Positive Quote of the Week

You can't wait for inspiration.  You have to go after it with a club.
Jack London

The Double-Edged Sword of "What If"

What if - two little words that cut both ways.

"What if" can open a Pandora's Box of opportunity, of creativity, of life.  Creative people of all types--musical, writing, drawing, crafting, and many others--ponder the possibilities of "what if" when they create.  Dreamers ask themselves "what if"when imagining a world different from that evidenced by sight, by sound and by touch.  Without imagining what could be possible, change would not occur.  The opportunity to affect our personal world, as well as the greater world, would be stifled.

"What if" can lead to fear, to depression, to inaction.  "What if... they don't like me...I fail...it's all for nothing..I'm no good."  That negative voice in our heads can easily stop us from believing, hoping and trying to achieve whatever it is we want to dream possible.

How we talk to ourselves affects how we feel.  It's a fact that when we think positive thoughts, our brain releases happy hormones.  Vice versa, negative thoughts = negative feeling hormones.  How we feel affects what we do, what we do affects how we feel.  (Cognitive Behavioral therapy, very basically expressed)  So, we have a choice.  Do we choose to listen to the critical voice, and remain stuck in the same mud of our past fears and beliefs, or do we choose to take a leap of faith and believe in the voice that says, "What if the world, my world, could be different.  What if I can be something more."  That voice, like Red Bull, gives us wings.

Positive Quote of the Week

One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.   
Lucille Ball 

New Blog Location

I am so excited to publish my first post on my new blog on Blogger!  It has taken awhile to get everything set and figured out, but I am hoping that Blogger will give me better access to those who may be interested in my blog.

I was unable to export my posts from tumblr, so I will maintain that account for awhile, until I get some posts built up over here.  If you are inclined to check out previous posts, you can view them at www.optimisticwriter.tumblr.com.

Please come and check out the fish on my new blog!  You can play with them with your mouse cursor.  I hope you enjoy them.

Try not to be a man of success, but rather a man of value. Albert Einstein

Wow - it's been a month since I posted anything.  I knew it had been awhile, but a full month?  My excuse is lagging determination and vacillating commitment to blogging, and writing in general, for that matter.  "People" always say you have to want to be a writer because you "have" to write.  Here is my confession - I don't have the absolute need to write.  I like to write.  I miss writing when I don't do it.  It feels wonderful to be creative and make stories up and have the people who read them enjoy them.  It feels absolutely fabulous that I finally found a publisher who thinks one of my stories should be shared with more people than just my family and closest friends.

But, there is a cost involved for anything we do.  The time I spend writing takes me away from my family - even if I am writing in the living room with them just ten feet away.  I don't have any other hobbies now - no scrapbooking, no sewing, no cross-stitching.  I feel guilty often for the attention I give the characters of a story, when my sweet little boys play next to me.

I'm telling you all of this because over the last month it has been a daily fight in my head.  Is it worth it? These are the things I talk over with my lovely, supportive husband.  And it was during one of these talks when the truth came out.  I want to be a writer.  Not because I have to, not because I'm driven to, but because I want to.  By understanding that about myself, I can then try to be, not only a successful writer, but a woman of value.  I will weigh the costs, and adjust my writing, so that I am the best mother and wife and daughter I can be.  But I will write - and hopefully, I will be successful!