An attitude of gratitude

I have an Apple app called Gratitude. Since downloading it about two years ago, I hardly ever use it. I think I've made about three entries total. If I actually used it as intended, I'd be writing down five things every day that I am thankful for. I could do that in my written journal, but as with everything in my writing life, it gets shoved to the background. In this case, almost off the cliff.

Well, I probably should take that app up again. I have an opportunity to write travel articles now. I'm making a concerted effort to get accepted to stock agencies and set up portraits with my photography. My family and I will travel to the Bay Area and to Seattle and Vancouver this year. I just ran my first marathon, and I'm itching (believe it or not) to run another. Yes, I have plenty to be thankful for. But this is the most important one of all (and my wonderful husband too, who took this picture):



They are the reason I strive to be the best person I can be, every day.

A new year, a new start

Welcome to 2012! If the Mayan predictions don't come true and we're still standing by the end of the year, I'm hoping that I'll have done the following:

- Completed a marathon (which I'll see if I can do in the next 10 days here...)
- Publish several articles, preferably in print
- Have photos accepted for stock and/or publications
- Knit a sweater a month (!)
- Cook and bake a lot more
- Travel to Europe

It was very gratifying to review my goals for the past year. The only ones I didn't accomplish were the publication ones, and those just need to have a little more oommph to them.

So here I go...no more excuses. I WILL get this done!

Time is running out...

So, I officially have one and a half days left until my summer vacation comes to its official end. In the time between June 2nd and today, I traveled to Florida, the Caribbean (which I still pronounce care-i-BE-an, not CUH-ri-be-an, like most people say), Colorado Springs, Durango and Chicago. I've probably covered more ground in terms of places than any other time in my life.

But I still need to find a home for all the ideas in my head and the articles I've written and the pictures I've taken. I'm not really afraid of rejection now, and I don't want to make excuses. But now a good chunk of my time will be taken with the job that pays the bills, not the work the feeds the soul. So I need to make a greater mental commitment than ever to say, "I'm going to be published by the end of the year, and I'm going to make some money from my photography".

It's the kind of thing I'll need to hang up on an index card and read it every day. I'm going to do just that.

In Chicago

Well, I've made it, and I don't have a lot of time to write here. The workshop starts in 15 minutes.

After getting in at 10:30 local time, I got to the hotel and checked in (lucky I could do that - thought I'd have to wait until 3 and maybe would have to lug around my suitcase). Rick Bayless's restaurants were just four blocks away, so I had an awesome lunch in the bar at Frontera Grill. Excellent stuff - I had enchiladas with braised vegetables and cheese. Probably the most flavorful enchiladas I've had in a while.

Later, I rented a bike and headed to the lakeshore area, pedaling up and down Lake Michigan. Since I don't have a car, that turned out to be a smart way to get around.

Pictures to come, as always!

Make something happen

Now that I've tried to submit to stock agencies (without success, so I'm in a bit of a holding pattern and trying to study the sites), it's time to query travel pubs or websites to see if I can something accepted. I'll be off to Chicago next week, and hopefully what I'll be doing there -a writers workshop - is taking that step and having it go somewhere.

I have a few articles, so I can get things going right away. But just like with the photos, I'm afraid of rejection (who isn't??). I just need to get it done, hard as it is.

So, I may be writing here on Monday. After that, though, it's on to the Windy City. We'll see if I can blog and take pictures from there.

Time for all the things I need to do

I realized that part of the reason why it's been hard for me to keep up this blog is because it's relatively difficult to upload photos the way I want to. Photography is one of those things that I'm including in this blog, along with travel, writing (and travel writing), knitting, cooking and being a parent. I'm trying to do a lot of things during my time off this summer. Here's the laundry list:

- Apply to microstock agencies
- Get an article published somewhere
- Establish a for-profit website
- Possibly become an online editor for family travel
- Finish a photography course

Some people wonder why I put J and N in summer camps while I'm off. I've never been able to answer that question in a satisfactory manner, until now. As you can see from the list, there's a lot to get done these next few months, and even then our vacation is going to inevitably get in the way of that.

Still, it's hard to stay too much away from these sweeties...