Today I want to write about falling down.
I fell down ten days ago, struck with a sudden and severe case of vertigo that brought me to the floor, then kept me in bed, unable to lift my head.
When I was able to open my eyes, I scrolled through Facebook and watched a few videos. One was of a woman talking about giving herself permission to fall apart. Another was a Ted Talk about allowing girls to fail.
Thursday mornings are reserved for my weekly prayer call with my prayer partner, Danny. This week, the weather forecast promised an amazingly perfect summer day, so I suggested to Danny that, rather than talk on the phone, we meet for a bike ride along the lake.
We didn’t need to exchange our usual prayers because, all around us, Mother Nature was in full exaltation: the air was cool, the sky was crisp and blue, the water sparkled. We felt as though we were receiving a prayer rather than giving one.
“My son ran into the bedroom and said, ‘Mom, mom, there’s a man in an orange cape sitting at the table’…I went out into a dining room, and there was a Buddhist monk in full robes, orange robes, sitting at my dining room table. And I was very confused; it was a bit surreal….” Hear more of my conversation with Candice Wu on the Embody Podcast.
I need your help. I am the parent of a teenage girl and lately it’s been hard work teaching her to ignore the voices of the world—voices that say act like this, look like this, think like this; be better, brighter, thinner, smarter!
How do I teach her to listen to the whisper from within when outside voices are so loud and persuasive?
Maintaining independence as a creative soul isn’t easy. There are often doubts to conquer, and a constant barrage of comparisons, distractions, and missteps can have the bravest hearts running for cover. The good news is that we’re never alone. We get to follow the light of writers, artists, and visionaries who have come before us.
Here, ten of them share ways to celebrate the creative process and keep it flowing freely:
As if Monday mornings aren’t challenging enough, this particular Monday required me to appear at the Cook County Courthouse at 9:00 am. It was another steamy day, already 87 degrees, and a crash on the Kennedy slowed traffic to a snail’s pace. The SpotHero parking I paid for in advance turned out to be on Lower Wacker Drive instead of Upper Wacker Drive, which caused me to drive a little like Steve McQueen in Bullitt.
First, let me thank you for taking a moment from your busy schedule to read today’s blog. You probably didn’t block this out in your daily planner.
I know all about planning. This time of year it takes the nimbleness and precision of a juggler to make sure graduation, summer camps, school parties and barbecues, vacation plans, etc. don’t fall from the calendar.
I made a mistake.
I was contacted by a guy in California who wanted his book edited. He asked me to do three sample pages before making a decision about whether to hire me. Sure, I said. After I sent them to him, he emailed to say that he’d found an error. He didn’t say where, and I couldn’t find it, but I felt chastised and embarrassed.
My plan today was to write about how much fun it’s been meeting fellow She Writes Press authors. There are just over 300, seventeen who live in Chicago. In the last few weeks, I’ve been to two book release events and a social gathering where I’ve reveled in having nerdy author conversations about everything from galley proofs to audiobook technology to stage fright—conversations that, like all good ones, translate to many different life experiences. I wanted to write about some “aha!” moments I’ve had because of these connections.
But that blog will have to wait.
Because when I climbed into my car to head to Michigan this morning for a visit with my mom, something else climbed in with me.
Sitting in a jazz club listening to a big band jam on Benny Goodman is hardly the moment I would expect to be thunderstruck with a life lesson.
I was catching my breath after dancing with a new partner. We started chatting and he asked how long I have been dancing.
“You obviously know what you’re doing,” he said.
👉 Enjoy dedicated writing space just steps from Lake Michigan
👉 Benefit from one-on-one developmental editing sessions
