Email Love Notes from a Six-Year-Old with an iPod Touch

My six year old got an iPod Touch for Christmas, fully loaded with age-appropriate games, music and his own email account. Email for a six year old?  Sure.  Why not?

It's all about writing for a purpose. When he writes an email, it's because he chooses to - not because he has to - and he writes what he wants to write because he has something he wants to communicate.  He will learn more about the purpose and conventions of through this practice than he will through a whole collection of artificial writing activities and lessons.

I pre-entered a few key email addresses for him - mine, his dad's, his older brother's and his teacher's. I gave him a 5 minute lesson, and he was off. He has already sent 20 emails.

The first was to his teacher to tell her he got an iPod and to make sure she had his email address (smart boy!). The second was to his brother to taunt him a bit (isn't that what brothers do?).

My favorite one is the one he sent to me at work to tell me he missed me and he wanted me to come home.

And when I want to tell him I love him when I can't call, I can send him a quick email. The reply always comes back quickly:

"I love you, too, Mommy."

Email doesn't get any better than that.

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Bookshelf Porn

I love to read.  I read books. I read periodicals.  I also read blogs, lots of blogs.  From time to time I like to share some of my favorites.  Today I found myself browsing through Bookshelf Porn.

Bookshelf Porn calls itself "porn for book lovers." It certainly is a guilty pleasure of mine to casually peruse the many photos of bookshelves in this photoblog and imagine myself living in a world where reading is sexy and bookshelves line the walls of my boudoir.

I love used bookstores, too.  You can learn more about that by reading my post The Magic of Used Book Stores.

Are you a book lover, too?

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Best of A Writer's Journey in 2010

If you are new to A Writer's Journey (or even if you're not), take a look at the best of our posts for 2010:

What Men Really Mean -  Learn what "I'm going to Home Depot" and "How do you feel?" really mean.

A Million Stories in My Head - A million memories make a million stories to write - or not.

How Having a School Age Child Cramps My Style - A humorous look at the start of the school year.

A Day in the Life of a Writer, Mom, Wife, Business Owner, Employer, and Giants Fan - Where does the time go?


Just Like Breathing - Is reading optional for you or is it as important to your life as breathing?

The Rogue Daffodil - What is it that people don't expect you to do?  Do it!

Dealing with Rejection - Rejection feels the same, whether it's in love or writing.

Things I Can Do Now That Baseball Season is Over - The end of of baseball season marks the beginning of catching up on everything else.


If You Can Read This Be Grateful - Literacy is Not Universal  Why literacy matters.

A Life in 140 Words or Less - Mom's obituary.  How do you capture a life in 140 words or less?

Remember, you can sign up for am email subscription to A Writer's Journey (see the column on the right side of the page) to have posts delivered to your email in-box.

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Real Women Don't Need New Year's Resolutions

Every year is the same. The new year rolls around and I'm faced with the decision about resolutions.  Will I choose a set of resolutions (or even just one) to work on again this year? If I do, I'm setting myself up for that pathetic cycle of failure and guilt that I have spent a lifetime trying to stop. If I don't, I look like someone who's not interested in self-improvement.

As I was pondering this little dilemma (that loomed larger as the new year approached), it occurred to me that self-improvement is a year-round activity.  Establishing goals and action plans to achieve them is an ongoing process, not just something that you do once a year.

Real women (those are women who live in the real world, with crazy schedules, family obligations, and more tasks than time) live in a continuous improvement mode because we simply can't afford not to.  We don't have time to make the same mistakes over and over again (even though we do sometimes). If something is not working for us, we can't afford to wait until January to change things.

When we fail, we try again.  When we fall down, we get up.

You see, failure to achieve a goal within a certain period of time isn't so devastating when it's just a normal part of your life, but when it is elevated to the status of an annual resolution, it becomes a much bigger deal.  Why?  Just chalk it up as one of life's mysteries, like why men won't ask for directions or where the second sock goes to in the dryer.

So I, being a real woman in the truest sense of the term, choose to live my life in a state of continuous improvement, rather than  raising the stakes (and the stress) by making a resolution once a year.

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Surviving the Non-Routine

I can admit it.  I like to think of myself as a wild and crazy gal - the impulsive live-for-the-moment type. The truth is, though, that I am very much a creature of routine and habit. I seem to be happiest and most productive when I'm operating within my regular routine.  No, I did not say "stuck in a rut." If that's what you read between the lines, read it again.

As much as I love the holiday season (it's my favorite time of year), it's a routine buster. Nothing is as it usually is. I work less, kids are home from school, husband is right there - all the time. My 30 minute limit in the kitchen every night becomes hours of holiday cooking. Most of the people (employees and business associates) who are part of my life for at least 8 hours a day are completely absent. I am visited by the ghosts of Christmas past who remind me about the beloved family members who are not with us anymore, and I fight back by focusing on those who are with me now, clamoring for my attention.

Lots of people struggle with the dramatic shift from the routine during the holidays, not just the ADHD friends among us.

So, how do I deal with this period of non-routine without going crazy, hurting someone, or running back to the office early? Here are a few tricks I can share:

1. Make some time for yourself every day.  Maybe it's an hour early in the morning or late in the evening, but don't minimize the need for your own time alone.  I use it for prayer and meditation, and reading.
2. Don't completely abandon the routine. Pick parts of your routine that you will keep over the holidays.  I keep my morning routine as close to normal as possible. I also make sure to make some time to check my email and read every day.
3. If you are uncomfortable, tell those you love. Wouldn't you want to know if some you loved was a bit out of sorts? Speaking up about your discomfort can take away some of its power and make things a little easier.
4. Remember that your regular routine will return soon. Normal will come back. Don't worry.  Enjoy the distractions. Knowing that you'll have your routine back soon can give you the freedom to really enjoy now.

My time of escape to write this is almost over.  It's time to step back into that holiday world.

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Have you tried the My Life Recovery blog yet?

Knowing the Rules vs Following the Rules

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am, generally speaking, a rule follower and law obeyer.  Yes, I am the one who stops at a red light on a country road at night when there is clearly no one around, waiting patiently for the green light. I do my best (although not perfectly) to adhere to the speed limit. I don't park in parking spaces designated for the disabled, and I don't violate warnings of "No Trespassing."

In most of my life, knowing the rules and following the rules are the same thing.

But it's not true with writing.

Oh, I know the rules.  I definitely know all the rules. I just choose not to follow them all the time.  Call it my own personal little rebellion against "the man."  I'll defiantly start sentences with conjunctions (like I just did above), or I'll brazenly end sentences with prepositions. I'm the queen of the run-on sentence and the duchess of the dangling participle.

Why?  Because it's the prerogative of creativity to ignore the rules sometimes.

However, you really have to know the rules well first.  I've read pieces of writing that were riddled with grammatical errors that were obviously unintentional.  That's not creativity.  That's poor writing. I've also read writing that was masterfully written; not only did the grammatical "errors" not interfere with the meaning of the piece, but they actually enhanced it by clarifying the voice of the author. It's a thing of beauty when it's done right.  It's painful to read when it's not.

So, here I sit with more education than should be allowed by law, expertly  aware of the rules of writing and doing whatever I want to anyway. I'm a rebel. I'm a literary outlaw.

I'm a writer.

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Just Like Breathing

I was corresponding with an acquaintance recently, and he asked what I had read lately.  As I was going through the list with him, he interrupted and said, "Whoa! You must have lots of free time on your hands.  I don't have time to read like that." I laughed, remembering that this person didn't know me very well.  I simply answered," I can't not read. For me, reading and writing are just like breathing."  And so it is.

On any given day, I'll read parts of two or three novels, pieces of several non-fiction books, a newspaper, email, twitter, Facebook posts, and a wide variety of articles and essays. It's not a hardship or something I struggle to do.  I do it just because. I do it because it just feels like the right thing to do.  Like breathing.

George R.R. Martin wrote, "The mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone."  Without a whetstone, a sword becomes dull and, eventually, useless. The same thing happens to the mind without reading...at least that's how it is for me.

I can't imagine a life without reading. I can feel my brain begin to atrophy if I'm forced to cut back on my reading for a day or two due to social events or work (fortunately, my work requires that I read and write a lot). I find my connection to most of the rest of humankind in the written word. That doesn't mean I don't socialize or enjoy conversation, but that there is a depth of understanding that I can process best through the written word. My closest relationships have been developed at some point in the relationship through writing (letters or email or shared journaling).

And just as breathing requires inhaling and exhaling, feeding fully on the written word usually involved both taking it in (reading) and letting it out (through writing or conversation) after it has gone through me, nourished me, changed me in some way. I could no more keep it all inside without sharing it than I could hold my breath forever.

Knowledge and wisdom are meant to circulate among us - like air.

And that circulation sustains me.

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