Just a quick update. I've been placed in a "cabin" with some other writers in the aforementioned Camp NaNoWriMo writer's workshop. One of my cabin mates has some of her work posted on this really cool tool for getting short pieces written. It's essentially the Twitter of short stories; you have a limited amount of space to write a piece, which makes you hone your skills and pick only the necessary words. L.O.V.E.

I've been doing my requisite RFP search this morning, and though I stay off the time waster known as Facebook as often as I can, I needed to see if someone had answered a message of mine regarding grant writing and fundraising. And, as FB would have it, I got sucked in ... in a good way. A friend posted this amazing article written by a 90-year-old woman named Phyllis Sues called "Loving Life at 90." Like her, what inspires me is the love of learning. Sure, yoga is an amazing tool for that, but that's all it is a tool. (Full disclosure - my preferred tool)

I'm not trying to be a super woman or a super mom; that creates unnatural expectations. But I don't want to spend the majority of my life working miserably and lamenting what I never tried to do. I just want to create and learn new things. I've been making homemade sourdough breads for the last week, last night's baguette of sourdough rye with flaxseed was amazing. Again FB sucked me into reading about someone else who loves to practice the basics of sustainable and healthy cooking. Florencia Ramirez has got a great blog called Eat Less Water that I'm going to check on a regular basis. I need this when I get the stink-eye from other moms who think I'm bragging when I talk about what's on the menu at our house.

I'm trying to finish up an intricate baby blanket that I started before my 4.5-year-old was born. And it's finally coming together. Grant writing is flying. Yoga will always be there and the teaching is languishing only because my husband's tight schedule won't allow for teaching 8-10 classes a week the way it used to. But no worries, I practice, I teach three classes a week. And, I'm about to cut the teaching down by one class, because I'm enrolling in a re-upholstery class. I still need to fit in that novel-writing more than once a week; I'm working on it.

Errr, the baby is waking up. Time to play and have a dance party. Maybe we'll even do some asanas! Everything Counts! Do what you love and what you can - plan, but don't be insufferable about it.

"Your future lies before you
Like a shining path of snow.
Be careful how you tread,
For every step will show."

Re the above quote, I ran into a cute little book published in 1950 called "Yours Till Niagara Falls: A Book of Autograph Verses." We just got a foot of snow here in Wisconsin. I'm new to this area, but the locals say so much late snow is unheard of . I love the snow, but not driving in the slush and ice.

I've finally moved onto the writing path for good, I hope. I'm doing professional grant-writing and consulting. I'm also moving forward on my novel. Yoga is another love, but it's a lifestyle. I still teach - and love every minute of it - but yoga is showing me myself, and it's time to write and do other kinds of good in the community, like bringing money to this adorable little Wisconsin town that I love so much.

If you want to write, I urge you to join Camp NaNoWriMo for the online support. It's free. So many people want to write, which makes sense. Part of our heritage - the caveperson in us - wants to relay stories and experiences. We want to sit around a campfire and relate, commiserate, teach. And, I suspect that this brave new technological world that we're moving into will make it more possible for us to get our stories out there. Not that I want the big publishers to go out of business, but too often our important stories are held in disregard.