Monday’s Pen to Paper: What Helps You Increase Your Daily Word Count
I went away to write for a couple of days and it’s amazing how much work I can get done when I don’t have laundry to do, dishes to wash and errands to run. When all I have to do is focus on my writing (And pet the cats and the chickens that were at my B-n-B). This, however, is not my every day life, so though I’m thrilled I got to bang out several chapters in my time away, I’m always striving to find ways to better forward my daily word count and “get away” on my normal schedule.
So far, going to the “office” (a coffee shop), for a few hours every day seems to be my most productive choice. What works best to keep you moving forward with you writing?
WRITING PROMPT: The black cat…
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Are Women Coaches Bullied?
photo credit: Paul Moseley
I’ve spent over half of my life coaching and every minute was worth it. Not for the money of course, I volunteered for eighteen of the years that I coached and the others I was paid next to nothing (As you know high school coaches don’t coach for the money). But it was worth it because of the opportunity to work with the players (mostly girls) and teach them about basketball, a sport dear to my heart, and through basketball help them learn about life. How to set goals, work hard, work as a team, win and lose with grace and also how to have some fun in the process.
Over the years, my players inspired me, entertained me, and taught me to be a better coach and a better person. But coaching high school was not easy, and though I am always up for a challenge, and loved having the opportunity to grow a high school program my last few years as a head coach, the part that is difficult about being a coach, is being treated differently or mistreated because I’m a woman.
I know the game. I played Division 1 college basketball and started on a team that played in the NCAA tournament and was a coach for a high school program that won several state championships before I became a head coach, so I have experience on and off the court. I also know and respect that not all coaches are the same. I ran flexible motion offenses where other successful coaches might run set plays, I don’t like 1-3-1 zones much, but have seen them run with perfection by other teams. What I’m saying is, coaches can do things their […]
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Spring has Sprung
The cherry trees are in bloom and I’m sneezing from time to time and every once in a blue moon we have some sunlight, so I’m calling it spring. And my daughter informed me that it was officially spring yesterday, so there you have it, it may not feel like it at times, but it’s official. Spring has sprung!
WRITING PROMPT #1: What does spring mean to you?
WRITING PROMPT #2: Selma couldn’t stop sneezing, she…
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Enjoy The Madness
It’s that time of the year again when everyone works from home so they can sit with their computers in their laps and their eyes on the TV watching college tournament games. And though watching the games is plenty of fun, every year my husband and I ramp up the intensity with a bet. The bracket winner gets an hour massage and more important, bragging rights. (I’m looking forward to ANOTHER massage).
My husband and I are also in a bracket where losers owe winners a drink. My friend and her family fill out their brackets and the winner gets their request granted from the rest of the family. Maybe sister has to play games all day with winning brother, mom cooks favorite dinner and dessert for winning daughter, this fun competition gives another good reason to gather as a family and have fun.
I’m not good about keep up with the college teams during the season. (In the past I was always busy coaching, and this year I was watching the team that I used to coach, my son’s high school team and my daughter’s college team, so I didn’t have a lot of extra watching time.) So, I have to admit my picks are pretty arbitrary. I often choose my teams by names of colleges that are more familiar, teams that I remember watching in the past. Sometimes it’s by their mascot. Sometimes I’ve seen a team play once and liked either the coach or the way they played defense. And sometimes I choose an underdog, just because.
With high school, and most college, seasons over, it’s time to dive in and enjoy a little March Madness! And even though it’s Friday today, it’s not too late to grab a friend, design your […]
Meet Sonya
Meet Sonya
Sonya Elliott’s memoir, Back on the Court: A Young Woman’s Triumphant Return to Life, Love & Basketball, is her story of finding hope in the wake of tragedy after she and her fiancé were hit by a train. She blogs about writing, basketball, and life and is currently working on a Young Adult Novel and a Non-Fiction Coaching book. Stories of her career as a fashion model are woven through her memoir, as both the Soloflex and Easy Spirit Shoes commercials were filmed during that time period, and this unique and intriguing business continues to be a part of her life.
Sonya played basketball at Eastern Washington University and was a starter for the Big Sky Champion team that went to the 1987 NCAA tournament. She coached for almost 25 years and was voted Seattle Times Coach of the Year, Seattle Officials Women’s Basketball Association Coach of the Year, and twice voted Metro League Coach of the Year. She loves the game of basketball and is thankful, not only for her husband and kids but for her ability to continue to get back on the court.
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Monday’s Pen to Paper: Sun or Moon?
Do you wake early with arms stretched open wide to the sun, or are you like a barn owl, a bat, a bush rat, or a possum perhaps, who prefers the light of the moon?
Before I was married I used to binge clean and work on projects into the early morning hours. Rearrange my living room, organize a closet, work on a photo album, read a book, paint the kitchen. When I first started writing my book I had young kids so I would carve out minutes throughout the day to write, but when my husband would go play basketball at night with his men’s team, as much as it would bug me that I couldn’t play with them I relished the night alone to stay up late and write. His team would go for drinks after the game so he would be out […]
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Because You Can
I drained my first three ten foot jumpers in my first game back on the court last week. Sometimes I have beginner’s luck when I’ve been away from the game for a while, but it had been months since I last played, so I was anxious, not to mention a bit out of shape. I ended the game (a last second comeback win) with ten points, a sore left arch, a tender Achilles tendon, an achy back and a smile.
I went to bed nervous that when I woke up my shoulder might be frozen again, back to what had become an ongoing cycle of pain over the last nine months. Night being the worst with both a bad shoulder and bad wrist, rolling over had been nearly impossible and sleep was always in question. But when I woke the next morning, my shoulder […]
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Quiet
When I was six months pregnant with my son, I drove 2000 miles to southern California and back in my 1989 Volkswagon Vanagon with my two year-old daughter and my boxer dog in tow. I did this all with no stereo, no phone, and no electronics and I loved every minute of it.
Recently I read the book Quiet by Susan Cain. The book hit home for me. Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, reminded me that I’m just fine the way I am. Introverted. Of course I know that I’m okay, but in a world full of extroverts, a world that praises extroverted qualities and living with two extroverts (now that my daughter and fellow introvert is away at college), life can be trying and often I feel awkward and guilty about wanting […]
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