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Search - Are You Singing Your Song?

Are You Singing Your Song
Author: Val Dumond

When I was ten, I spent my summers collecting bugs and mounting them. In autumn, I gathered seeds from morning glory plants and an exotic Japanese flower I discovered in our garden. In winter, I read voraciously, planning someday to read all the books in the local library; although I read all of the library?s Nancy Drew books, I started my book ... more »collection with Louisa May Alcott. I would be a writer someday. By spring, all of my attention went to planting new seeds for our family garden and watching the tiny green shoots push through the soil, reaching for the sunshine. My growing up years pretty much describe my left brainy life. As I grew older, I added history and science to my interests, then cooking (to satisfying my love of eating), and piano and violin lessons (to soothe my right brain). But the writing kept on, first in diaries, then school essays, and finally, in high school, writing the school news that was printed in the town?s daily newspaper. After college, I returned to that newspaper as a journalist, and started a full life of writing. Relatives and teachers tried to tell me what I would ?become? when I grew up. My parents, bless them, told me I could be anything I wanted to be. Secretly, I yearned to drive a little red roadster, like Ms. Drew, and solve mysteries. And I wanted to be another Amelia Earhardt, whose birthday I share. I did take flying lessons in my 50s, piling up an astonishing 12 hours of air time, but the moment for me had passed. And fortuitously, I followed my parents? guidance. Life is limited ? so many days, years, or decades per person. Fortunately, we are unaware of just how many. Which calls up the need to take advantage of every one of our days, years, and decades. Why waste them on something that makes other people happy? Choose your passions and follow them. Become an Original, like those you?ll read about in this book. I did. Today, I live in the house I was drawn to, with a yard full of my favorite lilacs and room for my tomato and herb garden. I share my collection of tall trees with an assortment of birds and a squirrel family. A piano sits close to my kitchen, and my library has grown into hundreds of books, lovely books, many written by students. In my compact den, I continue to write books ? about language, history, women?s issues ? that cater to my dominant left brain. Through sneaky opportunities that followed lightning bolts of inspiration, my right brain slowly developed into a novel writing instrument. Today I write novels too. This collection of more than 600 quotations, arranged alphabetically, came together over a quarter century of noticing how other people devise ways to sing their songs, a metaphor derived from my belief that everyone is born with a song to sing, a story to tell (call it fate, destiny, or just desire). Happiness (call it contentment, satisfaction, pride, or divine intervention) develops over time through a coming together, accompanied with a dose of chance and luck thrown in. Originals are people who have discovered their passion and are realizing their dreams. This includes not only celebrities from the worlds of music, writing, art, sports, and music, but Originals such as bubbleologists, architects, a hot dog vendor, NYC bicycle messenger, shoe salesman, and many others. Are you a lawyer who would rather be playing the ukulele or roaming the art museums of Europe? Are you a doctor who wishes to emote in community theater? Were you guided into a secretarial job as backup, in case your dream didn?t open up? Or an accountant who wants to dance? Look for your favorite Originals, whether rock stars or dancers, or movie actors. Originals come in all sizes, shapes, and ages. Some of the quoted Originals have passed; some are just beginning their dreams, and many more have been living their passions for years. The words of Originals collected in this book describe their singular dreams. What muse is signaling you? Are you singing Your Song?

ISBN-13: 9780979746642
ISBN-10: 0979746647
Publication Date: 8/2/2012
Pages: 152
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: Muddy Puddle Press
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

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