Well, this is a little different. There are so many things where there is a warning, especially on TV, where it says, “Do Not Try This At Home.” I think of that movie “Jack (you know the word)” where there is a guy who I guess does a bunch of really stupid things. Personally, I’ve never seen this movie and really never want to either. Dare devils who do their death-defying stunts. And you’re like, “Yeah right would I try that at home. I’m sane.” LOL Or how about those who go after things like … [Read more...]
What Do I Want To Be
I think I can sum that up with just one word: A Writer. Well, I guess that was two words, but still, I've come to realize how much I love writing and that I've been given a gift. God has blessed me with this gift and I couldn't imagine mine life without it now. If you'd asked me five years ago would I think I'd want to write full-time, I'd have said no. At the time, I was grieving the recent loss of my little girl. I hadn't even started her dedication website as that was almost two months off … [Read more...]
2013, It’s Almost Gone.
Can you believe that the year 2013 is over two-thirds of the way done and we are almost to 2014 already. I can remember as a kid thinking how s l o w each and every year went as a kid. My birthday could never come quick enough. Christmas could never come quick enough. The school year certainly couldn't get over quick enough. And then right around the time I turned 21 I began to notice that the year seemed to get a little quicker than before. And ever since, each year seems to go by quicker … [Read more...]
Day 130: Paying Attention
When I write about Mari, I’m paying attention to my internal thoughts and feelings that I have at the time. She will be at the forefront as I write out the words on the screen. For me, it’s about know that I’m being truthful about what I’m feeling at the time. It helps me to grieve for her and heal at the same time. Sometimes it’s when I’m feeling sad and really missing her and other times it’s about the happy memories I have of her. I know that all of this requires me to pay attention to my … [Read more...]
Requiring someone to be a volunteer
Wouldn't it be nice if we could make volunteer work mandatory. Think about it. Maybe we'd have happier people if we all volunteered. But then if it was forced on every single person, the reason behind volunteering would be lost. People would have bad attitudes about it. They'd make those around them miserable. Who'd want to work with people like that. Forcing people to do it just to do it wouldn't work. You have to want to do it. You have to want to have a serving heart. I think of all the … [Read more...]
Volunteers: A Priceless Commodity
Being a volunteer. Do we really know what our time means to someone else when volunteer our time? Sometimes I think we take for granted what some people do. Not that we do it on purpose, but we all get busy with our own lives. Things happen. For example, think of all the people it takes to run a single church. There are only a few paid positions. The pastor. The church secretary. Maybe one or two associate pastors. If the church is big enough, a youth pastor. But that might be about it. Think … [Read more...]
Day 129: Imaginations Going Nuts
I had to laugh. Just yesterday I was talking to a friend on the phone and I was talking about my story. She said, “Well, I’m glad I’m not in that family.” I had to agree. My main character is going to go through a tragedy that so few will ever go through, and thank goodness most people never will. However, it will hopefully still resonate because everyone in life at some points has some type of tragedy that befalls them. Whether it’s as simple as loss their job or as tragic as losing a child, we … [Read more...]
Just 24 hours earlier, I was…
Rearranging our school year for homeschooling my niece/daughter from 5-days a week down to 4-days. Have you ever had a gut feeling telling you to do something but you thought to yourself, "Well, that can't be the way," or "That can't be right." Well, I knew at the end of last year that doing 4-days a week worked best for both Athena and myself. If we had an appointment during the week that interrupted school we were able to move the school day then to Friday. Of if one of us got sick, again … [Read more...]
Day 128: Learning to Swim
I normally don’t like to quote from the book but I like what this had to say: “I learned to swim from a magazine article I read when I was eight years old. It told me to grab my knees, duck my head, form a tight little ball in the water, and then float. The next step was to stretch out and continue to float. I did exactly what the article said to do, and lo and behold, it worked. I got my arms going at some point, and I was a swimmer. It’s kind of like writing: get a paper and a pen, start with … [Read more...]
Day 127: One True Sentence
In writing, there is both fiction and nonfiction. Obviously, nonfiction is going to be based on a true story or something base that has happened in real life. However, fiction is all made up in the mind of the individual who writes it. However, even with fiction, there is a little bit of true behind. I might be wrong, but from what I have experienced and other authors I’ve talked to, they always put a little bit of either themselves and/or people they know. Not that they copy exactly who the … [Read more...]
