Promotion in Motion Tuesdays: K Dawn Byrd and Lessons From the Open Road

Lessons from the Open Road

A couple of years ago, the idea of writing a devotional about the lessons I learned while riding a motorcycle came to me. I had no idea what I was getting into and how much writing devotionals would minister to me as an author. I jotted down notes for weeks, hoping to come up with enough lessons to take the reader through a month. Lessons from the Open Road ended with 33 lessons, each followed by Scripture and prayer.

Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes learning new things is hard. Just when I thought I’d mastered the parking lot where I was learning to ride my little Yamaha Virago starter bike, I pulled out, forgot to hit the brake, did an Evel Knievel, and jumped a short concrete wall, landing in some trees. My poor little bike limped home with a hole in the crankcase the size of a quarter. J-B Weld to the rescue!

I’m stubborn, too stubborn to quit. After I recovered from the sore neck that resulted from my stunt, I climbed back on the old iron horse. Eventually, I graduated from the parking lot and hit the streets. When I’d learned to ride well enough to satisfy hubby, he bought himself a new Harley and I inherited his anniversary edition Harley Davidson Sportster. And, when I graduated with my masters degree, you’d never guess what I wanted. Yep, a new bike. I became the proud owner of a Screamin Eagle V-Rod (picture attached.)

All good things must eventually come to an end. I enjoyed my days on the road, but found another passion. Writing. I work a full-time job and since there’s only so much time in the day, I have to choose what’s most important to me. The bike had to go. Occasionally, I miss it, but for the most part, I’d rather be writing. I’m hoping the devotions in Lessons from the Open Road will minister to your heart as much as writing them did to mine.

Lessons from the Open Road is currently available in e-book format and will be coming soon in print. I had planned to list it at no cost, but Amazon wouldn’t allow me to do so. I’ve listed it at the lowest price Amazon allows, 99 cents, and all proceeds will be donated to my church’s building fun for the new church that’s currently under construction.

For more information about Lessons from the Open Road, you can check it out on Amazon .

 

About the Author:

K. Dawn Byrd is an author of inspirational romance, romantic suspense, and non-fiction. She is an avid blogger and gives away several books per week on her blog, most of which are signed by the authors. She’s also the moderator of the popular facebook Christian Fiction Gathering group

When not reading or writing, K. Dawn Byrd enjoys spending time with her husband of 16 years while walking their dogs beside a gorgeous lake near her home and plotting the next story waiting to be told.

 

Links:

Book giveaway blog: www.kdawnbyrd.blogspot.com

Young adult blog: www.zoe-mack.blogspot.com

Website: www.kdawnbyrd.com 

I’m also on Twitter (kdawnbyrd) and facebook (K Dawn Byrd.) I am the moderator of the Christian Fiction Gathering facebook group  If you join this group, you’ll get reminders about the weekly book giveaways.

 

I Will Never Understand…

I will never understand how some people can have 20/20 vision. It’s something I legitimately have to remind myself —that some people can see without glasses or contact lenses. Makes me wonder what the world really looks like past these smudgy extensions of my perception, drooping down the bridge of my nose. When I meet folks who aren’t wearing glasses, I always ask them, “Are you wearing contacts?” expecting them to say yes. On very, very rare occasions, they say no. Even more rarely, they’ll tell me they’ve had laser-eye surgery… and I don’t care what anybody says, that just sounds scary. “Oh, it’s cheaper than replacing glasses and contacts, you just have to where this funny pair of shades for a few days after—” Um, lasers? No. No lasers. Not in my eyes.

Okay, so using glass to see better might be a bad move for some people too, but I’m careful. Except when I shatter glass doors by accident, but that’s a story for another day…

I will never understand how so many people my age and older can spend their lives choosing flings and one-night-stands over serious relationships. See, there’s choosing not to have a serious relationship, as in, not having relationships… at all. I know plenty of people who do that; I have phases like that, trying to keep my priorities straight and all that jazz. But what I don’t get is when people are willing to go on dates with girls and guys, sleep around, set themselves up for emotional trauma but they don’t care to follow through.

The word “love” is tossed around quite carelessly these days, so if you ask me, I believe some people are just terrified of true love. They don’t put in the effort to commit, but they subject their hearts to potential harm all the while. I don’t get it. I can understand the lack of Christlike love in someone’s life, making it a simpler decision to do things that may not be healthy emotionally or spiritually (or physically, really), but the secular media DROWNS us in messages of an attainable “true love” between two people, no God involved. I feel like that’s a naturally desirable thing with or without God, to find Mr. or Miss Right (almost said Mrs. and technically, that wouldn’t go over well on a first date…) and so many people squander that possibility on lust. I don’t get it.

I will never understand how some people don’t get depressed. Lately, I’ve been coming across a handful of people who say they’ve never experienced depression. I can understand some people not having depression as a condition, but those who have just never had it? How does that work? Can some people get sad and then… :gasp: just feel better? Sounds like crazy talk to me. Even those I know who have lived rather harsh lives, the friends we all know whom the world has used as target practice, a select few of mine have told me they’ve never let things get them down. What kind of anti-emotional wall must one build to experience such peace? I find my peace against depression constantly in Christ, but what about those who don’t ever get depressed? What are normal emotions like, conditions aside?

I don’t mean to sound gloomy, these are just a few random things on my mind a lot lately. Been busy with finals week studying and projects, made it hard to come up with a blog topic, or… blopic. Yeah. Bloppick. I think it works out better spelled that way. I need to plan more bloppicks ahead of time. Here’s a picture of me looking a lot happier than I sound, just to lighten the mood. Thanks for reading, cheers and God bless!

In Christ,

Luther D. Powell

Whoa, hey, I took that picture over the summer… and I’m wearing that same shirt riiight nooow. Weird.

Abandoning A Story

‘Tis a dark, depressing and gloomy topic: abandoning a story.

Okay, so it’s not that bad, but don’t you feel like a cruel and horrible person whenever it comes time to say, “This story isn’t working, these characters aren’t interesting, they must go”? It’s a feeling comparable to that of saying goodbye to a friend who lives far away, burying your pet hamster, tearing down the LEGO castle. Life goes on, but it still feels lame for the time, you know? I think I’ve reached that point with a story I’ve had in mind for maybe four years. I’ve only actually written about one page of solid material, and I just don’t see it amounting to much.

Is this common for the rest of you writers out there? What do you do when you feel the need to scrap an idea and focus on something new?

One of best pieces of writing advice I’ve received in the past few years is that every writer needs a mental shelf or drawer to hide ideas away in, when they choose not to put them on paper. A story not working out so well? Put it on the shelf, come back to it another day. I’ve done that with a handful of plots, especially since getting published for the first time, but I do feel like this old story idea might only ever be just that: an old story idea, shelved for eternity.

I’m one to cherish character names and personalities even if I never write them into existence, but there’s just something about having to say, “This was a cool idea once, but not anymore,” that kind of bums me out, leaves me restless on what to write next. It was pointed out recently in my Creative Writing Workshop class that in truth, none of us ever really invent characters or ideas out of nothing. We’re constantly being influenced by what’s around us, taking what we like and holding on to it, using it in stories, creating our own plots and scenarios. That said, is it really possible to completely abandon a story you’ve created in your head using influences from everything else around you?

I’d like to think the same spark, flare, spice, what have you, which stirred these ideas in the first place still lingers in my mind, waiting to find its place in another story. I do hate to call quits on an overall plot, but who knows? Maybe something will spur it back to life later on. On the bright side, part of my lack of interest in continuing this particular story has to do with my being so engrossed in perfecting another story lately, which has indeed been going well. Win some, lose some!

In other news, for those of you who have read my short story, Front Row Seats, featured in OtherSheep Magazine, my day was made a bazillion times better by a surprise visit by the real-life ‘Ted Bokelmann,’ aka Teddy Brown. My freshman year at BGSU, Teddy was my RA, and he and I connected well and became close buds. A uniquely Christlike friend, this man has made a huge impact on my life in the three years I’ve known him, and this is totally me giving a shout-out to him. Teddy, I love you, brother! He recently got married and is off looking for a permanent home with his wife, so I don’t get to see him much anymore. It brightened the atmosphere of my whole apartment complex to have him stop by for a few days, even though I almost didn’t recognize his cleanly-shaven face.

I’m also pleased to say that my mom has shown a friend of hers at work the initial sketch for my current commission piece. Most of my commissions these days come from ladies my mom works with, which is fine by me. I love drawing portraits in general, so if I can earn a few bucks from it, I’ll draw whoever however wherever. Anyway, Mom said the lady told her that she cried when she saw the sketch of her niece, to which I responded, “That’s either really good news or really bad news…”

Thanks for reading, cheers and God bless!

 

In Christ,

Luther D. Powell

The Sunday Review: CD Angel Band, by Andrew Greer

He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed…Joyous Easter to our Friends 

Angel Band: The Hymn Sessions

Andrew Greer

2012

MA’M recordings

CDs – $10, with more at half-price on the artist’s web site

  

Angel Band is a like romp through the music styles of American from simple acoustical guitar and tambourine log cabin days to happy 1890 banjo strumming, through tent revival, big band, horn-heavy pops and ballroom dances, modern gospel choir and organ, drums and rainstick, to wailing or twanging 1960 and 70-era electrical guitars.

Leading with the simple and cleansing title piece, “Angel Band is the second album from Texas native Andrew Greer. He not only gathers some of his favorite hymns, but assembles great names in the music field as companion backups, like the McCray sisters, Cindy Morgan, Sonja Isaacs and Marc Scibilia and Ron Block’s magic banjo. Greer and Julie Lee are currently touring – visit RadarRadio.net for the latest schedule.

Greer launches into “Never Grow Old” with a little more rousing rhythm, a repetitive chorus.  “Down By the Riverside” uses a scratchy 1930-scratchy radio microphone device for the opening phrase before jumping into ragtime with Julie Lee on vocal backup. The simple “The Lord’s Prayer” is gorgeously rendered, once, plain with banjo accompaniment, focusing solely on the voice of Christ. “I Come to the Garden” transported me to Sgt. Pepper’s happy picnic grounds.

Greer often opens the dozen tracks with traditional phrasing before taking off with his own style. Angel Band is a good disc for those who would like to explore some familiar hymns without having to visit Grandma’s church, or for those who don’t mind musical and stylistic liberties taken with their favorites.

Five secrets to get rid of wrinkles.

By Janet Perez Eckles

“You know what my grandmother taught me?” Kimberly said.

I paid attention as she always has wise, profound statements. She’s that kind of friend.

“What was that?” I said.

“My grandmother said, ‘Take good care of your skin. Even cheap make-up looks good on good skin.’”

How logical. So I decided to try my friend’s new state of the art and latest technology to get rid of wrinkles. It’s called “needling.” (No chemicals, shots or other junk, more info at:  http://thevinesolutions.myrandf.com

She gave me one simple treatment. And shock of all shocks the lines on my forehead disappeared.

You’re probably thinking…you’re blind, chica. How do you know? But my mom, who sees well, verified this fact.

So since Kimberly has the amazing way to get of wrinkles, I decided to apply her grandmother’s motto to the wrinkles inside: A good heart, shining with God’s promises can handle all adversities this fallen world brings.

You know what I’m talking about—a line of insecurity, a little wrinkle of worry and another one of fear.

Here’s God’s five-step regimen:

1. Cleanse that layer of sin.
2. Exfoliate dead cells of the enemy’s lies.
3. Needle those areas that are ground in from the past.
4. Moisturize with drinks of His living water.
5. Apply the foundation of His Word to any tough moment.

This regimen gets rid of spiritual wrinkles. The world will see in you a new you who shines with peace.

The life that glows before others and the look that reflects His beauty.

Isaiah 61:3 says to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

Father, I receive your spirit of gladness with a cleansed heart. And I thank you for exchanging the impurities of despair for the crown of beauty. In Jesus’s name, amen.

• What method do you use to get rid of wrinkles?
• Is your heart smooth and free from impurities?
• Is your soul dry, needing moisturizing with His living water?

Janet

End of the Line

As I sit here in the hallway just outside my condo (I locked myself out—my house and car keys are inside so I’m stranded), I can’t help but reflect on how far I’ve come since I first started blogging for Reflections in Hindsight. I began awhile ago upon seeing an admonition from our very own Lisa Lickel via the ACFW Midwest loop for anyone interested in contributing to this blog. I answered her call and offered to contribute, and soon I was posting once every other week.

Not long after that, I began posting every week when the gentleman I was co-posting with had to step back from the blog, so Thursdays became “my day” at Reflections. It worked well for a long time. I could probably go back and tell you exactly how long it’s been, but I haven’t any desire to try to figure out how to do that on my iPad via the WordPress App and risk losing an entire post (it’s happened before) in the process.

I’ve shared on a great many subjects during my time here, some of which still attract readers even though the posts have been live for months. Some of my top posts include my thoughts on witchcraft in YA books (above and beyond the level of Harry Potter, which I think is mostly harmless), a fun post entitled “WWJBD? What Would James Bond Do?“, and my personal favorite, An Obituary for Harold, a squirrel to whom I paid tribute a few days after I ran him over with my car.

All in all, it’s been a great run, but as I said in a previous post about how much I hate blogging, I just don’t have the time, energy, or the drive to continue to write anymore. Part of it stems from the fact that I don’t enjoy reading blogs very much, and I hate the idea that I have to blog in order to be a “successful” author as far as my books go. If I hate blogging, why am I doing it?

I apologize for my negative outlook on this subject. As this is my last post at Reflections, I want to leave on a positive note, something I have done for basically everything I’ve posted. I’m that type of person: the optimist who sees the glass as half full—usually.

So here’s my positive spin on all of this: in not blogging at Reflections, I will have more time to write books, work on Splickety Magazine (which you can buy here), and be a good father to my son (or possibly daughter), who we’re expecting to be born within the next few weeks. Posting at Reflections has been an obligation that I worried about fulfilling every week, and now I won’t have to worry anymore.

Thank you all for reading my posts throughout the last year or so. You’ve walked along with me on this journey, through the good times and the bad, through the well-planned posts and the not so well-planned posts. I am forever indebted to you for your support.

As I sign off for the last time as a regular contributor (that’s right, you may see me again at some point, it’s just that I won’t be the one driving the carriage) I have to make three final requests of you.

1. Please continue to read Reflections authors’ posts. As you well know, I’m not the only one here at this site. Never was. Please continue to support this site, and tell your friends about it. I owe so much to Lisa and the other contributors for what they’ve taught me, so please check them out often, if not every day.

2. Keep reading on Thursdays. My replacement is the very able, intelligent, creative Luther D. Powell, a young man with a bright future ahead of him. You can check him out on our author page soon. He will continue to bring the heat through his posts, a heat that has cooled in my recent posts. Give him more than a fair shot—I think you’ll be impressed.

3. Finally, keep your eyes open. I’ll be around. I’m at conferences, I’m not leaving Splickety Magazine any time soon (just started it—duh), and I’ll eventually have a book or 19 published that you all can and should read, and then buy more copies for your friends and family. When that day comes, I’ll appear on Reflections again, probably for an interview. Until then, support Splickety, and if you see me wandering the halls at some conference you happen to be attending, come up and say hello. I’m okay with faces but horrible with names, so please pardon me if you have to remind me who you are.

With that, thank-you again, and God bless you all.

-Ben

This is me preparing for my undoubtedly bright future.

1000 Pounds

Last week Thursday, I accomplished something amazing. Check out this video: 1000 Pounds

If for some reason you can’t open it up, it’s a video of yours truly and my friend Steve Carter leg pressing 1,000 pounds multiple times. Perhaps this doesn’t sound so amazing to you weight-lifting blog-reading types, but I’m six feet tall, 185lbs, and can’t even bench press my own weight, so this is actually pretty darn incredible.

1000 Pounds

I previously accomplished the feat of leg pressing 900 pounds, which spurred a fun response from some of my writer friends. One in particular has asked me to create a blog post featuring things that weigh 1,000 pounds, or the equivalent of what I can leg press ten times. Here is that list.

• In the American measuring system, 1,000 pounds is a half-ton.
• The internet says that if you were to cut a killer whale into three equal-sized parts, each would be about 1,000 pounds.
• The median weight of a male polar bear is about 1,000 pounds. (Yes, I could probably leg press a polar bear if he cooperated. Maybe if I gave him a Coca-Cola.)
• Speaking of Coca-Cola (or Pepsi, which I prefer), that would equate to about 1,334 standard 12-ounce cans, or a little more than 111 12-packs of cans.
• I mentioned that I weigh 185 pounds. While I can’t even bench press my own weight, I leg pressed more than five times my own weight (5.4 times, actually).
• 1,000 pounds equals $1571.80 in US Dollars, but those are British pounds (their currency) and so it doesn’t really apply to this list.
• Someone in Pennsylvania made a butter sculpture that weighed 1,000 pounds.
• Adult male sea lions in California can weigh up to 1,000 pounds.
• An eight-month-old baby elephant in the Oregon zoo weighed about 1,000 pounds at the date of the article connected to the link I posted.
• Certain types of horses can weigh around 1,000 pounds.
• 120 gallons of water weighs about 1,000 pounds (actually a little less).
• According to this site, a blue whale’s heart weighs about 1,000 pounds.
• 50 reams of 500 8 1/2 by 11″ sheets of paper weigh 1,000 pounds. That’s 25,000 sheets of paper.
• Or, if you want to take the environmental approach, 1,000 pounds of paper is about 12 trees.
• Cows can weigh 1,000 pounds. I suddenly want steak…
• So do some moose, oxen, and bison.
• In smaller terms, we would need between 571 and 1,000 gray squirrels to equal 1,000 pounds, depending on their weight (16-28 ounces).
• This ice cube maker is 1,000 pounds.
• Snowmobiles can weigh 1,000 pounds.
• This guy was executed via a machine described as a “shooting gallery of steel” in Nevada in 1913.
• Someone actually took the time to figure out how much a million dollars weighs. If a million dollars in $1.00 bills weighs 1.1 tons, that means that a half a ton (1,000 pounds) would equal about$445,000 in $1.00 bills. (If my math is wrong, oh well. It’s a LOT of money either way.)
• Apparently Christina Aguilera, 5’2″, weighed 100 pounds in March of last year (or so she claims). That means that I leg pressed ten Christina Aguileras.
• A barrel of honey weighs 100 pounds, so I leg pressed ten of those too.
• Since mama grizzly bear weighs 400-500 pounds and papa grizzly bear weighs 500-600 pounds, it’s conceivable that I could leg press them both at the same time. (Baby grizzly bear can watch. Maybe I’ll give him a Coca-Cola too.)
• Really, really big cougars can reach 200 pounds. I could leg press five of them as long as I wasn’t distracted by them trying to eat me. (***NOTE: these are the large cat-type, not the older-woman-going-after-younger-men type. I won’t venture estimates for how many of those kinds of cougars I could leg press.)
• Two bales of cotton weigh about 1,000 pounds.
• As an author, I deal with books a lot. A hardcover book weighs about a pound or two, so that means I could leg press between 500 and 1,000 of them. Paperbacks weigh less, so I could get more literature on the press. Ah, but here’s the kicker: if I used my wife’s Kindle 3 (8.5 ounces), I could leg press about 2125 of them. Given that each Kindle 3 can hold 3,500 books, I could leg press 7,437,500 e-books, or a little more than a fifth of the entire Library of Congress’s collection of books (if they were in e-form).
• Your standard North American beaver weighs about 99 pounds, so I could leg press about ten of them, each with a stick in its mouth.
• And finally, speaking of beavers, we end our list with a bit more pop culture: according to the internet, Justin Bieber is fabled to weigh between 120 and 130 pounds. I could leg press between 7.7 and 8.3 Justin Biebers.

Well, that’s my list. If you have things to add to it, please post your findings in the comments section. Tune in next week when I introduce my replacement, Benjamin Lucas Powell, a good friend and a great writer, who will be taking my place here at Reflections in Hindsight.

Observations on the Aftermath of Whitney Houston’s Death

Whenever a celebrity dies, especially one of the caliber of Whitney Houston, or Michael Jackson, or Larry King–wait…he’s not dead yet? Oh, he just kind of looks like he’s dead. My bad.

Whitney Houston

Anyway, there’s a predictable pattern of reaction from the media, from social networks, and from other celebrities. It’s horrible, but true, and most of it infuriates me. Here are two of my observations regarding Whitney Houston’s recent passing:

1. The media was well-prepared–too well-prepared. I think we all know by now that major media outlets have obituary files and footage already picked out for most of the world’s major celebrities, so all they have to do is pull out that file, mash together that footage and have the anchors/reporters practice going through some of said celeb’s lifetime highlights, low periods, and everything in-between before going on live and presenting the obituary.

That means that these news outlets not only have those files and footage, but that they update them regularly, and they also probably prioritize them based on who they think is going to croak first. In a way, this is a totally heartless and cold approach to the death of an important person, but if you stop and consider it, isn’t that kind of news exactly what everyone is supposed to get? Even-tempered, unbiased reporting of the facts?

I still don’t think I like it, though.

2. Idiots used Whitney’s death as a chance to advance their own agendas. This is the reason why I felt I should write on this topic today. I’m flummoxed at some peoples’ stupid behavior in response to Whitney’s death. If you thought the media outlets were bad for being well-prepared for Whitney’s death, you’ll be disgusted at some of the things coming out of celebrities’ mouths and from social networking sites like Facebook.

Two examples in particular really made me fume. Tony Bennett, who, for our younger readers, is a very famous singer/performer from yesteryear, made one of the dumbest comments I’ve ever heard after a celebrity’s death: he said, “I’d like to have every gentleman and lady in this room commit themselves to get our government to legalize drugs. So they have to get it through a doctor, not just some gangsters that sell it under the table.”

Tony Bennett

Look, I’m not going to comment on the validity of his argument. Maybe he’s right, maybe not. But that’s not the point. The point is that he stood up in public and used Whitney Houston’s death to advance his own agenda. Wow…what a way to pay tribute to a friend–use their death to tell the government that drugs should be legalized. How do you think the population would have responded if reputable pastor like Rick Warren (not that he would) came out in public and said that everyone should accept Jesus and live fulfilled lives so they don’t end up like Whitney Houston? The universe, including a lot of Christians, would throw a conniption fit. To sum up, Tony’s comment was poorly-timed, and inappropriate.

Here’s another dumb thing I saw, this one on Facebook:

Yes, I know this is Steve Jobs and not Whitney.

I used Steve because I saw this meme used after his death first–and also because the one I found with Whitney had a picture of her with her chest halfway hanging out. You get the idea, though, right? Millions “cry” when a celebrity dies, but no one cries for the millions dying from AIDS in Africa, or from ethnic cleansing/genocide, or from hunger.

::Sigh::

I won’t argue with the premise. Yes, the world is a place of a profound injustice, and this does a good job of showing that discrepancy. That said, this is just as opportunistic and inappropriate as Tony’s comment above for exactly the same reason: the author is using a tragedy to advance their own agenda at the expense of the departed person immortalized in their meme, as if subtly implying that somehow, it’s partly Whitney’s or Steve’s fault that millions are dying. Or, at the very least, such memes are made to make us feel guilty about how we react to celeb deaths.

I’m probably not the best example of how to react to a celebrity’s death because I generally don’t spend much time following their lives in the first place. That said, you’re getting my opinion anyway.

When Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson died, and even more so when Steve Irwin (the Crocodile Hunter) was skewered by a stingray a few years back and died, I felt very sad. I didn’t go out and place flowers or notes or teddy bears on their graves (or in front of their chain of Apple stores like folks did with Steve Jobs), but their deaths impacted me (less with Steve Jobs, as I’m only a recent convert to the cult of Apple).

The meme above makes the assumption that we stupid, spoiled Americans care more about a person (who has actually affected our lives in some way) than we do about those suffering and dying around the world. Honestly, I’m sure that is the case with a lot of people, but to use a celeb death as an opportunity to guilt-trip the rest of us, including people close to Whitney or Steve or Steve or Michael, is wrong.

Sorry, but you’re just being a jerk. You haven’t considered how many people those celebs actually did touch in a profound way, who are already hurting at the loss of a friend, family member, or loved one (celebrity), upon seeing your meme, feel guilty and used as a part of a scheme to raise awareness for an issue that most people would already agree with anyway. In other words, your timing sucks because you don’t have the balls to try to promote your ideas in a time of normalcy and instead do it at the expense of someone’s death and others’ grief.

Alright. I’m done ranting. I’d love to get your thoughts on this. Next week, stay tuned for a much anticipated post, probably the second-to-last one you’ll get out of me here at Reflections: Things that Weigh a Thousand Pounds (aka things that I can leg press).

-Ben

Blogging is the Devil

Why do people blog? What makes them think that anyone else  in the world wants to know about the new recipe for mongoose flambe they just created? Who actually reads blogs?

I’ve been pushing myself for the last year or so to blog once a week here at Reflections (occasionally I’ve missed a few weeks, but hey, one of them was on Thanksgiving, so there). In that time I’ve learned that, for me, blogging is the devil.

See? I told you it was.

What I mean is that like the devil, blogging distracts me from what I should be doing. Also, I hate the devil. likewise, I’ve grown to hate blogging. I have never enjoyed reading blogs, and I’ve always felt like I was supposed to blog as a part of my life as a writer because that’s what I’ve been told I’m supposed to do.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I’m attempting to write four novels this year. Correction: four GOOD novels this year, not just some garbage books that I don’t care about. In my mind, each word that I write on a Thursday morning (or before if I’m really prepared) is another word that won’t get written in one of my books because I’ve written it here. I’m not okay with that.

Perhaps this springs from my lack of interest in blogging as a medium of communication. The only time I read blogs is when a friend asks me to, or when I see something on Facebook that’s of interest to me and it happens to link to a blog post. I don’t go out trolling the internet for blogs. That’s not my idea of entertainment. I don’t enjoy that. The closest I come to that is Cracked.com, a site that I visit regularly because it’s funny and informational (but not always appropriate–you’ve been warned). That’s not really a blog sight, though.

Randy Ingermanson has sent out a lot of good stuff in his Advanced Fiction newsletters since I’ve been a subscriber (and probably before that too). In his last one he suggested that an author should ascribe a value to every business-related thing he does, as follows: $1 work, $10 work, $100 work, $1,000 work. The dollar amounts represent how much money you make from the various tasks you perform.

For instance, I run Splickety Magazine, which takes up a lot of my time. At this point I’m not privy to how much I’ll make from that rag, but I’m imagining it will be in the high $10s or the low $100s. I anticipate it will go up over time as I’ll get better at producing it as time goes on, plus I’ll hopefully make some money by selling some advertising for it. Compare that with my novel-writing: that’s definitely $1,000 work. Sure, it hasn’t actually made me any money thus far, but once I do get published, then I’m confident I’ll be in the $1,000 range.

This formula pertains more to marketing in my case than anything else. The idea is to focus either on A) what I’m good at/enjoy or B) what makes me the most money. I’m good at writing books, I’m good at running Splickety, and I’m good at Facebooking, plus I usually enjoy those things most of the time. I’m kind of good at blogging–of the top five most-viewed posts here at Reflections, four are mine (not including the Author page or the site’s homepage)–but I don’t like it. As of right now, it hasn’t made me any money that I can see, so it falls into the $1 work category. I think you can see where this is going.

I’m going to stop blogging. Over the next few weeks you won’t see me around here much anymore, and then eventually I’ll be gone, with perhaps an occasional guest appearance here and there. I just can’t justify the time I spend blogging anymore. I’ve already spent too much time on this one as it is to make it a decent post.

As such, I need to find a replacement. If you or anyone else is interested, comment on this post and the rest of the Reflections staff/administration will consider contacting you about it. Don’t get me wrong–I’ve benefited from this experience in ways that aren’t as tangible or measurable as money. I’ve made new friends and connections, I’ve learned to be more concise in my thoughts when blogging, and I’ve grown as a writer and as a person, but it’s time for me to move on.

This isn’t my last post here, but it’ll be one of the last. I’ll see you around, okay?

-Ben

The Sunday Book Review: Simply Salsa by Janet Perez Eckles

Posted by Elaine Marie Cooper

I read Janet Perez Eckles’ book Simply Salsa: Dancing Without Fear at God’s Fiesta on a flight to see family for Christmas. But it was a spiritual journey that I wish I had taken months ago when I first ordered this book.

And though my Irish-heritage skin is so incredibly pale that it’s unlikely the beautiful Latina author shares any close ancestral connection with me, we are definitely close sisters in spirit. That I can tell through her poignant, honest, and heartfelt writing.

Eckles has an amazing testimony of strong faith amidst sorrow. As a young mother with three small boys, she found her eyesight fading from a genetic condition. It was inevitable, her doctor said—she was going completely blind. Within eighteen months, her world’s light was gone forever.

Struggling to adapt to this sudden darkness and with the discouragement of some who said she could not mother her family as a blind woman, Janet shook her fist at God, only to find His loving hand taking hers. He spoke to her heart that He would oversee her needs if she would turn to Him in trust.

“There it was,” Eckles writes, “a brilliant light of truth, of revelation and of freedom, shining through the darkness in my life.”

Her poetic and uplifting prose draws you in to her subsequent battles with a betrayal, a financial crisis, and a cancer scare. But her ultimate challenge was thrust into her life when her youngest son was brutally murdered. To add insult to injury, the murderer was set free.

Eckles does not spout Christian platitudes like, “God does not give us more than we can handle.” While that statement is true, she shares honestly from her heart the intense pain, the arguments with God, and the gut-wrenching moments of tears that followed these trials. But she also allows us to journey with her as God continues to draw her close, reminding her of His comfort and commitment to loving her and never leaving or forsaking her.

She likens her spiritual journey to a dance where the gladness of the Lord shines its spotlight on her. And readers will truly experience that spiritual delight that flows from her words. Her beautiful Latin culture intersperses her text in such a way that you feel she is sitting right in front of you, bubbling with the joy of the journey.

It is a literary and Christ-filled road that I highly recommend.

I give Simply Salsa: 5 out of 5 Reflections

“This is a lighthearted, yet profound book that speaks to women at every level—whether wallowing in the mire of self-pity, slogging through never-ending guilt, trying to outrun fear, or just plain missing out on the ecstasy of a dance-filled life. It doesn’t have to be that way—and Simply Salsa was written to help you understand that.”

— Kathy Macias, Award winning author of more than 30 books

Cover Blurb:

What keeps women from dancing in the freedom God offers? With passion and boldness, Simply Salsa exposes the lies and misconceptions that imprison women with unfounded insecurities and feelings of inadequacy. No matter the degree of adversity or pain, Janet Eckles has discovered an alternative to gloom—through the security found only in God’s love.

With her own life experiences as testimony, Eckles will have you dancing!

Author Bio:

Bolivian immigrant Janet Perez Eckles might be the last woman you would expect to dance for joy. She lost her eyesight at age 31, suffered financial devastation, endured infidelity, and faced the incomprehensible anguish of her nineteen-year-old son’s murder and the acquittal of the man responsible. Yet with God’s grace, Eckles has learned to triumph and dance. Her healing journey has enriched her passion to inspire and serve as a teacher, ministry leader, public speaker and writer. Visit her a www.janetperezeckles.com.

Simply Salsa: Dancing Without Fear at God's Fiesta