A River of Gifts

“Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven.
The gifts are rivers of light cascading down
from the Father of Light.”

James 1:17 (The Message)

My children climbed down the banks of the Trinity River. They scrambled across the crooked trunks of fallen trees and dangled their hands into the bubbling water. They watched wide-eyed as a leaf dropped into the stream, twirled three times and sped away.

Gifts—faster and more numerous than I can count—pour across me. They pick me up and twirl me in a dance of thanksgiving. Coming from the Father of Lights, many blessings brighten my life:

· Husband, children and friends
· Parents, sister and in-laws
· Church, neighborhood and city
· Cars, house and computers
· Salvation, ministry and Savior

I have two additional sparkling gifts from God—Jayme Durant and Helen Hanson, my writing partners.

Jayme writes from the heart as a mother who’s waded through deep waters. I relish her wisdom, compassion and insight on the affairs of life.

Helen writes saucy humor that’s sure to bring giggles as well as a fresh perspective to many a mundane footnote in life. Ever been bitten by a bug? Wait ‘till you hear about Helen’s tango with death because of one little itchy bit of mischief. Just don’t ask where the grim ripper sank it’s chompers!

For encouraging, challenging and entertaining vignettes on life, visit WITS—Writers In The Storm. I’ll be posting to http://www.writersinthestorm.com/ each Monday!

Writing Like A Pro Workship

In May, I'm teaching a series of writer's workshops for the Aubrey Public Library.
If you want to write nonfiction, but have no idea where to begin, please come to this free class Tuesday nights, May 13, 20 & 27th from 7:00-8:30 p.m.

The following how-to for article writing will help get your feet wet:

Write Articles - wikiHow

How to Write Articles

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Whether it's for a magazine, newspaper, your teacher, or even wikiHow, writing an amazing article whittles down to one widely-adaptable technique. Here's how to use that technique to your advantage.

Steps

1. Determine your topic. Exactly what are you going to write about? Brainstorm for ideas if you have to. When writing for wikiHow, you may even wish to refer to requested topics for ideas.
   
2. Figure out who your audience is. Are you writing for a beginner, an intermediate, or an advanced audience? For example, if you are writing an article about "Creating PowerPoint Slides," are your readers new to PowerPoint, or business people looking for advanced tips?
   
3. Do your research. How well do you know the topic? Is it something you can write easily about with little or no preparation, or do you need more information from experts in the field?
   
4. Decide on the length of the article. Teachers, magazines, and newspapers will often give you a limit. wikiHow articles, on the other hand, are often "as long as they need to be and no longer."
   
5. Compile a list of possible sources for you to consult. This can include documents, internet research and people to talk to.
   
6. Write either an outline or a summary of your article. This will help bring the concept of the article into sharper focus.
   
7. Write the rough draft of the article as follows:
   • Tell your readers what you are going to tell them. This is your introduction. For example:
     • This article explains how to create a PowerPoint slide presentation. It covers the following information: choosing a theme, creating a title slide, and creating topic slides.
     • The information in this article is written for a beginner. The author assumes that you have never used PowerPoint.
   • Tell your readers what you promised to tell them. In this section you tell them how to choose a theme, create a title slide, and how to create topic slides.
   • Tell your readers what you just told them. For example:
     • This article taught you how to create a PowerPoint slide presentation. You learned how to choose a template, how to create a title slide, and how to create topic slides.
   
   
8. Check over your piece for presentation.
   • Check for faulty information. Have you double-checked your facts?
   • Delete any unnecessary or contradictory information. The only time you should have information that doesn't support your topic is if you're doing a "point-counterpoint" piece.
   • Eliminate anything that is just taking up space. Don't fill your work with fluff. If you need to do more research, go ahead and do it.
   • Check for grammar and spelling errors.
   • Read it aloud to yourself to make sure the text flows smoothly.
   
   
9. Rewrite the article as often as it takes.
   
10. Turn in your completed article.
    

Tips

• Neither the outline nor the summary for your article has to be in traditional I, II, III format. The point of formatting is to help you. If you feel you can find your focus by writing a list of incomplete sentences, then go for it. Later, if your teacher wants a formal outline, you can create one from the article itself.
  
• By checking grammar and spelling errors last in the editing process, you won't waste any time by correcting those on something you may delete.
  
• If you're writing for a newspaper or magazine and are new to professional writing, it's customary to introduce yourself and your story in a query or pitch letter. Find the name of the editor who will be handling your piece (i.e.; if you're writing an article about cars for a newspaper, find the name of the car-section editor). This information can be found in the masthead, a box containing the names of the editors, usually found near the front or comment pages of a publication. Write a catchy but brief outline of what your story is about and why that publication's readership would be interested in it. Also include a few lines about your experience as a writer. The tone of this letter should be professional, but affable and friendly. It is not the place to make demands, or admit your shortcomings as a professional writer. Discussing wages and freelance fees should come after the editor has accepted your pitch.
  
• If you have no experience as a professional writer, do not start off pitching columns (opinion pieces). Columns are generally reserved for people who have either been working at a publication for a very long time, or for people who have a particular expertise in a field. If you're new to writing, start small. Think obituaries, human-interest stories and simple news articles. It's generally easier to start with newspapers than with magazines. Try writing for life, fashion, arts, cars or travel sections before pitching stories to news. These sections tend to be understaffed and therefore have a greater budget for freelance writers.
  
• If you're interested in pursuing a career as a writer, be realistic. People who make their living as writers generally start to build their portfolio of published work as early as high school. It generally takes even the most dedicated writer several years before he can make a living off of the trade. In other words, don't quit your day job. Ease into writing gradually, perhaps doing freelance pieces while maintaining a more stable job part-time.
  
• Take some courses in both non-fiction and fiction writing. Not only will they help with your work, but also you can make contacts in the business by getting to know your professors and fellow writers. This will help you to be taken seriously when you start pitching articles for publication. Being a good freelance writer means knowing how to write and how to network.
  
• Make sure your article answers five questions: why, where, when, what and how.
  

Warnings

• When writing for a newspaper or magazine, do not do so for free. Ask what their freelance fee is beforehand. Your pay will usually be calculated on a per-word basis. Your work is valuable. Writing for free demeans the profession and makes making a living more difficult for those of us who depend on freelance fees to pay the bills. (But if you're just starting out, volunteering to do some articles for smaller community papers, student publications and trade magazines is a great way to build your portfolio. Be warned that these publications rarely have the money to pay freelancers anyway.)
  
• Make sure to give yourself plenty of time to write the article. If you don't, then you'll be rushing at the last minute to create something that isn't representative of what you can truly do.
  
• Do not be a diva. Your work will go through several editors, copy-editors and fact checkers before being published. It will be changed. Pulling a temper tantrum is a surefire way to not be invited to work for that publication again.
  
• Your reputation as a writer is almost as important as the work you submit, do not make errors or plagiarize. Copying something without attribution is the quickest way to get blacklisted as a writer. Keep your notes and source lists handy so that your editors can verify your work. If you do make a mistake, come clean immediately and apologize profusely.
  
• Don't miss deadlines. Generally speaking, a late article is worse than a mediocre one.
  
• Literary circles are small and gossipy. Don't say anything bad about a fellow writer or editor, ever. You never know who's married to whom.
  

Things You'll Need

• Something to write with: computer, pen and paper, etc.
  
• An email account to pitch and submit stories. (Something vaguely professional, no one will take butterflywings23@hotmail.com seriously.)
  
• Research materials. Either go to your bookshelf, the library or find an expert on the topic.
  
• Access to a database like Lexus Nexus or factiva. Be sure to see what others have already written on the topic.
  

Related wikiHows

• How to Brainstorm
  
• How to Write a Comparative Essay
  
• How to Write a Term Paper
  
• How to Write an Outline
  
• How to Write a Speech
  
• How to Freewrite
  
• How to Contribute to wikiHow
  
• How to Become Famous Via wikiHow
  

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Write Articles. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Misunderstood: A Christmas Tale

I leaned against the doorjamb and watched the
neighbors loading their Dodge Colt. The young couple
seemed too young if you asked me. The scuttlebutt
around town was they were married in a shotgun
wedding—and we know what that means.

Right after marrying, they moved into the fixer-upper
next door. Then the girl left for three months. I
heard she was staying with a cousin out-of-town. Well,
she came back obviously in the family way. Why in the
world would a bride leave her new husband to live with
a cousin for three months?

Strange.

Still, the young man has some decent carpentry skills.
I love their new front door. I might get him to make
me one. I'm sure they need the money, and I wouldn't
have to pay him much since he's a newbie. Hm.

Well, they're pulling out. They have to register with
the government in a different county. I told them that
he could do it for both of them. Seems to me the girl
should stay home. Her baby's gotta be due soon and
riding too long makes a pregnant gal swell. Oh well.
Their choice.

I'm taking care of their puppy while they're gone. How
could I say no? Besides, they'll only be gone three
weeks and it seemed neighborly to agree.

Good thing they'll be back soon. I don't much like
puppies. I like dogs even less.

I was challenged to write a 250-word creative retelling
of the Christmas Story. Various writers participated in
the challenge. Stories ranged from a bug's perspective to
that of a poor widow hiding near the barn. During the busy
holiday season, I enjoyed spending some time thinking about
Christ's birth with fresh eyes.

If you'd like to give this challenge a try, I'd love to read your
creative results. Post them in the comments section.

Thanks for visiting and have a very Merry Christmas!

Will you join me in an experiment? I will answer the question: What was I doing 10/20/30 years ago...Then, you answer this question on your blog or here in the comments section. Tag as many other bloggers as possible & have them link back to http://www.relevantblog.blogspot.com/ (Mary DeMuth) who started this little social experiment!

Here we go:

10 years ago: I lived in Moscow, Russia. In Russia, I experienced darkness. The missing sun on a winter's day when inky midnight grabs the light away at four in the afternoon is one kind of darkness. The death of dignity when people created in God's image are reduced to scrabbling for the top of the human heap is another kind of darkness. In Russia, I understood for the first time what a gift our puritan roots bestows on each of us in America. We live in a country where a single human life matters. Sure, the fingers of darkness creep across our sky, but we still have vestiges of light. We still careflight people on helicopters to hospitals. We fight to save trapped miners, abused children and cancer victims. At a basic level, we still care...about a single human life.

20 years ago: I lived in Orlando, Florida. My father was unemployed, our house gone. We borrowed a vehicle and lived in it. I read recently that only 5% of the U.S. population has ever been hungry because they lack money to buy food. Well, we made the five-percent! But, God proved Himself faithful. He always met us at our need. Like Elijah, He led us to the brook (Westwood Chapel) and the ravens fed us. Words fail to convey my gratitude for my experiences at the brook. Poverty doesn't frighten me...because I know my God can and will supply all my needs.

30 years ago: I moved to the country. I discovered God in the world He created. I heard His joy in the bubbling brook. I experienced His humor in the silly antics of the skimming water beetles. I sensed His gentleness in the baby mockingbirds. I knew His protection from angry bulls, threatening cotton-mouths and deadly black widows. I relive those moments with my children and relish seeing the world through their fresh eyes, the way it looked when I was eight and living in the country.

Wish With Me...

My son yanked a dandelion from the ground and handed it to me. "Make a wish, Mom," he grinned.

I stood holding the limp puff-ball while loose dirt from the dangling roots showered my toes. Hm. What to wish for? I finally decided to make my wish a prayer…for my son and his future. I looked at his eager face and I caressed the curve of his round cheeks with my eyes. May my little boy grow up safe, healthy and loving you, Lord. Then I blew until all the little white messengers floated away to heaven carrying my heart’s plea.

“Well, that’s one way to do it.” Said my boy, tugging another dandelion from its earthen home. “But when I make a wish, I like doing it like this.” He shook the dandelion violently until all the white puffs scattered every direction, and he chanted, “I wish that all the people in all the world everywhere would be kind.”

The selflessness of a four-year-old who would use his dandelion wishes for strangers prodded me to pray a second time. Lord, please hear Jacob’s wish. Make people everywhere kind…and start with me.

So, here are some questions I find myself pondering:

• What keeps me from being kind to others? Time? Money? Thoughtlessness?
• Can I budget a small amount of money for a kind deed?
• Can I manage my time to allow an extra moment of kindness in my driving?
• How can I be kind to my family, neighbors and friends today?

Has someone blessed your life with a gift of kindness?

Did you have the opportunity to bless someone else?

I’d love to hear about it! Click on comments and share your story.

From Mundane To Marvelous

As I progressed through the first trimester of pregnancy, I discerned that the baby-forming process promised a whole bunch of discomfort: sausage ankles, midnight heartburn and unceasing urges to visit restrooms and refrigerators. I had three choices:

• I could pass the next nine months whining and miserable.
• I could keep my mouth shut and simply survive.
• I could rejoice in God's gift growing inside me.

By choosing to replace negative complaints with positive praise, my life moved from mundane to marvelous, and I learned a valuable lesson from the experience.