The incessant pounding of construction

Flash back to 1995. It was my first (and only) opportunity to experience a quintessential spring break in Florida, on Sannibel Island. I had all of the bases covered:

Group of friends to party with -      x
Plenty of fruity cocktail recipes -      x
No school work hanging over me -    x

We had the bases covered; until we arrived at the hotel and discovered that construction on the pool would begin every day at 7:30 a.m. So, not only was the pool out of service, a bunch of grad students ready to sleep in every morning were awakened instead by the thunder of bulldozers breaking up cement.

. . . Good Journeys Gone Bad: Not just a clever movie title.

So, why is it then that the edges of tough times often soften and end up becoming the key to the whole journey? I am sure there were many other parts of that holiday that didn’t go quite as expected for each of us individually (I vaguely remember being asked at a bar if I was there chaperoning some kids). But it was the shared trial of the construction work that pervades the memories now so many years later.

The language of journeys is distinct from that of trips. It highlights the idea that, while trips can take us to some marvelous places, journeys can take us into ourselves. And often, like getting lost, or meeting a foreigner, it is the unexpected that transforms what would otherwise be a trip, into a journey.

We spent our time, that spring break so long ago, lying on the beach instead of by the pool. We probably didn’t drink nearly as much as we would have without the construction because trekking back for supplies was too big a pain. Instead, we rode bikes around the Island and kayaked through mangroves.

Not every trip turns out to be a journey I believe. But the ones that do linger long after the digital pictures are lost in the scrapbook of our hard drives.

Do you have a quintessential spring break story to share? I’d love to hear all about it. And, as always,

Many Happy Journeys Inspired by Love!
Deanne

“Argh! I don’t remember which site it was on.”

The growling and grumbling was emanating from my office where my daughter was stuck in that black hole of searching for a particular game she had played on one of the sites she is allowed to visit. I am sure we could all commiserate with her. After all, I’m back to looking for the Christmas presents I hid just weeks ago in a place I was sure to remember them this year. Not!

And, since the internet is far bigger than my home, imagine all of the places I would have to search to find that one website I saw months or years ago. I know, I know… there is the favorites tab. I promise, I do use it. But, unless you have an accountant mentality, or your own personal assistant to help set it up, the organizing underneath favorites can end up looking like, well, my closets.

This picture, above, is taken of my office. I shudder to list the items that this closet stores for me; scrapbooking tools (rarely used), files, boxes of books, all of the school photos of my daughter, left-over fabric from projects- the list could go on for the entire length of this blog post.

So, it should be obvious you would not want to see my favorites tab. There are three different tabs for writing. One of them is broken into two more tabs for setting locations. The same is true for Italy, school, food, travel (also in Italy and in writing). My own circular logic catches me, so that I can’t decide if a recipe for lasagna would be in family, food, travel, Italy or writing. Ultimately it is found in Christmas (I must have been tracking recipes to make over the holiday that year).

Recently I too have found myself searching all connections, all favorites tabs, all top sites, and even my own blog, for a site I found about a year ago. I can’t quite remember how I originally came across it- though I think it might have been one of my Linkedin connections. But in any case now I can’t recreate that path no matter what I do.

My last shot is to ask all of you. Do you know of a site that supports crowd-sourced publishing? I am not looking for one that offers fund, but rather one where the resources can come together and agree to create the project. So, for example, I would list my book idea and then solicit an editor, marketer, cover designer, who would agree to work on the book for a percent of the royalty.

So far, in my searches, I have found sites that crowdfund book projects (like Indiegogo or Pubslush), or sites that aggregate these resources (like Writer.ly). But I have not yet found one that pulls together the actual resources. I know it exists… I found it once, many months ago. I probably even bookmarked it.

But, since I am at a loss, I’m offering a special bounty for finding this site. Leave a comment with your suggestions and a link and if you are the first to get me to the correct site I will give you an e-copy of either of my books (BETTING JESSICA or UNTANGLING THE KNOT) or a PDF of my as yet unpublished third book, MOLTO MAYHEM – PLUS I will donate $10 to your favorite (non-political) charity.

Good luck, and happy searching.
Deanne

Note: October is now over and I have selected the winner of the drawing for my book, UNTANGLING THE KNOT. Thanks for all of the comments. The winner is… Judith Ashley.  Write to me to claim your prize!