Great News

I've got some great news for you all. No, no... I don't have a publishing deal. Aww shucks. But I did find a new job! It's located in Salt Lake City, Utah. It will be a fresh new change for me, since I've worked at my current job for three years now. Change is good, right?

Right!

I'll be moving again...to Salt Lake City which will be incredible. I've lived in England, California for a brief stint, and Taiwan, but never anywhere outside of Utah County, Utah. This will be a new adventure for me.

This is happy Julia!

Anywho, I start my new job on October 1 and hopefully will be living in Salt Lake City before then. I'm so not going to commute. This is all sort of crazy and whirlwind. I'm nervous, not only for the move, but for the "new job learning curve". I hate not being able to dive head first into a job without being able to do it perfectly from the get go.

This is similar to writing (at least for me). I want my stories to be flawless from the beginning. That stems from having to go through my first book so many flippin' times, more times than I have fingers and toes. Talk about exhausting. It has gotten to the point that I don't want to look at it anymore. Ugh! Sucky.

But writing, as for day jobs, is a work in progress. We've got to realize that Rome wasn't built in a day (pardon the cliche). Good things will happen when they happen--sometimes not on our timetable, either. Thus be the writing industry.

Well, I feel blessed right now. I am getting the chance to have a needed change in my life and to progress professionally. If it weren't for a lot of rooting on from family and friends, including a whole bunch of Facebook followers, I'd have bombed the interview. I nailed it, though and what do you know, I got the job with high compliments from my soon-to-be employer.

Not to brag or anything. haha

Well, now you can congratulate me... LOL Anyway, how is your writing going? Day jobs? Life in general?

Loves and hugs from...

Writing. Jewels.

PS: Another piece of good news: I'm getting my hair trimmed and colored tonight. Goodbye splitends and grey hair.

To Do List: Make it Funny

A little something to giggle over:

I think I've been a little bit too serious lately. I've been trying my darndest to work hard and to be productive that I've forgotten to find joy in life. My personal life has definitely been put on the back burner, but for good reason: writing. Somehow I need to find balance, though. Currently, I don't have writing deadlines, so why am I putting so much pressure on myself? Well, because I want to be published. The thing is I know deep down inside I will... eventually. Why sweat the small stuff, then? 

There's a point when you have to take inventory of your life. You know yourself better than anyone else. You know how much you can handle. You know when taking a break is the best option, be it from the small stuff or the big stuff in your life.

For me, I get stressed way easily. I call myself a "stress bucket". It sort of runs in my family. If I don't step back and take it easy for a bit, I definitely will be so burned out, it'll take me weeks to get back into the game. I need a full 8 hours of sleep. I must eat. I must have my down time by reading, watching a favorite tv show, or going on a hike. I need to work as well, be it my full time job or writing. I have yet to figure out how to balance out these things with including spirituality, exercise, and family/socializing. But, I'm a work in progress. And so are you.

Let's be kind to ourselves during the journey.

So, just for the heck of it, here are some things on my funny to-do list:

• I've always wanted to go to a semi-nice restaurant with a group of friends, order our food, and then whip out a game of Monopoly. I want to see how long it takes for us to get kicked out.
• I want to go into a department store, find some handsome, young bloke, kiss him right on the lips, and then walk away. (I most likely will never do this one, but it sure is fun to think about). *smacks lips*
• Go to a vineyard in, say California or better yet Italy, and ask for a drink of grape juice. Yes, plain, un-fermented grape juice. I don't drink, therefore grape juice is the only option.

Well, what I'm getting at is don't take life too seriously. Have fun. Relax if you need to. Work when you need to. And make sure you laugh along the way.

Do you sometimes take yourself too seriously? How do you find balance in your life? And, what are your funny to-do list items?

Writing. Jewels.