Nineteen Thoughts

Well I've brushed off the cobwebs, swept the floors, dusted, and cleaned the place. I've picked up the pieces and once again I'm stumbling forward.

To start the new year I share an e-mail I recieved. Nineteen motivational points that are worth pondering. And true a few things that are on the humorous side.

Picking up the Pieces

Last summer I went with my daughter to the Mocking Jay Part I movie. There was a line in the movie that caught my ear. "It takes ten times longer to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart."

I've thought over my last few years. In a lot of ways my own life has come unraveled. Job stress, finances, personal tragedies all rolled up to be nearly overwhelming. I started dumping things, and then more things. Soon I was just doing what I needed to do to get by.

That was exactly what I needed to be doing. I am making it through my own issues. Now I am starting to get back into things I wanted to do, but were not as high a priority. It isn't always easy. I now understand more about why folks struggle. Stress is tough. Depression is tough. Dealing with things is unique to each individual dealing with it.

I like the quote, if you can keep it together, keep it together. I know when I was running regularly, during a race if I slowed to a walk for just a bit, it was hard to get running again.

So keeping it together is easier than starting things over. Yet in the thick of things sometimes priorities have to be set and worked on. The thing to remember is if it is worth doing, find a way to do it. Sometimes you have to stop and rest, no shame in that. Sometimes keep on keeping on is the better choice. Then that is life, choices.

My life lesson is keep on keeping on if I can. It does take longer to picking up the pieces later. Stumbling forward is still going forward. Stay the course and keep moving forward.

Dealing with what you are Dealt

Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.

Jack London

     One the family favorites to watch is The Princes Bride. There is a point where the grandfather stops reading when the grandson interrupts and tells his grandfather he read the story wrong, "Wesley didn't die!"

     "I'm afraid so," Grandpa replies.

     "Who gets Humperdink?"

     "No one, he lives."

     "That is not fair!"

     "Life isn't fair."

     A great interchange, and a great life lesson. Life isn't fair. No amount of whining will change that. And no matter how much regulations goverments throw at things, it will not change the simple fact that life isn't always far.

    

     In fact there are days I have exchanges like this:

     "Hey, how are you doing?" Someone will ask.

     "Can't complain," I reply, then I'll sometimes add, "Wouldn't do any good if I did."

     Inevitable I get this reply, "No, it wouldn't."

     My wife and I have made friends with a couple that loves to get with us on a Friday or Saturday night. We play cards until 11 PM or sometimes midnight, depending on how things go. We have two rules that are strictly enforces

     1. If you discard a card, you are done with your turn. Period.

     2. Have fun.

     There are times we are loosing, and loosing bad, but we are having so much fun with conversations, and jokes, it just doesn't matter. There are times I get dealt a hand I can do nothing with. I have to play it nonetheless. However, I may get a fantastic hand and get a great run a few deals later. That is part of the fun.

     Life is a lot like the card game.  There are times when everything is going your way. Life is easy then. But like the card game, there are times life deals us an ugly hand.

     One of my most popular blog posts is "When your Best isn't Good Enough." I talk about leaving a job I spent years at, trying to get things better.

     I couldn't control the factors that landed me in that job. I was able to find a new position and leave that company. My hand that life has dealt me since has been better.

     The main thing is this: do the best with what you've got. We have to deal with what we've got. So what if life isn't fair, and we are not where we think we should be, or where we want to be. That is part of life. How we work through it is important.

     Keep your head up. Things will change. They always do. Work on what you can control and work to make the changes positive. Life will throw ugly things at us, but then things tend to work out for the best in the end.

    

What keeps you positive and motivated?

11 Ideas to Stay Young

Stay Young My Friend
We all need to read this one over and over until it becomes part of who we are.
;HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1.. Try everything twice.
On one woman's tombstone she said she wanted this epitaph: "Tried everything twice. Loved it both times!"
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
(Keep this in mind if you are one of those grouches!)


3. Keep learning: Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever... Never let the brain get idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And the devil's name is Alzheimer's!
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. And if you have a friend who makes you laugh,spend lots and lots of time with HIM/HER.


6.. The tears happen: Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. LIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love: whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.. Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health:
If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don't take guilt trips.. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.
I love you, my special friend!

11. Forgive now those who made you cry. You might not get a second chance..
And if you don't send this to at least 4 people - who cares? But do share this with someone.

Remember! Lost time can never be found.
Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.
Wine does not make you FAT .... it makes you LEAN ....(against tables, chairs, floors, walls)

Keep on Keeping On

Winter is almost behind us.  It has been a long winter.  This last winter also had a plus, the winter Olympic games. 

A new addition was introduced to the games, Slopestyle. It is an interesting sport.  The one I enjoyed watching was the Mens snowboard.  Basically a snowboarder jumps on ramps, or rails and then does flips off jumps all the while traveling at breakneck speeds down the mountain side.

While the USA won first place, and the gold medal is the goal, I was more interested in what happened to the bronze winner from Canada, Mark McMorris.

A few weeks before the winter games Mark competed in the Winter X Games in Aspen.  On his third run he tripped on the rails and crashed, and fractured a rib.  He still went to the winter Olympic games and competed, with a fractured rib.

I was amazed as he did flips and jumps knowing how it would hurt when he landed.  The fact that he won a bronze medal in the debut of his Slopestyle sport is a testament of commitment and following your dreams.

I suppose the fight to go on is always in a champion.  Things that go wrong are seen as setbacks, not deal breakers.

I will never be a star athlete, or compete in any Olympic Games, summer or winter.  I do well to run a mile right now, although I am working on my fitness, I know I'll never be an elite athlete, but I do know this - I can keep on keeping on.

There are times in life where it seems like the opposition will overwhelm us.  Remember this, obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes of the goal.  Sometimes it will hurt to keep moving.  Oftentimes things do not, or will not go the way you would like.  Take a deep breath and keep plugging.

You may not get the gold medal, but hey, you made it to the platform and got to see your flag.  Go back and work some more.  It will eventually pay off.

Men's Slopestyle Final Results

Place	Name	Country	Score
1	Sage Kotsenburg	USA	93.50
2	Staale Sandbech	Norway	91.75
3	Mark McMorris	Canada	88.75

Darke Conteur has me on Blog Tour

I need to remember the old adage, "Never volunteer for anything."

Yet I feel the need to help others whenever I can, and when Darke put up a note saying she needed help I said sure!

Really I don't mind, I've just been swamped, as you can tell by the low number of blog posts I've put up lately...  I'll fix it, but blogging is not a high priority at this juncture. 

So I need to answer a few simple questions:

1) What am I working on?
Finding a job first and foremost.  Oh, as far as my writing goes?  Well I've been working on a high fantasy story for longer than I will admit.  I made the mistake of writing 400,000 words with no help, or anyone to beta read or critique. Now I'm trying to turn it into something readable.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre? 
I am working on a Fantasy Thriller.  I know that is a bit different, but I love both genres.  So I am crafting something that works, although a lot of my writing friends tell me I have too much detail in my story.  So it is a balancing act...

3) Why do I write what I do?
It is an outlet for me.  I like to imagine things, and fantasy allows me to let my imagination go, but the practical side of me always brings it around to make it believable, so even fantasy has rules it needs to follow!
 
 4) How does my writing process work? 
I like to write at lunch time, or I did.  I'd have ideas brew and then at lunch put them on paper.  I love to go on walks and as I'm out walking the ideas start to come.  I can play with them in my head and then put them down once I work out the details in my mind.  My favorite part is writing the first draft and letting the story flow out of my fingers through the keyboard and onto the screen/paper.  

I've heard it said that the first draft you write for yourself.  Then get the crit partners and start making it work for everyone else.  That is where I am at now, working on making the story work for everyone else.  It will get there, and boy it will be great when I get it published.  

So thanks Darke for asking me to join your tour.  Now I've got to find three other people to share this with and post some links for them for next week.

 

Guest Post by Andre Ford: Why I write

I've asked some of my writer friends why they write.  I got a request From Andre for a post.  So here is a brief bio and why Andre Writes:

Name: Andre Ford

 

Born and raised in Southeastern United States, my interest in writing started in High School; math class to be exact. There was a student teacher there who noticed I wasn't paying attention and found out why. She scolded me for writing in class and then scolded me for leaving a cliff hanger. She encouraged me to write ... but not during class.

Though I've been writing stories for years, my first published work was with a small magazine that targeted canine enthusiast. Later on I began writing stories and featuring interviews on a website devoted to aviation and flight simulation. At first I doubted my skills to interview various people but then, with each successful interview, I started to get good at them; even to a point where I launched my own site, Lounge1506. There a number of interviews from people around the world and many walks of life are featured. The problem is that with a quick glance many think the site is about music, or radio, or business, in fact it's about a variety of topics instead of just one. Lounge1506 does two things for me. It gives me a challenge to conquer and allows me to meet people around the world and share their story. I hope people enjoy reading or watching the content as much as I enjoy featuring it.

 

Lounge1506

 

What Motivates Me To Write and Why?

Failure is my motivator.  Interesting isn’t it? The very thing which causes many to stop writing is what gives me fuel. Failure mixed with tenacity fuels my desire to prove that I can do it; that I can write. During an interview with a DJ, he said “You’re going to make mistakes. It’s how you recover from those mistakes that matters.” The same could be said about failure. It’s going to happen; however, there is a lesson to be learned. If you work hard enough, you can to attain your goal. When I am faced with complex situations, it forces me to make needed changes, try different things with my writing, and to look at my work differently.

For instance, I wrote a story where the main character lived in an advanced society amid a wasteland. It was as if Star Trek met Mad Max. That story was a complete failure due to a number of reasons, other than the fact that is my first story. After examining the story again an idea came to mind which was to make another story about one of the advanced cities. This new story would take place in a fairly advanced world with its own set of problems.

In addition to a new story with a new setting, I’ve also figured out better ways to write dynamic scenes of action. Instead of writing “John Doe was mad and threw the device thus breaking it.” I learned to write “John Doe’s face turned a deep crimson upon hearing the news of defeat; he clinched his fist and his knuckles became white as paper. His narrowed eyes focused on a data pack, no bigger than a deck of cards, which was on the corner of his desk. All that work, and for what? Nothing! He swiped the device and hurled it across his office; watching, as it exploded into tiny pieces of plastic and metal.” I’m far from perfect and still have a lot learn.

In short, failure pushes me to summit the mountain of challenges the writing industry provides.

 

Thanks Andre, and be sure to stop by Lounge 1506