Joplin Journal Volume 9-1, Issue 2

From the Editor's Desk:

Good morning! It's a wintery morning here. There is a dusting of snow on the ground and the sun can't decide if it should shine or hide. I am sitting here at my desk trying to decide just what I should put on my "to-do" list for today. If I put too much I won't get it all done. But if I don't put enough I won't know what to do later. I do need to finish getting the lesson I'll be teaching tomorrow in Children's Church ready. But that won't take too long. I just turned on the classical radio station. Perhaps it will motivate me.

Weather Report:

We've had sunshine, and clouds. We've had lots of wind, and yesterday it snowed and snowed. But it was above freezing so it didn't stick much. I wonder how many inches we'd have if it had been cold enough to stick. Most of the days this week have been 40s-50s.

"Genius Burns":

I have been writing almost every day. I reached the end of a longer short story and need to get that to my editor. And earlier this week I sent the Christmas Collection story to my synopsis writer. Now I'm debating about working on "Lawrence & Lenexa" and working on another shorter story.

Project Prognosis:

I'm working on different projects. Things like blog posts, writing, and reading. I've also been working on plans for this year's Widows' Luncheon and getting ready for the next year of ministry.

Advertisement:

What would a publication be without some sort of advertisement? But don't worry, this isn't a paid one. ;) I just wanted to share about a new book that's coming out. An author friend of mine, Sarah Holman, is getting ready to release her newest story titled Fanny's Hope Chest. This is a story about an older young lady who is still single. You can pre-order your copy today.

KDWC:

The first mini camp of the King's Daughters' Writing Camp starts on Monday! Well, we open the gates and start registration. Camp itself doesn't start until Wednesday. It will be fun to be "back at camp" and get to chat with the other girls again. And hopefully get a lot of writing done.

Babysitting:

We were going to have the kids last Friday, but Kinsley wasn't feeling well. And this week she's still kind of grumpy because she's teething. Poor baby. Hopefully next week the kids can all come over again.

Read Another Page Publishing:

Still trying to decide which of my many stories I should work on. Once I get the cover designed for the 2021 Christmas Collection book, I might let you all have a sneak preview of it. Would you like that?

Reading Challenge:

Every year for the past 4 years, I've created a reading challenge on my Read Another Page blog. I mean it makes sense, doesn't it? For something titled Read Another Page, you kind of expect it to promote reading another page. ;) This year the reading challenge is focused on reading books from your TBR (To Be Read) list. Some of us have HUGE lists, others have smaller lists. So far there are 15 of us, but we'd love to have more. You can read more about it on the page here, and on the blog post here. Oh, and not only do the participants get books read, they can earn points for a free book or audio book from me.

Book Nook:

I have been reading. And I have read some stories that I've really enjoyed. Out of the 10 that I've read so far this year, my top favorites have been, Emma and the Reasons, For This, The Uncle Outlaw, and Retreat to Glory. (You can read my reviews by clicking on the book titles.) I have a whole long list of other books to read. (Just realized that if I rearranged those titles I could have an interesting sentence.)

Farewell:

Well, the sun is coming out and the clouds are starting to break up. I expect the snow to be disappearing soon. I wonder if Dad will start a fire again. Earlier this week he climbed up on the roof and was able to get the big branches off it. Now there's a stack of sticks and branches to burn. I'm sure Sarah's going to sew, Mom has other things to do, and me? Well, I always have things to work on. I hope you all have a good weekend!