by Roseanna White | Oct 7, 2010 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
I’m a by-the-books person. Can you tell that about me from blog posts? I mean, I can’t help it. I just love books so, so much. 😉 Okay, so I imagine it’s more that following rules is ingrained so deeply within me . . . other than a few minor rebellions when the rules went against something even deeper ingrained (like, say, logic), I was the one who listened.
In some strange and perhaps useless way, I approach the publishing industry according to rules too. For instance, once I signed with an agent I left all communication with editors to her, except for at writers conferences, of course. In my mind, this is just the way it was done. This was the way to be professional. And, well, leaving the business end to her meant I only worried about writing. Right?
But given that I didn’t make it to the ACFW conference this year, and given that my agent has a little more to worry with than just me, and given that I still hadn’t heard back on anything sent out upon request after last year’s conference, I gave it some prayer and had the feeling it was time to break this “rule” I had in my mind. I emailed my agent to get her okay (I am such a goody-goody, LOL) and then dropped a few “Hi, remember me? Just checking in” notes to a few different editors.
I must pause to say that God is so stinkin’ cool. No, no one immediately replied with, “What, didn’t you get the contract we sent you??” (ha!), but I did get a couple “Of course I remember you!”s and, when I asked these editors what they might be looking for now and proceeded to pitch pretty much everything I have in my Documents folder, I got requests, between them, for pretty much everything I have in my Documents folder. (Did you all hear me squealing in surprised glee last Thursday evening??) Also got the news that one of my projects in penciled into a publisher’s 2012 schedule.
Does this guarantee a contract with a major publisher? Um, no. But what it does do is remind me that (a) God knows what’s he’s talking about (duh, right?) (b) boost my confidence and (c) establish connections.
So back to work I go. FYI, my blog today was either going to be about this or the dream I had right before waking that involved a very poor rewrite of the Twilight saga, which I then apparently recognized was a poor rewrite, and which was then about how the characters put the story back the way it should go. (I’m such a dork, LOL.) It also involved an alligator under my couch. Don’t ask me why. I really, really don’t know. 😉
by Roseanna White | Sep 30, 2010 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
Is that a random enough title for you? =)
Yesterday as Xoe and I were doing our math lesson, Rowyn came in needing help with something. I asked Xoe to finish the exercise she was working on while I followed Rowyn out to see what he needed. I came back in two minutes later to a cackling almost-5-year-old who had worked ahead into today’s lesson. What, you wonder, lured her so irresistibly? Addition. I laughingly related this to David last night, and his question was, “Did she do it right?” (Keeping in mind we’re still in our first month of kindergarten.)
I was happy to report that she did indeed get them all right. Yes, this is still the addition that comes complete with hash marks to count, but still. She recognized that they were addition problems, saw how to fill them in herself, and correctly added them together. Not bad for a kid not even five!
Talking about it got my honey reminiscing about how he worked ahead in Algebra once when he had a substitute, who just laid out a few basics and said, “Go ahead!” To which I replied, “Mr. Twigg, right? I remember him giving a speech once about how English was good and necessary, but math–math was actually useful.” LOL
Thoughts of good ol’ Mr. Twigg had me thinking about the roles substitutes can play in the life of a school child (something my kids won’t often have the pleasure of, mwa ha ha ha). I remember Mr. Twigg in particular. He was a full time sub, filling in somewhere in the county every day. We all loved him. He made us work, but he always put a different spin on things. Like letting us work ahead, telling us what he really thought about subjects . . . and showing us how to apply it to life in ways our regular teachers didn’t do. Perhaps it was because he was from a different generation, who knows. Whatever the reason, I remember him as well as or better than I remember my regular teachers.
You know one of the best lessons he ever taught me in my 7th grade pre-algebra class? What makes a good handshake, and how a handshake helps make a good impression. No, that has nothing to do with math. But it has to do with life, and no one else ever bothered to teach us something as simple as “Don’t let your hand be a dead fish, but don’t squeeze the life out of the other person. Firm, but not hard. It shows strength and confidence.” He had ever single student come up and shake his hand (would that even be allowed today??? LOL), and he critiqued us.
Maybe the lesson stuck because I could tell from his critiques that it really did show a person’s character. And you can bet that every time I shake someone’s hand, somewhere in the back of my mind I hear, “Don’t let your hand be a dead fish, but don’t squeeze the life out of the other person. Firm, but not hard.”
Do you have any lessons you remember that came not from a regular teacher, but from a sub?
by Roseanna White | Sep 23, 2010 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
You know one thing I love about the Bible? You can’t open it up without finding God’s promises and encouragement. You can’t read about despair without hope chasing on its heels.
As everyone returned from the ACFW conference this week, I was smacked with a few moments of jealousy. I decided not to go this year based on prayer, and I know I made the right decision. We took a family vacation instead, and a glorious week at the beach (with absolutely perfect weather) for the four of us and both sets of parents was less expensive than conference would have been for me. And it was awesome.
But still, when I heard everyone else talking about the wonderful people they got to meet, the connections they made . . . well, I had to put myself in time out. I took my Bible out to the swing and let God give me a talking to. Asked him to remind me that he knew what I needed and was working on getting me there.
I asked him to give me an appropriate Bible passage, and opened up to II Kings 3. This is just after Elisha receives the spirit of Elijah–the kings of Judah, Israel, and Edom are all going to war against Moab, but there isn’t any water for their soldiers. They call on Elisha, asking him to beseech God for water. He replies in 3:18:
“And this is a simple matter in the sight of the Lord; He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand.”
Okay–so not only will God provide what I need, what I ask for, he’ll give me complete victory. Something I know, but a reminder I needed.
This was Tuesday. On Wednesday I turned to Isaiah 27:2-4:
In that day sing to her,
“A vineyard of red wine!
I, the Lord, keep it,
I water it every moment;
Lest any hurt it,
I keep it night and day.
Fury is not in me.
Who would set briers and thorns
Against me in battle?
I would go through them.
I would burn them together. . . .”
This was awesome too. As soon as I read it, that lightbulb went on. I have my dreams, yes–but they’re not mine, they’re the Lord’s. He’s the keeper of that garden of dreams. He sends the water (water again!) that nourishes them, he watches over the tender sprouts to make sure no one tramples them. I might fear the thorns and briers–but he doesn’t. Why should he? Trouble is nothing to God.
I’m just praising the Lord today for his promises. For the way he always reminds me of them when I’m tempted to wallow in my forgetfulness. For always sending the water to nourish my soul.
by Roseanna White | Sep 16, 2010 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
So, there’s an awesome new site debuting in October, and as an official sponsor (well, the Christian Review of Books is), I feel the need to let y’all know about it. Cuz it is cool.
Clash of the Titles (www.ClashoftheTitles.com) is a place “Where authors battle and readers judge.” Here’s the setup. Two published authors submit excerpts from their books in a certain theme (best kiss, smoothest conversion scene, best nature description, etc.). The two selections are published–but the readers don’t know who the authors are. Readers vote based solely on which snippet they think best captures the theme.
Mid-week, the results are tallied and the winners are announced, along with the knowledge of who wrote what. The authors and their books are promoted, and readers get a chance to win a signed book–and meet some new authors they now know they’ll love!
I adore this idea and have already submitted something–though mum’s the word on what or when. 😉
Readers, writers–you have GOT to check this site out! It’s going to be a ton of fun. How often do you get to do a blind taste-test when it comes to books??
Hop on over to get a feel for things, and when it goes live in a month, visit weekly to vote for The Worthiest!
by Roseanna White | Sep 9, 2010 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
I can think of nothing else to talk about yet, so y’all are going to get the story of my last evening.
Okay, so let’s set the stage. Xoe (she’s 4, almost 5 for those of you who don’t know), fell asleep on the couch yesterday afternoon. This inevitably means she has trouble falling asleep at bedtime, but I was hopeful–she kept saying she was tired all evening.
But as expected, she was up at 8:30 or so asking to go to the bathroom (ah, stall tactics). In the bathroom, she spotted a teensy tiny little spider. The kind so small it barely even freaked her out, and she’s the master of over-reacting to any bug. (I say that with all love, LOL.) Then I tucked her back in, thankful Rowyn (who’s 2 1/2) didn’t wake up.
Half an hour later, shrieking. “Spider! Mommy, there’s a spider on my pilloooooooooooowwwwwwww!”
Riiiiiiiight. I’m thinking, “Okay, so she fell asleep, dreamed about the spider, woke up freaked out.” Something I would have done. So I calm her down, hold her for a few in the living room, make a show of checking her pillow and bed, and then tuck her in–for half a second before pulling her out of bed, barely containing a shriek of my own as a HUGE, thick spider (as opposed to our usual granddaddy-long-leg) scurries over the toy box right beside her pillow. (Rather than sleeping on her top bunk bed, she’s been on a mattress on the floor since July. Which I will not go into right now.)
So I hustle Xoe back to the living room, grab a flashlight (Rowyn’s still sleeping in the bedroom, so no overhead lights) and a shoe, and go spider hunting. But the thing must have gone into the toy box. (Can you see me shudder?) I can’t find it and squish it, which means no body to show Xoe.
We move her little bed to the other side of the bedroom, but of course that doesn’t work. A few minutes and she’s freaking out again, insisting she saw one on Rowyn’s dresser now (at her head), and trying to convince me that she’ll be fine if I just let her stay up until I go to bed. Which, at this point, is only a few minutes away anyway. So I let her help me make my coffee and watch me wash my face, then go back in with the flashlight. We check everything, and I leave the light with her so she can Shine it if she thinks she sees something.
A little bit later, I go to bed. Three minutes after settling in . . . wanna take a guess? That’s right, Xoe’s flying up the stairs. Obviously she’s not going to be able to sleep on the floor in there. So first we try the top bunk. No go–she hasn’t mastered the ladder yet, so . . . Our other option is what we try next–pulling her little mattress on the floor into the schoolroom.
Thankfully, that worked. She settled down and went to sleep. At 11:00. Three hours after bedtime. Argh!
After that the night was peaceful (though I was dreaming of bugs–go figure). Unfortunately, when I snuck down at 6 in search of some quiet time before the kids woke up, the kids woke up. So Mommy’s a little grumpy, and while Rowyn (who got a solid 10 hours, miraculously) is his usual chipper self, Xoe’s also grumpy–not surprising. Seven hours of sleep is not enough for a 4-year-old. And grumpy me is thinking, “She’s going to fall asleep again this afternoon and then repeat the whole can’t-sleep-at-night-thing . . .”
Here’s hoping for a smoothing evening tonight though, eh? Sigh.
by Roseanna White | Sep 2, 2010 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
Last weekend, we had dinner down at my grandparents’ farm. It’s nestled in a bend of the Potomac River, a little outcropping of West Virginia completely surrounded by Maryland. Mountains rise up all around their couple-hundred-acres of relative flatland, creating a vista I enjoyed for most of life from the nearby hill, where my parents lived.
On another relative-flat section on top of the hill, there’s a little regional airport. Right across the river there’s Cumberland’s train yard–and a four-land highway. So on this pretty little farm that you might think is isolated, you can hear and see all the signs of civilization. One of my friends once commented, “You can’t walk anywhere but to the nearest tree out here, yet I’m afraid an airplane’s going to hit me in the head.” =)
The kids were all outside playing after dinner–but it was hot, and that didn’t last long. Not for most of them. Rowyn, however, refused to come inside when the girls called it quits. Though a safe area, I didn’t want to leave him out there alone simply because the boy has no fear–who knows what he would chase to who-knows-where. So Mommy sucked up her distaste for extreme heat and went outside.
Rowyn was standing with head craned back. After greeting me, he pointed to the sky. “Airplanes up there,” he informed me.
I grinned. “Yep, there are airplanes up there.”
He kept on looking. “Rowyn go up there too.”
I chuckled. “Oh yeah?”
He nodded and turned his attention to . . . the top of the house? “Rowyn go on roof to see airplanes.”
Visions of two-year-olds scaling the siding in my head, I shook my head. “How are you going to get on the roof, Rowyn?”
Picture an exaggerated toddler shrug. “Don’t know either,” he said. (“Either” is a new word for him, and he uses it lavishly.) “Climb ladder. Where’s ladder, Mommy?”
Mommy, praising her grandparents for hiding all large tools and equipment away in the garages and sheds and barns, looked around and was happy to pronounce, “I don’t see a ladder.”
Rowyn sighed and stomped over to the side of the house. After studying it for a minute–the little wrought-iron bench, the chimney, the plants–he pointed to a high-reaching flowering bush. “Rowyn climb flowers up there.”
I laughed–I couldn’t help it. And I delighted in the imagination, the determination of a toddler. But more, it brought me back to that feeling of no limits. That feeling that the world is yours for the taking, if only you find that magic beanstalk leading you up to the clouds.
Yes, we have limits. We learn, we experience, and we realize that some things are impossible. We just can’t climb a flimsy flower up to the roof–and if we got up there, we still wouldn’t be close to the airplanes. But how often do we use that experience and idea of limits to not even try to reach our dreams? How often do we leave it at “Nope, can’t get up there this way” and not consider that we could take this other path, and arrive at the airport? That we could dig a ladder out, if the roof was our goal?
I think when the Lord called us to have childlike faith, this is what he was talking about. How like my little boy do we look to God? Trying to use our reason, our logic, to get to a goal, when reason and logic won’t get us anywhere close? How often does He shake his head and smile at us, knowing that even if He gave us the ladder we asked for, it wouldn’t get us where we want to go? But if we trust in Him–if we hold fast to the dreams He’s given us–maybe He’ll send a car to take us to the airport we didn’t know was there. Or show us, if we make it to the roof, that that was where we needed to get to all along.
The world has limits . . . and it has history that shows us they can be broken and overcome.
My prayer today is that we all recapture a bit of that two-year-old wonder and find a flower to climb up to our dreams.
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. Having successfully launched two homeschool grads, she now spends her time writing fiction, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years, as well as a fantasy series and contemporary mysteries and romances. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.