FIVE THINGS THAT MAKE ME REALLY HAPPY!!

1. “Angels with dirty faces.” Although all are still children—one taller than I am— my heart squeezes with love when one throws his arms around my waist, tilts his head back for a kiss, and grins like a little devil. I become a blubbering mess when I receive hand-written thank-you letters and drawings; when they say please and thank you; clear their own plates and utensils from the table; say grace with his brother when no one else is at the table; and yelling “Watch this!”, when doing something daring. Are they perfect? Heavens, no! But it doesn’t get much better than this.

2. When every appliance in my house, every piece of electronic equipment, and both vehicles work! I hate it when I have to shop for a new refrigerator, television, or car. It’s always another learning experience and aggravation I can do without. I dread having to call a repairman to come to the house, having them tromp in and out, taking who knows how long, putting me on hold while they take over. Why don’t refrigerators last 30 years like they used to?

3. An all-girls road trip! Once a year, four of us take off, no men allowed, and where we go and what we do is our business. “What happens in….” Don’t worry, we wouldn’t do anything we’d be ashamed about! The Great Escape is all that matters.

4. Finishing a WIP! –especially one that caused so much trouble, refusing to cooperate with MY plans for the plot, going off on its own tangents, creating havoc where there was none, a background character taking over, causing me to stop, ponder, and begin again. Like raising a recalcitrant child, I am ecstatic when the WIP finally reaches adulthood and turns out to be a worthwhile creation after all.

5. An e-mail from a publisher in response to a submitted manuscript saying: “Congratulations! We love your story and wish to give you a contract in its present form. You do not need to re-write the plot, remove any POVs, or add any more internal or external conflict. Your storyline is great, your transitions are wonderful, and your characters leap off the page.” Okay, in my dreams, so I’ll definitely be very happy to receive one that says: “Congratulations. We would like to offer you a contract for your manuscript. While your writing is good, we will need to polish and edit it to some degree. If you’re willing to work with us, Welcome Aboard.” Then, I would do a little happy dance and run to tell my husband my good news.

Celia Yeary

Romance…and a little bit o' Texas

http://www.celiayeary.com/

TEXAS BLUE-eBook and Print

SHOWDOWN IN SOUTHFORK—eBook

ALL MY HOPES AND DREAMS-eBook and Print

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The Happiness State

What makes you happy? Can your level of happiness depend on your home state? Could moving to another state be good for your soul? Three-hundred and fifty thousand residents of all 50 states were asked the same set of questions to determine their level of happiness.

Don’t expect me to list the happiest states or the least. Not for the world would I step into that argument. Probably, most of us love our home state, and we wouldn’t care where some innocuous study placed it. Besides, many of our friends live in other countries, and I wouldn’t want to leave them out.

However, I can use generalizations and discuss the five types of Well-Being the study used.

1. Overall evaluation of your life.

2. Emotional Health

3. Physical health

4. Healthy behaviors or life-styles

5. Job satisfaction.

You could rate yourself using these five elements. On a scale of one to five, how would you rate yourself—living in the “state” or state you do.

For me, my overall evaluation of my life would be a five. Emotional health, oh, 4.5. (I do worry and fume and fuss over things I cannot control.) Physical health, probably a 4, simply because I’m not 21 anymore and do have a few tiny health issues I can easily control. Healthy behaviors or life-styles, definitely a five. I don’t smoke and never have, I’m not an addictive personality to anything, I eat healthy so that my lab tests always get a happy face (really, my doctor draws a happy face on my lab sheets), and I get moderate exercise. Job satisfaction? I’m retired and happily so. But when I did work, I’d give myself another five. In total, I am a rather happy person.

Right now, I’m reading a novel by Emilie Richards titled “Happiness Key.” I love her books, and this one is about four women living in concrete block ramshackle cabins on a spit of land in Florida called Happiness Key. One owns the cabins, and has fallen from a wealthy life when her husband went to prison; one is a foreigner who finds herself married to a man she doesn’t know; one is a middle-aged woman who yearns for her husband who pays her no mind, so she finds one who will; and one is an older woman who has become forgetful and sad. They come together to solve a problem.

The best point about this novel is the character-building Emilie Richards so capably weaves. I want to keep reading, not to find out how the problem is solved, but to learn how each of these women find happiness.

How do you find your happiness? Surely, it’s not because you live in Vermont, or California, or Utah. Each of us is different, yet all the same. Women in a world of men, finding our own way.

Keep writing. Much of my happiness comes from writing and creating, and I’ll bet it’s the same for you.

Celia Yeary

SHOWDOWN IN SOUTHFORK: eBook available at:
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ALL MY HOPES AND DREAMS-a Cactus Rose—
Print and eBook available at: www.thewildrosepress.com

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