Last Minute Paradigm Shift

Excuse my lack of posts and randomness, but I am going through a lot of changes.  Everyone seems to love Fall, but I don't enjoy shorter days; it really throws my beauty rest off.

Since I haven't been able to post regularly, I have a lot to say, so excuse my stream of consciousness writing style.

For our Light Night fun fair yesterday I was supposed to be Princess Peach, BUT I wasn't feeling very princessey, I didn't feel like wearing a dress, and I was pressed for time and unsure of how I was going to turn a pink maternity dress and pink tulle into a princess dress.  I felt more comfortable with being the....King of Pop; we kind of look more alike, I was in a playful mood, and I knew I had to be on my feet all evening running the Cake Walk and cleaning up.

Here's me and TrentMan as M.J. and Toad!!!!!  I glued his vest together myself....as you can tell!

My wardrobe change leads me to a revelation about my future writing career.  Several months ago, my little cousin wrote a post on her blog asking if you have to be able to relate to characters that you read about in books and does your life need to mirror the lives of the characters.  For me, the answer is a resounding NO, because I love learning about things outside of my own realm and there are some human conditions that transcend gender, race, country of origin, and many other things.  Conditions like love, hunger, war, raising a family, and much more are so much bigger than being a black female who lives in the Midwest.  I believe that is a universal story.  This thought process leads me to the next situation.

My son has the distinct pleasure of attending a school that goes from Preschool to Highschool, all on the same campus.  About a month ago, it was Homecoming, which they allow the younger kids to participate in the week of dressing up and the Coronation Ceremony.  One of the dress up days was to dress up as a book character.  TrentMan and I pondered over at least a dozen characters: Greg from Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Horrible Harry, Flat Stanley, Nate the Great, and some others too.  He finally settled on Phineas from Phineas and Ferb, which is not really a book character, but he was close enough.  We just put an orange and white striped shirt on him and some jeans and he was good to go.  We were both happy, he was able to portray one of his favorite characters and I didn't have to work too hard to make it happen.  Then it hit me....out of all the characters we thought about, none of them were African American.

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TrentMan designed this character himself

Let me set the record straight; I am not one of those "power to the people" has to be all black or I'm not down kind of people.  We embrace pretty much embrace everything and everybody that is in line with our Christian values.  However, I thought/think it is shameful that there was not one black book character that we could choose from.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Phineas and Ferb, and we love watching the show together; those boys are too creative and it gets TrentMan to thinking and inventing all kinds of craziness.  However, I think it does our society a huge disservice not to show people of other races and cultures in the same/similar situations.  Think about all the big name children's books: Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Where the Wild Things Are, Jumanji, etc.  These books can have the same exact plot BUT with a main character that just happens to be African American or Latino or Asian American.  So this Ah-Ha moment led me to my next thought!

I should develop a book series that primarily appeals to young boys and has a main character who is an African American boy.  My thoughts haven't led me to what the series should be about, but I know I don't want it to be specific to African American culture; I just want a book about a family who just happens to be black.  I have to come up with the backstory, plot, and the thing that will draw people in.  I'll get to that part later though.

I know this post was all over the place, but hopefully you could keep up.  I am my mother's child; what can I say??!!??

So, what do you think...are we lacking every day stories with characters that just happen to be minorities or does it really matter?

Blogging Wish List

I've been at this blogging thing for almost three months, and I truly am enjoying this journey.  As you know, I have my doubts sometimes, but I have an end goal in mind.  I would like to use this blog to not only inspire Christian women, but all women, and I'd also like to use it as a spring board for my writing career.  I've loved creative writing since I was 11 (it was a long time ago, I know).  Back then I wanted to develop my talent into a career, but somehow, once I hit highschool, I got side-tracked into a business mentality.

So far, this blog has opened up a few doors for me to begin a freelance writing career, and I am excited, because these things were also spoken over me by a prophet recently.  Each day I blog, I'm like a little kid opening up a present to see what God has in store or to see who will be blessed and moved in an unexplainable way.

Before I go too far off topic, I've been thinking of some things that I will need to help me along this journey.  I don't have them listed in any type of order, because I'm unsure what should be done first.  I also don't want to spend a lot of money on something that isn't necessary or won't produce the results I'm looking for.  Anyways....here's my list!

• 250 professional looking glossy business cards with all of my info
• My own domain name (nix the blogspot)
• Writing workshops (I plan to attend some next month.  I love learning!)
• A super duper graphic artist to spruce it up over here (I've done everything myself so far, and web design and html are not my forte)
• A professional photo shoot (I want to have nice modelly looking pictures too!)
• A good quality zoom lens camera (I'm so jealous of some of the detail I see other people's camera's are able to pick up on.  I just have a point and click digital camera, and I better be grateful for that.)
• Writing/Blogging Conference(s)- I love meeting new people, of course learning, and networking (I do it very well!). 
• Focusing on 2-3 niche topics versus being all over the place like I am now. (Thoughts??)

Writing/Blogging Opportunities I'm Looking For:

• Guest Blog Spots
• Interviews of Christian artists, women with something to share
• Partnering with businesses to review products/services and talk about it
• Magazine, newspaper, newsletter, internet news writing
• A book deal!!!!

What do you think will help you bust through to the next level in blogging or your career?

Why Blog?

If you read or write a blog or two, why do you do it?  (This is SO not a rhetorical question!)

For me, this blog journey formally started about 10 months ago, however, I think it really started 18 years ago before there was ever a such thing as blogging.

I've always enjoyed writing.  Matter of fact, I should dig up some of my very first poems and stories for you guys.  From the time I was 11 years old, I said that I would be a writer.  Somehow I got older and decided that I couldn't make money as a writer or that the field was too hard to break into and be successful, so I went a different route, only to find myself back where I started.  I chose a path that made more sense to me and everyone around me.  Seriously!  Who writes for a living?

I get an unbelievable amount of joy out of reading the different things TrentMan writes.  He started writing way earlier than I ever did, and it started out with little love notes and now has progressed into full blown super hero stories.  His mind is so fresh, new, and creative.  His unspoiled talent really gives me motivation to really pursue my dreams.

So, back to my original question...Why blog?  For me, this blog is a direct intersection of my natural talent and passion for writing and my supernatural spiritual gifts of exhortation, faith, and intercession (I Corinthians 12:7-11).  For whatever reason, God wired me to enjoy writing PERIOD  When I accepted Him as my Saviour and His Holy Spirit came to live inside of me, He began to give me spiritual gifts that He is working through me to produce.  So, when I go to pray with/for someone, or I give an encouraging word, or believe like you've never seen anyone believe....it is not me that you see, but Him working through me.

Why do you blog or what led you to follow your current path?