Have you ever wanted something so much that your very will for wanting it could have caused an earthquake felt round the world?

Its funny how simply wanting something can be painful. Time crawls by as you wait for your wish to come true and frustrated, you begin to doubt whether or not you'll ever get what you want.

Sometimes I wonder if it's better to never want anything at all.

What would it feel like to go through life, never dreaming of those things that seem just out of reach, to always be satisfied with what's within your grasp?

A comfortably bland life is even less appealing than the frustrated tears that come with wanting the impossible.

There's something to be said for wanting what seems impossible.

We were made to dream and do. It's what makes us whole and its what makes us human.

The hardest part in wanting is working past fear and impatience.

Getting past those two hurdles is easier with a friend who believes in you and urges you to keep believing in yourself.

In the end, what it really comes down to is closing your eyes and imagining your goal already having happened. To dream and to want is a gift. It's what fuels our passion and pushes us along.

Whether we end up with exactly what we wanted or some never-imagined variation of our dream- what we're left with is story to tell and a well deserved treasure.

(insert inspirational John Williams music *something with a nice Itzhak Perlman solo* here!!)

November 14, 2011

Accidents Happen

Have you ever been walking along, doing just fine and then suddenly you trip over something and before you know it, you're on the ground?

Every time that happens, isn't it just the craziest thing?

Tripping and falling is so unexpected.

It seemingly comes out of nowhere and changes your entire mood, your whole day.

After the "tripping and falling incident", the remainder of your day passes with a humming noise in the background.

The humming is the sound of you, asking yourself,
"Could I have avoided that?",  "What did I do wrong?" and, even more importantly, "Did that person who I thought didn't see me fall actually see me fall and then look away, pretending  to have not seen it happen?"

Yeah, at least- that's what happens to me when I take a spill.

Last week on Thursday, I did NOT trip and fall but I was involved in a pretty scary car accident.

Don't get me wrong, when it happened I wasn't scared.

In fact, I was so calm that it's probably not normal to have been as calm as I was.

When I hit the tree and watched both airbags erupt, I briefly wondered if I was going to die, but I, honestly, wasn't the least bit nervous or even uncomfortable.

Two or three hours later, when I'd finally gotten home and was getting ready for bed, that's when it hit me...

I wasn't scared because I was too tired and too frustrated with being tired to be scared.

Even a relatively "easy life" can be somewhat brutal. The routine of going to a boring day job that sucks the life out of you ...it can leave you tired and numb. So numb that you're not even afraid to die. That...is not cool.

That made me realize that an accident can be a wake up call in disguise...

As cliche as it sounds, life is too precious to be wasted.

Everyday there are a million potential stories at our fingertips.

Whether they're stories in my head that deserve to be written or stories in my heart that deserve to be lived, seen, and felt ...the point is they deserve to be.

What I'm trying to say is, you never know what's going to happen tomorrow, so live for the people and the stories that matter the most.

November 8, 2011
Patience...

Patience is just great because, for one, it's a good way to avoid absolute insanity.

And less dramatically, it also helps us steer clear of rash decisions.

I was thinking about patience yesterday because the marketing of Finding Stories in The Rain is lagging a bit.

I feel like I'm five steps behind and it's making me anxious.

But, why am I anxious?

This is my book and I can take as long as I want with it!

Thats the cool thing about self-publishing. The only deadlines are the ones you create.
So, note to self: Calm down and be patient!

Interestingly, if I had been more patient while editing the final copy of my manuscript, there would have been ZERO typos. Instead, I rushed through the manuscript because I wanted to meet a "deadline" and as a result, Finding Stories in The Rain unfortunately has a few typos.

In conclusion, I've learned that patience is an essential quality for any artist/craftsman/human.

Next time I'll do my best to edit with patience!