Not sure if this means much of anything, but...
At long last, it appears that I'm learning the art of sleeping in. Until sometimes as late as 8:00 AM.
Don't laugh...for several years, I got up between 5:30 and 5:50 AM. It just worked better for me to get to the day gig if I started my day ridiculously early.
Even for awhile once I began freelancing, I was still getting up at 6 or so.
And I kinda like that.
However, in order to do that and not feel like a bad-tempered lummox by 2 PM, I need to be in bed by 9.
(NOW, you can laugh.)
People have pooh-poohed the idea that I would need to be in bed by 9 to get up at 6.
Someone once said to me, "But that's nine hours!"
I said, "Congratulations. You pass the math test."
The implication, of course, is that no adult needs nine hours of sleep. Growing children, maybe. But adults? Aw, heck, we should be able to get by on five, six max. Right? We're tough. We can't spend our time sleeping our lives away. There's work to be done!
Yeah. Right. While all the time, doctors keep telling us that over 60% of us never get enough sleep.
We qualify, in fact, as sleep-deprived.
We need eight to nine hours a night, at least most of us do, to fully allow the body to relax, repair, and renew.
How many of us allow it to do that?
Sleep deprivation is a form of torture. It's designed to weaken judgment, defenses, and ability to think clearly. Yet millions and millions of us, every day, willingly torture ourselves this way...thinking we're functional.
We're not.
We're underperforming, we're under-achieving, and what's worse...we're under the level of being truly human and truly healthy. We get sick more easily when we don't have enough sleep. We get irritable faster when we don't have enough sleep. We fly off the handle more easily, we have less patience with people and events, we don't tolerate life's ups and downs as well, when we don't have enough sleep. Lack of sleep can break down barriers of all kinds, leading to injuries, accidents, and even depression. It's a major stressor--and yet so many of us consider it a badge of honor to do that to ourselves day after day after day.
Why?
Yes, I know. Job demands. Family demands. World demands.
But maybe...just maybe...it'd be worth it to stop demanding so much of ourselves until we get a little more rest.
Fortunately, I'm able to answer that malady with a change of lifestyle. Even if I can't get to bed at 9 PM, which I often cannot, I can at least sleep in further at the *other* end of the clock.
Something I'm still getting used to, mind you.
I humbly submit that perhaps one of the best things the business world could do for their overall growth and prosperity would be to slice into the "work" and "face time" hours they expect employees to put in...and allow them to get home in time so that they can be decently present for a few hours before getting to bed at an equally decent hour.
The rise in productivity, I suspect, would be truly amazing.
It only remains for a forward-thinking company to dare to try it.
To let their employees get more done by "trying easier."
Many, many companies pride themselves on trying to make more "holistic" workplaces. They put in conveniences on the job site from day care to beauty salons to gyms or exercise facilities. They offer healthier foods in employee cafeterias. They provide "nap rooms" or encourage employees to walk outdoors on coffee breaks.
But we all know in our heart of hearts that a "nap room" at a place of business will never, ever truly make up for the lack of sleep necessitated by long commutes to a job where one's expected to put in 9 hours of face time a day, if not more.
Better to shut the nap room down and tell everyone to go home an hour or two earlier.
It'll pay off in the long run.
And in healthier, happier people overall...which is nothing to sneeze at, either.
It only takes one company to do this. When the others see the fabulous results that will come of it, they'll follow suit. I can only wonder who'll be brave enough to "go first."
I am, here at CWC place.
Any other freelancers game to start?
Janny
Monday, January 16, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
~~~I'm So Excited...~~~
Yeah, I know, now that song will be running through our heads the rest of the day. :-)
So be it.
It's LAUNCH DAY for VOICE OF INNOCENCE!!!!!!!
Gitcherself over to Desert Breeze Publishing or Amazon.com and be the first on your block to read it!
Or even the second or third on your block...I won't care.
Long as you read it, tell your friends, buy lots for early Valentine's Day presents...
Who, me? Overboard?
Janny
So be it.
It's LAUNCH DAY for VOICE OF INNOCENCE!!!!!!!
Gitcherself over to Desert Breeze Publishing or Amazon.com and be the first on your block to read it!
Or even the second or third on your block...I won't care.
Long as you read it, tell your friends, buy lots for early Valentine's Day presents...
Who, me? Overboard?
Janny
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It...
It's finally snowing!
And blowing...
And getting COLD...
And...
it'll be perfect weather to curl up with a Kindle and read a good romantic suspense!
(heh heh)
Head spinning,
Janny
And blowing...
And getting COLD...
And...
it'll be perfect weather to curl up with a Kindle and read a good romantic suspense!
(heh heh)
Head spinning,
Janny
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
P.S.
One of the harder things I've ever done was to go to Mass this evening and pray for Bart, Erin, and Ryann. I did it anyway.
Praying the Rosary before Mass, which of course entailed the Sorrowful Mysteries (since those are prayed on Tuesdays)...now, that was a killer. No pun intended.
Anytime you are thinking of a loved one who's gone, and you're praying the Passion, it stands to be an emotional wringer. This was no exception.
But I hope it has done some good for a soul somewhere...for mine, if for no one else's. :-)
Onward,
Janny
Praying the Rosary before Mass, which of course entailed the Sorrowful Mysteries (since those are prayed on Tuesdays)...now, that was a killer. No pun intended.
Anytime you are thinking of a loved one who's gone, and you're praying the Passion, it stands to be an emotional wringer. This was no exception.
But I hope it has done some good for a soul somewhere...for mine, if for no one else's. :-)
Onward,
Janny
Whining, Music, and Paying Mind
...when I looked at my last post, it unfortunately sounded a bit, as my crit partner would put it, "waily-waily."
It really wasn't meant to be.
But when I search for something like I've been searching for magic--well, sometimes it comes out sounding like I'm wallowing, and I really don't mean to wallow. Not at all.
It was just...sad.
I figured out part of it, however.
At first, I thought it had to do with cutting the ties and moving to Indiana, now seven years ago November.
But it has more, much more, to do with music.
I had a golden era of singing great Christmas services at St. Matt's, and I miss that to this day.
That era would be no more, even if I returned to St. Matt's tomorrow, as the minister for whom I sang is retired and a whole new pastor, et al, is on hand at the church. In fact, on the rare occasions when we've gone back to St. Matt's for a Mass, we've almost felt like we were surrounded by strangers.
So it's not possible to "go home" and recreate that experience.
Nor is it possible, for many reasons, to duplicate it here.
So that part IS sad. And that part DOES represent magic I've lost.
I needs put some effective substitute in its place, and I simply haven't found that yet.
I hope if I can, that will restore some of the other old magic as well.
We'll see.
In the meantime...there is Choral Union's new season of wonderment to dive into.
That will have to do for the moment. :-)
A Month's Mind
Today, I observe an instance of a lovely Catholic tradition I didn't even know about until I worked in Catholic publishing. It's called "Month's Mind," a special time of prayer for a departed loved one on the one-month mark after his or her death. Often, it entails saying a special Mass for the Dead on that day.
Today is the Month's Mind for Bart.
So if the urge strikes you, say a prayer or two for the repose of his soul. Some of us have prayed virtually without ceasing since December 10th, but prayer is never...ever...amiss.
More to come,
Janny
It really wasn't meant to be.
But when I search for something like I've been searching for magic--well, sometimes it comes out sounding like I'm wallowing, and I really don't mean to wallow. Not at all.
It was just...sad.
I figured out part of it, however.
At first, I thought it had to do with cutting the ties and moving to Indiana, now seven years ago November.
But it has more, much more, to do with music.
I had a golden era of singing great Christmas services at St. Matt's, and I miss that to this day.
That era would be no more, even if I returned to St. Matt's tomorrow, as the minister for whom I sang is retired and a whole new pastor, et al, is on hand at the church. In fact, on the rare occasions when we've gone back to St. Matt's for a Mass, we've almost felt like we were surrounded by strangers.
So it's not possible to "go home" and recreate that experience.
Nor is it possible, for many reasons, to duplicate it here.
So that part IS sad. And that part DOES represent magic I've lost.
I needs put some effective substitute in its place, and I simply haven't found that yet.
I hope if I can, that will restore some of the other old magic as well.
We'll see.
In the meantime...there is Choral Union's new season of wonderment to dive into.
That will have to do for the moment. :-)
A Month's Mind
Today, I observe an instance of a lovely Catholic tradition I didn't even know about until I worked in Catholic publishing. It's called "Month's Mind," a special time of prayer for a departed loved one on the one-month mark after his or her death. Often, it entails saying a special Mass for the Dead on that day.
Today is the Month's Mind for Bart.
So if the urge strikes you, say a prayer or two for the repose of his soul. Some of us have prayed virtually without ceasing since December 10th, but prayer is never...ever...amiss.
More to come,
Janny
Monday, January 09, 2012
Wanted...A Return to Magic.
Christmas is, in all senses but the liturgical one, over.
(Liturgically, the "Christmas season" is not over until the feast of the Baptism of Jesus, which I believe is coming either this Sunday or next. Yeah, I'm a bad Catholic who hasn't memorized the liturgical calendar. So sue me.)
The end of Christmas is sad.
Christmas is my favorite holiday. Or at least it always has been. I get teased about my Christmas spirit, in fact. About having Christmas excitement in July. :-)
Only lately...sometimes...it feels like an act.
Please don't misunderstand me. I do a lot of things for Christmas that I truly enjoy. I bake, I decorate. I'm in charge of putting the lights on the tree, a multi-day endeavor that no one in our family believes they will ever do as well as Mom does.(!) I love singing in a Christmas concert, I even love tooling about the stores and looking at Candy Cane Lanes, and a bunch of other things. I want to enjoy every single minute of Christmas, as much as I possibly can.
But for many years, I've been feeling the lack of the "magic" part of Christmas, and I'm trying to get it back.
I can't even explain what I'm missing exactly, but I'll bet some of you are nodding in recognition. Some of you disguise this sadness by muttering, "I hate the holidays...so commercial...we've lost the meaning...it's all just a big stress..." and you at least give lip service to claiming to wish it could be different. You understand, I suspect.
Of course, there are also those of you who say, "Well, Christmas is for children, anyway," or some weak-kneed platitude like that. If you truly believe that latter one, you've missed the point for your entire life, including when you were a child. You don't understand, and you need the magic even worse than the rest of us. :-)
But I need my Christmas magic back, regardless.
The magic of sitting by the fully-decorated tree, gazing upon the wrapped presents, watching some Christmas special on TV, or listening to Christmas music, drinking hot chocolate...just BEING in Christmas.
The magic of sitting, rapt, looking at the creche. Gazing on the figures, really seeing them.
The magic of taking time to wonder about what Christmas must be like in places I've always wanted to see, places faraway that I only caught glimpses of through Advent calendars from foreign countries.
That magic of spending time paging slowly through Christmas gift catalogs...and remembering when you were a kid, and you wore out the toy section of the Sears book. :-)
And that breathless magic that takes over when you come into the church on Christmas Eve and it is decked from stem to stern with lights and flowers and evergreens and filled to the brim with music.
Heck, no matter where I am...I need more breathless magic on Christmas Eve, period.
I used to have it. Not so long ago. But I've been noticing it eroding, bit by bit, over the past few years.
So I prayed for it this year. I started praying for it way before Christmas.
What I got was the beginnings of a wonderful season...and then hell broke loose, and we spent the rest of it doing the best we could.
Again, don't get me wrong. There was a lot I did enjoy.
But the old "juice" wasn't back the way I remember it.
And I miss it still.
Even a little snow would have helped...but we didn't even have that grace to fall back on. (And is there anything more depressing than rain at Christmastime?)
So now, I've put everything away. The house is back to pre-Christmas normalcy. Gradually, the presents will be integrated into our lives, and I appreciate the thoughtfulness of those things every day.
But something was missing this year, something I still miss.
I want it back.
And it's sad to think that I'll have to wait a whole year more to hope it shows up NEXT time.
Thoughts?
Janny
(Liturgically, the "Christmas season" is not over until the feast of the Baptism of Jesus, which I believe is coming either this Sunday or next. Yeah, I'm a bad Catholic who hasn't memorized the liturgical calendar. So sue me.)
The end of Christmas is sad.
Christmas is my favorite holiday. Or at least it always has been. I get teased about my Christmas spirit, in fact. About having Christmas excitement in July. :-)
Only lately...sometimes...it feels like an act.
Please don't misunderstand me. I do a lot of things for Christmas that I truly enjoy. I bake, I decorate. I'm in charge of putting the lights on the tree, a multi-day endeavor that no one in our family believes they will ever do as well as Mom does.(!) I love singing in a Christmas concert, I even love tooling about the stores and looking at Candy Cane Lanes, and a bunch of other things. I want to enjoy every single minute of Christmas, as much as I possibly can.
But for many years, I've been feeling the lack of the "magic" part of Christmas, and I'm trying to get it back.
I can't even explain what I'm missing exactly, but I'll bet some of you are nodding in recognition. Some of you disguise this sadness by muttering, "I hate the holidays...so commercial...we've lost the meaning...it's all just a big stress..." and you at least give lip service to claiming to wish it could be different. You understand, I suspect.
Of course, there are also those of you who say, "Well, Christmas is for children, anyway," or some weak-kneed platitude like that. If you truly believe that latter one, you've missed the point for your entire life, including when you were a child. You don't understand, and you need the magic even worse than the rest of us. :-)
But I need my Christmas magic back, regardless.
The magic of sitting by the fully-decorated tree, gazing upon the wrapped presents, watching some Christmas special on TV, or listening to Christmas music, drinking hot chocolate...just BEING in Christmas.
The magic of sitting, rapt, looking at the creche. Gazing on the figures, really seeing them.
The magic of taking time to wonder about what Christmas must be like in places I've always wanted to see, places faraway that I only caught glimpses of through Advent calendars from foreign countries.
That magic of spending time paging slowly through Christmas gift catalogs...and remembering when you were a kid, and you wore out the toy section of the Sears book. :-)
And that breathless magic that takes over when you come into the church on Christmas Eve and it is decked from stem to stern with lights and flowers and evergreens and filled to the brim with music.
Heck, no matter where I am...I need more breathless magic on Christmas Eve, period.
I used to have it. Not so long ago. But I've been noticing it eroding, bit by bit, over the past few years.
So I prayed for it this year. I started praying for it way before Christmas.
What I got was the beginnings of a wonderful season...and then hell broke loose, and we spent the rest of it doing the best we could.
Again, don't get me wrong. There was a lot I did enjoy.
But the old "juice" wasn't back the way I remember it.
And I miss it still.
Even a little snow would have helped...but we didn't even have that grace to fall back on. (And is there anything more depressing than rain at Christmastime?)
So now, I've put everything away. The house is back to pre-Christmas normalcy. Gradually, the presents will be integrated into our lives, and I appreciate the thoughtfulness of those things every day.
But something was missing this year, something I still miss.
I want it back.
And it's sad to think that I'll have to wait a whole year more to hope it shows up NEXT time.
Thoughts?
Janny
Friday, January 06, 2012
Going "Within a Yard of Hell"
There's a quote that runs through my mind frequently, usually when I hear the church bells ringing in our neighborhood:
"Some want to live within the sound of church and chapel bell;
I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell."
Lemme tell you something, folks.
I can't say for sure where "within a yard of Hell" would be, although I've certainly seen and been in neighborhoods that come awfully close, if they're not it.
And I've been around people who may well walk that path as their regular route, considering what I've felt, experienced, and heard from them.
So while I admire the bravado and sheer faith of that aspiration above...
...and heroic as that mission is...
...it ain't mine. And I don't want it to be mine. :-)
Call me a coward, call me an indifferent "church lady," or call me what you will...
Give me the church and chapel bell anytime. :-) No contest.
That being said...
writing-wise, at least, I'm about to deliberately start walking a path within a yard of Hell.
I've got a character who is evil. Purely evil.
Psychopathically evil.
And I need to make him convincing. More than that, I need to get inside his smarmy mind and his smarmy skin and make you feel him.
So I'll be walking within a yard of Hell for awhile.
Fortunately, I can come back.
But it ought to be a hell of a trip while I'm there.
Pun intended.
I'd say "wish me luck," but luck doesn't cut it when you're up close and personal with Hell.
I just pray I can carry this thing off.
Because if I can...
(heh heh heh)
Write on!
Janny
"Some want to live within the sound of church and chapel bell;
I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell."
Lemme tell you something, folks.
I can't say for sure where "within a yard of Hell" would be, although I've certainly seen and been in neighborhoods that come awfully close, if they're not it.
And I've been around people who may well walk that path as their regular route, considering what I've felt, experienced, and heard from them.
So while I admire the bravado and sheer faith of that aspiration above...
...and heroic as that mission is...
...it ain't mine. And I don't want it to be mine. :-)
Call me a coward, call me an indifferent "church lady," or call me what you will...
Give me the church and chapel bell anytime. :-) No contest.
That being said...
writing-wise, at least, I'm about to deliberately start walking a path within a yard of Hell.
I've got a character who is evil. Purely evil.
Psychopathically evil.
And I need to make him convincing. More than that, I need to get inside his smarmy mind and his smarmy skin and make you feel him.
So I'll be walking within a yard of Hell for awhile.
Fortunately, I can come back.
But it ought to be a hell of a trip while I'm there.
Pun intended.
I'd say "wish me luck," but luck doesn't cut it when you're up close and personal with Hell.
I just pray I can carry this thing off.
Because if I can...
(heh heh heh)
Write on!
Janny
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Extra, Extra, Read All About It...
My crit partner, Deb Kinnard, has put up a lovely promo for me and VOICE OF INNOCENCE on her blog. Check it out! Comment on it! Wake the town and tell the people!
(Now, I just need to get that interlude from "TOMMY" out of my head, thanks to the title above. Those of you with a few miles under your belts will understand. And you're probably also singing the next line along with me. Mwah hah haah!)
Janny
(Now, I just need to get that interlude from "TOMMY" out of my head, thanks to the title above. Those of you with a few miles under your belts will understand. And you're probably also singing the next line along with me. Mwah hah haah!)
Janny
Monday, January 02, 2012
Harsh? Who, me?
Thinking I'm starting out the New Year rather snarky?
Nah.
Just to prove it, here are two great quotes running through my head at the moment.
"If God solves your problems, you have faith in God.
If God doesn't solve your problems, God has faith in you."
Fr. Augustine came out with that one on Sunday morning. Not sure if it was original or not, but I thought it was great. Of course, that man can pack more good stuff into a short sermon than many a priest I know.
And...
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
That, they tell me, is Marcus Aurelius. People who know more about ancient philosophers than I do will no doubt nod and smile...or write and tell me I'm clouded in the head. :-)
Either way, I believe those are two excellent (and non-snarky) thoughts to hold onto this New Year's Monday. So there!
Janny
Nah.
Just to prove it, here are two great quotes running through my head at the moment.
"If God solves your problems, you have faith in God.
If God doesn't solve your problems, God has faith in you."
Fr. Augustine came out with that one on Sunday morning. Not sure if it was original or not, but I thought it was great. Of course, that man can pack more good stuff into a short sermon than many a priest I know.
And...
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
That, they tell me, is Marcus Aurelius. People who know more about ancient philosophers than I do will no doubt nod and smile...or write and tell me I'm clouded in the head. :-)
Either way, I believe those are two excellent (and non-snarky) thoughts to hold onto this New Year's Monday. So there!
Janny
You Have a "Word" for the Year? REALLY?
OK...I know you mean well. Or at least I hope you do.
Really.
But seriously...all those of you out there who are choosing your "word" for the year?
As if it's a talisman?
As if it's something God gave you personally to inspire you for the next 365+ days?
As if it's some kind of New Age "charm" you're going to chant to yourself like a mantra?
As if it's not the most meaningless bit of fluffy, self-indulgent nonsense on the planet?
Trust me. It doesn't matter one whit what your word for the year is.
Talking about it as if it matters--as if there's some secret code that certain of you share, spoken in a clubhouse in which a bunch of you gather once a year and choose "words" to stand for your entire year ahead...
Well, there's only one word for that whole mystifying and, I must admit, annoying process.
And that word is...PRETENTIOUS.
(I'd say "pretentious as hell," but that's THREE words.)
You're not getting anointed words from above, folks. God's done that already. It's called Scripture. Unless you're writing that, the whole assertion that "God" is giving you "a word for the year" as some kind of prophetic "message" borders on the sacrilegious. And that's not a border I'm eager to walk any time soon.
I'm surprised at all the people who are.
"Word" up, people. Words for the year? Sorry. Not good ideas. Unless, of course, you're willing to embrace the rest of the borderline-New-Age philosophy that getting a "key word" upon which to "meditate" implies...or imply that you're getting some kind of "code messages" from God.
Either way? I ain't standing next to you in the next lightning storm.
And you can take THAT word to the bank.
Thoughts?
Janny
Really.
But seriously...all those of you out there who are choosing your "word" for the year?
As if it's a talisman?
As if it's something God gave you personally to inspire you for the next 365+ days?
As if it's some kind of New Age "charm" you're going to chant to yourself like a mantra?
As if it's not the most meaningless bit of fluffy, self-indulgent nonsense on the planet?
Trust me. It doesn't matter one whit what your word for the year is.
Talking about it as if it matters--as if there's some secret code that certain of you share, spoken in a clubhouse in which a bunch of you gather once a year and choose "words" to stand for your entire year ahead...
Well, there's only one word for that whole mystifying and, I must admit, annoying process.
And that word is...PRETENTIOUS.
(I'd say "pretentious as hell," but that's THREE words.)
You're not getting anointed words from above, folks. God's done that already. It's called Scripture. Unless you're writing that, the whole assertion that "God" is giving you "a word for the year" as some kind of prophetic "message" borders on the sacrilegious. And that's not a border I'm eager to walk any time soon.
I'm surprised at all the people who are.
"Word" up, people. Words for the year? Sorry. Not good ideas. Unless, of course, you're willing to embrace the rest of the borderline-New-Age philosophy that getting a "key word" upon which to "meditate" implies...or imply that you're getting some kind of "code messages" from God.
Either way? I ain't standing next to you in the next lightning storm.
And you can take THAT word to the bank.
Thoughts?
Janny
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