Titles

The first thing Toby said to me this morning was that there have been no updates to my blog yet. I informed him that yesterday was its first day in existence and that updates don't just magically appear overnight. He told me he was ready for another post, so here is the next installment.

I mentioned in my first post that I wasn't sure what I want to be when I grow up. Technically, I don't want to grow up, so that could be the hang-up. However, one career I would *love* to be successful at is writing. I think it would be great to be a successful novelist (and by successful, I mean be able to earn a decent living at it). Since meeting Travis (my son's flag football coach) and reading his blog, I have become even more interested in doing this (and more aware of how difficult it is to be successful). Over the past few weeks, my brain has been brewing possible novel titles, and I thought I'd share them with everyone. Is this blog copyrighted? If I put all my title ideas here, are they permanently mine and no one else can steal them? Oh well...here they are regardless...

Peaches and Battery Acid...a story about the struggles of a woman and a coach as they try to juggle love and life during basketball season.

Hit it With Your Purse, Hal...a story about the turmoils associated with the aging process.

Never Eat the Brown M&Ms...a collection of stories from previous careers (probation, teaching, nursing)

Failure to Descend...this title could be used for a variety of stories...action, romance, religious...who knows. The possibilities are endless!


And now, for the title of this blog. I told Toby that I didn't want to begin a blog until I had a good title for it, and my creativity was struggling. I also was using this as a last stronghold for my worst habit...procrastination. I figured that if I could use the excuse of not having a great title, I could hold out on starting this blog for a few more weeks...or months...or maybe even years. But then, Toby suggested "Sanding the Rails." He explained to me that when a train has been stopped on an incline and it is time to begin to move again, the engineer pulls a lever to release sand onto the rails ahead of the engine wheels to create friction. This allows the train to get traction and prevents the wheels from slipping (which would create a whole set of problems all on its own). This is known as "sanding the rails." After hearing this explanation, I knew that he had completely squashed my plans of procrastination. I felt that the title perfectly fit this situation, and life in general. Starting something new can be a slippery slope, but if we just remember to always sand the rails, we are much more likely to be successful than if we just continue with the status quo (which would have been procrastination for me). So, there it is. That's what the title of my blog means, and that's why I picked it. Any questions???

Eventually, I will add pictures and other cool stuff. I just don't have the time right now. Stay tuned for future updates.