Getting Excited for Summer!

Four years ago I got sucked into the FIFA World Cup hysteria and became an instant fan of the Italian national team, even before they made it to the final game and beat France to win it all.

I was huge fan of soccer in college - spent every Sunday at the soccer stadium and listened to all the team's away games on the college radio station. My interest goes back a long time but I never followed what happened on the international stage until 2006. And now I'm hooked.

I will be rooting for the Italian team again when the competition moves to South Africa this summer but will closely follow and root for two of my other favorite teams as well - England and Spain.

But there are a few other teams who I think are early contenders. Lookout for good showings from the Argentineans, the Dutch, and the Germans!

After the 2006 World Cup, I found a bunch of players I try to watch when their respective teams have their games televised. Liverpool, Chelsea, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Roma, and Juventus. Over the next few weeks I'll throw out some photos of some of my favorite players because I can't help but share my excitement!

So what about you guys - any of you looking forward to the 2010 World Cup competition? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,
bex

Desperately Seeking My Tipping Point

The Tipping Point is an incredible book by Malcolm Gladwell and if you haven't checked it out yet, I hope you will. Essentially, the tipping point is "the level at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable." I think of it as a slow build until all the energy and progress and hard work shifts the balance in a different, more positive way. In essence, it's when all your hard work and dedication pushes you over the hump.

Right now, the DDJ is breaking my momentum. It has such a stronghold on my time and energy and emotion that I have a hard time throwing those same precious resources at my writing. And I am so frustrated and sad and angry because I can't seem to encourage the momentum to swing away from the DDJ to help me over the hump. I want my efforts to tip less toward the DDJ and more toward my writing . . . eventually reaching that all-important and coveted tipping point where the writing runs the show, leaving the DDJ behind.

And though I am frustrated and sad and angry, when I do come by those reserves of time and energy and emotion, the thought of that tipping point helps me muscle through. It is great motivation. The journey may be taking more time and using more resources than I may have imagined, but if I stay the course I know I can shift the balance.

What do you guys think about tipping points? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,
bex

Addicted to TV

I can't help it or seem to be able to stop myself. I am addicted to TV and am more distracted by reality shows than I would have ever predicted or admitted when they first started to hit the air waves en masse.

As a writer, I feel as though I need to watch at least a slim amount of television - our writing benefits from cultural references that keep our stories current and authentic, so it makes sense to have this awareness. Still, in all the shows I watch with these new reality stars in the mix, I don't recall ever seeing segments where they themselves watch TV. I have been thinking about this and taking away the cautionary message about success and how one spends one's time. It's obvious, of course, but does not make it any easier to modify behavior. My TV addiction is sucking away too many productive hours but the downtime feels superb.

I need to find a better balance between needing time to recharge and being more productive in my after-work hours. I need an intervention!

What about you guys? How much TV would you say you watch daily? Weekly? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,
bex

Weekend Weather

Rain is scheduled for part of the weekend in my part of the world, but I am actually looking forward to it. I love a lovely rain - it's moody, romantic, calming, and cleansing. I look forward to this kind of forecast whenever it comes around because it's great weather to be creative. To lose yourself in a good book - writing or reading - to cook, to craft, to clean, or to just plain lounge around.

It's even better when you don't have to dash out and about in it!

So tell me - how do you guys feel about a rainy day? And what's your favorite thing to do when it rains? Inquiring minds want to know!!

xoxo,

bex

Excess Baggage

I am at times astounded by the amount of personal and emotional baggage some people seem to acquire and carry around with them in life. Don't get me wrong - I think we accumulate things throughout life without even trying. It comes about and clings to us as a bi-product of just plain living.

But there are people, too, who seem to thrive on inviting excess loads into their lives and there are a few levels of understanding I fail to achieve when I contemplate this phenomenon. The first level - why would anyone want to knowingly invite such intense drama into their lives? And the second level - how do these people land on their feet?

This second question puzzles me on so many levels, but the one that vexes me to no end is these people seem to be able to find love and romance quickly and easily. And I am baffled. Why would anyone want to welcome another person into their life who comes with so many problems and issues and excess baggage?

Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,
bex

Happy Endings - Fiction or Real Life?

On my other blog - the Moody Muses - one of my fellow Muses wrote a post this week prompting us to consider why we write. I am pretty sure of the basic reason why I write (I like to tell stories) but my response to her post was a little more detailed than that.

Among other things, one reason I write is because I like to immerse myself in something that guarantees a happy ending. As a writer, and a reader, these kinds of books give me the emotional satisfaction I crave when I launch myself into a story. Real life is hard enough without having heart wrenching angst and drama and pain thrust into my favorite leisure activity. I want a hero and a heroine who complete one another; whose whole is greater than the sum of their parts. And a couple whose lives become so intertwined that I continue to think about and root for them once the curtain comes down.

But real life seeps in where it is least wanted sometimes and I have been thinking about reality in relation to my writing and I find myself struggling with a question -- Is it just me, or do real life happy endings seem fewer and farther between in our culture?

Maybe the root cause is the rabid curiosity of tabloid reporting, but what is up with all the headline grabbing sexcapades? Is media attention or immediate gratification more important than staying true to a loyal life partner? These major cheating scandals that seem to dominate the news these days have me feeling sad and pessimistic and even angry over the modern state of courtship and love and marriage.

What is the deal, people?

I know there are relationships out there that work. Most of my friends are married to truly fantastic guys (which is good, since they are truly fantastic gals) so I know the dream is still alive for at least some people. But when I look around I really wonder - is it the norm any more?

What do you guys think - is it called fiction because we guarantee those happy endings in our writing? Or because those romance novel heroes are just too impossibly good looking?! Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,
bex

Play Days

I have a few days off at the end of this week and I am so excited I can barely concentrate at the DDJ (dreaded day job). All I can think about is having such cherished freedom with regard to my time. I simply cannot wait.

Funny though -- I usually look forward to my time off . . . so I can get back to work.

Huh?

My vacations and play days are concentrated blocks of time when I can really hunker down, tune out the normal day-to-day, and narrowly focus on the writing part of my life. While I try to accomplish what I can after work or on weekends, it's never really quite the same as having some specific days set aside for the writer and want-to-be-published side of me.

And in a way, these are the best possible play days I could ask for. I get to spend time with characters I like and want to know more about. I get to go on cool adventures, fall in love, and guarantee a happy ending. And most interesting of all - at least for me - is I get to experience what it would feel like to write full time, even if only for a few play days or a week's vacation. It's my chance to visualize!

If you can dream it, you can achieve it! So later this week I will be visualizing and acting out my full-time, stay-at-home author gig with the hope of achieving this 'new job' some day soon!

So if given some play days and some time for creative visualization, what would you do? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,
bex

Who's Your Five?

Over the past few weeks I have been thinking about the writers I have come across -- people I have met, authors whose books I have read, and women who have been my teachers, whether in a classroom setting or just through random contact -- who inspire me with their work, their spirit, and their success.

I have wanted to make a dream book for myself that depicts my short and long term goals, and I find myself wanting to draw from the lives and experiences of my role models so I can get a better sense of how to get where I want to go.

It has been a joy doing some research as I tried to identify my ideal role models -- the traits that make them so, and what about them I would most like to emulate. I think I am getting a much better sense of self, of those things I do well and the things I need to work on to be the kind of writer I hope to become.

There are so many wise and wonderful women on my idol list, it would be hard to narrow it down to just five. I'm still working on that list, but if you tell me yours, I'll tell you mine.

Do you have a list of writers you'd like your life and/or career to emulate? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,

bex