A Little of This, and a Little of That...

It's vacation week in our household and as a result I'm scatter-brained and still in a lot of pain due to pulling too many weeds and transplanting too many varieties. We dropped our girls off at horse camp yesterday after a weekend of packing and preparing for it. They were so excited!

Hubby is off for a few days this week, one is today, and maybe tomorrow--his work load is dictating day-by-day. So depending on his schedule I may not be around much this week.

Twitter and Facebook runners, have you got yourselves linked? If not, check out this article on Connecting Twitter to Facebook. It's simple enough that it worked for me. I'm in search of an article that links blog updates to Facebook and Twitter too, so if you find one please let me know. Or something that reveals how to create a tiny URL would be helpful too.

No writing happened this weekend for me, what about you? What about today? Who's going to join me to aim for 2000 words today? I better get writing before hubby wakes up. I pray we all have a productive and blessed Monday!


Surrendering to Him,
Eileen

Being Flexible

Okay, I'm deferring the professional looking posts post due to technical difficulties. I had a couple links saved in an email to refer to for this post and now email is down for me.


But if anyone knows how to upload snapshots of screens in their original rectangular form, I'd be interested. That's something I'm still trying to figure out, among many others. When I do get that post up (hopefully on Monday) it'll be more interactive than anything because I have soooo much to learn.


On an aside. My body aches.


Seriously, I love looking at gardens, enjoying all the different flowers, but man, I could do without all the work it takes to buff the gardens each year. I got a late start and now am pulling half of my foliage out to be able to see the little gems hidden beneath the overgrown monster flowers. And I haven't even got to my largest garden yet.



I'll be tackling this one over the weekend and throughout next week, I suspect. It'll look a little different as this pic was taken last fall, so some of these flowers are just starting to awaken. I'll try to take a pic when I'm done and post.

In fact, I think we should have a garden blog party once I complete my gardens. Yeah, I really like that idea. Motivates me to get mine all done. Care to join me? If your gardens are buffed and ready start taking pictures for a future garden party in cyber space. I'll be bringing fresh squeezed old-fashioned lemonade to share.

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Fun with Dialogue and Winner Announced after Noon

Hey, all, I'm over on Writer's Rest today. Hope you'll come join me there.

I'll update this post after noon as to the winner of Betsy St. Amant's Return to Love. If you haven't entered yet, and want to squeeze a ballot in, go here and leave a comment in that post.

And on Friday we'll be taking another look at postings. Think professional layouts. How do they do that?

Prayer for us all today: May we see God's hand in all we come in contact with today and take a moment to praise Him for His graciousness. Amen

UPDATE of winner of Betsy St. Amant's Return to Love:

Congratulations, Jessica Nelson! I shuffled the little pieces of paper, didn't look inside the bowl, and drew out your name. Please send me your snail mail address. I don't harvest them, so no worries there.

Posting Length--What's your pick?

First, if I knew how to create blog awards, I'd be giving Booking It by Jessica Nelson a Consistently Concise Award. I love Jessica's posts. I never have to skim; they're always so compact. And her material never ceases to make me think.

So I have a couple questions for you all today:

1) What length do you desire blog posts to be?
&
2) If a topic is lengthy, how do you feel about it being split up over several posts? Would you welcome it being broken up, or prefer to see a single topic in one lengthier post? (I know, that makes it three, but they're so related.)

My prayer today: May sparks of creativity ignite during our writing/play time today!


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Age Criteria...Sadly Overrated & A Giveaway

In books and at conferences I've repeatedly heard reputable agents and editors say something to the tune of: "You need life experience to write, so people in their twenties or younger aren't likely to write saleable books."

I've always questioned that theory in the quiet recesses of my mind and heart, and not because I'm young. For the record, just so we're clear on this, I didn't start writing until I was nearing thirty-seven, and I'm now forty-three. I questioned it and still question it because it seems so unfair. No matter what age we are, if we're living, we're experiencing life, and thus we have experiences to draw on to write about. In some respects, being a young writer can be a huge advantage. Many firsts are still very fresh in your mind and what better time to get those firsts down on paper then when they're nearest and dearest to you?

Well, in these past few days my thoughts on this have been affirmed through reading a wonderful Steeple Hill book by Betsy St. Amant (a twenty-five year old wife, mother, and wonderful author). Return to Love just released on July 1st and it proved to me that not all agents and editors know it all.

It's sad to think that some young writers might take these naysayers to heart and set aside their dream for years, just to gain some experience before feeling worthy to share the stories that come to them. Think of all the wonderful stories we're missing because of this condescending attitude. So sad. I say, if you're old enough to put words together on the page, and study the craft of fiction writing, I don't care how old you are, write what you know! And if you're disillusioned and believe you know nothing, take a gander at Cindy Wilson's article about this very topic here.

I'll be interviewing Betsy on July 31stth, so I won't say anymore about her and Return to Love in this post, but instead, to celebrate I picked up two extra copies of Return to Love for giveaways. One for this week, and one for the week of her interview post. If you're interested in reading an Inspirational romance fit for you and your teenage daughter(s), neice(s), friend(s), let me know in the comment section and I'll add your name into the drawing. I'll draw the winner next Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at noon, and hopefully the winner will have a chance to read this wonderful fresh story before my interview is posted on the 31stth. Good luck everyone!

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Scripture Speaks

It's been a while since I posted some scripture, too long really. Lately I've been doing a study comparison of the NIV version to The Message, and this morning's reading from The Message really spoke to me. This section in particular:

"What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." Matthew 6:30b-34

Wow, there are several lessons in that reading for me. With respect to writing, it's a confirmation that I need to turn my writing over to Him. That I needn't concern myself with whether or not publication is on the horizon, but rather just do the work as He guides me, and trust that His desires for my stories will be met through diligence.

"God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." That's a powerful statement. God doesn't promise us an easy road, but He does promise to always be there--to help you through the hard things.

If you're fearful that your work will never meet publication standards, take another look at these verses, and especially. "..., to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving." God's given you the gift of writing. Trust that His desire for your writing will be met in His way and His timing. Just be obedient--write on, as He guides you.

If you're fearful of what will be required of you if you do pitch a winning proposal and that's what is keeping you from querying, be confident in knowing that "God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes."

And above all remember this: "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now" Follow God's reality, initiative, and provisions in all you do, in every moment, and His will is surely to be accomplished!

May we all feel God's guiding force today, and may we surrender to do His will in every moment. Amen.

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

A Canadian Holiday

I hope you all are having a fabulous day! For my Canadian readers, Happy Canada Day! and for our neighbours south of the border, may you guys have much fun preparing for your July 4th celebration just around the corner.

I was up early this morning to write, and look forward to a day of celebrating with my hubby and youngest daughter. We'll be heading over to Columbia Lake for the celebration festival and catching the fireworks later at night. It should be a fun day if the rain holds off.

What's on your celebration agenda? Ever thought of writing a scene in your books regarding your country's anniversary celebrations? My current story is set in summer, so I could write a Canada Day celebration in this one. Hmmm, now I know what I'll be watching for as the day goes on. Story fodder. What about you?

P.S. Aren't these post-it notes cute? Steena Holmes introduced me to them, they're fun to create and easy too. If you like the concept, check out Superstickies to create your own. I'll be watching to see how fast they make the blog circuit.

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen