I think of books out there like A Child Called It or Go Ask Alice and how either the person who wrote it, how'd they do it knowing family secrets would be revealed or how did the person who allowed Alice's journal to be published how they felt about revealing all this girl's most private thoughts when she was alive. They probably did it for the same reason as I'm telling Mari's story that by sharing their most intimate details of what happened in that person's life that somehow maybe they might … [Read more...]
Embracing Failure
"So go ahead. Fall down. The world looks different from the ground." - Oprah Winfrey How many of us out there can say without a doubt that they embrace failure? To be honest, I think our first instinct is a no. Who wants to fail? I hope that answer is a big no. However, do we fail a little, sometimes, or a lot? Absolutely. It all depends on our knowledge of what we are trying to do and how big the likelihood it will. In the end it's how we handle those failures that matter. Do we kick … [Read more...]
Day 154: It Takes What It Takes
Do you have the mentality that no matter what happens in your life that you will do what it takes to succeed at whatever you are doing? I think many of us do and then many of us don't. It's the "I won't give up" way of thinking. I'm sure we've all heard a thousand times how this successful person or that one had received however many 'no's' before that final yes finally happened. It's what makes us stronger. It's the refusal to give in to failure or rejection. If we were all to just give up … [Read more...]
Justin
He was the first boy I really fell for. It was the summer between my 6th and 7th grade year. We went to the public pool a lot during that year. I got to meet a lot of cute guys, but Justin is the one that stuck out the most. I was 12 and had turned 13 that August. I would be attending junior high and it was a completely new school. That was the summer I also wore my first bikini. I was so shy and bashful about wearing one. I just remember talking to him a lot and hoping that maybe he'd be my … [Read more...]
FALLing in Love
If you've been married for several years try remember back to when you first started to date your husband or wife. Do you remember how you felt back then? Do you remember the butterflies in you belly when you thought of them? Do you remember when you started to miss them while you were apart? I do. I'd only known Keith for about a month before we started to date. What was the tipping point in our relationship where we went from just being friends to want to be more is when we went to Six … [Read more...]
Day 153: Writing Your Own Marathon
There are so many times in life where we just feel tired, exhausted and just don't feel like doing anything. And it's not that we don't have anything to do. It's that we just don't feel like doing anything. Our brains feel like mush. Our bodies feel like they are spent. Yet, there we are with that niggling feeling thumping us at the back of our minds telling us we need to do something. If we are a teacher it might be grading or planning out the school day. If we are a composer it might be the … [Read more...]
The Journey with Sally Bradley, Part 2 of 2
Here we have the continuing journey of Sally Bradley as she answers the question, "How have you seen God work in your writing journey?" If you missed the Part 1, you can click here to read the first half of her writing journey. Over the next year, the time it took me to heal, editor after editor passed on the book. And I found myself relieved that my dream hadn’t come to fruition yet. What a disaster that would have been. A few months after I’d healed, God moved us from the church where my … [Read more...]
Day 152: The Eleven-Day Marathon
In life there are times where things are at a sprint. We must get them done as soon as possible. The urgency is critical. So we put in all our might and effort to get done whatever it is as soon as possible. At the end we are exhausted, if not physically, most definitely mentally. Yet, we have a sense of accomplishment for being able to have done it to begin with. However, what about those things that take a long time to complete like getting a new business up and running? Or maybe a new house? … [Read more...]
Pumpkin or Apple Pie at Thanksgiving?
Talk about two of my very favorite pies. It’s hard to choose which is possibly my favorite. So I won’t. However, I will give the recipes that I use when making them from scratch (And yes, I make everything from scratch to include the pie crust. Yummy!!) The basis for my pie crust comes from the Betty Crocker cookbook, yet I’ve done some slight alterations to give it my own little touch. I use this for both my pumpkin and apple pies. One-Crust Pie (Pumpkin): ⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon butter … [Read more...]
Day 151: Walking Away
In life sometimes there are things we want to do so bad, and then we start to do them only to find that about two-thirds to three-fourths of the way through what we are doing isn't anything like we'd thought it'd be. As a result, we realize we need to stop without finishing. Has this ever happened to you before in your life? It has with me, only I realized this when I had completed the full first draft of Mari's book. The book I'd written was a complete biography of Mari's life as well as some … [Read more...]
