The True Essence of Summertime

Picture this: You’re sound asleep in bed when you’re awoken by a warm summer breeze sneaking in through an open window. You sit up and stretch then glance outside to see through the gauzy dawn light the surf breaking on the local shore. Your heart starts to pound as the wind rustles your bed sheet and you smile; it’s another summer morning in paradise! So you fling off your blankets and launch to your feet, the tile cool and sandy against your skin. You slept in your swimsuit so you just grab a boogie board or surf board or some other kind of board and head out the door and as soon as your toes hit the sand, still cool with night, a thrill rushes through you cause you know today is a day of possibilities, of adventure, of absolute, total freedom!

That is the essence of summer.

    This is my most favorite time of year, when it’s 100 degrees in the shade (no really, it’s felt like 105 here all week) and a pool is your best friend and the words: math, quizzes, studying and tests aren’t in your vocabulary. Doesn’t it feel like school starts way too early? I think summertime should last year-round! Wonder who I should talk to about that? …………

    Anyhow, nothings better than kicking back at the beach on a hot sunny day with a good book, a lounge chair and condensation dripping down a cool can of ice tea.

    Or a noontime ride on your horse, bareback, with a hot, dry wind in your face.

    Or an evening barbeque with your family and mama’s sweet potato French fries.

    Or even a movie night with friends in the A/C, the TV turned up loud.

    Sure, I like the cool winds in autumn, and who doesn’t love sweater-season, and that first crisp spring morning when you can finally take your bike for a spin. But there’s just something about summertime, something that’s as invigorating and familiar as the aroma of sunscreen.

It’s a freedom, I think,

the knowing that this summer is yours

and the next few weeks can be whatever you want to make them

and you can be whoever you desire to make yourself.

J

The possibilities are truly endless!

   

To me, when I hear the waves of adventure crashing upon the shore, it says it’s time to grab my swimsuit and go meet with my Friends because it’s just another day in sweet, summer paradise!

Hmm, maybe that is the true essence of summer.

Come on, don’t be shy,

What do you think is the true essence of summertime?

Be True to Beautiful You (Part 2)

J

Stand up for what you believe in! You deserve everything you want and need so let your voice be heard and your will be free; let your opinions rise, for you could be the one to open the world’s closed eyes. Because, you are a force to be reckoned with, a hero nonetheless! And what you say and do does matter. So don’t settle for less but shoot for the best! One word can make the world a better place; one idea can be the revelation of the human race, and you can be the drop that overflows that pail; you can initiate that change! Cause it’s time for us to set sail, and make reality rearrange! This is all so true, and it begins with powerful you.

J

Get Determined!

Determination says even I can make a change.
    Determination says you can stand up, even if the tears are falling down your face.
Determination says you can get back up (shaking and bruised) and swing into the saddle even if the odds are stacked against you.
    Determination says this little girl who was born without a hip will learn to drive and drive well.
    Determination says that even if I’m pulling myself by one arm I will make it into the Promise Land.
    Determination says no matter what, I will achieve my dreams and someday you’ll be able to pluck one of my novels off a bookstore shelf!

Determination is the knowing that no matter what happens,

no matter what anybody else says,

no matter where life takes you,

you can and will make the desires of your heart come true!

J

So what does Determination say to you?

Her Mission: Revision

In the smoky dawn light the knight dismounted her steed and dropped to the ground, leaves crunching beneath her boots, chainmail shifting with a metallic rasp. With a gloved hand she grasped the hilt and drew her sword, the scrape an electrifying sound in the otherwise silence. I know you’re here, she thought as she scanned the forbidden woods, her eyes seeking the traitors she hunted…

    Just then, leaves rustled behind her!

    She swung around, sword slicing the sunrise and flashing light. But, her heart pounding, the knight realized she was alone. So she continued on, the air peppered by only her horse's hoof beats, as her thoughts narrated each movement.

I am the knight of revision and

tis my mission to seek and slay the typos haunting the woods of this
rough draft.

As she stepped lightly amongst the toadstools and roots in this imagined forest, brandishing her sword, our knight’s mind strayed back to her younger days, back to when she’d been simply a squire, and the words of her mentor resurfaced:

“Revision is something which you must devote 110% of your attention to.

Tis all-consuming, entirely enveloping, and long containing.

You must be focused and on full alert for the enemy can appear anywhere
at any time.

And even though the writing is ultimately the fun part,

Revision is where the true work (the all-consuming work) begins.”

    The week before, our young, brave knight embarked on this journey. It was A Novel Idea which she’d had, to return to the core genre of her writing muse: the fantasy novel. This quest was to revisit and revise the rough draft of a novel she had previously written, which she’d been nursing for almost a year.

    So, taking up her sword, she mounted her steed and set out from page 1 to 451, slaying each gnome-ish mistake and seeking to vanquish the Queen of the Typos.

    But, I personally like revision, the knight found herself thinking, tis a chance for me to see what I wrote from the outside, enabling me to relive the adventure as a spectator and meet my characters again. Tis the opportunity to add depth and layers to the story…

    However, there was one thing complicating this quest, an unforeseen difficulty upon which our knight had stumbled, which was a bigger foe than she had yet to face:

Repetition

    For the knight found nothing droller than riding through the same forest, past the same trees, and encountering the same fiends, from dawn until dusk! For our knight is quite a… random person and would rather do a lot of different things other than rereading…

    Nevertheless, tis worth it! She would think and then press on.

    As morning sank into noon, and then late noon into evening, and the sun began to inch towards the West, our knight continued on her search, climbing fallen logs and ducking low branches, riding past ramshackle huts and through bramble and briar. Occasionally, she encountered foes to fight – trolls, ogres and witches – but for the most part twas a quiet day. Eventually, she found a peaceful place to camp as night befell the forest.

    To the symphony of a fire, the crackling blaze of her ignited imagination, she knelt there near the coals polishing her sword, honing her craft, and staring out into the unknown depths of the surrounding darkness with an excited anticipation for the coming of whatever tomorrow would bring.

    I shall keep on keeping on! She vowed. Leave no word unread, no page unturned; I will step forth and seek to keep revising until all the typos have been vanquished and each problem has been slain! After all, no one said that the work of an author wouldn’t have struggles, she knew, but anything worth the struggle is worth doing!

    As the firelight continued to burn against the night, our ambitious heroin gazed up through the canopy to see a hopeful moon peeking out from behind the clouds of doubt, and she was just barely able to contain her enthusiasm, for she knew:

Twas nary The End

Be True to Beautiful You (Part 1)

J

You should honor the quirks that make you unique. Dance the way you dance and march to your own drumbeat! Cause who cares what others think? Show no fear! Don’t dress to impress, but let your beauty impress the dress. Wow them with your style, shock them with your smile, and go the extra mile to be only the best that you can be. Bask in your originality, nurture your personality and then let the whole world see that you are who you are inside and out, which is beautiful without a doubt!

J