A Post

This is a post.

This is a post
requested by Kyle.

This is a post
requested by Kyle,
which has been delayed for days by speech and debate tournament travel, many nights of less-than-adequate sleep, daily duties, brain frazzle, and lameness.

This is a post
requested by Kyle,
which has been delayed by speech and debate tournament travel, many nights of less-than-adequate sleep, daily duties, brain frazzle, and lameness
and is being typed on the touch screen of my iPad, (as the batteries must’ve died on my keyboard whilst in Little Rock over the weekend, but I don’t care).

This is a post
requested by Kyle,
which has been delayed by speech and debate tournament travel, many nights of less-than-adequate sleep, daily duties, brain frazzle, and lameness
and is being typed on the touch screen of my iPad, (as the batteries must’ve died on my keyboard whilst in Little Rock over the weekend, but I don’t care)
while drinking superdeduper echinea wellness tea to fight a brand new head cold, which I. will. NOT. succumb to.

This is a post
requested by Kyle,
which has been delayed by speech and debate tournament travel, many nights of less-than-adequate sleep, daily duties, brain frazzle, and lameness
and is being typed on the touch screen of my iPad, (as the batteries must’ve died on my keyboard whilst in Little Rock over the weekend, but I don’t care)
while drinking superdeduper echinea wellness tea to fight a brand new head cold, which I. will. NOT. succumb to.
so I will end this rambling tome and go to, and hopefully stay, asleep. 😉

The end.

Matthew 11:28 (ESV)
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Writing: The Thinking About Edition

Today’s FMF post was something I mulled over throughout the day. I wrote and linked up last night and this morning had two very encouraging comments.
One was from a blogger whose personal blog I have subscribed to for several months, and for a few years on the (in)courage blog. She visited my blog because I left a comment on hers.
I didn’t realize how encouraging that could be. I have had several nice comments from FMF posts, but don’t have any real blog traffic. I’m just writing to write for now. All that to say that I need to comment more. I think it makes a difference. I know it did for me. Thank you, Kristen.
On a side note, along the thinking avenue, I’ve had a little extra time to think the last few days, as I am in the recovery process of minor eye surgery to repair a very lax muscle that should have been holding up one of my eyelids, but decided it would only do it’s job about half-way. It had been lazy for years, (my parents said it has always been that way), but has started giving out slowly over the last three or so. (What’s up with the 40s?)
Anyway, enough about that.
I would like to write more. My husband (The Blog Engineer) would like me to write more. I think there might be some correlation (thank you spell-checker thingy) between the amount I write and the amount I talk. As in the more, the less. Hmmm…
He is going to help me figure out the avatar/gravatar picture posting aggravation. But I will need to wait for a new picture. Maybe at the end of next week, I’ll post for fun some before and afters. Sleepy and hopefully not-sleepy eye. Don’t worry, no in-betweens. Not happening.
Ugh! I’m back on the eye topic. I guess having stitches can do that to you. 😉
Writing.
Thinking about writing.
I’m going to search through my old-has-not-been-touched-in-years writing file to see if the suggested profile questions from Mr. Glazier are in there. I would like to add some about faith and relationship to Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV, 1984)
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

Just for fun:

20131004-233339.jpg
My wee-est one walnut wrangling on Wednesday.

Five Minute Friday: Write

Five Minute Friday

Write

Many moons ago, I minored in journalism, with a communications major, after deciding rashly that elementary education wasn’t for me. How funny that I now have my own little homeschool!

All those moons ago, I interned for a local magazine, then did grunt work (developed photos, gathered court documents, and wrote rarely) for a small business newspaper.
After that trying year, went back to the first magazine, as it was a much better atmosphere to try my hand at freelancing, as they specialized in what I have discovered is “my” kind of writing: profiles, which were basically mini-biographies. I even had a cover story way back then. Whoo hoo!
I felt unorganized with my time and writing an article or two a month, wasn’t making much income.
I guess I was afraid to say I was a writer and put myself out “there” to do the hard work of marketing myself and look for other publications.
Long on scared and short on perseverance and diligence.
So, I went to work for a not-for-profit, which I enjoyed and then came home to raise my babies.
The writing stopped, other than a Christmas newsletter here-and-there.
I wondered why I felt to blah about so many things. Homeschool burnout and hormones did a number on me and I needed an outlet.
The blog engineer, aka sweet Kyle, enjoyed the lengthy tome-like e-mails he received at work and bought a domain name for me. I still drug my feet.
After writing fairly regularly for a few months, I stopped this summer because it just didn’t feel right to write. I grew weary of writing about myself.
So, just this week, we have been tossing around ideas of people in my circles that I could interview and write about. I’m looking forward to it. Writing is such a good outlet and I would like to make it a ministry as well.
END
Disclosure: I re-set the timer for another five and finally stopped when the duck quacked for the second time.

1 Corinthians 12:4-6 (ESV)
“4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.”

After Attending My First Writing Workshop

So, today was the day. The learn day. The day I took the plunge and called myself a writer. I attended a “Writing To Publish” workshop that was held for the first time at our local homeschool convention, which begins tomorrow.

The workshop, (which I repeatedly referred to as a conference yesterday)–newbie oops 😉 was presented by Carol Barnier.

She has written several books and scores of magazine articles over the past decade plus. I have been reading her submissions to The Heart of the Matter homeschool blog for several years.

I was not planning to attend, because:
* I didn’t feel that I was on a track to publish anything.
*I couldn’t really justify the expense of a workshop when this writing thing is just a hobby.
*The workshop wasn’t covering “exactly what I thought I needed, which is creativity and writing encouragement.

I learned:
* Magazine article writing would be a great way to be published. (With lots of brushing up and practice.)
* My husband felt the expense was justified.
* Had the workshop covered what I really wanted, I would have been totally overwhelmed.

The conference was a great overview of the writing-to-publish process (just as the brochure promised). I had heard of queries, agents, book proposals, but didn’t know what they were and when they were required. Now I do. And I’m tired.

My three biggest take-aways:
* Don’t wait to feel inspired before I write. Just write. Regularly. It will help develop my “voice.”
* The thought-mapping exercise was so helpful. It made me think about myself, my experience, who I am, what I am living and how that can translate into potential writing assignments. (If I am led to go that route, still not sure about that.) Kyle?
* Everyone gets rejection.

Now, on to some organizing, scheduling of all things Heironimus, more writing and lots of prayer.

Galatians 6:9 (ESV)
“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

Before Attending My First Writing Workshop

Tomorrow, I will be attending my first writing workshop at the insistence of the Blog Engineer, aka husband Kyle. I’m feeling a bit anxious, as this will be my first conference since my working days way-back-when and I have not written anything for publication since before then. That’s a long time.

The workshop is really a mini-workshop, so that makes me feel better. Only three hours. Surely I can do that?
It will be led by a homeschooling mom who has authored several books and writes for Christian publications as well as a group blog that I have read for several years.

The main reason I hesitated to register (actually I will be doing that in the morning), are that it is geared for writing for publication and that isn’t my goal. Yet. Ever?
I have only written for a local magazine that was retired when the owners retired a few years ago.

Kyle is now making business cards for me to hand out. 🙂 He is sweet and so very encouraging.

This would qualify for the “learn” part of my blog title. Not homeschool learn, but ME learn. Yikes! Going out of my little comfort zone bubble.

More details tomorrow…

Joshua 1:9 (NIV 1984)
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for The Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”