Welcome Joy

There’s no place like home.

Wizard of Oz

As my little one swims toward the open arms of her older sister for the first time, my heart swells with joy. This little one has brought so much freedom into our lives. Both girls have so much value that they bring to the table. My oldest is logical and articulate with natural leadership skills.

My little one has a big heart with a free and stubborn spirit. They both have a fire in their hearts that I hope burns forever. But to see them bonding while laughing and playing together was one of my favorite parts of the vacation. I just wanted to be around them and their fun the whole time. They brought so much adventurous and positive energy with them.

Joy is so welcome here.

A house is made with walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Positive Thinker Sees

“The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.”

Winston Churchill

It’s not always easy but keeping your mind on good things really helps you maintain your composure in the midst of tough situations. I don’t mean passivity. I mean stepping into a complex situation and being able to manage it because you’re mind is focused on good and positive possibilities.

Here’s some positive thoughts

This can work out. Things can get better. I will reach my goals. I’m always changing. Someone who chooses to step away from me means that I am better off and so are they. There is enough. I’m talking time, love, money everything. It’s all about how we manage them.

Change your thoughts, change your world. Keep dreaming. Keep hoping and keep your mind focused on the good.

Stranger than Fiction

Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.

Mark Twain

Our family vacation has bloomed into something like a dream. I’m open to things getting better and better and so grateful for how things have come along so far. I’m excited to have this safe space to where we can play together and bond as a family. It’s kinda like dancing with a dream and reality. We have joy, peace, bliss, connection, and moments where we get to take time to learn together. This bubble we’re in did not seem possible 2 years ago. But here we are stilling living, still working our booties off, and still dreaming up big dreams. I’m so curious to see what’s to come. Heck, I’m curious about all the feelings I have in this present moment.

For the Mamas Who Want to Conceive

Tears are words that need to be written.

Paulo Coelho

We just arrived at our complimentary vacation and as my ladies slide down the waterslide at 950pm I was fighting back tears of joy. These small things are so big to me. All I could think was that I was sad for so long. But all year, I’ve been blessed beyond my dreams. From the my loved ones who have gone out of their way to the ones who do things they might think are small, to improve our day they impact me in such big ways. I’m so grateful to finally have the energy to be happy along with my whole family. I’m so happy to have the energy to do it all with them.

Mamas out there trying to conceive keep you chin up. You are so worthy in so many ways. I hope you can imagine all the value that you add to this world.

Limitless

Life is wide, limitless. There is no border, no frontier.

Bruce Lee

One of the affirmations that works for me when I’m battling judgy thoughts is, “I am an infinite and evolving being.” Sometimes I feel mindsets come on that are outside of my typical thought pattern. They are usually aggressive and belittling. They make me feel like I have to be the old me. The me I was before I went through all the experiences that gave me wisdom. These thoughts make me feel like I’m being fake because I changed. Or here’s one, they make me second guess my current decisions as if they are so big and life altering that I can’t change them or learn from them in the future. I want to live. I think decision making is important but not so important that it should cripple me from making sound choices. I’d rather not but I’m ok with getting it wrong sometimes, as long as I show up to make things right if need be. I want to learn and adapt and keep reinspiring myself over and over again. And I want to be myself while I do it, my ever changing, life long learning, mistake-making, consistent, ambitious ass self. If I allow limiting thoughts to run my decision making, I will cut myself off to all those things that I want to be simultaneously. I’m willing to work for those things, so that’s what I allow myself do and be.

Fetishizing Masterpieces

Know your literary tradition, savor it, steal from it, but when you sit down to write, forget about worshiping greatness and fetishizing masterpieces.

Allegra Goodman

What a great way to take the pressure off. I try my best not to let the greats dictate my writing choices but there are many times I get so focused on what I want my writing to be, that I forget to let me be my own writer.

Bearing an Untold Story

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

Maya Angelou

I was a quiet kid. I felt like I couldn’t get what I was really thinking and feeling out of my mouth. School was scary but I wanted to be there. I was sensitive. I was quiet. But I wanted to see what was going on in the world. I was a nosey kid which hasn’t really changed. On the plus side, all my nosiness gave me lots of great story ideas so it worked out. Makes me laugh to write that. Maybe this whole time I’ve just been preparing myself to write stories. Anyway, to return to the point, as a quiet scared kid with a lot to say but no courage to say it, I know how it feels to bear a story inside me. It doesn’t feel good. Even years later. It feels like unfinished work. It feels like ghosts. It feels like one more thing to do before I die. That doesn’t sound like a peaceful transition to me. In all honesty, writing doesn’t always feel good either but I’d rather write something that’s uncomfortable for a moment, than drag an untold story to my death bed.

Free yourself, write the words.

Under Water

All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Of all the quotes I’ve posted in the past week, this in one I’ve related to most. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with all the work it takes to write a novel and sometimes I’m floating along enjoying the ideas that come.

It’s not as balanced as it sounds. Mostly I just chug along doing my best with some idea of what I want. I allow everything to inspire my writing so that means there’s always rewriting and deleting. There’s some limits but I appreciate the freedom that comes with writing my own novel. New ideas can feel big and fitting them into the story can be challenging when working with a large word count. But there’s tricks to navigate that. The drowning feeling is just that, a feeling.

Even with all the drowning and breath holding, we press on. We write our stories, poetry, and novels and we leave the world a great deal fuller than it was before we were born. What a gift that is.

Just Get It Done

I got to spend a big chunk of the day getting my handwritten edits onto my word doc. I also added a new scene that lit my fire. I have been forgetting a lot lately to have fun with my writing. What made me think of that at all was a conversation with writer, Kent Wayne, author of A Door into Evermore and Echo series (you can find them here, https://dirtyscifibuddha.com/) mentioned in conversation that he writes for fun these days. It was really nice to hear that.

I needed to hear that because when you’re doing something every single day of your life, it gets so serious, makes ya forget how to have fun. It feels like you gotta just get it done. Get the technical stuff in. Secure the plot, timeline, and character growth. Ugh my head is spinning just writing all of that.

I’m glad he mentioned he’s having fun, and I’m glad I found a way to add something into my novel that feels fun and exciting for myself too.

Thanks for Inspo!