The Bloggosphere: I Love Customized Backgrounds :D

Hey check it out! I overhauled this blog too now.  Emily Ann Benedict of Blog Cargo and I have been working on it for a while now. Well I say we but I mean she. I was just the ruthless taskmaster, she was the mastermind/slave/artist ;) haa ha :P  So d'ya like it? Hmmm?  I do B-)  I just can't see the whole thing on this screen because I'm still using this tiny secondary screen rather than  my normal laptop screen :'(  *sadness in a box*  BTW, Emily's also my campaign manager for my "buy me a real computer of my own" fund cuz she's cool like that B-)  So anyway if you like it, stand up and cheer. If you don't, sit and whine... either way, it's here to stay for a while.  I hope... (And Emily probably does too :P )
Now all I gotta do is get the buttons to put on my website and hopefully I can quit playing geek for a while :-B
G'day!

Motivation

Next to inspiration, motivation is probably one of the most important facets of writing. It also seems to be another one of the most-struggled-with amongst many writers I know. I'm no exception. I know some writers have no problem getting motivated. To them, it's almost necessary for life or is, at the very least, a huge part of life. Writing itself is motivation.
I think part of what sets apart those of us who struggle with motivation is the rest of life. When I think about my own life and that of some of my fellow writers, there are a lot of us who are multi-talented or who have a lot of other responsibilities besides writing (such as parenting, school, work, etc.). Those of us who fall into those categories seem to be the ones who struggle most with motivation. That is not to say this is scientifically proven or that because you're multi-talented means you may struggle with motivation or anything like that... this is just my observation.
I know for me, it's hard to sit down and write sometimes because I have SO many other things going on that make it difficult to concentrate and work at inspiration. And then there's demotivators. LOTS of demotivators (yes, that is a word, oh spellcheck. I have spoken, therefore it is a word. but I guess I don't feel too bad since it says "spellcheck" isn't a word either :P Sorry, I digress...). Sometimes I'll be writing along and something happens to lose all my work or someone will suggest I totally redo a large piece of work... that's just so uber demotivating. Don't get me wrong, it's great if someone has a good suggestion that will make my work even more perfect (lol) than I already have it. It's just like this subconscious thing about having to do MORE work and realizing that all that work was wasted *tears*. Ok well  with the exception of accidentally lost work, no work was truly wasted, right? That's what I'll keep telling myself anyway. But anyway, as I was saying, these things just totally work against motivation. When these things happen, I just run into a BRICK WALL mental block not much unlike the Berlin Wall... complete with armed guards and barbed wire. And it's not so easy to get past. This drives me crazy to no end, and it almost seems like it's unstoppable. It's like a battle within just trying to MAKE myself get back into writing and climb the blasted wall. I usually end up taking a break and working on something else but that is just not conducive to productivity in the writing area (though it works great in the "help dad out", baking, exercise, or sewing departments :P ). This is a bad habit I must conquer. *attempts to look determined*
Ok so now that I've admitted my stupid problem, let's talk about what DOES motivate me. And let's see if there is anything that could possibly help me overcome the demotivations I face... hmmmm
So one thing that motivates me is new or fresh ideas... new things in general, really. It kinda reminds me of my school days when getting a new book to work on got me all excited and motivated to get schoolwork done. I don't know exactly why, but newness is always very motivating. Sometimes I just have to get out a fresh page and start writing. This can be both motivating and inspiring (the two are very closely linked, you know ;) )
Outside challenges or deadlines are usually very motivating. Especially when it comes to getting over the brick wall. I have to be careful there, or sometimes it occasionally causes panick and therefore causes sloppy writing which in turn causes having to re-write large portions and you know where that leads. However, knowing that I have a deadline helps me focus and tell myself that I have no choice, no time for pity parties or hitting the wall with my head, just gotta get it done. Does that mean I work well under pressure?  Ummm yeah sure I guess so. In a way. Here's the thing though. It doesn't always work if I have self-imposed deadlines. I usually have to get someone else to hold me accountable to my deadline in order for it to be motivating. Funny how that works, huh?
Sometimes I play little tricks on myself to motivate myself. I wrote a blog elsewhere once about this... Sometimes I will bake cookies in order to motivate myself to clean the entire kitchen solo mio. Usually seeing a dirty kitchen is enough by itself, but if I've cleaned the kitchen solo for a week and my brothers come in right behind me and mess it up: y'know... demotivation. Anyway, so the same thing works for other things I need motivation for. I just find something else to do that necessitates or inspires me to do something that I need to do. That's a little trickier with writing, though. But I find that if I do a lot of studying and note-taking, that sometimes motivates me to start writing.
Another thing that will motivate me sometimes is thoughts/dreams. Yeah I know, kinda funny... But like sometimes I have an awesome thought while I'm taking a shower or going for a walk and it just totally motivates me to write. Or sometimes I'll have a horrid dream that it's the end of the world and God is disappointed with me for not finishing my book (I can't tell you how dreadful those dreams are! O_O ). Sometimes I'll have a positive-motivating dream though where I write this tremendous book or preach a tremendous sermon that changes the world. Then I just wanna write and get it done. ^_^
For sure, the absolute biggest motivation is inspiration. Which is funny because sometimes inspiration comes by motivation. The two are just such great pals, it seems. They're always pushing each other around and having a great time. ha ha that got a funny picture goin' on in my head
Ok well I'm either out of things to list or I just lost my motivation to write this blog. At any rate, I do feel some serious motivation to get back to work (lol). But before I go, I want to ask YOU: Do you ever have motivation problems? how do you motivate yourself? Or do you? ;)

Honest Scrap Blogger Award

Emily (her blog) nominated me for the honest scrap blogger award. Ain't I speshul? ;) :D  Well apparently this is a sneaky way to get info from people b/c nominees have to post ten things that few or no people know about them... Well to be perfectly honest, there's usually a reason nobody knows them! But whatever, I'll play along :P  ok let's see... 10 things... just in the order they come to me :P

1. I am claustrophobic. Not severely, fortunately ;)

2. I hate long sleeve shirts/dresses. if the sleeves are stretchy/baggy enough I don't mind them so much, but if they grab my arm I can't stand it (so I don't mind coats or sweatshirts as long as they hang loose). I think maybe it's related to the claustrophobia

3. I am very warm-blooded and sweat easily so I don't mind not wearing long sleeves :P

4. I am so OCD that I serial-number my socks so that I know which one goes with which and which foot each goes on (actually it was mostly part of a weird experiment I decided to conduct but that experiment was due to OCDness :P)

5. I am constantly writing stories or descriptions in my head but I rarely get around to writing them down much less developing the stories into something worthwhile

6. Ok so most people who know me only online do not realize that I am MUCH quieter in real life MOST of the time. (I prefer ze term pensive... sounds more intelligente xD ) I can be just as wacky though... just depends on the particular situation I'm in (who I'm with, what we're doing, whether food coloring is involved etc :P )

7. I am famous in the local homeschool group for my ability to mimic the Impressive Clergyman from Princess Bride as well as the French Peas off Veggie Tales... I also have a plethora of other cartoonish voices and accents which escape my lips at rather random times and earn me interesting nicknames and reputation and such :P

8. I am, upon occasion, a halfway decent artist (so they say). I wish I had the time and patience to learn more... maybe someday :)

9. I don't particularly care for the color pink (can't really wear it :P) but I have a few pink things (flashlight, bike helmet, etc) so that my brothers won't steal them :P

10. I don't have a laptop but whenever I get one, I've got a name all picked out for "her" ;) :D


I'll add my nominees later ;)

Waxing Poetic Once Again

I haven't written poetry for a while but I've recently had an idea bouncing around and I finally decided to scratch it down on paper... Sometimes messing around with poetry helps me clear my mind. Well for one, it gets some of my "irrelevant inspiration" out of the way so that relevant inspiration has room to divide and cross-multiply... and be fruitful and fill my head... or something (pretend that last statement was intelligent and witty). ANYWAY so if you're interested in reading my poetic scribble go to my poetry blog here. (FTR it consists mostly of poetry/songs I did not write, but a few of them I did :P )

An interview

So I suppose this is a good place to start. A little interview of sorts so whether you know me or not, you get all the insider info on who I am and what on earth I am doing. Sound interesting? Stick around. I'll be interviewed by my good buddy Fred. The real Fred, for those of you who are confused WHICH Fred...  anyway, here goes:

Fred: Hello Miss Neighbour. Nice of you to join us today for this episode of On the Grill with Fred which, despite the sound of its name, has nothing to do with food but it does have everything to do with "the hot seat"

L: Heya Fred. Good to be here. Hopefully the hot seat won't be too hot b/c I think your A/C is broken. Not that makes much difference in an online interview. NvM that was lame :P

Fred: So start by telling us a little about yourself. Who you are, a little bit of personal history, why on earth you have your feet up on my desk :glare:

L: *moves feet* Well I'm a pretty average country girl type who enjoys life even though sometimes my life can get pretty crazy. I grew up in a houseful of boys, the number of which varied over the years thanks to my family running a boarding school for boys. I started out in Washington, up on Mt Ranier and eventually found myself in Missouri which is where I still am till God puts me elsewhere. As I said, I enjoy life, and my life includes a lot of adventures. I enjoy lots of outdoor activities besides the usual girly stuff of cooking and sewing and keeping house.

Fred: Fascinating... so growing up with all those brothers, was that fun or torturous? I bet that made you a pretty tough cookie, eh?

L: weeelll no, I'm actually a wuss for the most part, but I know a thing or two about holding my own when I need to. I mean, sometimes boys we bring in will try to pick on me, but I usually manage to convince them it's not a good idea... I won't go into too much detail there :P

Anyway, for the most part growing up with brothers was fun. I mean, I always wanted a sister and I let people's pitying me for being the only girl get to me for quite a while, but then as I got older I realized that being the only girl helped make me who I am in a lot of ways. I mean, I was allowed and encouraged to be a girl since I was one, but at the same time I got a close-up look at a lot of stuff guys go through and my bros and I have a lot of discussions about stuff, too so I've seen plenty from both sides of the gender gap. I think maybe it made me more well-rounded, socially speaking. At least I'd like to think so ^_^

Fred: Alright so now tell me a little about WA vs MO and what was it like trekking halfway across the country not knowing anybody and not being familiar with... well, anything in your new state. Was it scary? Adventurous?

L: Adventurous. For the most part anyway. I mean, there was a little bit of a scary factor, just because of all the unknowns, and the tornado horror stories I'd heard and such... but I wasn't too worried about it because God had kinda prepared me and I knew I was where He wanted me so I could trust Him. Though when we experienced our first tornadic storm shortly after arriving in MO it was a little unnerving. They're still kind of scary in a way, but I've gotten pretty used to trusting God about it so I don't really stay up late at night worrying about being swept away by one :P

Ahh as far as not knowing people and coming to an unfamiliar place, to me it was somewhat just part of the adventure. It was a little weird to be a social outsider since I had lived in only 3 different places in my life, relatively close to each other, and when I was much younger so I didn't often have to "start over" making friends and acquaintances. Of course, I never really had a lot of friends in WA (we were somewhat secluded living way up on the mountain :P ) so that aspect wasn't too big a deal and I managed to make a lot of friends shortly after coming to MO. So yeah, for the most part the move was just adventurous and exciting and only a little bit scary.

Fred: So you were totally happy with just picking everything up and moving like that, eh?

L: Pretty much. Like I said, God totally prepared me for it. And anyway if I hadn't been, I learned a long time ago that getting upset about where you are only adds misery to your misery. It’s much easier to just leave things in God’s hands and trust Him and just be content with what you’ve got and where He’s placed you. But yeah, I was fine with it :)

Fred: Ok so let's move on now to your life as it is now. You went to college, correct?

L: Yes, I took correspondence from Western Dakota Tech and got an Associate of Technology degree in Agricultural Resources and Technology, with and emphasis in Equine Management.

Fred: :Blink:

L: Yeah that's what they all say haa ha

Fred: Ok so then what do you do with it?

L: Play uber-important horsewoman B-) ok just kidding... Actually the plan was to do something to that effect buuut I haven't done much with it since graduation BECAUSE shortly before graduating I felt like God began calling me elsewhere. I wasn't sure for the longest time what all that entailed and I'm still not sure, but I'm finding out one step at a time.

Fred: Aha! So is this where writing comes in then?

L: Well, yes and no... See, at that point I just felt like God was saying, ok so now you can make a horse's life better, what next? What about the people? And that was kinda one of those "of duh" moments when you suddenly connect the pieces of the puzzle… because, you see, I had for a while felt like there was a “bigger goal” in my life than just being a cowgirl or whatever and that was when it finally hit me that what was missing in my life plan was storing up something that would last for eternity. After that, several other pieces of the puzzle began to show up and God began to teach me some very important things and I felt like He wanted me to share them with people. I started to see the big picture God was painting through me and I felt like at that point the only step I was able to take was to start writing, since I’m a word nerd and have played around with writing and such. That’s when I started writing “Journey to the Heart of God”

Fred: So you were always into writing anyway then?

L: Nooo, no… not at all. I mean, I’ve come from a long line of writers in my family history and I used to love writing stories and stuff… but I never finished any of my stories. I’d always lose inspiration and lose interest… I always loved writing descriptive paragraphs or whatever but I never never imagined myself being a writer someday. The thought was kinda cool to me, but I never really wanted to do that.

Fred: You wanted to be a cowgirl…

L: Haa ha well actually I wanted to be a mommy. That’s the only thing I ever always wanted to be… Yeah I wanted to be a cowgirl too, and a ballerina and a figure skater and a few other things along the way. But now I want to be a servant to God… Whatever all that includes or excludes, whether it’s something I’m good at or not. I figure I’m better off leaving it in His hands because I can’t work things out on my own

Fred: Let’s move on to your book now. Tell me basically what it’s about, what inspired you to write, what you want to accomplish, and so on.

L: Well as I said it’s called “Journey to the Heart of God” and it’s about the journey that we are all on, and how for the Christian that journey means that we are striving to be closer to God and to fulfill what He wants for us. It’s kind of a synopsis of the lessons that He’s been teaching me over the years: who you really are in Christ; the importance of our moments and our actions and everything we do; what it really means to pursue righteousness; and the spiritual battle that we are engaged in for the souls of men and the kingdom of God.

I hope that this book will inspire people to step back and take a look at themselves and determine whether they are really saved or just fooling themselves, to identify the fruit of their lives, to become equipped and active in spiritual warfare, and just to find the heart of God and where He wants His people.

Fred: Sounds pretty deep

L: :nods: And wide ;)

Fred: ok so let’s swim to the shallow end and do some fun questions to close us out.

L: Schweet. I’m all for that B-)

Fred: What’s your favorite writing tool?

L: Hmmmm I totally love my black-ink, fine-point, pilot retractable gel pen, but sometimes I want blue ballpoint and sometimes I simply MUST type… Can’t pick a favorite though… it’s just dependant on my mood or something :P

Fred: Favorite food?

L: Let’s not go there. I’m not one to pick favorites. Food is good, let’s just say that

Fred: Haa haa ok… What would you do with a million dollars that you HAD to spend on yourself (i.e. you couldn’t give it to missions or friends/family)

L: Ohhhh no fair! Because I would totally give it all away except for enough to fly to a few select locations and buy tickets for a few friends to accompany me. So hmmm if I had to spend it all on me I’d probably invest some in real estate, buy a Chevy Silverado, and use the rest to travel around with friends, (does that count?) go visit my cousins in Bolivia, and knock some of my “must-visit” countries off my list ;) not necessarily in that order… :P

Fred: Ah so you love to travel then?

L: LOVE it. That’s not even a big enough word. Traveling is so da bomb B-) I inherited the Neighbour nomadic genes fo sho! :P

Fred: Ok last question then we’ll turn the grill off

L: Shoot

Fred: Bang

L: :-B

Fred: What’s the coolest thing about your life as-is?

L: Save the hardest for last, eh? It’s totally a combination between my kids on Sunday mornings, my awesome incredible friends/family/fanbase, and just knowing that I can leave everything in God’s hands and have no worries J

Fred: Very cool

L: Oh, you know it is.

Fred: Well thanks for joining us, no go chill and get some writing done!

L: Yes sir!

And there you have it :)