The Sunday Salon (Feb. 10)

I am grateful to no longer be in a reading slump. I am just over half-way through reading “You’re Made for a God-Sized Dream” by Holley Gerth (an e-book ARC). And, it’s good. But, it’s challenging. I can only read a chapter here and there in one sitting, as I have to then set the book aside and digest what I’ve read. It’s not heavy reading by any means. But, it really makes you think! The book will be available to the public in March, so stay tuned!

I’m starting to feel the “crunch” of time… I have two more books that need to be read and reviewed this month, but I also have three library books that I’m looking forward to digging into. The review books are “The Emotionally Healthy Woman” by Geri Scazzero, and “Calling Me Home” by Julie Kibler. I will probably read those in that order, as that is the order in which they are due. And, the library books I have home to read are “The $100 Start-Up” by Chris Guillebeau, “Quitter” by Jon Acuff, and “Making Habits, Breaking Habits” by Jeremy Dean. I may have to take “The $100 Start-Up” back without reading it, though, as I can’t renew it any more, and –like I said– I have two more review books to get to first.

This is the only thing I hate about reviewing — everything looks so good, so I’ll occasionally get too greedy and ask for too many books at once. Then I’m left with no time to read anything else, like library books. Yet, I’ll have put library books on hold way-back-when that just happen to come in when I’m in a time-crunch. Aargh!

On the music front, I am soooo excited for my friends that have the band! They have been hard at work on their first professionally-recorded album, and they just got their copy of the master disc! Their new CD — “Frontiers” — will be out very soon, and I absolutely cannot wait! They’ve also renamed themselves… Check out Otic Poets on Twitter: #OticPoets {and, if you’re like me, you wonder what “otic” means… it means “auditory; pertaining to the ear”  }.

The band’s new sound is awesome! They released their debut single, “My Let Down“, on Facebook, this past week, and I love it! It’s more up-tempo from their previous stuff. Soooo good! Don’t get me wrong — I loved their former CDs. But, I really like the new stuff, too!

This last little while, being that I’m reading about chasing after our dreams and all that, I’ve been really struggling with God’s supposed calling on my life to be a Writer. I’ve always loved the act of writing… of putting pen to paper, spilling my thoughts, etc. I love to journal. And, in high school, I was the crazy one that loved it when the teacher would fill all three chalkboards with notes for us to copy down into our binders, then erase those and fill them all again. I loved copying those notes! Maybe because it was a quiet activity where I could escape into my own head. But maybe, too, because of the act of writing.

But, the idea of being an author — someone who writes books, does book signings, etc. — that just doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t want all of that. I like to stay behind the scenes. So, in some respects, being a writer is an ideal profession for me… I could sit in a quiet room and write away. But, there are other aspects to it (proposals, promoting the book…) that make me cringe.

And, of course, I had myself pigeon-holed into this being the only true way to write… that of writing books. But, that is not the only method out there, of course.

True-to-form, God showed up and busted my tiny thinking. LOL. I was on Facebook, checking out a new group started by author & blogger, Holley Gerth, and I found a woman who is an editor for an online Christian magazine for teen girls, called “Shine & Soar“. This magazine is actually brand-spanking-new (the first issue will be out in March). It deals with entrepreneurship, and is aimed at teen girls who dream of being business owners! Well, whatdoyaknow, I actually have a deep passion for entrepreneurship, and have come to have a heart for teen girls. I have been feeling, for a while now, that God is calling me to some day work with teen girls, whether it be leading a Bible study for them, or giving talks to them about this or that, or whatever. So, this idea — this magazine — just really got me excited!

I was so excited, in fact, that I couldn’t hardly sleep, that night, after finding this magazine! LOL. Leave it to God to turn my grumbling into such giddy excitement.

So, I am aiming to write an article {possibly more} for this magazine. I messaged the editor right there on Facebook to suggest such a thing, telling her about how I just came out of a job where I worked with entrepreneurs, and felt that I had something I could offer –knowledge-wise– to her readers, and she said “Go for it!” Whoohoo!

On another note, I may have found a way to work from home. In several of the nonfiction books I’ve read, this last year or two, I’ve heard about Elance.com. It’s a place for people to post jobs they need done, and for other people –looking for work– to find jobs suited to their interests. I signed myself up there, and have found several jobs that look like they would be ideal for me, given my interests and skills. So, I sent in proposals for those, and am just waiting to hear whether or not I’m chosen. It’s such a great website! I really hope this works out, as it would help us out, financially, but also allow me to stay home to work, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time! We shall see.

Happy reading, everyone!

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