Home sweet home

We've arrived in Selma after leaving Gettysburg, attending ACFW conference in Nashville and visiting with my family in north Alabama.

The conference was amazing. And full of God's blessings. I pitched a mystery series on day one, and the editor wants the first manuscript by Dec 1!!! I was so excited, I think I floated through the rest of the conference, although God continued to pour out His blessings.

I met with another editor about a romance novel I had submitted to him in June. He had not yet read the proposal, but after a quick pitch was interested, and said he would seek it out upon returning home. He also took my "one-sheets" (pitches) for my other romance novels. It was GREAT!

But God continued!

On Saturday, I met with a beautiful woman whom I had met online several months ago. We hit it off immediately and after talking a bit, we decided to become critique partners. I'm really excited - and she knows my deadline!! I pray I can give her as much encouragement as she's already given me.

Now that we've arrived in Selma, and set up my computer, I will be writing 3-5,000 words per day. I told my sil if it took til noon, yippee!!! If it took til midnight - oh well! This is the realization of a dream I've had since childhood, so I will work diligently.

I would appreciate your prayers. I'll post occasionally to give you updates.

Those were the highlights of the conference, but the meat of the conference were the classes and the friendships. Meeting as many writers as I did, who share the same love for God as I do was really astounding and at times emotionally overwhelming. Brandilyn Collins said it all the very first night - "there's not a 'normal' in the bunch." So true, so true.

God is awesome!

On the road again

Our time here in Gettysburg has come to an end, earlier than expected. Due to rising gas prices, camping reservations are being cancelled by the dozens and there is not enough work to keep us here. Thankfully, our new job in FL wants us to come sometime in October rather than November.

I'm excited about being on the road again. Being in one place for what we thought was going to be seven months is too long for our lifestyle. Gettysburg is a great location though, so we've been able to visit many places during our time here.

We are headed to the writer's conference. God opened doors completely for me to be able to attend. I pray I will be diligent with my time and my contacts and that my tongue will work properly when I speak. I get tongue-twisted when I get excited and forget what I'm supposed to say.

Thanks to wireless, I'll be able to stay in touch by email while on the road.

I'll update when we've landed somewhere for awhile.

See ya!

Praise God!

The Blog Relief effort ends in just a few hours and has raised over $1 Million for victims of Hurricane Katrina! Praise God!!!

Over 1700 different blogs took part, with donations going to 274 different charities. What a tremendous effort!

If you'd like to see the numbers for yourself, check out The Truth Laid Bear website.

There you will find links to the participating blogs, the dollar amounts raised, the charities represented. I've watched the figures climb by the hour and thanked God for every penny.

There's still time to participate if you haven't already. If you have, THANK YOU.

May God pour His healing hand over this land and all our hearts and minds.

Katrina Aid

The devastation of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath is overwhelming. Lives have been lost, uprooted, traumatized and changed forever.

Today has been designated as Hurricane Katrina: Blog for Relief Day. All bloggers are encouraged to name their favorite charities and give. David and I are sending out a donation today and we ask that you join us. There are numerous worthwhile charities so pray about it and then choose one or more to send a donation.

Our choice is the North American Mission Board.

For a listing of other charities visit Blogonational. Please just give.

Technorati's tag hurricane katrina

UPDATE: The Blogathon will continue through Monday. To follow the progress, go to Truth Laid Bear - it's awesome to watch what's being done!

I just read a disturbing article that this disaster is bringing out the worst in us, instead of the best, as was evident after 9/11. Please pray that God's Peace will prevail over the chaos, and that order will be in place shortly. We heard talk of our lives changing after 9/11 - and they did. With this disaster, and the events in the following days, our lives (as an entire nation) will change once again.

We need to pray like never before.