Writing behind the scenes

There are so many reasons I write.

I love the creative aspect of writing. I love the way my brain works when I’m on the keyboard.

I love words. And rhythm. And piecing ideas together.

I love trying to make something–art or instruction–that is beautiful or enjoyable or sometiemes just plain useful to someone.

What many people don’t know is that I probably write offline far more than I write online. And between my six–yes six–blogs, I write a lot. (Only three of those blogs are public, mind you.)

BUt actually, much of my writing happens in emails. Just good old fashioned one-on-one, person-to-person emails. (“Old fashioned” – heh heh.)

Almost daily I get an email from someone who is asking for advice or prayer or encouragement, or who simply wants to share (and be affirmed in) an experience. Many of them are old students of mine. Some are friends, or friends of friends. Some I’ve met through blogging. And some seem to appear out of nowhere.

it’s an incredible opportunity to use what I love (writing) to be a blessing.

I don’t get paid for it. I don’t get famous from it. I don’t have anything to show for it.

But I love it.

Why? Because it’s tangible. I know I can help people… and I want to.

Yes, I can share my (at times limited) life and experiences… but more importantly I can point them to God, the One who gives life.

it’s a very private ministry, and extremely hard to quantify, but it’s a very valid one too.

The only problem comes when people ask me “what do I do?” (as in my work). I sometimes stumble over this question and usually just say I’m a stay-at-home-mom (plenty of work right there, folks!) and a part-time teacher. (Which is true.)

“Oh, and I write” I sometimes throw in there.

But mostly? Mostly I’m just me. Without a title. Trying my best to use what God’s given me to help out the next girl.

STOP.

 

Q for you: Is your “work” easily quantifiable?

 

Love,
A

p.s. I’m not always able to do it straight away, but I always try to make time to respond to emails and private messages.

p.s.s. I just realized that I was talking about emails as if they’re not online. Haha, oops. I suppose I should’ve talked about “public and private” instead of just on/off-line writing. I guess that’s what I get for writing without much forethought and with no editing! 🙂

 

Click Clink Five | Five minutes a day, unedited. 

I’m loving this tiny little space

Can I just say how much I’m loving this little blog of mine?

My five minute, unedited, tiny little space for a few words a day.

Yes, it’s sometimes frustrating to “STOP”. I always, always want to go back and re-write and add in words and sentances and correct little mistakes. But, oh thre’s a but…

But I LOVE that I’m actually writing every day.

My life is so hectic right now that if I only ever wrote when I had time to write… it would be almost never. And yet five minutes a day? I can make that happen. (And somedays it actually feels like a stretch – ha!)

So even though i still want and need and crave for time to sit and write and edit and write putting more effort and thought into the creative process, the fact taht I’ve got this little blog means that I’m still writing in teh meantime. And I love that.

Sure, it’s beating out the perfectonist in me. (I still have a long way to go.) Sure, it’s teaching me to not waffle on and on and be more succinct. (Well, hopefully.) Sure, it’s forcing me to sit down and do something every day as a discipline and a creative outlet.

It’s all those things, those wonderful things.

But mostly? It’s becoming this precious place where I just clink out what’s on my mind. Sometimes deep and sometimes not. Incredibly theraputic. And such an amazign way to store up the little slices of life that might get buried or lost otherwise.

Funny taht some of my favorite writing has been here – banged out in just a few mnutes.

Of course it needs polishing and honing… but still, these little sessions have produced some treasures… in my opinion at least.

i think I may have stumbled into somethng that really is changing my life for the better. And I love it.

STOP.

 

Q for you: Are you actively seeking a way that you can be creative in the midst of your busy schedule and responsibilities?

 

Love,
A

 

Click Clink Five | Five minutes a day, unedited.
Adriel also writes (using spell-check!) on motherhood and parenting at The Mommyhood Memos. 

The one that’s not about Morocco

When I imagine the prefect space for writing, two images come to mind.

One is a second story cafe in Newington Green, London. It’s a bit dark, a bit smokey, and has a couple small windows that overlook an old cemetary.

In no way does this place excite me as a writing space, but I always think of it.

Perhaps that’s because I have distinct memories of sitting alone there, journalling my heart out as a 19-year-old. Handwritten, of course, in little books…. long before the days that laptops were as common as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

The other place I think of is a small office on the second story of an old farm house. There’s an oversized desk, a huge window, and lots of natural light. On the desk are a couple of framed photos, few pieces of paper, and several pens scattered aorund. (Why are there pens? I write on my laptop.) Ouside there’s a looming oak tree, sprawling lawns, and of course a babbling brooke.

(This place doesn’t exist. Well, I’m sure it does. I’ve just never been there.)

I’ve never wanted to live in teh country. But I can certainly imagine wriitng there.

Neither of those places are my ideal writing spaces, and yet they are the ones I always think of – one real and one pretend.

When I sat down to write this post I was going to write about Morocco.

About the shapes of the doors and the colors of the shoes. About the flicker of lanterns and the cobblestone alleys adn how it all made me long to write and create so desperately.

How did I get to a smelly old cafe and imaginary farm house from that?

Someday I will write about Morocco. A strange and beautiful and far away place.

Until then I’ll keep writing from my couch in this old Queenslander I call home.

STOP.

Q for you: What’s your ideal creative space?

Love,
A

Click Clink Five is a blog by Adriel Booker. | Five minutes a day, unedited. | 2012 All rights reserved. | Adriel also writes on parenting and motherhood at The Mommyhood Memos.

My inner critic

Apparently sixth grade was a big year for me:

The year I learned about autism.

The year I did my first volunteering (outside of a church setting at least).

The year I wrote my very first report. (The report was about koalas. Oh, the irony as I write this from Down Under 23 years later.)

It was also the year that I got my first B.

I’ll never forget it.

Mrs. Smith handed me my report card and there, next to “science” was a B. A big, fat, dreaded B.

I was devastated and burst into tears.

Cry. me. a. river.

My 11-year-old logic: My family didn’t have much money. If I wanted to go to college, no doubt I’d need to get there on scholarship. And if I wanted a scholarship, no doubt I’d need to have a perfect school record. Perfect. Six grade included.

(Where does an 11-year-old get these ideas? Certainly not my parents for the record! They were thrilled with my B and never, ever pressured me about grades during my entire life. Not even once.)

But there I was, an 11-year-old with ruined college and career plans.

maybe I couldn’t become a child psychologist after all. (I wonder what a child pychologist would say about my ideas back then? Hmmm… another post for sure.)

I’ve since earned a few B’s, and when I got to college I actually got a C once. It was in math or science, of course.

But you know what? I don’t even remember what exact class that C was from… because it’s not important.

I’ve since learned that I will never be perfect. I will never have “straight As.” Not on my report card, and not in life.

Most of the time, I’m at peace with that; sometimes I still wrestle.

beginning this five-minute-a-day blog is an excercize in beating that inner perfectionist to death.

Do you know how hard it is to just write and not edit and then the world see all of my flaws and typos and scattered thoughts?

But it is working. It is helping.

And I am becoming more comfortable to just write. Write without reservations.

Thank you Mrs. Smith for helping me to see that a B is still really, really good. I’m sorry it took me a few years to figure it out.

Q for you: My inner critic is the perfectionist. What’s yours??

Love,
A

Click Clink Five is a blog by Adriel Booker. | Five minutes a day, unedited. | 2012 All rights reserved. | Adriel also writes on parenting and motherhood at The Mommyhood Memos.

Thank God for 12th grade English

By teh time I was a senior in high school, I was pretty over it.

I had all of my credits finished the year before and had begun taking classes at hte local community college, but I left 12th grade English for 12th grade becuase everyone told me that I shouldn’t miss out on my senior year.

Even though i could have easily finished it the year before, i left it so i could have my “senior year experience.”

Turns out, I thought it (school in general) was a giant waste of time and wished I had just finished up the year before.

But soldier on, i did.

School was always easy for me. I didn’t have to try very hard. (Unless it came to memorizing stuff like science terms or historical dates.)

In my 12th grade english class I never even read the books. I could easily join in class discussions and even write essays abotu the books just based on what others said in class. (I’m an excellent bluff-er.)

I was a total faker. A faker getting straight As.

And then my teacher – Mrs Hurley? – assigned The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.

I’m not even really sure why since it was a thick, thick book, but I decided to give that one a try.

I read the entire book in about three days. Loved. It.

And that was my turning point.

I read the book, engaged (for real) in class, and wrote a stellar essay about it.

After that my teacher asked me to be a student teacher and help her mark the other student’s papers.

I didn’t grade them of course, but I did critique their writing, write remarks and comments, etc. and then pass them onto Mrs. Hurley for the “real” grading.

it was my saving grace that year.

If it weren’t for that class I may have never started reading again. (And I might have never gone to class again either.)

I loved Mrs, Hurley. I loved that she not only saw something in me, but then she gave me a platform.

I’ve always loved reading – ever since I was a little kid. But that’s the class where I discovered I wasn’t just good at writing, but I enjoyed writing.

Thank you Mrs Hurley for helping me to discover a little something about myself. Now here I am, 17 years later, actually beginning to do something about it. (I stil have a long way to go, but hey, at least I’m going.)

I never did tell her that all of my “A-graded” papers until that point had been based on a bluff.

STOP. (just went nearly a minute over!)

Q for you: Did you have a teacher that changed things for you? How did he/she influence your life?

Love,
A

Click Clink Five is a blog by Adriel Booker. | Five minutes a day, unedited. | 2012 All rights reserved. | Adriel also writes on parenting and motherhood at The Mommyhood Memos.

Pinterest please. Oh yes please.

For months (MONTHS) I had friends telling me to get on Pinterest.

You’ll love it,

it’s right up your ally,

It’s so yooooooou. they all said.

I resisted knowing that I already have a mild (major?) facebook addiction.

Add to that my time emailing, blogging, writing, doing family newsletters, updating our family website, skyping, tweeting, my birth club forum, instagraming, and googling everything i want to know about everything… and that makes for a lot of time online.

Last thing i needed was another social network.

Two weeks ago I caved.

Signed up for Pinterest.

Hello, yes. I am completely hooked.

I’m already having to limit my time on it.

No more than once–maybe twice–a day. And mostly I do it on my while I’m breastfeeding so it’s not like I’m really “wasting” time.

Right? Right??

But that’s also when I check facebook, read blogs, scroll through instagram.

*sigh* When will I ever have time for all my social networking when I finish breastfeeding?

For now I won’t worry about it. No doubt by then there will be another social networking site and i’ll have to shuffle my online time once again.

So many time wasters to decide between. What’s a girl to do?

STOP.

 

Q for you: Are you on Pinterest? (Here’s me.) Do you love it as much as I do?

 

Love,
A

 

Click Clink Five is a blog by Adriel Booker. | Five minutes a day, unedited. | 2012 All rights reserved. | Adriel also writes on parenting and motherhood at The Mommyhood Memos.

A stupid little poem

Roses are rred

Violets are blue

Blogging on my phone

Is hard to do

My eyes are all squinty

My fingers feel fat

And I’m sitting in bed

Saying DANG and DRAT

why did I forget

My post of the day

Its really too bad

I had lots to say

It will all have to wait

For another time

My pride hurts a little

Frim making this dumb rhyme

Q for you: Ever tried to blog from your phone? (For the record I wouldn’t recommend it.)

Love,
A

Click Clink Five is a blog by Adriel Booker. | Five minutes a day, unedited. | 2012 All rights reserved. | Adriel also writes on parenting and motherhood at The Mommyhood Memos.

Move over Martha

I’ve always liked decorating.

I remember being about 10 years old and decorating my room for the first time.

My colors of choice dusty blue and mauve – teddy bears and hearts – in a “country” theme. It was the mid 80’s… country was in.

I stenciled alternating bears (blue) and hearts (mauve) around the wall near the ceiling. (Stenciling was, like, so in. Duh.)

I made little crafty wreaths with baby’s breath and ribbon flowers.

I got busy with the glue gun.

It was amazing.

Then, a few years later I “matured” a little.

Can’t remember exactly what age I was, but it was probably around 13 or 14. I redecorated in a “tropical” theme. (Late 80’s folks.)

I bought a teal bedspread with tropical fish on it, found some cool brightly colored wooden fish for my wall on our family trip to Mexico, and even bought a teal-colored aquarium to put real goldfish in.

Such a “cool” room.

I used baby-sitting money to do this sort-of thing. That’s how much I was into it.

I still love decorating. If I was rich I’d redecorate every year or two. Just for fun.

But I’m not.

So I use freecycle. I thrift. I shop Target sales. I DIY. I garage sale. I pull things from the side of the road and “make them over”.

Pretty much all of my furniture is from IKEA (cheap!) or freecycle or handed down from generous friends.

I use birthday money and Christmas money to buy things for “myself” – house decor.

I’ve been known to use table runners for wall hangings and spray pain branches found in my yard for centerpieces.

But it works for me. I like it.

And my house is beautiful.

Ever sicne I can remember I’ve enjoyed making things beautiful.

No doubt I always will.

STOP.

 

Q for you: Did you decorate as a kid? Tell me about your “best” room makeover! (hahaha……)

 

Love,
A

 

Click Clink Five is a blog by Adriel Booker. | Five minutes a day, unedited. | 2012 All rights reserved. | Adriel also writes on parenting and motherhood at The Mommyhood Memos.

Simple

 

I said I was going to keep it simple.

Last year since it was Levi’s first birthday (a big deal for us, more than him) I went all out. Crafting, decorating, baking.

I think I had planned the whole party in my head months before it ever came. Not becuase i was eager for him to turn one, but because I just love throwing parties.

And knowing that “two” is not as big a deal as “one” I had said I’d keep it more low key this year.

I’ve done that… sort of.

At lease far few people are invited this year. That counts, right?

We’re having a cowboy theme party. It actually all centres around an adorable pair of aligator skin cowboy boots that my mom for got Levi while I was still pregnant. She found them in a thrift store and couldn’t pass them up. Indeed, they are too cute.

And since he’s about to grow out of those, I needed to do something to send them out in style.

So cowboy theme it is. (And seriously, Ryan and I love any excuse to dress up hte kiddos in cute gear. Ha!)

I have been crafting, dreaming, cutting, glueing, plannng, etc-er-ing. Yup, I’m excited.

I will probably always be “that mom” that just loves to throw a good party. it’s not that I’m an over-acheiever or anything like that… it’ just that I enjoy it. Truly. I really dig this sort of thing.

So this year’s “simple” really just means that I tried to keep it simiple… and I tried to invite less people. (And of course this year is much more abotu the kids than the grown-ups!)

Party day is tomorrow and I’m ready to get my bandana on.

Can’t wait.

By the way, is it weird taht I’ve already picked a theme for Judah’s 1st birthday party? I’m thinking circus…. We’ll see.

STOP.

Q for you: Are you a planner? Do you love hosting parties as much as I do?

Love,
A

Click Clink Five is a blog by Adriel Booker. | Five minutes a day, unedited. | 2012 All rights reserved. | Adriel also writes on parenting and motherhood at The Mommyhood Memos.

The juices are flowing

I’m a creative person. Always have been. And when my creative juices get flowing, I can’t sleep at night.

Literally.

I toss and turn and ideas swim in my head and it takes everything within me not to get out of bed and start activating them

RIGHT NOW.

I’ve never been one who’s good at being patient.

I’ve always been an activator, a do-er.

I don’t like pondering. I don’t really like considering. It geos against my grain to “weigh the options.”

As an adult I’ve had to learn how to do some of those things of course. (And I do, htough I still someitmes struggle.)

But the “make it happen now” part of me is just that – part of me.

As I’ve realized that it’s helped me to see my weakness, but also see the strength in it.

Some of the absolute best things in my life have been done on a whim.

But it’s more than a whim – it’s an instinct.

My blog (both my blogs ctually) were started that way – with about… oh, three minutes of deliberation before just DOING it.

One of the best years of my life (spent backpacking in Europe) was a string of spontaneity, one instinctual decision after another.

And even bigger, more significant things too – Judah was conceived like that. I won’t go into details, because that’s just too much information – ha! – but I will say it was a very specific divine moment of decision.

Then BOOM here he was (and I’ve never looked back, we’ve never looked back). One of the best decisions of my entire life.

Needless to say my creative juices are flowing lately. (Thank you blogging and thank you Pinterest.)

It’s making it very, very hard for me to keep to my goal of a 10:30pm bedtime. *sigh*

Why do I feel so much more creative after dark?

STOP. (Totally went over time on this post!! By almost a minute!! Bah!)

 

Q for you: When’s the last time you made a gut decision on a “whim” and it turned out beautifully?

Love,
A

Click Clink Five is a blog by Adriel Booker. | Five minutes a day, unedited. | 2012 All rights reserved. | Adriel also writes on parenting and motherhood at The Mommyhood Memos.