I attended a workshop yesterday for my day job. It was a motivational/inspirational type speaker….I have to admit I love these kind of workshops. I always come away with something new. Here’s what I learned and want to share with you.

The whole discussion centered around “life planning.” Life planning was defined as systematically evaluating and selecting your life’s goals. It was interesting, really, so even if your eyes want to glaze over, just keep reading….I guarantee it’ll be worth it.

Anyway, these life goals are ones which you have chosen and encompass each category of your life. No one else sets these goals but you. In a way it’s a written strategic plan for your life.

The premise was that your life is likely to be more fulfilling when you can see yourself moving forward and achieving goals. It gives you the sense that your life is on the right path…a path that you’ve determined and will modify as you see fit.

When you make choices on where you want to go/be, you live above the rat race and are better able to handle the daily grind. Making these goals and taking steps to make them a reality should reduce the stress of daily living because you’re getting done what it is you really want to get done.

Okay, so what’s this about writing your own obituary? First off, you’re not writing it as if you died today. It’s a future kind of thing…it’s about writing what you would like people to say/know when you eventually do die.

To do it you should think about every aspect (category) of your life that is truly important to you and what you had hoped to accomplish in each category. Writing the obit can be a way for us to begin to focus on what is truly important to each of us; to get us to think about what it is we really want to do with our life.

Some examples the speaker gave of categories to consider:
*family
*recreation/hobbies
*religion/spirituality
*work
*education
*feel good things

He suggested we prioritize the categories…but ties are okay…it doesn’t have to be precise. Then he encouraged us to brainstorm possible goals/accomplishments/things we’d like to do for each category. THen prioritize the goals we’ve set.

Then….and he couldn’t stress this enough…we should focus on what’s most important and start working on that RIGHT NOW. He talked about how people fill up their days with things that don’t move them toward their goals…any hands waving on this one??

Anyway, I thought it was a good talk and I don’t know about you, but I’m going to do some hard thinking tonight and come up with some plans for helping me reach my life’s goals. How about you?

This weekend, Derby Festival kicks off in the Louisville, Kentucky area with Thunder over Louisville, a huge fireworks display and air show. I have been to see it several times, and I have to say it is just spectacular. They time the fireworks to snippets of music and there are lights and lasers galore. And it takes place over the Ohio River with the Louisville skyline prominent in the background. People have been known to come from miles around to see it, and it has become a claim to fame of sorts, much like the Derby itself. The next two weeks will be chock full of various events, including a balloon glow, the Great Steamboat Race, and the Pegasus Parade, all leading up to that first Saturday in May and the Run for the Roses.

It’s enough to make a gal proud. Snif-sniff. Even though I’m not precisely a Louisvillian, I’ve always lived close enough to feel like an honorary one. You can check out background info on Thunder and the festivities here.

So, does your town have any annual events that they do up in a big way? Have you ever traveled anywhere to take part in one or is there one you would like to take part in? I don’t know about you, but I always thought the annual bull run in Pamplona, Spain sounded interesting. Okay, I’m kidding about that one. And just as an added bonus to celebrate the release of The Devil’s Temptation on April 24th, one lucky winner out of the commenters today will receive a Jaunty Quills tote bag stuffed with signed copies of all three of my first three books. I will choose a winner at random and announce their name tomorrow morning. Good luck!

Make sure you scroll down, too, to tell Jenna what to read!

Okay, I have finished with my April 2008 erotic romance, SOMETHING RECKLESS and it is far away in New York City! Woohoo!!!! I’m so happy to be done! You see, I’ve been on deadline. Lots of deadlines. Since August 2006, I’ve turned in 4 books. FOUR. It was a lot of work, but I’m really excited about everything that’s coming up from my Jenna and Jess names in 2007/2008.

But now I’m done. And I don’t have another deadline coming up for a long time (at least for now, we’ll see what happens in the next few months). And I’m going to read. I never get to read. When I’m writing, I limit my reading and honestly, reading starts to feel like work after I spend 6-8 hours a day writing. More words? No thanks. I’ll take Survivor. I don’t have to think about it.

I have a huge stack of books to read! I am definitely reading Vicki Lewis Thompson. And I have Sabrina Jeffries to read, too. But who else and what else should I read? What are YOUR favorite books? What about favorite authors? When you list favorite authors, make sure you tell me what book to start with, too! What about classic romances (I’m talking Woodiweiss, Lindsey, etc). Which books are cornerstone romances in the genre?

And hey, maybe I’ll start doing book reports on what I’m reading when I love it! Might as well share the love, right?

Anyway, give me some ideas! Pile even more books on my stack! TELL ME WHAT TO READ!!

Ever since I was a little girl I have always loved musical theatre. The drama, the emotion, the talent, the dance, and most of all the music. Nothing can evoke emotion in me quicker or more intensly than music. Over the years I’ve seen many shows and it saddens me that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of theatre opportunities where we live now. It’s been so long though since I’ve seen a show I’m taking a walk down memory lane today.

London – my all-time favorite musical ever. I swear I cried through the entire 3-hour show and afterwards wanted everyone to leave so I could just weep in my chair. If you ever have a chance to see it, go, it’s truly wonderful. I’d love nothing more than to hop a plane and fly to NYC and take The Professor to see Les Miserables, which remains my favorite – he loves the story and I know he’d love the musical.

London (and Austin twice) – classic broadway and classic Andrew Lloyd Webber. The movie version doesn’t even pretend to do it justice.

New York – great traditional musical.

New York – we saw the original Tony-award winning cast and it was honestly the most amazing visual experience of my life.

New York – again we saw the original cast, the one with Antonio Banderas, Jane Krakowski (from Ally McBeal), Mary Stewert Masterson and Broadway legend Chita Rivera. It was a kick to see all those people perform and they did a great job, but I thought the show itself was strange and I didn’t love the music. Still I’ve totally seen Antonio Banderas!

New York – this one probably ranks second to Les Miz for me. It’s so emotional and the music is incredible. It’s also a touching love story.

New York – we saw the Tony-award winning cast on this one too and it was a total hoot! They’re making a new movie about it and no doubt it will be hilarious.

New York – this I blame on my mother. I have nothing against Footloose, Kevin Bacon is one of my favorite actors, but seriously when you’re in NYC, then you want to see the big, amazing musicals. Needless to say it was well-performed, but it was Footloose on stage…not much more I can say about that.

Austin – crazy costumes and a fun score. I also own the DVD with Donny Osmond playing the lead role. Love it.

Austin – dark and intense and utterly wonderful.

Austin – I’ve seen it a couple of times and I enjoy it, but it’s not my favorite show. It’s more of a dancers show than a singers (except for the haunting performance of Memory) and while I find dancing impressive, it’s really all about the signing for me.

Austin – Loved it. And I loved the movie version which is really like having good seats to the production with only a few minor changes.

Austin – there is a revival of this in NYC right now and I’d love to see it. It’s smart and sexy and funny and wildly entertaining.

Las Vegas – I’m probably one of the few who has actually seen this show, it’s a lesser known Webber show about trains and the cast is on roller skates the whole time. It’s such fun and a wonderful story, very little-engine-that-could with great music.

I think that’s all of them. What a ride. There are so many now I’d love to see Wicked, Mary Poppins, Sweeney Todd, The Producers, Mamma Mia and the list could go on. On occassion I’ve seen shows in Atlanta, but there just aren’t as many that come near here as I had access to in Austin. But I’ve been itching for the theatre lately. Maybe something will be available soon. So are you a theatre fan? Seen any good shows lately?

Hey, I have a question. Why is it that good habits are so hard to make and so easy to break, while bad habits seem to wash over you immediately and never let go?

We all have habits. The way we eat, if we smoke, whether we start our day with a tall Diet Coke or a bottle of water (I’m the former, I’m afraid). For six months last year, my habit was to walk 4 days a week. Long walks. I was training, if you recall, for the Breast Cancer 3-Day. However, here is my list of excuses for why I don’t do that anymore. I needed a break, I had 4 deadlines in 6 months, I hurt my achilles tendon, I hurt my knee, it got cold…

You get the picture. As soon as I didn’t have a sepcific event linked to my walks, my habit was broken.

My nail biting habit, however, is still going painfully strong. I could give you a laundry lists of excuses for why I do that, too, but the basic reason is that it’s a strong habit and I haven’t put in the mental strength to break it.

I’m about to finish my April 2008 erotic historical romance, SOMETHING RECKLESS. And when I do (tomorrow, I think), I’m going to have to take a good hard look at my habits and my excuses and figure some things out. And hey, now you all know about that nail thing. I know you all will be staring at my gnarly hands if I don’t break that one, so now I have incentive!

So what about you? What habit is your worst and what is your best? How do you break bad habits and form new, good ones? I need help!!!!

Being tax day, I thought we could all use some comic relief. A co-worker gave me these directions, and as she promised, I did laugh out loud.

Go to:
www.google.com
select Maps
Get Directions
From: New York
To: London
then scroll down to step #24.

It’s tax day! Has everyone done theirs and mailed them in? If not, are you freaking out yet?

I made the mistake of going to the post office this morning. I thought the parking lot looked crowded for 8:30 a.m., but I just shrugged and went in anyway. The line was long and full of people mailing their tax forms.

“Have you done your taxes yet?” a lady asked me.
I nodded. “I did them like a month ago.”
“Did you owe?”
“Yep.”
She nodded sympathetically. “Me, too.”

There were about ten conversations like this going on around me, and it surprised me how connected everyone seemed to everyone else. Funny how something like paying the govenment can create solidarity.

I also had to run a couple of other errands, and everywhere I stopped, people were talking about the shootings at VirginiaTech. Everyone was asking why and wondering if anything can be done to prevent something like that happening again.

On the way home, I started to think that maybe just by talking together–about taxes or tragedy–we help prevent future tragedies. Through technology, through this blog and others, the world gets smaller. I hope we also become more connected, and I hope we all learn to love each other a little more and hurt each other a little less.

As a teacher, I frequently sat in class and imagined what my students would grow up to be. I could easily imagine some students becoming lawyers (because they argued a lot), engineers (trust me, you can spot an engineer at age 12), and even fellow teachers (they like to boss the other kids around).

I also had a few students I worried about. Actually, I taught at one school where I worried about almost every student. This was a school where gangs were prevalent, and where parents worked two jobs just to make ends meet. One time a group of my sixth graders skipped school. They were hauled in by the truant officers around 3rd period. They’d been caught smoking pot in an apartment across the street. A couple of them had also been having sex.

That’s right. A twelve-year-old boy and an eleven-year-old girl having sex instead of going to math class.

See why I worried?

Nowadays I mostly worry about imaginary characters’ problems, but once in a while I am dragged back to reality. The other night I was flipping the channels, waiting for Ultimate Sportsfan to come home from, you guessed it, a sporting event. I happened to turn to Dateline, which was doing a story about an undercover operation in Houston to catch car thieves. Did you see it?

If so, you saw one of my former students get caught in the sting. I won’t say which one it was, but I recognized him right away. I remembered him, too. He wasn’t the smartest kid in class or the best-behaved, but he wasn’t the worst either. He seemed to me to be one of those kids who kind of “goes along with the crowd.” Little did he know that one day it would get him caught in an undercover police operation and put on national TV.

I can imagine how embarrassed and ashamed his family is. That’s not the kind of 15 minutes of fame anyone wants.

So what about you? Ever been flipping the channels on TV and saw a former teacher, an old boyfriend, or a relative doing something you didn’t expect (good or bad)?

I am generally not an analytical writer – I write by instinct. I know what works, but not why. I know I have to have conflict, and my characters have to have reasons for their actions, but that’s about as analytical as I get.

But I’ve always been interested in Debra Dixon’s Goal, Motivation and Conflict process, and when I heard she was coming to town to talk to my chapter, I could not resist, even though I’m on a tight deadline and writers’ workshops often throw me way off track.

First of all, let me say that Deb is a wonderful lady, full of personality and fun – and she sure knows how to keep an audience’s attention. She was very much up front with the admonition that we, as writers, should take from her workshop what works for us, and only that. Her presentation was very concise and full of examples.

And as it turns out – her process did not mess with my head!

I think it must be because I write with a GMC-like theory in the back of my head, anyway. As Deb spoke about each of the points (goal, motivation and conflict), I took notes about my own characters and their motivations. I analyzed my current story and saw how I could make their conflicts stronger because I had identified them a little bit differently than usual.

It was very exciting to come away from a workshop and not feel as though I had to rework my entire wip! Sure, some things can be improved on – I think that’s pretty much always the case! – but at least I don’t feel like I need to start from scratch.

I went to a funeral a couple weeks ago. It’s was a frigid day, temperatures in the low twenties, brisk breeze. When we went to the graveside service, it was up on a hill, no windbreak. Everyone was huddled together and I’ve never seen a minister talk so fast. I swear we were back in our cars in five minutes.

I was with two of my coworkers and on the way running, yes running, back to the car…we started to laugh as we realized how lucky we were to be the last ones there because it meant our car was the closest. Totally inappropriate but as we got in the car we started to talk about times we laughed where we shouldn’t.

I told of a time when my daughter and I were up at communion and something struck us as funny and we started to laugh (not outloud, but the kind where you shake from holding it in), and the more we tried to control it, the more it rose up…and the fact that we knew we shouldn’t laugh, only made us laugh more.

How about you? At what inappropriate place have you ever dissolved into laughter?

And really, doesn’t it just feel sooooo good to laugh….