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Showing posts from May, 2011

The Death and Rebirth of a Dream

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For years I've dreamed of being the next Toni Morrison. Okay, okay. I said "dreamed". When I would awake from my dreams, I would settle for being a pretty good novelist in my own right. I dreamed of writing the latest breakout novel. I could visualize my novel title on the New York Times Best Seller List. Well that was before my dream died... and resurrected. Here's the story of that resurrection... I boarded the airplane prepared and self-assured. My rolling suitcase contained khakis, a few colorful tops and sensible black patent loafers. I had packed my hair essentials and three-ounce bottles of Japanese Cherry Blossom shower gel and body cream. Most importantly, I was armed with my laptop and five copies of my novel proposal. My confidence at an all-time high, I spent the long flight to California gearing up for a packed week at my first major writer’s conference.             This would be the week I’d be discovered as the breakout novelist of the year. I anti

A Word of Grace for Mother's Day

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"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?" Isaiah 49:15 Well, I haven't blogged in a while for several reasons. First of all, life has accelerated for us recently due to various circumstances of life: raising children, ministry responsibilities, raising children, rushing into our storage closet to escape possible tornadoes, raising children, and again, raising children. Also, I recently attended the Mount Hermon Christian Writer's Conference in the San Jose area of California. To say it was amazing is the understatement of the year. However, I'd liken this conference to Olympic tryouts or the NFL combine. They didn't separate the men from the boys there; they separated serious professional writers from people that use writing as a hobby or a way to express oneself. And quite frankly, the jury ain't out for me yet. Yet as I thought of this upcoming Sunday and this all-consuming season of motherhood