Where to Get the Poster

Ok,Richard said he wished I would remember where to get the 12 1/2 Writing Rules poster and I never remembered. But I did go on a search and found it again. Go to this poster site (allposters.com)and you can order it for $12.99 (18 X 24)

In fact there are a lot of cool posters at this site! I was looking at the punctuation one, the one about burning books (you don't have to burn books to destroy a culture--just don't read them--or something like that.)

That reminds me, did you have posters on your wall as a kid or a college student? I did! (ha, you knew it.) It was cheap and kitschy art. Because I was an elementary education major, I also made my share of posters and bulletin boards.

In college the guy I was dating from another university (I married this guy) bought me this huge poster of Snoopy for Valentine's Day instead of a card (or it was his creative card.) I loved Peanuts, particularly Snoopy. One of the things I wanted to be when I grew up was a cartoonist. I still collect cartoons and cartoon books. Anyway, I still have this poster. It is in my basement in a dark corner. I need to go get it and put it up again. It is now vintage! I also have a poster of the Gone with the Wind movie.Also given to me by my now-husband-then-boyfriend.Also in college.Also, vintage, though then it was a new copy.

I have a page ripped from a magazine that should be a poster. Monica Sheehan is an author/artist who is the 11th of 12 kids in an Irish/Catholic family and she's the artist/writer of this page. She has books, but I never have read/looked at them. Maybe I should. She grew up funny, but she jokes(but it's no joke) in this bio I've linked: "For breakfast,I have a cup of coffee and two cigarettes. I stare out the window just long enough to get an anxiety attack. "

But you would never know any of this anxiety from this page I ripped from Real Simple magazine. (Love that magazine, by the way.)On this page (the last page) she has 12 drawings of a woman doing things that essentially spell out the title: Be Happy.Things like "Read Books. Face Your Fears. Do Things You are Good At." So simple. Things we skip doing everyday because we are so uptight, anxiety-ridden/fearful and full of Puritan ethics (and don't think I throw Puritan ethics out the window or look down on them--I don't,)we can't do something creative or fun or nice for ourselves. Yet we strive to "be happy." But we do forget to laugh at ourselves and have fun because of "all the starving kids in China." (My starving kid in China whom I ate for I named Chao,and he said it was ok not to eat the canned asparagus because he didn't want it either.)

We forget to do the things that we really are good at. We need to know what we are good at and do it our way. (The way God designed us to operate.)


One of my four boys recently said, "Well, I can't do that for a job;that's something I do for fun and a hobby." Whoever made up the rule that a job had to be tortuous or "not fun?!" Ok, after I bit off my tongue and then sat on my hands to keep from slapping the sense back into him,I, Queen Mother of the Boys, granted him permission to go after a career that might feel like a hobby because it is so insanely fun.(Just get paid for it and not live off me. ha)

Someone said to me one time, "You read books? And get paid to do it??" (gasping) "Man, I would love a job like that!"

Well, duh, me, too. I worked hard to get to the place where I'd not only get a free book, but would get paid to read it.(Granted, I didn't get paid a lot.) It's not an easy road just because you like to do it. You have to choose happiness, but that doesn't mean it is won easily.

And yes, even in jobs that we love and it feels as if you would pay to do the job, not someone pay you, even then, we have days that feel like work. But what's that old saying? Something about when doing your hobby and having frustrations, it's still better than working!

Going back to Stephen King's quote from yesterday, somehow you need to be doing the thing you're given to do--if you are paid for it or not. And don't ever say to me, "Oh, yeah, I could write if I just had time." You make time, make choices every day. If you should be writing, make priorities. In Delia's blog today, Camy Tang talks about this very thing. Hop over to Gatorskunkz and Mudcats and read how Camy protected her creative time.

If you could do anything, and get paid to do it, what (specifically) would it be? If it is writing books, what kinds of books? Then, do a little of that everyday. If you look over at Bonnie Bruno's site, you know what I mean about finding the joy in what you do.

(Yes, leave a comment about what you would love to do and how you're making steps to do it.)