starcards: March 2008

HAPPY SPRING!

It's been longer than expected since I posted to this blog. For all of you who respond to me in e-mail, thank you for your support and I'm sorry it's taken so long! I'm glad to know you are enjoying my little musings.

Our snow is nearly melted now, though some of the larger piles are still standing fairly strong. Especially the big ones that the plows dump onto at the end of streets...The ones that at some point during the season seemed like snow mountains. Crazy. So not only did the Madison area break the former record for snowfall, we smashed it... We reached 100 inches, about 20 inches more than our previous record. It's ostensibly spring here now, but we have yet to reach 60 degrees. But I know it's right around the corner and we are all waiting for it with the anticipation that only a brutal winter can offer.

"Reminding one another of the dream that each of us aspires to may be enough for us to set each other free." - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

What are your dreams? Do you even know? Have you considered them?

I am a writer. I write stories and books. I have been published in small ways, but now I'm looking for a book contract. That's my great dream. And I know that at some point it will happen. It's up to me to keep writing, to under stand what the market is for the work I do, to research and study the people and organizations that can help me get there. But what really helps me, more than anything else, are the friends and mentors I have in my life who are on the same path, or who have walked the path before me. Their advice, support and camaraderie are invaluable. Do you have people in your life who do this for you? I have a writing partner, a writing group that I help plan meetings for, and a network of people that make me a better writer, a more knowledgeable contributor, and a more compassionate friend in my writing community. I know that when I sign my contract someday, I will do it with a prayer of thanks and gratitude for all the wonderful people who will have helped me get there.

In the same way that a winter landscape offers its own frozen beauty, but makes way in warmer weather for the flowers, leaves and blossoms of spring, our path may seem unproductive and fallow, but the steps we take in the winter of our success offers abundant opportunity when the time and conditions are right.

(This week, Washington DC is blessed with their famous cherry blossoms.)

So. Define your dreams, whatever they are. If you want to learn how to paint, figure out how you're going to do it. And then surround yourself with people who will HELP you, not HINDER you. If your mom thinks it's a harebrained idea and you're too old to learn new tricks, then find another place to deposit your idea. And be available to support and be a cheerleader for the other people in your life who share with you, especially the fledgling ideas they have about things that just might bring them a little ray of happiness.

Like a bit of sunshine after a particularly difficult winter.