I received a very interesting, completely out of the blue business proposal last week. I’m very carefully considering it . . . I would be doing what I love, in writing, with a (GASP!) steady income!

It’s kind of scary to contemplate doing something I never thought I might have the opportunity to, but I believe God puts opportunities in our path for a reason!

Yeah–I got a fun phone call tonight.

The lady calling had heard about me from the owner of a Christian book store; she was calling to ask me to speak at a women’s get-together next month! I haven’t been doing a lot of speaking lately, so I was very excited about the invitation.

I look forward to encouraging the ladies who are at the get-together.

Whether you’re a beginning writer, not even to the “beginning” point, or experienced, you can practice writing no matter where you are or what you’re doing.

Several examples:

• In church, critique and edit the bulletin. Look for misspellings, awkward sentences, and so on. Come up with ways to spice up the announcements! (please do not do this DURING church, but when you’re waiting for church to begin, or after church! )
• When you’re at a class or workshop, look for misspellings or awkward sentence structure in the handouts or Power Point presentations.
• Do the same when you’re reading the agenda for a meeting or notes of that meeting.
• Read small-town newspapers. I’m not trying to pick on small-town newspapers–they’re usually so much more interesting than big-town papers. And . . . they usually don’t have professional proofreaders or editors on staff. The un-proofread, un-edited articles that sometimes make it into the paper can be confusing, unclear, unorganized . . . and quite entertaining to the writers and aspiring writers reading them.
• Read editorials and personal columns in newspapers and newsletters. Critique them, also. Many times the point these columns or letters are trying to make is not clear; re-write the letter or column, or write a column or letter expressing YOUR point of view. (This weekend a friend and I were talking about a column that a lady in our area writes for the paper.   As well as sounding very negative, the lady s columns include sentence fragments, unorganized thoughts, and abrupt endings. She said that one year as an english project, her daughter’s class corrected the grammar, etc. in these articles . . . and sent them to the writer!)

This week, practice editing a church bulletin, company newsletter, or poorly-written column or editorial.

Yep, it’s been a while since I’ve posted. Waaaay too long! Thanks to those of you who wrote, wondering where I’ve been!

I’m taking a hard look at my business-where it’s headed, where I’m at, and my goals. I’ve decided to focus this blog exclusively on writing. I’ll be giving tips and hints for the beginning writer. 

I’ve started a blog for moms, titled “Between Cooing and College; Surviving the middle stage of motherhood–the Teenage Years!” You can check it out at http://themiddleseasonofmotherhood.blogspot.com/ 

My goal for the rest of June is to update and improve my website, this blog, my amazon.com website, and so on–June is “Internet Month.” I have a goal of working on these every day (except Sunday) for several hours.

I will still be publishing my newsletter, but with more of a focus on writing. I’ve been praying about all of these decisions; I want God to lead me in the direction in which He wants me to go. My ultimate goal is to help my readers make their dreams come true.

I look forward to your thoughts, comments, and suggestions! 

Several days ago I was invited to speak on August 23rd for a back-to-school brunch for parents, at a library about 50 miles from here! I will be talking about making goals and setting priorities. And I’ll work chocolate in there somewhere!

Speaking is one of my favorite things about my writing career–it’s fun to meet new people, encourage them, and hopefully give them some information that will help them in some way.

Sometimes speaking invitations come in groups–maybe I’ll get some more invitations soon! I hope so!

I attended Midland Lutheran College in Fremont, Nebraska. In 1989 I received my Bachelor’s of Science (BSN) Degree in Nursing. I loved college (with the passage of time I’ve forgotten some of the more . . . difficult . . . moments) and made many friends there, as well as getting a great education.

In 1991 or 1992 I came across a new nursing journal–a humorous magazine called The Journal of Nursing Jocularity. I don’t remember how I came upon the magazine anymore, but I remember laughing while reading the articles and immediately ordering all the back issues.

About that time I was assigned to take over doing the nursing schedule for the nursing home I was then working in. Little did I know the distress that schedule would cause . . . and little did I know my dream of becoming a published writer was about to start! After months of doing the schedule, I was able to see the humor in it as well as the distress, and was inspired to write an article titled Woes of Scheduling.

One of the biggest thrills in my life was receiving the letter stating my article had been accepted for publication! An even bigger thrill was receiving a copy of The Journal of Nursing Jocularity in the mail in early 1992, opening it to page 26, and seeing my article, with my name under the title!

I’m sure you won’t be surprised that I still have that magazine . . . I’ve been browsing through them for the last half hour or so . . . and the articles that were funny then are still funny. (Unfortunately the Journal of Nursing Jocularity is no longer being published.)

About a year later I wrote another article for the Journal of Nursing Jocularity. This one was titled Nursing School vs. Real Life Nursing and pointed out the contrasts between the ideal way of doing things, and the “real life” way of doing things in a hospital–any “real life” nurse will agree!

Several years later (after I was a more experienced nurse and had worked in several different areas of nursing), I wrote a final article for the Journal of Nursing Jocularity. This one was titled Things You Will Never Hear in a Hospital. Some of those things include:

• From the Charge Nurse: “You’ve been working a lot of overtime lately. Go home at noon today – but you’ll get paid for the full shift.” 
• From a doctor: “Please feel free to call me at any time about any of my patients.” “You nurses did a great job with my patient Mrs. Smith. I’d like to treat you all to supper Saturday night, at the steak house. I’ve made sure everyone who worked with Mrs. Smith has the evening off.”  
• From a patient: “The IV is in? I can’t believe it–I didn’t feel a thing!” “Can I make my own bed today? I’ve missed doing that.”

—————

These articles are examples of writing what I knew–and in the case of the scheduling article, something positive coming out of a very difficult time in my brand new career (there were other circumstances besides the schedule that made it so difficult!).

Most professions have journals/magazines or newsletters for people who are a part of that profession. Even if the main purpose of the journals is to provide information, most of the magazines have an area for jokes or funny articles. Look at your career.  What is funny about it? What funny people or situations have you been involved in? Research magazines and newsletters related to your profession, and see if your experience would fit. Maybe it will be the first step in seeing your name in print!

Rule number one of writing is to write what you know, through personal experiences. Of course you can learn about something new, and many things you know and write about will require some additional research. But the basic rule is to write what you know.

Why should you write about something you know about? First of all, something you know is something you’re interested in, perhaps even passionate about. Even if your experience was difficult–your daughter had trouble adjusting to a new school, or you struggled with a serious illness, for example–it’s something you know about from personal experience. Your writing will reflect your passion for and personal experience with whatever you’re writing about.

When you write what you know, your research will be much easier than if you write about something you know nothing about. You’ll have personal connections, or know someone who can connect you with people or information you know. You’ll know of websites, books, and magazines that will give you information and be places to publish your articles or publicize your book. Your book or article will be much easier to outline and put together, and you’ll also have a built in market for what you write.

Writing about what you know about is FUN! When you want to share your experiences to help or entertain other people, it’s fun and easy! Well . . . that’s a stretch . . . it’s not “easy” to write . . . but it’s a lot more fun to go through the process when it’s a topic you enjoy.

OK–enough talking about it! Through the next few blog entries I’m going to give you some examples of the writing I’ve done, about very diverse topics. The entries will give you examples of “write what you know” by showing you how I wrote about what I know about. I hope that by sharing my experiences with you, you’ll think about your own opportunities to write what you know.  

This Friday is Leap Year Day–Feb. 29th.

I think we should make our “bonus” day this year, special! What will you do to make it so? I don’t know what I’m going to do . . . something I enjoy, something to relax . . .

E-mail me with your ideas of enjoying the bonus day.

I seem to have a thing with flat tires. It started when we moved out to the country, which will be three years ago March 10th.

At that time, we thought my “luck” with flats was because my parking spot (in our enclosed garage, which I’m sooooo thankful for during this cold weather!!) is closest to the house, therefore closest to where the carpenters were working with nails as they finished the house, deck, garage, etc.

But for goodness sake, it’s been ALMOST THREE YEARS and I’m STILL getting flat tires!! The most recent streak started Nov. 18th, at the cattle sale. Got down to the ranch that day and someone said it was flat. Got that one fixed, then THREE DAYS LATER blew out a tire on our ill-fated Thanksgiving trip. No, it wasn’t the same tire that had just been fixed!

Right after Christmas I was ready to go to work, and had another flat . . . and just last week had to keep filling a tire that got low. It’s fixed now!

I’m starting to think God is trying to teach me a lesson . . .  I just don’t know what it is!

I wonder if maybe He puts us in situations which we fear, to teach us to depend on Him and decrease our fear.

I have always had a fear of vehicle trouble when I’m on the road . . . but every time I’ve had a flat it’s been where it’s easy to get help–either AAA insurance, Cody (my handy teenager), Tim (my handy husband), or the man at the gas station. I’ve also watched the above people CHANGE a tire enough that I’m quite sure I could do it if I needed to!

Or perhaps the message is that I cannot be in control of every aspect of my life, and God is reminding me of that . . .

Whatever the lesson is, I’m trying to learn, God! Please, make it clear to me!

Had God taught you a lesson through repeated events in your life?

Do you have any ideas about what God might be trying to teach ME through flat tires?

I look forward to your experiences and thoughts!

Thanks to everyone who has left comments on my blog! I love to hear from you and enjoy reading the comments.

Several people have e-mailed me, wondering why their comment doesn’t show up on the blog immediately after they submit it.

Any comments to this blog come to me, via e-mail, and I have to approve them before they appear on the blog. This is so no spam shows up in the comments. Somehow, the spammers can post comments to a blog. I probably get 20 or more “comments” every week that advertise anything from shoes to home mortgages, to, well, you don’t want to know!

Please, keep the comments coming! I love to hear from you. I check my e-mail every day (often several time!   ) and your comment will usually be posted within 24 hours.