Listening to: “As the Rush Comes” by Motorcycle (remixed by Gabriel and Dresden)

I’ve done a lot of traveling the last two years: from Paris to Hvar, San Francisco to Brasov, I’ve been trotting the globe in search of inspiration, love, and story ideas….and boy, have I found ‘em! This year I’m focusing more on my writing, using the experiences I’ve gained in my travels and applying them to my writing. Now it’s finally time to sit down and hammer these babies out.

This week I’d like to share one of my travel experiences that eventually helped lead to a special love I have for England and for the greatest football club in the whole wide world: Manchester United. This love and passion of mine then got a story idea-a-brewin’, a book which I’ve already outlined and just need to “type up.”   This particular trip was also a fact-checking escapade for Gypsy 2, and the travel blog I created for the trip was recently featured on TravBuddy.com.

So without further ado, here is that journey as told through Facebook status updates, location check-ins, and timeline posts from friends:

Kay’s Thanksgiving Whirlwind Tour: London, Manchester, & Paris in 4 Days

Safe and happy travels, peeps!

K

Listening to:  “Undertow” by Sara Bareilles

Hellooooo, Internetland! Just a quick note to let you know that my travel blog, THANKSGIVING WHIRLWIND TOUR: London, Manchester, and Paris, was featured on TravBuddy.com on April 27th! (link to come)

I also received TravBuddy’s MHHR award for the week of April 14th. Badge is on my site here: http://www.travbuddy.com/kayemevans

Working on my Romania travel blog next along with some more reviews (tours, airlines, and more). Stay tuned!

Cheers to safe and happy travels for all, always!

Moi

An albatross around my neck
A setting sun inside my heart
A thousand thoughts inside my head
Of lips and words so sweetly dark

Dark…

Where it began to slowly start
So thick and rich and silky sharp
A thousand ships forever wrecked
Are miles away and worlds apart
Miles and miles and miles apart
Apart, it’s part, is partly part

This makes no sense
A song
Gone dark

Perfectly, so perfectly
So perfectly, I say
Narrowly, so narrowly
I narrowly escape
Fair-a-ly and bare-a-ly
And merrily I wait
Terribly and terribly
I’m terribly too late

Right is wrong and wrong is right
A mighty sword to wield so tight
A wicked witch to hold her fast
With hooks and claws and demons vast
Wrong is right, so rightly say
My heart shrivels inside of me
Cold and hardened, like a stone
The sweetest apple dies alone

Listening to:  “September” by Earth, Wind, and Fire (Soundtrack to Les Intouchables)

It’s rare that a book is so glorious, so magical, that I find myself completely trapped in that world….trapped, and aching to make myself a permanent resident there for all eternity.

That’s precisely what Stephanie Perkins has just done to me. Again.

I ♥ LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR as much, if not more than, ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS. Lola is a truly one of a kind character:  Anna (of AATFK) meets Lady Gaga in what you might call a “My Two Dads” spinoff set in one of the most magnificent cities in America:  San Francisco, baby! ♥ it, love Lola… The book has zest, the romance between Cricket and Lola is HOT without being too spicy or overdone, and the imagery is crystal clear — I could see see and smell and taste Lola’s world with such ferocity it gave me a hankering for kiwi pie and a fashion makeover.

I’m also aaaaaching to see San Francisco now. And to eat HopDoddys in ATX, but that’s a story for a different post.

A good friend of mine is always telling me I’m “overthinking”: “You’re overthinking things, Kay.”  Or when I’m in a frazzle and I’m reeeeally testing her patience: “STOP OVERTHINKING THINGS, KAY! JUST STOP!”

She’s right.  She’s right, and she keeps telling me, but I keep overthinking everything.  It’s so dumb, and it’s ever so exhausting.  Bleck.

So how do I stop? I mean, thinking things through thoroughly is a good thing when you’re plotting out a novel–intense scrutiny is what helps you nail the key details.  But writing a novel and living life are two completely different things.  In real life, you can’t hold every single little thing under a microscope.  It wouldn’t be practical.  Nor sane.

True, some analysis can be a good thing, especially if you have a problem you’re attempting to solve.  There’s nothing wrong with lifting the veil on some element of confusion or concern.  But the time and energy it takes to really and truly scrutinize — frankly, your brainpower could be better spent elsewhere.

That’s why I’m trying to teach myself not to overthink things.  First thing’s first: I must untrain myself from the negative behavior and then retrain myself in the correct behavior.  I’ve done this before (with smoking), and it’s really, really hard.  Hard, but possible.  But hard.

But POSSIBLE.

This next poem came to me awhile back.  I can’t remember what prompted the lyrics, but I do remember I had been out for a jog.  Maybe I was overthinking something, and this was my way of telling myself to “STOP OVERTHINKING THINGS! JUST STOP!”

Random Poem #5 by Kay Em Evans

Call me crazy
Baby
Maybe
Lives long past
For every
Daisy
The sun is full
The moon has set
It’s never long
I long forget
Long to forget
The things I see
You see it’s just
A part of me
Forever lost
In hope’s regret
A day without
Is Heaven sent