Thoughtful Thursdays

I'm not a worrier. I am, in fact, convinced there's a worry gene, and that my sister got it double strength, leaving me with a lack. And sometimes it definitely feels like a bad thing, this no-worrying. It makes me lax about things I should be on top of. I...

Salvation. Something of the utmost importance to any believer, and of the utmost relevance as Easter nears. Turn on any contemporary Christian show and you'll come across the phrase "to be saved." It's become (dare I say so?) a cliche. Saved. It means you're a...

There I was, innocently putting Rowyn into the car at the library. Minding my own business, moving a bag out of the way so he could climb over to his seat. Doing it that way avoid him entering on the street-side. Then, from out of nowhere, came a voice. My mother's...

This might sound like a strange blog post for someone who's still jigging along one of life's mountaintops, right? And in a way it is. But it's something that's come to mind from various sources this last week, so let's see where it goes . . . Two of my good friends...

I've been reading through the Psalms lately, which is my go-to place in the Bible when I've finished up another book and am not sure where I want to head next. I know they're a go-to for many other people too, and the one I read today hammered home why. David (and the...

As many of you know, about four weeks ago I pressed "send" on a manuscript submission. Exhaling a major sigh of relief, I then focused on my son's birthday. Went to church the next day. Got sick that evening. For the next three weeks, I battled infection and flu and...

In the course of writing my Annapolis story, I read through a lot of Poor Richard's Almanack, filled with fun proverbs by Ben Franklin. I had a secondary character who quoted him constantly, and it was a ton of fun to try to weave in my favorites of his adages through...

So, we're sick. The kids and I came down with a rather nasty cold/flu thing on Saturday p.m., and we're still wiped from it. Xoe has barely budged from the couch for the last five days, and both the wee ones are coughing to beat the band. Naturally, things take a...

I've got a lot to do today to meet my self-appointed deadline and get a manuscript ready to submit to a requesting editor by tomorrow. A task which would have been easy, had my critique partners not all agreed the ending needed work. I knew it needed work--but it...

So, the other day, when my kids were with a grandmother for the first half of it, I achieved some amazing results in the realm of word count. When I'm actively working on a novel, my goal for every day is to write 2,000 words. Now, some days this is like pulling...

There are days when my prayers are all supplication. When I barely remember to thank the Lord for anything before launching into my litany of things I need His help with. Most days, I try to balance it out, to start and end my prayer time with thankfulness, with...

Does anyone like to wait? I don't think I've ever met such a crazy person. I'm not talking about being patient in a long line or restraining yourself from honking your horn in traffic. I'm talking being really, truly joyful as you put down the phone or close out the...

Most of my readers know me well enough to realize I have two small kids. Xoe's 5, Rowyn's 3 next month. One of my greatest frustrations is that it seems that three minutes can't pass without someone screaming, "Mommy!" Followed by some demand, request, complaint, or...

Once upon a time, I was a New Year's Resolution girl, back in the day when I had nothing but time in which to contemplate this stuff, and diaries to write it in. My first real set was when I was 13--I resolved to finish the novel I was working on, and I did. So along...

I've been having a bit of difficulty getting into my latest work-in-progress. Probably because it's been nine months since I wrote the first three chapters, and rather than day-dreaming about this one during those months, I was hard at work on Jewel of Persia. But...

Do you believe in Santa? I still do. Well, I mean, I don't expect a mountain of presents under my tree from a jolly old elf. But I still believe in the idea of Santa Claus, in the ideal of Santa Claus. I still believe in that magical something that surrounds this most...

When Xoe was a year old, her grandfather came in for Christmas (he lives in South Caroline) and brought his new girlfriend--a super-sweet woman who was very excited to meet Bill's granddaughter. They came armed with gifts. Lots of them. The prettiest? A gorgeous...

I've noticed a trend lately. In action shows/movies, whenever bad guys are chasing the good guys through a public location, they always (and I mean always--I've counted at least three of these scenes in stuff I've watched the last two weeks) duck through some shiny,...

Every now and then, I get tired. I get overwhelmed. I get bogged down with particulars, with comparisons, with frustrations. And that's when the beast rears its ugly head. Insecurity. We all know it, right? It's that voice that whispers in the back of our minds,...

Actually, my hubby and I had this brilliant idea years ago, but we only ever remembered it when it was too late to implement for Christmas. Not so this year! Curious yet? Biting your nails in suspense? Only, I suspect, if you're not on any lists or loops with me--if...

So on Saturday, my first baby turns 5. This feels pretty landmark to me. Five means school (yes, we've been doing that for two months already, but it still felt ahead of the game). Five means a more focused attention span. Five means endless coloring and playing with...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

I intended to wax philosophical and thoughtful this morning--not that I knew what I was going to be all brilliant about, but I figured I was due for some profound thoughts. 😉 Then I thought maybe I'd mention my friend Kimberly who's coming up this weekend, perhaps...

I just realized that my one-year anniversary of this blog passed at the end of July without me paying a lick of attention. The nerve! Why, I oughta break up with me for such an oversight . . . ;-)Yesterday I realized I'd crested the 300 post mark and thought, "Wow, my...

I remember thinking, sometime between ages 12 and 14, that I could never write a story that took place before Christ. Or which dealt with people after Christ who never heard his message. "I just couldn't do it," I recall thinking. "I'd be wondering about their...

Yesterday, while the rest of the country's newspapers probably had headlines about Russian spies, oil spills, or presidents, the Cumberland Times-News dedicated its front page to prayer. Oh, it might not have known that's what it was doing. But we did.See, the front...

I'm writing a book right now that's way more spiritually charged, spiritually involved than I imagined it would be. There are a lot of beyond-your-vision battles raging, and that means a lot of Roseanna praying before writing--I so don't want to get this stuff...

I'm sitting on my back porch. The clock just flipped to 7 a.m., and the air's still cool and scented with honeysuckle. I'm in exercise gear, though I have no intention of exercising--but my aunt passed along a too-cute tank with built in shelf, and it seemed a good...

This may be rambling, so we'll have to see where I go with it--at the moment, I'm not quite sure. There are times in life when we know absolutely what we have to do. Times when the Lord speaks so clearly, guides so strongly that we have no doubts. We recognize His...

Giveaway here - Deb Raney's Almost ForeverGiveaway of A Stray Drop of Blood - a special Mother's Day contest at Sunnybank Meandering includes my book and many other awesome prizes. Also, there's a really awesome interview and giveaway to correspond with the ACFW book...

Two giveaways - Jennifer Hudson Taylor's Highland Blessings and Ginny Smith's Third Time's a Charm (last day!!).~*~I love history. Have I mentioned that before? And it's not that I just love learning it for its own sake--I mean, that's cool and fun, but I always have...

Giveaway - Last day to enter for Sarah Sundin's A Distant MelodyGiveaway of Stray Drop - at the fabulous Jennifer Taylor's blog~*~First, a funny story. Over the weekend we went to the big St. John's vs. Naval Academy Croquet Tournament . . . yeah, only Johnnies or...