#TBT to 2002, when my friend Kat and I were at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! Every year, my Thanksgiving begins by watching this parade, so it was an absolute thrill to be there in person. This was when I lived in New York for a short time, and I almost got a job at Macy’s just for the chance to walk in this parade. But instead, I worked in a restaurant in Grand Central Station, and attended the parade as a fan. It was super cold, but worth every second!
The holidays are often a time for traditions, counting our blessings, and spreading joy. No matter where you spend today, or who you spend it with, I hope it’s filled with love, turkey, pie, and maybe even a nap.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
“After a good dinner, one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.”
I love the break from new episodes that comes with summer. I use it as a time to catch up on shows I missed, or re-watch my classics (miss you, Bones!). I like the slower TV pace of those few months—even though I fully really this is all self-imposed. 😉 #TVaddict
But like many of you, I also eagerly await the fully-stocked buffet of fall TV. I can’t wait to see my favorites return, as well as what goodness will be premiering. So, I thought I’d share my picks with you . . . and hopefully, you’ll share yours too.
New fall favs:
The Brave: My favorite new show of the fall for three reasons. First, it’s a different spin on a military show than we usually see. Second, the woman is the sniper, and I love shows with strong women. And third, Mike Vogel—that’s one pretty man.
The Mayor: Funny premise, and the dialogue delivers in a lot of ways.
Kevin (Probably) Saves the World: This is just a really sweet show. It definitely has more of the “universal” spiritual aspect, but it’s far more about goodness, faith, and spirituality than we usually get to see on TV (at least that’s of high quality).
Ghosted: I’m honestly not 100% sold on this one, but I think it has potential with The Office and Parks and Rec family. The first season of Parks and Rec didn’t hook me either, so I’m holding out hope.
The Gifted: Same as above. Lots of potential, so we’ll see where it goes.
Ten Days in the Valley: I’ve been kind of surprised at how much I like this one. Kyra does a great job, of course, and it’s definitely gone in an unexpected direction.
Wisdom of the Crowd: Kind of fascinating “what if” idea on this one. Too many legal implications to be true, but it’s really interesting to think about, especially given how many of us watch cop/legal/murdery TV shows and what we might do if we had the opportunity to help in real life.
Exciting sophomore returns:
Stranger Things 2: Not as good as the first season, but still very entertaining. Too many new characters and subplots, I think, but they wrap it up well. Dustin and Steve’s characters and evolutions are my favorite part of the season. (And be sure to stick around after the last episode for Beyond Stranger Things for behind-the-scenes interviews.)
The Durrells in Corfu: I absolutely LOVED this show. I only really started watching it on Prime because it was a BBC show, and I love me some BBC. But it’s hysterical, and pretty darn clean too.
American Housewife: I was iffy about this for the first few episodes, but I’ve really come around to it. And I bet a lot of moms can relate to her frustrations and opinions.
Speechless: There are a lot of clever aspects to this show, and it’s pretty brilliant the way they’ve centered it around a real person with special needs. I’m sure it’s done a lot for the awareness and perception of people with cerebral palsy.
Designated Survivor: Kiefer Sutherland and a conspiracy, need I say more? This president is almost Bartlett-worthy to me.
Lethal Weapon: I was skeptical about this because not all movies-turned-TV shows work out well, but I like the buddy cop aspect.
The Tick: I think this one’s pretty funny, and I love the cleverness they included, like naming one of the villians “Overkill.”
Sneaky Pete: I love Giovanni Ribisi. I think he always takes on very strange and interesting characters, and this one doesn’t disappoint.
Riverdale: While there are some things about this show that drive me crazy, I love the spin on a classic comic, and how they’ve made it dark and intriguing. As you can tell, I love a conspiracy.
Timeless: We’ll have to wait until 2018 for this one, but I’m excited.
Upcoming, coming back, and anticipated:
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: From the creator of the Gilmore Girls, so we know the dialogue will be fantastic.
Jack Ryan: It’s a big departure from our darling “Jim,” but it looks like it’ll pay off.
Travelers: Probably the show I’ve recommended most over the past year. I was looking forward to it, and it turned out so different than I thought, but I loved it. Very character-driven rather than relying on the SciFi, which I didn’t expect.
The Last Tycoon: Ugh, so heart-breaking and dark. I had to immediately watch a comedy after finishing this series. But I loved it because it was beautifully done and acted, and I need to know what happens next.
The Man in the High Castle: Doesn’t really belong in this post since this will be the third season, but I love it so much I had to include it! If you haven’t seen it, let me leave you with this: What if the Germans had won WWII???
Just wanted to quickly tell you about a cool offer from my friend, Jen Gordon, of The Hope Deck.
A couple of years ago, before I met her, Jen went through some really difficult circumstances in her life, but was blessed enough to have a group of good friends to see her through it. Later, one of these friends challenged her to make something good from all of this mess.
She’s a graphic designer, so she created The Hope Deck as a thank you gift for these friends. It’s a beautiful set of cards with a different Bible verse on each one. In fact, those friends selected the scriptures that were used.
She kept getting more requests for The Hope Deck, so now she’s making them commercially. She’s almost out of the original run, so she launched a Kickstarter a couple of weeks ago to get more printed. This second run will be enough to start selling them in stores, through affiliates online, and things like that.
Typically, a Hope Deck is $23, but for the next three days you can get two for $24. And they are super nice quality!
I’ve enjoyed having mine, and thought some of you might be interested as well. You can use them yourself as prayer cards, postcards, recipe cards, reminders, decor, and things like that. Or you can buy a bunch to keep on hand for gifts. Due to the nature of the cards, they work for pretty much any occasion!
I’m really proud of Jen, and am praying this is a successful campaign. Please join me in supporting her!
This past weekend I attended my first Tribe Conference in Franklin, Tenn. Unofficially sponsored by various local donut companies, because they got mentioned from the stage so often, this gathering for writers is the brainchild of Jeff Goins. It was only my second writer’s conference, and even though I’m probably not quite the target audience for the group, which focuses mostly on book authors, I really enjoyed it. In fact, I’ve already signed up for next year!
If you’ve been reading this blog for a few months or longer, you’ve likely seen other conference notes on here. I attend a lot of conferences. I LOVE conferences. I’d attend one every month if I could. But the events I usually take part in for my business are often centered on social justice, leadership, entrepreneurship or other business topics. Of course, I write all the time for myself and my clients, but this was a bit of a different slant, which was great, because it meant my brain was working in a different way. So, it was lovely to be around other writers for a few days.
I believe that one of the hallmarks of a great conference is when you see the speakers hanging out with attendees and taking notes—and I definitely saw that at #TribeConf. A couple of the speakers even noted that they had previously purchased tickets to this year’s event not knowing they’d be on stage! Another great indicator. So, if you’re a writer, I’d encourage you to look into this annual gathering.
Below you’ll find all the things I scratched down in my notebook, and I hope you find them helpful.
He developed a writing habit of writing 1,000 words per day. Now he writes over 1 million per year. He wrote a 75,000-word book in 15 days!
He wrote and created hand-lettering for two years before anyone really noticed.
“What if you created as much as you consume?”
“I’m tired of reading about the achievements of others.” – Game of Thrones character
You have to show up and keep practicing.
Get the imperfect words out.
You can’t edit what you haven’t written.
Your best work is ahead.
Studied famous composers. Almost all of them didn’t have their most popular pieces until 10 years into their career. A few had them at years eight or nine, but only a couple, and none prior.
Keys to Building an Audience:
Curation (kind) – Selectively project a focused thing. Simplify.
“Your books may be your babies, but be prepared to move on to the next one. Your first one may not be successful, and sometimes it takes an entire body of work to get noticed.”
What’s so special about this Monday? Or any Monday, for that matter?
I worked from home. I had a lot to do. I didn’t speak to anyone. In fact, I worked straight through the day.
But it was a very special day!
Other than a short while in the morning after I woke up, I felt NORMAL. I had ENERGY.
I didn’t realize how quickly time had passed, how much work I’d completed, or how I didn’t have to take a pause and decide if I should take a nap or not.
Those things are a real rarity for me since my chronic health issues started five and a half years go. I’ve certainly had many good days since that time, but I’m always reminded during the day at some point that I don’t feel well. That I need to take it easy. That I need to compensate in some other way. That I am sick.
By the time 5 o’clock approached, it hit me what a special day it had been. And I still wasn’t tired! It was so exciting!
I’m still not sure exactly how that day happened, other than a lot of prayer. Nothing else was different leading up to it.
Sadly, I haven’t had another day like it this week.
BUT I HAVE HOPE.
Hope that I’ll have another day like it in the near future, and many more after. Hope that my body is healing.
And after struggling so long with all of these health issues, that hope is worth everything.
This past weekend I attended my first 
August 28, 2017
Mental Post-Its 