• Chicken in the Car,  Random Thoughts,  Writing

    It’s Never Too Late.

    Last week I had the opportunity to speak about my book to a group of senior citizens at a local church. It was my first “real” speaking engagement. I have never liked speaking in front of groups generally… …although I have no problem wearing spandex-y workout clothes and a microphone headset while I sweatily teach cycling to large groups of people, go figure… …oh, and I did earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education, something that involves speaking in front of large groups, and taught second graders every Sunday for fourteen years, whatever… …but I really don’t like being in front of lots of people. Anyway, I was pretty excited…

  • Amazing People,  Best Thing Ever,  Blessings,  Friends,  Fun in Chicago,  Writing

    Inspired To Action.

    A funny thing happens sometimes, when you’re busy with life, going through your daily schedule and getting things done (or not): your mojo can start to slip away. It can slip when you’re tired, and it can slip when you aren’t organized. Mojo can fade away when you’re not paying attention. The silver lining in all of this is the fact that, it’s easy to get a jumpstart for your mojo, and I had not one but TWO jumpstarts today. First, after insanely aggravating traffic that, due to nothing in particular except for some rain, caused me to be in the car for a full two and a half hours…

  • Random Thoughts,  Writing

    The Ride

    I was going to write a really cool post about how, yesterday, I was finding some great parallels between riding a bike and life itself. I was going to write about how interesting it is that, just like in life, when you ride a bike it doesn’t do you much good to look behind you very often, but it serves you well to keep a good eye on what’s coming up, both up close and in the distance. I was going to write about how, with just a quick decision or sometimes by accident, you can take a different direction altogether. Sometimes it ends up fine, and sometimes it doesn’t.…

  • I've Got Mad Skillz,  My Sister Has Mad Skillz,  Writing

    I Stand Corrected.

    The last few weeks have been a blur, mostly. I have been in the throes of editing (and editing*) the manuscript for my book. Here’s an approximation of how this process went (I can only write this to the best of my limited memory: I just mentioned how much of a blur my recent past has been, remember?): 1. Back in January, I edited the entire manuscript (240 pages, nearly 50,000 words) for what may have already been the fifth or sixth time before sending it to my publisher so she could have her editor mark it up. 2. On March 2 (was it only THIRTEEN DAYS AGO? Oy vey.),…

  • Random Thoughts,  Roxie,  Writing

    Here’s What I Know.

    I am in the middle of manuscript-editing craziness, hence the lack of regular posting. My brain is on fire ninety-nine percent of the time, my house is a mess, and even with my mad skillz in multi-tasking I don’t feel like I’m getting anything done at all. Well, except for the editing part, which is THE most important thing at the moment since I have a deadline, so I guess I will rejoice in that victory for the moment! Due to the job at hand, the days seem to bleed into one another and time flies. In the interest of lowering an anchor for a moment, I thought I’d make…

  • Friends,  Writing

    Shaken.

    I am, ninety-nine percent* of the time, a pretty confident person overall. Though I am not good at everything, of course (who is?), I recognize that I have talent in certain areas and choose to emphasize those rather than showcase the set of personal skills which I consider to be lackluster. Some of my best talents are listed here in no particular order: 1. Mothering.2. Organizing and executing theme parties/events.3. Making paper notecards.4. Finding the perfect gift.5. Arranging flowers.6. Baking (and decorating) cakes.7. Giving advice.8. Listening.9. Planning vacations.10. Being a good friend.11. Building things out of cardboard.12. Writing. Ah yes, writing. Yesterday, for the first time since I sat in…

  • Childhood Memories,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  I'm Apparently Old.,  I've Got Mad Skillz,  Writing

    My Poems, By Melisa

    I have given myself a good chuckle AND creeped myself out simultaneously by opening this book for the first time in years, even though it has resided on the bookshelf–mere steps from me–in our family room for absolutely forever. I wrote in this book of poems from May 10, 1978 until February 23, 1981. No, no…don’t be impressed. There are only eleven pages full of poems. The rest of the book? ENTIRELY BLANK. Because I enjoy giving my readers a good laugh and don’t mind making fun for you at my own expense, I will now share some of these works of art with you. Please note the obvious impact…

  • Fun in Chicago,  Something That Could Change Your Life,  Writing

    When One Door Closes, Another One Opens…

    Since (and because) I’ve been blogging here at Suburban Scrawl, I’ve been given many opportunities to write in other places, for other audiences. One of those opportunities is at the top of my favorites: when Jill Asher of the Silicon Valley Moms Group called to tell me that my application to write for the Chicago Moms Blog was accepted and they were excited to have me on board, I was beyond thrilled, because I love Chicago, I love to write, and, uh, I’m a Mom. Perfect fit. In the short time I’ve been a part of this fabulous group of women, I have attended a super huge event (which led…

  • Best Thing Ever,  Confessions,  Shameless Promotion,  Something That Could Change Your Life,  Writing

    Aaaand They’re Off!

    I can’t believe it.I’ve been working on a book project, off and on, for more than two years. Actually, the research for it started four years ago, so I guess I could say that I’ve been working on it for four years, but that’s depressing so I’ll stick with “more than two”. Yesterday* was a monumental day for me in this process, because after working intensely for weeks on getting a spiffy and oh-so-professional proposal done**, I finally got it in the mail. To more than one publisher. I have told some people IRL what the book is about, but don’t yet feel like I should put it out here…

  • Best Thing Ever,  Blessings,  Something That Could Change Your Life,  Writing

    Meet Our New Arrival!

    If you read my friend Weaselmomma’s blog, World of Weasels, you know that this week she completely lost her mind and added a mastiff puppy to her brood of five children, a couple of cats, a non-human rodent or two (I lose track: we recently lost Gimpy and Tenderfoot…), a couple of frogs, and lord knows how many other animals that are there in that house that I haven’t even seen yet in the many times I’ve been over there. But I get it. I’m a total dog person and I adore puppies (can’t wait to meet that little peeing-in-the-kitchen-half-the-time-but-getting-much-better darlin’), so going gaga over one is not a foreign…