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Laughing At Myself

The other day I asked two besties, age 13, to walk with me. They asked if my youngest, age 12 would be coming along. I answered she wasn’t home but if she was we would walk twice as fast because she naturally has speed some of the best athletes want. They laughed, we went walking.

Low and behold guess who came home, put her stuff down and ran down the street, around the corner and caught up with us. You guessed it, Laura is her name. Well, we began to make a game out of who could get around her and wear her out. By then night fell and we were all getting tired 30 minutes into the walk with 15 more to go. It was dark out.

It was my turn and I ran as fast as I could through the grass but when I did my foot fell into a divot in the grass. The idea that I should have been able to chase her in the dark was preposterous but prideful, sure I’d show her I still had it; face planted knees first in the dirt! I was humiliated! I knew I’d done it to myself. No one but me to blame, I laughed my ass off!

The girls were mortified my knees were bleeding but I reassured everything was okay. All of the joined me in hysterically laughing about how ridiculous I must have looked. Of course, the dangling of June bugs off my shirt didn’t help. They helped me up and dusted me off and I hobbled home–embarrassed!

Sometimes you can’t take yourself too serious! I was prideful, wanted to be young, show them I still had it, and it quite literally but me in the face. I could have given into the failure of my attempt or I could just make light of a very bad situation. I chose the latter.

My knees still hurt, but not as much as my pride. Next time humbleness is in order! ❤️

Thanks for listening!

Rebecca Nietert

Journal Entry

Cat Reminds Me About Parenting

My lovely husband put up a gazebo outside my back door just before my pool so that I could put my outdoor wicker furniture underneath. There’s a lot of foliage in my backyard, and we were struggling with the debris affects, when the wind blew. Every time I try to sit on the beautiful outdoor furniture I had to clean it first. So my husband bought me this highly expensive portable gazebo, that not only gives me the opportunity to write outside because I can see the screen, but allows me to have shade from the hot Texas sun.

I keep a pretty tidy house, so my cat has realized when I put something new in my house or in the backyard. He will typically sniff it until every inch of it has been covered with his nose and determined that it is not life-threatening. So this morning when he came out to inspect the gazebo, I watched with considerable attention to him arch his back, his ears shift back-and-forth, and the dilation of his eyes. He wanted to investigate.

My cat also climbs trees and jumps from the tree to the roof, back to the portico and then down. Well, he got up on the portico and decided it would be a good idea to investigate the top of the gazebo via a flying squirrel trapeze act sort of thing. Naturally, he flew from the portico to the corner of the fabric gazebo and realized his mistake instantly. He had not taken into consideration that it might be a material other than the firm surface that he’s used to flying around in our backyard. He just blindly leaped for it!

He fell hard! I am extremely thankful that cats fall on their feet because he dropped like a ton of bricks. The very first thing I wanted to do was jump up and see if he was OK. But I knew if I did that, he would run away. He walked gingerly away from the scene of the crime, limping on one of his front legs and one of his back legs. Probably from a prior altercation with another cat in the neighborhood? Because it’s only about a 7-foot drop and cats can do that pretty easily. Or at least mine can.

I’m sitting out underneath my new gazebo, drinking my very lovely hazelnut coffee and staring off into the calmness of my pool that is wrapped in beautiful green and floral foliage, and suddenly it hit me that my cats actions reminded me of my three teens and two young adults, who in my opinion, continue the same fearful leap out into the world; based on mere faith.

And then it hit me that maybe what I should do is just watch. Stay out of it? Let them fall? They know that their footing should be on solid ground and yet they continue to put their feet on fabric. They continue to leap out and test their boundaries and while it is ever so dangerous with humans versus cats, it is vitally important that they learn how to limp on their own. It’s important that they learn their lessons. That they understand what they can and cannot do. That limitations beset with natural consequences. Sigh…

I love my cat so much that sometimes I really worry about him. I worry about the fact that a car will hit him. Or that the bobcat in our neighborhood will get him. Or even that a neighbor will fall in love with him, and put him inside their home and take my cat forever. He likes to go into cars to sleep and I’m worried somebody’s going to drive off with him and not know where he came from. I’m afraid he’s going to die in a hot car. There are all kinds of things that terrified me about letting my little tiny boy wonder, but I realize something along time ago. This boy was born on the Bayou by a mom who abandoned him. He is wild. He is an outdoor cat. To lock him up inside the house would be like putting a human in a jail cell. I would never unjustly do that to this animal and I would rather him live his life on his own terms, then to put him in jail because I am terrified he is going to be hurt.

It’s a hard thing to do being a mom. It’s guilt and second-guessing and an undeniable fear; and all of the anguish that comes with the fact that these human beings have brought so much joy into our lives. There is such an abundance of love that we can’t imagine what our life would be like without them.

This morning if my cat taught me anything it was just to calm down. Let them live the same way my parents had to let me live. It’s a humbling existence in the reality of it all. It’s just not an option.

Thanks for listening…

Rebecca Nietert

amwriting

WRITING COACH vs GHOSTWRITER

When authors who have never written a book ask me how I can help them, I answer in one of two ways. Once I obtain their goal for their book and how much they’re willing to put into the project, I inform him or her that I offer two types of support.

Coaching is unique because it can be done with considerable ease. There are elements to each and every story. Great nonfiction writing included. Those are the arc of a story and of course the act structure of a story.  For Fiction further details might include a world-building exercise for Fantasy writers. Each genre has its own set of instructions and rules that your audience, the reader, wants to see in a credible work of art. Coaching points out those necessary components on a one-by-one scenario to help you outline the work and get to the best possible outcome for you, the new author. Payment is usually by hour, but it is certainly not the encumbered task that Ghostwriting is.

Ghostwriting skills that should be performed by the author are prompt content given in a timely manner to the writer responsible for finishing the work.  These timelines would have been spelled out in your negotiated contract and executed per the agreement.  Any facts, pictures, reference materials, or process required documentation would also accompany the writing/voice recording or instructions. Of course, a contract, i.e. permissions would have to be agreed upon and paid before the services are rendered.

The qualities a Ghostwriter would have is a style that the author finds credible.  They would have to be easy to work with and understand your voice is the context of the story not their own.  The ghostwriter should know the proper questions to ask you, based on what she or she knows about the art of storytelling.  If the experience and knowledge is there, he or she will know the direction in which your novel must take to make it comparable to other best sellers. They will type the manuscript in a word document for future editing purposes.  They will give applicable advice on how to portray the story in a proper way.  They will keep confidentiality during the writing process and offer an editing service after completion.

The editing service should be from an industry professional.  The literary world and the grammatical world are two different sets of rules.  An industry professional will look for sequitur issues. They will adjust for flat or missing characters’ rules.  They will know exactly the line-by-line editing that will need to take place and your Ghostwriter should understand this and be able to recommend someone, if not submit to their person on your behalf.

Finally, your Ghostwriter will put your work into a formatted manuscript and help you with your publishing packet.  That means that you will need a query letter, a synopsis, a biography, and a back description of your work for a fiction book. For a nonfiction book, you will need a book proposal, a biography, maybe a one-sheet, and back description for your book.  A Ghostwriter can help you create this packet for you to market your work to either a literary agent, editor, or publishing house.

I hope this helps you understand the difference. Ghostwriting encompasses the responsibility of creation and leadership in addition to providing accurate voice of the person to whom they are writing the story for. Whatever your preference is, Easton-Books can help you save time, energy and money with the services we provide. You need only to ask.  Contact us for a free consult on our services.  #Amwriting #Fiction #NonFiction #Trend #Motivational #Influencer #BookCoach #WritingCoach #Ghostwriter #Getpublished #Selfpublish #Businesstobusiness

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