High Energy Days and One Last Mystery Photo Contest

Better Late than Never

At least that's what we tell ourselves when we show up late. I'm late with this post and you can maybe see the reason in this picture. The grandkids have been to visit and stay a few days. They can keep this grandmama hopping. They've gone home now, but they had lots of fun. 

Well, this front runner had fun until yesterday when she came down with some kind of bug. Sick, sick all day long. Couldn't even hold down ginger ale. Now I'm a little worried that her little bug may have hopped around to me. But so far I'm holding my tea down. She was a very brave kid. Suffering in silence mostly and handling being sick very well. But it did put a damper on her fun. Thank goodness we already had the promised fishing trip done the day before. And all the kids caught fish. She said she caught the most at seven and the boys caught five or six. I lost count, but I have the feeling she would have counted up more than the boys no matter. After all, she's their big sister and should catch the most. LOL. 

One More Blog Contest to Win a Book

So how about an easy mystery picture puzzle for the last blog contest? (Well, last right now. I'm sure I'll have more later.) Just leave a guess on what this is and you'll be entered in a drawing for your choice of one of my books. 

Remember the guess doesn't have to be right to get an entry. Any kind of comment will do, but it's fun to guess. And so can you tell me what this is?

Sunday's Winner

I guess it's time for me to tell you the winner from Sunday's "Tell me about your Dad" drawing. By the way, the Dad stories were fabulous. If you didn't read the comments on my Sunday post, then you should go back and read them. Those who shared about their dads really helped us get to know some great guys. Deadline for entries is 6 p.m. EST on Sunday June 28, 2015. You must be 18 to enter.

Oh yeah, you wanted to know the winner, didn't you? Drum roll please. And the winner of her choice of one of my books is Sharon M. I'll be in touch, Sharon. 

Thank you all for reading and for playing my flower (and Dad) games.

Another Guessing Game, Another Book to Give Away

The Winner of the First Book is...

And my first blog book giveaway winner is Alla.  I'll be in touch via e-mail, Alla. 

Flower #2

You all were too good at the first game. You're either lucky guessers or you paid attention on my Facebook page. If that's it, you'd play a mean game of Concentration. Wasn't there a game like that on television where they had to match something on a big board? There used to be so many games on daytime television. Some of them are still around. Price is Right. Jeopardy. Wheel of Fortune. I used to like Password. I think that's the right name. More recently, that crazy game A Minute to Win It was sort of fun. I watched it some with Mom when I was staying with her. She liked it. Which old television game shows do you remember?


But back to my flower game. Yes, indeed, flower #2 was the new flower that bloomed too late to make my parade of yellow flowers on my Facebook page. It's a moss rose or at least, that's what I always called it. Those little flowers are so cute and tough too. They can take the heat.

And Now on to the Next Game

This post we're doing something a little different. It's still a yellow flower, but do you recognize which one? Any comment will get you an entry (even an "I don't know"), but the right answer gets you two chances to win. Remember to guess before you read the comments. One winner, named in the Sunday post, will win the choice of one of my books, autographed to the winner or to one of the winner's family or friends. So if you already have ALL my books (and I really thank you if you do!), keep in mind that books make great gifts for any occasion or a just for fun occasion. 

Newsletter Shaker Gift Giveaway

I'm sending out a newsletter in the next couple of days with a Shaker gift giveaway to celebrate The Innocent. So if you'd like to be on my newsletter list and you aren't already, be sure to sign up pronto. 

Thanks for reading 

Remarks that Sting

Criticism is something we can easily avoid by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing. --Aristotle

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Virginia Smith and I were all smiles after the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference a few weeks ago. Ginny was the keynote speaker and did a fantastic series of speeches about the writing road. She used her own experience including the potholes and bumps she has encountered and her words were very inspiring for the writers in attendance. And for the fellow staff people like me.

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I taught a couple of classes. One about character (twice) and one about revision. People actually came to listen to what I had to say about both. The room was overflowing for my first character class and then only one showed up for the repeat of the class - the staff person assigned to my class. So I told her the old joke about the farmer who was the only person to show up for revival services and the preacher asked if he wanted to just skip the service and go home. The farmer said, "Well, preacher, if I go out to feed my cows and only one old cow shows up, I still feed her." So the preacher got behind the pulpit and preached his entire message as if a hundred people were listening. When he was through he asked the farmer what he thought. The farmer gave the preacher a look and said, "Well, preacher, when I go out to feed my cows and only one old cow shows up, I don't give her the whole load!" That story's always good for a laugh. Especially when I tell whatever sparse crowd I'm speaking to that they're going to get the whole load. Another person wandered in and the three of us had a good class. The two ladies didn't seem to get over full even though I unloaded the whole load on them.

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At the end of the conference the attendees were asked to fill out evaluations of the classes they'd attended. Last week I got the summary of those evaluations and a few remarks from the people who had come to my classes. There was a star rating system with five stars being the best and one star being not so good. I got three times as many five star scores as four stars and only a few three stars. Guess which ones I think about most? The remarks were that way too. "Enjoyed." "Very entertaining." "Good speaker." "Good points." "Good presentation." And more along this line, but then there were those two or three remarks that sort of made the good ones fade like invisible ink. "Inexperienced speaker." "Hoping for more." "Not much new info."

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Now why, when I think about the evaluations, do I dwell on the ones that pointed out places I might have come up short? Do you think it was because I thought I did come up short? Why can't I just believe those thirty of so people who enjoyed the classes and gave me such great feedback?

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That's the way we are, isn't it? That critical word sticks to us like a cocklebur while we let the good words fly right past our ears. We need to accept the good. That's not to say that I couldn't have done better with the classes. I could have. Maybe that's why the remarks stung a little, because I saw the truth in them. If I teach more conferences I'll be ready to improve on what I did at this one. So maybe even though criticism can sting, we learn more from it than from praise.

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If you want to hear a live internet radio interview with me tune in tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon at 5 p.m. EST to Amish Wisdom with host Suzanne Woods Fisher. I'll be talking about Shakers and not the Amish, but it still sounds like fun. You can check out the website and connect at http://toginet.com/shows/amishwisdom. Plus you can leave a comment there to have a chance to win an autographed copy of The Seeker. The final winner in my June and July drawings was Anita from NC. She won the Shaker gift, a bun and bread warming stone, along with the copy of my book. I'll be doing a new giveaway soon.

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Love this quote below. Hope you have more love than criticism this week and every week.

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Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I may not forget you. Love me and I may be forced to love you. -William Arthur Ward