Climb Every Mountain with Courage (and Cookies)

July 25, 2014 | Coleen Patrick

Three years ago today I crossed the bridge from blog reader to blogger.

Cornish-Windsor covered bridge, Vermont (and New Hampshire)

I was scared, but I had a plan when I published my first post, There’s No Place Like the Prairie.

I wanted to create my author-ly space here on the internet (aka author platform),

A place to hang my quirky creative brand hat

not that I could define it at the time

Mini me wearing one of my first quirky hats

Oh and I didn’t have expectations

or, if I did, I didn’t know what publishing my thoughts, my books, my photos (hey an audience that doesn’t require a family room and a slide projector!) would actually feel like.

Some of my 1,095 Hey I’m a writer! days were pretty awesome

Flower garden at Trapp Family Lodge (the family that inspired The Sound of Music!!)

Stowe, Vermont

Others, kinda droopy. Seriously.

I like how Kate over at 4amwriter summed up the droop-tastic feeling:

“The bottom line, I discovered recently, was that I never told myself what I would do when I got rejections. I knew I’d get them. What I didn’t know is that they’d lay me out flat. And because I didn’t set myself a specific battle plan, it was easy to turn tail and run.” ~4amwriter

Enter courage (well, after some tears, some dessert, and a perusal of the classifieds).

The Trapp Family lodge in Stowe, Vermont makes an impressive first impression.

Okay, so courage doesn’t always make a dramatic entrance. Some days courage is one word, one tiny doodle, one smile.

And some days it’s just not quitting.

The creative life needs courage.

Our heads are not just in the clouds, we’re weaving fluffy, silver lined couture garments.

Right?

Yeah. Vulnerability is NOT EASY.

In fact, the image from my blog that has been pinned the most is this one:

Oh and my mom’s cream cheese cookie recipe is not trailing far behind.

Some of you may have guessed barns.

Barn nestled on mountain overlooking the village of Stowe.

By the way, thanks to Clay Watkins for tweeting me about his own barn finds!

But I’ll take courage and cookies (and supportive friends like YOU).

They’re great companions for climbing mountains.

Even if you can’t quite make out the mountain. Yet.

Climb every mountain,
Ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow,
‘Till you find your dream.

~Rodgers & Hammerstein, The Sound of Music

How are you mustering courage, or climbing mountains? Or just tell me your thoughts on cookies. I’d love to know.

Happy Weekend!

Coleen xo

Prediction: You Can Invent Your Future

February 4, 2013 | Coleen Patrick

alan kay quote invent life

Meet Phyllis.

Phyllis, the star of Susanna Leonard Hill‘s books PUNXSUTAWNEY PHYLLIS & APRIL FOOL, PHYLLIS.

Phyllis is a groundhog and a prognosticator, which sounds a lot like procrastinating. Especially when you factor in those Groundhog days in which she sees her shadow. Then everything gets pushed off for another six weeks.

Can’t say I haven’t been there.

Anyway, you see those teenagers shuffling around in the background? They finished exams last week at the high school where I ~~eavesdrop~~ help out, and were kind of like groundhogs popping out of their burrows, looking for some sort of relief from ~~the tortures of school~~ winter. Phyllis could totally relate.

They even seemed to be engaging in ancient customs of weather lore. I think.

These shoes say early spring, right?

I think my backyard is ready for spring.

I am happy to report that Phyllis did not see her shadow here in Virginia. In fact she had a ball.

And of course, Phyllis predicted the Ravens would win.

And she also accurately guessed which snacks would be eaten first at my house this weekend.

As well as the Monopoly token Hasbro will eliminate from the boardwalk this week.

But I can’t tell you which token will be replaced.

Or else I will go directly to jail.

And as for today’s forecast? Here’s to creating some possibilities.

A big thank you to Punxsutawney Phyllis. Check out Susanna’s website (link above) for more Phyllis adventures.

Are you forecasting BIG things for your future? What spring things are you looking forward to?

What is your favorite Monopoly token?

Have a happy week! 🙂

Literary Hobnobbing: Let Yourself (and Your Dreams) be Seen

October 15, 2012 | Coleen Patrick

I used to say I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid. Out loud.

I even brought my stories to school for my fourth grade teacher to critique. I proudly wore, then displayed the button she gave me. I still have it.

My kid badge of courage.

Sometime after high school, that courage deflated a bit. I still wrote, but I filed it all away in a large Rubbermaid container.

Part of it was a lack of direction. Part of it was fear.

Because it takes courage to put yourself out there–whether you are making new friends, trying something new, or setting goals toward your dreams. Maybe you hesitate, fill in all the unknown factors with worry, or maybe you paralyze yourself with fear, imagining your hopes floating unattached, like the fluffy bits from a dandelion.

What happens when you put it all out there?

Sure, there are scary things, like rejection.

But, you also leave room for opportunity.

This past week I got the chance to be a literary judge for a local elementary school’s PTA Reflections program. They were looking for a writer. My dandelion bits made their rounds (thank you Andrea!), and they asked me.

The writer.

I don’t think it had anything to do with my once upon a time literary connections.

Hobnobbing with Babar in the 80s.

The opportunity presented itself because I put myself out there.

It’s not always easy to be open, but YAY for new opportunities!

But wait–what does a children’s literary judge wear?

Something classic, maybe Suess-ian or Potter-esque?

Or, perhaps someone more inspired, more representative of Life and the Great Quest . . .

I found Waldo. In my own backyard.

Then I settled down to read the reflections of future artists. The theme this year is Magic of a Moment.

Reading the stories and poems reminded me how much courage abounds in the young.

So, of course, I carefully swept the “magic of a moment” essence off those papers with my unicorn tail hair brush. That sort of pixie dust is akin to the Fountain of Youth.

So if you’re looking to reclaim some of that gutsy kid attitude, I’ve left some on a dandelion in the Jungle of Nool.

Waldo will lead the way.

What are you mustering courage for this week? Are you more of a TRUTH, or DARE person? If you could dress up as any literary character, who would you be?

Let me know in the comments! 🙂

Leaps of Imagination and Olympic-sized Dreams

August 6, 2012 | Coleen Patrick

The Olympics–they bring to mind big dreams, athletes making history and well, spa treatments and fancy chocolates.

At least it did this weekend. My husband and I stayed at a hotel that offered that pretty chocolate platter and resort credit every time the U.S. won gold. I was already having fun watching gymnastics, swimming and track and field, but eight gold medals during our stay equaled not only patriotic excitement but free stuff, like a spa pedicure:

Thanks also to Missy Franklin and Katie Ladecky!

Spa services aside, I’ve always found the Olympics exciting, inspiring and highly motivating. When I was a teenager, I wrote in my diary that I was going to find a way to participate in the 24th Olympiad after watching the Los Angeles games.

Synchronized swimming was going to be my sport.

Now I got an A in swimming during my freshman year of high school, but I’d never, ever tried synchronized swimming, let alone played any sport in tandem (except maybe some Marco Polo bobbing). And while I loved gymnastics (and could rock the elementary round off dismount off the balance beam), I was not even remotely equipped for what was essentially a gymnastics floor program underwater.

I guess watching those Olympics, I found myself connected to that determination I saw in the athletes and I became motivated to do something. I wanted to experience that sense of accomplishment too.

But instead of funneling that motivation into one of my own dreams (I was very specific about my writing dreams according to my diary), I picked something random to shoot for.

It was a misguided attempt. One I’m not entirely sure about. I don’t think it was due to fear (that would come later). It was probably more about not knowing what to do about them (other than send out poetry to Seventeen magazine). Or maybe my dreams were so embedded, so much a part of me, that I almost forgot about them as a goal to practice and plan for.

I’m sick of following my dreams. I’m just going to ask them where they’re going and hook up with them later.

~ Mitch Hedberg

So my writing dreams mostly faded into the background of high school and college–and if you believe my diary, BOYS.

Although it’s interesting to note now that I continued to fill journals and write stories (filing them away in a big Rubbermaid container). I worked at libraries and I took writing classes in college, grad school and at night when my kids were younger.

Writing stayed close whether or not I acknowledged it.

Synchronized swimming on the other hand, became just an odd and out-of-place wish sitting in one of my diaries.

I did however win a gold (ish) medal in 2007. Not exactly the Olympics–for these purposes, let’s call it the Royal Caribbean games.

I placed first in a ship wide dart competition.

No cool team uniforms. I think it was against international maritime law or something.

For whatever reason, dreams fade or get pushed aside for other things. Sometimes we pick something else because it’s expected, or it’s easier or maybe more acceptable.

But it’s important to remember that life happens whether or not you plan.

Planning helps, because motivation can fade.

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.
~Zig Ziglar

I love hearing stories about people realizing their dreams–or accomplishing another step toward them. It’s exciting and inspiring, and everywhere, not only at the Olympics. I’ve seen that excitement in my kids’ faces and heard it in my sister’s voice each time she moves closer to her nursing degree. Finding inspiration, whatever gets you fired up, is a significant part of going for your own dreams.

It’s a reminder that if you put in A LOT of hard work toward a goal, accomplishment is not only possible, but EXHILARATING.

Of course, baby steps are fine. Just be sure to name your goal and put on your work clothes.

“Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes.”

~Benjamin Franklin

Then go after the dreams in your mind and your heart (fancy chocolates optional).

I’m going out there to try to accomplish the things that I have in my mind and in my heart.
~Michael Phelps

Do you have Olympic-sized dreams in your heart? What training are you doing to get closer to them?

Let me know in the comments, I love it when you share!

Have a great week. 🙂

Teenage Dreams and Blending in with Blue Hair

July 8, 2012 | Coleen Patrick

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”
~C.S. Lewis

When I was a teenager I dreamed big.

In one of my diaries I wrote in detail about my future house and backyard: “537 acres” complete with a “show barn and stables.”

I also wrote that I wanted to be a YA novelist and a big time screenwriter (obviously I would need two jobs to afford that kind of acreage, especially with the fancy pool tiles I detailed–you can read more on my diary in this post).

I dreamed with abandon.

But for most everything else I seemed to check myself. I never wore all black or any clothes that might make me stand out. I never dyed my hair wild colors. Once I dyed it black, but I changed it back to blonde the same day.

“The things that make me different are the things that make me.”

― A.A. Milne

Was I muting my individuality?

I mean I liked wild colors and glittery things. I loved flipping through my Seventeen magazine (especially the back to school issue) to see all the fun outfits and makeup. I would try all the fancy eye shadow techniques, but yea, I edited when I ventured out into the world (except for colored mascara. I loved that stuff–especially the electric blue color).

But I also wanted to blend in. I’m sure now a part of that was inhibition, but a bigger part has been the discovery of how I fit in my own skin and realizing that I have my own preferences for how I choose to be in the world. I know now that part of my individuality is that I’m happier in the role of observer, that I like to take my excitement from the world around me in bits and pieces instead of all at once.

But how does an introvert (who dreams like an extrovert) portray herself to the world?

Anyway she wants?

Okay so maybe wild hair isn’t really me. Dyeing it was certainly messy and I didn’t like that my hair felt like straw. Plus, when the Blue Envy dye dried, it flaked. I had Smurf Dandruff all over my clothes and bathroom.

And my shower as I washed the temporary dye out of my hair?

It was Avatar meets Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

But even with the mess, it was all totally worth it to see the looks on my kids’ faces. In their eyes I could see they thought I’d unleashed a can of Crazy (I’m definitely filing away this experience for YA writing research. If I’m ever at a loss for how to “torture” my main character, all I have to do is have the parent dye their hair).

And I still think glossy blue (read: salon created) hair like Katy Perry has, is pretty.

After seeing her movie Katy Perry: Part of Me last week, I felt inspired (and not just “follically”). I especially loved the videos of young kids who felt supported by her music, who expressed their feelings of being okay with being different and found a way to be a little more comfortable inside their own skins.

“You’re original, cannot be replaced.”

~Katy Perry, Firework

Taking to heart the message it’s okay to be who you are is not as easy as it sounds. Sometimes (like Dorothy in Wizard of Oz) we don’t realize that we’ve had the power within us all along.

Oh the tricky, elusive power of self-acceptance.

I think one way to harness it is by dreaming (BIG!) and then making every effort to make those dreams come true. Because often our dreams are uncensored. And there’s a confidence to be gained when we follow our dreams. The kind of confidence that allows an introvert to blog–or post blue haired photos.

“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”
― Paulo Coelho, Alchemist

I love the possibilities– in dreaming, writing, blogging and even dyeing my hair. So yea, it can be okay to blend in, but make sure you keep yourself open to possibility. Open to your dreams.

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

~Henry David Thoreau

What are your teenage dreams? What things are you inhibited or uninhibited about?

I love it when you share! 🙂

On Getting Unsquished and Seeing the Bigger Picture

April 2, 2012 | Coleen Patrick

Do you ever get so focused on your goals that you suddenly have no idea what you are looking at anymore?

You dream and hope and plan and then work hard, but sometimes you still end up careening right into your own viewfinder. Face squished up, focus distorted.

What I need is perspective. The illusion of depth, created by a frame, the arrangement of shapes on a flat surface. Perspective is necessary. Otherwise there are only two dimensions. Otherwise you live with your face squashed up against a wall, everything a huge foreground, of details, close-ups .

~Margaret Atwood

Squished up doesn’t leave much room for growth, or seeing our ideas through to completion–and I think it might even cause wrinkles.

But take a step back. Take a little time to discover the big picture once again.

Then breathe in deep.

Better keep yourself bright and clean. You are the window through which you must see the world.
~George Bernard Shaw

How do you get unsquished?

Waiting for the Answers

February 27, 2012 | Coleen Patrick

Last week I ran into the grocery store to pick up a few things.

Diced tomatoes. Check.

Cereal. Check.

Bread. Check

BIZ. Huh?

It was a mystery. One I’d written down myself only twenty minutes earlier, and still I stood there in aisle nine staring helplessly at the baking powder and flours, as if they might offer me up some sort of clue as to what BIZ was supposed to be.

But I got nothing. A brain fog—or my “duh cloud” as I’ve recently started calling it—had rolled in, only this time I found myself wondering: What is wrong with me? Am I just tired, or is this one more symptom to add to the list?

Because BIZ hasn’t been the only thing I’ve been wondering about. For the last eighteen months I’ve been dealing with some weird health issues—going several rounds in a game I call Stump the Doctor.

The bonus of the game is learning other random things I didn’t know about myself, like that I was deficient in vitamin D, and that even though I think pizza is the perfect food–my body rejects its gluten and dairy essence. Oh and that I am claustrophobic.

Well, I had my suspicions about that last one, but the two mri’s confirmed it.

Along with something odd showing up in my gray matter.

There’s Waldo, off on a new adventure

So my doctor isn’t sure what Waldo (and his friends) are doing there in my otherwise healthy brain. Or whether or not Waldo’s presence is actually the one causing my limbs to tingle like Bella on the day she met her sparkly Edward or for my right side to occasionally go numb in a way that makes me think I might do well cast as an extra on The Walking Dead.

Or the BIZ brain fog. Surely there’s a chance that my blonde hair is weighing me down, but more likely I am letting the stress of waiting for answers muck up my short-term memory.

That’s kind of what unanswered questions do—they can make you a little crazy sometimes.

Will that boy ever love me?

Am I going to get into the college of my dreams?

What will agent 99 say about my novel? (And will I get the call on my shoe phone?)

And the big one: Am I going to get an answer that I want to hear?

Waiting for those answers is kind of like trying to find Waldo. Sometimes it’s quick and other times we get stuck staring at that page filled with a million characters in varying shades of red and white wondering when we’re going to see him.

If you can’t beat ’em join ’em?

Except turning the page is an option. Waiting doesn’t always have to feel like sitting in Limbo’s plastic chair reading a People magazine from 1999 while time resumes its frenetic pace around us.

Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen… yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.

~Bradley Whitford

In the meantime, I’m gonna keep on keeping on.

First stop is the aisle where they sell the um, B 12.

Because apparently that’s the BIZ.

What do you do when you get stuck waiting on the unanswered questions?

The Indefinite Future of Someday

January 2, 2012 | Coleen Patrick

At the start of last year, blogging and social media were not on my to-do list, let alone part of any resolution, but they were something I imagined I would do someday.

You know, someday, the indefinite future.

As in someday I will travel to Italy and Greece, or someday I will use that trapeze school gift card (yes, I really have one of these).

Or maybe someday is dusting that stupid cobweb at the top of the family room ceiling fan–you know what I’m talking about, the one that can’t be reached without stopping to get a step stool or a broom.

So time goes by and that cobweb starts to dangle, it may even mock you a little by blowing in the breeze of the fan as you sit on the couch, but still you ignore it, push it off until the indefinite future, and then one day it’s gone.

Must’ve fallen off you think, some point between Masterpiece Theatre and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills . . .

But what if left unchecked, that cobweb bans together with others of its kind, and is lurking close by . . . a giant, zombified dust bunny of regret?

*cue Psycho music*

Indefinite inaction = Dustus Bunnicus

Then again it’s only dangerous if that action was something important.

Like say fulfilling a long-standing dream.

So when the idea of building an author platform presented itself last year, I thought, But I’m not ready . . . someday my blog will come.

But I was curious, so I Googled and researched and read Kristen Lamb’s books We Are Not Alone-The Writer’s Guide to Social Media and Are You There Blog? It’s Me, Writer, and the next thing I know . . .

Domain. Blog. Twitter. Facebook. I was out there.

And yes, it was way out of my comfort zone and not what I had planned, but then again:

“Why not seize the pleasure at once? How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation?”

–Jane Austen

Now okay I cringe a little at the words “foolish preparation,” because let’s face it, I am really more of a planning kind of gal. I like neat stacks and files and research. I don’t just hop on Amazon and buy something without researching it first (well, mostly–beware of that tricky Amazon 1-click setting.)

But even neatness and research can backfire and turn into Preparatory Procrastination.

Who knows what evil lurks behind clean desks and brand new notebooks?

Anyway, procrastination aside (please!) being out there was kind of the point, unless I was writing all those stories for the dust bunnies.

Maybe blogging is only a part of the dream, but the funny thing is now that I’ve gone and done it, well it makes the rest seem like it’s right there within reach.

Like a sparkling, clean ceiling fan.

I just need to go and get that step stool.

What someday is dangling over your head?

Dreams and the Depths of Fear

August 31, 2011 | Coleen Patrick

Not long ago I had a dream that really stuck with me. Usually my dreams slip away unnoticed, but not this one.

In it, I was standing on a beach with my son (a much younger version of him). It was nighttime and the waves were numerous and way too big to consider a dip. Well, that and I am scared of the ocean.

It’s more of a yin yang fear and fascination with the ocean (my mom blames Jaws). You see I am curious about it, I find it beautiful (especially those tropical oceans), but for the most part I view the ocean from a distance, or the shoreline. Pictures, TV, movies, books or if I’m lucky a beach towel or hammock are all acceptable vantage points. I will even go on a boat, and if the water is clear enough I may brave a toe dip, but for the most part I fear what lies beneath.

Still, in this dream, the water beckoned and so my son ran to the waves, and immediately they swallowed him up.

Now the water was dark and beyond scary, but when my son made a dive for the water, I had no choice. I didn’t even hesitate. In fact, my fear of the ocean was not even on my mind, not at all.

I followed him, pulled him out and then when he was safely in my arms I stepped back and that’s when I saw them . . .

Whales.

They were everywhere. The moonlight spotlighted them and I saw them breaching the waves, rolling on the water. It was a curious and beautiful sight, and the ocean no longer looked scary.

The dream moved me so much, that I felt compelled to research the significance of whales when I woke up. Captain Ahab aside, I found that whales symbolize motherhood, calmness, the depths of our conscience, and endurance.

Most of all they represent power and strength.

I know that a big part of my fear of the ocean is the unknown, but it’s interesting to think of these amazing creatures swimming beneath. It reminds me that we also hold strength, a power deep within ourselves that is ready when we are to breach our fears, to allow us to do what we want to do despite being afraid. Of course, in my dream, the only thing on my mind was my son’s safety, so it felt like a no-brainer.

But still, I believe that power is within us, swimming in our own depths. I think it’s a matter of making what you want a priority, making your goals a no-brainer in the face of fear.