09.05.09

Time flies when you’re having fun…

Posted in Melissa's Writing tagged , , , , at 4:32 pm by Melissa Morris

As the school busses warm up their engines and the office supply stores prepare for the big upcoming rush, I hear so many people say the same thing…”Where did the summer go?”  Well, I am happy to report that I know exactly where my summer went this year…to the fabulous Jersey shore and then to beautiful Tuscany in Italy and then all around the Mediterranean Sea.  I have no complaints whatsoever!  

That being said…it is time for back to school and a “regular” routine once again.  I’ve started to pull out all of my beginning of the school year materials including the blog I kept with my students.   I also looked briefly back at some of my posts on this blog from last September when I was diligently writing 1,000 words a day and I am going to try to do so again.  This time around it should be a lot easier (and much more fun) since I no longer have to worry about the graduate school requirements that bogged me down last year.  (I’ve decided to take a break, at least for this semester, from taking any classes.)

I’d also like to give myself a goal of completing the middle school novel by December.  The majority of the story is already written, so I think I can do it.  I never liked the idea of deadlines when it comes to creative writing, but I did well last year with the deadlines for my thesis, much better than I thought I would actually, so perhaps approaching this project in a similar manner will work.  We’ll see!

It’s a good idea to refocus and revamp your writing goals every once in a while… What are you all working on???

~Melissa :)

08.14.09

www.thejerseygirl.wordpress.com

Posted in Miscellany at 5:04 pm by Melissa Morris

I decided on what my next project will be.  Visit www.thejerseygirl.wordpress.com for details.

I’m so excited!!!

Melissa :)

08.04.09

Julie and Julia

Posted in Books and Book Reviews tagged , , , , , , , at 6:19 pm by Melissa Morris

Has anyone read this book, Julie and Julia by Julie Powell?  I just finished reading it here, in Italy.  I am on vacation and spending a good deal of time on planes, trains, buses, and in a car.  This is time which I am content to spend looking out windows and watching the rolling hills of Tuscany and soaking in the various iconic and historic sites of Italy, but it is also time that I am very happy to spend reading…my nose buried in a book…my mind far, far away from Italy. 

Julie and Julia was a very fun read, but it was so much more.  While it certainly took me far away from the public transportation systems in Italy, it also took me a little too close to home.  I felt that I related to Powell  on so many levels, and because of this, I found myself analyzing aspects of my life as she shared her life with us readers.  I marvelled at her project and wished that I had thought of such a thing.  I cheered for her through the book, and as the book ended, I found myself wanting to cheer for me too.  But, I don’t have a project like Powell.  I actually don’t know where to begin.

My blog was started about a year ago. In Julie and Julia, Powell writes about her own blog…which of course was the vehicle and catalyst that led to pretty much everything else that unfolded for her afterwards.  Thinking about her blog (and how she was a little compulsive about checking for responses from her “bleaders”), I decided to check my own.  And, would you know, that very day there was a new comment from a reader???  I had not posted anything on this blog since January, but as coincidences have it, there was a comment the same day that I contemplated working on it again.  I took it as a sign.

Now, I am determined to come up with a project.  Maybe it has to do with Italy, maybe Powell and her book, and maybe it is all a coincidence.  But, I am determined.

Melissa :)

ps…has anyone seen the movie?

01.30.09

“I have spread my dreams…”

Posted in Quotations and Reflections tagged , , , , at 12:06 am by Melissa Morris

“I have spread my dreams beneath your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.” 
-W.B. Yeats

I have been thinking about dreams a lot lately, dreams, and goals, and plans, and the future in general.  My own and other people’s.  Life’s work and life’s worth.  

Can your dreams ever be just too big for you to ever grow into, too big for you to ever achieve?  Does there come a time when you need to take a look at your big dreams and trim them a little so that they may actually be attainable?  Or, are there ways that you can still go about reaching these dreams with the biggest question of all actually being how to figure out what it is you need to do differently?  

It seems that when achieving a dream becomes so much of a priority, so much of a preoccupation, that not being able to reach it causes you to become aggravated or frustrated, something has simply got to give.  But, what?  

I can’t help but think that while patience may be a virtue, it is also the destroyer of dreams.  

~Melissa :)

01.28.09

Readers and Writers Networking Sites…

Posted in Advice on Writing, Books and Book Reviews tagged , , , , , , at 12:37 pm by Melissa Morris

In this constant struggle of mine to find (make) time for reading, writing, and discussion, I have joined a few sites online.  (As well as two book clubs which is a whole other story!)   I am not sure if these sites will help me find more time or less, but I guess that only time will tell!

Reading:
GoodReads  - www.goodreads.com  (keep track of the books you read, suggest books for others)

Writing:
New Jersey Writer’s Society  - www.njwriters.org (local writer’s groups, online discussions)

Anyone have any other sites that they would like to share for reading or writing?

~Melissa :)

12.16.08

Blackle

Posted in Miscellany tagged , , , , at 10:49 pm by Melissa Morris

I just found out about a new energy saving search engine called Blackle. It is from Google and is definitely worth checking out. (The energy saved by using the site it isn’t going to be huge, but the point is that it is a reminder to make more environmentally friendly decisions…I like it!)

They also have a great list of energy saving ideas to check out:
http://www.blackle.com/tips/

~Melissa :)

12.08.08

On a blustery, cold night

Posted in Miscellany tagged , , , , at 10:34 pm by Melissa Morris

There’s really nothing quite like a good book, a warm blanket, and a hot cup of tea on a blustery, cold night.  (Knowing that I don’t have to get up for work tomorrow is nice too!)

Wishing you all a relaxing evening.

~Melissa :)

11.30.08

All I Want For Christmas Is You

Posted in Melissa's Writing tagged , , , , , at 11:00 am by Melissa Morris

A while ago (around 14 years ago!) I started writing a short story inspired by the Mariah Carey Christmas song, “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”  Through the years the story has stuck with me and every once in a while I reread it or added a little bit to it.  I have always really liked the story though it isn’t quite how I want it to be…it’s not quite finished.  As we are getting closer to the holiday season, I have started to think about this story again and had a (brilliant????) idea to make it a frame story (or a story within a story) but I have never really done anything like that before.

Any tips or suggestions for writing a frame story?  I don’t have much time to devote to this project right now, but I would like to work on it…especially since it is the Christmas season!  It’s actually a little harder to do than I thought it would be.  I think that it will make the story much longer than it was originally.  I’m trying to find the balance of how much of each story to tell.

~Melissa :)

11.29.08

“I like to think of life in terms of…”

Posted in Quotations and Reflections tagged , , , , at 10:31 am by Melissa Morris

Ironically, I made time for myself to read for a little while yesterday – following my own advice from the previous post – and what I ended up reading related exactly to the “out of control circumstances” that I referred to the day before.  This is a long passage from Nicholas Sparks’ Three Weeks with My Brother, but I wanted to share it with all of you.

“I like to think of life in terms of a stream, rapids, and waterfall.  There are periods in everyone’s life when things just seem to float along.  You’re in your canoe, paddling leisurely, enjoying the view.  One day flows into the next, everything gets done, and somehow there’s still time to relax.  Then, ever so slowly, the stream starts to move faster; it’s still possible to manage everything, but it takes a little more effort.  Next come the rapids, and all of a sudden, everything is more challenging.  Maybe there’s a new project at work, maybe someone in the family gets sick, maybe you move or get laid off.  Whatever the reason, you spend those periods steering the canoe, struggling to stay afloat.  You wake up in the mornings feeling you’re already behind, and each day becomes a frantic race against the clock in order to get everything done.  And then the rapids begin to roil even faster, and you go right along with them.  You “have to,” you “need to,” you “have no other choice.”  You go, go, go.  And in the distance, you hear the roar of the waterfall, and you convince yourself that your only option is to paddle even harder.  You’ve got to steer through those rapids and somehow get to safety.  Otherwise, the waterfall’s going to take you.”  

I put the next to last line in bold because I thought it was really important that he doesn’t say that though there are circumstances beyond our control (sick family members or being out of work) and we may feel like our lives are chaotic, we can still steer ourselves through and get to a safer and calmer place.

~Melissa :)

11.28.08

“Being rich is having…”

Posted in Quotations and Reflections tagged , , , , , , at 1:15 pm by Melissa Morris

Being rich is having money; being wealthy is having time.

-Stephen Swid, executive (b. 1941)

Nowadays, with so many of us worried about the economy, and many of us trying to stick to tighter budgets during the holiday season, I thought that this quotation was appropriate.

The interesting thing though is that while there may be a limit to how much money we can make (at least in a short amount of time) we have much more control over how much time we can make – time for ourselves, our loved ones, and the important things in our lives.  

It is important to remember that we do have this ability so that we do not let the circumstances that may be beyond our control take over.

I hope you enjoy this day after Thanksgiving, whether you are able to spend a lot of money in the stores today or not.  Find (or make) time today for the people and things that you love.

~Melissa :)

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