A Bucketful O' Goodness

Way back in my previous life as a high school teacher, my mentor/teacher mom told me to keep a bucket. It didn't have to be an actual bucket. A large envelope, a paper bag, a file folder, a lunch box--any kind of container would do. Every time a student, parent, or other teacher wrote me a nice note or sent me a complimentary e-mail, I was to put it in the bucket. The bucket would become the collection of hope to get me through the ocean of crap that teachers must wade through to do their jobs.

I followed her instructions and kept a bucket. When I moved on from teaching, I took the bucket with me. When I began working in corporate America, I created another bucket: a secret file folder in my desk drawer. I carried that bucket with me from job to job. It was my reminder that even though corporate America sucks, there are good people and good times to be found there. I still have that file folder tucked away in a desk drawer in my home office.

When I became a freelancer, though, I stopped keeping a bucket. I'm not sure why. Being a freelancer can be just as frustrating and discouraging as any other job--with the added bonus of social isolation. You'd think a bucket would be a necessary tool. Apparently, I didn't. I forgot buckets of good things ever existed.

I was reminded by a link posted on Twitter. I read the post and thought, "What a great idea!" Two days later, I realized, "Hey! I used to do that!" (What can I say? My memory isn't what it used to be.) That was followed quickly by, "Why did I stop doing that?" and then, "I should do that again!"

Given the frustrations that seemed to dominate my 2013,  2014 seemed like the perfect time to revive the ol' bucket-of-goodness habit. I dug out a pile of personalized note paper from my years as a teacher, appropriated the dog's old treat jar (don't worry--he will still gets his treats, just not from a jar), and prominently displayed them in my living room. You know the idiom "out of sight, out of mind"? Well, if I don't SEE the bucket, I won't FILL the bucket. 

I'm not limiting this year's bucket to work stuff, either. I want to fill it with positive progress reports on my journeys to health. I want to fill it with notes about finding what I'm seeking. I want to fill it with achievement after achievement on the road to accomplishing my dreams. I want to fill it with reminders that my life is more than my work, because it's all too easy for me to forget that little dictum. Of course, if I get any compliments or positive feedback related to my work life, I will put them in the jar too. Work is, after all, part of my life and should be represented. I just want that representation to be proportional in a healthy, balanced way.

Now here's where you come in. I invite you to keep your own bucket of good things for 2014, but really, I need you to remind me to READ all the good things in my bucket on December 31st. Maybe even blog the highlights. What do you say? Are you in?

The Word of the Year

A few years ago, I gave up on the idea of New Year's resolutions. I never kept them. Sometimes that was because my goals were unrealistic, but usually it was because I forgot what they were. I replaced the resolution habit with a new one: a word--one word--that would guide me through the year as a motto or a theme.

The first year I did this, in 2012, I chose the word enjoy. At the end of the year, I was able to make a long list of things I enjoyed. The next year, last year, I chose the word strive, and boy, oh, boy, did I end up doing a lot of striving.

That experience led me to think very carefully about the word that would guide me through 2014. I thought about my hopes and goals and plans for the year. I thought about what I'd like to make a long list of at the end of the year, what I'd like to end up doing a lot of this year. I asked myself what word would best describe what I'd be doing during the year, anyway.

And that's how I ended up at my decision. My word for 2014 is:

seek

This year I am seeking:

• a better balance between work and life
• to fill the parts of my life that feel empty
• to improve my self-care habits (eating, exercising, housekeeping, etc.)
• the time, energy, and space to finish Draft 3 of the novel
• the courage and skills to start querying literary agents
• the time and resources to fix up my house so I can sell it (eventually)

What are you seeking this year?

Welcome!

Welcome to my new website! Ain't it purty?

After more than a year and a half of blogging, I decided it was time to stretch my wings. I've been toying with the idea of putting some of my short fiction online, and that's something I couldn't do with my old blog host (because they claimed rights to everything I posted on my blog and I didn't want them to have any claim on my works of fiction.) So, to make sure my fiction had a safe home, I moved here.

Even though I've painted the walls and put up some curtains, I'm still playing decorator. Please don't be surprised if the view here changes from time to time. I'm still in the process of making this new home mine.

In the meantime, how about the dime tour?

The Blog

This first page is my blog. It's the same as my old blog. As before, new entries will pop up here from time to time. (Comments too, I hope!) With any luck, I'll figure out how to add my old Getting There entries to the archives. (But don't hold your breath!)

For those of you who subscribed to my old blog and received my posts via e-mail, you can do so again with my new blog. To subscribe to my new blog, click on "Blog RSS" in the bottom right of this page (under the Archives and Search features). Then follow the directions to complete your subscription.

Fiction First

This is the new feature that led me to create my site. Every month, on the first day of the month, I will post a work of short fiction. You can access this page by clicking the link at the top of this page under my name. Just like the blog, you'll be able to leave comments on each story, should you wish to.

You can subscribe to this page of my site, as well, and receive the stories via e-mail each month. This subscription is separate from the subscription for my blog entries. To subscribe to this feed, click on "Fiction First RSS" in the bottom right of this page (under the Archives and Search features). Then follow the directions to complete your subscription.

Contact Me

This is pretty straightforward. Use the form on this page to drop me a line privately.

And that's it. Please make yourself comfortable. Mi casa es tu casa.