Monday at The Writer's Alley

Head over to The Writer's Alley and check out my three reasons to be on PINTEREST! Happy Monday!

The Writer's Alley

Today, I am blogging about ending writing breaks over at The Writer's Alley. I have started writing away on my current book after a long writer's break. It is fun to get to writing again! 

Hope you have a great Monday!

ReDesign and A Drawing!!!!!

Time to Redesign at Sparkle?

REDESIGN!?!?!?!

Some of you may have noticed that I've spruced up my blog this week! I can't help but think of one of my favorite movies 13 Going on 30, where the movie ends with a big push for a redesign of Sparkle Magazine.
Well, I wanted to add a little sparkle to the blogsphere and REFOCUS this blog. Today I will officially establish my blog as a Mama's blog with regular scheduling, and some writer ventures on the side. ;) I want to kick this off with a fun drawing opportunity, so keep reading!!!

First, here's the schedule:

• Writing Every other Monday (Next one is this coming Oct. 7th): Click on the tab "The Writer's Alley" and take a peek at my group writing blog. Besides Mondays, swing by there every day to find great inspiration and wisdom from my fellow Alleycats also.

• Walk With Me Wednesdays: Come by and find some of my heart poured out while I TAKE IT ALL IN as a woman along this road of motherhood and faith.

• Thank Goodness It's Fridays: TGIF! I will post a quick fun idea of something my family is going to do together over the weekend, or a wish list activity we hope to do soon! I hope to help other mamas get their creative juices flowing, and encourage comments for ideas to make our precious family moments all the more intentional and special!

DRAWING FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER:

color enhancement of desaturated photo

What Mama doesn't want a great photo or card to capture their beautiful family or a precious moment to frame and display??

 You can WIN your choice of FREE photo editing on your favorite family snap shot...whether it be a quality spruce up, black and white conversion, a color enhancement (as shown), or sepia...

OR....

Christmas card example

 A custom holiday photo card design! With your photo as the centerpiece, you'll get a beautiful memory to share with family and friends this coming season.

HOW to enter the drawing?

There are a few ways to qualify for the drawing...each of them requiring a quick comment to let me know you've participated...so don't forget to comment! Here are the options:

1.  FOLLOW this blog! With one click to the right column where my followers are listed, you can become a follower and keep up with my weekly posts! Once you follow, let me know in the comments section of my current post.

2.  LIKE my Author Page on Facebook!  Are you a writer too? Interested in keeping up with my writing venture? Go to the tab "My Author Page" at the top of this blog, and you will be redirected to my author page. You'll get a glimpse at my life as an aspiring author. Again, let me know in the comments page.

3.  Send a Mama or Writer friend to do one or both of the above! You'll get your own name entered TWICE for referring, and your friend will also be entered in the drawing...(don't forget to let me know in the comments!)

I am super excited to get a schedule going around here! It seems that so much life whizzes by, and when I don't stop and pour out my heart a bit, little moments of lessons and joy get lost amidst the chaos! Hoping this blog creates some space to TAKE IT ALL IN for all my fellow mama bloggers and my writer friends out there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Bold Up at ACFW!

I am on the other side of my second ACFW conference, and as I had prayed on the first day, I am completely humbled. God's hand works in mighty ways and He was OBVIOUSLY present in St. Louis...not just in my triumphs, but in my trials--molding and shaping--His blessings poured onto the friends around me, and His glory was spoken, sung, and shown. What an amazing thing to be around so many professionals in this tricky business of publishing, and have a common thread of Christ throughout the 700 people in attendance!
I was personally blessed with connecting to precious friends who I have spent this past year getting to know on blogs, loops, and through crit groups.

It's funny how my prayers were answered when it came to interest in my manuscripts, but how I tossed aside the excitement and wrestled with severe self-doubt almost instantaneously. I had this impending doom that I was fooling myself and others into thinking I could write, and now I had to prove it by sending in my stuff. It was at these moments of dread, that I found support in my friends and realized God has placed some amazing women in my life.
My fellow Alley Cats surrounded me with prayer, my crit partner encouraged me and even talked to other agents and publishers about my work (she is amazing), and my parents (who flew to St. Louis just to watch my baby in a small hotel room...thank you!) kept giving me pep talks.
My cup overflows with the people God has given me!

As I left the conference, I had one of the Alley Cats, Mary Vee, look at me and say,
"You need to bold up."
Amen, Mary. I will never forget that...and hopefully, in a conference or two, I will be a bold, new author with confidence and a contract! :)
Now, I have work ahead of me. I have never felt so driven. It is all because of the prayers that were said that I feel like it might be possible to tweak my book and proposal to a new level...and I am dedicated to doing my best...because that's all I can do!