Dedicated To The One I Love

Yesterday, I celebrated my 29th Anniversary with my husband Carlos.  To honor him and our marriage, I am dedicating this post to him.  Today, I plan to share my poem to him from last year's Anniversary (no, I do not write him a poem every year).  Then, I plan to share this year's poem.  I made sure he heard them first, of course.  Also, I plan to share a poem he wrote me (one of many...I bet you didn't know he was a romantic!).  I hope you enjoy getting a glimpse of our love for each other, as we celebrate God's blessings in our lives together.

Last year's poem:

This year's poem:

This is the little bear, where I keep Carlos' poems he's written me.   The heart holds them and I love to take them out every now and then and re-read them.

The view is from my parents back porch, on the bayou, in the Gulf of Mississippi.


Carlos' poem to me:

I want to leave you with a few thoughts.  If you are thinking of getting married, recently married or struggling in a marriage, it may seem from our poems and pictures, that we lead a fairy tale life, but we have had our struggles just like anyone else.  I must give the Lord God all credit for our enduring love and the joy we still have in our marriage.  If we had not had the foundation in our home, built on faith in the Lord Jesus and His Word, we would not have made it this far.  No matter how hard things get, tomorrow is a new day and God's mercies are new every morning.  Show your spouse mercy, too, every day.  Don't hold on to bitterness and anger.  Let it go. Forgive, forgive, forgive...I can't say it enough FORGIVE!  We live in a fallen world and we are all imperfect, sinful people in need of God's Grace.

Learn to love your husbands and wives, faults and all.  You cannot change them.  Only the Holy Spirit, through the redemption through Jesus Christ has that power.  Pray for them.  Love them in spite of their faults, just as you want them to love you in spite of yours.  If you stick it out, you will find that life comes in highs and lows like waves on the sea.  When the lows come, cling to each other and pray.  Read your Bible together and seek the Lord.  When the highs come, enjoy them with each other and praise the Lord together.  There is no greener grass on the other side.  This person you are married to, is not perfect, but they are yours.  Love and be loved for who you are, not for some unrealistic ideal you have created in your mind.  Do Carlos and I always do these things, I wish I could say yes, but we have to learn things the hard way sometimes.  I think though, that we are learning and I hope you are willing to learn, too.

In Christ,

Sandy Kay Slawson

Homemaker and Writer

One of the challenges I have been facing lately, is achieving a balance between homemaking, writing and all the things that go along with each of those vocations.  It is especially difficult, when the family is mostly home for the summer and my time is stretched thin. Even now, I am writing a sentence and then stopping to cheer for my husband and son as they make their strikes and spares in a game of bowling.  Thankfully, my writing/editing can be done anywhere I can have my tools with me, pen, paper or my computer. Internet service helps, too. 

So, this summer, I am working on a new way of doing things.  A way to get my housework, cooking, chores, family time and writing/editing done.  Not just done, though, done well and I would like to enjoy it all, too.  All of these things I have to do, are actually because I have been blessed so much.  I want to show my thankfulness to the Lord, by being a good steward, by doing the best I can with each of these blessings.

 I want the time I spend on my work, whatever that is at the moment, to be more productive, so I can do all the things that are important to me.  I don't want to spend time on a few things, just to neglect other things that are also necessary parts of mine and my family's lives.

If I had a cleaning crew doing the job for me, it wouldn't be a problem.  They could get the whole house cleaned, in a few hours, but since that isn't the case, I need to have a plan.  First, to make my job easier, I need to declutter.  Second, I need to get organized, then the cleaning part will be easier to accomplish.   If you know me at all, you know

these things do not come naturally to me.  I like my stuff and I do not have an organizing bone in my body, but I am willing to learn.

I had to turn to the experts.  Two, I really like and find motivating are Alejandra and Meg.  They don't know me, but they have already been a huge help to me, at least in making me excited about getting my life in order and balanced.  Below, are posted links to each of their YouTube channels.  They are really good at what they do.  If you need a little help and motivation, to get your life clean, organized and in balance, check them out.  

Meg (#lovemeg09)

https://youtu.be/RvKzQy_ol-s

Alejandra (alejandradottv-instagram)

https://youtu.be/EoC83JhkCAw

I want to be the best Homemaker I can be.  I want to be the best Writer I can be.  I want to enjoy the life the Lord has blessed me with and give Him my best in every area of life.  Sometimes, we need a little help to be able to learn, grow and make that happen and that's ok.  

In Christ,

Sandy Kay Slawson

Learning in Progress

Today, I thought I would take some time to talk about some of the things I have been learning. Before I get to that, though, a little update on my editing.  I am working on Chapter 16 now.  As I go along, I know I will need to go back again at least once more to polish it as much as I can before the professional editor gets it.  Be patient with me please, this is not a fast process.

As many of you know, I have been researching Publishing companies.  When I started my research, I had no idea how complicated it would be.  Here are some things I have learned:

1. The "Big" Publishing houses only accept a few manuscripts from new Authors a year.
2. They also will not accept manuscripts directly from the Author, but the Author must hire an agent as a go-between. 
3. If they do accept your manuscript from an agent, they pay you to let them publish.  Here is where I am unsure, I believe they receive a percentage from the sale of the books.  Anyway, they handle all the different aspects of making a manuscript ready for the market and then they handle marketing, too.
4. Another way to be discovered, is to go to a conference and find a way to get yourself noticed.  Hopefully someone from the Publishing company will take a look at your work.

So, if a manuscript is published by a major Publishing house, it is no small achievement. Another thing I have learned is there are Hybrid Publishing houses. 

1. These are smaller publishing houses that will accept manuscripts for review. 
2. If they agree to publish your manuscript, they will help you do all the work to publish and market for a price.  
3. There is a contract involved and it will need to be renewed, after a certain amount of time, depending on the company. It will take more money to do this. 
4. They also will get a percentage from each book that sells.
5. There are some of these companies, that have received very good reviews and some who have received very bad reviews. 

I have spoken with people in several of these companies.  We have exchanged emails, phone calls and I have received information on each of them.  They have all expressed a desire to review my manuscript. They all sound pretty good on the surface.  As many of you know, I asked for prayer for wisdom.  The Lord has helped me.  As I was researching these companies, I also reached out to my Writer/Author friends and received many great words of wisdom and advice. Some Authors I talked to, had very strong opinions about a few of these companies. One Author and I talked on the phone for almost an hour one day and she was incredibly helpful.  (Find her book, "The Giving Challenge" by Stephanie L. Jones on Amazon.) 

I learned about self-publishing.  This is very popular.  So many of the Authors I have talked to and met, are self-published.  What does this mean?  Instead of waiting to make it into the big leagues, or paying a one-stop shop to publish their books, they are doing the work themselves.  They either hire out each step of the process or they do it completely by themselves.  Some say it is just more affordable doing it this way.  The steps to self-publishing, as I understand it, are:

1.  Writing the manuscript
2.  Self-editing
3.  Finding Beta-Readers (Readers who are not friends or relatives to read and critique your book.)
4.   Professional Editing (Some Authors forgo this step.)
5.   Formatting the manuscript (Making the manuscript book ready.)
6.   Cover design
7.  Apply for a Copyright
8.   Obtain an ISBN code
9.  Have the book printed.
10.  Market the book to businesses for resale and to readers.
11. When a book sells, handle packaging and shipping.

Lastly, for all of these different methods, the Author has to have developed their Platform.  Every one of the Writers/Authors/Publishers, I have spoken with, have hammered home this lesson.  An Author has to have a Platform.  What is that?  It is an online presence.  Our names or pen names, need to be recognizable to many people throughout the land of social media.  Some people have said, a publisher will not look at you, unless you already have a following online.  So, as you may have noticed, I have been working on my platform.  You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and I have this Blog.  It has actually been a great learning experience for me and it has helped me make so many friendships and connections in the writing world.  Believe me, for an introvert like me, it has definitely taken me out of my comfort zone! Learning to put myself out there for the "world" to see, has been a lesson in faith. Anyway, it was actually a blessing, when that first Author told me, "You have to have a platform!" and I said, "What's a platform?"  She explained it and here I am...growing, learning and starting to get a pretty nice group of people following me on my journey.

So, through all that I have learned.  This is where I am...I go to a conference in September.  I have appointments there with an editor and an agent.  I plan to get my manuscript in the best condition I can, before I go and have another book well on it's way by then (which was also another bit of advice I received).  If I do not get discovered by one of the major Publishers there, I plan to work with one of the Hybrid companies, with the best reviews.  I just don't have time for the "do it yourself" plan.

My plans may change, but I am taking the advice of some Authors, I trust.  I am still praying and asking the Lord to lead me.  So, we will see if He leads me a different way.  How can you help?  Pray for me.  If you are an Author that likes to help us newbies, I would love to hear from you!  Also,  help me grow my platform.  Join me on my different sites.  You can find me, either under the name Sandy Kay Slawson or Sandy Kay Slawson Writer.  Like my stuff, share my stuff and mention me on your own sites # or @sandykayslawson or # or @sandykayslawsonwriter.  The more followers I have, the more the Publishing companies will stand up and take notice.

In Christ,

Sandy Kay Slawson

Daily Assignments

Two Sundays ago, Pastor Keith Zachary of New Covenant Church in Denham Springs, Louisiana shared a page of his journal with the Church.  It is a very helpful plan to live each day intentionally serving the Lord and others.  I asked him if I could share the journal page with you, and he graciously agreed.  He did want me to mention that in the bottom left corner, is a quote that he does not remember where he found it.

Now, Bro. Keith Zachary as a pastor will choose to do each of these tasks each day in the way that suits him as a pastor, with a pastor's life.  I'm sure how I do them, will be different from you or him. Each of us, though, can use these prompts to help us to be more aware and intentional in how we are serving.  I don't want to live a life that only focuses on myself and I am sure you don't either, but we can become so caught up in our everyday tasks, that we don't take time to think about what would bless the Lord and others.  These things don't need to take a long time each day, but if you get into the habit of doing it, I'm pretty sure it will make your day richer, and you will see the blessings that you are receiving because of it.

Here is a page in my planner. To the left is where I wrote down the number of the assignment and then what I did (on the 28th, I wrote it above).  

So, if you are looking for a simple way to work on your spiritual growth each day, this is a good start. Thanks again, Bro. Keith, for sharing this with us. Here you can find the link to New Covenant Church and they can also be found on Facebook.

Update on my writing journey:  I have been in contact with several publishing companies, Writers and Authors, learning, researching and getting lots of advice. Still praying and seeking God's Will.  I am working on editing Chapter 15 now.

In Christ,

Sandy Kay Slawson