Who's ready for an embarrassing confession? You love those, right?
But first, a fun fact. I hang out with kids all day. In that process, I learn a few lessons. My daughter loves to dance. She always has. She cracks us up with her mock-ballet performances while belting whatever strange melody is pumping through her brain. I love it. She doesn't care what we think (even at 8 years old), and she's happy. A singing child is a happy one. A dancing child is a happy one.
So have you lost your dance or song?
If you have, let me suggest some therapy. Find yourself a room, an open one. Get out your favorite music. Crank it and belt to your heart's content while moving however you feel. That's right. You might feel stupid for the first two minutes or so, but if you let yourself go, layers of stress and age will melt right off.
My daughter is a genius.
But first, a fun fact. I hang out with kids all day. In that process, I learn a few lessons. My daughter loves to dance. She always has. She cracks us up with her mock-ballet performances while belting whatever strange melody is pumping through her brain. I love it. She doesn't care what we think (even at 8 years old), and she's happy. A singing child is a happy one. A dancing child is a happy one.
So have you lost your dance or song?
My daughter is a genius.
Confession: I can't dance. So how the heck did I get through so many years of musical theater? That's a darn good question. I plastered a HUGE smile to my face and hoped people were looking there rather than at my COMPLETELY wrong footing.
And now on to the blog tour...
Jane Eyre meets Supernatural.
TODAY:
Michelle Wallace shares Excerpt #2 in the Mystery Sentence Game! Unravel the mystery of the Moonless night! Gather all 8 hidden words from the excerpts and figure out the sentence to win a free copy of Moonless. Send your mystery sentence to crystal (AT) crystal-collier.com with the subject MYSTERY SENTENCE before December 10, 2013, and you will be entered to win one of 10 copies of MOONLESS—just in time for Christmas. Happy hunting!
Read Excerpt #7 with Clare Dugmore, and take a guess at the Truth or Lie Game. It's Writerly Wednesday on STERIODS! (Minus the Wednesdays...and the steroids.) You have 6 chances to guess the lie and win a copy of MOONLESS. Each post has different truths and lies, so here's a chance to really test your human lie detector skills. Winners will be announced here December 11th. Are you a human lie detector?
Read Excerpt #7 with Clare Dugmore, and take a guess at the Truth or Lie Game. It's Writerly Wednesday on STERIODS! (Minus the Wednesdays...and the steroids.) You have 6 chances to guess the lie and win a copy of MOONLESS. Each post has different truths and lies, so here's a chance to really test your human lie detector skills. Winners will be announced here December 11th. Are you a human lie detector?
Can you dance? Sing? Have you gone on a dancing frenzy lately?
Oh, and ENTER TO WIN! (Because you know deep down you are a winner.)
I can always find a song in my heart. Songs help us to feel happy and keep up our spirits. It must be wonderful to have a daughter. I can remember too well how I wanted to be a ballerina as a child.
ReplyDeleteSo true. A song can turn a day from awful to wonderful in an instant.
Deletei'm all for a silly dance. always makes me laugh and forget the stress
ReplyDeleteSeconded! I had almost forgotten until my hubby took me dancing. SO LIBERATING.
DeleteIts a stress reliever when I dance it puts a smile in my face.
ReplyDeletehttp://tifi11.blogspot.com
Me too.
DeleteDancing is not only great exercise, it's big fun. It's a regular part of my exercise routine. And hey, continued success on your tour!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Catherine. I'm working on that whole "routine" thing, but it's stinkin difficult when you've got littles around all day. =)
DeleteVisited a couple stops already.
ReplyDeleteCan't dance. At all. I grant my wife one slow dance a year just to keep her happy.
LOL! Join the club. Hey, did you see that bit about not caring how you look? ;)
DeleteI love the idea of channeling all the pent up energy into a great moment of belting out your favorite tune and dancing as if no one is watching :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing right? And so simple.
DeleteI live out in the country and one of the things I love to do is take little walks with my headphones on and dance down the road where no one can see me but the cows, lol. I haven't done that since the weather got cold but I do miss it. Need to strap on some warm clothes and get back out there one of these days. (:
ReplyDeleteYes indeed! Keep your heart young. Do something stupid, eh? ;)
DeleteYour daughter truly is a genius. Letting ourselves go is so important; and so often forgotten. I really needed to hear this, today. Thanks you....
ReplyDeleteThank the girl. She's the inspiration. ;)
DeleteDancing is sort of writing I guess. Letting out ourselves and energising through that.
ReplyDeleteSo true! When you just write, you give your mind free expression without restraint, and usually what comes out is surprisingly good.
DeleteYour daughter IS a genius! I need to do some dancing this week. :) And if it makes you feel any better, I am not a great dancer. But my family doesn't seem to mind.
ReplyDeleteHave a great week!
LOL! Yeah, I hate to make sure my windows are closed when I dance because I THINK I look awesome, but the truth? Well, the truth is I don't want some strange youtube video popping up with some silly thirty-something lady making a fool of herself. ;)
DeleteSo I just listened to Wicked last night, and so when I read the title of this post, that's all I could think or, but then I loved this post for so many more reasons, not the least of which is because it's yours, and I'm in a contest with myself to make the longest sentence EVER.
ReplyDeleteLOL! Longest sentence ever... I was totally listening to that song in my head while I wrote the post and wanted to include a youtube version of it, but apparently you can't do that. They've got a tight leash on the sharing rights. *sigh*
DeleteLove this! I totally dance when I'm feeling crazy, but yeah, I can't dance in front of anyone, too personal. singing on the other hand? yeah, it's hard to drag me away, so I'm definitely into that.
ReplyDeleteWoman, we should get together and belt a duet!
DeleteI'll sing without caring what I sound like, but you're not getting me to dance. The moving however I feel like would actually involve me sitting on the couch and falling to sleep. I think they call that a nap.
ReplyDeleteAw come on, just a little dance? ;)
Deleteno...
DeleteJust wiggle a toe, or a finger.
DeleteOh, I wiggle my fingers all the time. It's called typing.
Delete:P
Hah! Or finger dancing. See--you're doing dancing off the stress. ;)
Delete:P
DeleteI'm not a dancer myself, nor am I a singer, but I love the idea of blasting and feeling the music (when nobody is looking, of course!).
ReplyDeleteOf course! Otherwise you're too hindered to really shake the stress off.
DeleteI can't dance, but I love to sing and do so frequently, even in public.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Dito! It's an amazing experience, eh?
DeleteSometimes it's easy to let the cares of my "adult" life suffocate that freedom, the childish joy that longs to escape. Thanks for the reminder and the encouragement to just dance. And sing.
ReplyDeleteI do both, but I don't dance in public. :)
I'm right there with you. I get to busy being an adult. =)
DeleteSounds like something I need to do. Especially since people brought cookies and chocolate cake to work today. Sorry. No cheese. Ha!
ReplyDeleteAw... Well I guess if you're not going to have cheese, chocolate cake is the next best thing, eh?
DeleteChildren are always reminding us of the things we have long forgotten. I have certainly lost my song and dance, but I still have my skewered rhythm. I certainly march to the beat of my own drum! Of course, I am clinically deaf so that would explain it but still. I love the little homemade drum my uncle made me.
ReplyDeleteMake your own beat, eh? Might as well. =)
DeleteDefinitely good advice. I cannot dance either, but I so badly want to. My daughter is the same. I love to sing in my car at the top of my lungs. Sometimes I hit the right note; sometimes not, but I don't care. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's the best way to be--just let it out and live in the moment.
DeleteI'm a dancing fanatic! Love to dance, and I married a man who hates to dance. He said he's coming back as a dancer in his next life...Hah!
ReplyDeleteLOL! That's awesome. That was one of my "must haves" when dating. And thankfully, I found a guy who likes to twirl me across the dance floor. Even if my footing isn't the best.
DeleteI'm a big fan of dancing in the kitchen. Today I played that song "Blurred Lines" over and over. Kinda like an eight-year-old. :-)
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Sometimes you just crave rocking out to the same song, right? ;)
DeleteMisbehaving knees keep me from moving too wildly anymore, but I still belt out a song--even when I don't know the words. Your child IS a genius! Best therapy ever. :)
ReplyDeleteLOL! Creative lyrics, eh? (Love it!) I know what you mean about those knees. That's no fun.
DeleteFirst off, it is so nice to meet you and congrats on your book!!! Also I see you are in Florida, we left there a little over two years ago after living near Orlando for a long time! I miss the weather but love the country now. And yes, I LOVE to dance. When no one is around :))
ReplyDeleteYay! Great to meet you Terri. Orlando area, eh? We've been here for 5 years, so that makes me wonder if we ever crossed paths. =)
Deletewhat a great tour youve got going on!
ReplyDeleteand i think most of us lose our dance/song as awkward teens, then gain it back or something new in our crazy wreckless twenties... until we grow up. then the fun returns watching our kids!
Unless you're amazing smart and keep your dance through all of those awkward stages, eh? ;)
DeleteI don't dance either, but I have my music at all times! I do tap my hand a little when I'm listening, LOL...
ReplyDelete:)
Finger dance!
DeleteI sadly cannot dance, and I'm married to a Colombian who can salsa and marengue with the best of them. Poor guy! I'll to put your book on my to read list. Congrats and wishing you success!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, your poor husband--but I'm sure he lucked out in winning you, dancing or not. ;) Thanks for the warm wishes, Rose.
DeleteI used to love to dance. But somewhere along the line, I lost all of my music. I guess I could dance to the TV.
ReplyDeletePANDORA. *nods*
DeleteCongrats on the book and all the best with the tour.
ReplyDeleteWe do quite a bit of reworking of lyrics here and there's usually some "dancing" involved, LOL.
Sounds like a good time.
DeleteI took a handful of dance and gymnastics classes when I was a kid. The only part of it I was even remotely good at was tumbling. If I tried that now, I think I'd get stuck. :)
ReplyDeleteBut I will occasionally dance around my living room…while the tortoises hide in their shells. :)
LOL! What a fun picture. I could totally see you as a tumbler.
DeleteYour daughter does seem like a happy child.
ReplyDeleteAlways.
DeleteThat is SUCH GREAT ADVICE! I sort of stumbled into it by accident one day last week. I was in the kitchen cooking, had some music on, and without planning found myself singing and dancing, And you're right - it felt AWESOME :) Thank goodness no one was around to see me. I also can't dance at all, and also somehow made it through years and years of musical theatre. Go figure...
ReplyDeleteYeah? I see that incredible smile. Uh-huh. I know the secret. ;)
DeleteGood advice.. and your daughter sounds like a happy little soul.
ReplyDeleteAlways.
DeleteCan we bust out Wicked now? :D
ReplyDeleteYou're not going to hear any complaints from me. =)
DeleteI love dancing! Any place any time... bring it on...
ReplyDeleteThat's the kind of attitude I want to hear!
Delete