I’m Still A Race Fan…

… Though you’d probably never know because I haven’t talked about it in, well, all of last season and my driver won it all. He’s the current Nascar champion.

I didn’t even watch most of the Nascar races last season.

Why not? Why did I end up taking a nap during most of the races I did watch? Because it’s become…tame. And boring. The leader would get out in front of the pack and runaway more often than not. The rivalry’s that the sport used to have are gone. The tension between drivers is just… Boring. Even when my driver won. Still. I found it boring and lacking any sort of real excitement. I mean, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch have grown up and put their issues to bed and it’s been years since we’ve seen a good Kevin Harvick hood walking, jump and land a punch fight because tensions were high and there were wins on the line. Now… it’s just… It’s money driven. Keep the car clean. Keep the sponsors happy. Tow the line.

I’d rather see the knock-down, see the fire, see the spark. But, that’s just me.

I also haven’t been to a race in a couple of years. I didn’t want to pay that much money to people watch when I could go almost anywhere else within a 50 mile radius to find people doing stupid shit. Maybe not belly flopping in the mud after guzzling beer stupid, but ya know, sacrifices.

That’ll change this upcoming season, though. My son’s favorite driver since, oh… ’95, is retiring. Jimmie Johnson. So, we’ll be taking the 7 minute drive to Charlotte Motor Speedway a couple times to see him race in his final season.

The race watching has already begun in our house: Supercross began a couple weeks ago. And the Rolex 24 is this upcoming weekend from Saturday at 1:30pm until Sunday at 1:40pm. I plan to camp out in the living room, get TrackPass from NBC Sports Gold, and indulge. And bonus… Kyle Busch will be taking part in his first Rolex 24 in car #14, GT Daytona.

Plus, I stressed myself so much over the last few years with writing, or the lack thereof, that I didn’t take time for things I enjoyed (I didn’t even watch half the college football that I usually watch). I spun my wheels, did absolute shit to achieve any sort of meaningful progress for all my talk of mindset shifts and insights and whatever… None of it meant anything because I didn’t make any of the changes that needed to be made. I paid lip service, acknowledged some wrongdoing, wrong ways of thinking, but didn’t do the conscious work and it is work, very hard work, beyond journaling, to get through the internal bullshit and make real moves forward into a different mental and emotional place.

This year, though… 2020? Yeah, I’ve started actually doing the work. And it’s included taking some time away from the desk, to do things that make me happy. It’s mostly been reading, but I’m branching out to include other things… This topic is a post for another day, though. For now, just know, I’m taking time to smell the proverbial roses, and that includes bright, shiny cars with high powered engines.

You can take the girl away from Nascar, but you can’t take Nascar away from the girl…or something like that. That was bad, I know. Go on and roll your eyes. I did.

And yes, all this racing inspires other things that I’ll talk to you about at a later date, things like words…

Lissa

Tune In and Tune Up Thursday – Inspiration

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When I wake up in the morning, I grab my phone and check email, Facebook, Twitter, my Amazon KDP dashboard (this one always makes me want to pull the covers over my head and hide), and Pinterest.

Twitter isn’t often fun for me anymore. My feed is full of links to blogs, books…things so scheduled out that I’m never sure anyone is actually there. I hate that. I understand the need and ability to schedule tweets or send all your social media posts automatically, but it’s called SOCIAL for a reason… and Twitter is meant to be social. My feed is no longer social. It’s a bunch of headlines and links. No engagement, no investment. This is fine and works for some. Not me. I like a good mix of interaction and links to what’s out there beyond my usually small window.

But today, I found some inspiration on Twitter…the most unlikely of places.

I’m a sports fan. We all know this about me. If you don’t know it, stick around, you will soon enough. After all, football season is only 5 months away. 😉 And golf is getting into full swing… (see what I did there?)StickShift300

But, I’m a race fan. It goes back to when my son was little and seeing the cars on the track on TV helped him speak, helped him learn, helped him stand…

I’ve got a small racing series I write that I hope becomes a bigger series with spins offs and all sorts of fun. I have to be careful with the terms I use in my books, terms like Nascar, and the images I use on covers. But the basics of my book series stem from stock car racing, my own little fictional world where I can have and voice opinions, where I can share a few things I’ve learned over the years going to races, listening to radios and scanners, touring pit road, and seeing the garages.

And while I’ve been considering a spin-off, one of the directions I didn’t even know I wanted to go in hit me hard this morning. It was a total light bulb moment. It is a brilliant and fun and so full of possibilities direction, I can hardly stand it.

And this, my friends, is what writing is all about for me. It’s all about passion. What I’m passionate about. It’s not really going to sell a lot, because I’m not writing in a trending sub-genre of roamnce. I’m not changing who I am to write something. Through my writing, I am finding me, and I think that makes for a better, more fun book because it’s a journey I can take readers on.

GrindingGearsWhat is this new idea? Nope. Not sharing yet. What I will say is it’ll be full of fast cars, strong women, and hot yummy guys… And you’ll see more information soon.

I love inspiration and being inspired and when it comes along in places I no longer really enjoy, that’s makes it all the more special because it makes me realize that perhaps I shouldn’t give up just yet…

If you don’t follow me on Twitter, click HERE. I would love to tweet with you.

Stay tuned, y’all…

~lissa

 

 

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