Change is good?

Change is good... or so I'm told. Sometimes I wonder.

Last Sunday, the pastor of our church announced he was leaving to work for Helping Hands Missions. After our pastor's trip to Uganda in March of this year, he knew the Lord was calling him into the mission field. Our church has watched, prayed, participated in multiple missions that include our local schools, our homeless. A group from my church went to Uganda with my pastor and those of us who remained prayed for them.

Our pastor is not only the leader of our church, but also a friend. I know he is following God's calling, but I'm still concentrating on my own flesh when I say I wish he were staying. I see the impact this church, this pastor's heart, has had on my family's life, and I realize that God is at work in every single thing. I know we are not to put our faith in man... still, I am torn. My family will press on. We will continue to stay at this church because we love it and are comfortable here. I don't want this change, but it is not my decision. How can you wrestle with change when it's completely a "God" thing?

I suppose we can wrestle all we want but in the end we know Who will win.

I'm also facing change at my job. Earlier this year, the company announced my department will be moving to another state. Other departments will fully relocate to my current location. We have the option to stay in this current town and change positions or follow our current position to the new location. I have made the choice to stay. Eventually those of us who do not move will interview for a new position. If we don't get a position, we will be given an offer management says will be reasonable.

Some may not receive an offer.

I realize this solution is better than receiving a pink slip, but still, I'm wrestling against this change as well. I'm trying to see the bright side, but sometimes, it's hard to see the sun through the clouds. You know its there, and there's a definite glare, but the sun just won't shine.

I don't know where I intended to go with this post, other than to say that change is inevitable. Is it good? For some, it will be.  For me, stay tuned....

Making Changes

On Sunday, I blogged on FAITH how there is a time for everything. Every second of every day, I try to accomplish something, but one thing that is a consistent slip for me is meal planning. I find myself busy with everything, and then, when meal time comes, I'm at a loss. Eating out is getting more and more expensive, plus, it's unhealthy!

On Julie Jarnagin's blog,I read about her success using E-mealz. Basically, you choose the store that you shop most frequently and you will receive a customized menu that corresponds with the store's weekly deals. I just signed up for this and I hope that I can plan more meals for my family and save money in the process. Already, I have an easy meal set up for tonight, something I can pull together in about an hour.



What are some ways you have learned to save time, money and get more accomplished?

Inspiring You Days 15 & 16

Yesterday I woke up and wrote. I tweaked what I'd started on my first chapters and had to cringe at how bad the writing was. Thank the Lord for revisions!

This morning I woke up and made a layered dip for the food day we're having at work. It felt strange getting up and heading to the kitchen to make something edible, beyond coffee. Then, on to the story...

But I'm having issues with this WIP. I love the story, of course. It's just I haven't been able to get a good handle on it yet. I also reworked my GMC chart yesterday. I can feel a tug where the story is concerned. A tug to move forward but also a tug in the other direction. When I feel this way, I do tend to go back to the GMC Chart to see if my goals and motivations are strong enough and if they work with the conflict.

On a positive note, hop on over to the FAITH Blog, where Missy Tippens is talking about dreams. She's also giving away a $10 Amazon gift card. Leave a comment to put your name in the hat AND tell her about what your dream is.

My current word count is 4,615. Not much improvement, but I am plugging forward. We have 10 days left in our challenge. Some of you are really close to achieving your stated goal. I can't wait to relinquish prizes to those who have met the goal they stated when we started this challenge.

Okay, check in time, how are you doing?

Inspiring You, Days 11-13

It was a very busy weekend. Another six day work week for me pushed aside my desire for getting any writing done and housework. I am seeking better ways to accomplish my goals both for writing and for household/family issues.

My report for this weekend is an increase from 3,119 words to 3,657 words. I wrote some of those during church... just jotting down quick notes about the story while jotting down scriptures and listening to the sermon. I feel bad admitting that... and I promise, I did hear the message. I suppose when I am able to be still and sit quietly, that is when my thoughts can increase and become productive. Another plus of the church service was that we sang The Solid Rock. Within that hymn is the potential title of my book, Sinking Sand... Love that hymn although it is not the easiest to sing with all of its change in tempo.

Anyway, I'm so excited for all of you who wrote so much this weekend. Keep it up!

What's your current report?

Keep Me Accountable - Day 25, 26, 27, 28

Are you familiar with the teacup?

Not the one you drink from, but the carnival ride, "teacup."  It may be called something else where you live. It may be called something different where I live... but I refer to it as the teacup. My daughter loves to ride it on the carousel at the mall. You sit in it and spin yourself around, as fast as you can, while the carousel is running.

This week has been one long, but good, teacup ride...

Day 25 - I don't remember if I wrote. I do remember it was my husband's 34th birthday -

Happy Birthday, Hon...  We went to dinner and got home late. The kiddos were with us and my daughter begged for a pink balloon. Of course, the restaurant had one and graciously gave it to her.

Day 26 - I don't think I wrote that day either. It seems the day was a rush from beginning to end. Thursday after work, I baked a cake for my husband's birthday, with my daughter's help. God bless my dear husband that he doesn't get caught up in the details of life. Some people may be upset that their spouse didn't do something special to recognize their birthday... and that the special something came a day late.

Day 27 - I don't think I wrote that day either. Am I repeating myself here? I do remember working until 8pm that night. I was working a later shift, so I was only supposed to work until 7pm. But when you've been up since six and running wild trying to get everything accomplished BEFORE you arrived at the office, working an hour over tends to make you feel a little put out. Oh, well, duty calls and I tend to be willing to answer that call of duty since those paychecks help put food on the table and support my writing career.

Day 28 - I didn't write today. I was back at work, anticipating a storm system that could generate a whole lotta work for my office. I did accomplish something, though. I read entries for a couple of contests I'm judging. Reading for one contest helped remind me where I've been in my writing. Reading for the other contest shows me where I want to go.

Which is why I've got to get back to writing and let everything else go for one more week!

I've been riding this insane teacup for the last four days. It's time to step off, regroup, and get back into a normal, more calm schedule.

AND FINISH THIS BOOK!!!

What have you all been up to this week?

Oh, and here's my current word count:  56,460

Keep Me Accountable - Day 24

Writing report:
Four hours ended up being 3 and a half once the coffee was brewed and the dishes were loaded in the dishwasher.

I just couldn't stand it anymore. I forced myself not to dive into housework, reminded myself it would be there when I was ready to tackle it and vowed myself I would return to finish it.

I rewrote an existing scene and worked on a new one. All in all, it was a productive afternoon. Yay!

Current Word Count: 56,523

Keep Me Accountable - Day 23

If I could draw a big ZERO on this blog, I would do it. It would show how much writing I accomplished on Monday - Day 23.

But this dry spell won't last. Nope. I'm putting an end to it tomorrow.

Day 24 is full of promise... How many words can one write in 4 hours?

I'll be back to tell you all about it. I prayerfully hope this will not be an afternoon of distractions.  I pray the same for you.

Keep Me Accountable - the 20th day

I took my laptop with me today, eager to work on new scenes.

Nothing done. Zilch. Nada.

Keep Me Accountable - Day 18 - addendum

No writing today. Filed Taxes. Ugh. Totally depressed about this. The taxes, that is.

Can't let this NO WRITING thing continue... I'm praying Day 20 will be more productive. 

Who wrote today? Who revised? Who just read or brainstormed? Let's hear all about it!!

Keep Me Accountable - Day 18

I wanted to help start your day with a pretty sunset taken on Lake Lanier in Georgia.

Waving to my sister in law, Kari, who is celebrating a birthday today. She works near the lake and can probably enjoy a scene like this from her office. Happy Birthday, Sis!



Yesterday was a no writing day. Not because I didn't want to write, but sometimes, business and responsibilities take over.

That's okay. Today will be a better day. It's back to my normal routine. Like a child, I do better when my normal routine isn't interrupted.

I only have 12 days until my deadline day of April 30. I wanted to have the book finished and pretty much edited by then. I'd better stomp the proverbial "gas" on this one then, as my time is quickly running out!!!

Keep Me Accountable - Day 17

Monday was a beautiful, pollenated day, yet I didn't get any additional writing done after the morning hour. But thank God for that morning hour!

(And no, this picture isn't the lake or anywhere near my home... just a few hours south in Florida. My husband took the shot while on his fishing excursion last year. It's a sunrise and I was in the mood to share a photo with you :)

Yesterday was a day full of accomplishments... It started off getting up early enough to work on the book. The rest of the morning I took care of business that had been lingering and had put off for too long. The rest of the day was standard work stuff for my employer. The evening was filled with family business.  Getting up early and starting the day with writing is what I prefer because then I am free to spend the day as I need to.

This morning, however, I've been fighting to wake up and plan to work midday on the book. Being up all night with two kids who are both suffering from a cold or an allergy to all that blooms wears me out.

Yet I can't keep quiet about how excited I am about my progress. I'm further with this storyline, further in following the outline I've prepared, than ever before. Still, I have about 8 scenes to write to really complete this.

Eight is a liberal number. I figure I will need to expand those scenes to make the story better and slide into "THE END" mode as a baseball player slides into home plate.

Current Word Count 54,938 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As you all know, Target Word Count is 55,000 - 60,000

SO CLOSE!!!

I'm gonna make it this time and so are you! Keep plugging away!

Keep Me Accountable - Day 16

Just a quick post this morning... I was able to get up early and write a new scene! Woo-Hoo! With the scenes I added I had already written and this brand new scene, my current word count is 53,769.

How's your progress?

Keep Me Accountable - Day 9

Ah, Monday... It was too beautiful to go to work.

But I had no choice.

What happened on days 7 and 8? Well, like I said, I had egg hunts and birthday parties, family dinners and long drives up into the mountains. It was a glorious weekend and it wore me slap out.

Yep, slap out. No writing accomplished whatsoever... Just time to look back over my notes and do some emailing brainstorming with my crit partner. Dianna knows the story as well as I and she never fails to remind me what direction I was headed in when I got distracted and took a detour.

So the laptop went with me to work today and at lunch I revised a chapter and added a scene I'd written weeks, no maybe months, ago...

I love doing that... finding a scene that I wrote a long time before and discovering it has its place in the story afterall. It's like a God moment. You didn't know it at the time, but the good Lord had put that scene in your head. You couldn't use it right away like you thought, and that can be disappointing. But it's so thrilling when you find you're able to use it later and it fits perfectly.

Current Word Count: 40,777
Target Word Count:  55-60,000

******************** Join me in this writing rally!!! **********************

If you would like to help keep me accountable and be entered in my contest for a $10 Starbucks gift card + a special surprise from me, leave a comment here. The winner will be announced at the end of this contest April 30. If you go to my post on FAITH you'll see I've posted instructions for the contest. I blog every Sunday on FAITH and will give a weekly update there as well. So those Sunday comments also count toward the contest.

But Only Blogger comments will be counted... Facebook comments don't count.

Thank you for your support!

Keep Me Accountable - Day 6

Friday, Friday, I'm so glad you're here...

Well folks, brainstorming in a meeting that has nothing to do with the subject of my current manuscript worked wonders. I can't brainstorm in every meeting that I attend and I wouldn't dare try it. I appreciate my job and do want to stay on top of the ever-changing changes that take place there.

Still, multitasking on occassion never hurt anyone and in fact has helped me...

Thanks are due my hubby for entertaining our sometimes high maintenance 5 year old last night for an hour. In that hour, I was able to stroke out a few pages of notes within the body of the manuscript. As a result, my word count is back up to 39,559. Yay!

I'm counting those notes as words because those will help me remember where I wanted to go and I will delete the brainstorming words as I form the new scenes. These fluff words are a general guideline I want to follow, a map that's going to lead me to the end.

Let's keep up the postive outlook. We will see "the end" to our manuscripts and will then revise more or prepare them to be mailed.

How are you all coming? What are your plans for the weekend?


******************** Join me in this writing rally!!! **********************

If you would like to help keep me accountable and be entered in my contest for a $10 Starbucks gift card + a special surprise from me, leave a comment here. The winner will be announced at the end of this contest April 30. If you go to my post on FAITH you'll see I've posted instructions for the contest. I blog every Sunday on FAITH and will give a weekly update there as well. So those Sunday comments also count toward the contest.

But Only Blogger comments will be counted... Facebook comments don't count.

Thank you for your support!

Keep Me Accountable - Day 5

Just a quick note as I head off to start the day...

I managed to brainstorm the last Act of the book in a meeting yesterday. Nothing like multitasking. I listened to the meeting and absorbed what I needed to, while pounding out a good strategy for my characters and their journey.

This morning, I had to delete another unneeded scene. The word count is less, but it will rise again in the next few days as I write these new scenes I planned.

Current Word Count: 39,001
Target Word Count: 55,000 - 60,000 (I'm going loosey-goosey on my numbers. Wiggle room is never a bad thing when it comes to writing.)

Hope everyone has a productive writing day!

Keep Me Accountable - Day 4

I'm so proud of my new coffee pot! When time allows, I'll post a pic. It's nothing fancy, just new and you know how new things feel...

Previous Word Count 39,488
Current Word Count 39,539
Target Word Count 60,000

**
I wrote a few words... these may have popped in via osmosis as I can't remember when I actually wrote anything, LOL!

**
Today, I slept in and I don't remember hitting the snooze button... Did I mention that since I had my last child, my mind, my memory, has slightly altered? Sometimes I even say things that sound weird. Part of my brain must have checked out when I delivered my little boy.

Oh well, just so long as it wasn't my creative side, I'll be okay.

**

Have a great writing day!! I'm taking my laptop with me to work and hope to write during lunch... how about you?


******************** Join me in this writing rally!!! **********************

If you would like to help keep me accountable and be entered in my contest for a $10 Starbucks gift card + a special surprise from me, leave a comment here. The winner will be announced at the end of this contest April 30. If you go to my post on FAITH you'll see I've posted instructions for the contest. I blog every Sunday on FAITH and will give a weekly update there as well. So those Sunday comments also count toward the contest.

But Only Blogger comments will be counted... Facebook comments don't count.

Thank you for your support!

Keep Me Accountable - Day 3

As I keep my chin up and face day 3, I'm seeing it with bleary eyes. The coffee maker is caput.

Out.

Adios.

On Strike.

I woke up this morning at 3:30 cheery. I fed the baby. After I laid him down, I practically skipped into the kitchen because I was going to get some writing done this morning. But first, I needed my coffee.

Argh! No Coffee!

This orange juice may be good for me, but it just doesn't pack the same punch that good ole cup of Joe does.

**
Yesterday, I took my laptop with me to work and got some additional editing done. I find I do better with writing if I can back up into the previous scene and read, which gets me back into the correct thoughts and reminds me where I was going.

I did figure out what I had done a few days ago to lose the word count. I axed a love scene that came too soon. For all of those who love romance, I know this may sound ridiculous. But when writing for the inspirational market, there are many things to consider before you introduce that first kissing scene or the characters declare their love for each other.

My scene came too soon because the characters were not ready. There were things both the hero and heroine needed to address before I could bring them to that pinnacle. A kiss may be just a kiss, but speaking words of love need to be well thought through. Some writers choose not to allow their characters to make those types of declarations until the last scene.

If you're reading secular romance, then you can throw what I'm saying out the window. Those stories are completely separate from what I'm talking about and the love scenes come much earlier in the book.

**
Last night, I came home from work a little tired, but with enough energy to accomplish something. That something ended up being a project my husband was completing and had to complete yesterday. I was already committed to this and have been for some time. No choice in the matter. No additional writing on TBB.

**
My word count is at the same stagnant 39,488.
At this point, I'm not sure if I will be taking my laptop with me or not. Buying a new coffeemaker on my lunch break may be my goal for the day. However, I won't leave the house unprepared. Some of my best ideas come after a ride in the car. I'll have my notebook and pen handy to shoot out anything new that comes to mind. And hopefully, I'll have some new words to input into the CPU.

**
Thank you for your continued comments and updates. I'll post tomorrow morning with my progress. I hope to see you back with your writing updates.

******************** Join me in this writing rally!!! **********************

If you would like to help keep me accountable and be entered in my contest for a $10 Starbucks gift card + a special surprise from me, leave a comment here. The winner will be announced at the end of this contest April 30. If you go to my post on FAITH you'll see I've posted instructions for the contest. I blog every Sunday on FAITH and will give a weekly update there as well. So those Sunday comments also count toward the contest.

But Only Blogger comments will be counted... Facebook comments don't count.

Thank you for your support!

Keep Me Accountable - Day 2

Thanks for the rally and support! I'm excited about starting a new day and wondering how many words I'll write today.

Yesterday was tough. I was doing laundry, helping hubby with his project. We were taking care of the kids. My 5 year old bounced around the house gleefully, wanting one of us to entertain her. She did entertain herself for a little while, although that seemed so short-lived. Hubby and I took turns feeding and changing the baby and I actually cooked dinner.

In between all of that, I answered blog posts - thank you again for your interest - and worked on the scene. I did write 102 words that are new, but the revising and deleteing I also did caused my word count to drop.

So, not only am I a girl who can GAIN weight on the Weight Watchers point system, but I will also LOSE words in a writing challenge!

I really don't know how I did that... My word count is now 39,488.
I'm not sure if I made a mistake yesterday or what. I don't remember cutting that much when I was revising... Hmmm...

So I lost about a thousand words.
Losing words doesn't make me feel good. I need to put the pounds back on this book. I need to gain about 21K now....

Today will be especially challenging as I return to work. On the flipside of that, if I am diligent and work on the book during my lunch break, I may be able to finish the scene. I've been known to be super creative midday...

***

And now, Kudos to my readers and fellow writers!!!

Way to go Rebecca! She wrote 2300 words - YESTERDAY!!!!
Girl, I'm coming to your house - I'll sit on one side of the desk and you the other and we'll just write. Congratulations!!!

***
As for me....

Progress so far... Current Word Count - 39,488
TARGET Word Count - 60,000

Goal Today... Instead of losing words, I wanna gain a few... Still working on the scene for Chapter 12.

I'll post tomorrow morning with my progress and I hope to see you back with your progress, too.

******************** Join me in this writing rally!!! **********************

If you would like to help keep me accountable and be entered in my contest for a $10 Starbucks gift card + a special surprise from me, leave a comment here. The winner will be announced at the end of this contest April 30. If you go to my post on FAITH you'll see I've posted instructions for the contest. I blog every Sunday on FAITH and will give a weekly update there as well. So those Sunday comments also count toward the contest.

But Only Blogger comments will be counted... Facebook comments don't count.

Thank you for your support!

Tuesday Tip: The Alpha Smart 3000

The Alpha Smart 3000 I purchased off Ebay,thanks to my dear husband's dedication to monitoring the bidding and making sure I hooked up with the right seller, arrived last Thursday.

Despite what a crazy and busy day I had a work yesterday, I managed to take a lunch break {Applause!} and find a great hiding place to write. Yesterday was the first day I put my Alpha to use. The results?

A great writing hour! Er, really, thirty minutes once I got to my writing space and set up. Nevertheless - I wrote 797 words! {More Applause!}

I'll admit, the writing was bare-bones and I'm sure I did a lot of telling, but the point of the lunch hour was to just write. Write bad if that's all you can do. Editing your work, sometimes over and over, makes your writing shine.

To boast about the Alpha, it is lightweight and so much more compact than my laptop. I literally sat it on my lap, propped slightly against the steering wheel and I was set.

Since it's a Alpha Smart 3000, it's older. The keys aren't as gentle as you find on your computer or the newer models of Alphas, but it got the job done.

When I came home, uploading the project to my computer was a snap. Slide the USB cable in the slots, open up MSWord and ta-dah! Alpha sends each word right into my CPU. Ready for me to edit and insert in my manuscript.

Now, off to edit!

Slice of Life: How I usually feel...

Thank you Aunt Teri for this humorous and sometimes true outlook on life!