Leap Write In

Invite your jittery mind into quiet slips of timed or untimed writing experiments that are designed to encourage your timid heart to forge forgotten feelings and entice your shy-self to make friends with emerging emotions. With a bounty of prompts to select from, you’ll be inspired to explore all the wacky, confusing, brave, soul-stirring wonderings and wanderings of your emerging life’s inner treasure in a way that’s sure to unleash what you most need to say. In this book you’ll find: • On-the-Spot Drops that offer quick “free-fall” prompts on different themes, such as short-winded poems and seven-line stories. • Mini Memoirs to unlock personal narrative to share, or not. • Suddenly a Story suggestions to explore feelings and states of being like fear, reluctance, compassion, kindness, anxiety, anger, jealousy, happiness, and more. • Surprise Yourself Surveys for those who think they know everything about themselves. • Untie-Your-Mind Word Lists to jump-start stalled imaginations. • Definition Decoders to introduce new ideas and styles of writing. Created especially for tweens, teens, and other earthlings, this book provides you with a chance to create imaginative poems, stories, fragments, and real-life on-the-spot sketches. All that’s required is that you take a breath, relax, reset, and leap write in!

At once inspiring, hilarious, and honest, the new book from Alexandra Heminsley chronicles her endeavor to tackle a whole new element, and the ensuing challenges and joys of open water swimming. “It's a meditative act,” they said. But it was far from meditative for Alexandra Heminsley when yet another wave slammed into her face. It was survival. When she laced up her shoes in Running Like a Girl, all she had to do to become a runner was to get out there and run. But swimming was something else entirely. The water was all-consuming, confusing her every move, sabotaging every breath. Determined, Alexandra would learn to adapt, find new strengths, and learn to work with the water. She does not want to stand on the beach looking at the sea any longer. She wants to leap in. In doing so she will learn not just how to accept herself, but how to accept what lay beyond. Soon, she will be able to see water, anywhere in the world and sense not fear but adventure. She will dive into water as she hopes to dive into life. And it has nothing to do with being “sporty” or being the correct shape for a swimsuit. Open water swimming is currently one of the fastest growing sports in the world, and marathon swimming is the only sport where men and women do not race in separate categories. The water welcomes all who are willing and prepared to take part, and as Alexandra shows in her wondrous and funny book, not knowing how to do something is not necessarily a weakness—strength lies within the desire to learn. The time is now to leap in, and revel in what you thought was beyond you, discovering that it was only ever you holding you back.

Natalie's passion is dance, and she's looking forward to a summer of perfecting her technique at dance camp. Plus, she's just turned fifteen -- a momentous age that means she's now officially a grown-up. But while her mom doesn't seem to have got the memo, Kevin, her best friend Sasha's older brother, has. Caught up with the excitement of Kevin's attention, their relationship quickly becomes intimate and all-consuming. Over the summer, Natalie goes from being in love and lust with Kevin to realizing that he is not the guy she thought he was. The worst is that she may have lost her friendship with Sasha. When Natalie turns to her single mom for advice, she gets a shock. Her mom has fallen in love with a woman. Losing her virginity, dealing with her new understanding of her mother, and trying to re-negotiate her friendships, Natalie turns to dancing as the only certain thing in a life full of questions. When a new teacher introduces her to modern dance, she gains confidence and a new sense of herself. Girls will be drawn to Leap's frank discussion of first love, first times -- sex, drinking, break-ups -- and the struggle between doing what feels right and doing things to please others.

Discusses the Buddhist concept of shenpa in order to describe how to become free from the destructive energy experienced during moments of conflict.

The key to unlocking your potential isn't in training harder or doing more sophisticated workouts. It's in thinking better about your training. Think better, train better.Make the Leap provides athletes and coaches a step-by-step guide to thinking more effectively about all aspects of training. It begins with an explanation of what "leaps" are, why they happen, and the "Build, Leap, Sustain" Leap Cycle all athletes go through.It then breaks down, via 11 Optimal Training Principles, 4 mental model spotlights and numerous stories, visuals, and tactical suggestions, exactly how to think better about your training. Some of these topics include:- the importance of attitude and mindset- the Hidden Training Program and how to reveal it- systems vs purposeful practice and when to implement them- North Star goals vs Next Step goals, and how to set each effectively- the four types of mistakes and how to make them better- and many other topics, including the author's powerful Momentum ModelTwo-time National Coach of the Year Ken Reeves said of the book: "A mental running clinic in book form, Make the Leap allows an individualized approach for each person that reads the book. Put it next to your bed stand for that 15 minutes of reading every night. It has the potential to inspire and educate you each and every reading."Olympians, hall of fame coaches, and competitive runners all agree: this book will help you and your athletes think better, train better, and make the leap.

Back cover Many suicides left a mystery behind them in this world. Were they crazy? Were they evil? Or were they ill? I used to think they were simply stupid until the day when I became one of “them”. My name is Nancy Xia. At age eighteen, I made a desperate attempt to end my life. Miraculously, I survived, but I sustained a severe injury and will live with a physical disability for the rest of my life. . . Thirteen years later, however, I am a happy and productive person. I love life and I love to live. I feel like I have an obligation to speak for others who were lost forever to suicide. After reading this book, it is my hope that you will come away with a better understanding of mental illness and a fresh and insightful perspective on some of the most troublesome social issues of our time around mental health. For these reasons, I feel profoundly compelled to share my story with you.

Kermit the Frog shares the behind-the-scenes story of his climb from swamp to Hollywood, and offers advice on attaining dreams, finding love, overcoming obstacles, and other topics.

'Engaging and luminous' -Rosalie Ham, author of The Dressmaker '. engrossing and compassionate' -Paddy O'Reilly, author of The Wonders '. tender and surprising' -Kalinda Ashton, author of The Danger Game Joe lives-despite himself. Driven by the need to atone for the neglect of a single tragic summer's night, he works at nothing jobs and, in his spare time, trains his body and mind to conquer the hostile environment that took his love and smashed up his future. So when a breathless girl turns up on the doorstep, why does he let her in? Isn't he done with love and hope? On the other side of the city, graphic designer Elise is watching her marriage bleed out. She retreats to the only place that holds any meaning for her-the tiger enclosure at the zoo-where, for reasons she barely understands, she starts to sketch the beautiful killers. Leap is a beautiful urban fairytale about human and animal nature, and the transformative power of grief. While at its heart is a searing absence, this haunting and addictive novel is propelled by an exhilarating life force, and the eternally hopeful promise of redemptive love. '. a writer who knows how to draw us in by portraying what it is to love and lose in a real sense.' -Georgia Blain, author of The Secret Lives of Men