Show-and don't-tell

I'm almost thirty. Just uttering that phrase used to make me pause and catch my breath, like I'd been punched in the gut, and then stand up (slowly) with my knees crackling and straighten my legs and moan a little about how I'm too young to feel this old. It doesn't seem that long ago that I had a 101 Dalmatian-themed party with my bestie at the time, or the joint sweet sixteen dance party (that no boys actually danced at) with another close friend. And wasn't it just... not that long ago... that two of my buddies at college organized a birthday scavenger hunt for me on bicycles for my 21st? What about the time I went rollerskating with a big group dressed in "hippie" attire for my 25th? Has life really passed by that quickly?

But you know what, I refuse to give into the pressure I feel from the weight of the number Thirty. Life is not downhill from here, I'm just exiting the rollercoaster I call my Roaring Twenties. And I confess, numbers aside, I'm not all that sad about starting a new decade. As I've written recently, I'm all about fresh starts. And regardless of age, I still love to stomp in puddles, pet goats, climb trees and jump off bridges (sorry, Mom).

So in the spirit of fresh starts, I was thinking I needed to rename my blog. While I loved the name Beautiful Rubbish, I began to wonder if it weren't confining somehow. I need something fresh to adequately express what my vision is for the start of my new decade, and then I need to describe it in a thousand words....

Well, I got over that tonight. Somewhat, that is, because obviously I'm still writing about it here, but with maybe only a few hundred words. Sitting at my very first meeting with the Northwest Christian Writer's Association (NCWA), I didn't realize the words when they hit me until I was driving home. The guest speaker for the night, Skip Moody (cool filmmaker and screen writer, you should totally check his stuff out), encouraged the group of us to "show don't tell" our vision. He said that at some point, all of us need to move from the need to tell our vision to simply showing it. Living it. Hmmm, now doesn't that ring a bell?

No new blog name required. No big overhaul or in-depth explanation of my vision for writing and my life. What I need, what I want most, in this new decade is simply to live my vision and live it well. So much so that, Lord help me, I'll even use less words and still become a better writer in the process....

Miracles do happen.