Monday, February 20, 2012

Turning 30!


Today I turned the big 3-0, an age that has always seemed downright terrifying to me. When you are little, thirty sounds so old but now that I've arrived its not so bad. In fact its pretty great!


I've done many things in my life so far to be proud of. Went to school, became a Bat Mitzvah, passed my drivers test, got good grades, graduated high school, got into college, graduated from Purdue with a degree in Aerospace Engineering, received a masters from Wash U, got my first full time job, got a promotion, and wrote a book. To name a few. ;)

I've been fortunate enough to travel quite a bit both inside the US and to places like Israel, England, France, Spain, Italy, Andorra, and Monaco. I've seen many beautiful and fantastic places that words could not do justice to.

I have the best friends and family in the world. They are supportive, loving and caring and I wouldn't be where I am today if not for their presence in my life.

I've also filled many roles in my thirty years. Swimmer, dancer, engineer, podcaster, sister, daughter, cousin, granddaughter, girlfriend, sorority girl, spacecadet, reader, and writer. The list goes on and on. Many of these roles have stuck, others I've moved on from. Regardless of the role, each of these has in some way shaped who I am today.

After my sum of thirty years of experiences, I'm starting to learn that I'm a strong, smart, independent woman. I'm discovering who I am as a person and shaping my life for who I want to become. And although I certainly dont have all the answers, in thirty years I have laid a great groundwork for the next thirty years and beyond.

There are many things I still want to do in my life. More travel, publish a book, get married, start a family etc. I'm ready for those things and look forward to them because of the person I've become.

My life has had its ups and downs, but I am determined to make thirty a great year. Getting old isn't most people's idea of fun, but there are reasons to look forward to it. The more you age the more experiences you have to help mold even better ones in the future. I have so many things still to look forward to, and I intended to look age in the face and laugh. Thirty is a fabulous age, and I'm sure it will be a fantastic year!

Friday, February 3, 2012

The Edit Monster!

I spend a lot of time editing. Editing podcasts and editing the first draft of my manuscript. These are both very different kinds of editing, but editing nonetheless. For podcasts I used to call myself the edit monkey. Mainly because it got to the point where it felt like a task a trained monkey could do. So naturally when I started editing my novel I said the same thing.

BOY WAS I WRONG!

The edit monkey has transformed into a full blown edit monster! Once I start, I can't stop myself. Even if I'm not editing my manuscript, I want to edit everything in sight, including bad grammar, spelling and typos on twitter, friends facebook posts and anywhere else I look. My mind has become hypersensitive to things that need to be edited! Its become a sickness. I've physically had to stop myself from replying to posts on facebook to correct grammar or retweeting twitter posts without typos! And don't even get me started on people's bad grammar when having a conversation. YIKES!

The edit monster has hijacked my life! I will try my best to refrain from correcting other's posts, tweets, work etc. Hopefully the edit monster will crawl back into his dirty little cave soon. But not too soon I still have a book to edit ;)

*image from http://writingspectacle.blogspot.com/2011/11/using-editminion-to-your-advantage.html