March Madness

Let the wild rumpus begin! Isn't that a great opening line for anything?  Thank you so much to the late Maurice Sendak for those wonderful words!

Indeed March will be a time of wild rumpusness!  It is a word, because I just typed it! :)  This is the month that I begin on the road to physical fitness.  Oh the journey continues!

In January I decided that in order to be the new me, I had to change.  I had to change my way of thinking.  I had to learn to let go and move forward.  Like I tell my girls, onward and upward!  I know that I can't be the best me I want to be if I am stuck in the same old patterns.  So off I went.

I signed up for two 5k races in May.  One of them is a run memorializing a young lady from my hometown who was tragically killed by a drunk driver just up the road from my house.  If you feel inclined and are near Independence come join the LBRun at Blue River Community College Campus.  The other is sponsored by the city of Independence and it is the at Waterfall Park-isn't that a beautiful name, anyway I digress.

So for March, and in the hope that spring will show up eventually, I am beginning to the physical training part of the new me! My eventual goal isn't to be a size zero---it is to be feel fabulous after I walk up two flights of stairs instead of feeling like I want to take a nap!

I am growing my wings---I will soar eventually! Wish me luck!  Any of you physically more fit friends have any advice?  Let me know! I am such a beginner at this fitness stuff!

I have been officially back in school since June 2011. I have earned more gray hairs, more wrinkles and more knowledge than ever! Right now I am struggling, like I have ever semester since I started, with the tug between perfection and progression. You see, I have made straight A's in my endeavors thus far and that is something that I am extremely proud of. Sometimes though I feel I put too much pressure on myself, and in turn of transference, on those around me, to be perfect. I have been really thinking about my drive for perfection and where it originates from.

 There is a drive in me to prove to myself that I am good enough. Good enough to be a mom, a student, a wife, a person. I feel a need to show all of those mean people of my younger days and those mean people of my present days that I am a great person.

 Why do I feel this drive? I think it is because I care. I care about mean people gaining so much from this world, while nice people tend to get trampled and walked upon. I care about mean people feeling they have a right to make others feel bad to make themselves feel better, not caring whom they have hurt. I care about mean people making this world a hurtful place. My conclusion? I need to quit caring.

 Not really. However, I do need to change what I care about. I can longer give an ounce of care to those people who feel a need to be snippy, allow people to hurt others, walk on other people's feelings and to laugh and smile at others pains.

 My focus needs to be on caring about those people who smile when they walk by you, even if they don't know you. I need to care about those people who will lend you a quarter at the vending machine when they see you rifling through your change to find one. I need to care about people who will ask you if you are okay when they see the light isn't there in your eyes.

 I need to care for those who care.

Favorites

I have often been asked what my favorite genre to read is, my favorite genre to write, who my favorite author is.......and my answer to all of these and those like them is I don't have one. Seriously. I don't have a favorite author. I don't have a favorite type to read or write. I love to read and write, period.

I love to read nearly everything. Last week I finished Andy Taylor's (of Duran Duran fame (insert girly giggle here) autobiography, Wild Boy, and it was such a fun read I finished it in a day. I love learning things about people I never knew before.

Right now I am finishing up Need, by Carrie Jones and yes I will continue reading the series because it to is a great fun read that captured my attention and imagination. On my list next to read is a biography on the great feminist/community activist Jane Addams. I am excited and hopeful that I can learn more about her.

I am always open to going to the library and picking up a book without knowing anything about it. Sometimes you get a dud, and sometimes you get an OMGoodness, What Have I Been Missing, moment. I live for those moments. They are like finding a dollar in the pocket of your winter coat when you put it on for the first time of the season.

I am also open to suggestions from people I know about great reads. So anyone have some suggestions for my book list? Yes, I know, I am a nerd, I do actually keep a list of to read and have read........I'll just walk away right now.....

Happy Reading!

A New Year, Beginning Yet Again

Some really smart person once said, "It isn't how many times you fall down, it's how many times you get back up."

This describes me perfectly. I fall down, a lot. No really, like a lot. I fall down physically a lot. I can trip over my feet, air, smooth concrete, well, you name it. I fall down mentally a lot. I obsess over small insignificant things, turning them over and over until I finally drive myself half crazy. Then I forget what I was worrying over. I fall down professionally. A lot.

In June, after receiving a negative critique and then never receiving a promised critique over my WIP I quit writing. I shelved it and decided to return to school. Something else that I had shelved. While I write in my classes, a lot, I knew I was missing something. I couldn't put my finger on it.

After my fall finals were over and I had time on my hands I was bored and a bit antsy. I didn't know what to do with myself. I couldn't decide what the problem was. Then I found it. I was daydreaming, which I do a lot, and a great story came into my brain. I could see the characters, the plot, and well, everything. I wrote it down in a very rough outline. I sat back and it was my Oprah A-HA moment. I had been missing my creative writing. I missed it a lot.

So guess who's back? I am not writing to be published, although that would be really nice. I am writing as an outlet for my creativity, my daydreams, my thoughts, my feelings and my experiences. I am writing because that's what I am. I am a writer.

Let the Reading Season Begin!

So as I tie shoes, sign papers, make lunches and send my daughters off to school with a kiss and an I LOVE YOU, I begin to switch back into my reading mode. My mind starts making lists that my fingers have to write down about which books I want to read. Back to school time is the kickoff season for our family to start really reading again.

Summer is great. There is so much to do and my soul yearns to be outside enjoying the fresh air and warm sun. My family is constantly on the go, enjoying trips to amusement parks, water parks, the zoo, walks on trails and anything else that gets us out of the house. Summer is release for us Missourians. Most of our winters are long affairs with bitter cold and various types of wet cold precipitation. So when the warm winds come and the sun stays around longer we embrace it with a passion.

Then school starts and we start getting into a more academic mode. This means reading, writing and critical thinking of various types. Our minds start wandering to books, libraries and bookstores. We begin discussing books we want to read and need to read. My husband looks forward to kickoff time for the NFL and his daughters and wife looks forward to quiet Sundays, curled under the warm blankets reading a enthralling book.

So this book season I have two main goals. The first goal is to read all the Mark Twain and Truman Reader nominee books. These lists are read by my two older children as well. I have been pleasantly surprised by some books on both of these lists in the past so I cannot wait to see what I'm in store for this year. I will post the list of nominee books at the end of this post.

My second goal is one I plan on writing more about in the near future. I am on a mission to discover the very best Post-Apocalypse/End of Earth type of book for both adults and young adults. I must admit this has been a while in the making. I have been wanting to do this for a while now, but those sneaky vampires and weres just got a hold of me and wouldn't let go. While I still love them both, I'm feeling a need to be prepared for 2012-so I must read about the end of earth as I now it. Of course getting addicted to TNT's new show Falling Skies didn't help in this need. It only made it worse.

So any suggestions for me? I would love to hear them!

Mark Twain Award 2011-2012 Nominees:

The Potato Chip Puzzles by Eric Berlin
Secret of Zoom by Lynne Jonell
Runaway Twin by Peg Kehret
Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur
Million Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica
11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass
Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z by Kate Messner
Faith, Hope and Ivy June by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heart of a Shepherd by Rosanne Parry
Captain Nobody by Dean Pitchford
Storm Chaser by Chris Platt
Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta

Truman Reader Award 2011-2012 Nominees:

Invisible Lines by Mary Amato
Double Eagle by Snead B. Collard III
If the Witness Lied by Caroline Cooney
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Adventurers Wanted: Slathbog's Gold by M.L. Forman
The Shifter by Janice Hardy
The Cupcake Queen by Heather Hepler
The Last Thing I Remember by Andrew Klavan
Pop by Gordon Korman
Jane in Bloom by Deborah Lytton
The Farwalker's Quest by Joni Sensel
Bull Rider by Suzanne Morgan Williams

Writers write!!

Writers write. I have read this repeatedly from published authors, respected editors, and professors. They observe and they put those observations on paper.

So I took a break and now.....I write. I write daily. I write in a observation journal, a personal journal, essays for school and for fun. I write notes to my children. I write recipes in a notebook. I simply write.

Today I was watching my daughter at her cheer practice and I had to open my calendar to jot down an idea that occurred to me. Yeah! I am back to being inspired and not caring what anyone else thinks of my writing.

I am writing to learn. I am writing to get better. I am writing to enjoy myself. I am writing to release my creativity.

There is no secret to writing. There is just repetition and learning from your previous writing. If you open yourself to that learning your writing improves.

So once again I am writing. I am already feeling better.

So many changes!

So like the weather in Missouri, I am constantly changing. I change my hair, re-arrange my furniture, paint walls and even the outside of the house constantly. Always in search of the next thing to capture my interest. This change though has been stupendous!

I decided, at nearly 40, to go back to school and pursue a degree or two. Yes I said or two. I am thinking of double majoring in English and History. I am thus far having so much fun and learning so many things! I've discovered that I am pretty good at this school thing.

The other thing I've discovered is that I am good at writing. I've always loved writing fiction, but now I am also enjoying writing essays. I don't always like the subject but I love the writing process.

I am discovering how to write effectively. Writing strategies are making the process so much easier. Fiction is no harder or easier than scholarly writing but can be approached similarly.

I never stopped writing fiction. I did however begin to question myself and the worst thing of all, I began to listen to all those people who were negative about my writing. I slowed down and re-evaluated. During the reflection I learned one thing. I love to write. So write I will.