Hi, my name is Kim and I have a calendar/planner addiction problem.
Just in my kitchen alone I have FIVE different calendar/planners. *head thunk*
*On the cabinet on the left is the monthly calendars I post to keep track of my writing goals. They are at eye level, right in front of where I do a lot of my writing. They are a daily reminder to get my butt in the chair and hit my word count.
*In the middle of the room, on the fridge door, I’ve got an adhesive white board that tracks all the after school and school related activities of the boys. Each boy has a color and everyone can see who is staying after school, what they need to bring to school that day and what evening activities they have.
*On the far right I have a my 12 month calendar that has all the family events posted to include all birthdays and anniversaries. My husband makes no plans without checking this calendar. LOL!
*Back on the left side of the picture, is my computer/phone calendar which I can not live without because it has alarms!!! I need those pop up reminders on my computer and phone telling me where I’m supposed to be and what I should be doing. For example, I need an alarm to tell me that tomorrow I signed up to bring something to the bake sale, so now I need to go buy cookies and put them on a plate and make them look all Martha Stewarty.
*And right next to my computer, I have my newest planner, which is the main point of this post because I want to share it with you. It’s called my Passion Planner. I stumbled across it late in 2014 when a friend was ordering one. Here’s the skinny on the Passion Planner…
I am loving this planner because it’s a place where I’m sort of journaling and organizing together. I’m taking notes and making plans for the future, but also evaluating what I’ve just done. Really loving it and that’s why I wanted to share it with you.
The planner looks pretty basic on the outside, but inside it’s very unique…
It comes with directions and suggestions for use, but it feels so user friendly that I’m using what works for me and being really creative with it. It’s a work in progress, but what I really love about it is that I can see myself having one every year and over time these planners will function like a time capsule of my daily life and goals. Ya know, for the archives when I’m famous and stuff. *grin*
I’m also enjoying it because I don’t tend to journal on a regular basis. I use my blog to fulfill that aspect of my writing life, but this will fill in some of the gaps that aren’t possible on a blog. Things that I may not want to post publicly. Or things that aren’t so interesting to a blog readership. Yesterday, as I watched the live feed of the ALA Awards, I wrote down a list of all the new award winning books I wanted to read. Finally a list I won’t lose. *sigh*
Aren’t you loving this planner? If you’re interested in getting your own Passion Planner, you can find out more about it HERE.
Any of you calendar/planner addicts, too? What do you think is the appeal? Could it be the colored markers or the stickers? Or is it because so much of the rest of my life is completely unorganized? I have no clue, but if you know–please fill me in. Now I’m off to get some fabulous multicolored pens and highlighters. <3
It seems that lately, I’ve been exposed a little bit more than usual to the frustrated conversations of people dealing with the effects of untreated mental illness and addiction. What I’m noticing with these dialogues is a range of emotion. At one end of the spectrum there is compassion for those who are so obviously in need of quality medical support–a whole hearted attempt at kindness and understanding. And on the other end of the spectrum there is shock and rage directed at the cruel things that are side effects of a person who is no longer grounded in their original essence. I often view these people, behaving so destructively, like a plane falling out of the sky. They are trying to make an emergency landing but in the process are leaving a large swath of collateral damage in their wake.
I’m all too familiar with the ping-pong of emotions that comes with people who are crashing planes. I’ve had ill people in my life, who’s behavior leaves me feeling like I have a split personality as I try to cope with it. On a good day, when I’m in a good place, I find I’m charitable, forgiving and kind. I can see the bigger picture of the monsters of mental illness and addiction and I can separate the person who needs help from their actions. On my bad days, when their behavior is reprehensible and it threatens to crush me, I pull this quote up off the desktop of my computer…
I don’t know why–but this quote is like a life jacket for me. It’s funny enough to make me laugh (which I usually need if I’m digging for it) but it’s also true enough to remind me that I can’t fix everyone. No one can be helped who doesn’t want to be and I find that a very hard thing for me to accept when I love someone. I have that tendency to believe if I try a little bit harder, if I love a little bit more, I might make THE difference. I don’t want to feel like I’ve given up on someone I care about. But then I’m reminded that it isn’t fair for me to be someone else’s collateral damage, even if I love them. I’m supposed to love me too–and all the other people in my life who need me.
And while it’s never pleasant to watch a soul slowly stop breathing the sanity around them, I’d like to remind all those people who are feeling all the feelings right now, that some things are out of our control. When a plane is going down, the best chance you have at saving someone one else, is to put your own oxygen mask on first. You put on yours. Then you put on the mask of the people around you who want it and then you hold that last remaining mask in your hand and you hope that before it’s too late, that last person will decide they want to breath again.
And then you understand that holding out and holding on are two very different things.
OUT OF REACH by Carrie Arcos. Carrie is a fellow Apocalypsie and a Simon Pulse sister, only adding to my love of this National Book Award Finalist.
How do you find someone who doesn’t want to be found? A girl searches for her missing addict brother while confronting her own secrets in this darkly lyrical novel.
Rachel has always idolized her older brother Micah. He struggles with addiction, but she tells herself that he’s in control. And she almost believes it. Until the night that Micah doesn’t come home.
Rachel’s terrified—and she can’t help but feel responsible. She should have listened when Micah tried to confide in her. And she only feels more guilt when she receives an anonymous note telling her that Micah is nearby and in danger.
With nothing more to go on than hope and a slim lead, Rachel and Micah’s best friend, Tyler, begin the search. Along the way, Rachel will be forced to confront her own dark secrets, her growing attraction to Tyler…and the possibility that Micah may never come home.
Kimberly’s Review of OUT OF REACH:
OUT OF REACH is a story about substance abuse and it’s effect on a family, particularly a brother and a sister, but I believe it’s message is much broader. It reminds us that no matter how much we want to, we can’t change other people. We can only change ourselves.
One of the things I found fascinating about Carrie Arco’s writing was how quiet the revelations were in a book with such strong topics. There were some very serious moments, but they were brilliantly contrasted by the slow dawn of personal revelations and the sweet weaving of new relationships. Love against loss.And hope–always hope.
About the Author
Carrie Arcos is a National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature for OUT OF REACH, her debut YA novel.
She lives in Los Angeles with her family. She is currently at work on another book, available summer 2014. You can find more about her at carriearcos.com
Love the Bookanistas Reviews? Here’s some more for this week…
Shari Arnold marvels at THE MOON AND MORE by Saran Dessen
Katy Upperman gushes over THE GIRL GUIDE by Christine Fonseca
Have you read any of the books reviewed by the Bookanistas this week? Any thoughts? Have you read any other books that have handled the topic of substance abuse and addiction really well?
My friend Judy Dulberg and I got together because our dead fathers were conspiring with each other in the afterlife. We don’t have proof of this–but we’re pretty darn certain that’s how it went down. I doubt you could convince us otherwise–so you should just go with it. Judy and I have only known each other a couple months, but we’ve quickly learned that good things happen when we talk to each other and share our unfiltered thoughts. So, that’s what we’ve been doing. Even though, some of what happens between us seems sort of ridiculous sometimes, we’ve just decided to go with it because it seems to be working. In fact, one of the most recent and biggest surprises, that’s come out of our hanging out together at our local SCBWI Shop Talk meetings, has been that Judy got inspired by all the amazing people around her and started Center Rock Publishing, LLC an Independent Publishing Company. Very exciting! And most recently, Judy wrote me and said–I wrote this yesterday and I’m not really sure why….
Keep the Book Avoid the Booze
Written by Judy Dulberg
Storytelling is an art. Support of the arts in the United States has dwindled over the last several years. Everyone wants to purchase a good story as a gift or as a keepsake or to read while on vacation. However, few realize the emotion, agony, excitement, frustration, elation and millions of other nouns that an author goes through to make that story happen. If we don’t support artists, we won’t get great stories.
Relationships are draining and take a lot of work. Storytellers need to be in a relationship with characters. We have to flirt with them and love them. We have to hate them sometimes and even change some of what we love about them so that they can fit in socially. We have to wake up in the morning and say “How you doin’?” (Like Joey from “Friends”). Sometimes they’re not doing too well… they are limp and lifeless. Like a good partner we have to help them thrive. Maybe we need to shake up their lives, take them off the page and send them on an adventure… or send them away completely, like the saying says – “If you love something set it free. If it comes back to you then it’s yours.” If it doesn’t come back, it did not fit the story.
Writing a story is like holding a new life. You are excited. It is endearing. Then it shits on you. What?! I know, it sucks and it is something that your friends without a book in draft form can’t understand. It keeps you up at night, sometimes for good reasons and sometimes just because you think it “needs” you. You fuss over it when sometimes it just needs to be left alone.
Oh and the advice. “Why don’t you just give the character wings and he can fly away from the problem,” or “why don’t you just send him to France where he can see her again and reunite after 50 years?” You want to tell them “Well clearly if you understood ‘Johnny Goombatz’ you would know mafia dons don’t fly and he can’t just get out. He would have to disappear!” You might get the all too recognizable eye roll. What they are likely thinking is “Relax. He isn’t real.” If he isn’t real to you then let him go, because no one else will believe him either. This is when belonging to a writer’s group is important. It’s group therapy.
At my last writer’s meeting one of the writers, Michelle Mead, told me she sometimes feels like she is there for an addiction meeting. When we go around the table to introduce ourselves and what we are working on she has a compulsion to say “Hi, I’m Michelle, and I’m a writer.” It’s true; we need a support group for this. No matter what you are writing, sometimes you have excuses that no one wants to hear. No one wants you to tell them that you were late for soccer practice because Ollie Octopus plays soccer and you could not figure out if tentacles are legs or arms and he might be in violation… So you made him a monkey, but the name Ollie doesn’t sound right anymore, and the only name you like “George” is taken. Queue eye roll.
Writers always keep a healthy dose of anxiety about “the book,” or “the article.” This leads people to say, “Take a break. Maybe you should stop doing this.” Suffice it to say, as Michelle pointed out, it’s an addiction. As with any addiction, we crave it and love it, so be patient with us, because something good will come of this addiction. Trust me when I tell you, if we give it up, we might replace it with a more extreme addiction. Nobody wants that.
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I read Judy’s piece and I said…this is a blog post! Do you have a blog yet? Because I’d love to use it as a guest post on my blog. Well, she was more than happy to let me share it with you AND she started a blog DIARY OF AN INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER. Head over there to read more about Center Rock Publishing and follow Judy’s journey.
Anyone else have experience with an Independent Publisher? Do you have a favorite and why have they impressed you so much? Any advice for Judy? Do you think of writing as an addiction? Isn’t the Center Rock Publishing logo adorable?
It’s a work in progress, but what I really love about it is that I can see myself having one every year and over time these planners will function like a time capsule of my daily life and goals. Ya know, for the archives when I’m famous and stuff. *grin*
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