When No Means No

It all started with a very innocent thought. White and sugar coated, this thought was of the international cuisine and beverages I could consume by attending the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot this Fall. Only desiring to stay for a few days to stuff myself, be entertained and perhaps write a review for a few magazines, I had intentions of getting a very part time job to fund my Disney habit. Applications were sent to various bookstores, articles were submitted to various magazines, and all was met with resounding silence. Crickets really - nothing.

Last night I sat down and asked God what He was trying to show me. It was obvious from all the "no" responses I had been getting (not just from the part time gigs, but from interviews for full time positions, as well) that He really wanted to teach me something in all this. What He showed me was a repeat of almost two years ago. Giving up what I hold dear (control in this case) so that He can really birth a new work in me. This was also shown in October 2008, when I got a very clear message to quit my job and move to Colorado, which resulted in Jeremy and I getting married. This time, I'm not sure what all He has up His sleeve, but I do know He finally spoke to me after much prayer about the premise of my book-in-progress! So...on to planning, revising, and much outlining of future chapters. Scary, but so exciting!

A Taste of Wonderland

Over at A Taste of Wonderland, things are getting off to a decent start! As an update, my post Have it Your Way - The Disney Way, was accepted into the Disney Blog Carnival that a Disney community of writers hosted. I was excited, and will be submitting another article to them on May 1st. I'll keep you posted if I make it in round two, as well.

Please take a moment to check things out over in Wonderland, and if you have anything to add, please comment! I always love to hear thoughts other than my own.

What's Your Kind of "Page Turner?"

What do you want to read about when you come across a blog, whether you're subscribed to it and check it daily, or you wandered in for the first time because of a catchy title? Personally, I enjoy reading about books, food, and subjects in literature ranging from fairytales to gritty, nonfiction accounts of the real world.

I love hearing someone's perspective on world issues that they are passionate about...to an extent. Yes, I want to hear what PETA's up to, as well as what Youth With a Mission's latest project happens to be. What I don't want to hear is someone stating as fact something they've only heard through the grapevine or from some rumor-mill website they thought was accurate. A perfect example; I do not want to hear that Olive Oil puts toxins in your body if you cook with it. That is a completely false statement, yet I've read this on more than one "health" blog recently. Needing to find out the facts for myself, I found a scientific website that proves that cooking with olive oil at 350 or less is not only harmless, but healthy for you. Healthy people have been doing it for thousands of years!

Enough of my rambling though, what does a reader love in a blog? What makes you, being that reader, come back for more? Inquiring minds long to know.

Order Up!

After countless revisions and an attempt to come up with an introductory sentence that wasn't too big or too small but JUST right, I finally hit send on the email to Travel and Leisure. I then said a big prayer that the email would make it to the best pair of eyes possible without going into someone's trash box immediately. The scariest part of giving your ideas to a total stranger is that there's the liklihood of never getting a response, or worse still having them explain why you actually suck and should flip burgers for a living. At least, those were the nightmares running through my head all night as I tossed and turned.

Today I haven't heard anything. I have to learn to let things roll off my back and keep coming up with ideas that will one day sell. Of course, I sent these emails last night to large publications notorious for taking weeks to respond to anyone, much less someone they haven't worked with before. Waiting with baited breath is too hard when you run out of oxygen and everything begins to get hazy. Time to just breath, relax, and keep writing.

A New Addition to the Family

I love writing, which is perhaps why I blog on a somewhat consistent basis. I also love that occasionally I discover someone that finds me worth reading and will take my ponderings and come back with a comment of their own. It is for this reason that I've decided to create an additional blog - one that centers on something other than myself.

As you know, I freely give my opinion and will continue doing this and giving my "well-thoughts" right here. But when I began to analyze the blogs that I myself follow, it wasn't someone's personal blog unless I knew them personally, also. More often, it was something related to topics I was interested in. This ultimately consisted of food, restaurants, healthy food, not so healthy desserts, and Disney. With that in mind and every finger itching to start a new project, I launched a not so personal blog that will be related to just those things.

Entitled A Taste of Wonderland, I hope to be able to give people a little bit of what I've gathered from other's blogs - information I didn't know before, on topics I want to know MUCH more about. I will be writing the first article this weekend in the hopes of submitting to a Disney Blog Carnival where it will hopefully be featured among other's of similar topics. Wish me Luck! I'll keep you posted.

It's Gonna Be a Good Friday

With the day off tomorrow and the promise of warm breezes and clear skies, I'm preparing myself to spend the day outside writing. Now that I have a clear idea of the story I want to tell (or at least, more clear than it's been in awhile), I'm getting excited to finish the outline so that I have something complete to pitch to my literary agent. God has been revealing a few things to me about what direction to go in and what type of characters to include, but coming up with the details it takes to jot down thousands of words is a massive undertaking. But one that I am ready to begin!

Nothing is more inspiring than an outdoor cafe, watching the many varieties of people come and go, each with stories of their own I'll never get to hear, but can easily imagine. In some people I can almost visibly see the cartoonish conversation bubbles above their head, allowing a glimpse of what's on their mind at the time. In others though, they seem like a blank slate, allowing me to take some creative liberties and insert my own bubble over them. Tomorrow I'll take notes of this kind, and will assume that someone like myself is most likely doing the same to me - although since I pretty much wear my emotions on my sleeve, no matter the outfit, they'll have an idea what's going on in my head. Tomorrow will be full of joy, but also rich with intense concentration.