Today is Spring!

We go from 8 inches of snow to 85 degrees in ten days time. Now that is OK for you!! It has always been said that if you don't like the weather here, just wait a few minutes and it will change.

I am soooo excited. Thanks to Rita, Sue and Lynda, my new book is just about through it's third edit and ready for approval by a number of people who are waiting to see it. What a blessing. Even I am beginning to like it again!! When you work on something so long and hard, at least for me, by the time it is finished I want to throw it away and say, "Who would ever want to read this?!?!" Of course, I have felt that way about all my books, so maybe that is good.

Oh yes, and also very, very exciting is that Rita and I have started work on another new book. It is a collection of articles written by women of faith who are willing to share some thoughts that have made a difference in their lives. By the way, we would love to have all of you share in this project, so please send me your email address or email me if I already have it and I will send you the guidelines. We are on a very tight deadline - May 1, 2010 - so don't wait...email me NOW! We would love to have you join us in the fun adventure that can touch lives that we might never get an opportunity to touch in any other way.

Life is fun!! Hope to hear from you soon.

Days 25 & 26 - The New Book

IT'S FINISHED! I got the first proofing back from Rita on Friday and put it all back on the computer and today, I finished writing Section III. I can't believe it!! Of course, there is always clean up work to do but that will not take long and then I will be sending it to Sue to check for mistakes one more time before I actually get to present it to the corporation here in town, the University and the editor who has requested to see it.

I am very excited and I am very tired. Yes, you can write a book in under 28 days...of work...but it is tough. It is especially tough if you are writing a book like mine with so much research and detail in it. I am glad I did it but it will be a while before a try another of this type.

I do have two more books in the works - but they will be co-authored with Rita and Beverly and we will have such fun putting them together. Stay tuned for details. We will be needing ALL of you to help.

Now on to the garage. I promised my hubby that it would be cleaned this Spring and with my Mom's stuff stored among our things, it will be a job. I did get through a number of her boxes this past weekend and it was a struggle. So many memories when you lose someone and try to put their entire life's history into only a few boxes.

Thank you more than you will ever know for your support during this project. Please come back and read my blog and website often. It won't be updated every day, but frequently. The website has some interesting things coming its way, too. You guys are terrific!!

Day 24 -The New Book

Four more working days to go. I am getting there. The first editing of Section I is finished and on the computer and Section II is currently going through it first editing (other than me). They will, of course, be read several more times before the publisher edits it, but I like to have it as slick as possible when I submit it. Rita has done a dynamite job editing for me and helping me get someone to help with my home. You will never convince me that prayers don't work. I was just about at my wits end when she suggested that maybe her daughter would like to help me. She is a doll and has saved my life. Thank you so much Kelci and by the way, if you can come Monday, I would love it.

I spent a great deal of time today working on Section III. I did add a little information to the Budgeting Skill in Section II, but most of my time today was spent on the first two chapters of Section III about presentation skills. These are the skills that can put you on the competitive edge and give you the boost it takes to make it to the top. They are rare and few people have them or are willing to develop them. That is what makes them so special.

It was such a beautiful day yesterday that I did get out for a bit and went to a couple of bookstores to check out the competition not only for this book but for the next two ideas that I am working on. It looks pretty good. The best books I could find on job hunting have nothing in them about advanced skills or presentation abilities. Yes! We are standing out in the crowd!

It has been a long day once again and I think I will give myself a break and read a little. Oh yes, the April, 2010 issue of CBA Magazine has my "Help Those Authors Sell Those Books" article in it and my book review. It was fun to see it. Even after all the years that I have been writing and publishing, it has never stopped exciting me to see my articles in publications or my books on the shelf of a bookstore. I am in awe of what the Lord has helped me do and I shall be eternally grateful.

By the way...snow tomorrow. Here we go again. The first day of Spring and "Gray skies and raindrops and snow up to the rooftops...." Oh well.... Today was beautiful and we had dinner on the patio. Stephen and Kris got our yard ready for Spring and we couldn't resist cooking out and eating in the fresh air. How fun.

Tomorrow back to the office. I think I will let it snow for the next two days all on its own. I don't think I will even watch.

Day 22 & 23 -The New Book

Okay, I will admit that I skipped another day or two and now have written almost solid for two days and have not blogged. Sorry. Sometimes I have to catch up and in this case I had to get Robert off on a trip...that is why I am now batching and working. I am still within my 28 days schedule if I count only work days and I am.

I have finished and edited Section I and it has gone to another editor. (Read fast, Rita, I have the next section almost ready for you!) Section II editing was finished by me today and I got half of it on the computer tonight before I crashed. It is looking good, even if I do say so myself. I have about 25,000 words so far and still have to put four more "skills" on the computer and all of Section III. I finally reached the point a couple of days ago where I was ready to trash it and, fortunately, I know that for me that is a good point because it means that it is just on the verge of coming together. Thank the Lord, He helped me hang in there.

By the way, I need more people to read through the manuscript and correct and/or edit the material. It takes several readings to be sure that nothing is missed. If any of you are willing to help, let me know. You can make a note on my blog or email me. I would really appreciate it. I am so very, very grateful to Rita...a very busy lady...for volunteering to help. Thanks a million!

I think Tiki thinks it is time for us to give it up for the day and I want to close things down so I can Skype with my hubby for a while. Once again, I appreciate all of you for hanging in there with me throughout this process and keeping me going.

Have a great weekend and don't forget to change your clocks!!

Day 21 - The New Book

Sunshine!!! and I have been in the office all day!! What is wrong with me?!?!?

I am excited. I wrote the final chapter for Section II today. If I have time after the fish fry tonight, I am going to start editing. I want to get Sections I & II pretty well finished before I attack the three chapters of Section III. I am hoping that it reads smoother than my memory is reporting to me right now!! I can't even tell you the word count or pages at the point because I have done so much revamping but in a day or two that will be good to go. Yeah!!!

Not only do I have this large corporation to talk with next week, and the University to present to, I now have a magazine editor who contacted me today and asked to look at the book when I am ready to share it. I am so blessed!! Thank you Lord!!! It is so wonderful to know that all of this work will not have been in vain. Of course I am not assured that any of them will like it, but that part is in the Lord's hands. I will do my work and the rest is up to Him.

Thought I would write early tonight as I need to get ready for the dinner and I have had a very productive day: the book review is in for the month, Sections I & II are rough drafted and all the reservations are in - so far - from the gals who are going on the cruise. Whew!! I will enjoy that fish tonight!!

Take care and stay in touch....see you tomorrow.

Day 20 -The New Book

I was a good girl. I took Sunday off. Well, sort of. If you can call Sunday School, Church, lunch, a political rally, research and a swollen leg which I had to keep elevated for numerous hours, taking the day off...I guess I did.

Guess what? It rained today!! Gray skies and raindrops.... I tried not to look. I just buried myself in this book and tried to get it in the order that it should be. I have not been comfortable with it and so today I tore it apart and put it back together again. I pulled out one entire chapter...which will make a great E-book on "Believing In Yourself" and made a final decision on the "Skills Section." There will be seven skills addressed and I pulled from and added to and rearranged material until I finally feel that it is flowing in a logical manner. I think. I hope. I really won't know for sure until I can read it straight through from beginning to end.

I did have some exciting interactions yesterday. I have an appointment next week with a large, international corporation that uses books for the basis of their training seminars. They are local and, as I understand, are partial to local authors. Yes! I am hoping to work out an arrangement whereby they will take this new book and use it not only for training but for promotional purposes as well. That would be exciting. My 101 Simple Ways To Be Good To Yourself book was used as a promotional book at one time by a large international corporation. It was fun working with them. Time will tell, but it certainly gave me one more incentive to stay on target and get this thing finished.

Time for a book review too. I wrote it today and as soon as it is proofed..off it goes. This month I reviewed Howe and Foetisch's new book titled "Burdens Do a Body Good - Meeting Life's Challenges with Strength (and Soul).

We went to a wedding dinner at the Oklahoma Dental Foundation tonight. One of Robert's chair side assistants is getting married and it was fun sharing our wedding story with them. They are, by the way, getting married on my birthday...April 10...as is our great niece, Andrea. What a day!! Good way to forget how old I will be !!

Hopefully we will finalize our portion of the girl's cruise plans tomorrow. We may have others sign up later and that would be wonderful. So if any of you are still considering going with us...say yes and let's get it going.

It's late and I am tired...think I will visit with hubby, play with Tiki and call it a day.

See you tomorrow.

Day 19 - The New Book

Another productive day! PTL!! In spite of the fact that we had three thirteen year-olds here all night and a dinner party to attend, I still got my chapter written. In fact, I wrote an entire chapter on NLP (Neuro-Linquistic Programming) - a very interesting communication technique and about half of the chapter on How To Handle Difficult People. These are two more of the steps toward becoming the professional who will stand out in the crowd.

It was "gray" here again today. My cousin, Mike, in CA didn't help much by telling me how beautiful it was out there. Thanks, Mike!! What he doesn't know is that I may pack up and move into his spare bedroom to finish this book if we don't get some sunshine soon!

We had three precious young men at our house last night. After our dinner we picked them up and went out to Braum's for dessert. They are sweet guys and we had fun. Keith, our youngest grandson, was one of them, and two of his buddies. They are always welcome at our home. We will probably see a lot of them this summer when the pool opens. Last year was a pretty slim yard activity year as Keith had a broken arm for most of the summer and I spent most of it with my Mom before she passed away. The two older grandsons were working, so we didn't see much of them either. Time moves on so rapidly.

Robert says that it is time for me to rest...so good night all. Thanks for joining me and thanks more than you will ever know, for all the encouraging words.

Day 18 - The New Book

Yes, I know. It has actually been two weeks and two days between Day 17 and Day 18. A number of things happened. First of all, my computer crashed and had to visit the computer guru for 12 days and while it was in the hospital Robert and I took off for what we had hoped would be a little R & R and some nice warm weather. But, alas, we found a snow storm and very cold winds. I am destined to be cold!!

I wanted to write about our little trip on my laptop but decided it wasn't a good idea to reveal that we were out of town...so I waited.

We have a dear friend (a HS & college classmate of Robert's) that has Stage 4 metastatic lung cancer and we spent most of our time with him and his family. They are very special people and he and Robert have been sharing some precious time.

We did take off for the hill country of Texas for a few days to see the lakes and some sunshine and warm weather. We got as far as Waco before a white out blizzard stopped us. Since we had to stop driving we decided to take advantage of the stay over and see some of their museums..like the Texas Rangers Museum and the Dr. Pepper Museum. Of course, they were closed because of the weather. We drove around a bit and finally went to the hotel and watched the Olympics.

The next morning we did get to see the museums and then drove on to Marble Falls, TX where we planned on touring the lakes, playing a little golf and seeing Fredricksburg, TX. As it turned out it was too windy and too cold for much of anything except watching the Olympics.

Three days later we responded to a call to go back to our friend's home for another visit and we headed North.

Except for our visit with Jim and his family, we could have watched the Olympics at home a lot cheaper and a lot more comfortably!

Oh well. They can't all turn out wonderfully.

We are home, my computer is back and I am working once again. Therefore, if you will excuse the slight respite, I am now on Day 18 and today I did write an entirely new chapter. This one was about Aggression vs Assertion. I did some research while we were gone and I have revamped the entire book once again. I just couldn't make the original plan work and I think it is going to work out much better now.

The plan now is for it to have three sections: Section I is How To Get a Job; Section II is How To Keep A Job: ___ Steps Toward Professionalism; and Section III is How To Stand Out In a Crowd: Communication Skills That Work.

The exact number of steps is not known yet, but it will be at least 10 or 12 items such as Assertion vs Aggression; How To Handle Stress; Good Listening Skills; How To Live On a Budget; Neuro-Linquistic Programing, etc.

I have renewed energy and between catching up on the laundry, cleaning the house, running errands and playing with Tiki, I AM going to get this book finished on schedule!! Hang out and watch!!!

Would love to share more but got to get back to work...