Showing posts with label Work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Work. Show all posts

Enjoyment in writing...

Posted by Susan , Thursday, June 6, 2013 4:18 AM

What aspects of writing do I really enjoy?

It delights me when I have the opportunity to throw all sorts of thoughts that roil and boil in my brain onto the page.  The process allows me to reflect and parse out facts from fictions and ramble from coherence.  At times, the act of writing helps me realize that a new thing must be done.  I must, for example, talk with the person I am writing to instead of sending the carefully crafted email.

Using words is another part that I really enjoy.  There are a lot of great words out there and picking the right one at the right time is key.  Knowing your audience is part of this.  Just this spring at school I sent an email to the entire faculty under the auspices (see?!? that's a great word) of thanking them for their help with a large scale project.  I began, I thought, simply enough with the following:

"As we careen toward the end of [this project]..."

Careening became the word of the day.  Apparently I'd hit on the nerve of at least a half dozen colleagues.  That one word evoked in some the realization that they weren't alone in feeling that way; it gave voice to an emotion -- a place of being -- that they hadn't quite taken in...yet.  I'm sure there were others that read it and thought... wow, Susan's got a screw loose.  But that's okay.  People are going to misinterpret what is read.  I think it is interesting that my one email started a bit of a meme in the building.  I started hearing the word careen  in other parts of conversation. 

So, apparently I enjoy the power -- both personal and group -- that comes from the written word.

Posted in , | 0 comments

The Rings

Posted by Susan , Tuesday, June 7, 2011 6:00 PM

As a modern mom, I have several rings in the circus of my life.


First, is the ring of family life where I wrangle the beasts through their tricks and shows.

The second ring is where I do that thing God made me to do: counsel teens through life in high school.

Ring number three is the creative and spiritual arena, the place where I develop and nurture myself. Usually this is filled with reading, quilting and quiet time just for me. This ring is often eerily dark and underused.

This summer I'm adding a fourth ring: my doctoral studies. I'm in the thick of the preparatory reading and will start classes in July. If everything goes as planned I'll be called Doc in three years.

As if this isn't enough there are several other rings that involve friendships, extended family and church.

And, just because I can't seem to get enough, I'm adding (really taking it out of retirement) the ring of weight loss. Several years ago, before I met Pangea Man, I lost over 50 pounds. In the last four I've managed to gain most of it back. So, yesterday I started Weight Watchers again. It worked well last time and with the newly revamped program I can't play the, "I-already-know-this-and-shouldn't-pay-attention" game. That game sucks and doesn't help me reach goals.

So, there you have it: the rings of my circus.

Posted in , , , , , | 0 comments
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)