A Work in Progress

I learn something from my dog every day. Every day. There are usually a few lessons that rotate through my life, lessons I'm still learning, so every time I see one of these "lessons" in action, right in front of me, I realize how far I need to go to grow in my wisdom to be a better person; a dog-wise person. The biggest lesson my dog has taught me is gratitude. Yep. Gratitude. My dog is the happiest person I know.  I realize my dog is not actually a human being, but she is such a part of my family and is so crucial to teaching me things (things that I just don't seem to want to learn), that I've deemed her human. So she is the happiest and smartest person I know.  Back to gratitude... she exudes this daily.  Great book. Get it here! She's thankful to wake up to see me. Every day. She's thankful when I come home from wherever I was. Every day. She is thankful for food (most of the time...but especially if beef is involved.) Every day. She is so thankful t

Every day I wake up and thank God I get to do what I do. Here are those three things: writing, selling vintage, and being a mom. While the mom thing is permanent, and I'll be that for as long as I'm alive (and I'm so glad I can), the vintage and writing are choices I make every day to do because I want to. I write all the time. From articles for the magazine I work for to articles and stories I submit freelance, to middle-grade fiction (I am working on one...I promise. It's nearly done), every now and then something gets published and it makes my day. Selling vintage is a whole different world and genre, so feel free to go to my other blog for that. ◄ But that is just as amazing for me. Just a few days ago, I was published once again by Chicken Soup for the Soul , and this time, in their latest book Kindness Matters .  At my desk...where all the magic happens. This is my third time being published by them and let me tell you, that euphoric feeling with the acceptance le

Today marks the latest book release for Chicken Soup for the Soul. This book, Be You: 101 Stories of Affirmation, Determination and Female Empowerment is chock-full of beautiful stories written about women by women. I'm lucky enough to be in this book as well! This is my second tantalizing publication with Chicken Soup and I can't tell you how grateful I am for the opportunity. In my opinion, the title of the book and my story work well together. The story I submitted, and the one they took, was about how I started my vintage-selling business. It went through my reasons for starting my shop, why I wanted it, and the difficulties I knew I'd face once I began. As the sage advice goes, "Write what you know." I know how to go about selling vintage clothing online, and I'd like to think I know how to write about it. If it meant a story turned out that merited a chance at publication, then so be it. Well, that's exactly what I did and I suppose exactly why they

Think positive! I am delighted to tell you that I was accepted into Chicken Soup for the Soul's latest compilation, Think Positive, Live Happy.   These little books have been a source of inspiration, laughter, hope, and amusement for over twenty-five years. And to be included in one of them is a privilege. But, here's the truth of the matter: It took me eight years of submitting stories just to get published with them. Chicken Soup publishes about a dozen books a year, and they accept roughly a hundred stories per book, so after doing the math, you'd think it wouldn't be a problem getting in! But as with all publishing and writing, timing and the right story is everything. I'm not saying I liked waiting eight years, but I'm a better writer because of it. It kept me pushing to write stronger. And thinking positively: believing one day they would accept my work, even if I didn't want to keep submitting to them anymore. Pretty much how you'll

Whenever the writing bug isn't as pesky as it should be -- bugging me until I write something long --sometimes I go for little bits - like short story little bits. Chicken Soup for the Soul If writing novels or long stories is your thing, then writing a short story is going to be difficult. Having to think about dialogue, background, imagery and plot in 1500 words or less, is a challenge that many people have a hard time with -- me included. However, this is where you have a chance to work at your skills. By writing in a few words, what would normally take a paragraph or two, we learn to activate our passive writing, condense our wordiness, and perfect our action scenes to precision. Of course, what I'm talking about mainly has to do with fiction. And going from long fiction to short fiction is tough; it's almost like using a completely different side of our brain. But, let me throw a wrench into this mix: what if you wrote a short piece of non-fiction? If the