Soul Coaching: Day Seven

Day Seven: Exploring Your Soul Mission in Life

I had such fun with this exercise today. I told my Mum about it, so when we were doing things together I'd say to her "Maybe this is a soul message" and she'd say "I think there might be a message here". It was fun. :)

Here are the words and messages I heard today:

• I need to be challenged
• I want to help people
• I need space
• I am a good listener
• I am here to learn
• I am here to write and tell stories
• I need to travel and explore the earth
• Freedom is essential to my life
• There is a lot of good in people
• Embrace life - now is the moment I have been waiting for

I went to a street fair with my Mum and I was looking at all these wonderful books (they were only $1 each - what a bargain!) and I had one of my dogs with me. A man behind me said very loudly "If I could just get this dog out of my way I could get in there". I felt bad, but it was a very small space and really only one person could look at a time, whether they had a dog or not. I didn't say anything but I felt sad about it. I waited in the shade (it is spring in Australia and it can get very hot!) with my two dogs while my Mum went to have a look around and lots of people smiled at the dogs and I and a few stopped to pat them and tell them how beautiful they are. I thought to myself "I must think more about the 10 people who loved my dogs and less about the one man who was mean". Then my Mum returned with the water and a bookmark which had LOVE written on it and a picture. "Look, another sign" she said to me. Indeed it was.

Who I am is enough

I completed Level 1 today, and am keen to revisit Level 2 and 3.

Farewell, air. This week has been revealing and interesting. I felt both bashed about by your winds and held aloft by them. I feel like I am finding parts of myself on this journey, collecting them all in a jar and bringing them all into communion with one another.

Now, I can't wait to go and read about everyone else's day 7!

Soal Coaching: Day Six

Day Six: Lightening Up - Letting Ho While Doing More Clutter-Clearing

I am safe and centred no matter where I am

I chose to do Level 2 today. I must say that I wasn't really in the mood for Soul Coaching today. I tried the mediation Denise Linn suggests, but I find still meditation to be so very difficult. My mind likes to follow paths, so when I do meditate (which isn't often) I choose spoken meditations because then at least my brain has something to do.

I did Schedule Time to Relax - I watched Sex and the City The Movie on DVD (love it!) and went to a 2 hour writing session with some local people also involved in NaNoWriMo. Finding time for myself is not something I struggle with. As a matter of fact I get tired of self development books saying "make time for you" and "when was the last time you did something for you?" or "when was the last time you were alone?" I am alone with myself all the time. Sometimes I am completely and utterly sick of my own company! I understand these statements are targeted usually at women with children, but still.

There is more clutter clearing I could do and I am hoping to shake this mood and be more interested in clearing my desk space tomorrow. For now, I think I'll go to bed.

Soul Coaching: Day Five

Day Five: Clutter - Energy Up/Energy Down

I am writing this post from work (thank goodness I am well practiced in the art of sneakiness! Also, it is a Friday afternoon so I think this is okay) and the image above of Chewbacca is one I can relate to - papers everywhere, post it notes with mysterious scribbles on it. I know if I look behind me my colleague has a post it note on her wall that reads "Interview Chicken Apprenticeship." I have no idea what that means, but it makes me giggle. It also raises the point that being organised in the office is very important.

Today's affirmation is:

Fresh, invigorating energy fills my life.

Today I chose Level 2, so Energy Up/Energy Down and Clutter Questionnaire and Clearing One Area. This is a very involved task - or at least, it could be if I choose for it to be. Like Denise says, decluttering can take time. For me, it is all about micromovements. One drawer here, one shelf there and before you know it, I will be completely decluttered!

I started with my office today. Well, it is more of a cubicle. An office implies walls! I took everything out of my bookshelves, everything off my desk and gave it a good clean. I gave items away to other staff members and piled all of the paperwork I need to go through into some trays. I filed all my client folders that have been hanging around on my desk (that's a no-no when it comes to confidentiality too. I want to be more careful about that. I WILL be more careful and responsible about putting client files away) and rearranged my origami (I have an origami everyday calendar and I do one piece every day. Now that it is November I have quite a collection!) and gave away some pieces and threw others in the rubbish bin.

The result is I feel a lot more focused and a lot more motivated. My colleagues have even commented on how wonderful my desk looks and how they would like to clean up their own!

I am keen to complete the rest of the checklist for the other areas of my house and my life. In my bedroom I have recently given away a lot of clothes that I retained for the reasons Denise mentions. I feel good about that! I need to do some more organisation though and when I get home I will do some energy up/energy down exercises in there. I reorganised the bathroom the other day and threw out lots of stuff. There are still some things under the sink that need organising though. My vehicle requires a service, which I plan on organising in January. My home office and desk need some organisation.

I really enjoyed the before and after photographs other people shared on their blogs. Very interesting. Also, thank you to those people who have commented on my blog. I really appreciate sharing this journey with you all.

Soul Coaching: Day Four

This is my photo! I'm so happy Jamie used it on The Next Chapter:Soul Coaching blog

Day Four: Where Are You Now in Your Life?

I read this day last night as I am still trying to catch up to everyone else after my slow start. I keep telling myself I am exactly where I need to be and it is helping, but I thought I might be able to do a sneaky "two days in one" with days three and four. I immediately knew I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn't explore day four in its own time.

Today was a trying day for me. I had a strange conversation with a long time friend of mine yesterday. We were talking about politics and he said some things and I said some things. He'd reacted strangely to a comment I'd made so I sent him an email apologising. I wasn't sure I needed to do that, but he's a good friend so I sent it anyway. This morning I read an email from him that said You were very insensitive. I was very unhappy with you. I'll get over it. I read it and I thought it was totally ridiculous. I was happy Obama won and he would have preferred McCain did. This is not a big deal. I immediately thought "who is he to say such things to me?"

I believe in the synchronicity of this book. Oh yes, I do.

Here we are talking about decluttering and letting go and here I am with an email that seems to be trying to make me feel bad about something very silly. Do I need this in my life? No. I do not.

This set my day off on a strange foot, and I never quite recovered. I paid close attention to observing how I react to things. I listened extra carefully to what people were saying to me. Here is what I heard:

• You are cynical
• You are negative
• You are making me feel bad
• You are efficient
• You are proactive
• You make me laugh
• You could have done that, or is that you SHOULD have done that?
• I disagree with you
• I agree with you
• I hear you
• We forgot about you
• Go away
  

It was an interesting exercise, and I feel a bit scraped raw from it. I am certainly not a perfect human being, but I try hard. Here are the more negative statements re-worded, as Denise Limm suggests.

• I am a realist
  
• I was having a low motivation day
  
• I could have been more sensitive in that situation
  
• I am efficient
• I am proactive
• I am funny
  
• I could have done that, but I chose to do something else
• I have a different point of view from some people
• I put forward engaging points of view that reflect the current climate at work
• I have people at work who understand what I am saying and support me
• We misplaced the meeting agenda and we're sorry. Next week is a better time for us.
• We're busy at the moment, but we look forward to seeing you next week.
  

I like the second list much more than the first list! I want to work on thinking more in these terms than the first list. It's like learning to drive a car - the negative words and thoughts are automatic and I have to re-learn how to drive my brain so I can slow down and replace them with positives.

It has been a hard day for me today.

Soul Coaching: Day Three

Day Three: Clearing Clutter in Your Bedroom/Bathroom

I am feeling the synchronicity of today. Several months ago I cleaned out one of my bathroom drawers and never quite got to putting everything back in. Today was the perfect opportunity for me to work on Level 1: Clutter-Clear One Small Area. My drawer is just perfect now. I am really enjoying looking at everything in its place, and I am also congratulating myself on throwing out some more items as I went through everything. A few months ago I thought I needed that extra makeup, or the lipstick I haven't worn since 2003. But today I knew it was time to release and let go. Of old make up, yes, but also of all the other things in my life that do not serve me.

Today's affirmation is:

There is clarity within me and around me

Indeed. There is certainly clarity in my writing, which served me well today.

Soul Coaching: Day Two

Day Two: Making a Commitment to Change Your Life

Today's affirmation is:

I honour my commitments to myself and to others

I try very hard to do this, but like most people, I do not always succeed. I have again chosen Level 1 due to the fact I am a few days behind the group. I am definitely keen to revisit the Level 2 and 3 Day Two exercises in the future. I think they are very interesting and insightful questions.

My Level 1 Activity is: Commit to Take One Empowering Action Daily. I am SO excited by this and I knew instantly what I would choose - Dancing with wild abandon. I love to dance. I used to rush home from high school before anyone else got home, turn up the CD player very loudly and dance for about half an hour. I couldn't wait to move my body. I haven't done that in a really long time, but I am really eager to get to it.

My body is starting to wake up...hallelujah! I'm off to dance up a storm.

Soul Coaching: Day One

Day One: Life Assessment

I'm a few days behind on Soul Coaching but I'm trying not to let that bother me. I have happily read the overview for Day 1 and I took some really deep breaths and put the affirmation to work:

My evaluation of myself is not who I am

That affirmation has given me considerable thought and I am still processing it. If I am not who I think I am, then who am I? What a fascinating question...

I have chosen Level 1 for today's activity, mainly because I am a little behind and am keen to get back on track. The author of Soul Coaching, Denise Linn, says that it is fine to revisit activities later on so I hope to come back to the more time consuming activities for Day One later in the month.

The Level 1 Activity is: Assessing Your Life. Where am I in my life right now?
Health - I am keen for both my physical and mental health to reinvigorate my exercise and healthy eating program. Today, I feel like I have eaten too much food and I haven't eaten food that my body truly wants. I've let my body become clogged with fats and sugars again. They make so much noise and so many demands, I can't hear what my body truly needs. I want to hear again.
Relationships - I am happy in my relationships with my family and friends. I want to put some more time into a couple of my friends I haven't seen in a while, so I will make plans with them this week.
Finances - I feel like I am making progress in paying off my debts. They are happy debts (or as happy as debts can be!) as I have more than enough money to pay them back and the money already spent went towards a wonderful holiday. I want to continue to pay off what I owe and then start saving for the next holiday.
Career - This is a tough one. My job is not the perfect job. It's okay, and there are parts of it I really enjoy. There are large parts of it that I don't find as enjoyable. I know it is not the "right" job for me (whatever that means) and I am exploring alternatives. I need challenges and fresh ideas.
Creativity - My main creative outlet is writing. I've signed up for NaNoWriMo this month, which requires me to write at least 1,666 words a day in order to meet the 50,000 word goal by November 30. I fell a little behind, but I'm only about 900 words behind now and I've written 5756 words. I'm so proud of myself! I like to paint and journal too, but both those activities have gotten a bit lost, so I want to return to them. They make me happy.
Spiritual Fulfillment - I am starting to re-explore my spiritual beliefs and spiritual life. Slowly, slowly. It is too fragile to try and analyse or explain at this point. I want my spirituality to be re-discovered and re-defined in an organic, natural way. I am committed to this.

My intention for the next 28 days is to learn to really listen to myself - mind, body and spirit. I intend to put extra effort into reconnecting with these parts of myself. I will be mor conscious of what I feed my body. I will connect with my spirituality. I wil write and paint and journal. I will turn off the tv and put down the book to actually do these things. I will nurture my relationships and make myself aware of how I travel through my life. I will choose to see he positive in a sea of negative.

Finally, a few things to share on air. I wandered outside today at my office. We have gardens filled with rose bushes that are well over 50 years old. I carefully cut some flowers (only the ones almost finished blooming with no other buds) and spent some time avoiding the thorns and watching the butterflies. They were beautiful. I saw a vivid orange one zoom off on a breeze and I realised it didn't know where it was going, but it was GOING. I am going. I am not sure where, but I'm going.

I was sitting in my lounge room and telling my Mum that I couldn't bear to hear any more sad news. I heard my soul speak to me. It said "You must let the happiness and the good times take up more space in your heart than the sadness and the bad times." How remarkable.

Soul Coaching: Intention Post

Cathedral of the Isles, Cumbrae, Scotland

I am very excited to be a part of Jamie's group exploring the book Soul Coaching by Denise Linn. I signed up about a month ago and then promptly forgot to request the public library's copy of the book. Luckily for me I managed to find it at a library relatively close to me and I picked it up on the way home from work tonight. I feel like I'm a little bit behind, but everything I've read on Jamie's site and in the book so far makes me feel like I was supposed to come to this a bit late and the most important thing is I am here now and I am ready to participate.

The first task is to set an intention for this 28 day journey. Goodness. I have to say I haven't given the process much thought. I want to connect with others and share the journey, I know that. I want to learn more about myself. I want to connect to the deep part of me that wants to be heard. I want to nurture myself and be kind. I want to commit to changing anything and everything that isn't serving me.

This is a good beginning.

Sunday Salon: Catch Up

This week is a catch up post of the books I've been reading over the past few weeks. I've finished up Memoirs of a Geisha, The Lost Slayer and Untangling My Chopsticks. I'm almost done with Phillip Pullman's The Subtle Knife.

This is the movie poster, but the cover of my book looks the same. Typical Hollywood - Chiyo's eyes are grey in the book, not sky blue.

Memoirs of a Geisha is one of the books I'm reading for the Litflicks Challenge. I'll write more about it when I do the Litflicks review post for it. It is a wonderful book, made all the more real to me as I have walked the paths of the Gion district of Kyoto and been to a traditional tea house where Geisha (or Geiko as they prefer to be called in Kyoto) lived and worked. I find the concept fascinating and I enjoyed the book immensely. I think the book would have had even more of an impact if I hadn't seen the movie. As it was, there were few surprises. I enjoyed the detailed beginning and the ending which were different than the movie. I also appreciated the complex relationships that were conveyed much better in the book than in the movie.

I started Memoirs just after finally finishing Untangling My Chopsticks. I had to push through the remainder of Chopsticks and in the end, I was glad that I did. I also had a powerful hunger for Japanese food and ate it practically all week! As a matter of fact, I could eat some right now... Parts of this book were fairly shallow, especially where the relationships of the friends the author made in Kyoto were concerned. I got the feeling Victoria didn't even like some of them, and despite their kindness towards her, she had little compassion or warmth towards them in her descriptions, with the exception of the couple she lived with for a short time. I also thought the ending was odd - [spoiler] Victoria is offered a year long teaching job at the end of the book but declines it because she feels she might end up like her quasi-friends, a gay couple who have lived in Kyoto for 14 years and never quite fitted in. Um...hello? It is a bit different living in a country like Japan for 2 years and living there for 14 years! Basically I think she just wanted to get back to her boyfriend in the US. No shame in that, but at least be honest about your motivations. The food parts were overly detailed and I found myself skimming over ingredients I didn't understand and can't imagine. I much preferred the chapters of the book that detailed living in Kyoto as a foreigner, and I suspect there are better books that explore this theme.

I wrote about The Lost Slayer in my last Sunday Salon post. It continued to be enjoyable right up to the end. I think Christopher Golden did a great job of the four books that make up the Lost Slayer collection and my return to the Buffyverse was fun and unpredictable. Anyone who loves Buffy should seriously read this book.


As I said, I'm almost at the end of Phillip Pullman's second book in The Golden Compasses series. The Subtle Knife is much more interesting to me than the first book, His Dark Materials. It could be the old "seen the movie, book isn't surprising as I know what is going to happen" and it could be that I find the concept of the proud taking on the throne to be compelling. I remember writing when I was reading Materials that I couldn't see what all the fuss was about in regards to the religious implications of Pullman's books and a few Sunday Salon-ers posted "Wait until the second and third novels" and boy were they right. I know there has been some debate as to whether the second book will be made into a movie and I can understand if it isn't. It doesn't lend itself to filmaking in the same way the first one did and to me, it feels very much like a bridge from the beginning to the end, which it undoubtedly is as the middle book in a trilogy. The only downside is my three book omnibus is mighty heavy to carry around and take to work. Also, how awesome is Pullman at giving titles to his books? These are some of the best titles I've ever heard of and I love that he lifted them from other literature.

NaNoWriMo 2008 has begun

National Novel Writing Month 2008 (NaNoWriMo to its friends) begins today. I signed up for NaNoWriMo last year but wrote precisely zero words, so I figure the only way to go from that basement start is up. I wrote over a thousand words today (one writing exercise and the end of my assignment for my writing class) so I guess you could say I have SMASHED my record from last year. In your face NaNoWriMo 2007!

If you want to find out more about NaNoWriMo, or even sign up to write your own 50,000 word novel in 30 days, go here.

I'm a work machine!

The puppies look like muppets in this picture, especially The Moo (in back)

I decided to do a little social experiment on myself this week.

I made a pledge that I would not access the internet at work. No Facebook, no Gmail, no Bloglines, no Wikipedia, nada, zip, zero, nothing. Only work email, because apparently I have to respond to that. I had a vague idea that I wanted to see the effect it would have on my motivation. I don't have issues with time management at work. I am not someone who runs around screaming "I'm so busy!" and complaining. Well, I complain. But not about not having enough time to do my job.

So, day one was pretty easy. Day two, a bit harder. Day three and four were really pretty intense. I felt like an addict needing my crack. "Just a quick search!" or "I could just Wiki that..." or "Maybe I should check my email". I stayed strong in the struggle until this afternoon when my boss told me to check out a job on a website and also, I had this really cute email with little panda pictures in it that I wanted to sent to a friend...

The final result is I was basically a work machine this week. I felt really productive and useful. Will I continue the experiment? Yes, but not for the same reasons.

I read a lot of blogs. I like the insight into other people's lives. I find it interesting and compellng. But I waste a lot of time reading about other people's lives that could be spent actually living MY life. I care a lot less about my blog reading this week. I want to spend my personal time on stuff that is important to me. Not other people's lives, not the tv and not always books (although I totally heart books forever and ever). This is a good lesson to learn.

I've been typing up my writing from my journals and I have about another 4000 words for my novel, so I'm doing pretty good. I'm really looking forward to NanNoWriMo in November! I've also been reading Memoirs of a Geisha which I'll blog about in my Sunday Salon post.

Well, I'm off to live my life.

The Yellow Wallpaper

I read a short story today. It is part of my reading for my Creative Writing course. The story is called The Yellow Wallpaper and it was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and first published in 1892. I had no idea the effect this story would have on me.

The unnamed protagonist is experiencing post natal depression and the piece is an exploration of her experiences in an isolated homestead, forbidden to get "excited" or do anything resembling work as this was considered counter productive to her "nervous condition". Her husband is a jerk, telling her that the way she feels is all in her head and treating her like a small child. By the end of the story she is almost insane. In the commentary that followed the story Charlotte Gilman said she had experienced depression periodically in her life, and after her child was born. She went to see a "noted specialist in nervous disease, the best in the country" who said there was nothing really wrong with her, but she should "live a domestic life as far as possible", "have but two hours intellectual life a day" and "never touch a brush, pen, or pencil again" as long as she lived. She said she did this for 3 months and almost went insane.

This makes me angry on so many different levels. How DARE men of that time and place - barely a hundred years ago - explain away how a woman feels as being all in her head. How DARE he suggest that any kind of creative expression was counter productive to "getting over it"? How many women did this doctor, and others like him, cut off from creative expression and treat like baby making machines with the brains of vegetables? 2000 years of human history and a hundred years ago this fucking idiot doctor was strapping women to beds, feeding them massive amounts of cream and prescribing no intellectual stimulation. What the hell was he thinking?

I dislike the medical profession intensely. I do not believe all they tell me. I don't follow their prescriptions and tests if I don't agree with them. I won't let their statements remain unchallenged. Their power base has been far too big for far too long. I won't help them maintain unwarranted control over my life, or the lives of others.

As for the descent into madness experienced by the lead character in The Yellow Wallpaper, I feel uncomfortable reading her words. I read The Bell Jar for the first time a year or so ago. I was in equal measures repulsed and attracted by the story. I remember telling a woman on my writing retreat in Guatemala that I felt like I could see myself in Plath's words and she said "Yes, I think that was the disturbing thing about that novel. We could all see ourselves in her".

So now I am uncomfortable and filled with righteous indignation at the treatment of women by the medical profession.

Who I wish I could be

I wish I could be someone who:

• Smiles more
• Feels bone deep contentment
• Believes in herself
• Doesn't work full time
• Enjoys her day job
• Is kissed often
• Is debt free
• Knows what she wants
• Doesn't feel jealous and envious of other people whose lives seem better than hers
• Creates good art
• Writes every single day

Sunday Salon: Week Whatever

I've had a few weeks off from the Sunday Salon, so I'm not sure which week I'm at. The past few weeks have been slow reading weeks for me. I'm still reading Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto, I have started and finished For the Love of Letters: A 21st Century Guide to the Art of Letter Writing and I am halfway through The Lost Slayer.

Let's start with For the Love of Letters.


I heard the author of this book, Samara O'Shea, interviewed on the Writers on Writing podcast (I seriously heart this show - it is available for free on Itunes and I find it is great for introducing me to authors and books I wouldn't ordinarily read) and thought this sounded like an interesting little book. O'Shea explores the world of letter writing in a unique way - she interposes letters she has written and received with famous letters from Abraham Lincoln, Edgar Allen Poe and Emily Post. The result is a suprisingly deep exploration of the place of letters our lives now, and in the recent past. I have a lot of respect for how much O'Shea puts herself out there in this book - she trots out letters from ex-lovers, almost boyfriends, old friends and even the apology letter she wrote to her boss when she was fired as an intern from The Oprah Magazine. It's ballsy, and turned what could have been an abstract impersonal topic into something intimate and engaging. I also have to admit that I had no idea how much I would relate to this book - I thought it would be interesting in a nothing to do with me kind of way. Little did I know that I have written pretty much every letter in that book (heavy on the letters to almost-boyfriends...eek!). To top it all off, I dropped O'Shea an email to let her know how much I enjoyed the book and her reply was gracious and humble. Highly recommended.


The Lost Slayer is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer book. I imagine half of you stopped reading after that sentence. Oh well. This is actually an omnibus (God I love that word) of four books written by Christopher Golden which follow the same character arc. It's a meaty read, and I suspect it is vastly improved by compiling all four books together. The basic premise is this: Buffy makes a mistake that sees her propelled 5 years into the future into the body of 24 year old Buffy who has spent the past 5 years locked in a holding cell while the King of the Vampires takes over Sunnydale and LA (almost). When Buffy breaks out, everything has changed - Willow is heading up the military-esque organisation that is trying to stop the vampires from taking over LA, Buffy's Mom is dead, and so is Anya (killed by Spike), Oz is still around but he and Willow aren't what they once were and Xander. Poor Xander. He is bitter and scarred and doesn't smile anymore. Oh, and the King of the Vampires is...GILES! I almost dropped the book when that was revealed, but vampire Giles makes a great villain. I'm a little over half way through and I have to say I'm really enjoying my visit to the Buffyverse. I used to read all of the Buffy books (give me a break...I was 20-something. I'm almost 32 now, so obviously I can appreciate the books on more levels and with deeper wisdom and great insight etc. etc.) and Christopher Golden was the best Buffy writer - he really had the dialogue rhythm down and understood the characters. Good times!

Finally, as I said, I am still making my way through the meandering path and zen rock raking that is Untangling My Chopsticks. This is a book that is not the sort of book that shouts "READ ME NOW!!!!" It doesn't shout anything. Every now and then it politely whispers "Here I am. You can read me if you like. If not I'll wait." It's an interesting book, it's just that the art of learning how to cook the food that accompanies the Japanese tea ceremony is not urgent reading. It does, however, make me want to visit my favourite Japanese restaurant.

Happy reading Sunday Salon-ers!

Sunday Scribblings: Wedding

I hate this prompt.

I'm going to hate wading through other people's posts about the day they married their husband/wife. All very romantic stories, I'm sure. I'm not against marriage. It's just the older I get the more complicated the whole thing seems. I don't know if I could ever hand someone my heart on a platter. And I don't know what I would do if they served me theirs on a platter.

I went out to dinner a few months back and a woman I didn't know very well told me that she met a guy, they had two, like, awesome months together and then he left for a trip to Europe. There were many tears and promises (most of them hers I am guessing) and now she had just quit her job and was going to fly to Europe to holiday with him for a while before they both came back to start their lives together. Part of this hideously romantic tale was the line "Two weeks after I met him he said I was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with and he could see himself with me forever."

At this point I was ready to leave the table if she continued with "He said he could see his unborn children in my eyes". Luckily she stopped for a breath and I said "Maybe there is something wrong with me, but I'd run a mile if a guy said that to me." She looked visibly annoyed. I guess I was supposed to gush and giggle and look wistful as I told her she was the luckiest woman in the world and I was so envious.

Sorry, no. I'm not against relationships, love and romance. I like all three, sometimes mixed together. But I'm not willing to mortgage myself for something that isn't real, doesn't make sense and is based purely on emotion. Just because you love one another, doesn't mean it is going to work. Life leans much more towards the practical than the romantic and the various expensive weddings I've attended over the years have made me decidedly cynical about the whole thing. One in three couples who marry divorce. I think they should be made to give the wedding presents back, or offer a cash equivalent.

Friday Words of Wisdom

The lesson I am learning lately is that there is no waiting for the perfect time to start anything. There will never be a perfect time to:

start a business,

have a baby,

quit your job,

go for the job you want,

go back to school,

call that person,

paint those empty canvasses,

leave your comfort zone,

learn to surf,

travel to India,

write your book,

follow your dream.

There will never be the perfect time for anything, so you may as well begin now imperfectly.

- Words of wisdom from the remarkable Stacy over at Bella Wish.

Because sometimes photographs say it better than words...

Dark and damp and quiet

Because sometimes I just feel so darn insignificant

A friend in need can always be comforted by a Mollie paw

Believe

I am no longer sure

if I

believe

in

me

(or you).

Sunday Salon: Week 6

This week I have been reading Garden Spells, Cerulean Sins (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter # 11) and Coraline.

I wrote about Garden Spells last week, and as I finished the last 100 pages or so the assessment I made was pretty right on - it was an enjoyable read, but fairly forgettable. I read some reviews and a lot of people likened Garden Spells to the movie Practical Magic. It had been a while since I saw the movie, so I could only remember some vague similarities. However it was on tv last night and I watched it again and yeah, pretty much the exact same storyline. But the books is still a fun, light and fluffy read. You could do a lot worse than to pick up Garden Spells.


Next up was Coraline, which I had never even heard of until I read about it on Bookgirl's Nightstand. She thought she was the last person to read it, but as I hadn't even heard of it, I think she's safe. I added it to my list of books to read and then noticed it on the shelf at the library. I checked it out and wow, I'm glad I did. It's a young adult book, but it is genuinely creepy and all that business about the imposter parents having buttons for eyes is very weird and is creeping me out even as I type this. It's a quick read, but a wonderful fairy tale with a dark underbelly. *insert shudder here*

When I sourced an image for this book I heard that there is a movie being made based on the book. The image above is an early poster promoting the movie. Um...don't take your kids until you've read the book!


Finally, I started and finished Cerulean Sins, the 11th book in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series. These books started out with a serious bang and to almost universal applause from critics and readers alike. Then around book 9, our heroine met with some...changes. From about book 10 onwards it has been nothing but hate from critics and readers alike. Amazon is populated with hundreds of 1 and 2 star ratings for books 11, 12, 13 and 14. Pretty much everyone turned on author Laurell K Hamilton and gutted her with a very long very sharp sword. Was this a great book? No, not great. But it was good, it was engaging and it kept me reading. Hamilton is gifted with a wonderful imagination and Anita is so very practical and real and solid. She's incredibly likeable, despite the fact that she kills monsters for a living and *gasp* sleeps with more than one man at a time. However, the finer points of plotting and story development are not really Hamilton's gifts. In the beginning books she was clearly heavily edited and the books were better for it. But like some other authors I can think of, as she became more popular and sold more books, her books got bigger and bigger and not necessarily better. Typos and grammatical errors (truly appalling ones, like the use of "isle" instead of "aisle" in a wedding setting) crept in and gave people who hated what Hamilton did to Anita Blake even more ammo to throw her way. And really, the publishers should be ashamed of themselves.

Anyway, the book itself was good. The plot was a bit thin, with a gaping hole in the middle resolved with a last minute tie up that was a bit too convenient. It was nice to see some development with Richard actually growing a pair and Asher finally getting back into Jean-Claude's (and Anita's) bed (at the same time! Shock! Horror!). Anita's character only moved forward marginally, but some of the scenes with her and Belle Morte/Musette were vintage Anita and really well done. Part of the reason I enjoyed this book so much was because it has been well over a year since I read Anita Blake number 10. I have discovered that a little Anita goes a long way. I have number 12 sitting on my bookshelf as we speak, but I'll be giving it at least a few months breathing room, maybe more.


Anyway, I'm one chapter into Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojurn to Kyoto which is a travel and food memoir. So far so good. I visited Kyoto a few years back and I can visualise the underground mall where the author is having her first meal of eel in Japan. It is so nice to be able to relate to the setting a book. It adds layers of meaning that you don't even realise are missing.

Happy reading and happy Sunday!

Sunday Salon: Week Five

This week I've been reading The Horse Whisperer, If I Am Missing or Dead, and Garden Spells.

Let's start with The Horse Whisperer which is the first of the books I'm reading for the Lit Flicks Challenge.


I saw the movie some time ago and will probably see it again, as part of the Lit Flicks challenge is to read the book and see the movie. The book was certainly engaging, but it also had its rough spots. Nicolas Evans has the bones of a great book here - girl and horse experience a horrific accident, career woman in crisis, lone wolf horse whisperer on a ranch in scenic Montana, bland husband...a perfect recipe for affairs, accusations, love, healing and redemption. Something, however, gets a bit lost in the translation. Maybe if the book had been tighter, about 50 pages less it would have been a really good book. It's a bit bloated and I got a bit sick of career woman Annie and her boring husband Robert and some of the other very one dimensional characters. By far the most intriguing character is the horse whisperer Tom Booker, closely followed by the daughter Grace. Anyway, I have to say that I was surprised at the end which is radically different from the end of the movie. I'd recommend the book, but I wouldn't say it was amazing or anything.



I have been waiting for Janine Latus' If I Am Missing or Dead since April, and when I picked the request up at the library on Friday I noted for the first time a marker that informed me the book was in "heavy demand" and there would be no renewal. I've been borrowing books from the library for about 20 years and I've never seen one of those markers before. I guess I don't read a lot of popular books! This book actually has quite a misleading title. Janine Latus' sister was certainly killed by her boyfriend, but this is Janine's story about her abusive relationship with her husband and the echoes of abuse in her family home as she grew up. Her father is painted as a complete and total pig, sexualising his daughters, groping their friends and telling inappropriate stories. It is hard to know what is true in memoir, but if half of this book is true, I think Janine Latus has had a very tough and sad life. Again the book is bloated - the fact that her husband is a jerk but they have a great sexual relationship is mentioned oh, about 100 times. It is an interesting side of domestic violence and not one usually explored, but it was overdone here and in the last 100 pages or so I simply couldn't understand why she wouldn't leave him. Her only defence seems to be "I was scared to be alone" which didn't seem to hold water to me. I'd recommend the book, but from the reviews on Amazon it seemed a lot of people were misled and thought this would be a "true crime" (a genre of books I personally hate) about Latus' sister Amy. So as long as you know up front it is Janine's story it's a compelling, interesting and ultimately tragic tale of a family mired by domestic violence.



Garden Spells is a lovely little book about the Waverly family who have an unusual apple tree in the backyard and a legacy of being "magical" in their home town. he book centres of Claire, and her sister Sydney (and Sydney's daughter Bay) who has recently returned home after a lifetime of running away from what it means to have the magic Waverly touch. I love the descriptions of the lovely food Claire cooks from the magic garden and her almost-relationship with the boy next door is sweet. I've read some scathing reviews of this book, and I think they were a little harsh. I once described a book as being like cotton candy - sweet, fun and good while you're eating it, but basically unfulfilling - and I think Garden Spells is another one of those books. I'm not quite done with it yet.

Next up will be something from the shelf...maybe the next Anita Blake book or even the last Harry Potter!

Happy Sunday. :)