A good friend of mine from my writing for change class, Dane Wise, was recently at a UCA lecture given by a published author. A student asked the author if she had any sort of rituals to get started writing,and what the author said was so profound it was almost a duh moment. She said, "I put my butt in the chair." I laughed when Dana first told me but then after the research had been done I began to remember what had been said. I had done the research and have even written out the outline, but still the meat was unwritten.
So the last couple days I have done exactly what that author had said with some modifications. Not only do I put my butt in the chair but I also turn off all music and TV. I am just one of those people who must have complete silence if I plan to get any real wok done. Guess what after a day or two of this a miracle happened; the meat had begun to be written. Each day I found out that more and more of my grant project was actually written. I know that this sounds like I'm being sarcastic but I'm not. As much as I try, I am usually writing my projects the night before they are due. But with this project I have found myself prepared and all because my butt for once was where it belonged. 

Are you My Perfect Match?

I have discovered that finding a donor for your grant project is much like looking for the person your going to marry, you spend a lot of time looking and hoping you find that special someone but most of the time your looking at duds. Once you find that perfect person/grant you wounder how you ever lived without each other. Oh if only every project idea found this perfect grant partnership and didn't die in the planning stages.
I have also found that sometimes as a non-profit writer, you write a grant for a company just because your boss tells you too. This I have found can be a little frustrating, it reminds me of a blind date, you may not see why this person is right for you, but with some get to know you time, you might see exactly what the person who set you up saw. And who knows it might just end up being a match made in heaven. This is the place that I find myself right now and am hoping that after all is said and done I might see exactly what my boss sees.

P is for Passion or is it Perfection.

This week my class  was introduced to two more grant writers. Well, at least two people involved in the business of grant writing. A business I am slowly learning is a lucrative one. Who would have thought the non-profit world was swirling in money, almost an oxymoron. These two speakers definitely cemented my belief that in the non-profit world as well as in the real world, p stands for passion. Whether that is passion in preventing domestic violence, feeding the hungry, emergency management, or music in elementary schools, you must find yourself in the cause. But, I also found out this week that p may stand for perfection.

A foundation might have 2 million dollars and be interested in saving the hippos, and 5,000 non-profits may think great we are only worried about saving the hippos leave everything else to Sarah Mclachlan. But, as with all good things this money comes with catches, first they are only giving out 20 grants. What? You are telling me that I must compete with 5,000 organizations for twenty grants. I am getting money or into Harvard Business School? Now here is catch two, they only care about hippos in zoo in the eastern part of the United States. My example may be silly, but now you see where perfection comes in. Not only do you have to have the perfect grant proposal, along with the perfect project idea, but you also have to be graced with perfect timing, and the perfect foundation. It seems my mother might be right and attaining perfection a lot harder than the eight your old in me might have once thought. I think that is why p must stand for passion and perfection, because it is your passion that pushes you until you are graced by the grant Gods with perfection.