I'm Losing....

I've had a busy productive last few days. Today I took Mom out to the Dollartree and Sam's. I've found that she is happier if she gets out every day. She still hasn't gotten ready to go to the Senior Center down the street to play cards, but I have high hopes maybe she will in a week or two. 

I got most of my stocking stuffer type things today at the Dollartree. And I looked around Sam's but just couldn't land on anything there that appealed to me. When we got home I helped Mom get her Christmas cards organized & made a batch of oatmeal cookies. I'll try to post the recipe for the cookies. It was the easiest oatmeal type cookie I've ever made. And the cookies came out just the way I like them...chewy not brittle.

In a little while I need to go back upstairs to play cards with Mom. She is currently beating me by about 100 points. So I need to try harder today...if I don't, it seems I'll be paying for the manicures on Friday -LOL. 

I stayed up late last night writing. I've got a time-line to finish a certain novel by the first of the year so I need to quit dilly dallying around and start typing more. I have a self imposed rule that I must write every day. Some days I don't write a lot and some days I write a whole bunch. Hopefully by keeping my own rule I'll finish this novel in time for the New Year. 

I still don't know if I'll shop it or sell it on-line as a serial. Something about making it into a serial really appeals to me as it harkens back to Dickens' days. And shopping a novel is never fun. So many letters to write, so much opportunity for rejection. God gave me a very wonderful illustration in my life once of how to handle the subjective type of feedback you get from editors. 

One day I had a truly awful session 'shopping' a screenplay with a couple of independent film makers. They really didn't like what I'd written...they even had something negative to say about the way the software program had formatted the screenplay!!!! I felt worse than bad as I drove home, I felt like a total failure. In fact I promised myself I'd never write another thing as long as I lived...then I got to the top of my driveway and reached into the mailbox. Inside was an envelope announcing that a TV special I'd written the screenplay for had won an International Telly for Excellence in Cable broadcasting. 

That day was certainly an emotional roller coaster ride for me. But I learned a very important lesson. It's not over till God says it's over. And as I like to say when somebody doesn't like the same things I do, 'Well...that's why they make chocolate & vanilla." I'm learning to never take professional rejection personally. Life is just waaay too short.      

Hutch has made a beautiful ' book cover' to work as an icon if I decide to go the on-line route. I pray each day before starting to write. My prayer is basically that the Holy Spirit will lead. That the story will glorify God, be enjoyable, & help whoever reads it. But back to that on-line question. I wonder if folks really like to read on-line or if they'd prefer an actual book in their hands.....hmmm....guess that's another thing to pray about.

Anyhoo....that's what happening around here today. Sure hope your day is going just the way you want it to go, chocolate or vanilla.