This is a 750-word non-fiction short story I wrote and submitted to several publications in the summer of 2013. Title: Swim Away “Mommy, I want to ride in the cart too!” my five year old shouts in my ear. I struggle to lift all forty six pounds’ solidness of her body. I grunt and plop …
Celebrate Get Gutsy Week January 19-23! Getting gutsy is all about stepping outside your comfort zone to reach your goals and live a life that makes you truly happy. This post is my entry for Jessica Lawlor’s Get Gutsy Essay Contest. To get involved and share your own gutsy story, check out this post for contest …
Here is some good advice for 2015 (with a little help from Barney Stinson / aka Neil Patrick Harris’ character from “How I Met Your Mother”): Be awesome! I came across this photo and quote this morning. I loved it. And I love the show too. From a writer’s stand point, it’s such a unique, …
I received the nicest note in the mail about two weeks ago. It was a total, wonderful surprise from a dear person in my writer’s group. This is what it said: It was a very short note but those three bullet point statements were so touching. A wonderful woman, Joetta told me that that I …
Sometimes life can throw you a few curve balls. But if you keep hitting and continue practicing your form, you will eventually knock that ball out of the park. With determination and perseverance, any one of us can achieve success. I go through bouts of pessimism before I find my optimism again. This week I …
Last week I was feeling down in the dumps and rather stressed. One day I just completely lost it and fell apart. I picked myself up rather quickly though with the support of my family and the kindness of a few friends too. I have a few close, local friends that are absolutely wonderful. One …
Why is it that I can manage a household, two young kids, a tough job that keeps me busy, cooking meals from scratch and a whole lot more, but I cannot properly shave my legs for anything in this world?? I always end up with a ‘patch of grass’ somewhere on the back of my …
Please excuse me while I fall apart. Don’t mind me. I’m just having a bad day, a terrible week and an even worse month. The kids are sick again. I have to call into work again. I haven’t slept much lately. My one afternoon off, my only scheduled free time for the past several weeks …
For some reason this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson has been stuck in my head for days now… “Life is a journey, not a destination.” I even had these words in my head as I was climbing into my car yesterday. When the radio came on, the band Journey was playing. It was their song, …
Rejections are a big part of life, especially to a writer’s life like mine. We receive them quite frequently. Usually they are some standard, boring reply that says your work was not selected but to try submitting again. But every now and then, you receive something off-the-wall, like this one I had in my inbox …