It’s always some super chic 20-something who says, “I love your bag,” or “That’s some fine looking leather,” or, “Where did you find your purse?”
“Thanks,” I always say with real gratitude. “I got it at the Pioneer Woman Mercantile in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.” I love the word Pawhuska, and say it right: Puh HUSS ka, and with a bit of a drawl. And so the conversation begins with a lovely young woman and I am reminded that it’s a lie that the youngsters don’t like the oldsters, that ageism should even be a word, much a less something I worry about.
Of course it exists, but life is soooo way too short to be taking note of those with so little wisdom that they don’t recognize mine. Of course those complimenary and pleasant young women may be the exception rather than the norm. But don’t I prefer an exception-al life to a norm-al (offended) life?
Absolutely! I am not getting, or losing, my joy because someone somewhere thinks I’m past it. That’s because even though my wrinkles say otherwise, I am so much younger than I was when I was 20-something (when I was always spouting off something I later regretted). On the outside I may look like my purse–in need of a little spit and polish. But inside I get younger every single day.
Take responsibility for your and your family’s health and wellbeing, beginning in the kitchen!
If you know anyone who wants to eat better food and spend less doing so, share what the Parkers are doing in the kitchen! Also, please like and subscribe and THANK YOU!
I put together several YouTube videos last week (starring family members) aimed at spending less on groceries and eating better! Most of these videos have a few flaws–but time was short and the goal was worthy, so we plowed ahead and got them on YouTube for you.
Here’s the first one, and to see me having baking fun with Rebekah and meat smoking fun with John, making Keto-Friendly 4th of July desserts, and much more kitchen marvels, just go to YouTube!
Please remember to like and subscribe, and to share with anyone wanting to improve their health, family life, and finances.
Because I want to help people write real books, tell stories from their hearts, and overcome their fears via community and camaraderie, I’ve started 3rd Day Writers. Please see the link below and subscribe so you can join our next meeting!
Before I get to the money saving part, I would like to share with you the difference a day makes when writing queries to literary agents. I wrote a simply marvelous, utterly irresistible query yesterday, and because the internet went down, I had to obey my rule: Always wait 24 hours before submitting what you write to such luminaries as literary agents (I call them luminaries because they are readers and writers with power in my life!). And they seem to get a kick out of ridiculous/desperate query letters–I’ve noticed this when reading about how NOT to write one.
Back to my stunning query. When I approached it this morning with thoughts of a bit of tweaking (mostly just to enjoy my brilliance before sharing it) it had, in a mere 24 hours, become riddled with mush. It was confusing, disjointed, wordy–headache inducing.
I hope I fixed it. Perhaps waiting yet another twenty-four hours would have been wise.
And now for the money-saving part. This is hard to write because I’d rather not tell. But I am here to help! Last night (DON’T BUY THINGS ON THE NET AFTER MIDNIGHT) while listening to a YouTube video (DON’T WATCH YOUTUBE AFTER MIDNIGHT–also perhaps another good idea) I learned about Wal-Mart Plus–they deliver! I promptly signed up ($98 dollars with just a slight movement of a finger), made an order and then learned, well no, they don’t deliver to my house.
“Oh, sigh,” as my daughter used to say when things didn’t go according to plan. You know the rest of this sad tale: If I had heeded my own 24-hour rule, and waited until today, I would have perhaps done a little research before blithely tossing $98 down the Wal-Mart hole . . . And now I get the intense enjoyment of trying to sort this out.
So, just back off. Tell your money you’re the boss of it and it doesn’t get to go flying out of your hands whenever it wants to. Tell it you’ll talk again in 24 hours.
I am learning how to go about this, so bear with me, and we’ll figure it out. Please join in if you have any interest in writing anything!
I’ll be sharing a bit from my experience two weeks ago at the Northwest Christian Writer’s Conference (best conference EVER), and how a little child can lead you in your writing journey.
I’ll also ask you to be thinking of sharing from books that impacted you as a child–this in the June 3rd Day meeting, which will be June 19. Â We do hope you can join in!
My daughter just made homemade bread and added herbed butter and garlic, and served it to me with love. This, Dear Reader, is REAL bread. If we compare the practically spiritual experience of deeply enjoying such bread, to consuming a piece of fluorescent white stuff baked in a factory last week, we can see that making things complicated, expensive, difficult, and FAKE is not the way.
Perhaps I could liken this to writing. When we forget about the joy of simply writing a story, and attempt jumping through the publishing world’s hoops, things can get complicated. It begins to seem as though every time we try to write a bit, there are little gremlins gnawing at our ankles. They’re growling, hissing, whispering and snidely saying the likes of: What about the meaning of your story; what if it’s all a waste of time; you know you don’t know much of anything about anything you’re writing . . . Oh, and have you forgotten about the requisite social media following?
If you’re not having fun yet, consider with me the following requirements from a writer’s conference regarding pitching a novel:
Effective Hook
Describe Book
Title, genre, word count
Protagonist/Main Characters
Setting
Plot
Tone/Feel
How is the novel unique?
How does the book fit into the marketplace-research cited?
Marketing Plan
The size of the writer’s social media platform
Blog/Website promoting book with size of following
Podcast or YouTube channel, number of followers
Email list/number of contacts
Plan for guest posting on blogs, speaking engagements.
First problem for me: my book doesn’t neatly fit into a genre–first ankle bite. Next is I neither know nor care how it fits into the marketplace, and have no inclination to find out. I just want to write–is that so wrong?
The size of my social media platform? Uh, well, can we just skip that for now? My Blog/Website promoting the book with size of following? First off, can anyone tell me again the difference between a blog and a website, and why that matters? My e-mail list? Well, it’s pretty long, but you should know that many of those folks listed are no longer using the e-mail address I’m using.
Ah, but my plan! I do have a plan, and I think it’s a good one. And I’m sure I can get someone super famous to be my guest, and then they’ll ask me to come and speak and everyone in the HUGE crowd will buy my book.
Actually, I have no problem believing that last paragraph, and I actually do have a plan. But until the book is written, all these concerns are complications, aggravations, and creativity killers. They make me want more coffee, more Kombucha (golden pineapple perhaps, with lemon and lime wedges) and if all else fails I’ll get a Haagen Daas bar and eat it at the lake just up the road.
And then I’ll remind myself (and you Dear Reader) how absolutely pathetically impotent complaining makes us all (maybe I’ll have an absolutely pathetically impotent character in my book, and maybe someone with say clever and sarcastic things to him), and I’ll get on with the business at hand (it might be writing, or ice cream, or writing with bites of ice cream now and again.
But for the moment, here my video offering in case you want a bit more convincing and help about ignoring all the noise, confusion, and complication, and just doing a bit of writing:
The Home Front Show 
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