Rita Arens's Blog, page 6

Another Life

Today I ate my lunch from a Tupperware-like-thing branded The Pioneer Woman. As I ate soup from this vessel, I mentioned to my new co- workers that I know Ree Drummond, have met her on a number of occasions and she is modest enough to introduce herself as someone who writes about cows, which is what I remember from the day when I sat beside her at BlogHer speaker training years ago, before the cookware line and TV show.

It is so weird trying to reconcile those days to now.

Trying to explain...

A Child's Privacy

There are so many conversations that have transpired since I've taken a "normal" job that I'd like to process here. But my girl ... she is 13. She gets to curate her online self. There are lines as parents we should not cross.

Perhaps it'll work its way into a novel someday, as so many of my existential thoughts do.

Suffice it to say, I always thought I'd use her real name at 13. Let her own her identity. But now I wonder if the world has moved on to the extent that who I am matters zero pe...

Life Cycles

Earlier this week, my publisher at Chicago Review Press called me. Hearing her voice reminded me of the thrill I felt ten years ago, standing in a conference room at H&R Block corporate HQ hearing my first book had just been bought. And I sold it all by myself.

She was calling to say it was time. There were three boxes left, total. Did I want to buy them?

I reveal this with the intention of giving aspiring authors a gift. Sometimes you hit the five reprint lottery, and sometimes you are luck...

Employed

And so, it begins.

I've returned to corporate America after seven years in yoga pants. I have a cube. I'm fully dressed and in a car by 7:30 am. I force myself to bed, Arianna-style, by 11 pm, even when my girl goes to bed at 10.

I'm fine with it.

Six months of unemployment taught me patience and tolerance and gratitude. The problems I face now are normal-people problems. When will I exercise? Clean my house? Help my girl with teenagerdom? Work on my novel? I plan and I calendar, but mostl...

43

I had an internal goal of getting a job offer by my birthday and having a salary coming in by the time my husband finished this leg of his business trip. He has two weeks to go. I start February 13.

I am not the same person I was on August 23, 2016. I look at work and life differently now. In most ways, it's a good thing and change that needed to happen. I was 22 when I got my first real job, so I'm just starting the second trimester of my career now. If I want to demolish the metaphor, perh...

Feel Better, America

[image error]

Overexplaining

I just watched the last episode of season 2 of The Man in the High Castle. At one point, a character is rightfully freaking the hell out, and as he leaves, her husband just says, "I love you."

Everything's about to hit the fan. He really should explain himself. But he doesn't.

All my life, I've been an over-explainer, a justifier. If I've learned anything in the past few months, it's that most people neither need nor want the whole story. If your story is bad or scary, it makes them uncomfor...

In Gratitude

I woke up this morning feeling bad about splatting my negative feelings all over, so now I'm going to end 2016 with the good stuff.

I made a full recovery after breaking my leg and went on to get a personal best time in a 10k this fall. So far, no arthritis, no pain at the surgery site.

The little black cat made a full recovery after the freak blockage that was not supposed to be possible after his surgery and has been doing really well on all prescription wet food. He is still alive, and he...

The End of an Era

My phone is telling me Typepad needs to update its currently unavailable app. So apt.

A friend asked me recently if I was participating in something all the bloggers do, and I recoiled in surprise because it's been almost a decade since I really identified as a blogger. I'm talking to myself at this point.

I started 2016 by getting a plate and six screws put surgically in my leg. By March, I could run again. In July, my cat almost died for the fifth time. In August, my convertible got T-bon...

Who Couldn't Use Some Anxiety Reduction?

This song was created with sound therapists in order to reduce anxiety. I took my pulse while listening and it did actually slow. Try it.