By Grace

I have a guest post, today from Maria Morgan about a great new site that I'm enjoying myself.

Staying connected with family and friends is easier than ever. Social networking sites have made it ultra simple to keep up with all the latest news and important information. I have to admit I was a bit leery of Facebook when it first got started back in 2004. But a couple years ago, I couldn’t resist my Mom’s invitation to be her Facebook ‘friend’, and I have to say, I’ve enjoyed the chance to interact with friends on a regular basis and connect with people I wouldn’t have

Nice is as Nice Does

Wow, a lot of you have opinions about being nice! Thanks so much for all of your comments. There were several with roughly the same message. Nice is accepted as long as it's sincere. I would tend to agree that I prefer sincere nice people around me in my world. While my friends are quirky and fun, they are very generous, kind, gracious gals who put me to shame in the nice department!

But I want to throw a monkey into the works.

Characterization Success!

I've been having trouble with character. Isolationism, timidity, meekness, cowardice, etc. No, not me, my protagonist. See she needs to be withdrawn from her community as part of her journey, but she's not timid or meek, and she's even pretty reckless, but I hadn't really thought about her in such deep terms.

Is it Soup Yet?

Allow me to expose my insecurities.

I don’t follow recipes very often. I mean, I do, the first or second time I make something, but I don’t usually take the time to pull out the directions and follow them carefully every time.

This proved disastrous at one church dinner when the crunchy topping of my apple pie refused to crisp. I realized after delivering a rather soggy mess to a Wednesday night dinner, that butter and brown sugar, without flour, wouldn’t do anything but melt. DUH! I just wish it looked as good as this one does!

Murder Mystery in the Making!

I usually have a post during each week where I show a different place and discuss its merits as a setting for some story.  I realize, though, that I've never explained why I do it.  I mean, I like getting the pictures of interesting places on my blog, but that's really not the reason.

I'm pretty visual and seeing new places helps me put the people in them and imagine the situation that might be happening around those people. 

Top Blog Articles for the Week!

Even though I need to take part of the weekend off, I hate skipping a day on my blog! Especially while I have the time to work on it. Once Volleyball season starts, all bets are off!

So this week as I browsed various blogs - and BOY do I browse - I linked a few onto this post.  These were my favorite posts for the week. I started to do a top ten, but it would be just too tough to choose between some of these!

  Sacred Cow-Tipping–Why Writers Blogging About Writing is Bad

Posted by Author Kristen Lamb in Blogging, Social Media Platform on June 7, 2011 from WarriorWriters.wordpress.com

  How to Build an Online Platform That Will Last
Posted by Author, Jody Hedlund on Wednesday, June 8, 2011

  Preslaysa Williams’ Thin Place: Cutting
Posted by Author, Mary DeMuth on Thursday, June 9, 2011

  Notes from the Beach
Posted by Agent, Rachelle Gardner on Wednesday, June 8, 2011

  E-xcited?
Posted by Jess Lourey at Inkspot on Friday, June 3, 2011

  Frivolous Friday: Quirky Is The New Normal
Posted by Jessica R. Patch on Friday, June 10, 2011

  5 Tips for Staying Encouraged During Querying
Posted by Author, Elizabeth Spann Craig on Friday, June 10, 2011

Writers - Where Does This Take You?

A couple of weeks ago, I took my girls out to a special event at Hawaiian Falls in The Colony.  They had a sopping wet blast, and I enjoyed some great reading and people-watching.

Going along with my regular weekly post about settings, though, I couldn't resist this picture of one of the play areas in the park.  This particular area was for little kids only; all of my girls were too big.  But my inner child was just the right size and I could imagine the sorts of trouble and pranks that she could play in this wild, wet castle. 

I was particularly intrigued by the top-most area of the playground.  It's a little hard to see in the picture, but the bird sits on a pipe that pours a steady stream of water into the bucket.  When part of the bucket fills, it dumps the water out, sending it down the blue slanting roof and showering the steps beneath it. 

I can't hide that I'm a mystery buff at heart, so as I gazed at this area, it wasn't hard for me to picture the ultra-dramatic body rolling out of the bucket and down the blue roof to the stairs below.  A book that started that way would be catnip, to me. Yum!

The girls and some buddies at the park.

Since it is a kids' park, however, I cleaned up my imaginary situation.  In my second set-up, I pictured Megabadguy chasing Sweet-lil-innocent all up and down the stairs until, like Li'l Orphan Annie, Sweet begins to climb through the netting and onto the intricate weavings of pipes and rails.  Up to the top of play-place she climbs, becoming trapped with nothing around her but sky ... uh ... and that big parrot. Still, Megabadguy draws closer, but unfortunately finds himself on the wrong side of the bucket.  Oops.  He falls onto the sloping roof and rolls down it, like a kid on a grassy hill, only to splat into the pond beneath it.

Oh, I can SO see that happening!

So what type of story can you see here? A YA novel about summer love? A kids book about building courage? What about pirates? Oh, wait, that was the Smart Car thing, wasn't it? 

Share your idea, and while you're at it. Take a few minutes to put some words on paper and start your story!

Big Picture Thinking: The Far Side.

My brother has always been a great fan of "The Far Side" by Gary Larson.  For years, we got him big books of the comics as Christmas gifts.  This morning, his sweet wife, Karen, sent me an email of "The Biblical Far Side."

This cartoon makes me laugh out loud! (LOL just doesn't cut it!) But after I stopped laughing, I found myself poised with castenets right alongside the goofy man in the boat. 

I've started this writer's journey and I'm determined to follow the Lord's leading and ready to accept whatever comes.  (I say that, but I've only received 1 form rejection this time around.  We'll see how well I do when they all start pouring in!)

I remind myself of my dog; Captain, is a hoot.  He just wants to please us, running to get a stick so we can play or biting his toy just right because he knows we like to hear it squeak.  When we're walking, he is all over the place, running first one direction until he figures out that it is the wrong way, then jerking and jolting to change directions and take the lead again; all the while assuming that he knows where we're going.

In this journey, I can tell the times that I'm being a puppy; I know God is ultimately leading and at some point, I'll be able to look back and say, "Ohhhhh, that's where You were going, all along!"  Until then, I'm just racing back and forth; meeting people, making connections, assuming that ultimately God will make a way for me to become a real author and help support my family with something I love. 

This is where the Far Side comic comes in.  I THINK I've got this down, that I know what is being asked of me, that I understand where I'm headed. In truth, however, I must follow all the more closely, so I don't make a wrong turn (or any MORE wrong turns) and don't miss the big picture of what God is doing in my life and in my family. 

"Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long ... Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord?  He will instruct him in the way chosen for him." Psalm 25:5,12

May I turn in my castenets for a fishing net, now?

Looking back, when did God lead you in an unexpected direction?  I want to hear your story!

Writers - Where Does This Take You?

Okay, I know that's a loaded question to ask about a car, but I'm thinking story settings here. Search for the title on my blog and you'll find a few of these articles. I use pictures of the places I go to stimulate fictional situations. 

Most of the time, I use interesting architecture, but this car just stands out. Is there anyway anyone would miss this car coming down the road or mistake it for another car? I confess, I'm not a car-watcher. (Well, the occasional 'Stang or Jag, but I digress.) Even I would have no trouble at all identifying this car. And I won't even touch the fact that the makers dubbed it "Smart."

This car could really mean trouble for someone in a story.  Imagine what would happen to it if a bear took a liking to it? No, strike that. No one would be so "smart" as to take this car to the woods. How about a train missing it by inches because it tucked in its booty. (Well, it looks like it tucked it in to me!) Speaking of booty, maybe it could double as a futuristic pirate's chest. Okay, I'm grasping at this point.

Still, I plan to have fun with this car - well, as you can see, I already have, but I intend to have a little more fun with it.  Maybe I'll have my main character find a body in it!  That sounds intriguing ...

Oh, and just in case you're curious--putting 2 and 2 together from yesterday's blog article--no, this is not my new car.  I'm claustrophobic, and me getting into this hot, tiny space felt like stuffing a teddy bear into a Hot Wheels!

So what would you do with this car that's called "Smart"?  I want to hear your idea, and then, why don't you go ahead and write up the story?