Happy March you beautiful people! Here is what I am wondering:
If I were to write a New York Times #1 bestselling book, what do you think I should write about?
Have an epic Wednesday and love what you do.
xoxo Joanna
Tag Archives: author
Be Writing a Book and Remembering ‘How’ to have Big Hairy Audscious Goals
As I have the privilege of living with and watching three wee boys grow I am conscious of big hairy audacious goals.
My five year old wants a jeep.
My eight year old would like a humongous Lego railroad.
Our youngest would just like everything that his older brothers want.
Each day these three beautiful boys share their dreams, large and small. They never worry about how it is all going to work out, but the goal is forefront in their mind and their smiles are humongous.
I have always wanted to write a book.
Somewhere in the last ten years, I have realized that I have forgotten about my big hair audacious goals. I had become caught up in the what and the how of daily life.
And now I am dreaming again and dreaming BIG. (Just take a look at yesterday’s post!)
I am living as a ten year old and recapturing what I used to love to do and how my mind loves to wander and wonder.
The barriers that were placed in front of me as I grew are gone. The visions and dreams to create in my life are mine alone.
I AM FREE!
Free to dream.
Wonder.
Live.
Free to be me!
Free to write a book and publish it on Amazon.
Right before ‘I am Malala’ on the list. Woah! I am humbled!
Be Creating a Full Time Family
A family where we can choose to spend most of our time together.
A family where the children have equal time with both parents.
A family that can be full time living life together and part time at work.
My personal definition of a full time family.
A place where we choose our schedule and money is of no consequence. (What is money anyways, but a concept of trading money for time.) We are working very hard, every day to create residual, freedom income. Sexy Neck is working with a contractor to create a rental home on our property. I have launched a book into the world and I love coaching people using nutritional systems I love. The company gives me rebates for supporting and loving people to reach their individual energy, performance, weight loss, healthy aging or even financial goals.
My dreams continue to become reality as Sexy Neck and I walked our boys to school together today. As he is an educator with similar hours, I can count on two hands how many times he has been able to walk with us to school in the last four years.
I will hold to my full time family vision, not knowing ‘how’ it is going to unfold. My mom’s death taught me that sometimes we can’t just figure things out, we must walk them out.
With excitement.
With gratitude for each day.
With moments like this.
As a full time family.
Be Giving Birth…
…to a book!
I have given birth three times, twice at home and once at the hospital. All were beautiful labour-intensive moments that I would do again tomorrow. They were all miracle moments after nine months of growth and preparation.
And now after nine months, I am giving birth to a book baby. Twins actually. The first book will be birthed into the world sharing my inner journey through the gift of grief and then my outer journey book will be ‘pushed out’ shortly afterwards.
Putting my thoughts into words involved early mornings, late nights, many uncomfortable moments and back pain from sitting in a chair. It caused endless hours of introspection as I prepared to plunge my words into the vast unknown of Amazon and people paying to read my words.
I know I am awaiting the time.
I have prepared.
I have pondered.
I am ready to live my miracle moments.
Knowing I am enough.
I can be enough.
Just being.
Me.
Giving birth to twin books.
Be ‘Carol Shaben’ Writer Extraordinnaire
Tuesday night at book club, we Skyped with author, Carol Shaben, who wrote ‘Into The Abyss’ in 2012.
Tomorrow will be the twenty-ninth anniversary of the Northern Alberta plane crash that this book is based on. This is not only a book based on a true story, but a story of Carol’s determined heart and mind.
My understanding of the back story on this incredible book are from reading about Carol Shaben in preparation for book club and hearing her talk on Skype.
Wow! We were all blown away by the connection we felt while she was talking about her book. She is a real woman!
This story had been brewing in her mind and heart since she was twenty-two living in Jerusalem. On October 19th, she was reading the Jerusalem Post and she saw a small story that her father had been in a plane crash. Can you imagine?
She wrote the book in her loft office using a gigantic bulletin board and cue cards to keep all the individual stories and lives straight. There were ten passengers in the plane that horrific October day. Only four survived, her dad, a cop, his prisoner and the pilot. I won’t tell you anymore, but the story will eat you up.
The story is written like a delicious chocolate mousse. It is smooth, textured and rich in the development of the characters. A page turner that only took me two days to read. I do devour books, but i think this book devoured me. Sometimes it is hard to imagine the the story is true.
Our book club is extremely grateful that Carol Shaben took the time to talk with us. She is incredibly down to earth and her love for writing, this book and her father flew through the computer screen. Thank you for sharing your gift Carol.
Congratulations Carol on your Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction that you will receive on November 13th along with a $10,000 cheque.
Be In Some Sort of Book/Foot Club
Four years ago I decided I wanted to develop deeper relationships with a few women surrounding me. I decided that I was going to start a modern-day quilting bee which is formally known as a book club.
I have just arrived home from book club and I have to introduce you to these four real women. I think there should be a television series about them.
The first cast of character in this lovely book club that I look forward to every month is:
• Princess P. She’s the sage one of the group. Her laughter could set off a tsunami because it is so wide and deep and contagious. Princess P is one of those people that is a deep friend. I worked beside P.P. in my first couple of years of teaching. Since then she is always been a good friend to me, Sexy Neck and all three of my boys. In fact one of the treasured thing that my boys have are the quilts that she has made each of them. She’s married to a smart businessman and public servant. She has raised beautiful, grounded and independent twins and a third child who loves life, her family, friends and firefighters.
The second cast in our crew of book lovers is:
• Dreadlock D. D is an early 30’s. She loves everyone, well except her neighbour by the same name. She is an inspiring person who loves to cook, care for her two sweet children, her Electrician husband and the extended family. She does not want to be a lunchtime supervisor even though that might be in her future one day, but she will definitely be an inspiration to many people no matter what she does. She’s one of those people that is always there for you no matter what. She can light up a room with her humour and a few F-bombs thrown in for good measure.
The third character we will call PTP
• I have known PTP since I first moved to Vtown thirteen years ago. She has been a steadfast friend,pre-kids,during kids, during labor,pregnancy and all sorts of stages and crazies. She is an athlete with fortitude and strength that you wouldn’t believe. She is a paddling physiotherapist. She is a previous Ballerina turned rower extraordinaire now runner, cross-country skier and I could go on. She is a fierce athlete and an amazing friend. PTP takes care of her amazing kids, her Educator husband, and the dog. She’s a pretty incredible, thoughtful and caring person.
The last character in our beautiful bookclub is:
• Dr. K. She not only takes care of our eyes, she takes care of her family too. Her husband loves planes, trains and automobiles. (Okay maybe the trains should be replaced with helicopters.) She encourages all his passions, takes care of their wonderful Kindergarten son as well as the dog. Kim is also an incredible friend. She has provided more food, encouraging words and time during this cancer, torn Achilles, sickness, pregnancy, childbirth stage in my life. She is also pretty incredible neighbor and I wish that we had never moved off the street. In the midst of great Hawaiian themed parties, hockey and exercising she manages to keep everything in balance, especially her relationships.
This cast of four beautiful women started off as a book club but have become to me like four humongous feet! Yup, I said FEET.
They are all different shapes and sizes. They have helped me stay standing and even walk through this time. Sometimes I have needed them to be my own feet and sometimes they have walked beside me nudging me along. Sometimes we all get a little smelly, especially me, but no matter what feet are very very important and I cannot tell you how important these women have become to me as I go through this time of moving cities, new beginnings and new relationships and really a new life through this disease called cancer.
These women are also like feet because
they have five toes sometimes all going in different directions with their family, their work, their friends, hobbies (do we have hobbies?), and their dreams and they managed to somehow always stay ‘attached’ and grounded no matter what’s going on. They are able to be real about their marriages and their children and what it is really like to be a mother and a woman in the 21st-century.
I’m so grateful for these beautiful feet/Book Clubbers and I’m so grateful that we can spend this time together and I can’t wait to see what the year entails for all of us.
Now make sure you have a glass of wine, some good appetizers and a good book, but most importantly be in a “Club”!
PS. We skyped with a real live author tonight at book club. Did you know that authors did that? We didn’t. This author was a force. Post coming soon.
"Be" ENOUGH 