Life of A Writer

The writer within me has a BIG passion for creating stories and articles that will inspire and warm souls. I've had this passion since I was 8-years-old. In addition to writing words that I hope will inspire my readers and fans, I enjoy reading. I love to read Christian fiction and a variety of magazines, but the problem is I have to force the writer within me to stop and enjoy what I'm reading instead of wanting to correct every little thing. Yes, I'm guilty of what I'll call visual editing. While reading an article or story, I have a bad habit of picking out all the grammar and spelling mistakes... and even looking for them. I have to stop myself so I can enjoy the message being conveyed, but sometimes it's hard to stop.

I know. I know. Everyone makes mistakes. Heck even I make grammar and spelling mistakes that I don't catch after re-reading what I write a hundred times, but I just can't help myself. Come on, admit it. You, as a writer, do the same thing, right? Of course you do, because like me, you just can't help yourself. But it's okay. Why? Because that's the writer within us.

Since I'm rambling about my habit of editing everything I read, I'll tell you about the last thing I read and edited that surprised me: Last night, as I was assisting my 16-year-old daughter with her homework, she read a sentence to me from her health book, and the sentence had a grammar error. Then as she continued with her homework, we discovered two grammar errors on the worksheet. Yes, even the schools make mistakes, but I was proud of my daughter, because she was also able to spot the mistakes. I didn't show them to her, we both caught them at the same time. Maybe she has a writer within her, too.

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My time on the weekends is dedicated to hubby and the kids, so my writing takes a back seat then. We enjoy fishing, camping, nature walks and croquet, but when we're having fun inside, we also gather around the dining room table to play board games. One of our favorite board games is Balderdash, and although I don't work on the weekends, I exercise my mind when we play Balderdash.

When we first bought the game and quickly learned how to play, I thought to myself, "This is an excellent game for writers!" Truly, it is. It's a game writers can enjoy with their family or even take along with them to a writer's meeting. The game can be hilarious at times, but it also allows a writer to show off their talent, and if your mind's really creative -- and I know it is -- you could become the undefeated player of Balderdash. Well, undefeated with your family, because if you play this exciting game with a group of writers, then you can bet you'll have some tough competition. Either way, I'm 99% sure you'll fall in love with Balderdash!

What makes Balderdash a great choice for writers? Without trying to go into too much detail, I'll explain a bit about how you play.

First, it's better to play with a minimum of four people. Once you have your group of players, the fun begins!

Someone rolls the dice, and the number will determine which category on the card is read. The cards have five categories: Weird Words - What is the definition of this word?; Peculiar People - Who is this Person?; Incredible Initials - What does this stand for?; Marvelous Movies - What is the movie about?; and finally, Laughable Laws - What is the law?. (One side of the card has the question, which the person who rolled the dice will read to the group, and the answer is on the other side.)

After the question is read, the group must write down what they believe the actual answer is, and then they hand their slip of paper to the person who read the question. Once that person collects everyone's answers, he or she will read all the answers aloud without revealing who wrote it (including the correct answer). Then you go around the group and each person says which answer they believe is the true answer, and believe it or not, the actual answer is a fact. Let me give you an example of a question with the correct answer:

Category: Laughable Laws

Question: "In the country of Andorra, upon discovering a corpse, the sheriff must...

Correct answer: Ask "Are you dead?" three times.

The object of the game is to try to fool as many people as you can. In other words, you want them to think you're answer is the correct answer, so you can move your game piece forward more spaces on the game board. The person who makes it to the finish line first wins.

Okay, I just can't resist. I'm going to use another one of the questions from the Marvelous Movies category, but this time, I'm not going to reveal the correct answer until next week. Instead, I'm going to let you play along, so leave a comment with your best answer to the question. Then when I reveal the true answer here next week, I'll include your response and even link to your writing-related website, blog, product or service (if you enter one).

Ready? Here's the movie: Mr. Peek-A-Boo.

Now, leave a comment and let me know what you think the movie is about. Remember, in the actual game, you'd be trying to fool the other players into thinking yours is the actual answer, so let the brainstorming session begin.

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First, I'd like to thank everyone who has contacted me and left comments. We appreciate all the prayers going out for dad and ask that you, please continue to pray for him. Now for the update...

I just got off the phone with my brother and he said dad is mean as ever, and when my husband, the kids and I visited last night, he was sitting up and talking to everyone. He seemed to be dad this time and really enjoyed the kids being there. Of course he asked me if I'd taken them out to feed them and made sure I had, so he was pretty much the same old dad.

Late last night Dad was transfered from the hospital in Marion, Illinois to Western Baptist hospital in Paducah, Kentucky (an hour drive from my house). We now know that on top of Lymphoma he also has Leukemia, so he's fighting two kinds of cancer. As for his White Blood Cell count, it's no longer 0, so we don't have to wear masks anymore. In fact, they said his White Blood Cell count was higher than it's supposed to be but was better than being 0.

Today they plan to run two more Catscans and an MRI, and tomorrow they're going to do a biopsy.

Unless something major happens, I plan to stay home today to clean the house (people keep dropping by), and they expect dad to be released in 5 days, so I plan to bring him home with me to care for him and take him to his treatments and doctor appointments; therefore, more people will probably drop in to see dad.

I have to write the final "Biggest Loser: Families" recap for a client tomorrow night, and after that my brother has to return to work, so I'll be spending more time at the hospital with dad.

That's the only news that I have at this time, but I will do my very best to keep everyone updated. However, I can't guarantee when I'll be back online, because we have an ice storm moving into our area and I may end up stuck in Paducah, Kentucky. Since I may not be back online in a while after today, I'm going to go ahead and let comments go through instead of screening them, so watch the URLs before you click on them and I apologize in advance for any spam that may make it's way through. When I get back online, I'll delete any spam, but hopefully I won't have any to weed through and delete.

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I'm sending this blog post to reach all my readers/fans, as well as all of you out there who are Christians and attend church.

I'm not sure where to begin right now or what to say, so I'll just start at the beginning...

...On Thursday night my father's place of employment called to tell me they had to take my dad home from work because he was confused and hallucinating (seeing things that weren't there). You have to know my dad to know that he's one of those older men that's very stubborn when it comes to doctors. Everyone suspected something was wrong with dad, but he kept telling us he was ok. Well, after his place of employment phoned me, I made a trip to my father's house Thursday afternoon to check on him (he lives alone and likes to be independent).

When my husband and I arrived at my father's Thursday evening, Dad was a bit confused, seeing double and hallucinating -- he also complained of a severe headache and said he would go to the doctor Friday morning, because work told him he needed a doctor's release to return (it was the only way they knew to get him to see a doctor). To make a long story short, my husband and I finally convinced dad to come home with us so I could take care of him (he didn't need to be alone).

After Kevin and I got dad to our house Thursday evening, dad's condition and state of mind got worse. We managed to get him to visit the ER late that night. The ER staff took him back pretty quickly and ran tests. The results came back and they said he had Lymphoma, which is cancer in the blood. His White Blood Cell count was 0, so they admitted him to the hospital and put him in reverse isolation. (We have to wear masks because his immune system is very low.)

I had been up all night with dad and finally left the hospital when he was settled in his room early Friday morning. My brother arrived at the hospital not long after my husband and I left. I tried to go home to rest, but the phone continued to ring. They discovered that the cancer had spread throughout my father's body, so they arranged to transfer him to Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion, Illinois. I ended up getting up to make phone calls and then headed into town to take care of things there.

Once a bed opened up in the ICU in Marion sometime late Friday afternoon, dad was transfered by ambulance to the hospital in Marion, Illinois (about and 45 minute drive from my home). With all of this going on and the newest developments that had taken place, I was unable to contact my clients, respond to e-mails or send a message to my readers and fans as I had planned to do until now.

Anyway, with dad's condition the way it is at the present time, I won't be online writing or working as much as I had been until things get better. We have been told that dad's cancer is treatable, but we are waiting for them to run more tests for answers and etc., before they'll begin treatment. They need to know if the cancer has spread to his brain as they suspect -- in addition to other things to help him.

That said, please forgive me as I may not be online as often answering e-mails, fan mails and blogging. I will continue to do what I can to take care of my clients' needs and will log in when I can to check e-mails and fan mail, but I may not reply until things calm down and we know more answers. Right now the only e-mails I will make a priority will be from my paying clients', because God knows I'm going to need to keep working as I'll have to move dad in with me to care for him once he's released from the hospital.

On a final note, if you attend church and have a prayer list, please place my father on your prayer lists and pray for him. His name is Phillip Bailey (known as Cuz to many). And again, bear with me if you send e-mail or fan mail and do not receive a response right away, or if you're subscribed to any of my blogs, newsletters or e-zines (they may not go out as scheduled).

Thank you in advance for listening, understanding and for your prayers,

Misti Sandefur, Christian Author / Freelance Journalist

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As most writers, I read a lot of books and enjoy a great book, but as I come close to the end, I find myself guessing the ending before I read it. For example, romances usually end with the man getting the woman and they live happily ever after. You know what I'm talking about, right? I have no problem with those endings, but the endings I love the most are the unpredictable endings, the ones you can't predict until the very end. Furthermore, even though the ending was unpredictable, you're still satisfied with it and anxious to rush to your nearest bookstore or favorite online retailer to buy another book by the same author.

While unpredictable endings are great and make a book unforgettable, as a writer I understand how difficult it can be to give your readers an unpredictable ending that will still leave them happy with the way you wrapped up the story. That said, one of my goals for 2009 is to create unpredictable endings for as many of my upcoming Christian fiction novels as I can. Since I know this goal may be a tough one to accomplish, I plan to study as many resources as I can for tips on how to create unpredictable endings. Why not join me and make it one of your goals for the upcoming New Year as well.

What are your thoughts on unpredictable endings? Have your read any novels with unpredictable endings you'd like to recommend? Have you ever written and published a novel or short story with an unpredictable ending? Please share your thoughts and/or tips on this topic in the comments area below.

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Last week I asked for your vote to help me advance to the Top 12 in the FWJ Idol Contest. Today I would like to thank all of you who voted for me, because your votes helped me advance to round two. Your support to get me that far was greatly appreciated! However, since the contest is for a writing job, the remaining rounds will be done anonymously. What this means is we (the candidates) can not reveal our identities to you or we'll be disqualified. Instead, we've been given numbers so that our names aren't revealed. The reason Deb and Jodee have decided to keep things anonymous is because they don't want it to end up being a popularity contest, which I completely understand, agree with and will respect. They're looking to hire a writer for the FWJ blog, and in order to do that, they want a writer who can teach and entertain through his or her writing, as well as communicate with FWJ's readers.

On Monday we were given our first assignment, which was to write a top 10 list, and we had until Friday (today) to turn our assignments in. After we submitted our top 10 lists to Deb and Jodee, they were placed on the FWJ blog, with our candidate number as our byline.

Another round of voting is taking place as I'm writing this, and the voting ends on Sunday. I hope you head over to FWJ to vote for the writer you believe can entertain and teach through his or her writing, as well as communicate with the readers in the comments area. To keep with the rules, I can't -- and I won't -- reveal which article is mine, nor can I reveal my candidate number to you, because that would be breaking the rules. However, I can ask you to view all of the articles that were submitted over the week, and then place your vote for the articles you thought were great and deserve to move on to round three. Even though my article is among the 13, I can honestly say each and every article offered something of value. I tell ya, I'm up against some tough competition, but that's what makes it fun and even more exciting.

If you're up for some weekend reading to help improve your freelance writing career and skills, then check out all the articles by clicking on their titles below (each will open in a new window/tab). While you're reading through them, make a list of the ones you like. Then after you've finished reading them, head to FWJ Idol Round Two Voting is Now Open to place your vote for each of your favorite articles -- the ones you added to your list. I just hope and pray my submission is good enough to make your list of favorites to vote on. And remember, I can't tell you which one is mine, so, please respect the rules Deb and Jodee have set and not ask me which article is mine. You can, however, return here and leave a comment letting us all know which article or articles you voted for, but I still won't be able to tell you if mine was one you voted for. I imagine the names associated with the candidate numbers will be revealed once the contest ends and a winner has been selected.

The articles are as follows:

10 Unique Places to Market Your Book, by Candidate #1
Top Ten Money Saving Ideas for Freelance Writers, by Candidate #2
How to Lose a Gig in 10 Ways, by Candidate #3
Top 10 Phrases No Freelancer Wants to Hear (and How to Fix Them), by Candidate #4
Ten Great Resources for Writers, by Candidate #5
Freelance 411: 10 Things I Wish They'd Taught Me in Freelancing School, by Candidate #6
Top 10 Ways to Write Without Pay and Still Respect Yourself in the Morning, by Candidate #7
Ten Ways to Get a Paid Blogging Gig, by Candidate #8
Top Ten Ways to Stay Out of the Slush Pile, by Candidate #9
Top Ten Mind Tricks to Boost Your Career, by Candidate #10
Ten Ways to Get Organized so You Can Get Writing, by Candidate #11
10 Sensible Defenses of Telecommuting, by Candidate #12
Top Ten Things to Do While Waiting for That PERFECT Writing Gig, by Candidate #13

Happy reading and learning! Don't forget to vote for your favorites.

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Deb at Freelance Writing Jobs (FWJ) is currently seeking a twice weekly columnist for FWJ, but instead of choosing the columnist herself, she's doing something unique: leaving it to her readers to choose the columnist by doing an American Idol-like contest. For the first round, Deb asked the writers who wanted to apply to leave their pitch for the writing job in the comments area on this post. Since I'm a regular reader of FWJ I would love to write for Deb, and I enjoy sharing my writing experience and knowledge with other writers, so I wrote and placed my pitch as instructed. Now I must pray that I'll receive enough votes to move on to round two.

Many of you have read my writing-related articles, left wonderful comments and e-mailed me feedback, which I greatly appreciate and thank you for. With that said, I'd be grateful if you could head over to FWJ and give me your vote to help me progress to round two. You don't have to reveal your identity. All you have to do is click the box next to my name (Misti Sandefur), and then click "Vote." If you'd like to read the pitch I left before voting, read the comments area at FWJ Idol is Now Open. If you click CTRL and F on your keyboard then type Misti Sandefur into the box and click find, you'll find this is much quicker for finding my pitch.

Voting closes on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at Noon (EST).

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I've gone and done it again: joined another social network site to keep up with. Oh well, I'm all for social networking, because I truly believe it helps you promote yourself and meet new people with the same interests. Problem is, after I joined Twitter, I went in search of many of you, as well as those of you who have a blog that I read often, but I couldn't hardly find anyone. Do you Twitter or am I the only one? If you do, then please follow me so I can find you.

I know it's short, but I had to let y'all know I was searching for you on Twitter. Hope to see you on Twitter soon!

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As you can see, I gave Life of a Writer a new look! I've been searching a while for a three column template, and I finally found one that I'm quite satisfied with. In case you're looking for something for your Blogger blog, I found my three column template at Blogger Buster.

I've not put my Adsense ads back up in the sidebar yet, but I'm planning to do that soon -- maybe next week. However, at the end of every post, you'll find links to a few social bookmark websites I'm a member of, and I encourage you to click on the links to share any of my posts that you enjoyed or found helpful. At the top, you should see links to my writing services webpage, my portfolio, contact page and my writing resume (all should open in a new window). Above my posts you'll find the links to subscribe to my blog's full RSS feed, and finally, my sidebars include links for writers, links to some of the blogs I read, links to my most recent blog posts, recent comments left by y'all, my blog's archives and categories, and I've even included the widget from Indeed so you can search for writing gigs or any other job you're currently seeking. There's more to come, but I'm going to try to keep my sidebar widgets to a minimum to keep from making my blog look cluttered.

So, tell me, what do you think of the new look? Do you have any suggestions? Please share your feedback and suggestions in the comments area.

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I finally decided to subscribe to the RSS for all my favorite blogs instead of bookmarking them, and my favorite RSS feed reader thus far is Google Reader. This has made blog reading adventures much easier, but after adding all of them to Google Reader, I discovered a problem with some of my favorite blogs: their RSS feed isn't set to "full feed." The main reason I chose to read my favorite blogs through an RSS feed reader was so I could read the entire post without having to visit each blog's URL. Unfortunately, I've now skipped many posts because they don't offer their posts as a "full feed," and that means I have to click on links entitled "read more" or something similar. Once I do that, I'm sent to their website to read their entire post. I don't usually click on that link because it defeats the whole purpose of me choosing to read my favorite blogs with a feed reader.

In the beginning I clicked on the links to read the entire posts from my favorite bloggers that didn't offer a "full feed," but this soon ceased. Now, I will only click the link to read the entire post if the blogger does an excellent job of attracting my attention within the first paragraph of his or her blog post, and not too many bloggers have done that.

Now for some friendly advice to my fellow bloggers: Do you fear your readers may not be reading your entire blog posts in their feed readers? If so, take a few minutes to set your RSS feeds to "full feed," please, for all of us feed readers who subscribe to your blog for a quick and easy read.

Do you use a feed reader to read your favorite blogs? If so, please help me by voting in my poll below to let me know if you feel the same as I do. I say help because I'm currently working on an article and the results of the following poll will be a part of that article. All I ask is you answer the one question, I'm not asking for your name or any other personal information, just your honest opinion.

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Next Wednesday (Jan. 30) I'll wrap up my Building a Business Blog series at Pure Blogging, and this is where you come in. I'm planning more posts and would like your input. I write on blogging and promotion, but I know there are many overdone topics about blogging and promotion. Therefore, in an effort to try to bring something new to the table, I'd like you're suggestions. Is there something more -- something you've not read at all or read much about -- that you'd like to learn about blogging, promotion or both? Please help me fill my plate by posting your suggestions in the comment area, and if I believe I can cover the topic, I will do so and post a link to it from here; this way you'll know when I fulfill your request.

Surely there's something that hasn't been overdone on blogging or promotion you'd like to learn more about. Don't be shy.

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As I searched the internet today for more interesting blogs to add to my Google Reader, I came across an interesting post about John Chow entitled Blogging Zoom vs John Chow. Yes, it's another blogger talking down about Mr. Chow, but as I read Matthew Henrickson's post, as well as the comments his post gained, I learned a lesson in blogging and would like to share it with you. "What did I learn?" you wonder. Well, I knew John Chow was a successful blogger in the sense that he knows how to obtain a large audience and earn money -- money many of us only wish we could get our hands on. However, I learned through Matthew's post--and the comments to his post--that John Chow seems to be losing many of his readers because he's not giving them what they really want: interesting content.

"John Chow has not been offering much valuable content, if he ever did. He’s just enjoying being on top and earning thousands of dollars per month. In the meantime he is continuing his eating out pictures and traveling being a web celebrity," Matthew said.

Matthew isn't the only one who thinks John Chow's blogging about his trips to the restaurants and constant gloating about himself is boring, because Matthew's commentators seem to agree that John's self-promotion and food rants aren't very interesting. What they really want is for John Chow to reveal his secrets to becoming a successful blogger, but John doesn't seem to be giving them that. Moreover, I agree with Matthew Henrickson and his commentators. I too ran across John Chow's blog one day and added it to my Google Reader, but a few weeks later, I unsubscribed. And the reason I unsubscribed was because I too found his content uninteresting, and I was also hoping to learn from his success, but didn't. In fact, the only thing I've learned I learned from Blogging Zoom vs John Chow, written by Matthew Henrickson. I learned that you may gain blog readers, but if you don't make your content interesting, eventually you'll lose those readers. In addition, the majority of your fellow bloggers will talk down about you instead of praising you.

Personally, I think John Chow's an inspiration because of his financial success with blogging, but if I ever get to where John is, I want my content to keep my readers reading and coming back for more. In order to do this, I'll have to blog about my mistakes and reveal a few tips and secrets along the way, which is what I hope I've done and plan to do more of in upcoming posts.

Do you give your readers interesting content? What are your thoughts about John Chow's blog posts?

Photo credit: Flickr

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In my last post I said, “As you gather with your loved ones to fill your belly and exchange gifts, take the time to remember the true meaning of Christmas: giving, sharing and spending time with those you love.” Well, today I heard an inspirational holiday story on my local news that showed one of the true meanings of Christmas I had mentioned last week: giving.

Unfortunately, a family near my local area suffered a loss when a man decided he wanted to steal the Christmas presents that family had bought for their 3-year-old son. However, being from a small town, word spread and the community pulled together to give the family the Christmas a Grinch had stolen from them. Neighbors and others from the area bought presents and delivered them to the family. Moreover, I guess the Grinch who stole Christmas from that family must have felt guilty (and should have), because he turned himself in. To discover more, read the inspiring holiday story at WPSD.

On another note, I’d like to wish everyone a happy, safe and prosperous New Year! I will return next year and plan to catch up on some overdue blogging. In addition, my first post for 2008 will be my New Year goals. With that said, I’ll see you next year!

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Today we will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. As you gather with your loved ones to fill your belly and exchange gifts, take the time to remember the true meaning of Christmas: giving, sharing and spending time with those you love.

I hope your Christmas is filled with happiness and may God bless you with good health and a prosperous New Year!

Thank you for reading my writings. I hope you'll continue to visit and read more of my work in 2008.

Happy Holidays, friends!

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I had to make another post after just watching this video on The Renegade Writer blog. I say kudos to this man for standing up for writers' rights! We should all be as outspoken as he was. You just have to watch it to see what I'm talking about. Keep this is mind: He said this to a big company -- a company that COULD afford to pay their writers! Oh, one other thing: Before you hit play, if you have just taken a drink of something, swallow it first or your keyboard may get wet. He's so fired up that I almost spit tea on my keyboard from laughing.

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All of us writers each have our own areas of specialties, however, there comes a time when we may want a little change. After all, writing about certain specialties all the time can cause a burnout, get old or we find ourselves running out of things to write about related to that topic. I specialize in a variety of topics, and although I've yet to encounter running out of something to write about related to those topics, I did decide that I wanted to make a change. In all actuality, I guess you could say I just wanted to try writing about something new. Therefore, this weekend I got on a kick and headed to Google to search and read about other culture's lifestyles. I chose one culture to read and learn about for now, and since the Amish lifestyle has always fascinated me, I chose to learn more about their culture lifestyle. Not only did I take an interest in their lifestyle over the years, but I live near an Amish community. (I'd love to discover all I can about my neighbors and their way of life.)

I'm not sure yet about the market, but I plan to find out when I write a few articles about the Amish lifestyle. In fact, I've even contemplated visiting my Amish neighbors to see if I can spend a day with them so that maybe I can experience a little bit of their lifestyle. With the way things are going in this World now a days, the Amish may have it made. No high electricity bills to deal with like some of the Southern Illinois Amren customers have struggled with for quite some time now. The Amish mostly travel by horse and buggy so they don't have the high gas prices to deal with. Finally, they don't have to deal with the public school systems either, because they go to school in their own community. There are other things as well, but these are the few I could think of off the top of my head. Oh, yes, another is no Internet or computers, and with no electricity that makes since. However, I have always wondered if there were any writers among the Amish community, and if so, I assumed they do things the old-fashioned way: with pen and paper. This is certainly something I will attempt to discover as I study their lifestyle more.

Well, that's what I've been up to this weekend, and I'll be sure to keep you updated on my research about the culture lifestyle of the Amish. I really am excited about this, and I need a change of pace anyway. I confess, though, it will be the first time I've ever made a change like this with my writing.

Have you ever made a change such as this? If so, how did it work out for you?

Photo courtesy of Stock.Xchng

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First and foremost, I thank God for giving me the talent to write and for the work He has sent my way this year.

I'm thankful for my three beautiful children, two stepchildren, my husband and my family. Without their love and support, I wouldn't be able to get through the rough times.

I'm thankful for you, for each and every visit you make to my blog. Whether I'm ranting about my writing life or life in general, you always come back for more, and many of you leave words of encouragement to help lift me back up when I'm down. Thank you, thank you, thank you… for everything!

I'm thankful for being able to work from home to do what I love most: write and help others through my words.

Finally, I'm thankful for all my fans. Without you to read my words, I wouldn't be where I am today.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! May God bless you and yours!

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Phew! I'm already pooped, and I haven't even started working yet. I've spent an hour doing laundry and trying to get my house ready for Thanksgiving… and believe it or not, I still have three loads of laundry left to do, then I have to fold all that laundry and put it away. I must say, though, I'm thankful for my dishwasher or I would still be slaving over a sink full of dishes from supper. All of this is what I've managed to accomplish in an hours time, and I still have a long to-do list. The good news is I have until Saturday to get everything ready for Thanksgiving, because my big Thanksgiving dinner will be taking place then. However, between writing and trying to clean house, it seems as if there's just not enough time to get it all done… but I have hope.

Throughout the rest of tonight, I'll be multi-tasking. Since the dishwasher has been loaded and is now running and the washer and dryer both have a load of clothes, I'm going to finish this post and get started writing the articles that are planned for tonight. Between my writing sessions, I'll try to get at least half the laundry finished tonight, and then tomorrow afternoon I'll start cleaning. By 3:00 pm (CST) tomorrow evening, I'll prepare supper for the men, and then I guess I'll start all over with my multi-tasking later tomorrow night. By golly, I might get everything done by Saturday.

So, what are you're plans for the next few days? Are you getting ready for Thanksgiving?

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It's been a rather long weekend, and that's why I'm starting this week off late. I didn't write at all yesterday, because of the Veteran's Day weekend, and Hubby's a veteran. Since Hubby only works Monday through Friday, his place of employment gives their employees Monday off with pay. Therefore, I spend Monday with Hubby. We didn't go anywhere, but we did enjoy the time together at home.

Now that Hubby's in bed getting ready for another workday, I'm back at my computer writing again. While he's sleeping, I will be making my usual nightly visits to my favorite blogs, and since I've already searched the boards for writing jobs and responded to those I qualify for, my next task will be writing two articles for AC. Then, if I'm not too tired, I plan to submit a query letter or two. After the query letters, I'll be snoozing while the rest of the world is waking up to start their day... well, all those who aren't night owls like me.

I have to say, though, I enjoyed the long weekend with Hubby and the kids. We had planned on visiting Burden Falls to take in the sights of the beautiful fall colors that are just now beginning to show here in Southern Illinois, but those plans were canceled when it started raining and thundering outside. I guess well have to re-schedule the visit for next weekend or some other time, but I'll be sure to let y'all know how it goes, and I may even have pictures to share.

Stay tuned and God bless!

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Jenna Glatzer has tagged me for the Crazy 8s meme, so for those of you wanting to know even more about me, here it goes:

8 things I'm passionate about:
1. Like Jenna, I'm also passionate about being a mom as well as a step mom.
2. Writing, of course.
3. Helping others when I can.
4. Classic country and the older gospel hymns.
5. Reading my Bible as well as Christian fiction and romance books.
6. Reality TV.
7. Animals. I have two ferrets, two Pomeranians and a Blue Heeler.
8. Church.

8 things I want to do before I die:
1. Sell enough of my books and writing so that I can make a comfortable living and hubby doesn't have to work, and finally, enough to also be able to donate to charities often. If I ever reach that goal, the charities are at the very top of my list, and the first charity would be my church (Richland, located in Hardin County).
2. Meet Dolly Parton.
3. See my future grandchildren.
4. See each of my children and stepchildren get married.
5. Take a cruise with hubby.
6. See my house after it has been remodeled.
7. Learn how to play the piano with both hands instead of just one.
8. Take the honeymoon hubby and I never had.

8 things I say often:
1. Never give up on your dreams -- work toward them.
2. I love you.
3. God and his angels will keep you safe (I say this to my children all the time).
4. Quit reading blogs and get back to work. (Yes, I say this one to myself…LOL.)
5. Come and get it! (I say this when dinner's ready, and everyone in the house scrambles to the kitchen.)
6. Do I have to go grocery shopping?
7. I can't, I'm working right now.
8. Can you, please help me clean the house?

8 books I've recently read:
1. Dream or Destiny, by Lillie Ammann. (Not yet released. I had a review copy.)
2. Must Love Mistletoe, by Christie Ridgway.
3. North Carolina, by Terry Fowler.
4. When Love Comes Home (Love Inspired), by Arlene James.
5. The Sheik Who Loved Me (Intimate Moments), by Loreth Anne White.
6. Healing Hearts (Love Inspired), by Cheryl Wolverton.
7. Not Another New Year's, by Christie Ridgway.
8. The Carousel, by Richard Paul Evans.

8 songs I could listen to over and over:
1. Heaven's Just a Sin Away (The Kindles).
2. I Can Only Imagine (MercyMe). This one's on my MySpace profile.
3. I'll Stand by You (Carrie Underwood).
4. Jesus Take the Wheel (Carrie Underwood).
5. Go Rest High on a Mountain (Vince Gill).
6. Angels Among Us (Alabama).
7. Inside Your Heaven (Carrie Underwood).
8. I Will Always Love You (Dolly Parton).

8 things that attract me to my best friends:
1. Their sense of humor.
2. Their honesty.
3. Their kindness.
4. They don't judge you.
5. Their fun to be around.
6. They offer encouragement.
7. They're always there to talk to, and they offer advice or a shoulder to cry on.
8. They look at what's on the inside and not the outside.

8 people I think should do Crazy 8s:
1. April Aragam.
2. Kathy Kehrli at Screw You!
3. Writer Mama, Christina Katz.
4. Michele L. Tune over at Writing the Cyber Highway.
5. Alicia Sparks from Writing Spark…
6. … and anyone else who feels froggy or needs something to blog about.

That will do it for the Crazy 8s meme. Thanks for the tag, Jenna… I enjoyed it.

As always, friends, I shall return. I know, "Thanks for the warning, right?"

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