Onward and Upward!

MY NEW WEBSITE IS UP! CLICK ON THIS LINK: www.myecdysis.com

DRY THOSE TEARS! Notes from Home Plate will continue...in a larger platform.

My new home is called MY ECDYSIS (explanations later...)


To help you navigate go to the main page of the website. Peruse. Look around. Read up. Get used to my new digs.

To find the archives from this blog, "Notes from Home Plate:"

Go to WRITING.

Look for NOTES FROM HOME PLATE.

Here you will find the archive to all the posts in this blog.

My most recent posts will be on the front page of the website.

Thanks for reading, friends and family! We're moving on up!

Pictures! Isaiah 5 Months

CLICK HERE and look for the album name: Isaiah 5 months

He's getting huge. There's no other way to say it.

Best Friends Change

His new best friend is his thumb.

The thumb may soon be dethroned, though. Today, early evening, Isaiah was sitting in my lap after I got home from work while Nick and I caught up on our day, exchanging details and stories. All of a sudden we paused and watched Isaiah lean forward and pull his big right toe into his sloppy cute big mouth. His toes are his new best friends by next week, I predict.

Suck, suck. Chomp chomp.

Quick Update

If you think that we've been too busy for blogging, your thinking is correct.

Here's some updates on your favorite Cleveland family...

I've won the last 2 weigh-ins, up until this past Sunday when Nick swiftly kicked my butt.
Don't be excited. Some wins are just about holding steady while the other gains a pound or has a monstrous Saturday night meal and has a bad Sunday morning weigh-in. But, hey, a win's a win.

Nick and I signed up to run a 5k on June 5th. That's right. The day after our wedding anniversary, the day after we find out who wins the first leg of the competition.

Isaiah started solids! This past Thursday he had his first taste of a banana! This morning he had his first taste of rice cereal. He treats the spoon like a pacifier, but he's getting the hang of it. His neck and head stability are improving weekly and his eczema is under control (for the most part).

I am on a no dairy, no egg diet. This means I am a vegan who eats meat. (I love that oxymoron.) This has been established by Isaiah's allergist who found that he is most certainly allergic to eggs and milk and dairy. We'll see how this goes. Doc said it's likely that Isaiah will outgrow it. I hope so.

Have I ever mentioned that milk is my all-time favorite drink? Or how every morning I made myself a delicious veggie omelette?

Somehow it got to be the middle of May and I gasped at the calendar when I saw that on Wednesday, my favorite Gerber head is going to be FIVE MONTHS OLD!

And that concludes this brief update.

Dusting Off an Old Clip and Some Photos...

A Note from Isaiah

The 12 Startling Similarities Between God and the Right Editor

I've been a writer all my life. I cannot remember a time when my right hand did not grasp a pen and moved left to right on a page, documenting the significant and insignificant morsels of living.

A few years ago, I was struck by lightning and had the tremendous opportunity to work with make/shift magazine, and with Jess Hoffman, and slowly begin learning about the fundamentals of editing.

Editing has its moments of excruciating difficulty. It is not the free flowing creative river that is writing. It can be an unpredictable whiplash that stings every time you work with a new writer. I've had the magnificent pleasure of learning from many different kinds of writers and editors and, today, thought of the countless similarities I began seeing in my relationship with God and my relationship with editing.

This is what I found...

The Twelve Startling Similarities Between God and the Right Editor

1) The Editor works with you and your ideas, trying to observe and guide and not intercede.

2) When you are excessively verbose, the Editor gets to the heart of what you are saying.

3) The Editor is patient, but nudges you from time to time.

4) The Editor knows that the writer must equally trust the Editor and believe in herself.

5) The Editor has worked with so many different kinds of writers, you know there's nothing that the Editor hasn't seen.

6) The Editor knows what is sacred and carefully addresses issues close to your heart.

7) The Editor has a vision, but it is co-authored.

8) Ultimately, the Editor wants your best self, your best work, and works with you to make that manifest.

9) Often times in conversation with the Editor, you realize hidden truths underneath a lot of rubble.

10) "I know what I know, what do YOU think?"

11) The Editor will never give you an assignment that is too large for you to handle.

12) The Editor has a way of arranging things that leaves you mystified, dumbstruck, and grateful.

So, to all the writers out there: I wish you not only deep, rich soil to till your work in, I wish you a gracious and visionary editor who believes in your ability to fruitfully open a truth for yourself to share with the world.