Tag: goals

New Year, New Chapter

Amy Schisler

Merry 5th Day of Christmas! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas weekend and is looking forward to the new year.

2021 wasn’t all that much better than 2020. With the exception of things opening and the promising vaccines and treatments, the fear rippling through our world remains, especially with non-stop news coverage of the dire situation we’re in. Despite the vaccines and treatments and lower risks strains, everyone is still being told that this is practically the end stages of Armageddon. Of course, if that is the case, I know that I had better step up my game before that final day of judgment!

The point is, there’s a lot of hope that 2022 will be a game changer. We want life to go back to normal, to be able to spend time with friends and family without fear, and to travel, go to the theater, and do all the things we used to do (and without masks). No matter how you feel about the virus or the treatments or the masks, I’m sure you hope that the day will be here soon when we can live like it’s 2019!

And that has me thinking…

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Listing for Love

Amy Schisler


Ken and Amy's Wedding33-001I am a list maker.  I’ve been a list maker since I first learned to write and realized the magic that accompanies crossing off things accomplished.  Sometimes, the more I cross off, the more I add to my list. I’ve had a list on my desk for about a month now that lays out all that I want to accomplish this fall.  My Katie laughs when she reads it because one item is “Write a book.”

“You’re always writing a book, Mom, but that’s so cute.”

Yes, I’m always writing a book, but to see it on a list makes it real, makes it something that must be done and must be crossed off.  It’s a means to an end. Read more →

Buckets Of Dreams

Amy Schisler


DSC02792Several years ago, a movie starring Jack Nicholson made the phrase “bucket list” a regular part of our vocabulary. Nowadays, I hear people talking all the time about things that are on their bucket list.  I’ve never really had what I called a bucket list, but I’ve always had several life goals that I hope to achieve. Some have a set timeline, and others are just lofty aspirations.

Of course, as a young woman, my goal was to have a career that I enjoyed, a husband who I loved, and happy and healthy children. I was able to achieve all of those things at an early age having met my husband just after graduating from college. Ken and I were blessed to have three beautiful girls by the time I was 31. I worked as a librarian for 15 years, a job that I absolutely loved, and then we were lucky enough to have the stability for me to stay home and begin my next career as a writer. I’ve dreamed of being a published author since I was about eight years old, and now I have two published books and a new novel coming out next month!

But of course, those aren’t exactly bucket list items. My list of life goals is not very long, so I have every reason to believe that I will be able to reach them. Nothing on the list is impossible, and nothing is quite as exciting as bungee jumping over Victoria Falls or climbing Mount Everest. Still, I hope that my list will inspire you to start thinking about your own list. After all, what is life without lofty goals? Read more →

What’s Your Dream?

Amy Schisler


IMG_1449“Welcome to Hollywood!  Everyone’s got a dream.  What’s your dream?” Those are both the opening and the closing lines in the movie Pretty Woman, a story in which every young woman’s childhood dream is realized when Vivian is swept off her feet by Mr. Right, a very rich and very handsome Mr. Right (okay, I would argue that she actually swept him off of his feet, but you get the point).  Though many would argue, understandably so, that the road Vivian took to find her dream – running away from home, living on the streets, becoming a prostitute, and being hired by Edward for the week – is not the best way to achieve one’e dream, it’s those words that open and close the movie that come back to me over and over again.  I hear them echoing in my mind at least once a week, but I can’t really explain to you why.  After all these years, I’ve decided to chalk it up to my inner voice constantly reminding me that as a little girl I had a dream that until recently was nothing more than a wispy cloud elusively hovering just out of reach as I stretched my hand out the window on a mountain road. Read more →