Stacy Verdick Case's Blog, page 3

Great Movies and Why They Work – John Truby

Hey all!  I found this great article by John Truby about what makes a great movie.  Think this applies to more than just movies so I wanted to share it here in case it’s helpful for my writer friends!

Just click the link Below!

Source: Great Movies and Why They Work

Enjoy!

~S

 

The post Great Movies and Why They Work – John Truby appeared first on Stacy Verdick Case.

I’m Not Lost

I’m a writer so words are important to me.  They are my stock and trade so to speak.  The meaning in the way writers and poets combine words touches me deeply and always has.

 

I know I’m not alone in this otherwise songs wouldn’t be as popular as they are.  Admit it, there’s a song that makes you feel strong and confident when you hear it (Katie Perry’s Roar anyone?).  There’s a song that make you feel romantic (The Way You Look Tonight – Eric Clapton- huh? No? Come on!).  There’s that one that can move you to tears (One Woman Army – Kate Earl.  EVERY TIME!).

 

Recently, I heard a song that seems to sum up my whole existence, Jana Stanfield‘s I’m not Lost, I’m Exploring.

 

I’m not sure where or how I heard this song the first time, but it spoke to me.  Mostly it made me go, “Hell yeah!”  My journey to where I am in life is so twisty that I must have been exploring my way to where I am now. Truth to tell, I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I’ve learned so much in my false starts and back tracking that I wouldn’t be half as awesome as I am now without them (sorry, had to pat myself on the back a little – deal with it).

 

My poor, unfortunate kidlet is forced to hear I’m Not Lost blasted in the car repeatedly, because I want her to feel the same way.  There is no one way to get to where you are going.

 

After about the 50th time listening to the song I wanted to find out more about Jana Stanfield because the voices in my head start asking questions like, “Who?” and “What?” and then I have follow them (I’m a writer remember – it’s what I do).

 

Jana calls herself the Queen of Heavy MENTAL, which of course made me wish I had written that.  She’s written songs for a slew of other artists including Reba McEntyre, Suzy Bogguss  and Andy Williams.  And she says her goal is to give people a “faith-lift”.  I really wish I had written that one too!

 

No, I am not being paid to write this post.  I just wanted to share this song with everyone so that they might have a little “faith-lift” today.

 

Enjoy!

The post I’m Not Lost appeared first on Stacy Verdick Case.

The Real About Me – Part 3

Since we’re being real here, I am a terrible mother.  I do not say that like all mom’s who want other mom’s to say, “Oh no you’re not.” I know I am, and I usually keep it to myself because others will eventually know I am too.  Others will try to say that I’m not but there won’t be any conviction behind the words.

This is serious. I truly mean there aren’t enough years left in her little life for the amount of expensive therapy she will need to recover from me.

Here’s an example.  My mother-in-law gave us tickets to The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and my daughter was being kinda naughty that morning.  So I told her that if she didn’t shape up the Grinch was going to come off the stage to steal her and I wouldn’t stop him.  Well, unbeknownst to me the Grinch actually does come off the stage during the performance and run through the isles of the theater.

Yeah.  We were in row 2. He ran off the stage right towards us and my daughter starts screaming, because her mother terrified her.  She was clutching onto my arm like she was being sucked out of a hole in an airplane. You can’t comfort that kind of scared.  And a six year old doesn’t understand, “Mommy was just kidding. Ha, ha!”

Then there was the day she hurt her knee. We were in the middle of nowhere and she had hit it pretty good, so my instinct says we need to get ice. So I pick her up to get her in the car, and hit her other leg on the door. She screamed all the way home.  So now we have two ice packs.  She is in desperate need of a bath so I think I’ll get her in the tub and bathe her that will help calm her down.  Yeah, I dropped a cup on her head while washing her hair.  So she cry’s. Then I cry. Then she strokes my hair and sings me the Laurie Berkner song, “I’m not perfect.” (if you’re a parent you’ll know that one – if not see below).

Believe me a six-year-old who has had double kneecapping and cup dropped on their head trying to comfort you for your crappy parenting does not make you feel good. No it does not.  She’s doing it because she knows.

She knows.

 

The post The Real About Me – Part 3 appeared first on Stacy Verdick Case.

Because I Have A Kid

If I was not a mom I would never leave my house.  Half of you just rolled your eyes and thought this statement was hyperbole but it’s not.  Ask my husband.  Ask my sister.  They will tell you I can be completely content to be a hermit (the fact that I have a husband is still a minor miracle to me but don’t tell him I think he’s special).

 

BC (before child), I was happy to spend an entire weekend in the house without human contact living with just my characters for company.  But now I’m have this little person with me all the time (seriously like a limpet all the time!) who isn’t content to be alone.  She has friends.  I marvel at this because when I was a kid I didn’t.  She’s a mystery to me in that way (notice the way I kind worked in my radio show title – you should check it out here).

 

So when she came along I had to force myself to go out and talk to people. Put her in classes.  Take her to girl scouts. You know – be a mom!

 

Well, it change me.  A lot.  I am not the same person I was seven years ago.  I know what you’re thinking there is no way I changed that much and that I must fundamentally be the same person.  No I am not.

 

I talk to people now.  That doesn’t sound like a big deal but I never talked to anyone I didn’t know seven years ago.  Even if I did know you I would have had to know you for a couple years before really feeling comfortable enough with you to speak.  

 

Not any more.

 

Now I will talk to anyone about anything and it’s wonderful.  I now have so many opportunities coming my way because I am no longer afraid to talk to people.  Heck seven years ago me hosting a talk show speaking to best selling authors would have been an joke to me.  I would have thought yeah right that’s going to happen.  I couldn’t have opened my mouth let alone asked these people things. Now I have a talk show (seriously you should check it out here) and I have spoken to bestselling authors including Sandra Brown, Hank Phillipi Ryan Iris Johansen and JA Jance. Can you believe it?! Because I still can’t. But I am very grateful!

 

I marvel at how far I’ve come in such a short time. And I directly attribute all of this to the birth of my daughter. She has taken me outside my comfort zone on many occasions and I have to admit, I am better off for it.

 

~S

The post Because I Have A Kid appeared first on Stacy Verdick Case.

It Doesn’t Change the Fact that I’m Cold

Actual conversation in my office today:

“Is your space heater on?”

“Yes.”

“WHY!?”

“Because I’m cold.”

“It’s not cold in here.”

This happens all the time.  I think running the space heater is universally understood to mean someone is cold, so this conversation always seems like a pointless waste of my time.

I should probably start out the conversation by blurting out, “I have Hashimotos disease and I can no longer regulate my own body temperature.” That might save me from a lot of bizarre encounters where other people try to convince me that I can’t be cold because they’re not.

To all the well meaning among you please let me assure you that 1) I am cold 2) you telling me you’re hot will not change the fact that I’m cold and 3) I really am COLD so get over it.

No where in the above conversation did I say it was cold in the room. NO! I said I am cold. It’s a personal thing.  I am not judging you for sweating all over my desk so don’t judge me if I need to put on a sweater and run my space heater.

Why do you think I care if you disagree with the FACT that I am cold? Why do you think I care about anything you have to say about my personal choices?  If I want to wear a snowsuit when it’s 90 damn degrees outside what business is it of yours?

Please let me thank you for all the unsolicited advice. Please know that I’ve heard you.  I know what you are saying to me.  But I still don’t care. I am cold.

Cope!

The post It Doesn’t Change the Fact that I’m Cold appeared first on Stacy Verdick Case.

The Real About Me – Part 2

Hi All!

In continuing with my series The Real About Me (click here if you missed the first installment and my reasons why I’m doing this) here is the next installment.

I am NOT warm and fuzzy.  I know this because my husband told the neighbors that, using those exact words, “Yeah, my wife is not warm and fuzzy.”

How did this come up in conversation you ask? Yeah, I asked too! Evidently, one of my neighbors was being a dumbass (you know who you are) and driving like a moron so I flipped him off. I didn’t get the memo but the rule is (I guess) if you know the person you can’t flip them off in earnest. You can only do it in mock playfulness. Who knew!

Of course, the conversation didn’t end there. Well why would it right? Once the line is crossed to criticizing your friend’s wife, just go right ahead and get it all out in the open.

There’s also some unwritten rule of country living (oh, I live in the country now and this story will illustrate why I sooo want to move back to a city) that says when you pass your neighbor anywhere, on a freeway, on a side street, in a parking lot, when you’re leering in their windows, you have to smile and WAVE at them.

I don’t wave. It’s a stupid rule and I don’t want to do it.  In fact I don’t want to do anything anyone else thinks I HAVE to do.  Unless, there’s a paycheck involved.  In that case, I’m all on-board the waving train. But no one has offered to pay me yet.

The conversation did end there.  The not waving issue is a real craw sticker, if you know what I mean.  It really bothers some people in the neighborhood (again you know who you are), which makes me more determined to not wave.

This all came to a head one night when my husband decided we should head down to the local watering hole to watch one of our favorite local bands The Soup Bones play (Hi Johnny!). Since I live in the country and there’s not much action everyone from the neighborhood had gone to the bar that night. I shit you not.  It probably helped that my husband called everyone to say, “Hey, let’s go see The Soup Bones.”

So there we are surrounded by people who are drunk and mad at me. It’s kinda like a family function with out the implied love.  One of the drunks neighbors finally hit me where it hurt.  He played the kid card. As low down and heartless as I am (I’m not it’s just perception) I have a soft spot for kids.  He slurred at me, “My kids wave to you from the bus stop and you never wave back.”

God I’m a BITCH!

To tell you the truth I did even realize they were waving at me. I thought they were just trying to stay warm by flailing their arms.

Well of course, that did it.  The next Monday morning I waved. But only to the kids.  I will wave to the kids. But I still refuse to live my life like I’m on a parade float. Unless they want to give me sash and a crown.  Then I’ll wave and I’ll even smile.

~S

 

The post The Real About Me – Part 2 appeared first on Stacy Verdick Case.

Time for Tea

Another Thought for the day!

~S

The post Time for Tea appeared first on Stacy Verdick Case.

The Eyes Have It

So it turns out it’s my eyes that make me unattractive. Strange because that’s my one body part I’ve never held a grudge against. But they are the betrayer.

Today I was told three times that I looked really nice today, all while I was wearing my face obscuring sunglasses. Since I’ve taken them off nothing. No one thinks I look really nice.

So if I want to look attractive I will have to spend the rest of my life hiding behind sunglasses like some tarted up version of Muammar Gaddafi.

Hmm.

The post The Eyes Have It appeared first on Stacy Verdick Case.

Finding Balance – Give Me A Break

Lately I’ve been thinking about the term balance.  Probably because I have A LOT on my plate right now and I keep being asked, “How do you have time for this?”  This being whatever new thing I’ve taken on at the moment.

Somehow I find the time, but I think the people who are watching me do the things I do assume that I have found balance.  Nope.  Because there is no such thing.  At least not in the “happily giving all things equal weight and successfully making everyone happy.”  That is just bullshit.  And I have to call it that because there is no other word, so for those of you easily offended go read someone else.

 

Balance does not exist.  I do not have balance and I will not pretend that I do.  I live in chaos.  Managed and ordered chaos but it is still chaos.

 

The trick is knowing which part of the chaos needs my attention in the moment.  Not wants my attention – NEEDS my attention.  I will stop what I’m doing when I sense a growing need arise and I will devote undivided attention.  This is not balance and it’s not juggling weights, it’s simply putting one weight down and picking up another.

 

Magically, everything that NEEDS to get done, get’s done.  A lot of the “want to get done” has to fall away.  The funny thing is most of the stuff I let fall away are things that other’s have added to my “to do” list because they have a want.  As mad as it makes you to read this I am not sorry.

 

There are so many hours in the day and I need to spend what time I have living the life I intend instead of a life of inertia.  For those of you who look at me and see someone in balance, lithely dancing on the edge of a cliff – Ha, ha! I fooled you!  For those of you who see me as a hot mess clinging to the edge for all I’m worth – I’ve made peace with that image.  If I ever do find balance I promise I’ll let you know the secret.  For now, I’m happy holding on for dear life.

The post Finding Balance – Give Me A Break appeared first on Stacy Verdick Case.

Ah – Very True!

Wanted to share one of my favorite quotes with you all. It’s important to read widely so you can really understand the world and all it’s wonders. Lack of knowledge is the biggest threat to our society so get out there and READ!

The post Ah – Very True! appeared first on Stacy Verdick Case.