Thursday started out terribly. I found something that I only knew how to interpret one way. I worked my mind into a muddle as an idea infected my soul and ate away at me. I was well nigh depressed, and that’s a word that’s barely made its way into my vocabulary. Very out of character for me.
However, there was one small ray of light that morning. In the midst of my self-inflicted tribulation (I later found out I had jumped to the wrong conclusion), I received an email from a new acquaintance. Kay, a fellow blogger, sent me the Versatile Blogger award. We had just recently found each other, so receiving an award from her took me by surprise (actually, receiving an award at all surprised me).
You should check out her lovely homeschool blog. I first came across it on October 5th. She had asked a difficult question that many of us may avoid thinking about as much as possible. What is going to happen to your children if you die? Jesse and I have thought about this, a lot, but have not been able to reach any definite answers. Then, just Wednesday, she referred her readers to a wonderful site that allows you to print free handwriting pages. Since we are trying to scale down our spending this year, I have been investigating all of the free learning sites that I come across, and this one was a huge success with Ian. I have been trying to get him to write smaller letters for a while now, and the site that Kay recommended allows you to select the letter size for your custom handwriting sheets. Amazing! Thanks, Kay, for the award and for the tip!
Here is how the award works:
Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them: check
Tell your readers 7 things about yourself.
Give this award to 15 recently discovered bloggers.
Contact those bloggers and let them in on the news.
So here goes. Seven things:
I always wanted to marry a preacher. That didn’t happen, as many of you know, but God has his own ways of making us blissfully happy. I appreciate Jesse so very much, and I couldn’t ask for a more understanding, forgiving, redemptive husband. He is truly a picture of Christ in my life.
I am an aspiring writer. I don’t know if it comes through in my ramblings, but someday I’d like to write for a living. Books, not just magazine articles. Stories from my own head, not just how-to manuals. Yes, I’m one of those people.
I was a music major in college. And yes, I’m still paying on my student loans for a pretty much worthless degree. I do teach homeschool choir, so at least I am using what I learned in conducting. I could have taken a few more classes and gotten certified to teach in the public schools, but I didn’t want to stick around that long. Once Ian is completely independent, I may go back and pick those classes up, but I would rather get my MFA in creative writing.
If I had a million dollars, I’d buy a farm. Then I would hire people to teach me how to run it. I would love to be self-sufficient one of these days. Preferably out of choice, and not because a weakening economy demands it. One of my grandmothers was so poor, she never even knew the Great Depression hit because her family was already living on as little as possible. I wanna be like that.
I can’t do automatic things if I stop to think about them. I don’t even know which toothbrush is mine unless I grab it without thinking. Most of the time I get by alright because I do tons of things automatically, but when I’m really tired, upset, or generally confused, I’m pretty helpless. I tend to ask Jesse a lot of stupid questions.
I am a homeschool mom of one. Two if you count my niece, but I feel like I must stand out like a sore thumb in our current homeschool culture. I can’t honestly tell you that there’s not enough time in my day, because there is. If I don’t get everything done by the time my husband comes home, it is generally because I slept in or otherwise wasted my time.
I share a home with my two best friends. My husband, Jesse, and my son, Ian, are so cool and fun to be around, that sometimes I feel like I’m hanging out in a college dorm with my two best buds. We’re all of us inquisitive, easily entertained, and just plain silly!
My fifteen favorite recently discovered bloggers:
Okay, well, after searching through the blogs I follow, I have nowhere near that many blogs that I can list here. So I will just list
those that have made the largest impact on my life:
Oh, Amy, thanks so much for this mention! You honor me.
And you so deserve an award for versatility! 🙂
You are very, very welcome! 🙂
What a great post, and not just because I am in it! I really like your ‘about me’ facts. I ended up marrying a preacher and I had NO intention of doing that. Our God is amazing, isn’t He??
I really do enjoy your blog and I am thankful that you even bumped into me 🙂
He is truly amazing! Can’t wait to meet you on the other side!
Many thanks, Amy! It does a writer good to hear her words are making an impact. (:
You have a great blog; I always enjoy reading what you have to say!
Wow, thank you so much! I can’t believe it. You really made my day (even though technically you gave this to me yesterday ;P), especially since today has been an emotional roller coaster!
I was a music major in college. And yes, I’m still paying on my student loans for a pretty much worthless degree.
It seems a lot of people regret their majors to a certain extent because of the amount of student loans they had to take out. I’m going to get an English major, but I don’t intend on taking out student loans. And then I want to get an MFA in Creative Writing, but that might take some time, as, again, I want to do it without getting into debt, so I’ll have to either go to school part-time, work part-time, somehow become a majorly successful author before then (I can dream, right? Haha), or just get a part-time job. I wanted to get into editing, but the more I think about it, the less I like the idea. I’ve realized I don’t have the ability or patience to edit other writers’ works, outside of beta-reading or friendly feedback.
But that’s a long tangent. Sorry!
Though, I do love music. I play guitar, and it’s a huge emotional outlet for me, much like writing is. =)
Anyway, I really do appreciate you giving me the award. I’ve never gotten one before.
You’re so welcome, Elisa! I truly enjoy reading your blog!
Editing has always sounded like fun to me as well, but I haven’t hit the editing stage yet in my own WIP, so I don’t know exactly how grueling it can get. Maybe I’ll change my mind when I get to that stage. 🙂
Well if you ever need help editing your work or you need someone to read your WIP over, let me know. I’d be happy to help. =)
Awesome! I would love to have an Alpha Reader! (Isn’t that what they’re called?) The only one who has volunteered to read it so far is my sister, but it’s not anywhere near ready to let people read yet. I’m writing it pretty fast, so it’s going to need some major editing first. Thanks for your help!
They’re called beta readers, actually. But you were close! What is your novel about?
Ahhh! Makes sense. I guess I would be the alpha reader!
🙂
I’m going to try to type up a synopsis this week, and I’ll post it here. I did a really stupid thing last night and joined NaNoWriMo. So far, so good, but it’s only been one day! I’m wondering how I’m gonna make it work on weekends…
Haha, yeah. What’s your NaNo account over on their website? I’d love to be writing buddies with you! You could always not write on weekends and make up for it by writing double during the week. Some people do that, but in reverse (more on weekends than on weeks) because of school.
My user name is amyleebell. I hope my friends can find me, because I haven’t figured out how to search for specific people on the NaNo website.
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