Guts, anyone?

So, I'm thinking.

Things have been a whirlwind in my life lately. I made the commitment to write for pay a couple of weeks ago, and today I decided to drop the job of driving for the Amish. It's taking a lot of my time, is unpredictable and is taking a real toll on our vehicles. I don't wanna do that anymore.

But writing--now THAT I want to do. But I don't seem to have even one spare moment (insert banal excuse for not blogging here). Still, the prospects have been promising. I'm beginning with periodicals but will be working on some of my story ideas in the meantime. Hopefully I'll get the guts to approach our local paper about doing a regular column eventually. Anyone have any extra guts lying around? If so, do you take PayPal?


Life's been pretty eratic. Makes sense to drop the driving, then. It's fun sometimes, listening to stories and hearing local gossip, but it digs into my day in a big way. So I'm gonna drop it. Devote more time to reading, writing, and attending to my family. With writing, unlike Amish hauling, I can set a schedule and hopefully can stick to it.

I just finished reading On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. Can I just say that I read it more quickly than any book I've read in months? I thoroughly enjoyed it, though I did disagree with him on a few points. Still, much of it was very applicable to my life and resonated with me quite a bit. I stopped reading Stephen King stuff back in high school when his short stories gave me major heebee-jeebies so that I wanted to crawl into bed with Mommy and Daddy and suck on my blankie. I love his allegorical stuff, and I'm extremely curious about his spiritual life (yes, I do believe he has one), but I can't handle reading most of his works anymore. After all, he has said that he writes that stuff to get it out of his head, to help him sleep at night. Why would I want to read something that gives STEPHEN KING nightmares??? Haroomph!

Art classes are going very, very well. I was somewhat bummin' about finishing our seventh class out of eight today when the other mothers helped me COUNT and I was able to figure out, with much hand-holding, that we have three more classes to go. I'm learning so much more than I ever learned in any of my high school art classes. Plus, all of the kids seem to be progressing well. Having a wonderful teacher is very important.

Relationships. Now, there's a challenge. I seem to be having breakdowns in communication with people. On several occasions recently, I've experienced friends and acquaintances having a total lack of recall of spoken plans or misinterpretation (ie: reading between the lines) of my words. Maybe it really is time for me to lock myself in my room and write, write, write. If nothing else, it will hone my communication skills.

Along those lines, I've decided to host a Christian Writers' Group in my home once every three weeks (guess that rules out locking myself away). The art classes, while sometimes a pain in the arse, have also been very rewarding. While I don't know that I really need to read my work aloud (sometimes that just takes the wind out of my sails), I do feel a need to gather with other Christian writers. I feel isolated right now and keep remembering that day a few weeks ago when I sat in a gymnasium full of writers and aspiring writers at a local Writers' Workshop. I felt like I was among others who could understand my passion. Who could feel my pain. It was a comfort to be there and have that kinship.

Bard has been going absolutely grape-nuts on the piano. I can't believe it. The kids have only been taking lessons for a few weeks now, but she has taken to it like Jane Goodall to a chimp. She has been spending every spare moment working on When She Loved Me from Toy Story II and is progressing swimmingly. The boys are doing alright, too, but haven't taken to it like Bard has. I'm very proud of her. Also, she received a scholarship for her overseas trip which reduced our portion by a third. That final hurdle is fast approaching, and it has been lowered considerably. Thank God.

Oh, I would be SO WAY MOBIE remiss if I failed to mention that The Happy Housewife is totally awesome. She sent me some Alton Brown Good Eats DVDs and we have just been eating 'em up. Ahem. Last night, we made fish and chips from the Fry Hard episode and tonight I made pan fried chicken. Oh, oh, my. If you've never watched Good Eats, do yourself and your kids a favor, and get your hands on a show. Alton is like The Frugal Gourmet and Bill Nye the Science Guy whisked together. So very worth watching, which is saying a lot in today's media climate.

Sucky thing: Monet had a baseball game tonight that started out REALLY well. By the last inning, however, the opposing team was up by three runs. Final inning, two men on base, two outs, Monet's up to bat. The pitch. He takes a swing. STEE-RIKE! That's okay, shake it off. Another pitch. NICE swing, but STEE-RIKE TWO! Then the pitcher sends a high one. BALL ONE! And another. BALL TWO! And then he sends one right over the plate. STEE-RIKE THREE! Game over! Monet walked off the field looking a bit defeated, but it wasn't until he came and put his arms around me, tears forming in his eyes, that I realized that he understood how much pressure he'd been under. It's okay. It's okay. We just need to spend some more time in batting practice. It helps that he has a truly wonderful coach, someone who gives him a pat on the batting helmet and a "That's okay," and then works with him even more. Good people are so wonderful.

So, that's what I've been thinking.

What's been on your mind, lately? Do you have any goals or ambitions that you've been pushing to the back burner? Has someone taken the wind out of your sails? Have you found a kindred spirit? Have you said you're sorry lately? Do you need to? Is someone driving you nuts? Pushing your buttons? Yankin' your chain? Are you in love? Are you broken hearted?

I'd love to hear about it. We are simply not alone.

And it might even help everyone if we all just share guts.