New beginnings, send the last child back to school and start creating me again. Sounds great doesn’t it? So in order to do that I thought I should review the top seven things I might have done differently this past year. Why seven? I’m not David Lettermen!
7. Spent more time learning one thing well instead of ten things a little bit.
6. Started exercising in Jan. instead of August.
5. Continued in my efforts to eliminate clutter from my house.
4. Taught my cat how to retrieve Diet. Dr. Pepper bottles from the fridge and bring it to me.
3. Made more meals for my family this summer instead of doing take out.
2. Learned how to drive the bob cat.
1. Not ask God for a big storm note to self: next time ask for sprinkles
Blog
Dealing
How do you deal with overwhelming times in your life? I’m thankful I have God to fall back on and most of the time just knowing He is there will pull me through. Sometimes though I can’t get a sense of Him being with me during those times I load up on music. Right now I need extra time with God so I’ve been hanging on to the words and music of Nicole C. Mullins –Fall, Superchick Beauty from the Pain and Stories Down to the Bottom, David Crowder Band (almost all of his songs!) are a few that pull me up from the bottom of the blues.
A few weeks ago I was really into Michael Schroeder, Send the Storm on his Fuel for the Soul cd. I was singing along with that song begging for God to send the Storm. Well God sent that storm and now I’m falling back into Him more and more each day. I’m sad that my storm included the loss of two dear people I loved but I’m not sad because falling back into God’s waiting arms brings such comfort. But next time I feel I’m moving to far from God I think I’ll ask for a few bumps in the road to send me back instead of a storm.
Saying Goodbye
Cathye Moon
Since the beginning of August our home has been filled with the loss of family. My sweet mother-in-law lost the battle with cancer just as her son, my first husband did. The same weekend my father-in-law, my husband’s father.
Both were in their eighties and vibrant personalities. Claire volunteered in so many places, at the local nursing home, the hospital as a pastoral counselor, and other places.
Despite being severely debilitated from an elevator accident only meant Oscar would try harder at living his life. He was still making breakfast for the local firemen, active with the senior center and a fantastic story teller.
There is much to say about these two people I loved but the pain is still to much. I just wanted to honor their life and the blessing they brought to my family.
A good friend sent me a copy of the photo she snapped. She calls it Under His Sheltering Wing. She reminded me that I and those I love are indeed under God’s wing. Thank you Cathye it made me feel much better.
Saying Goodbye
Since the beginning of August our home has been filled with the loss of family. My sweet mother-in-law lost the battle with cancer just as her son, my first husband did. The same weekend my father-in-law, my husband’s father.
Both were in their eighties and vibrant personalities. Claire volunteered in so many places, at the local nursing home, the hospital as a pastoral counselor, and other places.
Despite being severely debilitated from an elevator accident only meant Oscar would try harder at living his life. He was still making breakfast for the local firemen, active with the senior center and a fantastic story teller.
There is much to say about these two people I loved but the pain is still to much. I just wanted to honor their life and the blessing they brought to my family.
A good friend sent me a copy of the photo she snapped. She calls it Under His Sheltering Wing. Thank you Cathye Moon it made me feel much better.
Allison Bottke
Allison! Welcome to Pencildancer.com! I have a few questions for you.
What do you do when you aren’t writing?
Oh gosh, a ga-zillion things! Currently, I’m doing a lot of packing as we are moving at the end of this month from Minnesota to Texas! However, I love to garden in the warm season (very short here in MN) and reading and going to the movies are BIG favorite pastimes of mine. I could take off for the nearby Cineplex and watch 3 movies, back-to-back with no trouble at all! I’m a movie-holic!
What other creative outlets do you have?
When I have time (make time) I love to scrapbook. I’m also somewhat of a teacher at heart, I love to encourage other writers, and to that end I’ve begun to produce a series of Teleseminars for writers, with bestselling author Randy Ingermanson. Your readers can find out more about these online MP3 workshops here: http://www.boomerbabesrock.com/eventsteleseminars.html
When did you realize there was a need for baby boomer fiction?
I read a lot. Especially what is known as “chick-lit.” But the typical “chick-lit” is written for a 20-30 year old target market. The protagonist is usually single, and struggling with her faith, career, family, love-life and things young women often struggle with. In my books, I wanted to approach the issues that baby boomers are dealing with, things like the empty nest syndrome, aging parents, a change in career, retirement, menopause, and other health issues. I wanted to look at women in the prime of their life who were suddenly stepping out in faith to achieve the dreams of their heart. Women who weren’t afraid to take risks—who had the chutzpah to dare to dream big. That’s how “Boomer-Lit” was born.
Are you leaving God Allows U Turns behind to write fiction?
Not at all! I have a passion for sharing the true stories of how God turns people around. In fact, we are currently accepting true short stories for three new volumes in the acclaimed series. Your readers can check out the Writer’s Guidelines here: http://www.allisonbottke.com/writersguidelines.htm My co-editor, Cheryll Hutchings, is collecting the stories and our submission deadline is December 30th.
You’ve written a lot of books and you’re so young! When did you start writing? How long does it take you to write a book start to finish?
Young? God bless you! (Where do I send your check? Ha-Ha) I’m 52 years old! I’ve been writing since I could hold a pencil—it’s how I best communicate. However, I was 45 years old when my first book was published—volume one in the God Allows U-Turns series. It takes us about 9 months to compile and edit a volume in the compilation series. It takes me about a year to write a novel. Alas, I’m not very fast.
As a young baby boomer, I just turned 50. I look to my older sisters to see how they are handling the aging process. Many of them are turning to plastic surgery. What are your thoughts on that?
Okay, I’m going out on a limb here, but if a person can afford plastic surgery, and it’s being done for the right reasons, I’m all for it! For your readers who read my debut novel, A Stitch in Time, they know my lead character had gastric bypass surgery and lost a great deal of weight. She had a lot of plastic surgery. Well, the fact is that I had gastric bypass surgery in October of 2000 and I’ve lost 120 pounds. I’ve had plastic surgery to remove excess skin as a result of that weight loss. I say this only because there are so many stigmas in “Christian circles” regarding plastic surgery. Weight loss surgery and plastic surgery gave me back my life, I’m a big proponent of both. But again, for the right reasons.
When you look back at your twenties what do you wish you would have known then that you know now?
I’ve heard it before but it rings very true now…I should never have spent so much time sweating the small stuff! I should have chosen my battles better…and not made mountains out of molehills.
Who are your favorite three Christian music artists?
Without a doubt I am a huge fan of Bonnie Keen (from the band First Call.) Bonnie helped me to get all the musical info correct in One Little Secret. I also love Sandy Patti – what a vocal range! And Mark Schultz is amazing, his gift for story telling is amazing.
What blog or website do you try and visit every day?
FOX News and Glen Beck.
Allison, is there anything you’d like to share with readers before you go?
I encourage your readers to tell me what they think about One Little Secret. I really do want to hear reader feedback. I’m working on my next novel to release in summer of 2009 and I take to heart reader comments. They can reach me here: AB@AllisonBottke.com and please, I’d love to invite everyone to participate in the Hollywood Casting Call Contest where a lucky winner can win an all expense paid trip to Hollywood! Visit my web site and select the actors and actresses you think would make the best lead characters in One Little Secret! Check it out here: http://www.boomerbabesrock.com/bookcontests.html
And …we have a monthly newsletter that we call a “Dream-Zine,” I’d love to invite your readers to subscribe: http://www.boomerbabesrock.com/dreamzine.html
And one final thing, we have a co-authored blog with six best selling authors blogging each and every day – BOOMER BABES WITH BRILLIANT DREAMS: http://www.boomerbabesrock.com/blog/ I think that’s it – thanks for having me!
Thank again Allison for blogging today.
Dear Readers, if you’d like to ask a question or leave a comment please click the comment button it should bring up a box for you to type a message.
Dry Rot
I can’t help but find a relationship to my age and my swimming suit. This year we ditched out pool since very little swimming was occurring and the cost was soaring out of reach every year. So I haven’t had my swimsuit on all year–Until today. DH mentioned going to the lake and renting a boat, sigh. That should be fun except I’d have to wear my swimsuit and I haven’t exactly been working out to look great in one. This morning I pulled out the old favorite that manages to squish me into a reasonable form rather than a ball. As I grasped the wonder fabric between my fingers and started pulling it over my thighs I heard something. Could that have been threads snapping? elastic popping? I kept going and when I looked in the mirror it was obvious. Dry rot had invade my swimsuit. There were holes and runs and it no longer shaped my body in a nice way. Old reliable has to go…much like my old reliable self. See I did make it relate!
So I’m off to find a new suit if that is possible on Aug. 1. As for the new me? I’m still not sure. I’m thinking hard about who I want to be the next ten years. A writer yes, a wife yes, a child of God YES! I know I don’t want to tame lions, I’ve given up learning French and I discovered this summer I am not a gardener.
Lay Away
I was at Wal Mart and for some reason the clerk and I started talking about changes in retail. She told me lay away was no longer available at their store. Now I haven’t used lay away ever so not having it around doesn’t prevent a problem for me but…it does bother me that yet another thing from my youth has gone away.
The dreaded words in my home growing up were, “We’ll put it on lay away and get it before…what ever event..” I hated waiting for the date when we could get something out of lay away from P.N. Hirsch. I supposed with credit cards we can have what we want and pay for it later instead of paying and waiting. It’s twisted and I’m not sure it’s a good thing. I know I hated waiting but it did force me to really chose what I would wait for and know it’s so easy to just charge and take home my items. Many times I find it’s not something I really needed or wanted.
Maybe immediate gratification is not such a good idea, at least for me.
Follow the Ant
Okay, that is Solomon’s advice. Follow that ant, see how he sticks to his purpose and gets the job done. Solomon has proved to be wise if not cryptic at times to me in his writings. I had heard this same advice at a women of faith conference last month. So I thought I should check it out after all I’m on a search for my own mission in life.
So…
I located an ant and this is my take away from observing the ant. The one I watched went down the sidewalk, made several adjustments to his course, then about faced and came back the same way and went to the patio. From there he climbed the brick wall in a crazy pattern and eventually I lost him in the grass.
So what I learned from my ant watching is the path is never exactly straight to the goal and it can take a very long time to get there. Somehow that made me feel better. I published 3 books in 2000-2001 and then I veered off my path somewhere. Life took me to cherishing those last few years of having my boys at home, a new job direction, rehabbing a house (for college tuition) and now here I am back at the turn around. I can’t imagine I’ll fly from here to my goal of another published book but it is a good feeling to realize the ant programed by God reaches his goal and if I can stay on my path I will too.
Writing against the wind
Yep, I’m back in my chair again and if feels good except the words aren’t coming very fast. The wind from my son’s fan is blasting across my desk making be a bit sleepy and my poor dog is coughing a lot. She’s been with us for 13 years and I think it may be time to let her go or at least soon. She has an enlarged heart. I always new she had a lot of love to give. She is my constant companion and even now struggles to stay with me if I move rooms despite my saying no, stay there and rest. So that and with a very ill mother in law (whom I love very much and doesn’t fit that awful sterotype!) is on my mind so no wonder I feel like I’m writing against the wind.
For now I’m working on my mission statement and later on my out of date web page. I’m also working on a mystery. I have more time now that I’m no longer working at the insurance office. I tried but it just wasn’t me, I felt like I sidestepped God’s plan a bit so now I’m going to give His plan a real try. Ever feel like that?
Reconnecting
I’m back! I didn’t go anywhere I just lost my internet connection for over a month. I’m amazed at how addicted I am to my email and my wonderful chat buddies at SBB. What I discovered while away from my keyboard is: I like to be outside. Shocking I know to those who know me. I planted ‘maters, green beans and radishes, strawberries and herbs and they are growing! Then I started putting plants in the yard and separating hostas. My yard looks nice but that wasn’t enough I started on my front porch with cleaning and making pillows for chairs and my swing. AND THEN: my connection came back. I’m going to try not to spend as much time on the internet this summer, more time with those around me and even more time working on my writing.
It sounds like a good plan, much like losing weight and staying on a great work out program, I’m not so good at those either. The good thing is a do over is always possible and maybe, just maybe this time I can do it.