There once was a girl. A quirky redheaded girl, to be exact. She was redheaded because she decided to be at age 18. She was quirky because she was born that way.

In her quirkiness, she often did things that put her in unique circumstances. Like the time she hounded the Brothers Peterson (Andrew and Pete) until they allowed her to help them with their inaugural Hutchmoot conference in Nashville. Or when she signed up for a songwriting lesson from Ricky Jackson of The Daylights, ignoring the fact that she had no songwriting experience or that she lived on the East Coast and he the West.

When it came to events outside of her daily life, she was bold. She was fearless. She was free. But her everyday life, that was a different story.

While she had big plans and intentions, something kept holding her back. That something is the dream for so many people, yet had become the dasher of hers. Her house.

Her house, while loved, felt too much like Goldilocks trying out Papa Bear’s chair. Too big. Too expensive. Too hard for one person to maintain. Just too, too much of everything. Instead of being a place of shelter, it had become a trap. And feeling trapped made the quirky redhead feel less quirky. Less like herself. More like someone without options.

For too long, the girl had talked of getting out. Of finding a new story. But while uncomfortable, her current surroundings are known. Not quite as scary as the large unknown out there.

There are so many other things she would love to do: start a support organization for musicians, plan other events/conferences, travel more. But before she could enbark on any of those adventures, the house must go.

What will the quirky redhead do? Will her talk turn to action? Will she allow fear of the unknown to hold her back from being even quirkier than she could image? Or will she eventually find her way to a story that feels just right? Tune in below to get a special sneak peak of her plan.

The quirky redhead’s plan of attack:

• Enlist 3 friends for accountability. Email regular status updates.
• Clean out. Get rid of excess items in the house. Move them out of the house – give to thrift store, have a yard sale, give them away. Do not keep items in the house longer than 1 month.
• Repair any items that need it (the flashing on the roof, ceiling in bedroom, wall in kitchen, etc)
• Paint the living room a neutral color
• Talk to Realtor…get sign in yard by October 15.
• Keep posting updates on the blog for additional accountability
• After selling the house, move on to more exciting stories

I won a copy of Don Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years from Michael Hyatt, president of Thomas Nelson. It came in the mail on a Saturday. I started reading and couldn’t stop. As I read about making the story of our life better, I felt challenged. It gave me the impetus to do several of the things I mentioned above.

 

Don is holding a Story Conference in Portland, OR next month. I would love to go in order to gain practical information on how to make my story better and to know the next steps in the process. It’s sort of like in Auntie Mame when Agnes Gouch says, “I lived…now I have to find out what I’ve gotta do next!”.

 

He is holding a contest to win a trip for 2 to the conference. This is my entry. I’ve written about selling my house trying to win, but ultimately it is something that I need to do for me. And that is way more important than winning a contest. But then again, winning would be pretty nice too!

Living a Better Story Seminar from All Things Converge Podcast on Vimeo.

I ran into my house on Monday afternoon. I was in a hurry, so I really was running. As I rounded the corner into the kitchen, I stopped. Something was all over the floor. In the dim afternoon light, I couldn’t make it out. My eyes quickly searched the ceiling. Had it collapsed? Nope, still in tact. Scanning the walls for evidence of what happened, I carefully made my way over to the light switch on the far wall. Blue. The floor was covered in little pieces of blue. Finally, it came to me.

When I bought my house 5 years ago, the previous owners left some things. Random stuff: an antique wood burning stove, some furniture, their cat, pictures of their grandchildren, and a decorative blue fused glass ball hanging from the kitchen ceiling. 

I traded some of the furniture for things I liked better. The photos have been filed very carefully. In a round metal filing receptacle. You know the kind. The ones that are handled once a week when the “filing” men come to take away your precious stuff. If you want to see the cat, I can show you where I buried her. It isn’t that I have a death wish for animals, but for some reason they don’t live long around my house. (Case in point, my fishy tale from about a year ago) But the wood burning stove and the glass ball have remained in the kitchen. I like both of them. They make me smile.

Well, that pretty glass sphere…it’s no longer here. I don’t know what occurred in the 7 hours I was gone. Whether something outside caused the ground to shake or it was just a result of the law of gravity, whatever it was caused some damage.

My younger sister recommended making a mosaic out of the broken pieces. But it wasn’t just broken, it was shattered. Mosaics are a little hard to make when you only have a pile of blue glass dust.

So now now my blue glass ball is gone, and I have a round scar on my hardwood floors from the impact and little pieces of glass that I keep finding days after the incident. All I’m left with is the Home Comfort stove in the kitchen. The previous owners said that it had been in their family for a long time. Given how difficult it would have been to move, they left it. They also said that it originally took 5 men to move it in. Seeing how I don’t even have one fellow, I figure I’m pretty safe here…my wood burning stove isn’t going anywhere.

It’s August. Seriously, did you know that we were already into the 8th month of 2010? Wow, I don’t know if we are having fun or not, but time is speeding by.

At the beginning of this year, I wrote a “Task of Twelve” list (see post here). Since the year is more than half over, here is a little update on some of the items on my task list:

Task of Twelve for 2010 

1. Have article accepted to a magazine or website. (I guess along with this, I should also put – Write an article that is longer than 500 words) UPDATE: Check, check! The North Carolina Association of CPAs published an article in the summer Interim Report magazine & World Vision magazine published a short article in the autumn edition.
2. Get paid for writing an article
3. Write a book (My Lousy Love Life – tentative book plan, I have PLENTY of material)
4. Go on a date with a guy in whom I am actually interested (so this is sort of a personal goal, but I think I will start looking at it as a task…maybe that will help me accomplish it)
5. Increase blog readership to 150 a day
6. Sell my house  UPDATE: Not so great. As my brother says, “It is a little hard to sell it without a for sale sign in your yard!”.
7. Go to a writers conference  UPDATE: Check, check!I am currently at Hutchmoot 2010, the 1st annual Rabbit Room conference/gathering/event. It isn’t strictly a “writers conference” but its close enough to mark this off my list.
8. Learn how to use the different features on my camera  UPDATE: a small little check mark.The camera that I was talking about died in the middle of January. I can’t believe it, but I actually upgraded to a DSL camera, a Canon Rebel. I said I never would, that I would always stick with a point and shoot. But having made the switch, I love it! Have learned sooooo much about the camera but still have a lot to go.
9. Help with the Rabbit Room conference/retreat (hoping that if I bug them enough, they will let me help. And if any of them read this – seriously, I am really good at organizing/details/project stuff like that)  UPDATE: Shocker of shockers, check!As I said, I am currently at the Hutchmoot…helping! I even have a title. And it isn’t one that I gave myself, which I am famous for doing. Pete Peterson said that I am the Overlord of the Volunteers. I think that basically means official helper. My role will probably end up more along the lines of Jack-of-all-trades.
10. Start and finish 5 craft projects  UPDATE: partially checked off. I need to think about this one a little more, but I know of 2 projects that I have made.
11. Use my sewing machine  UPDATE: well, I tried to make something for my niece’s birthday, but my machine is not working properly. Need to take it in to be serviced. Hey, what is it with my camera AND my sewing machine revolting in 2010?
12. Read more non-fiction books (I have the fiction part down pat)  UPDATE: in progress. Need to refocus on this.

So you can see that I have made some progress. But with only a few months left in 2010, I need to get to work!

How about you…any task lists, resolutions? Do you know where your list is? If not, finding it can be the first thing on the agenda.

I’m excited – World Vision magazine published a short article of mine for their regular “Why I Love Being a Child Sponsor” column. It’s short, but it’s mine. They took a longer version I wrote for the blog (see original post here) and cut it down to fit in the space allowed. Now, I think the longer version is better, but since this is only my 2nd published article, I’ll take it!

Here is their version of the article if you want to read it.

Why I Love Being a Child Sponsor

By Kate Hinson (I think this is the best line)

The only thing I ever wanted to be was a wife and mother. I wanted four children. Every year, I feel a part of that dream die. Here I am at 34, no husband or children in sight.

But recently, I went to a Jason Gray concert. As Jason started a speech about sponsoring children, I listened politely without hearing him. I already sponsor two boys. Then a voice in my head asked, “But don’t you want four children?” Later, Jason pulled out the verse that shattered me. “Whatever you did for the least of these…you did for me.” It brought to mind an internal struggle, weeks earlier, about whether I should help a hungry woman. Sad to say, I drove away.

This time I had to act. I have added 3-year-old Vanesa from Peru to my family. I will probably never hold her or rock her to sleep. But I know that I am providing a better life for her. Somewhere out there, I know there is a fourth child waiting for me. Sometimes all it takes is looking at things with different eyes.

Note to self:  Do not have a flat tire on a busy Saturday when the heat index is over 100 degrees. Especially on a back road without any shade. On a day that you rushed out the door without applying sunscreen. When you just purchased chocolate bars for a brownie recipe. Hypothetically speaking*, of course, because if you did, it could take AAA about 2 ½ hours to get someone out to help you.

Note to self addendum:  Just don’t ever have a flat tire. It will make your life so much easier. Then you won’t have to worry about anything ever again. Except maybe cavities…from the brownies you would have been able to make with the non-melted chocolate.

* maybe not as hypothetical as I would like.

Summers are pretty busy for me. Yet for once, I don’t have a single thing I have to do tonight. I guess that makes me a free man. Well, except for the man part. And that’s ok because I really don’t want to be a man.

My plans aren’t grand. Just a trip to the grocery store, a little baking, and maybe some reading or TV. Simple things. But often the unpretentious, daily things are the ones that we miss out on in the busyness of life. So tonight, I am going to enjoy just being home. Because who knows when that will happen again.

I know I’ve been really quiet lately. Honestly, I don’t think I have gone this long without blogging since I started the blog over a year ago. Sometimes you can find someones joy in the silence. Other times you can find the pain.

For me, it has been a tough week. A doctor’s appointment where I found out about my not so great blood work results. Well, the doctor said the results were ok…if I were a 70 year old woman. But since I am about half that, it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. Lots and lots of pills and shots to take as a result of the blood work. Then a horrible night dealing with a bad reaction to one of the new medicines. And a migraine the next night to top it all off.

While that might seem like enough, I am leaving for the Dominican Republic in one hour. Literally, an hour. It’s for a mission trip. Manual labor kind of thing. To tell you the truth, I’m nervous. I don’t know how my body is going to handle it physically. And I don’t know how I am going to handle it emotionally.

I’m going with a great group of women. Including three of my cousins. They are wonderful. I’m not worried about them.

No, I’m worried about me. I’m a quite capable person. And I am used to relying on my abilities. That isn’t always a good thing. Up until recently, I have been able to do that. But things have changed. My body seems to be telling me that it is tired of being self-reliant.

I keep thinking about the verse that says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

I have a feeling that is the lesson God wants to teach me this week. That it isn’t about me. That it isn’t about my strength, abilities or capabilities. It is about Him.

And if I will just lean on Him, He will hold me up.

*** I will not have computer access while I’m gone, so things are going to be quiet around here for the next week. If you think about me, please pray for the 8 of us on the trip. Thanks. I’m going to miss you.

So Jim called last night. I wanted to ignore him…but who am I kidding? I can’t afford to do that.

I mean, he’s not my favorite. Actually, at times I sort of dislike him. But in the long run, he is really good for me.

At least, that is what I keep telling myself.

Especially since he wanted to see me again last night. I really wasn’t in the mood but decided to go anyway.

It wasn’t bad. I hung out and listened to Pandora radio with him. Let me tell you, music goes a long way to help me get through an evening with Jim.

Not sure why I was dreading it so much. Once I get there, I’m usually fine.

He does have his good side. I never have to dress up for him. For all he cares, I can wear an old t-shirt, hair in a ponytail and no makeup. Doesn’t bother him. But most importantly, he makes me feel better about myself. That is why I put up with everything else about him that I hate.

So maybe Jim isn’t such a bad guy after all.

Oh, I’m sorry…I made a mistake with his name. I really hate that spell checker doesn’t catch misspellings in proper names. He is Jim with a “G”. And a “y”. So Gym is my guy these days.

I have something to say. But not today.

Today, I really don’t have words. I’m tired. Worn out. Empty.

This happens from time to time.

It is difficult to have a jumble of ideas in my brain and a blank screen but not the energy to connect the two. Eventually my words return. Sometimes all in a burst. Others in a slow stream.

I will rejoice when they arrive. Because I really do have something to say.

I’ve been reading Letters To Young Poets by Ranier Maria Rilke. It has really good advice for writers in general and poets in particular. When you think about it, songwriting is really just poetry set to music. So his advice has been great. Rilke says to stay away from writing love songs. Up until now, I listened to him. But I wrote my first love song this week. Now, it wasn’t a song about me. Or even a song for me. Yet it got me thinking about love.

We talk about things we dislike all the time.

• I hate celery.
• I don’t like to wear shorts.
• Arrogance is one of my least favorite traits.

But maybe we need to flip a switch and focus on love more. From what I hear, it is what makes the world go round.

So today, here are three things I love:

Colorful Shoes - they make me smile. There is just no excuse for wearing ugly shoes.

Beauty - The obvious beauty can become overdone. Overblown. But if you look past the expected, you might find something extraordinary. It can get overlooked by other people, but if you find it, it often has more depth. More meaning. It could be sticks & flowers or people.

Love - I love love. I like to read about it. Watch movies about it. Hear about it. I don’t have it, but here’s hoping that one day I will. For now, I love to see it on the faces of my friends. Not sure if they actually use the “L” word or not. But I can at least say with certainty that they are in pretty strong like.

So what do you love today?