While Houston Was Flooding, Ideas Were Flowing

Credit: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/
when-social-media-becomes-insanity-dennis-kabbedijk-rdm

I’m back at the Library after 7 days of conferencing: Texas Library Association’s Annual Conference in Houston (where all my family was afraid I was going to float away) and DFW Writers Conference in my hometown of Fort Worth. I won’t really have any kind of downtime until Saturday, if I don’t find something to do in that time, as well (apparently this weekend there is this fantastic Lavender Festival at Becker Vineyards, down near Fredericksburg…hmm).

The conferencing has really stirred up those creative juices in me. Being around all those authors at TLA and all of the writing sessions at DFWCon, just really put me in the mood to get to it when it comes to my writing. Unfortunately, the moment that I got back into my real, working world, everything has come to a screeching halt.

Being away from work for 5 days does something to me. It makes me forget that there are so many duties that must be accomplished before I rest and work on the dream. Trying to even attempt to be creative during this time has just frustrated me. It’s only Tuesday and I feel I’ve gotten zero done towards my goals for the week. It doesn’t help that I am a high school librarian, it’s time to buy prom tickets, and my Seniors and Juniors must clear their fines with me before they can buy their tickets. When you have little girls crying because they didn’t realize if they never returned books, they would eventually get marked lost, and their fees now include 4 lost books!

Okay, so I did do one thing to help kick me in the butt to get things done- I linked all my social media to my webpage and my business page. It may not seem like much, but I really need to at least look like I’m a professional at this writing business, right? At both conferences, the importance of social media was made apparent. Building a platform where people can find and follow you is so vital to a business, a writer, and a program. I finally got it. It finally clicked.

So, I ask if you are reading this right now, please follow me on Twitter, Instagram, or even Pinterest (where you really get to see the deep recesses of a persons’ thought processes!). The links are at the top right hand side of this page. I’m still working on the LinkedIn widget, but I’ll get there. An author page for Facebook isn’t far behind. Let’s connect!

Giving up isn't a necessarily bad thing…

The quote to the left by Danielle LaPorte  showed up in my inbox this morning. Most of her Truthbombs do resonate, but there are a few that hit me like a bag of bricks at just the right time I need someone to swing that bag. I journaled this morning about walking away from an idea and an action that I needed to give up on months ago. It really has been a major block in my life. Without going into detail, they were thoughts that were weighing heavily on my mind and becoming compulsively obsessive, taking way too much of my waking, and sometimes sleeping, hours. It was definitely holding me back, keeping me from moving forward, and absolutely blocking me from even thinking about writing. I need to honor myself and catch up to where my life is leading me. I need to walk away. Let go.

I realize I write quite a bit about letting go. It's so important to move on from whatever is holding you back, though. Holding on to that memory, idea, or wish that things could be different keep you from moving forward. I'm not a therapist, but I've spent many an hour reading books by women who felt they were at their bottom, but end up rising far beyond where they ever thought they'd be. The only way they accomplished this was by letting go of the “thing” binding them to the past. I write about letting go because I hope to be able to do so one day. Soon. Maybe today.

What I’ve Been Reading…

Recently I finished the book Paris Letters by JaniceMacLeod. It's a memoir focusing on Janice’s life before deciding to leave her job and what happened after she got to Paris. I love it when I find a really well written memoir, because they aren’t always as interesting as the author would like for you to think they are. Janice is actually quite an inspiration to me. I don't think that I'll ever move to Paris (you never know, though!), but I do like what she did to prepare for her life there. I mean, she got all her worldly possessions down to one suitcase! Seriously.

Janice's story is more than about the paring down of “things.” It's about the self-discovery you make when you get rid of all the distractions blocking your way. She was able to create the life she didn't know she always wanted by using the skills she built up over the years from personal loves, like creating art, to the marketing of her art- a skill she picked up in her days spent as a copywriter.

What Paris Letters did for me was to solidify that I really can use my experiences to build the life I want to live. I've already begun to outline, make plans, and pare down on the things in my life that will be a distraction for me to become the person I want to be. While I won’t do everything on her list, which she kindly provides in the back pages of the book, I will start to really work on becoming the woman I desire to be. That self-discovery happened a while ago, I just need a gentle reminder sometimes. And who knows…maybe I will move to Paris someday!