Life Lessons—The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

by Reba J Hoffman

Ok, I know many of you started humming a song just then, didn’t you? I know that, before long, you will be GPS-ing “over the river and through the woods” so you’ll safely make it to grandmother’s house for Thanksgiving. Nothing like family, love, turkey and trimmings. Oh yeah, and lots and lots of FOOTBALL!!!!!

I wouldn’t trade those memories for anything. Know what else I wouldn’t trade? My dreaming. This really is the most wonderful time of my year because it’s when I dream big and set goals for the upcoming year. My imagination conjures up all sorts of exciting possibilities. I usually set about three goals in each important area of my life that I’ll spend my time accomplishing during the 365 days that start January first.

I’ll admit, that doesn’t sound as inviting as Grandma’s pumpkin pie, but I promise you that the results will be just as sweet. Here’s why:

Thursday Review—Author Cindy Sproles Shares the Story Behind Her Newest Book, New Sheets

I'm excited to welcome Cindy Sproles, Executive Editor and co-founder of ChristianDevotions.us. She has a new devotional out, New Sheets: Thirty Days to Refine You into the Woman You Can Be. 

Cindy, Tell us about your new release, New Sheets – Thirty Days to Refine You into the Woman You Can Be

New Sheets is a thirty-day devotional/inspirational book. In the beginning the title was longer (if you can believe that). It was Thirty Years in Thirty Days to Refine You into the Woman You Can Be. The reason…well, it took thirty years for God to refine me into the woman  I knew I could be. And by the way, I’m still being refined.

My First Exposure to the Horror of Domestic Violence

Most of you know my best friend and her daughter, Jennifer and Abby Blagg, were murdered by her husband in 2001. Tonight, the documentary filmed in March will air with part of my story from that time. I hope you'll tune in, we all need to be more aware of the often silent destroyer of families that is domestic violence.

The show is The Devil You Know, it airs on Investigate Discovery Channel (ID Channel) at 10pm TONIGHT. The episode is called, Twisted Faith.

What’s Holding You Back?

So often, when I tell people I’m a writer, they’ll look at me, sigh and tell me how they want to write . . . if only.

By now I've heard just about every excuse in the book—and truth be told—used a lot of them myself. 

The truth of the matter is that everybody has an excuse NOT to follow their dream. We're all busy. We're all dealing with crazy family issues of one type or another. None of us have enough money to make it easy to do it. The list goes on and on.

But really, the important point is why you SHOULD follow your dream. Life's too short and too precious to waste time doing things we're NOT passionate about. Okay, very few have the luxury of ONLY doing what they're passionate about, but even that is just another excuse.

Social Media Monday—Is SEO Dead?

With the birth of the Internet came the birth of SEO

Like everything else in our world, social media is changing and evolving. When the Internet was young and search engines new, a way had to be found to rank the order of websites that came up during a search. With that, Search Engine Optimization was born.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is simply that, an algorithm that ranks websites when a consumer types in a query. The quandary comes when you compare the goals of the consumer, the specific search engine and the website owner.

Life Lessons—Only One Thing!

by Reba J Hoffman, PhD

A to-do list longer than Santa's?

Ever had a to-do list that’s longer than Santa’s list of who’s naughty and nice? Yeah, me too, especially when it comes to writing and developing new ways to live my dream. My dad used to say, “The more I do, the behind-er I get.”

Wasn’t great English but the wisdom rang through. There are so many things to do sometimes, those with a dream become weary. Sometimes it’s so overwhelming, you just pop-n-plop. You toss a bag of popcorn in the microwave and plop down in front of the TV to watch a movie.

It becomes routine until you look back over a year wondering what happened to it. Your dream is no more realized than the day you birthed the desire in the first place. There is something you can do to make sure that doesn’t happen to you. That is, concentrate on Only One Thing!

Here’s why that helps you: 

Thursday Review—You Know You're a Writer When You Procrastinate by...

by Lynn Huggins Blackburn

One of the best things about NaNoWriMo is that it demands you cease all forms of procrastination and get ‘er done. But since I’m not participating this year, I’ve been thinking about how writers have our own special ways of procrastinating.

So here you go.

You Know You’re a Writer When You Procrastinate by…