November 2008 – Page 3 – Write From Karen

All you have to do is answer the questions below either in the comment section, or on your blog. And elaborate! Make these questions show your unique and special personalities. This meme entry will post at 12:01 every Monday morning and will be the first postentry listed on WFK all day Monday. (This is an all-day Monday meme, so please, play all day!)

November 24th Questions:

1. Thanksgiving is this week! Where are you going? Besides eat, what do you do on Thanksgiving? Do you have any family traditions you’d like to share with us? Don’t forget to take pictures! (You’ll be asked to show them next Monday! This will also prove handy for Coffee Chat!)

2. What is your favorite gadget? Why is it your favorite? If money was not an object, what gadget would you buy for yourself?

3. You’ve been chosen to be a contestant on “Survivor” and you leave in 6 weeks. How will you spend the next 6 weeks to prepare for the challenge?

4. How many times a week do you visit the ATM machine? Do you normally carry a lot of cash? How often do you use credit cards? Are you pretty good at paying off your balance every month? How do you control your credit card spending?

Monday Morning Meme Participants

1. Leanne
2. Marianne
3. Sue

4. Judy
5. Jodi
6. Thea @ I\’m a Drama Mama

7. Becki

NaNoWriMo

Quick NaNoWriMo Update

November 24, 2008 Karen

I think I have discovered the secret to making me write:

1. Leave house

When I leave the house, I feel like writing is more like a job. I’m only away from my regular work for three hours but in that three hours, I can, and often do, produce 3,000 words before I completely go blank.

2. Write at the MSU library.

It’s stone quiet there and I can relax and get totally into my story without getting jerked out by distractions. LOVE IT!

I’m telling you folks, 2009 is going to be THE year I start submitting my work places. I’m really fired up to continue this frantic writing pace. I have plans to revise my 2007 NaNoWriMo project in December and try to make something of it and then in January, I’m going to write a series of short stories to submit to two literary magazines that I’ve had my eye on for a while.

Usually, by this time in November, I’m so brain dead from all the writing that I can’t wait to cross the 50,000 finish line. And then when I do, I’m so burned out I don’t want to THINK about writing for a few weeks.

This year has been different. I have just as much creative energy as I did at the beginning of the month and I can’t really pinpoint why. All I know is, something has shifted inside of me and I just feel ready to take my writing to the next step.

It’s an incredible feeling.

A question to other NaNoWriMo’s out there – how are you coming along with your projects? Are you going to make it 50,000 before midnight Sunday?

Monday Stuff

Weekend Top Five – Writing, Listening, Decorating

November 24, 2008 Karen

I just found a new meme, thanks to Deb at Mom of 3 Girls (hi Deb! Haven’t been by in a while – love the digs!).

This meme is hosted by Kristi at The Wheelz are Rolling (hi Kristi! Nice to meet you!) and I’m all over this like sprinkles on chocolate syrup covered ice cream (NOT that I’ve been eating chocolate covered ice cream *ahem*)

The meme is called “Weekend Top 5”. I most likely will not participate every weekend for the simple fact we don’t DO anything on the weekends – we’re normally in a vegetated state of limpness, but this weekend? Was pretty busy.

5. I went to the MSU library and got a ton of writing done. (In fact, I’m heading there again after I post this entry). For those just joining us (welcome!), I’m participating in the NaNoWriMo challenge – which means I have until November 30th to write 50,000 words – I’m currently at 39,000 + words (you can see my progress chart in the sidebar). I haunt the university library because it’s super quiet (no screaming kids which is sort of a REQUIREMENT at public libraries and which irritates me to NO end when I’m trying to write – just saying), and since I have to have it super quiet to write, it works out beautifully.

I actually arrived at the library right at 9:00 a.m., right when they opened, so I’m sort of lucky I didn’t arrive a minute earlier or I would have been the total loser parked on the library steps, on a beautiful Saturday no less, that everyone would have gossiped about on Monday.

(I give myself way too much credit).

And may I just say to my regular readers, I bet you’re SICK TO DEATH hearing about NaNoWriMo, aren’t you. *grin* Hang in there, we’re on the homestretch and I’ll shut up about it shortly.

Of course, I also spent that time writing down deadlines and submission guidelines for the literary magazine Glimmer Train because my goal in January? Is to write a ton of short stories that hopefully will good enough to submit. What can I say? This joint ain’t called WRITE From Karen for no reason. *grin*

4. MK’s Honors Band Concert. This is the second year MK has tried out for, and made, honors band (he plays the alto saxophone, in case you didn’t know that). It’s a city-wide competition that all of the middle school band students (well not all, just the ones who are interested, which this year was a record turn out, from what I’m told) audition for. If they make it, they play together, for the first time, all day, one Saturday, songs they have never played before, and perform for their parents/family. (Wow, that was a lot of commas in one sentence).

It’s an exhausting, long day for the kids but WOW. The end result was truly amazing. They sounded phenomenal! In fact, we ordered a CD – when we get it, I’ll burn it to an MP3 format and let ya’ll hear them. Not bad for a bunch of 13/14 year olds!

It was truly a proud parent moment. 😀

3. I started my exercise routine back up this weekend.

Oy.

I’ve been pretty ~~lazy~~ distracted this month what with the writing challenge and all, (geez, NOT the writing challenge thing again??) and have simply gotten out of the habit of prying my butt out of my computer chair (you should SEE the indentation, it’s quite impressive – think Grand Canyon impressive) so, I walked last night.

Oy.

For those that don’t know, my normal exercise routine is to do Turbo Jam for 20 minutes and then walk for six miles on my treadmill while watching a movie. (It’s really not as impressive as it sounds – the time flies by when your attention is diverted away your “barking” legs). However, I did not do Turbo Jam last night (I don’t have a death wish), I just stuck to the six miles and today?

Oy. I feel like walking jello.

2. Thanksgiving is late this year. (I bet you didn’t know that! See what sort of valuable information you take away with you when you visit me?! You’re welcome *grin*) This makes me cranky because normally, this time of year, I’m putting Christmas decorations up.

So hey, screw it. We decided to become one of those annoying people who put Christmas lights up before Thanksgiving (we’re like the only ones so far on our block – I am a wee bit embarrassed).

(This is actually from last year, but it’s the same set up).

The boys helped the husband put lights up outside while I assembled our fake Christmas tree. (I’m WAY too lazy to water a real tree, but ya’ll knew that, right?)

(The oldest son doing what we all LOVE doing, untangling the Christmas lights)

We had a great time decorating – we hung lights, decorated the tree, listened to Christmas music, drank hot cocoa – I LOVE this time of year.

I plan on posting some pictures of some of our Christmas ornaments along with a few decorations in the coming weeks, stay tuned.

1. All of the Christmas decorations got me in the mood to change my template (hey RSS readers, click over if you get a chance!).

Again, I feel a MITE uncomfortable posting this before Thanksgiving, but considering it’ll only be up for a month, well, we need to get this Christmas party started, right? *grin*

I’ll change the header for New Year’s and then post something a little more semi-permanent after New Year’s Day … if I can ever decide on what I want to do. So many possibilities … so little patience.

I will be out most of the day, working on my NaNoWriMo project. GADS, will I ever stop talking about that stupid project?!

See? I can hear your thoughts. Scary, isn’t it. 🙂

Photos

Weekly Winners – November 16 – 22

November 23, 2008 Karen

Shot with a Canon Rebel XTi

Golden Ornaments

Hanging it on the Tree

Christmas Star

Abundant Life

Teaching: Stand for God

November 23, 2008February 21, 2009 Karen

Every Sunday I provide videos and valuable links to the Truth or Tradition teachings. We’ve been following the Truth or Tradition teachings for many years now and they have truly blessed our family. We have found peace and happiness through our beliefs and we walk confidently for God. My hope, by passing on this information to you, is that what you find here, or on the Truth or Tradition website, will guide you to a better, more blessed and abundant life.

If you would like to read my views on religion and how we got started with the ministry, you can read this.

Let’s get started:

Standing for the Lord year after year might be the most difficult thing that a Christian can do. The annals of history are full of Christians who shone brilliantly for a short while and then faded away. The world is a cruel place, and it often happens that people are hurt to the point that they no longer have any desire to obey God in a meaningful way. That is one reason why the words of Ephesians 6, which focus on standing, are so powerful. In the short section of Scripture below, note that the word “stand” (Greek: histemi) and “withstand,” which comes from the same root word, occurs four times in four verses.

Ephesians 6:10-14a (ESV)
(10) Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
(11) Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
(12) For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
(13) Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
(14a) Stand therefore….

God wants us to stand day after day throughout our lives. Nevertheless, many people stand for the Lord for awhile, then fall away. Why is standing year after year so difficult? There are many reasons, of which we will examine only a few. One reason is that many people do not take the time to build a clear picture of the Hope in their mind. That Hope is anchor of the soul (Heb. 6:19), and a clear understanding of it helps keep us anchored to God in day-to-day life. There is no need to be unclear about what God has in store for you in the future, because there is much about it in Scripture, and it is there because God wants us to know the love He has for us.

Another reason people do not keep standing for God is that they do not mentally prepare themselves for the long and difficult fight with evil. Somehow many of us think that life should be, or will be, easier than it actually is. Life is hard and cruel, and difficulties come from unexpected places.

Looking at how and why people start going to church will give us some insight on why many fall away from God during tough times. Many Christians started going to church when they were children, simply because their parents made them go. Sunday School teachers work hard to make the experience fun and entertaining so the children will like it. Most children do not learn that the Christian life is not about what is fun or what makes us happy, but rather about giving and service. God created us for a purpose, and fruitful Christian living requires making sacrifices for Him. As children grow up and are faced with the distracting “pleasures” of life, church becomes less “fun,” and by college age, a huge number of children who were raised to go to church no longer do. They naturally, but incorrectly, think in terms of what church can do for them, not what they could do for God as a member of a church.

People who give their life to Christ when they are adults often have the same problem the children do. Most of them start going to church with a friend because they like the fellowship, or because they feel a spiritual or psychological need, or they are searching for something in their life and think God may help. In most cases, it seems people start going to church because of what God can do for them. That is natural, and it is fine. God is the Great Healer, and the ministry of Christ to heal the brokenhearted, set captives free, and bring Good News to those in need is a vital part of what happens in church.

However, it is important that Christians be taught why God delivers His people. Christians need to know that they were created for a purpose, saved for a purpose, and healed for a purpose, and that purpose is to serve God. If we understand that service will require a lot from us, we will be much more able to stand in tough times, when we do not get a good feeling from serving God. As the psychiatrist Scott Peck has pointed out, when we realize that life is difficult, it immediately becomes less difficult, because we are mentally prepared for the difficulty.

Please read the rest of the article here.

If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about God’s wonderful message, please visit the Truth or Tradition website. You can also keep track of the ministry through their Facebook page.

Thank you for visiting and God bless.

Life

MK’s 2008 Honors Band Concert

November 22, 2008 Karen

We’re home! The concert was amazing. The 8th graders sounded so professional and I was REALLY impressed with the trumpet section – outstanding!

The kids spent the entire day practicing. They took a short break for lunch, watched a professional jazz band perform and then went back to practicing. Today was the first time they played the songs they performed as well as the first time they played with most of the other band members (there were students from other middle schools there, too).

MK did a superb job. It’s just an honor to make the band. All of the kids truly sounded incredible.

Here are a few pictures. I cropped them out of the bigger picture so they are a bit fuzzy, but you get the idea. (MK is the blonde boy in the blue oxford shirt):

Waiting to play

Playing His Heart Out

Totally Drooping

Giveaway/Contests, Life, NaNoWriMo, Writing Stuff

Music, Writing, Giveaways

November 22, 2008 Karen

It’s a gorgeous day in the Ozarks and I’ve been pretty productive (so I’m happy). I got up early, took a shower and took MK to his Honors’ Band … thingie this morning. He’s scheduled to practice all day and then at 3:00 he’ll put on a concert for friends and family.

We’ll be heading back up there shortly to watch him.

After I dropped him off, I headed to the MSU library to get some writing done. And I cranked out another 3,000 words. (I was the first person to arrive at the library today and it was like a cemetery! I think I saw three people the entire time I was there – until noon. The MSU library is turning out to be my favorite place to write). The words just fell off my fingertips today and I LOVE it when that happens!! I purposefully stopped mid-thought so when I get back to it, I can pick it up where I left off and go from there (a little writing tip, in case you were wondering).

I’m currently on Chapter 11, 118 pages, and 39,018 words into it. In fact, I just printed out my book, here’s a pic:

(I love printing out the pages, it makes me feel like a writer!)

I’m pretty excited about this story. Things are heating up romantically between my protagonists and my antagonists are lurking in the shadows just dying to plunge the knife in their proverbial backs.

I might write tomorrow, I might not. I really want to get the Christmas decorations up this weekend so I might take tomorrow off and resume major wordage on Monday – we’ll see how it goes. All I know at this point is that that method seems to work really well for me. I write every day until I can feel the burn out and then take a few days off, subconsciously stewing over my story so when I sit back down and start writing again, it falls out of my head so quickly I can barely type fast enough to keep up.

Speaking of chapters …

If you have a few moments, please stop by Write Anything and read our current Chapter Seven project entitled: “Lost on Earth”.

It’s a science fiction story that me, and six other writers worked on and chapter two just posted today. I wrote chapter six and that will post on Wednesday. It was an especially tough challenge for me because I’m pretty clueless when it comes to science fiction – I don’t read it very much so writing it was a real challenge for me. But I had a blast doing it and I feel pretty good about my submission. Check back on Wednesday and you can tell me if you agree.

And coming up …

Beginning November 30th, you can start submitting your Coffee Chat links. If you need the prompts and/or the instructions, you can read this page. There’s a $25 Amazon gift certificate at stake to the first place winner AND a $10 Starbucks gift card to the second place winner. HELLO?! Christmas gift money and something to tide you over WHILE you’re Christmas shopping. *grin*

AND

December 1st I will be giving an ornament away to some lucky person. I’m participating in Kailani’s Christmas ornament giveaway and I thought, hey, why not buy two ornaments and give the other one away to a WFK reader?! I bought the ornament at Bass Pro Shops because we’re really into the whole outdoors thing here in the Ozarks and I thought it might be fun for someone to have a little touch of the Ozarks on their tree. I’ll take a picture of it and post it soon. So, December 1st, a unique Ozarks Christmas ornament giveaway – mark your calendars!

Okay, it’s about time for us to leave for MK’s concert. I’ll try and post some pictures later today.

I hope your Saturday is going well!

Month: November 2008

Monday Morning Meme – November 24th