When I look at those around us and the hustle and bustle that is constantly going on around us, it seems like everyone is in the pursuit of true happiness. Some think their pursuit of money will bring them their desired happiness. Yet, at the end of the day, it never brings anyone happiness. In fact, it only seems to make people more miserable and unhappy as the inanimate object of money can do nothing for them. Some think their pursuit of making and finding new friends will bring them … [Read more...]
Being Thankful
You know the old saying, “God works in mysterious ways?” Well, I so believe that can happen in so many different ways. I think back on my writing journey and I’m amazed at where it has ended up. I first started looking at how to publish Mari’s book on March 5, 2011. I joined Createspace. It is a subsidiary of Amazon.com. It was really neat to be part of a community of writers for the first time in my life. For me, I had no interest whatsoever in fiction writing. All I was looking for was … [Read more...]
Hitting “The Mark”
I went and visited a website of someone I knew in our grief group back in Chicago today. The reason I visited it was because on the old blogger site I had started this one on (which is technically still up and running, don’t ask me why, it does redirect people to here however :) ) I have this woman’s website listed under Blogs of Importance. Under the listing, it shows a title of the most recent blog post. This one was labeled, “Letting go.” I thought that meant she was letting go of her … [Read more...]
Needing prayer please
It has come to my attention by a close friend that I may need to rewrite some of what I wrote below. My husband is the love of my life and in no way do I want to shed him in a bad light. If I have done that I am truly sorry. I will put *** by the part where I have rewritten this post so you know where to start if you are looking for the update. Thank you. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ I am reaching out right now to all my … [Read more...]
What does it mean to nurture?
When God created women, He knew well beforehand that they would become mothers. I have no doubt in my mind He had a long list of what a mother’s qualities and characteristics not only would be but needed to be. Those included loving and show unconditional love, compassionate, friendly, unselfish, kind, patience, teaching their children right and wrong as well as God and how Jesus died on the cross. For obvious reasons, Jesus dying on the cross is number one as we need to do all we can as … [Read more...]
Having Pain…
Why do people have to be so uncaring and mean sometimes? For those of you who don’t know (which is probably most of you), I have been having severe hip pain that can go clear down into my knees and sometimes other places in my legs. I have been unable to stay at work for a full day, except for one day, since two weeks ago last Friday. I hurt at home quite often. I simply sit in my recliner all day. I don’t go out and go shopping any more. I can’t take the kids to their baseball practices or … [Read more...]
Writing Fiction
I’ve been writing my first fictional book ever. It has been quite the experience. I will tell you writing fiction is so different than writing a college paper. A year ago when I started this journey, let’s just say, I was a little green behind the ears. I was so naïve to the proper rules and etiquette of fiction. Like the dreaded passive verbs (was/were/had) and ‘ly’ words. These are a big no-no in fiction (who would a thunk). I can remember growing up reading romance novels (starting … [Read more...]
Happiness
I’m sometimes amazed at the power of God. He put writing into my life and has blessed me as a result. Something that started out as a way to deal with my grief and share those feelings with my friends and family so they knew where I was at has turned into so much more. I look at Mari’s death in a whole new light. It’ll be four years on July 16 (Really, four years already!). Through my grief journey I’ve been able to find something that brings me pure happiness. I’ve been able to meet new and … [Read more...]
Joy
Joy can mean so much to so many different people. For me I felt pure joy last night. I spent the day determined to write write write in the fictional book I am writing. I actually wrote 8,472 words and finished the first draft of my novel. Talk about exciting. I think back to how I began writing. It was to keep my friends and family abreast of what was happening to my little baby girl. I started a Care Page. Those first fifteen days of writing were while she was a live and the last day, the … [Read more...]
The Unexpected Journey – Revised
I wrote this short story a couple of years ago. I have been told it would make a good children's story. What do you think? I would love to hear any and all comments. Thank you. The sudden darkness hit her like an overwhelming force of nature and seemed to envelope her all at once. Suddenly off in the distance, a small speck of light appeared. It drew her in as if calling her by name saying, “Ariella, follow the light. It will guide you on your new path.” So she did. As she went, she … [Read more...]
