Posted by Linda on Mar 31, 2011 in
behind the scenes,
family,
Linda's posts What qualifies as brave?
There are things slightly out of my comfort zone and there are people, places, and experiences that are greatly out of my comfort zone. To count as brave, it requires risk– where things could not go so well, or you could not be so well received (read: rejected). For some people going to school or work counts as brave, it is still hard. For others of us brave lives in a physical challenge, or in a creative challenge.
My mom with us at Heather's 2nd birthday
I think I got a bit of my bravery through my DNA. My mom was brave. She took several unconventional risks for her era and worked really hard. She let my sisters and me know it was o.k. to cry when it hurts, and that everything in life works best when you call it by its right name. She was one of the first of her generation out of denial, thus living on her own and raising her three daughters in the middle of a cultural revolution of the late 60’s. She was one who let me know that the truth was our friend. She was the hub of comfort for other wives of addicts whose lives were falling apart. She would often listen, just listen. Sometimes the bravest thing a person can do is just listen and not try to fix anything.
My mom, Katherine Lewis
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Posted by Linda on Mar 30, 2011 in
Linda's posts,
motivation One Brave Thing a Day shares some of my survival skills I have learned on the slow pathway of life being Heather’s mother. My path is unique, but our stories, yours and mine, are quite similar. What is our plan to get through the tough times, the grief times, the times when there is no energy? When jobs are lost, life partners separate from us, or life’s natural cycles of life take us to places we hate (like when our kids grow up and grab a life of their own that doesn’t include us much)? How do you keep going and stay engaged through the ups and downs? That is what we are going to talk about in small doses. Here.
So I want to raise a glass to all of us who are not willing to give up. Who can start small and build. Who can be patient. And for all of us who give ourselves room to change up to the better idea. Remember that we only have to do One Brave Thing a Day.
What small step will you take next?
Posted by Tegan on Mar 28, 2011 in
nuts and bolts,
Tegan's posts … and after just a little technical sweat, WE HAVE AN EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION!!! I just tried it, and it worked for me. It’s on the right. Click subscribe, enter your email address, then watch your inbox for the confirmation link. You should get a little message on our site that says your subscription was successful. Then you should also get an email whenever we post. I hope it works for you!
Posted by Tegan on Mar 28, 2011 in
behind the scenes,
Tegan's posts 
David Henry Sterry, co-author (with Arielle Eckstut) of The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published
Right before we transitioned from facebook notes to this blog, David Henry Sterry (pictured at left) gave us fantastic feedback after our Seattle Pitchapalooza follow-up. Then we left you hanging with our most recent agent submission. Apologies for the cliffhanger.
Despite a great introduction and several reads at the most recent agency, we still don’t have an agent. Rejection didn’t hurt quite as much this time, though. Kind words, longer deliberation, and assurance that several prospective agents gave us a shot all helped us feel better on this round.
We’ve continued to polish and rework our proposal. Two new talented cold readers gave us great constructive feedback. With spiffy new business cards on order, our new site up, and a more polished proposal on file, we’re feeling optimistic. With spring really here in Seattle, how can we not?
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Posted by Tegan on Mar 24, 2011 in
nuts and bolts,
Tegan's posts 
Hey there, blog readers!
If you would like to get updates about our website in your RSS feed, just click the “Subscribe” button under the title of one of our posts. I still don’t really get RSS feeds, but to learn more about them, there’s a nifty ehow.* **
We’re also on twitter as 1BraveThing. We’ll tweet links to new posts so you can follow us through twitter.
If you’ve been following us on facebook, you’re still our friend! We’re changing our name, but we’ll all still stay in touch. If you haven’t become our friend on facebook yet, we’re now One Brave Thing a Day, and we’d love for you to “like” us in that facebook way.
Want to comment? Please don’t be shy! Join the conversation on this website by clicking on the speech bubble by each post title.
Wow, I’m feeling simultaneously savvy and technologically inept… It’s a brave new world, isn’t it?
We’re glad you made it here, and we hope you come back often.
-Tegan
* Update 3/27: RSS is being persnickety. I apologize! Until the tech elves get it sorted, please follow us on twitter or become our friends on facebook to get updates when we post. We’re also working on email subscription, if that’s what you’re into. Thank you for your patience!
** Update 4/5: Instead of RSS, we now have email subscription. The form is in the column at the right. If you’re still interested in RSS, please comment below or send us an email and we’ll push the tech elves harder. THANK YOU to everyone who subscribed already, and welcome to all who want to!
Tags: Tegan
Posted by Tegan on Mar 22, 2011 in
behind the scenes,
Linda's posts
We are so glad you came!!!
For those of you who followed us through The Power is in the Body fan page on Facebook, we have moved (obviously), and you are now comfortably seated in front of a screen somewhere experiencing the new us. Same book, same writers, new title– and now with pictures!
This new website is where our weekly posts–our chatting on our way to publication– will live. You can still access the notes from our Facebook days when we wrote under our first working title, but we’re retiring that page to focus on this. For a year we thought The Power is in the Body was the name of our book, but then a better name showed up.
The book still has the same premise, but shortly after the new year, we decided to go into the memoir through a different door. The title One Brave Thing a Day is the mantra I have been saying to myself for the past few years and which lived in bold letters on the white board in my kitchen.
The whiteboard in my kitchen
One Brave thing a Day. That was the deal I made with myself when I was trying to push forward on a project where I felt way out of my league. Just one brave thing a day– that’s all I had to talk myself into doing.
But often I noticed that as soon as I got through one brave thing, another brave thing would come on its heels. One Brave Thing a Day is how I bust up procrastination, self doubt, and lack of focus.
We feel the new title fits us like UGGs instead of running shoes. From our random, non-scientific sampling, it seems more accessible to more people, including me. What do you think?
Special thanks to designer Courtney Cook Hopp for our great new look and to computer whiz Jordan for getting us up and running!
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