LindaJM's Portfolio of Lenses

'Neo' is what I call my Alphasmart Neo . . . a portable word machine. We writers tend to love them.

I also call my computer 'Dell', and my external hard drive 'Max' (Maxtor.)

I do a lot of my lens writing on Neo. It is handy to carry around, and since it isn't connected to the Internet, I don't get distracted!

1. Live and let live.
2. Go with the flow.
3. Serve mankind.

With that third slogan/motto/intention in mind, I was thrilled to be asked to help out here at Squidoo.

In April 2009 I was asked to be a Squid Angel. That's an amazing job - and intensive! It is more than just fluttering about with bright feathery wings. There are lots of lenses to monitor because we want the good, helpful, well-developed ones to excel (in lensrank terms) and the spammy, unfinished, repetitive ones to sink to the bottom of the drainage ditch.

I also accepted a mentoring position I applied for last December: Image and Video Mentor. Since I've had many years of webdesign experience I do my best to help others who are trying to put together media-rich, attractive lenses.

I believe that to complete the adventure of life we need to be able to do as the Great Creator does... we need to create. As denizens of the universe, this is our destiny, and to thwart that creativity is a danger to our own well-being.

So don't hold back - be as outlandishly creative as you desire to be. Choose a talent in the spectrum of diverse abilities and practice it joyfully until it mirrors your soul.

I'm into alternative spirituality, meaning that I don't subscribe to any of the great religions of the world exclusively. I seek the spirit independently and commune with it diligently. In my own way.

For thirty years I was a member of an organized religion. I graduated from that experience in the year 2000 and have been happier ever since. I try not to tell others about this experience much as I don't have any need to complain, and those that are still members of the religion would not appreciate my unusual view of it. So... instead of talking about that era of my past, I celebrate the present with my joy at being alive in this wonderful time.

A creative person learns and gets insight by viewing the creative works of others, thus I avidly pursue literary gurus, as well as music and song, cinema, and applied arts. From all these mediums I gain strength and ideas with which to pursue my own creative expressions of life.

The drawing to the right is my "Springtime".

In 1982 I walked into the Fosters Freeze in Sonora, California, and saw a brightly painted machine in the corner. This was my first encounter with that icon of virtual life, PacMan! Several quarters later, I was hooked, but that was only the beginning.

The next year I decided to go back to college. One of my first classes was Computer Science. I filled my mind with the history and inner workings of computers, and knew this would be my path into the future.

In 1985 I got a divorce. In my frightened depression and lack of security I gave some thought to the question of what I could do to support myself in the future. I analyzed all my skills, and realized I excelled at only one. I had to become a writer. Unfortunately I didn't have a computer at the time, but I had faith that when the time was right, a computer would come to me and it would help me in my writing work, whatever that might be.

Sure enough . . . a few years later, in 1989, I quit a job with the county and was given my retirement fund, and it paid for my first computer, a 286. I spent two thousand dollars on it! Can you believe it? Recently I bought a new computer - five hundred dollars. My, how times have changed!

During the nearly-twenty years I've been computing I learned a lot about the Internet including more than ten years webdesign experience. So naturally, I've got a lot to say about that!

Besides Squidoo, I participate in Gather.Com and a few other sites like Digg, MySpace, Facebook, Stumble Upon, and Ryze.

A special shout-out to friends who have found this page by clicking on the link in my Twitter profile! Thanks for coming by! I'm happy you're here!

I have several Twitter accounts:

1. Linda Jo Martin - all about writing
2. Bigfoot Sightings - all about Bigfoot
3. Linda's Herbal - all about herbs and gardening
4. FightCPS - all about family rights
5. Independent Homeschooling - for homeschoolers
6. Geniyyah - spiritual topics

Please choose the account that best matches your interests so you'll be more likely to get tweets that aren't off-topic.

I live in the center of a forest. It is a small, isolated community... so I may think differently than those of you who have to face the complexities of civilized life every day. I'm a vegetarian and natural foodist. I live in a little cabin-like house (some might call it a shack.) Forest fires concern me more than crime rates. I keep my expenses down.

Despite the presence of a Sarah Palin lens in my portfolio of lenses, I am not and never have been a Republican - nor am I a Democrat. For most of my adult life I registered as a "decline to state" voter. More recently I've registered Libertarian.

Just imagine... you cross the road to the trailhead, take a deep breath of pine-scented warm air, and start your trek up the steep side of a hill. The trail winds through the trees, from sunlight to shadow, with forest twitterings penetrating that stress that surrounds your heart.

You stop for a moment at the switchback, lean against an oak, and look around at well-shaded ferns that climb up the hillside beside the trail. This is the moment of truth. Will you forge onward, or turn back, never knowing the view from the top of the hill?