Heather Holleman's Blog, page 144

Some Days, The Bus Does Wait

This morning on my drive into campus, I slowed down behind a campus bus as it stopped on its route. I watched the students pile out as those waiting to board stood patiently in the cold. I worried about them as the snow felt lightly. I enjoyed a toasty warm car.

Then I saw her. She was way down the sidewalk, and as I looked through my rear view mirror, I noted the way she ran so fast her bag slung side to side. She couldn’t possible make it. The bus began to pull away, and my heart sank for her. Who hasn’t had a day like this? Who hasn’t missed the bus or began a day with something so frustrating like this?

I thought about where she’d go from here and how she’d recover. What class would she miss? What appointment would she forfeit? The day took on a dreary, cold feeling. This was the kind of day where the bus won’t wait, where the whole day is now off, and where nothing works out. Oh! Some days are like this.

But then, I heard the squeal of brakes and that exhale that told me the bus was waiting.

It froze in place for her. It waited for her.

I watched her climb on the bus happily, and I considered the narrative of a different kind of morning, the kind where you live in a world where the bus waits for you, where you make it on time, and where it all works out.

At least on this day, the bus did wait. I think about the ups and downs of ordinary living. You’ll have a day when the bus waits, and you’ll have a day when it doesn’t. But today, it waited!

A Pause. Then a Stop.

Today, when I heard that Kobe Bryant died, along with his daughter, Gianna, our whole family paused. Then we stopped altogether. We huddled around the television, and I checked Twitter only to find the platform overwhelmed with users. My husband, who was traveling, told me how people were just shocked everywhere.

I’m not even a huge NBA basketball fan. I didn’t even know that much about Kobe. I had no real connection to him at all, really. But what I did feel, however, was that–like so many sports’ legends– Kobe Bryant was like the background music to our ordinary lives. We always heard about Kobe and the Lakers. We heard about how great he was and how nice. Kobe, like so many other parts of our regular lives, was just there.

So we stop. It’s sobering and heavy. It’s overwhelming and sad. I think about his wife and children and the many young fans who loved him. It was an ordinary day, and then someone legendary was lost.

A Craft for a Winter Afternoon: Pour Paintings

I’ve been seeing beautiful photos and videos of “Pour Paintings,” and as I was cleaning out a closet today, I found tiny canvases. I remembered all the acrylic paints we still have in our craft bin, and then I remembered how much I loved making coasters for our coffee mugs. And then I remembered Pour Painting!

I ask my very artistic children to help me. They knew all about Pour Painting already. If you’ve never heard of it, you can read about it here. Basically, you water down your acrylics (we used paint thinner and water). You pour one color in the bottom of a cup, then the next color on top, and then the next color and so on. They you pour the cup out onto your canvas. You can use a blow dryer to move the paint around (or just tilt your canvas back and forth).

Here is my first Pour Painting that I’ll use as a coaster (but you can find many other examples on the internet).

I love pausing for a little craft in winter time.

Frozen Grapes While Writing

I’m like a puppy. I need to chew. When I’m writing or especially when I’m grading, I like to munch on things. But if I munch and crunch too much, my jaw hurts. And one can only eat so many carrots. But I found something I love: frozen grapes.

It’s odd: they freeze, but not too much. In other words, you can suck on them and chew them because they don’t freeze solid. And they are so sweet! I froze a bag of red grapes, and for this morning’s writing plan, I pop one in every few minutes. They hit the spot! They scratch the itch!

Another oddity: I don’t love fresh grapes. So if you’re reading this, and you think that you won’t like frozen grapes because you don’t love fresh ones, give them a try. It’s a different texture and flavor to enjoy them frozen.

Final odd thing: Chewing things aids concentration and memory according to various research reports. So if you’re doing a hard writing task, the chewing will help you. You’re welcome. Enjoy the chewing of frozen grapes today!

Never Too Old for a “Sick Tray”

After writing about taking care of yourself, my oldest daughter ironically runs a fever and stays home from school with a cough and aches.

No matter how old they grow (she’s officially an adult now), they are never too old for the Sick Tray. Nobody is. You don’t grow out of needing loving attention when you don’t feel well. Everyone needs a Sick Tray from time to time.

The Sick Tray: The collection of comforting items delivered to someone sick in bed. It includes a beverage, snacks, and anything needed for recovery.

In between assignments today, I brew the healing tea and stir in some wildflower honey. I bring the steaming mug up to her bedroom alongside something to nourish her when she feels like eating–some fruit, a little sweet treat and some pretzels. Later, I freshen the room, open the shades, and rearrange warm blankets around her. The cat lounges beside her to keep careful watch.

In the afternoon, one must replenish the Sick Tray, this time with the tools for diagnostics and treatment that you’ve perhaps already brought the night before (one much check up on these things): thermometer, fever reducer, and a tall glass of fresh water. You might need tissues. You might need a hot or cool compress. You might, if the situation requires it, send up the humidifier.

I pray she recovers quickly. Meanwhile the Sick Tray stands ready for evening duties: perhaps a light dinner and another warm beverage.

Taking Care of Yourself

I’m constantly reminding students and my own family to hydrate, to sleep, to wash their hands, and to listen to their bodies if they feel run down. It’s that time of year. Students and friends endure the actual flu, and it’s no joke.

So let me remind you: more water, more sleep, more hand washing, more listening to what the body needs. Let’s stay healthy! I’m mostly telling myself this. I intend to grab an orange and a green tea instead of a cookie, to add in more vegetables, to take vitamins. What if you considered that staying healthy is part of your job description today? And I know that people get the flu through no fault of their own; it happens. You can do all the preventative measures and still fall ill. After all, you’re with sick people at the grocery store or wherever you go in public. So when it happens–and it might–I pray we submit to the work of recovery and not exhaust ourselves. I pray health and healing for us all!

Always Something Growing

I’m thrilled to report that the Norway Spruce bonsai seeds have sprouted (our second attempt to grow bonsai). We watch how they grow and unfold every morning now. They start as little Chinese lanterns that then splay out and reach for the sun.

Downstairs, the plumcot grows; it gains enormously every day. I must strengthen this little seedling until the day we plant her into the soil by the backyard fence.

I’ve got a lemon tree still growing upstairs. Add this to the two teenage daughters, the three cats, and the creative projects of my husband and me. We have so many things growing. And for this, I rejoice.

As You Search for an Agent

Today I want to encourage you if you have questions about finding a literary agent to represent your manuscript and take care of you during your writing career. My new agency, Illuminate (formally DJ Jacobson), walks you through what agents are looking for.

Click right here to check it out! Or go to http://illuminateliterary.com/submissions/

What I love about this submission page is this: they tell you exactly what to do. Illuminate provides a nice template to follow that you can download to build your proposal. I highly recommend this template. I’ve sold several books using this very template. My favorite part of this template is when they ask for the compelling one sentence that tells the agent and publisher what your book is about. It’s the best way to focus your message.

I hope this blog inspires you or a friend to get started on the next step of your book publishing dreams.

A Plan for Prayer

When I think about what I would want for myself in the next 5-10 years, I would say I would want to develop most in the area of prayer.

More and more, I’ve finding opportunities to teach and write on what I’m learning about prayer. Maybe I have another book in me after all!

The first thing that I would teach others on prayer is that there’s no part of our lives that goes unseen or uncared about by God. I love that God “formed the hearts of all and considers everything they do” (Psalm 33:15). I believe He wants us to talk to Him about anything and everything as a loving Father. You know when a child comes home from school and you want to hear about his or her day? You want details. You want to know everything. That’s how it is with God. In the words of teens around me, it’s like God says, “OK, girl. Spill the tea.”

My plan for prayer involves taking the time to tell God everything. It takes time, too. And then I need time to listen to Him, too.

Something of Majesty

Today I reframed how I’ve been thinking about the mundane and tiring tasks associated with running a household. The moment happened while reading Proverbs 31, in particular these verses about the “wife of noble character” in verse 25-27. We read this about her:

She is clothed with strength and dignity;
    she can laugh at the days to come.
 She speaks with wisdom,
    and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household
    and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Something about that word “dignity” caught my attention because my tasks that very moment were far from dignified. You know those undignified moments of cleaning up things (I won’t mention details) or when you’re dragging the leaking trash out or when you’re taking care of all the things you wish you didn’t have to do? Where’s the dignity in it? In fact, I look the opposite of dignified. I’m not clothed with dignity; I’m in workout clothes with unbrushed hair.

But, when I noticed that word “dignity,” I smiled. I looked it up in my Hebrew dictionary, and that word there is the very same word used to describe the majesty and splendor of God Himself. It’s a word that’s very close to a perfect and marvelous kind of beauty. That’s what this woman has.

With this kind of majesty about her, she doesn’t parade around like queen or demand attention. Instead, look at her! She watches over the affairs of her household. I think of her doing all the mundane tasks of running a household. We learn in the proverb that she’s the kind of woman who stays up late working. She’s doing all kinds of side hustles, too. And the whole time, she knows she’s clothed with a particular kind of majesty–from God himself. It’s not the tasks she’s doing that make her majestic; she’s majestic already, so she can do anything required of her, no matter how simple or tiring. She’s just doing the work of running the household, and she’s laughing at the days to come.