Welcome to Small Reflections


"Nothing is ever achieved without enthusiasm."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Duck photo source: Lisa's Chaos
I hope you enjoy your visit. If you're looking for something specific, check out the links to posts by category in my sidebar and down a ways. They'll assist with tracking down different types of posts found on each of my three blogs. You might also enjoy checking out the other sites: Sacred Ruminations, Blog Rolls, Bling & Blurbs, and Happily Retired Gal.

I hope you'll look around & leave comments
then visit me at my new blog ...

Giraffe Journal

and/or website ... Labyrinth Journal
both self-hosted at WordPress
where I publish as myself
rather than under a
pseudonym.

I've not had much time for posting or blog visits, but if you're interested I hope you'll find time to check out my new blog, Giraffe Journal or my Labyrinth Journal website ... both self hosted at WordPress.

Thanks for your visit and have a delightful day ;--)
Hugs and blessings,

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #2

Thirteen Things I’d Do If I Knew I Couldn’t Fail (in no particular order)
  1. Submit a manuscript for publication
  2. Participate in a Poetry Slam
  3. Create educational environments to empower kids and inspire them to explore whatever interests them (for however long it does) … allowing & encouraging them to follow their dreams and desires rather than “contain themselves”
  4. Become a “motivational speaker” and/or storyteller in the oral tradition
  5. Fix my leaky faucets myself
  6. End world hunger
  7. Rid the world of violence, war, aggression & hostility
  8. Learn to draw and/or paint to illustrate my writing colorfully
  9. Teach Molly & Ms. Kitty to be friends
  10. Calm myself and overcome self-doubt
  11. Clear clutter from my home and distractions from my mind … learning to focus on one thing at a time and make decisions easily
  12. Set up a foundation, a scholarship, and/or create a legacy for the future
  13. Learn to speak and understand other languages.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

For
easy
access,
I’ve listed
more T-13 links
along with
the Thursday Thirteen
Blogroll to my

sidebar

Reminder: You've got 2 more days to figure out the Christmas Carol Quiz answers and email them to me. Did you notice the "snowy" effects in the award Mary created that's now displayed in the sidebar here? As previously announced: Peajay, Joy, John and Carrie were the first 4 Bloggers to get all 10 correct and have the Small Reflections Christmas Carol Quiz Award to post on their Blogs.

Who's going to be next?

26 comments:

Rian Fike said...

Calm yourself and overcome self-doubt. I know you can, I know you can, I know you can!

colleen said...

Start checking them twice like Santa does and crossing them off one by one!

KW said...

I think we all feel some type of self-doubt at one point or another. Be positive and you can do anything! My #20 is up

http://katskrackerbox.wordpress.com/2007/12/13/thursday-thirteen-20-13-dishes-to-try-this-christmas/

Laura Brown said...

Came for a Thursday13 visit. If I couldn't fail at something it would be exercising regularly. That is something I really have to make myself do, would be great if I just did it without fail.

Dane Bramage said...

If I knew I couldn't fail, I think I would run for President.

Thanks for visiting my T13 #60: 13 Things I Want for Christmas But Will Never Get

storyteller said...

Thank you all for visiting my T-13. I've been visiting other blogs today as well. If I haven't been to yours yet, I'll get there soon. I appreciate you leaving comments, especially since things seem to be moving at a slower pace than usual here. I suspect adding the T-13 Blogroll to my Sidebar may be the culprit.

Stu and Kat - I appreciate the positive support :)

Colleen - excellent advice! If it works for Santa, it has to be a practical strategy.

Laura - yeah, exercise (especially when life gets busy) if often the first thing I sacrifice LOL

Dane -- now THAT's a thought! We could use some new blood in the political arena.

Karen said...

I love lists...maybe I should do thirteen Thursday...

And what a wonderful list--just think how much you could accomplish if you just started to do any of them. We all seem to get overwhelmed by the big picture, but if instead we focused on what we could do at that moment, on one little step toward the larger goal, imagine how much good we could do.

Daisy Dexter Dobbs said...

Failure's not really such a bad thing. I know that for a fact because I've experienced it so many times myself. LOL Seriously, each failure is simply one step closer to success.

Now get that manuscript submitted for publication! :-D

(And thanks for stopping by my TT!)

storyteller said...

Karen - Yes, I'm my own worst enemy most of the time unless I watch myself and relax. As for the T-13 lists, I've seen them for weeks now before realizing it was a weekly thing with LOTS of participants. Doing the first one last week was a little challenging because of the "format & coding" (since I don't know much about HTML) but this week was simpler. Last week was my first one, but I got some interesting new visitors to my blog and found some blogs I've added to Google Reader to check every day or two. Go ahead and give it a try and see what happens. I ended up doing another today at Sacred Ruminations.

Daisy - thanks for visiting and offering the encouraging thoughts. Actually, I often remind myself (and others) that I can't fail as long as I don't quit. Today's list grew out of something I saw and posted about yesterday ... but it sort of whimsical because I suspect I could do something about most of these if I made them priorities. Maybe I’ll choose one and see what happens …
Hugs and blessings,

Smiler said...

Most of these seem entirely attainable. Perhaps all you need is a tiny shift in perspective. Have a look at this post from 2 days ago, it's something I wholeheartedly endorse:
http://fromsmilerwithlove.blogspot.com/
2007/12/motivational-quote-of-day.html

Happy TT!

storyteller said...

I appreciate you stopping by and leaving the link Smiler. I've looked at the quote and believe it might be one to add to my Sidebar. I agree that it's certainly worth holding in mind when trying something new and/or challenging ... and to share with whoever happens by, I've added it here:

"You must accept that you might fail; then, if you do your best and still don’t win, at least you can be satisfied that you’ve tried. If you don’t accept failure as a possibility, you don’t set high goals, you don’t branch out, you don't try – you don’t take the risk."
~ Rosalynn Carter: Former first lady and author

Yup -- certainly worth keeping in mind. Thanks :)
Hugs and blessings,

pjazzypar said...

I think you should undertake some of these endeavors. Nothing beats failing like trying. Happy TT.

Melissa said...

Great list. I have a few of those on my list myself.

Thanks for the recommendation to your teacher friends! I'm actually getting ready to launch another blog that will review kid lit. I'm not a teacher or anything, but everyone I know comes to me with book questions! So I think it's time to put all of this to good use.

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back soon.

storyteller said...

Pjazzypar - I enjoyed YOUR list of musicians you wish you'd seen live in concert. Thanks for visiting here and offering your encouragement. That's excellent advice.

Melissa - seems to me that one doesn't need to be a teacher to write book reviews. All one really needs to do is be a reader who can think and write. More power to you!
Hugs and blessings

Nicholas said...

Even if there is the possibility of failure, that shouldn't stop you trying anyway!

Mary said...

Storyteller,

Write that manuscript and submit it. The worst thing they can tell you is no. The best thing is yes, but if you never try, you'll never know. Give it a try and remember, rejection isn't personal.

Loved your TT.
Blessings,
Mary

pussreboots said...

It's time to jump in and start conquering that list. Happy TT. :D

Addicted to crafting said...

Hello,

Believe in your dreams, dare to do things that seems un-doable... You can succeed, sky's the limit!!!!

(((hugs)))

:)

Amy Jane (Untangling Tales) said...

I came to visit you after seeing your name (storyteller) on a comment.

I loved your #4 as that's one of my goals as well.

I made a similar list in this post,
Stories hit the list in several ways. :o)

Do you have a post or place where you say what you like to write/tell?

K. said...

Failure is scary, but you know, maybe making it into a list is the first step? It's a great list.

damozel said...

Write that manuscript. Participate in that poetry slam. Don't let anything stop you from trying.

The path just gets narrower if you don't go for what you want.

thanks for visiting mine!

storyteller said...

Okay okay okay okay okay! I get it!!!!! LOL
Actually anyone who knows me would assure you I’m an eternal optimist and determined as all get out when I put my mind to something. I’ve made great strides toward many of these already, but as I was thinking about the question I’d encountered and included in Wednesday’s random musings … these rose to the surface … and I posted them as my T-13 without much thought yesterday. I do appreciate all the support and encouragement from everyone. Who knew I’d find such a lovely “cheering” section? One of the blessings of Blogging is discovering “readers” out there. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart! I’ve been a “closet writer” most of my life … have boxes of journals filled with daily writings … and suspect they contain more than one book. The challenge now is to “mine” them for the gems they may contain and begin the work of polishing. That said …

Nicolas – if I had a nickel for every time I said this to former students, I’d have lots more spending money.

Mary – for years now I’ve used a pair of questions to guide me: 1) What’s the worst thing that can happen if you do this thing? 2) What’s the best that can happen if you don’t? It’s surprising how often the answer is the same in both instances, and that’s how I’ve managed to step forward into uncertainty and (as Eleanor Roosevelt reminds us all) “do the thing we fear most”

Pussreboots – I’m jumping already … watch me jump :)

No Nonsense Girl – I dare to do the un-doable, I dare to do the un-doable, I dare to do the un-doable … yes!

Amy – kindred spirit and storyteller … I appreciate the link to the post where you generated a list with similar things. Perhaps we can encourage & support one another.
As for posts about what I like to write/tell … blogging is all quite new and exploratory for me. Although I’ve not yet addressed that topic as directly as you have on your blog, I suspect I’ve done more of this at Sacred Ruminations than here at Small Reflections. You might go to early November (starting around the 7th perhaps) and read some of these to get a sense of who I am and what I’m about:
--Day 5 Embracing a Larger Vision
--Day 6 Remembrance and Change
--Day 7 Reconnecting with Spirit
--Day 9 Mindfulness
--Day 10 Guidance
--Day 17 Allowing myself to Receive
--Day 20 On Taking Action
--Day 22 On Growth and Change
--Day 23 Visual Poetry – where I share a piece I created 1993 that is representative of one type of writing I’ve done for quite a while now.
So … could be you’re sorry you asked the question, right? Whether or not you use this list, revisiting my earlier posts and creating it here just may help me refocus. NaBloPoMo and Holidailies may have been distractions, but they did introduce me (as Thursday Thirteen does) to others … and they to me.

K. – Thanks for that! I thought it was a good list when I created it, but I’ve been having 2nd, 3rd, and 4th thoughts with all these comments. LOL Yes failure IS scary … but scary can be good sometimes. As I’ve said before … if I don’t quit, I can’t fail. At least I’ve begun … finally.

Damozel – Thanks! I need those specific reminders. One of the hardest parts of having put off so many of these things while I was busy living my life (earning a living and all that) is that now I’m an OLD broad! LOL … Of course, there ARE advantages to being in my 60s and self-sufficient … and it’s pretty clear, that if I don’t so them soon … I may run out of time entirely. Lest I forget, those animal video clips were worth the time ... every one of them!

So … even though this comment is longer than some of my posts, once again … to EVERYONE who shared their wisdom here, thanks for taking the time to visit my blog and offer their two cents. I am most grateful … and I’ve enjoyed visiting YOUR blogs as well.
Hugs and blessings,

Mary said...

Storyteller,

You go girl! I expect to hear that you've sent at least one manuscript to a publisher in 2008.

Remember, don't take rejection personally. Editors read dozens of manuscripts each month. For years I got rejections and if you keep trying one day you will get an email or letter saying, "We have accepted your story..." Or, which was my first step, a manuscript that had been edited and then was asked for revisions and a resubmit.

A good place to start is with anthologies. Write a heart wrenching story and submit it to Chicken Soup. You will find their guidelines at http://www.chickensoup.com

Blessings and good luck!
Mary

Amy Jane (Untangling Tales) said...

ST-- I looked for those places, but couldn't find an archive tree to look at posts not on your front page.

Is there another way to find them?

Momisodes said...

What a great list you have here. From leaky faucets to world peace...you have all the bases covered! I love Poetry slam. You should definitely think about taking a stab at these...you're a great writer :)

storyteller said...

Sandy -- What can I say? My mind moves in mysterious ways, meandering where it will. It is a widely diverse list now that I revisit it this morning. Thanks for the encouragement. Friends and family have encouraged me to do the "slam" thing ... maybe I shall :)
Hugs and blessings,

Related Posts with Thumbnails