Time for Reassessing

This fall has been a whirl wind of misfortune, reassessments and renovating.
Lately in my life there have been four women facing the prospect of breast cancer. Cancer of any kind is enough to make you stop short and take a look at your life. Especially when there are children involved. In all four cases, there are.

One of the members of the Headwaters Writers' Guild, Alberta Nye, has produced a wonderfully touching movie called "So I'm Dying...Now What?" about a woman named Margaret Hackman. Margaret had tumours in her liver, stomach and brain. She knew she was terminal and respectfully declined treatment. What she did instead was live. Margaret flew a plane, snowshoed around her yard, became a Canadian citizen and became an inspiration to everyone around her. She asked Alberta to document her final months so she could leave behind a legacy of sorts. The final movie, being premiered in Guelph on November 5th, is a moving portrait of bravery. To find out more please go to Alberta's website http://www.spiritvalleypictures.com/.

In the meantime, since I have nothing better to do, I am working with my friend Nancy to bring forth an Artist's Way workshop. The Artist's Way is a life changing book written by Julia Cameron. I worked through it when I first moved 2,000 miles across Canada and it helped to change my life and improve my outlook. Now I'll do it to refocus my energies and make sure I write every day.

Busy, Busy, Busy...

This has been a very busy month!
First of all, my husband did two karate gradings in the past two weekends and will get his first degree black belt sometime in the near future. We're all very excited that part of life is behind us. We hardly saw him for six months! At least he's home just in time to celebrate our wedding anniversary on Oct 6th.

Secondly, I've taken my Reiki Level II and, on top of all the other things I do all week, plan to start offering sessions. This came about after I was asked three times yesterday how much I charge and if I had business cards. The Universe is so subtle sometimes, isn't it?

Thirdly, my edits and information is due within the next couple of weeks for my agent Dawn Dowdle. I've gotten some great e-mails from her lately about what her writers are accomplishing and am very excited to get The Bookstore Lady on its way to her.

Number four, I've volunteered, as I do every year, to assist with the yearly fall Dance-a-thon at my kids' school. I spent the past two nights making posters that my kids are convinced are works of art! I'll have to post them just for the fun of it. Looking forward to the end of October when we actually get to have the dance.

And last, but not least, I've been doing physiotherapy for me knee and finally able to walk without pain!That alone is worth celebrating. My therapist is great and I'm looking forward to seeing Michelle for a massage tomorrow once all of this editing and polishing of my novel is behind me!

As busy as the month has been, it's all things that are going to be worth it in the long run. I love my physiotherapist's take on it: "This is a marathon, not a sprint." While he means it about my therapy. I'll take it as a life lesson.

"Life is a marathon, not a sprint."