If there's one striking characteristic about me, it's the fact that I can be...well...a bit obsessive about things I like. I tend to operate in two modes: all or nothing. My parents and siblings know this all too well. When Amy Grant's "Lead Me On" album came out in 1988, I forced them to listen to the song "Saved by Love" over and over despite the fact that doing so meant I had to rewind the cassette tape each time. I think it was more than a year before I listened to any of the other songs on the album. Some things never change. I still find myself getting stuck on a single song and playing it over and over. (The creators of the iPod had no idea what the repeat feature would one day mean for me!) I mentioned the Spanish group Lori Meyers in my last post, and I cannot over emphasize how much I love their music. From the moment I heard the first chord of one of their songs, I knew I had found my soul's music. All week I've listened to their song,...

I've been setting in motion the wheels for my transition out of public education and into my true call in life: writing. It's not been a particularly easy (or quick) move for me. In fact, the main reason I decided to start teaching was because I thought that the hours would give me time to write. That was seven years ago. During that time I've done my fair share of editing and freelance work. I've even published a short story and almost finished the manuscript for a trade book. I have notebooks here filled with all sorts of ideas and outlines. The problem is that I don't always believe in my own talent and want everything completely perfect before sharing it with the world. Since the divorce, though, I've found myself oddly comfortable in my own skin. I'm standing up for myself more and have embraced the all important question, "What do YOU want?" The answer has been slowly emerging, rising to the surface of the still waters that run so deep in my ...

Hallelujah! Summer is almost here. In a mere 2 1/2 days, I will once again be a full-time writer. The content of this site will also change slightly as I shift into writer mode and begin sharing more about the process and work. Is my excitement shooting out from the computer screen? I am SO flipping ecstatic about working on my 3 pet projects: two massage therapy books and my novel. Thanks to Nadia, the novel now has a new working title: Life on Hold. My protagonist, Sarah Manning, is really starting to take shape. I still have no idea what she does for a living, but she has revealed more about her relationship with her husband. That's where I finally realized the main theme of the story. It's all about the expectations we encounter in our lives. Sarah and her sisters have each placed their lives on hold in an attempt to meet the expectations of their spouses, family, and themselves. Who knows how my foray into fiction will turn out, but I will post some excerpts from the novel...