Mother Goose cornstalk maze

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Took kids on field trip through Mother Goose cornstalk maze; this meant reading the nursery rhymes and following the clues to find the way out. Very involved! There they are in front of Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater’s house.

After the very long walk through the maze, they were pretty happy to rest on a hayride, then pick a pumpkin out of the patch.

Being better

Finished reading The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Jack Canfield. It’s an excellent book, one I’ll be re-reading. Also read Donald Maass’ The Career Novelist, which I’ve read before but I think that was right around when I first sold a novel. Definitely a different perspective now. It’s a very useful book for serious career thinking.

Reading books on craft, on business, on personal growth is all part of the same package; being better. You can’t be a better writer without being a better person, a better thinker, better at understanding business. If I want my books to grow, I have to grow. I can’t stay where I am, or I have nothing more to offer. I think it was Dorothea Brande who said the author’s character is revealed in writing, and that’s where you truly succeed or fail. My view of human nature, of relationships, of the world around me is going to be in everything I write, and if I want people to come away from a book feeling better about those things, then the job has to start with me.

I don’t want to be the same writer today that I was four years ago, and four years from now, I want to look back and see how far I’ve come. How my work has deepened and improved. Not just craft and technique, but the heart of the story. So I try to be better. And that means reading books like Canfield’s and Maass’ and really working to implement what I’ve learned. It means taking care of myself so I’m up to the work. I’ve made lots of changes this year to be better, and more are ahead. If I just keep doing the same things, I won’t get better.

Argh

So far I woke up to the three year old bellowing “mommy!” and ran (okay, staggered) to her, only to find out she’d turned her pillowcase into fairy wings which she wanted to show me. Then the five year old comes out with an emergency. Then there’s breakfast and vitamins and toothbrushing and where is my other sock. Attempted to get through email and other business. Many interruptions, including 3 and 5 year old deciding to turn the doll house into a sled. *head desk* And it’s not even 8 a.m. yet.

Off to find my coffee cup. Hopefully it hasn’t been turned into a doll swimming pool, or a bowl of Legos…