Who says you have to write a book? NOT ME! ✍️ 📕

Who says you have to write a book? NOT ME! ✍️ 📕
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If you love and find joy in baking… do people tell you to open a bakery?

If running is your thing… do you need to run a marathon?

If painting brings you peace, is showing your work in an art gallery mandatory?

     Ummm…NOOO.  

So then why is it that if you love to write, people assume (and maybe you do, too) that you HAVE TO WRITE A BOOK?!

Why is it so hard to say I AM A WRITER, if we haven’t written a NYT best seller? Or even if we have no intention of writing a book?

I’m here to tell you that being a writer and writing a book are two completely different things. 
If you write, then you are a writer.
It’s as simple as that. 

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Delete. Pivot. Repeat. 📅😷⁉️

Delete. Pivot. Repeat. 📅😷⁉️
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Hi there Friend,

As we approach this two year Coronaversary, let’s take a trip down memory lane. 

On March 13, 2020, the “Coronavirus” was declared a national emergency.

On March 28, 2020,  ‘shut down’ orders were put in place in Rhode Island (where I live).

So, for about 2 weeks we were in this kind of gray zone. We knew the virus was here, but it wasn’t that bad, and we were still going to the gym, restaurants, movies, grocery stores, etc. We were just being extra careful, whatever that means.

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Have you ever felt ENS?

Have you ever felt ENS?
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I’ve got a bad case of ENS.

Yep, it’s a thing. 

And it hit me hard at 6:50 Saturday morning.

If you know me, you know that I’m a night owl and usually not even awake until at least eight o’clock. But this past Saturday I was up at the crack of dawn toasting a bagel and spreading it with cream cheese. Then I made a turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato and avocado, peeled a few carrots, and filled a ziplock bag with crackers and cheese. I carefully placed all the items in a small cooler, adding a few cookies and an apple before zipping it up to give to my son, who was packing the last of his things into suitcases and boxes.

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🎁 Let’s exchange gifts! 🎁

🎁 Let’s exchange gifts! 🎁
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Yeah, yeah, I know Christmas is over. The tree is down, cookies are gone, the puzzle is back in the box. New Year’s eve came and went with a quiet hum. And now I want to talk to you about exchanging gifts? Really?

This past weekend I participated in a New Year’s workshop led by Lori Snyder, the founder of the Writer’s Happiness Movement. (If you don’t know about Writers’ Happiness, click on the link at the bottom of this email —well worth the detour.)

But stay with me here for a minute…

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What’s your attitude of gratitude? 🙏

What’s your attitude of gratitude? 🙏
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I’m going to make this short and sweet and right to the point.

I’m a summer girl.
And I hate winter.
But, I do love NOVEMBER.

And it’s not because of the reasons so many others rave about– like “sweater weather” or “breathtaking forests” or “pumpkin spice lattes” (gross) I’d rather be in flip flops on the beach drinking ice tea.

But I live in New England, so that perfect trifecta only happens a few months out of the year. And November isn’t one of them.

So why is November my 2nd favorite month of the year? Because it’s…

National Gratitude Month

and

National Adoption Awareness Month!

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If all my golden moments could be rolled into one, they would shine like the sun on a summer day.

James Taylor

It’s taken me a little while to really take in all the love and joy that transpired last month on my 60th birthday. The day was definitely a “golden moment” I will replay over and over again. After more than a year of covid fear and aloneness and not seeing or hugging one another, the day was truly magical.

My daughter, niece, and husband teamed up to make it happen. The details were amazing, from the JT themed tables, to my favorite Newport “lobstah rolls” and the hilarious “Name That JT Song” game everyone played, adults and kids alike. Are you catching on to the theme here?

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Hope Lives

Hope Lives
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October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. For me, that means I schedule my yearly mammogram, and I make a donation to The Get In Touch Foundation, an organization that focuses on educating girls in grades 5-12 on how to do a breast self exam so they can be an advocate for their own health throughout their lives.

I met the founder of GIT, Mary Ann Wasil, several years ago when I was on a retreat at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Continue Reading

You can trap bees on the bottom of mason jars without lids because they don’t look up, so they just walk around bitterly bumping into the glass walls. Go outside. Look up.

Anne Lamott

Are you looking up?

Easier said than done, right?   

The truth is, I’ve been feeling quite a bit of despair lately with everything that’s happening in our country and it’s been a struggle to stay positive. I’m worried that my son Continue Reading

When life hands you dirt, plant seeds

When life hands you dirt, plant seeds
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Question: Is your life handing you a little too much dirt these days?

 

For me, some days I wake up and my first thoughts sink into this global pandemic we are still in the midst of, along with the horror show of trending news stories of virus-deniers, racism, martial law in action, etc… and I just want to cry. I have to force myself to get up, meditate, write, and think about the blessings in my life and the GOOD in the world; not the bad and the ugly. Continue Reading