#WriterWednesday: On a Happier Note...I Got A Job!!!

I am absolutely honored and humbled that my beautiful friend Lux from the Philippines allowed me to write a guest post for her very successful and amazing site, About Life and Love.


Read that first by clicking the hyperlinked text. I wrote that near the end of May, and can happily report that as of June 7, 2016, I got a job as a cashier for Walmart. I love it. I'm not too fond of being on my feet for long hours but I love interacting with the customers and being the last person they see during their shopping experience.


I feel that God knew what I needed better than I did because this is public relations in its lowest form.


Thank you for always supporting me by reading and checking in with me. I love and appreciate all of you so very much.

Love Times Infinity,

Chelsea 

xoxo

God Bless!

~Just Keep Swimming~

#WriterWednesday How I Succeeded at Failing (and what it taught me)

     My girl Geniveve has been gone almost two months and I still haven't finished grieving over her absence. I know she's with me and as close to me as Jesus himself but that still doesn't mean I don't miss her hugs, her smile, or how her hips never lied. Yet, it's like no one at all understands this because it's not socially acceptable to grieve over a dog like this but what people don't realize is that I saw Geniveve as a person and not a dog so I grieve over her how you would another human.

     Yet, I didn't think Geni wanted me to sit around and cry over her without moving on with my life. After all, I feel like death is just the wake-up call we need to fully embrace life.Click To Tweet This!

    So I did attempt to move on by applying for more work and I got a second part-time job with an undisclosed freelance agency. At first, I was excited because I got hired the day before my birthday (Aug. 4) and I would be paid to write just like my other job with Outloud but instead of being paid by the article, I would be paid by the word count, and the pay was very low. Because of this and the people who worked for this agency started to mistreat me and accuse me of blatant plagiarism, I decided to look for another job. I applied for ten to fifteen more freelance postings through the site Elance, and within the same day, I heard back from a guy saying I had to reach him via Skype to see if I fit the job description. I sent him a contact request and waited until 2 p.m. the next day. He finally added me and said he had to make a new job request for me and I had to apply there.

    At first, I was like wow, they are creating a special position just for me to apply to and to work. This must mean I'm really special.

    I accepted the terms of the job which included writing articles for eight hours a day, five days a week, meaning I finally found a freelance job that was full-time. I was working for a pay rate of $13 an hour. I was ecstatic and immediately thanked Jesus and Geniveve for smiling down on me.

    After the first week, the guy didn't answer me when I logged in to let him know why I couldn't work the day before. Something didn't seem right. Plus, why must we always communicate through Skype? I don't even have skype on my work computer. After tossing and turning for a good two hours, I got up and logged my computer on and found that "my boss" was logged on at 2:30 a.m.. He was located in California...this would mean, he was working at 11:30 p.m. I sent him a message that said Hello. He wrote back, "Ready to start?" At 2:30 am?! was this guy real? My intuition was screaming loud and clear, RED FLAG! GET OUT NOW WHILE YOU STILL HAVE YOUR DIGNITY!
  That Sunday (on my day off) I was logged into my work email and found that Elance was advising me to stop working on this project as there were risks with the overall account. I didn't know what they were talking about so I just kept working. I didn't want to give up and risk losing the amount of money I was making.
 
  I worked until Thursday of the next week when I received yet another email from Elance letting me know that my invoice I submitted to receive my first paycheck as a full-time writer was still unpaid and they advised that I stop working. I sent "my boss" the link to the unpaid invoice and surprisingly he ignored all messages I sent him that day. On Friday September 4, I not only quit working for the second part-time freelance job who jibbed me of pay they claimed they would pay me but I found out the full-time job I was doing wasn't even real. Even the contact information the guy provided Elance was all false and made up.

This left me feeling defeated, broken, and absolutely worthless as a writer.

     On September 1, 2015, I had set out to write a 50,000 word in 30 days. I know what your thinking: Have you lost all sense of reality? Well, of course otherwise I wouldn't consider myself a writer at all. I decided to do it both to prove to myself I could, to help myself write more freely without self-consciousness or awareness of audience, and to prep for November's NaNoWriMonth. The first four days went by with great progress and then after I lost two jobs on the same day (both of which weren't worthy of my time) and was left, once again with one job and little money from it. I just didn't know how to keep going.

    Sure, I could blame my family for not being supportive. My sisters who are overly needy but only need me for help with their homework but never for any other reason. My mom who wanted me to watch our usual shows together so the DVR didn't get too full. My dad who always needs me to do something for him or with him, who expects everyone in my family to drop everything they have planned on the days he's home so that we can hang out with him on his days off. They, have well meaning intentions of at least wanting me around, but at this time, I just wanted to accomplish something for myself because I wanted to prove that I could move on from Geniveve's death and life could go on.

Yet, once again, I failed. And this time, Geniveve wasn't here to dance for me to cheer me up or give me a hug while I cried silently in her arms. Instead, I had to find a way to pick myself up from this and go on.

I did find a way but I still can admit that I'm not fully healed from this.
Nothing bad in life has good timing and this situation was no exception. Click To Tweet This!

I had to remember that even when things in life don't make sense, God has a plan. Recently, I went applying for freelance writing jobs via other sites and I happened upon a site called guru.com. I found the guy who scammed me and his real name is Falcie B and he was from Kenya. That explains why he always sent me messages in broken English.

So I've not found more work as a freelance writer yet but I did receive plenty of opportunities in my field of public relations. I am now an intern for two separate PR firms both of which are located in Florida. I'm really excited for this opportunity to further my expertise so that I can eventually be hired for a public relations job which require 3 plus years experience in the field.

I'll save you from hearing my list of complaints about how my life isn't what I thought it would be at 24. I envisioned a whole different existence for myself. I saw myself with a husband and plenty of furry children living in California working and being successful living in a big house complete with a dance studio, a music room, and plenty of bedrooms so we always could have guests stay over. I would be driving a Purple porsche and being able to travel the world and see it.

I still have dreams of driving a car of my own but I would start with a Mazda 3. I still have dreams of seeing the world and I want to start by seeing the entire United States before I go overseas. I'm even considering making these dreams real by making GoFundMe pages for each of them so that generous strangers can consider helping me make them real. Comment below if you think I should.

I'm not someone who compares myself to other people because there is no win in comparison but I do see that most other people got a lot of help from relatives and friends of the family after graduating college. They got new cars and vacations as their grad gifts. Yet, this isn't my reality. I've always been forced to be financially independent (for the most part) and find a way to buy myself the future I desire. And of course, I know I can when I remember that my heavenly Father is the source of all provision.

These failings taught me that despite having to wait for the life I want, I should instead embrace the life I have now. After all, God's word says in 1 Cor. 2:5: So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men (human philosophy), but in the power of God.

 In October, I'm going to attempt again at writing my 50,000 novel in 30 days. Please stand with me by sharing this post with anyone you can think of.

Before I leave you with a final thought, I promise I will try to blog more because I appreciate all of you that read my posts and share words of encouragement. Also you can now follow my Blog on BlogLovin' through your email so you never miss a post. See the sidebar or go here to follow: https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/welcome-to-my-life-14441135

     Until next time, remember: God not only sees where you are, He sees where you can be. -Joyce Meyer. Click To Tweet!

     When nothing in your life makes sense, trust God anyway. -Joyce Meyer Click To Tweet!

Love Times Infinity,

Chelsea

xoxo

God Bless!

~Just Keep Swimming~

#WriterWednesday: How To Overcome Writer's Block

Behind every successful author is the book proposal they wrote to get their book considered for publication. Since it's been almost nine years since I first published my two YA novels and because I did not go the traditional route, I wasn't aware that you must write a book proposal for your book whether it be nonfiction or fiction.

So last week, I set out to begin writing my proposal but found I was looking Writer's Block right in the eyes. In case you are unfamiliar, writer's block is a hindrance a writer faces that is fear based.

How I Overcame my Writer's Block:

1. I worked on something else. My most productive day last week was when I wrote an additional chapter for my memoir and not my actual proposal.

2. I continued doing research and found a mock proposal to use as a guide for mine. A book proposal is a 30 to 50 page document telling an agent or publisher what your book is/will be about and also compiles marketing data for the market your book would fit in. ( You would have thought my marketing degree would have helped in this area except it hindered my creativity because I didn't know how to present the marketing data).

3.  I found that the source of my writer's block came from the rejection I faced in my beginnings of the search for a post-graduate job in my field. I overcame that rejection by writing My Poem: Perpetual Sadness, and studied my Bible and found the truth behind this current employment situation. I was listening to a Joyce Meyer teaching the other day and I found out that sometimes God wants us to use our faith to change ourselves instead of the situation, allowing God to help you become better. 

4. I received my monthly letter from Joel Osteen and in it he said:
            "In order to keep adversities, unfortunate experiences and tragedies from holding you back, choose to stir up what God placed on the inside of you. Meditate on the fact that: 

• You are a child of God.
• You've come too far to stop now.
• You will not allow your past to dictate your future.
• When God is on your side, anything is possible. 

5. Lastly, the other day I was reading Get Your Hopes Up by Joyce Meyer and she showed a scripture that was perfect for my situation.

So yes, I faced rejection and have in many different areas my whole life but I have faith that my breakthrough is coming and so I'm going to give my all to applying for work and toward writing my proposal because it is part of my God-given destiny.

In other news, I no longer have to go to a thyroid specialist because my thyroid levels have stabilized and I'm healthy enough to just go to one doctor again for all medical needs. On Monday I had my first well visit in three years and it went really well. Praise God!

Until next time, remember: May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—  yes, establish the work of our hands. -Psalm 90:17

Love Times Infinity,

Chelsea

xoxo

God Bless!

~Just Keep Swimming~

#WriterWednesday: God's grace is Enough

I have to be honest here and say I thought about this blog as I went to sleep last night and now that I've slept on the idea, I know you need this message as much as I do. 

I'm sure if you read my blogs that means that you either are interested in what's going on in my life or you have some type of faith in God. Beyond that, I'm sure you've heard it said in church that God's grace is sufficient. I know I've really been studying grace more lately, and sometimes I still don't understand how God's going to turn my situation around. Let me explain.

Recently, I finally got my degree from Saint Leo (don't worry, I'm working on a video for you) so I'm officially qualified for my field or so I thought. Yet, the problem I'm facing is that no one is hiring me because I only have a year's worth of Public Relations experience. Yesterday, I got two rejection emails:

Normally, I wouldn't even sweat it but there are many reasons why those two emails caused me to feel a lot of discouragement fairly quickly:

1. I've been unemployed for over a year and don't want to do free work anymore...

2. I want to move out of my parent's house and out of state. (The better PR work states are NY and CA, and TX is a runner up).

3. I really wanted either of those positions because you can work from home (I am without proper transportation so working from home suits me best).

Yet, it's apparent that I'm going to have to keep doing internships in order to build up my resume and years of experience in order to have job. It's just hard to find an internship that pays.

Last night, I realized something profound. God may not have given me these jobs to protect me, and because he has something better. I also have to remember that Plan A of my life plan is to be a writer, and I do need to work on my proposal for my memoir. Being a publicist is my Plan B.  Last night, I went to sleep knowing God's grace is enough in this situation. 

So whatever need you are facing today, whether it be employment, a good break, health restored, a relationship restored, finances, or even just the strength to make it through the season you are in, please hear me when I say, God wants to hear from you about that need, and he wants you to leave it at his feet. After all the battle is not yours, but God's. Do not be afraid. (2 Chronicles 20:15)

I have faith that my time is coming and someone will take a chance on me. 

Until next time, remember: Now I’m turning you over to God, our marvelous God whose gracious Word can make you into what he wants you to be and give you everything you could possibly need in this community of holy friends. -Acts 20:32

Love Times Infinity,

Chelsea

xoxo

God Bless!

~Just Keep Swimming~