Archives: There’s No Sin in Being Good to Yourself

When it came time to find words for today’s post, I had none. I wandered through my archives, looking for something to ‘re-run’, and one title appealled, so I’m reposting it. Sometimes being good to oneself is as important as being good to someone else. I clicked on the link in the first paragraph to

I’ve discovered what it takes to succeed!

“Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed.”  Abraham Lincoln ~ Everything I needed to know I’ve learned from watching the wildlife around here. Here are a few of my discoveries about success and survival: 1. It may be a long journey. Stay nourished — physically,

The Impossible Dream: what keeps you from giving up?

. If you were on Google’s home page anytime Wednesday, you will have noticed the German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz’s 155th birthday was being celebrated by Google, who turned its logo into an undulating frequency wave. What I didn’t know about Hertz was that he died without realizing the significance of his research. Wikipedia says,

Surviving Despite the Odds

. Surprised April air shivered in Wednesday’s snowfall. There was only a skiff, but it ghosted the greening lawn and emerging plants. By mid-morning Thursday the sun reclaimed the sky and its warmth overpowered the snow. I ventured out with camera in hand and found magenta and mauve-veined blossoms of Lenten Rose Helleborus weighted into

Climbing Ladders and Reaching for Success

People are painting parts of our house today. High parts. The parts my husband prefers not to deal with.  He’s already power washed the siding and painted much of the trim. There are just these teeter-on-the-top-of-a-ladder and climb-on-the-roof bits that still need attention, and ladders and roofs are not his favourite places. Unfortunately, short of

Facing Failure

Thanks to Kelly McMichael for pointing me to a video of the speech given by J.K. Rowling at the 2008 Harvard University Commencement. It is entitled “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination.” There are three main points in the speech: one that focuses on failure versus success, another on having the

Finding Failure or Success

Success is a unisex commodity. Don’t we all like the feeling of being considered successful? It’s satisfying to feel in control and be functioning with efficiency, accomplishing what we set out to do. . The fact is, we don’t always accomplish what we intend. I’ve read that less than 10% of people manage to keep

A NaNoWriMo Winning Effort

A winning shout out: I did it! After three years of participating in NaNoWriMo this year I finally managed to eek out the required 50,000 words within the thirty-day time frame – in fact, with two days to spare. I’ll keep at it until tomorrow night’s deadline but the pressure’s off.   The novel isn’t

NaNoWriMo – On Your MARK…

This is our last day of… what? Sleeping, leisurely meals, spending time with the family, our sanity? Maybe all of those things, but it’s also the start of commitment, endurance, achievement. We’ve chosen to participate in this writing adventure called NaNoWriMo because we believe there is a worthy and attainable goal just thirty days away.

Who is a Writer?

  In writing circles the question of who is a writer slides onto the menu board with predictable frequency. Just when an explanation seems to offer a tidy answer such as “someone who writes”,  complications crop up. Words like “finished manuscript”, “author” and “publication” are added to the mix.   Last week I came across a