But there's a catch. You are given the million in the morning and all of it must be spent by that night. If this opportunity happened to me I know without a shadow of doubt I contact as many school as I could to find out how I could give a four-year scholarship to those individuals who were majoring in special education. Even if the student was a senior that year, I'd give a one year scholarship to that individual to pay for all of his or her expenses. When I read the first prompt for the … [Read more...]
The Journey with Ava Pennington
Please welcome this weeks guest Ava Pennington for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? Step By Step I dreamed of writing for years, but never considered publication a realistic goal. My one success was a tribute to my mother published in a human interest column in a local newspaper. I wasn’t paid, but it encouraged me that someone thought enough of my writing to publish it commercially. Writing took a back seat when I began … [Read more...]
Day 162: Privacy, Privacy, Privacy
In this life is anything ever truly private, like in a diary or journal? Probably not. I think of the book "Go Ask Alice." I guarantee that when she wrote out what she did that she didn't expect that once she died it would be turned into a world-famous book. Or Anne Frank or any other books that came from a diary. While we would love to have our privacy, the reality is no one really has any. Maybe were not supposed to. Since I was around ten, I got my first diary from Grandma Patton one year … [Read more...]
Confucius…
He said, "To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short." Do I agree with this? Absolutely not. Why would it be wrong to go beyond what you expect or thought you would. I think of goals and my writing. When I set one, the main focus is to not only make the stated goal but to also exceed it if at all possible. You feel good not only about making it but surpassing it. On the opposite side, if you don't make it you tend to beat yourself up and feel terrible about it. I've always been told to set … [Read more...]
Day 161: Dreams of Messy Rooms and Crazy Typewriters
When you dream do you dream about things that actually have happen or will happen or are your dreams of things that are completely made up? I can honestly say I rarely remember my dreams. If I do, it is only for a limited time and the memory of the dream itself seems to vanish a short time later. However, I sometime have day dreams, or more like thoughts, that pop into my head for a good story idea for a book. I still remember the day I was up in my bedroom making the bed when the idea for the … [Read more...]
FALLing into Place
Nothing in life is ever easy for most of us. It's the things we work hard for that tend to be the most rewarding in the end. Compare someone who started from the ground up in a business and worked hard to make it a multimillion dollar one or the child born into wealth who never had to work a day in his life that when he turned eighteen he just expected much of the same. Who will appreciate what he has more? Hopefully it would be obvious that the guy who worked hard as the one who did doesn't … [Read more...]
Day 160: One-Hair Brushes
It means to let yourself go. To be free to what you want to possibly get a better result than you could have expected. I love this quote, "Technique alone is never enough. You have to have passion. Technique alone is just an embroidered potholder." - Raymond Chandler I think writing is that for me. throughout the last five years I've done different things with my writing which has allowed me to become more and more open with it. I'm able to share more about me and who I am as a person. I try … [Read more...]
The Journey with Carrie Turansky
Please welcome this weeks guest Carrie Turansky for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? My Writing Journey I’ve loved reading since I first visited the library as a young child and checked out a tall stack of picture books. I soon graduated to chapter books and spent many happy hours, lying on our porch swing reading. Those lazy days gave my imagination a chance to grow, and they helped me develop a love for well-told stories. My love … [Read more...]
Day 159: What Would You Attempt?
If you knew you could do something, and there was no possibility of failing, what would you do? I think if we’re honest we could come up with tons of things to answer this question. However, if everything we ever did never resulted in some type of failure how would we learn for those mistakes we’ve made? We couldn’t. We’d never appreciate those things we do succeed at as everything would always be a positive in the end. I think of my past and it is riddle with different failures throughout it. … [Read more...]
Spring Forward or Fall Back
When you think about springing forward in March or falling back in November, which do you prefer the most? If I had it my way I'd say neither as I hate having to put my clock forward an hour in the fall only to put it back in the spring. It messes with our body systems. I know, it's only an hour, but it's still an hour. However, if I had to choose, I'd always pick falling back because you gain an extra hour whereas with springing back we lose an hour. I remember back when Keith and I first … [Read more...]
