by Sarah | Jan 1, 2019 | All About Family, All About Home, All About Me, All of Us, Florida Dreaming, Oola, Personal, Redefining Perfect, Story of Me
Happy new year! Welcome to 2019, the year of possibility, of joy, of redefining so much.
2019 I went full on with another unusual word – yet not so much when you look at this blog.
REDEFINING.
2019 I’m going to redefine so much. Our lives, our family, our future.
I’ve struggled with many things in the past couple of years.
The meaning of friendship.
The meaning of peace.
Depression.
Balance.
Too much, vs. too little.
Oola.
My faith.
Being true to myself in every area.
Avoiding the world.
Trying to dive into the world.
My job changing.
My writing (or lack thereof).
My weight.
Myself.
As 2018 began to wind down much faster than it began, I’ve been digging in, holing up, searching myself and my heart.
I’ve found that I can look at all the inspirational memes I want in the world. I can echo mildly in my head their words and sentiments. I can cheer on others as they take steps or find new meaning.
But what good does any of that do if I don’t GO ALL IN.
This year I’m redefining myself. I’m going all in. I’m baring my soul, my true heart. I’m probably going to lose friends, but I’m probably going to gain friends, too. I’m going to be open, honest, wholehearted, unflinchingly myself – even when it’s uncomfortable to do so.
The only way to make true change is to make yourself uncomfortable. To step outside of the comfort zone.
To document this – I hope to keep this blog going, to keep myself in check, to see the changes as they come.
So, come on 2019 – let’s do this. I’m ready to be redefined.
by Sarah | Dec 31, 2018 | 50 before 50, All About Family, All About Indiana, All About Me, All of Us, Bucket List, Florida Dreaming, Redefining Perfect
Honestly, until last year, I’ve never picked a word for the year before. Not for lack of trying, but being the verbose nut that I am…coming up with just one word for a whole year seemed impossible.
Then, last year at the end of 2017 – a pretty darn good year where I kicked a few bucket list items out of the park, after I’d planned for some big things in 2018…I kept hearing this one word in my head.
MOMENTUM.
I thought that’s just too weird a word for an annual selection.
Still, the word kept coming back to me…and so, I ran with it.
A friend of mine does word art for year words and so I requested she make me some art with this crazy off-the-wall word.
And boy…what a YEAR it has been! There’s been ups and downs, all with such high intensity.
Books were released and re-released.
Friendships were ended.
Friendships were deepened.
We decided to make a HUGE change in our lives and are now planning to move to Florida to be near our son – and we’re working on it. Hard.
Our washer went out.
Erik had some pretty hefty health concerns.
I took big steps to further my career and learning.
I took a step back from writing.
My momentum crashed somewhere around September…and sort of went in reverse for a while.
I bordered on depression, but didn’t feel tipped over the edge.
I got to see my son 3 times – but didn’t get to see Florida once (~sigh~)
I found a great challenge near the end of the year to help me deepen my faith.
I quit smoking.
I failed to quit pop.
I’ve begun to refocus on my Oola again.
I’ve been up beyond ups….and pretty damn down at some times. This year passed by like it was on warp factor 9.9 with no time to breathe sometimes. I overworked myself, and then underworked myself. I struggled to find happy mediums, but happily spent some time in peace and quiet.
It’s been time to pick my word for 2019 again for a little while – and I did so about a month ago. It’s another weird one…but it has me pretty darn excited for what’s going to come in the new year.
You’ll see…pretty soon. 😉
by Sarah | Apr 4, 2018 | All About Me, Blogging Life, Books, Changing Tracks, Escaping Humanity, General, Holiday, I'm A Writer, Masked Hearts, Publishing Credits, Redefining Perfect, Secret Cravings Publishing, The Tribe, Wordy Wednesday, Writing
On February 8, 2013 my very first novel was published.
At the time I was contracted with the fabulous small publishing company, Secret Cravings Publishing. Very excited, and a very unseasoned author.
Thankfully, through SCP I had some great mentors, supporters, and fellow authors braving the waters.
The past 5 years have been a whirlwind of ups and downs. I spent time writing thousands upon thousands of words, and spent months upon months unable to write a word. I’ve had months with sales beyond belief and months where I didn’t sell a single book. I branched out into self-publishing with a few small gambits, but then my publisher closed their doors and I had to dive in full-force.
Some days it’s truly hard to believe that it’s been five years. How much my life has changed. How much my goals have changed. How much I’ve first lost, and then re-found my love for this world.
These days I’m keeping crazy-busy in my personal life, but also in writing. I pulled all 6 of my original Dominion Falls Series books, the first books I published, last year. I’ve revised, revamped, and added words to the books. Now I’m re-publishing them. Getting back to my roots, and sending these books back out into the world, with a new little novella added on for good measure.
The next book in The Tribe series, which will be book 5 “The Child” is written and with the editor, due for release in July.
My best friend & co-author, Mary Terrani, and I finally released our book to the world, Escaping Humanity (The Exceptionals 1). We are in the middle of book 2, looking forward to a release at the end of the year, first of next. We’re also working with a fabulous artist to turn the book into a graphic novel.
I’m working to try to create a new cover for Masked Hearts so that I can re-release it in September.
I have notebooks with plans for new books, new series, more books in my existing series.
I went to my first conference as a signing author recently, and did well, and had so much fun.
I’m excited to continue doing what I love, and bring more stories into the world. I’ve had to revamp my views on my publishing career, what I want to do, and where I want to go with it. I’d become too sensitive to the numbers and to the “you should” and “you shouldn’t” voices and lost my way.
I feel good coming home to my characters again. I hope you’ll come on in and pull up an armchair, grab a book and join me. Get lost in one of my worlds for a while. They are fun, dangerous, mysterious, romantic, sweet, and spicy. You’ll be able to find something for your personal taste with me.
by Sarah | Apr 2, 2018 | All About Kennedy, All About Learning, All of Us, Redefining Perfect
Back in August, I announced that we were withdrawing Kennedy from traditional school, and enrolling her in online school.
We were all excited by the change, but we waited, and waited a little longer, until the activities of life settled down. In September, we officially withdrew her and started her in the online courses.
We were excited to start, but starting mid-semester was rough, and it took us several weeks to figure out how this online school stuff worked.
We got into a groove, but over time K admitted that the classes were harder. She missed the ability to just ask her teacher and get an immediate answer without having to wait for a reply. She missed her friends. She missed traditional school.
Not surprisingly this was mere weeks after we started.
I told her we hadn’t given the school a chance, and we would finish out the semester and see where we were.
For a little while we found our groove. Things moved at a good pace, Kennedy’s grades went up finally.
But then I got a new job, and Kennedy still wanted to return to the traditional brick & mortar school.
We talked about it at length. We decided to return her to traditional school.
Though she is unique, and a bit of a freebird, she is also a social butterfly. She missed her friends, and missed the ways of traditional schooling…and, I think, missed the “easier” classes.
And so, Kennedy is back in brick and mortar. She’s doing well, and really glad to be back with her friends. Plus, I don’t have to worry about leaving her at home while I’m at work.
Online schooling didn’t work for us, but I have a good friend it does work for. It was a rally good experiment, if sometimes frustrating. I’m glad we tried.
by Sarah | Apr 1, 2018 | All About Me, Blogging Life, Redefining Perfect
Gratitude is a funny thing. So often I have so much to be grateful for, but all I can see are the negatives. To try to curb this oddly innate response, I’m trying to start each week with some gratitude for what I have, or what has happened in previous days, or this year in general.
- My new job – which I love, and will expound more on in a later post.
- That I found Oola. (See above)
- That my husband and I were wise enough to not dive into a loan we could afford, but would have strapped us, for a car we both were crazy about. (Major will power needed to walk out that door, and major growth)
- That in about 6 weeks I will have one credit card paid off, and a nice chunk in savings.
- For hot tea. My new addiction. Yum.
- For a son that sends me random gifts that truly are marvelous and meaningful.
- For an artistic daughter that stretches to break her own artistic boundaries.
- For tweens that actually still want to snuggle and talk.
- The coming spring, shown by the daffodils blooming despite the recent snow.
- Books. Writing them. Reading them. It’s all pleasure.
More in coming weeks, because as I said, I would like for this to become a daily habit. Busting through my tendency toward the negative thought stream. 🙂 Sarcasm has its place, but it’s taken up too much of a residence lately.
by Sarah | Feb 5, 2018 | All of Us, Blogging Life, Book Reviews, Redefining Perfect
This starts as a bi-partisan, scathing a look at the current political system. Much is revelatory and truthful, mixed with Leary’s usual wit and sarcasm. Nothing is really more funny than our current political climate, albeit scary.
What I liked best is that it didn’t lampoon, more deconstructed the current situations we face. And Leary doesn’t appear to be afraid to say the truth, or how he perceives the truth. I found myself smiling a lot, not quite laughing out loud as much. It’s not easy to condense his train of thought.
The latter part of the book switched more to his usual comedy, offering personal yet some incredible situations that come from stardom. These kinds of tidbits are often comedy gold. There were only a few missteps in his narrative, but he’s also changed a bit since his previous book. Changed massively since his standup days when I first heard him.
Good follow up to his previous book, which I recommend reading before starting this one.
*Disclaimer: My hubby Erik wrote this review. This book was more up his alley than mine.
Disclaimer 2: I got this book courtesy of the awesome Blogging for Books site. All opinions are my own, or in this case, my husbands.
Happy new year! Welcome to 2019, the year of possibility, of joy, of redefining so much.
