Year of Yes

A little over ten years ago, I interviewed for the position of Skating Director at the same rink I'd been coaching at and had recently "retired."  The sport had exhausted me, and quite honestly, the rink was starting to feel like a black hole.  A place where happiness went to get it's ass kicked.

Not a good feeling if you've been around it before.

So back to the interview... I remember making a comment that I wanted to change the feeling and attitude around the rink.  "I want people to leave this place happier than when they come in," I had said.  Not only did I want to save the skating program, I wanted to do it by filtering it through a more positive outlook.

And I did it.

It became a game for me to see how many people I could help and uplift along the way, and I guess I became pretty good it since my boss would refer to me as Dr. Phil.  Just this past week I had a request from someone to write a self-help book from one of my coaches.

Pretty sure it was a joke... sort of.

So why am I telling you all of this?

I've been reading Year of Yes, by Shonda Rhimes, and it might be one of the most refreshing and real books I've read in a long time.  Her honesty is alarmingly funny, and I literally want to be her in my next life.  Like, for real.

But what about the rest of this life?  She talks about creating Shondaland from writing and practically owning Thursday nights.  None of this is done in a braggy I'm-better-than-you way either.  You're amazed that someone who is so normal and real could have created TGIT.  When she talks about it, you wonder what your Shondaland is and how you can create a world like that.

At least that's what I did.

That's why I was thinking back to a time when I wanted to make the rink a better place.  And what if it wasn't just the rink but my little piece of the world?  What if my writing could be the thing that could change someone's life.  What if I just stopped dreaming of making a difference by writing, and I just made a difference by writing.

Stop thinking about writing.
Stop dreaming about getting published.
Stop reading books about plotting-writing-publishing.
Stop doing anything that isn't writing.

Just say yes.
Just write and figure it out along the way.  Yes.
Every single day, just do what you say you're gonna do.  Yes.
What you want to do.  Yes.
What you said you wanted to do January 1, 2015.  Yes.
Write it out.  Yes.
Make it happen for your self.  YES!!

Being the Master-Procrastinator that I am, I have found 1001 ways to avoid writing.  I have more books on writing than I could read in a year.  And not one of them made me think of creating my own Shondaland.

Come to think of it, not one of them really made me want to write.

Until now.

That's what a good book can do for me.  This is why I read.

And this is why I want to write.

So yes.  Say yes to reading this book.  And say yes to things that might scare you.  Things you might normally say no to.

Say yes to living.

Happy reading...

The Theory of Opposites

I'm not going to lie... I love Allison Winn Scotch.

She had me at Time of My Life.

And then The One That I Want, The Song Remains the Same, and The Department of Lost and Found.

Her latest on, The Theory of Opposites is no different.

More than anything, I loved the idea of this book, and actually found it similar to the one I'm writing. However, her main character Willa, is being dared to do the opposite of what her dad's wisdom has always said after her life begins to fall apart.

Much like this Seinfeld episode...

"If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right." ~ Jerry Seinfeld

This is one of those books that makes you think about your own choices and life in a way that you want to do better.... and choose better.  And it's completely true that if something isn't working, then the opposite might give you the outcome you want.

It's just hard to make that choice after years of settling.

So long story short, if you haven't read AWS yet, then start with Time of My Life.  

And then the rest of them.

You won't be sorry :)

Until next time...