660th Friday Blog Roundup

I was speaking with Morra Aarons-Mele, and I mentioned that I was excited for her book, Hiding in the Bathroom.  My copy would be here in a few weeks.  “Want a copy now?  I can send you one of the galleys.”  Um… YES.

So it arrived in the mail this week.  It is amazing.  I haven’t read Susan Cain’s book, Quiet, though it has been high on my TBR pile for a while.  But this book?  This book speaks to my heart.  I feel like it was written for me.   Have you ever had that happen?  You pick up a book and feel as if the author wrote the book for you and only you?  That’s how I felt starting this book.

It’s first and foremost an enjoyable, raw read, like delving into the best of the old blogging world where people were brutally honest and branding wasn’t a consideration.  And like that old blogging world, her words make me feel less alone.  It is hard to be an introvert worker.  You can pick and choose your social engagements, but you can’t pick and choose parts of your job.  It is hard to stick to your boundaries; to set up the work space you need in order to be productive.  And this book is full of “you’re not alone” moments as well as actual advice.

I’m passing this along in case you are (1) an introvert, (2) didn’t know this book was coming out, and (3) are feeling overwhelmed because you’re an introvert worker needing to function in a extrovert-friendly environment or career.

And yes, reading this has bumped Quiet to the top of my TBR list.

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Stop procrastinating.  Go make your backups.  Don’t have regrets.

Seriously.  Stop what you’re doing for a moment.  It will take you fifteen minutes, tops.  But you will have peace of mind for days and days.  It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments in order to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week.  In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Good things only happen to some people. They don’t happen for people like us.” (Alaskan Blueberry)
• “Bittersweet Past and Present” (No Kidding in NZ)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Delayed But Not Denied has a post about Kate Middleton’s third pregnancy announcement.  It came right as she was prepping for surgery, and it makes her think about the three people she wanted to be pregnant before they announced their pregnancy: her sister, a schoolmate, and Kate Middleton.  And now Kate Middleton is on her third child.  She looks back at old journal entries, charting her changing reactions to each announcement and birth.  It’s a great post giving the emotional scope of a journey.

And I didn’t get to post these from last week:

Inexplicably Missing has a post about belonging, or feeling like you’re a part of something.  The post takes a deep look at our community; whether we are set up for people to belong.  Certainly, there are people whose situation is different from mine, and I don’t belong to their subgroup.  But individually, we belong to each other, if that makes sense.  I look at it in terms of the individuals making bridges between the subgroups of the ALI community, holding all the various situations together.  At the end of the day, I belong because I can say something and all of you get it without needing to explain it.  We see the world through a similar lens, and I can say, “X makes me sad,” and you know exactly why X makes me sad.  So that’s my take.  What is yours?

Lastly, Different Shores has a post about the right to have a child (or, really, why people bristle at that idea).  She writes: “But in the back of my head I’ve always thought: surely deciding to have a baby IS, actually, clearly defined as a basic human right? Anyone can have as many children as they like, when they like, however wretched their condition in life. Can’t they?”  And yet, people argue about whether a person should have a right if the action doesn’t happen without assistance.  It’s an interesting look at the argument.

The roundup to the Roundup: A book for introverts in the workplace.  Your weekly backup nudge.  And lots of great posts to read.  So what did you find this week?  Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between September 1st and 8th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week?  Read the original open thread post here.