I would have a hard time being kind to somebody who would tell me I love the computer more than them. But maybe that's why there isn't anybody. But it seems to me there isn't a nice reason to say that.

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Men say things to women and to each other, and women do, and why wouldn't something you hear between two living breathing human beings bring you an idea for a situation between two 19th century characters?

But I already do stuff like this. It's just a different part of the creative process than the one where I think, "Aha! I have a novel." That, for lack of a better word, is big-picture stuff, and most of it comes from a combination of my reading of history and a sort of character and situation bank in the back of my mind. Eventually a setting/situation and a character mate and give birth to a baby plot--usually in the form of a vivid opening and a desired end point.

I don't talk as much about other influences because they're on a different level of the process--and they tend to be a bit more personal, sometimes even private. But they're still there.

Maybe you shouldn' thave, because I did your first post to be taking inventory and concluding worrying was in order. You were just wondering how much people had on their back burners, then?

Yes. Exactly. And I guess I need to change the way I communicate or something, because I'm getting pretty angry and frustrated over this stuff. (This is by no means all about this topic or this thread--it's online, real life, etc.) It's like if I use the word "worry" at all, everyone assumes it must be bad obsessive unhealthy worry that's ruining my life and jumps on me about it. And all I meant was some tiny minor niggle that occasionally crops up in the very back part of my mind, not even remotely a big deal. But somebody will inevitably ask, "Why would you worry about that?" which feels like an accusation, and I feel like I have to explain the origins of the niggle, which somehow makes it a big deal that it never was when it was merely one of those little little things I occasionally think about for five minutes and then easily shrug off. It's getting to where I feel like I can't talk about minor worries that are threatening to become big ones to ask for help because it seems like everyone goes into crisis-mode when I use the "w" word, which makes me worry more than I was to start with and/or makes me feel like a freak. And I'm so not crippled by worry. Even when it was a much worse issue for me than it is now, it still never defined me. Not to myself, at least.

That last bit probably belongs in Bitches rather than hear, but I'm going to go ahead and post it, since this is where it came to a head.

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Maybe you use 'worry" where you mean merely think. For me, worry has a strong negative and unwilling connotation--no one decides to worry on purpose, after all. If someone tells me they are worried about something (not specifically you--this is anyone) I assume they don't LIKE worrying about it. If they say they are thinking about it, or trying to figure it out, then I will assume that it's something that crossed their mind but doesn't really concern them deeply. Maybe this is just how I use the term, however.

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I use it like you, Robin. Susan, in my vocab, what you were doing was wondering, not worrying. To me, worrying has an adversity to it, even if someone's just worrying a little. Wondering has no such connotation for me.

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With ita and Robin on assuming "worry" is pejorative. I wonder what my children will grow up to be. I worry that they'll be axe murderers.

Is anybody around to help me wordsmith the intro to a resume? I haven't updated mine in far too long.

The idea I want to convey is that I love doing internal writing, where I influence the design as well as capture it. I keep missing the point. Here's the current draft.

Career Goal Working closely with a sophisticated development team, capturing a design in English. I prefer to work as a Mercenary Analyst; see Jim Coplien's Organization Patterns for a longer discussion. [link]

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Maybe you shouldn' thave, because I did your first post to be taking inventory and concluding worrying was in order. You were just wondering how much people had on their back burners, then?

Sheeeesh. I hesitate to discuss this, after re-reading that mess I posted. I went back to look, hoping you'd had an unfortunate copying-and-pasting accident, Susan. I can't even believe I posted that. Let's assume all three kids were talking to me while I was typing that paragraph, m'kay? So erm...what are we talking about...

It's getting to where I feel like I can't talk about minor worries that are threatening to become big ones to ask for help because it seems like everyone goes into crisis-mode when I use the "w" word, which makes me worry more than I was to start with and/or makes me feel like a freak. And I'm so not crippled by worry. Even when it was a much worse issue for me than it is now, it still never defined me. Not to myself, at least.

Look even at what you've posted here: minor worries that are threatening to become big ones to ask for help. Even though I now know you're talking about (which is what I would also call) wondering, that's not what the above reads like to me. It reads like: there's a problem, it looks like it is going to get bigger. Help me.

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Ignore previous; here's the revision.

Capturing a sophisticated software design in English, working closely with the development team. As I see it, a software architecture is an idea. The designer/implementors are responsible for expressing that idea (or those ideas) as code; I express it/them as prose. See James Coplien's Organization Patterns for a longer discussion: [link]

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I would like to lose the "a" in "a software architecture".

The rest looks good to me.

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Heh, Betsy, I was just going to paste your quote from the link and say to use more of that language.

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Betsy, I tend to prefer using a "Career Summary" to a "Career Goal" or "Objective." It's a subtle difference, but it makes the resume "here's what I offer you" instead of "here's what I want you to offer me." And I'm not sure I completely understand what it is you do, but my first draft at your Career Summary would look something like this:

"Writer expert at translating technical specifications of software architecture into clear English for a variety of audiences."

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