Whassup?

I have really been enjoying my spring. The grass in the ditch finally dried enough to be burnt. The sides are too steep to mow, so I must burn it, hehehehe!

My crocuses are up and looking very cheery. My neighbor gave me a small greenhouse, this week and I have been puttering away in it. I spent much of my time outside, this week. The weather has been quite lovely :)

I also wrote a fair bit in my book. I'm half-way through chapter five *loud cheering*

Thinking Blogger Award

Deborah of Uncommon Notions came up with one more notion that totally floored me-to nominate me for thinking blogger award!

I love reading other people's deep thoughts and often think, "Wow, I wish I had thought of that first!" It's really hard to come up with "original" thoughts :)

Here are some other places that I frequent, and my nominees:

Todd Nielsen (my hubby) at Go Evangelism daily challenges me to talk to others about their standing with God and their need of salvation.

Mark Goodyear at Good Word Editing is a great blogger friend, well of editorial knowledge, and lover of God. He is always willing to help me with my writing snags and is a great encourager.

E. Stephan Burnett, contributor at Speculative Faith often gets loud audible cheers from me in his posts. (Community-type blog)

Wayne Batson at Door Within is a recent frequent of mine, but this guy has really challenged my writing and been very encouraging.

My other two favorite stops have already been nominated at other times (at least I think I've seen you being nominated, LL-have you?)-Craver-VII and Seedlings in Stone.

So, nominees...

The rules are:

a) If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to five blogs that make you think

b) link to this post so that people can easily find the origin of this award.

Contest Winner!

CONGRATULATIONS MIRTIKA !!

YOU HAVE WON THE WIN-A-BLOG-DESIGN CONTEST

Please email me at ed (dash) en @ hotmail (period) com (no spaces-of course) and I will email your template of choice-or create one to suit you.

Laundry Thoughts

I do a ton of laundry. Understandable since I have three kids. In the summer, I pin the clothes on the line to dry. Most of the time I hurry to get through this task and onto other tasks-like gardening.

Some days, though, I enter into the fresh breezey, sunlit air and relish the thought of catching that in our sheets and blankets to breathe all night long.

Those moments are as precious jewels to be treasured against the bitter griping that creeps into our thoughts. "Why do I have to do all the work...why can't they pick up after themselves...."
The High Calling web site reminded me of this in the post by Robert Siegel-Peeling an Orange.

To read what everyone else is saying about this site and its many post, see these blogs:

Gordon Atkinson
L. L. Barkat
Gina Conroy
Craver VII
CREEations
Milton Brasher-Cunningham
Mary DeMuth
Karl Edwards
Emdashery
Every Square Inch
Amy Goodyear
Marcus Goodyear
Al Hsu
Jennwith2ns
Chalres Foster Johnson
Mike McLoughlin
Naked Pastor
Ramblin Dan
Charity Singleton
Stacy
Camy Tang

High Calling Blog Tour

TheHighCalling.org has just launched their new and improved site.

The last time I visited the site (in its old look), I was totally lost. So much so, that I never bothered returning. Then I got an email from my friend Marcus Goodyear, inviting me to join this blog tour in discussing topics on the site and the site itself. So I had to check it out-for Mark :)

I found that the new format was much easier to use and more inviting. I didn't feel like I was walking into a craft store with all its clutter. As you can see, it has nice clean lines, brief descriptions, and calm colors (that's the designer in me talking).

I found the purpose for this site still quite vague: Glorifying God in Everyday Life...yes, that's great...but what is this site all about? How does it try to accomplish this goal? Why is this site significant to me-why should bother visiting here and not elsewhere-like Deborah's funny blog? I had to find out for myself, by searching.

This site posts many articles written by various Christians on a wide variety of topics:Work and Family, Gifts and talents, Leadership, Excellence, Integrity, Attitude, Professional Relationships, and Service. I read a few and was encouraged. They also have podcasts.

Here are a few articles that I really liked:Heavenly Light, Taking the Call, and New Resolutions (sorry to single you out, Mark). You can read them and comment on them.

I really wish I knew where to find a members page on this site-I'd like to know who's there. Perhaps this will be a later addition-who knows.

become a member of TheHighCalling.org

Other Participants of this blog tour:
Gordon Atkinson
L. L. Barkat
Gina Conroy
Craver VII
CREEations
Milton Brasher-Cunningham
Mary DeMuth
Karl Edwards
Emdashery
Every Square Inch
Amy Goodyear
Marcus Goodyear
Al Hsu
Jennwith2ns
Chalres Foster Johnson
Mike McLoughlin
Naked Pastor
Ramblin Dan
Charity Singleton
Stacy
Camy Tang

A Great Site for Writers

Come visit the Carnival!

"My vision for the Carnival of Christian Writers has always been to have one place writers could go for all the best links on writing." -Writer...Interrupted

I have been signed up to this great site for a while, but never really partook of all its great benefits-until recently! This is an awesome find with tons of tips for writers and Christians alike. Come and see!

Contest

The contest below will be continued for a while (until more participants join). All you have to do is to add your name and tell me that you want in!

Space News

I got this as part of an email from critters.org:
Note of possible interest...

Dear Space Advocate: I am contacting you at the request of Tim Kyger, whom many of you know from many space-related activities. In his "spare" time, Tim is Chairman of the Heinlein Centennial, a commemoration of Robert A. Heinlein's life and influence that will be held on July 6-7-8, 2007, in Kansas City Missouri.

There will be exhibits, tours, art, sales, and programming in three principal tracks--general science fiction, academic Heinleinia, and space. A birthday celebration, the Gala, is planned for Saturday, July 7, 2007, Heinlein's 100th birthday. Several guests have already committed to attend, including the head of NASA, Dr. Michael Griffin; astronaut and moon-walker Dr. Buzz Aldrin; the first winner of the $500,000 Heinlein Prize for Accomplishments in Commercial Space Activities, Dr. Peter Diamandis; and (through video link) Heinlein's most illustrious contemporary, Sir Arthur C. Clarke.

Details can be found at the Centennial website: http://www.HeinleinCentennial.com. It is no exaggeration to say Heinlein was the most influential science fiction author of the mid-20th century, but his influence extends to this day far beyond the literary. Someone recalled him once saying he had several filing cabinet drawers of letters from the three full generations of his readers who had come of age during his writing career.

Though himself childless, these "children of Heinlein" had written to him to say they had become scientists, engineers, and the like because they were influenced by his writing to enter such fields. Heinlein obviously thought being the sui generis of this nucleus of future technologists was his greatest contribution to humanity.

He was a fierce advocate and believer that our human species would, inevitably, venture into space. At one time or another, his book "Starship Troopers" has been on the required reading list of all three service academies. In recognition of Heinlein's influence on readers who would later become aerospace engineers and scientists, the NASA Medal for Distinguished Public Service was awarded to him posthumously in 1988. There is a Robert A. Heinlein Chair in Aerospace Engineering at the Naval Academy as well.

Tim has asked me to contact a number of space-related websites to request the following of you:
(1) To encourage your attendance and participation at the Centennial.
(2) Mention the Heinlein Centennial on your website, and link to the Centennial website.
(3) "Virally" mention the Heinlein Centennial to anybody else you might think of or be in contact with. Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

I hope you can participate, and please contact me for further information or questions. I can be reached at tdresser@bowlesfluidics.com.

Yours truly, Thomas Dresser

Free Draw

Hi everyone,
I'm having a free draw to win a custom (not costume, lol) designed blog. This is only available on Blogspot (sorry). I will email the winner a list of costumization options and you can choose what you like. OR You can choose from some predesigned blogs:

Blog Designer and Coordinator
Parchment
Red Metal
Tree Design
Splash Design
>>All you have to do is leave your name, blog link, and a brief comment as to why you liked or disliked Karen Hancock's Return of the Guardian King. I will draw one name on Thursday, after the Blog Tour.

Return of the Guardian King Book Review

"Trap had never seen anything like it, but its cold malevolence was
unmistakeable. Yelling at Channon to "Go! Go!" he threw himself at
Simon, who had pulled back from Maddie to stare down at the oily liquid rising
toward his shoe tops. Trap swooped the boy up into his arms as Ronesca screamed
and Maddie stared dumbly at her father. The old man's eyes and nose and ears and
mouth all ran with the black oil that by then had eaten a hole through sheet and
bandage, bubbling up from the wound in his side."

This book has everything, dragons, magic, action, emotion, and God (known as Eidon). I read it from start to finish, hardly putting it down. Although I have not yet read the first three of the series, I was still able to follow the plot.

Facts:
- This is book 4 of the Legends of the Guardian-King series
-461 pages
-Christian Fantasy genre
-Adult to young adult reading level (for mature subjects)
Overview:
Abramm Kalladorne is thought to be dead along with his children, yet his wife has not given up hope. The enemy is pressing in and threatening to take all that Abramm holds dear. Both he and his wife must trust Eidon to protect them and to bring them back together.
Initial Eye Catcher:
I was able to get it for free (free is good :) The publishers donated a stack of them for CSFF members to read! Other than that, I think the fantasy element pulled me in.
I Liked:
The seductiveness of evil was very well portrayed in this book. The action kept rolling and I was often surprised at different twists in the story. Karen Hancock has a great imagination. While reading, I stopped three times to ponder a particular passage that really hit home. God used Karen's writing to speak to me.
I Didn't Like:
I would have loved to be able to read the other books in the series first. I think the emotion would have been that much more intense for me, then. Also, page 185 had a couple typing errors that jarred me away from the story.
Conclusion:
A great book and a great read. I enjoyed seeing how she intertwined her faith in God throughout the story. The magical/fantasy elements were interesting as well.
For Your Interest:
Buy Return of the Guardian-King here.
You click on Karen's web site or on her blog here.
Other reviews and info on this topic can be found here:

Dawn King
Rebecca Grabill
Jill Hart
Nissa Annakindt
Wayne Thomas Batson
Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Frank Creed
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
April Erwin
Kameron M. Franklin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Christopher Hopper
Heather R. Hunt
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Karen
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Rachel Marks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Shannon McNear
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
John W. Otte
Robin Parrish
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Tsaba House Authors
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Daniel I. Weaver

Karen Hancock's Return of the Guardian King

This month's CSFF blog tour Karen Hancock’s Return of the Guardian-King
You click on her web site or on her blog

Tomorrow:Come back for a review on this book!

Visit these blogs for more info and great reads:

Dawn King
Rebecca Grabill
Jill Hart
Nissa Annakindt
Wayne Thomas Batson
Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Frank Creed
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
April Erwin
Kameron M. Franklin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Christopher Hopper
Heather R. Hunt
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Karen
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Rachel Marks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Shannon McNear
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
John W. Otte
Robin Parrish
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Tsaba House Authors
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Daniel I. Weaver

New Word Meter

I'm so excited about this new meter I found over at hrh's blog (a new CSFF blog tour member)!

Coming Tours and Review-April 16-18

**I will be featuring Return of the Guardian-King next week—Monday through Wednesday, April 16-18.

**New Tour -God cares about our daily work and this siteTheHighCalling.org has many articles to read on this topic.

I will be highlighting ones I like and adding my 2 cents-worth *grin*-stop by April 16-18!

Blog News/Contest

Randy Ingermanson's got a new blog (the "snowflake" guy). Welcome to Blog Land, Randy!

The other really exciting part of this news is that he's challenge one and all to a contest. Write What Drives You To Write Fiction on his blog and you could win a free autographed copy of his latest novel, DOUBLE VISION (which features multiple universes and tough decisions).

Character Overload

* Ok, I had to add more pics-this is just too fun (or is that "funny").

Family photo(back in the old days, Deb)8

7Itttsss Captain Pinhead! (play favorite superhero theme here).

My hubby is wearing the latest style for the really serious bowlers!

7My siblings and I entertain ourselves (and everyone else). I'm the lady with the boots (and the big bootie :)

Being a Real Character

Before I wrote, before I created fictional characters, I did a bit of role playing. My siblings and friends often joined in the fun.

I loved creating costumes to go with a certain look or mood. I loved melding my imagination with materials.

I'm the tall one...sort of a punk/hippy look. *giggle*

I discovered after I got married, that my hubby liked this method of expression as well.

3Here he is at work as the

Great Gazoo (Flintstones).

He's "Disco Man"4

*Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ. *

Writing Fun and Challenges

I've been really enjoying Wayne Batson's suspense techniques challenges. It's so much fun and has also given me great pointers and stimulated some original ideas. My brain is churning them out left and right, lately.

Mark, at Good Word Editing has also posted some twisted changes to some classics-for all writers to add to. Very fun and funny!

*Is anyone else doing similar activities on their blogs? Let me know and I'll post the links!

Keep up the good work, guys!

Writing Scenes

Do you like to write scenes or do you find them difficult? How much description is enough and not too much? What things need to be mentioned and what things omitted?

Here are some ways that I've tackled this particular challenge. I picture it as if I'm watching a movie-with the camera zooming in and zooming out.
Example:

The early summer sun beat down on the barnyard; the wooden
doors of the barn reflected the heat. -overall view Not a breeze stirred the nearby trees. A wey-beast mooed mournfully in the barn. -zoom#1

The smell of wet, green manure rose from the
bucket that Dari gingerly lifted over her head. She balanced the pail
precariously on the top rail of the door, standing on tiptoe to do so. -zoom #2

"Careful!" advised Thom in a noisy whisper. Dari merely glanced over at Thom
with a look of amusement in her dark brown eyes. Thom was eyeing the procedure
with a critically. "Is this going to work?" -and then into your story

Randy Ingermanson recommends (in his snowflake method) listing all of your scenes that are used in your story. He also suggests listing your point of view character(s) for each scene.

Now to address how much description should be used and where. First, I picture the scene in my head and add details. Write them all out. Are there sounds, smells...what do you feel -both externally and internally...is there a bug crawling on the leaf (details).... write it all down.

Second, ask yourself what is important to your plot. In the above example, I found that the barn, the wey-beasts, the bucket, and the door were vital info that could not leave out without confusing the reader.

Third, add in descriptions to help you really feel like you are there. Use your senses. This is usually the part where writers put too much or not enough description-everyone's preferences are different though. Remember to keep within your point of view.

Ask someone to read your scene and see if they were lost. I'm willing to help as well at: ed dash en at hotmail dot com.

Happy writing!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

11 Years today. It's amazing to look back and see all that God has brought us through (and we even survived!!)



We twisted my mom's rubber arm to get her to babysit for us. We then hit the city (yes, we do have cities here, Craver). We decided to go eat out-dessert only! Yum, we got a large plate full of caramel and chocolate covered ice cream with pralined pecans, and 6...count them...6 brownies and whipped cream decorating it. Each. (About that diet I said I was going to start, God-can we make that tomorrow?)



We went to Don Cherries Sports's bar to eat it...and eat...and eat.... and then we played videao games-right there at our table!! Too cool. They brought us our controllers, turned on the tv above our table and gave us a selection of games to play (I beat Todd at a car race and then we decided to turn the race into a demolition-my poor Corvette faired much better than his Porsche). It was great!



Oh, I gotta tell you one funny thing that happened (poor Todd). We had bought my youngest a new bike for his b-day, last night, and were walking out to the car with our new purchase (on sale-45$!!).



I noticed a BMW was parked directly behind us and cautioned Todd not to hit the car with the bike as he was putting it in. He decided it would be funny to drive the bike over the hood of the car to leave tire tracks in the dust. I said, "Todd, don't he might see you or something..." -and the owner of the BMW is right there unlocking his car door!!!! Todd almost dove into the trunk with embarrassment. I laauughed!! Neither of us had seen him walk up. thankfully, he never said anything.



A great evening-lots of banter and laughing and great memories made *snicker*

Far, Far Away and Back Again

I'm back! I'm back! Did anyone miss me?...Hello? Didn't you even notice I was gone? Oh.

Well, I had fun. Want to hear where I've been for the last two days while you didn't miss me? Too bad. Not tellin'.

Chocolate? Did you say chocolate...well...flowers too? Okay, I'll tell ya.

I took a trip to the cottage-by myself (no kids, no hubby, no housework...no plumbing, no bathrooms, no heat...) Well actually, there was heat-if I remembered to throw a log on the fire.*yawn*

It was a nice, quiet getaway. Very quiet (unless you count the almost continual booming from the army base across the lake).

What did I do for two whole days on my own? Ate sweets (and didn't have to share), stayed up late and took naps (with no interruptions), read three books one after another (still no interruptions), and wrote on my story (by hand-the old fashioned way[right Deb?])

I was happy to return and find that my hubby had gained a new understanding and appreciation for my fine art of home and household management ("you really can't do much else while homeschooling 3 kids..."). Abstinence does make the heart grow fonder. *grin*