He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” – Luke 24:6-7

独在异乡为异客，
Alone in a strange land, and I a stranger,
每逢佳节倍思亲。
Come holidays my thoughts of home renew.
遥知兄弟登高处，
In my mind’s eye, my brothers climb the hill,
遍插茱萸少一人。
Adorned with dogwood – but there’s one too few.

Wang Wei

Things to be thankful for right now:

1. I have my family
2. I have my health.
3. I have a whole day off from work, so I can fit in some writing in somewhere.

You — yes you, I saw you hiding back there. What are three things that you can be thankful for?

The television and social media have been so dark lately. This website is my new happy place where I go when I want to remember that It’s Not All Dark.

Not Always Hopeless

When I first entered the Manuscript Matchmaker contest, a lot of my fellow contestants said that they’d heard of the contest from the Seekerville blog. So naturally, I had to go check it out.

What is Seekerville? It’s a blog maintained by several romance writers. They were all unpublished when they started the blog. One by one, they have all gone on to become published authors, but they continued the blog. It’s a marvelous resource for people who want to learn how to write, but it’s more than that. It’s a very welcoming place. Newbies are encouraged to leave comments about their own experiences, and the bloggers respond to all the comments.

And they’ve been doing this for several years now. Writer’s Digest rated them as one of the best writing websites around.

This month, they’re celebrating their anniversary, and trust me when I say these people know how to celebrate! If you leave a comment, you are entered into one of their giveaways.

I actually won two giveaways. Last month, I left a comment on the Seekerville blog and won an e-book (His Montana Sweetheart, by Ruth Logan Herne). And then this last week, I won another gift, a Kindle!

Please go check out their blog.