Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told, “I’m with you kid. Let’s go.” – Maya Angelou
How are you taking life by the lapel?
28 thoughts on “Reader Friday: Take Life by the Lapel”
For me it’s travel. I like being at home, so I have to force myself to get out there. Which is why I accepted a teaching gig in Australia and New Zealand!
Wow! Impressive, Jim! I assume you’ll be there for a while, since it’s such a significant journey…?
Have you ever been to either place before? It sounds exciting!
At the moment I haven’t the energy to take anything by any article of clothing. It’s all I can do to keep my head above the snow. But I do have a date with the fireplace and a cup of tea in about an hour. I’ll try grabbing something after that…
You sound like my sister Kelly right now, Amanda. January was so horrendous for her weather-wise (she is in northern-most Michigan) that she can barely summon the energy to turn on the computer. All my friends up there say the same thing…it really draws down your energy batteries. When the last polar vortex went through last week she spent three days as a prisoner in her home curled in a ball as she put it. The temps are back UP in the twenties this week…things are better!
It’s winters like that that made me glad I moved from Pittsburgh, to Southern California 10 years ago. Has it been that long? Brrrrr
Diving back into a project I had previously abandoned. Full speed ahead!
Right this minute it was the push to finish the WIP. I typed “THE END” on Tuesday. Right this minute I am getting it proofed and formatted to go out to beta.
Oh, and I took over a newspaper. Just because I could. Just a bitty one, circulation 2500, but still. My own newspaper . . .
Well, that’s how Charles Foster Kane started. “I think it would be fun to run a newspaper.”
That’s exciting, Terri!
Small newspapers are cool. They are a glue for the community and a wonderful source of inspiration for fiction. I’ll bet you have a lot of fun with it!
That is so cool, Terri…finishing the book but also the newspaper. That has long been one of my dreams, to have a small-town paper. I got my start in newspapers on one and loved every minute. Never worker harder though.
Way to go, Terri! Impressive on both counts!
My critique group peeps are keeping me going these days. I feel really buoyed by them. Or maybe I am just amped up on Starbucks from our meetings.
Today the realtor and photographer are coming to put my house on the market, in preparation for my big move across the country, to Canada’s West Coast. And my house isn’t ready yet! Back at it!
Off topic here: Where you moving to Jodie? I am envious…love the Canadian west coast…would live there in a heartbeat if I could.
Kris, I grew up in BC, in a mountain town north of Whistler. I lived in Vancouver for 14 years and on Vancouver Island for two years. I’m moving to Kelowna, in the Okanagan – big lakes, wineries, and lots of orchards – and low mountains. Gorgeous country!
Jodie: Got any big bears up there? And that lake looks pretty nice. I’ve been east of you and may come up there with my trailer some time. It looks like a good place for a writers’ camp.
You’re welcome any time, Jim, as are all the TKZers and readers! And a writers’ camp sounds like a great idea!
I’m not letting age slow me down! Working on 2-3 book projects at once and involved in local writing groups. I’ll stop when I have to. And if I don’t get out of this chair and move the body, that’ll be sooner rather than later.
In November, I accepted a job as the director of a new start-up publishing company (small press). To be honest, I don’t know if I’ve taken life by the lapels, or stepped off into the deep end of stupid.
It’s been overwhelming most days, but fun. I feel completely inept at times, but have other moments when I find myself saying “Okay, maybe I can do this.” But it’s fun, challenging, and could be a blast if I pull it off. Even if I don’t, I’ve made some measurable progress on the curve of learning which should serve me well in the long run.
Wow! Good luck with that venture, Diane! I bet you’re learning a lot!
Thanks, Jodie! Indeed I am!
You’ll never know if you can fly until you jump off a cliff or two.
Hired a publicist to create a marketing plan for my May Dead-End Job hardcover, CATNAPPED! I love this book set in the world of cat shows and really want it to succeed. My publisher has been amazingly coorperative .
Writing is what opened the world for me. I grew up shy and my world had been comfortable, but this small (holding my hand an inch from the floor). When I became serious about writing, I flew from Tennessee to Florida to attend a workshop. By myself. Knowing no one. It was the scariest thing I’d ever done. It was the most wonderful thing I’d ever done. I came home feeling LARGER than ever before. I made a friend, I spoke to a stranger on the airplane. I learned so much.
A few years later I attended a major conference on the west coast. Again alone. Again I talked to people on the plane. (You don’t know how hard that is unless you’ve been shy all your life.) I made two new friends from other countries. I was inspired and came home ready to take on the world! I still feel that way, so I’m grabbing those lapels and saying Come on, world, I don’t have all day!
Five and a half years ago my wife and I moved our family from the Pacific Northwest to a Caribbean Island. A year and a half ago (when the island economy tanked) we moved to New Orleans. Life is too short and the world too big to pick one piece of real estate and say, “This is it.”
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!……Lapels!?……DANGIT!!!….Bulls ain’t got lapels….and they apparently don’t like horn grabbin’! ……can’t let go now!!!…..YEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeee………..
For me it’s travel. I like being at home, so I have to force myself to get out there. Which is why I accepted a teaching gig in Australia and New Zealand!
Wow! Impressive, Jim! I assume you’ll be there for a while, since it’s such a significant journey…?
Have you ever been to either place before? It sounds exciting!
At the moment I haven’t the energy to take anything by any article of clothing. It’s all I can do to keep my head above the snow. But I do have a date with the fireplace and a cup of tea in about an hour. I’ll try grabbing something after that…
You sound like my sister Kelly right now, Amanda. January was so horrendous for her weather-wise (she is in northern-most Michigan) that she can barely summon the energy to turn on the computer. All my friends up there say the same thing…it really draws down your energy batteries. When the last polar vortex went through last week she spent three days as a prisoner in her home curled in a ball as she put it. The temps are back UP in the twenties this week…things are better!
It’s winters like that that made me glad I moved from Pittsburgh, to Southern California 10 years ago. Has it been that long? Brrrrr
Diving back into a project I had previously abandoned. Full speed ahead!
Right this minute it was the push to finish the WIP. I typed “THE END” on Tuesday. Right this minute I am getting it proofed and formatted to go out to beta.
Oh, and I took over a newspaper. Just because I could. Just a bitty one, circulation 2500, but still. My own newspaper . . .
Well, that’s how Charles Foster Kane started. “I think it would be fun to run a newspaper.”
That’s exciting, Terri!
Small newspapers are cool. They are a glue for the community and a wonderful source of inspiration for fiction. I’ll bet you have a lot of fun with it!
That is so cool, Terri…finishing the book but also the newspaper. That has long been one of my dreams, to have a small-town paper. I got my start in newspapers on one and loved every minute. Never worker harder though.
Way to go, Terri! Impressive on both counts!
My critique group peeps are keeping me going these days. I feel really buoyed by them. Or maybe I am just amped up on Starbucks from our meetings.
Today the realtor and photographer are coming to put my house on the market, in preparation for my big move across the country, to Canada’s West Coast. And my house isn’t ready yet! Back at it!
Off topic here: Where you moving to Jodie? I am envious…love the Canadian west coast…would live there in a heartbeat if I could.
Kris, I grew up in BC, in a mountain town north of Whistler. I lived in Vancouver for 14 years and on Vancouver Island for two years. I’m moving to Kelowna, in the Okanagan – big lakes, wineries, and lots of orchards – and low mountains. Gorgeous country!
Jodie: Got any big bears up there? And that lake looks pretty nice. I’ve been east of you and may come up there with my trailer some time. It looks like a good place for a writers’ camp.
You’re welcome any time, Jim, as are all the TKZers and readers! And a writers’ camp sounds like a great idea!
I’m not letting age slow me down! Working on 2-3 book projects at once and involved in local writing groups. I’ll stop when I have to. And if I don’t get out of this chair and move the body, that’ll be sooner rather than later.
In November, I accepted a job as the director of a new start-up publishing company (small press). To be honest, I don’t know if I’ve taken life by the lapels, or stepped off into the deep end of stupid.
It’s been overwhelming most days, but fun. I feel completely inept at times, but have other moments when I find myself saying “Okay, maybe I can do this.” But it’s fun, challenging, and could be a blast if I pull it off. Even if I don’t, I’ve made some measurable progress on the curve of learning which should serve me well in the long run.
Wow! Good luck with that venture, Diane! I bet you’re learning a lot!
Thanks, Jodie! Indeed I am!
You’ll never know if you can fly until you jump off a cliff or two.
Hired a publicist to create a marketing plan for my May Dead-End Job hardcover, CATNAPPED! I love this book set in the world of cat shows and really want it to succeed. My publisher has been amazingly coorperative .
Writing is what opened the world for me. I grew up shy and my world had been comfortable, but this small (holding my hand an inch from the floor). When I became serious about writing, I flew from Tennessee to Florida to attend a workshop. By myself. Knowing no one. It was the scariest thing I’d ever done. It was the most wonderful thing I’d ever done. I came home feeling LARGER than ever before. I made a friend, I spoke to a stranger on the airplane. I learned so much.
A few years later I attended a major conference on the west coast. Again alone. Again I talked to people on the plane. (You don’t know how hard that is unless you’ve been shy all your life.) I made two new friends from other countries. I was inspired and came home ready to take on the world! I still feel that way, so I’m grabbing those lapels and saying Come on, world, I don’t have all day!
Five and a half years ago my wife and I moved our family from the Pacific Northwest to a Caribbean Island. A year and a half ago (when the island economy tanked) we moved to New Orleans. Life is too short and the world too big to pick one piece of real estate and say, “This is it.”
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!……Lapels!?……DANGIT!!!….Bulls ain’t got lapels….and they apparently don’t like horn grabbin’! ……can’t let go now!!!…..YEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeee………..