Welcome to a special Tuesday edition at River of Thoughts!   I recently had the honor of reading an advance copy of Shawn Smucker’s new book Building a Life Out of Words. Shawn’s dream, like mine, is writing.  In 2009, Shawn went all-in to follow that dream, and now he’s sharing his story of the difficult by rewarding transition to full-time writer. Shawn’s story applies to anyone looking to make more out of their life. So often, we believe that to follow our bliss, to chase our dream of creating art or opening a dress shop or breeding hedgehogs, we must quit […]

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    I’m shaking up the schedule this week…Stay tuned for a special Tuesday edition of River of Thoughts! …and pass the ice cream, please?   Photo credit:  Jamieanne (Creative Commons)

I broke up with Resistance. He’s trying hard to win me back.  Sympathy didn’t work, so now he’s tempting me with Piecaken. Pie + Cake = Piecaken Everyone in my house is trying to watch what they eat. I need to be writing. But I love to bake. I have several projects that are behind schedule.  Guest posts for people that are important to me about causes that are important to me.  Work to be done to put food on the table and gas in the car and college money in the bank. But all I can think about is […]

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I have never filled out an NCAA bracket. (Of the hundreds of thousands of words I’ve ever typed, that feels the most like “True Confessions”) I haven’t watched college basketball since Larry Bird led Indiana State to a nearly undefeated season.  Until the championship.  He crushed my little nine-year-old heart. I might be the only Hoosier that doesn’t really care about basketball. So when March Madness comes around, I just watch people.  Amusedly.  Some people are truly mad for this season.  No work gets done.  People take days off.  Me?  I would not even know where to begin when trying […]

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Last week, I broke up with Resistance. It was a very public breakup. It should have been on the cover of Us magazine. In an effort to gain sympathy and support, and probably to shame Resistance a little more than is really mature, I posted a break-up letter (in the comments) at The Write Practice. Resistance didn’t take the breakup like a man. He knows that throwing things wouldn’t really get him very far. Instead, he played on my sympathy. He called me asking very detailed questions about how to separate lights from darks when he does laundry.  Whether that new red shirt could […]

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