What Hostess Did in March

My work in March continued the project of taking action on ideas from a section of The Organized Writer each day. Some sections revealed more weaknesses in my craft than I can correct in an hour a day. Working to strengthen those weaknesses will become different projects to schedule later.
I continued the project of putting my notes into prose until I completed all
thirty-five individual "Stock Analysis" Word files. Having a template from which to work helped me move past the dread of starting a new file and beginning to write something new about another stock. The structure of a template gave me a place within each file to hang the notes. I could copy and paste directly from my online research, and I could find information I wanted as easily as opening a file.

An unrelated project surfaced in March. Ohio State Board of Pharmacy reminded Host and I 2007 was the year to report our completion of the continuing education requirement for licensure. I took the information I kept in an Excel worksheet and transferred it into the online form available from BoP. Host was fine because he manually totals his hours. I felt bewildered when my totals did not agree with their form. A reality check on my Excel template revealed I added a subtotal in a formula for calculations which had the effect of counting a column twice. My actual total was fifteen continuing education units short. I started to do the free lessons from my stockpile. These were free lessons I graded online and printed the certificates I needed. My next reality check verified my possession of the certificates for the reporting hours. Oops, nine certificates were missing. These certificates were from a subscription service, Pharmacist Letter, a benefit from Kmart. Those certificates are mailed to the pharmacists once a year. I forgot to follow-up in 2005 when the 2004 certificates were not mailed to my home. In March 2007, I was denied access to their website with my former username and password. Before I met the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy requirements, I needed nine more continuing education units. Those were finished the next week. These 24 units also satisfied some of my requirements for my Indiana license, due December 31, 2007. Once I finished Ohio, I continued doing one lesson a day until I finished my Indiana requirements.
I used all this daily reading of continuing education for my practice of The Organized Writer lessons. I analyzed the articles for a possible template and reviewed the publication guidelines. I came to the conclusion pharmacy continuing education is not a market for which I want to write. Academic writers for pharmacy continuing education are not reimbursed directly by the publishers of Jobson Publications or Ascendmedia; an honorarium is made to their university. Writing these continuing education lessons is a requirement for the academic salary. The publisher's honorarium payment shows up on the income statement as a tax-deductible donation. If a publisher has the choice between paying for my article with an ordinary expense or an academic writer with a tax-deductible expense, I know which choice her accountant prefers. Another reason this is not my market is my anticipated dread at just the thought of reading 15-40 peer-reviewed research articles for each potential article.

I returned to the March Cincinnati Investors Business Daily meetup because the members have discussions beyond IBD and its CANSLIM strategy for investing. Only two other members attended that meeting because the organizer was unavailable. One discussed his preference for trading options and the other discussed his preference to diversify his portfolio with up to 100 stocks at a time. Hostand I switched our primary meetup to Dayton IBD. We let go of choosing between Dayton and the Richmond IN meetup every month. Eighteen people attend Dayton meeting and our discussions are only for the strategy of CANSLIM.

The managing editor of www.fictionfactor.com started a Writers Workshop in Eaton. One other writer came for a total of three. Our initial meeting was a meet-and-greet to discover the genres we prefer. The format will be similar to that of Ohio Valley Writers Group: prior to the meeting we email an attachment to the group for critique, discuss each others work at a coffee shop, and then return home to write until the next meeting.

Our contract with Arthur Murray dance studio was completed in 2006. Host found a DVD series, "How to Be a Good Dancer" with Emilio and Blanche Librero. He bought three DVDs for my Christmas present. We practiced with one of the DVDs for our morning exercise before Host’s work. Since our cruise will be in tropical climes, we emphasized the merengue, the cha cha and the rumba in March. We bought three more: blues/slow, samba and salsa.

Of the movies we watched in March, I recommend Mrs. Palfrey at the
Claremont, The Devil Wears Prada, Little Miss Sunshine, An Inconvenient Truth and Thank You for Smoking.

I only have one book to recommend, Mr. Darcy's Daughters by Elizabeth
Ashton. The story is based on the premise that Jane Austen's Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett have five daughters to introduce to London society. If you like Pride and Prejudice and all its re-tellings, this may be to your liking.