For every one of these month-end wrap ups, I try to come up with a phrase that sums up what’s happened or how I felt during the past 30 days.
My motto for November: Be inspired.
This month I was inspired by my daughter, Kate, the whirling dervish in the picture. After years of study she’s getting ready to present her thesis performance on the way to earning a dance degree from Colorado College. And I couldn’t be prouder of her. She’s not just a dancer: she’s a choreographer, costume, lighting and set designer, stage manager and whiz at picking just the right piece of music for a dance number. By the time she finishes next spring, she’ll be ready to move on to graduate school, join a company or get a job working behind the scenes for a repertory theater.
If you’ve worked in your profession for a while, it takes guts, humility and acceptance to be open to being inspired by people younger than you are. My kids taught me that.
Here are WordCount’s top posts for November:
- 6 writing lessons from Barbara Kingsolver
- 65+ apps for writers
- 7 steps to becoming a trend spotting ace
- Caught in the storm: Writers weigh in on making it through Sandy
- How to survive (and work) during a storm
- ASJA, SPJ now accepting nominations for 2012 writing, freelance awards
- Nominate WordCount as a top 10 blog for writers
- Take the pledge to ‘Spare the Web’ from bad design
- Dear WordCount: I’m bored with blogging, should I quit?
- Dear WordCount: How can I collect an overdue payment for a story?
Michelle,
Wow. Being in dance (many moons ago) and then behind the scene in theatre for 15 years, I know just what it takes to be all of the things that Kate has already studied and it all adds up to one hardworker. Spotting-a term Katie knows well- in dance means to focus on one point to keep your balance can apply to all of the fields in theatre that she has worked in. And being grounded and focused is necessary to work not just in choreography but costume, set, lighting and stage management. But my bet would be she picked all of these things up and turned them into her gem by watching you. Your last note left a lump in my throat.
You are both lucky to have each other.
Thanks Lee, she’s an amazing person & I’m proud to be her mom.
MVR
Michelle, you certainly must be proud to have Kate as your daughter, and she has to be proud that you are her mother.
Immensely proud, of her and my two sons. They’re my biggest assignments ever and it’s so fantastic to see how well they’ve turned out.
Michelle