inspiration Archives - Page 2 of 7 -

June 6, 2018June 6, 20181 CommentBlog

How Moms Suffer From Senioritis

My plan today was to write about how much fun it’s been meeting fellow She Writes Press authors. There are just over 300, seventeen who live in Chicago. In the last few weeks, I’ve been to two book release events and a social gathering where I’ve reveled in having nerdy author conversations about everything from galley proofs to audiobook technology to stage fright—conversations that, like all good ones, translate to many different life experiences. I wanted to write about some “aha!” moments I’ve had because of these connections.

But that blog will have to wait.

Because when I climbed into my car to head to Michigan this morning for a visit with my mom, something else climbed in with me.

May 21, 2018May 21, 20182 CommentsBlog

You Obviously Know What You’re Doing

Sitting in a jazz club listening to a big band jam on Benny Goodman is hardly the moment I would expect to be thunderstruck with a life lesson.

I was catching my breath after dancing with a new partner. We started chatting and he asked how long I have been dancing.

“You obviously know what you’re doing,” he said.

May 14, 2018May 14, 2018Leave a CommentBlog

Is This Really The Best You Can Do? Before You Answer, Read This…

In honor of Mother’s Day (and due to a very busy week), I decided to re-run this blog from last February. This is for anyone who needs to be reminded that you’re doing a helluva job.

These days, being a mother requires the memory of an elephant—and the thick skin of one too. Thanks to a recent scene with my 15-year-old son, I won’t soon forget that most of us are simply lumbering our way through parenthood, and life.

April 23, 2018April 23, 2018Leave a CommentBlog

How to go from Spacey to Spacious

I’m at the coffee shop, head down over my laptop, wearing a look of concentration that makes everyone around me think I’m being productive when, in fact, I’m berating myself for my absent-mindedness.

I left the house without my cell phone and had to drive back to get it. It was already an hour past when I meant to leave and I have no idea where that hour went. As I got back in the car for the second time in ten minutes, I looked in the rearview mirror and chided myself.

You sure are spacey.

April 16, 2018April 16, 2018Leave a CommentBlog

You Are More Than a Drop in The Bucket

It’s been a long-time dream of mine to have a team of people supporting my publishing career. Maybe it’s common to every writer who spends years down the rabbit hole churning out words that may never be read. The idea of having someone else believe in you enough to say “let’s share this with the world” has got to be the best feeling ever.

I’m about to find out.

April 9, 2018April 9, 2018Leave a CommentBlog

When Life is Like a Sandwich You Didn’t Order

Don’t you hate it when you have to follow your own advice? When writers tell me that they’re stuck, I always point them toward the present moment and ask:

What’s happening right now that you can use?

What is the conversation you’re already having that can be transferred to the page?

So when I was stuck this week about what to blog about, I grudgingly asked myself the same questions. And I didn’t like the answers.

March 21, 2018March 21, 2018Leave a CommentBlog

Please Allow Me to Dash Your Hopes

I consider myself the hopeful sort. When I was a teenager, I wrote the words of Emily Dickinson in my notebook:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.

March 12, 2018March 12, 2018Leave a CommentBlog

The 5 People Who Will Support Your Success

I admit I’ve never read Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven, but I’ve been thinking of it anyway because of five people who taught me an important lesson this week.

I was in a complete funk, stressed out and shut down in the face of a problem that seemed to have no solution. I had a decision to make—one that would require not only a financial investment but also would force me to step into a bigger, bolder version of myself.

Updated on March 6, 2018March 5, 2018Leave a CommentBlog

How to Reframe Imposter Syndrome

I’d been procrastinating for weeks. I knew I needed an author headshot taken for my book cover, but I hate having my picture taken. Not only that, what if I want to change my hair color? Or get a dramatic new haircut? It never seemed the right time.

Then I got an email from the publisher asking about it and saying something about schedules and blah, blah, blah. OK. Time to act.

February 27, 2018February 27, 2018Leave a CommentBlog

Life Is Not All Gumballs and Hearts…But It Should Be

There were 10 of us around the large wooden table. We came together on Valentine’s Day to talk about writing and to have a little fun capturing the memories of our first loves. After a 15-minute exercise, every paper was marked with details that were touching, surprising, funny, and heartbreaking.

We heard about the beautiful red hair of a pre-teen boy; about a first kiss, at 12 years old, in a field, that made the writer’s body feel things she had never imagined it was capable of; about the storybook Germanic features of a first crush that the writer, now in his sixties, can see as clearly as if it were yesterday.

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