Pondering 23 of Life's Big Questions

Some (not all) of the big questions that I have been thinking about lately - from God and ghosts, to social awkwardness and honey drips.

Dripping honey bucket = sticky mess

• Was the living Jesus really the son of God? And is he up there wondering whether it was worth dying to save us? Surely he's up there just constantly rolling his eyes.

• How do I stop my bucket of honey from dripping on my pantry shelf? The simple answer is to not buy the buckets and instead spend more on the squeezy thing

• Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar? In the words of Nelly, "It wasn't me"

• Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side isn't really an answer. It's the equivalent of, "because I said so." Where was she going?

• Why do I keep doing the things that I don't want to, while not doing the things that I do want to do? Ugh (Paul's books are my favourite)

• Why am I so socially awkward? Double ugh (Is it all in my head, or am I genuinely as socially awkward as I feel?)

• What happens when we die? No, really

• Are there ghosts/spirits? Can our deceased loved ones really watch over us? Are we being watched all of the time? Wouldn't the spirit world be getting kinda crowded? Do they fight over who they get to watch that day?

• Why do red M&Ms taste the best? and why do they even bother making brown ones?

• How do I sell more books? Seriously

• What damage is my parenting doing to my children? Sorry, kids

• How many ants are there in the world? A lot

• Who murdered the dude in Larrimah? I love Australia (If you haven't seen Last Stop Larrimah, then I highly recommend it)

• Is there anyone who genuinely never picks their nose? Really? And does it actually increase the risk of dementia?

• How much longer do we have until WWIII? This is one of the huge and genuinely terrifying questions knocking around my head these days. What does our future hold?... hang on...

• What does our future hold? Better. Atomic bombs? What will my kids experience?

• Why do we keep killing our planet? (see above question) How is money ever more important?

• Is Trump going to get reelected?

Errr

• Is midday 12 am or pm? I always forget

• Do our dreams mean anything? Coz some of mine are a little weird

• Should I bother calling someone to finally stop the split system from dripping on the carpet whenever we use the cooling? Or are the three buckets against the wall just fine for the 10 days a year we actually use it? And why is this my second question about drips?

• Public, private, or home school?

• Novated lease or buy outright?
  

Which of life's big questions have you been pondering lately? I'd love to know!

Love, Marley x

36 Reasons Why You Are Awesome

You are just so incredible. I bet you don't believe me, so I am going to give you a list of reasons why you are so darn special. Just try to argue with me (I dare you).

Hugs are the best!

36 Reasons Why You Are Awesome:

1. You have a body. It breathes and sweats and has a beating heart. You are a miracle.

2. You have feelings. Feelings help you to experience life in 3D. Feelings are awesome.

3. You can touch things and interact with your environment. You can plant a tree, pick up rubbish, and give and receive hugs.

4. You have an imagination. Imagination lets you live in places where you are not. How special!

5. You have people who care about you. Sometimes your feelings get in the way of realising this fact, but you do anyway. I care about you (honestly, I do).

6. You have access to the internet. What a great resource you have at your fingertips that can help you learn and interact.

7. You have choices. You can choose what to wear. You can choose to make a phone call, apply for a job, be kind, or lie down on the ground.

8. You can sleep. Sleep helps you remember things and takes you to other worlds. You can live a million lives in your dreams.

9. You can do nice things for people, like smile at them, cook them dinner, or offer to help them carry their groceries.

10. You can make people feel good about themselves. Compliments are nice.

11. You can make someone's day. You could do a nice thing for them and say something to them that makes them feel good about themselves (you may even have the ability to change someone's whole life!)

12. You can show yourself love and speak to yourself with kindness. This can make a big difference in how you feel and how you experience life.

13. You can read. You are reading this right now. You are so clever!

14. You can learn from your mistakes. This is important for awesomeness.

15. You can forgive people and choose not to draw attention to their mistakes or embarrassments.

16. You can educate yourself. You can take a course, ask questions, scroll on the internet, or read a book.

17. You can choose to not say things. Often this will help to ensure that you don't offend or upset people, which is awesome.

18. You can play games. Like Trivial Pursuit, noughts and crosses, thumb wars, hookey, peek-a-boo, or Barbies.

19. You can make food appear! By either cooking it, going to pick some up, making a phone call, or sometimes even just by expressing your desire to have it.

20. You can give people gifts, like time, or presents. People like gifts.

21. You can listen, either by using your ears or reading people's words. You can then make people feel heard and understood.

22. You can pick your nose, cry, burp, poo, wee, and/or vomit. This keeps you healthy and is amusing to small children. Your body is an incredible thing (that is a bit funny sometimes).

23. You can slow down or speed up your breathing. This can help to calm you down or pump you up.

24. You can get outside in nature. Being outside in nature is amazeballs. You should totally do it all the time.

25. You can be creative. You can think creatively, decorate a cake, draw a picture, choose your own adventure, fingerpaint, knit, fold your clothes in a different way, or make a dress out of an old towel. Creativity is awesome.

26. You can nourish your body with good food and water, sunshine, body lotions, rest, and all of the things it needs.

27. You can blink. This stops your eyeballs from drying out. That would be bad.

28. You can feel music. For real.

29. You can set mini goals for yourself and then feel awesome when you do them. Like, today I will get out of bed, or tomorrow I will get dressed. Or maybe this afternoon I will eat a piece of fruit, or put away the washing.

30. You can set big goals for yourself and work towards them. It is always good to have something you can work towards.

31. You can organise something that you can look forward to. Maybe a dinner with friends, a family holiday, a movie night, or a house cleaner.

32. You can wear hats, scarves, and clothes. They can make you feel different ways. They can make you smile, draw attention, or help you blend in.

33. You can get around. It's cool that we aren't stuck in the same place.

34. You have grown and your body is changing. We're lucky to be alive and getting older.

35. You have free will and can choose what consequences you are willing to accept.

36. You have a fight or flight response that helps to keep you safe.

You are awesome. I love you.

We are so fearfully and wonderfully made. What an incredible mess of functions, feelings, and miracles we are!

I think you are awesome. Keep it up.

Love, Marley x

"What Are Your Books About?"

This is the most common question that people ask me. I mean, it makes sense. The problem is that I suck at answering the question. So, instead of blurbs, here are my on-the-spot inarticulate pitches, just for fun...

THE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS SERIES

This whole series revolves around the internal thought life of women (hence the series title), and are only available as ebooks.

You Are Woman - Book 1 of the Thoughts and Feelings Series

You Are Woman

An unidentified woman talks about other women that she comes across - a bit like a social media scroll in real book life. It is easy for the unidentified woman to find things that make her feel inferior. It breaks each encounter up into three parts.

1. Unidentified woman talks about the other woman from her point of view (POV)

2. Outlines how the encounter makes a difference in the unidentified woman's life

3. Contrasts what the unidentified woman sees with reality (other woman's POV)

This is the most unconventional book that I have written. It is fairly short and parts of it are written in the third person. It's a bit weird, makes you think, and somewhat polarising.

You Are Viggy - Book 2 of the Thoughts and Feelings Series

You Are Viggy

This story is viewed through the same eyes as the unidentified woman and talks about her encounters with Viggy. The story follows Viggy as she deals with a lot of family crap in a healthy manner. Viggy contacts her cop ex-boyfriend, Bowie, for help with her druggy sister, which causes her to reevaluate her life on a drama-filled camping trip in the bush.

This is another short read, but very different from You Are Woman. It's a simple story that doesn't require any thought.

You Are You (living with dementia) - Book 3 of the Thoughts and Feelings Series

You Are You (living with dementia)

Jaclyn's mother starts behaving strangely and ends up getting diagnosed with dementia. Later, Jaclyn ends up with the same diagnosis. The book contrasts a painful, confusing, and frustrating dementia walk with the mother, against the kind and compassionate dementia walk with Jaclyn as a result of education and understanding.

I have been told that this is a very sad read. It wasn't my intention to write a very sad story, but I guess it is nearly impossible to write a happy story about dementia.

You Are Here - Book 4 of the Thoughts and Feelings Series

You Are Here

There are two main themes in this story:

1. Faith vs religion - Renee is raised in a cult and has expectations placed on her that are explained as being from God. Renee ends up being cast out of her church and family, and then has to try to get on with life while still carrying large amounts of guilt and shame. She then has to work out what having a faith in God really means.

2. The reach of a person and the impact that they have, without ever knowing it (and even after death, which also adds a 'dealing with mortality' theme).

Each of the characters in this story has some sort of connection with a person who dies. The death ends up bringing them together and helps them deal with issues that they have in their own lives.

THE EARTH LEGACY SERIES

The Silver Maid - Novella - Earth Legacy Series

The Silver Maid

Fern is a live-in housekeeper for a wealthy family, but her mother has a stroke and she has to go back to the tiny country town that she grew up in and face a bunch of skeletons that fall out of her closet.

This book is available for free. It is a short and easy read that is 'set in the same universe' as The Silver Sheep and The Silver Shepherd. Fern is housekeeper for the Silverson family, and Cleo Silverson is the main character in the other two Earth Legacy books.

The Silver Sheep - Book 1 of the Earth Legacy Series

The Silver Sheep

Rich people don't want the public to find out that they discovered how people can heal themselves and stay healthy. Cleo has an extremely dysfunctional family and finds out the secret. The rich people need to keep Cleo and her family quiet.

The Silver Shepherd - Book 2 of the Earth Legacy Series

The Silver Shepherd

Cleo can't live with the burden of the secret, but the rich people won't let her live if she doesn't keep it.

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Do you have an on-the-spot inarticulate pitch for a book that you'd like to share? What about the last book that you read? Try answering the question: What is this book about?

I bet you'll do a better job than me! haha

Much love,

Marley x