Mother's Day

Yesterday was a wonderful Mother's Day for me. It started with the annual Mother's Day Breakfast at church. The men gather in the kitchen and produce pancakes, sausage, scrambled eggs, donuts, juice, fruit, and other yummy concoctions.

Then we had an uplifting worship service. And afterwards, lots of fellowship with church friends and a lovely yellow carnation. 

I had thought we would head home right after church, but my husband and son surprised me by taking me out to dinner. We had a leisurely meal with fun conversation and good food.

When I got home, I got to talk for a nice long time with my daughter who is jumping into finals week. After the phone call, it was just about time to head off to Bible study with my girls at church. 

By some folks' standards this might not exactly peg the excitement meter, but to me it was the perfect day.

What is your idea of a perfect day?

The Friday Five

Last weekend I was in Omaha, NE, and my hostess took me to a wonderful sculpture park in downtown Omaha. Here are some of the pictures I took. I was amazed at the detail and the expressions on their faces. The sculptor caught their movement so well. The care on the adults' faces, and the carefree happiness of the children. I think one of my favorite sculptures though was the scout returning to the wagon train with venison. 

Have you been to Omaha? Do you think you would've made a good pioneer? I know I wouldn't have.

The Benefits of a Writer's Retreat

This last weekend I was blessed to get to spend a few days with some writer friends at a retreat. There are so many benefits of a writers' retreat, that I can't possibly name them all here, but I thought I'd hit a few of the big ones for me:

1. It's a chance to get away and focus on one project. No distractions, just the work.

2. It gives me validation as a writer. This might seem odd, but from time to time, I need to do something with other writers, something only writers do, to remind myself that I'm a 'real' writer and I should treat my writing seriously.

3. A writer's retreat is a chance to be with other people who know exactly what it is you struggle with, what you do for all those hours staring at the computer screen, and what your fears are.

4. It's a chance to share industry news and information and learn more about this business we're all trying to succeed at.

5. It rejuvenates me to come back and work some more. 

6. It's a chance to gab and eat and brainstorm and laugh and visit new places with people who are my good friends.

I can't wait for the next one!!! 

The Friday Five

Would you believe that Rochester got a 9+ inch dumping of snow this week? CRAZY! In the words of my sister-in-law "Summer sure seemed short this year."

Makes me glad I'm out of state at a writer's retreat this weekend. Though I did have to drive through a fair bit of snow to get to my destination.

This week's Friday Five is:

Five things I love about writers' retreats.

1. Hanging out with my friends who actually understand me on the writer level. They've been there and are doing that when it comes to writing fiction. Especially these gals who are all pros and treat this like a business, not a hobby.

2. Ridiculous word counts. Because we're all focused on writing, we rack up some mind-blowing word counts over the course of a few days.

3. Getting away. Face it, sometimes it's nice to leave the laundry and meal planning and errands and homeschooling behind for awhile and just focus on fiction.

4. Pooling resources and knowledge. Whether it's brainstorming plots, sharing blogs and websites we find helpful, discussing where we thing publishing is going, generating marketing ideas, or just congratulating and commiserating, the shared knowledge is invaluable.

5. The food. We have the best food on these retreats. One of the authors lives nearby, and her husband brought some yummy soup that he made! And I've had Lithuanian Apricot Torte, which is to DIE for! We've dined on Hawaiian BBQ chicken (Crock pot recipe that cooked all afternoon and made the house smell great.) And tonight, we're headed to a steakhouse. (And over all this good food is non-stop conversation. :) )

How about you? Have you been on a retreat, writer or otherwise? What do you like about coming away from your everyday life to focus on being creative?

Be Still

This weekend, I got to babysit the most precious and snuggly little guy ever! He's just shy of his first birthday, and boy howdy, was he adorable. Not having had a solid nap time for a little while (due to travel and parental obligations) he was more than ready to doss down and sleep a little when he got to my house.

As I rocked this precious boy in the quiet of my living room, all the lights off, the shades drawn, no tv, no radio, no computer, no book to read even, I realized what a long time it had rocked a sleeping baby, how long it had been since I watched a nap time clock, and after awhile, how long it had been since I had just been...still.

In our world that is constantly bombarding us with data, where we keep the tv on as background noise, where the car radio comes on when we insert the key, when we fire up the laptop with our first cup of coffee and don't turn it off until we're saying good night, these times of just being still are rare and to be treasured.

The baby slept for almost 3 solid hours. That's plenty of time to think some long thoughts. Thoughts about the next story I'm plotting, about all the things I need to do this week, about a vacation we're hoping to take...and then, I was just still.

Thoughts about my church family came to me, and I was still enough to pray for them. Still enough to reflect on the Sunday School lesson I'd taught that morning and about the Ladies' Bible Study I was going to attend that night. Still enough to pray for the baby I was holding and to wonder what the world would look like in twenty years when he was a grown man.

Thoughts about the benefits of being still and how it can turn my thoughts to things of eternal value.

Have you had any time to be still, to turn off the blare and blurting of our world and listen to the silence for awhile?

Oh, and I'm guest blogging over at Seekerville today. I hope you can drop by! http://seekerville.blogspot.com/

The Friday Five

This week's Friday Five is

Five websites that crack me up:

1. Reasons my Son is Crying http://reasonsmysoniscrying.tumblr.com/ A dad takes pictures of his heartbroken kids and says why the boys are crying. Now before you think me or him some heartless ogre, read the reasons why the kid is crying...The above picture: He's sobbing because his dad won't let him get a tattoo.

2. Cake Wrecks http://www.cakewrecks.com/ When cakes go horribly wrong. Warning: not all of the blogs are family friendly...but they are always funny.

3. There. I Fixed it. http://failblog.cheezburger.com/thereifixedit Duct Tape, Wire, Paperclips, and Staples to the rescue.

4. Grumpy Cat https://www.facebook.com/TheOfficialGrumpyCat This is the facebook page for Grumpy Cat. I love when these memes come through my facebook feed.

5. Okay, this one doesn't make me crack up, at least not all of the time, but it is wicked interesting. http://twistedsifter.com/2013/03/most-perfectly-timed-photos-ever/ These photos are amazing! And when you get to the bottom, check out the best pictures of 2012 and the best so far of 2013. Stunning!

What websites make you laugh?

The Spring That Never Came

This was the view from my front porch yesterday morning as we readied for church. This feels like the Spring That Never Came.

I saw a post on Facebook that read "This year I hope Summer falls on a Saturday."

In other news, I put together a novella collection idea and sent it off to my lovely agent, and I'm continuing to work on the synopsis of another novel.

Registration for the ACFW conference is now open. Yay! I've been eyeballing all the classes and agents and editors, trying to fine tune the things I want to do and the people I'd like to meet.

What's the weather like where you are, what are you working on, and do you have anything exciting coming up?