Word Flirts

I Wrote Something...

2008-02-02T02:49:00.000-05:00

Something more than my name which I seem to forget half the time lately anyway that is :o).

I know I've been absent for some time. Those who have visited my personal blog may have read that I gave myself permission to take a break a little while ago because pregnancy is a greater distraction than I had anticipated. :o) But breaks are hard for someone who started writing because she couldn't shut up the stories in her head to begin with.

Today my lovely cp, Nicole, made a comment to me. She said she was taking a break from her wip and as a form of catharsis she was going to write something just for herself. Something she had no intent of trying to publish or angled for an audience or that possibly didn't even have proper structure, but just something she wanted to write. She may not even finish it. Maybe I'm not supposed to share all of that, but it struck me and it struck me hard. I thought... that is BRILLIANT!

Writing has been nill for me in recent months. Absolutely nill. I can barely remember when I last ate or what my to-do list is (which is written down by the way, but what's the point if you forget where you put it?). I've heard of baby brain, but this is nuts.

I figure my inability to string more than two coherent thoughts together have had a lot to do with my reluctance to write. Tomorrow I won't even remember if it's a comedy or drama. :o)

I have also discovered that the hormones of pregnancy dig up lots of emotions and sometimes I'm too overwhelmed by all that is in the present to deal with removing myself from reality for a moment. But Lord knows I enjoy those escapes from reality, even during happy times. And I have missed writing so much.

So tonight I did it... I wrote just for me. It may never be properly formatted for submission, I may forget it tomorrow, it probably will never see a visit to the usps to be shipped off to editors or agents, but it sure as heck has made me happy. Really happy. So thank you, Nicole!

Have you ever tried that? Just writing for you, not for anyone else?

I also want to send out a BIG congrats to fellow Flirt, Sarah. Check out her news here.

April

Lucky

2008-01-06T19:07:00.000-05:00

I am one lucky woman.

It didn't hit home until recently when a writer friend of mine was frustrated because of the lack of support at home. Since day one, my husband has been behind me one hundred percent, never once saying you gotta go get a job (even though we needed me too) or telling me to put it aside because there were more important things to do.

Example: This morning I actually freaked my husband out as we lay in bed because a scene came to me so suddenlly and clearly that I gasped and sat up, reaching for my notepad beside the bed. He was all like "what's wrong" until he heard the papers shuffle. Then he punched his pillow and muttered 'writers' like it was a bad word LOL....I just laughed harder because it wasn't just funny, but it was just another little sign that he fully supported me in my dreams, even if they drove him crazy sometimes.

And now, there is a chance I might get into illustrating and again, he is there for me, no question.

Thanks sweetheart, I love you!

Just had to post this.

I'm Going to try....

2007-12-26T18:42:00.000-05:00

I figure with enough years proving that setting a New Year's resolution doesn't necessarily mean it's going to happen that I'm not going to promise myself anything this year....that way I won't be depressed when I don't follow through.

No, this year, my New Year's Resolutions involve TRYING....

I'm going to try to be better at keeping up with blogging and promotion this year

I'm going to try to up my exercising so that I can continue to progress at my weightloss (I've been doing Weight Watchers and have lost 22lbs so far!!)

I'm going to try to keep to a writing schedual and get the projects I've been really wanting to do done

I'm going to try to give myself a break and take a bit more time to stop and smell the roses rather than clinging to the thorns life casts

What about you? What are you going to TRY to accomplish in 2008?

glitter-graphics.com

GH Entry

2007-12-04T22:28:00.000-05:00

I am the world's worst procrastinator... or is that the world's best procrastinator?

Fortunately, I'd already paid for my GH entry, and that forced me to get it printed out and sent on Monday, December 3rd, last day to enter.

I could be a Mastercard commercial with how much it cost me, overall:

Entry Fee in November -- $50
Printing 6 copies of 52 pages at Kinkos (partial + synopsis) -- $25
CD to burn the full ms -- $5
** 4 hr courier to the GH office at the last minute, because it's in my city -- $29.50

Total -- $109.50
Relief to be done with it -- Priceless

Yikes. Good thing it's all spread out so DH doesn't notice... lol

What's the most expensive contest you've entered? Do you always curse yourself for paying twice as much in shipping at the final hour?

Happy Short Work Week!

2007-11-19T10:06:00.000-05:00

Who’s ready for Thanksgiving?
Is it just me, or did it get here sooner this year? Fortunately, I’ve been so busy at work, I haven’t had time to get stressed about the upcoming Holidays. (You know it’s bad when I say I’m *fortunate* to be busy at work.) Holidays to me, for my married life of 10 years, don’t mean “family togetherness” they mean “family tension.”
Anyway, that’s a whole other post, which you’ve probably heard from me before. ;)

We'll be spending 3+ days at my mom's house, hosting both sides of the family on 2 different days, which means intensive cleaning in between, dh will be studying for finals... I can feel the joy already... sigh.

What are you doing for Thanksgiving? Are you into the frantic Holiday spirit of cleaning and cooking and preparing?

What are you thankful for?
I’m thankful for the short work week (now, that sounds more like it… ;) ), and for my beautiful sweet girls. And for my husband being so close to law school graduation that we can taste it. :)

Incredible Read

2007-11-13T16:46:00.001-05:00

Research. Do you like it? Sometimes I do. Sometimes I think... its just part of the deal of writing, do it and move on. One of the stories I'm working on has a military element to it. I've been learning tons. You'd think with grandparents, a dad, tons of friends and a husband all in the military I'd KNOW a lot. I don't. I thought I did. I have since come to realize this is just one of those things you only truly know if you've experienced it. But that is getting sidetracked. I've found some wonderful resources and people who can personally answer my questions. =)

That having been said, I went to the library the other day on a recommendation and picked up a couple of books not expecting to 'love' anything I read. Expecting to find things interesting... yes. But it was research. Work. Something needing to be done so I could get to the next step - the fun step - the writing. =)

Therefore when I started reading one of the books and found I couldn't put it down... I was shocked and delighted and couldn't wait to tell everyone out there to go get this book and read it! I would like to mention also, I don't usually read military based books. And this was an autobiography of sorts on top of that. Another thing not on my normal list. Not that I don't like them, but usually their so serious and I usually am reading to escape... and well, you get the idea.

The book that I read was Shooter by Gunnery Sgt. Jack Coughlin, USMC, and Capt. Casey Kuhlman, USMCR, with Donald A. Davis. The Autobiography of the Top-Ranked Marine Sniper.

This book was something else. I've tried several times to write out some description of it but the truth is, its just a good book. Some parts made me laugh. Other parts made me sad. Some made me proud to be a part of this country - the one he fought for. Others made me truly understand what a conflict it is to be a warrior. We idolize true warriors and for good reason - they are willing to give up everything to save our lives. We need true warriors. But we must remember the cost to them.

If you have a chance to get this book, I definitely recommend you read it.

And since I'm going to be gone over the next week of Thanksgiving -- For all those celebrating Thanksgiving... Have a good one! =)

Cole

Oh, the insanity!

2007-10-28T20:44:00.000-04:00

So my characters have decided to gang up on me... when I'm sleeping. Apparently, they are not satisfied with my recent progress, or lack thereof and have decided the only way to get me on the ball is to keep me from sleeping until I get to writing all I can. So, my ms is open on my laptop and as soon as this post is finished, I'm heading to it.

I'm kind of excited because I'm at a very momentous part of the story... And the first big love scene is not too far off... Hmm, maybe THAT is why they're being so pushy!

At the same time, my cp has been so supportive of me and everything that has been going on. Without her cheering me on, there are times I would have thought maybe I just needed to give up on writing all together for the time being. But she was there inspiring me and encouraging me, and it's proven just what a blessing a great cp really is. So thank you, Cole!

Let's just pray I get enough written tonight to satisfy my characters so maybe, just maybe I'll get a restful night's sleep.

Where's the craziest place your characters have chosen to bug you?

April

Getting Organized

2007-10-23T07:26:00.001-04:00

Just had to share -- about three weeks ago I decided... That's it! I'm writing my goals down in BIG notices so that my family can SEE what it is that I'm doing.

The concept to them that I worked for 2 hours before they even got up and still can't send anything in... escapes them. I love them dearly... but they simply don't understand. So I thought... I'll let them follow my progress.

Now of course this also opens me up to more unasked for 'thoughts'. But I'm using them as a learning curve for when the day does come and I get it from people I don't even know asking those questions you just can't begin to believe they had the balls to ask.

But the thing I wanted to share was, I absolutely love this! I never thought I would. Yes, things change, goals change and so forth. No different then my outlines/ideas for my stories as I write. Some days I can make a great big YAY!!!! next to a goal and other days it looks something like... ummm, had to redo 10 pages... starting over so yes, I know that two lines above said I was at page 20, I'm now at page 10... and its all out there for the world to see(I don't erase it right away - gives me time to... enjoy every little accomplishment)

I did buy the board for one reason(which by the way seems to still have escaped their understanding) but found I love it for a whole 'nother reason! Such a little thing... yet sooo very satisfying.

Have you done anything lately that helped your writing in unexpected ways?

Cole

Back to Blogging

2007-10-20T00:21:00.000-04:00

Hopefully, that will be me in the next couple of weeks. (I'm cross-posting this from my blog...)

I'm signing off of Gather in the next few days... finishing up a few loose ends with "articles" I've written over there.

It's just too much. That contest took so much of my time, and while the site is fun, it's not adding much to my life beyond some addictive entertainment at this point! lol

I've officially paid my money for my Golden Heart entry!! That means, time to whip this ms into shape once and for all. My new motto:

82k by Dec 3rd or Bust

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Couldn't be any worse than my week at work, so I'm looking forward to a morning of sleeping in and cleaning (dh is taking the girls to a b-day party). :)

See you around soon!

Healthy thoughts...

2007-10-09T05:39:00.000-04:00

Here's a cool idea for anyone else out there trying to get healthy -- PEERtrainer. I got the idea from Shelli Stevens and am loving it! I've been doing South Beach but I really do better at most things if I'm not alone... this site is FREE and combines small groups, logs, ideas ect... to help you maintain your new life style!

Already I've had many times that I've almost gave into temptation but was halted by the knowledge that I would be then reporting my slip up to my friends. I mean its one thing to lie to ones self... quite another to a friend...

If you have a chance, check this site out! Its really awesome! Or if you have more questions, drop me a line. nicole @ nicolereising.com

Cole

Pick a Word...

2007-10-07T08:40:00.000-04:00

....any word!

LOL I sound like a seedy nightclub magician. But seriously, pick any word you like, any at all....then build a whole paragraph around that word.

You see, I was a bit stalled the other day but for some strange reason found the actual movement of typing interesting. Yeah, procrastination at its finest LOL. I always loved typing in school and the sound of the different keyboards etc. So I started just goofing off and typing what came to my head. I picked a funny word then played and played for about ten minutes. I forgot what it was like to simply play around with words instead of trying to find the exact one.

Anyway, it lightened my mood and two chapters later, I was pretty proud of myself.

So, my encouragement for everyone today is just to play....play with your keyboard, play with a word, whatever. Remember the fun writing can be and then the words will flow again.

2007-10-02T20:00:00.000-04:00

The light! I see the light! he he he just kidding. But I have been busy with edits etc which is why I've been quieter than I want to be....I miss all you gals!

How buried do you get in your stories? Do you get points where it's all consuming? I do, and it's an effort to shove it to the side for more important things sometimes. Like now when I'm dealing with three very different and hunky cowboys that keep distracting me from important things like laundry and housework he he he. Worse now that the kids are occupied with school. Writing keeps my mind off missing them during the days too.

Golden Colorado

2007-09-29T19:10:00.000-04:00

I'm calling it Golden Colorado for several reasons... first, I LOVE Denver, Colorado and the mountains. LOVE it. As soon as I step off the plane, the air feels different, the open land calls to me, the mountains beg for me to come and see, to be outdoors. Nothing about Houston is majestic (except our amount of concrete), and I'm certainly NOT motivated to get outdoors in the humidity and mosquitos!

We also spent the first night of our trip in the town called Golden, Colorado. I picked it, because it was near Red Rocks Park, and it's a nice, small town with a lot of history. It's named after a man named Mr. Golden, but it was made more famous by the Coors brewery headquarters. :) Colorado is beer country, I think.

So, Red Rocks Park is an amazing place (that's dh posing) -- the start of our sight-seeing. It's a natural amphitheatre, created by red sandstone rocks which were tilted up out of the ground in a great mountain-building event... part of the events that created the Rocky Mountains.

Here's a picture of a model, and then the amphitheatre itself looking down at the stage. All the great names have played here -- and they have a list of artists dating back to, I believe, 1905.

From Red Rocks, we took a scenic tour up to Estes Park, Colorado through the foothills... and I mean VERY scenic, ending up climbing a narrow, unpaved road to Central City...

Lots of remnants of old mining operations to be found all over this area. At one point, the road was so isolated, we even got freaked out -- dh said something about the movie "The Hills Have Eyes." Fortunately, I've never seen it. :)

We made it to Rocky Mountain National Park the next day... here is a "golden" flower... I should probably look up the real name of it... but I just took it as the requisite "close up of a flower" shot that always ends up in my family's albums courtesy of my dad!! lol

It's elk season right now, so we got to see a herd at the park first thing. The studly male with antlers and his throng of women. Dh and I shared a few laughs over that.

We took yet another SCENIC road, called Old Falls Road, through the park. It took about 2 hours to drive 9 miles on the winding narrow road... of course, we had to stop occasionally for sights like this. Chasm Falls.

When we reached the top, we were at 11,800 feet -- above the tree line. It was 51 degrees and windy. We learned about the "Alpine Tundra." Each continent on earth has a tundra... it's called "Alpine" tundra when the cold, harsh conditions are due to extreme elevation. Polar or "Arctic" tundra is due to being very far North (or, I guess, South, too).

Tundra vistas. And I believe there's a big-horn sheep or two in the picture, along with pockets of snow/ice.

I'll break down and include a pic of me, up at the high elevation. I was extremely UN-photogenic for this entire trip.

Finally, my trip to Colorado earned the title of "golden" due to the gold leaves on the Aspens. Simply breath-taking. Here's my favorite picture:

Taken from a moving car window, looking back up the mountainside -- I was stunned by the performance of my crappy digital camera that can't take a pic inside my house to save its life.

And a few more...(I had way too many to share them all)

I hope you've enjoyed the trip with me! It was a great 10th wedding anniversary!
Ignore the time-stamp on the pictures... I'm not sure why they are saying August, when we just went last weekend. I've decided I need to come up with a reason to go to Denver every September to see the mountains. And the golden Aspens...

Bad Blogger...

2007-09-21T22:23:00.000-04:00

That's me. In fact I'm a VERY bad blogger lately. Things just seem to explode and all of a sudden I've been zipped through a time warp and several weeks have passed. Several weeks which leave me wondering... What happened!?!

I've noticed this is a cyclic issue for me. It happens every 2-3 weeks. Which is way too often. I miss out on great info, my writing suffers, and I MISS my fellow bloggers. I had no idea how much you all meant to me until it'd been a couple of weeks since I'd checked in.

So I've decided that I will check in with everyone at least once per week. Even if it's a rush job and I don't have time to leave a comment, I'll at least get to check up and see how everyone is doing.

In the mean time, I think I'm going to cash in on dh's birthday present to me and go race car driving next week. Woo Hoo!! Family and friends can go watch and Dh is planning to bring his camera so hopefully I'll have some pics to post. I'm so excited! My mother is going so she can be there if I crash. Way to think positive! Dh is going to have a very sparse Christmas is my mother has anything to say about it ;o)

Do you think the flag guy wears these undies?

So am I the only bad blogger? How do you combat the time and craziness issues?

April

Popping in for an update...

2007-09-19T23:42:00.000-04:00

Oh, so this is what daylight looks like!! :) Coming out of my cave to give an update, come check out my blog for the full details on the Gather voting...

Last Weekend!

2007-09-15T12:11:00.000-04:00

It's the last weekend of first round voting at the Gather first chapters contest!! :)

If you haven't been over there yet, I'd love it if you could take a second and join:

And then vote for me (only 10 stars count to advance to the next round):

Beauty and the Geek

Sorry I've been so absent on Blogger... I'm hoping my life will get somewhat back to normal next week!

But, I also get to be in DENVER all week!! Woohoo!! It's four days of software training (gah), but hey, I'm not in my office, free hotel, free food... AND since it's my 10th wedding anniversary, my husband is flying up on Thursday evening!

We're going to spend the weekend at a B&B and then at a lodge/hotel up high in the Mountains!! Aaaahhh, can't wait! This will be the first trip we've planned and taken, just the two of us, since a weekend back when the girls were a few months old... and they're FIVE now!! :)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Tis the Season!

2007-09-09T22:33:00.000-04:00

Well, not that season. Not yet, anyway. But the fall TELEVISION season is fast approaching! As is the many stages of my guilt. It goes something like this:
1. Excitement. My favorite shows are returning! New shows are coming online! The possibilities are endless!
2. Fear. How will I fit it all in? When will I write? Clean? Eat?
3. Love. My shows are amazing. My taste in television is truly refined and sophisticated. I'm a better person due to my TV habits.
4. Denial. I did NOT just watch 20 hours of television in one week. Really.
5. Prioritization. I miss my WIP. I need to break this vicious cycle.
6. Relief. Validation. I gave up my shows. I did it!

Seriously, this year will be tougher than usual. I'm already hooked on the Biggest Loser. Survivor and the Bachelor are givens. How I Met your Mother is also a given. And I'm really intrigued by the new Bionic Woman. There's four and a half hours already! I'm still on the fence with Heroes and Ghost Whisperer.

What are you all watching this season? Anything new, or sticking with the oldies?

Live Chat with me!

2007-09-05T17:37:00.001-04:00

Coming out of my Gather cave to invite you to Gather.com for a live chat on Family-Life-Career Balance... It's called "Girls Night Out," so it should be a lighthearted chat -- laughing and sharing with women in our same situations. 8pm central -- bring your friends. :)

Girls Night Out chat!

I'm really excited about this -- I feel honored that they chose me to hostess and hope to draw more readers from the site to my Romance Contest Entry in the process.

The more people I invite, the bigger my "gift basket," too. ;)

Thanks!!

A One, and a Two, and a Three...

2007-08-29T08:21:00.001-04:00

Today I want to find out a bit about writing styles. The question popped up at a chat the other week and it got me to thinking that I've finally got a 'routine' for writing. Not the actual writing per se but for the process that the stories go through before I submit./

For me, I would have to say there are four stages:

FIRST: The rough just-get-the-damn-story-on-the-paper draft. This is the hardest for me because even though my brain knows it will all come out right by the time I submit it, my brain also wants it perfect the first time. Most of this draft is with me telling myself to 'just write' and worry about the detaily details later.

SECOND: This is the draft where everything gets put in the right order. In the first draft I leave myself tones of notes throughout. Things like ((oh, go back up and make sure he sees this when she gets out of the car)) type things. So the second draft is getting everything coherent and in the right order. Sometimes I let my critique partners see it after this draft and sometimes I wait for the next.

THIRD: This is one of my favorite drafts because I go bit by bit and really try to pull the emotions or tweak the actions so they read as they look in my head--if that makes any sense LOL. It's where just the right words seem to be waiting and finally let me know what they are. I often find little things that I didn't even realize then play on them throughout as I fine tune everything. This is also where my crit partners get to tear it apart after I've finished LOL

FOURTH: This is the final step, the one where I work in my crit partners suggestions then printi it out and look for fluidity and typoes. I would say this step might have another two sub-steps because I like to print it out once after I do the crit work on it, then I add my little fixes to it and then I print it out once more for typos, grammar etc. I find errors better when I have a hard copy than on the computer myself.

So, there's my process, my writing habit that I think may have even started presenting itself over six months ago but has worked great since then for me.

What is your writing style?

Entries are up for voting!!

2007-08-27T02:19:00.000-04:00

AFTER NOON today at Gather.com!! (Cross posting this from my blog...)

Thanks for the well-wishes so far. Here is a link to my contest entry. 15 out of the 25 finalists will be decided by "popular vote" so I'd love it if you could come vote for me!!

Beauty and the Geek

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977091390

Only a vote of "10" counts for making the next round, so if you can find it in your heart to rate me a 10, I'd appreciate it! :)
(It's a great way to run the scoring, too. It's all all or nothing vote, no room for sabotage. :))

If you're entering the contest -- send me your link, or post it here in the comments, and I'll be sure to vote for you! Thanks!

It's Hot...

2007-08-22T22:51:00.000-04:00

I wish I was talking about the latest scene I wrote. But since I haven't written a scene in a week and a half, that's not the case. Or I wish I was talking about some hero inspiration. That's always terrific! But no, that's not the case...

I'm talking about the most boring subject on earth... The weather. Only lately for me, it hasn't been boring. It's been down right opressive. And THAT is why I felt compelled to post this post.

We've had 14 days now in August with 100+ temps. And I know we're not alone in this. But since we've broken record after record, it's been a little startling. The heat index the other day got to 118. I told my dear hubby he was going to look over at me one day soon and all he'd find is a pile of dust left by my spontaneous combustion.

You see, the medicine I'm on right now causes me to have hot flashes. So sometimes my personal heat index gets well above that of the day. I had a hot flash in Walmart yesterday... It was NOT pretty.

So I'm praying for rain. Lots of it. Maybe some of that rain the poor people dealing with flooding are getting will come our way and the sunlight we're experiencing will head their way. It's to the point I even pray for a tropical system. Nothing major. Maybe a tropical depression or light tropical storm.... Anything.

Since I work mostly outside, it's been quite difficult and by the time I get home all I want is a cold shower and bed. So writing has been nil.

How about you guys? The weather effect your writing?

April

MIA

2007-08-21T09:32:00.000-04:00

I haven’t been around much this past week, and it’s all because of Gather.com. Anyone heard of it before?

I hadn’t until I looked into the First Chapters Romance Contest being sponsored by Pocket. It’s an online contest to post your first chapter to be read by voters AND by editors.
25 “finalists” are picked to then submit their second chapter for another round of voting. The good part is that the finalists are picked half by voters and half by editors…

It’s basically a free way to get your work read by an editor.

Out of those 25, they choose 5 finalists, and those top 5 get their FULL ms read by a panel of editors and booksellers from Borders.

You need a completed ms less than 100,000 words, and that’s it. :)

So, since popular vote is involved, I’ve been trying to network at Gather.com -- adding “friend” connections, and I even started a group called “Romance Contest Addicts”, because this is going to be like the Avon contest for me… hitting “refresh” every 5 seconds to see if someone new has voted or commented! :)

Come over and check it out. Even if you don’t want to enter, I’d LOVE it if you come vote for me next week. You’ll have to register at Gather.com.

Here is a link with an invite to Gather from me. When I get 5 people to sign up, I get a $20 Borders gift certificate that I’ll be donating to my RWA chapter as a give away.

http://www.gather.com/inviteLanding.jsp?parentMemberId=404277&tc=11

Hope to see you there! :)

Procrastination at its finest

2007-08-19T20:08:00.000-04:00

A topic very near and dear to my heart. Why this topic, on this day, you ask? Well, let me tell you how I spent the last couple of hours:

IRONING.

That's right. I spent the last two hours ironing clothes that have been collecting dust in my closet because I refuse to wear them wrinkled. Five pairs of pants, one skirt, three white blouses, one blue blouse and a handful of regular tops. Whew. Actually, I'm rather impressed I got it all done in two hours.

Here's my problem: I hate ironing. Hate it hate it hate it. And I try to buy clothes that don't need ironing, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way, ya know? So, last weekend I bought a necklace that I really wanted to wear, tried it on with this blue shirt and it looked stupid. And I realized, this necklace can only be worn with a blouse. But, all my blouses are wrinkled and have been for months. What to do???

I struggled with this all weekend and finally realized if I ironed all my clothes, I'd have a whole bunch of "new" stuff to wear and it'd almost like going shopping, right? Well, that's the idea, anyway. I'll let you know how it goes.

It's sad, though. If I simply ironed things as I wore them, I'd only have to do one or two items of clothing per week and it would take me five minutes.

How does procrastination manifest itself in your life? And don't say "writing" --That's BAD!!!

Creativity Burst

2007-08-16T20:51:00.001-04:00

I've been having fun working up some new promo items, getting creative and the whole bit. The funny thing is, I've been in a bit of a writing slump for the past couple weeks after finishing my Christmas story. I thought my creativity muted until I let it out in another way.

But suddenly, this evening, I realized that the creativity in my art has overflowed into my writing. For the past few days I've been scribbling scenes and tons of notes in a notebook. The story is all there now and simply needs to be written. I've been so hyped everytime I got a new idea that this, in turn, fuelled my artwork too. It's been like this big rainbow of creativity going back and forth and really pumping things up.

So, the simple lesson I learned this week is that creativity begets creativity and next time I'm in a writing slump, instead of beating myself up about it, I'll turn to another form of creativity be it painting, crochet, sketching, dancing, or whatever--simply something else that pumps me up with the creative joy.

Thanks, just had to share.

glitter-graphics.com

I've got news for you.

2007-08-13T08:39:00.000-04:00

Good morning everyone!

I don’t know about everyone else but I love having my kids home during the summer and we have a short break here. Or at least in my opinion its short. They start the 21st of this month. I’m just now starting to feel like we’re getting to sit back and relax as one is supposed to do in the summer time. But I tell you this only because with the days whittling away quickly we of course are continuously getting asked, “Are you looking forward to school starting?” And for my family it is always a resounding, ‘No.’ But the other day it wasn’t. I had just asked my oldest to start helping with the everyday cleanup. (We have this routine where I don’t usually make them keep everything neat and orderly throughout the day, but this means come the early evening hours they have cleanup time.)

oldest: “You know, I am going to be looking forward to going back to school.”

me: (shocked, I stop and actually look at him) “You are?” (and I’m thinking…ok this is a good thing… I mean at least he’s not hating the idea)

oldest:”Yeah, because then I won’t have to cleanup every evening.”

me: (ahhhhh, now I see. turning, chuckling I break the news to him) “If you make the mess, you will be.” (it is amazing how much ‘mess’ a kid can make from 5:30AM to 8:00AM)

oldest: (his turn at shock) “But I thought with you home all day you could do it?”

me: (adopting that innocent look) “What? You think I’m you’re personal maid?”

oldest: (wrinkles his nose, shifts, grins) “Well, not exactly personal but…”

me: (glowering… but inside laughing… he was sooooo going to regret that comment ) “You are old enough to clean up after yourself. If you would just put things away directly after you use them you wouldn’t have to have a ‘cleanup time’. (I turn back to working tossing over my shoulder) “And for that last comment… I think you can start your ‘cleanup time’ in the kitchen doing dishes.”

oldest: “What?”

me: (not even trying to hide my humor now) “Sorry to break the news to you kid but you’ve got things backwards. I’m not the personal maid slash slave here… that’s why I had you.”

Have a great week everyone!

Cole