Nothing to complain about.....

The one year anniversary of my complaint-free journey slipped past me unnoticed about two months ago, the days on the calendar marching themselves right by me as they tend to do if we're not planted in the moment. It happens to all of us.

My life has taken new twists and turns since I last checked in with all who followed my trek to become a more positive, dare I say happier, person.  In order to catch up on all of that, you'll need to check in at http://agedtoperfectiondeborahhansen.blogspot.com/ , but it's enough to say that I believe I am both of those things today and have found some totally unexpected joys that keep me smiling.

Tomorrow I leave for a writers' conference in Baltimore. My goal? To generate some interest in my book manuscript, Nothing to Complain About: My 125 Day Journey to Become Complaint Free.  I self-published my first book on raising my daughter as a single parent, and that fulfilled my goal at that time. However, I have a really good feeling about this new manuscript.

So, with a couple of bound copies, lots of generic query letters, and no fear I hope to find a publishing house or agent who will at least want to look at it. You know I'll talk to anyone not nailed down, so that part won't be hard. It means, though, that I have to sell ME, and I think I'm more confident about my writing than I am about myself. Odd......

Send me all your good wishes and positive affirmations. I will feel your warmth spilling across my shoulders, and then pack it up and tote it with me.  Blessings until I return.

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth



The Complaint Free Journey Continues....

It's been a while since we've visited, hasn't it? And I know what you want to know: Am I still complaint-free?

In a word, NO. But it's similar to my weight loss conundrum. When I fall off the wagon, at least I know what to do now. And I fall off that wagon into a cesspool of complaining all the time, whether it's the small, irritating details of life conspiring to defeat me, or the major disappointments and concerns that face all of us as our admission tickets to even being here. I punch the ticket and gripe, but I hear myself do it as a result of my 125-day journey during 2010 to accomplish 21 consecutive days of NO COMPLAINING. And I quickly erect a bulkhead to my grousing before it goes on too long.

My goal during 2011 is to put this journey into book form and get it published. No small task there, right? Not an undertaking for the fainthearted, that's for sure, but I'm ready to wrestle it to the ground until someone out there yells, "OK! Send it to us already!"

Wonder if I'll complain along the way.