March 22, 2008
March 21, 2008
Finally, something to do with all those books
Thanks to Debbie Ohi at InkyGirl for the lead on these: 
ARGUMENT #2 BY TOM BENDTSEN 
ARGUMENT #6 10,000 books TOM BENDTSEN
March 20, 2008
March 19, 2008
************WRITING CONTEST************
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The Yo-Dawg-Show-Me-What-You-Got Double Decker CHALLENGE is over at Rants & Ramblings, [my!!!!] agent Rachelle Gardner’s blog. This contest is a terrific opportunity for writing fun, and the payoff is having it read by Rachelle! Don’t wait! Click, read the rules, and go for it!
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WORD GAME WEDNESDAY:Rebuses (not “to bus again”)
Rebuses are groups of letters, numbers, pictures, etc. that represent words or phrases. IOU is a kind of rebus, representing the phrase ‘I owe you’. Most people know a puzzle in the form of a rhyme which starts; ‘YY U R,’ which means ‘Too wise you are . . .’Try to solve the following rebuses.
Example: Which two letters, followed by a number, sound like a word for a person of any kind?
Answer: N E 1 (which sounds like ‘anyone’).
READY?
1. Which two letters of the alphabet sound like: (a) jealously, (b) a climbing plant, (c) a literary composition, (d) a number?
2. How many women’s names (first names) can you create out of groups of letters?
3. Which four letters of the alphabet sound as if they mean ‘Are you all right?’?
4. Which sets of three letters of the alphabet, when spoken aloud, sound like words that mean respectively: (a) a flower; (b) a being; (c) an opponent; (d) vigour?
5. If ‘B 9’ means benign, can you think of: (a) a letter and a number which sound like ‘earlier’; (b) two letters and a number which sound like ‘to diverge’; (c) a letter, a number, another letter and another number which sound like ‘to lessen your guilt’?
6. Solve this rhyming puzzle from A New Collection of Enigmas (1810):To nothing add ten, with three-fifths of two score, And let them be join’d by five hundred more; These rightly combin’d, will give you the name Of a city that’s high in the annals of fame.
7. Which parts of the world do these two stand for?C C C C C C C & E E E
8. Which single letter expresses gratitude?
9. Decipher these rebuses: ALL 4 1 & 1 4 ALL D & G B O WAR AND PEA M Y E C B X E W D & E D D THE SAND
10. Devise a rebus to represent the phrase ‘Long time, no see’.
11. Which popular song from 1941 could be symbolized simply by the letter ‘X’?
12. If you find question 9 simple, try to uncover the phrase symbolized by the single letters A, D, S, V, or R.
March 18, 2008
Write over here…
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The Yo-Dawg-Show-Me-What-You-Got Double Decker CHALLENGE is over at Rants & Ramblings, [my!!!!] agent Rachelle Gardner’s blog. This contest is a terrific opportunity for writing fun, and the payoff is having it read by Rachelle! Don’t wait! Click, read the rules, and go for it!
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Oprah hasn’t called yet, but maybe one day. . .
Here is the timeline of the journey to publication:
1. You have an idea.
2. You begin to write a book.
3. After the first two chapters, you are so smitten with your own genius, you pause to jot down the names of actors who will [consider themselves lucky to] portray your characters.
4. After chapter two and a half, you decide it’s time to dust the fireplace, crochet the twelve bedspreads you’ve been buying yarn to complete for the past ten years, and start a scrapbook for each of your children, your yet-to-be-born grandchildren, and the family pet(s).
5. You continue writing [or gazing at the monitor] and decide that repeatedly poking yourself in the eye with a hot stick would be welcome relief from the blinking, pulsating, taunting, annoying cursor.
6. You light fires in August and clean out the fireplace again.
7. You remember you’re writing Christian fiction, so you duct tape your mouth closed.
8. You read about a twelve-year-old who wrote her first novel in six days whose agent just sold international rights, movie rights, and rights that haven’t been invented yet. You look for the stick to poke in her your eye that you’re going to light in the clean fireplace.
9. You consider a feeding tube and a catheter so you won’t have to walk away from your desk.
10. You reach the middle of the book. You wonder if the same people who told Sanjaya his hair was an asset are the people who told you that you could write.
11. You tug on God’s sleeve and ask Him if He wouldn’t mind, pretty please, pretty please with a cherry the size of unsaved nation on top, you promise you’ll be a good girl, clean up the room of your soul, be nice to His people, if He’d just this one time, you promise never to ask again, it’s just an itsy-bitsy favor. . . could He send a host of heavenly angels to descend upon your computer and finish this novel.
12. The angels must be flying stand-by. They don’t appear, but a new flavor of Blue Bell does. You eat a half-gallon for each thigh.
13. You hear about the lady who didn’t leave the bathroom for two years and was stuck to the potty seat. You’re sure they didn’t mention she was balancing a laptop on her knees and was waiting for inspiration.
14. You have to finish the novel because your legs are permanently bent at the knees, and you’ll need the advance to pay the orthopedic doctor.
15. You send off three chapters to an agent. You feel like you sent a photo of your left arm, right foot and the back of your head to Match.Com and asked for a date with Prince Charming.
16. Step #15.
17. Step #15.
18. A dream agent asks for the full manuscript. You pray. You go to the post office. You pray. You hand the postal clerk the package and walk away like you just left your first-born at day care.
19. You pray.
20. Repeat step #19 for a few weeks.
21. The dream agent calls. You pray you’re not dreaming.
22. You scrape yourself off every wall you’ve bounced off of for days because YOU HAVE AN AGENT!!!!!!!!!!
23. You do the happy dance for God and because of God and with God and thank God.
24. Your agent takes over and you are oh, so grateful that she’ll be representing you to publishing houses.
25. You continue to write because you know the light at the end of the tunnel is not the headlamp of an oncoming train.
26. People ask when the book’s coming out. You tell them you don’t have a clue. You smile because you know, one day, you will have a clue. But until then. . . you write, you pray, you write.
March 17, 2008
HAPPY 28TH BIRTHDAY TO ERIN!
This is my beautiful oldest daughter, Erin and her equally beautiful husband, Andrae. Erin was born on St. Patrick’s Day; two weeks before her scheduled due date. She almost didn’t make it into the world due to some last minute scary stuff in delivery. But God placed us in the hands of two competent and caring doctors, and all 8 pounds and 15 ounces of her arrived safely and without a last minute C-section.
I delivered in the primitive days when a baby’s sex was revealed after delivery. My mother,though, had predicted I would be coming home with a sister for Michael, who was almost three years old when Erin was born. Generally a quiet, reserved woman, my mother delighted in Erin’s childhood antics. I think she admired her granddaughter’s spunkiness. When I’d discipline Erin, my mother would tell me, “Don’t break her spirit.” Of course, now that I’m a grammy myself, I understand more than ever what it’s like to look into the eyes of your grandchild and see a glimmer of what you might have become.
In the past ten years, Erin has experienced more than some women experience in a lifetime. She and Andrae married, then their son Bailey was born and died a month later, they divorced, they remarried. Erin became a paralegal, then she decided to earn a college degree. She worked full-time and attended the University of Houston taking night classes.
I am so humbled by the courage, persistence, and generosity of my daughter. Today, I wish I could give her the gifts of believing in herself as much as others believe in her, the eyes to see her own beauty, and the freedom to allow herself to rest in God’s gentle hands.
P.S. See post after this one for a special birthday video!
This one’s for you, Erin. I love you.
Erin: I know this is about a daughter and her father, but it captures my heart…just like you do. Steven Curtis Chapman-Cinderella[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUk5SZ18WhY]
