Daily Courage

This week’s Blogging for Bliss blog tour has been delightful! Thank you to everyone who joined in the fun, and to Kari at Artsy Mama for being the host. I had two copies of the book to giveaway. I used Tara Frey’s Random Number Generator to choose the winners. It’s a great tool you can use for your blog too. 

The winners are Deb from Posted-From-Home, and Beth Gales from Gales Designs. Congratulations. I’ll pop a copy in the mail to each of you as soon as you send me  your addresses.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by during party week. Be sure to join the Blogging for Bliss fan page on Facebook for updates on the book and Tara’s journey.

One of the realities of life is that we never know what is around the bend. Sometimes it takes great courage to deal face what we are handed. Like many women, I bought into a lot of the myths of motherhood. If I did things the “right way”, I would be fine and my children would be healthy and happy. Twenty-one years ago today, I gave birth to my first child, a boy named Brendan Patrick. Fairytales seemed to lie ahead with this little angel baby in my arms.

The one gift I wanted him to receive from me was self-confidence and a love of himself. What I didn’t know was that just because I did all the things a “good mother” does, there were no guarantees. I won’t go into the details because my cross is no heavier that anyone else’s. It’s how I dealt with it that is the point of this post. But it had to do with family health battles, and a rotten disease – Crohns.

I let worry and angst take me over. Without realizing it, I stopped nurturing myself and my own soul. I depleted any emotional reserves I had in the bank and fell hard and fast into an emotional breakdown prefaced by a panic attack. I nearly took my family down with me when I went.

I have built a career on talking to other women about the importance of nurturing themselves, taking time to creatively express themselves and inspiring them with articles and books. But, I myself had lost the balance and instead focussed on many things I could not control. Because I didn’t honor the signs my heart, soul and body were trying to give me. Because I didn’t stop to listen to, the deciding was done for me. I was knocked flat out, physically and emotionally. 

It was time to enter into a period of deep introspection, circle the family wagons, and make some changes. I developed a Wellness Plan. A component of it is to nurture my creative side, and get back to walking my talk. That has put me back in my craft studio. And back to writing. I was writing for everyone else, but not for me.

I think that is why I particularly enjoyed the Blogging for Bliss blog tour party that launched yesterday. I got to look into the creative souls of many wonderful women. Some of whom I am sure have had similar experiences to mine. (And then there are those better-balanced women who know that you don’t let up on the things that nurture you when the going gets rough.)

Happily, the Birthday Boy is doing very well after a wonderful wilderness therapy program. Our daughter is serving as a junior counselor at a camp for young people with Crohn’s Disease, where she is sharing her story that while you may walk in the valley at times, the illness is manageable and life moves on. And so do I. Wiser than before, back at the keyboard and putting in time  with my jumbled array of ribbons, papers, buttons, baubles and other craft supplies.

Time to crank out a few new crowns and perhaps some new jewelry designs from the watch parts I found at the Alameda Flea Market on an outing with dear friend Judy Watkins.

Whatever you do, don’t stop creating!

Today is a long awaited day. It marks the full orchestra, get-dressed-up-in-your-ball-gown, debut of Blogging for Bliss by Tara Frey. The party hostess is Kari Ramston from Artsy Mama. Thanks for having us Kari. 

The Red Lips 4 Courage team produced this book with Tara, and we have been waiting for months to see this unfold!

I blog for bliss because I love to share stories and connect creative women. I used to love sitting down to write the editor’s letter for each issue of Romantic Homes. Since starting my own little boutique book making venture, I have spent most of my time working on other people’s writing. I miss those days of personal connection, and the blog is giving me that chance once again. It feeds my soul.

Personally, I find myself getting drawn into intensive time-suck sessions because I become bound and determined to figure out much of the formatting and CSS  I can do myself. What is it about that? I’m like a primal cave woman on the prowl for the thrill of the kill. I’ll troll the web for hours for tips and solutions, and will try tweaks over and over to try to get things just right. I have a long way to go to be in the leagues of the women who are included in the book. But there is a certain unexplainable pleasure that comes from learning something new everyday.

The business camp I live in tells me WordPress is the true blog religion. But I manage a beautiful blog for a friend in Blogger, and find it a joy to work on. I have another little startup blog in the works on TypePad, so soon, I’ll be confused by all three platforms! A true Unitarian of blogdom.

I Blog for Bliss because of the connections it brings to creative kindred spirits and amazing women I would not have otherwise met.. I am a DYI kind of gal, so I spend far more time than I care to admit on the prep and code. But in the end, just like a project from my craft room, I love sitting back and enjoying knowing I did it myself! And I like to think it takes courage to venture into new realms, so its about that too…

Tara cheers to you and to all women who accepted the invitation to be a part of Blogging for Bliss!

I have TWO copies of the book to giveaway. Just leave me a comment and I will use Tara’s random number generator to determine the winners. I’ll post the lucky ducks over the weekend. No need to write a long post, but I’d love anything you’d like to share.

Blogging for Bliss by Tara Frey is receiving great response from bloggers far and wide. We couldn’t be happier! Many thanks to the blissful bloggers who are spreading the word. A great big thank you to Kari Ramstrom author of Artsy Mama for hosting a blog tour party on behalf of Tara and the book. Be sure to visit Kari’s blog for all the details. She is gathering the best of the best and some of the most amazingly creative women you will ever meet. And all through the wonderful world of blogging. Come join the party!

While we were working away on the book we lovingly developed the acronym – B4B, which is how we lovingly refer to it.

To lean on an old cliche, “It took a village.” When Tara Frey contacted Red Lips 4 Courage with the concept of creating a book about blissful blogging, we loved the idea. She was onto something big, and we felt it in our creative hearts. What Tara and our team did not understand at the time was just how big the movement of blogging for artistic expression had really become. There is a lot to know and many, many talented women out there doing some incredibly creative things in the blogosphere. Seasoned editor Rebecca Ittner took the reins and led Erika Kotite, Cathy Risling, Jocelyn Foye and I into the wonderful world of blissful bloggers. What Tara didn’t know, Rebecca researched and found out. We all learned a great deal and fell in love all over again with why we love working in the world of creative women. The book is just starting to ship and already the response is wonderful.
Surely many new blogs will be brought to light over the coming weeks. Please help us share them with others by telling us about them here. Look forward to hearing from you!

Sterling booth at BEA

No one knew what to expect at BEA in New York City this time around. The bloodletting has been long and deep in the book industry. Reading the daily publishing trades has been more like being immersed in endless obituary pages of late. So, it was with a slightly faint heart that we set out for Book Expo this year. 

We were thrilled to see that our latest project, “Blogging for Bliss” by Tara Frey for Lark Books/Sterling had perfect placement in the Sterling booth. We are optimistic about this one in particular. We believe in the importance of creativity, especially in trying times. Spread the word, positive attitudes and creative pursuits trump negativity and pessimism every time. We hope you’ll try blogging for your own bliss.