Thursday, October 29, 2015

When I Grow Up - Wait....

When I grow up, I want to---

Wait a sec.

I'm already in my late twenties. I guess – technically – that means I'm already grown up. Where did the time go?

(Shucks...start over...)

Here we are :)


Ok! Maybe I'll start with the present. I'm Crista – wife and mommy, novice cook, wannabe quilter, writer suffering from writer's block, green-thumbed gardener, and tea-drinking coffee-lover. I love babies, labradors, books, all things Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, CS Lewis, and JRR Tolkien, and yes, I definitely love cookies. Most importantly, though, I am a Christian. God gives me grace for the present hour and hope for the future, and I am His child.

I have a wonderful husband and a precious, happy, busy little 16-month son. We live in Lancaster County, PA, surrounded by friendly Amish and waaaaay too much sugar and white flour. (That's a problem if you have a sweet tooth, which I do.) We live in a quadplex rental property out in the country, but we have great landlords who let us garden and keep chickens in the yard. Our dream is to have a large family and live out in the country where we can live off the land. We'll see what happens. :) I've also always been interested in writing for children, though I struggle with perfectionism in that area and am rarely able to finish any of my writing projects!

I started this blog for a number of reasons – to record moments I want to share with those I love, chat with friends and family, meet new like-minded people, get something down on "paper" when I'm struggling with writer's block, journal my creative projects, and hopefully just have fun. I hope you have fun reading my blog, too, and I'd love to hear from you!

It's time to wrap up this post. See you soon. :)

7 comments:

  1. Crista! This was great! A most excellent first post! "(Shucks...start over...)" Haha! :) I can so see you saying that!

    Strange, I don't think I ever knew that you were interested in writing stories for children. I knew you liked to write, but I didn't realize that children's stories was your particular interest. Of course, if I'd put my brain to work a little bit I should have been able to draw that conclusion simply from the fact that you like telling stories to our youngest brothers. :) (Silly me...)

    I'm with you on the perfectionism and rarely being able to finish anything. I hope someday to overcome that. (Ha! Like that will ever happen! Does one ever overcome perfectionism?)

    Oh, I KNOW I'm going to have fun reading your blog, Crista. I'm so glad you decided to do one. And if you happen to post any pictures of that little cutie pie at the top...well that'll just be the icing on the cake! (That picture is SO cute, by the way! I just want to squeeze his cheeks...and his little pudgy hand...and AHHHH! It's too much!)

    Okay, it seems rather silly to sign my name Miss March when you know me by my real name...but as I can't give out my true identity on this vast internet thingy I guess Miss March will have to do. ;) Pity.

    ~Miss March

    P.S. "E" has requested that you post pictures of the chickens sometime. ;) Because he has NO idea what chickens look like. Ha!

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    1. Thank you, Miss March! I am so glad you enjoyed my post - I enjoyed your take on it. :) Anyway, I had fun writing this post and I'm looking forward to the next one.

      By the way, I left a comment on your blog too, a rather short one – I felt a bit that I was disrupting a conversation that started a while back, lol! But I'm looking forward to reading your blog and in future responding more promptly and at greater length. :)

      I've always wanted to write for children, ever since I was little. I've probably never shared any of my stories with you yet, though, because I never finish them...so it doesn't surprise me that you didn't know! One of these days, however, I will FINISH A STORY, and I will let you read it, if you are so inclined.

      My theory on perfectionism...nope! It doesn't go away! The only way I can conquer it is if I have a deadline of some sort. At college, for example, I did finish my creative writing projects that were due for class. In high school I took a correspondence creative writing course and submitted stories to a mentor, and I was able to finish them then. But now...it's really hard to get it done. I need to come up with a way to hold myself accountable to someone else – like a writer's group or something. That might help.

      I'll definitely be posting more pictures! There are a lot of really adorable pictures of Dean from our trip to Illinois that I want to post soon. He had so much fun at Papa and Grandma's house, and we captured a lot of sweet and funny moments on camera. I'd like to share some of those on the blog. :)

      “Miss March” is a splendid pen name. I think it fits. :)

      Please tell “E” that I will very likely post pictures of the chickens at some point!

      ~ Crista

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    2. I was very happy to get your comment, Crista! And don't worry, you were not interrupting AT ALL! And about it being a short comment, that's perfectly fine! (Actually, I was thinking today that I need to practice writing shorter comments, because sometimes I feel like I just rattle on and on...)

      Oh, I'd like that! It would be so neat to read a story that you wrote! I hope you do finish one sometime!

      I agree. Deadlines would be very helpful in keeping you focused and on track. I've thought about setting deadlines for myself, but then it just seems like too much work and stress, so I don't do it. (Really, I'm a rather lazy, half-hearted writer. :))

      Oh, goody! It's so much fun to see new pictures of Dean! :D

      And thank you, Crista. I'm glad you think "Miss March" fits me. :) This is going to be so much fun--both of us blogging! I'm really looking forward to your future posts!

      ~Miss March

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  2. Well, thank you. :) Long comments are nice too, though - it's so much more fun when you can get into "in-depth" discussions with people on your blog.

    Hopefully I'll finish one soon...soon-ish. I've been rethinking that "dragon-story" I started writing for S and J. It needed some major re-plotting, even if it originally was only supposed to be an impromptu, silly little story...sigh.

    Just curious, what do you think of a small writer's group? Would that be stressful? Just thinking out loud here... :)

    Yes, I'm glad we're both blogging now! Should be awesome! :)

    ~ Crista

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    1. I agree. I love long comments and discussions! I just worry sometimes that I say too much. You know, because I like to worry. (No, I don't like to, I just do it anyway.)

      Isn't that so true? As soon as you start writing, a simple little story suddenly becomes a lot more complicated. Keep working on it, though. S and J will be so thrilled to have a story written by Crista!

      I don't know. I've never been part of a writer's group. How do they work? I could see it being stressful, but it also might be helpful. What do you do in a writer's group?

      Yes!!! :D

      ~Miss March

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  3. Sometimes I worry I say too little. ;) Hard to strike a balance sometimes, isn't it?

    Depends on the group. The basic idea is to meet every so often (every week, once or twice a month, whatever) and share a creative project you've been working on between meetings. That way you have a deadline, you have an audience, and you have constructive feedback from other writers. I've never been a part of one before, but I've been thinking about it for a while.

    Hoping to finish that story for S and J by Christmas - we'll see!!

    ~ Crista

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    1. Hey, actually! Now that you mention it, I worry that I say too little sometimes, too. (Got to worry about something! Ha!) Yes, it's definitely hard to strike a balance.

      That doesn't sound too hard. Once a week would perhaps be overwhelming but once or twice a month might not be too bad. Hmmm...it might be worth thinking about. I could really use practice in receiving constructive feedback, as I'm afraid that's one of my biggest fears. It's hard to hear that what I wrote wasn't very good, but I know it's very necessary for improvement. :/

      Oh, that would be lovely! I hope you can finish it! That would be an awesome Christmas present! :)

      ~Miss March

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