It has been a busy but enjoyable day today as I prep for my upcoming appearance on "Atlanta Live" and the performances that are to follow. I am excited about all God is doing. I love the unpredictability of riding in the passenger seat with Him at the wheel. You never know what's next. You just have to pray and hold on.
September 24, 2009, 10:35 a.m.
I have been keeping up with the flooding in Georgia and my heart goes out to all the people who have lost their possessions and to those who have lost loved ones. I have been praying for them and will continue to do so as the water receeds and the cleanup process begins.
September 21, 2009, 10:42 a.m.
Good morning! I have been to busy to write much in the last week or so. I have been working and dealing with a long string of technical problems. I am now hoping I have finally resolved all my issues. With that said, maybe I can get through this week without having any more technical glitches.
September 15, 2009, 4:12 p.m.
We are currently on the road headed back toward home from Louisville, Kentucky where we attended the first night of the National Quartet Convention or NQC as everyone calls it. We had a wonderful time and I got to see someone I hadn't seen in years. We were looking at jewelry just for the fun of it when one of my grandparents informed me that they'd seen Tim Riley at Gold City's booth several feet from where we were and I was both surprised and ecstatic. I have loved Gold City since I was a little girl, and sing several of their songs. Tim Riley used to sit me on his knee when I was little and we frequented their concerts when they'd perform somewhere close enough for us to attend. I remember telling him that I was going to sing with Gold City one day, and my grandmother kindly told me that it wasn't possible since I was a girl and Gold City was a quartet made up of all men.
Needless to say we were thrilled to see him, as was everyone else at NQC. The crowd was just as ecstatic as we were when he came out on stage and he recieved a very warm welcome. I just wish I'd thought to take a picture with him. It would have been nice to have and I could have posted it here. Maybe God will give me another chance someday.
As always, the music was fantastic. Some of the groups in last night's lineup included the Kingsmen, Priority, Skyline, Soul'd Out, Gold City, Legacy Five and many more.
My performance the day before also went very well. The church in Austin, Indiana had a great spirit and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them.
I am trying to write this while going down the road and it is proving to be a bbit of a challenge so I am going to get back to the book I was reading.
September 9, 2009, 2:09 p.m.
We had a great Labor Day gathering. The weather was nice and everyone was in great spirits. We are now preparing to go to Indiana and have been packing all week. I am thoroughly looking forward to the trip. Of course I enjoy traveling. There's something special about being on the road.
Also, I haven't forgotten about the picture I intended to post of the paws of one of my seven-toed cats, unfortunately they seem to have a dislike for the camera. So it might take a while. They're very observant and great runners. Needless to say they run faster than me. There's something about having four legs that gives them an extra level of speed and agility, especially when it comes to evading cameras.
September 7, 2009, 11:45 p.m.
I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a healthy and happy Labor Day! We are currently getting ready to celebrate with family and the grill is being started as we speak. So I better get back out there and help. I'm hungry!
September 5, 2009, 5:06 p.m.
It has been over a week since I've gotten anything significant done on my books. I wrote a few days ago but ran into a bout of writer's block. It has been a while since I have had to deal with a major bout of it; I am usually able to hammer out something, even if it's fifty words or so. And when you're stuck fifty words is a lot, trust me. When I'm working on a difficult section I am grateful to write twenty or thirty words that I like well enough to keep.
Some writers say they force themselves to write daily, even if they're dealing with the dreaded writer's block. But I don't do that mainly because I don't want to burn out. To me it's best to wait until you feel creative enough to write something as opposed to sitting in front of the computer or with pen and paper, twittling your thumbs because nothing will come to you. And it doesn't take long to get some inspiration from somewhere. Whether it's directly from my imagination, music, a book or even television, it's inevitable that I will write at least twice a week unless I am swamped with music or college.
I used to write at midnight, and thought I had a great thing going. For six months or more I would wait until the house was quiet before sitting down in front of my computer to write, and I would write until I was to tired to formulate my thoughts, at which point I was forced to stumble off to bed. I made the mistake of never going back to review previous sections of my book as a refresher and finally the consequences appeared.
One day when I was wide awake I happened to look back and read from the beginning of my novel up to the point I had been working on the day before and to my horror, I discovered massive errors and inconsistencies that took me six weeks to fix. Needless to say I learned my lesson. Lol.
Now I can look back at it and it's hilarious. But at the time it was anything but funny. I had to work hard to fix the mess I'd made and at one point I was convinced I would never be able to fix it. But I did, and it just so happens that the book looked better than it had before the errors. I guess God was trying to teach me to rise early with the birds. Haha.
September 3, 2009, 12:28 a.m.
Normally at this time of night I am half asleep, struggling to keep my eyes open and my fingers moving. But not tonight. I am full of energy and I think I'm going to do some writing before I go to bed. What's got me so excited and ready to run a marathon is some great news that I can't release yet because obviously it's still possible that it could fall through. But I am praying and hoping beyond hope that things turn out right because if they do...well, my dream of going to Canada isn't so far off after all. French quizine, anyone?
September 2, 2009, 11:50 p.m.
I was thinking yesterday about something and a thought crossed my mind. I'm going to give you some background that will coincide with what I'm going to say.
In the book of Ester, found in the Old Testament, Ester married king Xerxes, ruler of 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush. (Ester 1-1)
Keeping the story short,after a plot to assassinate King Xerxes was discovered and reported to Ester by Mordecai, who was the cousin of Ester and had raised her since she "had neither father nor mother (Ester 2-7)," the Bible says a man named Haman was elevated to a position of prominence within the kingdom. The Bible says his position was higher than that of all the nobles. The King gave orders for everyone to bow to him in honor. But Mordecai repeatedly refused to do so which made Haman extremely angry and he decided to kill him. But thinking that killing one Jew wasn't enough he decided it would be best if he slautered them all. (Ester Chapter3) As I read that I was reminded of how quickly anger can escalate from a tiny ember to a massive blaze.
After obtaining the King's permission to do what he wanted with the Jews, a decree was given to annihilate the Jews (Ester 3-13).
When Mordecai found out he sent a message via one of Ester's attendants begging her to help her people. She replied that to approach the king without being summoned was a death sentence unless he extended his gold scepter. Listen to Mordecai's reply. The part I want to bring out will be marked with an asterisk. His reply is found in Ester chapter 4, starting with verse 13. "Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. *And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"*
My thought was this: God knew before time began that Ester would be born and raised by Mordecai and that she would be crowned queen. He chose her before creation to be the instrument used to save His people from annihilation...Sank in yet? Wow, what a thought.