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Phoebe Sinclair Writes

Phoebe Sinclair Writes

Tag Archives: goals

Meeting A Goal You Didn’t Know You Had

04 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Bike Life

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bike-love, family, goals, gratitude, jersey, somerville

Phoebe & mother on red cruiser bikes, Key West, FL

Mom & Me, Key West, Florida

As an adult, I have enjoyed bike rides with each person in my family-of-origin, independent of one another. This is not a goal I realized I had ’til it was accomplished.

I’m from a project-based family. We like to do things, collect experiences, learn, examine, uncover, understand. And we like bikes!

I remember being a little thing and my paternal grandfather’s adult-sized tricycle. The sound of bike tires bumping over a boardwalk’s wooden slats. Family mythology has it that same tricycle once ran over my mother’s foot, by accident.

I recall the thick, this-might-be-chemical-y-dangerous smell of grease and seeing bikes in bits in my back yard, old chains soaking in a pickle tub, waiting to be scrubbed silver.

Bike tour guide speaks with group

My brother & me on a Princeton, NJ bike tour

My Strawberry Shortcake Big Wheel; the red tricycle belonging to a neighborhood kid that we’d zip around on like it was a scooter ’til our backs ached; the pretty, blue Columbia that was stolen from my front porch, gone possibly a long time before I noticed. Barreling down broke-up concrete sidewalks from 8th Avenue to 7th, back around to 8th, no adult accompanying me because, as long I stuck to the sidewalk, no need. Learning that freedom can be bought at Toys-R-Us and sized up when my legs grew too long.

Place to place, and person to person. Child to sibling to parent.

On bike in Somerville, MA

Dad on Somerville Library Bike Tour

Bikes in Somerville Library parking lot

Fun in a Somerville lot with Dad and Dave

There’s nothing like that early love, or the connections it offers. The relationships it helps sustain.

Wooded road

Phoebe on a winding MA road

Whole Heart 200

14 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Bloggin Noggin, Writing Life

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

contests, goals, gratitude, writing

IMG_6941

My internal writing critic, like most, is full of doom and gloom. It declares things like: you’ll never be a prodigious writer. Authors don’t make enough cash to live on. You don’t know what you’re talking about.

This kind of inner talk has a dangerous dampening effect on, say, novels, poems, plays. But blogs, and more specifically Whole Heart Local? Meh.

When my critic says scornfully, with unsurprising frequency: nobody reads your blog. They don’t care what you have to say.

I reply, currently: beh.

I read WHL. And love it! And so appreciate the opportunity to plan for, dream about, and write it, still, 200 posts later. And to celebrate, we’re hosting a giveaway, WHL and me.

Lauren Murphy, herbalist, strong-lady (rumor has it she can lift 600 lbs with her LEGS,) master cheese-maker (no kidding), and good friend, will be debuting her new herbal line Lala Earth this September. Through her enormous generosity, WHL is giving away loose-leaf tea with the theme of love. And if THAT weren’t enough, I plan to pair it with a small treat from one of JP’s wonderful, local businesses.

Lala Earth

Lala Earth herbal tea: evidence of tastiness. Add sun and water. Kapow!

On to the giveaway. All you gotta do is leave a comment. That’s it! One comment, about any such subject as your heart desires. Or “hi!” That’s nice, too. The winner will be chosen by random on Wednesday, August 21.

Luck, friends.

Farewell, Cotton T-shirts

17 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Green Life

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Tags

goals, gratitude, recycled

Once upon a time, I learned a fine method for departing with items once cared for, but currently out-of-use: take a picture.

Got Yarn? t-shirt

1st Boston Knit-out Festival I attended

After stockpiling a selection of T-shirts that I wore pretty much to-death, I decided to enlist some assistance and employ this method. The result? A virtual, visual library of memories spun from cotton and dye. I’m still the person I was, who purchased or received these shirts as gags or gifts or glimmers of who I was leaning towards being.

Martha Stewart no justice no quiche t-shirt

Worn during march on Washington for women’s reproductive rights

CCBN top ten reasons to work here t-shirt

Job of old

I miss the opportunity to wear them, now that (most of) these old Ts have been converted to dust cloths and hankerchiefs. I don’t miss the burden of owning more than I can appreciate wearing.

WECB Emerson radio station

Never wore this shirt because it bothered my eyes

Hemp recycle bicycle t-shirt

In my experience, hemp doesn’t get as soft as proported

Boston Knit-out & Crochet 2005 t-shirt

Designed by my gent, and then washed to death

Morning Mind Modes

20 Monday May 2013

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Bike Life

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

angry-bike-moments, as-we-are-living-it, bike-commuting, goals, gratitude

The inchworm hangs from the tree with bokeh

On my morning bike commute to work, I’ve noticed that my mind tends to operate in several modes. Usually: Morning Mind God of Destruction and Morning Mind Gratitude.

Morning Mind God of Destruction, as you can imagine, sounds something like this: Use your blinker! WHAT is WRONG with you? I can’t believe that other cyclist just did that -he’s definitely not long for this world. LMA buses are the worst. What am I doing with my life? The best thing about today will be when I can finally go back to bed. I will STARE you into submission! Hungry already.

Young fronds

Morning Mind Gratitude: Riding my bike through the woods every day, in a city, is magical. Hi. Hi! I love when drivers wave at me. It feels so satisfying to know what projects I’ll be tackling at work today. I wonder what’s for lunch. Should I stop at Whole Foods for some kombucha? I’m so lucky. I really should learn a blessing to direct at irate drivers so I can check that goal off my list. Hey, there’s that singing cyclist again!

What forms do your morning minds take?

Bike handle decoration with beads

Making Soap on a Sunday

06 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Green Life, Learnin'

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

goals

Like many people, I write down goals to keep them fresh, away from the landing-path in my head where thoughts clutter if they aren’t attended to. I’m not sure when “homemade laundry detergent” made the list, but I can certainly describe how the idea sat around, un-done, for years. It was even included (but never realized) on my 101 Goals in 1001 Days list.

Alas, soap.

All one on the mouse cheese grater

Seemed it wasn’t to be until, at the Central Branch of the Cambridge Public Library, I bumped into 365 Ways to Live Cheap: Your Everyday Guide to Saving Money by Trent Hamm, whose blog The Simple Dollar leant me much inspiration and energy to work on my finances (and blog-growin’.) Reading through the neat little book, I noticed a blurb about how easy and inexpensive it can be to whip up laundry soap.

Oh, soap.

Half one on the mouse cheese grater

I’ve been spending $12-14 a pop on some gorgeous stuff I pick up at a farm stand in Maine, or discover here and there in at natural products shops. And then there’s my old favorite – Ecover – and new favorite – Biokleen, both over $6 at my local grocer on a good day.

Cleaning dudes

So, fine. I bought some Borax, washing soda, and a bar of the well-loved All One (at three different stores, admittedly, but biking cut my carbon emissions.) And I made myself some laundry detergent. It was a lot like shaving carrots and mixing flour to make muffins. Except no muffin bumping around the inside of my washing machine did much for a week’s worth of soiled kitchen towels, and my new soap worked out fine.

Goal.

Laundry soap, not cheese

Nope. Not cheese.

Whole Heart Resolute 2013

07 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Bloggin Noggin, Learnin', Writing Life

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

goals

A great idea

It’s like someone took hold of 2012 and shook it hard. Catapulted right through that year. There were some beautiful moments, and some hard moments.

Looking back at my 2012 Resolutions and Goals

Resolutions

  1. Practice trust (instead of worry) -this mantra helped enormously with my propensity to worry, it was a bit like a prayer -putting trust out into the great unknown
  2. Understand that everyone is doing the best they are able -another good one, ruminating on this aided in forgiving others, forgiving myself, and more desire to understand instead of judge

Goals

  1. Discover timing and space that works for “Confessions,” and the other books to come -still in progress, but I did get that sabbatical to happen :^)
  2. Get some shelves up -kitchen, litter box room, office -completely missed the mark, I’m not the best at manual tasks and should probably hire help for this goal (anyone, anyone? interested?)
  3. Cull my clothing, keeping only what I love, and keep clothes picked up -I’m happy with my results from this
  4. Eat honey early (for allergies) –I was all over that one, natural sweets = heck yeah!
  5. Develop a “family creed” with my partner -there’s a working draft on our kitchen blackboard right now

Goal for this blog

  1. Grow to 10 views per day –close, I think; 2013 will be even better as I’m making new friends in the blogosphere

Secret resolutions

  1. Visit as many new-to-me local libraries as I’m able –well, I did visit a few non-local libraries, and one very local
  2. Attend a writing residency –I’ll be re-applying to the residency I was wait-listed from last summer

Lets go forward.

Three with sparklers
2013 Resolutions

  1. Learn positive intention statement to combat negativity (and keep myself sane)
  2. Discover what it means to “give back” in a way that fits my current station in life

Goals

  1. When I wake up, get up! (Instead of forcing myself to go back to sleep and then emerging groggy/grumpy/exhausted)
  2. Reintroduce long-hand writing (letter! blog? novel?)

Goals for this blog

  1. Post at least twice per week (sights towards 3x)
  2. Get a new set of blog business cards printed

And while we’re on the topic, I’d like to introduce you my friend Josie Bray of Simple Steps to Wellness blog, who shared a terrific idea about feeling our way through a successful year.

So what are you working on?

Wedding sparkler

The Art of Staying Home

03 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Home

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

cat-love, craft-tastic, goals, jamaica-plain

Rain and drapes

I’ve been trying to teach myself how to stay home. No easy task for a kid who likes to get up and go. Bike tours! Museums! Friend’s kitchens! Theater! Community classes!

Staying home affords numerous luxuries, however infrequently I convince myself to partake in them. Laundry and folding and Studio 360 podcasts. Yarn crafts and Desert Island Discs or On Being podcasts. Baking. Movies screened on a window shade draped over our wooden clothes dryer, via the fancy hi-tech projector. Hand quilting and talking dreams and desires with my partner. Dancing alone to many fabulous vinyl albums, played scritch-scratch free on a stereo I’ve had since age eleven.

Yarn skein on record player

Staying home is also fairly cheap. Being out means dinners out and, for my partner, gas usage as his car eats up the miles between work, band practice, and game nights. Me, I’m more likely to fall victim to some gift item I NEED to purchase for friend or family. Similar, the compulsion to purchase things to be creative with, instead of using what I have, which is plenty.

It’s hard. The world beckons and I itch to follow the whistle.

Lovely are the moments when I can ignore the piper. (Bet you wondered where that analogy was going.)

Jack cat with the records

Buying A New Bike: One Woman’s Journey

19 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Bike Life

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bike-commuting, bike-love, cambridge, goals, jamaica-plain

My first step was to wish for a new bike.

Back a number of years I met a lovely woman riding a shiny, well-kept and smooth contoured road bike by a company I’d never heard of. She intrigued me further by explaining how she believed the bike’s particular geometry -specifically the shorter length top tube– was a natural fit for the female body.

My second step was to continue riding my “$60 police auction special” Raleigh for four years. Through sun and rain and snow and one thankfully minor accident on a hill with a car. This step included a continued desire for the bike of my dreams to suddenly appear in my life, as if unbidden, and pretty much for free.

Packin' the bags full of yarn and crochet

The “police auction special”

My third step was to consider my values:

  • Buy used when possible
  • If not used, then go local, independent, neighborhood-based, community-minded
  • Smaller manufacturers first
  • Don’t get seduced by the allure of the Perfect, or the Expensive
  • Don’t go flashy
  • Pay only as much as is comfortable to spend again if the bike gets stolen

My fourth was to make a list, which I presented with flourish (and perhaps a trace amount of geeky embarrassment) to shop attendants.

My fifth was to visit nearby retailers, trying used and new, refining my list, balking at price tags. My original budget was $600, which I thought could bag a more-than-decent mid-range bike. True, had not I been searching for a bike with drop handle bars, which I heard help reduce wrist strain, something I’ve struggled with since becoming a regular commuter with a desk job (typing, typing, typing.)

Finally, as the weather cooled, I reached the point where I feared I’d have to go beyond my budget to purchase something that didn’t have most of the features I wanted. But then one morning (sixth step, but also a first) I happened to glance at the Boston Craiglist bicycle sale ads, typing in the brand I’d discussed with the woman from earlier in this long tale. And lo. Behold.

Desmond the Lemond

The road bike prize

Coming in well below budget ($400), Desmond Puddin’ the LeMond – a prize from 2005, sold by a gentleman who took gentle care of the newest member of my household. Another $150 bought me a rack and fenders (and the labor to install them.)

Here, at the end of my list, is where I express gratitude to the ladies and gents of the many bike shops I haunted, rumpled list in tow, hopeful gleam in my eye:

  • Bikes Not Bombs, Jamaica Plain
  • Broadway Bicycle School, Cambridge
  • Cambridge Bicycle Shop, Cambridge
  • Eastern Mountain Sports, Cambridge
  • Ferris Wheels, Jamaica Plain (my home shop)
  • Quad Bikes, Cambridge
  • Superb Bicycle, Brookline
  • Wheelworks, Somerville and Belmont

‘Til next bike!

Getting Back To It

02 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Bloggin Noggin

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

goals, writing

All the blankets

August into September was a whirlwind. Whew! As my summer sabbatical drew to a close, the September crush of work and life distracted me from reflecting and celebrating here on Whole Heart Local, which I so enjoy doing.

So, a few things:

Looking Back
One important milestone that has passed, but should be mentioned, is that Whole Heart Local’s 1 Year Anniversary was September 15th

Looking Forward
This fall, continuing my effort to complete my novel, I anticipate decreasing my blog posts to one per week
Also, stay tuned for a few new Librarytours

This blog is important to me, both as a place to wonder and create beauty and as a professional representation of my writing. I don’t expect to desert it, despite my record for sudden silences. So, my friends, please forgive my most recent lapse.

Onward and upward!

Summer Goals

06 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Writing Life

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

goals, writing

Many notes on numerous drafts of my novel

Seven year’s notes

It wasn’t until college that I became a goal-setting animal. Before then, I tended to follow the wandering path –noticing neither hits nor misses other than traditional milestones like going to prom and graduating from high school. Meeting my college roommate, still a dear friend to this day, changed all that. Other than my mother, never before had I spent time with such a deliberate planner and fastidiously organized person!

<semi-related tangent>When Deba’s cat Jack came to live with me “temporarily” while she relocated to Germany for adventure, first I received letters in the mail “from the cat”, then the cat showed up with all his necessary items – including complete medical records, labeled medications, favorite toys, and litter box! That’s my Deba!</tangent>

Fast-forward a decade. After an epiphany wherein I finally asked myself the right questions about what to do with my life, I was granted leave from work to finish the novel I started writing in 2005. Like any good goal-setter, I hastened to the list making. Below is an overview of what I’m attempting to accomplish, and how I’m faring thus far:

  • Finish 3rd draft of my work-in-progress by July 31: I’m not sure whether I’m ashamed or relieved that I didn’t think to define what I meant by “draft.” What I ended up with on July 31 didn’t look quite draft (hodgepodge of sparklingly revised chapters, other chapters barely begun, whole themes missing, and how about that character arch?), but it’s something, so I’ll take it!
  • Go on retreat to write a large portion of the novel: Done!
  • Draft of query letter to publishers, agents, whoever: Upcoming – I hope.
  • Write initial ten pages of next novel: I’m looking forward to this! Nice to meet some new characters.
  • Redistribute the items I own but don’t use: With this, I’m really succeeding. Probably because moving my stuff around is a deliciously satisfying way to procrastinate, like a squirrel burying nuts –so good, even if you don’t remember it later. So far, I’ve gone through and redistributed a good portion of my clothing and this past weekend, consolidated my books to just one shelf. Hotchacha!
  • Decide on new bike to purchase: On-going. I haven’t gotten very far with this because it’s a struggle for me to balance creating and consuming. If I do one, I tend not to have time for the other. In the meantime, my current bike is cheerfully rotting away into flaky paint and dirt.

In a recent email to a friend, I explained that working on the novel this summer has been a lesson in managing trust and letting go of perfection. Until I typed those words, I hadn’t considered this truth so succinctly. One item I left off the list, however, was hope.

2 Macs

Left: Orange Julius, my old Macbook warrior
Right: Ghost of Julius’s future splitting time between emails and writing

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