We Are Works In Progress

Philippians 1:6

Being confident of this very thing, that He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

I've been discouraged periodically about all of the dreams and goals that have yet to be realized as a writer.  Life gets in the way. I see my imperfections and struggle with self-worth. Missing the mark can make a goal-oriented person feel like a failure.

 In reflection, I have discovered that sometimes I set the mark too high. Other times, I don't work hard enough at the goals but allow distractions to deter me. I'm the stereotypical moody writer, who thinks she can publish a library one day and another day, fills the trash can with crumpled paper.  I don't want to feel like I'm not accomplishing my goals.

I asked the Lord for a Word on which to stand. He gave me the above passage. It was an immense comfort. Here's why:

I am not perfect. I fail. Failure reveals my humanity and somehow, in that state, I see the steadfastness of God. Jesus, the Perfect One, is performing a good work in me--to sanctify, to cleanse, to save, to make whole and to enable for service. He began that work in me and He will not quit working until I am perfect in Him.  When He returns to take me to Heaven and gives me a heavenly body which will no longer struggle with weakness and imperfection, then all my earthly expectations will fade and I will know what was His perfect will for my life and hopefully, hear Him say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of thy Lord."  All the rest won't matter any more.  In order to hear that I need to finish what He called me to.

He  finishes EVERYTHING He starts and that good work in us  that only He does is a work in progress with many stops and starts. I think it's because we are sometimes like the characters in our books or stories that try to make suggestions to the Author. Our suggestions are one dimensional just as our characters can't know what each other are up to but must discover through the plot where they all fit in the story. It is the Author that keeps everything straight and makes the story turn out right. The characters think they would die in the process worrying about their struggles if the Author didn't have it under control.   How amazing is that!

With that in mind, I look at my plans. I'm only one character in the story God is writing of my life. I can't see ahead or how God is going to use every detail of the story to accomplish the plot. I think I'm just going to die of heartache or exhaustion at times when my dreams aren't working out as I'd desire.  Hearing Philippians 1:6 reminded me once again to trust the Author. He is at work on my life. I am a work in progress.So are you.

When The Path Branches Off Like a Pile of Pretzels Intertwined...

  Life is incredibly full for me right now. I realize I have a tendency to be addicted to that "busy" and not to clear my path enough to where I can see a straight line. Instead, rather, the moment I empty it, another idea comes cropping up in front of me. There is always something begging for my attention. If I let it, life could dictate my path for me and I could be caught in a labrynth of activity and never follow the path to the hopeful end and the future that God has mapped out for me. (Jeremiah 29:11)

This year will be different. I aim to be more intentional. I'm seeking the Lord in all my ways and looking for His guidance daily in my home, ministry and career paths and for the future. I might have to stop cycling on the maze from time to time--to at least stop in the midst of it and ask for direction more than just in the beginning.

The truth is that we only have so much control over our own lives. Some of us micro-managing multi-taskers think we can conquer the world in a day but really, when it all spins in front of us, our lives could become like the cat's cradle gone askew if we don't let the Master Designer take control of it.

I love writing. I love all the pursuits life holds.I love teaching...

and visiting.... and encouraging.... and counseling and most of the time, parenting.

Somehow I need to strike a balance. Not just what I think is the right balance but what He determines is my position and station in the world.

I've been called to all these things but where the difficulty lies is in finding where they all fit together.

I've decided to stop trying to figure it all out myself. It's time to ask, seek and knock. Every day. Every hour. Every moment. I'm on a new journey to pray without ceasing. About everything. Everyone. Every day.

When I wander, as I am prone to, then I will tune in again and say,

"Speak Lord, for your servant is listening" and I will hear His voice saying,

"This is the way; walk you in it."

Show me the right path, O LORD; point out the road for me to follow. Psalm 25:4.

2010 Cheerleader #2 for Your Christian Business

In the last post, I mentioned Faithwriters as the first cheerleader for Christian writers. Each month, I will highlight one or two more at Rather Be Writing.

Although none of the "cheerleaders" posted on this blog come dressed in pleated skirts and letter sweaters nor do they do cartwheels and wave pom-pom's in the air, they stand to provide a periodic pep-rally to encourage us to work at and market our businesses and/ or writing endeavors.

Today's pick was an "accidental" find. One of my New Year's resolutions is to study the great prayers of the Bible this year. As soon as I decided that in early December, I figured "Why wait?" I began right away. Searching the web, I found several studies to use as a guideline. Dr. Ralph Wilson's study was one of them. I've only just begun to receive his daily email studies but so far so excellent--I cannot vouch for the whole thing as far as expositional consistency and doctrinal accuracy but from what I've seen this far, I've been impressed.

As with any Bible study in which I partake, I wanted to know from which denominational viewpoint it would come. I decided to look up the author and read up. Although I didn't find any specific denominational leanings, I did note that he is a notable Christian businessman and international expert on Internet marketing. He has been identified on one site as Dr. EBiz. He seems to be an example of a very well-rounded person as he not only has a business and a ministry, he also enjoys playing the guitar and auto harp and is a Civil War history buff and a woodworker. Wow. I thought my plate was loaded!

If curiosity has the best of you, you can read about Dr. Wilson here: http://www.wilsonweb.com/speaker/bio.htm
Or you can check out his Bible study here (remember to use discernment and compare everything by the WORD in context): http://www.joyfulheart.com/

I signed up for his marketing newsletter as well as the prayer journey newsletter. Newsletter #1 comes with SIX free e-books for your business! If you know more about him than I do, please share!

I'll try to keep you posted about the outcome and my opinions of his ideas. Although what works for one might be different than for another, I figure it can't hurt to read what brought success to a Christian businessman.

"Ponder the path of your feet and let all your ways be established." Proverbs 4:26.

New Year, New Motivation

First of all, thank you to any returning readers who have faithfully stuck by me on my silent hiatus from this blog. Please accept my apologies and a resolution to write more on this blog. I can't promise a post everyday but at least once a week should be do-able. (Between my other writing responsibilities, therapeutic parenting, volunteer work with non-profits, and furthering my education, the plate gets pretty full! I'm not the only one who juggles life like this. Many more famous authors have done this and more.)

It's been QUITE a while since I posted anything on this blog since those real life events seemed to have upstaged the business end of my writing for a while. As life settles down and the new year unfolds, I have new motivation and more specific goals to get back on track. I found some inspiration today regarding writing. I suppose that a break was essential to bring me back to the love of it. I've always loved it but it seemed that my overloaded brain couldn't focus for a while. I guess that all writers and artists go through that on occasion. To commically misquote the Queen, "We are not immune."

Today, I watched a re-enacted biography of the life of Louisa May Alcott, one of my favorite authors. I relate so much to the characters in Little Women, her most well-known novel. My sisters and I used to write our own newspaper and act our plays in the living room just like her characters. That was before we read the book or watched the movie. I was most like Jo who went off on her own to write and was always trying to match mate people in my mind. I loved reading people. I just wasn't very good at keeping my nervousness from making me act silly when trying to connect with them. Of course, I didn't quite understand why people weren't enthused about me reading dictionaries in my spare time and sharing the words I discovered nor why they thought me a strange bird to borrow library records--yes, records--that featured opera like the HMS Pinnafore, foreign language lessons or radio theatre comedy from my dad's and grandparent's generations. I was an old soul for my age. (This is the inside scoop-Dr. Wordwielder and I have much in common).

I digress here. Sorry. The show about author L.M. Alcott brought out some interesting similarities between her and I and gave me a few ideas for writing that I would not have otherwise discovered. It also gave me encouragement that it is possible to do well in a writing career even with many life interruptions--if one only follows the dreams in his or her heart to write. This brings to my mind a quote I've heard my friend, JoJo, say, "I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers all written," or something like that.

Sometimes, we have dreams and even begin on our goals but something keeps us with blank pages. It's time either to throw it out and start fresh or get to work! I'm going to do a little of both with my works in progress.

I sent a few children's stories out the other day and intend to keep doing that and sending off articles and short stories while determining which of my larger works in progress to finish first. I plan to complete at least one of them by June this year. Giving myself a deadline will help tremendously. I'm good with deadlines when it comes to writing, not so good with open-ended-unless I have a strong, clear vision about something that must be shared with the world.

That being said, I hopped on over to Faithwriters to see what new designs they came up with for their webpage. I found it much easier to navigate and read a tutorial on making the most of my membership. I've participated in some of the challenges this past year and knew that it is possible to have other articles posted on the site but didn't use the site to it's fullest potential. I did receive offers from a publisher but hope to gain more exposure for my writing by contributing more to the various aspects of what they offer. There is a critique circle, discussion boards, writing lessons and all kinds of opportunities. They're still the same offerings but they seem more user-friendly on the new page. To look at them or browse the articles there, (You might see a couple of mine in the challenge entries), visit this link. http://www.faithwriters.com/index.php

I've posted the previous link before as a place where I receive encouragement to write. My resolution is to find more cheerleaders like this and to interact more with them, especially since the in person groups locally didn't seem to work out for my schedule.

What or who inspires you as a writer? What book, blogger, author, forum, critique circle or other resource helps you? Maybe we can share resources and cheer each other on to doing better in the business end of our writing. Feel free to leave your comments. I'd love to hear from you.

The Big Blue Screen of Death

That's right. My laptop died. The ancient computer I was using after that crashed too and we had to do recovery work on it. This has made being online for long difficult. The laptop, however, (my baby) has bit the dust. We are searching for the correct recovery disk but the outlook is not promising. It appears I will have to make weekly trips to use the library computer if this old PC doesn't keep up with me. We shall see--and some of my books will have to be re-written. Of course, I save in several formats often but this time, I had not gotten that far. I had tons of research on various subjects stored in my laptop. I should have learned from the crash I had two years ago where I lost most of a book. Well, there's nothing like a fresh start. God-incidentally, I watched a great Netflix movie this weekend called, "The Ultimate Gift". The concept related to losing the familiar to gain better, yet unfamiliar things. The timing of this was incredible. So I'm all ears to this.

Meanwhile, I'm rekindling some old loves and resting from some of my old obsessions. I've discovered a few things during this process. I will soon share them but for now, I simply write to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving (belated) and a blessed first week in December.

Pray for me to be able to fix or replace my laptop soon. I need it for several projects and writing commitments. For now, I will work on Plan B. Stay tuned for an update in a week or sooner. Thanks. See ya soon.

Rather Be Writing Reviews JoJo Tabares' "Language of Leadership" Course

As you may well know, I am a friend and an avid fan of JoJo Tabares and her Blog Talk Radio Shows. In fact, I’ve been known to take my laptop with me to some strange places just to make sure I could hear her show or read articles from her Art of Eloquence blog and website.

After a mutual friend introduced us, I joined a yahoo group that was hers at the time-- Homeschooling With Humor. During this time, I participated in some contests. This gave me the opportunity to view samples of her books such as: Say What You Mean for Kids, FIMMology101-The Study of the Humorous Sins of Our Mouth and samples from her online articles. Later, after I became a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I read another one of her ebooks, Play What You Mean, the Playbook as recommended by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine (a publication with which I contract to write product reviews on my Leaders in Learning Blog). In addition, I read articles by her that were published in TOS magazine.

Over time, I came to believe that JoJo is the #1 Communication Guru for business, Christian apologetics, homeschooling, education, public speaking, career advancement and many more avenues of daily communication. Her products are highly educational and a great bargain. She is very generous. In fact, she has given away many things during the years of her ministry. Additionally, her materials are very affordable. Right now, she has a contest going on that offers readers a chance to win a bundle of products worth $350, including a number of her own courses.

I recently received an opportunity to review her newest online AOE University course called, Say What You Mean, The Language of Leadership. This is a 51 page ebook (that I printed) with 18 lessons on the topic of Leadership. Each lesson begins with a Bible verse and ends with a homework assignment and a link to one of JoJo’s online articles.

Topics covered are: the definition of leadership--what it is and is not, the importance of communication skills for leaders, how to present yourself for success, a leader’s body language, using leadership words, how to deal with a confidence deficiency, direct sales leadership, accuracy, influencing others, leading your children, “How to Unbossy Yourself” and so much more!

The course contains resources for leaders in business but also many tips for youth leaders, church workers, homeschool leaders and aspiring leaders of all kinds. You will find other leadership gurus out there but JoJo’s books come from the communication aspect, which is very important if you understand its relevance to success in any area of life.

I appreciate the factor that her courses reference moral truths. Every page contains leadership skills that are necessary detailing how a lack of them can cause the downfall of both the leader and his or her followers. Relatable Bible characters or instruction from the Bible are used to demonstrate this, as well as historical figures and fictional characters.

Interwoven with that are wise advice and helpful hints for communication in leadership. I especially recommend the clickable links to her Communication Assessment Quiz and What’s Your Communication Personality? My favorite chapters in the ebook are “Chapter 7, Them’s Powerful Leadership Words” and “Chapter 11, How to Communicate Confidently Even When You’re Not.”

In addition, there is an accompanying audio course that links to the Art of Eloquence Online University. When you take the online course, you will receive a secret link to the weekly audio podcast that complements the ebook lessons. You don’t have to have the ebook to take the online course but they do work nicely together. New broadcasts open every Monday with a use-on-demand availability. This means you can take this course during the day or when your children are sleeping-whatever fits your schedule.

JoJo’s friendly and entertaining approach is unlike any other online course I’ve ever taken !

Using humor and an authoritative but approachable style, she shares tips and expounds on leadership.

Both the online and written course are excellent resources for learning communication skills needed in leadership. I recommend them to people who think they don’t have leadership skills or are afraid to use the skills they already possess and I feel these courses could be even more important for people who think they have mastered the topic but feel like they getting nowhere with their business or other endeavor.

After taking this course, you will have learned many tricks to boost your confidence and expertise in leadership. You will have learned to how to be a leader that people want to follow.

The ebook costs $24.95 for individuals and families. Even better, sign up for the online course and receive both the ebook and the audio classes to take better advantage of learning about Leadership. There is NO shipping and handling charge since your course is delivered via the web and email.

You may also join the online university to have unlimited access to this and other online courses. What a bargain to join her university at $29.95! Then you pay one flat fee per class title and you can attend for as long as you desire to take classes. The cost covers everyone in your household and more classes are being added ALL the time.

Contrary to popular opinion, communication is not only a skill used to give a speech. It is vital to every type of daily interaction whether it be in business or your daily life. Writers, this is also important to you. Writing is not only about writing. It's about communication and even after you have written your famous manuscript, you will continue to need communication skills to promote your work. Great leaders are great communicators...So learn how to communicate better through this and any of JoJo's courses.

To view samples and read all her awesome articles, visit this link:
http://artofeloquence.com/index.php

Don't forget to buy a copy of Language of Leadership for your teen, family member, friend or anyone else who wants to learn leadership skills.

While you’re there, feel free to load your cart with some great items and then read how you can enter to win a prize bundle worth $350.00. You only have until the end of the year to enter, so hurry on over to Art of Eloquence now!

This is not a TOS review, but the eproducts of Art of Eloquence are endorsed by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and many of JoJo's customers and in my book, AOE receives a Two Thumbs up rating.

To learn more about what AOE offers, visit: http://www.artofeloquence.com/

To hear her weekly podcasts, click on the TalkShoe link in the sidebar of my blogs. Thank you for reading my review of JoJo's Language of Leadership Course.