She Speaks!

Hello all, I've decided that since I keep blabbing so much on Facebook, maybe I should take up blogging again. One reason absent from this one so long is because a technical problem wouldn't allow my posts to publish. That got frustrating after so many futile tries. So now I'm trying again. There's no law against jumping back in after nearly a year, is there? Hope nothing explodes. Been reading a lot lately, painting, sanding, gardening, and generally working like a trojan on our new farmhouse, which I call the barnhouse because it is a house and barn under one roof. Quite the sweet idea, if I do say so myself. But haven't been writing so much lately. I'm gearing up inside though, like the story is simmering, simmering, about to boil over any minute now. It's about this girl...oh that's what I wanted to say. The point of this post: When formulating a new story, one would greatly benefit from not talking it out so much, or maybe not at all. Best to put full-throttle energy into WRITING. Yes, let us begin...

Afterglow!

Somewhere around 1974, I briefly, and sporadically, attended the large First Baptist Church of Houston with my mother and her fiance'. There, I first heard the term "Afterglow."

When a service dismissed, some attendees headed to the church cafeteria or a nearby restaurant for talking, desserts and iced tea. It was like a little impromptu party which, at the time, seemed a nice reward for enduring church. I quickly developed an addiction to sweets and staying up late on Sunday and Wednesday nights. Sometimes afterglow is even better than the main event.

Several members of The Write Ingredients Writer's Workshop, where I'm found every Monday evening with my awesome friends, have of late developed a regular after hours party habit. After the spectacular evening we've all enjoyed (7:00pm to 9:00ish at Barnes and Noble, The Woodlands Mall) us night owls amble over to Rockfish Grill and hang out until closing time - 10ish. We talk about writing, upcoming conferences and contests, our families, each other...basically everything under the sun. I usually take a few pictures. I'm trying to capture everyone, to take them with me when we finally make our move.

Back home with my husband, I'm still glowing and don't even want to sleep. Inspiration does that. So "Thank You! " Write Ingredients. Your warm embrace simultaneously soothes and enlivens my soul. I pray that every writer reading this is at least half as lucky. If not, you'd be wise to come join us, find an inspiring group, or develop your own.

Like fireflies need a night sky to shine, we writers need each other.

Afterglow

Somewhere around 1974, I briefly, and sporadically, attended the large First Baptist Church of Houston with my mother and her fiance'. There, I first heard the term "Afterglow."

When a service dismissed, some attendees headed to the church cafeteria or a nearby restaurant for talking, desserts and iced tea. It was like a little impromptu party which, at the time, seemed a nice reward for enduring church. I quickly developed an addiction to sweets and staying up late on Sunday and Wednesday nights. Sometimes afterglow is even better than the main event.

Several members of The Write Ingredients Writer's Workshop, where I'm found every Monday evening with my awesome friends, have of late developed a regular after hours party habit. After the spectacular evening we've all enjoyed (7:00pm to 9:00ish at Barnes and Noble, The Woodlands Mall) us night owls amble over to Rockfish Grill and hang out until closing time - 10ish. We talk about writing, upcoming conferences and contests, our families, each other...basically everything under the sun. I usually take a few pictures. I'm trying to capture everyone, to take them with me when we finally make our move.

Back home with my husband, I'm still glowing and don't even want to sleep. Inspiration does that. So "Thank You! " Write Ingredients. Your warm embrace simultaneously soothes and enlivens my soul. I pray that every writer reading this is at least half as lucky. If not, you'd be wise to come join us, find an inspiring group, or develop your own.

Like fireflies need a night sky to shine, we writers need each other.

If Stuck, Go to Bed

Story ideas - especially story beginnings - constantly vie for my attention. Inspiration just comes. Maybe a certain level of thankfulness, love, hate or other passionate emotion must be nurtured, but material is all around. And that's a good thing, I think.

Problem is, sometimes one story situation or character scooches over into the territory of another. Things don't run so smoothly when that happens. Events and people play hide and seek with the page. They switch around like it's their business instead of mine. Aren't I the author here? And isn't that supposed to be a sort of God-like position? I could pull my hair.

Like maybe Shoplifter Sue wants to hop in the suitcase of Cora Do-gooder and go to Hawaii, instead of staying in that Kansas small town where she belongs. I've already assigned Sue the little white house on Dewberry Lane, where she resides with her cat, her German Shepherd, and a bird named Desmond TuTu, but no, she vacates the place. It's a nice Sunday evening. I've claimed some writing time. Got my coffee. Turn on the monitor and ...where is my lady? She's gone, gone, gone, off to Hawaii. Not the plan.

Characters ever get you confused and in a tither over what happens next? Ever stare at the screen for half an hour, without blinking an eye? Did a bag of corn chips become empty, but you swear you didn't eat even one? Well, I hope so--because that means I'm not alone. Truly, if any of this craziness ever happens to you, I've got one good piece of advice--Go To Bed.

Sleep. Your roving characters and their big ideas will look better in the light of a new day. Maybe your Shoplifter Sue, or other wisecracker you've got in your files, knows the story best. Try letting her do her thing.

Have fun with your writing. Don't pull your hair. If it's not bedtime when the characters drive you mad, do something else instead. Like go for coffee or to a movie with a friend. Those blasted live-wires will be there when you return. Thank Goodness.

Here's to your prosperous writing day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's hoping everyone's hearts are out there singing songs of love and affection for someone or many someones. I want to give a sweet shout-out to all of my WACKO buddies, my Monday night family, my Family family, my dear neighbors and friends of now and those I miss seeing now but have you in my heart always. I love you all! I love everybody.

Okay, for real. I'm thinking hard now, and there are a few people who I do wish I'd never, ever met.

What does the Bible say about that?

Well, Love is of God. God is love. Love one another. Unless you have love, your good works are worthless. Forgive seventy times seven. Do not treat one person as better than another. When someone slaps you on the face, turn so he can slap the other side as well. Give food and drink to your enemy. Give and it will be given unto you. As you sow, so shall you reap, For God so loved the world that he gave His only son...

Oh, so that's how it is--the entire Bible is about love. But it's about REAL LOVE.

Let us love EVERYONE, this Valentine's Day, let us love perfectly, as in unconditionally, through God's grace. Let us take back a word that the world has twisted and turned every which way and reclaim it for the original intent.

Let us Love.

God is Good

It rains outside my window now and the weather is expected to stay this way for a while. Some plants will thrive, others will wash away. I don't understand why things happen in such seeming incongruence, but I agree with what my mother has said during the darkest valleys of my life,"God is good all the time. All the time, God is good." Hard things have happened to my mother. She knows what she's talking about.

This morning my husband voiced his disappointment that on this day, a day he took off work to begin making a road at our farm...well, you know...it rains. And I don't fault him his complaint. We're human. We get disappointed.

But everything in this life is a matter of perspective, something we gain more of with each rainy, cloudy, hot, humid or perfectly sunshiny day. Our plans happen -- or they don't.

Here's a little perspective for you. I once visited a home, ten minutes from where I live, which had a non-working toilet on top of a hole in a broken down front porch. The people who lived there did their business into this thing and the poo or pee dropped through and onto the ground below. I saw this because I was taking a crack addict prostitute mother of a four year old back to her home after she had stayed at my house for a couple of days in between jail stints. She wanted to return there because this was all she'd ever known. She ended up strung out and back in jail within weeks.

We've all seen some things in this world. The next time the toast burns or someone cuts in front of us in traffic, or it rains, maybe it's time to pause and give some of the things we've seen some thought.

May each situation you face today be viewed through the lens of a thankful heart.

Yikes! End of Summer Already!

Well, as we can all tell, I've been quite busy this summer - NOT BLOGGING! Uh-oh. Maybe not many of you truly care about this fact, but I do. I'm mad at myself and have to make amends. Especially after two viewings of "Julie and Julia." I know I will buy this movie and watch it many times. If you haven't seen it, go now. Well, go now if you either a. love cooking b. are a writer c. love a cook or d. love a writer. If you check yes to any of these, then buy a ticket now. Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, and the rest of the cast deserve an Oscar as far as I'm concerned. And Julia Child is surely pleased up in Heaven. If you're a writer working on a project that seems to go on forever and toss and turn nights wondering if your dream will ever come to fruition, then I warn you, take tissues. For you, it's gonna jerk a few tears. Don't ask how I know. But the soothing company of my dear husband, who took me for a lovely dinner after the movie, and this morning's prayers brought me here, to you. I think the problem with our relationship, yours and mine, is that I don't drop in regularly, and maybe you'd like something a bit more focused from me when I do. Maybe I need to get on a course of thought or recorded action and stay there for a while, like the author of the Julie/Julia book. Maybe I also need a daily "regimen" (quoting Amy Adams character). Yes. This is coming. Stay posted. Love and Kisses, Rhonda