Family Stories

I love handmade cards and calligraphy and can always expect something special from my artistic friends for my birthday. I had such a lovely day catching up with an old friend at lunch and celebrating the new Starbucks opening on Daniel Island. That's my girl! I can just sit back and admire her. 


My youngest aunt has given me a project for this year--collecting family stories. Many of you know I've been writing about my mom so including my siblings and cousins feels spot on. Here's one from my sister. I'm about 2 yrs old and my sister is 5. She'd parade me around the neighborhood as "my beautiful sister!!!" The neighbors thought it was strange but our mom let my sister take full charge of me. I was a "living doll." She even convinced our older brother to play house where they were the parents and I, the baby. Apparently I went along with everything. The funny thing is that I remember chafing against all the extra mothering and supervision. I always wanted to run off. Of course, I was older by the time I remember, around age four. But I also remember that when I had to go to school, I didn't want to leave my sister. I think I screamed that entire first year when she left me with the nuns. Memory is a strange bird. It'll be very interesting to see how different people remember the same events and each other. And it'll be fun to be the official secret keeper :)

I pulled a picture of our kids at a similar age. Fun to see the resemblance. I wish grownups were as cute as kids.
 

My sister also sent me this with a caption: the young writer. I'm about 10 and I had not yet discovered A. J. Cronin (physician turned writer) and the dream of writing. My heroes were Mother Teresa, Fr. Damien of Molokai and Dr. Albert Schweitzer. I was interested in medicine and wanted to be a nun-doctor. But even back then, my sister and I played "What If" where we made up stories about the people around us. We kept this up in our teens. And I'm still at it :)

I love these snowy portraits of my kids. Family: my greatest gift.

Happy New Year

The Magi won't reach this scene until Epiphany
(look closely at the picture of the Altar :)

I love that we celebrate Christmas for a full week and that the 8th day falls on Jan. 1st and when we celebrate the circumcision of our Lord, His Holy Name--Jesus--which means God saves, and Mary. As our priest pointed out, the solemnity of Mary has been in the opening prayer all along. I also love that there's a plenary indulgence for reciting Veni Creator Spiritus. So please sing along!

So thankful for all the blessings in 2017. Praise God!

I pray you all have a happy and healthful, blessed and beautiful New Year. My word and goal this year are one and the same: WRITE (with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit).

New Year's Word

 

My family will get a big laugh out of this. When I was little, everybody called me a chatterbox. And that nickname has persisted even though I am a quiet person. But there is also a desire to talk, to be heard, and in writing, I have discovered an outlet. But the writing itself can be very distracting from what I need to hear. I've had a couple of days alone to ponder and pray what it is I need to work on this year and it happens to be silence. Maybe I will fail spectacularly, but I have to try to cultivate more silence so that I can listen better. Listen to the still, small voice of God within my heart. Listen to the stories. Listen to my husband, children and friends. Listen.

Won't you share what you'd like to work on in the New Year?




Look at these furry friends of mine. How silent and alert they are, listening. I have much to learn from them.

I love this hymn: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

In previous years, my words have been: Trust; Courage & Clarity; Patience; Fiat. It's good to remember the progress I've been making over the past few years, as well as the pitfalls. 

Happy New Year!

Circumcision of Jesus by Peter Paul Rubens

And after eight days were accomplished, that the child should be circumcised, his name was called JESUS, which was called by the angel, before he was conceived in the womb. ~ Luke 2:21

And all I do is sing this beautiful Basque Christmas Carol: The Infant King. Hush, do not wake the Infant King... sing lullaby.

We have so much to celebrate today:
The Octave of Christmas -- yes, it's still Christmas!
The circumcision and Holy Name of Jesus!
The maternity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God.
And the beginning of a new calendar year.

I am grateful to say goodbye to a difficult year. I laugh now at the goals I made -- I accomplished *nothing* of what I planned -- it seems God had other ideas. I asked for courage and clarity, but He gave me only courage and left me in a fog.

I was so tempted not to make any goals at all this year, but that is not in my nature. I am a dreamer and I believe God has written these dreams upon my heart for a very good reason: Magnificat anima mea Dominum.

So this year, I will do what I can and what I must, which is to continue being a wife, mother, reader, writer, prayer-warrior, friend and TRUST in His plans for me, knowing He is beside me even if I cannot see past my own nose.  

I will write a new book!

May God bless you and all your endeavors in the New Year.

New Year's Goals

I love this time of the year ... it reminds me of Rainer Maria Rilke's quote: And now we welcome the New Year. Full of things that have never been.

I think last year was the first year I didn't make many goals ... I was too sick for the first couple of months and it took a couple more to get used to the new medication to control the migraines. But they've worked out well, thank God. I remember how pleased I'd be with myself if I wrote anything those first few months. My daily goals persist: Read Bible, Pray, Write, Walk. But this year I want to be more intentional about not wasting precious time and staying focused on fewer projects so that I complete them. I get distracted with shiny new ideas ALL the time. Oh, look, a bird! 

Marcia Hoehne has a lovely post on New Year's Words. Last year it was Patience ... and it was exactly what I needed to cultivate in all aspects of my life, including writing. The year before it was Fiat!

This year's word came to me sometime mid-Dec. It is Clarity. As I prepared my goals for this year, I had a clearer sense of purpose. I want to begin work on a new novel and of course, with two of them clamoring for attention, I need clarity to decide which one to focus on so that I can finish. Earlier there were three, so I'm making progress :) And there are always the short projects. I doubt I could ever give those up ... there is an incomparable joy in having a perfect little poem or story. They're like these photos -- capturing moments I want to remember.

I am looking forward to turning 50. If my 40s were wracked with the joys and pains of turning to Jesus, I cannot imagine what living in His Word is going to bring. He has already given me a peace that I cannot explain. 

I want to walk more on the beach! I hope these photos taken by Max and Dagny inspire you too. Wishing you all a happy and healthful New Year, filled with all God's blessings upon you.

Sunset by Dagny

Sunset by Max

Don't Give Up

So, a big storm blew through yesterday ... from the south because it was warm. An alligator (five-footer) was basking, looking awfully hungry. I wish I'd taken my camera along but I've gotten out of the habit. I usually pray the rosary on my walks. A couple of little dogs came running out of the apartment building, and I'm glad the owners leashed them promptly. These gators can move fast, even when they lay quiet as statues. They don't even register on my dog's radar ...

I finished my Highlights story and put it in the mailbox. Last year, I was deep in revisions (YA contemp.), and did not enter the annual fiction contest. This year, I cut it close. I was so discouraged yesterday as I kept reworking the ending -- flat, flat, flat. But inspiration hit during a basketball game and I knew just how to fix it. So writers, if you are close, don't give up. Think outside the box. Let your imagination take you places. Be preposterous! What I struggle with most is making the ending both inevitable and surprising. I hope I nailed it.

And just so you know, if you put your manuscript in the mailbox, it will be postmarked today, which is acceptable as per the guidelines.

I have a couple of other shorts to work on, but they will go as regular submissions. My procrastination level is quite high right now because I recognize the mountain of work  my historical YA requires to get it submission-worthy. What I need is a real deadline, some discipline, some courage ...

Or perhaps Kristi's FREE e-book! She's giving it away tomorrow ... so be sure to check it out.

Have a great weekend, y'all. Enjoy the weather, whatever it may be. Can you believe how quickly this month has gone by? If you have not started on the writing life you dream of, it is not too late. Begin ... breathe, pray, write!

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Writing Goals

I love January, not only because it's the start of a new year, but also because it's my birthday month (that's right, in our family, we celebrate the whole month, like Christmas -- I'll put it away after Feb 2, which is Candlemas).

We've had a lovely visit with my in-laws, but I'm looking forward to our regular routine. My husband is back at work, the children at school, and my in-laws are flying back home. I'm getting reorganized and will finally crack open my manuscript again, which I regret I did not finish before Christmas. But there's always January!

January -- a month full of possibilities, goals, dreams. I can't believe how wonderful 2012 was for our whole family -- swimming, a change to an old-fashioned parish school, greater ease in singing Latin Mass, my first novel out on submission, consecration of our family to the Sacred Heart. Only two things can top 2012 -- baby news and book news. And so we pray. For both! Because I believe in miracles.

Here are my writing goals. Please feel free to add yours in the comments.
1. Finish revising and polishing YA historical
2. Write a couple of short stories that have been noodling around in my head\
3. Polish upcoming presentations on magazine and nonfiction writing
4. Start new novel (three are vying for attention -- pick the right one!)
5. Take on as much work-for-hire without sacrificing pet projects and family
6. Get the right agent who will sell my books (this is not wholly in my control but I'm listing it here anyway).

My friend (and editor extraordinaire), Paula Morrow, sent the Daily Routines of Writers to me. Of course I have to share. I hope you will be entertained and inspired. I'm sorry to say although I met my goals for 2012, sometimes my days went like this: A writer takes earnest measures to secure his solitude and then finds endless ways to squander it. ~ Don DeLillo

I wish you a happy writing year. May you write with joy and abandon. God bless you.

Hopes, Dreams and Goals

I tend to be a very goal-oriented person and I am very blessed that my birthday falls at a time when I am naturally taking stock of the past and looking to the future. I almost always accomplish what I set out to do, even without knowing much. I have a feeling my guardian angel is always watching out for me. See, the year I turned nineteen, I told my best friend that I would have a summer romance. I did.

I didn't count on falling deeply in love but I did, and I cried buckets six months later when he left the sleepy little town in rural Washington where we ate ice cream and talked each others' ears off, where he serenaded me with Eric Clapton, Dire Straits, and Van Morrison, and where we made a thousand memories. I doubted he would ever care to come back to me with the glamour of California. But he did. Our love grew over the years even though we were apart most of the time, and finally after ten years, we figured out that we ought to get married. Yeah, I know. We're a bit slow ...

I said I would do plant pathology (after studying the minutiae of bacteria) and I did. I said I would become a writer, and I did. I said I wanted to have children, and was blessed with two.

Cocky, aren't I? I pretty much get what I want. But I've become a bit more humble over the years. I realize I am nothing without God. The very breath I take is because He allows it. I do nothing on my own. So, now my deepest desire is that my hopes, dreams and goals are what God wants me to hope and dream and work towards. 

This is what I hope for in my life this year. God willing, all these things will happen.

1. Bear another child. Yes. Really. I'm not kidding. It would be a miracle.
2. Have more peace between my two children. Have them grow closer to God every day.
3. Polish my current book and send it out. May the right editor love it enough to buy it.
4. Begin another book that's been percolating for a few years.
5. Develop a heart after God's own heart.

I can only see pieces of myself. I long to be the person God wants me to be.

You guessed right -- I've always wanted to be a magnificent tiger!

And so I pray. And I humbly ask for your prayers for these hopes and dreams of mine.
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Feast of the Epiphany

Today is the Feast of the Three Kings. I know for many Mexican children, this is a little Christmas, but in the tradition of my mother, we shall have a reading, perhaps a cake with a hidden bean. I daren't bake a cake with a doll for fear the doll will melt. I've been known to do very silly things like that.

I have been thinking of all the gifts we've been bestowed with, and the gift of writing is one. Our dreams and deepest desires and what makes us happy and lost in that activity should surely make us realize what we are meant to do. It makes me happy when young people develop their gifts. Recently we were having supper with friends of ours, both their young boys who are applying for medical school. They are called to do this and have already established mobile clinics in poor areas in India. I too, was once passionate like this.

But fear stopped me. When I was a young woman of 21, even though I got into medical school, I rejected that call because the thought of borrowing $100,000 with no buffer just for my education was frightening. I was taught to never borrow money. There was no option to teach part-time. And I hadn't even figured living expenses. I did the more secure thing -- I got a job in research, got my PhD and paid my way by teaching and research assistantships. But I never felt that same calling. And I never did reapply to medical school. And it is one decision that I have regretted because it goes to my very core. I was called to heal. I believe that when you are given a gift, you are obligated to nurture and develop those gifts. I did not, and that is where this regret comes from. I think if I were a Christian back then, and had put all my faith and trust in God, I would've been just fine and God would've provided (maybe I would've learned that it is okay to borrow money and pay it back later).

God is good. He has given me other gifts. The gift to write. And every time I think of letting it pass by, my conscience tells me to not to give up. Now my conscience has been developed by the teachings of the Church, the Bible. I accomplished a tremendous feat last year. I read the entire Bible. Not that I understood it. Hah! I am showing my ignorance here. It is a very difficult set of books to read. Thank goodness we have priests who can interpret many of these stories. Many of the stories I already know well and their meaning is clear. But there are so many I did not even know and there are so many that are downright confusing. God did that? That's not very nice. But throughout my readings, one phrase leapt at me. "Do not fear" or "Fear not" and it is what I needed to hear.

We are all so fond of making New Year's resolutions. I have one writing related goal and that is to finish my novel revision and send it out to my top agent picks. I am not going to let fear stop me. I am going to say "Yes" to God when He calls me to do something in all areas of my life.

On the Blueboards, Anastasia asked what would be our word for the year. There are so many great words I could think of: faith, believe, trust, balance -- oh, there is much to juggle -- mothering, teaching, writing. But after much thinking, I chose the word SURRENDER because I want to surrender to God's will. I want to live my life with no regrets. Be more holy.

How about you? What gifts do you have? What regrets? What is the one thing you would like to change this year? What is your word for this year? Please share.

Here's a page from the January Highlights featuring my talking animal story Teeter-Totter. I hope you get a chance to read it and enjoy it with your own critters. The illustrations by Debbie Palen are darling.

Happy New Year, all. Persevere. And keep your balance!

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A New Year!

I love this time between Christmas and New Year, where I get to take stock of the year gone by, and see how I can improve. I know many folks don't like to make New Year resolutions, but I typically make them twice a year. It seems to be my natural rhythm to assess whether I'm living my life the way I want to and should around the New Year and sometime again in the summer.

Last year I made daily goals.

1. Have one-on-one time with each family member every day.
2. Pray every day.
3. Walk every day.
4. Write every day.
5. Be kind every day.

I'm happy to say that I did well, but I could've challenged myself more. This year I want to stretch and reach higher so in addition to my daily goals, this is what I'd like to see happen:

1. Finish YA WIP (Damaged)
2. Polish shorts and send them out at least once a month.
3. Lose weight.

How about you? What would you like to see happen in your writing/personal life? Care to share?

Have a happy, healthful and joyous New Year!
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Summer Holidays and Hopes for Fall

School begins tomorrow. As I look back upon this summer, I am filled with joy. Here are some of the critters that we came across today in the woods.

Two banana slugs posing:

A cricket sunning:

An owl hunting! In broad daylight:

We came home to our summer bounty:

Perfect for ratatouille (I added a big eggplant from the store).

Summer is far from over. And soon I'll need to make more batches of zucchini bread, tomato salsa and soup. I love having a taste of all this in the winter ...

Besides all the food processing that I will do this fall, what do I hope to accomplish writing-wise? To begin anew on my novel. I only worked a little bit on it this summer not because I didn't have time, but because I chose to spend it doing other things, like doing projects with my kids, taking long walks in the woods, going swimming, visiting with family and friends. Oh, I wrote every day, but I didn't work on my novel. Big difference. So here's hoping I can finish the first half of this by the end of this year. And polish a few shorter pieces for magazines. I should probably get my CV out there again for writing work-for-hire books.

Tomorrow.

Tonight I will read over the bits of the novel I've written, see where I need to go, write two pages even if it all ends up in the trash.

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Goals, Chinese New Year, and TV madness

It's almost the end of January. How's everybody doing with their goals? I've heard that it takes a good three weeks to settle into a new pattern. It's true for me.

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So far, I've been able to do all the things daily that I wanted to, except on the weekends. I find it difficult to find writing time with everyone at home. I can't get quiet enough to focus. So either I get up early and write or accept that some days are going to be too full. Haven't decided yet.
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But it's the beginning of a New Chinese Year ... so you can start anew now, if you've been having trouble keeping up with your goals. I think it's not wise to beat yourself up about not meeting your goals. Better to say, I will try again tomorrow.

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I'm so happy that Grace Lin will be coming to our local SCBWI conference. I love her picture books and she has penned charming novels: "The Year of the Dog" and "The Year of the Rat." All the little girls I love will be getting a set of these books for their birthdays this year. They are gems. And I do believe they are somewhat autobiographical. So check them out.

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On a completely unrelated topic. I happened to tune in to Michael Medved's show and I thought he was joking when he said our government was postponing the digital TV transition to June. First of all, I am baffled that our govt. is actually giving out coupons to have converters. As though the ability to watch TV is a basic human right. Jeepers creepers. I mean, this has been planned for years, and frankly if people couldn't watch TV for a while, it wouldn't kill them. Again, I cannot believe that with all the things going on in the world, that giving converter box vouchers so that people can watch digitized TV is a national priority.

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In all fairness, I admit that I haven't watched TV for the past 20 years, so I don't know what amazing things I'm missing. Yup, I gave it away when I was in graduate school. Two years ago, our 15-year-old computer monitor died and we decided to replace it with a TV monitor. We do like to watch movies and it is nicer to have a bigger screen. My husband turns it on to watch sports at times, but our children never think of turning it on. They haven't been raised on it, and they have cultivated so many other interests. It's been a wonderful thing not to have a TV.

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I was shocked to hear that the average American spends 30 hours a week watching TV. That's almost like having a full-time job. Imagine what you could do with all that time. Write a book?

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Gifts and Goals

In celebration of Epiphany, we received gifts of gold (well, fool's gold), frankinscence and myrrh from our Catholic church. If you recall the Bible story, these were the gifts mentioned that Magi from the East brought to the infant Jesus.

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It makes me realize (a small epiphany, if you will) that stories are gifts, not just the stories I write exclusively for my family as proper gifts, but the stories I share more widely. I have been given many gifts. I hope to develop these gifts and use them wisely.

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So, to nurture these gifts, I will:

1. Have one-on-one time with each family member every day.
2. Pray every day.
3. Walk every day.
4. Write every day.
5. Be kind every day.

This reminds me very much of Jacqui's list. She said that it looks so dull compared to the big changes many people propose, but she rightly concludes that it would be wonderful to do these things every single day. Of course, I agree.

My hope is that with this dailiness I will:

1. Grow closer to my family.
2. Grow closer to God.
3. Be more fit.
4. Write a novel and a dozen shorts.
5. Be a better person.

by the end of the year.

Please share what you would like to accomplish this year, writing or otherwise.

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