Dialogue is one of my strong points in writing, but in real life I often sputter over my words.  When trying to talk smack to my husband, he'll say, "Should we go instant message each other so you can come up with some decent retorts?"  Daniel is great at real life dialogue, and that's probably why I excel at writing it, but every now and then I can be funny, too.  Here's a couple of our conversations from this morning that I got a kick out of:

Dan is excited about getting HDTV today.  "Even Sponge Bob will be in high definition!"

He's going to have to try another way to get me excited.  "I don't care about either Sponge Bob or HD," I say.

Dan gasps.  "Please rephrase your comment so it doesn't break my heart."

I rephrase.  "I hate them."

Then we were talking about a meeting that we have to attend on Monday and who we should hire to babysit the kids.  This gets me much more excited than HDTV.

"We can make it a date!" I suggest, thinking we can add dinner and a movie to our evening.

Dan gives me a blank stare.

"Remember those things?" I tease.

Yes, it all sounds silly now that I write it, but I enjoy silly.  ;-p  You'll see when my books come out.

 

My kids weren't really ready to watch five bands at their first concert, but I got a lot out of it--even though Lauren fell asleep on my lap for the last hour.

Addison Road--So glad she performed.  She's having a baby in a five weeks, so I'm guessing she'll take a little time off from touring.

10th Avenue North--They were probably my favorite because they had the words to the song on the screen, and that's my learning style. (Yes, that makes me a geek.)  I also feel attachment to their songs since a friend of mine recently fought in his first cage fight, and though everybody else came out to the heavy metal song of their choice, he came out to By Your Side.  Beautiful.

Hawk Nelson--They make me want to teach aerobics to Christian music.  I choreographed step routines to Friend Like That and Let's Dance.  They were my son's favorite.

Jeremy Camp--Could have listened to him all night.  It was like he'd forgotten we were all there and was singing just for God.  As he was repeatedly singing "Hallelujah" my husband leaned over and whispered (yelled) Jeremy's history to me--how he'd married his high school sweetheart even though she had cancer and how he wrote a song on their honeymoon...  As a romance writer, I just had to tear up a little.

Mercy Me--Dan recorded the crowd sining I Can Only Imagine on his phone.  An amazing moment.

We then went out for pie to celebrate our friends' son's birthday.  The kids got their second wind and we made it home by 1 AM.  Definitely a night to remember.

My first concert memory involves Carman.  Remember him?  Kids couldn't fall asleep when he was entertaining.  What ever happened to him?

Anyway, I went to the Carman concert with my best friend from first grade, and I recently found her again online.  Now her husband is in a band. Here's a little bit of their muscial talent for you to enjoy.

Embarrassing Moment #1

My kids like to get "kid packs" from the library.  They come with games, toys, books, puppets and more, and each pack has a theme like ballet or chess.  So last week we brought home the Black History Museum Kid Pack.  I knew it had some dolls in it that my girls were playing with, but I didn't really pay attention until my African-American friend Tiffany came over.  Her one-year-old picked up a doll to play with, and Tiffany was like, "What the heck?"

On closer inspection I found that the dolls represented the historical slaves of the South.  There was an Uncle Tom like figure dressed in rags and a big floppy hat, and there was even a woman stooped over as if working in the fields with a baby attached to her back.  Not the most politically correct toy, to say the least.  Of course my husband had to tease me about it, but we all had a good laugh after I explained.

Embarrassing Moment #2

Every year for our Upward awards night we have a guest presenter.  This year it was a ventrilliquist.  No, I didn't get called up on stage again, but I did draw a little bit of unwanted attention to the cheerleading squad I coach.  

We'd been watching the act, and a couple little girls said they had to go potty.  I asked if they could wait.  Finally they couldn't hold it anymore, so I motioned for them to quietly head toward the back of the sanctuary, and I stood to follow.  

Unfortunately we were in the very front.  

Unfortunately the whole team decided they had to go.  

And unfortunately it was right as the presenter gave the invitation to accept Christ.

My husband Dan had been sitting right behind me with his basketball team.  I guess he leaned forward to ask my assistant coach why I was running out of the room with my whole team the moment Jesus was mentioned.  When explaining to him later, I admitted that I felt pretty bad about ruining the chance for my team to dedicate their lives to Christ.  

Now if you know my husband, you know that he likes to dispell my worries by blowing them into such rediculous proportions that I can't do anything but laugh.  He sang me a revised version of that song "Thank you for giving to the Lord"--a song about a man who goes to heaven and finds out all the surprising ways he touched people's lives.  Dan sang: "Thank you for taking me to the bathroom, even though I'm now in helllllll."  

Terrible!  But I laughed harder than I have in a long, long time.  It's a good thing I can laugh at myself.  

A friend just wrote and asked for writing advice.  He has an editor interested in one of his novels, which adds pressure to his writing.  He said, "My writing scope feels inadequate to the task."  I know the feeling well.  And after I wrote him back, I decided I need to keep my words of advice for myself.  A good reminder when I lose focus.  Maybe you all can be encouraged by them as well:

This is what I suggest.  Feel free to write garbage for the first draft.  Feel free to take risks.  Turn off your mental editor and write from your heart.  Then when you get to the end, read books like Writing the Breakout Novel and apply them to your story.  Bravely slash the stuff that doesn't work.  Add in new twists, deeper conflict, and tangible emotion.  Tie it all together as best you can.  Then hand it over for critique to writers you trust.  Let them slash and suggest.  Take their feedback and use what feels organic to your story.  

Whatever you do, don't lose the passion. And Pray.  Make yourself humble.  Lift it up to God.  Dance for joy because of the opportunities He's granted you.  Revel in the knowledge that God is going to use you in ways you can't possibly imagine.

Then get ready for rejection.  Take it in stride, knowing that it's not a reflection of your worth.  It's simply one step closer to a dream you've allowed yourself to follow.  Being willing to take another step is the mark of true success.