on weekends, writing, Scintilla, blogging and weather.

It’s Friday, party people! Here are some thoughts from this week:

It’s March! Which means by the end of this month, it will officially be spring. Which, living here in New England, does not necessarily mean it will feel like spring, but I have all of my fingers and toes crossed. I have worn my winter coat a grand total of THREE times this winter. Now, I hate wearing coats, so I wear them less often than regular (by "regular" I mean people who like to be warm) people, but only three times in Connecticut is pretty amazing. Anyway, I do not want to add to that number, and frankly, I just would like a nice long spring, so let’s start it right now, OK?

I’ve been reading some possible scripts for an upcoming spring show with my nerdy theater group. We don’t have a title nailed down yet, but auditions will be in the beginning of April, and then we’re off! Not sure exactly what my involvement will be this time around, but oh, I WILL be involved. Mama needs her hobby back. Mama's getting antsy.

Speaking of Mama, the following is a little exchange between Jane and myself yesterday (if we’re friends on Facebook, sorry, you’ve already seen this):

Jane: Am I going to get married someday?

Me: Someday when you’re older like Mommy, you can get married if you want to.

Jane: ….when I’m seven?

That’s just a little Jane-related humor for you.

Speaking of Jane, I know I hinted on Twitter last week-ish that I have been contemplating how much I share about her, and how I think I should do less of that here (although, really, I don’t share too much on the blog anymore, I don’t think. My Facebook page is Jane-heavy). There is a whole uproar right now concerning Heather Armstrong, author of the massively popular Dooce blog, because she started going off on her 1.5M Twitter followers, and people were really upset, etc, etc (go here if you want the backstory, and the comments are great). Anyway, a part of the discussion about Dooce is about whether it’s right to share so much about your child(ren) on a public site, in terms of their right to privacy. And, OBVIOUSLY, like, three people read this blog, but it IS public, and…..well……this is just something I’m thinking about. More to come later, I’m sure. I clearly don’t have a coherent thought in my head about it now.

BUT, speaking of the blog, and writing in general, as you know, I’ve been kinda blah about posting here lately. And once again I was contemplating just taking a few months off (which I’ve never actually done! I don’t think I’ve ever taken a full month off of the blog. My poor readers.). BUT THEN. My internet friends Kim, Dominique and Onyi came up with a super-amazeballs awesomely awesome FORTNIGHT OF STORY TELLING project called Scintilla. Please please go here and read up on it, and join in for the fun the last two weeks of March. (I mean, the last fortnight of March. I AM SO EXCITED TO BE INVOLVED IN SOMETHING THAT HAS “FORTNIGHT” IN THE TITLE, GOD I AM SO AMERICAN.)

At my core, I like to think I’m a writer. I do some writing for my real life job, and I used to be a journalist, and my last job was writing-heavy. But I have always thought I could put more into the blog. But sometimes you need a little kick, don’t you? That’s why I’ve done things like Reverb and NaBloPoMo. But for some reason, this project seems more….special, and I think it’s because it was created by these three mega-talented ladies who I met on the big, giant internet. And I am grateful.

Speaking of grateful –I am very very grateful it is the weekend! We don’t have a ton scheduled – I’ve got my moms’ happy hour tonight, Jane has swimming lessons in the morning, I have book club tomorrow night (where we will be discussing Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, which I hadn’t read til now, if you can believe it). (PS: not my favorite.) I also am picking the next book, so I get to do the big reveal tomorrow night. And for book club geeks, this is a BIG DEAL.

So, to conclude this extremely rambling and mostly ridiculous post, I bid you a happy weekend!

reverb11 day 31: that's all she wrote.

Today's prompt asks: Take a moment to think back on your reverb11 responses. Have you learned anything? What surprised you about this experience? Which of your responses was your favourite? (see - I even kept that Canadian spelling, Brad!)

Before I sort of answer this question, I wanted to look back at my last post of reverb10, which was this.

I toot my own horn extremely rarely. Sure, I promote the hell out of projects I'm involved with, but I don't really say many nice things about myself. But I loved my response to that prompt. It felt very right on for how I felt at the time. A lot of it is still true. Most of it, really. And I'm glad that my goals for 2011 were met. I really tried to balance my life this year. And we're getting there. We're getting there.

My life is great. It really is. I am so, so lucky. This horrible thing happened in my state last Sunday, early on Christmas morning. You may have heard the story. I've been thinking about it all week. It really doesn't matter how rich you are, how much success you have in your career, how many toys you have - the most important things rarely lie in those categories, although so many times it feels like they do. It's your family. Your friends. Your health. Those are the most important things. Unequivocally.  I bet that woman, who lost it all on Christmas morning, would trade her life with just about anyone right now. It made me feel so sad for her, and so grateful for what I've been blessed with.

But back to reverb11. Because really, it is all tied together. Reverb is a month-long project that looks back on your year, your life, your goals, your aspirations. When it blew up two days before December 1, my Twitter pal, world-traveler and all-around great guy Brad took it over, with help from Brandee and others.

December is such a busy month. These people didn't exactly have time to take over this enormous project. But when Ms. Bell decided that, as part of her "work," she was going to let it go 48 hours before everyone was anticipating their first prompt, they jumped on it. And, quite frankly, made it better.

I've loved this year's reverb. I know some of my favorite writers - and you know who you are - haven't had a chance to really participate this year, but if this carries on next year - and I really hope it does - I hope they join back in. In my opinion, it was miles better than last year. Not to crap on last year, but I found many of the prompts repetitive. This year, that happened, like, once.  And it was all Oh So Serious. The best part of this year for me was the mix of serious and not-serious prompts.

With what other project would I be able to sincerely talk extensively about how much I miss both my dad and Don Draper? My love of theater and my hatred of Glee? Forgiving myself and my epic trip to LA?  A huge life-changing decision and my secret shame?

I've loved reverb11. I am excited about a little teaser in today's email, hinting at a possible upcoming project early next year. 2011 has been a fabulous year for me. My challenge to next year is to be even more fabulous. Bring it, 2012!

Happy New Year, friends. Thank you for reading.

Cheers!

scribbling.

For the first time ever, I am taking an e-course - Chookooloonks' Path Finder course, geared towards people in a transitional point in their lives. For "anyone who is in a place of transition, professionally or personally; or who is just looking to inject a bit more awesome into his/her life," as she puts it. I am definitely in a place of transition, career-wise (more on that soon), so it really seemed perfect for this point in my life.

Basically, five days a week for five weeks, participants receive journal prompts that invite introspection, along with instruction to journal daily in the morning as well. Now, I haven't actually written in a journal in years and years - since my early 20s - so it feels brand-new again. But so far, I like it. It's not too hippy-dippy and it's super-positive. Karen Walrond (the author/photographer of Chookooloonks) is a master journal-keeper, and she gives lots of creative tips to make it fun and easy. There is also a community site for participants.

I know she is planning on having a late fall session as well - so I will update at the end to tell you if it was worth it. If you're interested in the details - go here.