“Joy is God’s smile; love is God’s laughter.” ― Matshona Dhliwayo Do you love to smile? Smiles can make you feel better even when you don’t really feel as though you have any reason to smile. I just wrote a post about how smiles are good for us last month. So this seemed the perfect time to share a devotional about …
Time is what we want most but what we use worst. ~William Penn I’ve begun my next book. My deadline isn’t for several months, but a book has a lot of words and many scenes. So it is enough of a looming date, that I’m pushing myself into the ‘make my fingers touch the keyboard and crank out words and …
A couple of years ago when I started thinking about writing a new book, I had to come up with many things before I could put my fingers on my keyboard and start churning out words. One early glimmer of an idea was how nature can be a healing force. Another glimmer was I kept seeing or imagining two young …
“An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.” — Martin Buber If you’ve ever had a pet, especially one you raised from a puppy or kitten or adopted from a shelter, you probably had to come up with a name for your pet. I say had to but naming a pet is one of the fun things …
“The world always looks brighter from behind a smile.” — Unknown Does it make you feel good to smile? Here are a few facts about smiles that you might not only find interesting but they might make you smile. Smiling helps us live longer – People who smile are generally happier. Smiling decreases blood pressure and released those nice …
January is speeding along and I’m working on a new novel with a working title of Where the Bluebird Sings. That’s subject to change. At this point early in the writing process, everything is subject to change. Anyway, since I’ve set a goal of a certain number of pages to write each day to move me closer to my …
COURAGE – the mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) “I’m frankly tired of marching. I’m tired of going to jail,” Martin Luther King, Jr. admitted in 1968. “Living every day under the threat of death, I feel discouraged every now and then and feel my work’s in vain, but then the …
If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk? ~Dr. Laurence J. Peter A writer needs a little clutter going in her head. Got to pull those stories from somewhere. Certainly a swept clean mind is going to be no help at all. I first wrote about this in 2013, …
A first line of a story is the baited hook an author hopes will catch a reader’s interest so they will want to read the second line and on and on until the last line on the last page. Some readers will check out that first line before they decide if the book is one they want to read. I’ve …
“Your words have power. Speak words that are kind, loving, positive, uplifting, encouraging, and life-giving.” -Unknown Have you ever heard of the One Word Challenge? Several years ago, pre-pandemic years, picking one word for your year was all the rage. I’m sure it’s still out there floating around for some, but I haven’t heard as much about it as I …