To Do List

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to do list To Do ListAccording to the Oklahoma Women Bloggers, ‘Today is Blah, Blah, Blah Day! We have things we have to do … things we need to do … blah, blah, blah. Well, today, we’re celebrating getting them done!”

Does that mean I need to actually DO the stuff? Or can I just stay here and celebrate?

Things that I have checked OFF my to-do list already:

Things that are still ON my to-do list:

  • Laundry – it’s ALWAYS on the to-do list
  • Sweep & Mop kitchen and bathrooms
  • Dust and vacuum
  • Clean and organize my office
  • Closets (but I can just close the doors so this will probably stay on the list for a while)
  • Write an endorsement for Alycia’s About page. (Such a good idea. I may hit y’all up to do this for me some time.)
  • Reply to comments.
  • Visit blogs.
  • #DoItAllMom Twitter Party
  • Write a sponsor proposal for FitBit
  • Think about writing a book (this one’s for Charlene)
  • Write another (legal) sponsored post
  • Get my nails done

I have a lot to do! See y’all later!

OKWB Celebrations 300x300 To Do List

April 17, 2013

BlissDom Was a Tweet Experience – Part 4 (and final)

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Notes from my BlissDom tweets have been shared in 4 parts. Click the links to find part one, part two, and part three. Thanks!

C.C. Chapman: Living an Amazing Life

CC Chapman 300x300 BlissDom Was a Tweet Experience Part 4 (and final)

“Normal is a really boring way to live your life.”

Rules are like rubber bands. Bend ‘em!

Be a good Friend (with a capital F) not just a friend!

Seagulls just fly into your life, crap on you, and fly away! Ignore the seagulls! Refuse to let them get you down!

Feeding Alka Seltzer to seagulls makes them blow up! ”Boys just know this stuff!”

Don’t let people swoop in and poop on you.

“Are you shaking your tail feathers over there? That was cute!” @cc_chapman ONLY @BlissDom (He also heard my little twitter bird chirping and looked around to see who was tweeting. I turned it WAY down!)

Beer is social. Coffee is quiet chat with a close friend.

Life is too short for bad wine!

“Wine collectors ARE stupid. Life is too short.” DRINK that wine! Live your life NOW!

“Make sure you drink that wine. Take time for those in your life”

Give back to the world around you! =)

“Part of living an amazing life is giving back. Always give back.”

Play in the rain! Jump in the puddles! Have fun!!!!

Are you passionate enough to work your butt off to make your dreams happen?

“I’m a guy! We don’t have guilt!” @cc_chapman This guy is a HOOT!

There has to be humor, intimacy, and (brutal) honesty to make a marriage work!!

Jeff Goins: When Good Writing Isn’t Good Enough

jeff goins 300x300 BlissDom Was a Tweet Experience Part 4 (and final)

Going to have to admit that I was busy being captivated by CC Chapman’s workshop while Jeff was speaking in another room but several great tweets came out of there and I grabbed them! =)

You can be known for being known, without ever contributing anything of value.

Do you want to be famous, or do you want to be successful? They’re not the same thing.

Most communicators think that fame and success are the same thing, and they’re not.

Decide what you want to be remembered for, just one thing. Be specific and choose your legacy.

“I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.”—Flannery O’Connor

I write for an audience of one: I write for me. If nobody else approves, I feel like I’ve honored my craft.

If you are sharing your heart and it resonates and feels deeply personal to you, it’s resonating w/ others too.

“It’s hard to build your craft in front of an audience.”

Find someone (honest) who can tell you (1) I don’t get it; (2) You are saying NOTHING or (3) people are lying to you.

I am afraid to_____. the reality is you don’t have control of the outcome, but you can choose not to be afraid

New to writing??? This might help.

Your readers don’t stay because of your genre. They stay because of your voice.

Inertia: it’s harder to get it going than to maintain the momentum.

And we’re back to where we started. The closing keynote was by Jon Acuff

Jon Acuff 231x300 BlissDom Was a Tweet Experience Part 4 (and final)

Closing keynote by @JonAcuff about to start. I can’t believe how fast #blissdom has flown.

“Honesty is the most powerful resource in blogging. Not talent. There’s a wealth of that.”

It’s no longer about when you were born. It’s about when you’ve decided to live!

HOPE is the currency that this generation cares about!

You cannot skip learning and editing on your way to mastering!

Don’t become an anti-mentor where people look at your life and want to do the opposite

The starting line is the ONLY line you control!

Begin with the end in MIND … not in stone!

READY is a myth! Nobody is ever truly ready!

Learn. Edit. Master. Harvest. Guide. You don’t get to skip steps!

Always start before you’re ready!

You can’t steer your boat from the shore!

You have permission to be HORRIBLE! Begin at horrible and build!

Never compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.

Try a lot of different things during learning!

The question is not what are you best at. WHAT GIVES YOU THE MOST JOY?

Give yourself some GRACE and recognize you are in SEASONS. THIS isn’t FOREVER.

Fear is a liar! Fear only gets loud when you do things that matter!!!!

Enough is a slippery word … the line moves!

“What gives you the most joy? Figure out what you are called to do… Give yourself grace.”

When you refuse to hide your scars, you become a lighthouse for someone else.

Fear is schizophrenic

Refute the voices of fear by speaking truth!

Share your voices with others! Fear hates community!

“Share before you fix: Write your voices down. Refute your voices with truth. Then share your voices with others.”

I need a mirror friend. Someone who loves me enough to reflect truth back to me!

Share your fears with others. Fear fears community. Tries to isolate you and put you on an island.

To punch fear in the face:

  1. Write it down.
  2. Refute it (don’t argue it, refute.)
  3. Share it. Fear hates community.

Regret wants you to give your present to your past so you don’t have a future.

“There are enough jerk blogs on the Internet already, right?”

The secret to success is hard work. Quit looking for short cuts. (This was actually credited to Scott Stratten but it landed in the midst of these tweets and it fits.)

1 Insult + 1,000 Compliments = 1 Insult. Why do we do this? Let the haters go

JOY is contagious! =)

World change always starts with life change.

Want to dominate @instagram? Tilt the camera!

You used to believe you were awesome! We all did!

The UNSTUCK are UNSTOPPABLE!

Never forget what it is to be led/guided! No one likes a person with huge ego who thinks they’re done learning.

And there you have them. My notes from BlissDom. It was an experience that I will never forget and one that I hope to repeat, even better, next year!

April 5, 2013

BlissDom Was a Tweet Experience – Part 2

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twitter BlissDom Was a Tweet Experience Part 2In yesterday’s post I shared with you a few tweets from before BlissDom and then a flurry of them from a 5:00 A.M. session with Jon Acuff, known as #5Club. Today we will visit a few BlissDom Breakout Session tweets. I confess to having missed Scott Stratten’s opening keynote. But … I just started listening to one of his audio books and the guy is AWESOME … and funny! Maybe I’ll share a book review once I finish the book!

Jon Acuff – The 3 Stages of Every Awesome Idea

Jon Acuff 231x300 BlissDom Was a Tweet Experience Part 2

“choreplay” LOL

Every marriage has a how person and a wow person! ~ I think I’m the “wow!”

“Dreaming and Blogging are a great team sport!”

Be the support you wish you had!

We need people in our life who love us enough to tell us the things we don’t want to hear!

Be awesome LATER! #blogging spend time and energy creating ideas

Produce first, be awesome later

“Write down every idea. Be awesome, later!

If you want support for your dream, support somebody elses first. Be the support you wish you had! If you want support for your dream, GIVE support!

Give your friends and family the grace to NOT understand your dreams

Most powerful resource in blogging is honesty!

“Never compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.”

Shelly Kramer: Writing for the Web: What, Why, and How to Kick Butt At It

Shelly Kramer BlissDom Was a Tweet Experience Part 2(I wasn’t IN this session but I picked up a few tweets that inspired me enough to retweet them)

Keywords are bite sized chunks of info that tell search engines what your blog is about.

Link to relevant pages approximately every 120 words in your post.

link out the right way: link early, link phrases not single words, link relevant phrases

In case you aren’t at #Blissdom @ShellyKramer has blog posts with the stuff she’s sharing today.  V3 -vision. voice. value

 

John Morgan: The Ultimate Guide to Personal Branding

johnmorgan BlissDom Was a Tweet Experience Part 2(I wasn’t in this one either.)

Focus on trust before you even think about selling something.

First key to building your brand is being a resource. Not a service provider

Attention doesn’t = trust

“When it comes to branding, visibility gets you in the door, and ability keeps you there.”

The only difference between you and your competition is your brand

Everything you do is branding.

“Your brand is NOT a campaign, it’s a commitment. You have to own it!”

Make a list of things your competition does NOT do…and go out and do those things.

People connect to you because of YOU, not just your topic.

Annie Downs: Write Now: How to Write Wisely

annie downs 300x161 BlissDom Was a Tweet Experience Part 2(or this one)

“Don’t tell everyone everything. You make an impact when you speak honestly about the right thing at the right time.”

You need to blog about what you wish someone else was blogging about

Write it out when you have strong emotions, post it when you’re calm.

Write when you feel. Publish when you don’t.

Do the things your competition isn’t doing. Your competition is missing out. You fill that need.

Don’t fear honesty. Don’t fear transparency. Fear foolishness.

“To begin, begin.” Yup. You’ve got to just throw yourself out there.

Lisa Leonard: Telling Your Story Authentically And Without Apology

lisa leonard BlissDom Was a Tweet Experience Part 2

Authentic stories have conflict + they make you more relatable.

My story is good and bad. Honesty requires sharing both!

Authentic stories have setting, characters, and conflict. We each have a story to tell!

Click on the speakers’ photos to go to their individual websites or blogs. I’ll post some more notes tomorrow.

April 3, 2013

Answered Prayers – Practicing Thankfulness

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When Meredith suggested that I join the A-Z Blogging Challenge this month, I first set the suggestion aside, and then went back and embraced it. I noticed that the organizers were suggesting that the participating bloggers choose a theme for the challenge in addition to the inherent alphabetical theme. I decided it would be fun to try fiction. I was flip-flopping (mentally) between serial fiction (one story, 26 segments) or a serious of fiction short stories. On Sunday I sat down to write my first post and spent about 4 hours trying and tossing ideas. I was about ready to give up! Then I prayed that if God really wanted me to do this thing that He would give me words.

I sat back down … and wrote. The story, Afraid, just poured out onto the screen. And it seems to be taking on a life of its own. But every day I have to pray that God will give me words because I do not have this story planned out. And aside from a general idea of where I would like it to end up … I don’t know where it’s going or how I’m going to get it there. I believe that He will continue to provide but I am sort of wishing that He would let me go ahead and write the whole thing so that I can quit thinking about it constantly! If you would like to pray with, and for me, I would appreciate it!

I am looking into some work from home opportunities and it looks like I need to incorporate and be an employee of my corporation. The corporation will contract my services to companies that use call centers. I am thinking that I will probably put my blogging under the corporation and track any blog related expenses (software, conferences, domains, web-hosting, etc.) there. Certainly if I define myself as an author they would be appropriate. We’ll see how it goes! I just need to be sure to keep really good financial records and pay my taxes on time … right from the beginning. It’s kind of exciting! Even though contracting services will eat up some of my time. I’ve kind of been enjoying this lazy lifestyle of mine!

Today is my first official day of unemployment. I think … Hard to tell since I had about 3 weeks of vacation time tacked on the end of my paid time off. I’m feeling so much better! Obviously the arthritis pain is hanging on and my neck still hurts but those issues are easier to live with when not accompanied by overwhelming stress! Aside from the fact that I negatively impacted our finances and health insurance … I have NO regrets about my decision. And I have asked the Lord if (perhaps in my mental/emotional state over the last year) there was truth in the accusations against me. In some cases there was *truth* in the naked facts but it was always taken out of context and twisted … creating untruth! Nothing to repent or ask forgiveness for … or if there was … I already did. I’m good!

Peace … within and without … is such a GOOD thing!

The Lord is continuing to call me to be still. To listen closely. To hear His voice and follow His leading. Today He even told me to turn off the TV (background noise)! icon smile Answered Prayers Practicing Thankfulness

Do you remember … back when you were young … and you would head out to play, to a friend’s house, on a date, whatever, and your dad would always call the same message out to you? Don’t all dads do that? I suppose moms do too. With Josiah I always tell him that he’s a good kid and I love him. I don’t recall what I said to the other kids. I had a friend whose father always told her to remember whose daughter she was. My dad always called to me to be a blessing.

Be a blessing … to myself, to others, even to the Lord.

Stillness of soul is increasingly rare in this world addicted to speed and noise. I am pleased with your desire to create a quiet space where you and I can meet. Don’t be discouraged by the difficulty of achieving this goal. I monitor all your efforts and am blessed by each of your attempts to seek My Face.

Jesus Calling ~ April 4

How are you blessing Him today?

~~~~~

The Joy Dare – an exercise in thankfulness

April 1 – 3 Gifts Round

Tomatoes ripe from the garden (no garden here … reaping rewards from others)

My purple daisiespurple daisies 300x300 Answered Prayers Practicing Thankfulness

Hershey Chocolate Drops (I’m also grateful that they’re gone!)

April 2 – 3 Gifts White

A blank blog page … ready for words to be written

The soft white spot under the chins of my cats where they love to be scratched

A sparkling clean sink

April 3 – 3 Gifts Surprisingly Found

Allie’s Story

New blogs to follow

New friends and readers

April 4 – 3 Gifts Found in His Word

He wants me to ask!

James 1:5  

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.

Stay pure … no matter what is going on around you!

1 Peter 2:11-12

Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.

Right now, this VERY moment, I stand holy and blameless, in His presence, without a SINGLE fault!!!!

Colossians 1:21-22

You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

April 4, 2012

I Will Write!

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writingcomp 300x225 I Will Write!The Writer’s Manifesto, by Jeff Goins, is a free little e-book. If you, in any way, define yourself as a writer … go get it.  I heard Jeff speak at BlissDom this past weekend and downloaded his manifesto yesterday. I have read it 4 or 5 times since then. I am not usually one to read, and reread, the same material over and over. Except for the Bible, I’m not sure I’ve ever re-read a book. But there is something in The Writer’s Manifesto that compels me to pause and consider, to meditate, to rethink, and ultimately to respond.

Real writers don’t write for recognition.

They don’t do it for fame,

accolades,

or notoriety.

They do it because they cannot not write.

By their gifts

and under the authority

of a higher calling,

they are compelled to create.

To wonder.

To dream.

To express.

I think that’s the part that really spoke to my heart.  ”By their gifts and under the authority of a higher calling, they are compelled to create.” God, my higher authority, gave me the gifts of imagination and verbal creativity and He wants me to use those gifts for His glory! And I have wished for a different gift … for talents that are more often applauded. Music. Theater. Art. For a heart to enter the mission field whether it is abroad or in the church nursery. To be a leader. To be one of those people who is like a magnet to others. Something. Anything. Anything but my quiet, sensitive soul that is more comfortable writing words than speaking them.

“By their gifts and under the authority of a higher calling, they are compelled to create.”

Father God,

I am sorry. I’m sorry that I have not seen, appreciated, and practiced your gift. I’m sorry that every single time I have heard the words, “you have a gift, you should write,” I shook my head and said, “no, not me.” I’m sorry that when I did, finally, begin to express my voice through blogging, that I did it for my glory … not yours. I wrote for comments. I wrote for numbers. I wrote for statistics. I didn’t write because YOU compelled me. I wrote because pride did.

No more!

I know now. You have given me a gift. I am under Your authority. You are compelling me to write!

And I will write!

(and I will learn to write well!)

March 1, 2012

Writing – The Gifts of Words and Imagination

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4408996 s 300x201 Writing The Gifts of Words and ImaginationI suppose that, even undiagnosed, I always had some level of social anxiety.  I was happier in the back of the closet with a flashlight and a book than I ever was out playing in the neighborhood. I was already reading by the time I got to Kindergarten. No one had TAUGHT me to read. My mother read to me and I picked it up. Books were my best friends and my imagination was my safe place.  But writing? I don’t remember learning to love that. I remember being assigned a book report in 6th grade. The teacher failed me because he thought I had copied the synopsis from the book cover. I hadn’t. Later I would be assigned reports and essays and my teachers told me that I had a gift … a talent … that some day I would write. I guess the rebel in me resisted. I was not a keeper of journals. No pink diaries with locks and keys. No spiral notebooks filled with teenage angst. I wish there were.

The first times I remember writing … for the sheer joy of putting words on  paper and expressing my heart … were little poems. Weird … I really don’t like poetry. (My apologies to the poets among you.) I wrote one cheerful little piece about the snow that my mom later framed with pictures of me playing in the snow as a child. A few years later I wrote a lonely piece about how far I felt from my past. Something about a long lonely road. I don’t think I wrote poetry after that.

As a young adult I was busy. No time to write and it wasn’t something I thought about. I wrote letters to family and friends but that was the extent of my written creativity. My imagination was always busy though and I thought that someday … when I had time … I should write those things down.

23 years ago I was encouraged to write my Christian testimony … my story of grace … and share it with a group. I did (though the sharing came reluctantly) and I was again told that I had a gift for words. Years passed, my testimony evolved, I rewrote and shared it again … always to be told that I needed to write.

A few years ago I was in a rough time and a friend talked me into joining a Celebrate Recovery Step Study. Everyone else wrote quick answers in their note books. I typed out long detailed answers to every question … the whole way through. And my “step-sisters” told me that I had a gift. The final step in Celebrate Recovery is sharing the story of how God used CR to change your life/heart. They recommend a 5 – 7 page testimony. My first draft was about 30 pages. I did manage to cut it to 7 or 8 and stood, shaking, in front of a church full of people and shared my story. And several people told me that I had a gift for words and that I should find a way to use it.

I’m not sure why I have resisted this gift. Why I kept putting it off. Refusing to even attempt to write. Blogging lured me into trying it. I started blogging in a little cave, on Blogger. I blogged for about 3 years with NO followers except my mom. I was writing but I had no idea that maybe there were people who would want to READ what I wrote. And then I found memes and developed  Google Friends addiction. And I was writing for numbers, for comments, for “fame.”

Lately I have felt a nudging in my spirit to embrace the gift of words and to figure out exactly how it is that I am supposed to be using that gift. I need to learn to write for the love of the craft, the love of words, the love of expression. And I need to quit worrying about numbers, statistics and comments. I need to surrender the gift … and let the words flow …

This could get interesting!

March 1, 2012