Laura Smith Writer

Life is just a big ole water balloon

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It is the middle of the semester, the research projects are piling up and the creatures that come out at night have decided to mess up my house. Well, maybe I just haven’t cleaned in a few days, or rather months. As this is my fifth semester at my present school, I have had a wee bit of time to practice the overworked college student juggling act. There are areas that I have improved (dishes and cat box are done in the morning right after caffeine injection) and areas that have seen a decline (just look at the date for my last post.) My life seems like a balloon, pinch one area and the other blows up. In the midst of juggling and mixing metaphors I have managed to create peace in certain areas of my life (mainly the sink and cat box) whilst allowing havoc to enter through the back door. So this is what I know to be true today. My body needs to be cared for spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically while taking 20 credits and commuting almost 3 hours a day and raising a child. I need prayer and meditation, therapy and relationships, exercise, healthy meals and sleep. I also need to write a research paper and read a 250 page novel. How to juggle? I have taken to waking early to clean the dishes as to decrease the chaos, yet that merely decreases my nightly rest, resulting in an elevated intake of caffeine, that leaches calcium from my bones. Squeeze one end the other end blows up, and bursts leaving me drenched. The solution to this? This is not a problem for a mere mortal like myself, I need to ask for help. I need to up my spiritual connection, make contact, go where no woman has gone before, don a cape and tights and fly off to save the Universe with my super powers. Hopefully at this point the reader realizes that the woman typing is operating Windows on five hours of sleep, not exactly legal. So what to do? God, Grant me the serenity, to accept the things I cannot change (my inability to juggle and balance, especially my checkbook) the courage to change the things I can (as in turn off the computer and go to sleep) and the wisdom to know the difference. All I need to do today is to stay away from my addictions, and ask God to do the rest. Then I need to get out the way, listen and do what She says.

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● About Me

I wrote and published my first blog post on May 26, 2009. I was about to turn 36 and had been accepted to Mount Holyoke College as a non-traditional student, on my way to completing a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Medieval Studies. I had managed, finally, to know what general direction I was traveling. As a self proclaimed voracious reader I knew that I needed a vocation that would allow me to engage daily with words: reading words, writing words, and hearing words. I also needed to eat, so I navigated my way to a teaching position and I began to fine tune my craft. I love to teach and I love my students, but I also needed to continue to hone my own literary technique, voice, and style. I continued my education in order to delve deeper into literature, making connections, and most definitely, writing. I gained more confidence as a reader as well as a writer of both creative and analytical text. That first blog post in 2009 is short, the writing average, and the topic mundane, but as I continued to learn from other writers I began to understand that to become a better writer I needed to write more. Each time I write and release a poem, a post, or a story, I hone my skills. I invite you along for the ride, for this journey of mine as I attempt to wrangle a wealth of ideas and competing directions into an organized freshly paved path to publication. I might get distracted along the way, but sometimes those detours lead us to amazing views and new friends. 

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