I realized several years ago that I parent my children, in many ways, the opposite than how my parents parented me. Example: I was always told I had to try any new foods that were cooked, or I could sit at the table all evening long. I am very lenient with my children about new foods. This is probably very bad, but I’m the one who has to deal with it. Another example: My parents worked and/or where not home a lot. I chose to stay home with my children, rather than continue working.

Good or bad, I think that’s it’s normally to do the opposite of what our parents did. I’ve found, however, that some people do this to the extreme and thus end up resenting the decisions they’ve made, thinking that it would be better. Sometimes, parents aren’t wrong. Sometimes, they have really good habits.

Realizing, though, that we unconsciously do what our parents didn’t do can be eye-opening.

~Kris

Sometimes when I see myself in the mirror, I have to stop and realize that it’s actually me looking back. I have such a strange self-image, that I’m often times surprised at my reflection.

I’m not really as old as I think I am.

Strange.

I’m not sure if it’s because our son plays hockey and we know that feeling oh so well – final game of a tournament or championship, and then the team doesn’t show up. I mean, they are there physically, but mentally…no way. We weren’t upset last night when the Wings lost. Okay, that’s not entirely true; we were upset, but we let it go. Today, however, non-hockey families have emailed or called, wanting to commiserate with us and we’re like, whatever.

Each game is different, no matter what the team is playing for. Yes, of course, our son has never played in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but ask if him two years ago, playing down at Joe Louis for the division championship game, how he felt after he lost that game? He was so close to getting the “big” trophy and his team didn’t show up. Again, I’m not discounting the Wings, the Stanley Cup, or the Holy Grail. What I’m saying is that there is a lesson to learn, and it’s very simple: the Penguins wanted this more than the Wings. It totally showed in their play, and in our lack of play.

Sure, we’re disappointed. That’s a given. After the clock wound down and it was evident that the Wings were not going to be able to pull this off, we all sighed. As soon as the clock was 0, we turned the tv off – unable to see the Penguins raise Lord Stanley – and we all stood up, said good-bye to our guests, and went to bed.

Oh well. There’s always next year.

My writing time has been spent on either quick updates on Facebook or actually sitting down and writing the middle-grade novel I’m working on at the moment. My writing comes in spurts, but when it does it just flows out. It’s such a strange feeling when that happens. You know what I mean – you sit down, write, get up, leave. you open it up a few days later, read what you wrote to catch up and continue, and then realize you don’t remember writing those words at all. Freaky.

But I also feel like I’m writing in unknown territory, and I keep wanting to ask someone – am I doing this right? Should I be joining some sort of new writer’s organization, one that has middle-grade authors in their community? But I’m getting ahead of myself. I need to get the book finished, and then I’ll worry about those things.

It’s also a fantasy, which is weird and wild and crazy for me to be writing. I’m so women’s fiction, and here I am writing fantasy. Ack! But I’ve had a beta reader look over it and she loved it. My agent likes the idea too, so that’s a plus. Still, though, it’s easy for me to lack self-confidence, so I’ve been basically telling myself to shut the F up and write. I can write this story. I can write middle grade, and I can write fantasy.

Maybe I’ll post a chapter once I’ve done a final edit and see what you all think. We’ll see.

~Peace, Kris