Jill Beck

Keeping the Nice Things Nice

What do all of these journals, notebooks and tablets have in common? Go ahead, look closely.

Look at these beauties! They represent years of dedicated shopping and hoarding.

Every one of them is too nice/cute to use. Yes, that’s right – I have a paper hoarding problem. Well, in honesty, it’s not just paper. It’s office supplies in general. It may be partly genetic in that my mom had a ton of tablets, too.

The situation reminds me of the new-fangled advice that you should actually use the good china rather than leaving it on display in a china cabinet to waste its best years wishing to be part of everyday family life. But, come on, should I use up my inspirational “Dream Big” tablet on dreams that are medium-sized, at best? Seems like a waste.

To be even more honest, it isn’t just paper and office supplies, either. *sigh*

“Please paint on us…even if you suck.”

I also have a bunch of canvases and different kinds of art paper that deserve a much better end in life than whatever crappy art I’m going to put on them. Follow that up with another sigh, a forceful crumple, if possible, and being thrown in the trash. My beautiful art supplies deserve so much better than my terrible painting skills!

I’m guessing I’m not the only one who has this problem or something similar. Do you have a beautiful quilt in the closet because you don’t want it getting snagged? Pretty furniture in the room where no one sits so it doesn’t get stained? That bottle of wine that’s been too fancy for any occasion so far?

“Aren’t you glad she got this lovely quilt out of the closet?” “Yes, I quite enjoy licking my butt on it.”

Let’s make a pact. We’re not doing this anymore. We’re not falling into the trap of waiting for everything to be perfect. If I died tomorrow, I’d rather have made a hundred pieces of art and gotten a few gems out of the group than have my family get rid of all my art supplies.

Are you in? Drink the wine! Sit on the good furniture! Snuggle up under your beautiful quilt! And when I get some decent art out of my supplies, I’ll share it with you. And I hope you’ll share your stories with me, too. Drop me a comment. I’d love to hear from you. 🙂

The Demoted Caddie

Can you imagine working as a golf caddie and being demoted? Oh, the humiliation! I mean, it’s carrying a bag, for Pete’s sake. How hard could it be?

Well, this isn’t a story of humiliation. It’s a story of injustice.

When I was 13, my best friend talked me into being a caddie. She liked to try all kinds of things and I did, too…within reason. Hauling a heavy bag for a long time in the hot sun did not fit into that parameter. However, she was good at talking me into things.

Be honest…does this look fun?

We went to the country club (our area was not swanky, btw, but there must have been enough fancy people around to warrant one) and became caddies. We found out during the training that there were two kinds of caddies: a regular caddie and a forecaddie. The forecaddies had the even easier job of walking ahead and letting the golfers know where their balls went.

One fine day I was chosen to act as a forecaddie for a group of golfers. I strolled on ahead and waited for them to take their shots. One by one, I watched the balls fly into the air, against the backdrop of a bright, pale blue sky. And one by one, I lost them. No idea where any of them went. Couldn’t see them in the least.

And…lost it.

Needless to say, it was a long, humiliating round of golf for me and a frustrating one for them. When I got back to the club house, I immediately went to my boss and told him that I was not cut out to forecaddie. I just didn’t have the eyes for it. As I have discussed in other posts, I have heavily corrected vision. Although my glasses look somewhat normal, that’s an illusion.

The injustice came a week or two later when I was, once again, chosen to be a forecaddie. I stopped by the podium, where the boss stood pointing at people and telling them what group they were going out with, and reminded him about my vision/inability to do the job. He sent me out anyway. I’m sure you can guess what happened. Disaster number two. Only this time when I got back, I was told I had to go back to training.

Ever hear of these, sir?

I had told him–twice–that I couldn’t do that job. And what was more training going to do? Fix my eyesight? So, I left and never went back. Never looked back, either.

In hindsight, I wonder if that’s exactly what they wanted. My guess is that not a lot of the golfers wanted girls to carry their bags and maybe I gave them the perfect opportunity to make me want to leave. Or maybe I’m overthinking it. Either way, screw that job. I ended up getting a job in a library a few years later. It was air conditioned and full of books! And I could see every single thing in the whole place.

An Excerpt from Floating Loose

Good morning! I wanted to share a quick excerpt from Floating Loose since I realized I hadn’t done that yet. I sincerely hope you enjoy it! And if you have any friends who enjoy romance, the holidays are coming soon….

An Excerpt from Floating Loose.

They walked out onto the grass much farther down the creek than where they’d first started and hadn’t gotten more than a few steps before the rain came. They just looked at each other and smiled. They were mostly soaked anyway, so the rain wasn’t going to do them much more harm. They walked at a casual pace, holding hands and talking, until they were about halfway back. Then the wind kicked up and instead of falling gracefully, the rain began to pelt them in the face.

Continue reading An Excerpt from Floating Loose

“Crafty” Like Me

If you’re crafty in the same way that I am, it means that:

A. You’ve started lots and lots of projects and haven’t finished too many of them.

B. You still hang onto these projects because you’re gonna.

C. Over the years, you’ve taken on progressively easier crafts so that you can have the satisfaction (albeit much less satisfaction, proportionate to the project itself) of actually finishing.

One craft activity I enjoy is counted cross stitch. Back in the day, I actually finished a couple of small-to-medium sized projects. My two best, however are this one…

Gorgeous, right? Wait…did you think I made this? No, silly. This is the picture on the package.

THIS is what I have done on it, so far. 10 years and counting.

…and the one of the Marine Corps emblem that I’m making (present tense being used loosely here) for My Marine. I would put up a picture of that one but I haven’t seen it in roughly 9 years. I’m sure I didn’t throw it out, though. It’s got to be here somewhere.

My 10 stitches are in the gray line on the bottom, to the right of the vase. Nice, huh?

Here’s the one that my mom and I made a few years ago. I put the first 10 or so stitches in that bad boy and my mom wrapped up the last 20,000.

Who doesn’t need fridge magnets? They’re decorative AND practical.

Several years back, when I finally began to clue in to my weakening devotion to crafting, I made these little gems to commemorate a trip to San Antonio we took with some friends. I glued magnets to the backs of these tiles I bought while we were there. Even sent some to our friends! BOOM!

Enough for 7 different moods.

What I really wanted to share, though, might be my most ridiculously easy project yet. I was looking for a cute dry erase board and found pretty quickly that there really aren’t any. So I endeavored to make one myself. I purchased an 8×10 frame with glass and some scrapbooking paper. Since the paper was cheap (69 cents for the regular and 1.99 for the sparkly) I got several sheets so that I could change the look of my board to fit my mood. This project literally involved…cutting paper. As it turned out, after I cut out the 8×10 piece, I still have enough left for another 4×6, so I went back to the store for another frame.

And guess what…after I cut out the 4×6, I still had enough for a second 4×6! Too bad I didn’t figure that out until after the second trip to the store. The hardest part of this project was the fact that I didn’t do the math on the measurements ahead of time, and making trips to the store.

Bada bing.

Anyway, my fellow not-THAT-into-crafting crafters, if you’re looking for a stupidly easy craft with a really cute outcome, here it is, kiddos.

Before you go, I’d like to invite you to take a minute to look around my website. You may notice that it has undergone some construction and has a whole new format and some cool new features, like better/easier to navigate blog categories and also the awesome new rotating review spot that allows me to share some of the very nice comments from some of the reviews that people have written about my books. Take a stroll around the site and if you’ve enjoyed this post, please feel free to share!

Real Life Inspiration

Before I switch gears and turn my focus to my new book, Floating Loose, which is scheduled to be released on June 28, 2016, I wanted to do this post, which I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. I wanted to share a few pictures of some of the real life places that were inspirational in one way or another when I was writing Legacy of the Dog.

Picture the Donovan’s house on the left and the stable on the right. Plenty of space for everyone to park in between.

A view out across the field. Imagine grass instead of…are those soybeans? In the distance, the woods that they walk through to get to the stream.

When I began writing about the Donovan’s property, I was describing the way everyone came up the long drive and parked between the house and the stable, which were across the driveway from each other. As I was picturing it and doing my best to give a feel for it in words, I realized that the place I was describing was my cousin’s farm in Michigan. He’s a dairy farmer and also grows corn and soybeans, among other things. He and his family are completely awesome–some of my favorite people in the world! Once I realized that I was describing their property, it was fun to picture exactly how the Donovan’s property was arranged against that backdrop.

Their town gets a name. White Hawk, Colorado

For my first two books, when I was choosing a place for the stories to occur, I first chose an area of the country. I went pretty specific and found actual spots on the map. And then I made up town names, which is a lot harder than it sounds. You’d be surprised how many of the town names you make up already exist. Give it a try sometime. For Legacy of the Dog, I chose Colorado, near the Rocky Mountains and then began the search for a name. In the end, I picked a name that had the feel I was looking for, which was sort of rugged and outdoorsy. It also happens to be the name of a country club in a neighboring town.

In the final scene of the story, when Ty and Jessie finally get a chance to be alone and talk, they go to a park with a small lake and a walking path. There are fountains in the lake and lots of trees and benches. And again, I was describing it before I realized that I had an actual place in my head. This park is two or three towns over from where I live, but it’s close to my brother’s house and I go by fairly frequently. I made a special trip over there the other day to take some pictures for this post.

The park with the walking path and fountains.

Where Ty and Jessie finally got things figured out between them.

Of course, whenever you read a story, you conjure up your own pictures in your mind of what everything looks like. Do these pictures look anything like what you pictured when you read it? If you haven’t read it, go ahead. You can get back to me when you’re finished. I’ll wait. 😀

JILL!

Can you tell which one is me? Exactly.

I always thought of myself as pretty nondescript. Just one of the crowd. Not really standing out in any way. This, by the way, has always been fine with me. When I see someone I haven’t seen in a long time, my default assumption is that I remember them, but they won’t remember me. Is this normal? Huh. Maybe I should check with a therapist. (Just kidding. I don’t care in the least whether I’m normal or not.)

Continue reading JILL!

Middle School Talent Show

Four or five years ago, my daughter decided to participate in the middle school talent show. She and a friend played the piano and did very well. I’m super proud of her for many reasons, but the main one is below.

First, let me tell you what any kind of public speaking/performance seems like to me.

Hell.

This is actually just a bonfire, but I’m guessing it’s like this, only probably, like…bigger and more.

I don’t do any kind of public speaking or anything that resembles it in any way. Believe me, if you saw me trying, you’d be happy if I just sat back down. Why? Because I panic so hard that it’s just painful and uncomfortable for everyone. It’s just a bad scene. A huge NOPE.

Yeah…I don’t think so.

Therefore, anyone who participates in something like this is already Superman/Wonder Woman in my book. Add to that the fact that these were kids…KIDS…no older than fourteen. Suffice to say, I was impressed before I even entered the building.

But then there was this one girl in particular. She was introduced and came out onto the stage to sing her song. She started with a small, cracking voice and quickly made a mistake. She panicked and left the stage. A moment later, the vice principal came out and said that she was going to come back and try again later and he introduced the next act.

Boy, could I feel for that girl. She was me and I was her. Except that I wouldn’t have gotten up there in the first place. I thought…poor thing, we won’t see her again tonight.

This isn’t her, but it was like this…with the microphone on fire and everything.

But she did come back out a few acts later. She started tentatively again, but then found her groove and nailed her song. I was blown away by the courage it took to come back out on the stage a second time, in front of everyone. And by the applause, I wasn’t the only one who saw it that way. I wanted to go up to her and hug her and tell her how great she did. But I didn’t know her so…you know…creepy.

This is my shout-out to all you public speakers and performers of any sort. God bless you guys. You’re amazing. I’d hug you, but…you know…creepy.

#notgreatatselfies

I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person. Based on that, I think it’s safe to say that being able to take a good selfie is not related to IQ. Thank goodness for that line of reasoning. It’s what allows me to not feel bad about my lack of selfie skills.

Spectacular shot from the Space Needle

Breathtaking view of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains.

This one’s actually not that bad. A Chihuly glass exhibit with the pieces sitting on a clear ceiling and lit from above.

In considering the subject, I came up with a list of REAL reasons why selfies are hard.

My arms aren’t that long.
Sometimes there’s a glare on the screen and I can’t even see what I’m taking a picture of.
An unfortunate thumb injury (8th grade) which doesn’t allow my right thumb to bend all the way, making it extra hard to push the button with one hand.
I have a big head. (big head+short arm=not much space for background)

Though they are not frame-worthy, they are usually laugh-worthy. At least the kids think so. They think it’s funny that we look so confused. In reality, we’re not confused, we’re just squinting — see #2 above.

There’s that glare I was telling you about.

“Can you even see what’s on the screen?” “Not really.” “Just take it anyway.”

I’m decent at taking regular pictures, though. In fact, the background on my website — the picture of the Rocky Mountains — is one I took myself on a vacation to Colorado a few years ago. So I’ve got that going for me. And if I decide to get serious about upping my selfie game, I’ll just give Kim Kardashian a jingle and get some pointers. #sheISgreatatselfies

A Quick Trip to Chi-Town

My Marine and I are thinking about updating our bathroom. Not a full re-do. Just a couple of tweaks. And, really, we’re still in the kicking-it-around stage. Don’t hold me to it.

Maybe something like this.

Or this.

Last weekend we went into Chicago to look at some specific stores the man had heard about – you know…the ones with fabulous sinks, fabulous tile, fabulous tubs, etc. We looked around, took some pictures, got some ideas. Then we got down to the meat of the trip. First, we went to lunch downtown with a gift card we had. Cha-ching! Free! Then we went to Crate & Barrel and Bloomingdale’s.

Guess how much this mirror costs. Go ahead. Take a stab. (I’ll put the answer at the bottom so you can think it over)

I hadn’t been to Bloomingdale’s before. We specifically wanted to go because the store in Chicago is housed in the old Medinah Temple, which was an ornate auditorium built in 1912 and used for the Shrine Circus, among other things.

Stained glass windows

Domed ceiling

Bloomingdale’s built the store inside the building, but preserved the beautifully restored architectural details. It’s quite lovely and worth a look if you’re in the area. It was a thoughtful and responsible way to merge history and commerce and preserve a Chicago landmark.

The best part of the trip? My awesome new salt and pepper shakers. Life is good, folks. Life is good.

(The answer to the cost of the mirror is $17,000. Don’t worry, those are real crystals, so it’s totally worth it.)

Shark Tooth Show-off

I had the extreme pleasure of taking a vacation with my family over Christmas. It’s the first time we’ve ever been away from home for the big day. We spent an entire glorious week in a rented condo directly on the Atlantic on Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Continue reading Shark Tooth Show-off