Friday, April 23, 2010

Back on the Horse

Why is it that it takes forever to get fit and toned but takes no time to lose it? I ran a little bit while we were in California, but other than that, I haven't run in a pretty long time. I've been doing some walking over my lunch hours at work, but not much "real" working out. And I haven't been to the Y in a while either. And then Steve has been gone this week, which makes it hard for working out. And excuses, excuses, excuses.

I've only been lax a couple of weeks, but man, I'm feeling all lethargic and FAT all the sudden. Now I realize it would be near impossible to get fat in two weeks, but I think it's time to get back into the workout routine. It's funny how working out totally changes the way I feel.

Tomorrow I'm going for a run. That should get things off on the right foot.

And how fitting that the title of this is "Back on the Horse" because that's where we're going tomorrow. Robin and Kathy have graciously said we can come and visit the chickens and horses tomorrow, so we're excited! Anna loves chickens. She might have a farm one day.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Writing

I went to a children's writing luncheon today where we listened to an editor from a big NYC publishing house talk about the business. It made me realize a few things...

1. I'll never be one of those "amazing" transformative kind of writers that can write about a cup of water and make it sounds exciting. Nor do I desire to be, actually.
2. I'm more of an "ideas" person. A "hey wouldn't this be cool" sorta thing. But I'd like other people to actually carry it out. Hmm, maybe that's the editor in me. (Seriously, though. I have a GREAT idea for a young adult book, but I'll never write it. So if you need a topic, let me know.)
3. The publishing world is super tough. I need an agent. They hold all the power. (Just to put kids writing into perspective, I've been doing it for about 7 years and have one book to my name. And today at that luncheon, I bet there were more than 100 writers in the room. And that's Wisconsin alone.)
4. I'm still going to create. But I'll be highly selective of what I write about. These days, something has to be totally extraordinary and amazing to stand out. Some story about a kid learning to ride his bike or whatnot is not really cutting edge or interesting. So it's all about the cool and interesting.
5. I really hope this gardening trend stays popular, and that I can sell another garden concept or two before others jump on the bandwagon.

It is fun to create, though. And since Jack calls me an author and this makes him highly proud of me, I'm going to enjoy my moment as much as I can this summer when my book comes out!

Friday, April 16, 2010

A Matter of Perspective

Sometimes we as humans tend to focus on the negative...money we don't have, the jeans that don't fit anymore, the stresses of work, etc. I fall into this path all too often. And at the risk of sounding enlightened, I'm starting to realize just how silly and annoying this really is. Recently, we've heard about a lot of tragedy around us.
  • Our amazing family doctor has a brain tumor. (He's also the father of four young girls.)
  • My sister-in-law's cousin just lost her husband and is left with six kids on her own.
  • A very young friend of ours is dealing with a cancer scare, though they are saying it's highly curable.
  • A 5-year-old little girl was just hit and killed about 1/2 a mile from where I work in this cute and quiet little downtown area. She was just walking in a crosswalk and the car wasn't even going that fast.
  • Another friend of ours is about to lose his grandma because of a stroke.
So in the grand scheme of things, the little annoyances of everyday life doesn't really compare. While I doubt I'll be able to swear off negative thoughts altogether, I am going to try to make a conscience effort to be more positive. Work isn't worth stressing about. And life in general has too many good things in it to focus on the negative all the time.

So here's to being positive. And focusing on things that really matter. It's all a matter of perspective, right?