Weighing the Risks (6 months later)

| November 11, 2011 | 4 Comments

11-11-11   Today is a day full of significance.  It is my nephews birthday.  It is also the birthday of my mother-in-law, who passed away several years ago.  Just when she and I were getting to know one another.  This missive is for you, Mimi.  The anniversary of her birth, gives me reason to pause [...]

“I. Know. Who. I. Am.”

| October 19, 2011 | 4 Comments

Some friends attended Oprah’s “O You” event in Atlanta this past weekend and I’ve heard wonderful snippets from their experience. Lot’s of inspiration and great speakers, an elevator ride with Nate Berkus… a positive-energy crowd, I bet it was an amazing day! One statement that Oprah made, as reported by my friends, is sticking to [...]

Don’t Let the Facts Get in the Way

| March 8, 2011 | 1 Comments

As I was going through endless piles of receipts preparing for my tax return, I stumbled across a newspaper article from 2007. The story recounted how some people in rural China cooked and ate the giant bones they found buried in the earth. They believed these were the remains of flying dragons, and by eating [...]

Silencing the Voices in My Head

| October 7, 2010 | 5 Comments

There they are again … those voices in my head that want to drag me down.   They’ve been showing up a lot lately, tormenting me with hateful questions and comments like: Who am I fooling? Who do I think I am, thinking I could ever accomplish something like that? Why would anyone listen to ME? What makes ME [...]

Celebrating a Birthday

| September 11, 2010 | 5 Comments

Celebrating A Birthday There is a temptation as you accumulate them, to let birthdays slide by quietly. Maybe if I keep my head down and remain absolutely still, this day will pass without any effect on me at all. Yeah, right. Like that could happen. The birthday comes, and with it, come those little voices [...]

18th Century Rules for 21st Century Mentoring

| August 4, 2010 | 2 Comments

Having my first book published has marked a real threshold in my creative writing life. Not only is it a thrilling accomplishment in itself, but it’s also opened up a lot more opportunities for me to teach and mentor.  (In fact, I’m now officially a mentor in The Writer’s Loft low-residency program at Middle Tennessee [...]

Inspiration from an E-mail?

| July 20, 2010 | 0 Comments

I must apologize to all of you. I wrote the following post, and thought I had set it correctly to post on the 12th of July. Apparently, I did something incorrectly and it didn’t post. I left shortly after writing this and just got back into town after twelve wonderful days in Colorado, visiting my Mom, [...]

All I Wanna Do Is Have Some Fun

| April 28, 2010 | 5 Comments

Hello Bloggin’ Babes~ First, let me say what an inspiration you are to me! Thanks to all of you for sharing your joys and sorrows so openly. I don’t have much news to report from the cornfields of Illinois. I am busy trying to finish out the academic year without too much chaos, then onto [...]

A Different Kind of Risk

| February 12, 2010 | 3 Comments

When Laura recently asked me to be a part of this wonderful group of women, I was honored. I AM nervous. I have found inspiration and joy in reading the daily blogs, but, would “little ole me” have anything to say that might inspire or bring  joy to anyone? I am going to take that [...]

Risk Improving

| February 9, 2010 | 4 Comments

By taking the risk of doing something I didn’t like doing I learned…