Day 16 | You're not ready for this

Hello my dear thinking thoughts... readers!  I have some exciting news, an update on the NaNo novel, and an encouraging story to share with you today.

I'll start with the exciting news :)

As I've been thinking through my writing and have recently joined American Christian Fiction Writers (check out the post HERE) I really have felt the Lord leading me toward more writing-related endeavors.  It's such an exciting and inspirational thing to have friends who encourage me in this and to be introduced into a community like ACFW.  The loope emails we all receive are so great and have stoked my writing embers into a blaze.

The result of all this are a few new things coming to blog.  Starting next week I will be introducing {Writer Wednesday}!  These posts will be on Wednesday (crazy, right?) and will be a compilation of a few things.  First, they will feature a different author (published & un-published alike**) each week.  I have come up with a pretty inclusive set of questions for an 'interview style' type of post.  With these questions I have tried to tap into the authors writing process, their motivations for writing, and some fun questions about the person behind the book!  In addition to this, I want these posts to be helpful places for writing tips from the authors themselves.  I think {Writer Wesdnesday} will be fun for everyone - writer or not - and a great way to discover new books or pick up a new writing/publishing tip!

I'll be starting off the very first {Writer Wednesday} next week with my own personal story ;)  I'm excited to already have a great lineup for December including a book giveaway by the talented Emily Ann Benedict.  You will want to make sure and "join" this site (use the lovely little blue box to the left that says "Join this site") so that you will be updated on new posts and more potential giveaways and contests! I'm also on Networked Blogs if you want to follow me that way too.

As for my NaNo Novel, things are going well!  I'm currently at 26,744 words and am plugging away quite nicely!  Still have some work to do today on it, but I'm feeling confident (hope that doesn't come back to bite me later).

That pretty much sums up my week so far.  In addition to {Writer Wednesday} I'll also be reviewing books soon.  I need the dust from NaNoWriMo to settle before I make my way through all of them but I'm excited to have a few new books to the market to share with you all.

Lastly, I mentioned I had an encouraging story to share.  Yesterday I was part of a group from my church that partnered with a pastor from another church in our area to stock-pile their food pantry shelves for the Thanksgiving/Christmas season.

It was such a blessing to join with other members of my church (parents and children) to fill up over 10 carts of food for this small little food pantry.  Pastor George, who heads up the pantry for Church of Hope, was so grateful!  He told me afterward that the food we bought today will more than likely take them through March (which includes the other donations they will get around the holiday).  I was overwhelmed to hear him say that!  It was only a small part of my day but by far one of the best parts.

It reminded me of the sermon from this past Sunday by our Pastor Luis.  His focus was blessing and the key phrase I have taken with me this week is:  We are blessed to be a blessing.  When you put your life in that perspective everything takes on a different meaning.  It's so 'focusing' (and yes, I may have made that up) to think that every blessing we have/receive is not for us (necessarily) but for us to bless others with!

I hope this encourages you to look for ways in your life you can bless others because of the blessings you've received!  Make sure to check back in next week for the first {Writer Wednesday}.

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**If you're an author and would like to guest post for {Writer Wednesday} make sure and send me and email including a link to your blog and I'll be in touch.