Tag Archives: #amwriting

Daylight Saved

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I love how humans think by changing the time on clocks, we can control #daylight. Twice a year, we move the hands on the clock forward or back to “change” whether it’s light when we get up in the morning and dark when we get home from work.

I love this quote: “Timekeeping is also the invisible structure that makes modern infrastructure work.” From ancient Egypt, humans have attempted to track or measure time moving forward. The concept of daylight savings time was on and off again in the 1940s during the war. In 1966, the Unified Time Act was passed. I guess someone thought they needed an act of Congress to control daylight.

I hope you realize how ludicrous this sounds. We need more daylight, so let’s change the clocks? The thing we measure time with? That’s like saying, I’d like a bigger house, so let’s change the numbers on the tape measure.

Seasons, nature, brings us longer or shorter days. It’s the way the laws of nature were set in motion. There’s a time for planting, growing, harvesting, and resting. As we need longer light, we have in it when the days of spring and summer grow longer. When harvest is complete and winter comes, nature slows down or sleeps; why not humans? Ok, so sleeping away the winter isn’t a great idea, but there’s nothing wrong with slowing down, doing some re-grouping before spring comes again.

What are your thoughts?

KK

Let’s connect. If you haven’t already, please choose to follow KK’s Candor. To stay in touch with my writing adventures, you can find me on social media.

72 Degrees

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Are you living a 72-degree existence? How easy is it when we work remotely, have garage door openers, and can order just about anything delivered to our door, never to experience getting cold or hot or even dodge rain drops. Are we living a sterile existence? Are we creating a vanilla life?

Now that working from home has become somewhat of a norm, it’s possible to spend your days in the comfort of your home where your biggest pain point is a late delivery of groceries. #Doctors will even do video appointments. There are no freezing fingertips or frizzy humidity hair. But there’s also no interaction with humanity; no colorful characters to spice up our day. Every day looks the same because your view never changes.

Are the senses dulled by not experiencing the robust odors of a restaurant or the icky odors of a sewer grate? It’s not unlike when you’ve given up chocolate, #coffee, or soda for Lent. Remember that first taste after the 40-day fast? The flavor is bold, and the carbonation in your soda almost burns your mouth (I’m not a coffee drinker so I have no idea about that experience). You get the idea.

Modern conveniences are wonderful and certainly make much of life easier. But can we agree that bubble-wrapping our lives removes so much of its flavor? The discomfort of sweating is quickly forgotten with the plunge into a #swimming pool. The extremes of life remind us that we are alive. Embrace them! Let them stretch and grow you as an individual. Let them be what molds and changes you over time.

All the best,

KK

Let’s connect. If you haven’t already, please choose to follow KK’s Candor. To stay in touch with my writing adventures you can find me on social media.

Curtains for Maggie. @KHRAuthor

Scheduling for your book club in 2025? Check out Curtains for Maggie, a wonderfully encouraging novel about rediscovering personal passions. Contact me about leading your discussion.

Why the year begins in January

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The image outside my window is not one of the new beginnings #January brings. Definitely not the vision of renewal or a fresh start. My garden is hibernating. It’s cold and I’d like to join those in nature that hunker down until Spring.

Centuries ago, March 25th was the beginning of our #calendar year. That makes sense. The beginning of spring. The rebirth of flowers, blossoms on trees…the renewing feeling of a warm sun. What happened?

Thank you Roman king Numa Pompilius. According to tradition, during his reign (c. 715–673 BCE) Numa revised the Roman republican calendar so that January replaced March as the first month in honor of Janus, the Roman god of all beginnings. There is evidence that January 1 was not made the official start of the Roman year until 153 BC. (source: Britannica) And then came Julius Caesar…

There are two reasons for asking this question. First are the things I mentioned above. From our part of the world, January doesn’t scream “NEW BEGINNINGS.” The other thought is to pose the question, how accurate is our holistic tracking of time and dates? This article demonstrates that tracking years shifted by three months, a quarter of a year just got shifted at the whim of some Roman king. Not to mention how many leap years we missed before those began to be tracked.

Why do we accept our calendar as accurate?

Things that make you go hummm.

KK.

Let’s connect. If you haven’t already, please choose to follow KK’s Candor.
To stay in touch with my writing adventures you can find me on social media.

Curtains for Maggie! Available on Amazon.

What are you reading to your children?

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Reading to children is much more than the words on the page. Although they are important as well. Those words and stories are fostering imagination, and filling our children with messages they will play back for their entire life. I remember Go Dog Go being the first book I could read to myself. Spoiler alert, it ends with a dog party. How fun!

Reading to a child also builds a connection with you, their parent, or a trusted adult. Do you remember being little and thinking the grown-ups around you were always in a hurry or stressed out? Maybe not. Hopefully not. But when they took time to sit with you and go on an imaginary journey, you connected with them on an entirely different level. One that wasn’t about chores, or school work, you went to another world together and had an adventure. Oh, and for parents who aren’t great at reading aloud. That’s OK! Our kids need to know that we aren’t perfect all the time. Reading to a child gives the adult practice time to improve their own ability to read.

The books we read to our children carry a message. It’s our job to be sure the message is uplifting. Even in silly stories, the message may just be it’s time to giggle. The world has plenty to not giggle or be silly about. Let’s encourage silliness and giggling as long as we can with our kids. Let’s fill them so full of fun, positive, enriching stories, that when they are older and the world gets dark, they remember to follow the yellow brick road, and find their way back home.

An author friend of mine, Nicole Lisa Schrader has published a new children’s book, Darwin Finds Freedom (from Elk Lake Publishing). Darwin’s grandfather tells him stories of other mice that are free, and to find them, he must follow the King of all Creatures. This means the little mouse has to take a step of faith to leave the familiar. Not unlike when your small child steps into a classroom for the first time; perhaps a little scared. But with every encounter with the other animals, Darwin is encouraged to keep moving forward toward finding his community. This story is all about being brave. I encourage you to check it out.

What was the first book you remember reading? Do you still enjoy reading? I’d love to hear from you. Maybe you can add a book to my ever-growing reading list, or give me ideas for books to buy for the children in my life.

All the best,

KK

#reading #books #novel

Let’s connect! Click the follow button to be alerted when I post or check out my adventures on social media.

Looking for something for yourself to read? Check out my latest book, Curtains for Maggie, also published by Elk Lake Publishing.

Dreams coming true

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Is it a #dream or a #goal? I’ve wanted to write a book and have it published for as long as I can remember. It started as a dream, but when I got serious about #writing and learning the craft, it became a goal. Writing workshops, critique groups, editing, and a lot of rewriting. Last June I pitched the book to Elk Lake Publishing. They requested a proposal, and about a month later they offered me a contract! WooHoo! That began my journey toward publication.

You are now a very important part of that journey. Below is the cover of Curtains for Maggie, my debut novel! Check it out and let me know what you think.

Back Cover

Maggie Nelson lost her identity. Nora St. Claire lost her husband. And Jen Stephens lost her job—sort of. The three friends from college, now in their forties, rediscover a special part of themselves that time and relationships have stolen.

To rediscover who she is, Maggie revisits a passion from her past. Something that was her own—acting. With this, her family begins a season of their orderly, planned, and scheduled lives becoming not so orderly. How can Maggie regain her identity without losing her husband?

Nora is an interior designer whose husband was killed in the line of duty. After years of mourning, she is ready to rebuild her life. Her career launches when she wins over a difficult client for the firm. And in her social life, she finds herself volunteering alongside a man who sparks her interest. Work, friends, dating—what will the design of her new life be?

Jen is a free-spirited personal trainer who never expected to find herself as an assistant manager at the gym. The role is a stretch, but it includes all the components of healthy living that she believes in. The rest she can learn. The transition has a few twists and turns Jen navigates well with the full support of her husband, and her two friends. And yet … is it the best fit for Jen?

Their path is messy, but isn’t that true about life? Along the way, each woman discovers that she is more precious than rubies. Even in her imperfection.

I know you can’t wait to read it. I promise you will be the first to know where to purchase a copy.

All the best,

KK

Let’s stay connected!

Measured Steps

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Do our steps count if we aren’t wearing our pedometer or Fitbit device? At first we were sold on counting our steps, trying to get 10,000 each day. That’s a little over four and half miles. We clipped pedometers to our shoes or belts and took off. Corporations added pedometers and step tracking to their health incentives for employees. That’s kinda fun to have the camaraderie of your co-workers to help achieve the goal.

Then the devices or apps on our phones began to track heart rate, pulse and even blood pressure. Again, not bad to do, but are we becoming over sensitized to every uneven beat of our hearts and every elevated moment of our pulse? Our bodies were fearfully and wonderfully created. In the course of a day our physiological systems are constantly adjusting to its environment. We eat and it begins to metabolize the nutrients and throw off the waste. We get hot and our bodies sweat. We walk outside and our eyes adjust to the sun.

 

young fitness woman hiker legs at forest trail

The tracking devices have made us more aware of getting up and moving more often. I am guilty of sitting for too long a period of time during the day. I can sit down to work and get so caught up that I don’t get up for several hours. So there is certainly a place for prompting us to live healthier lives.

What happens when we forget to wear our device or turn on the app? All of a sudden all these steps aren’t measured. Do they still count? Did the tree fall and not make a sound? Once again we are getting sucked into a gadget (for better or worse) being our measurement of success. Do you remember the days when runners would go run then come home and drive the course in their cars to see how far they had gone?

Our success with our health goals happens whether we measure it or not. Our success comes from just getting up and doing it. After having worn a Fitbit for almost two years, I can guess within ten percent how many steps I’ve taken in a day (or not taken). When it recently broke, it took me a couple of days to figure out I was still walking, taking steps. They still counted. My evening walks still relaxed me. What I miss are the little bursts of color when I’m active for over 30 minutes. Or the buzz vibration it made when I hit 10,000 steps. That was fun.

Maybe I can come up with my own little burst of celebration after my walk or workout. So if you see me fist-bump myself or do a little touchdown jig, you’ll know I’m on the move.

KK

 

No Picture Necessary

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Today cameras are as close as our cell phones. Pretty much at the end of our arms at all times. Pictures of meals, pets, gardens and of course our selves are posted, tweeted and shared all over the world. Are we too busy taking pictures of memorable beautiful moments to stop and enjoy the moment?

On my way home one evening there had been a summer rain shower. Sitting at a stop light I looked up to see the most beautiful full seven-color spectrum rainbow. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Right in front of me. Admittedly, I started to reach for my phone to snap a photo. I stopped. Instead of taking a picture and posting it, I just enjoyed God’s handiwork. It was a beautiful quiet moment.

There is a lot of chatter these days of everyone being too plugged in. We are. We are rushing through our days, living for the weekend and not experiencing the sights, sounds, smells and tastes we encounter. Breathe for a minute. Look around you. What’s new or unusual? What are the stories in the lives of all the people you are rushing by?

Take a minute and let me know what you find.

KK

For here or to go?

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For here or to go? You’d think this was an easy question. But twice in the last few days it really threw us off a little.

While away at a baseball tournament we stopped at a food court so everyone could get what they wanted for dinner.fast-food-in-car-service The parents claimed a group of tables in the common eating area. I chose Mexican. Went through the line choosing all the items I wanted. The cashier rang up my order and then ask a simple question that left me in a quandary, for here or to go?

What was the right answer? I didn’t think she wanted me to stand there and eat my dinner and they didn’t offer special seating for their food area. So, I surmised that the answer shouldn’t be here, but I wasn’t going very far. Looking over to my friends and then looking back at the girl who wasn’t going to release my food until I provided an answer. Finally, I pointed to my friends and said, “I don’t know, I’m going over there to eat. Is that here or to go?”

To the teenage cashier I no doubt resembled a confused old lady who had lost her car in the parking lot.

Not an hour later my husband encountered a similar situation in which he felt too intelligent to answer the question, “for here to go?” After dinner we all walked across the street to get an ice cream cone for dessert. My husband goes through the line and places our order. Mine was in a cup, so she scooped it and handed it to him. He handed it to me. His was to be in a cone. She scoops it and hands it to him. He slides to the register, holding his ice cream cone. Before completing the transaction, she asks, “for here or to go?” Remember the picture here, he’s holding an ice cream cone in his hand. He didn’t order a pint or quarter of Rocky Road. Why does it matter at that point? Would she repackage the cone differently? He paused a second and just said “here”. Would she stop him if he started to leave? He said he was eating it here not taking it to go.

We concluded that in some great cash register software programmers mind, it was important to know if an order was for here or to go. In some situations, it is. When we are ordering and it’s obvious if not staying in the restaurant that provides tables, a box or bag will be necessary. But food courts and ice cream parlors probably could save that step.

Next time I will be ready with an answer. I’m practicing now.

KK

It’s like wearing clean underwear

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There are habits and characteristics we take on as adults that we probably don’t realize come from our parents. How many times have you said something to your child and had the immediate thought, “I just sounded like my mother?” My mother has always believed in a spotless house. She can find dust before the dust bunnies. I’m not sure her three daughters caught the “house-cleaning” gene. Don’t get me wrong, we all like a clean house, but we generally aren’t as obsessive about it unless visitors are coming. In addition to day to day straightening, once a month our home gets a good top to bottom vacuum, dust and bathroom clean-up. For me the big house-cleaning-white-tornado comes with visitors or our leaving town. It’s like wearing clean underwear. What if something happened while we were away and somebody had to go into the house?

house-cleaning

**Not my house

There have been times that I have been known to literally vacuum our way out the door. In addition to all the preparations there are in leaving for a short weekend trip or a full vacation, I feel it necessary to clean the house. And even if we leave at five in the morning, the beds are made before our departure.

Of all the quirks I could have inherited, this is a productive one and my husband is wonderfully patient with me about it. As I see it there are two good outcomes from this habit.

First, like I said, should something happen and someone need to come into our home while we are away, they will find order and cleanliness. This can only help with the matter that has brought them there.

Secondly, when we come home, we come home to a clean house. We can ease back into reality of work or school without having to do anything around the house. It’s like extending vacation-mode a little longer.

KK

Celebrating Freedom

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We the people…

We hold these truths…

Strong phrases that begin foundational statements and documents for our country. Upon these phrases are built the core values of our country. The freedoms we take for granted everyday were penned creative-inspirational-quotes-thoughts-part11-61under these phrases. The freedom to speak our opinions, the freedom to own guns and protect that which we work hard for and the freedoms to worship. With freedom comes both responsibility and opportunity. Yes, we have the opportunity to take full advantage of our freedoms. But we also have the responsibility to not let those freedoms harm or keep others from living their life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. These behaviors must be chosen, they can not be legislated. They are convictions of the heart.

We live in the greatest country in the world, founded on Godly inspired truths. Our founding fathers were as fallible as our political leaders are now. But they stood on God’s word and built a country. Today as we celebrate our freedoms, we recognize they came at a cost to thousands of others. Moving forward, we the people need to determine the future by first examining our own hearts.

KK