Down to the Final Matches!

Is it really the last week of the World Cup? I = so sad! I have been loving the matches - some full of heartbreak and some great surprises among the teams. Did any of you participate in an office pool? We did a low-key competition where we filled out the online brackets provided by ESPN. The early rounds nearly made my picks obsolete as the teams of my heart such as England and Italy made hastier exits than I would have liked. Oddly enough though, the two teams I picked for the finals are still standing - Spain and the Netherlands. The Red Fury and The Oranje. It should be a great match-up and, since neither team has ever won the coveted cup, I wish they could both somehow take it home. I picked Spain as the ultimate winner, but the Dutch are playing so well right now, it's hard to see how my Spanish boys will get past them. Then again, I thought the German game would have been a more difficult test than it was, so we shall see on Sunday.

Here are my Euro 2008 Champs -- Fernando and Sergio!!

Viva Espana!

Any thoughts? Inquiring minds want to know!


xoxo,
bex

Soccer + Books = 2 of My Favorite Things in 1!

"Soccernomics: Why England Loses, Why Germany and Brazil Win, and Why the U.S., Japan, Australia, Turkey--and Even Iraq--Are Destined to Become the Kings of the World's Most Popular Sport"

I picked up this book during one of my last trips to Borders and I wish I had the chance to read it before I completed my World Cup brackets!! I still have my favorite players I'd root for regardless, but this book takes an interesting view on the world of soccer. I highly recommend it for any fan!

How are your teams faring in the tournament? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,

bex

3 More Days!

Just three more days until one of the biggest sporting events on the planet kicks off. I can't wait! A few weeks ago I posted my excitement and at that time I thought I might weigh in with some more thoughts about the World Cup. Since then, news hit about lots of injuries to some of the brightest stars in the tournament so who knows what awaits the millions of fans whose eyes will be trained on South Africa over the next four weeks!

As for me, I'll have my eyes trained on the following . . .

I have become a pretty big fan of the Spanish team, largely because of Fernando Torres and Sergio Ramos. As a result, I also watch Real Madrid and Liverpool as religiously as I can.

I know this next comment will be blasphemous to the England faithful, but I am not a Wayne Rooney fan. But Frank, John, and Steven have my alliances equally torn between Chelsea and Liverpool, and will have me hoping for a good English showing.

As a La Liga convert, I can't possibly root for Real Madrid without becoming a fan of Gonzalo Higuain. I am so interested to see how Argentina fairs in this year's contest. With Messi being one of the, if not the, best players on the planet, I am eager to see how these two team up.

Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo. Just because. Simao ain't too bad to watch either.

And finally, my beloved Azzurri. A few of my favorite faces will be missing from this year's squad, but there are a few holdovers from the 2006 winning ensemble that I hope will make Italy's showing fun, strong, and exciting.

So, who are you rooting for? Are you loyal to one team, or root for a bunch of favorite players? Who do you think will be the last team standing? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,

bex

Managing Multiple Projects

I don't know about you guys, but I can't seem to work on just one project at a time. There is always the premier project of course - the one that gets the majority of my writing time so I can devote the energy and time required to get from Chapter One to The End. But during this whole time, ideas are constantly percolating for what comes next . . . and most times I cannot keep those ideas on the back burner and wait until I clear the decks to make one of these projects the next premier one.

So . . . what about you guys? How do you manage all the voices going on? How do you keep your time and energies organized when being nagged by multiple projects? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,
bex

Vision Boards and Goal Setting

I attended a motivational seminar a few weeks ago and the presenter discussed a number of different things that we can do to help us reach our goals. One big thing he emphasized is that we should leave notes for ourselves in plain view to serve as constant reminders of those goals we want to meet. These reminders can consist of frequently viewing note cards we create, sticking post-it notes on our mirrors, or mounting a big collage that shows visual representations of our goals. He stressed the importance of creating these vision boards so that we can see what our dreams look like, imprint those images in our subconscious, and work - both consciously and subconsciously - toward our goals. In his words, once we know where we want to go we can work on the 'how' part of getting there. The vision board puts the 'where' where we can see it.

I am in the process of pulling together the images for my own vision board (the one here is a cool example I found on the Internet) and I can't wait to start putting it all together. Do you guys do vision boards? What kinds of things do you include on them? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,
bex

Practicing Persistence

I didn't want to let too much more time pass during posts, so I thought I'd check in with an update. I'm practicing the persistence thing right now -- I'm on the third draft of my YA novel, trying to get it poised and ready for a June class I'm taking on revision. One of my goals for 2010 is to develop habits that will help me write leaner and faster, and this revision class is one of the action steps I am taking en route to that goal. Then, of course, I'll be headed to the RWA national conference at the end of July, where I hope to cross paths with a few agents on my wish list. Hence the need to increase my level of practice with persistence - to keep going and keep working even when the outcome is uncertain. I found this great quotation from Calvin Coolidge, and I am psyched to share it here with you. I hope it helps motivate you as much as it has me!

How do you "press on" when you encounter obstacles? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,
bex

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