Thursday, August 19, 2010

And the Story Continues....



FRIENDS!!! I've missed you!! :)


Thanks for bearing with my mini-virtual-vaca while I tried to restore some small fragments of sanity after 3 classes of summer semester. (Summer. Semester. The two words just don't go together!) Anyway, fall semester starts up next week, and homeschooling begins in 2 weeks (after Labor Day...when school should start! LoL)...sooo I figure I better get back to writing now to be back in practice once the school year starts.




I'm starting this first post back with a bit of reflection on the story my life is currently telling and figuring out how it lines up with the story I want it to tell. I've heard other people's take on my/my family's story. I've heard we definitely have a Fun Family! And we do. I've heard we're a Fly-by-the-seat-of-our pants Family. And we are. I've heard we're Crazy. Hardcore. Slightly Irresponsible. Perhaps immature. ...Guilty as charged. However, I do feel like I've come quite a ways in my outlook on life. I used to be obsessively career-driven with a tunnel-vision only for climbing up the corporate ladder in the publishing world. THAT, I discovered, for me, was not truly living. That was called "marking time in a cubicle waiting to retire to THEN live a couple years before I passed on to true LIFE!" I do feel like I am living a better story now. I'm all about trying to be the best mom and wife I can possibly be and trying to live my own dream of being a writer. Unfortunately, there are just too many "weeds" in my life right now, keeping me from fulling living out my story to its fullest potential. --Things that are trying to suck the very life right out of me, encrouching on my dreams, dragging me down. So obviousy some things in my life have to go--and some that need room to be allowed to bloom.





What often helps me in my life are using frameworks, or tools to examine and re-examine my goals, dreams and what I feel called to do. So I'm using Donald Miller's blog contest as a tool right now. (If you haven't read his book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, I HIGHLY suggest you stop reading this post and run to your local bookseller immediately!) Anyway, Donald Miller wants to know what I want the story of my life to be like--in a year...5 years...where's the plot going? Who's involved?




Firstly, I LOVE this whole concept of living a great story. To me, it elicits the thrill of adventure, hope and purpose a life is supposed to have. If I were to categorize MY Crazy story, I'd like for it to be an epic adventure/indie/romantic comedy. Never dull. Original and artsy. Full of love. And overflowing with fun and laughter. (Laughter "with"...not "at!" :)) It's a story about followng a calling. Fulfilling the purpose of a greater destiny. It's about living a life of passion. Living richly, fully, loudly, joyfully.





In my story, I want to be the heroine. Or at least the underdog who rises to the top. I would like to be the one people are rooting for; cheering on. Because I want to be cheering others on in the process. I have a gift of Encouragement. I just could use a little encouragement myself. And that is why I am HOPING to win this contest! Haha! :) The other characters I HAVE to have with me in my story are my family. Both my family--immediate and extended, as well as a tightly knit group of close friends. (If you're reading this, you are probably already part of this story--sorry!)

So what IS the story? It's about a heroine who loves her family so much, she thrives on caring for them creatively while having fun in the process. But she also has a dream of "making it" as a writer in an attempt to rescue Childhood and Childlike Spirits everywhere. This heroine wants, and has ALWAYS wanted to write children's picture books, and to simply make children smile. Laugh out loud. And she wants the adults reading the stories to smile along with their children as they read together and to remember what it felt like to be a kid. I want these books to be bonding for parents and their children, and to serve as an encouragement to both. I also want to write books for parents to encourage them in regaining their own lost childhood joy and how to encourage it in their own stories. I simply want to empower parents to give their children a childhood, not stuff. To help them restore the joy of childhood to their homes and their children's lives. I would like to create children's books to inspire that childlike magic in families, and books geared toward parents to equip parents with creative ideas that bring that "magic" home. I want to write books that allow kids to be kids. And books that encourage parents to actually be parents with childlike spirits. Love and Creativity, Baby!





So, what am I doing to propel the story forward, Friends? Well, with my grad school work in ECE, I've realized that I'm simply learning to speak the language of the people I'm trying to reach. I'm doing what any good missionary would do--studying the culture and learning the language/the details. My goal is to write through many means a message that focuses on the joy and preservation of Childhood. And that's why I'm writing this post. I truly want to go to Donald Miller's conference to fine-tune the path my story is on; get some ideas on structuring my life better around the theme; and truthfully...to get a swift kick in the butt from Don himself to be motivated to write what I SHOULD be writing. I'm living it!..Just not writing it, as of the moment!




That's me in a nutshell...or the nuthouse. Take your pick. But I wanna know YOUR story! I love nothing more than reading about the cool stories other people are living out! Share them with me, Friends! And if you feel so inclined, you can check out more details about Donald Miller's conference here: www.donmilleris.com/conference.

Check out his video about the conference in the sidebar!


Thanks for reading my cover. Time to get some print on the pages!


As always, don't forget to SHINE!!!




xoxo,


Shiny