Weekend in the Water

A great weekend is one when you chip away at your bucket list, coming one step closer to checking off a life goal. I had one of those weekends. And it was fab-U-lous.

With my husband, I participated in two training-intensive days of scuba classes. The course we're taking is called Open Water Diver and is Scuba Schools International's (SSI) basic certification curriculum. 

The classroom segment of each day covered what happens to your body as you descend and are subjected to the increasing atmospheric pressure of deep water. We learned in theory how to avoid disastrous underwater scenarios and how to deal with potential emergency situations. Each three-and-a half-hour-long classroom session was followed by three-and-a-half more hours in the pool, practicing the skills in which we must be proficient to become certified divers.

Photo Source

Skills I practiced included: controlling my descents and assents; equalizing the pressure in my ears; achieving neutral buoyancy; removing the regulator from my mouth and replacing it; recovering the regulator (in the event it should be knocked free and floating behind me, out of view); clearing water from my mask; sharing air, in the event I or my buddy runs out of air; and underwater hand signals. 

The skill that freaked me out the most, at first, was removing my mask underwater. To demonstrate the skill, I had to take the mask completely off, put it back on, and clear it of water. The trick is to stay calm and keep breathing through the regulator. It's hard to trust that you won't accidentally take water up your nose. (You don't :D)

To complete our certification, hubs and I will do four open water dives in Florida this June. I have no apprehension whatsoever about exhibiting the skills I performed in the pool, on the floor of Gulf of Mexico. Actually, I'm super excited to get that gear on and get back in the water. I'm hooked on diving already!

What's the next item on your bucket list you'll go after? 

                                   

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Fast Forward

 

Life moves forward at break-neck speed, and last week was no exception. (Kelly Rippa and her co-host today Carson Kressley  just informed me April is Stress Awareness Month. I don't need a movement to be aware, I can tell you that.) In addition to the kids being on Spring Break and eager for at least one adventure a day, I had the refinancing of our house to contend with.


Putting together numerous paper trail records in a paperless world, and then scanning them so they become paperless again, had me teetering on the edge of a mental breakdown.


When it got really bad, I plonked down the mountain of paperwork at took the kids to see the Hunger Games, again. It was even better the second time!


Nothing reminds you of your financial obligations like refinancing a home. With property depreciation across the market, we're licking a $45K loss wound. Depression hovers like early morning haze. So, this week I brought out the sun.


I created a new board on my Pinterest wall. It's simply called, My Bucket List. The act of transferring my deepest desires into web-found images, where they materialize into tangible possibilities, has breathed new life force into my soul.


"Write a Novel" is on my list, of course. More on that later.


I only have 25 or so pins up, but the list will continue to grow. And I'm excited to say one item is already going to be checked off. My husband and I are currently working on our SCUBA Diving Certification. Fun!


To see My Bucket List board, CLICK HERE.


Life moves forward, so enjoy every lovely/maddening/beautiful/stressful/creative moment. And work to find your bliss, every.single.day.


Thanks for reading!

                                   

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Reminder for the Gentle Soul

Pillow Cover by textile artist Chloe Owens

Your work needs to be independent of others' work.

You must not compare yourself to others.

No one can help you. You have to help yourself.

Criticism leads to misunderstandings and defeatism.

Work from necessity and your compulsion to do it.

Work on what you know and what you are sure you love.

Don't observe yourself too closely, just let it happen.

Don't let yourself be controlled by too much irony.

Live in and love the activity of your work.

Be free of thoughts of sin, guilt and misgiving.

Be touched by the beautiful anxiety of life.

Be patient with the unresolve in your heart.

Try to be in love with the questions themselves.

Love your solitude and try to sing with its pain.

Be gentle to all of those who stay behind.

Your inner self is worth your entire concentration.

Allow your art to make extraordinary demands on you.

Bear your sadness with greater trust than your joy.

Do not persecute yourself with how things are going.

It's good to be solitary, because solitude is difficult.

It's good to love, because love is difficult.

You are not a prisoner of anything or anyone.

                                                        "Letters to a Young Poet", Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)

                                   

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What's Up With Me (?)

I'm a Libra, and for me, life is all about balance. I'm in constant pursuit of it, off-kilter when I don't achieve it, and of the mind that true success comes with it. So, here's how elusive balance has affected me lately.

I have two passions, both which require enormous amounts of time and energy. One is writing. The other is running.

When I am fully engaged with one, there is not enough time or energy for the other. No matter how I've tried to rectify this, it continues to be true.

In January, I began training for a half-marathon. So, in January I stopped working on my WiP. I didn't mean to. I had full intention to continue writing. But it didn't happen.

The race was a little over a week ago, on March 18th.

Here's me corralled at the start line, waiting for the race to start.

My husband and kids took this shot as I ran past near the mile 9 marker.

And here I am with my kids, after completing the 13.1 miles in 2 hrs. 23 mins.

Now that the intensity of my training has eased up for the next couple months (my next half is October 21), I'm turning my attention back to my writing. All time and energy is swinging in the creative direction as I pull up my manuscript off its dusty cyber shelf. 

To fully facilitate my first draft success, I'm laying low and staying off the Internet as much as possible. Once a week I'll post a short blog here to talk about my week's work, if only to keep myself on track and accountable. I'll visit around the blogosphere, but if you don't hear from me you'll know it's not 'cause I don't love what you've said, it's just because I'm confining my written words to my book.

And of course, I'll be cheering on all you A-Zers from my quiet corner of cyberspace!

See you on the other side! 

                                   

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Don't Mess With Me

Living in the eye of the storm this week. I'm doing it all: nursing sick kids and husband while doing my best to stay healthy, supporting a sister who's facing troubling challenges in her life, holding down the household, and writing a series of articles on voice and tone in literature -- all while gearing up for Sunday's half-marathon race. My diet should be better...and I should be stretching and meditating more...but life is a juggling act that shifts along with my changing energy levels.

One way I'm going to recharge my batteries is by taking time off today to spend with Summer Frey. We're doing a little coffee shop writing, a little mall shopping, and eating a little lunch. Can't wait! She's the sweetest thing on earth and my only writer friend outside cyber-land.

Speaking of the series of articles I'm writing, I'd like to pose an opinion question to you:

When you hear the term "Voice in Literature," do you think it refers to the author's voice or to the voice of the main character? Is one more important than the other? Any random thoughts on voice?

Your input is greatly appreciated! Have a wonderful day :))

                                   

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Slice Magazine Issue 10...coming soon!

Photo found at http://www.paperdarts.org/blog/tag/slice

I've just received word from the editors that Slice Magazine's tenth issue is headed for the printers! The "Growing Up" issue is  my literary magazine debut, featuring my short story In the Wake of Silence. (I hear whispers of symbolism in both titles.)

I've been reading about the authors whose work mine will be printed alongside. Can I just say, wow. I'm not eating at the kids' table anymore!

Accolades for Slice's past issues include:

“Beautiful, compelling, irresistible: Slice will knock you right out. In the best way possible.”
           -- Junot Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

“Slice is among the golden few of modern literary publications, not only because of its fiction, poetry, interviews, and articles, but because it's simply the one everyone is talking about.”
           -- Simon Van Booy, winner of the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and author of The Secret Lives of People in Love


And, from the website in the above photo caption:


"Where has this literary magazine been all our lives? Slice has both beauty and brains. Not only do they regularly feature a fantastic assortment of illustrators, their mission is to publish  emerging writers alongside the established. Not to mention their coveted interview with Alan Moore. Our hearts are fat and happy after a slice (oho!) of this literary pie."
              -- Regan, Meghan, Jamie, and/or Courtney: Bloggers at Paper Darts(dot)org

Should you wish to pre-order your copy of Issue 10 or subscribe to Slice Magazine, simply follow this link:  http://www.slicemagazine.org/subscribe.html

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!

                                   

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Can't Get Enough

I'm fifty pages from the end of Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, and I wish it wouldn't end. It's been a long time since a book has mesmerized -- hypnotized -- me the way this one has. 


Just read this line:  He does not feel confined, only separate, as though he and Celia are overlapping the circus, rather than contained within in. 


The threads of this story are billowing ribbons floating on magic currents of air, and as they twist and weave together a fabric emerges that I want to wrap myself up in, forever.


I look forward to reviewing this book. I could talk about it for days. In fact, I am dedicating my next two newsletters over at Writing.com to the tone and voice Morgenstern created in The Night Circus. As always, I will publish those newsies here too.


If you're looking for a book that will transport you away from everyday life and into a world where extraordinary and enchanted possibilities exist, to witness a love story so unique your heart will squeeze, you need to pick up a copy of The Night Circus today.

                                   

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