I wonder how many closet writers there are because they're scared to get out of their comfort zone, daring to tell what's rolling around in their brains. Fear can be a great force within ourselves. It can stop us from doing so many things, things even God may want us to do. We have to remember that God will give us the strength we need to do things according to His plan. In our own human form we are weak and vulnerable. It is through Him that He gives an invisible shield of … [Read more...]
Day 4: Choosing Story Over Relatives
Today's topic sounds strange to me. It almost sounds selfish. I think this strikes me funny because I think family is the most important thing there is, as I'm sure most of us feel this way. Some people haven't been blessed with a loving and caring family. So to put a story before their family is a no brainer. However, if your family is close, choosing your story over them may make you take pause. I know I would never write something to intentionally hurt my family. No matter how screwed … [Read more...]
Deadlines
I'll be honest, I don't think I've ever had a job where I had constant deadlines for things. Don't get me wrong, for obvious reasons you will always have deadlines in any job you do it's just how many you might have. However, I'm hoping that will change very soon as I continue to write my novels and working my way to be published where the publisher will have deadlines for when editing must be done and the different things that will be required to get a book out for publication. In a way, I'm … [Read more...]
Day 3: The Holy Calling
Its amazing sometimes how God works. Many say His ways are mysterious. The bottom line, no matter how much we want to control every thing, we simply don't know His plan for all of our lives. His plan is greater than any of us can fathom. For me this hit me head on like a Mac truck (I know clique, but it's true) when God decided to answer our prayers about healing my precious baby girl by telling us all no, that it was time to bring her home to heaven where she'll be free from autism. He … [Read more...]
How often do you go back for seconds?
Man, I wish I could say never because I know I'd be a lot thinner than I am now. I remember when I was in my teens to early 20's being able to eat whatever I like and as much of it as I wanted. And then that pesky metabolism decided to start slowing down when I was around 24/25 year-old and I slowly gained some weight. It wasn't terrible but I could no longer fit into my size 10 pants that I'd worn since I hit puberty. After having Mari, that's where I gain the most weight like so many other … [Read more...]
Day 1: Switchbacks up the Mountain
Switchbacks up the mountain can mean so many things. I think life in general is a continuous road where we travel up and down the mountain. Sometimes it's more like an easy hill that we climb and where life seems to move forward at a nice pace. But then there are those times where the road going up the mountain is so narrow and steep we feel we might fall off the edge plummeting to the ground below. I know that first year after Mari died my life felt more like the later. It felt like at any … [Read more...]
Making a change
I've been trying to make NaBloPoMo work here on this site and I've never felt fully comfortable as it's more personal than writing related. Whereas on my daughter's dedication website (mommysangelinheaven.com) I've been doing this 365 day journey through this book called A Year of Writing Dangerously: 365 Days of Inspiration & Encouragement by Barbara Abercrombie. I've been reflecting on what the author has said and writing my post in reference to it. However, what I've come to realize is … [Read more...]
Endings…
Aren't they bitter-sweet? Some can be fantastic, like when you write the last word of your book and can say, "The End." And other endings may bring nothing but sadness and grief, like losing a loved one. Either way, the ending may be sad because even though you may be happy that your done with whatever you were doing, you may still miss that time spent on it. I think of the extras on a Blu-Ray or DVD where the actors, actress, or the director will say how happy they are the movie is done yet … [Read more...]
The First Blog Post I Ever Wrote
Blogs. There are so many of them out there today and the plethora of topics that each one is on can seem to never end. After my daughter pasted, my grief ran so deep. I bought a new diary (yes, I still call my journal a diary :) ) to write all those thoughts constantly swimming around in my head. I needed an outlet to be able to just vent. Then approximately three months later I had all those words I just had to get written down. So I sat down at my dining room table and began to write those … [Read more...]
The Journey with Mary Hamilton
Please welcome this weeks guest Mary Hamilton for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? Early in my writing journey, the church I attended put on an annual dinner theater as an outreach to women. I’d only written a few articles for take home papers and magazines when they asked me to write the next play. The idea was scary (what if I failed?), but enticing (what if I succeeded!). With lots of prayer, I agreed to try. My hour-long play was … [Read more...]
