A Work in Progress

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

In my last post, I discussed the interesting overlap of two novels in my reading world. I went over a few of the similarities of two very different books, with very different genres and subject matter, but also pointed out that the tone and type were the same. This happened to me ... again. How apropos. Only, this time, it was the merging of my reading and vintage worlds. As I have mentioned before, I sell vintage clothing. This November marks ten years of selling vintage clothing and it's still one of my most favorite "jobs" of all time. For those who haven't read the book The Help , by Kathryn Stockett (there has been a huge debate over it due to the resurgence of the racism topic in America, but I loved the concept, as well as the history and highly recommend it), this book is an interesting look at life for working black American women (working for non-working white American women) in the early 1960s.  While I was getting ready to take pictures of an early '

This right here, Fernweh, is why writers do what they do. I went looking for a blog post I'd written years ago for a future article that I'm working on now. And guess what? I went back to the beginning of all my blog posts and it looks like I've been blogging for ten years. That sure went by fast. August 6, 2009 ◄ was my first post and hey, I'm still here and still loving it. While my random blogging is nothing special, I've got to say it's been a wonderful place to hone my writing skills. And as a writer, it's a good idea to have a digital footprint that shows both a writing past and a potential writing future. There are plenty of "real" bloggers who have tons of followers and loyal fans. They're super prolific and making six figures, and writing about their successes. And that's great. But, this blog isn't that. I never wanted it to be that in the first place. Not to mention, it wasn't even a thing ten years ag

I came across a quote written by J.R.R. Tolkien the other day. He said: "You can only come to the morning  through the shadows." Now, I've read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy a few decades ago. So, I don't recall who said these words (they may not even be from a work, but spoken by himself, though I think not) but they ring true. Similar to "it's always darkest before the dawn" and "...though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil" (Psalm 23), they essentially say the same thing. Tolkien's phrase caught my attention because of the word "shadows." These are the things we think we see, or presuppose, or assume, or pretend are there, or any innumerable things we can substitute for the words shadows. Shadows imply something that is there, but the very thing is unclear. Do we see what we actually think we see? After going to bed thinking about these words, and how they apply to u

There's a much-adhered bit of writing advice that most writers are told, whether it's from a teacher, mentor, critique partner or book. It's this: To write well, you must read. And it's true. It's like studying art work if you paint or sculpt Or watching dramas or theater if you're an actor. You have to study the craft in which you create. As Stephen King said in his perfect book On Writing , " If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that” (147)." Yep. Also, I think I need to add that one needs to write in order to be a great writer. I know. How obvious, right? But, it's not to some. I know "writers" who only write the book they are working on, but nothing else. They don't write short stories, articles, poems, not even a blog. They don't do any writing other than the latest book they're working on. And edit it. Over and over. Day in and day out. Wher

The way I start a story is rarely how I finish it. And writing is pretty much always this way. Which is a good thing. No, it's a fantastic thing. The first draft of anything should never, ever see the light of day. Or anyone's eyes. But yours of course, the first time around. Then said eyes need to watch yourself retyping a great deal of it. And this is for any writer. Pro or amateur. As Hemingway once said, and I'm going to paraphrase, "All first drafts are crap." Clearly, he didn't say "crap." That wasn't the word he used. That wasn't Hemingway. But, I digress. Here's the thing. He's right. First drafts are garbage. Always. They must be rewritten. Now, sometimes when articles and things getting printed, what you think will be printed won't always be the case. I know this first hand. I've written many things that have been edited sharply. Things I wrote, that turned out nothing like what I submitted. That's the fre

Well hey! Just wanted to say a quick hello. I'm still here. No excuses for not blogging. However, I'm going to give you excuses anyway. Just went here for Winter Break with my boys. Their first trip to Hawaii. Spent a lot of time looking up at this while lounging on the beach or at the pool.  Spent an equal amount of time trying to get them to let me take pics of them. Took a ridiculous amount of fun selfies with my oldest. (Very cherish-able.) Came home to celebrate this boy's birthday (again). Proceeded to eat all of this by myself. Took this girl for many runs, even though I was the one that needed to run. Now, I'm doing (still) a lot of this. But wishing I was doing this. I'm getting back into the writing groove guys. I promise. Hope to share some of it in the near future. Aloha...