I’m curious. Why do we have to wait for things? I mean really, when you want it, feel it, see it, and work for it, you should get it now, right ?
Sometimes I really struggle with the whole, wait for it to happen, let nature take its course, go with the flow. What the heck is “the flow” anyway? Is it the thunderous torrents of water over the cliff edge, the moon driven tides that ebb and flow in the bay, or the muddy trickle of the creek in drought? Or all of the above? Continue reading
Finishing the first draft of my second book is magical—for a moment—then it’s kind of, well, nothing. Having set aside the whole day to write, I’d been feeling a little weird all day, kind of shaky, gut churning. And when I finished, well there it was, finished. And I immediately started to think about the whopping amount of revision I would have to do, the next hill to climb. Sigh… Continue reading
By something, I don’t mean that fabulous pair of boots you saw last week that will go with every outfit you own. I mean like wanting something that makes your head go crazy with excitement and anticipation every time you think of it.
For me, that’s wanting to write full time, in my own time, in my own space. To have people read my words, so that they land somewhere and mean something, make a difference to the way people think, feel, act and believe. Continue reading
Valerie Khoo and Alison Tait (from the podcast “So you want to be a Writer”) issued a word of the week challenge the other day. Use “gongoozler” in a blog post somewhere.
So how does gongoozler fit into a blog on living a conscious, joyful life? Tips on life, loss and my literary dreams. It fits very easily. Gongoozler means an idle spectator. And if you know me, or have read any of my blogs, you know that I consciously gave up being a gongoozler a few years ago. I decided enough is enough, time to learn to feel and heal, no more letting someone else drive, or working myself to death for someone else’s dream. I made a choice to change, to be a fully committed participant in my own life, and to follow my own dreams of writing. Continue reading
I’m curious… If you put ‘I’, ‘fun‘ and ‘today’ in the same sentence, what would happen?
How can I have fun today?
Stop. Take a breath, close your eyes and think of one fun idea that will be of no benefit to your family, friends or your business. It’s harder than you think—or that could just be me. Continue reading
When I read the campaign theme for this year’s International Women’s Day I thought, brilliant! Be bold for change – be bold for change and take action – take action for gender parity – forge a better working world – a more gender inclusive world.
Why do we still need this, haven’t we achieved gender equality? That’s a big no! At the rate we are going, the gender equity gap won’t close entirely until 2186 – another 169 years.
Progress is still too slow for realising the full potential of one half of humanity within our lifetimes.
As we madly set our goals for the year, could you consider choosing a getting better goal rather than a being good goal?
What I mean is, if you think about your goals in terms of getting better at something, rather than being good at it, then with every small change or action – whether we get it perfect, complete or not – we’re achieving our goal anyway – we’re getting better at it. Continue reading
So, I’m a published author, I made that dream a reality. What else is possible?
If I can write and publish a book after dreaming about it for decades, then I believe anyone can. If I can survive sharing with the world the deepest hurt of my life and how I found my way home—what else is possible?
That’s what I kept asking myself just before I fell into a big emotional puddle the other day. Up to my neck drowning; again. Tears close to the surface, fear and anxiety rising, the joy disappearing under a tidal wave of overwhelm.
Yesterday this post was titled ” an ocean, a rowboat, and one paddle”. It was all about how if I’d know how traumatic it would be to publish a book, I might have changed my mind. You may never have got to read Breathing While Drowning: One Woman’s Quest for Wholeness.
It’s been almost a year since I finished the manuscript. The writing was an emotional roller coaster all on it’s own; reliving the 20-year-old journals I wrote to my daughter Jacqui Bree before and after her death at the age of four.
But if I thought that was tough…
So a scary thing happened a little while ago.
It was happening, the book was written, it was edited and at the publishers. Then I got the proofs back. What do you imagine happened then?
Did I leap for joy at seeing my dream come true or run screaming from the room?
[Exit stage left 1 aspiring author] Continue reading