Blog Birthday Giveaway!

My blog is one year old today and to celebrate I have another giveaway! To win a $20 Amazon e-gift card, answer the question below in the comments and make sure you're following my blog. Giveaway will end at midnight on Tuesday, May 3rd. I'll announce the winner Thursday, May 5th.

If your life was a movie, what genre would it be (action, comedy, drama, family, fantasy & sci-fi, romance, etc.)?

My answer: a humorous drama!

Weekend Equation

Last week's projects + Easter plans + son's birthday fun + annoying head cold = too tired to think.

BUT stayed tuned Thursday for my next giveaway - this one's in honor of my blog's first birthday!

 

Our "B" Projects

1. Our basement is really starting to take form - the sheet rock is done and now they're on to mudding.

2. Our mama bunny had babies again - just in time for the babies to go to new homes for Easter. From about now until the end of summer (every time Fluffy has a new litter), our house is very popular. The neighborhood children love to see and hold the baby bunnies.

3. I've also got birthday party planning for my oldest.

4. And I'm trying to think of accesories to glam-up my little black dress for a formal dinner/event in a few weeks.

5. Finally, my book projects. I'm still querying my WWI book and researching/working on the companion novel.

What projects are you working on lately?

**I was tagged over at Christine Bryant's blog today! Come see why I like historical fiction and what historical past time I've always wanted to attend.

Confessions of a (non) Cook

I do not like cooking, at all. Not one little bit. My husband, on the other hand, is a very good cook and baker, who comes from a family of master cooks and bakers. Out of the two of us, he's more likely to talk about recipes with (my) friends or work in the kitchen until he gets something down to perfection.

However, I do have one secret weapon in my nearly empty (though growing) arsenal of cooking skills, and that's cookies. I can make chocolate chip cookies with oat flour like nobody's business.

When a friend asked me how I made them the way I did, I wasn't sure what to say at first. I'd NEVER been consulted on cooking matters. "I just add more flour," I said a little tentatively. But actually knowing the answer to that question boosted my confidence and so have the requests for said cookies.

So what the heck does this have to do with writing? When all is said and done, after you've read all the writing advice, after you've met the "masters," after you've devoured every book in your genre, the most important thing is to BE YOURSELF.

Maybe you aren't a culinary bread maker (like my husband) or a dessert extraordinaire (like one of my sisters-in-law) or the next J.K. Rowling, but that's okay. You are you and somewhere inside you've got a secret weapon - your unique writing voice - that no one can match because it's yours.

What's the best advice you've heard on being true to your voice? What boosts your confidence in being youself? Do you like to cook? If so, what's your favorite thing to make?

Being Brave

Hey friends - sorry for the silence last week. My second son and I went out of town and my DH left for a business trip the day after we got back. So in essence, life was too hectic to think/blog last week.

I was a drama kid in high school. Probably because as an introvert acting gave me a way to be someone way more outgoing. My senior year I entered our city's scholarship pageant and chose to do a humorous monologue for my talent. I prepared and practiced, but I was still really nervous when my turn came. I was going to have to do this act in front of an auditorium full of people, including the judges. As I took my first position, my heart hammering, I decided to just have fun with it. Because of that choice, I was able to overcome my nerves, have a blast, and make people laugh. I even won third runner up.

This last weekend I felt impressed to make a similar decision - this time with my life. I'm striving to do things with more bravery and enthusiasm. I want to focus more on the doing and less on the nerves. I've done tough, scary things in the past, but it's usually been with lots of fear and worry BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER. Not anymore.

This last week I tackled two things with bravery and enthusiasm: queried some agents and performed a fun lip sync with some other moms (see the video that inspired us here) for a church activity. Because I was prepared and focused on being brave and enthusiastic, I accomplished both tasks without so much of the nerves. And especially in the case of the lip sync, I had an absolute ball doing it.

What have you done lately that's required bravery and enthusiasm? Is bravery something we lose a bit as we get older? How do you live your life bravely and enthusiastically?

I Remember . . .

As part of the workbook on worry I've been doing with my son (read more about it here), he needed to think of several happy memories. The book explained that one way of re-setting our minds and driving out worry is to remember a happy memory. My son recalled things like when he saw a rainbow or when he got a new toy or when we played a game together.

The last couple of days have brought some disappointments and chances for worry, so I tried this little memory trick yesterday. And it works!

I thought back to a day before my DH and I were married. We'd talked about marriage and wedding plans, but I didn't want to go ring shopping until I had my answer about us getting married. The memory I recalled was the day I told him "let's go ring shopping." His face was priceless because he knew I was saying so much more with those words. Remembering this happy memory really did lift my mood and helped the worries retreat.

Have you ever tried this trick? What helps drive worry from your mind? What's one of your happy memories?

*Check out my guest post over at InkSlingers today, a writing group that Bethany Mattingly is a part of and whose blog I really enjoy reading.