Recap:

1. Got married

2. Had a baby

3. Got a snazzy new job as System Programming Coordinator for a library system in Central NJ

4. Graduated from Rutgers with my Masters in Library & Information Science

5. Started writing my third novel

6. Bought a new house and moved into it

7. Won 2nd and 3rd place in my age group in two separate races

Now that 99% of my free time isn’t being spent studying and writing papers for my degree, I have a whole new slew of goals. Yay!

Here are a few of them:

1. Place 1st in my age group in a 5k

2. Run under a 8:00/mi in said 5k

3. Finish my novel

4. Work on home improvements (garden, patio, and any other projects!)

5. Improve my woodworking skills

6. And of course the usuals: eat better, workout more, spend time with friends, be a loving wife and be a kick ass mama!

Happy New Year! 🙂

I know you’ve heard the phrase “random acts of kindness” before and chances are you try to be kind to others throughout your day. But what happens when you go out of your way to help someone only to be berated later by friends and loved ones?

Here’s what happened:

I worked the night shift at the library the other night when a youngish woman (probably recently out of college) comes to the circulation desk. While she looks healthy and put together she is checking out armfuls of books on domestic violence. My colleagues and I give her a few plastic bags we have behind the desk because not only is she walking home, but it’s pouring out. After she leaves, we talk about how we hope those books weren’t for her and that she doesn’t have far to walk.

When I leave work after closing, I notice that same girl walking (I would say trudging but want your unbiased opinions at the end so I’m trying to tell the facts without my writer’s embellishments) along the sidewalk close to the library. I stopped, said I worked at the library and would she like a ride home. She was beyond grateful and when we finally reached her home, I realized it would have taken a long time for her to reach her abode not to mention the heavy bags of books AND it was pouring!

I thought I had done a good deed. Something I would have wanted someone to do for me. That is until I told my girlfriend, and later a friend at work, what had happened and I got the same response from both of them – WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??? Well, I was thinking I was being nice…. Apparently, they both were of the opinion that I should have never picked this woman up as “You have no idea who this woman is.” No, I didn’t, but I couldn’t not stop – the double negative totally fits here. Yes, I was running a risk, but I weighed those odds before I stopped the car.

My opinion is that while this may have been a risky move on my part, a feeling exacerbated by later comments by friends, it felt worse to me to let her walk at night carrying heavy bags of books through the pouring rain. And, I mean really, would I really want to risk ruining all those library books through water damage?

But I want to know what you think – would you have stopped?

Sometimes when I haven’t had made time to write in a while, it’s difficult to get motivated. I’ll find lots of things I just have to do before I set aside time to write. Once I start writing I’m fine and the story flows out, it’s getting started that proves to be the tricky part.

My question is: What motivates or inspires you to write?