Celebrating The Week With Gratitude – A Celebrate The Small Things Blog Post

“Gratitude” by Allroads
http://goo.gl/xVlNy9

I hope you all had a wonderful week. If you did, why not participate in the “Celebrate The Small Things” Blog Hop and share with us what you are grateful for?

What am I grateful for this week:

I am grateful that I am back on track with my daily exercise. I try to walk a minimum of 12000 steps a day, but when we were all sick that was not possible. Now, thanks to my favorite motivational tool ( the Fitbit Charge) and the fact that we are all well, I am back to my regular routine. At least when it comes to exercise.

I am also grateful that my son has decided to become a vegetarian. That is totally his choice – my daughter switched to a vegetarian diet when she was 12 as well, and now is a vegan – but it makes it so much easier to cook every day, because now instead of cooking for one meat-eater, one vegetarian (me) and one vegan – the only meat I have to cook is for the dogs, unless my husband is home, who is staying on the standard American diet – well, at least for now, there is hope there too.

I am grateful that there is more leakage of the Suicide Squad movie – well, the shooting of the movie to be exact. I can not wait to see Jared Leto play the Joker. As both a Leto and a comics fan (both Marvel and DC), I am so happy for any snippet of info I can get my hands on.

What are you grateful for this week? Is there something you are really looking forward to, or something you experienced that still leaves you in a state of glee each time you think about it? Please share, we all love great news – oh, and do not forget to stop by all of the other wonderful bloggers who are participating in this blog hop.

Blessings

Claudia

P.S The above gratitude poster was designed by Allroads and is available here. Please support independent artists!

Sleepless Nights – A Romantic Haiku

Vintage Love and Romance, Romantic Canoe Ride Poster by YesterdayCafe

 

your turquoise eyes stole
many nights sleep since we met
every breath a gift

Copyright Claudia H. Blanton 2015

 

“The Long Road Home” – A Flash Fiction

“The Long Road Home” by Avalon Media available here:
http://shrsl.com/?~8swh

Despite numerous diversions, I had followed through on my plans to make the trip to Santa Fe.
No matter what the Universe threw at me, I was determined to follow through, after all, I had made the promise to stand by my sisters side on her special day, even though I loathed weddings and knew it would mean I would have to encounter slimy old Uncle Thomas.
None of that mattered, nothing did, because I was happy for her, more importantly for the first time in her life, she was happy.
Diversions or not, I had to go in a hurry, and took a wrong turn that would end my life.

Copyright Claudia H. Blanton 2015

This post was inspired by this weeks prompt “Diversions” by Lillie McFerrin. The above image “The Long Road Home” is available on RedBubble here.

Moving Forward – A Haiku

“Sadness” Cell phone case by Avalon Media
http://goo.gl/lCmfHg

 

bitter-sweet memory
letting go off yesterday
no time to look back

Copyright Claudia H. Blanton 2015

 

Finding Your Truly Unique Voice

“Be A Voice”” by Avalon Media
http://shrsl.com/?~8sho

As writers and creatives, we are often aware of what is in trend, which books made it to the bestseller list, or which one of our fellow designers is featured in another publication. It is easy at this moment to be tempted to implement their style, their voice, as it has brought them the success you are craving for.

While it is a great idea to learn from other people’s successes, it important NOT to implement their voice and style. What made them success is, for the most part, their uniqueness. It is that special something that made them stand out of the crowd. Copying their style might bring temporary success, but not an authentic one, and your readers or viewers will feel that through every ounce of your work. Find your own creative voice and within it, find your success by refining it, fine tuning the uniqueness of who you are.

This post is a part of the #BeWoW Wednesdays, and #WWWBlogs

You can find the above image for sale on RedBubble and Zazzle in a variety of applications.

Determination – A Haiku

“Light My Way” http://shrsl.com/?~8rxf

a spark within me
guiding my steps far ahead
force to be reckoned with

Copyright Claudia H. Blanton 2015

“Light My Way” by Avalon Media is available on RedBubble.

 

Stumbling Through The Darkness

“Dream On” by Avalon Media http://goo.gl/XS6xHj

unknown path ahead
yet I stumble through the darkness
one step at a time

Copyright Claudia H. Blanton 2015

This is what following your dreams sometimes feel like: stumbling through the darkness, not knowing where the next step may take you, just aware of what is at the end: the goal.

It is what scares many people off in following through, not knowing how to get there, and only be able to plan a little bit, having to let go of certainty. Any creative endeavour surely is about letting go as well, allowing the process to unfold.

The key is to not allow fear –  which is natural, especially in the beginning, before any momentum sets in – to take so much hold on you, that it stops you in your tracks. Pushing beyond that fear, through the darkness will eventually get you where you want to go. But there is no other way then through.

Our move is somewhat like that. As I mentioned yesterday briefly, we are letting go of most of our possessions, taking with us only the things most dear, and the irreplaceable. There is a good reason for that. When we first moved here to Tampa, to be close to my recently widowed Mother-In-Law, it was only temporary. It ended up a few years longer than we expected, but it was nevertheless a short term solution for the sake of our family. We did not add fancy furniture or expensive items to our dwelling because our heart was on the other side of the country – our goals set to move to Los Angeles.There are no friends to leave behind, no ties to this community, as they were never made in the first place. So we made due with the necessities, and less luxury and comfort than we all would have liked to. None of this temporary life (with the exception of our extensive collection of electronical gadgets and consoles) will come with us. Our journey to get what we really want, how we really want to life will begin in Las Vegas, and end in LA. Something I am very much intending to write about.

But it means letting go of everything, of anything familiar. If we would let fear stop us, we would not be able to see all of the beauty that is about to be in our lives. Hanging on to yesterday, would keep us from enjoying a new and better tomorrow.

Whatever your dreams are, whatever goals you have, do not let your fears deter you from following through. Change and progress might be temporarily uncomfortable and scary, but that is a temporary state, on which’s other side lays the reward for having taken a chance.

Keep on dreaming.

The above image is available as a poster in various sizes in our Zazzle store. You can find it here.

This Week’s Mission – Not Get Overwhelmed, Stay Organized, And Semi-Sane

“I Am Not Crazy” Cat Greeting card by Avalon Media http://goo.gl/EUEkjO

A little crazy never hurt anyone, I don’t mean DC’s Joker-crazy, I mean out-of-the-box weird, with a dash of creative colorfulness. But in all of that craziness that we (my hubby, my kids and I),  have to find a way to  balance all of what we want to accomplish AND still have a life, by not  adding even more to our ever-growing list of to-do’s. With more ideas than there are hours in the day, a limit has to be set of how much we can take on.

I think, without Evernote and Nozbe,  I would be lost forever, especially considering that my handwriting resembles that of a doctor, so it’s pretty much useless for me to keep handwritten notes.

So what is on the agenda for the next few days?

• publish an interview I conducted with a very creative fellow Designer on Zazzle (you can check out his store “SwissToons” here)
• getting ready to move, which  means getting rid of most of our stuff (I am going to write another blog post about our decision to start all over)
• create more designs, specifically focusing on home decor, cell phone cases and cards for both RedBubble and Zazzle
• get even more familiar with the few more companies I will be working with here – and introducing them to you all.
• make a list of things I need (and want ) to get, once we actually arrived in Las Vegas.
• write at least 7 more flash fiction stories – some of them I will publish here,  others will be exclusive for the upcoming collection
• implement and write about the ton of social media and business info I have come across over the last few weeks and months
• publish some reviews (not just about books)

Behind the scenes, we still have to run our transportation business and homeschool our children, but those are the musts that are consistently a part of our daily activities, our non-negotiables. The former is our main income source, and the latter: education – well I could write an entire book about the importance of educating our college-bound kids.

Sounds like a lot? Yup, but somehow we always seem to manage to make it all work, just as long as I promise myself not to take on anything else. That is something I am very bad at. I want to do everything, and I want to do it now. But the scripts and urban fantasy series have to wait this week, even though I wish I could dive into any of them.

Question:

How do you keep yourself from overwhelmed? What do you do to unwind, and get away from it all?

I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Have a wonderful Memorial Day!

Claudia

P.S. I highly recommend to you all to check out our affiliate Nozbe! The best productivity tool I have come across. I organize all of my business and personal projects using this program!

Gratitude – A Celebrate The Small Things Blog Post

It has been way too long since I have participated in the “Celebrate The Small Things” blog hop, even though I think it is one of the most positive link ups around. So without further ado, this shall be remedied today.

There is so much to be grateful for anyway. We are finally getting over whatever this viral infection was, that the entire family suffered from for almost two weeks. It feels good to be able to breathe, without coughing my lungs out. I am very grateful for that.

My dog (the hyper- allergic one I wrote about before) is getting her fur back! That took a while, but it is all coming back now, finally. She has made such a tremendous improvement since we went all crazy and changed, well just about everything, including me making her dog food from scratch.

I am grateful for the fact that the design part of our business is working well. I got more ideas than I know what to do with (which is a normal state for me), and I am itching to implement every single one of them.

I am also grateful that I am writing again like crazy, not just flash fiction and haiku, but also on the trilogy, but I know better to even try to come up with a publication schedule until after the move. While I do not mind taking on a lot of work, I know better than to overdo what I put upon myself. After all, we still have the transportation aspect of our business to run, and I do homeschool both of my kids.

I am grateful that I have come across so many different cool bloggers over the last  few weeks, and I had a chance to learn so much from them. Implementing these lessons will take me a little while, but that is okay. There is always something to learn, isn’t there?

So, now I am wondering what you are grateful for? What have you come across this week, that made you appreciate the world around you just a little more? Oh, and check out the other bloggers participating in this link up here! 

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Blessings

Claudia

The Tea – A Flash Fiction

 

“The Dreams In Which I’m Dyin'” by Samantha Aplin 

 

“Soon”, she said to the impatient child, stirring the tea, the clouds of steam rising above the slightly cracked cup, slowly allowing the brew of roots to cool to a consumable temperature.
She tried not to frown, her eyes filled with a sorrowful smile as she nodded reassuringly at the little one.
This would have to make due for now, no breakfast available to fill their empty stomachs, but at least, the heat the tea brought would allow them to move about in the bitter cold.
For a moment, a flicker of despair rushed across her face, but she caught herself, adjusting it back to the well-practiced facade she had worn now far too long.

Copyright Claudia H. Blanton 2015

The above image is by the talented Samantha Aplin and is available on RedBubble. Please support independent artists, thank you.

The flash fiction was inspired by Lillie McFerrin’s flash fiction prompt “Steam”, and the #1word blog hop prompt “Soon”.