National Entitlement Awareness Day

        I was listening to NPR in the car the other day and they were talking about children and parental relations; how now more than ever parents have such little control over the environment their child grows up in because of the plethora of media within the home. They talked about ways parents can better communicate with their child and how to put up (and adhere to!) family rules, especially with kids whose friends are all about competing with the Jones's.This broadcast came at a good time, I've been thinking a lot about this issue lately and right in time for a new book from Richard and Linda!

   I've been a fan of the Eyre's for a long time, ever since I read their book "Teaching your Children Joy". Now, I follow almost all of their children's blogs and have been looking forward for this book to come out with great anticipation. It comes after a reputable line of best-sellers, books that are both interesting to read with their own stories of raising 9 kids (gaaa!) and filled with true to life facts and examples from other parents in the same boat as you. What I like about their books are that they don't preach to you. It's not a scientific book full of facts and charts you can get lost in, they write from experience. I come away from reading with a burning desire to DO more and to BE more. And the confidence that I can.

   Richard and Linda Eyre are world-wide travelers who speak about family issues and boy do they know their stuff. So I highly recommend this book to anyone who has children whether they are of the right age of not. The age of entitlement is just revving up.

They are giving away tons of free prizes, including a platinum prize of a weekend getaway stay in Salt Lake City and other well-worth gifts for pre-ordering their book HERE. It's only $12 (33% off the cover price) and if the price drops before the release date in September, you're guaranteed the lower price through amazon pre-orders.

Check it out! Seriously. If you want to find out more about the Eyre's here is their website.
And their daughter Saren's Power of Moms where you can find out more about those AWESOME prizes!

Second Star to the Right and Straight on 'till Morning

 

image source

 There is an idea circulating out there that unless writing comes easy to you, you're not cut out to be a writer.

This is a MYTH. 

Some published writers who claim they dreampt up their story, who claim the words just flowed out of them and bam! it was publishable, and who delightedly chat with interviewers about the wonder and joy of creating fictionary worlds are grossly misleading the general public about how much WORK goes into writing a novel.And it's easy to feel beat down when you see people, whose books are actually selling, acting like that. Sometimes even though you know it takes work, you wonder if you really have the talent to get there, the skills to make it happen and the drive to succeed. Do you want to know what I think?


I think you do. 

  Hang those dumb authors who've forgotten the long hours they logged behind their computer screens late into the night or early morning. Who've forgotten the sacrifices it takes now they they're well-known. Who would make you feel small for believing in a dream that maybe no one but you can see for yourself.

Now, scratch these authors, sometimes it's hard to believe you have it in you when you see great authors who admit how hard it is to craft a seamless plot and multi-dimensional characters telling it like it is! It can be very discouraging. (I know, I feel it too).

But here's the secret antidote to all that: Don't just believe in the fairy tale of publishing, make the fairy tale happen. To YOU. Take Peter Pan..

Many writers sit waiting in their bedrooms as Wendy fills their head with stories of how great it is to be published...the book signings, the interviews, the fans, the following, the ARCs, the friendships with other authors etc.. And soon you're standing by the window waiting for Peter Pan, that inspirational fellow, to show up with pixie dust and grant the ideas of your book in your head into a manuscript and give you the wings to fly right out the window and into that dream world.

And here's the secret of that. He's not coming. Unless you can capture his shadow and hid it in a drawer, unless you do the work to get the attention you deserve,  it's not going to happen. You may have the happy thoughts, you may be waiting for that fairy dust to pour out upon you but you'll be waiting a long time.

This is what sets apart the published writers from the non.You HAVE to BELIEVE in yourself and that you have the talents, the gifts, the abilities, the drive and the will to succeed no matter what else any one thinks or says. No matter how far away that beautiful Neverland of dreams seems, it is always within reach. Find that inspiration that keeps it in sight and never let go of it. Keep sacrificing. Grow the wings to make yourself fly don't wait for Peter.

Yes, it will be hard. It might be painful. It will be discouraging and you'll have to pour every ounce of faith into yourself even when it seems your straining mud through a sieve to get those words out and the dream seems utterly unattainable.

But you can do it.

There will be times when the missing piece of your storyline falls into place with a click, when a new character shyly slips into your mind like a fresh breath of air, when your fingers wear out from a night's work at the laptop where they just couldn't keep up with your brain. When your heart quietly burns within you because you know absolutely this is what you were meant to do. There will be those times too. And they will spur you on through another drought of pure work until you sail through them again.

But only you can make it happen. I believe in you, do you?

A Trip to Mackinac Island Part II

Sorry I'm getting this up late, I've been hit with a bad cold which is weird, right, since it's the MIDDLE OF SUMMER!?!?!? So instead of boring you with the entire Part II of the trip--I feel like I've got you in my living room showing you slide after slide----I'll just put some highlights. Here is one of the coolest buildings on the island and also more proof of how nerdy I am:

Isn't that color so awesome! I loooove libraries especially unique ones. One of the ones in Las Vegas is orange! But this one takes the cake! Then there was this building right next to it...

 

Dun-dun-da-da-da-duh -daaaaah! Spooky, man! With it's sloping roofs and dark windows and chimneys..it has got to belong to the Mackinac Island witch, in fact, I'm sure of it. Do you think it's coincidence a cute alluring library happens to be nestled right up next to it where a bunch of youngins come to rent books!!? And a voice from the hedge calls to them promising sweets and no bed times and toys, toys, toys! 

(I apologize to whoever lives in this home, I'm sure you're a exemplary citizen but really, you're house is too cool!)

Some real-life Mackinac folk chatting at the docks..

We biked down to the water's edge and it was beautiful. Standing there I felt like I should come up with some sort of prose or deep poetry worthy of Robert Frost but alas my brain was on vacation so I just took pictures.

 We went up to this natural bridge and looked out across the water.

 Someone wrote something with rocks out in a sand bar...I {heart} MI is about all I can make out.

 This church also fueled my imagination. Can you imagine the things that go in inside of it?! Look at that shuttered window and the crosses on the top and tell me that you can't see ghosts looking out from their haunted perch above the world.....Uh-huh..

 It was such a fun trip...it really spared my imagination and was so wonderful to get out of the city and to a different kind of life. This is why I love to travel!

A Trip to Mackinac Island

 

I don't know of anyone who really enjoys a good butt rub but I guess it goes well on meat.  This sign was in a window I saw on a recent vacation to Michigan and Macinac Island. Besides all the butt rubbing there were a lot of fun things to see and do!

If you've never been to the island, you have to cross a bridge (above) and ferry across. We've been coming here as a kid and I STILL imagine myself as a mermaid swimming across, competing with the ferries like dolphins do with ships.

 

This is my private boat I keep up here... I wish!

 I love imagining all the characters that could live in houses like these..

What a spectacular view!

The fort. It's like boy scout central here and they see to it the flags are properly raised and lowered. Well done, lads.

There are no cars on the island which is why I love it so much (that and the FUDGE). So you can literally breath in the fresh air and get great exercise. The only down side is...

{insert picture of smelly horse manure splattered across the road}
Yeah. Watch out for that!

So we set off on our bikes to explore!

I LOVE LOVE the greenery

The Grand Hotel. If you've seen Somewhere in Time, this is where they filmed it. It costs $10 per person just to walk into the place and look around! So we love picnicking on the grounds and playing croquet and bocce ball. I always feel like Edith Wharton here vacationing at a hotel where your baggage is brought up by horses and wagons.

This fountain was pretty, a little ways off on the grounds. Hmm I feel a spontaneous poem coming on..

An ode to a Beautiful Font:
You're pretty and bubbly
Though not very cuddly
I'd love to dive into your waters
"No swimming" you say
Uh, I didn't want to anyway!
This poem is quite simply, fodder

 

We stopped by a little art gallery filled with beautiful art. But the asking price for 6 x 6 oils started at $350-$500 for the plainer ones. Does that seem a little hefty to anyone else?

Phew! The tour stops here for the day, I hope you've enjoyed the journey. There'll be more tomorrow if you're so inclined to stop in again! :)

Sunday Scribblings # 277 Distant

When I think of distant, I think of distant hearts. Cousins of the lonely hearts, they have someone to call their own but their hearts just aren't in it. Day and night they yearn for more while their "beloved" sleeps beside them. On the phone they lie to their girlfriend or boyfriend keeping the stolen kiss that should never of happened buried deep inside them. Distant hearts, oh wicked hearts, why can't you be happy with what you've got? Then sun is shining, the earth is green and all the world is singing with the happy hearts who've found their mates. Black hearts, you foolish hearts why don't you try a little harder and forget yourselves in favor of another. Another heart that beats to the tune of loneliness as it's kept shut out from yours. "It's not good enough, not strong enough, it never gives me what I need." So caught up in your own wants, your selfish needs that you forget your heart isn't the only heart trying to feel love. Cast off your selfish disdain your brawling love oh loving hate and open your distant heart. Bring it back from the island of misunderstood and forge the bridge to inside it. I bet you'll see once it's been done that life is so much more worth living, than the distant hearts that cry for more and bury deep inside them.

Writing Inspiration

Read, read, read. Read everything—trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the most. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out the window."
William Faulkner

"Only write from your own passion, your own truth. That's the only thing you really know about, and anything else leads you away from the pulse."
Marianne Williamson

 Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."
Mark Twain

Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It's the one and only thing you have to offer."
Barbara Kingsolver

Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience.Henry David Thoreau

You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you've got something to say

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it, and above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.Joseph Pulitzer

Picture sources:Peace Love Bella Vita.blogspot.com

Date a Girl Who Reads

"Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads."

— Rosemary Urquico