50 and trying to meet goals!

These pictures aren't in order but they should be "walking dogs 1-4"

Then my fabulous writing companions, Trace, Max, Mutts, and Rosie

Boulder Falls Our secret writing place above 8,000 ft.

I turned 50 this week and realized I had not met the goals that I had set up so long ago. I wanted to be published by a traditional publisher (I'm not counting articles in the papers or magazines) with my children's stories and a novel well on the way. I do have the traditional "novel under the bed" -the one you write while learning what you're supposed to do, so that's a good thing, I did self-publish a series of children's Bible story tapes that were sold at Barnes and Noble, I did progress in the artist-author-speaker-guild member-genre at that time. So those are all positive things. But now I reached a milestone and do not have a children's book published by a traditional author, haven't illustrated many books or manuscripts except my own, haven't shown art in a gallery since the 80's and I don't know what happened. I have not been idle. I have been writing my fingers to the bone! I have several fantastic children stories, sketches, (not many paintings) several outlines for a great novel series, and my husband and I are working on a young adult series now. In fact we drove to the mountain and worked on the story line while I picked wild mountain raspberries and panned for gold. Of course all of that was during breaks.

Since Sunday, I have reset my goals, adjusted my attitude, will have surgery next week on my neck, begun multi media graphic classes at college and tried to give up saying I just want to stay home and bake bread, cookies and brownies and be an old hippie!

I must say it is getting a little easier to put your heart out in a manuscript or illustration and then be crushed by rejection. It seems like everything I put out this year was rejected, at least the grandkids love it! That makes it worth everything!

I am blessed to live in such a wonderful, beautiful area that is extremely inspiring for the creative person. The Rocky Mountains seem to stir those creative juices and make that tingling feeling in the end of the fingers that makes you know it's time to work!