Struggles?

They never seem to cease.

Time management. Family cooperation. Laundry piles. Dust bunnies coming out to play waaaay too often. Toilets clogging. Homework mounting that I have no idea how to help my kids with due to time management issues or just plain lack of know-how. Meal planning (let's not get boring now, we need to provide variety and healthy eating, right?!). Write or not to write.

These are just a few of my struggles, but one of the biggest struggles of all that I deal with daily is searching for the answer to this question: What is it that Jesus calls me to do for Him today?

Seriously, is what I choose to do out of the multitude of to-do's on my list and even beyond remotely close to what Jesus is looking for from me? How do we fit it all in? How do we keep life rolling along for our families, friends, work, and fit in that special time to do something that's specifically designed for us to do for Him, and Him alone, not for society to keep on keeping on? I'm not talking breaking open our Bibles, or reading our daily devotional, or giving God quiet time of prayer each day, but rather, what effort have I extended today to do that one unique thing that God has kept me alive on this earth for today?

Ahhh, perhaps it is for one of those well-knowns on our common to-do list, but perhaps there's something else too. I can't help but think that if there is a longing for something more within us, either we aren't doing what we're doing right yet, or He has something more in mind for us to fit into our schedules.

I want to know what that something more is! Or how I'm to do what I'm doing RIGHT!

Am I alone?


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

P.S. Making no promises here to keep up on a regular basis in blog land, but felt the call to dust off this cyber friend once again and also to print off one of my previously written stories to percolate over. Hmmm, do you think God is telling me that "something more" is to return to my writing? ...Oh, how I wish self-doubt didn't exist. Living for Him would be soooo much easier if it didn't!

I'm Looking Forward To...

Hi, All:


As the ACFW Genesis writing contest draws near to deadline, I'm getting excited about being a first-round judge this year. I was so pleased to receive an invitation to help out in this way a couple months back, and now that it's coming closer to fulfilling the job, my anticipation is building.

I've started praying already for this endeavor ahead. I'm praying that I'll pace the entries out, leaving enough time to take a second look before sending back. I'm praying that I'll be like one of those judges that I appreciated so much for commenting so freely and offering craft references where applicable.

Through the three years that I submitted I had my share of dud judges who just wrote scores down and made no comments within the document and just one-liners in the comment section for the sake of not sending back a blank comment page--not fun! Useless, really! So I know I don't want to be like them, time crunched and feeling like the whole process is a burden, rather than an opportunity to share what I've learned through the years about this awesome craft of fiction writing.

I want to be helpful to those who submitted, not lazy and disinterested. I want to offer praise for wonderful prose, constructive criticism where something falls flat, guidance and suggestions where they may be needed. I want to be one of those crazy wonderful commenter type judges who takes the time of day to pass along what little I've learned.

So, I think I need to prime myself for this task ahead. Starting tonight I'm digging open some of my favorite craft books for another absorption...not only for the entrants, but for me too. May the learning begin all over again!

If I have time, I'll blog on what strikes me this time around in study mode. Fun, fun, fun!



Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

(P.S. Comments are off during my intermittent time of blogging. I'm visiting a few blogs each day, not always commenting, but loving the reads! Thanks for keeping me informed through your cyber pad, and blessings prayed for you all.)

Wanted: An End to this Madness!

Who knew renovations took so long to even get started? I sure didn't.

I suppose OPTIONS is a good thing, but it sure doesn't speed the process up. There are just so many different contractors, cabinet makers, etc. and they all offer different levels of service and lots of different advice. My head is spinning. I am so glad that God put the breaks on my writing for now as I work through this kitchen redo. He sure knows my limitations, and although I always considered myself a good multitasker, this is one job that wouldn't mix with writing for me.

But I am getting antsy to get back to story writing. The itch is here. I watched New Moon this past weekend and so desired to get creating again (not in Meyers' vampire way, but in my own earthy way). I hope to be able to bring writing back on board in another month or so, once the contractors are lined up and the design is finalized. If you're the praying type, I'd love a prayer for this: That I'll be attune to God's guidance and timing and trust in Him fully with all I do.

Blessings and peace prayed for you all!

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

(P.S. Comments are off during my intermittent time of blogging. I'm visiting a few blogs each day, not always commenting, but loving the reads! Thanks for keeping me informed through your cyber pad, and blessings prayed for you all.)

Should Church "Stuff" Make You Sad

...like when you're embarrassed and disheartened by leaders' actions?

In my case, I'm thinking it's causing a mix of emotions in me.

It's sad knowing how much pain certain leaders caused an individual volunteer in our Church, whether they realize it or not. But it's also very revealing. I learned something well worth learning.

Defensiveness is ugly, and while I can see instances where it may be a result of standing up for what you believe is right, it is far more likely to be a result of standing up for what you want.

Two very different things.

So, the next time I feel defensiveness rearing it's ugly head in me, I pray that I'll be able to take a deep "Prayer" breath. Seek council from God above, and stand up for what He has laid on my heart in a self-controlled, non-degrading, non-alienating way to others.

Truth breeds respect and healthy debate. Want too often breeds ugliness.

I have a feeling God is using my Church to teach me that strength in me should only come through Him. And His strength doesn't gang up, but calmly reveals truth.


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

(P.S. Comments are off during my intermittent time of blogging. I'm visiting a few blogs each day, not always commenting, but loving the reads! Thanks for keeping me informed through your cyber pad, and blessings prayed for you all.)

On Again, Off Again...

That's me lately.


My intermittent attendance here in cyber world is due partly to my massive house clean-out in prep for renovations, horsey life, and as a result of those two, my sabbatical from down-and-dirty writing. I have no idea how long this will go on for, so I'll pop myself into cyber world whenever I get a chance (like when I'm actually forcing myself to use the treadmill as I should be doing daily, and am doing now), but since I know it won't be as often as I'd like I've decided to turn off comments on my blog during this on again, off again time.

If you're like me, you often feel obligated to leave a comment when reading a fellow blogger's posts, so by turning that option off, I'm hoping to save you all time to be doing what you desperately would like to be doing--WRITING! My email address is available in my profile if you really want to get hold of me and don't already have it in your contacts list. I'd love to hear from you all from time to time. And I do plan to keep in touch via your blogs as the opportunity arises. I won't always leave a comment, but definitely will sometimes as I keep up on your life and writing (if writing is what you blog about).

So until my down-and-dirty writing sabbatical is over, I hope you'll enjoy the diverse posts I come with when I come up with them, and I hope you all write like crazy so that great books will be published soon for me to devour!

Blessings prayed for you all, and I look forward to visiting your blogs as I walk off the winter pounds I've gained.



Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Writing Pyramid

Last month I had the privilege of attending an author event at our Church. Author Sigmund Brouwer spoke on how to encourage our children to write. What stuck with me the most from his talk was his warning to not edit our children's work, but rather encouragement creativity and not let the editing start until they are in middle school, well after creativity is fixed in their soul. I love this advice.

Brouwer went on to state what we hear all the time. Story trumps all. With that thought, doesn't it make sense to just let our children run with their creativity, not stifle it by imposing grammar rules. I think even as adults some of us need to go with this method to truly create stories that stick.

I really liked how Brouwer divided writing into a three-tier pyramid. The base, the largest part, is story. Without the story, a writer has nothing to work with. The second most important element for a writer is word choice. So once we have the best story down, then a writer's job is to manipulate the words to create the best word choices to polish the story. And at the very top of the pyramid is grammar. Only after we've created a winning story and chosen our words carefully to create just the right ebb and flow do we venture into the mundane task of making it grammatically correct. And, thankfully for those of us like me who are horrible with grammar, there are professional editors out there to polish our work with grammar as their main focus.

With this in mind, when next your little one presents you with a story, what will you do? Will you praise his/her creativity, encourage a brainstorming session to enhance the story if it runs a little flat, or will you be marking up the page with comma's, question marks, periods, etc., tap them on their heads, and smile at their accomplishment?

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Lucky Winner of A Valentine's Wish by Betsy St. Amant

Okay, I admit it, I was too lazy on Valentine's Day to make ballots for each of the twenty-two entrants (number of comments at the time of drawing), so I had my youngest daughter pick a number from one to twenty-two. She picked sixteen, which makes Jessica Nelson the lucky winner!!

Jessica, I know you've won from this blog in the past, but I don't harvest addresses, so please do send me an email with your snail mail addy so I can send this book out to you. I hope you like it!

So, what all did you guys get for Valentine's Day from your sweetheart? Guess what my special guy got me? Don't be jealous now, but my wonderful hubby got me season one of Castle. Isn't that just the greatest gift for a writer? I love it, and since I'm one who falls asleep waaaay too early, I need these on DVD because I miss far too many episodes to sleep.

Blessings prayed for all and may the spirit of Valentine's Day live on all year long!

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

A Valentine Book Giveaway!

Hello, All:

Sorry I've been absent for a while here in cyberspace. Planning for possible renovations is taking far more energy and concentration than I ever expected. Good for the winter blues for sure, but costly on the writing and blogging. Now that a professional designer is on it, I hope to get life back into some semblance of normalcy around here.

But, hey, Valentine's Day is upon us. I've bought the munchkins and hubby a little something to celebrate, and I also bought an extra copy of Betsy St. Amant's A Valentine's Wish for a giveaway to one lucky blogging buddy. So leave a comment with your snail mail addy if you'd like to be entered in the drawing. I'll have one of the munchkins draw the lucky winner sometime on the big day and let you all know the winner on Monday, February 15th's post, which happens to be Family Day here in Ontario so I'll have the whole family home for three days straight this Valentine's weekend. Yippy!!! Love it when that happens.


Here's a peak at the first page:
Unemployed. Single. And out of brownie mix.
Lori Perkins tapped her nails against the open pantry door. Canned vegetables and peanut butter crackers were nowhere near sufficient for this kind of low. She rested her forehead against the frame and blew a strand of dark hair out of her eyes. It really wasn't her fault—well, maybe two of the three problems were. She probably shouldn't have quit her job at the aquarium gift shop before the administrative position across town was a done deal, and she definitely should have gone to the grocery store before her chocolate stash ran out. But her single status was most certainly not of her own choosing. Add the fact that Valentine's Day was mere weeks away, and it became official. She was broke, hungry and destined to be alone.

The cordless phone on the counter jangled a shrill ring, and Lori snatched it up while peering one more time at the contents of her bottom shelf. "Hello?"

"Lori? I can barely hear you. Are you in a tunnel?" It was her friend Andy Stewart, the youth pastor at her church, L'Eglise de Grace.

She stretched one arm toward the back of the shelf. "No. The pantry."

"Searching for chocolate, I assume."

"Funny." So what if she'd become a little predictable over the years? Lori fumbled around a jar of peanut butter and felt a crinkly wrapper. Maybe a forgotten candy bar? No, just another package of crackers. She let out a huff. Was a little chocolate too much to ask for a girl having one of the worst days of her life?

"Are you all right? I can call back."

Lori shut the pantry door with a loud click and rested her back against the wooden panels. "I need chocolate."

"You're out? How is that possible?"

"Gracie helped me finish the last of my emergency stash."

"And she didn't refill?"

"There wasn't time before the wedding." She supposed Gracie had more important things on her mind at the time, like planning a honeymoon. Excited as she was for her friend's new life, Lori couldn't help the flicker of jealousy in her stomach. Happily-ever-after endings apparently weren't meant for everyone—her ex, Jason, had proven that point well enough.

She slammed the brakes on her runaway train of negative thoughts. "Look, is there a point to this conversation, or can I finish my desperate search for relief now?"

"Ouch. Bad day?"

"Did you not hear me say I'm out of chocolate?" Men. The cute ones cheated, and the funny ones were dense. Take Andy, for example. They'd been practically best friends for how long now—two years? Three? And he'd never once considered Lori as anything more.

Though it was probably for the best. If bitter thoughts of Jason still crept in her subconscious, she wasn't ready for more. The need for chocolate intensified, and Lori squeezed her eyes shut. Maybe if she pretended hard enough she could—

Andy cleared his throat. "How about I bring over some chocolate doughnuts? I have something I need to talk to you about."

Lori stopped the no from automatically rolling off her tongue. She preferred to indulge in her chocolate bad moods by herself, but without the chocolate, the bad-mood part sounded pretty lonely. "Fine. See you in twenty."


Leave a comment for your chance to read the rest of the story!

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Three Things

First, I'd like to thank you all for your wonderful input regarding my single or double MC story goals. I have to say that in four out of the five stories I've written, I've give both my MC's a story goal, not always in contention with each other, but none the less they've each have a measurable story goal to work toward.

But in the current manuscript I'm revising, I realized that my heroine doesn't have a story goal. And here comes my second thing for this post: The problem with my dear Fiona is that she is a free-spirit type. She has scene or chapter goals and some segment goals (ones that span several chapters/scenes) but not a big story goal. How does one take a free-spirit who refuses to box herself in, but rather takes life as it comes while trying to manipulate it to her own liking and give her an external, measurable story goal? And one that perhaps works against the hero's goal of generating more income at his church? Okay, there you have it, I'm shameless, but yes, I'm asking for some brainstorming help for this round of revisions. If something wonderful pops in your head while reading this to solve my problem, please, please, please, do share!!! I and Fiona will be eternally grateful!

Thirdly, a dear blogger friend really helped me to face facts this week and I must share. Check out Georgiana's post regarding how we're doing with our 2010 goals. She's holding herself accountable and so should I. It's February already, and if it's not bad enough that this month marks my forty-fourth birthday, Georgiana's reminder of assessing our goal journey has me seriously considering waking at 4:30 to 5:00 am to actually fit some heavy revising, critiquing, editing, writing, into my life regularly to ward off impending depression.

Winter is known to spark darkness in our life, which I'm seriously bending toward, so add to the vitamin D deficiency, frustration from not getting time to do what I love, write, has me needing to make a change...and fast. But, oh, that start time is so, so early. But if it gets rid of this spiral into depression, it will be so worth it. And just think, those 4:00 am starts for horse show days won't seem near as bad if I'm already in the habit, right? But will I actually do it?


Only time will tell.


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

MC Goals ... One or Both?

Hi, All:

I'm back to blogging after an unintended week off. I guess you could say I'm taking life as it comes in 2010. How about you, do you see any changes happening in your lifestyle this year as we begin February?

On a writing note, I've been pondering this MC External Goal thing that all we writers strive to reveal early in our novels. For all you romance writers out there, here's a question for you. There are generally two MC's in a romance, the hero and the heroine, and if you're writing your story in alternating POV do both the hero and heroine need individual measurable external story goals? Or would having one strong one for either the hero or heroine suffice?


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Writing Inspires...

Prayer!






Oh my, does it ever!

Writers, at least Christian writers, pray about their story premise, and how best to reveal the story for God's glory. Whether it's for the Christian Fiction/Non-Fiction market or the secular, we are prayerfully lifting our work to Him in hopes that He'll use it to His great Glory and that our written words become an instrument through which He can and will work wonders for His Kingdom.

But what about writers who are pulling back on time devoted to writing for honourable reasons? What special prayers might they lift?

Yes, I happen to have personal experience with this. When I wrote full-time my direction was clear--write because God calls you to, no matter that you have no idea if He'll use it to help anyone else but yourself, just write for Him. And, yes, it definitely fulfilled my own need for stretching my imagination and directing me to battle my own sinful ways and overcoming fears that God has no desire for me to be crippled with. But now...now that I have so very little time to devote to writing, I find myself running from it when I should be embracing those precious moments available for it.

Why am I running?

I want to be a blessing to others. If my writing is solely for my personal gain, if it will never be published for even one other to gain wisdom from, then what an absolute waste those brain-draining hours of editing and revising are, not to mention how emotionally difficult they are on me. Ahhh, but if it's God desire that I continue on, so be it. Amen.

I'm an all-or-nothing sorta girl. If I can't delve in and give it my full effort and time, accomplishing great gains with each session, then the rewards are too small for me to strive toward. Ahhh, but my daughter, what I'm trying to teach you is that there is great merit in perseverance and working with building blocks no matter how small each brick. Patience, my dear, break the task into the smallest of parts and set forth to accomplish one paragraph, one page at each session and rejoice in a small job well done. For those small jobs will accumulate much in one year compared to running from the task at hand completely.

I'm no good at it anyway. Why bother? It's probably time to quit, find a new challenge to stretch myself with, perhaps the girls and their horse time is what is to fulfill me now. When that last sentence reads: "It's time to quit, find a new challenge...", that's when I'll know it's God's desire and not my weakness calling me over to the dark side--to giving up. Indecisiveness is not of God. Think about it. When was Jesus ever indecisive?

Have you ever struggled with change and found yourself questioning if God is directing you elsewhere or if it's the "change" itself that you are fighting and thus you struggle to rid yourself of the work all together? If so, how do you handle it?

May our prayers be met with answers, clear, straight-forward answers that offer peace within, and direction to accomplish the truth. Amen.


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Zapped!

A head cold has slapped me hard and now I'm zapped.

Frustration is my newest best friend as I ponder the list of to-do's that is ever growing while my body is ever "unfruitful". When the body is weak and eyelids are heavy enough to break toothpicks, there is but one thing to do.

Pray.

I pray for the Haiti situation. I pray for family and friends and their individual circumstances. I pray for direction...for guidance...for a sense of knowing that I so richly lack at times. I pray for His presence to be ever felt in my life. And I pray for you, if you'll let me.

Please, allow me to make use of this tired body by lifting prayers for you. Amen!

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Fiction Versus Non-Fiction?

What effect does each have on you?

It's a well known fact that a really good novel has the reader daydreaming about the fictitious life long after the book is closed. And, oh, what a lovely way to work through menial tasks like cleaning out hamster and guinea pig cages. (Can you tell what I did this morning before logging on?)

Seriously, it's been far too long since I enjoyed reflecting on a good story and contemplating what it was about the story and characters that drew me in and continue to hold me to them long after the story end is complete. That contemplating brings out characteristics I long to discover and/or develop in myself. And of course the writer in me has me wondering when I can fit a second "educational" read in to dissect that baby and figure out how the author created such an enjoyable world to travel into.

Now, Non-Fiction on the other hand offers a more immediate opportunity for change, complete with suggestions, of course. Whether it's a book teaching you to write that gives suggested ways to up the conflict, deepen the character, or spin a twist in your novel in progress, or a faith-driven book that reveals how to live your life more purposely for God, you have something at your finger tips to guide you along having an immediate impact on your life whether in work or personal growth.

The knowledge driven Non-fiction books for one reason or another always seem slow going for me. I suspect it's because I want to apply the suggestions. Test the new knowledge. Whereas, those really good fiction books get read in no time, but they live on, offering a wonderful dreamland to go to whenever I so desire.

Do you experience the same effects from your reading stack, or is everyone different?

A blessed Monday and Tuesday prayed for you all.


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Writing Inspires...

Reading!






There's a lot of goal setting going on in blogosphere lately. I'm still not settled with my list to log mine for the world to see, but there is one that I would like to share now.

My reading goal for 2010.

One of my dear bloggers, Tabitha, has set her reading goal for 2010 at 50 books. That's an awesome goal, but for a slow reader like myself, I'm going a little lax and setting my goal at 36. That's three books a month. I imagine some months I'll go over and others I'll be under, but in the end as 2010 draws to its end, may my 36 in 12: Eileen's 2010 Reading Stack list on the sidebar reveal my reading goal met--ah, yes, sweet success--that's what I long for with at least one of my 2010 goals. And that's a measurable goal, for all you out there with your goal rules set in stone. Absolutely love how committed you all are to goal setting and defining the parameters around it all. [And, no, I'm not worried about any of you experiencing OCD. Really, I'm not!]

As noted often here in cyber space and even in books, many authors are adamant that to become a truly good writer, you must be an avid reader. I agree totally with them on this, but what concerns me is that many of us wannabe writers automatically think the reading element of that equation is limited to published works.

I'm attempting to squash that theory. Partly because I'm such a slow reader that I can't possibly keep up with the suggested reading goals flying around out there, but also because I doubt very much that these prolific authors are still in large critique groups, and reading and editing for dear friends, to help and learn along the way with unpublished works as well.

I mean, it takes time and brain-draining mental exercise sometimes to help other writers hone their craft. I'm not saying it isn't fun brainstorming better ways to pull something off on the page, but it is of value and I think it should count as part of a writer's reading quota. What do you all think? Should reading unpublished works count, or not?

I must add here that after a disappointing run with reading, I'm finally falling in love with it again. You see, I've been reading, errrr, attempting to read, many Steeple Hill Love Inspired novels as usual since it has long been my goal to write for that line, but sadly something has changed either in me, or in the quality of that line as of late.

I've come to the decision that I'd rather spend $10 to $20 on one novel that will likely please me, than $4 times 3 or 4 of the LI's each month that mostly seem to disappoint and I have no problem never finishing. They just don't grab me like they used to and I no longer route for the hero or heroine from the start. This is so sad, because truly, I love the concept of a concentrated sweet romance that can be read in a day for most readers, two for slow me, but my frustration has me drawn away from that line for now. However, I still plan to pick up the LI's written by choice authors I want to support and trust won't disappoint with their offerings. So hopefully you'll still see me recommending an LI here and there on this blog, but notice how rare they've been as of late? Now you know the reason.

Anyway, take a look over at my sidebar and see the 2010 Reading Stack list for what has me excited once more about reading. The fiction (F) book I'm currently reading is not at all what I expected, it's so much BETTER!!!! Thanks, Laura, for inspiring my love of reading once more!!! I appreciate you and your writing so very much!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I did get pictures of Penny up on the last post. If you didn't catch them, scroll further down for a peak at how beautiful this large pony is. She's so friendly, too, and loves receiving treats!! May your weekend be filled with cherished family and friends time, and when you find yourself smiling or laughing, may you lift your eyes in a tender moment of gratitude for our Heavenly Father for all the good He has given you. Blessings prayed for you all!

PS. If you're interested in entering a book giveaway for a hightly recommended YA novel. Check out Georgiana's post today. Sounds like a good one to me.


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

As Writing Isn't for the Weak Hearted, Training...

our cats that our furniture isn't beautified scratching posts just for them isn't easy, either.

We've tried spraying our furniture with perfume (an idea given courtesy of one of my sisters) only to cough and sputter due to a much too overpowering scent. As nice as it may be sprayed on a human body, let me tell you, it is not nice to inhale once sprayed over several pieces of furniture. And our house is open concept. Can't imagine what it would have been like if done in a closed room. Anyway, after nearly dying of massive headaches and raw-throat appeal, that didn't work, either.

In the interest of being humane to my pets and any other creature that roams this earth, I really don't want to send them for de-clawing, so if anyone has any great suggestions as to how to get these silly cats to use the scratching posts given to them rather than our furniture for their obvious need, I'd love to hear it, or read it, as the case may be in blogland.

Praying you all are inspired with something grand today that makes you smile lots!!!

(P.S. My daughters still haven't sent me any pics to upload of our dear equine Penny. Haven't forgotten, still working on getting it to show off their beautiful filly. Oh, and here's a line that hubby said the other night that really cracked me up "We need to save our pennies for Penny." Hee Hee! But boy is he right on that!)

Jan.14th update.

Thanks all for your great suggestions! Keep them coming as I head out to get tape that won't destroy my leather, more tinfoil, and more scratching posts. I'm good with the catnip for smothering on the posts as Santa seemed to have a huge supply of that this year. Thanks too, to all who comment with or without suggestions for this problem of mine. I love reading all your comments! Thanks so much!

Now, onto the pics. Meet Penny. Isn't she beautiful!

Penny and Sabrina.


Penny and Alisha.

Aren't they all beautiful together?

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Monday...Again!

2010 is already going way too fast for me. How about you?

The Watson household is in deep alteration this year. Not just physically with a hoped-for major main floor renovation, but mom and dad (being Phil and I) after years of skirting it have finally plunged into the leasing-a-horse mode for our two oldest daughters. It's actually a large pony they are leasing and preparing to show in the A-circuit around here. This means major change around the home-front.

It means that mom is at the barn five afternoons a week watching said daughters ride Penny, said large pony, and girls are building major thigh muscle and toughness with a new coach who loves no-stirrup work. My crock-pot is getting work-out in all of this, too.

So, not only am I busy drawing up possible floor plans for our new kitchen and location of current kitchen, family room and dining room, along with scouting possible contractors, I'm at the barn way more (starting to sound like my teenage daughters here--scary!)

The interesting thing about all this is that I am at peace with it all even though it has put my writing on the back burner. So I've deemed 2010 a year of horses, renovation inside the house and renovation of old works of writing. Although I'd planned in late 2009 to write a teen novel for my girls early this year, that's going to have to wait. The plot wasn't meshing like I'd hoped in my mind and so it needs more time to knit together as I continue on with 2010. Who knows, perhaps I need to experience the A-circuit living to find the missing pieces since it definitely has equestrian life in it for my girls to enjoy.

I'm starting with revisions and edits of The Unlikely One (that's the story that finalled in the Genesis contest). It'll go slow, I have no doubt, but again, I'm at peace with that. If I get it polished and ready for submitting by the end of the year, I'll deem my writing for 2010 a success.

Of course, that's what I say and feel today. God reserves the right to drive me differently at any point in time. And I say to God, "Bring it on my Master. Lead me, mold me, use me to Your Good Works. Amen."

My question for you all today is this: What are you feeling peace about lately?

(P.S. I'll try and get my girls to send me a picture of beautiful Penny and add it to this post tonight so you can see the newest addition to our family that is becoming very time-consuming.)


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Desires of Thine Heart

Since I don't seem to be alone in the fog of early 2010, I thought I'd share a devotional I read just this morning that's really helping me.

This comes from Joyce Meyer's New Day New You, and January 8th's devotional is based on Philippians 2:13.

"It is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight."

Isn't that beautiful and so very freeing? It is to me. What it says to me this morning as I snatch glimpses of what lies outside my kitchen slider doors (see picture above--taken only minutes ago--it's so beautiful, but had I been submersed in some great plan already, I might have never paused at all to really appreciate it) is that since I'm in prayer as I attempt to plan, organize and make goals for myself, perhaps right now my desire for rest and working in slow motion is actually God-driven. And who am I to deny His will?

I rest easy now as God takes His time setting me up for what is next to come. For His will for me is far greater in His Kingdom than anything I could possibly create on my own. I may never see it that way in this scarred human body in which I am, but I trust God to make a good work of me for His Glory even when I don't see where or how it all leads.

I am desperately trying to get around to visit all my blogging friends, but that too is going in snatches and slow motion for me. Forgive me for taking so long if I haven't gotten over to your Cyber pad yet. I do intend to soon. I have a thyroid ultrasound to tend to today at the hospital which always rolls into a half to full-day excursion with how behind diagnostic imaging always is. So I'll steal snatches of Internet time over the weekend to catch up with you all. Hubby is feverishly studying for a new six-month course he's taking for work, and the girls are busy with the horses for a good portion of this weekend to make this deviation possible. Wow, some "me" time when technically it's supposed to be "family" time. That doesn't happen often around here.

May you all have a wonderful weekend and may God impart His desires in you...and may we all follow through with them for His Glory!

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Definitely Not a Good Start, But there's Hope!

Okay, so 2010 is proving difficult to get into for me. My mind is jammed with wanna-do's and organizational how-to's and baking ideas and lots of guilt because nothing seems to be getting done. I just keep spinning in sphericals. (Oops, sorry, trying not to be cliche. Oh, well, it's an attempt at least.)

Anyway, I got news of a contest that might just help me get my writing mode back into play. What better way than to win a critique from an impartial, educated duo in fictional writing. Here's the link to check it out yourself. Good luck, everyone!


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Does the Quiet get to you?

Hi, All:

I'm feebly inching my way back into what is known as "normal" living in my little world.

How about you? Do you come back after a healthy dose of family and loving feeling raring to go, or a little remorseful that the time has passed all too quickly?

As I work to find balance once more and an energy conducive to creative thinking, I'm blog hopping again and so looking forward to absorbing the wonderful nuggets all you lovely bloggers offer up so freely. Pray your time of celebration was met with love and much joy!

May we all find 2010 to be a year of growth and further understanding with God guiding each and every step we take. If He but tug hard when we tend to stray, we'll be truly blessed!


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen