Thanksgiving Preliminary to Christmas

Tonight my husband John and I are going to J and J's....a fairly new restaurant here in Montrose located above the green. We are going to do our "tradition." I actually wrote an article about it entitled "Our Thanksgiving Christmas Tradition." When I mentioned the possibility of it to a "pro" at a writers conference, she discouraged me saying there would be no market. But I went ahead and wrote it and sold it to Catholic Digest and then reprints to Purpose and Standard. Sometimes the pros are wrong! To make tonight even sweeter, I'm using my $20 gift certificate. Periodically a local paper has a random weekly drawing for different local restaurants and it's nice to have won for an evening out. The Men's Prayer group meets at J and J's every Weds morning from our local church. John is a regular so has gotten to know the young, new owners quite well.

I should tell you "our tradition." We take all of last years Christmas letters and after we eat, we leisurely sit and reread (at least) most of them. Then when we send our Christmas card and letter, we are up-to-date (within a year) of what has happened to the people we are corresponding with! And it makes a fun date night. IF it seems to go too long, we return home and finish reading them.

I wrote my article for Oswego Alliance and hopefully will see it in print before long. That was fun to write!

Progress made...by others!

Although I haven't gotten a lot done re writing due to being at a quilt retreat, members of my family have accomplished a great deal. My husband and middle son are sort of in the same stage. John has finished his book except for small details and then proofing it and my middle son has finished his dissertation except for all the extras. Meaning graphs, pictures, footnotes ...all that kind of picky stuff. But I am really proud of them and inspired also.

A lot of that type of writing is just actual "sit in the chair" work that I struggle with. I'm always
jumping up and down to go do my supposedly more urgent work. But I think even this late in
life, I'm beginning to change and work more diligently.

But I do have to write an article for the Beacon. That is the church newsletter of Oswego Alliance Church. We attended that church from its inception (meaning when it was only a group
of believers meeting in a Bible study) and were still in Oswego for its 25th anniversary. It has since had its 30th anniversary and we now live in PA. But nine quilters came to Montrose for the quilt retreat. I've been asked to write an article for their newsletter telling about the quilt retreat and how it started and then updating them on our lives. The Lord uses many different types of writing for His Work and this is one that I will enjoy writing. I have to email it by Thursday so should get to work.

Little writing this weekend...

I feel very fortunate to live in Montrose, PA. It is a beautiful, small town and I love it. In fact,
not trying to be morbid, my husband and I plan to buy burial plots here. (It's nice that our small
group is led by a local funeral director!) But the land is so pretty around here. I even love the harshness of the winter months. It makes the beauty of the summer seem so much more vibrant.

We not only have a wonderful church here but we also have a Bible conference. This coming weekend is the quilt retreat. Interestingly enough, nine people from my old home town (over thirty years....Oswego, NY) will be attending the quilt retreat. That's an added treat besides getting to quilt. I'll get to visit and catch up. But it does mean not much writing will happen this
weekend.

The Bible Conference is quite busy. The quilt retreat will be in one building but in another the local homeschoolers will be meeting for their Thanksgiving feast. My husband will be doing some readings of his future book and is looking forward to it.

Rarely a dull moment in Montrose....

The waiting time.....

I find the time of waiting (in almost every aspect) to be the hardest! I know most people are like that. Even though we may know God has a reason for putting us in the waiting period, it still seems to drag on and we keep wondering why He can't just get us moving. I know that is true whether one is waiting on a job, a health diagnosis, or a response to a written article. The usual advice is to keep busy and keep writing so that one has more and more articles "out there." Hopefully answers will start rolling in one day!

But I wish that I could learn to wait with patience knowing that God has reasons for the waiting and is continuing to use the waiting for growth!

November 10 - Veterans Day - and time to revise

John and I are watching a war movie on tv that has to do with Veteran's Day! (Pearl Harbor)....
I've actually seen it before. It actually snowed today. We have been busy and before I know it, Thanksgiving will be here. Last Sat. my daughter-in-law, Linda, and grandson, Ezra, were in
Houghton, NY and we drove up there for a visit. In two days there is a quilt retreat at the Bible conference here. I am getting some writing done and John is getting a great deal of work done also.

I received two emails today telling me that two articles had been received. There is always hope for the future but I won't hear about them for a while. In the meantime, John basically has his book finished and it is in the hands of proofreaders. He stil had to do the back page and the illustrations have to be completed by Dominic Catalano. But John is getting excited about it. This Friday he is giving a reading for some of the local homeschoolers. I have a number of new articles to work on but I also have some old articles that I need to revise. Sometimes I just want to go on to new things instead of taking the time to revise. However one of the main lessons I have learned this year is that many articles could really be made publishable if I would take the time to rewrite and revise. That for me is the hard part of writing but I'm learning it is also the most satisfying as I get into the article.

November 1

This has been the week of power outages. We went away for the day to NY state on Tuesday and came home to a power outage. Our cable and internet were out until the next evening when they came back on right before the Phillies won the World Series! The cable company would have had even more unhappy customers if that did not happen. I forgot to mention that along with the power outage was a lot of wind and snow and broken limbs. Then, yesterday, just as I was about to take a shower the power went out again so it has not been a great week along those lines. Yesterday was not the weather as it was a gorgeous day and we finished up our fall tasks of putting outdoor things away....in part, just to be outside.

I thought I would comment on the subject of blogging ....a lot of writers seem to be struggling with the fact of whether to blog or not. Many want to and enjoy it but the other half of the equation seems to be that they spend a lot of "writing time" blogging or reading other writers blogs. That seems to be a struggle for me too. I have to admit I have certain blogs I read almost every day. IF a blog is done in the right way and the amount of time spent on it is manageable, I can see that it could certainly be an asset for publicity as well as being in touch with others and gaining feedback.

Fall is almost passe'

Here it is October 25, 2008.

Most of the seasonal people have left the lake. There are a few of us left. Some who are having
work done behind their cottages. Both are having patios made and one is having level rock layers so they can sit behind the cottage on windy days!

John and I walked around the lake today and he was also burning "stuff." We have a number of trees that need to come down and supposedly a person will take them down in a few weeks as well as the road people will be coming in November to take them down around the power lines.

Enough of fall though I will say that last week at this time we were in Baltimore staying all night with our youngest son and his wife. The next day we went to Northeast/Elkton MD to pick up a friend who came to visit. She had not been here in over 30 years...since she moved to AZ.

Now I'm about to start my fantasy basketball team this week. It will go till next May. This past year I came in third which is the highest I have placed. (That is out of 10.)

My husband's mother is out of the hospital and temporarily at least in the nursing home part of the retirement center where she lives. She had pneumonia and is trying to regain her strength.

Now to writing. John is finishing up the final chapters of his novel that he hopes to bring out this spring. Dominic Catalano is laying out the book and doing the artwork. I am still waiting to hear
about a couple of articles I have submitted and also am finishing up a new one this week. I hope to email it in this coming week. It is due in November and then the word is that one will not really know if it will make the anthology until March or April. That is a long time to wait but time seems to fly by in many respects. I feel like I am almost done with it and will soon email it in and begin a new one. That is exciting!

September season....

I'm loving September and not wanting to to end. I have been doing more writing and am pleased with that. But I have struggled as I don't have a real office and seem to move
around from place to place in the house...always gathering up my material. Workmen are putting in sewer pipes around where we live and by next summer we should be connected. It's been one of those things that we always heard would materialize but didn't think really would.

However it has and I went upstairs to the bedroom my son who is in Israel used to use. I thought I could write and watch the "action" of the sewer people from there. Since Ethan is in Israel, I think I will be using it for writing this fall. There's a desk, a comfortable chair and stool, and big windows that give a great view. The scenery should inspire me to great thoughts. In the short time I have worked there today, I was really inspired and decided to work on all three writing projects that I had before me. I have to say that I have also swum in the lake yesterday and today since I know soon it will be too late. It was great once I was in.

A Possibility....

Possibilities are always fun! But I have to remember that is what it is....a possibility. An article
that I had written and submitted for a future anthology was edited and returned to me for suggestions and thoughts. I just read it over and affixed my notes and then clicked send. Now it is up to the editor and .....time. I made a few suggestions and then said she could decide ....because after all she is the editor. It's strange as rereading it I found a number of places that I would like to "improve" but whether an editor would consider those improvements or not I'm not sure. And whatever happens, time has to pass and the publisher has to narrow the book down and put its okay on the articles so I won't know for a while.

But that is why writers are told to have a number of projects going at once. I actually do have....it's just that now I can actually turn my attention to those and put this on the backburner. Nothing else I can do for the foreseeable future. That's nice in a way.

John (my husband) is busy working on the front matter of his book. He gave it to me to peruse.
Interesting as I had never thought much about that. Yet all books have them and a lot of time and effort go into it.

Okay onto my next project!

Reading it!

Suppsedly reading a book doesn't have all that much to do with writing. But I did just buy the book "The Shack" which I heard vaguely was on the NY Times bestseller list. I don't always keep up with that.... so I'm taking someone's word for it. But even here in Montrose I have friends who have read it and want to read it so we can "talk about it." My daughter said for me to buy it and then send it to her as she wants to read it so I did! The connection to writing is that I have heard it started out as a self-published book. My husband is planning to self-publish his book hopefully by the end of this year or the beginning of next year. There are more and more of those but, of course, few make it to the NY Times best seller list. One of the reasons John wants to self publish is that he is very picky. He would like this particular book done in certain ways because he is joining genres together ....he calls his book sci-fo because he has a realistic fiction story wrapped around stories that are science fiction and folklore. That would cause problems with publishers most likely. I think it's best because he will be happy with it and get it out there for longer than the ten month shelf life that most publishers give their books (from what I heard and that's all I know.) Anyway I will read The Shack next (I'm in the middle of another book) and MAYBE I'll post whether I like it or not. You'll have to check back to find out:)

Tomorrow and this does not have to do with driving but we are celebrating my husband's birthday and I am hoping it is a beautiful day for a drive. We rarely go too far in the gorgeous fall PA countryside so tomorrow is a day to go for a drive to Laceyville and Tunkhannock having lunch somewhere on the way. John said we would "see PA" when we retired but so far we've seen more of far-away places. This will be a first just to go sight-seeing around home.

Satisfaction!

Today our church which meets at a Bible conference met for the first time on its NEW property.
It worked out as well as it could. The rain stopped at just the right time. The land is absolutely beautiful and it was so exciting to picture all the possibilities for our congregation. It was a wonderful day of praise and worship and then a message about what we have to offer....JESUS!
This was pretty needed since Susquehanna County is in the middle of an explosion of companies seeking to lease land since a huge abundance of natural gas is here. With so many people (friends of ours) expecting to get pretty wealthy, it was good to be brought back to basics. Especially since there has not been much employment for people around here and this will bring in employment. Anyway our focus was put back on the Lord and you couldn't help but acknowledge Him in that setting. Afterwards we had a fantastic potluck lunch with hot dogs provided. Lots to be praying about and to be thankful for!

Now to writing. I'm supposed to keep to my blog subject ....I just sent in my revision of the article that I mailed in last week. I'm assuming if it is not satisfactory, I will get it returned to me very shortly. But if they decide to deliberate, it could be December before I will know anything for sure. But it was fun to work on it and improve it and finally send it in. A deadline always helps. I want to set some goals for this week as other friends who seem to accomplish a great deal in their writing tell me it is because they set goals and then accomplish them. I will set some small ones for this week but I will have goals....hopefully some short-term ones and some long term ones!

A Great week!

This has really been the best week of the summer weather-wise. Summer people have left the lake but quite a few are still here. It's in the 80's, sunny and warm but not humid and actually
perfect. So I've had a little conflict. Do the writing I promised myself or spend time outside? Add to that the convention on television. I've compomised. I have been swimming an hour almost every day this week. And John and I are reading a book together out loud so we have done that sitting by the lake. We actually had to go to the "big city" (Vestal, NY) yesterday but we raced through our errands so we could get back and spend time in the out-of-doors. Supposedly one more pretty day and then Hurricane Hanna will bring rain up our way.

Yesterday I got a rejection for an article I had emailed back in 2007 so it was nice just to hear one way or the other. I said that I would mention the article I emailed in yesterday's blog. The editor said it had potential and has given me till Monday to improve it and email it back so we shall see. I also wrote another article and emailed it in also .....but today I just worked around the house. Lots to catch up on. But tomorrow I hope to get back to writing. All in all it's been such a great week between the weather and the writing that I wish it wasn't Friday already..

September1, 2008

Labor Day weekend and summer is ending! A sad realization for most of us. For my husband an myself, it is both an ending and a beginning. Both sad and happy. We have had a wonderful summer and actually got to see all of our children (if I count May for Eli) as well as our grandchild and many friends and family members! So that has been a blessing. Our youngest son was here this last week while his wife and her parents were in Baltimore. When he left, our summer seemed to be officially over and we were SAD to see him go. There never seems to be enough time once one's children are grown. The days with them go too fast.

Nevertheless I had resolved that this fall I would begin writing once again and though it is 2:30 am I just emailed an article. I doubt it will be accepted but I will tell on this blog yea or nay. It felt good just to get back into the writing world. Actually writing instead of talking about writing. Actually I was two hours past the deadline so the article may just be returned to me. Even that will be all right as I will try to improve it and send it out again if so.

Today was an absolutely beautiful day and tomorrow (today) is supposed to be the same though that is not true everywhere as a hurricane is forecast to hit the gulf coast. Our house in FL received a lot of rain from an earlier August tropical storm.

Writing and Shevet Achim

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, my oldest son, Ethan, left June 23 for Israel to work at Shevet Achim. It is a faith based organization which provides heart operations for children from mostly Arab countries around Israel. These children would die without the operation. Ethan is their new office manager and finance director. The founder of Shevet Achim, Jonathan Miles, came to Montrose and spoke at our E Free Church this past Sunday in SS and church. Afterwards we had a chance to speak with him for around two hours. That was a special blessing.

Then my sister and her husband came for a visit. They had not been here in about 15 years so that was very special. Now my husband and I are getting ready to go to TN for his class reunion and will be away for four days. When we return the director of Seeds of Abraham, Tom Bradford and his wife, Becky, will be at the Bible conference for four days and then at our house for four days. They are our friends from Florida and Ethan has written four articles for Tom's Torahclass.com website. Hopefully he will have opportunity to write many more. As for me, I may not be getting a lot of writing done but I am gaining a great deal of blessing from the special way the Lord is ordering my summer. It was so special to have Jonathan Miles right here in our local church and small town before he returns to Cairo, Egypt for the year. And now I'm looking forward to some in depth Old Testament Bible teaching when Tom Bradford is here! Maybe I'm inculcating a lot of knowledge that will make me a better writer in the future.

YES!!

So far, so good!

In my journey to hold myself accountable to writing this last half of the year, one day has been
successful. Even though last night we went to a picnic for the teens of our church (they were meeting with teenagers from Holland who are looking to invite teens from America over to eastern Europe to share their faith), I came back home and stayed up till 2 am to get my two hours of writing in. I made a good start.

The picnic was neat as it came about just from an email I received while in Fl and thus forwarded to the church here in PA. The Christians in eastern Europe (not Holland) are few and far between and praying for those lands to receive the gospel was once again brought to the forefront of my mind. I think because eastern Europe seems more like us, we forget the urgency of the situation.

Back to writing....today I received an email from a place that has accepted an article saying they needed my permission in case it is published in a book or online. That was another encouragement to get back to what I should be doing!

RECHARGED AND READY

Yep, that's me!

A few days at a writers conference can really get one back in the frame of mind to write. I am eager to get back to my computer and begin to write and send out. I have not really done that for quite a while. A friend from Oswego, NY (where I lived for over thirty years) came to stay with me and she has been out of writing for over ten years (other than sermons) since she entered the pastorate and her time was spoken for. She, too, came to get recharged. A friend from FL also was in PA this week and though she is quite diligent and motivated already, she said that the writers conference encouraged her to go back and eagerly revise and write on her novel.

The best thing that came out of this conference for John (my husband) and myself was a meeting with a man who had information on marketing and self-publishing. This man had a lot of experience and told us that because we have a publishing company set up, we are perfect candidates to publish a book thru Lightning Source that could then go to Ingram and Amazon and be digitally produced thus there would not be a need for going thru a POD publisher that would make us buy 500 copies and store them in our garage. This way books could be printed as needed. That would be a huge savings if it should work out --and it may because a talented friend is doing the cover and layout of the book who has illustrated many books for numerous publishers and thus could probably do the step that John would not be able to do ourselves easily. IF it should work out, the Lord will have "illustrated" this for us in a way we could not have done ourselves.

I also have three new books that I am eager to read. I decided that I am hoping to keep myself reading as well as writing the last half of the year!

Israel, Mongolia and Montrose

Ethan arrived safely in Israel and is already at work at www.Shevet. org and my middle son, Eli went to Mongolia for a fascinating eleven days and has safely returned to CO. In the meantime his wife, Linda, and our grandson, Ezra, visited here as well as many members of her family and also my youngest son, Andrew, and his wife, Kandace. A time thoroughly enjoyed and thus the explanation for no blogs for two weeks!

Enough explanation! This is supposed to be about writing! So I should write. At the moment I am realizing that the Montrose Christian Writers Conference begins Sunday. An old friend from Oswego is coming to stay with me and attend and a friend from Florida is also flying up to attend. That's in addition to all the "old timers" who will also be there. Hopefully it will be a nudge to get down to business in this last six months of the year and be prolific. I'm sure next week will fly by but in the meantime...today is a beautiful day and I should not waste it........

Israel, Mongolia and writing

What do the above have in common? The fact that two of my sons are, or will be going, to those countries. As mentioned in other blogs, my oldest son just flew out of Newark last week to work at www.shevet.org which is a Christian organization which helps children who live in neighboring countries to Israel --have heart operations. These children would die without the operation. Sadly, occasionally a child dies even with the operation. But in general, most of the children then go on to live a normal life! What a blessing that Ethan gets to work in a job that is so meaningful!
He has had to raise support which has been a challenge but the wonderful blessing to that is seeing God provide and learning to trust. And it has renewed my understanding of what I knew as a young Christian but often forget in the midst of so many causes--of what a blessing it is to be able to give to God's work!

My middle son is going to Mongolia July 4th for eleven days. He will be going to National Parks and also studying goat herders. This goes along with his work in the Serengeti where he studies the effects of poaching animals and its affect on the environment in Tanzania. (Hopefully I explained that sorta' right. ) He is very excited and because he will be away my daughter-in-law and grandson will be visiting in the east for a few days so I will get to see them. Also my youngest son and daughter-in-law are coming for July 4th! This should be a wonderful week.
Writing has to do with these things because there is potential for an article about the work of Shevet down the road. And also a possibility of a children's article about the wild horse of Mongolia. We will see if either of these come to fruition in the near or distant future!

Ethan goes to Israel

Tomorrow my oldest son is leaving for Israel -- again! After being in Israel for nine years almost continually, Ethan arrived back in the US December 20, 2007. We thought it might be permanent but God had other plans. These past six months have been quite a journey not only for Ethan but for John and myself. Ethan was seeking what was next and the Lord has opened up the door for him to return to Israel to work at www.shevet.org This is an organization that brings children into Israel for heart operations that will save their lives. These children come from surrounding countries and the logistics are many. It has been quite wonderful to see God open up this door and then the steps as they evolve. Not having had to live by faith materially myself, it is interesting to watch one's child take this step (although actually we all live by faith each day if we know the Lord.)

During the months that Ethan has been home, writing has played a large part in his life. He began by writing academic articles for the torah class website (he just finished #4)..."Did the Messiah speak Hebrew or Aramaic?"....and also submitted a book proposal at a writers conference. He also took a fiction writing class which he thought was excellent with Angela Hunt and Nancy Rue. In addition he has been writing info about Shevet as he gets ready to return to Israel. And he has helped his father by editing his novel and helping him set up a website! We've been on a journey and tomorrow will be the first day of a new one for all of us. Hopefully it will be an exciting one for Ethan as he goes down the new path the Lord is opening up.

Home to Montrose

Today was an absolutely beautiful day! Perfect weather wise. And though we were surrounded by messes of things that we need to do to get settled, we still enjoyed it. No sight of "Blackie" the bear that we have seen in June the past few years thankfully. We took the Uhaul back and are slowly beginning to clean up and put away. And Ethan is preparing to leave for Jerusalem in ten days. Our visit to our daughter's house in Nashville was wonderful and worked out well with their schedule. Then tonight my daughter-in-law in CO called and reminded me that my son had flown to a wedding in Canada. Before that I talked to my other daughter-in-law and we caught up on the news in Baltimore. Hopefully the "Baltimoreans" may be able to visit over July 4th! So in essence I've touched base with all the kids and that's before Father's Day which is coming up this Sunday (and which I'm totally not prepared for.)

Since this blog is about writing, I should mention that I received an email rejection today but that is good! It means I actually sent an article out. June is the halfway point of the year and I plan to copy my friend in FL and begin setting writing goals for the last half of the year. I don't want it to get away from me like the first half did. And goals are a big part of that! Since I'm ill prepared for Father's Day.....maybe I can write a piece for John that he would enjoy!

John's website is ALMOST up!

Yep, that's true. After all these weeks of work and planning, John can actually see his website. At the moment he still is not totally satisfied with it but the core of it is finished. He still has to "tweak" it as he says. He has literally spent hours on it and has lots of "buttons" (or whatever one calls them....) for people to go to and see what's there. I think he has had a lot of fun doing it. And even Ethan, our oldest son, says that John has "turned a corner" re internet use. By trial and error, he has learned a great deal.

I'm taking a break to write this blog as we are in the midst of packing. John, Ethan, and I are hoping to finish up tomorrow (pack and mail some boxes to PA) and then go south on Friday to meet some friends for lunch and then cross over to Venice to see John's mother and then head to Nashville to see our daughter and son-in-law and finally head to PA next Weds. and (God willing) arrive there on Thursday!

Since last week Ethan has also finished up a fourth article for the Torah Class website. And he has a ticket to fly to Israel on June 23. He still needs an apartment but may go there and stay in his old apartment and then look for a new one. He is hoping to work part time the first month and also take Dr. Buth's Greek class (six week class). Most of all please pray that we can locate his passport by the departure date. We were hoping it was being help in PA at the post office but now we are fearful that it has been forwarded to FL and will arrive after we leave.

Hopefully we will get off well Friday and John's website will be "tweaked).

The end of May

Well it's the end of May and I'm sad and glad. I love Florida and I love Pennsylvania. They are so different. As usual, I'm SHOCKED that June is just around the corner. I had SO MUCH writing I had hoped to get done here in Florida....but for many reasons it didn't happen. Now I'm hoping that as I head north I can harness my time and energy and make up for a lot I didn't do. On the other side of the equation is the fact that my oldest son is planning to return to Israel on June 23rd and I can say that I think that the three of us (my husband, my son and myself) have made the most of our time together (five months). We have shared a lot and for that I am grateful. It is a time that has been very special .....and even if I didn't get a lot of writing completed, Ethan and John did! So I'm happy for their success.

Florida, Pennsylvania, and .....Israel

This is most likely our last week in Florida .....we should be on the road to Montrose, PA by next week. That is the three of us. John, my husband and Ethan, our oldest son, and myself. We have been in Fl since January and it has been a momentous few months. We have done a lot of writing and a lot of praying. Ethan came home in December after having lived and worked in Israel for the past nine years. Now he is going back to Israel, God willing, in late June or July. God has opened the door for him to be the office manager/grant writer for http://www.shevet.org/

Shevet is a Christian organization that works with children from surrounding countries who would die without a heart operation. These children are brought into Israel and the Jewish doctors contribute their services while the hospitals provide services at cost. Jonathan Miles founded the organization in the 1990's.

Ethan was first approached about working for them in December and as time has passed, it is becoming a reality. He is looking forward to returning as his "heart" is in Israel. So most of his writing at the moment is in connection with Shevet although he hopes to return to writing articles for a Torah class website soon and also for a possible Hebraic Roots book.

I'm "catching up" and trying to get ready to go so I'm not having an opportunity to write too much per se right now. But hopefully soon I will be settled in Montrose and able to pick up the pen and concentrate. John is busy writing his website. In fact, he has an appt today and before long his website should be up and running! He is really excited about it.

Writing of all types is wonderful when you are doing it for the ONE who makes it all worthwhile.

Colorado Dreamin'

Colorado was wonderful to put it mildly! We got to spend time with our son(s), ...two of them, as well as our daughter-in-law and grandson. We crowded a lot in like playing mini golf, watching basketball, sightseeing in Boulder, touring the Rocky Mountain National Park as well as sitting around eating and relaxing. Ezra, our grandson, is now five months old and it was neat to see how he is growing and changing! Also we got to see the office of our middle son, Eli, at Colorado State. In addition, we shared his happiness at the news that Colorado State is sending him along with a number of others to Mongolia for 10 days in July!

But since this is a writing blog I should get to that. We spent five amazing days in Estes Park, CO. This has to be one of the prettiest spots in the whole United States. We attended a writers conference that has to win the prize for most scenic. It was also quite encouraging. I just received an email saying an article I took may be used by Women Alive! Come to the Fire magazine so that is encouraging. I was also in a non-fiction book clinic and thought it was excellent. My son, Ethan, was in a fiction class with Angela Hunt and Nancy Rue which he said was great. He also had a publisher interested in his Hebraic Roots book proposal. That is only a first step but it is hopeful. And John, my husband, made many contacts and learned a great deal about publicity for his soon to be published book, Earth Is Not Alone. It wasn't all work as we went on a fun hayride and had a campfire dinner!

Now we are back and John is hard at work on his website! Soon I will link to it....and you all can see how much hard work he is doing.

Colorado......here ....we .....come!

Hard to believe that in a week we will be flying to CO to see Eli and Linda, my son and daughter-in-law as well as our by then five month old grandson, Ezra. We will get to visit with them for four and a half days and then we head to the writers conference in Estes Park, CO. John, my husband, as well as my son, Ethan, will be attending. I go regularly to the Christian Writers Conference in Montrose, PA each summer since we live there but John rarely attends (even though his cousin's wife, Patti Souder, is the director). He does come to eat dinner however! But this time John is finishing up a novel, Earth Is Not Alone, and I've talked him into coming to get inspired and learn more about such subjects as marketing, etc. Plus Ethan has just begun writing articles for a website on Hebraic roots and is also interested in fiction so he is planning to attend a special fiction workshop. It's so neat that the visit and the conference can go together and I get to share it with my family!

Tonight the conference director emailed tentative nonfiction clinic book proposals from those in the class (I'm one of them.) It was kind of shocking to think that this is coming quickly. Right now I'm sort of buried in other things.....like trying to get our taxes together and mailed by next week. And a couple of miles away a huge brushfire is threatening a housing development not far from where I live. It's so good to know the One who is in control when life seems a little out of control!

Hopefully I will accomplish a lot in this intervening week and then .......Colorado here I (we) come!

Missed deadlines and "Issues"

I'm learning how fast time goes when you want to write and your time gets filled up with other things. That's been my week. I think it's turning out all right but a number of unexpected "happenings" filled my week. They had to be addressed however. So I'm just beginning to learn about a blog and really have not devoted much time to it this week. John is still busy trying to "edit" his novel Earth Is Not Alone and decide on a website and a publisher. Ethan has been working on a new article for the hebraic roots website he writes for and I have mainly been trying to think about a nonfiction book and also the writers conference in CO.

In all of this I'm attempting to trust that as I put each "issue" in God's hands, it will turn out for the best.....even if I don't understand. That lesson is one it has taken me decades to learn but now it's the only way I want to live!

Short and Sweet!

Yesterday I wrote my first blog and I'm hoping to learn and perfect this as the time goes on. Today has been a really busy day but nice. It's almost 9 PM and I will keep this short. In one month we are supposed to fly to Denver where we will visit my son and his wife and our new grandson, Ezra, who was born in December 2007. After that we will attend the CO Christian Writers Conference and then return to Florida early on the morning of the 20th. John and I are "snowbirds" and spend half a year in PA. We actually live in Montrose and each July the Montrose Bible Conference has a writers conference which I try to attend. After all the price is right!

But for many reasons including visiting our family, I felt like this is the time to attend a different conference as well. John is finishing up a novel that he plans to title "Earth Is Not Alone" so that is part of the reason. He rarely attends conferences so I am surprised I have talked him into attending this one. I think it will stimulate us into action as his book becomes a reality. I have not written a book but I have increased my output of publications this year. One of my favorites goes along with the picture you see on this site of John, me and our son, Ethan, in Israel about a year ago. When I returned from Israel I wrote an article entitled "Israel in My Heart' which was published in "Maggie Mae," an Orlando newspaper (along with the picture.) Then last summer it was published in the Melbourne section of the Florida Today newspaper under the title "Israel Revisited" along with the picture. I like both titles and was extremely happy that our 35th Anniversary Trip was actually captured in print! Now I need to concentrate on writing some articles to show editors of periodicals in CO! I'm sure this month will fly! And as I said, as a senior citizen I want to make my time count. I'd better close or I'll have to change the title of this blog.

It's (God Willing) Never Too Late!

April 8, 2008! There are young writers and middle-aged writers and "older" writers. I'm the latter! For years (ever since 1987) when I had my first published article (in The Lookout), I've called myself a writer. My husband had told me as soon as I sold my first article, I could say that! BUT I never took myself seriously and everything else (including watching basketball) took precedence. Especially my family.

I've been very blessed to have met the Lord as a teenager and am grateful for the multitude of experiences He has given me and the ways He has guided me. Always a new experience around each bend. Some have been hard but the road has never been dull. And even now ...in my retirement years, I seem to find each day filled to the brim. This blog is part of that. I hope to share a part of my life (writing) that has gotten short shrift in the past years.

Although my husband, John, and I lived most of our married life in Oswego, NY where he was a professor at Oswego State University, we are now "snowbirds." My "fantasy" basketball name is FlorPenn (a combination of Florida and Pennsylvania) ...two states that I love! Actually Pennsylvania is probably my first love but New York and Florida are tied for a very close second. The beauty of each state is so special but I'm sidetracking!

There are many things I will talk about but this blog is mainly to share the part of my life I have neglected the most up till now which is WRITING. That has begun to change in the past year and I hope I can continue to say that I grow ever more diligent as that is what I feel God has for me to do in this season of my life. But this blog will not be just about writing. I'm sure you will soon find that family, friends and the land of Israel are all mentioned on a regular basis. Israel was where I met my husband and the place we returned for our 25th anniversary as well as our 35th! My oldest son lived in Israel while studying and working for almost nine years and my daughter studied in Israel for one semester also. In fact, all of our children as well as my daughter's fiance went to Israel together when we celebrated our 25th anniversary. John and I love to travel. This year we also had a fabulous trip to Tanzania where our middle son and his wife have lived and worked in the Serengeti for the last few years. I may be "older" but I hope this is the "beginning" of the most productive part of my writing life.