PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Choices
Sonya Elliott EWU 1988
What makes us gravitate toward different likes and dislikes? What makes one person love to play the piano, others to love to knit or ride a motorcycle or read, or for some of us to love to play basketball? Is it just within us or are we a product of our parents and our environment? Sometimes I wonder.
Take me for example. Why do I love to play basketball? My parents didn’t play, I had no influence to take part in the game. I simply goofed around in the driveway with a basketball when I was young, watched a couple of college games in Montana and then years later tried out for our middle school team because I wanted to, and I have been playing ever since.
Even when I play badly or get beat up, I’m still drawn back to the court. In fact, as I’m writing this blog my jaw aches, my head is throbbing and my teeth hurt, because this morning when I was playing I took a flying elbow to the chin and kept right on playing. (Okay I took a few seconds to silently drop a few choice words, shake out the cobwebs, and then waited through a couple of, “Are you okay’s?” before I opened my jaw wide, to make sure it still worked, rubbed the pain from my brow and proclaimed that I was ready). But I played, and WANTED to play.
You would think such a knock in the head would make me think twice about this addiction of mine, but what’s funny is that it got me going. It pissed me off and brought out my competitive spirit. (Which I’ve learned to contain a bit. After all, I play for fun these days, I’m […]
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Catching Fire
Recently I’ve been inspired to write another book (besides the one that I published and the one that I’m currently working on). I’ve been writing a young adult novel for a couple of years now and I am taking a year-long class to help me focus and get it done. But the other non-fiction book that I have notes on, that’s been sitting on the back burner, is catching fire.
Maybe it’s a sign to focus on the non-fiction book or maybe I just have to alternate my energy from book to book and know that in time, with hard work and patience, both books will come together. For now I’ll just write on and see where it takes me.
WRITING PROMPT: Write about something in your life that has been catching fire.
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Finding Peace With Your Work
I’m a paper person. The whole world of computers and social media does not come naturally to me. I have a hard time organizing my writing this way. What I mean by this, is that my current Word document for my novel has over 250 pages. This may sound good, but the problem is that since I don’t write from beginning to end, it becomes very difficult to organize the document, to remember what I have.
There are doubles of sections, random notes and pieces written in different tenses throughout. Even different names for characters appear as I start to go through the pages because over time I have changed some character’s names. It’s a very messy method.
When I open my file these days, my first reaction is to close it back up. TOO MUCH STUFF! What I keep meaning to do, is to get away for a few days, in a place that has a big open floor (with no dogs running around) and take all 250+ printed out pages and start sorting. This may seem tedious, and it is, I have done it in the past. But bringing it all back to paper form, to touch my book, cut it into sections and rearrange it, and dive into every nook and cranny that I can’t see on the computer, works for me.
Do what you need to do to make peace with your writing and find your way.
WRITING PROMPT: How do you find peace with your writing? In life?
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Laugh and Cry and Make Your Halloween Special.
My 17-year-old daughter asked me to help her get her creepy alien on this morning. Gotta love it! A special morning.
According to coach Jim Valvano, if I laugh, think and cry today, I’ll REALLY be on my way to having a special day.
If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special. -Jim Valvano
I’ve attached two basketball videos to help you on your way. One will make you laugh (especially if you’re a coach, though my nephews showed it to me a few years ago and they think it is hilarious) and one will make you cry. Now think a little and you’re on your way…
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: Reminders of this Precious Life
I love fall. The crisp air, the change in the color of the trees, the different angle of light that is cast by the sun in the cloudless sky. The urge to hunker in a bit, to drink more tea, to connect with myself again after the frenzy of summer. These are just a few of the things that I love, yet fall is one of the most difficult times of the year for me, which honestly, kind of pisses me off.
I can be out walking my dogs and breathing in the cool air, minding my own business, and be brought to tears. It has been many years since I lost a loved one in the fall, but as you may know, there is always a place deep inside one’s heart where there is sadness, along with the happy memories, when […]
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Offense sells the tickets. Defense wins the games.
Sonya Gaubinger Elliott – Eastern Washington University – 1987
A quote that has always been a driving force in the way I play basketball, and coach basketball, is, “Offense sells the tickets. Defense wins the games.” I LOVE defense. I love playing it, and there is nothing better than coaching or watching a team that plays intense and cohesive team defense.
Personally, I was not born a good shooter, which may have something to do with my preference for defense. But even as my shooting improved with practice, my defense is what got me into the game, and made things happen on the court, and I always had it to focus on if my shot was off. You can always play tough defense if you’ve got heart and hustle. And when you play tough defense, it will spread like wildfire to your teammates. And when each and every player on a team […]
Monday’s Pen to Paper: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
I love using a photograph or a painting as a writing prompt. You know the old saying, a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, you don’t need to go the full 1000, but take a look at this photo a let your mind and pen go wild.
WRITING PROMPT: Look at the photo above and write.
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