Thanks, Cheryl Strayed. I'm ready to get to work.

"We get the work done on the ground level. And the kindest thing I can do for you is to tell you to get your ass on the floor. I know it’s hard to write, darling. But it’s harder not to. The only way you’ll find out if you 'have it in you' is to get to work and see if you do. The only way to override your 'limitations, insecurities, jealousies, and ineptitude' is to produce. You have limitations. You are in some ways inept. This is true of every writer, and it’s especially true of writers who are 26. You will feel insecure and jealous. How much power you give those feelings is entirely up to you."

--From Dear Sugar #48, which isn't precisely written for me, but close enough.

I saw Cheryl Strayed, who IS Sugar, at the Unity Temple on the Plaza last night. There aren't many authors I would be so simultaneously pleased and flummoxed to meet, but she is on a very short list. She was as warm, as funny, as generous with her time and wisdom as I might have hoped. I am once again reminded that  at the end of the day, no one cares if I write but me, so I have to be the one to make it happen.

Watch this space. I'll be accountable here.

Fuck, yes.

I got Cliniqued

So a little over a week ago, my mom gives me this flier for some weapons-grade beauty cream that Clinique is giving away. You know, one of those the-first-one-is-free sorts of deals where after you're hooked on the tiny little bottle of complexion magic, they let you know that the full-sized bottle's going to be 80 bucks a month now that you can't live without it. So the you bring the flier in, and they give you a tiny bottle and make an appointment for two weeks in the future where you get another tiny bottle.

What the heck, I think.

I have good genes on my side so my skin's actually still nice for a 36-year old person. But free is free, and I am curious. I haven't used Clinique skincare for a while: these days, I use Philosophy, and I'm quite happy with the results.

But I'll give anything a try if it's free. And I need new blush anyway.

So I go to the Clinique counter and I show the nice lady in the almost-medical white coat the flier, and tell her I was in the market for some blush. I tell her two things I use regularly--Black Honey lip color and Teddy Bear eyeshadow--and that I am looking for a color of blush that is harmonious with those two products. She asks if I have time for her to try a couple things out, and I end up in the chair with her applying foundation and red-neutralizing base cover-up to my makeup-less face. (Hey, don't judge: it was my weekend, and I was tired.)

The end results of this pampering is that I walked out of Macy's with three products and my "free" miracle anti-aging serum. I'd feel worse about it, if the end result hadn't been so unequivocally BETTER than I have ever been able to for myself. I have yet to try to recreate what she did with these products...but the free serum is pretty damn great.

That's how they get you, I suppose...and I was no exception.

Today's Lesson

Buying a birthday card for someone with a brain tumor is really hard. It took me like...an hour of constant reading before I found one.

"Life isn't minutes, it's moments" takes on a whole new morbidity, in that circumstance.

It's the little things

I am uncommonly upset that there is no 2013 reading challenge for Goodreads up yet. How am I supposed to commit to a reading goal for the new year without a widget?!

Feeling this...

You were not born to be average, normal or typical.

You were not born a carbon copy.

You were born unique, born to excel, born to manifest the glory of the universe in your authentic spirit.

You are not weak.

You are stronger than you imagine, wiser than you know, and have vast powers that you have yet to actualize.

Stop playing small.

Be YOU. Tell your truth – now, today, this very moment.

Manifest your true self – not a poor reflection of your circumstance.

Don’t walk through this world unconscious of your greatness, sleep walking, surrendering your light to the bland grey around you.

You were born to be brilliant,

to be light,

to be fire.

Infuse your glory into this moment, into your choices, into your deeds, into the habits you create.

Consciously choose:

Choose your body through conscious consumption.

Choose your attitude, through conscious thought.

Choose your destiny by being present right now – for remember mindful moments multiplied, totally transform tomorrow’s.

Today choose integrity, choose discipline, choose joy, choose joy, choose joy.

Rejoice in your blessings AND, most importantly, know that EVERYTHING is a blessing.

And your blessings are rich soil.

So choose to grow into the boldest, proudest, most glorious version of YOU.

You were born for this.

Cory Booker

Books 83 - 85

I just finished Maggie Stiefvater's "Wolves of Mercy Falls" trilogy, and I have to say that I feel like she's grown so much as an author since she wrote these. They're still beautiful, with lots of short zippy chapters and shifting points-of-view that keep the story moving along, but having read The Scorpio Races first, I can see the clear development of her skill. I'd still recommend these to people who like YA novels, but I don't think these were her best work. I have her newest, The Raven Boys, on request at the library, and I hope it's as good as The Scorpio Races.