December Thanksgiving Art Journal Challenge

As everyone still happily munches on Thanksgiving leftovers, there's one thing that I'd like to keep leftover from Thanksgiving- being thankful. November seemed to have a lot of Thanksgiving art journal challenges, but once we leave turkey season, we forget about gratitude. Part of why I'm not a big fan of the holiday season is that it seems like once we put away the turkey, and sometimes before, we rush headlong into Christmas without pause. As far as my creative endeavors go, everything seems to come to a halt, and my beloved art journal sits forgotten and out of sight.

When we're caught in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it's easy to forget about the simple things in life. It's easy to forget when Mr. Jerkface cuts you off trying to find a parking spot at the mall that we have so many better things in our lives to focus on rather than that irritating moment. And yet, we tend to spend so many of our moments during what should be the happiest time of the year focused on Mr. Jerkface. Or we have that irritating family member we're going to be forced to spend time with. Then there's the shopping, the cooking, the arranging of schedules, and all the other things that stress people out during the holidays, but for some reason, we keep doing it year after year, thinking that next year will be different.

I'd like to propose that we actually DO something different.

The December Thanksgiving Art Journal Challenge! Every day in December, I'm taking time out to be thankful. Gratitude is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. It can turn a bad day into a better day, and a ho-hum life into a better life.

The thought of adding one more thing to an already packed December can be pretty terrifying. When I first came up with the idea, I thought, "clearly I'm crazy." And yes, I am crazy, but in the best possible way. :) But what is not crazy is giving yourself the gift of five minutes a day to slow down and be thankful. I've created an art journal challenge that's about recognizing the things we don't often express gratitude for, but I'm a firm believer in the fact that the more you recognize the little things, the more you see the good in everything.

Each day, I'll provide a prompt for you to do a quick art journal page about something to be thankful for. You can follow along on my blog, or you can subscribe to my newsletter for a quick PDF reference calendar of the challenges. This is meant to be a simple exercise in gratitude, and not take a lot of time.

I created two short videos explaining the challenge and how to do it.

Let's be thankful together!!

December Thanksgiving Challenge from Danica Favorite on Vimeo.



December Thanksgiving Challenge Demonstration from Danica Favorite on Vimeo.

You can sign up here:

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Let's continue the spirit of Thanksgiving together! I hope you'll grab your art journal and join me!

Leadville Inspiration for Rocky Mountain Dreams

In my last post, I showed you the cemetery where my husband's family is buried. Today, I wanted to share the inspiration for the location of Rocky Mountain Dreams.

When we go to Leadville, my husband likes to take trips into the hills to see the old mines and check out the scenery. As you'll see from my video, it's beautiful there. But for me, the inspiration is all about the stories of the people who were there before us. History is such a fascinating thing for me. I was never much for just the facts. In high school, we had these quizzes every week where we had to memorize the dates of events. BO-RING. I want to know the stories about the people. Who were they? What were they like? What was important to them? Take a trip with me into the hills above Leadville, and see how those questions led to my book, Rocky Mountain Dreams. I made the video in two parts, one from on top of the hill, and one from the bottom. Enjoy!

And if you haven't gotten my book yet, it's been spotted at Wal-Mart, KMart, Kroger, and is still available online.
Buy Today!

Tattered Cover

Harlequin.com

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

 

 

Leadville movie part one from Danica Favorite on Vimeo.

Leadville Inspiration part 2 from Danica Favorite on Vimeo.

Family Inspiration for Rocky Mountain Dreams

The reason I chose to set Rocky Mountain Dreams in Leadville is because we spend a lot of time there. When my husband's family came to the United States, they settled in Leadville. So much of the family history is tied up in the mining history, and that history inspired my story. That's not to say that my books are at all based on the family- they're not. But I can't think of Leadville without thinking of my husband's family.

Yesterday we buried the last of the Leadville generation of our family. My husband's great-aunt Angela passed away last week. She was the daughter of Anton and Mary Novak, the youngest of their eleven children. Spending time with the family yesterday reminded me of a video I made earlier this year when we last went to Leadville. I'm sharing it with you here, and I hope you'll enjoy this tiny peek into the family history that inspired my book!

And if you haven't gotten my book yet, it's been spotted at Wal-Mart, KMart, Kroger, and is still available online.
Buy Today!

Tattered Cover

Harlequin.com

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

 

 



Leadville Cemetary from Danica Favorite on Vimeo.

Rocky Mountain Dreams Release Month!!

It's finally here! The release of my debut, Rocky Mountain Dreams! I've got all kinds of fun celebrations happening, so be sure to check them out.

Earlier this month, I stopped by Margaret Daley's blog with an interview with my heroine, Annabelle Lassiter. And, if you want to get to know my hero better, I shared an interview with Joseph Stone on the CRAFTIE Ladies of Love Inspired blog last month.

If you're looking for a little more in depth chat with me, I stopped by Winnie Griggs's website for an interview, and I have a great interview up on the Harlequin.com community.

I have a few more appearances coming up, including a visit on Sheila Wray Gregoire's blog, To Love, Honor and Vacuum on November 13th, and a stopover at my friend Megan DiMaria's later this month as well. So stop by and say hi. :) I'm so thrilled that so many of the people who've encouraged me over the years are supporting my book!

 

So far, my book has been spotted in a few KMarts, a few WalMarts, and of course, you can buy it online.

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

ChristianBook.com

Harlequin.com

Tattered Cover

Staying focused on the dream

Ah, the grand plans of a dreamer... one of the things I noticed about when you dream of doing something big, something always gets in the way. I no sooner launched my art journaling class than a minor catastrophe hit our household. I ended up having to focus at least two hours a day on this situation. Completely beyond my control, and absolutely necessary for me to deal with. On top of that, I had some important book deadlines, some major events happening in my world, and it felt like everything was spinning out of control. Times like that, it's easy to wonder if maybe you weren't meant to pursue your dream after all.

If your dream was what you were meant to do, wouldn't it be easy?

That faulty thinking stopped me in my tracks a lot in the past. If I were to list every single thing that has gone wrong in my life in the past month, it would almost be funny. Um, yeah, no. I'm still finding no humor in it. That said, all the muck I've had to wade through has been a source of valuable lessons. And, if I'm really looking for silver linings, some really precious time with my family. But it's also given me tremendous clarity.

When you make the decision to move from one state of being into your dreams, it's almost as if the universe is asking you, "do you really want this?" So many times, we're able to step back and justify remaining exactly where we are. It's easy to fool ourselves into thinking that maybe the timing is wrong. When things settle down, THEN we'll go after that dream again. But you know what? Things never settle down.

Challenges are your dream's way of testing to see if you're worthy of having that dream.

Now, I'm not talking worthiness in terms of saying you stink, so you don't deserve your dream. But I do think that when we want more, we have to prove that we're willing to be more. Are you willing to face the dragons that are in front of you? Are you willing to fight them? Do you believe so strongly in your dream that you are willing to overcome what you need to overcome to have it?

If it were easy, you'd already have your dream.

Think about it. Why don't you have your dream now? No one's handed it to you, and no one's going to.

Which brings me back to the challenges I faced earlier this month. It's been two weeks of doing a bunch of stuff I don't want to do, don't have time to do, but I don't have any alternative but to do it. But I also didn't give up on my dream. I didn't do as much work on it as I'd have liked, and I went without a little more sleep than I would have liked, but I did what I had to do.

Are you being pushed to your limits in pursuing your dream?

I hope so! That means you're on the right track! And if you're looking for a little encouragement or some tools to help you along the way, I'd love to help. Sign up for my Unleash Your Creative Spirit class, and let's get you unstuck and moving forward. Your dreams are worth pursuing!

Now it's your turn... What's holding you back on following your dreams?

 

Your Dreams Matter

[caption id="attachment_4643" align="alignleft" width="300"] Let's have tea at Kensington Gardens.[/caption]

The past few days have been a bit of a whirlwind for me. Some of you were part of my great big huge prayer request and know that I'm stepping out on faith to pursue my dream and start my art journaling business. Coincidentally (HA! Does anyone really believe in coincidences? Thank you, LORD, for aligning everything in such perfect timing), I'm taking the blog challenge with Jeff Goins, and his lesson today was on finding the theme and purpose of your blog.

You have no idea how perfect that timing is for me. One of the reasons I haven't started my art journaling business is because I am still fuzzy on my purpose. But as I thought about my blog and its purpose, it really clarified for me what I'm doing.

Right now, you may be wondering what that has to do with YOUR dreams mattering. Well, I'll tell you.

My purpose, my deep down heart's desire, is for you- yes, you- to know how very much your dreams matter.

The theme has been there, staring me in the face, and I couldn't see it. I thought my online name, "Dream," was just an accident. I took it from an old email address I used based off my husband's business name. So let's back up to that place. One of the things that attracted me to my husband was that he used to have this manifesto on his wall that really inspired me. It said something like, "Bigger Dreams, Brighter Future," and I thought, I want to be with the kind of person who has big dreams in life. More importantly, though, a lot of his dream was about other people, and helping them. I wanted to be a part of that.

However, time has passed, and a lot of those dreams hubby had that first inspired me are now irrelevant. Different path in life, nothing bad, nothing wrong with changing them. But the thing inside of me that wanted to help people, it never died. In fact, as I look back on what I've been wanting to do with my life, I realized that even when I was younger, as early as 12, maybe even before that, I wanted to help people.

Everywhere I look at my life, at my past, I see an undercurrent of two things: I want to help people, and dreams matter. Even the title of my very first book, one of my dreams come true, reflects that- Rocky Mountain Dreams. My dream is simply not complete unless I'm helping others get theirs. I don't want to be alone taking tea at Kensington Palace. Maybe tea isn't your thing, but there is something out there that is. Maybe you are so lost in your world that you don't even know what you want anymore. I want to help you find it.

A long time ago, I found myself so beat up by the world that I stopped dreaming. I stopped believing I could do it. And then I found art journaling.

Once I started art journaling, something deep inside me broke free. The voices of all the things I wanted to do with my life WOULD. NOT. SHUT. UP. I started being braver, taking risks, doing things I'd always wanted to do but put off because I didn't think I could. I went to England. I took all kinds of classes that stirred my soul. And now, I am stepping in to live my dream and fully be the me that God created me to be.

Friends, that is the core of my business. Who I am, what I want to do, and why I am doing it. The subject of my blog is dreams. My theme is that every woman (and man, but I think women probably relate to me more) has the ability and the power to reach their dreams. My objective is to encourage women to pursue their dreams and to equip them to do so with my art journal tools.

Your dreams matter. I believe in you, and I believe that whatever it is that you want to do, you CAN do it. So if there is something stirring inside you, a dream that you've buried, or even a dream that no matter how hard you've tried, it just doesn't seem to work, come journey with me. Let's do this thing together!

Tell me your dream, and if you want to continue the conversation, sign up for my newsletter, and I'll start sharing some of my dream-making tips in your inbox soon!

My brand new about page!!

[caption id="attachment_4615" align="alignleft" width="300"] Say hello to my little Peep.[/caption]

I'm totally blog cheating so that I have a post for today's blog challenge. Okay, not really, but sort of. I went ahead and updated my About page as part of the blog challenge from Jeff Goins, and that took all the time I set aside for blogging (and then some). But I really wanted to create something that spoke to who I am and what I do in a more meaningful way.

So tell me what you think of my new About Me page.

Do you like it? Does it resonate with you? For those of you who know me well, or maybe not so well, does it sound like me? Is there anything I'm missing, or that you think I should add?

Also, because I spent so much time talking about my chickens, I'm thinking about adding a chickens page. Is that too weird? Or just totally awesome?? (I'm leaning toward totally awesome, but you all know how biased I am toward my chickens.)

While I'm picking your brain, if there's anything you do want to know about me, be sure to let me know.

Where is your focus?

[caption id="attachment_4635" align="alignleft" width="225"] What are you focused on?[/caption]

Earlier today, I was driving to an appointment and thinking about what I'd be blogging about today since I'm taking a blog challenge from Jeff Goins and I need to post daily. But then, something happened, and what was a really super awesome mood is just now, well, meh. I'm feeling a little deflated and a little discouraged. Which is when it occurred to me. Losing your focus is really easy.

Maybe that sounds a little too obvious, but sometimes I think we forget.

When we have a big dream, it's easy for little things to slip in and take away our focus.

I went from being rah-rah, I can do this, and here is what I have all laid out, to really feeling bad about myself, beating myself up, and feeling insecure. And immediately, I forgot all about the other plans I had. The good things I wanted to do. Fortunately, I didn't remain in that place for long. I asked myself an important question- is this what I want?

If we're focused on all the negatives and reasons why we can't, or even just the things that are dragging us down in other areas of our lives, we leave no room for the good things to come in.

With no room for the good things to come in, how on earth am I supposed to get the things I really want?

I'm not saying this is easy. Trust me! Even as I write this, I'm tempted to go back to that thing that's really upsetting me, and think about it. Which is completely ridiculous, because there is nothing I can do about it. I have to keep reminding myself that the thing I can do something about, achieving my dreams, IS something I have control over, and I need to just do it.

So that's what I'm doing. I'm sitting here, reminding you, reminding myself, that there are far more important things to focus on. Things that I can give my attention to and feel good about.

And that brings me back to the title of this post- where is your focus? Are you letting the junk in life drag you down, or are you bringing your attention back to the thing you really want?

 

The road to your dreams starts with self care

[caption id="attachment_4629" align="alignleft" width="225"] The place where my dreams are born.[/caption]

I just returned from a wonderful retreat in Park City, Utah. Many of you read my post about my BIG DECISION, and I wanted to share one of the really important components of making that decision. I engaged in a ton of self care. I stayed at a gorgeous hotel in a wonderful suite that had so many things that really nurtured me.

Nurturing myself gave me the freedom to really see the future I wanted for myself.

One of the most nurturing things my hotel had was a HUGE bath tub. I'm a shower girl if I just want to get clean. But when I need to take care of myself, I take a bath. This tub was spectacular. I went to Whole Foods on the first night, bought myself some yummy (and healthy!) food, and a big container of bath salts. Each night, I took a long bath with a cup of tea and a book. One night, I spent about two hours in the tub with my journal. That might sound like a lot, but for me, that's the best rejuvenation time in the world. Even when I'm at home, if I've had a bad day, or I'm not feeling myself, the best way for me to snap out of it is to spend some time in the tub. I often say that I go into the tub with a book, a cup of tea, a glass of water, and sometimes a glass of wine, and I don't leave until I've finished them all.

I've learned that taking care of myself makes me a better me so that I can more effectively reach out and help others.

Yes, that also includes my role as wife and mother. Everyone in my life is better for the time I spend taking care of myself. I can't give to others when I am empty inside. If I try to make a decision from a place of not feeling healthy and grounded, I invariably make the wrong decision. Or I make the right decision, but it doesn't feel good, because I did it from a harried place.

When you're trying to move in the direction of your dreams, you have to be in a place of strength.

That doesn't mean that there's an absence of fear, or that you feel totally incapable of doing what you're dreaming of. Those are natural feelings when you're chasing your dreams. But it's so much easier to deal with those feelings when you're taking care of yourself.

So what are you doing to take care of yourself? How can you take care of yourself today so you feel good about where you're going tomorrow?

Taking a leap of faith

[caption id="attachment_4626" align="alignleft" width="300"] Where I'm spending time clarifying my vision.[/caption]

Last night, I asked for prayer about a major decision I was facing. The truth is, I knew what I had to do, and I was scared to do it. After lots of prayer, and hearing from a number of wonderful friends, none of whom knew the decision I was making, that we have to act on faith, I had enough affirmation to know that my fear was not from God, and the only direction to go was forward.

So... for those of you wondering about my big scary prayer request. :)  Some of you know I've been talking about teaching art journaling classes for a long time, and I've done a few online classes to get my feet wet. Well, today I signed up for an intensive program that's going to help me launch my art journaling biz! It's definitely a stretch for me, and a huge act of faith, but I truly believe that this is the direction God is sending me in. Your prayers really helped me clarify that, and I'm really grateful to each person who prayed.

I had a great talk with one of my wonderful friends this afternoon, and he asked me what he could do to support me. I decided that I should probably share what I told him with all of you as well.

1. Please continue to pray. Trust me when I say that there is no way I can do any of this on my own power, and I really need to work closely with God on this. I'm walking purely in faith right now, and sometimes the fear is pretty overwhelming.

2. As I launch my biz, please do spread the word and share the love in any way you can. If you know of places where I can teach or share my information, please let me know. You can check out my art journaling page for more deets as I figure them out (and sign up for my art journaling newsletter!).

3. Please continue supporting me in my writing. I have every intention to continue that dream, and my pursuit of becoming America's favorite author! You can pre-order my book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Tattered Cover, or if you're super impatient, and want it now, it's already available on Harlequin.com.

Really, this leap of faith is all about me becoming more in line with the woman God created me to be, and following a passion and dream I've had for a long time. I remembered this morning (as I was journaling and praying about my decision) that some of the dreams I wrote in my journal when I was 12 years old would be accomplished through this. Apparently, I needed a lot of time to be molded into the person God needed me to be to make this dream come true. I'm still being molded, for sure!!

I really appreciate everyone's prayers and I feel very blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. Thanks so much for all of your support!

Humble Apologies

So... in my efforts to get rid of a bunch of spammy messages, I messed up something on my site. I can't find my undelete button, and I haven't had much luck in finding answers as to how to fix my mistake. Which means I lost a bunch of stuff off of my site.

If I lost something you said, I promise, it wasn't personal. That "delete all" button is way too powerful a button for someone like me (aka easily distracted) to handle. Again, my apologies!!

Now, to take our minds off of this dreadful moment, I'm sharing a picture of something that always makes me smile- a chicken!!

 

Overcoming Art Journaling Fear

As I've shared my art journaling passion with others, I'm finding that a lot of folks are afraid to start art journaling because they don't think they're very good at art. Even though the idea intrigues them and they'd love to give it a try, they don't want to take that step toward trying art journaling because they're afraid they won't be very good.

[caption id="attachment_4610" align="alignleft" width="300"] You can overcome your fear of art journaling![/caption]

It's not about being good!

What I love most about art journaling is that anyone of any talent can do it! I can't draw a straight line or make a perfect anything, and I proudly admit that I can't draw people unless we're talking stick figures.

But here's the value in art journaling. The emphasis is on the process, not the product, and it doesn't have to be perfect.

Art journaling is one of the best tools I've found in overcoming perfectionism.

It's true. Because I know I can't be perfect, and that the aim isn't perfection, I have a lot of freedom in letting the art be what it is. Good, bad, ugly, pretty, it doesn't matter. What matters is getting it on the page. What matters is that I'm willing to try.

The best way to overcome your fear is to just do it!

I made a couple of videos today more specifically addressing this issue, and I hope you'll take the time to not only watch, but also to actually try art journaling! As an added incentive, I'm going to give away the original picture in this post- it's the exact picture I create in the video. I hope my little piece of art, imperfect as it is, encourages you all to not be afraid and just do it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35XDN6N3z2A

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQs3MIqff1Q

 

Reply to this post letting me know you did the challenge, and you'll be entered to win. As a bonus, if you share your picture, you'll get an additional entry. I'll choose a random winner on Friday September 5th.

Kindness doesn't cost anything

I've been thinking about kindness lately, and last night, as I was editing my latest book proposal, I realized that kindness is one of the themes I've been exploring a lot lately.

A while back, I talked about my own personal kindness challenge, and how I was being more intentional about being kind. I'd hoped to spend the month talking about kindness, but then, I got zinged by someone I once thought of as a friend, and wondered if I really had any place to speak with authority on the subject. In one of my "I totally did not mean to be hurtful" moments, I said something that she interpreted as being unkind. The sad thing was, her response to me was very unkind, and while my lack of kindness was completely unintentional, her intent was to make sure I understood just how "bad" I was. Which, to me, is even more unkind. I'm not telling this story to call this person out. While she severed our friendship completely, I bear no ill will towards her. Actually, I kind of feel sorry for her, and hope that whatever that need in her to demand treatment from others that she does not reciprocate, that need is somehow filled. Somewhere inside her is a wounded person who needs healing, love, and yes, kindness.

Which is where, as I was writing last night, I started to think about how so many times, we ask for kindness, and in some ways, expect others to be kind toward us. Yet we often are not the ones freely sharing kindness. My daughter, Princess, often justifies her unkind behavior by saying, "well, the rule is do unto others as you would have them do to you. They're being mean to me, so I guess that means they want me to be mean to them!" As hard as I work to correct this view, I look around and realize that we all have that problem. Our first response when someone is unkind is to lash out, to criticize, to condemn.

Last night, I was in the store, and this guy was being, well, to put it nicely, a jerk. At first, I was like, huh, what a jerk. But then I noticed all the things he had in his basket. Medical supplies. Like the heavy duty kind you have to get when someone at your house is really sick. I wondered who he loved was sick, and what was wrong. I silently prayed for him, and when we both started for checkout at the same time, I intentionally slowed down, even though I was just as eager to beat the coming hail storm. What did it cost me to let this worried guy go ahead? Okay, I might spend a little more time in the store than I'd wanted to. But maybe those extra couple minutes of getting to whoever had him so worried would make a difference.

Notice my first reaction was not, "I wonder why he's got all those medical supplies," but, "what a jerk." My former friend's reaction was not, "huh, I wonder what's going on in her life that she was so short with me?" Sometimes being kind means taking an extra step back and not reacting. Not calling the person a jerk, or making the person pay for what seemed like a slight. Sometimes being kind is just a friendly smile or waiting patiently when you're in just as much of a hurry. Mostly, kindness is treating others the way you want to be treated, even when they don't follow that rule.

The best part about kindness, is that while it requires a little more self-control, is that it doesn't cost anything. Sometimes we think that we need to go out and buy people a cup of coffee or take them dinner, or do something really grand. But the truth is, the most meaningful part of kindness is simply how we treat each other. For me personally, the kindness of others in my life has been life-changing. And truthfully, as much as I've had to deal with unkindness, it is the kindness of loving friends that have made me want to be a kinder person. Maybe I'm living a little too much in my books, but ultimately, kindness is what changes the hearts of my characters.

Where has kindness made a difference in your life? What can you do to share kindness with others?

Everything you need to achieve your dreams

When I entered 2014, it was with the intention of focusing on taking the steps I need to achieve my dreams. I have a lot of "someday I'd like to" in my life, and I decided that "someday" was no longer good enough. I've been studying a lot of different ideas and methods for achieving your dreams and goal setting, and combining that with my art journaling.

One of the exercises I did talked about the qualities you want to have when you reach your dreams. Unless you develop those qualities on the way to your dream, you aren't going to be happy once you get there. That's why, when a lot of people reach certain goals, they're still unhappy. I can attest to that feeling of unhappiness with reaching goals. I stopped setting goals at one point because I was tired of getting what I wanted, but not being any happier. So this exercise asks you to focus your attention on what qualities and feelings you want to have when you reach your goals and fulfill your dreams.

I started thinking about what I wanted to feel, what qualities I wanted in my life, and, going back to those things that didn't make me happy, I thought about what I thought getting those things would make me feel, and I put those down as well. As I looked at the things I put on paper, I realized something very powerful. Getting my dreams was less about having certain things as it was about the kind of person I wanted to be. More importantly, I realized that I could be that person and have those things without ever accomplishing any of my actual life goals. Even if none of my dreams every came true, I could still be content with my life. That's not to say I don't have dreams. But I realized that my worth is not dependent on the outcome of my dreams.

Many times, when we set goals, we think that by achieving that thing, we're going to get something else. Maybe it's love, acceptance, confidence, happiness, success, peace, or some other amorphous thing we can't really define. A lot of times, it really isn't about the goal, but about that underlying quality we want to get. As I thought about my goals and the underlying emotions and qualities, I realized that I would probably reach my goals faster if I actually worked on the qualities I want in my life first. Even better, though, was the realization that this journey is a lot like the Wizard of Oz. Whether it's the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, or the Scarecrow, the very thing we seek already resides within us. We just need to dig in and make use of it.

What are your dreams?

What qualities do you hope to gain when you finally reach your dreams?

Is there something you could be doing now to bring about those qualities? What's inside of you that you need to bring out?

Sharing a few happy thoughts...

[caption id="attachment_4568" align="alignleft" width="300"] Watching this mama swan and her babies in Kensington Gardens was so joyful! How could anyone have thought those precious little babies were ugly?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4569" align="alignleft" width="300"] Beautiful duck watching over the babies beside The Serpentine.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4570" align="alignleft" width="300"] Clearly my time in Kensington Gardens and Hyde park was all about the birds. Isn't this a handsome fellow?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4571" align="alignleft" width="300"] Beautiful rose in Hyde Park[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4572" align="alignleft" width="300"] More beautiful gardens in Hyde Park. Imagine sitting in here and inhaling all the fragrant flowers. Bliss![/caption]

It's been a weird few days. I had family visiting (LOVED it) and yet, every interaction with someone in the outside world ended up with me scratching my head wondering how so many narcissists can exist in this world without the universe imploding.

Last week, I created a really cool calendar of things to blog about and when, and somehow I lost it. Then, today, I got an email saying that my blog server had been updated, so I logged on and realized that I lost a bunch of comments. So if you commented on my blog recently, and you don't see it, my apologies. I promise I didn't delete it on purpose. :)

So how do those two thoughts go together?

It made me think about happy thoughts and the need to share more of them. As I was getting angry over watching some really selfish people do some really selfish things to others, then to find a lot of my plans going awry, I realized that my anger and frustration doesn't do anyone any good. I can complain about narcissists all day long, but a narcissist is not going to read my complaint and think, "wow, I really am a narcissist. I should stop." And all the good people reading my complaints just get frustrated at the narcissists, and that doesn't do them any good!

I could also complain about all the various things that have just gone wrong in the past few days, and while I could get sympathy, the reality is, it doesn't do anything to fix the situation.

Which is why I'm going to happy thoughts mode. A lot of bad stuff is out there. If you scroll through Facebook today, you can read all about people's horrible happenings. And some joyful ones, like my friend just became a grandma for the second time to a super cute baby! So I'm choosing to think on the happy things. I'm ignoring the negative garbage, and I'm re-filling my good news happy tank.

What fills your good news happy tank? Share yours, and maybe between all of us, we can brighten everyone's day! If you look at the pictures, those are some of my happy tank pictures. I don't know why, but there's something about taking pictures of pretty flowers that makes me happy. I hope people will look at them and see a little beauty that will give them a smile.

 

 

 

Taking steps toward my dreams now

[caption id="attachment_4565" align="alignleft" width="300"] Standing in front of Rotten Row, a place I've dreamed of seeing for years.[/caption]

The funny thing about my lack of blogging of late is that it's not because I've lacked things to say or reasons to blog. The truth of the matter is that I keep thinking I'm going to re-do my website, and I don't want the hassle of having to move my whole blog or get new posts caught in transition. But I keep pushing back my website move. Partially due to the schedule of the person I'm having do it, partially due to my schedule. So, here it is, my site, and my blog, languishing.

Which is a perfect metaphor for most of my dreams and plans right now.

It should come as no big surprise that I have a lot of big dreams. Some I've had for years, but pushed aside due to time, money, doubt, and probably a few other reasons. But earlier this year, some of those dreams were re-awakened. And I came to this realization: The only thing standing in the way of what I want is me.

Sure, there are the practicalities of things like money, and time, but the truth is, even without enough time and enough money, I could be working toward my dreams. Okay, so there isn't enough money. So why aren't I working hard to set aside the money to pay for what I want? Logical, yes?

So the first half of this year, I've been thinking. Planning. Dreaming. And then my husband and I took what, for me, was a dream vacation I'd hoped to do for years. I realized that it wasn't enough. Yes, it was a wonderful trip. But why did I wait so long to find a way to come up with the money to go? Why didn't I recognize the importance of this dream, and do what it took to get there?

I realized that I was tired of waiting on the sidelines for everything in my life to perfectly come together to make my dreams come true.

Some of you may wonder about my writing. Isn't selling my first, then my second, book enough? In a word, no. I used to be ashamed of that answer, but the truth is, there is so much more I want out of life. I am grateful for my contracts, and I intend to keep writing. But I also intend to step out and keep pursuing the more.

Which leads me here, to this blog. I don't know when I'll get my site redone. It may be next week (not likely) or next year (more likely). But in the meantime, I'm going to keep sharing and moving forward. I'm going to keep doing the things I need to get what I need in place to accomplish my dreams.

What are your dreams? Are there steps you can be taking now to get you closer to them, even if the big pieces aren't yet in place?

The value of relationship in customer service

Over the past few months, I've been having a lot of issues with our medical insurance company. Weird claims processing, being charged for things we shouldn't be charged for, bills I don't understand, etc. Today I learned something that completely changed my perspective on things not working as they have been. I realized just how important relationship is.

We've had the same insurance company for 15 years. In addition, we've had the same claims adjuster for that time. Over the years, I've been able to pick up the phone, talk to her, and figure out any questions or problems. It's been a very friendly relationship. As soon as I identify myself, she immediately says, "hello, Danica, how are you?" in a way that has always made me feel like I had an advocate in our insurance company. Rare, I know, but I think it's something I've taken for granted. Or at least it's something I've gotten so used to that I've forgotten just how powerful it is. One quick phone call was all it ever took to get really complicated messes straightened out.

Which is why all of the confusion we've had with our insurance company is puzzling. I couldn't understand why certain mistakes were being made, and why things that were usually taken care of had become such a mess. Today when I called, I finally got a live person. Someone new.  We have a new claims adjuster, and she hasn't known us for 15 years. She doesn't know the ins and outs of our medical billing history, needs, and how our providers work. All she knows is that she has a job to do and that's to push papers and crunch numbers. We're just names on claim forms. Our conversation wasn't filled with pleasantries or the warm familiarity I've come to recognize from our old claims lady.

I talked to our new claims lady and got everything straightened out. Yay! But as I hung up the phone, I felt a little sad at the loss of the old claims lady. Yes, business got done, and everything worked out. Mission accomplished. However, I realized that I'm going to have to make a lot more of these phone calls to straighten things out. There won't be any more friendly sticky notes on claim letters from the lady who knows us, telling me not to worry about something, or telling me what I need to know. Instead, it will be the formal letters with Dear Mr. and Mrs. X that will take phone calls to decipher and add a little more stress to my day.

Unfortunately, I don't know why our old claims lady isn't handling our claims anymore. She was an older woman, so she could have retired. Or she could have moved elsewhere in the company. Or she could have gotten a different job. But I'm going to miss her, and relationship we've built over the years. While she handled our claims, I didn't worry about anything having to do with our insurance. I always knew that she was on top of it. I knew that we would always work it out.

Most of my job is, in a lot of ways, related to customer service. My hope is that the people I've worked with for years know that I'm going to take care of them. That the new people I meet and work with will feel the same way. As people start reading my books, I hope that the relationship I develop with them will be about knowing them as people, and not just names in a database.

How has a good relationship impacted your customer service experience?

Taking the grumpy wumpus by the horns

Are you in a grumpy mood? Feeling down? Feeling insignificant?

I've had a rough week of that. It seems like everything I've planned on this week has fallen apart, and I haven't had the strength to do much more than mope. When I'm in these moods, I tend to hide away and just be... blah. Not a great choice, but I hate subjecting others to my moods.

So today, something interesting happened. I had a long list of things I was going to do to snap out of it. None of them materialized. Well, there's hope for one more of those things, but I've decided not to let my mood rise and fall on that event. I was feeling even more sorry for myself, and I have a huge list of things to do, but I couldn't bring myself to do any of it. Then my friend Barbara Phinney posted a blog about me.

Basically, she talked about how I made a great first impression and my interaction with her meant a lot. I had to drag out the tissues. Another friend commented that she'd felt the same way about me.

I felt like a fraud. Here I was feeling totally insignificant, and TWO people mentioned what a difference I'd made to them. Then I read a blog post by Alexandra Franzen talking about how we are significant, we are a BIG DEAL, no matter what size our audience is.

Wow.

I realized that as much I felt insignificant, thinking that way was wrong. I was telling a lie about myself. I'm not insignificant. Two people today told me that I was important, and in just 45 minutes, I'm going to have a little girl wrap her arms around me and tell me how much she missed me while she was at school today.

So I took out my big girl pens, aka my Sharpies, and I started to catch up on my art journaling. I realized that during my doldrum time, I stopped doing the one thing that always makes me feel better. It's not pretty art, or at least it's not gallery quality art, but that's okay. Art is art, and it's a great way to clear out the fog. My ugly wolf did its job. It, along with the encouragement I needed, chased away my Grumpy Wumpus.

If you're in a similar mood, I hope my post (and the ones I linked to) give you encouragement. Then take out those markers, crayons, paints, or whatever you have on hand, and make something creative. It doesn't have to be perfect, and it can even be ugly. Make it your own, and chase that icky mood away!

Winners!! And a name!

I gathered up all of the suggestions for the brothel name and I sent them over to my editor, asking her to choose one. I figured she'd be the best judge of what would work for my book and our readership, and she came up with...

 

The Pink Petticoat!

 

Crystal Ridgway, thank you so much for the suggestion. Let me know which online bookstore you'd like a gift card to, and be on the lookout for my second book next spring, featuring The Pink Petticoat.

My other random winner was Holly S.

Thank you everyone for your great ideas and suggestions!

Book news! And a contest!

I finally have a release date for my first Love Inspired Historical book! Look for it November 2014! I also sold my second book, which will be out early to mid 2015.

With all that to celebrate, I wanted to share some of the fun. In my second book, a brothel called The Lucky Miner plays an important role in the story. My editor would like me to change the name to something that doesn't include the word, "Lucky." I thought it would be fun to let my readers help me pick a new name. My book is set in 1881 in Leadville, Colorado, during the silver boom.

I'm going to give you all a week to help me name my brothel. I'll take a look at all of the ideas submitted and choose my favorite brothel name. If two people suggest the same name, I'll go with the one who suggested it first.

The GRAND PRIZE: I'll use your brothel name in my book, you'll be featured in the acknowledgements, AND I'll send you a $25 gift card to the online bookstore of your choice.

And because I want to spread the joy a little, I'm going to give away a random prize to one of our entrants. Just fill out the entry form and rafflecopter will choose a winner to receive a $25 gift card to the online bookstore of their choice.

If you don't see your posts right away, don't worry... it'll be there eventually. Due to high levels of spam, I have to approve everything. Stinky spammers ruin it for everyone!

 

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