The Shoulda List
My list of things I should have been in this life—some more far-fetched than others. Some are the plot of a TV show from the eighties or a movie remake from an Audrey Hepburn film. All are more appealing than day jobs.
Sincerely, Me
I’m thinking of designing notecards. Or just telling you about this delightful Kate Spade version that brings me joy.
How to Write a Book Review if You Feel Like It
Writing book reviews is a great way to support the authors you love. They can be a chore, though. These are ideas for rating and reviewing books to be helpful to other readers - which is the real goal behind any review.
My Wish for A Million Dreams
I know it's almost a new year because I've been waking up in the wee s'mas with so. many. ideas. Sometimes they hold up in the light of day. Sometimes they don't. The idea in this post could go either way. Let's see.
As you may have read, I booted a ton of angst in 2020 and let go of a really specific dream in the process: Getting a novel on bookshelves someday. It wasn't my only dream. It wasn't my first dream, either. It was just a dream. And maybe I haven't let it go forever. I'll decide that later.
I Climbed a Mountain in Flip Flops
Seven years after undergoing lung surgery and a rare complication that kept me hospitalized ten days, I climbed a mountain in flip flops despite a long-held believe that I wasn't healthy enough, adventurous enough, or competitive enough to accomplish any such thing - let alone in flip flops. I love being wrong about me.
Remaking the Thank You Room
This summer, I finished I book.
Just kidding! This summer I'm about four chapters from finishing the current draft of my novel-in-progress, I'm totally starting to believe in it again, and so it was imperative that I procrastinate. I did it thus: updating the old book!
On Mondays, I'm a Writer
I may have mentioned, but I am all here for all the new year hype.
Over the years, I've done it all. I've made goals (finish the novel in 2018! Nope). I've listed new habits I planned to adopt in order to reach the goals (face the page every day). I've chosen one word. I've chosen three words. This year, I did a worksheet that leads you to your "true north" (i.e., your most important values), which brought me to 5 words.
How to Save the World from your Unchanging Personality
My mother tells a story about a woman with a toddler. After any errant behavior, the young mother would take the child's hand and say to the affected audience: "We're working on this."
Welcome to all of us.
The Other Side of Disappointment
Eight years ago, I wrote on this blog, "I have a little idea for a novel budding in my head," and that novel is still in manuscript-form on this very computer, resting, rarely opened lately, and otherwise simmering away so that when I face it again I can put it into shape with fresh eyes. I write things wrong before I get them right, apparently it's just a thing I do.
That Stage Though
They all say it: I've worked so hard for this, I've dreamed of this since I was six years old, last year I watched this show from a bar across the street.... (that last one belonged to Maren Morris at the CMAs this year, not to an Oscar winner, but the sentiment is the same). I watch them say it from the couch in my pajamas, and I raise a glass, because I hear ya, sister friend. There are way more bars across the street than there is room on that stage.
Where to Find a Hero
Sometimes I need only two things in life: stories, and my children to unveil the life truths within them. See this post in which my oldest is less than 5 and teaches me the journey actually is the destination. Or this post about how bad guys have the best stuff, but good guys win. And now this gem of a conversation from Jake, who's ten very grown up years but still with all the life-delight of a child.
The Bright Side
Sometimes I think we focus too much on what we have to give up in order to make things happen. If a writer says they don't have time to write, you might tell them to give up Netflix or having a life. But once I had my routine in place - do this much every night - it became about what I would do each day, not what I wouldn't.
How I Saw It
Alicia Vikander in Belle-inspired yellow by Louis Vuitton. That was my favorite dress of Oscar night - so much that I don't even have a second.Oscar night is my favorite.
2016 Insights Into My Soul - Thus Far
One of my random New Year suggestions for myself is to apply these words from Tom Clancy, "The only way to do everything you'd like to do is to read." Tidying, the portfolio life, and pretending I'm in movies? It's been an awesome reading year so far.
Happy New Year - Happy Golden Globes
Happy New Year!I know. We are almost halfway through month one, and I am only just now wishing you a happy year.I love a new year. You know this, if you’ve ever read a Serenity Now December/January blog post. I jump all in with the whole new year vibe.
How to Measure Enough
Let's get right to the switch for this bait: I have no idea how to measure enough.I have a picture in my head of what enough looks like for me. It is very pretty. It has to do with totally liking my day - that's pretty much it.
What Do You Really Want?
Do we really want money - just piles of dollars and cents? Or do we want the money for something we can get another way?
Confessions of an Occasional Introvert
I used to be an extrovert. Audacious, someone told me once. And they said it like this, "You used to be."