This Side of Invisible

Fun Facts about Hand-Writing Letters:  Results from several studies have shown that both children and adults learn more and remember better when writing by hand. Now another study confirms the same: choosing handwriting over keyboard use yields the best learning and memory. ( Neuroscience News )  A few experiments have shown that the brain only recognizes symbols that it learned if they were printed by hand, not if they were typed. When we are learning new letters, math symbols, or other symbols, it is much better to print them by hand than to type them. ( Frontiers for Young Minds )  The ability to read cursive matters. As Michel Martin points out on NPR, "many of the most important historical documents in the U.S., everything from the Declaration of Independence to the Bill of Rights, are written in cursive." What happens when we require a translator for our most precious founding documents? ( Treehugger.com )  Writing by hand makes us slow down. When you write b...

In the memorable words of Dr. Ian Malcolm played by the incomprable Jeff Goldblum, "Life finds a way." Even when we don't want it to, when we can't keep up, when we're exhausted... it just keeps coming. Life simply happens. But we must remember that we are created to be agents of action, not simply objects to be acted upon. Life comes at us unbidden, but we too can create the life we want. We can be the life unbidden. Life isn't merely something that happens around us, it's not just a force happening to us. Life happens within us. And with each exhale, we can speak life into existence all around us. We just have to be intentional, choosing moment to moment how to expend our energy. You are a child of God, the Great Creator; the DNA of creation makes up your every molecule. Don't wait to be bidden. Don't wait for approval. Listen to the beating of your own lifeforce. What life will you release into the world today? Now available: Life...

This time last year, I was salivating for a new year full of opportunity. I was aching for new chances to learn, to grow, to prove myself, to improve myself. And I had this great plan to help me accomplish all these dreams I had: I was going to have a word for my new year. I was going to research my word, dive into my word and let it guide me through my year. This word had to be perfect, had to sum up all the things I wanted to be, to do, to gain. I found the perfect word. Fixed. I mean, that word was so many things. I defined how I wanted to feel, what I wanted to become, how I wanted to live. I wanted to be fixed mentally and emotionally, healed from past hurts and freed from those things that had once haunted me. I wanted to be fixed in my course of moving towards financial peace and prosperity. I wanted to be fixed in my ways of believing in myself, allowing myself to dream, allowing myself to achieve. I wanted to be fixed, firmly rooted in my life, present every moment, t...

A few posts ago, I shared The Parenting Manifesto by Brene Brown.  Now it's time to share my own Manifesto. I wrote this sometime ago, in the Spring, I think.  I wish I had dated it, so I could pinpoint that exact moment when I chose to make my life my own.  I didn't.  I jotted this down one day in Relief Society in the back of my manual.  I don't remember the lesson that provoked these thoughts.  And for time, I forgot that I had even written them down. But just yesterday, I found them again.  And I cried.  I want so much to live this life.  It's time to take the bull by the horns, to dare greatly, to give myself what I want. So here it is: My Own Manifesto I choose to live by choice and not by chance. To make changes, not excuses. To be motivated, never manipulated. I choose self-esteem, not self-pity. To be useful, never used. To excel, not compete. I choose faith, not fear. I choose to listen to my own inner voice, To ne...

Since announcing "I finished my book" and then posting the first chapter online, I've had a lot of comments, really great endearing comments, about how awesome it is, how awesome I am for doing it.  I love the encouragement, but at the same time, the strokes to my ego rake down my spine with painful unease.  Please, let me explain why. I am excited and amazed and humbled by my own accomplishment.  I am thrilled that after nearly three years, I was able to get my story out of my head and on paper... well, computer.   That being said, I don't want people mistakingly thinking that I did something they couldn't.  Nor do I want anyone thinking I'm some sort of super-mom able to do it all with grace and poise.  While the world (or at least my little corner of the world) sees that I have finished a novel, here is what they don't see: The world doesn't see the days I spend at the computer in my pajamas with a red-headed afro and day-long morning breath.  T...

Let the world know that yesterday, July 4th, 2013 around 1:15 p.m. I finished my first novel. Amazing.  If you're wondering.  That's how it feels to finally finish something that's taken nearly three years of hard labor to complete.  I feel so accomplished.  So satisfied and happy.  What a weight off my shoulders.  I FINISHED A NOVEL! In honor of finishing, and to keep myself motivated through the editing process, I'm posting the entire first chapter of I Am Guinevere by Miranda L Marrott  :)  Oh, I just got a chill writing that.   Without further ado: Chapter One:  My First Real Dose of Teenage Drama... and Then Some Dreams are answers to questions we haven’t yet figured out how to ask.  ~X-Files Further proof that fairy tales are not real:  Though I woke up to the sun warming my face and the birds greeting me with their joyous chirping, my hopes set high on losing myself to nature, the day quickly tur...

I've done a lot of writing lately, though not on my blog.  It helps me relax and unwind, escape when I need to, channel my emotions into something else when they are too many or too big for me to get a grip on in this world.  Writing takes me to new places and helps me gain perspective.  If you don't write, I highly recommend it.  It can be very therapeutic.  And I find that a lot of self-discovery happens when pen is put to paper... or fingers to keyboard, whatever you may choose. Life is a highway... write about it. Recently, I've been working on my WIP (the novel that still isn't finished), and on revamping a short story I wrote a few years ago (with the intent to submit it for publication), and on a new short story (which is turning into a much more in depth story... I should know better, I am very wordy) and poetry. I love poetry.  It's a way (for me) to use imagery to express my emotions.  Sometimes my poetry can be quite dark and creep...

Well, the deadline came and went yesterday.  And no, my book is not finished.  If it was, I would be shouting it from the rooftops on a megaphone attached to sub-woofers, broadcasting at sonic-boom decibels.  Sigh. I have been trying not to be super depressed or down on myself the last few days as I came to realize that I wasn't going to be able to meet my goal and have my work-in-progress completed by September 17th as I had made a pact with my BWFE (best-writing-friend-ever), Becca, that I would.  To pull myself out of the dumps and come a terms with how imperfect life is and how plans, even cemented ones, have a way of crumbling into microscopic dust, I have decided to make a list of all my non-accomplishments over the last six weeks and see if I can find a reason why my WIP is yet to be finished. (I must say though, I am uber close, like 2-3 chapters away from the end! I will finish within the next 2 weeks!!) My Non-Accomplishment List In the last six we...

A long time ago--6 weeks is a long time, right?--September 17th seemed to be a really far away almost elusive date.  Today, it's turned into a proverbial black raven pecking on my window sill, incessantly reminding me just how much I have left to write if I want to make my BWFE(best-writing-friend-ever)-promised deadline.  Peck, peck, peck.  Knock, knock, knock... the deadline cometh. And, of course, instead of writing I have been stalking people/photos on perusing fb and checking my email and watching random youtube videos like this one --which actually isn't totally random, it's a memorial for 9/11 and very cool and touching, not a waste of my time at all--and playing on iTunes (have to have a playlist to write with) and flossing.  Really?  Flossing?  Yeah, I'm all kinds of ADD and lame at the end of the day. And to further procrastinate, I am posting another snippet. *If you haven't read any of my snippets yet from my manuscript please first click ...

As of this minute, I have 14 days, 1 hour and 8 minutes to finish my first draft of my current manuscript.  It's been slow going, and by that I mean, it's been at a stand still for the last week or so... mostly because my kids started a new online school this week and I've been working on a script for a short play my church is putting on... Details.  I am focused and really want to finish this. If you would like to read any of the other snippets, please click here and here . In this snippet we find our hero, Dee, after her first day of school and her run-ins with Dane, the One she has been training to protect, which have left her feeling inadequate and confused, exhausted and angry.   And what does a 15 year old weapons expert do when she's angry?  Whip out a bo staff and beat the sap out of trees, of course.  Enjoy ;)

After a crazy back-to-school week, I really needed this reminder.  Enjoy! This video is a short overview of a sermon given by Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints given in October 2010. If you would like to read, listen to, or watch all of Elder Uchtdorf's sermon, please visit lds.org .

Here's another little snippet of my WIP.  Seriously, putting it out there that I'm desperately trying to finish this thing has actually helped me stay focused.  And thanks to all of you that offered your kind support.  It's extremely encouraging. In this snippet, having gotten lost on her first morning in a new school and now running a few minutes late, Dee has just walked into her very first public school class ever--high school English.

I recently made a pact with a dear friend of mine, my BWBE (best writing buddy ever), Becca.  We have both been working on a book for nearly two years.  We both want to finish.  We decided to vow to each other we would finish within six weeks, making our finishing date September 17, 2012.  I need too stay focused and not get to lost in details of what I've already written so that I can just push through to the end.  I'm getting closer and closer everyday, but I need a little more push behind me.  So I've decided to share with the world my goal in the hopes that having it out there will help push me through to the finish line.  I'm really trying to keep myself accountable to the goal I've set. I am posting right here, right now, I will have this book finished (the first draft, mind you) on or before September 17th!!!!   To keep me excited and maybe (hopefully) to gain more people to cheer me on, I've decided to share just a few bits and pieces ...

There are a few things weighing heavily on my mind.  Things I need to do, things I want to do, plans for the future (family, school, career).  And then there are those wonderful dreams that make me smile, those fantasies that I am desperately hoping to make into realities. So, you're dying to know now, aren't you?  What is it that this domestic goddess yearns for?What does this blogger mama daydream about?   Here they are.... My two newest fascinations, can't seem to get them out of my head... 1.  I am in love with this and I'm dying to have one. 2.  Oh, and if only life wasn't so crazy and I didn't have to be an adult with responsibilities...  If that were the case, I'd be doing this right now!  I'm doing it next year for sure! Do you have any fantasies that you feel a little sheepish about?  I'm dying to know!  Please share.