The Fun in Going For It, Our Dreams That Is

January 24, 2012 at 12:19 pm | Posted in Megan's Blogs, Our Love Story, Ramblings, Work | 1 Comment
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Yesterday, we spent the afternoon with our beat-up flip camera filming a clip for our Kickstarter Project. Kickstarter is a way to connect funders with projects, and videos bring the story to life. It’s your chance to pitch your story, and communicate what you need. Don’t worry- you’ll hear more about our project in February, when it goes live.

We had a few hours in the afternoon, and we were determined to get out a version we could use. Mind you, we had spent the weekend writing a script, pieces Barton could say, and others I could, overlapping our voices and message together. So, we began by pulling out the script, and Barton had the bright idea of posting it somewhere for us to look at.

Yet, when we began arranging things in our studio, there was no way to post our script without being obvious. So we threw out that idea. Instead, we figured we would just tape as many versions we could and pick out the one we liked the best. Yes, we each had pieces we would say, but we would also jumped if we needed to. And then I got worried about screwing up our quote at the beginning, so Barton started us off right.

The result was a fun afternoon of improv and fits of laughter. Yes, I’m not sure which one of us got the giggles first, but every take after that was cut short; Barton even had me laughing so hard he brought tears to my eyes. When we were done, we were both exhausted, but we had great fun, and hopefully, accomplished what we needed for the project.

So much for being “serious” in front of a camera- but you know, we are who we are!

View our video here!

A Feast With Friends

January 24, 2012 at 11:26 am | Posted in Barton's Blogs, Ramblings | Leave a comment
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We know the holidays have come and gone, but it has only been recently that I’ve been able to reflect on them. Amidst the whirlwind of writing that Megan and I found ourselves in as we completed our manuscript, my father and stepmother came to town for a weekend to celebrate Christmas with us.

As always, I expected we would have a pleasant yet relatively quiet time as during their typical holiday visits, we typically have quiet days cooking and celebrating on our own. Perhaps going out to dinner, but rarely interacting with others outside of our family.

This time, however, I was given an amazing and unexpected gift. We had been invited by our friends from martial arts to celebrate with them, both on Christmas eve as well as Christmas Day. Over the feast of wonderful roast lamb and all the other usual accoutrements, until now, we had never had the opportunity to introduce my dad and stepmother to those that we train with, and I was both excited and joyful about the opportunity.

There is something special I find in introducing my family to those who are so close to us. It’s almost as if we were able to give them a deeper understanding of who we are and also allowed them to appreciate why some of the influences other than themselves that have supported us as we have grown more fully into out love and service with one another.

In many ways, I suppose, I had wanted to introduce my dad and stepmother to them over the years, believing that somehow it would help them understand how Megan and I came to connect with one another and who the community is that I find myself constantly interacting with.

I must say, however that I was not prepared for how well they hit it off. Seeing my stepmother and one of our closest friends dive into a two-hour long conversation was even beyond my wildest imaginings. Even my dad, who at times may not be prone to listening deeply to other people, was somehow captivated in conversation with one of the teachers who had helped me move beyond so many barriers.

It was amazing to me to see how natural my dad and stepmother fit it, especially as I know they were amazed by the warmth my friends showed them. This interaction somehow solidified for me a level of comfort with discussing the martial arts with my family that I had not had before, truly it was the best gift that we could have received this holiday season.

Writing Through the New Year

January 4, 2012 at 6:26 pm | Posted in Megan's Blogs, Our Love Story, Ramblings, The Nitty-Gritty, Work | Leave a comment
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Over the holidays, a contract is diminishing for me and we finished a draft of our book, all within two weeks of each other. The glass half empty, the glass half full. At the moment, I’ve been sitting in the middle of the unknown- we don’t know what will happen as I am reworking one of my primary contracts, which we know will be cut in half or more, and at the same time sensing the elation of a project in the midst of manifestation after so long of talking and dreaming- it’s been quite a holiday.

Along the way, Barton has been amazing- offering the support to go with the flow, with the genuine and true belief that no matter what happens, we will be okay. And truly, there are many exciting and new possibilities at the cusp of fruition this year. Since our focus for the book has become clear with Barton’s excitement almost surpassing my own, the contagiousness of our energy has bounced off each other to create a momentum that I have not experienced before.

For me, it’s been vital to focus on our manuscript in this time of unknowing, and trust me, there has been much to do. Barton found that he could write much more material by using the Voice Memo App on his I-Phone and could record about a 7-minute piece to then email to me for transcription. I would sit down at my computer, open my in-box to find a string of 5-10 voice memos to transcribe. Since October, Barton has written, and I have transcribed, over 100 voice memos. Wow!

One by one, I would transcribe, typing about the same pace as Barton’s speaking rate, which worked perfectly. I created my own system, putting brackets around words that I could not make out, and leaving spaces between each section since the order I received them in was not necessarily the order that Barton intended.

I would also have pieces of material I was working on, and found myself as I normally do, writing at four or five in the morning to candlelight, and then later in the morning or evening transcribing Barton’s work, finally to put them together as overlapping voices for our story.

We were so determined to make our own deadline to send our draft to our editor that we worked through the winter holidays. In fact, New Years Eve, we were so exhausted we were asleep before any New Year’s celebrations began.

Yet, what a blessing to start the year of with a project that we believe in, have a clear vision for and hope that others will find what they need in their own lives. And so, for all of your inquiring minds- the first draft is done, yet there is much to do for publication this fall. We’ll keep you posted for pre-orders!!

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