Thank you

I have a habit on twitter...I thank people on a regular basis for anything as humble as a retweet or a Follow Friday mention. 

Some people think it isn't necessary for this, but I'm forced to disagree.  Saying "thank you" is an expression of gratitude.  My mother and father taught me manners, it was important to learn such things in that day.  I used to because that's what I was taught, but I do it for a different reason now.

Because I realize, for every retweet, every mention, every Follow Friday I get, they might as easily have ignored me.  They might not share my links, pictures, mentions of sales or sharing the joy in my life.  Its easy to ignore such things and when they are it can be painful.  So I say thank you, in the deepest and most sincere of gratitude.  I never expect anything to be repeated or shared, but it makes a huge difference when it does. 


So Thank You for reading.

Death of Ideas

I've been known to get ideas the way some people have kids; there's just too many to be had, the person who has them all doesn't deserve them, oh the poor thing, getting overwhelmed with the sheer glut has got to go absolutely crazy from one day to the next. 

It's a chore, it's a drag, it's probably the greatest blessing in my life.  I value all my ideas and I can't just play "favorites".  They literally are my kids.  As such they need nurturing and attention in order to grow and flourish, which I'm happy to provide, but there needs to be balance where these ideas come in, otherwise they all will die.

I've seen the death of ideas...they were good ones too, I hardly believe in a bad one.  There may be poor execution involved in a good idea, a different way it could have been handled as opposed to outright giving up on it or trying so hard it collapses in on itself.   It's a painful thing to bear witness to, at least for me.  I can only imagine how it is for others; whether it tore their soul to shreds to give it up or if they gave it up gladly.  If the former, they should know sympathy and learn courage and how to keep their future ideas alive.  If the latter, they never deserved the idea in the first place.

I've learned as I continue to get ideas and my stories blossom and bear fruit, that they're not just children, but dance partners eagerly waiting their turn with me, wanting to show me what they can do, all the possibilities that lie ahead.  The trick with that is knowing when to say "enough, time for something different for a while".   It keeps my ideas from growing old on me, so that I come back to them with fresh eyes and I'm able to say "that's not going to work; lets try this instead".

I'll take my time on my ideas as it's needed.  But give up?

Never.