Not the best of names but I’m drowning in cough syrup. Why do they have sedatives in them anyway? I also have a killer flu and I do not have the energy to post anything that would take more effort than this.

When I did a post on ‘5 things I’m doing wrong at the base’, one of the things I acknowledged I wasn’t doing was a weekly round up of links I loved. I’ve decided to remedy that. Therefore, every Sunday, I’ll be featuring (not necessarily) five links that I’ve found helpful.

Therefore, presenting you with my very first SLOD.

1. Blogger dad talks about going from a blogging newbie to pro in three months – A tongue in cheek post it may be, but he just described what I do as a blog reader perfectly. Well, except for the pictures bit. I never have any time to look at them.
2. You have to check out Rachael’s Words on Writing. She has excellent posts about Ten proofreading tips and 16 proof reading errors our brain doesn’t want us to see. I missed out quite a few all the errors except one! Be sure to check the comments. There were a few more mistakes that Rachael pointed out in them.
3. As a new freelancer, Davina’s post about fear closing in struck a chord. Right now, I’m scared of so many things regarding my freelancing that its making me mad!
4. Blogging without a blog has an interesting post about the unseen benefits of commenting. I hadn’t thought of commenting in quite that way but it’s certainly motivation to comment more!
5. A blog to read daily and over and over again is Daily Writing Tips. For some unexplainable reason…every time I comment on that blog my English goes out the window – literally! Want an example? Check out my two comments at DWT’s latest post about irregular verbs. Then come back and find the faults in the sentence I corrected. “Correction: I refuse to even imagine a time where such (bad) grammar was a norm.” Go on, don’t spare my feelings.

On a closing note, I added the word link to the title because the abbreviation of Sunday Overdose was SOD which might not be funny, but in my current state, I’m very amused by it!

Today was a good day. In fact, an excellent day. It rained all night which, in my desert land is almost a once a year occurrence. The chill in the air and gentle warmth in the sun had me dragging my desk in front of the window to enjoy the day while I worked on the new template.

Remember I offered 5 hours for Thanksgiving? Well there were no takers and so I was thrilled to give those hours to myself. The result of 3 of those you can see. I have to say I’m mighty proud. Even if all I did was follow instructions! I forgot to screen capture an image of my old blog template so new readers won’t have anything to compare

There’s still quite a lot to be done. The banner at the top is not mine. It came with the template, which came for free. However it’s very cool as the ads keep on changing with every page which is why I haven’t removed it completely. I need a little help with figuring out how to place ads or if affiliates would be better. But since I barely get enough traffic signing up for affiliates might be too early.

I couldn’t wait to update my weblog style in Windows Live Writer. The blue and grey looks great! All right, I’ll stop gushing about the new template. I need you guys to tell me how it looks, what I can do to make it better and/or if something is not working like it’s supposed to. The help would be much appreciated!

Small changes and tweaks will keep on happening so if you happen to come by and find something horribly out of place, please don’t think its bad designing. It would just be my rusty html skills!

Tony tagged me with a meme. And since he very sweetly said that he was tagging me because he wanted to learn more about me, I’m obliging. According to the meme, I get to list seven random or weird things about myself. This one came to me (in the form of 5 weird things) a few years ago when I had braces and was in college – I’m now married and have perfect teeth. How time changes! The following list is in no particular order.

• Till I was five, I couldn’t string two sentences of English together. All of that changed in a matter of weeks once I joined grade school. After that, as is quite obvious, there was no stopping me.

• I don’t like chocolates, dislike chocolate ice-cream and absolutely hate chocolate chip ice-cream. But, I love chocolate chip cookies and I’ll fight you over a brownie.

• After spending years trying to gain weight, I finally gained enough to need to lose a few pounds.

• I’m forgetful. But if I scribble something down in my own hand, I’ll remember it. Which, by the way, is a good thing because I’ve been known to lose my notes.

• I love mornings yet my best work is produced at night. It’s been a love hate relationship so far.

• You’ll never find me without my cell phone. It’s my address book, alarm clock, browser, planner, calendar, camera, recorder and anything else I can use it for. But I’ve never played games on my phone.

• I plan on learning Arabic.

The last part of the meme was to tag seven people. I’m tagging everyone who wants to do it. Just leave a link back so I can read yours.

The triumphs and trials report will be published at the end of every month to record my (you guessed it!) triumphs and trials as a freelancer. Did I land a gig? Missed a deadline? Impressed an editor? Had a difficult client? etc. So without further ado, I present to you my report for November.

Triumphs:

• Landed my first gig. Pay is less, but it comes with editors and online help. Perfect for a new fish in the pond.
• Got my first freelance work enquiry through my blog. I polished my blog to some semblance of respectability and within a few days of publishing it, I had someone email me making inquiries about my rates.
• Will get my first pay! I’ll update this point once the pay is in my account. But I’m due a payday!

Trials:

• Clients who hire you, ask you to sign up someplace and then disappear. This seems to have happened to me for the 10th time! I keep wondering if I’m doing anything wrong.
• Gigs that only offer revenue share as compensation. This was a lesson only time and experience could have taught. Or a mentor, but since I don’t have one, I figured it out only after I’d accepted the work.
• Spam Filters. As heaven sent as they are, every now and then they become responsible for major goof ups. I’d been waiting for an assignment for four days and Had decided to mail my contact on Monday. By chance, I decided to check my spam on Sunday, and there it was! It had been in my spam filter for four days and it turned out that the deadline was for Monday! Phew. Close save!

I like the spirit of thanksgiving. Where I come from, thanksgiving is not celebrated. It’s not a holiday or a special day. Even though thankfulness is a big part of our faith, there’s no religious, cultural or social event to mark it.

My mum’s spent years telling me that I should be thankful every single day. Mum, I know you’re right, but it’s just not possible! But, remembering to be thankful one day is more than possible.

So keeping with the spirit of the day, I’d like to express my thankfulness for the one thing without which I probably wouldn’t know half of what I know – which isn’t much to begin with but you get my drift.

The thing I’m most thankful for is the Internet. You heard me folks! Without the Internet I probably wouldn’t have gotten interested in writing, I wouldn’t have read about different cultures, wouldn’t have gotten obsessed with world affairs and my horizons would have remained narrow had I not had access to the world wide web to find answers for every and anything I could think of.

Having been born and raised in a country that in its best years was called a ‘developing country’, the Internet became my portal of knowledge. It is the reason I chose the discipline I chose for my Bachelors. It’s responsible for making me a writer and it is also the medium through which I get work.

Most of all, I’m thankful for all the learning opportunities it gives me. From taking online classes to attending conferences – without it I wouldn’t even be a freelancer!

My thanksgiving giveaway: As a thanksgiving gift, I’m going to give 5 working hours free of charge. If you have a project that you want to work on but can’t find the time or the money, I’ll work for you for no charge.

Remember, I’m a writer so the work should have something to do with words. I’m open to all kinds of work. Writing, editing, proofreading, ghost writing etc. Even that of a Virtual Assistant. Be creative, or not. There are lots of possibilities.

If the work requires less than five hours, I’ll take on someone else’s work. The offer is valid till Sunday on a first come first serve basis. Monday I start working the allotted hours!