Lucy March

For all the writer Betties… registration for the fall session of the Storywonk classes closes on September 4th, so if you wanted a spot, move fast! Discovery is almost full, but there are still some slots open in Revision. Thanks!

288: Your Mission

Thanks to all the Betties who came to my rescue and suggested truly fabulous websites to visit to amuse me. I highly recommend to anyone having a bad day that they visit this thread and check out all the wonderful sites. Very cheering! Thanks! – L

287: The Shift

DivaBetty:

You know, an ordered system will progress toward chaos. So a shitty system, by definition, should disintegrate naturally to incandescent goodness.

Georgie Porgie/Bodacious Betty:

There is something very freeing about acceptance, about looking at the world as clearly as we can and knowing that there are many things we can’t control, and situations that won’t go our way. But being okay with that anyway. Continue reading »

On yesterday’s post, Toni (Southern Fried Betty) wrote this:

The word I use instead of Magic or Muse is Faith. As a verb. I faith it. If I sit down and do the work, if I keep opening myself up, my magic or muse will show up, too. I cannot let worries–marketing, other people’s opinions, distractions, life, crises, self-doubt, tell me that it’s gone. I may not be able to see it, but like oxygen, it’s there. It’s up to me to breathe. To faith.

I love this concept, and it’s so relevant to me right now in a million ways. Not just in my writing, but in everything that’s happened in my life in the last 14 months. Hell, it started before that. The extreme amount of faith my life has required in this most recent phase has been staggering. And God, some days, I’m just staggered by it. Continue reading »

Something strange happened yesterday. At first I thought it was fleeting, but now I’m in my second day, and it’s still here.

My confidence. She is back.

A consequence of being Towered, when your entire life as you built it crumbles around you, is that you lose your security in your own judgment, your abilities, talents, sometimes even your intelligence. You become not humble – humble’s good – but meek, frightened to make any decision, fretting over every possible horrible outcome of anything you do or say. Well, I do, anyway. I’ve combatted this to the best of my abilities, because fretting does no one any good, but underneath every choice, every statement, every step, there has been a whisper of, “Are you sure?” and my answer, usually, was, “No, but I’ve got to do something, so here goes.” Of all the things which suffered because of this drought of confidence, the worst was my writing.

Oy, the writing. Continue reading »

Fake Aunt Jenny took us all out to dinner to celebrate the first day of school. I let Light have Mountain Dew, and an ice cream sundae. On the way home, this is what happened:

“You know, I’m actually taller than most of the boys in my grade. I’m actually taller than some of the boys in the fifth grade, and they’re all older than me, because they’re in the fifth grade and I’m young for the fourth grade because I’m only eight. Why am I so much younger than everyone else?”

“Well, because your birthday–”

“Oh! There’s a little girl there at the ice cream stand. I think she goes to my school. My sneakers are really pretty. I can’t have sugar anymore. I feel like I want to puke. Yep, she definitely goes to my school.”

“She looks a little young to–”

“Don’t drive so fast. Okay, now you’re going too slow. I’m totally going to puke. Anyway, do you know how many molecules of water there are on the planet?”

“I haven’t the slightest–”

“I’d bet like a million. Maybe even more. Don’t give me any sugar this week. I don’t want cookies in my lunch box for two weeks. Seriously, I’m going to puke. I think Sweetness is sleeping. I can’t tell. Is she sleeping?”

“I can’t look. I’m driving. If I look, we’ll die a fiery–”

“Oooh, those are pretty clouds. They look like the clouds in Alaska. We were in Alaska for three weeks, and Michigan for one week. Grandma bought me a dress. Actually, she bought me two dresses. And these sneakers. I like these sneakers.”

And so on. And so on. And so on. Fifteen minutes driving home, the kid never took a breath. She was en fuego.

First day of school weather check: Kids are excited, I need an Advil.

Yeah, that’s about right.

The kids go back to school today. Usually, I’m very excited for this day. Last year, as a matter of fact, some of you may remember the ad hok advent calendar that Jenny made for me to count down the days. This year, because they were gone so long, back two days, and then off on the bus, it just didn’t have the same zing to it that it usually has.

Not that this is going to stop me from celebrating. Just because Christmas comes right on the heels of Thanksgiving doesn’t mean you don’t cook a turkey, right? Well, some of you cook ham, but you know what I mean.

You know, I never was very sentimental about the kids going to school. As a matter of fact, when Sweetness went off to kindergarten, I was thrilled. I still remember the first day they both got on the bus together and I waved them off then went inside and just stared at the walls of my house. I had it to myself. For eight hours.

Then, I took a nap.

My point being, I’ve never been one to weep or get sentimental about my kids getting older, growing up, going to school. I find it exciting. I love seeing them mature, love discussing smarter and more challenging subjects with them, love watching them as they morph from babies to kids to young women. It’s wild. It’s an honor.

And it’s better when they’re gone for eight hours a day. I’m just saying.

Happy Holy Day to the rest of the moms out there. Enjoy!

I think there comes a point in every divorce process where life stops being about the past. Old wounds are sorted into piles of either healing or acceptance; old grievances become too old and tired to cart around anymore. Life becomes new, and it opens up, and there are choices to be made.

I know, very specifically, what I want out of my life now. I can visualize my future, and I have to say – I think it looks pretty good. There are a lot of things that need to be done, and so I’m finding that overwhelming, but all in all… this could work. Continue reading »

Well, I’ll be honest. Putting Alastair on the plane yesterday sucked even worse than I’d anticipated, and as a result, I’m taking a bit of a hit in my energy. So, I’m calling out to the Betties – your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to load the comments down with links to funny/interesting websites so we can have a fun and silly day. I’ll be back in fighting form tomorrow.

Our dear AlphaBetty is a little distracted by the podcast today, and since I suspect I’m to blame for all the additional editing, I’ve taken over hosting duties here at the Sunday Best.  It’s been a fun week, Betties, and you’ve all done yourselves proud!  – Alastair

295: A Thousand Words

Bayou Betty said:

I’m totally photoshopping your heads on a pony.

Hey, wait just a -

Wait . . . . not to replace the pony head.

Must. Have. More. Coffee.

Oh, okay. Fortunately, you guys were too distracted by talk of bacon and sex — and in some cases, actual bacon and sex — to dust off your copies of Photoshop. A lucky escape for the AlphaBetty and I, I suspect… Continue reading »

A few weeks ago, Jenny and I were in Lowe’s and we saw this book on display.

What sold me, honestly, is the one ass-up in the background. To my great delight, I discovered that these people – who are amazingly creative with their cupcake ideas – have a website and blog. Highly recommended. Especially these.