Motivational Monday

WORRY IS LIKE A ROCKING CHAIR:

IT GIVES YOU SOMETHING TO DO

BUT NEVER GETS YOU ANYWHERE

(Erma Bombeck)

There are two reasons this quote makes me think of my maternal grandmother: the rocking chair and the worrying.

She and my grandfather each had a rocking chair, angled so my grandparents could see out the front windows to the stoop and the sidewalk. If I close my eyes, I can see their living room - my grandfather's bookshelf, family photos, various religious pieces, a mug of tea with at least one tea bag string hanging over the rim.  

I also remember how my grandmother worried. She was terrified of lightning. She didn't like driving with certain people (although she always felt safe driving with my Dad.) She would flick drops of holy water around her bedroom, approximating the directions where all of her children and grandchildren lived, in an effort to keep us all safe.

So, while I mostly agree with Ms. Bombeck's quote, I think a certain kind of worrying can get you somewhere…to that place where you feel a sense of peace, a sense that maybe you're protecting the people you care about in some small way. 

Toward the end of her life, my grandmother still sat in her rocking chair, now across from my grandfather's empty one, and she continued her praying, her caring, her loving. And her worrying. 

This week, let's not beat ourselves up for worrying too much. Let's just try to redirect it in a more positive, productive way.

Dream Destination Blog Hop: Ciao!

Come join the fun! 

Visit Julie and Lexa to learn more 

and enter to win lots of prizes!

*****

When I was younger, I wanted to travel everywhere. Now, not so much. I think it's because overall I'm happy where I live and I enjoy my life. But there is one place I would - and will! - return to again and again….

ITALY!

My husband and I went to Florence years ago and just loved it - the food, the history, the art, the people. We ate fresh strawberries drizzled with balsamic vinegar, saw the leaning tower at Pisa, visited a museum in the town of Vinci where you-know-who was from. Wherever we looked, we saw paintings and sculptures come alive from the slides of those old art history courses we took in school. Every time I turned around, I saw another older couple - stooped, arm-in-arm, she with purse in hand, him wearing a dapper hat, on their way to Mass - that reminded me of my paternal grandparents. 

Some day, my husband and I will go back to Florence. We'll explore small Italian towns, we'll roam the countryside, we'll soak it all in. And who knows? Maybe one day, my husband and I will look just like one of those little old couples, and we'll become a small piece of someone else's memory, a small piece of Italian history….   

IWSG: Does Lightning Ever Strike Twice?

Visit HERE for more information

It never fails. In December, I look at my NaNo draft and think. "Did I really just spend a whole month writing this…drivel?" (I actually use a different word but this is a relatively family-and-tortoise-friendly blog.) Then I start thinking about all the other things I could have, should have, done instead, and I want to throw away the whole manuscript and all the notes I can't read and that make no sense. For example: "The bag is gone!" Whaaaat? What bag? Whose bag? Is that even what it says or could it actually be "The dog is gone!" or "The bag is bone!" Knowing me, that "bone" one makes more sense….)

But I think what hangs me up the most is that every year I look at the NaNo draft as potentially "THE ONE" - the novel that will get me an agent, a publisher, great reviews, loyal fans, etc. That's a lot of pressure to put on a pile of paper and a half formed - at best! - story. Part of that comes from my first ever NaNo experience - many, many years ago - when I did actually snag an agent with that revised manuscript. Nothing ever came of it though, and the agent and I parted ways amicably.

But I continue to see many published authors saying their newly published novel was a 2008, 2009, 2011 NaNo project. I worry that the lightning won't strike twice for me. I wonder what I'm doing wrong. 

But then I look at that pile of paper, and I think the time was well spent after all. I met some interesting people in those pages, and I rode some interesting roller-coaster plot twists.  

And really, what else was I going to do in November anyway? Clean my house? Yeah, right.

Motivational Monday

THERE IS NO SHORTAGE OF GOOD DAYS.

IT IS GOOD LIVES

THAT ARE HARD TO COME BY.

(Annie Dillard)

Like many people, I have good days and bad ones. Sometimes my bad ones last longer than I'd like them to. When that happens, I try hard to find and focus on that point in the distance, on whatever moment I believe will most likely make me feel a little better - a yummy piece of chocolate, a book I'm excited about being ready for pick up at the library, a hug from my husband when he gets home from work, takeout Thai food and a movie.    

But I don't want my life to be just a bunch of good and bad days strung together the way a child slides beads on a cord - willy nilly, clumsily, big beads dwarfing delicate ones, some cracked or nicked, some gorgeous and luminous. 

Or do I?

Because at the end of that cord, at the end of that life, what I will hopefully end up with is a long, beautiful one-of-a-kind necklace, a long, beautiful one-of-a-kind LIFE. What I want to do is loop that baby around my neck as many times as possible and look at those beads and feel them in my fingers and remember and laugh and cry and breathe and know that, overall, I did good. 

What does your life necklace look like? What would you like it to look like? Can you string some beads on it today, this week, ones that will make you smile or dream or give you a wonderful memory?

Recommended Reading - November

I am shocked that I managed to read as much as I did during November - NaNo, anyone? I enjoyed a number of books, but it's the two Standouts below I want to highlight. They're both different types of books than I usually read - a humor/comic collection and a short story collection - but I'm so glad I picked them up….

*****

Books Read in November:  9

Total Books Read in 2013:  87

Standouts:

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh - I've been a huge fan of this blog of the same name for awhile now, and I'd made a note of this book way back before it came out. I couldn't wait! And let me just say, it was well worth the wait. There's an honesty here - in both the humor and in the baring of heartache. I laughed out loud (see: "Motivation,"  and "Dinosaur.") I nodded in understanding (see: "This is Why I'll Never be an Adult,") and I even wiped away a few tears (see: "Depression" Parts One and Two, and "Identity" Parts One and Two.) This is a book I will return to again and again, no doubt.

*****

Nine Inches: Stories by Tom Perrotta - I don't usually read a lot of non-genre (mysteries, thrillers, etc) short story collections because I often find them to be too literary and/or the stories themselves too long for my taste. But I'd read and enjoyed Perrotta's work before, so I thought I'd give this collection a try. What I really liked about it was that the stories focused on regular people who struggled with issues that, on the surface seemed ordinary or superficial, but were really forcing the characters to face their own humanity, whether they were aware of it or not. A few of my favorites: "Grade My Teacher," "The Chosen Girl," and "The All-Night Party."

*****

If you participated in NaNo, did you manage to read much - or anything! - during November? Plan on reading either/both of the Standouts? Do you read short story collections, and if so, do you have any you'd recommend? Read anything lately you can't stop raving about?

'Tis More Blessed - Giveaways!

Last month, author Milo James Fowler started his Creepy Freebies giveaways. It turned out to be such a huge success, he decided to keep the concept going into December. So, here we are!

Every Friday in December, some of your favorite blogging buddies and authors are giving away all kinds of literary goodies - books, ebooks, short stories, collections. 

As a reader, I'm excited. I can't wait to enter some of these giveaways!

As a writer, I'm thrilled for the opportunity to give away a copy of The People We Used to Be on Friday, December 20th. (Even the tortoises are prepping to pull that name out of their food dish!)

*** For all the details, head on over to Milo's blog. ***

Motivational Monday

TELL ME, 

WHAT IS IT YOU PLAN TO DO

WITH YOUR ONE WILD AND PRECIOUS

LIFE?

(Mary Oliver)

This might be one of my all time favorite quotes. A short, simple sentence but with such power! Is it a question that feels like a slap in the face, a brutal reminder not to waste one second of our lives? Or is it more of a whisper, a gentle nudge, to direct us onto the path that's right for us? I think it depends on where we are in our lives. Are we so off course we can't even see the road we yearn to be traveling on? Are we stalled out somewhere, frozen with fear, paralyzed with indecision, our hearts pointing one way, our heads another? 

This is a busy week for many of us - the end of NaNo, the start of Chanukah, Thanksgiving itself. Some people will be traveling. It's also the start of the festive but often hectic Christmas season. And before we know it, the end of the year will be upon us.  

So, yes, let's take a moment and be grateful for all the good in our lives, but let's also stop and consider Mary Oliver's question. Are we showing our gratitude for one of the greatest gifts we've been given - our lives? Are we living the way we truly want to? Are we being the people we believe we're meant to be?  Or are we letting too much other "stuff" get in the way?