Playing the Fool

So there is an annual event taking place for the month of March called Back To Middle Earth.  Last year's event was confusing for me, although I enjoyed reading the stories that were submitted by the variety of authors.  But this year seems to be much more straightforward and some of the themes have me interested.  So, fool that I am, I will probably participate in this.  But I am NOT an author.  So I'm a bit nervous about putting my own writing "out there" into the public eye.  I think if I had not made such good on-line friends among the authors who write Tolkien fanfic, I would never dream of doing this.  As it is, I will step into that lake very gently, one toe at a time, and I will still try and do some artwork for this month-long challenge since artwork is also acceptable and is what I would feel more comfortable submitting in so many ways. 

I feel like a child writing a story for a class.  Shy, but having

to turn the story in because it is a class assignment.  I can't think

of why I feel that way for a voluntary challenge.  Silly me!

I survived Thursday without Chickie, and here I am ready to dive into Friday.  Even though I went to sleep earlier last night, I'm still exhausted.  I would allow myself to sleep later in the morning, but I know from experience that I would regret that because I would not be able to do those things that I so love in the morning - reading through and responding to my Emails, writing in my blog, and commenting on stories in the works on my various critique boards.  I also leave the house early enough in the morning to read at the shop for another hour, or go to Caribou coffeeshop for a nice cup of coffee and some oatmeal.  I do these things to relax and to keep my stress levels lower, but they are starting to become stress makers in their own right and that is something that I have to watch.  Stress can be a great motivator, but it is also a killer, and I always know when I'm under too much stress because of some physical reactions that I develop.  So I will continue trying to do whatever I can to allow myself to relax and I will try and keep my stress minimal.  I hope you have a stress-free day.