Life in progress

Tag Archives: inspiration


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EDDD 24 – All I Want – Giving

For the seventh and final edition of “All I Want,” I decided to save the best for last. Giving, after all, is what the season is all about. Interesting how circumstance would have me posting this on Christmas Eve, instead of Sunday.

Christmas Eve is special to many people. For myself, it’s a time to finish wrapping presents, to stuff stockings, and to enjoy the anticipation of my children as they climb off to bed with thoughts of what they will wake to in the morning. A little glass of Baileys always goes down well, also. 🙂

But if I could give anything at all to the ones I love, it would be to give my children perfect health. To Chris I would give complete access to that brilliant mind of his – to unlock it from the constraints that autism places on his abilities to process his thoughts. And to Alex I would give the gift of music – a revelation to his deaf ears; the chance to fill his taste buds with the wonder of flavours, where now he eats through a tube; and finally I would give him a perfect heart, to replace the one he was born with, that beats precariously in his chest.

So, finally, I ask you, my readers. If you could give anything at all to the ones you love, what would it be? Dream big, my friends.

Happy Christmas Eve.

 

 

 Blog post of December 24th, in honour of Every Damn Day December.


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EDDD 21 – All I Want – Travel

It’s Day Six of “All I Want” and we’re almost at the finish line, my friends.

Today I’d like to know, if you could go anywhere in the world, for a visit or to live, where would it be?

After falling down three steps on an inch of ice this morning and almost cracking my skull open, I’d have to say anywhere in the Caribbean sounds nice. Until April!

The world is your oyster today – where do you want to go?

Blog post of December 21st, in honour of Every Damn Day December. Check it out!


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EDDD 20 – All I Want – World Peace

It’s Day Five of “All I Want,” and today I’d like to ask what you would do to make the world a better place, if you could.

The wish for world peace, to feed the hungry, to end poverty and abuse, and to rid the planet of disease is an ideal for many of us. Some have a favourite charity; many like me find it hard to decide on just one.

We’ve all heard the adage, ‘Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he’ll feed himself for a lifetime.’ Given this, I’ve pondered what, if I could teach enough people, would make a difference in the world. I came up with one idea.

I would teach people to choose their battles wisely – to not sweat the small stuff, so to speak. For instance, if something someone is doing isn’t going to hurt anyone, simply let them get on with it in their own way. On a purely domestic level I believe to do so would create peace and harmony in homes, in neighbourhoods, and in towns and cities. To teach people to live and let live may not end wars, but it would certainly make many places in the world a better place to live.

What would you do, if you could, to make the world a better place? Would you teach the world a skill? Would you build a shelter in your own neighbourhood for people who need it?

I want to hear from you.

Blog post of December 20th, in honour of Every Damn Day December. Check it out!


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EDDD 19 – All I Want – A Night On The Town

Okay! Let’s have some fun with Day Four of “All I Want”!

If you could go out for a night on the town, to do anything special – say to a concert to see anyone, dead or alive (although if they’re not alive, obviously in their previous rather than their present state) – what would you do? Who would you see? What would you eat? What would the weather be like?

I would LOVE to see Freddie Mercury perform with Queen in the front row of an open air concert on a beautiful night in July. With no mosquitoes!

How about you?

Blog post of December 19th, in honour of Every Damn Day December. Check it out!


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EDDD 18 – All I Want – Sharpen Your Senses

For Day Three of my “All I Want” series, I’d like to know in what way, if you could, you would improve one of your senses.

Sure, there are the five senses we all know, and if you’d like to pick one of those – great! I’d like to have my 20/10 eyesight back! But apart from sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, there are other senses which are less tangible. Intuition, for instance. Or perhaps a sharper sense of when your stomach is full, to make it easier not to overeat! (I’ll take that one too.)

So today I’d like you to put your thinking cap on and come up with something creative. And if not, there’s always the big five.

…Annnnd, GO!

Blog post of December 18th, in honour of Every Damn Day December. Check it out!


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EDDD 17 – All I Want – Talent

It’s Day Two of “All I Want”!

Whether it be for Christmas, or for whatever you do or don’t celebrate, what I’d like to know today is, if you could be blessed with the natural-born talent to do anything, what would it be?

I’ve always wished I could play the guitar, but not JUST play – anyone can learn. I’d love to be able to play with the passion of Brian May of Queen, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, Eddie Van Halen; the list goes on and on. Talent beyond compare. Even to play the piano like Schroeder, in the Peanuts cartoon, would be amazing!

Now it’s your turn. If you could do anything really really well – so well that people would swoon – what would it be?

Blog post of December 17th, in honour of Every Damn Day December. Check it out!


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EDDD 6 – Listen To Your Heart

“Listen to your heart.” What does it mean?

It’s a phrase we hear all the time. Songs have been sung, people pass it off as words of wisdom to the forlorn and the heartbroken. I found it in my horoscope today. The sentence before it stated that my emotions must not be ignored.

As advice, it sounds pretty. It lends to the imagination the idea that our hearts speak to us and can guide us on which way to go when we are unsure. But when we listen to our hearts, must we necessarily go in the direction we really want? Or does it mean that we should do what we know is right?

I wonder if cardiologists everywhere roll their eyes whenever they hear the phrase spoken aloud?

Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump…

Blog post of December 6th, in honour of Every Damn Day December. Check it out! It’s not too late to join in!


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Every Damned Day December

In honour of my new friend, Dylan Dailey, I am going to attempt to write a blog post every day in December. It’s not going to be easy, what with Christmas coming and having the family to take care of, but what the heck. If I can make it through NaNoWriMo, why not EvDaDaDec?

Who else is with me?

You can find Dylan’s blog here : http://treatmentofvisions.com/

Let’s do this thing!


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Finished!

I just finished NaNoWriMo! 😀

For the record the novel did, indeed, end with a bang. Did everyone die? You’ll have to read it to find out.

*cue evil laughter*

Okay, time for a happy dance!

2013-Winner-Facebook-Cover


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What’s in your Main Character’s Fridge?

I’ve been seriously thinking about how much my own tastes influence my fiction. The other day, my characters were in a restaurant and I purposely made them order something I, personally, wouldn’t eat.

It occurred to me that maybe I’m thinking about this too much – micromanaging my story. But the fact is, they’ve gotta eat. And I find it boring and not really credible that they’d like ALL the same things I do. If for no other reason than every character in every story I ever write always eats the same group of foods, I feel like I have to change it up once in a while.

Is this something you’ve put any thought to? If you’re a vegetarian, do you ever have your characters eating a nice juicy steak?

How else do your characters not reflect your tastes?  (Human characters, that is.)