On Life and Words

So as I am working on both of my book manuscripts, I find myself searching more and more for information about publishing through Amazon for Kindle. I am getting closer to my goal. At least ONE of my books will be published by Winter 2013/2014. Which leads me to some issues. I'm really having difficulty understanding the formatting issues and wondering about pricing and marketing your book. Yep, pretty much all of it. Has anyone out there ever published through Amazon for Kindle? If you have, can you please share your experiences with me? I know I will get it figured out, but with my new school semester starting in a matter of weeks, my kids getting ready for back to school and also trying to write for various websites to earn money, I am feeling slightly overwhelmed and feeling as though maybe I might have bitten off more than I can chew. If anyone has any advice or input for me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Otherwise, I'm just very busy today, keeping up with kids, m...

So it had occurred to me that for most of my adult life, I've been living in a vacuum. I didn't see the entire big picture of things, which made decision-making a little easier than it should have been. In some cases, I really and truly made no conscious decision. For many years, I lacked a sense of self-awareness and lacked any real self-esteem. Which led me to the place I am now. For the most part, although it wasn't a conscious decision on my part, I simply allowed things to happen around me. I allowed others to make decisions for me. I have been living in a vacuum and having no real sense of time or sense of urgency concerning much of anything in my life. I hid behind spouses and children and used being a wife and mother or being a mother as an excuse to not really do anything with myself or my life. When you give away your power, it's awfully difficult to gain it back. It's a very odd place to find yourself, when you realize that you gave up choices and ...

 Nothing much to say today. Not feeling a motivation to write. Just going to do some house-cleaning and steam-cleaning today. Have a wonderful Monday everyone!!

There comes a point in everyone's life where they begin questioning themselves, their circumstances, how they got to the point they are and they ponder their future. I know this, because I'm doing it myself. I have reached a point in my life where I question all things - both good and bad - and I am making decisions as I go along. A lot of self-inventory has occurred. And I'm still nowhere near finished. I find that I am questioning things about my past, my present and my future. More importantly, I am beginning to truly discover who I am and where I am going in my life, what I want out of my life and what I want for my children. What's most important in a self-inventory is to be completely honest with yourself. When you ask yourself questions, you owe it to yourself to give completely honest answers. This has been a very difficult process for me, because I've had to face a lot of decisions that *I* made and the fact that a lot of those choices led myself dow...

Yesterday, my children and I attended a function for their school that they had attended before the May 20th tornado. The school is no longer there and they are in the process of rebuilding it. A large local church hosted both schools that were demolished for this event. The children were all given a free copy of their school yearbook, new packages of school portraits, a handmade quilt or blanket and a teddy bear. You see, those who brought this event about, realized the importance of closure and of trying to maintain a sense of normalcy in the wake of a disaster. The children were elated to see some of their friends again and to see their teachers, principal and other faculty members from their school. For all of us, this event brought a sense of healing and a bit of closure to the day when our lives changed forever. There was laughter, relief, tears of joy, tears of pain for those lost and of course, the overwhelming sense of thankfulness that we were all able to attend this e...

  Anyone who has gone through a traumatic event personally knows that finding hope within these events can seem almost impossible. We might even, in the aftermath of trauma, find ourselves resenting those who seem "cheerful" and upbeat. It might seem ludicrous for someone to suggest that we find hope in something that has seemingly ripped our lives apart.    For me personally, I know that finding hope in darkness can be extremely difficult. I have found myself in the position of resenting those who attempt to offer comfort or support in the form of hope.    During times of crisis, it can be very easy to turn a blind eye to anything even remotely close to positive or hopeful, it is almost automatic to become jealous of those who seemingly are better off than we are. In the aftermath of the May 20th, 2013 Tornado that ripped Moore, Oklahoma apart, I saw this first-hand. I even -gasp!- felt some of those same emotions myself.    This is the point w...

        Too often, we are bombarded with recollections of our past - whether these come in the form of reminiscing with friends or family, places, things or even just self-inventory. If our past is less than stellar, it is all too easy to internalize those mistakes, continuing to hold onto that past and believe that we are too intertwined with our past to ever get past it.         In effect, we begin to believe that we are either a product of our past or that we are still our past. If we do not let go of our past and all of the mistakes we have made while traveling through our life path, then we remain stuck in the past. Believing we are our past and its mistakes, takes us to a point of losing hope and any motivation for moving forward or making changes in our lives.          Which leads to the question of, what do you do when you've lost hope and motiva...

   There's a time and a place for everything, even if we don't always know the reason. And the simple fact is, we may never know the reason why things happen the way do.     After many years of struggling with the same problems over and over, fighting the same battles over and over, a recent natural disaster that ripped through my hometown forced me to take a long, hard look at myself and realize that while the tornado might have ruined "life as I know it," there was actually a blessing in disguise.      In the wake of the trauma to our lives, my children and I are now starting over. For all of us, this is going to be a good thing. Waking up one day to realize that life is precious and short can be the wake-up call that one needs to attempt to change the things that previously felt unmanageable or uncontrollable.     There has been a lot of chaos and unnecessary drama in my life the last few years. Realizing that most of...