Next time instead of counting sheep before you go to bed, count all the things you love about yourself:

I love my freckles, my muscles, my laugh, the color of my eyes. I love my ability to run and write and never give up when it’s hard or when I get rejected. I love my passion to fight for what is right. I love the way I use my voice for what I believe and that my strongest strength is compassion.

If that doesn’t work, count all the things you are thankful for:

Sunshine and animals. Water and trees. My family. My friends. Yadi and yoga. Running and my bike. Good food, chocolate, and cake. Pillows and my bed. Having a job I love and a place to call home. Hot showers and rainy nights. Good music, good books, and laughter.

You can probably go on forever. Eventually you’ll fall asleep and wake up more in love with yourself and more thankful for everything you have. That’s worth more than sheep. <3

My first short story was published by The Magnolia Review today! You can check it out online here. Please know that this story is for a age 15+ audience.
I'm pretty pumped. This is a big day for me! My next piece of flash fiction will be published in the upcoming weeks by Riding Light Review. Look for a link soon.

When I went to AWP (American Writers and Writing Programs’ annual conference) this spring, I met a writer from small town Nebraska writing about small town Nebraska. Her book The Sky Always Hears Me and the Hills Don’t Mind is worth a read if you’re into Young Adult literature fo sho. I’ve attached my review of it below—see if it’s something you might like! What the author, Kirstin Cronn-Mills does with her protagonist in this story is something I love. She gives her main character a thing, a quirk, a little oddity. Morgan’s quirk is that she writes fortunes and leaves them all over her house, outside at her school, at the grocery store where she works, anywhere.

Management changed this week in my job that I very much love, and I’m anxious to see what happens now—if things will go on and the job I’ve worked to build can continue or if my manager will want to bring in change. At the same time, my boyfriend’s organization is talking change as well.

I’ve kind of taken for granted that my job was a certainty. I never thought it would change before I was ready to switch careers. This week I’ve been thinking of my own fortune, words of wisdom, and this is what I’ve come up with:

While the things we feel we can count on most in life aren’t always the most exciting, rejoice in and love the things we have that are certain, because in this great life of ours, most of the world is precariously unreliable.

I wanted to just post my fortune, but I’m terribly long winded so you get all us this. And check out Kirstin’s book! Here’s my review:

Very sweet and honest. Morgan is a fantastic main character that readers can relate to. The author puts readers so close to Morgan that we feel everything with her--the confusion, embarrassment, anger, fear--this is a great feat as most of us don't know how it feels to be kissed by a girl in hick town, Nebraska. Cronn-Mills asks her readers to examine what they believe and think about how honest they really are with themselves. I truly enjoyed this book. Via: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6444812-the-sky-always-hears-me?ac=1

     I have the most exciting news of my writing career! One of my short stories will be published by the Magnolia Review! More to come about the story as well as a link to the publication.
     A million thank you's to my friend and family readers--Pam, my mom, John, Anna, Johnny, Darby, Avery, Lori, and Gayle--and everyone else between Norfolk Senior High and Miss Henre, UNO and Lisa Sandlin, and Antioch University and Gayle, Kerry, and Francesca. So much love to all of my peeps.

     This is totally a first world problem, but I've been struggling with my feelings about Miley Cyrus for over a year now. When she was Hannah Montana, I paid her no attention. Since she has left Disney, she's been taking me up and down on quite a roller coaster of love and dislike. I think she can really, really sing. I've seen her live, and she did a Bob Dylan cover that gave me goosebumps. However, she was also touching herself and riding on a giant hot dog. She's been very open about her support of free love, but then she is naked in her music videos at an age that is barely legal. I admire her free spirit, but hate that she makes a statement by saying the F word every other word and using her body to make her voice heard.
     Miley is in the news this week for posing naked for Paper Magazine. The article has nothing to do with the pictures. The article is about Miley's charity for homeless teens, Homeless Hippies. In the piece she talks about how it hit her while she was driving in her Porsche: how could she have so much and others so little? She's right. Her reasoning is enlightened and humble. I'm excited to see someone with influence actively speaking out and doing something to create change.
     Miley also talks about her fluid gender and how she doesn't identify with one sex nor is she attracted to only one sex. She says, she's down with any adult who is down to love her and as long as you aren't hurting anyone, your choices are your choice. Her last statement about choices--how many times have I said that myself? I whole heartedly support Miley in her quest to create love about love rather than gender or sexual orientation. I'm down with that.
     However, why all the naked pictures? Miley has a great body. I support her showing it off, but let's be honest, she's using her body to sell the article, to sell the product--both herself and the charity. Does she think no one would read about her if she didn't sensationalize everything? Will there ever be a day where a woman can be smart and talented and speak out about her causes and people will listen because she is smart and talented rather than because her boobs are showing? I realize that Miley doesn't identify with one gender, but this is a hard loss for feminism.

      In the wild and exciting life of Yadi the Dog, he ran his first half marathon a couple of weekends ago. It was muddy. Our shoes and paws sank into the ground passed the ankle. We trudged through.
      The first four miles were rough on Yadidog. He's never had diarreah on a run before, so of course, race day was the day it decided to come. The poo may have been brought on by nerves from running his first race, but other than that, he showed no fear, no mercy.
       Yadi would pull passed the dog ahead of him, touch noses with it and pass the dog like, see ya sucka! He'd then set his sights on the next dog competing with him for first place.
       This would have been a fine way to run the race if not for the diarrhea. We'd sprint to get in front of all the other dogs, then have to stop for poo, while pooing all the other dogs would pass us, then we had to repeat the process. It was exhausting.
       Finally, after about mile four, Yadi had rid his body of nerves and his bowels of substance, and we were able to romp around Chalco Hills like normal runners.

          When I was young, I used to worry all the time that as my cousins and I grew up and got old and started to have our own families that my extended family would drift apart. My whole life, when speaking of my family, I'm not talking about my brother and parents. I'm talking about me and the two dozen other people that make up my life. My cousins were my first, and still are, best friends. If ever my mom can't make a race or an event, I know one of my aunts will stand in. Used to build up a lot of fear that I would lose them as we slowly start to change our lives.
          I've had the same anxiety about change and drifting away from the people I love the most in every big stage of my life--I was afraid of losing my best neighborhood friends when we went to Middle School, of losing my new Middle School friends when I went to High School, of losing High School friends when going to college, of losing college friends after graduation.
          These last couple of years since I've graduated from college have seen so many changes in my families and friend circles--new babies, engagements, new jobs, people moving, sickness, breakups. And nothing has fallen apart. Two weeks ago, I got to go out to dinner with one of my best friends I've known since High School, went on a party bus for my cousin with half of my cousins, boyfriend and soon-to-be cousin in law, went out for breakfast with my best friend from college who lives 7 hours away, then played a soccer game with family I've known since birth, a friend I've had since grade school, and all kinds of new people I've just met. That week kind of made me realize that maybe I should quit worrying so much about losing what I have and start enjoying what I have every moment. To quit looking at change as a threat of friends leaving and look at it as an opportunity for friends added. Cheers to all the wonderful changes life can bring to you and everyone you love. I hope you gain many friends and lose few.