Trouble with School

I was not much of a student. I dropped out of high school. I received my GED at the age of 24 and started college. I did well, but I didn't graduate.

I was a bit of a juvenile delinquent. I rode in my share of cop cars and got into lots of trouble, including fist fights and suspensions from school and even an expulsion from Dade County Public Schools.

I eventually got myself straight, but never really got the formal education that I wanted or should have had. I got along. 

One thing saved me. 

I like to read. I spend a lot of time and money on books. I have always been a reader. Even during my delinquency. I would get into trouble, break some windows, graffiti a wall or two, come home, and read.

I now spend my days in a school. I am not a teacher or a student or a janitor. I own a business that runs school cafeterias. We have two schools we serve. I work in the larger of the two. I am able to look after my other businesses from the convenience of the school cafeteria.

This position has given me a very interesting insight. I feel I've come to understand the mind of young students in the middle- and high-school age range in a way that even their teachers, administrators, and perhaps parents, don't understand.

This is not meant to be a criticism of these people. Rather, I believe they are too close to the system to see the harm it does to the children it is meant to serve. This makes sense. Parents grew up in a similar system, as did educators. Parents may not see what I see. Educators may or may not see it, but they are, in too many instances, just collecting a paycheck and doing what they were trained to do. If X is all you know, X is just fine.

I have two daughters. One is finishing her second year at Montana State University. The other is finishing her sophomore year of high school. The older one has known she wanted to be a doctor since she was old enough to dream of what she would be when she grew up. While she has changed her focus since she began college, she is still on the path to being the first doctor in my family. My younger daughter is a singer. A fine one. This talent was discovered by one of her teachers and nurtured by another. She had no focus before learning of this ability and now she is working hard at making music and acting her vocation.

I am not proposing that kids shouldn't learn Readin' Ritin' Rithmetic, but there has to be more to it than that. 

I told my teachers and anyone who would listen that I would never need algebra, geometry, trigonometry, etc. in my adulthood. I was right. While I had no idea what I would become or even what I wanted to become, I knew it wouldn't involve mathematics. Sure, as a business owner I need to do some basic accounting functions, I don't need the aforementioned. Maybe my accountant does, I don't know. That's not my business.

One of the reasons I dropped out of high school is that I was sleeping through algebra when I should have been learning how to balance a checkbook. I spent years as a banker and the only reason I know how to balance a checkbook is because I taught myself how to do it. I'm still not great at it and don't even get me started on reconciling that blasted thing. 

What I am good at is communication. Maybe some of you reading this would disagree. I may have been a good lawyer or perhaps a teacher of American literature. It's a little late now, but one can dream of what might have been.

I don't mean to whine and I don't mean to lay my troubles at the feet of others. I made my decisions and I accept responsibility for them.

Keeping it Loco

I did something this morning I haven't done in a long time. I read the local news. I read the Miami Herald and Sun Sentinel. Not every article, but some articles. And I read from their websites. I am not in possession of actual newsprint. I hear it still exists, but it has more to do with coupons and birdcages than with news. It's just as well.

Browsing the pages I found a lot of opinion, a lot of tragedy, and a localized version of the same stuff I see on national news sites. Wear a mask! Delta Variant will kill you even if you haven't been born yet! Conservatives are bad! Liberals are good! Opinion disguised as news. 

This is not meant to be a political post. I guess I'm just sharing why I stopped reading local news. I don't follow sports anymore, so there's no value for me there. I don't care that the hipsters of the world now prefer Fort Lauderdale to Wynwood. I was, however, surprised to learn that my hometown is one of the horniest places in America. What a time to be alive! (And married!)

There was a time in my live when I couldn't live without the news. I was a certified news junkie. I blogged about the experience for the better part of a year. You can read that blog here. It's for sale, don't judge me. I got bills to pay.

I am happy that this time has passed. I still have very strong opinions and can still argue effectively for or against many positions. How do I do this? I learned a lot when I was an addict, and the crap politicians on both sides of the aisle are trying to pull is no different now than it was then. It's like riding a bicycle. The biggest difference is that this is a bike you don't mind falling from.

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published ten books, which you can find here.

An Earned Advantage

I'm sitting at my dining room table reading an article. My wife is leaning on the kitchen counter with a cup of coffee in her hands. It's Saturday. We have the day off. There is a man crawling around our attic installing a new central air conditioner.

I share my thoughts on the article with my wife and she tells me I am a smart cookie. I'm not sure I agree. I have an advantage over many people, though. I know how to read. I earned that advantage. It's not like being born tall and good-looking. I don't have those unearned advantages. My parents made sure I can read. That I enjoy reading and devote significant time to it, may be something I earned, or may be something I was born with.

Because I am a man who will look for any advantage he can get, I tell my wife that the only real proof of my intelligence is that I married her. She smiles, walks over and kisses me. I steal her coffee. What do you know about that? I am smart!

I never finished high school. I got my GED at 24 and took some classes at the community college. No degree. But I read every day. I read books, magazines, newspapers, anything I can get my hands on. This has been my advantage. I learned what I wanted to learn, what I felt would be useful; not what a college administrator wanted me to learn. I'm better for it. And... no debt!

If you're taking the time to read this, you may share that same earned advantage. In which case, good for you, and thanks for stopping by!

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published ten books, which you can find here.

My Rules: Part One

 I'm exhausted. I just got into Bozeman, Montana at about midnight. I was too tired to go directly to sleep. I was up at six AM because my body is still on Florida time. Jet lag is a real thing. I am in Montana this time because my eldest daughter will be starting at Montana State University in a week. We're moving her in. I'll be heading back alone to an empty house. Even the dogs are with a sitter so they won't be there to greet me. Careful what you wish for. I do enjoy my alone time, but I'm no different than anyone else in that I want everything on my own terms. My daughter finishing high school a year early and moving far from home is something to be proud of. I just wish I could rearrange the terms. I'd like her to stay home until shes ninety. Just kidding. There I go not being careful what I wish for.

I am sitting at the little desk in the room. My laptop is open. The familiarity ends there. The desk is cluttered with all kinds of stuff. An ice bucket, a small coffee pot, my backpack, a purse, a hat. I look up from my screen to see me staring back at me. If I was prettier, that may be a perk, but mirrors distract me as I am as conceited as anyone else. I wonder if I look good for my age. The light of the screen isn't flattering, and I don't. I look old. Maybe I'm tired. Maybe I'm a little sad. Maybe I should avert my eyes lest I depress myself further.

This has me thinking of my personal rules for writing. I've never articulated them. I do have them, I know I do, but they're ingrained in me. They don't require review. I don't need to check them before writing like a pilot reviews a checklist before takeoff. I just do. So, here goes:

1. Eliminate distractions. Seems pretty simple, right. I'm not just talking about barking dogs and screaming kids. If you're an insecure narcissist like me, don't have a mirror. If you're a news junkie, or a social media junkie, disable your internet and leave your phone in another room. It's not that it becomes impossible to focus, it's just that focusing in an environment littered with distractions takes energy. This energy is better applied to your writing, or painting or crocheting, or whatever. By the way, Cafes aren't the best place to write, but they are a good place to be seen, which can be a helluva distraction.

2. Make yourself comfortable. If you're chair is too low or too high or the light is too bright or too dim or the room is too cold, you're not going to be at your best. Set yourself up for success, not disappointment.

3. Schedule your workday. Writing, or any artistic or entrepreneurial endeavor that you're pursuing on spec, should have a time dedicated to it. I am a morning person. I usually wake up around five and start writing around six and go until just before nine. Sometimes I put in a little overtime. Sometimes I run out of steam early. Sometimes, I don't follow rule number one and I end up wasting two hours reading news or making sure my coffee is just right or telling my dogs how much I love them. If you don't devote time to your craft, or to any goal, it's just a wish, and a dream, and this is the real world. This ain't no fairy tale.

4. The work matters more than the title. I've met plenty of would-be writers who love saying they are writers. They love wearing turtlenecks and slurring their words a la Gore Vidal or acting uncomfortable in social situations like David Foster Wallace. They should all try to be a little more like J.D. Salinger. No one is impressed by you saying you're a writer. I could say I'm a doctor but I promise you don't want me removing your gall bladder. I wouldn't trust me to cut your fingernails. The doctor is the person who did the work. They went to med school, they did their residency and rotations and all that jazz. They've earned the title. Why would writing be any different?

I'm sure there will be more to this. Consider this essay, like its author, a work in progress. But this is just me. Write your own rules, and don't break them. Shatter them! But only if you find they are holding you back.

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published eight books, which you can find here.

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What's easy not to do

I've been thinking of creating a new website. I've also been looking to team up with an editor who could work closely with me. I've been looking for a web designer, too. 

In this day and age there is no reason for me to be thinking about these things and not getting them done so I put out a feeler on Facebook, asking for my creative peeps to reach out. They did.

Now begins a new chapter in my life.

Follow me to Apresterra!

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published eight books, which you can find here.

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The Nomadic Imperative

Often you will hear someone tell you they want to live a nice quiet life. We have been convinced that all we really want is some variation of what we see on TV. A spouse, a kid or two, maybe a dog or a cat, perhaps a witty guinea pig or a bird. We want a car and we want two weeks vacation every year plus weekends off. Except the guinea pig and the bird. They're relatively new. And I'm allergic to cats so I have two dogs.

This has been my life for nearly thirty years and I can tell you I was sold a lie.

This is not to say I haven't been happy. I have been. I am happy. But, I am also restless. I feel like I am cheating myself. I feel like I am giving up on my dreams. I remind myself that I am young enough to still go out and do the things I want to do. Then my back hurts, and I remember I am not as young as I imagine myself to be. Young at heart, old just about everywhere else.

Is this what Thoreau meant when he talked about men living lives of quiet desperation? Is this why I work to fill the void? I don't really know. I don't think anyone could know. I do know it sucks and while the intensity of these feelings increases and decreases, they never quite go away.

I've lived in the same area most of my life. I am, as I write this, 30 minutes from where I grew up, went to school, learned to drive, and lost my virginity. I long to move, but I have responsibilities. I want to walk, to seize the road, but I can't. It would be irresponsible, and I can't do that.

Ernest Hemingway said that to live in one land is captivity. Well, shit. He was right. Not that everyone who lives a stable, successful middle-class existence is unhappy. I can see people choosing this life. I can see its appeal. Maybe it's because I have no choice that I feel the urge to move on.

I feel the urge, but I will fight the urge. I ain't going nowhere. For now. But if I do decide to go, you'll read it here first.

The views expressed by the author are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of anyone anywhere.

Adolfo Jimenez is the chair of the elections committee of the Libertarian Party of Broward County. He is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published eight books, which you can find here.

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The Business Part 4

This is the fourth part of a series on the business of writing. Click here to go to Part One.


I am not a full-time writer. I have a career and I own a business. All things being equal, though, I'd rather earn my living as a writer. What I am is prolific. I am a very productive writer. I put words to paper (or processor) every day of the week. Sometimes, they're good, sometimes they suck. The important thing is to do the things that must be done.


A DAY IN THE LIFE

Monday through Friday: I am usually awake by 5:00AM. This is not to say I am always out of bed by that time. My wife usually wakes up a little later. She and the girls are out the door by 6:30. I usually start working by 5:30, pausing to say goodbye to the family and make coffee. I usually put in anywhere from 1-3 hours of work in every weekday morning. I then shower and shave and go to work. I try not to think too much about what I'm working on when I'm not actually working on it but sometimes an idea pops in my head. When this happens, I usually write it down.

I sometimes have creative bursts throughout the day. I carry a pen and pad around for just such an occasion. If not, my iPhone has a nifty little notepad feature.

I rarely work on my main project at night. This time is usually reserved for reading, sleeping, and the making of the love.

I dedicate some time to social media but I am no expert. I am trying to learn how to promote myself. Once I master this, all bets are off.

See, writing is the hard part, because it is lonely and exhausting. When I tell people I write but don't make significant money from it (yet) they ask me why I bother. The truth is I do it for me. I do it because I love it. When it eventually becomes my living, all the better.

Follow me on this journey. It ought to be fun.



Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida with his family.  He has published eight books, which you can check out here. 

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Who matters as much as Why - A Quickie Post.

Why are you writing?

Who are you writing for?

If you are writing for anyone other than yourself, you are writing for the wrong reason. You are the only person who will definitely read every word you write, so make sure they are words you love and can be proud of? Or, at the very least, make sure they are words you can live with.


Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida with his family.  He has published eight books, which can be seen here. 

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Change of Scene

Last night, I stayed out until past midnight. Wild, I know. I am a madman. Am I really? As Salvador Dali said, "The only difference between a madman and myself, is that I am not mad!" Well, he said something like that.  A friend of mine moved into a new apartment and had a little housewarming party and invited some colleagues over for dinner and wine. I had a little of each. We talked shop, of course because this is what humans do. Humans suck, don't they.

All but two of the people who were there were people I am around over fifty hours per week. We talked about what we do those fifty-plus hours, and yet, because we were in a different environment, or perhaps because of the wine, I picked up subtleties in their manner of speech, in their expressions. I don't believe they were any different. We've all known each other for a while and have no need to pretend or put on airs. They were the same. I was the same. I was looking for different things. I was with familiar people in an unfamiliar place.

The job of a writer is to notice those subtle changes. The color of the walls or how comfortable the couch is or isn't is of no importance. Those details will not change the story unless something related to those things happens during the party or if you imagine something funny or tragic relating to those inanimate objects, like someone fat sitting on a chair and it collapses, etc. It's the people that matter. Stories are always about people, not about things. Even when a story is about a thing, you don't care about it unless you understand how that thing relates to a person. It's always about the people! And you learn about people when you observe them in their natural environment. You learn something different when you see them elsewhere. Pay attention. You will learn something.

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published eight books, which you can find here.

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Inspired by Fools

Maybe the title of this post is unfair. I am a lover of people. I love meeting people and talking to people. I love making friends. I love fools because I am a fool.

I was at a cocktail party last night and got into some great conversations including one with a man who kept looking at my name tag, which read Adolfo and still managed to call me Alfredo. But he was a nice man and we made friends. He can call me anything he wants. I guess as long as my wife gets my name right, I have little to worry about.

I met this man and he made an impression and I have no doubt that I will see him again sometime in the future. But even if I never see him again, he was a hell of a character and it wouldn't surprise me to see him pop up in my creative work some day in the future, knowing him for a few hours was worth it. He was great fun.

As a writer, every experience is potentially part of a story.  Everyone you meet can be a character. Every place you visit is a setting. All the better if they manage to entertain you.


Adolfo Jimenez is a writer living against his will in Hollywood, Florida.  His latest release is Scenes from a 1979 Ford Fairmont, a short book of poems. Get it on Amazon!

Check him out here!

The Friends We Listen To

I like to work in silence. I don't play music. I sit at my desk in my home and I write in silence. I don't like a lot of activity around me so I don't sit in a cafe. I am too easily distracted, so I try to minimize the distractions. My wife and daughters leave early in the morning so I can squeeze in a couple hours of work before the world squeezes in on me.

But once in a while, I like to have a little background noise. Never a TV or anything. Usually a little music. I will choose music I'm not inclined to sing along to. If I sing along, I am not working. Writing is creative work, not busy work. It's not an automatic thing like making your bed or mowing the lawn. I always listen to an audiobook or music when doing household chores. I even take my phone into the shower with me so I can listen to a book as I shower, shave, brush my teeth and make myself pretty. Okay, I'm never pretty, but at least I can minimize the ugliness.

But I am choosy about what I listen to. Classical is great to play while writing because you can't sing along to it. Classical music conveys feelings and abstract shapes without words. Perfect for writing.

The important thing is to avoid distractions. Distractions kill creativity, so it is important to kill the distractions.  This is why I don't work in coffee shops. Coffee shops are for coffee and conversation. I work in silence. I work in my home. When I'm travelling, I work in my hotel room. Writing is a private enterprise. Writing in front of people is for those who want to be seen or thought of as writers, but don't actually want to write.

You do the work. Let your words get the glory.


Adolfo Jimenez is a writer living against his will in Hollywood, Florida.  His latest release is Scenes from a 1979 Ford Fairmont, a short book of poems. Get it on Amazon!

Check him out here!

Little Notes

I've been married to Abby for nineteen years. Long time. Love her more each day. Though, there are times when I remember that if I'd killed her the day I met her, I'd probably be out by now.

We have good times and bad times though more good than bad. We put effort into getting along and being happy and I don't mind saying we have a damn good sex life after all these years. We are lucky, we are fortunate; in a word we are blessed.

It's not easy, but it's not hard. We do the little things. We sometimes write each other little notes. Sometimes on paper, sometimes by text. We listen to one another. We make time for each other. We support each other.

Why do you care about this? I don't know. I don't care if you care about this. I do. It's good to have some stability. She is my rock. She gives me space to be myself and listens to me bitch and moan when being myself becomes too much to bear. I'd like to think I do the same for her.

I'll admit I have the easier end of the bargain. She's an intelligent, normal, stable person. I'm a writer. I'm manic-depressive. I'm temperamental. I'm an idiot.

So this post is a little note to my wife. The woman who took everything from me except my name, and gave me so much more than I could have reasonably expected and more than I could ever deserve.






Adolfo Jimenez is a writer living against his will in Hollywood, Florida.  His latest release is Scenes from a 1979 Ford Fairmont, a short book of poems. Get it on Amazon!

Check him out here!

Tough Choices

Being a writer is a lot like being a minor god. You are the god for the universe you are creating. Even if there is a god in your story, you tell him what to do.

Don't let that go to your head.

You're still just a schmuck like the rest of us.

I recently published a novella, The Man in the Gray Sky. I sold a few copies, gave a few copies away, and felt good about it over all.

Then I read it.

I withdrew it. With the perspective only time can give, I realized the book wasn't ready to be published. I was like a kid on his way to Disney, jumping out of the car before his dad parked the car. (Yes, this happened when I was a kid... many times, many places!)

It was tough to unpublish my book. It was like admitting defeat. Again, as I take a little time to think about it. It's not an admission of defeat. It's a momentary retreat to regroup and resume the attack.

This has given me a chance to rethink the book and the follow-up to it, which I just finished a week ago, and the direction of the series and the characters. There is no shame in pulling out. In this case, it's a very responsible thing to do. My readers will appreciate it - both of them.

Writing is the easy part

I mean it. The easiest part of writing anything, a book, a poem, a short story, a recipe, is the actual writing. All you're doing when you write is regurgitating observations and life experiences. You're peeing on the wall. The hard part comes after. Editing is the hard part. Revising is the hard part.

After you spend hours, days, weeks, months, years, whatever, writing your first draft, you have to go back and fix the whole thing. You get that feeling of re-reading a book too soon.

There are books I read once a year. There are books I've read once, loved intensely, and will never read again. I've never read a book, gotten to "The End" and turned it over and started it again. That would be madness. That's the madness of the second draft.

Of course, some may go right back at it and some might let it sit in a drawer or on a hard drive before wading back into the mud.

I like to go right back. If I wait too long, I lose interest and I'm on to the next shiny object. You may want to wait a while, let it marinate.

I am also a fan of the Hemingway way. Hemingway method? Style? Whatever. Start the day by reading and changing what you did before. Not the day before, EVERYTHING you've already written. Once your book is too long to all the way back, you go back a chapter or two. By they time you finish your first draft, it's pretty damn clean.

So, remember. Writing is easy. Returning to your vomit... not so easy.

Keep writing,

Adolfo

What Are You Reading?

What Are You Reading?

If your answer is:

A) Nothing

B) I don't have time to read

C) I'm not much of a reader

D) Huh?

E) All of the above

I have news for you: you'll never make it as a writer.

I'm no authority on such matters since I am not a household name. I am known in my own home, but just barely so. I just believe we should all be willing to eat our own cooking.

But even if you're not a writer. Reading is amazing. It's guided imagination. You and I can watch a movie and see the same thing. But we can both read a book and have hours of discussion about what the writer was trying to say and what this or that meant. Imagination is just like any other muscle: use it or lose it. (I know the imagination is not a muscle. Work with me. I was being imaginative.)

So... just read it.

Trusting Your Gut

You ever get that feeling? You know the one. Down in the pit of your stomach. Sometimes it's positive. Sometimes, it's a bad feeling. It's a real thing and you ought to listen to it. Let it guide you. Think of yourself as a Jedi and that feeling is The Force.

I don't know how to explain that feeling. Maybe it's God. Maybe it's the lizard brain. Maybe it's luck. Maybe it's something we all imagine. All I know is, it's usually right.

I believe it's the accumulation of experience. I think all the mistakes we've made, conversations we've had, books we've read, and advice we've received, go to some place in our being and create that feeling. I think that's why it becomes louder and more reliable as we get older, and I think that's why we ought to listen to it.



Adolfo Jimenez is an executive coach, entrepreneur, book club nerd, and family man living in Hollywood, FL. He is the owner of Le Velo Macaron

You can find him on Instagram and LinkedIn

The Secret Law of Attraction?

A lot has been said about the law of attraction. Most of what's been said is nonsense. The thought that thinking about something will make that something happen or appear is quite simply bullshit.

This is not to say you shouldn't think about your goals. Hell, you should obsess about them. How else will you achieve them? But don't expect things to happen because you think about them.

I have a friend who is a talented writer, filmmaker, editor, etc. He could be a Hollywood start director and producer. But he's lazy. He thinks about his dream career all the time. He's watched more movies and knows more about movies than anyone I know. He watches every TV show. He knows the bios of the directors and actors.

But he's waiting for Hollywood to magically appear on his doorstep. He will wait until the end of his days. That type of thing doesn't happen. Ever. Not even in the movies.

You can attract success and blessings by working hard toward them. Like attracts like. If you work hard, create and exploit opportunities and create successes, more successes will become available to you. Then, all you have to do is pick them up.

Think positive, but know your thoughts are just a map. You have to get off your butt or nothing will ever happen.



Adolfo Jimenez is an executive coach, entrepreneur, book club nerd, and family man living in Hollywood, FL. He is the owner of www.levelomacaron.com 

You can find him at https://www.instagram.com/adolfo.jimenez/

Slow Down! You’ll Get There Quicker

In this hurry-up world we’re living in, it’s easy to lose focus on the things we shouldn’t be rushing through. Too often, we make quick decisions when we should be deliberate and we spend inordinate amounts of time on the things that don’t matter. Two recent experiences inspired this observation: a pizza run and shopping for books.

Yesterday, we did a little clean-up project at home. At least twice a year, we deep clean the house and make a run to Goodwill. My daughters are tasked with going through their closets and finding things they no longer need or want that could put a smile on another kid’s face.

A few hours into the purge, I went out for lunch. I stood in line behind a young lady who was really struggling with her pizza order. As I observed the tattoos on her shoulders and arms, I wondered if she put as much thought into her ink as she did into her pizza order. I would guess the ink was a more emotional decision than the lunch was, but somehow I don’t think so.

I don’t mean to be critical, but I don’t know… something about the grammar on the tattoos struck me as, shall we say, hasty.

The second incident involved a little online book shopping. I was looking for personal development books and found where a website was offering a way to read 52 books in 52 weeks! What do you really learn at such a pace? How much are you absorbing? Granted, some of us pick up more than others. I pride myself on being a fast reader (thanks to speed-reading classes I took as a child) and I am also an avid reader. Not a day goes by without me cracking a book… even on vacation. I was at a doctor’s appointment this morning and I read until they called my name. So while I am a fairly efficient reader, I also devote time to reading. Advantage: Jimenez.

Too often, we feel like we have to do everything right now! We want the minute rice, the instant coffee, the microwave popcorn. We don’t want to wait. We complain about long lines for voting. Think of how long people in Cuba have waited for what we get to do every other year.

I am not trying to convince you that patience is a virtue. I am the least patient person I know. I am telling you that some things shouldn’t be rushed. You know… things like learning or choosing a tattoo. 

Adolfo Jimenez is a Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with The John Maxwell Company. He is also the co-owner of Abdaliz Custom Cakes. He lives in Hollywood, Florida with his wife, two of his children, and his dog Baxter.