Monday’s Pen to Paper: Forget about the Perfect Word, First Capture your Thoughts
The thesaurus is my friend. Some may not need this crutch of sorts, this slayer of words. But I use mine (all three), a lot. I have one on my computer, as well as big thick hardback book that my husband bought for me years ago and last my husband himself, he is my personal thesaurus. If he is near and I’m searching for a word, I’ll holler out, “What’s another word for dive?” And with amazing consistency, he’ll pause for a second and then reply, “Plunge, plummet, drop…” and more useable words that hit the spot. (I have no idea how he does this, but it seems to work for me more often than not.)
However, he’s not always around, so if I’m writing away and I know what I want to say, but I just can’t pull a specific word up in my mind, I simply do this ( ), and keep typing with the knowledge that I can come back and fill in the blank. When I come back to my blanks, I pull out my thesaurus to help find the right word or edit and rewrite the sentence, or a paragraph or two, to get my thoughts down how I like them.
Finding the perfect word doesn’t always happen immediately, nor should it, writing takes time. Just know that if you have to toss in a ( ) or a _____ to keep your thoughts moving forward, then do it! You can always come back to find the perfect word, what’s important is to capture your thoughts while they are fresh in your mind.
Write on!
WRITING PROMPT: Capture
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Giving It Up
I played basketball the other day with my husband and some friends. My husband and I were teamed together, and when we are on the same team I tend to make him do the inside work. He is a good five inches taller than me. But when we were on a fast break he called for that ball earlier than normal and reminded me, “Give up the ball and I’ll get it back to you.” Ah, so true. The basic Give & Go. (If only I could move my 49-year-old body fast enough to fill the break to get it back).
Don’t be afraid to pass the ball to your teammates, in the end you will get more opportunities with the ball. Give and you shall receive. A fundamental part of the game and an important lesson in life.
On the court and in life. Remember to give and you will be sure to receive.
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Growing Hip
Honey 1919-2015
I’m trying to grow hip as I grow older. My husband always tells people that he wants to be like my grandma, Honey, when he is old. “She was HIP,” he explains and then goes on to talk about how she was current with news, sports and of course politics. (She and my grandpa leaned to the left, which I loved.) She stayed relevant with her grand and great-grand kids, up until she was in her late 90’s. Her great-grands loved her, chatted with her, played cards with her (She played a mean hand of Bridge or any card game for that matter) and learned from her until she was gone, and that is cool. HIP.
Honey wasn’t perfect, but she was darn close. She was an amazing grandmother to me, and just one of the things I loved about her was her ability to stay up with the times, and it is one thing I want to emulate and fold into my life. My hip won’t be like Honey’s, but I’ll do my best to live my life to the fullest, try new things, stay current with the world and stay positive despite some of what might be out there in the news. To look for the good and pass on the good to those around me.
Isn’t that something worth striving for as we grow older, to be hip and relevant? I don’t mean dress like a teenager. (Though Honey always looked sharp while being age appropriate) but just staying up with the times. Reading and learning. Being open and living life.
Writing prompt #1: How will you stay hip throughout your lifetime?
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Tidying House & Soul
Bags of stuff to donate
I’m on a mission. Over the past several years my house has gotten cluttered. I can usually keep the main level livable but the rest is getting overtaken with stuff. Anytime we have company, extra things get tossed in my office. I can’t even work in my office anymore, it’s much too crowded. When I write I go to the kitchen, it’s open, has lots of light and is relatively uncluttered, but it would be nice to be able to use my office if I felt like it.
So the daunting task is underway. It started a couple of weeks ago when my kids and I cleared out their rooms. We sent bags of clothes to Goodwill, and then I hit my closet and did the same. This week I focused on my office, the worst room in the house, where now the floor is covered in piles of paperwork. Personal and business bills and invoices to be filed, coaching notebooks and paperwork from the last five seasons and summer camps, miscellaneous books, leftover graduation preparations and photos from my daughters graduation last spring, you name it, this is the spot where every extra thing lands. But not for long.
Because when I started this job of clearing my space, I also decided to listen to a book. And the book that popped out at me, as I was figuring out how to download an audio file to my phone (I was used to checking out CD’s from the library), was The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Condo. It was meant to be.
It was nice to have support and ideas straight from the book to help in my tidying process, because it’s not happening overnight, and though […]
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.
Blog
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Better Safe Than Sorry
My teenage kids are both fighting sports injuries. One a bad knee and one a painful shin splint. My husband and I grew up in the “No Pain-No Gain” era, and we have the mentality to fight through pain to practice and play, sometimes beyond what is good for our bodies. Our kids inherited that same mentality but they have learned that it is not always the best way. They have both checked with doctors and are taking short breaks.
“No Pain -No Gain” should mean to push yourself to your limit and beyond, not to play until you are injured, though it’s not always easy to differentiate between the two. Pushing yourself can be painful, but it should not be harmful. As a former college athlete I understand that “No Pain – No Gain” focuses on the mental ability to push through […]
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Dare to Be Different
On Thursday, while writing with Jenny, we designed a crazy prompt for ourselves, and when our fingers hit the keys they started flying and didn’t stop. Sometimes prompts peter out for me, an idea gets convoluted in my mind somehow and I think too much instead of just writing what comes. This happens to me more than I’d like to admit, but on those days when I can’t stop, and the words just flow, its magical.
Jenny and I are both working on books, so often we simply start working when we are together. Sometimes we write a quick catch up letter about our week (so we can visit but not talk too much), but Thursday we decided to write about our week differently, we wrote a story about our week that was told in third person. Our ten-minute […]
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Believe and Receive
I talked about believing and receiving at the Beyond Pink event last week, about how important it is to believe in ourselves, and in life, and how important it is to be willing to receive help from others. This second piece, receiving, has never been easy for me. Being independent, I have always felt like I didn’t need help, but after I was in a debilitating accident where I was hit by a train and left unable to care for myself and without my best friend and fiancé at the time by my side, I needed help.
From the doctors and the nurses who helped to save my life, to the friends and family who supported me when I didn’t want to go on living, I had help. And it was the seemingly little things that made […]
Follow Sonya