New Dreams

Travel writing is a new goal of mine.  My boyfriend mentioned it as a life goal of his once, so I figured… hey, I better get on board with this idea!  Then I took a travel writing class to England and now I’m completely sold.   For a girl my age, I am well-traveled, but the thought of travelling for a living never ocurred to me as a possibility.   I just love home too much.  When I stand before an English meadow, or inside a cave deep in Mexico and think “Gee, I miss the wheat field east of the house,” it becomes pretty obvious where my loyalty lies.  I’m a simple American farmgirl.  Me, a world traveller??  But here was the clincher for me:  I love people.  I am a writer always on the lookout for characters.  People make me laugh; they make me question; they make come alive!  And as (one of) my favorite quote(s) says:

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~Unknown

What is more exciting than sitting in a foreign pub, deep  in conversation with a complete stranger?  (Well, maybe sky diving?) 

I am a regional writer.  I write about the place I live; its where my passion lies.  Travel writing was a huge stretch for me.  It meant I had to go somewhere unfamiliar and write about that place and do so as if I was a native.  What great practice for a writer.  What a way to educate myself.  Examining new things makes one grow as an individual as well.

Life as  a travel writer would be an adventure.  My life has always been a crazy ride; I welcome the memories.  Life moves and I wish to move with it!  Very few things in life are constant; that was a lesson I learned early in my childhood.  Perhaps this is what I was being prepared for? 

Obviously, I am talking into the future here.  Right now, I am loving home and need to finish school.  And one doesn’t just “become” a travel writer.  I am realistic; I have done my research.  If I am serious about this, it will mean a lot of work and a lot of luck.  But this probably won’t be the last you hear of my new goal.

So now I have recorded it: Emily Grace’s career goal has experienced an addition.  For the first time in ten years, she has altered her goal of being a novelist.  On her way up the ladder to published fiction, she may (if opportunity provides) take a detour on the travel writing rung.

Blessings,
Em

p.s. Remember: Character matters!

a nice quote

Christianity has come to the point where we believe that there is no higher aspiration for the human soul than to be nice. We are producing a generation of men and women whose greatest virtue is that they don’t offend anyone. Then we wonder why there is not more passion for Christ. How can we hunger and thirst after righteousness if we have ceased hungering and thirsting altogether?   ~Ransomed Heart Ministries

 

written all over your face

A man’s face is his autobiography.  A woman’s face is her work of fiction.  ~Oscar Wilde

Father’s Day

I was very impressed with these words from President Obama.  I have been blessed with a wonderful father, but know so many who cannot say that.  May we take the president’s words to heart!

 I came to understand that the hole a man leaves when he abandons his responsibility to his children is one that no government can fill. We can do everything possible to provide good jobs and good schools and safe streets for our kids, but it will never be enough to fully make up the difference. 

That is why we need fathers to step up, to realize that their job does not end at conception; that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one. . .

And it’s not enough to just be physically present. Too often, especially during tough economic times like these, we are emotionally absent: distracted, consumed by what’s happening in our own lives, worried about keeping our jobs and paying our bills, unsure if we’ll be able to give our kids the same opportunities we had.

Our children can tell. They know when we’re not fully there. And that disengagement sends a clear message — whether we mean it or not — about where among our priorities they fall. . .

We [fathers] need to set limits and expectations. We need to replace that video game with a book and make sure that homework gets done. We need to say to our daughters, Don’t ever let images on TV tell you what you are worth, because I expect you to dream without limit and reach for your goals. We need to tell our sons, Those songs on the radio may glorify violence, but in our house, we find glory in achievement, self-respect, and hard work.

We need to realize that we are our children’s first and best teachers.

~President Barack Obama

Couldn’t agree more!

“You can only make the kind of (television) show that you really feel you wanna make. That, in my case, I feel is needed. I think it’s important that people think a little bit. If they’re not going to at least read, if they’re going to sit there and watch this [television] until they vegetate, at least let them think a little bit. It might force them to pick up a book.”

~Michael Landon

 

(quote taken from interview clip during A&E biography of Michael Landon)

 

 

Coffee quotes

I went to this website yesterday and found hilarious coffee quotes.  I’ve posted my favorite below, just for laughs.  I’m a big fan of coffee, and, for the record, I drink mine black!  When I do buy specialty coffees…it’s always Mocha!  🙂

This coffee falls into your stomach, and straightway there is a general commotion.  Ideas begin to move like the battalions of the Grand Army of the battlefield, and the battle takes place.  Things remembered arrive at full gallop, ensuing to the wind.  The light cavalry of comparisons deliver a magnificent deploying charge, the artillery of logic hurry up with their train and ammunition, the shafts of with start up like sharpshooters.  Similes arise, the paper is covered with ink; for the struggle commences and is concluded with torrents of black water, just as a battle with powder.  ~Honore de Balzac, “The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee”

He was my cream, and I was his coffee –
And when you poured us together, it was something.
~Josephine Baker

In America you can buy bucket-sized cups of coffee in any flavour you like other than coffee-flavour.  ~Author Unknown

Caffeine is my shepherd; I shall not doze.
It maketh me to wake in green pastures:
It leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses.
It restoreth my buzz:
It leadeth me in the paths of consciousness for its name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of addiction,
I will fear no Equal™:
For thou art with me; thy cream and thy sugar they comfort me.
Thou preparest a carafe before me in the presence of The Starbucks:
Thou anointest my day with pep; my mug runneth over.
Surely richness and taste shall follow me all the days of my life:
And I will dwell in the House of Mochas forever.
~Author Unknown

Do I like my coffee black?  There are other colors?  ~Author Unknown

It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity.  I bet this kind of thing does not happen to heroin addicts.  I bet that when serious heroin addicts go to purchase their heroin, they do not tolerate waiting in line while some dilettante in front of them orders a hazelnut smack-a-cino with cinnamon sprinkles.  ~Dave Barry

LOL
Blessings,
Emily

Learning to trust

Today has been quite emotional for me.  I’ve been concerned for my little church for several years, but this last year especially.  I have watched our young leave, our old die and those that remained grow tired, straining under their burdens. I’m at a loss to understand the “why” for it all.  Today I watched one man grow emotional to the point of tears over our plight, and it was too much for me.  Normally I pride myself in being a pretty strong, independent girl.  Not today, though.

When I finally checked my e-mail this afternoon, I was given a dear gift, however.  In a newsletter I get from Ransomed Heart Ministries, this appeared:

When we face trials, our most common reaction is to ask God, “Why won’t you relieve us?” And when He doesn’t, we resignedly ask, “What do you want me to do?”  Now we have a new question: “Where is the Romance headed?”

I’m still not sure where my balance is.  I spent the early afternoon thinking of things I can say, people with authority that I could visit with, actions that I could take.  I can’t in good conscience just watch my beloved little chapel crumble away.  Yet what if that’s God’s will?  What if He needs each of our congregation somewhere else in the future?  I don’t want to be stubborn and get in His way, either.  After all, sometimes God answers our prayers with a “no.”

Well, God? What’s happening?  Where are you taking this Romance now?

quote!

This quote inspired me the other day:

In the end, it doesn’t matter how well we have performed or what we have accomplished—a life without heart is not worth living.                                                                                          ~Ransomed Heart Ministries

I’ve quoted this ministry before.  What can Isay? I really recommend them!

gossip bubbles

I’ve shared this quote before, but yesterday I made it into a sign.  What do you think?

sleep

Sorry I have been neglectful to post!  I am in the middle of researching for a speech I’m giving on Bias in the News Media and it has taken up every spare minute I have.  But I am almost done, now, and am going to bed. 

Are there every moments where you feel you HAVE to sleep or you’ll go crazy?  Ya, that’s me now.  So I’ll leave you with this quote:

Consciousness: that annoying time between naps