Doreen McGettigan

Keep Moving Forward Challenge…

My friend and the facilitator of Bucks County creative Explorers, Kelly wrote a blog post about being stuck. She wrote that she felt like her feet were stuck in concrete. That is exactly how I was feeling too.

Kelly then posted this challenge. If you are feeling stuck too please join us. Let’s inspire each other to smash our concrete shoes.

CHALLENGE:

I will post an entry in the Keep Moving Forward Challenge every Thursday from now through March 2015. To join in on the journey, use the comment section to tell us about how you “kept moving forward” that week. Write about it on your own blog site (and include the link in the comments), make a video, and/or use the hashtag #KeepMovingForwardChallenge on the social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram).

http://kellydeeny.com/2015/02/05/keep-moving-forward-challenge-week-1/

Please make sure to use #KeepMovingForwardChallenge on social media so that we can comment, like, share, favorite, or retweet!

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I still feel like I am stuck in a spin wearing concrete shoes but I am kicking and dragging my feet so I hope that is making the concrete brittle.

As much as I feel like I am stuck in that spin, physically I am actually moving and covering a lot of miles, I’m just not sure in what direction.

Last weekend I attended the inaugural Bloggers at Midlife Conference #BAMC15 in Nashville. The conference was held at the beautiful (but extremely large) Gaylord Marriott. I was looking forward to this event for months and was feeling sick when a snowstorm threatened to ruin my travel plans.

I didn’t breathe easy until I was in the air, headed southwest.

I have no words to explain how amazing it was to meet IRL (in real life) so many people that I have been blogging and or Facebook friends with for over year, especially Helene Cohen Bludman and Cathy Chester. It felt like I had known them for years. I am hoping to hang out with them again at the Philadelphia Writer’s Conference.

I could go on and on and on about that conference and I probably will, in another post, it was simply amazing. Even the organizers and sponsors felt like long lost girlfriends.

Once I stepped off of the plane in Philadelphia and got into John’s truck with the Harley Davidson’s  in tow, we headed south on I-95.

85 degrees is nice, on a motorcycle it is Heavenly.

I received the e-mail I was stressing about, the one that told me The Stranger In My Recliner is in production! That of course is amazing news and definitely something I need to consider moving forward. It just means I am now working on vacation. I am grateful I am doing it in 85 degreesJ

Which direction do you find yourself moving this week?

Yesterday I played along with a group of other bloggers in a game of 5 truths and a lie.

Today is the day to fess up and reveal the lie.

I cannot wait to see if I guessed any of the other bloggers lies correctly.

1. My husband and I were married and had our reception at the Jersey Shore, illegally. We did not have a marriage license. The last day it was possible to pick up our license I was stuck in the worst traffic in Philadelphia and then a guy ran into the back of my car. I didn’t make it to the clerks office in time.

We went ahead with the fake wedding and made it official eight-days later with some very special witnesses. These little munchkin’s kept our secret, until now.

2. I had my first child when I was seventeen. This is true. I got married when I was sixteen because my older boyfriend was going in the service and I wanted to go with him. Exactly nine-months after our wedding my daughter was born.  I loved being a mom then and I still do. Being a grandmother is amazing.

3. One of my best friends is one of the Jersey Housewives.

A few of you guessed correctly. This one is the lie. I did meet one of the Jersey housewives, we exchanged books and follow each other on social media. She is not one of my best friends, yet:) 

4. I have thirteen grandchildren. Oh yes I do! I have been over-blessed and still have a son that isn’t married yet and another son that wants more. Their ages range from 19-4. My oldest daughter, the one I had at seventeen, made me a grandmother when she was twenty-one and I was thirty-eight. When Allyson was three-years-old my younger brother was murdered. A few months later two of my daughters and my daughter-in-law were expecting. Sitting on the porch with Allyson I asked her how I got  so lucky to be having three new grandbabies at once. She smiled and told me Uncle David was going to keep sending me babies from Heaven until I wasn’t sad anymore.  Oh how I love that girl and she was right. Our family had a population explosion and it only recently slowed down.

5. I ride a Harley.

I do. I prefer to just ride with my husband because Philly isn’t motorcycle friendly.  Florida is more my speed because I am not a fan of being cold. I am thinking about getting a cute trike to ride around on when we are in Florida.

6. My husband brought home a homeless woman one night and she lived with us for nearly three years. This is true. Sophie was eighty-years-old and homeless. I tell her story in my next book The Stranger in My Recliner. It will be out next year.

Now you know more about me than you did yesterday. What surprised you the most?

I have been trying to get back to reality for two days now. I think Friday Fragments will do the trick. I’ve been traveling and I took a lot of notes. If you have some stuff you would like to get off your mind please feel free to join us. You can find all of the information you need here:

http://www.halfpastkissintime.com

Right before we left for Florida I found out my book was one of the top one-hundred items at Walmart. It was number four to be exact. That news inspired me to get a lot of editing done while I was away.

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Welcome to October and welcome to the monthly session of The Insecure Writers Support Group [#IWSG]

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

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All of us fragment sharing people would have no trouble with you joining in on the fun. In fact we look forward to reading your frags.

I started working an extra twelve-hour-shift at my out of the house job this week. I also worked an extra seven-hour shift because someone called out. This may explain my blurry eyes.

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It seems like a long time since I’ve had the opportunity to join Mrs.4444 and the other Friday Fragmenters.  Fragments are thoughts or ideas that will not stand alone as a post so every Friday we list them. Its an amazing release and reading the other fragments is fun.  You are welcome to join us if the like. You can find the rules and instructions here:

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The title of this post is warm-up for the upcoming A-Z blog challenge. I hope you will consider joining the more than 1000 bloggers who have already signed up. The challenge starts in April.

Check it out here:

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