Mission Accomplished

Written Thursday at The Highlights Foundation

Tomorrow I will go home. Tonight I think about what my goals were for this retreat... Go. Show up. Write. Meet some people. I did. I achieved all of these goals and much, much more.

Go.

I am here. This place is magical. Everyone is kind and helpful and supportive.

The food is delicious and nutritious. The weather has been comfortable.

Show up.

I introduced myself to people. I met new people. I listened. I learned. I asked questions. I shared.

Write.

Oh did I write. I wrote a lot. I flushed out ideas for two possible possible books. I wrote four blog posts. I wrote pages and pages in my notebook. I wrote a lot.

Meet some people.

I thought I'd meet people. I didn't expect to meet a dog and a bear too.

Back to the people...I didn't expect to make real connections. I didn't expect to leave here with friends. New friends and old friends...

Writer friends.

Also...

I laughed more than I have in a long time.

I ate the most delicious peanut butter cookie I've tasted in my life...and it was gluten-free!

I participated in yoga class and took some walks in the woods.

I talked and listened and shared stories and learned about so many others.

I leave here changed.

I'm grateful for

every moment and

every word written here.

I leave here a writer.

I will return as a writer.

Here I Am

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. I've been thinking for the past couple of days about this post...but I can't think of anything to write. Frozen in my failure, I want to quit, but I push through and show up here...even though it seems pointless. Who wants to read a blog post about nothing? I begin to panic a bit...Have I "lost it"? My passion for blogging? My ability to blog? Why can't I think of something clever? What do I have to say that anyone will want to read? (By the way, I'd have all of these answers if it was you asking the questions!) Should I quit? Give up? Accept defeat? NO. Instead, I show up. Instead, I remember the words I said yesterday to my seventh-graders, "Show up. It gets easier." Instead, I write and show grace to myself. Instead, I remember that blogging is a muscle that I haven't stretched in a while and I need to warm up, I need to take some deep breaths. Here I am. Showing up to the page. I'...

Someday...

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, Anna, Kathleen & Deb for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at Two Writing Teachers . Do you have dreams? Kids are good at dreaming. I find many adults struggle with it. Speaking for myself, I get so caught up in the everyday drudgery of life, that dreams get nudged aside until they disappear. It's important to have dreams. I've been writing about my dreams in my notebook and so I thought I'd share my dreams here... 1. Writing a book. While I'd love to get a book published, my dream is to write a book...to complete the act of writing it. I've started on this dream and it's hard and challenging and exciting and amazing. 2. Living at the beach. I love the water, the waves, the ocean smell, the seafood, the sand...all of it! The Outer Banks is my favorite place in the...

Chasing My Dream

I'm doing it. I'm chasing my dream. I've always wanted to run writing retreats and workshops for people, but I've always been too scared to do anything about it...until now. I don't know what's changed...maybe I've changed. I'm not allowing the fear to stop me anymore. I've started Selah Writing Retreats. The past couple of weeks I've been getting the business end in order. I thought I would hate that...I don't. It's scary, but I am surprising myself with how efficient I am. Yesterday I went to a bank to set up a bank account. The woman I met with was kind and helpful and so enthusiastic about my dream. My website is set up. I've done lots of work on it. I hope you stop by and let me know what you think. It's selahwritingretreats.com . Balancing creative with business has been challenging but fun. Creating the website, getting a federal tax id, making business cards, planning dates... My favorite voxer group is called Butt Ki...

The Sunrise Story

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