Life in progress

Category Archives: Guest Posts


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Hide Your Valuables: Guest Poster, Pavowski

The internet is this wonderful place where you can meet new people, engage in scintillating conversation, build a lovely virtual community, and then hand over the keys to a lunatic to house-sit for you while you take a long weekend.

The lunatic would be me. I’m sure Linda will pardon all the selfies I take as I put all her furniture into compromising positions. And these vomit stains will wash right out, I’m sure. Also, the bullet holes were totally already in the siding before I got here. And let’s not discuss details, but you might want to take all your potted plants outside and burn them, for their own good. We’ll just say that they’ve seen things that the average botanical ought not see. (I blame Helen Espinosa for that, actually. Do you even vet your guest hosts at all?)

Anyway, I’m taking over this joint for the week, and more to the point, I’m in the driver’s seat for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this weekend, so, you know, brace for impact and hide your kids and all that. You will probably also see an unrelated ramble from me of the sort I usually post at my own nest of iniquity. If you like what you see, feel free to stop on by and pay a visit to the cubby I knocked out of the drywall where I do my own not-quite-daily driveling at Accidentally Inspired. If you don’t like what you see, well, uh, I’m sure there’s some bleach around here somewhere. Or at least, there was, before I had to clean up after Helen. (I’m pretty sure she killed a guy in the basement, Linda. It definitely wasn’t me. Either way, uh, sorry about the corpse in the basement.)

It occurs to me that you might be curious who I am, just in case you need to make a description for the authorities later. I’m a jack of many trades, master of maybe a quarter of one. I’m a father of two, husband of one, and I sometimes write about that. I teach English at public high school just outside of Atlanta (fear for the future), and I rarely write about that. I run often, for escape and inspiration and to prepare for the zombie apocalypse, and I write about that probably more than the average person cares. Finally, I’m a writer, with two novels drafted and in various stages of editing, and about a thousand more ideas kicking around inside my skull, looking for a way out.

That’s what my blog is really all about — the day-to-day trivialities of the average Pav, working a full-time job and more or less meeting the criteria of a dad and trying like hell to write good stories that might, one day, get published, so that you could hold a book of my work with my name on it, and so that I might hopefully get a couple of dollars for my trouble.

So, yeah. That’s me, and you’re you, and if you’ll just sign these non-disclosure agreements and your life-and-limb waivers, we’ll get started.


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Keeping it Real with Reintroductions

If you hadn’t heard, Linda is flying away to a land far away this week so she asked for some help with the  SoCS prompt. I was excited to help, but then I remembered that Linda likes me to “introduce” myself and I don’t know; I just feel so awkward. It most likely won’t stop me in the future, but maybe it will remind me to plan better, although I’m not entirely sure how you plan one of these posts.

I guess I’ll just jump right in and go for it. If you were around last year, I’ll try not to bore you with a repeat of my first introduction post.

Not much has changed with me since last year except my day job. After six months of working a job I really hated, I finally found something that I love, but it restricts when I can actually jump on the blog and write. I’ve had to work writing and blogging into my nighttime and weekends and it hasn’t been as easy as it was a year ago, but I feel it’s totally worth the sacrifices. Every time I go a few days without posting, I feel like I’m missing something and I inevitably end up hearing from a family member to get my butt in gear.

Perhaps the change in my circumstance led to the change that has happened on my blog. I’ve done a lot more poetry this year, which hasn’t been a bad thing. I’m reminded how much I love poetry. I do miss the longer stories I used to write, but those take a lot more out of me and at this point, I can’t seem to find the time. I’m hoping I can fit them in once I’m more established at the new job.

I also started my very own prompt this summer called Song Lyric Sunday. I love music and wanted to share my favorite music with my blogging friends and have them share their favorites with me. It’s more like a simmer right now instead of the wildfire I hoped it would be, but I do love those who have participated with me. If you’re interested, you are more than welcome to jump in!

You can find me over at This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time. As I’ve said, I write poetry, flash fiction and I try to write stream of conscious every Saturday, although I’ve missed a few weeks this year. I have three beautiful kids that I write about quite a lot and I’ve written a few posts about the struggle with the day job. I guess you could say I try to keep it real.

I’m excited to read all your posts on Saturday. I hope I can make Linda’s absence not seem so rough, although I know she will be missed.


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Guest Post – Shades of Gray

I’m honoured to have the wonderful and talented Cordelia’s Mom guest post for me today! Thanks, CM!
Please enjoy!!

Shades of Gray

 

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… and gray window blinds.

You know, you folks have dirty minds. Unless, of course, you immediately thought of windows when you saw the title of this post.

Personally, I’ve never understood the preoccupation with sex. Sure it’s fun, especially with a partner who knows what he or she is doing. But let’s face it – sex has been around for a very long time, and basically it consists of the same basic action: one person’s body part interacting with the body part of another person.

Each generation has become a little more sophisticated in its knowledge of sex. I grew up in the 1950’s/1960’s, when television sitcoms couldn’t even show a married couple in the same bed. I turned 18 in 1970 – just at the time that David R. Reuben, M.D. published his book, “Everything You Want to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask.”

Believe me, that book was as much of a blockbuster as the current Shades of Grey – maybe even more so, because “Everything …” was not fiction.

At 18, I was still a virgin – in fact, I had never even had a date (remember – this was back when women were still supposed to remain pure until marriage). Wanting to enlighten myself, I managed to get a copy of “Everything …” and snuck it into my mother’s house, where I would read it in the privacy of my own room late at night.

Imagine my chagrin one day, when my mother asked me if I was reading that book. It was bad enough admitting to possessing that book, but imagine my absolute horror when my mother proceeded to ask me questions about it.

I mean, really? My mother had been married for many years and had four kids! At some point, she and my dad must have figured out how to do it.

But it wasn’t marital sex she was confused about. I’ll never forget our conversation wherein she said, “I can understand how homosexuals do it,” [hand gestures of pointer finger of one hand poking into the circle formed by the thumb and pointer finger of the other hand] “but how do lesbians do it?” [hand gestures of two palms flat against each other]. “I mean, girls don’t have that part.” (Had she said penis, I really would have died. I knew my brothers had them – I had even diapered my baby brother – but I sure didn’t want my mother talking about them!)

I was way too embarrassed to explain about same-sex relationships (and I only knew from things I had read), so finally I just handed over the book. I don’t know if my mother became enlightened as to those issues, but she never asked me any sex questions after that (thank God in Heaven).

These days, there is no mystery surrounding sex. It finds it way not only into books, but into sitcoms, movies and advertising. I’m not sure that’s better than it was in my mother’s day.

My mother’s generation watched Jimmy Stewart trying to catch the moon for his girl, and Clark Gable carrying Scarlett up the staircase. The current generation has Shades of Grey – is that really better? I don’t think so. Although people are flocking to the movie, Shades of Grey, for the perceived sensationalism, I still think most of us would prefer a good, old-fashioned romance – even one that ends with those famous words, “Frankly, Scarlett, I don’t give a damn.”

Which, by the way, was considered pretty risqué at the time. We’ve come a long way, haven’t we? I’ll leave it to you to decide whether it’s been an improvement.
__________

I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at https://cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com or notcordeliasmom@aol.com
__________

Images by: Colt Group
and Cordelia’s Mom
***
POSTSCRIPT: Thank you, Linda, for giving me this opportunity to guest post for you. I am truly honored!

You’re welcome CM!
A note for my readers: please click on over to Cordelia’s Mom’s site and read my guest post too!
http://cordeliasmomstill.com/ Thanks!!


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Guest Post – Shaking Up Christmas

Well, I’m making one last post before departing the inner circle of this lovely blog of which I have been so honored to be a part.

For my exit post, I would like to share something related to the season.  My sole motivation and purpose for sharing this is not so that you will look at my family and say, “Oh, wow, look what they are doing!” but only so that you might be inspired to consider shaking up Christmas.  (Also, this post is not meant to leave out other holidays related to this time of year.  Our family’s holiday for this season is Christmas, so that is naturally how this project was born.  It doesn’t mean the same idea can’t apply to other same-seasonal holidays.)

The first two children we adopted came to us from a bio relative home.  Another story for another day – on my own blog – but part of the problem in this home was a lack of boundaries, and one of the ways this was evident was in the fact that the children were literally showered with gifts at every possible opportunity.  This meant that Christmas equated to an entire Toyota Highlander filled to the brim with toys.  AskmehowIknow.  That first Christmas, which was somewhat transitional, was something of a nightmare.  I hauled no fewer than eight garbage bags of stuff up to Mini-Me’s bedroom, and spent an entire day sorting through it, keeping only the most appropriate gifts.  I ended up donating about two-thirds of it to charity.

The children never noticed.

For the following two Christmases, I made it a priority not to ask my children what they wanted; rather I watched and listened and made Christmas present purchases based on what I knew my children to be interested in.  I made it a goal to purchase few but meaningful gifts, and I met each “This is what I want for Christmas” with a “What is Christmas really about?”

But by year four I knew I wasn’t getting through.

This post isn’t about religion, but I will tell you that part of our family’s definition of the true meaning of Christmas stems from our belief that it is the celebration of the birth of Christ.  But we believe that because He is our reason to celebrate, we need to be Him to the world.  Therefore, we believe that Christmas ought to be about giving to others and doing for others, and that it should definitely not be about “me-me-me” and greed and self-centeredness and consumerism.

So after trying unsuccessfully for three years to get our children to change their focus, we realized we needed to change their focus – we needed to shake up Christmas.

We got rid of Christmas presents – at least, the Christmas presents for ourselves/our family.

We traded our own presents in for Christmas presents for others.

IMAG0259

The first thing I knew I wanted us to do was something for children in the hospital; we decided on books.  So every year since beginning our project, we have taken books to our local hospital’s children’s ward.  The second thing I knew I wanted to do was to help other whole families.  The first two years, we found ways to be matched with individual families who were in need.  This year, in place of an individual family, we have decided to take a delivery to a local homeless shelter.  It won’t be as “fancy,” but it will hopefully benefit many families.

IMAG0257

Now, to be completely transparent – and before you call me a complete monster – we now do “New Gifts for a New Year” with our children – but we have cut them down significantly to “something to wear, something to read, something they want, something they need.”

(And if they had continued with the “me-me-me-for-New-Year” attitude, I would have completely done away with gifts except at birthdays.)

But let me tell you, this seems to have done it.  For the third year in a row, I have not heard a single “me” as related to Christmas – or New Year’s.  They all get in on the planning and the shopping and the putting-together of gifts for others, and I can tell that their hearts are happy.  They couldn’t wait to go do our shopping for the shelter, and they reminded me today that, “Mama, we haven’t finished our book shopping for the children at the hospital yet!”

I absolutely LOVE the way we’ve shaken up Christmas.  The whole day is now about the time we spend together as a family, rather than material gifts – we make our deliveries, the kids pitching in and watching the joyous faces and experiencing the joy of giving; and then we enjoy a quiet Christmas dinner at home while watching classic Christmas movies and just being together.

Maybe for some, our story is drastic.  I actually know very few who can fathom the idea of giving up Christmas morning presents.  That’s okay!  I share our story of shaking up Christmas not because I expect every other family to do what we’ve done, but because I hope to inspire others to find one way to do one thing for others at this time of year, in the true spirit of Christmas.

Thank you again to Linda for the opportunity to guest post here in her absence.  I had a truly marvelous time, and any dents and dings you may find – well, I have to be completely honest – they came from Pav.  😉


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for SoCS December 19/14

Is it? Can it be?  Can it actually – finally – be Friday??  Because I spent ALL DAY yesterday absolutely certain that it was Friday, simply because the week had already been so. stinking. long.  But now it finally is Friday!  Thank. The. Mayor.

I hope you’re as happy that it’s Friday as I am.  To celebrate, how about a little prompt and circumstance?  Hehe.

Okay, I’ve put a lot of thought into this over the past couple of weeks, and especially once my co-guest-authors started posting, because – let’s be honest – that’s when this became real.  There is one that has been hanging on my mind for about a week now, so I’m taking that as the sign that this is the direction to go. Soooo….

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “excuse.” You can use the noun or verb – or both!  Enjoy!

After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at this week’s prompt page and check to make sure it’s here in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post. Anyone can join in!

To make your post more visible, use the SoCS badge! Just paste it in your Saturday post so people browsing the reader will immediately know your post is stream of consciousness and/or pin it as a widget to your site to show you’re a participant. Wear it with pride!!

socs-badge

Badge by: Doobster @ Mindful Digressions

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” or “Begin with the word ‘The’.”

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments, for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. Have fun!


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for SoCS December 12/14

Greetings. I’m the second of your Linda’s Christmas Holiday Substitute Teachers. Eyes front. No hall passes.

I have a sort of preoccupation with things I don’t understand, like time and space and Black Friday and the minds of toddlers and why the English language has words like “kerfuffle” (utterly useless) but no answer for the German “schadenfreude” (I would use that word EVERY DAMN DAY). Also, Helen’s prompt gave me a certain kind of nudge in a certain kind of direction, and I find that when you feel nudged, the thing to do is nudge back, unless of course you’re a senator nudging toes in a bathroom stall at the airport.

Er, right. The prompt. I had about a thousand variations on a theme that I pondered for the prompt, from the highfalutin to the plebeian (and, see, now I’m just doing wheelies on my vocabulary bicycle since I’m playing in somebody else’s sandbox). But as intrigued as I was by some of those ideas, I ultimately came to the conclusion that simpler is better, and I, for one, could use a dose of simplicity after the week I’ve had. Let the distractions and the stresses fall away. Take a step back.

So, for this week your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is one word: “Back.” Use it however you’d like: as a standalone, as a prefix, a suffix, noun, verb, or adverb (can you tell I’m an English teacher in my daytime life?); just make sure you have fun and enjoy the words flowing onto your screen so you can share them with us!

After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at this week’s prompt page and check to make sure it’s here in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post. Anyone can join in!

To make your post more visible, use the SoCS badge! Just paste it in your Saturday post so people browsing the reader will immediately know your post is stream of consciousness and/or pin it as a widget to your site to show you’re a participant. Wear it with pride!!

socs-badge

Badge by: Doobster @ Mindful Digressions

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” or “Begin with the word ‘The’.”

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments, for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. Have fun!


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Bamboo Patience

I’ve just read a fascinating article (which is always dangerous) and I went and generalized it (which is always entirely justifiable… maybe not) and made it about me (which… come on, I’m a blogger, what do you expect).

An article about bamboo.

I’m not a gardener. In fact, if the word “gardener” has a polar opposite, then I’m that. (Blighter? Destroyer of things green? Seriously, you should see my front yard. By which I mean, my front collection of weeds.) But through the whimsy of the internet, I found myself reading this article about bamboo farmers and success. It’s worth five minutes of your time, but here’s the quickly-generalized, me-centric summation of the article.

Bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants on the planet. It grows so quickly and so prolifically, and is so incredibly strong (it has a tensile strength close to that of steel) that it seems miraculous. Some species can grow as much as three feet in 24 hours. (I picture the analogue of my son sprouting up to my height overnight and it gives me the shivering willies.) Yet many people who try to grow bamboo get frustrated and give up and never see it achieve that growth, because the first five years of the seeds’ growth is entirely underground.

Imagine it.

  • Day one, plant a seed.
  • Day two, water, check for growth, nothing.
  • Day three, water, check for growth, nothing.
  • Day four, water, check for growth, nothing.
  • Day five, water, check for growth, nothing.

Wash, rinse, repeat, until …

  • Day 1828, water, check for growth, nothing.
  • Day 1829, water, check for growth, nothing.
  • Day 1830, water, HOLY SHARKNADO THERE’S A FOREST OF BAMBOO IN MY BACKYARD.

That’s a heck of a lot of days, a heck of a lot of faith, and an ungodly amount of patience and tenacity: an untold amount of time spent doing a simple but time-consuming thing (watering the plant every day) with not an ounce of feedback that the thing you’re doing is useful, worthwhile, or even productive in any way. For all you know, on day seven the seeds died and turned to dust in the ground, and you might very well be wasting your time. But if you don’t keep working, the seeds will definitely wither and crumble.

And this is a little like writing, innit? Or maybe a lot like writing. Actually, make it a metaphor for whatever you like, but I think it’s particularly fitted for writing. Because we writers do our work underground. We have the inspiration to write and plant that seed deep in the loamy earth of our minds. We enclose ourselves in our batcaves, our secret chambers, our dark enclosures isolated from all human contact, and the words spill out of us like so much irrigation on the soil of our precious ideas. For days, weeks, months we toil in quiet and fear and clandestine hope that our pet projects, our favorite characters, our brilliant plot lines, will take root and spring forth, filling the world with color and the sweet scent of our inspiration … but we have no idea if it’s going to happen. Whether that field of bamboo represents simply getting published, or penning a bestseller, or even just finishing a draft, the finish line can feel so far away it might as well not even exist.

We see the bamboo fields that have sprung up in other authors’ backyards, and that gives us hope–I could have that, too!–but it simultaneously fills us with doubt–will it happen for me? And we don’t have a master gardener standing over our shoulder, telling us to keep our heads down, keep watering the seeds, keep fertilizing the soil, and all will be well. We don’t even have that five-year guarantee that bamboo has. For some, it may happen faster: they’ll have a backyard full of bamboo in the space of a year or two. For others, it may take longer: their garden may take a decade or more to sprout. For still others it may never happen.

But regardless of the speed at which the garden grows, I think any gardener will tell you that it’s not all about the end result. Sure, the rows of tomatoes and the baskets full of roses are the ideal, but even without them, the work is not a total loss. Because the work is therapeutic. Kneeling in the soil, breathing the unprocessed air of the outdoors, feeling the sun on your back, working your fingers in the dirt, plucking the weeds… the work means something in its own right. Likewise, forcing the words onto the page, exploring the characters, designing new plot lines… it means something. Yes, it’s about making the seeds grow, but throughout the process, you learn, you grow. And then, on day 1831, whether your bamboo has pierced through the ground striving for the sky or not, you come back ready to water it again. And again. And again.

Trust in the knowledge that the work matters, whether the bamboo grows or not. You have to be your own feedback. You have to fling your vision forward into the future and visualize those steely shoots springing out of the ground now, starting today, and let that vision sustain you, because the fruits of your labor are just going to be invisible until they happen.

Trust in the bamboo. Keep watering.

Thanks to Linda for allowing me to guest post while she’s out. For more drivel like this, check out my homepage over at Pavorisms.


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Thank You for the Warm Welcome

Linda is a pretty amazing and very trusting person. She told us we could post on her blog while she is away, but I wasn’t actually planning on it. I have my own blog, after all (that I feel like I’ve been ignoring),  and it’s still pretty intimidating, if I’m completely honest. I look at that 4,000 follower count and do the slow blink as my heart starts to beat a little faster. It pales in comparison to my own list of followers, especially considering I never imagined my blog would get over 10, much less over 100!

But I wanted to let you all know how much I appreciated the warm welcome I received and how much fun I had yesterday reading all your wonderful posts and commenting back and forth. I love how one word can bring so many different types of responses and it was heart-warming and lovely spending a Saturday with all of you.

If any more posts trickle in today, I will keep reading and responding. I’m pretty excited I managed to keep up with all the posts that came in yesterday! (It was fun sitting in my pajamas half the day with a cup of coffee just enjoying the experience)

I also appreciate the positive feedback on my prompt as I was a little worried about how it would be received. It’s funny when you start something new how overwhelming it feels but when you do it enough times, it just becomes a thing. I imagine Linda was maybe a little nervous when she did her first SoCS prompt but after doing it enough, she became the expert. It makes me appreciate what it entails to host something like this and I am even more grateful for her prompt each week.

I’m going to leave you with a quote that ties in with the prompt yesterday and wish you all a blessed week in your blogging, your writing and whatever life has in store for you. Thank you again for putting up with me for a few days. Stay tuned for Pav, Leigh and any other posts we might decide to put up in Linda’s absence.

“It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.”
-Eckhart Tolle

 


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for SoCS December 6/14

Hello all! I’m here to fill in for Linda while she’s away and it’s our favorite day of the week… it’s the day we get our prompt for SoCS!

I actually thought of this prompt a while ago, when I first volunteered to help out, not even knowing if Linda would choose me or not. I was happy to find it hadn’t been used before and, if you’re so inclined to use it that way, it could tie in very nicely with the Christmas shopping I know you’re all busy doing right now. Well, anyone who is ahead of the game. Me? I usually wait until the weekend before. I’m a glutton for punishment, I guess.

So, for this week your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “Present.” Use it however you’d like, just make sure you have fun and enjoy the words flowing onto your screen so you can share them with us!

After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at this week’s prompt page and check to make sure it’s here in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post. Anyone can join in!

To make your post more visible, use the SoCS badge! Just paste it in your Saturday post so people browsing the reader will immediately know your post is stream of consciousness and/or pin it as a widget to your site to show you’re a participant. Wear it with pride!!

socs-badge

Badge by: Doobster @ Mindful Digressions

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” or “Begin with the word ‘The’.”

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments, for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. Have fun!


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Aaaaaaand….. One More

My turn.

And it probably won’t be as entertaining as the others.  But, you’ll get to know me a bit anyway :-).

When Linda asked for SoCS help while she was out this month, I went back and forth in my head over whether to volunteer or not.  I wasn’t (am still not) certain I’m up to the task of contributing to a blog with such a following as this.  I mean, I’ll be honest: I was thrilled when my followers reached 100 a couple of months ago.  Ultimately, I decided to take the plunge (obviously, since you see me writing here now), and I hope that I don’t lose her any followers in the process ;-).

So.  A bit about me, just so that when you see my SoCS post in a couple of weeks, you don’t think I’m just some crazy person who hijacked Linda’s blog.

Like many others around here, I’m a writer.  I wrote (and illustrated) my first book at the age of 6.  Okay, it was really a short story by definition, but to a six year old, it was a book – bound and everything.  And by bound, I mean put in sheet protectors that were tied together with yellow yarn.  I digress.  When I saw that finished book, all tied up and pretty, I got a thrill like no other I had experienced up to that point.  I ran with that awesome feeling and never looked back (except for the illustrating part – I don’t do that anymore).  I have been writing ever since and loving it.

In middle and high school, I became addicted to writing poetry and short stories with twist endings.  My favorite authors were Edgar Allan Poe and O. Henry.  I tried my hand at a novel when I was 14, and though I was quite proud of it at first, the eyes of wisdom (a year later) saw that it was utter trash, and it has never since seen the light of day.  However, I wrote my second book when I was 15 and 16, and that book was revived and revised earlier this year, and published as a juvenile fiction book.

I continued to write through college, and though publishing was always like stars in my eyes, I saw it more as a pipe dream.  I didn’t get serious about writing something publishable until 2009, when I participated in my 3rd NaNoWriMo challenge in 4 years.  Even then, I hesitated to attempt publishing for four years.  This past year, I finally decided to jump in, feet first, and self-publish.  It has been a fun and exciting – and scary! – experience, and I wouldn’t change a thing.  I now have 4 self-published books, and am well into my fifth.  My main writing genre is Young Adult Fiction.

I am also a wife of an extremely successful and wonderful man, and the mother of five amazing children who have all survived the foster care system.  Four of them are adopted, and we are hoping to adopt the fifth soon.  In addition to writing and parenting, I try to make time in my schedule to play the piano and run.  When I find myself with free time (extremely rare), I like to read.

If you stuck through this entire post to the end, thank you for reading!  Please check out my website if you’re interested in learning more about my books or reading my blog.  I always respond to comments and love to discover new blogs as well.

Thanks for reading!  See you again soon for SoCS!