ONE YEAR TO.......LIVE

If I had a year to devote to my passion, I wouldn’t quit my day job as a parent. I wouldn’t stop driving my family school bus, cleverly disguised as a Ford. I wouldn't forgoe my daily routines, like creating gourmet Hamburger Helper dishes for my three children. I wouldn’t stop being both Mom and Soccer Coach to them, and I would never bring to an end my attendance at their basketball games or dance recitals.

What I would do is slow down and relish every moment. The next time a woman steps out of her car and says to me, “And the Daddy took the T-bird away”, I would stop to laugh, instead of breaking eye contact and moving quickly to my car so I could rush to the next errand. If I stayed, maybe I could find out why she said it and why she chose to say it to me. This seemingly unbalanced individual could hold the secret to why I am the Pied Piper of the Deranged.

My objective would be to live. I could collect anecdotes from family, friends, and characters on the street. With this new found knowledge, I would try to create a piece of work that speaks to everyone who reads it. The 45 year old woman wearing a ¾ length down coat, and holding her pocketbook while riding a skateboard is probably more interesting than the celebrity that admits herself to rehab. I would weave a tale of desire and necessity in the hopes of changing the population’s perceptions of each other and our planet.

While spending every minute of that year gathering information, and figuring out how to appeal to both the believers and the skeptics in order to open their eyes, ears and minds to their fellow human beings and their environment, I would write something to brainwash the masses.

My tale would be rich with the eccentricities and unexplained of our world. In an amusing and almost subliminal way, I could demonstrate the lack of attention and mistreatment we often inflict on others and ourselves without even knowing it.

Every time we cross the street to avoid the crazy ranting guy mumbling to himself and his invisible friends out of fear of contact with someone a “little different”, we deny ourselves life experience and some entertainment. That unusual encounter can surprisingly manifest into joy and enlightenment. My job would be to keep the reader laughing while learning.

My point is that there are lessons to be learned from others' behavior and our reactions to it. Observing without judgment and taking responsibility for what we bring into our lives are steps toward the type of world we claim to want to live in.

Never expecting to create magnificent miracles like my children again, the best I would hope for is to bridge the gap between the haves and the have nots; the devout and the disappeared.

Creating an engaging story that subtly doubles as a handbook on life would enable me to accomplish one of my few life goals. The rest of my list includes things like making sure my kids see my eyes light up every time they enter the room, visiting the pyramids, and lastly, not dying due to apathy and neglect, all the while muttering the too common phrase, “I wish I would’ve….”

Are you living up to your passion potential? If I’m successful in conveying these ideas in a fun and quirky narrative, and convincing enough to get others to change, maybe you'll get right on that. If you do nothing but struggle through each day, never speaking out, maybe you never will.


 CF Winn is the award-winning author of The COFFEE BREAK SERIES, a hilarious group of short stories meant to be read while on break or in the waiting room of the doctor's office. Her first novella, SUKI, has been grabbing hearts and hugging souls all over the United States.

You can now order SUKI in paperback at BOOK REVUE, one of the nation’s largest independent bookstores, by email at info@bookrevue.com or by calling (631) 271-1442.
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