Cheesy Bird Videos is my post over at the Inkwell today. Just a few brief videos to show our feathered friends doing the same kinds of things that people do...like popping out and scaring others...or being a bully...nothing highly emotional that will take the edge off your day, just a few minutes to clear your mind as you go.
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All of the videos are shown at normal speed, and then slow motion so you can see what really happened. Not award worthy. Simply entertaining.

​You can see them at
http://www.inkwellinspirations.com/2018/03/cheesy-bird-videos.html
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I'm blogging over at Inkwell Inspirations today about Historic Snow Cabooses. Well, it was just the historic ones, and then I remembered about a modern one, so it's a Then and Now post.

I'd like to thank the folks over at the Lanigan and District Heritage Assoc Virtual Museum for allowing me to use their images in my post. 

Thanks also going out to the Glenbow Museum and Archives for their wonderful online resource site.

And finally, thank you to Balzer's for putting their SnoBear near Hwy 1E heading into Regina or I would never have known these fascinating modern people movers for winter use existed. I have been enlightened. 

Here's a taste of what awaits you over at the Inkwell...

Many more images and a SnoBear video over at the Inkwell. Hope to see you there.

This spring on March 11, I was presented an opportunity to create a story for a new two-volume hardcover set containing 16 short stories to be published by Guideposts Books in time for this holiday season. The deadline for the submission of a synopsis was March 26 - a mere two weeks away. 

The two books were to have different themes:
- family, faith, and friendship in one 
- angels, miracles, and other  wonders in the second

Since the initial email said we could contact the editor for a list of story suggestions, I emailed and asked for the list so I'd have an idea of what they were looking for. 

In the days that followed, two stories came to mind - a contemporary story and a historical one, both fitting the faith, family, and friendship theme. I wrote and rewrote and after each synopsis was done to my satisfaction, I sent it out to my Inkwell Inspiration blog mates (Inkies) for critiquing. 

On Mar 25, I emailed both synopses and a writing sample to the Guideposts editor. And then I tried to concentrate on my current writing project while I waited - not an easy thing to do.

On April 8th, I went into town for awhile and although I had my iPhone with me, I didn't have the volume turned up and didn't feel it vibrate. As soon as I returned home and entered the dining room though, I saw the light flashing on the Answering Machine. It was my agent, Mary Keeley, announcing that Guideposts wanted to buy my short story, Riding on a Christmas Wish.  

Wahoo!!!

Before I became too excited however, Mary advised that the Guideposts Books editor had some conditions before the contract would be offered. She gave me his number, and after a few hours when I'd settled down a bit, I made the call. 

The editor said the main condition was that they wanted the story to be written in the father's point-of-view (POV) only. (He gave me the reason, but I won't say it here because that would ruin the story for you.) Would I be able to do that? I answered yes because several people had told me that I write guys well, and if that's what it took I was up for the challenge. The editor was also concerned that a big action scene would be lost because it was in the mother's POV, but I assured him that I could work around it and keep the action. (It gave me confidence that he liked the action scene.) With that verbal agreement, I got down to the business of writing. My new deadline to submit the complete 5,500-7,000 word short story (22-28 manuscript pages) was May 6. 

And I did, again with help from my Inky blog mates. What would I do without them?

On May 10th, I received the Guideposts contract in the mail - all 3 copies. It was right there on paper that they wanted Riding on a Christmas Wish for A Cup of Christmas Cheer. Upon reading the contract, though, my joy was tempered by a sobering fact - that if the manuscript wasn't acceptable, the editor would ask for revisions once only. If the editor did not like my revisions, Guideposts would terminate the contract and I would receive a kill fee for my trouble versus the full payment. Gulp.

But it wasn't enough to stop the joy from bubbling up again. In order not to give away the contract details, I whitened out much of this xeroxed copy prior to taking this self-portrait. Yes, that means I aimed the camera at my chair and set the timer . . . ran to my chair . . . held up the contract . . . and smiled. 

I shared the image on Facebook, etc, and got back to writing.

On May 31st I received my first ever revision letter. The Guideposts editor spared nothing in giving me his thoughts on my story and it looked bad at first, but it actually came down to one character problem and the tone of the story. The editor wanted the revised copy back by 9 am on June 10th, and after deep-thinking for a couple days, I started the revisions. 

On June 9th, I sent in my revised copy, and then sat on tenterhooks while waiting to see if the editor liked it. Was it good enough? Had I understood his revision requests? Had I conveyed on paper the tone I knew he wanted? Would it be rejected because of something I could have easily changed? The doubts lingered...

Thankfully, he answered the next day - on June 10 - with a thank you note saying no further revisions were needed and the book would be out in October. 

That was it. Or was it? Although I'd signed the contract, I didn't have the final version with the whole contingent of signatures. 

You know, it's funny how your faith can flag when you allow doubt to set in. It's also the reason I didn't write this post sooner - the fear of rejection was very strong. It seemed better to wait and be sure my story had been accepted before making a big hoopla. So far, the only thing I had done was post the above photo on Facebook, and that was all I was going to do until I was very sure of publication. The thing is... the publishing world is changing so fast, an author can never be sure of publication until the book hits the stores. 

On July 15 however, I received an email from the Books & Such head office that the Cup of Christmas Cheer contract had arrived and was attached. You can bet I ran that attachment off pretty quick. :)

And now I finally believe that I am going to be published - and soon too, because at this point, Oct is only 3 months away. Sure, things can happen between now and then, but faith in my writing ability has taken an upswing. I've been blessed beyond measure with this opportunity and so grateful to my agent, Mary, and my Guideposts editor, for giving me this chance. 

October you say? Yikes, I have to start planning how I can help promote this project starting with the Genre Dinner at the upcoming ACFW conference.... but that's another post. :)

Thursday was the official beginning of the conference and I'd arranged to meet fellow Inkwell blogmate, Jennifer AlLee, for breakfast at the 24 hrs Starbucks Coffee shop down near the lobby. This would be the first of many times I'd spent in this comfortable lounge which served both the coffee shop and bar.  

After a quick breakfast, Jen went to her volunteer position at the registration desk while I headed to the 8:30 Early Bird Session, Writing in Scenes, presented by Nancy Kress. This was an excellent workshop on effective scene construction. Click the link for a summary of this workshop.

The Early Bird Session ended at 12:30 and I went looking for the rest of the Inkies, texting as I went. Thank Goodness for texting! I remember my first few conferences when I could never find people, but being able to text has changed all that. So efficient.

We met at the same restaurant I ate at on my first night there - Jacob's Spring Grille and enjoyed the luncheon buffet. One thing I wasn't crazy about was our table as we sat in the corner near the door with a clear glass wall separating us from a long line of hungry people. I was very conscious of those people as I ate, but Jennifer AlLee, Dina Sleiman, and Lisa Karon Richardson enhanced the meal delightfully. I especially liked the unique coffee cup and slanted saucer. And no, the blue square is a geometric design and not a price sticker. LOL

To backtrack a bit, when I'd gone back to the room the night, there had been a message for me from Penny at Harlequin talking about a Thurs meeting. I'd been tickled pink as well as confused because I didn't have a meeting arranged with anyone from Harlequin and I didn't know a Penny who worked their, either. But I'd remembered somewhere during the morning that I had been wanting to meet up with Penn, an eHarlequin hostie. I just never knew her name was actually Penny. I met Penny and Love Inspired eHarlequin hostie, Danica Favorite, in the Lounge and shared a grand hour or so with them.

At 3 pm, everyone met for the first General Session. This is the time when Barbour Publishing surprises someone with their very first contract and I had dreamed of having my name called. Since Becky Germany wasn't able to make the event, ACFW president, Margaret Daley, did the honours, but when she read out the names, mine wasn't one of them, although I wouldn't take anything away from the people who's names were called.

I'd been waiting to hear Michael Hyatt as he was the Keynote Speaker and when he finally did, it was good. I didn't cry or get emotional like I've done while listening to other Keynote speakers, and now, weeks later I can't remember much of what he said, but I remember thinking at the time that it was good.

The best part of the assembly was the worship session.  And then came our first of several sit-down meals  - excellent food and inspiring people to eat it with. And the cheesecake was perfect although I ate it before I thought of taking a photo.

At 7 pm I was with Jennifer AlLee at the Spotlight on Abingdon session where I heard publicly what I always knew - that Jen is one of their best authors - Yay, Jen! - as well as a lot of other good and interesting things about Abingdon itself.  

Next was a workshop from 8:30-9:30 pm on Platform Boosting E-Newsletters with Thomas Umstattd. If you've ever met Thomas, you know he's a fast talker. He knows what he talking about and he has a passion for it. I knew it was going to be a fast session, and it was jam-packed from the get-go. I was reporting on this session for the ACFW ezine, Afictionado and you can read my write-up on the ACFW website at the above link. 

And the evening still wasn't over because a 9-11 pm Books & Such Agency Come and Go was happening and since it was my first Agency event, I was bound to go. Hosted by one of the B&S agents, Rachelle Gardner, the social gathering was the perfect opportunity to meet my fellow agency-mates.

I walked around proudly with a Books & Such Literary Agency ribbon attached to my name tag ribbon stream for the next several days and encountered many authors who asked where I'd found the 'agent' ribbons. It was fun to reply that, as far as I knew, Books & Such was the only Literary Agency supplying them. Wanna bet we see more at the 2013 conference? 

This seems like the perfect time to thank Mary Keeley and Janet Grant for taking me on as a client of Books & Such. I'm still pinching myself, and so very grateful for the vote of confidence.