Hurray!

It's been a good Sunday here. Church was good this morning--the baby slept so I even got to hear most of the message. AND the whole "baby sleeping" part meant that he was much happier for the rest of today than he typically is on Sundays. He really is the most good-natured baby I've ever met (no, really. I'm not being biased.) but if he doesn't get his nap...it's just not good. So those were two good things this morning.

PLUS my husband fixed me breakfast. It was amazingly good and totally sweet of him.

This afternoon we hung out with family and I finished the first draft of the synopsis for the story I'm entering in that contest I told you about the other day.

And now we're leaving for church again. Wow. What a productive, good day so far. Hope you've all had semi-relaxing Sundays! If not, go take a nap. Or have some coffee. =)

Oooo, coffee. Wonder if I can convince hubby to stop for some on the way to or from church? Hm...

Genesis Contest!

All right all of you not-published-yet writers out there--have you looked into the Genesis Contest? Check it out on the American Christian Fiction Writer's website. You enter the first 15 pages of your wip (work in progress) and a one page synopsis and then get amazing feedback from judges and the chance to win!

Seriously. It's an awesome contest, so you can check it out.

On that note, I'll be MIA here for another couple days, I think, while I wrestle with this synopsis. You'd think a summary of a story would be easy, right? Yeah...not so much.

Wish me luck!

Is it Spring Yet?

Don't get me wrong. I love winter. I do. I'm pretty sure it's my favorite season, but then again, I think that about most seasons. My sister and I finally came to the conclusion that maybe it's just the changing of the seasons that we like, and I think she's right. This is a little strange for me, since I'm not always the hugest fan of change, but there you go.

But the thing is, to get back to my point, I love winter because I love snow. And I live in a part of the country at the moment that doesn't get a whole lot of snow, if any. Which mans that at this point in the year winter is just a gray haze keeping me from spring and it's accompanying beach and hiking trips. So I'm pretty much ready. Is it here yet?

I heard that according to our famous groundhog, it won't be long. We'll see how that goes.

In other news, I read the most AMAZING book last weekend. Well, one of the most amazing anyway. Ronie Kendig is a new addition to my top list of favorite writers. Her book Digitalis, which is the one I read last weekend, definitely will hook you and refuse to let you go. Incredible story, character, and writing. I'm planning to tell you even more about why you for sure need to buy this book probably next week sometime. Monday or Tuesday-ish.

So even though it's not spring, I need to do some cleaning. We'll call it late winter cleaning, which is fine since spring cleaning is so cliche anyway, and as I writer, I'm supposed to be learning to avoid cliches, right? We're moving here in a couple weeks (not far, just to another nearby town) and right now I've packed...Uh...Well...I did buy some storage boxes? So that's on my list of goals for the weekend. Pack something. Or throw away some junk that I have no intention of packing/moving. Wish me luck.

How about you? Goals for this weekend? Thoughts on why February is not definitively winter or spring but just an in-between month?

Meet My Friend Louis!

This? This is shameless matchmaking at it's internet-finest. See, there's this blog I discovered today, called Kelly's Korner . And apparently she does this thing where people list information/pictures about their single friends and people can sort of...match up if they want to.

So if you are completely against matchmaking, ignore this post.

Otherwise, here you go...

Louis is an awesome guy I have known for the last 6 years. He's in his mid-twenties and lives in Florida.

He's a guy with really diverse interests--he started life as a city-guy, but has discovered he loves to hike and spend time outdoors too.

Louis has a bachelors degree in Philosophy/Religion, and he's working on his M.Div. He's one of the smartest people I know and my husband and I have had many late-night conversations with him about theology and how Christianity should shape our culture.

Feel free to let me know if you want me to pass on an email address... =)

Book for this Week! Yay!!!

This week I'm strongly suggesting that you check out Jenny B. Jones' Just Between You and Me. There are two main reasons for this:

1. You'll love it.

2. Her new book comes out in February, and I want you to have this one read before you tackle the new one. It's called Save the Date and there's a pretty good chance I'll review that one in a few weeks here...

Okay. Back to THIS week's book.

So far I haven't read anything by Jenny B. Jones that I haven't loved. Just Between You and Me is a little different from the YA books she's so well known for writing, but her fun voice remains the same. I love her sense of humor and the way it finds its way into her novels. Just Between You and Me has the perfect blend of funny, deep, and romantic.

Maggie Montgomery is a very likable heroine. She's one of those adventurous women most of us wish we could be, but she has one paralyzing fear deep inside of her. When she has to leave her high action job to go home and help care for her niece, she has to face this fear head on, along with something almost as scary--the possibility of falling in love.

If you're looking for a book that you'd love the second time around as much as the first, I can pretty much guarantee that this one would be a good choice. It's definitely on my "To Be Read AGAIN list".

Happy Monday!

It's so easy to be perky on a Monday when it's a holiday, don't you think?

I've had a marvelous day so far. I had yummy coffee, accomplished some decision making for the new house we're building, made fun plans for the day, decided to get my hair cut...AND the baby went down for the nap he so desperately needed. So that's good news.

All in all, I had a marvelous weekend too. I'm ready to get back to school and talk about Henry V and some exciting connections to modern day politics. Oh, it's going to be exciting. Think my juniors will think so? Hm...

I'm about to start reading Ronie Kendig's Digitalis, so I'm thinking maybe that will be next week's book. Everyone I know who has read it LOVED it, so I probably will too...

The baby is making noises, so I'm off. Enjoy your day off, if you have one, and if you don't...maybe look into a job change? =)

Notice the Blog Title?

Yes, I think somewhere on that handy main page I have my blog description. "Thoughts about life, books, and the ministry fishbowl." If it's not there, someone let me know, because it should be. No, I'll probably check in a minute. I'm pretty sure it's there, though.

Okay, I mentioned last week that I really want to start forcing my book preferences down your throats...um, I mean, telling you what to read...uh, sharing my thoughts on books I've loved. Yeah. That one.

For the record, according to some new random law, I'm supposed to tell you when I get books for free. How about you just assume that all the books I review on this site were complimentary copies, okay? I'll let you know if they weren't. It'll be simpler that way. I WOULD like to state, just for the record, that I don't say nice things about all the books I get for free. If I don't like it, I keep my mouth shut. I'm allowed. It's a free country. It's also a free enough country that no one makes me say nice things about books I was given.

But, the law's the law, right?

Anyway, this week's book that I'm highly recommending is Double Shot by Erynn Mangum. First, if you haven't read the other two books in the Maya Davis series, you really should do that. Maya is a fun, caffiene addicted twenty-something who's trying to figure out life on her own after college. I'm assuming I'm not the only one who has been there, so if you relate at all, you'd probably like this.

This is the third book in the series and Maya is planning her wedding to her best friend Jack, who she's been dating for sometime now. While they're making happy wedding plans, Maya's bombarded with some pretty tough events---a possible job change for her fiance, which means a BIG move for her, and a really, really, really premature nephew who has to stay in the NICU for quite a while. I love how Erynn Mangum could deal with events like this and while they're definitely a big part of the story, it's so upbeat. Maya's point of view is so honest, straitforward, and fun (I know, I'm overusing the word fun. But I had FUN reading it, give me a break) that it's what sticks with you.

This is a great read in a bubble bath, at the beach, in front of a fireplace and relax kind of book. My only suggestion that could possibly make this book better for you is if you drink it with coffee. I think Erynn would agree with that suggestion.

I should also tell you that even though I'm completely in love with this series and I'm 24 (some website classified that age as MID twenties, can you believe it? It's totally still early twenties. Ask me about how I break up ages like that...) my mom also really enjoyed reading it and she's...um, well...not 24. I'm pretty sure telling your mom's age on a blog is kind of uncouth. But know that this book isn't limited to a certain age group.

Check out the rest of this series at erynnmangum.com and read Erynn's thoughts (she's hilarious!) at erynnm.blogspot.com It's that enjoyable that I'm sending you away from here to go read hers. And she doesn't even know it. Someone tell her how nice I am. ;) No, really, go check it out. If you haven't heard of her before, please, please, please find the nearest bookstore and buy the first book in this series or in the Lauren Holbrook series. Hilarious. =)