This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Delle Jacobs, Diane Gaston, Karen Potter, Theresa Ragan, Tori Scott

posted by Mo H @ 8:41 PM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Delle Jacobs, Karen Potter, Theresa Ragan, Tricia Mills, Trish Milburn

posted by Mo H @ 4:18 PM 0 comments

PERSEVERANCE

Fifteen years and 151 rejections later, a writer friend on my 2008 Golden Heart loop made a sale to Steeple Hill. That’s what I call perseverance! This blog is for those of you out there who want something so badly you can taste it. For those of you who wake up early or stay up late into the wee hours of the night to make your dreams come true. This is for those of you who might have felt angry or bitter or resentful at times because you haven’t reached the destination you set out for so long ago. This blog is to remind you that it can happen, and I, for one, believe it will happen to you if you don’t give up. If you’re a writer, you need to submit your stuff…get it out there! You have to take risks and be aggressive and most of all you have to believe in yourself.

If you have watched Oprah lately (I record the shows and then watch when I can) you’ve seen the girl from skid row who took a bus 2 ½ hours every day to get to high school. She spent her free time in the library because it was a heck of a lot better than sitting on the streets of LA. She read books, a lot of books, she studied, and eventually she was accepted into Harvard.

And what about the son of migrant farmworkers whose parents never graduated past the third grade? Jose Hernandez wanted to grow up to be an astronaut, but the odds were against him. He never gave up his dream and at the age of 41 he became an astronaut candidate for NASA. Jose could very well be the next human being to step on the moon!

My oldest daughter, Morgan, has always wanted to be in front of a camera, not as an actor but as a host…the next female Ryan Seacrest. Despite not knowing a soul in LA, she recently moved to Los Angeles. She quickly got a job at a restaurant and a second job at a mall while taking hosting classes in Santa Monica. She also found a room to rent. After only six months, she told me she knew exactly where she wanted to work, and so she quit her job at the restaurant and told the company where she wanted to work that she would intern for no pay. To my surprise, they gave her a desk. The company manages celebrities and runs auditions for misc. shows, etc. For six weeks she ran errands and answered the phone. Every morning on her way to work, she told me she was determined to get hired permanently. Never mind that they never said they needed another employee. It was a place Morgan felt she needed to be so she could learn and grow. Needless to say, her money soon ran out and she needed to eat. We told her she had one month before she had to go get a real job that paid. She said, “Don’t worry, they will hire me before it comes to that.” I knew all about putting timeframes on dreams and I was worried, but a week later she was offered a full time job with a good salary! She’s just another positive story out of many. The kind of story that tells you that sometimes you just need to go for it!!

What inspiring stories have you heard lately? Or maybe you know of someone who never gave up on their dreams. If so, please share your story!

pictures 1) Morgan moving to LA 2) Morgan working at Bubba Gump 3) Morgan taking charge of her life while trying on hats!

Labels: never give up, perseverance, Theresa Ragan

posted by Theresa Ragan @ 2:04 AM 11 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Diane Gaston, Maureen Hardegree, MJ Fredrick, Theresa Ragan

posted by Mo H @ 8:48 PM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: deadlines, Delle Jacobs, Diane Gaston, favorite fall snacks, MJ Fredrick, starting a new manuscript, Theresa Ragan

posted by Mo H @ 5:38 PM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Noodlers explore this month's All Creatures Great and Small theme with the following blogs:

Monday, August 24th: Lee McKenzie Canines with Careers
Tuesday, August 25th: Theresa Ragan Stray Cats
Wednesday, August 26th: Delle Jacobs The Fun of Fictional Animals
Thursday, August 27th: MJ Fredrick One Woman Pet Rescue
Friday, August 28th: Q&A: What are some of the challenges encountered when writing a story with an animal in it?

Labels: canines with careers, Delle Jacobs, fictional animals, Lee McKenzie, MJ Fredrick, pet rescue, stray cats, Theresa Ragan

posted by Mo H @ 10:19 PM 0 comments

Beautiful Nepal

I just got back from fifteen days in Nepal. What an experience! What an adventure! My older sister wanted to meet up with her son who had been in Bangladesh and asked me to join her on a trip of a lifetime. I packed my bags and we were off! I returned home with a bacteria that had me bedridden for a few days, but more importantly I returned home with SO many wonderful memories. After an 18 hour plane ride from Los Angeles to Bangkok, we flew another three hours to Kathmandu where we stayed for three nights at the Kantipur Temple House, walking distance to the Durbar Square next to the old royal palace. We took a smaller flight around the Himalayas and took a short trip to Bhaktipur where we visited the monkey temple.
We saw the tallest Buddhist temple in Nepal, watched a dance performance where different schools were competing, visited the Bodnath stupa and ran around the prayer wheels. We drove to Bandipur, a medieval city nestled in the beautiful countryside, spent three nights at the Fish Tail Lodge in beautiful Pokhara and then went on to spend a night in Tansen where we played Frisbee with the kids and ate with the locals in their quaint Newari village.

After little sleep we were off to Lumbini, the foothills of the Himalyas, where we sat under the bodhi tree where Buddha was born. Despite being monsoon season in Nepal the heat was almost unbearable. Somewhere along the way we rode the Manakamana cable cars to a tall peak where sacrifices were made (don't want to embellish on that). We spent two nights in Chitwan National Park where we were chased through the jungle by a wild elephant that had only three weeks ago killed two locals.

I’ve never been so scared in my life! Every night in Nepal the lights would go out and we would have to find our way back through strange towns in the dark. The day after we were chased through the jungle we rode friendlier elephants in the river and played in the water while they sprayed us and rolled over, tossing us off their backs. I think that’s where I might have picked up a few parasites. We visited twin elephants at the breeding area. The babies drank from our water bottles and were so cute and loving. We saw a one-horned rhino and crocodiles. Nepal was incredible.

So, how about you? Ever been whisked off by a friend or a loved one unexpectedly? Have you ever taken a family trip that you still think about? Please tell all. Curious minds want to know where to go next!

Labels: Nepal, Theresa Ragan, travel

posted by Theresa Ragan @ 3:17 AM 10 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Delle Jacobs, Diane Gaston, Dr. Debra Holland, research vacations, Theresa Ragan

posted by Mo H @ 11:19 AM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Delle Jacobs, Merrillee Whren, sisters, Theresa Ragan

posted by Mo H @ 6:08 PM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: critique partners, Diane Gaston, Dr. Debra Holland, sisters, Theresa Ragan, writing friends

posted by Mo H @ 10:46 PM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Please join the noodlers as we continue our exploration of Spring Forward month with the following blogs:


Monday, April 20th: Diane Gaston Writer’s Block: What Does It Really Mean?
Tuesday, April 21st: Theresa Ragan TBA
Wednesday, April 22nd: Priscilla Kissinger Accentuate the Positive to Avoid Writer’s Block
Thursday, April 23rd: Lee McKenzie Spring DIY
Friday, April 24th: Q&A

Labels: Diane Gaston, Lee McKenzie, Priscilla Kissinger, spring DIY, Theresa Ragan, writer's block

posted by Mo H @ 12:22 PM 0 comments

This week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Maureen Hardegee, signs of spring, spring forward, Theresa Ragan

posted by Mo H @ 9:35 PM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Karen Potter, Maureen Hardegree, Merrillee Whren, Theresa Ragan

posted by Mo H @ 11:14 AM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Diane Gaston, Dr. Debra Holland, Karen Anders, Theresa Ragan, writing romance

posted by Mo H @ 7:02 PM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Noodlers finish our month devoted to our motto Be Good to Yourself--Or Else with the following blogs:

Labels: feeling good, Maureen Hardegree, Priscilla Kissinger, Theresa Ragan

posted by Mo H @ 11:28 AM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Diane Gaston, Maureen Hardegree, Merrillee Whren, Theresa Ragan

posted by Mo H @ 8:27 AM 2 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: holiday recipes, holiday stories, Karen Potter, Maureen Hardegree, Priscilla Kissinger, Theresa Ragan

posted by Mo H @ 8:15 PM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Paul Bigler, Phoebe, Theresa Ragan, Trish Milburn, writing challenges

posted by Mo H @ 5:55 PM 0 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

I'm still out-of-town at an adult-only, mostly female family reunion. We talked a lot, ate and drank a little too much, and made over 90 dozen tamales. In case you're wondering, that's 1090 tamales!--Pris

Labels: Delle Jacobs, Esri Rose, Golden Heart contest, Theresa Ragan

posted by Mo H @ 4:51 PM 0 comments

This week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Colleen Gleason, Linda Hall, Romance B(u)y the Book, Theresa Ragan, Unleash Your Story

posted by Mo H @ 8:36 PM 0 comments