Calling All Couples

Yes, it as been a while since I wrote here, and there is a very good explanation...building a business, vacationing, and writing another new book.
This last one I am calling to all of you for assistance.

Do you have a unique story of how you and your significant other got together?
I want to hear about it.

You can respond here but I prefer you respond to my e-mail address: snoopwrs@whoismb.com
You don't have to give me the whole story at once, but a brief overview would be great and I will get in touch with you.
I can't wait to hear from all of you!
Now's your change to have your story immortalized and share your joy with the world! Remember, everyone loves a great love story!

Observation Exercise

I recently took a break from writing to help finish up the school year and teach kindergarten through seventh graders physical education, partially since it is my nature, to do research, and also with my teaching and yoga background it was thought to be a nice change from their normal physical education schedule.

I did learn a lot from observation as well as directly from the children’s mouths.
Some things are not worthy of repeating, others made me laugh, and some brought tears to my eyes to witness how many of these children live with undo stress and what attitudes they are acquiring.

From the physical standpoint it is disheartening to see and hear of the patterns that are being established with children in regards to nutrition and exercise.
Some were willing participants in physical activities only after much coaxing, but almost all of the 300+ students I encountered knew very little of how to get exercise, or the proper way to use any equipment. Many had little or no knowledge of games or rules of specific sports. Thus, their idea of exercise was to run about wildly.
Any discussion of nutrition was scoffed at and it appeared that convenience and marketing are what influences the decisions made for them or by them.

The time I spent with these children shows me we need to begin education and modeling of proper ways to treat our bodies and relieve stress from very early on as well as offering proper foods so they can make the right choices for their future health.
How will this be accomplished?
Well, speaking for myself, I will continue to work one child at a time to demonstrate the benefits proper exercise and nutrition can have to better our lives.
Having the information is the first step to making the best choices; the rest is up to them.

Gone Fishing

Snoop has been a bit down lately watching me come and go, getting the business set up, all the while he’s just been hanging out waiting for work.
When life is not going very well, sometimes it’s best to retreat. So, we made an executive decision and went trout fishing. Packed it all up and took off for the streams.
It’s always so awesome to be in nature where all you hear are the birds, the river gurgling, and the winds blowing through the trees. Helps you to get back to your roots as it were, really living in the moment.

The contrast between the tranquility of wading slowly and quietly through the water, and the adrenaline rush you get when the fish bites the line, is the kind of healthy balance of extremes my body needs.
The emotional extremes of writing can be draining. The excited high of pouring your creative heart into your words, to the deep low of rejection from those you felt were such a good fit for your work.

After clearing my head in the bright, and beautiful fresh air, I realize that there is a true commonality between trout fishing and freelance writing.
If you don’t get a bite, you have to keep on moving forward while casting your line.
Being rejected by fish is somehow not as intimidating as a person, but perhaps that’s because in the most pristine setting, we are free from judgment, experiencing only the here and now.
In both fishing and writing there is competition, the need for skill, research and training, with a bit of luck, timing, and tenacity thrown in.
Sometimes, as with writing, you have to move to a totally different stream, try new bait, or take a break and come back at a different time.

Now, rested and renewed, with the taste of fresh trout in my belly, but not in my freezer, I realize that life will keep giving you a taste to see how hungry you are. How bad do you want what you are after and does that taste leave you wanting more? If so, then you will keep coming back, for it is not just the catch that is the great reward, but the effort it takes to try that keeps you wanting more; tasting and yearning for the next time you will pull in the big one.


Check out our website and help Snoop find work at: www.whoismb.com

Going to the Dogs

The term “going to the dogs” has negative connotations, but is it really all that bad?
I slave away at my computer on a beautiful spring day, while my dog is out sleeping in the sun.
Who really does have the “dog’s life?”
For those that know my “spoiled rottenweiller” you may secretly be asking who is the real subservient one in the team of Marie & Snoop?

If I really look at things, I have to admit, Snoop’s plan on life far more thought out and productive.
He has his own personal assistant, chef, personal trainer, maid, chauffer, groomer, and bathroom attendant!
Plus, he spends his days doing whatever he chooses (which usually includes a very long nap!)
Yet I am the one trying to scrap out a buck typing on the computer every day! (Maybe not having opposing thumbs isn’t all that bad!)

So, in this “dog-eat-dog” world how does one get to be more “dog-like?”
Is the laid back approach the better way?
Maybe Snoop’s got it so good because I’m a sucker for big, beautiful, brown eyes. Does that mean I’ll never have a shot at “the dog’s life” with my sea green peepers?
I have yet to find the answers and at last request, Snoop was not giving up any information.
Until the “dog days” of writing cease, I guess it’s back to the keyboard for this “dog tired” girl, cause somebody has to buy the bones.

The Double Edged Sword of a Positive Rejection

Is there such a thing as a positive rejection?
Is that the ultimate oxymoron?
How should one take a nicely worded, upbeat rejection?
You followed the guidelines, your query caught the attention of the Editorial Department, but yet it is still a “does not meet our needs at this time” kind of a thing.

Hey, it was “considered” so I guess that means the writing did not stink- good thing.
No paycheck coming-bad thing.

Guess it’s time to move on, keep trying, and plug away at those keys one more time. They say if you throw the line in often enough you will eventually get a bite and catch a fish – fish, that reminds me of food and grocery shopping, something I guess I need to do, but then you need money for that.
Well, I guess that means I’m in the “starving artist” category. Now there’s a phrase that (at least for now) is not an oxymoron- I wonder how paper tastes…



Want to support a “starving artist?”
Visit: www.whoismb.com
In the near future you will be able to check out information on
Snoop Writing & Referencing Services.

Reconnections

Lately I have had the pleasure to reconnect with several people I had not heard from in a very long time; people I thought might be lost from my life.
It is a great joy when your circle of friends widens, whether it be to welcome back or to welcome anew.
All of this sparked memories of the many people I have met and either lost touch with or knew I would never see again.
When traveling I meet many people, all of who touch my life, even if only briefly.
Do we realize that is what happens daily? That even those brief encounters with people can affect someone more than we may realize?

Amazingly, we never truly know life’s plan.
Just like when traveling, we are never certain of the weather, if everything you intended to see will be open and accessible, or that you will have enough time to see and do it all; so too, we can never really be sure how often we will have with the people we meet or call our friends.
This is why I am grateful and want to make sure I am taking the time to connect; life is empty without friends, the ones I have, and the ones yet to come.


I invite you to join in the circle of freinds and share who and what life has tossed your way.
Sign up for a free e-zine For Wise Women at: 4wisewomen.sbcglobal.net or visit: www.whoismb.com/writing.html

Taking Flight

My husband and I love to travel, and I have learned many things from our travels so far.
People are wonderful and rude all over the world, and there is beauty and serenity where everyone lives, we usually only see if it we stop and take the time to look.
When I am on vacation, I am where someone lives on a daily basis. Are they taking for granted the beauty and uniqueness of what I see? Do I where I live?
There is some redeeming unique quality everywhere.

If we view our trip on life as a vacation, we can see that gratitude and serene reflection make a big difference in our day-to-day view on life.
Even in the most beautiful parts of the world I have heard people tell me of hardships and lives so busy they cannot see anything but problems and pain.
At the time I could not understand how one could not see all the beauty; it was everywhere you looked!

Once I got home my life again got so busy, I too could also no longer see how I am blessed here at home.
I think the key is to take daily vacations in attitude and viewed through my mind.
Pictures are all around that allow myself even just a few moments a day to “take flight” to where I would like to be. Maybe it is a vacation I have yet to take, trips I have taken, or even just a place of Nirvana I have created in my head, it gives me serenity, gratitude, and hope for what lies ahead.

For even if these “flights” are only momentary, isn’t moment by moment the best way to live? That way you never miss a moment of life’s travels.

I invite you to "travel" to my website @ www.whoismb.com/writing.html and sign up for a free e-zine @ 4wisewomen@sbcglobal.net