Of mice and me

Every now and then, when things slow down, it's good to stop and think about what brings us the most joy. I enjoy teaching, but what I want to leave with the world is my writing. More than seeing the final product (which I pray doesn't involve a tacky cover photo of a flower or sole distribution in squeaky, spinning gas station map racks), I want to experience the creative process. I want to go nutty in a happy way, to talk to fictional characters as if they're in the room, to rush to my computer in the middle of the night because I woke up to a great line, to get lost in the creative “flow” and learn to breath under water.

I started a new blog called "37 Mice" (angelineschellenberg.wordpress.com) to face the cords that tie me back as a communicator and to identify the divine gifts ("mice") that will free me to write. I'm hoping the accountability and challenge of "37 Mice" will overcome my inhibitions, either releasing me to finish my fictional story (the one that's lurched and stalled the last few years), or becoming a beloved story in itself.

Since the new site is all about, and for, me as a writer, I decided to focus new-ange.blogspot.com around my experience with parenting and disabilities—which most of the posts already do. I’m also trying on a new name, “Plaiditudes,” short for “plaid attitudes” (a term my husband and I thought we coined sixteen years ago, but either we were trendsetters or other great minds think alike, because it’s now in the dictionary.) Since I’ve been “New Ange” for a few years already, my husband suggested I could only honestly claim to “newish.” The reality hasn’t changed; God hasn’t stopped transforming me: I’m a new-er Ange every year. However, the number of people on this globe who just can’t wait for their weekly scoop on Ange (the old or the new) is limited, but there are many facing or caring for someone with a disability, and many others who can find encouragement here for any challenge, weakness, or difference. If your life is “easy-peezy, lemon-squeezy” (as my son’s third grade teacher would say), come along anyway for the interesting stories.