Ramblings of a Fevered Brain

My talking thermometer can't decide if my temperature is 101 or 99.3. Can a person's body temp be different from one ear to the other? I have an older thermometer that you put under your tongue, but the batteries haven't been changed in it in like forever, so I'm leery of it, as well. Note to self: Don't buy a cheap thermometer from that particular company again. :) Do to the fact that my feel bad is hurting, this post might not be the nicest or cheeriest, but I have a few things on my mind and wanted to jot them down. Recently, I received an email from that wonderful new part of our lives called face book. It said that a particular person just accepted my friend request. I don't remember asking this person to be my friend, but since we used to go to school together, I left it alone. Now, keep in mind this person past away several months ago. I just figured the person's family kept the face book page up for folks to post memorials to them. No harm in that. Well, here's my gripe. First of all, this person, as far as I know, never claimed to be a Christian. They may have been. I don't know, but I do know this person spent quite a lot of time in a particular bar. Does God say in His word that it is a sin to go to a bar? No, but the Bible does say to abstain from the very appearance of evil. Anyway, whoever is posting on this person's wall, talks as if they are this person talking from heaven. They say things like, "Hello my families and friends. I made the sun to shine because I want you to know I love you." This person, bless their heart, can't spell very well, and needs to learn more about punctuation and correct grammar. Now, i know me saying that is kind of like the pot calling the kettle black; I'm not the best when it comes to punctuation, but it irritates me how bad this person's posts are. Regardless if you believe Christians who die go straight to heaven or not, that person, if they are in heaven, has no control over the sunshine. And, if there are no tears in heaven, why would they be able to look down and see all the suffering going on down here? Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and this is a free country; you can say what you want. You can even think what you want, and you can even type what you want. So, I did. I mentioned in my last post that I had been doing a lot of crocheting. Well, I finished another Mother's Day gift. It's a bit misshapen, but the recipient, I hope, won't mind. :) I also finished 2 more tiny garments, which are also crooked. lol I have one more gift I hope to complete by Sunday. As for baking, haven't done any of that this week. Didn't make brownies last week, after all, but the cookies, I believe where a hit. :) Are you looking for a new author to check out? Look up Rachel Hauck. I bought a book by her from http://www.audible.com/ the other day. It's called "The Wedding Dress", and I really enjoyed it. A heroine with a gift that had nothing to do with a man, a longing for love and romance and a deep faith in God. A hero whom I liked from the get-go, even though he needed to learn a few things along the way. I couldn't hardly put the book down, and it even made me dream about my own wedding dress, which i haven't seen in twelve years. lol Go look it up. You'll be glad you did. A glass of sweet tea, 2 cups of coffee, a couple of Aspirin and a chocolate doughnut. Yep, I think I'm gonna make it...ok, make that 2 doughnuts. lol Actually, on a more serious note, all sugar and caffeine will do for a person is hype them up and then a few hours later leave 'em high and dry and feeling worse than before. A dose of God's word, now, that will last for quite a while. And, a dose of the Word has no calories. :) "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;" 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 KJV A song puts it this way: "When I think of the love that you've given When I think of the price you paid for me, The trials on earth seem like nothing, When compared to dark calvary." Y'all have an awesome Thursday, and remember, you ain't gotta be perfect, but you'd better be forgiven. :)

Writing, Parties and FaceBook

Since my blog post about writer's block,
http://oldtimechristian.blogspot.com/2011/10/and-diagnosis-is-writers-block.html
I've actually started writing on that story. I still do not have a clear picture of what it will be, but that's all right. In fact, writing in bits and pieces was how "Wild Heart" and it's sequel "To Tame A Heart" came in to being. i like to describe it as a puzzle. Scenes, or rather parts of scenes come to me. I write them down, then over time I fill in the connecting paragraphs until…voila! A book! Ok, so I shouldn't say it's a book at that point; it's actually a first draft. lol But, you get what I'ms saying. Right? :)

A friend told me once that when she wrote her first book, she would sometimes write 60 pages at a time. Ok, y'all, I'd love to say that, but it's just not so. I did write around 2000 words last night, though. One night, while writing "To Tame A Heart", I stayed up until 5 in the morning, just writing, so maybe I got 60 pages out of that, but I don't think so. When I say I'm writing, that doesn't always mean I'm sitting still, typing away on the Mac Book. Sometimes, it means I'm editing something I wrote at an earlier date. Sometimes, it means I am reading what I wrote and trying to figure out where it came from. lol

Ok, I've talked enough about writing. On to another subject.

Took my girls to a Halloween/costume/fall party the other night. They had a blast. There were games, a contest, treat bags and pizza. Ahem, I'm still trying to figure out which was their favorite, the treat bags or the games. lol When asked if I had a good time at the party, i hesitated before saying, "My girls had fun, and that's all that matters."

Parties like that one have not been "fun" for me in a long time, I hate to admit. I feel rather awkward, if you want the truth. I don't know anyone well enough to have a conversation, and if i did, I wouldn't be able to hear them over the noise of the kids. And, lemme tell y'all, that place was noisy. :) In fact, lots of noise like that, added to the fact I can't see, makes me, for all intents and purposes, blind and deaf. Sometimes, I wish I could clone myself. Except, my other self would be able to see; that way, the sighted Shannon could go to parties and the blind one could find something else to do. But, back to the girls, they had fun, and honestly, I'll do it again just to make them happy.

My church is having a Gospel sing tomorrow night. If you live close enough…and if you live far away…you are welcome. :) I wanted to create an event on FaceBook yesterday, so folks would know about it and so everyone would know they were invited. Well, lemme tell ya, it took me over an hour to create that event. I'm not sure I even did it right, but a couple of folks have already RSVPed, so I guess I didn't do so bad. :) I tried to not invite certain of my friends, mostly so I wouldn't hurt any feelings, but I couldn't find a button for that. I tried to invite everyone on my friend list, but then the page reloaded on me, and every box I checked became unchecked again. Deed, FaceBook can be annoying. Anyway, I think that from now on, I'm going to just post an announcement for an event in my status. It would be much simpler and might keep me from sighing so much. :)

So, what nuggets of wisdom have I gleaned from writing, costume parties and FaceBook? Life's too short to get hung up on the little things. If I trust in the Lord, the book will happen. If I'm there for my girls, they will remember it when they are grown. And, the fad of FB will fade one day. Ha!

Y'all enjoy your weekend, and be sure to come back and visit me on Monday. I'm considering a few giveaways, now that the holidays are fast approaching. If you are interested in winning a free copy of one of my books, comment on this post. If I get at least 10 comments, I'll do the giveaways. If not, I won't.

Items available for the giveaway, are as follows:
Wild Heart in paperback autographed by moi
To Tame A Heart in paperback autographed by moi
Wild Heart in audio
and
To Tame A Heart in audio

The audio books are read by W. B. Ward, and you can find him on the web at
www.wbward.com

To read more about my books, go to
www.wildheartbook.com

To learn more about the group singing at my church tomorrow night, go to
www.hoyfamily.net

Happy Friday!

A Message From Yours Truly and Some Links You Might Want To Check Out

Wow! It's Thursday already. On Monday, I promised myself I would blog three times a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but as you can see for yourselves, Wednesday came and went and no entry from me. My excuse? I guess writing on a new book, homeschooling my three-year-old and six-year-old, and household chores just got the best of me. :) But, I am blogging this morning. Can't chat long; school starts soon, and I still have to print out coloring sheets to go with our Bible lesson, print out tracing worksheets for my youngest to work on while the eldest does her math, yatta yatta yatta. And, yeah, I know, I should have been prepared before I went to bed last night, but after our supper of WV hot dogs, all I seemed to have time for was a cup of half caff coffee, straightening up a mess and putting the girlies to bed. Oh, yeah, and I had to make time for the man of the place. Did y'all like that phrase, "the man of the place"? I stole it from Laura Ingalls Wilder, actually. In one of the books written about the girl from "Little House on the Prairie", there are some articles she wrote for local publications. In them, she refers to her husband as "the man of the place". I kind of like it, but then again, I'm strange. :)

So, since I have a full day ahead of me and still haven't had anything sweet to eat, let me share with y'all a few links.

Do you like stories about mail order brides? I'm actually working on one now, and in my search for info on the net, I came across this

http://bustlesandspurs.blogspot.com/2011/08/matchmakingcom-in-old-west.html

One of the blogs I follow is that of Literary Agent Rachelle Gardner of WordServe Literary. In one of her posts, she mentions an online readers' club called, "She Reads." It's a division of Proverbs 31 Ministries. They discuss twelve books a year, so if you like to read any type of Christian Fiction and want to connect with other like-minded women, go check it out at

http://www.shereads.org/

If you are a writer and want to follow Rachelle's blog, here's the link.

http://www.rachellegardner.com

Another blog I follow is

http://www.mybooktherapy.com

If you are a writer of Christian Fiction, go check it out. If you love Susan May Warren's books, go check it out. :)

As always, if you love me, my books, and everything you can think of about me, ;) you are more than welcome to check out my website

http://www.wildheartbook.com

Do you Tweet? Come follow me at

http://www.twitter.com/authorshannon

Do you FaceBook? Come be my friend at

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1826550903

What person or persons inspire you on your journey?

Until next time, keep on keepin' on. Let's help each other make it home. Remember that song?

"It'll be worth it after all, child. It'll be worth it after all. After all of these trials, we'll hear Jesus call. It'll be worth it after all, child. It'll be worth it after all. After all of this climbing, it'll be worth it after all." The Spensers