my soundtrack
One and a half years ago, I took a week off of work unpaid to drive to Cincinnati, lock myself in a former convent for five days, and write the first draft of my manuscript. I pulled out of Columbus on a a wet, gray Sunday afternoon, hit the freeway, and promptly began asking myself what the heck I thought I was doing. I was lost for miles in this train of thought, until these lyrics intersected– Reaching for something in the distance So close you can almost taste it Release your inhibitions Feel the rain on your skin No one else can feel it for you Only you can let it in No...
Read Morelaying tracks
I have been absent here over the last few weeks as I’ve worked literally night and day to prepare for SheSpeaks, my first official writer’s conference, where I will be pitching More: My Search for That Which Really Satisfies, my manuscript about the struggles outline here on this blog. The proposal has been professionally critiqued not once but twice, my promotional materials look AWESOME, and I’m working today on my pitch speech. It has been a whirlwind, to say the least. As I’ve thought about this conference, I’ve vacillated between confidence and...
Read Moretreaties
Love this paragraph I was just working on–had to share it! “A house divided against itself cannot stand. Such constant division and in-fighting had driven me to my knees, that day on the mountain, and I had unknowingly laid down not only my will but my weapons. Sticks and stones and swords and switch-blades—all that I used to beat and pummel and stab and cut—handed over to the Divine Peace-Keeper, who took them from me and wrote out a treaty in red for me to sign with my own bit of death, my binding agreement to end the hostility within.”
Read Moreequal and opposite
Well, Friends, the laws of physics state that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. I know this to be all too true. The examples in my life are endless: go on a diet to lose the last ten pounds you regained, and your body will react with an equally strong and completely insatiable urge to ingest LOTS of carbohydrates. Begin a new level of working out, and get derailed with an injury. Attempt to claim back your calendar, and six new events will magically pop up. Take a stand against fear and prepare to step out in confidence, and get knocked completely on your...
Read Moremotivational monday: it will come
Well, Friends, I’ve done it. The formal proposal for More is finished and I’ve hit the send button to have it professionally critiqued. It is now officially “out there.” And I am now, one month out from my conference, officially wondering what the heck I was thinking. The list of publishers and agents who will be in attendance at SheSpeaks, the conference I’m attending in July, was made public this last week. I have until July 1st to decide who I’d like to meet with. As I review this list, I am more and more convinced I was completely out of my...
Read Morea lyrical interlude
Last week I was absent from posting because I was preparing to attend a four day training at Ashland Seminary (on top of working). This week I am late (and will be brief) because I am recovering from a four day training at Ashland Seminary (on top of working.) One of these days I will find the groove necessary to maintain a normal rhythm of writing and posting in spite of the events on my calendar. Today is not one of those days. Truth is, I am mentally, spiritually, and emotionally spent. As part of the training for my post-graduate certificate in Formational Counseling, I not only...
Read Moremotivational monday: in all your ways…
I am up. At the moment, that is about as good as it gets. Some days, up and in my chair at the computer is a victory. When the morning dawns with rain (again) and all that comes with the rain–the pain, the cloudy head, the melancholy and malaise that hangs in the air–it is all I can do to not crawl back into bed after dropping my children off at school and slip back into the stupor of sleep. But not today. Today I fight it, mug of tea in hand, the smell of pomegranate and the sound of raindrops reminding me of my first morning at the Convent. I sigh, remembering the...
Read Moremy night is not my own
It’s been another one of those days. After an angsty week of desperately trying to get to the computer to get some much-needed work done, I was going to spend a few hours this morning working on my proposal and putting up a few new posts. Breakfast with a friend, then pick up my daughter from the youth car wash, then home by 11:00. Three hours to write before getting ready and going out with my husband for the afternoon/evening. Great. Breakfast is pushed back. No problem. I roll with it, and am actually thankful for the extra sleep. (Never mind that my dedicated friend I...
Read Morecatching up
Whew. Two weeks since I’ve last been here. So much for posting at least twice a week… Flexibility. That was my word for the day last time I posted. Turns out, it was prophetic, as the last two weeks got entirely swallowed up in the preparations for, execution of, and recovery from my daughter’s class trip (otherwise known as Four Days on The Junk Food Express). It remains a good word, as I try to bend over backwards writing for the blogs (building a platform), finishing the manuscript, and writing the formal proposal while juggling work, family time, kid’s...
Read Moremotivational monday: full out
I’ve been reading Michael Hyatt again, the recently-former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing, who wrote this week about the Benefits of Playing it Full Out, which both challenged and slightly discouraged me. The ideas have been spinning around in my head for a few days, and I wanted to share a few of those thoughts with you. I interpret the phrase “playing it full out” to mean to hold nothing back, pushing through until you’re spent, and then pushing through some more. Playing it full out, Michael writes, looks like: Being fully present, undistracted by anything else. Stretching...
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