Walking the Writer's Beat...

I just finished spending time on my community website and I posted my first comments. I found a place where they have writing contests. Someone gives a prompt and writers respond. The prompt here was, "Unknown Memories". The contest rules said you could write in any style, but not use more than 2000 words. I read two full stories, Coffee Memories and Ramona, and half of another story. I really enjoyed both of these stories and went to the thread to make comments. I also looked at other peoples' comments and I liked the way that commentors took the time to say what they liked and why and they also pointed out things that were a problem for them and explained why. This kind of constructive criticism seems both respectful and helpful to me. Also on this comment thread people can ask the staff questions about contest rules or other things they may not understand. These conversations are a little confusing to me, but maybe they will get clearer after I have been around for a while. Last week a found a discussion thread where people just talk about topics. They had a topic about homosexuality and some of the comments there seemed harsh and vulgar. I do not know what the community does about this. I have not been back there since and I plan to stay away. I like the contests and people's responses. I will learn from these people how to give the same respectful and helpful criticism before I respond to a story I do not like!

I think I've got it now!

Okay, I watched Professor Lee's podcast (again), and realized that I forgot to add the word "forum" or "bulletin board" to my google search. This time I did it and found a writer's site where published and unpublished authors meet. It is, http://www.writersbeat.com/ Members join for free and write stories and poetry. There are contests to enter and threaded discussions in which to engage. The site puts out a quarterly newsletter in which I found some very interesting prose. One member, Brandon Walsh, had members vote his story, "The Princess of Kosovo: A Memoir",  to be in the newsletter. Though I felt the story could use a bit of editing, it was a very gripping tale and I was glad this member won. I encountered a poem that did not rhyme much, but I really liked it anyway (this is unusual for me). It was called, "Paper Garden", by Fegger (I am sure this is an online name). One more thing I found quite fascinating was something called, "Writer's Vault". It seems that the writer of this section finds about a half dozen antiquated words and defines them for readers. I am not yet sure if all the words come from the Victorian Era, or just the ones in this quarterly issue. Anyway, members have the opportunity to write and submit a piece called "flash fiction" in which they use one or more of the outdated words. Winners of this contest have their entries published in the quarterly newsletter. It seems like a lot of fun. I only hope I can balance my time there with my homework!

What if...

Recently I saw a comment on facebook that said something like, "What if your knight in shining armor turns out to be just a man in a tinfoil suit?"  The attitude I sense in this question bothers me; if your husband is merely a man in a tinfoil suit he has failed to live up to your expectations. I must confess, I have had the same attitude for many years.  My husband certainly failed to live up to my expectations! What I had not considered, however, was that there is something wrong with this thinking.

Since then, I have been considering other "What ifs?" What if  I cannot discern the difference between shining armor and tinfoil? What if it is not my husband's tinfoil suit that has been blinding me, but my expectations. If these things are true, I have a new hope, not that my husband will become what I have always wanted him to be (am I now everything I always wanted to be?), but that he is truly a treasure that I have failed to see.

Yesterday, my husband and I attended a sweetheart banquet at our church. We had fun, food, fellowship, some good teaching and some good interaction. Our pastor decided we needed to write letters to one another. The first writing assignment was to tell each other about the gifts and the strengths our spouse brings to the marriage. The second one was what we wanted to tell our spouses if we knew that we would die tomorrow. I will not divulge the contents of the letters here; I only bring them up now because the writing of them reaffirmed something God has been teaching me about my husband.

My husband is not here to rescue me; that is my Savior's job. My husband is not here to meet my every need; that too is a job belonging to my God. As I allow God to meet all of my needs, I am free to love my husband just as he is, and then I discover how wonderfully he cares for me and how good a friend I have in him. God is my everything; that job is too hard for any man, but my husband is my very special one thing and I am happy to be his.

Only kid on the Blog

Is there a way to express frustration without sounding like I am compaining? I don't know! (But I think I am about to find out!) I am not sure that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing for my class assignments. I chose a community blog that I thought was frequently updated, but I am bored there already; no one has posted anything new for four days. I found some people with similar interests through this blog, but I do not know how to talk to them.

Yesterday I got a really cool, new phone. Today I started working on my very first quilt; a friend of mine from work is helping me make it! I took pictures of what I have done so far with my really cool, new phone. Then I took the really cool, new phone home, got out the really cool USB cable that hooks my phone up to my computer and figured out that I need to figure out how to get the cool pictures I took on my phone off my phone and onto my computer. I am stumped!

Maybe it does not really matter much how I sound here since I am still the only kid on the blog and therefore, pretty much just talking to myself...

New Kid on the Blog

I have got a really BIG birthday coming up, but that does not stop me from being the new kid on the blog! I do not really want to be doing this right now, but it is an assignment for a technology course that I must have to earn my level two teaching credential. This is my very first blog, and while I've read a few blogs in the past, I have never participated, so this will be interesting if it is nothing else. I chose writing because I write a lot! I write essays for school, devotions for family and friends, poetry, and most recently, songs! I have a very gifted writer friend who writes her own Bible studies and she honors me by letting me edit them. I would like to learn how to edit better. I found a blog site called inkthinker and I really liked the title. I frequently think in word pictures. The posts are recent with enjoyable content. I hope I can figure out how to get this post there!