Living in the Now

"Forever is composed of nows."  ~ Emily Dickinson

My niece and nephew graduated from high school recently and I wanted to share with them some of my wisdom that I've gleaned in my 35 years of life on this earth. But as I began to write a message on their cards I suddenly felt inadequate. When I was a kid 35 looked so old, but now that I'm here I don't feel that much older than the teenage me (in mind that is - how I feel in body is another story.)

I did manage to come up with a tiny bit of wisdom though and the more I think on it, the more I believe I did hit on some very wise advice after all. The advice I gave is to Live in the now.

I've spent most of my life waiting for the future. I actually believed that when I reached a certain milestone my life would begin. As a kid I couldn't wait until I could drive. I just knew that the moment I could drive my life would begin and I would be happy. Then I couldn't wait to graduate from high school, then graduate from college, then find the one, then get married, then have kids.  

Life passed by while I was still waiting for it to begin. Waiting for my happiness to begin. After I had children I no longer looked to my future. My children's milestones became so much more important than my own and I began to look to the past. The past that I didn't enjoy while I was there suddenly looked so appealing and I again couldn't enjoy the now like I should have. 

I'm trying to change that now. While I do think it's important to plan and hope for the future, the now is what I think I need to focus on to be happy. Every moment is so fleeting. Enjoy the journey and choose to be happy now. Oh yes, it is a choice whether we want to believe that or not.

So what about you? Do you enjoy the now? Or does your past or your future look brightest? 

 "You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays. I don't know about you, but I'd like to make today worth remembering." ~ The Music Man

Finisher Spotlight: The Dauntless Cliff Young Story

Every year, top athletes gather in Sydney, Australia to run what is considered to be the longest and toughest marathon in the world. The race lasts around 6-7 days as the racers run from Sydney to Melbourne (875-Kilometers or 543 miles.)

In 1983, everyone experienced a shock when a 61 year old man, in overalls and galoshes, stepped up to the table to get his racing number. 

At first, everybody thought it was just a publicity stunt. But the press was curious, so as he took his number and moved into the pack of runners in their specially designed, expensive racing outfits, the camera focused on him and reporters asked:
 
“Who are you and what are you doing?”

“I’m Cliff Young. I’m from a large ranch where we run sheep outside of Melbourne.”

They said, “You’re really going to run in this race?”

“Yeah,” Cliff nodded.

“Got any backers?”

“No.”

“Then you can’t run.”

“Yeah I can.” Cliff said.

“See, I grew up on a farm where we couldn’t afford horses or four wheel drives, and the whole time I was growing up – until about four years ago when we finally made some money and got a four wheeler – whenever the storms would roll in, I’d have to go out and round up the sheep. We had 2,000 head, and we have 2,000 acres. Sometimes I would have to run those sheep for two or three days. It took a long time, but I’d catch them. I believe I can run this race; it’s only two more days. Five days. I’ve run sheep for three.”

There were many who thought Cliff shouldn't be allowed to run. What if he died?

When the marathon started, the pros left Cliff behind in his galoshes. The crowds smiled because he didn’t even run correctly. Instead of running, he appeared to run leisurely, shuffling like an amateur.

Every professional athlete knew for certain that it took about 7 days to finish this race, and that in order to compete, you would need to run 18 hours and sleep 6 hours. The thing is, old Cliff Young did not know that.

When the morning news of the race was aired, people were in for another big surprise. Cliff was still in the race and had jogged all night down to a city called Mittagong.
Apparently, Cliff did not stop after the first day. Although he was still far behind the world-class athletes, he kept on running. He even had the time to wave to spectators who watched the event by the highways.  

Every night he got just a little bit closer to the leading pack. By the last night, he passed all of the world-class athletes. By the last day, he was way in front of them. Not only did he run the Melbourne to Sydney race at age 61, without dying; he won first place, breaking the race record by 9 hours and became a national hero. The nation fell in love with the 61-year-old potato farmer who came out of nowhere to defeat the world’s best long distance runners.  

He finished the 875-kilometer race in 5 days,15 hours and 4 minutes. Not knowing that he was supposed to sleep during the race, he said when running throughout the race, he imagined that he was chasing sheep and trying to outrun a storm.  

When Cliff was awarded the first prize of $10,000, he said he did not know there was a prize and insisted that he had not entered for the money. He said, “There’re five other runners still out there doing it tougher than me,” and he gave them $2,000 each. He did not keep a single cent for himself and endeared himself to all of Australia.

Because Cliff Young set the bar so high, many athletes have now adopted The Young-Shuffle, which has been found to be more aerodynamic and expends less energy. Also if you want to be competitive you can't sleep, you must run all day and all night.



*Story courtesy of my friend and neighbor, Lisa Anjewierden*

Finishers Wanted - 6 Attributes of a Finisher

Stick to your task ’til it sticks to you;

Beginners are many, but enders are few.

Honor, power, place and praise

Will always come to the one who stays. Stick to your task ’til it sticks to you;

Bend at it, sweat at it, smile at it, too;

For out of the bend and the sweat and the smile

Will come life’s victories after a while.

—Author Unknown

Are you a finisher? Sometimes I am, but most of the time I'm not. I begin strong and often times get bored, frustrated, distracted etc., and I don't finish.
At church this past Sunday a woman gave a talk on finishers and I felt like she was speaking directly to me. 

In the next month or so my blog will be changing. I've been trying to decide which direction I want to take it so I haven't been blogging much. I think I've hit on it now. I've decided that I want my blog to be about inspiration. To finish my novel I need to feel inspired and I hope to inspire others along the way.

Some things to look forward to on this blog are inspiring stories of finishers. Spotlights and interviews of awesome finishers. My progress reports on finishing and whatever else comes to mind. 

And now, without further ado - Six Attributes Of A Finisher:

1. Vision - It has been said that the door of history turns on small hinges, and so do people’s lives. We are constantly making small decisions. The outcome determines the success or failure of our lives. That is why it is worthwhile to look ahead, to set a course, and at least be partly ready when the moment of decision comes. True finishers have the capacity to visualize their objective.

2. Effort - Vision without effort is daydreaming; effort without vision is drudgery; but vision, coupled with effort, will obtain the prize.

3. Faith - Recognize that faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other.

4. Virtue - It will provide staying power in the race we run. 

5. Courage - Have the courage and you will become a finisher.

6. Prayer - "Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention." - This quote is taken from my crit partner's blog and I love it. It reminds me that with God, nothing is impossible, but without Him I am destined to fail. 


These attributes were taken from a talk given by the LDS Prophet, President Monson, so they may not all apply to everyone. But for me, I think they'll be the key to reaching the finish of whatever I want to accomplish.

What about you? Is there any attributes you'd like to add? Are you a finisher, or do you struggle like me?

Winner And My Go-to Books For Voice

And the winner is...

Kasie West!!! Yay!!!

Congratulations Kasie. I love this book and hope you love it too. E-mail me your address and I'll get the book out to you ASAP.


Thank you to all who entered and I hope those of you who didn't win will still check out Back When You Were Easier to Love and Emily Wing Smith's other book, The Way He Lived. Both books are incredible examples of Voice. I study her books often, hoping to learn how she does it so well.


Do you have books that you study? Voice is one of those intangibles of writing that is difficult to explain how and why it's good, but we know a well written Voice when we see it.


My other go-to books for Voice are:
The Hunger Games (of course)
Sara Zarr's books (incredibly raw 1st person voice)
Shannon Hale's Books (awesome 3rd person voice)
Carrie Ryan's Zombie books (yes really a zombie book, but the writing is beautiful)
Janette Rallison's books (love her humor)

What about You? Do you have go-to books for capturing Voice?

Last Day to Enter Giveaway and Brainstorming Gave Me a Boost

It's Thursday. Today is the last day to enter the Back When You Were Easier To Love Giveaway - to enter go here. 

Today is also the second to last day of school for my kids. They have field day today. Do you remember field day? I broke my arm once on field day. Yeah - we didn't have the namby pamby field activities like my kids do now (just kidding). 


Yesterday I talked to a friend about my book. I've been stuck and haven't been able to move forward, but when I talked to my friend and reluctantly began telling her about my story, she got excited and then I got excited again. She kept coming up with different scenarios and so did I and a few of them clicked and suddenly I could hear conversations going on in my head again. My story came alive to me again.


So grateful for my friend and for brainstorming. Have you had any brainstorming break through moments lately?