last few weeks, Musk has used his platform on X to  spread outrageous lies  about Social Security to frame his pro-billionaire agenda as a righteous attack.  Congress, on both sides of the aisle, needs to fight back against the Trump administr...

Excerpt from the video and an upcoming blog post on my Workamping-In-Florida blog .   Challenges and Triumphs on the Road One of the significant challenges Debra faced was a health issue in 2023, where she encountered a blood clot in her brain. Requiring hospitalization, this experience momentarily halted her writing pursuits. However, it also taught her the importance of making her books accessible through formats like large print and audiobooks. Being on the road comes with unique challenges, notably the inconsistency of internet access. To overcome this, Debra and her husband invested in Starlink, which helped maintain connectivity to manage her writing and publishing business. Additionally, she embraced dictation tools to capture her thoughts while on the move, ensuring her creative process was not hindered by the bumps and jolts of travel. Check out her Website :  https://debraparmley.com/

Jolene's Book and Writer's Talk Podcast Interviews South Florida Author Linda Hansen. She hand painted each of the pages in her two books and is contemplating a third. "Curious about self-publishing, watercolor art, or storytelling? 📚🎨 Check out our latest episode featuring Linda Hansen who shares her unique journey as a late-blooming children's book author. Inspiring doesn't even begin to describe it! 

Jolene's Quick Review About Link Hubs such as LinkTree And Other Rambling Thoughts: I just finished presenting this video and did a Q&A session with those who showed up from the Writers Alliance of Gainesville author group. Of which I have been a member for a number of years now. We just closed the books on the 2025 Sunshine State Book Festival season and I may not be returning to that in the fall. I will be still giving the Marketing Coalition presentations once a month and have asked to be paired with a writing pod so I can finally get my fiction books published. I try to always video the presentation portion because it gives me a chance to say all the things I want to get across before people interrupt with questions. I do not mind people asking questions but my brain loses its train of thought and off we go on a tangent not related to the talk. I do have a tendency to talk quickly when I am recording as I do not want the videos to be too long. The Q& A session was good...

I am so happy, so far, with a new app called DESCRIPT which as an app for you computer as well as a web interface to use. It is probably best that I have Fiber Optic Cable Internet with decents speeds these days to use the program. It is saving me hours in editing, adding captions, and integrating the various parts of the podcast that I film separately into a final product if one video for YouTube, a high-quality MP3 file for Apple Podcast and Spotify which leaves me more time to get more done. The price for the AI Driven software package is $30 a month. I used it to take out all the double words and uhs and ums that people make while recording and to shorten videos with a more precise hand. You can assign speaker names if there is more than one person in the video so when you download the finished transcript you have an idea of who said what. There are several levels for beginners even a free, cut-down version for you to try before you commit to a monthly or yearly price. Ther...