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Restructuring the Ruins
You didn’t see it coming. Life crept up behind you and hijacked your homeschool plans. You have no choice… the curriculum, the routine, the hard-won easy flow of the day… SPLAT! It’s gone and you have to start from scratch. After you’ve prayed what do you do next? First, comfort your children. Even if the change is the very thing your kids have been routing for all semester, the pressure that comes with the rubble is not. Don’t convince yourself you’re the only one affected. Your children feel the stress and if it’s not handled gently they can fling it back at you. It doesn’t matter whether or not the…
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Author Sarah Hualde
Come join me as I interview Indie Author Sarah Hualde. What is the first book that made you cry? Bride to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. I wept until I couldn’t breath. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Both! Mostly, I’m energized by writing. Unless it’s deadline time. Then it exhausts me. Don’t even get me started about what editing does to me! Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find? Of course. That’s one of the perks. I get to expose inside jokes without calling out my comrades. Do you need music or noise to write? Or do you prefer silence? I need noise…
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Late Night Coffee on Facebook
There are days I’m too exhausted to process one more written word. As a writer and book lover, I’m troubled by my own lack of brain space. I long to lounge on the couch and travel via the pages of a new book. I also am in desperate need of help and instruction, from time to time. But perusing another blog post or scouring Pinterest for just the right encouragement can be deflating. Does this sound familiar? I hear you. So, I’m busting out of my comfort zone and bringing you short videos every week. In addition to my weekly blog posts, it’s my aim to bring you daily Facebook…
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Christmas in Honey Pot
Ever wished, come Christmastime, that you lived in a small town. You know the type you see in Hallmark movies. White snow, sparkling community tree, town hall Christmas pageant, all the major seasonal dressings. Maybe you can’t live in a Norman Rockwell painting or even next door to Linus and Charlie Brown. But you can visit a small town at Christmas, without shedding your Snuggie. Welcome to Honey Pot, the small town of mystery. Sure, they have frost and Main Street decorations. They have a pageant complete with wise men and donkeys. But Honey Pot also plays host to small-town drama and big time trauma. From now until the end of…
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Family Game Time
Christmas is coming. That means gifts and for our family that means GAMES!!! We love family game time. During Christmas break, you can find us playing video games, board games, and card games. The kids will often set up a card table and get a game board ready for when Dad gets home. We love love love games. Here’s a few of our favorites: The teenage boy likes: Killer Bunnies, Catan, and Machi Koro. Each game involves strategy mixed with game time whimsy. Each also has an element of dumb luck within its structure. Killer Bunnies: you can collect nearly all the magic carrots and still lose because you didn’t…
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Holiday Game School
Does Christmas break have you worried about brain drain and video game stupor of your homeschool students? How can one homeschool and break at the same time? Let me introduce you to Game-Schooling. Christmas break offers solace for students. This midyear recharge comes at a much needed time. The first semester is wrapped up, for better or worse, and the second is yet to peek around the corner. However, for students in higher grades, the break often is accompanied by homework and projects. With groans and grunts and remembrances of past years and the freedom, December used to offer students and parent/teachers often plug away and ignore the needling necessity of rest.…
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Editing for Indie Writers
So, you wrote a book. It’s beautiful. It’s fabulous. It’s your paper and ink pride and joy. What do you do now? You want the world to see your precious creation. You want to let it out among the mainstream to do good things and inspire greatness. The only problem, it’s a little on the raggedy side. You know you’re content rocks. You’ve been trusting the Lord every step of the way and you’ve followed His guidance with near fearlessness. You want the public to see your literary little one at its best. But a good editor or proofreader can set you back $400-$1500. You’re not doing the work solely…
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Find Your Writer Mojo
Don't feel like writing? Love to write but don't want to make it a burden? Find and create your writer mojo.
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Write Along With Me
Come write-along with me, no bra required. Pijama clad welcomed. Coffee consumption is encouraged. The writers I know, in person and online, tend toward the introverted and private side of the street. I can be loud and boisterous if there’s a purpose to it and it’s necessary but I prefer to be still and quiet at home, among a handful of intimates and laughing at our inside jokes. As such, you can find me, quite often, typing silently at my laptop listening to the happy sounds of my children talking to each other. However, this does little to uplift and motivate me to write during heavy and inspiration dry seasons. At…
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Newbie Author Successes
This post might contain affiliate links. Just thought you’d like to know. The first year of author life is hard. In fact, it can be downright shocking. But don’t be discouraged. Royalties and reviews aren’t the only way to mark your success, as a writer. 1- New Contacts Writing and publishing cannot be accomplished on one’s own. There are cover designers, editors, reviewers, formatters, readers, lovers, haters… the list goes on and on. Behind each job lies a person. I know it’s strange. But a real, live human being is on the other end of your emails and job offers. Even the most introverted of writers must branch out and…