Fourth of July

I remember the bicentennial in 1976. I was a little kid. My mom made me a dress out of red, white and blue material. The years 1776 and 1976 were printed all over the material in red. The numbers had stars behind them.

I am grateful to live in the United States of America. My family and I just returned from a wonderful vacation. We went to the western US and enjoyed several national parks. We observed many foreigners (Japanese, German, Russian) enjoying America's parks. Seeing their reactions to our land made me realize how great our country is.

Here's to America and her future. May I do what I can to keep our country great....

Happy Fourth of July!

Where Is Your Home?

Ultimately, this world is not my home. It wasn't Jesus' home either. I think it's good to remember that in this day of materialism and consumerism.

I read an article recently about little girls as young as 2 being targeted to buy merchandise with Disney princesses on it. I hate the Disney princesses. I'm tempted to say I hate Disney. That may shock some people. I hate how commercialized the organization is.

I have a friend who loves Disney. She and her husband go to Disney World five or six times a year. She's 36 years old and has no kids. I could never do that. Disney World is not my home.

I live in the small town where my husband grew up. It's a peaceful, rural community. My husband has never lived anywhere else. I'm learning to like it more, maybe I'll love it one day - its slower pace, the presence of the land. But, it's not my home.

So, what is my home? Writing, I guess. When I write, I enjoy peace and rest. Maybe that's as close as I'll get to home, in this world anyway.

Today's Critique Session

Our prompt for today's critique group was simple "a canary yellow sweater." I wrote about a couple who celebrate their anniversary together.

I'd like to take what I wrote today and turn it into a pro-life story.

Our next monthly meeting is this Saturday.

The prompt for next week is "the package arrived on Thursday."

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm wishing Happy Valentine's Day to the things I love: Jesus, my family, my friends, writing, reading, exercising, America, freedom, time, prayer, coffee, hot tea....

Speaking of tea, I attended a Valentine's ladies' tea yesterday afternoon. It was lovely, and it inspired me to plan a tea party for spring. One of the ladies said, "This is so nice. People just don't do things like this anymore."

The tea party was not only relaxing, it was full of good conversation and of course, yummy treats.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Not sure...

This past December, I finished writing a YA novel. It's set in Florida, and it involves technology.

I have sent it (via e-mail) to two New York agents. Unfortunately, I have now received two rejections.

I'm not sure what to do next. Should I send it to a Florida publisher? Should I self-publish it? Should I edit it again? Decisions, decisions....

I'll keep you posted.

The value of critique for writers

I love the camaraderie that comes when a group of people meet to critique writing. The relationships that form are sometimes deeper than friendships - something about writing causes us to bare not only our souls, but our guts as well.

I recently started attending a critique group on Thursday afternoons. One member gives the group a prompt for the next week. Here's our prompt for this week, "Harry spent his entire paycheck on Skippy peanut butter." What would you do with that prompt.

Last week, our prompt was to list 50 things we would never do. Here's a sample from my list:
7. I'll never hate the freshly sharpened pencil smell of elementary school hallways.
8. I'll never stop praying.
12. I'll never give up coffee.
25. I'll never smack gum in my mouth.
45. I'll never fail to celebrate Valentine's Day.
47. I'll never stop loving the outdoors.

I'm not sure what I'll do with Harry and his peanut butter. I have a week to work on it.

Writing every day

I am reading The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. She offers a 12-week course in the book, which is great. What intrigues me most, though, are the two pieces of advice she gives early in the book: set up an artist's date with yourself once a week and complete morning pages (3 pages of longhand writing) every day.

I've been doing both the morning pages and the artist's date for a few months now, and I must say, I see the benefits in my writing. I also reap the benefits in my thinking each day.

I currently have two weekly artist's dates, and I love them. The first is the hour I spend every Wednesday night playing music with our band at church. I play the trombone. The second is new. For two weeks now, a few writers and I have been meeting in a downtown bookstore for critiques and coffee. Camerson is right - we do tend to starve our artists, don't we?

I know we're all busy, but I am at the point now where I feel anxious if I don't get to my morning pages.

I hope you're writing every day.