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Sarah writes

May 11, 2012

Five for Five Round-Up

Five for Five was totally exhilarating. We read until our eyes were bleary, commented until our fingers went numb. Yes, it was almost that dramatic, and we really had a blast doing it. I’m feeling so energized. I’m feeling so alive! Hosting the writing series again forced me to come back to Momalom. On the very first day I realized that I have missed this space quite a lot. I don’t plan on leaving again any time soon.

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Jen and I would love to share with you some of the phenomenal posts we read from last week. I am listing these in no particular order. These are the posts that resonated immediately and continue to do so. Take the time to visit, read and comment–if you haven’t already. You won’t be sorry. These writers wrote provocative, emotional, breathtaking posts, and we both feel privileged that they shared their writing here with us. While we were planning to give a “prize” for best post on each topic and an overall best-of-the-best prize, we just couldn’t narrow the winners down. Instead, each blogger below will receive a $5 Starbucks gift certificate. We hope this small token to each of you encourages the writing life and that you’ll go buy a latte and the time alone to sit down and write your next post.

Change — Alisa @ Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake

Spare Change — Stacia @ Fluffy Bunnies

Having Words — Amy @ Never-True Tales

I’m Not So Good With Things — Launa @ Launa Writes

Words — Tiffany @ Elastamom

Picture Pages — Amanda @ Confessions of a Curvy Girl

Words — Liz @ But Then I Had Kids

Age — Dana (aka Kitch) @ The Kitchen Witch

Assassination Stories Before Bed — Jana @ An Attitude Adjustment

Listening — Arneyba @ What Now and Why?

Starburst — Amanda @ the habit of being

the journal — Heather @ A Little Yes

If there were awards for best title, these two would definitely take something home:

Nine Faults I Am Unlikely To Change — Melissa Camara Wilkins

A House of Three Vaginas — ck @ Bad Mommy Moments

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Just a few more things: We especially want to thank those of you who participated for all five days. I started to make a list, and then I got exhausted by the filtering and adding and deleting and such. But. You know who you are, and you know how much energy and commitment it took to participate in the week in the full spirit of our writing-crazy blog carnival. We hope that you feel as energized as we do by pushing yourself to explore writing about specific topics for five consecutive days.

We also hope that everyone who participated–whether for one day or all five–took some time to read other posts, meet new writers, find fresh inspiration. We are grateful to have been your hosts and humbled by all of the talent out there.

Last, I’m sure we have missed some awesomeness along the way (there was a lot to keep track of, ya know?), so if you’d like to call attention to a writer or a particular post from the week of Five for Five, please do so in the comments. We’d love to hear what you think!

14 comments

Double Rainbow

Maybe I just crumble when I reach this level of stress. Maybe I’m just not made for it. Maybe the fact that I’m prone to extremes impedes my ability to handle anything at all when I’m stressed as much as I am right now.

Life has tides. I get that. I get the up and I get the down and I get the static–I’m always grateful for the static–but still, it wears a woman out to be moving around so much.

Can life be blurry and clear at the same time? I took about a year to figure myself out and I can tell you that the shadow of self I see staring back at me as I glide against the sunlight is more focused, more detailed, more permanent than it’s ever been. And yet, everything that is not in my head and in my heart–which is, of course, everything else and other–is like a kaleidoscope puzzle. I’ve kind of determined that I’m not the one to sort out the shapes from the colors, and so I just sit and wait for the skies to clear around me. Waiting is hard. I’m not good at waiting.

I saw a double rainbow the other day. It rose above us on the soccer sidelines. Many parents took out their phones and their cameras and snapped pictures of the magical moment. I kind of just stared at the sky, moving my head left to right and right to left like I was watching a tennis match. And I laughed this oh-so-free laugh, like nothing could touch me in that moment.

Maybe that’s what it’ll feel like when the puzzle breaks free of the kaleidoscope and comes together to form one, whole picture. Maybe that’s what it’ll feel like when the focus I have on the inside stops feeling so separate from the world I live on the outside. Or, maybe my life will always be like that double rainbow. One strong, perfect, rainbow beamed across the sky, showing each of the Roy G. Biv colors. And another, just above and beyond it, slightly fuzzy and nearly broken in the middle. Faded. Worn. But still there. And just as important as the one standing in front of it.

It’s Tuesday. That means you Just Write and then go join Heather.

35 comments

It’s OVER!

Wow. Thanks to all of you for joining in last week’s festivities. Sarah and I are almost ready to come up for air, and when we do we’ll share some of our favorite posts from the hundreds we were privileged to find linked here.

Five for Five was such a wonderful week of reading and commenting and chatting online. I feel that my own community has grown, as I’ve met new bloggers and re-established broken connections with others. Life is busy, and sometimes it’s necessary to disengage from things like the Internet. But sometimes, as we saw last week, a busy life can expand to make room for more community. For a place to meet others and share ideas and expand one’s own experience through the experiences of others. As much as my eyes are still burning from the late nights of reading blog posts, I’m so glad to have again taken the leap of offering our place as a spot for so many of you to roost for a few days.

Thank you, thank you again and again.

We’ll be back later this week to share more specifically a few things we learned last week. In the meantime, we encourage you to keep supporting each other. And most important, keep writing.

16 comments

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