The Distance Between Lost and Found blog hop!

  I'm jumping in a bit late. Where did February go??? 
This blog hop is in celebration of the release of The Distance Between Lost and Found by Kathryn Holmes. Congrats Kathryn!!!

  For this blog hop I'm suppose to:
Write a love letter to someone important to your life -- as a writer or reader  -- and post it on your blog by February 26th, 2015. Your love letter could be to an author whose books inspired you, a beta reader who said just the right thing at just the right moment, your spouse for making innumerable cups of coffee for you while you write, write, write, or ... it's up to you!

My letter is to my grandmother. She left this world years ago now but her influence on my life lives on. 

     Dear Grandma,
   I haven't seen you in ten years. It's hard to believe that its been that long. I wish that you could have met my children. You'd love them. My youngest son wants to fly just like you always did. He looks at the birds soaring above him and his bottom lip starts to quiver because he wants to join them but he's stuck on the ground. I hope he grows up to be like you, not becoming discouraged by what isn't, but living and learning, enjoying what is. I hope that he keeps his dreams alive like you always did. 
  I'm not sure that I would be brave enough to have the lofty dreams  that I do if it hadn't been for you. I remember you leaning in and whispering "Always learn everything you can about everything you can." You always smiled when you said it and I always answered that I would. Those words echo in my head even now and I am doing it. I'm still learning, as much as I possibly can. Your example showed me the way. I remember you reading a Spanish primer just for the fun of it and the way you were always making something new, trying a new pattern or craft. You loved me for who I was and believed in my creativity. You encouraged me to dream big and work hard. You showed me how to not let the mundane areas of life bog me down. You should me the connection between learning and dreaming. I know I am better for it. Sometimes when my dreams feel to far away or to silly for a busy mom of three little ones to waste her time on I remember your words. They keep me learning and dreaming. I love and miss you. 
Buddies Forever

Love, Sarah 

Writer Recharge (update 2)

 Here is my update!

• WRITE/REVISE –Complete a scene by scene spreadsheet for the WIP I'm revising and revise/rewrite the first five chapters. Add 5k to my middle grade WIP. Revise the short story I'm working on.

I did a small amount of work on my spreadsheet. I keep overthinking things which results in little progress.

This week's goal is to add 14 scenes to my spreadsheet and write 2,500 on my middle grade WIP.

• READ/REREAD - I have a few books I have to read for various reasons and I feel weighed down by them. I want to read/finish three of them this month. 

 I finished one book and read half of another :) 

My goal this week is to finish the one I read half of and post my review for it.  

• STRETCH - I want to create some art for my walls. I love being creative but making something large that everyone will see intimidates me. 

 So far I have been collecting ideas (can you say Pinterest?!?). I really want to modpodge pages of an old book (if I can get myself to dismember a book...) to a canvas and then add a silhouette of a tree or something over the top. I'm using a literary theme to decorate our hall/bookhording area so I think it would be a great fit. I also have this idea involving skeleton keys but that might take me awhile to collect the supplies.

My goal for this week is find an old book (preferably one in horrible shape) and pick out what sort of silhouette I want to use. I have an old canvas that will do already.

• SELF - I want to do one of my Ellen Barret workouts three times a week. I love her workouts and how graceful they are but I got out of the habit of fitting them in.

Uh. Yeah, I'm changing this one. I haven't figured out how to fit in a 45 minute video and still have time to write. I could do it during the day but then I'd have 30 something pounds of added resistance because my three year old loves to "help" me work out. 

 This week I didn't do very well fitting in workouts but  I did go on  several walk/bike chasing expeditions (one involved hunting down robot armies) and I loaded up my three year old and one of his buddies into my bike trailer and took them and my older kids to the park. That was fun :)

New goal: Do something active with my kids three times a week for at least 30 minutes.

• CONNECT - I have a plan for this but am keeping it secret so the person doesn't find out before intended :)

 I did the first step of my plan. 

This week I want to complete my plan and join in a twitter party/write in.

• FUN - I want to take my kids to explore a state park that we've never been to before. There are so many near us and we've only visited a few. 

We haven't done this yet. I wanted to take them to this peninsula that is suppose to have amazing beaches this weekend but the weather and schedules didn't allow it to happen. Maybe next weekend.  

Writer Recharge Update

 I just joined last night so I don't have much to report except that I'm happy to be apart of this and I desperately need to recharge. What is it about this time of year that sucks the life out of goals and dreams?
My original post is here.
 

Writer Recharge 2015

 My word for this year is active, as in taking a active role in what matters to me, so as part of this goal I decided to join Writer Recharge (hosted by Katy Upperman, Alison Miller, Liz Parker, Elodie Nowodazkij, and Sara Biren). It seemed like the perfect way to keep the momentum going through this often tricky time of year.

• WRITE/REVISE –Complete a scene by scene spreadsheet for the WIP I'm revising and revise/rewrite the first five chapters. Add 5k to my middle grade WIP. Revise the short story I'm working on.

• READ/REREAD - I have a few books I have to read for various reasons and I feel weighed down by them. I want to read/finish three of them this month. 

• STRETCH - I want to create some art for my walls. I love being creative but making something large that everyone will see intimidates me. 

• SELF - I want to do one of my Ellen Barret workouts three times a week. I love her workouts and how graceful they are but I got out of the habit of fitting them in.

• CONNECT - I have a plan for this but am keeping it secret so the person doesn't find out before intended :)

• FUN - I want to take my kids to explore a state park that we've never been to before. There are so many near us and we've only visited a few. 

I'm joining in a bit late but I can't wait to get started :)

What's Up Wednesday

It's time for What's Up Wednesday!!!




WHAT I'M READING

  This week I am reading The Secret Garden aloud to my children. I've always loved that book and I still have the copy that I read as a girl. The illustrations sweep me back to my childhood.
  For myself, I am reading Red Rising and an ARC of An Uncertain Choice. My audible book right now is Bittersweet, which I have mixed emotions about. I love the writing and the cupcakes but it isn't my favorite sort of story. 

WHAT I'M WRITING (+ WRITING GOAL) 

I am making a spread sheet of my fairytale story to help me see where I need to tighten things and how I can  increase the tension and enrich the characters. 
My goal is to work on it for 30 min. every day and to join Writer ReCharge. 


WHAT WORKS FOR ME

The spread sheet is really working for me. I usually make notes on about a hundred pieces of paper with arrows pointing to side notes and random thoughts. It helps but when I go to look over them it's overwhelming and some of them have inevitably turned into paper airplanes or some other life of their own (thanks kids!). This is nice and neat and all on my computer. I do plan to print it out but at least I'll have the computer back up.

WHAT ELSE IS NEW

When I was little, my dad would pull out a toaster that had belonged to his grandmother and he'd make us toast. I always loved that toast and the entire atmosphere that came with it. I haven't seen my dad in almost three years because we live so far apart but this week I got a box in the mail. Inside was an antique toaster that my dad had polished and fixed for me along with some raspberry jam that my mother made from homegrown raspberries. Bliss! Now my children can have the same wonderful toast memories!