How will I ever get followers...?

AUGUST 29, 0012

How will I ever get followers if I never post anything? That is the question! Again, weeks have gone by and I'm finally getting back to my blog. It isn't that I haven't been busy, but I also haven't felt very capable of having anything profound to say!

My thought have mostly been about getting older and trying to figure out my new life. Now for you young ones out there, you probably don't have a clue what I am talking about. But for anyone over fifty years of age this may sound familiar. As a very committed mother of five children, finding something to do with my life--something as significant as what I had been doing--has been a difficult road. It is also compounded by the realization that I am getting older. My ideas and thoughts don't sound as current and up to date as those of the upcoming generation. I resist Facebook, blogs (yes, it is true!), Pinterest, and all that sort of stuff for  books, magazines, radio, sewing, gardening, etc. It isn't that I want to be totally out of touch! I'm becoming more computer savvy all the time and am glad for the technology that has allowed me to write children's books, see and talk to my far away grandchildren, find the recipe I'm thinking of at a moment's notice, and write to a bunch (or probably very few) unknown people about the thoughts on my mind today!  I think, for me, who is a participator, and feels called to action when I hear a need, I am easily overwhelmed. For that reason I try to reduce the size of my world by limiting my Facebook and blog time, otherwise, the weight of everyone's joys, sorrows, frustrations, abilities to craft, abilities to cook-to be clever in every way weighs me down or makes me feel inadequate. Can anyone identify?

Back to my quest for meaning. Writing children's books, something for the next generation, has filled some of that void for me. To update you a little, my third book, A VERY SPECIAL FAMILY, is out and can be purchased from my website or at the Christian bookstores in Newton and McPherson, Ks.
In fact, I'm traveling to Dallas next week to do a book signing with the family who the story is really about. It will be at the Christian school, Trinity Christian Academy, in Addison where Jon Millet, the father (dog) in the story is the head of the art department. I'm excited about my trip as I'll see my daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter but also see the Millets again. My prayer is they will be honored and blessed by sharing this book with their world.

I've also planted some other "seeds," trying to get the word out about the book. I'll let you know if any of those "sprout." I'm getting good at writing letters, little summaries, and articles to promote my books. My English skills have certainly improved from my younger years. I think I have home-schooling to thank for that! At least someone learned something!

Well, thanks for letting an older woman speak her mind a little bit. Maybe I'll get this "getting older" thing figured out and then I'll write a very insightful book about getting old gracefully, but until then......

Back again!

Okay, I'm back. I have a few readers so I thought I would do them the service of actually posting something. It's been so long I can hardly remember where I left off.
I do know that I've added a book to my others since then: A VERY SPECIAL FAMILY.

You can read about it on my website, but I'll give you a little reason to read it. It is the story of a family of dogs: a male and female and their four puppies. Three of the puppies have "problems" you might say. It is a story of their adventures and touching on the world of the disabled and what that means to those around them. The book, even though it is about dogs, is based on a real family with four children, three of whom are disabled mentally and physically. The book tells about them a little and the website goes into much more detail with how I met them and an interview with the whole family. Hope you check it out. It is beautifully illustrated in watercolor by Melanie Regier, whom I have known since she was in junior high. She was a classmate of my son, Phillip and now works for Dayspring Cards in Arkansas. This is her first book, and if you see it you will know she is a very talented gal. We had so much fun working together on it and hopefully it will be the beginning of other book collaborations.
Book signings begin in Aug., the first being at The Well in McPherson on Aug. 18, ten to twelve in the morning.

I just arrived home from a family reunion in Iowa where we celebrated my mother's ninety-fifth birthday. About one-hundred and twenty people were there for the event and twenty from my immediate family all stayed in a hotel in Pella, Iowa for several days. None of us live there anymore but we all feel very nostalgic about our childhood there. I've considered writing a book about it as it was small town idyllic, like Laura Ingalls Wilder books, but I can't quite capture the emotional warmth she did in my thoughts and who wants a story that is just funny and interesting events? Maybe I'll figure out how to do it someday and will write it then. I believe L I Wilder didn't start writing hers till she was in her 60's so I have a few years to go.

Got some other catching up to do so will sign off. Thanks for being a faithful reader and checking me out again!  ME

December 5, 2011

A Monday morning—a strange time for me to write on my blog. Usually I am full of plans and things I want to accomplish on Mondays, and truly I will soon be in the thick of things, especially since Christmas is only about 3 weeks away! I want to keep in touch, however, with my “faithful readership!”

The Monday before Thanksgiving I came down with a cold. When I get colds they usually last a long time and are pretty “bad” by my standards. My husband, who is with lots of different people everyday seems to avoid almost every kind of illness and almost never has a cold!

My guest list for Thanksgiving was at 18 people although most were family. Everyone was bringing food so I didn’t have to work too hard. The day went well and I didn’t start to feel REALLY lousy until that evening. My cold was in full “stuffing” mode you might say, and I laid pretty low for about the next 5-7 days. TG weekend I had planned to have my son record me reading my Christmas book along with two little songs I’d written and another story. I literally couldn’t talk, let alone record anything. (I still can’t sing much and I so LOVE singing along to my Christmas CD’s!) My son, Eric, was a forensics pro in high school. He also had written a clever little Christmas song a couple years ago and recorded it. I asked him if he would do the recording for me and he agreed. I knew he would do a great job, but I didn’t know it would be that good. It was super, duper!! So on the CD we put the two stories and his little song and it is the best CD ever. (I am his MOTHER so I might be a tiny bit biased!) He did voices for the little birds, and listening to it made me love my story all over again. It also encouraged me to think that this story could be used to touch others also with the simple yet profound message of Christmas. That is certainly my prayer.

Does God use, not so pleasant experiences in our lives for good? He sure does. I just knew this is what God had in mind when Eric did my CD—God orchestrating good in the midst of our fallen world. Rom. 8:28 “All thing work together for good to those who love God and are called to fulfill his purposes…”

If any of you besides my friends read this you can get a CD my contacting me at metippin@hotmail.com

Have a blessed day! 

ME

November 22, 2011

I thought I SHOULD write on my blog even though I am not feeling anything very profound to say. Normally I wouldn’t admit this, but since this is “the blog that almost no one reads” it is okay.

I am in the midst of Thanksgiving preparations at my house with the guest list at around eighteen. This may sound like a large group to some of you, but with in a family with five children this is closer to “normal.” Only two of our five children will be there as the in-laws are beckoning for a little time also. Want to know the menu? It is very traditional:

turkey (smoked by one of my husband’s employees—simply delicious!

ham

mashed potatoes

sweet potatoes (hold the marshmallows please!)

green bean cassarole

spinach

cranberry salad

relishes

rolls

pie-pumpkin, pecan and whatever else my sister-in-law brings

Everyone contributes so I am not over worked.

I am hoping that sometime this weekend I can do a little recording with my son of my Christmas book and songs. I woke up with a cold so it may have a little nasally (how do you spell that?) sound to it. I’ve heard some recording artists that are pretty bad so guess it will be alright. A good friend’s daughter has a famous blog and she put my books on it. ( The Macs) They had a precious baby daughter die and she is chronicling her journey. They are a wonderful Christian couple and God has since blessed them with two darling little boys. This has produced some orders and I hope Amazon is getting flooded with orders!!!

I’m anxious to start my next book. I need to do a bit more editing. I would like to have it in hand before next summer. It is the third in my birdie trilogy.

Thanks for taking the time to read this! As I think about the season and Thanksgiving to be exact, I am so very thankful to God for the many gifts He has given me because I have chosen to follow Him: family, friends, purpose, joy, strength in sorrow, contentment, creativity, music.

I’ll end with a song quote:

“Count your blessings; name them one by one.

Count your blessings; see what God has done.

Count your blessings; name them one by one.

Count your many blessings; see what God has done!”

November 15, 2011

Are you very curious as to what is happening in my “author world?” I knew you were so I thought I’d fill you in. 

Sat. there was a Christmas craft fair in my little town and I sold my books as well as some “birdie” crafts I had made. If you were to have asked me 10 years ago if I would EVER be a vendor at a craft fair I would have laughed and told you how ridiculous that idea was—“Never, never, never!!!!” would have been my response. And yet there I was with my books and my little homemade crafts and enjoying myself immensely! It was a successful day in terms of book sales. I feel as though I am just getting my wheels turning, so to speak. I have just sent out around 200 postcards to friends and family about my book and I have another couple events before Christmas at my church and also at the local Christian bookstore. I love the manager there. She is so sweet, helpful and just great to work with. She is about the age of my oldest daughter and has young children of her own. When I was in yesterday she asked me if I was going to make an audio CD of my Christmas book like I’d done for TWITTY, FLITTY, AND ITTY BITTY. I told her I was if I could get my son to do the recording. I’m sure he will—evenually! I’m excited about that as I’ve written a couple children’s Christmas songs to include on the CD. My favorite is a lullaby that goes like this:

“Sleep now, Baby Jesus, on your mommy’s knee.

Joseph, too, is watching, kneeling down on bended knee.

Sleep now, Baby Jesus. God smiles on His son.

Soon the day is coming for the work that must be done.

Chorus:

The king yet just a baby. Oh, how can it be?

Sleep a little longer. Dream your dreams so peacefully.

Sleep now, Baby Jesus. We know you came to die,

To bear our sin and sorrow. Heavy load! Now don’t you cry!

Chorus:

The king yet just a baby. Oh, how can it be?

Sleep a little longer. Dream you dreams so peacefully.

Sleep now…..Go to sleep now…….

When my husband and I were practicing this last night, figuring out the chords on the

guitar, he kept getting sleepier and sleepier so I think it is very effective as a lullaby!!!

Hope you get to HEAR it sometime. Sweet, sweet!

November 2, 2011

My, time flies and its been two weeks since I’ve written. I’ve been doing some work on book stuff. I don’t know if I should tell you this but I’m realizing that without some connection, interesting life story, famous name, or something that really stands out, the chances of getting published for the merit of your work is very unlikely. This is a hard reality for me and I keep hoping for my own little “miracle” to happen and someone to say, “Yes!!!! We would love to publish and market your books.”  So I’ve been racking my brain to think of ways to be famous. I can ride on the coat tales of some very famous bloggers in our area—that might work. I could contract a rare tropical disease that turns my toes orange with purple spots. This would create enough curiosity that someone may want to read my stories. I thought about putting advertising on our car so that my stories would get exposure where ever I went…the list is endless!!! 

There has arisen an interesting twist that I will briefly share with you. Long ago, probably twenty-five years ago at least, we had a friend who had an idea for a Christian game. Being the optimist that he is, my husband said he would help our friend get the game produced. Long story-short it was produced after getting swindled out of many thousands of dollars. When I say swindled I mean robbed in the true sense of the word. The reason for this is multifaceted, but the bottomline is we should have produced it in the US rather than overseas. It had some success like appearing in the Penney’s Catalog one Christmas as well as being a promotional gift for Focus on the Family. Even now we will hear something occasionally from someone who owns the game. Recently we have had a person and a company inquire about producing it again. My daughter’s husband who is a bit like his father-in-law suggested that we should look into producing it ourselves since it is in “high demand!” So who knows? Maybe we will be running a book and toy company in the future!!! Actually our friend who thought up the game has a very interesting and rather heartbreaking story: his wife has Huntington’s disease and he has Parkinson’s disease. He is still interested in being involved. He also made up a pre-school game called “Tears and Smiles” so maybe that will also be part of our product line. Does this all sound wild? Maybe it is and maybe not. We don’t know exactly what God has in mind for these creative ideas that are meant to honor Him.  Just keep your eyes open. You never know where Flitty, Twitty, and Itty Bitty will turn up!

October 15, 2011

Okay, I said I would only write about things related to my “authorship.” Well, I’m going to deviate  today because it was something sweet and precious I wanted to remember.

Our 23 year old newly-married son had the flu two nights ago. He was up from about 4:30 on doing what people do when they have the flu. His poor little, sweet wife ran to the store for 7-up, saltine crackers, and chicken noodle soup which is very much the same ingredients we would have purchase if Eric had been sick at home. She had to leave for school the next morning so the very sick young man was left home alone. He called his dad who was off of work and said he just wanted some sympathy. His father, who has a very tender heart, bought a few remedies of his own and rushed over to check on Eric. He stayed and “shoot the breeze” just to help him take his mind off how he felt. 

I was doing other things that morning but my husband suggested I stop by and check on Eric before I started my 15 min. journey home. I didn’t feel like taking the time, but as I processed it in my mind I knew it was the right thing to do and that life is full of doing things you don’t feel like doing. For me that is a huge part of parenting. (A little note about me: I am a  pessimist and a bit self-centered. Still getting over my status as the youngest child in a family of five children and my sin nature. This may take a lifetime! My first reaction to things is often, “No!” till I let it brew a while and then think, “That wouldn’t be so bad.” This is also a lifelong struggle as my husband can attest to who’s first reaction is, “Yes, yes, yes!”)

So I drove to their little apartment and let myself in. Eric was lying on the bed looking pretty miserable. I came over, sat down on the bed, and felt his forehead. It was really hot. I asked him what he needed, got him some water, and just began talking about what was going on with me. He was so appreciative and thankful for my visit. I gave him some medicine which he had been afraid to take before for fear of throwing it up. He was so achy I knew this would help. We talked about how it would take 30 minutes to kick in. To pass the time he asked if I would read to him. He had a George McDonald book on his i pad. He is one of my favorites, and so I read to him from that for about 20 minutes. You must know that reading to my children has been one of my greatest delights as a parent. By the time I had finished he was sleeping. I kissed him good-bye and he told me, “Thanks, so much!” again and I left.

It was all so sweet and I was so glad I went which is often the case with things you don’t feel like doing. “Why was that so special?” I asked myself. Several things came to mind: He was so helpless and couldn’t serve me back. Isn’t that so much like God’s unconditional love for us? Eric was so appreciative. It makes a parent’s heart overflow when children love you, need you, and appreciate you. Isn’t that what our Heavenly Father wants from us? It was a reminder of another time for me: when my sister was sick and dying. Serving her by rubbing her back, getting her a drink, turning her over were not tasks but privileges because they were motivated by my love. These things are all a picture of God and His love for us. It is so beautiful, holy, and pure-a little taste of heaven on earth!

Eric spent the evening with us and was feeling better although not completely, of course. He was again so sweet and it was our delight to serve him. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share these thoughts. Heaven in the small things, you might say!