Posts by Julia Schmeelk
Celebrate!
People need to celebrate, to find reasons to be happy! They need it in stories, they need it in real life. One of the great guarantees of living is that trouble will come find you, but no matter what troubles have landed on your head, look for reasons to celebrate. You can celebrate the weekend,…
Read MoreFat Thinking
I am a round person, have been my whole life and while I am not ashamed of a body that works and holds a good bit of power, I do wish I was smaller. Lately I have been working with a team of people who are much smaller than I am and I observed something…
Read MoreTeaching Moments
My regular job is teaching. I work through an agency and have the thrill and adventure of watching high school students grow, stretch, and become contributing members of society. This year I get to teach chemistry along with three different levels of math and a few other incidentals. But the story I am going to…
Read MoreGenerational Changes
If we start with this world, one can make assumptions about people born in the thirties, the fifties, the seventies, and the nineties. They are different than those born after the computer revolution, and those born now. Current children will be that much more different than the generations before them and so it will continue…
Read MoreColorful World
I was lucky enough to meet my fantastic NewEarth Artist while I was living in Missouri. She is an amazing woman with a talent for translating words into visuals. I described the scenes from the stories and she provided the images, bringing details to life, including an abundance of color. The natural world here on…
Read MoreRefugees
What does it take to motivate someone to pack up and leave their home, their culture, their food, religion, community, family, and language? People do it all over the world looking to escape the intolerable or find hope when it is lost. My Grandfather came to this country at 16 with an address in his…
Read MoreCookies
I happen to be a huge fan of cookies, one of the original cookie monsters. I recently had the opportunity to sample some amazing cookies, and of course I make some of my own in different flavors, textures, and sizes. As a kid I started making cookies and when I go through periods of trying…
Read MoreStorms and Storms
We saw some amazing ice sculpting by Mother Nature this past week. She painted the trees and everything else and it was really pretty spectacular to look at. Unfortunately with the high winds, trees uprooted, power lines went whipping around, poles fell, others snapped in two. Branches blocked icy roads and the power delivery systems…
Read MoreDays Off
For Presidents Day I was home and it was a thrilling day spent with family and friends. I did something we rarely have a chance to do, I invited some friends over, cooked a meal and exchanged stories. So much of my time is devoted to work, to writing, to family, to house and home…
Read MoreExpressions
I have been enjoying reading in someone else’s world lately, looking at their creation, falling into their story, examining their characters. What a joy it is to get lost in the twists and turns, be surprised by the curves and bends that the characters take. I love good characters, passionately hate the bad ones, fall…
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