This IS the miracle!

This may not make sense to you.

It occurred to me tonight that what I have---a husband, kids, a teaching job, a community, friends, and a fairly normal life---is miraculous. This, in and of itself, IS the "happy ending".

For so many of us, "this" isn't enough. We are looking for something else, something major, something significant to give life meaning and to give us something to write about! I am always wondering what it is I'm truly passionate about. It's sort of a wierd obsession of mine actually and it often bothers me that I can't define my passion. I'm always on the look-out for it.

But guess what? This "normal" life, for a girl who has experienced so many things that are anything but normal---this IS pretty exciting. I need to remember that. I need to write about what got me here. There's the story.

Dusting off Those Old USB's

So prior to having my gorgeous kids, I spent a considerable amount of time writing articles and that "book", which I haven't done much with.  I posted my 2010 goals when I started this blog so you'll have to keep me accountable.  One step this week will be to get out all the writing i've done from the 4 corners of the earth and organize it.  I need to put it in one place---a place I can easily access. 

I am the advisor for our school's Literary Magazine.  They have a section for teacher submissions in this year's mag.  So, I found a piece I'd written just after my Dad passed away about a pattern of prayer.  I'll post it here tomorrow.  If it gets published, that would count as "one". Granted, it is a high school literary magazine but it would technically be my first published piece of work :)

Should I use writer's market?  I used to...

Tara, I loved your advice about not making goals that involve other people's decisions more than my own.  Point well taken---beautiful advice.  However, the reason I am saying I "must" be published this year is to kick myself in the pants.  I know what I wrote, though rough, is decent and marketable---I just need to put the work in to make it better and to present it in the right way.  I know that if I do this, there is no reason that some publishing house somewhere would not want it.  So, if I don't get it published, it really will be because I didn't try.  Anyway, please check on me periodically in relation to this!

I will begin to post snippets of my draft and see what advise you all have.  I guess it's in the narrative non-fiction category.  It still needs a lot of work, but the core story is there.

Thank you for checking in with me, and please share the goals and projects you're working on.  I hope we can all support each other!