Smiles Are Good for You

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 14 Comments

  “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 …

A Journal Writer Forever

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 12 Comments

  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 …

Daily Courage in Life

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 16 Comments

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 …

A New Book Means a New First Line

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 22 Comments

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 …

The One Word Challenge

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 26 Comments

“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 …

Celebrating a New Year

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 14 Comments

Happy New Year! Here we are ready to start through the days of the gift of a new year. Seems not so long ago we were switching over to a new century at 2000 with worries that was going to somehow stop the country because all the computers would have headaches changing 1999 to 2000. We survived that slide into …

Last Chance to Enter My End of the Year Book Giveaway

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 70 Comments

The last time always seems sad, but it isn’t really. The end of one thing is only the beginning of another. ~Laura Ingals Wilder, These Happy Golden Years Thanks to those of you who have dropped in here during the month of December when so much is sometimes going on with Christmas gatherings, special church services, and maybe new books …

A Christmas Memory – Mom’s Crackerjacks

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 32 Comments

I hope you all had a blessed and joyful Christmas Day. My family is coming tomorrow to celebrate and so you can imagine how I’ve been as busy as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. But it’s a good busy as I get ready to have all my children and grandchildren home for Christmas. While Christmas …