2nd Annual Golden Coffee Cup Begins!

Hi, Golden Coffee Cuppers! I hope that you are all making time for your goals! You have till midnight to jump on board and try and win that cup of coffee. Follow this link and post your goal: 2nd Annual Golden Coffee Cup!

Let's start with some spiritual wisdom and HIGH FIVES to begin our journey.

First up and high fiving you to the future:

"choose to be optimistic, it feels better." - His Holiness the Dali Lama



Next up, another wise guy shares a nugget of wisdom and gives you a high five blessing.

Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.”


Pope John XXIII

Next a wise guy gives some imploring high fives!

We are not cisterns made for hoarding, we are channels made for sharing. Billy Graham.


There are so many wise ones to give you high fives!

There would be nothing to frighten you if you refused to be afraid.-Gandhi


Can you feel the power?
“I believe the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity is daring to dare”



Hey, this high five time would not be complete without a word and high five from this sweet mother.

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. Mother Teresa



Keep checking back, folks! I will do my best to post a high five, holy snap or nugget of inspiration each day of November to keep you going.
All best on the journey. Molly Blaisdell

Snap! Snap! Snap!

2nd Annual Golden Coffee Cup! Post Your Goals!

Hi Folks,

Do you have the write stuff?

One more day! Follow the link and post you goal(s) for the 2nd Annual Golden Coffee Cup! Seize the day! MMM, coffee.

Eighty percent of success is showing up. Woody Allen

Any man who keeps working is not a failure. Ray Bradbury

Post your Golden Coffee Cup Goals by Nov 1.

Hi Folks, You have till midnight Nov 1, 2007 to post your 2nd Annual Golden Coffee Cup goals!!! Win that coffee!


The journey is the reward.
Chinese Proverb

Post your Golden Coffee Cup Goals! 5 days!

MMMMM, coffee!

Hi Folks! Hundreds of you are lurking. Come on, post your goals for the 2nd Annual Golden Coffee Cup. Add your goal by the end of the day Nov 1, 2007 to the comment section on the 2nd Annual Coffee Cup page. Wild ruckus is coming. High Fives! Holy Snapping!

Remember 4 of you will receive a cup of coffee. Here is a cup of inspiration.

Post those goals!

Inspiring coffee quotes:

I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee. - Carly Simon

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons. - T. S. Elliot

Just around the corner, there's a rainbow in the sky. So let's have another cup o' coffee, and let's have another piece o' pie.- Irving Berlin

GOLDEN COFFEE CUP and SCBWI Oregon Retreat Notes

Hi folks! We are closing on November 1st. Enter the most compelling goal and achieve it by November 30th and win a free cup of coffee!

Post your goal here: The 2nd Annual Golden Coffee Cup . This is a motivational event and it is a contest -- four of you will win a cup of coffee. Check out the link for the complete rules. This coveted award will be given to the successful November goal setters. This is my answer to that "interesting concept" (cough, cough) of requiring writers to churn out 50,000 incomprehensible words in one month. Hey, some folks tell stories with few words and lots of pictures and feel like they are left out in the cold. We will churn less with much more comprehension in our month. Join us! The 2007 Golden Coffee Cup will be awarded for a month of goal setting and achievement.


I'm back from the SCBWI Oregon Retreat. Silver Falls is beautiful -- fall leaves and the most awesome waterfalls. I had the opportunity schmooze with some wonderful writers. Terry Pierce, the author of many books for kids, including the early reader Tae Kwan Do!, hiked the falls with me and few of my new friends.



Bruce Coville sent shivers down my spine with his recitation of the The Highwayman at the "not planned but held every year for 18 years" end of the retreat party. I was something of a poetry addict in high school and memorized every word of this poem. Such a gift.



Margaret Bechard shared her passion for revision. She stressed every word should move the story forward and if its not doing that it should be removed. I also enjoyed writing exercises with Deborah Brodie. She's a freelance editor and book doctor these days, folks, after 30 years working for companies like Roaring Brook Press and Viking. I also had the opportunity to hear Candlewick's Senior Editor Sarah Ketchersid. Her passion for a well constructed, timeless picture book moved me. I took away a deep sense that picture books have fathomless depths of meaning, offer countless illustratable moments, and tell one story. All and all, a lovely time.

Two gems I took away from the conference. Both from a critique session. You never know where you will find those gems.

"Everyone says, 'character, character, character' but you find out its also plot, setting, theme. . ."
Carol Bloemen

"Actually, first chapters are hell." Carol Bloemen