Sunday Morning Sunshine: Patience, Peace and Determination

 Patience

When I want things done NOW or yesterday...

God's helped me to learn that HIS timing is always right.

Peace

God has taught me to appreciate and take advantage of a

slower pace; to use the beautiful, simple things

in my life to gain peace.

Determination

When the devil says I can't

When circumstances look impossible

When my confidence in my ability wans

then God stirs a big courage into my life. 

Have faith.

He knows what we need.

Sunday Morning Sunshine: I Promise!

 

"I Can Do All Things Through Christ 

Who Strengthens Me" 

(Philippians 4:13)

I am determined!

Serious Wednesday: True or False: Becoming a Writer...

True or False:  Being a writer is lots of fun! 

True! It is. 

Seeing the progress you make on your document or novel, 

• seeing your piece published in a magazine or newsletter... 
• or holding your book in your hand...
• and reading the readers' interest/love/emotion in their comments and reviews are satisfying and encouraging. 

But, wait! It's also false! Because? 

• It's hard work to become an accomplished and successful author
• You'll reach plateaus where you think you'll never get off of
• Cruel or supposedly helpful remarks and critiques will discourage you
• You'll learn you have to grow a tough skin
• You have to do a lot of research
• You'll have to edit...edit...edit...and edit some more. 
• Publishers will reject your work.

But eventually, if you're determined enough and work hard enough, follow solid advice and do all you can to make a dream become reality, you'll see results. 

And all the work won't matter anymore...

At least until you begin another article or book. 

But it's all worth it when you type those words: THE END! 

Keep Writing! 

Serious Wednesday: Time to Move On!

I took a break during the Christmas season. I hated to. I really did. But it was either that or lose my sanity. Lol. 

Do I regret it? Sort of. But most of all, I realize that at times a person has to do what they have to do. Why?

• Bodies get tired and overworked. When that happens the physical needs to rest or at least prioritize what's the most important. 
• Bodies and mind get stressed. When this happens both mind and body need to choose what is the most important and what they can and can't handle. 

But now, all that is behind me. I'm looking ahead, focusing on the items I didn't get finished and making plans to attend to these. One of these is finishing the novel I started this fall. 

• I accept that I may not get it completely finished in 2020 seeing I have only 3 more days to work on it, seeing I have only three more days to work on it. BUT...
• If I can knock out another thousand or two, then that will give me the spurt I need to head into 2021 to finish it. 
• My editor is expecting it shortly, so I KNOW I have to get it finished. 
• I want to finish it--badly! :)  
  
• And one good thing that's come out of THIS book-writing is that I've gotten quite a few ideas of how I will write the next and final book in the Appleton series. Good news, yes! 

I am moving on, excited and enthused to finally have the time I need to focus on writing this fifth Appleton book! 

Carry on, writing friends! 

Serious Wednesday: The Craziness of Writing

On Passionate Writing

It is a writer's greatest pleasure

to hear that someone

was kept up until the unholy hours 

of the morn

reading

one of his books.

--B. Sanderson

Writing is the strangest

and most interesting,

besides the most misunderstood,

craziest and hardest

most frustrating--

yet satisfying talent--

or is it a curse?

career?

hobby?

job?

                                                                          purpose?

A writer will certainly dwell in stages of 

despair

discouragement

hopelessness

yet writing affords deep . . .

satisfaction and pleasure,

determination

happiness and joy 

by one act of a reader, in reading.

To the real writer, 

that is enough.

Blessings!

Rambling Fridays: The After-the-holidays-Blues

Christmas has come and gone.
The new year, January 1, 2019, has come and gone.

It's time to put those "after-the-holidays-blues"
to bed.

You'll need three tools to accomplish this:

Determination
Patience
Faith

Determination to achieve your 2019 goals.
Determination to keep going even when it's tough,
when it looks impossible,
when you're discouraged,
and when you think you should quit.

Patience to keep plugging along when all is
boring,
you've lost interest,
when it's hard, trying, and you've already failed.
Patience to push through.

Faith:
being sure of what we hope for
and
certain of what we do not see.
--Hebrews 11:1

Pretty good admonition,
even if I do say so myself.

Have a great year!

Sunday Morning Peace: I Am Determined!

I Can Do All Things Through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13 

I know so many writers who are a hundred times better than me

and have longer, greater ideas than mine, but they gave up;

they stopped.

The biggest talent you can have is determination.

Do you use the writing process as your ongoing excuse to keep 

exploring the world, 

meeting people,

and learning things?

If you can do that, then the writing itself

will be its own payoff and reward.

--Chuck Palakniuk

Blessings!

What Am I Doing?

I didn't really make any New Year's Resolutions.
But I DETERMINED (smile) to:

• Do some new things.
• Pick up some old things.
• Learn and apply.
• Enjoy life more.

Here's my list for now :
Enjoyment:
Reading: "A Stray Drop of Blood" by Roseanna White. The book is a Biblical historical set in Jesus' time. From the first, Roseanna caught my attention, and you gotta be good to do that. (smile). By the way, Roseanna is a critique partner. She has a unique, quirky style in many of her books that I love! This is an intense book that is guaranteed to be a keeper.

Pictures: Went outside yesterday and took pictures. Love my camera. Out of ten, twenty pictures, I usually come up with a couple of excellent. Check out my Sweeties album on facebook to see a few good pictures of my pets. Taffy is a total sweetheart. There's something about Mackie's face that tears at your heart when he looks at you. My mother said he's ugly; I told her, he's got an adorable face. Only a mother could love . . . and all that stuff.

Learn and Apply:

• Learn some techniques on the computer that I need to know. Do it!
• Already uploaded pictures to facebook that I've been putting off.
• How to keep from burning out.
• How to plot in advance to writing a book.

Old Things:

• Finish editing writing manuscripts.
• Finish new manuscript that needs the ending and editing.
• Plot some ideas.
• Learn to balance life better.
• Keep promoting my fellow writers, especially those who need it worse, or for some other reason I resonate with.

New Things:

• Write at least one new book this year. Maybe more.
• Sign several book contracts this year, which will make not only me happy but my hard working agent.
• Keep using Doug Varrieur's book: From Fat to Skinny! (Great book to help you get in physical shape, and that means mental shape too!)
• Love more. Watch what I say more. Smile more.
• Volunteer more which I've already started. Asked to be put on the volunteer list of ACFW. Ran for secretary of ACFWOhio.
• Check out and establish a blog/website for abused women and children. Or come up with something even more effective.

Then I want to spend more time with God, trust him more, love him more. I want to appreciate the friendships, the family, I have more. I want to make my life count more. . .

Will I succeed this year? Who knows? But if I shoot for the stars, I'm sure to hit the moon. Smile

Quote:
The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every morning.

Blessings!

Tips for the Determined Writer

• Tom Clancy says that 'writing is most of all an exercise in determination.'

Determine to write.

Determine to keep at it, one word at a time; one sentence at a time; one paragraph at a time; one page at a time.

Determine that nothing will interfere with your writing time, save emergencies and family 'musts.'

Determine that you'll ignore the ringing phone, the knocks on the doors, the wandering mind.

Determine to do one new thing for your writing today.

Quote:
Action is the antidote to despair. --Joan Baez

Blessings

I'm Quitting!


That's the topic that's been on one of my writers group's loops this week. The discouragement and doubt that comes with being a writer.

I'm not good enough.
Well, really, how can you get good enough if you don't work at it? And to get good enough, you've got to write. Seems simple, doesn't it?

What am I doing thinking I can do this?
If you're thinking of being a writer for the glory or the money or to make an impression, forget it. It takes writing and studying and more writing and years, and sometimes you make it. If you can't get away from it, if God wants you to do this, if you have the talent, if this is "the place" for you, you'll write. In spite of the doubts.

It's too hard.
Well, duh. It's hard work. It's not a hobby (if you're serious about it) or an easy-money route. It's a job. You labor through the research, and blocks and rejections to get where you want to go. And sometimes . . . it's fun.

I'll never get published.
So? If you're doing it for the fame, money, attention, or anything else but because you feel it's something you've gotta do, you're doing it for the wrong reasons. Do you have that desire, did God call you to be published or to write? Decide now.

You've got to have a liason to "get in."
Okay, sometimes the answer is, yes. Sometimes, no. When you're good enough, when you've done your best, you'll make it. You have to have faith.

Who would want to read what you wrote?
Depends on what you write and who for. That's who'll want to read your writings. Write what you love, what you know. But don't forget what the market is.

When do you have the time?
If you've got that thing inside of you to write, you make the time. You let some things go, you make decisions. But you write. There's choices here.

You've got too much to do.
Even with that you find some time. While stuck in traffic, waiting in a doctor's office, at lunchtime at work, early/late at night. Wanna write? find the time. Simple as that.


I'm quitting? Not really. I'll never quit. It's in me. Has been for years. I've never gotten away from it, and never will. Will I ever be published the way I want to be? Maybe. I'll certainly strive toward it. But published or not, I'll never quit writing.

Never.
Never.
Never.



Hints for some aspiring writers.

• Want to write a poem or a play or a children's story? Then read the type of poems, plays and children's books you like. Study them. What makes them likeable? How do they flow? How do the children act? Do the poems rhyme? How are the plays put together?
• Want to write your memoirs? Okay, begin. Start back as far as you can remember. Use a loose-leaf notebook so you can adjust pages as you want. Write whatever you can remember first. Fill in as things begin coming back to you.
• Want to write your grandparents or ancestor's biography? Fun! Start with something interesting, catching, that will attract the reader's attention. Bring in things that won't be boring to someone not involved with your ancestor's lives.
• Don't want all that, but you would like to record your thoughts? Believe it or not, this could be the easiest--or hardest--thing to do. But it is rewarding. Don't try to write pages and pages unless that's really what you want to do. A sentence or two will do it. Maybe a half page. Again, a loose-leaf binder works great here.

Have fun!


A writer's quote today:
AW Tozer once, speaking about Elijah and Elisha, and how Elijah tried to "shake off" Elisha at first. Tozer's words: "If you can be shaken off, you weren't called in the first place."

Dan Case's adaptation:
"If you can truly STOP writing, you aren't a writer anyway."



Blessings!

Never

I was given some advice yesterday. B-a-d advice.

I don't know what the person was thinking. Except I know the person and they haven't ever been very determined about much in their life--and I've known them a long time.

What was the advice? Give up on my writing group--in other words, quit writing. Because I'm a bad writer? Because they think I can't write? Nope.

Not at all. The only reason they touted, was that it's been so-o-o long since I've submitted and haven't heard back from any of those publishers.

Rubbish.

Four months isn't long for a publisher. Eight months isn't long. Even a year. (Long for us patiently (or unpatiently) waiting souls, but for those poor overworked editors, it's not really long. They have hundreds of manuscripts to wade through.

Am I using excuses why I haven't heard anything yet? Again, nope. I'm stating facts.

Of course, perhaps I would have heard something by now if I'd had myself in gear and submitted MORE. I'm working on it.

But quit? Never. Never until I'm too feeble to hold a pen. Never until my mind is gone and I can no longer think through my day, alone write something. Never until I'm published.

When? Some of my critique partners chide me for being pessimistic. Dream. Hope. Determine.

When will it happen? This year! This month! Today!

I can hope.

And work toward that goal.

And I will NEVER quit.

Hints for a good day in June:

• Never laugh at anyone's dream. People who don't have dreams, don't have much.
• Don't judge people by their relatives.
• Remember the three R's:

1. respect for self
2. respect for others
3. responsibility for your actions.



Cindy Woodsmall's interview coming up soon. Look for it around July 13th!



Quote:
When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

Ah!


Blessings.