A This and That Post

Always after a rousing writers meeting, I feel the need to take status of where I'm at with my writing.

Right now, I'm doing some line edits for a friend's book --she writes looooong ones so it will take awhile but I wanted to set some time aside to do it. So that's my first priority.

But it's hard not to write for myself in the meantime, so I also started a new WIP. YAY! At 1000 words but this time, I'm trying to do something different--- make myself outline the plot. A twist for me as I usually just write from the seat of my pants.

I've found that to get a good plot, I better plan it out. I have fought against doing it this way but am finding that the great story gets the attention--not the good structure. I just read a blog about it thanks to another blogger's post(Cindy) and thought--yup--that's me. Craft is okay but my story ideas need work.

Other than that, I've submitted a few short stories and I'm finally reading a book--Pecoult's newest one.

But you what I enjoy more than anything? Blogging. Wouldn't it be nice if we got paid for it?

There's my this and that report. Would love to hear yours!

An Open Book

I sat across from him yesterday—across the circle of chairs that made up our Sunday School class. I knew he was going through the same transition as my husband and I were. But he described this phase of life after children and before retirement in quite a unique way. My teacher said the time when you raise your children is like reading a good book—a long book –and when it’s over, you’re left with this empty feeling because you came to the end and hoped you never would.

Then you have to search the shelves for another good book.

I’ve never looked at this time in my life quite this way. As I look back, each chapter of parenthood held suspense and excitement with the ever changing cast of supporting characters as my daughter grew. I watched as she developed and made decisions at the critical crossroads in her life. I cried and I laughed with her and my husband over every day events. But on that final day as I hugged her goodbye when she climbed into the wedding car with her new husband, I knew I’d read the last chapter of that book.

Today I’m still searching for my next good book to read. I’m wondering who the characters will be, where the setting will take place and what issues I’ll have to overcome. I don’t care for the one I’m forced to read right now and sometimes I feel like throwing it down and grabbing a new one but that’s not my choice.

All good books take time to write. I’m thankful I know the Author of mine as well as I do. Do you?

Actions do speak louder

I forgot to turn my cell phone on the past two days. This morning, I finally put a new battery in it at the urging of my daughter. Two mesages rang through.

The first brought a smile to my lips as I listened to an awkward rendition of "Happy Birthday" from her. The second caused me to trip in my steps to my next mission.

The caller was a writer friend who I'd met a few years ago at another writer's group in town. Bob had left word that a writer we both knew had recently lost her husband. She wanted me to come to the service next week.

I haven't seen this woman in months and then only briefly. But at our last time of sharing, I'd learned her husband of 50+ years was dying. She'd put on a brave front but I knew her day-to-day life wasn't easy as she struggled to care for him at home.

I mentioned earlier this week how writers bond--how we strive to put our words on paper--how we strive to share our thoughts in an approved manner. How we are all hoping to make our dreams a reality.

But I don't have words today to adequately convey how this woman's request makes me feel. I'm moved that a writer, through a sprinkling of moments across a table in the backroom of a library, feels comfortable enough to reach out to her fellow writers in a time of deep need. I'm saddened because I didn't do more than offer a quick condolence when I first learned about her struggle.

We say so much through our written words but we say even more through our actions. Is there a writer in your circle today who might need more than a quick edit or a lead? Please don't shrug the nudge off--it might be your best opportunity to make a difference.

A closer look

It’s amazing the different personalities that abound through blogging. I’ve run into so many kinds of people here—both writers and non-writers—all with a common bond.

We enjoy sharing our hearts.

I don’t know if you’re like me, but I try to get around to as many blogs I can and really read the writer’s words. Then I try to answer as honestly as I can too. Sometimes I’m successful, sometimes I’m not.

But in all that writing and reading, I’ve been discovering, little by little, who I really am as a writer.

Have you noticed what kind of topics you like to post about most? Have you become aware of the style that gives you the greatest satisfaction?

I have.

I know I don’t do devotions well. I know I don’t do posts with tons of scripture well either. And I know I stink at Fiction Friday. So it makes me wonder where I need to take my writing.

I started this blog to document my journey into writing and to meet some awesome people. Done both! I’ve listed writer information, shared what I’ve learned and how I learned it, bragged about my successes and cried about my failures.

I’ve tried to share my heart. You know why? Because that’s the kind of writer I want to be. Because that's the kind of writing I enjoy reading.

Take a look at your blog. Have you discovered what kind of writer you are yet?

Oh the times they are a-changing...

I can't tell you how blessed I am from your comments on my last post. What an encouraging group of blogger friends I have here! Anyways, one of you said that you should "Do it afraid," if you can't do it anyothe way.

I took her advice. I never do anything on the spur of the moment. I've told you I'm a die-hard planner.

But I am changing. On Sunday, my husband asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday after church. What I really wanted to do was run away. So that's what we did. We threw some clothes in our car, grabbed my birthday gift money and gift cards and headed south. Part of me wanted to turn around and be practical like we did on our first anniversary. We'd thrown our suitcases in the car then when we lived in VA but then turned around an hour later and bought a stereo for our car. Curt spent the day installing it while I watched.

Sometimes old habits are hard to break. But I did this past Sunday.

It was a great way to start my new year. We explored Sanibel Island together and strolled the shell-filled beach. I wish I could have spent more than hours there but it was enough to renew my spirit. When we came home last night, our power was out for a few hours so my hiatus away from phone messages and the computer continued.

But I have a ton to catch up on starting with looking again at your sweet messages and reading your blog posts--my favorite part of the day. Look for me--I'll be around!

But let me ask you this--do you live in the moment?

A Little Secret

Warning! This post might border on the personal. If that thought makes you uncomfortable, you might want to click on to the next blog.
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I get intimidated easily. Not by annoying telemarketers who call my house despite the no-call list—not by rude line-hoppers who barge in front of me at the post office—not by my daughter’s off the cuff remarks about my baggie jeans.

So who makes me feel like hiding under my chair? Who makes me feel like a six-year old child starting her first day of school? Who makes me wonder if I’ll ever measure up?

I’m not sure I have enough space here but for starts—those people who can memorize God’s word(I never ever could), the women who teach ladies groups,(I’d faint) all the people who are just more spiritual than I am. Pathetic, I know.

Sometimes if you talk about something or pull that elephant out into the room—it disappears.

I’m going to be 54 years old tomorrow and I wonder when do I start to feel confident? When do I feel all grown-up? Been in church since I was a child (minus a few running around years) and should know my stuff. Ask me to tell you a particular verse and I have to thumb through my Bible to find it. Stand up in front of people?? I’d rather watch a room full of babies for a month.

This whole intimidation thing also runs over into my writing. Now hang on, this is where I get really honest.

I get intimidated by writers who have been published by the big companies. Last summer, I had the opportunity to meet many of these writers and interview them. Picture sweaty palms and squeaky voice. When I sat down with Karen Kingsbury, I called her Karen Kingsley. My favorite writer and I messed her name up. I couldn’t get under that chair fast enough. I hate to even leave comments on websites of those who have several books to their names.

So how did this happen? And when does it all go away? I’m not really sure it does for some of us. I still feel like shaking in my shoes when someone sends me an edit in red. I always hated getting bad grades.

So now I’ve bared my soul—my deepest darkest secret. A good way to start a new year.

Maybe I should hold my breath as I click post.

Happy Day and hope you can throw off all your fears too!

Think and Make it Happen Review

Think and Make It Happen

The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Overcoming Negative Thoughts, and Discovering Your True Potential
Jacketed Hardcover
By Dr. Augusto Cury
Take control of your past, your memory, your emotions, your life!
While in medical school, Dr. Augusto Cury became fascinated with the impact a healthy mind can have on emotions and life. After many years of research and founding The Intelligence Institute, he concluded:
Every person is a genius because everyone has the power to think.
Harnessing "mind power" has been scientifically proven to enhance a person's physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.
The human act of thinking is the greatest wonder of the universe.
In Think, and Make It Happen, Dr. Cury unveils the multifocal intelligence process showing readers how to master their emotions, stress, thoughts, and relationships, as well as how to become creative thinkers and revolutionary leaders. Complete with a 12-week program, participants will learn to apply the universal laws for quality of life to their own lives: authorship, beauty, creativity, sleep, thoughts, emotions, memory, listening, dialogue, drive, and spirituality and celebration and start experiencing the life they desire.

This is not your typical book review.

I sent to Thomas Nelson for Think and Make It Happen by Dr. Augusto Cury because of the title. It drew me in even though it was a book written by a psychologist and reminded me a little of courses I'd taken in college. But the part that convinced me to give it a try is the blurb below the title: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Overcoming Negative Thoughts, and Discovering Your True Potential.

In this recession, I doubt not one person exists who isn't struggling with some negative thoughts with all the negative news on TV and in the papers. When I received the book, I found one of the best ways to read it is by breaking it into twelve weeks.

After about my third week into it, my husband picked it up and read it too--his first book on psychology. He was hooked.

What did we get from it? Dr. Cury writes you need to be an actor on your own stage--don't sit out there in the audience watching from afar. Take charge. Be the author of your own story.You'll find unexpected happiness as you unlock reasons why you react the way you do to upsetting situations today. He talks of our memories as being like windows and we need to shut the old ones down that cause us pain and open new ones to new situations.

How is this a Christian book? Dr. Cury neatly ties in Jesus and his time on earth as a man andhow He responded to stressful situations. He draws some good conclusions for our own behavior today.

What didn't I like about this book? Some of the terminology gets confusing as he introduces different techniques and anachronisms. It isn't a one or two day read. But if you take your time and work through the chapters, you will take away some definite ideas on how to stop thinking so negatively and quite possibly--change your life.

What's on YOUR planner?

I'm a goal setter. Always have been. Attend college, find a husband, start a career, have a child, pay off the house. I've always had a plan.

When I worked as a counselor, I'd meet weekly with my clients to write and revise their monthly goal plans. I'd break it down in small attainable steps to ensure success. Same as I did for myself.

I don't know how to function without goals.

So when I started my writers group, I asked each person to share with the other members what they were working on and planned to work on the next month. Eight months later, I see marked results.

When I first started writing, I wasn't even sure what goals a writer should have. The whole concept of writing seemed as fuzzy as my bedroom slippers. I wrote because I liked to. After four years, I finally have a clearer picture of what I need to be doing. After all, writing isn't only about the writing. Words like submitting, editing, querying, marketing appear on my daily planner.

How about you? What's on your planner this month?

Prayer Update

I'm headed out the door but something made me stop and pause a moment. When I read my devotional this morning, I thought about the many prayers being said on behalf of my family for the needs we are experiencing right now.

When we pray for others, we don't always hear when and how God is working. But He is!

I just wanted to share some of the ways He is answering my prayers and yours.

This week we learned that employees who are on COBRA and who were let go during last Sept. through this year might be eligible for a 65% subsidy on their cost for nine months. I happened to read it in the newspaper and I'm pretty sure we qualify. It also will back date to Feb. 17th, the day the bill was put into effect. I pay almost $800 a month for medical benefits so you can imagine the savings!

God is answering prayers in ways we can't even begin to imagine.

Yesterday, we ate out at Red Lobster compliments of a gift card from a neighbor for watching her pets one weekend.

Today another friend is taking me out for lunch for my birthday.

I'm counting my blessings. I wanted to share them with you and also say thank you. The day is quickly approaching when I will be able to announce we are employed again. And it might be closer than I think!

Keep chasing the doubt away and enjoy your day writing!

Just another pretty Facebook

I finally gave in. I joined Facebook.

Why did I think I needed another social network when I already belonged to Faithwriters, Shoutlife, FWA, ACFW, Godlinked, Writer Interrupted, Blogging. . . I 'm crazy to do it, I thought, but a friend said to give it a try.

What I found surprised me. A Clearinghouse of all my networks combined! Imagine the rings of the Olympics. Each circle is a group of friends and they all connect.

So I'm hooked. I don't have to visit all the boards--all my college friends, relatives, writer friends and hometown friends are together on one page.

Am I the last person to give in? Are you all there already? Find me!

Moratorium

I'm taking a moratorium this week. Not from blogging but from fear, doubt, anxiety and stress.

Actually, my birthday is Sunday and since we aren't buying gifts for each other, I came up with a better way to celebrate.

My husband and I agreed that starting today through Sunday, we wouldn't watch the news on TV. When we do, it only depresses us further. Not fun. I also wanted us to take a mini-vacation in our worries and not talk about our situation except in the positive.

Sounds easy--might not be--but I can't think of a better gift. A week of no worrying and no pressure. A week to focus on enjoying the day and not thinking about the what-ifs. I felt much lighter this morning already.

How about you? Is there something you could declare a moratorium on in your life for a week?

Stretching

I love this picture. Not because the subjects are two of my favorite people in the whole world. No, I love it because of what they are doing.

When was the last time you kicked your feet into the sky? When was the last time you felt no limits? When was the last time your joy came from stretching yourself into the unknown?

If my husband could have captured the shot as I asked, you'd find me seated in the swing next to her--trying my best to keep up. A silly picture, I know, maybe it's best he didn't get a good one, but I was trying nevertheless.


It's been years since I've been on a swing. I wasn't sure I'd even be able to do it without puking my guts across the playground sand. But I held on and tipped my head back and enjoyed the rush.

Today I get that similar sensation from writing--a post here--a submission there. But the real rush comes when I stretch myself and write a book and then . . . actually submit it someplace. Out into the unknown. Into territory I haven't imagined since I was a child and dreaming about outer space as I played on the monkey bars or teeter-totters.

We can do little to stop our bodies from growing older. But we can keep our spirits and dreams as young as we please.

I'm planning on swinging as high as my legs can pump me. I might even flip the swing set over like my sisters and I used to do in our backyard.

Are you stretching yourself? Or are you leaning against the fence watching everyone else feel the joy?

Remembering the Miracle

Sometimes the miracle is in the remembrance.

Finding hope during unemployment can be a day-to-day struggle. Last night I felt a little like Peter who reached out to Jesus during the storm but then started to sink in his doubt and fear. Deciding I’d had enough for one day, I retired to bed early and read my devotion.

I’m not sure what prodded me, but I glanced over toward my stack of journals and pulled out the one marked 2001—the year my husband, daughter and I left PA and everyone we knew to start a new life in Florida.

As I started to read, I could once again hear the concern in my voice. We’d taken a major pay cut to move here. Making the choice to put our daughter in a private Christian school as well as additional unprepared costs like tolls, gas and house maintenances had taken a toll on our finances.

Then I turned the page to December 24th. I remembered how lonely and homesick we were after eight months away from home and now we were spending Christmas Eve in seventy-five degree weather. Money was tight and again the fears that we made a wrong choice still filled the lines.

I read what I’d written: Special Blessing came in the mail today from a lawyer of a man my husband once knew as a boy. He’s chosen to remember Curt in his will.

Sometimes the miracle is in the remembrance.

Last night God reminded me how he can do the impossible during impossible times. When the check arrived six months later, it was just enough to cover my daughter’s tuition for the next school year.

I’m waiting for my next miracle.

Mousing around

My mouse is dying. I wriggle the wire and it revives only to die again when I least expect it.

We bought my husband a new one yesterday—the outing was to find me one but his had a different plug (mine is a USB) and so we bought his at Target, drove back to Kmart where mine would be cheaper and found out there weren’t any. By this time, dinner called and I wanted to go home.

So I had to resort to using that annoying pad under my thumbs. The one that makes my letters jump all over the page. The one that I didn’t realize had a shut off when I bought this laptop and had to go back to the store and complain that I needed another key board for it to work. Imagine my surprise when the young know-it-all techie showed me the off switch.

If I don’t have the right tools, I don’t want to do the job.

One of the tools I need to write with is a head filled with great ideas. Today all my head is saying is, “Find a cookie and eat it.” Earlier, it said, “Work out since you haven’t in over a month,” but I politely ignored that one.

So my brain will try to revive itself for the rest of the day.

I wish I had one of those off switches.

Across the table

My mother-in-law has a favorite saying,”If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything.” How well I remember some lengthy silences around their dinner table when I was a young bride and expressing some of my more out-there ideas about life. But even though they remained silent, their facial expressions still came across loud and clear—I was treading on sacred ground.

After several years passed, I came to understand my new family’s way of life. I’d been raised in a different town and they were country folk—living on a dairy farm with values much different than my own.

Eventually, I learned to keep my more brash opinions to myself. Eventually, I came to understand why they felt the way they did and you know; it was okay. No longer did I need to be right or think that everyone had to agree with me.

I still express my feelings and ideas but much more often on paper than in person because I can still read facial expressions. They aren’t always what I’m hoping for.

We have an immense freedom as writers. We can write about almost anything we want and not see our readers’ immediate reactions. That gives us a safety net—unless the reader chooses to track us down and tell us how they feel.

We also have an immense obligation as writers. I want my readers to think about what I’ve written and feel comfortable responding. I don’t want them to sit across the table from me with an expression that asks, “Why would you even say that?”

Sometimes I am still that twenty-one-year old new bride with some strong 70’s opinions. Sometimes I let some words and thoughts slip that I should have thought more about before I did. But what’s different now is I care about that look that comes back to me.

Do you?

The Right Power

Yesterday I held the Power. I cradled that slim silver clicker in my hand for four hours while my husband helped his friend with math two rooms away.

At first, I did what any woman does who finally feels the power in her grip—I channel surfed all four hundred plus stations. I paused on each home show and then pushed further until I landed on a program I hadn’t watched in years. Lifetime movies soon filled my void for tear-jerking drama. I sniffled, cried and sighed through two heartbreaking movies with the power clutched tightly in my fist.

Don’t you wish we had that power in our lives when it came to the events that cause us our most grief, worry or pain?

When I wake each morning, I wish I could point the clicker at the phone and make it ring with a dozen job offers. I wish I could click it at my computer and make the perfect email appear accepting my latest query. I wish when I go to my accountant’s today to do our taxes that with one point of the power—she’d tell us we were getting a landslide of a return back.

I wish . . .

What I need to do is get back to the basics. No amount of wishing power is going to turn me into a bestselling author. No amount of wishing power is going to bring my husband or myself a job to save us in this recession.

The only power I need and already have is the power of prayer. And I can grasp that power right after I wake up each morning or right before I walk into the accountant’s office today or right before I click send with my latest story.

Are you clutching the right kind of power today? The good news is we don’t have to wait for our husband to leave the room to use it.

The Flip Side

For anyone who read some of my posts this week, you can see the struggle some of the days brought. But as always, there's a flip side.

So I recieved a rejection this week from a query. A rejection I prayed wouldn't come. Don't we always? We think THIS IS THE ONE!! And when it isn't, we tell ourselves a zillion lies and try to move on. This particular rejection was one of the nicest ones I've had. Yes, still hurt but I am sure the editor hated doing her job. I thank her for taking some extra time to soften the blow.

I heard some great news this morning. People have written in to some of the major news channels asking then to report some good news instead of all this gloom and doom. My husband and I had thought about writing in too but never did. So thank you to those people who took positive action because starting next week, the channel is going to change their style.

I worry about my blog writing in that same way. Do I get too down and spell it out too much? Do I talk about the negative in my life and not enough about what God is doing to get me through? I hope I offer a good balance because some times, my days rise before me like a cliff and other days, I charge forward without a thought.

The flip side is this: no matter what is getting me down, I know I will get through. I have God on my side and Who else do I need?

Hope your weekend is awesome and we all have a fantastic week ahead of us!

Chasing down the Lizard

I try to start my day by reading a devotion. Kind of sets my tone and outlook. Today the author wrote about Doubt.

Okay. I could so relate. She’s been looking in my window and must have thought I needed a heavy dose reminding me where doubt comes from. Not from God.

I have faith that God will provide for all my husband’s and my needs as we struggle with this recession. I have faith that He will also point me in the right direction with my writing when I get rejected.

But sometimes, like this past week, Doubt creeps in like the lizards that sneak in my house if I leave the backdoor open too long. It climbs my walls and peers at me from the ledges over the windows. If I chase it, it mocks me, popping under the stove and then showing back up in the bedroom when I lay down to sleep.

Doubt knows how afraid I can get.

After living here in Florida for a few years, I devised a plan to keep those unwanted lizards from gaining access to my patio. I bought some vinyl fabric, stitched it into a long tube and filled it with sand. Then I wedged it across the bottom of the door to prevent them from slipping through. But sometimes, the tube gets moved out of place if I am careless in my comings and goings.

Then the lizards get in again.

Just like that nasty Doubt.

Today, I chose to adjust my guard again by reading God’s word and starting my day with more prayer. I’d been getting careless and not guarding my heart like I should.

Are you letting Doubt get a stronghold in your life when it comes to your writing and fears about it? Want to borrow my sewing machine?

Do you have a backup plan?

When the recession hit our family in 2007, I wasn’t prepared for the depth of the fallout. I figured we would be back on course in a few weeks. Never did I expect to find us in the situation we are in eighteen months later.

I like to think of myself as a person who plans. No matter what the circumstances, I always have a backup plan. When my husband lost his job, I attacked all the job boards and called friends to network. He landed a 6 wk job bidding churches in SC. When we returned to Fl, my husband went on a few more interviews and finally found another temporary position.

Our fears increased so we activated his Contractor’s license and started our own company. He passed his Realtor’s license and found an office. I activated my sales license and started studying for my broker’s license. We pulled out all our experience and education and hoped and prayed one of us would make enough to survive this economic downturn.

As writers, we need backup plans too.

Disappointment from multiple rejections can hurt and leave scars.

I received another one yesterday and felt the same old tug to give up—the same tug my husband and I have felt over and over since he lost his job. The thought to sell our home at a loss and move back to our hometown becomes more real. But the drive that moved us to Fl eight years ago still survives.

Just like the drive to write. No matter how angry or hurt or sad I get, I know I can’t give up writing. So I need a backup plan. I always try to find another company to submit my works too. I might wait a week or so, but the plan is forming. I might have to rewrite and makes some major revisions—like Ido our resumes and career goals—but I can’t give up.

The damage from this recession isn’t going to go away overnight.

Neither will our insecurities about writing. Do you have a plan to survive it? Do you have the knowledge that no matter how hard it gets, you can do this? If you don’t, start working on it today!

The Writer Short Story Contest

The Writer 2009 Short-Story Contest

Download entry form athttp://www.writerma g.com/wrt/ objects/pdf/ 2009_contest. pdf

Prizes$1,000, first place; $300, second place; $200, third place.The first-place entry, along with the finalist judge's comments, will be published in The Writer magazine. All three winning entries will be posted on The Writer Web site, www.WriterMag. com.

Finalist judgeShelby Hearon

Entry fee$10 per entry, payable to The Writer. Entry fees are nonrefundable. Payments must be in U.S. funds drawn from a U.S. bank.DeadlinePostmarked by May 31, 2009.

Rules
1. Submit two (2) copies of your short story. Entries must be submitted with an official entry form, available below.Place the title only (not your name) on each page of the story.

2. All entries must be original and previously unpublished in a book, nationally distributed periodical or Web-based magazine. Entries must be in English and submitted by the author, who must be at least 18 years old at the time of entry.

3. Entries should not exceed 2,000 words. No graphic language, sex or violence.

4. Entries must be double-spaced in standard 10- to 12-point type, and each page must be consecutively numbered. Please paperclip pages together; do not staple or enclose in covers or binders.

5. A $10 nonrefundable entry fee, payable to The Writer, must accompany each entry. Please do not send cash in the mail. Submitted entries are final and will not be returned, so be sure to keep a copy for your records. We are unable to acknowledge entries.

6. You may submit more than one entry, but each entry must be accompanied by a $10 entry fee. No simultaneous submissions are allowed.

7. Winners will be notified by Sept. 1, 2009.8. Family members and employees of The Writer and its affiliates are not eligible to enter the contest.

How to submit
Download the entry form below. Send two (2) copies of your entry, along with the completed entry form and total entry fee ($10 per entry).

Payment must accompany all entries. Address entries to: 2009 Short-Story Contest, The Writer, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612.

Who?

My daughter got me an early birthday present last week when she visited. My other broom was 70’s green and bristle free—received as a wedding shower gift thirty years ago. I’m still amazed how much better the new one works. Makes me wonder why I didn’t care enough to replace it sooner.

Makes me also wonder why I don’t care enough to replace some of my bad habits I’ve hung on too for thirty years as well.

Like worrying when I pay the bills. Or worrying when I see my husband look sad over his situation. Or worrying when I can’t find a job to apply to and the phone doesn’t ring with offers.

How come I can’t sweep away those bad habits like I can the dirt on my kitchen floor?

Sassy Granny sent me a book called Hinds’ Feet on High Places where the lead character is called Much-Afraid. At first, I thought, this is not my kind of book. It’s too hard. But I persevered because it was a gift, you know, and she loved it.

The other night when I woke at 3am and started to worry about paying this month’s bills, I thought of Much Afraid. She was crossing the desert and going past the lonely lake but she knew the mountains were ahead of her and the Shepherd would take care of her. I actually found my fears disappearing all because of a story.

The next morning I checked when the book was published thinking it must be one of those really old classics. 1987. For me, that’s not that old. My daughter was three years old then. The author was writing a book that would minister to me 22 years later while I was teaching my daughter how to dress herself mornings.

Think about the book you’re writing today. Who do you hope will read it? What do you hope they will get from it when they do?

I don’t know if Hannah Hunard is alive or dead today, but I want to say Thank you. Thank you for thinking of me to take the time to write.

Update--I read a little more and found out she died in 190 but wrote the original copy in 1955--even more wonderful--the year I was born! 1987 was the American version.

Detours

Sometimes life takes you on a detour.

Some days I wonder why I wrote the words “Inspirational Writer” at the top of my blog, especially when I don’t feel very inspiring to anyone—let alone myself or family.

August 23, 2007 marks for us the worst day in our thirty-year marriage. My husband called me from his job here in Florida to where I was visiting our new grandson in Seattle and said he lost his job as the Director of Construction—one of the first casualties of what we soon learned what would become the recession.

In the past eighteen months, we’ve had to leave our home for six weeks for a job in another state, stop eating out and socializing with friends, reduce our spending to the bare essentials, get haircuts only when necessary, pay COBRA fees for insurance, skip dental appointments, buy only generic and cash in the meager amount of money we’ve saved for years for our retirement—all to pay our bills. We’ve applied for hundreds upon hundreds of jobs, started a new business, reactivated licenses, and read job boards like the daily mail. We’ve cried, yelled, threatened to run away, but most of all--prayed.

But that is only the back story.

What does it mean to be an inspirational writer? Does it mean inspiring others to look for the blues sky even when a tornado is surrounding your house?

Now here's the real story.

I’m not sure why every material thing I’ve ever counted on is slowing slipping through my fingers. But I think maybe it’s so I learn to lean on something greater. And trust me, I’ve run to the arms of God every day. He’s allowed me to see blessings where I might only see despair. He’s allowed me to see possibilities where I might see only dead ends. He’s allowed me to learn to live with much less and value much more.

Have you chosen to be an inspirational writer? If you have, embrace the detours in your life. Write about them and search for that blue sky—it’s usually hidden beneath that cloud.

I’m crossing a new bridge this month. Hard times make for hard decisions. But as I cross this desert—I can already see higher ground before me.