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Sleepy
Sometimes I feel like this too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6wNw4UpeXY
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Come back soon to see my new website design! I can’t wait to share it with you.
I’m excited to be working with a great design team. In the next weeks this site will get a complete overhaul. Check back soon.
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So, You’re Not at the ACFW Conference
So…you’re staying home from ACFW this year? Me too.
For a Christian writer, ACFW is the big event of the year. It’s a place where crazy authors from all over the world meet in one place and feel normal for a few days. A great experience, but one that I can’t afford to attend each year.
The way I see it, we have a choice. We can watch all the updates on Facebook and dip into I-wish-I-were-there self-pity, or we can take the time we have at home and further out writing careers in a different way.
Here’s a few things to prioritize this week:
- Continued commitment to your writing goals. Monday through Saturday I have a minimum word count goal. Right now, because I’m doing more editing than writing, my goal is 600 words. Next month I’ll start a new manuscript and the goal will increase to 2,500. At the end of the day I mark my number on the calendar and total the week on Saturday. Set yourself goals and stick to them.
- Spend time learning. There are so many resources we can access from home. Check your local bookstore, library or writers group for books on writing. Check out some blogs focused on craft. Listen to audio recordings from past conferences. And of course, read a good book in your genre.
- Connect with others. It’s easy for my introverted self to nestle in at home with only my laptop for company. Take some time to reconnect with friends. Go out for coffee and just enjoy a good conversation.
- Take your writing somewhere new. If you work from home, go to a coffee shop, or the library. A change of environment is a great way to spark new creativity.
- Cheer on those who did go. Jealousy and comparing ourselves to others will only serve to zap our energy and passion. Those who are attending ACFW this week are some of our friends, and they’ve worked hard to be there. Let’s get behind them and pray them through the week.
- Start making plans to attend a conference. Next year the ACFW conference will be in Dallas, Texas. The year after that, Nashville. Conferences are expensive and time-consuming, but I’ve never left feeling I’ve wasted my money. Start saving now. Consider applying for the ACFW scholarship. If you can’t manage this national conference, look for a local option. Last year I attended Mount Hermon, and it was one of the best experiences I’ve had.
Do you have any other suggestions? Post them in the comments. I’d love to hear them.
Have a great and productive week,
Christina
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Change: Entering a New Season
It’s a time of change here on the Nelson farm. Not only are the leaves beginning to turn shades of yellow, the fruit ripening, the tomatoes bright red in the garden, but our lives are twisting and contorting into the next phase too.
I’m not that kind of gal who ends August with the longing for pumpkin lattes and winter sweaters. I like summer. All the time…Summer. Spring is good too, but fall, that means change. I’m not a fan.
This is the year we’ve known would arrive, but kind of pushed aside as a someday occurrence. Our oldest child is preparing to move out. He’s taking on the world and forming his own identity and life.
And he’s ready.
I have no doubt that this is a good and positive thing for him. It’s a necessary step in becoming the man God designed him to be. This is the time where he takes responsibility for the choices that will shape his future.
We’re proud…and a bit reluctant.
Reluctant to let go of the little boy we love so dearly. And reluctant to share the young man we’ve come to really enjoy. What a cruel twist. You raise your kids through all the spills and scrape of childhood and the crazy mood swings of adolescence, then they leave right when you see the fruits of all your parenting.
But that’s how it’s designed. And I trust that this too is good. I’m so thankful for all the years we’ve had under the same roof. There will be more family memories to treasure. More trips. More adventures. And of course, there will always be a room waiting if he wants to come home.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-22
