The other day I promised myself that I'm going to work on this project every day (except over the weekends) and I am thrilled with how it instantly improved my General Sense of Accomplishment.

Ms.D is never far from my thoughts now. She's hovering. This is good.

Also, I am realizing why it is that we get our best ideas in the shower. There's no noise or thought or attention pollution... i'm alone with thoughts and water and soap and my ideas.

Long showers, quiet drives, powerwalks. I think I'm on to something.

The subject of women in business is looming - on paper and in my head.

Ms.D and I have talked about what it's like to be a business woman in an executive work environment.

At one point I asked her about high school.

"The word that used to come back to me was snob," she said. "It’s all the same theme. You know whether someone in high school called me a snob or someone today tells me I’m unapproachable or uses a word like “intimidating” or “aggressive” or “type A” … it’s the same word. It’s the same thing. It’s the same feedback."

I'm asking myself:

- what personality traits does a woman need to be successful in business and how can those traits be cultivated?
- about the idea of friends in the workplace: necessary? doable? sanity-saving? a good strategy? overstepping? alienating? risky?

Oh man.

It seems counter-intuitive, doesn't it - scheduling creativity - but if a project has to be completed it can't be done any other way.

For awhile I was devoting a block of time working on this job once a week. Fridays were interview and transcribing time. It took me a few months to figure out that this hasn't really been working for me.

It just takes too long to get into it after 7 days of going without it. (Although I do want to point out that I haven't exactly been twiddling my thumbs. I have other writing jobs, and I have been doing related reading!) But it just hasn't been enough.

I talked to someone about it recently and she gave me some great advice. I'm working on this project a little bit every day. I shut down my email and ignore everything else, and focus. Sounds simple, doesn't it?

Sometimes it takes someone else to point out the obvious.

The results have been good. Doing a bit every day has been keeping it all fresh in my mind. I feel like I'm in control and it all seems much more manageable.

Ms. D tries to be mindful in regards to everyday interactions with the people around her. Is she more mindful than others? Every time you interact with someone, she says, you have the opportunity to build them up or tear them down. Which are you going to do?

I'm still slogging through transcription of interviews.

It is hard work, and my wrists are feeling the brunt of it. I really should be a faster typist by now.

I shouldn't complain. I actually enjoy this part of the process very much.

I remember the first interview I had to transcribe. It was during my university days, for my radio broadcasting class. Our teacher (famous for being a stubborn "my-way-or-the-highway" kind of guy) made us type out our first interview in its entirety. Our assignment was to find a senior citizen and ask them about their earliest childhood memory. I went to an old age home and was matched up with someone there. He was a really nice fellow. We talked for a couple of hours. His first memory was of a shiny red fire engine he got for Christmas ... and he went on from there. You can imagine how many pages I filled up.

Anyway, yes, my interview had to be transcribed word for word. And it stuck with me - not the interview itself, but the process. I never forgot how pleasantly mindless it all is - at least - I used to think it was mindless, but it's not. My brain is quietly humming and processing everything while I tap away. Subconsciously I am sorting out my thoughts and planning how the story is going to unfold.

Thankfully, I've gotten better at it over the years. As I listened to my interviews over again from the perspective of an eavesdropper, not the interviewer, I quickly learned where I was making mistakes.

One of the things I've learned is what I call the Shut Up Principle. I'm always thinking about it when I'm interviewing someone for a piece I'm writing. It's still a struggle, but I'm improving. I try not to interrupt, interject, or put words in my interviewee's mouth. And I try not to talk about myself. I did a lot of this early on. I never realized it until I was playing back the audio. The person would tell me something about themselves and I'd hear the recorded version of myself pipe up and say "I did that too!" or relate my own witty tale. Ugh. It made me cringe when I listened to myself.

I figured out why I was doing it. I wanted the person to like me, to trust me, to open up to me and tell me more. But I don't think it ever worked. On playback it just sounded ridiculous. After all, this is not about me, it's about them.

Now when I do an interview, I let them talk. I even let awkward silences remain awkward and silent. More often than not the interviewee will fill the gap. I certainly don't need to step in with any tidbit of my own. This is not a normal conversation. It's an interview.