I didn't paint this - and I want to tell you about the amazing woman who did!
Several years ago, I was introduced to Linda Appleman Shapiro. She was sent to WOW! Women on Writing to help spread the word about her beautiful memoir She's Not Herself. We had a fabulous response and an exciting book blog tour. That was in 2014 though it seems much more recent. Here's a link to the tour and our original author interview.
Several years later, in the middle of the pandemic, Linda contacted me again asking if she could work with WOW! - this time it was for the audiobook version of She's Not Herself. This tour was even more special since Linda was the narrator for the audiobook. Isn't that exciting? Check out that tour and our second official author interview at this link.
That's the business side of things - and what many people don't know is that Linda and I became friends and we talk at least weekly and in most cases daily. My children recognize her voice and she and her husband George love hearing about life on the farm. Our lives vary greatly and yet we are kindred. You can check out Linda's professional qualifications on her website, but one of the ways she has inspired me most is through her painting. (Now you understand the painting at the top of the page, and below you'll find a photo of the lovely Linda as well.)
Linda took up painting just a few years ago (2019) when most would say they're too old to learn new tricks, she sought out a teacher and began something new. Painting has become something she loves and it is very dear to her - as she is very dear to me. I have several of her paintings hanging on my walls at home, and she even made a very special Christmas painting for my youngest daughter.
Do you think you're too old to...
*take up a new sport like yoga, mountain climbing, or horseback riding?
*become a published author, artist, or musician?
*find true love or rekindle a love affair of old?
*travel to new destinations or even different countries?
*start a new business?
The truth is - whatever you think you can do, you can and whatever you think you can't do you can't - so if there's something you want to do, regardless of your age, get out there and do it! You're Never Too Old to do what inspires a fire within you! My last post was all about resting - and now that I've done that, I'm ready to go and I hope you'll GO with me!
As a child, I worked on a horse ranch. I quit riding horses when my dad died which happened to be right about the time I got my driver's license. Two years ago, I decided I wasn't too old to pick up a hobby that brought me so much joy. I now have horses of my own and I ride 2 hours each week. I've even been in a few shows and next weekend, I'll be showing again and my goal is to bring home at least 1 blue ribbon! I may be old, but I'm not TOO old by any means! Thank you Linda for being a constant support and inspiration to myself and others! Because of strong women like Linda, the rest of us are made aware of our own abilities.
THANK YOU to Linda and all those strong women like her!
As our time together comes to an end, let me ask you:
Would you tell me about an amazing woman in your life who has done great things or inspired great things in you?
What is something you are going to commit to trying in the next year?
What have you done to show your appreciation of someone who has inspired you?
How has someone thanked you for being inspirational in their life?
Share your answers as a comment on this post!
Hugs,
~Crystal
About Today's Author:
Crystal is a foodie, farmer, and friend! She has 6 children and lots of special young people who call her "mom" even if she isn't 'their' mom! She starts each day sipping coffee and milking cows with the love of her life and occasionally ends the day with a glass of wine. Crystal is raising kids and cattle while juggling cleaning jobs, bartending shifts, music gigs, her job as office manger and she escapes reality a few hours each week riding horses and reading books (not simultaneously)! And who knows, she may start blogging again sometime soon: http://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/
In the meantime, you can find her posting pics of food, cattle, and more on Instagram and Facebook!
It’s been a year since my husband began tracking COVID-19 on the CDC maps and telling me things weren’t looking good. A year since I brushed him off, telling him he was being an alarmist and trying to go about business as usual. After all, we were all too busy to worry about a virus—we’d all lived through things like SARS and H1N1—this would be no different, right?
Of course, as we all know now, I was wrong. I don’t think anyone expected how quickly the virus would spread and the toll it would take on the health of our friends and family, as well as the difficulties our children would combat by not being able to see their friends or attend school in person. We all know how bad things have been, but today I decided to reflect on how living through a global pandemic made me a more productive writer/creator.
Things could have gone one way or the other for me. I could have let myself sink into an abyss of depression, worry and anxiety and get the bare minimum done as far as my writing. The first few months were filled with the unknown—working for a magazine publishing group that focuses on lifestyle topics, I didn’t know how long we would be able to keep things going when everything was shut down. Our ad revenue suffered, but I tried to keep the content fresh and engaging, pivoting towards how people in the community were pulling together in spite of the stay-at-home orders from our governor. I’m happy to report we didn’t miss one issue during this time (and we had even launched a new magazine last April!)
On the personal front, I had a lot of extra time on my hands last spring when stores were closed, restaurants were doing curbside pick-up or delivery only and the only errand I was running involved finding groceries. I had been mulling over starting up a true crime podcast, but it was during that time that I pulled together all my initial research and broke out the microphone that had been sitting boxed up in my office. I’ve now produced 25 episodes of a missing persons podcast, have a stack of content I can repurpose into a potential non-fiction book project, beefed up my blog with additional true crime posts and began producing short videos in the genre for my social media channels.
Yes, it’s been hard on all of us. I’m heartbroken over the lives lost, and the fact that in the United States, we were given no federal mandate on how to best handle the pandemic, leaving all the states to try and make the decisions on people’s health and livelihoods on their own. But I’m more optimistic now as I see more and more people opting to get the available vaccines, and schools and businesses reopening slowly. I’m hoping all the work I put in trying to move through the hardest thing I’ve ever lived through in my lifetime and stay productive as a writer will reward me in the long run.
Have you been more productive in your writing life during the pandemic? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Renee Roberson is an award-winning freelance writer and magazine editor who also hosts the true crime podcast, Missing in the Carolinas. Learn more at FinishedPages.com.
Last week was extra hectic at our house. Part of the "extra" came from having to drive children to school when they usually take the bus. Three trips per day meant I was feeling rushed; yes, it was only temporary and it was a small change. I was having a hard time staying positive and one morning in particular I looked at the sky and thought:
It's been a few weeks since I took a picture of the sunrise;
I need to start seeing the beauty again.
then the negative voice popped in:
Well, if it wasn't so gloomy all the time there might be something worth taking a picture of.
I stayed grumpy for a mile or two thinking about the extra gas, time lost, how I like sipping my coffee from my ceramic mug in the comfort of the horse barn instead of from my travel mug behind the wheel of my mini van. Then, as I rounded the corner I caught a glimpse of the sun. She was trying her hardest to push through the clouds and it was just the small whisper I needed. None of us are positive all the time, no matter how hard we try.
I pulled over and took a picture of the sun as a reminder for myself - a reminder to see the good in troubling times. Back when I had a corporate job and helped with large meetings and training sessions, we showed this awareness video:
This video was used in a particular training where we were talking about how we all make mistakes and if you are waiting for someone to make a mistake, they'll make it ... but if you're waiting for them to do something extraordinary, they'll do that too and we should all try to see the best in our co-workers, teammates, friends, family, etc... and by seeing the good in people helps make them better because they'll want to do more good. This entire mindset also helps improve our lives because we start living a life filled with gratitude.
Any of us can apply this "See the Good" mentality to our daily lives. With our children and spouses, with the people at work, with the weather, and even with the extra opportunity to bond with our children while we drive them to school because they had some troubles on the bus. Now - how does this apply to my writing/reading life?
There are some books that for whatever reason just don't get me as excited as others. How do you review a book that you had a hard time with? You guessed it - see the good! There's always some good stuff in there - we just need to look for it.
What advice do you have about seeing the good? What advice do you have about difficult book reviews? Share your thoughts and ideas - we'd love to hear from you!
You're the best!
Hugs,
~Crystal
Crystal is the office manager, council secretary, financial secretary, and musician at her church, birth mother, Auntie, babywearing mama, business owner, active journaler, writer and blogger, Blog Tour Manager with WOW! Women on Writing, Press Corp teammate for the DairyGirl Network, Unicorn Mom Ambassador, as well as a dairy farmer. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband and their five youngest children, two dogs, four little piggies, a handful of cats and kittens, horses Darlin' and Joker, and over 250 Holsteins.
You can find Crystal milking cows, riding horses, and riding unicorns (not at the same time), taking the ordinary and giving it a little extra (making it extraordinary), blogging and reviewing books here, and at her personal blog - Crystal is dedicated to turning life's lemons into lemonade and she has never (not once) been accused of being normal!
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