Joplin Journal Volume 8-9, Issue 2

From the Editor's Desk:

You may notice that this issue of the Joplin Journal looks a bit different. That's because I'm trying something different. ;) Instead of just sending this from my regular email and such, I'm going to try sending it from my SendFox account. It might be easier. It might not. We'll see. You can still reply because it's sending from my email address, I'

m just writing it elsewhere.

Weather Report:

Fall weather is certainly upon us. Most of the days have been in the 70s-80s. A few in the upper 80s, but not many. The nights are in the 60s or 50s. It's been breezy, and lovely. Well, last week we did have haze on Friday and Saturday from the fire in California. (That's just crazy to think about.) And we've had some haze this week, but not as much.

"Genius Burns":

Seeing that I've hardly written this week, I can't really say it has. I wrote a new ending for a shorter story. But last week I wrote the Christmas Play! I started it and it just wasn't coming. Nothing was working or sounding right, and I was ready to toss the whole thing. I brainstormed with Sarah, but nothing came up. Except that I could make some of the cast a different age group that the two options I had first thought of. I asked Mom for any

message for the play, because I thought if I had that, I might be able to come up with something. After some time she gave me a tiny suggestion. That was all I needed. The first idea was scrapped, and this new one blossomed into a story in two days. Then I had to format it. :)

Project Prognosis:

Since I gave you a long list of things I needed to work on last time, let's see how much I've gotten done.

• Regular blog posts (I have October done, November almost finished, and I've finished 10 posts for December. Still need to finish some posts, but a couple can't be done yet.)
• Five Fall Favorites posts (They are done! Except for finishing up two book sale pages and adding a link to a pdf file for Saturday.)
• Amazon reviews (Sometimes I get a lot of things from Amazon Vine and don't get many reviews written for a while, but I'm trying to get more reviews done. I've gotten 2 reviews written this morning already, and several others written this week.)
• Putting things away (That's an ongoing project. :P But I did make progress.)
• Cleaning things (I cleaning out a shelf! It was so nice to reorganize some things on there.)
• Preparing for Writing Camp (We are getting there. Almost ready to open the doors.)
• Cover for a short Christmas story (Yep. Actually, I got the cover for that short story done, and decided to design a cover for another short story. This one is a New Year's story.)
• Stories for my Friday blog (I have them picked and ready until the end of November.)
• And more

Audio Studio:

No update here. But I'm sure I'll be proof listening to "A Christmas Smile" soon. Then my producer will just have the three new Christmas Collection books to do. 

Read Another Page Publishing:

Since I am trying to get some different books and stories finished and published, I thought I'd give you a preview of what's coming.

Lake Wood (Book 4 in the Woodbreak series)

What's Wrong with Caleb? is now available on Amazon.

Worst and Best Christmas (a Ria and the Gang story) is releasing December 1. (You can pre-order)

Go Tell It is scheduled to release December 1.

What Tommy Didn't Know is coming out the end of December. (I hope.) (This will be a 4x6 book)

Babysitting:

Last week the kids (except Krista and Kinsley) came over for supper and the evening. It was fun to have them over again.

Last evening all the kids were over! They came around 5:00 and even left Kinsley for a little while. I took all the kids, except Kinsley, on a bike ride before supper. I was going to ride my bike and Grant would have stayed home, but my back tire was flat and when we tried to air it up, we could hear the air coming out from some hole or something. So I walked which meant Grant got to come along.

Kinsley fell asleep on my just before we ate, so I got to hold a sleeping baby while eating. I loved it! We all enjoyed having the kids over. Krista finally got measured again and it two hairs taller than James. ;)

News Alert:

Thursday night I was woken up around 11:30 by someone calling for help, and then I heard sirens. Sarah and I both got up and saw a firetruck heading down toward Freddy's house. We thought he'd had another heart attack. And then I saw the flames. The house beside Freddy's was on fire! We quickly went to the back room where we could see. Wow! There were flames everywhere! We watched for an hour before they had most of the fire out (some stubborn places wouldn't go out). You can see the fire, and read the report for yourself here. The house is just charred studs, partial walls and caved in roof.

Adventures with Wildlife:

I was out working in the yard on Tuesday. I had mowed the yard and trimmed some things on Monday morning, but Mom had forgotten to ask me to trim another plant. So I did that on Tuesday. But, while I was doing it, I suddenly looked up and there was a large grasshopper almost eye-level with me. And he was waving to me! Really. He was holding on with three legs and waving the other one. I don't think I've ever had a grasshopper wave at me before.

Book Nook:

Yep, I've done some reading. Maybe not a whole lot, but some. But it is taking me a long time to get books read. So I'm afraid you'll just have to wait for another time get some good recommendations.

Farewell:

And I'm done. I want to go walk. I'm not sure if it's even 60º yet, but I still want to walk. And then I have a list of things to get done today. So I hope you all have a lovely weekend.