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by Tim Suddeth @TimSuddeth I was so excited about doing this post. I�d just completed the climax for my work-in-progress and it looked like I would be writing those beautiful words, The End, just as I would start writing this post. It was all going so well, until . . . It wasn�t. For the last few days my writing has been stuck. But the clothes basket is empty, and my email box. And I keep looking out the window at things that need to be done in the yard. I�m looking anywhere but at the computer. Four scenes from the end of the book that I�ve worked on for nearly six months and suddenly it looks like a bowl of overcooked Brussels sprouts. Eew. And I�m not surprised at all. See, I�ve been through this before. And, after reading  Finish,   by Jon Acuff, I�ve learned that others have, too. This is a book Cynthia Owens recommended and mentioned in her December 5, 2017 post. Coming close to the end is just one of three hurdles our brains, or what he calls perfectionism, throw in fro...

by Tim Suddeth @TimSuddeth I was in the kitchen, fixing a sandwich for my son. Well, not exactly a sandwich but a piece of bread slathered with strawberry jam. Then, I lost my mind. At least, it began to wander off. A mother was coming home from work and her husband met her at the door. Their young daughter had locked herself in her bedroom. Again. He was at his wit�s end. �Honey, I don�t know what happened. I was making her a snack and she just started crying and slammed her door. Will you talk to her?� She put her briefcase on the counter, walked down the hall, and tapped on the door. �It�s Mommy. Will you let me in?� She heard the door unlock and went inside. Her daughter, red eyed, sat on her bed with a pink princess blanket, holding a stuffed Eeyore. �Sweetie, what�s wrong?� More tears. Finally, with trembling lips, her little angel looks up. �Daddy doesn�t love me.� �What? But of course he does. Why do you say that?� Her little girl sniffed. �You know how, when you make my sandwi...

by Tim Suddeth @TimSuddeth September has arrived. In the air, there�s the sense of pumpkin spice and cooler weather. Where has the summer gone? All the plans, the trips, the whole family gathering together and connecting. Okay, that last one was a bit much. School has or is getting ready to start. For many of us, that means a total eruption of our schedules. We go from a �relaxing� summer to fitting twenty-eight hours into twenty-four hour days. You have so many practices and after school activities to take your kids to, you look into applying for an Uber designation. It�s overwhelming. By lunch of the first day, you�re looking for a way to pull over from reality for just a few moments.  Stop the world. I want to get off. Then that lady, the one with the stylish new haircut and clean car, calls and asks if you can bring refreshments, not packaged cookies, to the soccer game tomorrow. (Laser-beam eyes) This feeling isn�t for women only. Whether it�s caring for a young family, runnin...

by Tim Suddeth @TimSuddeth Last month, I wrote about the different means available to us for telling a story. My post last month is How Can I Tell My Story? This time, I want to look at sharing a story that comes from pain, from the heartbreaks in our lives. Whether it�s Alzheimer�s, divorce, loss of a loved one, etc., life is full of times that challenge us. And it is often these stories that we feel compelled to share. But it hurts. So, we are often reluctant to go there. Where it�s tender and the tears await us. I see this when I look at blogs about families with special needs children. Many of these websites are what we called orphans, sites with only a couple of posts from long ago. One of these blogs is my own, Started In NC. It was supposed to be about our family and the struggles and joys of having a child with autism. There�s only a handful of posts from several years ago. When the struggle is so big that it consumes your life, it�s hard to find the strength to post with any c...

By Tim Suddeth @TimSuddeth I love watching the expressions on people�s faces when I tell them I�m a writer. Most people have heard of such people but have never knowingly met one. Usually there�s acknowledgement, sometimes they ask questions, and, occasionally, they will stop and say, �You know, I�ve thought about writing. How can I tell my story?� We all have stories, either something we�ve done, somewhere we�ve been, or someone we knew, that we would like to share with others. Most of the time, we just carry them in our hearts, (Thank you, Mary.) but there are some stories that stand out to us. So, how should I share my story? We have many ways we can use to tell our stories. Some, writing an article newspaper or magazine, or writing a blog post may take a few hours or days to write and it can be published in a few months. Although you want to do your best, there�s not necessarily a big learning curve or time investment.  Not only does an article take much less time to write, a m...