Writing Contest

All of you who are interested in writing need to read this - Writer’s Digest 77th Annual Writing Competition. One way to get published is to win a contest!

Write Your Life Story!

Everyone is invited to write your life story on this blog. If you are interested, simple e-mail Cindy at bacindy@cox.net and let her know to add you to the e-mail list. Once you are enrolled, simply click on 1-Life Story and read through the instructions. Then write!

The only criterion is that all posts must be family-safe. I monitor all postings and comments to ensure this. After all, this is for our families to read!

To read other’s life stories, click on the letter/name of the person’s entries you want to read. Enjoy!

Assignment 3

Read Chapter 4 and 5 of How to Write the Story of Your Life.

Write an entry about your birth.

Marriage

I was the one in school who was never going to get married. I had a plan for my life and nothing was going to stop it. Oh, I liked boys and dating, but I was NOT going to get serious.

As a matter of fact, before I left for college, I had been dating a coast guard boy (he was in his 20;’s and I was barely 18). I was having fun; he was serious. He gave me an ultimatum - don’t go to college or I’m out of here. I chose the “I’m out of here.” I did cry for three days, but I was not going to change my mind.

So off I went to college.

My goal was to become a home economics teacher. However, I quickly got disillusioned with school. It was nothing like I expected it to be. So, my new goal became to date at least one guy in every fraternity before I finished college. (That’s how my GPA got so low!)

One of the guys I dated (Al) was from Phi Beta Kappa and, although I didn’t know it at the time, he was engaged to someone else! (It probably wouldn’t have mattered to me, anyway, had I known!) Anyway, some guy in the same fraternity, named Bill Downes, saw me with Al and asked him if it would be alright for him to ask me out. Al said sure (why not, he had another babe on the side!). So, the next thing I know, here’s a guy I didn’t know at my door asking me to go out.

Well, he WAS a fraternity guy, so why not. We went out and had a good time. If my memory serves me right, we dated quite a few times and then he just disappeared off the face of the planet. No calls, no nothing. Just gone.

Oh well, on to the next fraternity. I spent the next couple of months exploring the “offerings” at other fraternities. Nothing serious, just having a blast and being ornery. (And I wonder why my daughter is so ornery.) I even chased a football player up to New Jersey to get a date with a Theta Chi - that’s another whole story!

Then, in the spring, in marched Bill Downes back into my life. He said he saw me downtown and I gave him the brush off look. I don’t even remember seeing him! Anyway, we started dating again and that was the end of my fraternity shopping. I found my guy.

We dated for 2-1/2 years. He finished college and went off to Georgia for army training. He was in ROTC at college and his draft number for Vietnam was four so he decided if he was going to Nam, he’d go as an officer, helicopter pilot. While he was gone, he got lonely for me. On a break during the summer, he came back to town and proposed to me. We were riding in the car, stopped at a stop light, when he said, “If I asked you to marry me, what would you say?” I said yes. I think that is when he gave me his fraternity pin that you can see in this picture.

The next thing I remember is getting engaged. He took me to a jewelry store in town where he had picked out two rings. I had the choice of either one. One looked bigger than the other, and being the nice girl, I picked the smaller of the two. It just so happened that it was actually the more expensive diamond! It pays to be nice!

He went back to the army while I started my junior year. He was in Mineral Wells, Texas; I was in Newark, Delaware. We wrote and planned our wedding for Christmas as this was the only time he was able to get off.

Because I didn’t have any money, his family paid to have a small ceremony and reception in Newark. It snowed the day of the wedding, so I was afraid I would not make it up to Newark in time for the wedding. Bill said he would “come get me in a snowplow if he had to.” Isn’t he wonderful!

We were married on December 26, 1970.

After the ceremony, we packed up a U-haul and headed for Mineral Wells, Texas. That was our honeymoon. And we’ve been happily married ever since (at least mostly!).

Assignment 2

A new year has begun - 2008. It’s time to get your Life Story on paper!

We’re going at a fairly slow pace because of the other commitments I have in my life, so it’s never too late to join in. If you’re interested in joining us in this project, email me at bacindy@cox.net.

Here’s Lesson 2:

Read Chapter 3 of “How to Write the Story of Your Life.”

Select a Topic from one of the Memory Sparkers listed in this chapter and write another entry for your Life Story.

Post it when you are done so we can all enjoy it.

Happy New Year!

Writing Markets

If you’re like me, you probably want to be “published.” After all, that’s what writers do!

One way to be published is to write for magazines. I started by writing for nonprofits. I wrote for my church newsletter, a homeschool group newsletter, and for a local pregnancy clinic. There was no pay involved but it gave me experience.

Next, I branched out to the paying magazine market. Magazines today depend on “niche” marketing. That means they target a specific audience. The easiest way to get started in a writing career is to find a niche market that you understand and in which you have had experience.

Because I know about homeschooling, I started by querying homeschool magazine. Consequently, I’ve now been published in several issues of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. The magazine market is not the greatest pay, but it does provide exposure, experience, and “tear sheets.” (Tear sheets are copies of your articles and are “resumes” in the writing world. You use these articles to show prospective editors that you have been published and the quality of your work.)

Here are some ideas to get your started in magazine writing:

1) Think about what you know. Do you sew? Work at a crime lab? Raise dogs? Program computers? Study the Bible?

2) Take that interest and research magazines that target people who are interested in the same thing. For instance, if you love to study the Bible, you might want to check out Standard Publishing.

3) Ask for writer’s guidelines. This is crucial! You can write the best article in the world but if the magazine can’t use it, it won’t get published. Find out what topics they are looking for, how many words they need (they all have specific requirements), and how they want it sent to them (some want print copies, many want electronic copies).

4) If they say “query first,” then query first. You’re wasting your time otherwise.

5) Follow the guidelines explicitly. The easier you make the editor’s job, the more likely you will get published and continue to get published.

Here are a couple of ways to locate magazine markets:

1) Writer’s Digest lists their top 100 listings on their website. They also have lots of great books on writing.

2) The Best of the Magazine Markets for Writers 2007 by Marni McNiff. Keep this on your desk for reference!

3) Writers Write. A list of magazine publishers by category.

That should get your started. Start writing today! It takes a while for the money to come in, but if you keep at it and constantly improve your skills, you will eventually make a nice income.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Just wanted to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Not much writing is going to be done over the holidays; but, beginning in January, we’ll get back to finishing the “Story of Our Life.”

Five Steps to E-Book Publishing

Here’s a brief outline of steps you can take that may help you to create your own e-books:

5steps.pdf

American Christian Writer’s Conference

FYI: Mark your calendar for the American Christian Writer’s Conference held in OKC on Feb. 22 & 23. There will be 20 workshops led by authors such as Len Goss (eidorial director for Broadman and Holdman Publishing), Rene Gutteridge (published by Bethany House), John Dwyer (published by B&H), Reg Forder (publisher of Christian Communicator), and others. Workshops include: Nonfiction & Fiction Writing, Writing Tools, The Publishing Process, Writing Drama, How to Work with Your Editor, Professional Interviewing, and many more.

The cost is $189 for the two days if you register by Feb. 1. For more info: www.ACWriters.com.

The Legend of the Poinsettia

     Poinsettias are known as the Christmas flower. The red flowers, which are really leaves, are in the shape of a star, such as the one that shimmered over Bethlehem when Jesus was born. The red color symbolizes the blood of Christ that was shed for the salvation of the world.

     There are several legends concerning the poinsettia.  One was that a small boy, wanting to have his very own gift to lay before the Creche at his church,  knelt to pray outside.  When he arose he discovered that the ground was covered with beautiful plants with scarlet leaves and yellow flowers.  He then picked the flowers and laid them at the Creche as his gift to the Christ-child.  Another legend is about a girl named Pepeta, whose mother was asked to weave a new blanket to cover the Baby Jesus in the manger for the Christmas Eve service.  Because the mother became ill, she was not able to complete the blanket.  Pepeta tried to weave, but could not do it alone.  The best she could do was pick an armful of green weeds to lay over the Baby Jesus.  As Pepeta prayed the green weeds were transformed into flaming red stars with green branches.  Today they are referred to as “La Flor De Noche Buena,” the flowers of the Holy Night.

     However, there was a time when there were no poinsettias in the United States. They were discovered growing wild in Mexico sometime between 1825 and 1830 by Dr. Joel Roberts Pointsett, the first ambassador to Mexico. Poinsett, a skilled botanist, was captivated by the beauty of the wild plant and called it “painted leaves.” He grew the plants in his greenhouse in Greenville, South Carolina and shared cuttings with his friend and neighbor Wilson Barton, great-great grandfather of Suzanne Barton Fisk. It was Wilson that gave the plants the name poinsettia after Dr. Poinsett. Wilson named his eldest son Joel Roberts Poinsett Barton in honor of his friend and neighbor. Joel Roberts Poinsett Barton, great grandfather to Suzanne, then named one of his sons the same. This son was Suzanne’s grandfather. Her father, who is now 92 years old, was named Joel R. Poinsett Barton. Suzanne’s brother is Joel R. Barton, the Poinsett being left off in this generation. Joel named one of his sons Robert Joel Barton.

     While the poinsettia is a beautiful Christmas flower to most people, for our family it is a symbol of love and unity and a reminder of our strong heritage.  Nothing seems to say “Merry Christmas” better than a beautiful red and green poinsettia.