Club Mothers and Wives, Club M.A.W., is up and running, and I’d love for you to visit and tell me what you’re reading!

Author and mom, Michele Steinhauser, has started this new club for women — and she’s building a great community. Her site is based on rooms of the house, and I’m the club “MAW-derator” for … you guessed it. The Library!

There’s a discussion board set up, and I’d love for you to click on over and sign up, then join in the discussions. I’d love to know what you’re reading. To be honest, most of the books on my nightstand are new Christian books, what the publishers and publicists send me. But I’m also reading an older book for my ladies’ Bible study, as well as working through the Anne of Green Gables series … slowly.

How about you? If you’re reading a great book — or you’re the author of a great book, come tell us about it. Especially if you’re reading something older, a classic even, I’d love to know. Your advice will be much appreciated.

Michele Steinhauser is a gal with a huge heart, a mom of two boys, living in northern California. I met her in fall 2005 at the Glorieta Christian Writer’s Conference. We found ourselves sitting next to each other at breakfast one morning — and ended up becoming buddies.

She’s been such an encouragement to me the past year — and if you visit her new home at Club M.A.W. I’m sure you’ll know what I mean.

Hope to see you there!

I read this over at Mommy Life and have laughed so hard about this. Try it. Then get your kids to try it. Why does your foot do this?

How Smart Is Your Right Foot?

This is so funny that it will boggle your mind. And, you will keep trying it at least 50 more times
to see if you can outsmart your foot. But you can’t!!!

1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles with it.

2. Now, while doing this, draw the number “6” in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change directions!!!

A few weeks ago, I joined the Christian mom bloggers who’ve been interviewed by the wonderful ladies at 5 Minutes for Mom. I love this site! Twin sisters Janice and Susan have so much going on over there.

I encourage you to take a peek and then stick around and do some Christmas shopping at all the fantastic Mom-Owned webstores they have listed. You’ll find everything from little rocking toys for toddlers, kids golf carts for preschoolers, to collectible coke machines for retro fans.

It’s a nice idea to shop with moms first and spread some extra Christmas cheer to work-at-home moms.

If you love photography, you’ll love the Wordless Wednesday gatherings at 5 Minutes for Mom. Bloggers may send a link to a photo they post on Wednesdays. Talk about inspiration — wow!

Tackle-it-Tuesday is another ongoing collection at 5 Minutes for Mom. I’ve been amazed at Janice’s basement and closet organizing projects — and I’m huffing and puffing along behind her, trying to tackle my own household hot spots. It’s nice to feel like we’re not alone when we’re plowing through STUFF that we hate to do. (It’s not so distasteful when we can blog about it. heh.)

Also, if you like to read positive, encouraging articles about growing in your faith, you’ll want to visit FaithLifts at 5 Minutes for Mom. You can be a guest contributing writer to Faithlifts by sending in an article for consideration here.

I know I’m late to the party, but I love BooMama’s idea of a Christmas Tour of Homes. There are over 160 bloggers joining in, and I’ve enjoyed peeking into their homes and seeing their beautiful Christmas decorations. I hope BooMama won’t mind that I’m straggling behind the pack. I’m sure the casseroles have cooled, but I don’t mind leftovers.

Friday the 15th was total craziness around here. No time to blog, with four class parties! And guess who waited until the last minute to wrap all the gifts … grrr. Why does it take the rush of party-day adrenaline to get me slapping on scotch tape and tying bows? (And where IS that scotch tape?) At least this year, my mother-in-law helped out with the preschool party so I could attend my elementary kids’ parties — and since they were in a small school, I party-hopped to all three, baby in tow.

But I did want to share some of our favorite Christmas decorations, especially since I don’t know how many of these will make it through the years. A few days ago, I caught my three-year-old smashing glass balls with the can of cinnamon air freshener. When I told him to stop, he just said, “I’m sorry, Mama. I didn’t mean to.” (irresistible).

So, come on in and see what decorations survived the first week.

Here’s our front door. This is the table where I sit every day to read our mail and watch the kids play in the driveway.

Here’s our little Christmas cat who will greet you from her favorite perch on the stairway. She doesn’t know what the fuss is all about. As long as she can snooze, everything is fine.

This is our dining room. I put a spray of greenery over the mirror that will probably fall once it’s hit by a stray football. The little plate to the right is one of my favorite decorations. I got it from Southern Living, and you can change out the ribbons and write on the plate with Dry Erase markers. We use it for birthdays too.

Here’s one of my favorite decorations that is so breakable I don’t know how much longer we’ll have it. This Snow White globe belongs to my daughter who’s six. We bought it for her when she was so enamored with Snow White her second Christmas. My sister-in-law went crazy hearing her sing, “Some day my pwince will tum” at my mom’s house that year. This little snow globe plays, “We wish you a Merry Christmas.” I thought I’d set it up in a safe place, but my three-year-old got up on a step stool and was carrying it around a couple of days ago. So we may need an e-bay replacement in a few years.

This is the Advent Calendar we’ve put up every year since my oldest was born. I love it, and I never have to answer the question, “How many days ’til Christmas?” because I just tell them to go check the Advent Calendar. And they love taking a piece of the Nativity out of the pocket every day. Baby Jesus went missing one year, and I found him nestled in a pile of stuffed animals a few months later.

I display our cards differently every year. I bought this wreath several years ago and have it hanging on the back of our coat closet. I like to use something that makes it easy to transport my cards when I go to my parents’ house. My mom and dad get such a kick out of seeing my childhood and college friends grown up with their own families. And I love plowing through their cards too, reading the newsletters. Some years I’ve used a crystal bowl and let the cards pile up, but I love looking at our friends’ pictures all through December. Some will end up on our refrigerator.

Here’s our tree, humble and eclectic in all its glory. We only have one tree, though a friend of mine decorates her home in 14 full-sized trees, each with a fabulous different theme. Ours is full of glittery handmade ornaments the kids make, and I try to pick up ornaments when we travel. One of my favorites is a little Kiwi bird we bought when we were in New Zealand in 1994. We always use white lights — I’m just a white lights girl. They remind me of stars.

And this is the newest addition to our Christmas collection. I bought this quilt a couple of weeks ago at Cracker Barrel. They were having a Christmas sale, and I thought it would be something fun for us to have out for years. I wish I could say I made it, but it was made in China.

That’s it! Thanks for stopping in. If you’re looking for more Christmas inspiration, check out some more homes — decorated by REAL people — at BooMama’s Christmas Tour of Homes.

[Edit: I wasn’t the last one after all! The tour is still going strong as more bloggers join in — there are now nearly 200 Christmas-decked homes welcoming you to visit.]

The blogosphere is still reeling from Spunky (Karen Braun)’s announcement on Tuesday that she’ll no longer be blogging at Spunky Homeschool. She has built a loyal readership of homeschoolers and others who enjoy her inspiring faith and wisdom. Her popular blog was recently chosen a finalist in the “Best Education Blog” category of the 2006 Weblog Awards.

Karen is one of the best researchers and writers I’ve ever come in contact with, and I hope she’ll continue writing in some other capacity.

Her last post, titled See Ya ‘Round, explains a little of why she’s decided to stop blogging for now. She says:

Please accept as I have, that at times it’s necessary to end one activity and move on in order to continue to walk with the Lord and in His ways.

That’s all. There isn’t a reason for leaving, but a calling to go forward. What that is will unfold as I obey and take the first step in leaving this behind. Is that being secretive? No. It’s telling the truth as I always do. If there were more to tell I would tell it. You deserve that from me.

We’ll certainly miss Spunky. I’ve gotten to know her as a fellow reviewer for Active Christian Media. I wish her the best in life — and look forward to reading one of her books one day. If you’ve enjoyed Spunky Homeschooling, I hope you’ll click over and leave her a comment. She says she’ll keep her archives up for future reference.

Karen, along with her husband Steve and their six children, specialize in living history presentations of the Civil War time period. They also conduct a variety of workshops through their business, Liberty Family Resources. I read on their website that Steve has an extremely popular military drill for ages 10 and up. The site says:

It’s the perfect history lesson for any homeschool support group, private or public school, or church youth event. We bring Civil War history to life! Join us for the fun — leave with a new appreciation for the sacrifices of our ancestors.

If I lived somewhere closer to Michigan, I’d love to see their presentation! You can see some beautiful pictures of the Braun family here.

I hope you’ll take a minute and go check out the wonderful nominees at the CWO Sweet Scent Awards.

These Christian ladies all demonstrate a “sweet savour of Christ.” The only problem you’ll have is choosing which one — because so many of my favorites are among the nominees!

From now until Dec. 15, be sure to cast your vote for these: Best Friend Award, Most Joyful Among Us, Best Home Maker Award, Better Half Award, Most Humorous Award, Best Group Blog, Best Mommy Award, Best Home School Award, Best Scrapbooker Award, Artistic Blog Skin Award, and The Unified Heart Award.

Hope ya have a great week. I’m up to my ears in tangled Christmas lights, wondering WHEN I’m going to get it all done. When I need a breather, I’ll pop in to visit some of these refreshing blogs.

The new December issue of Christian Women Online is out, and it’s full of inspiration for Christmas, including an interview with one of my favorite Christian authors, Lisa Whelchel.

This weekend, if you start to feel swamped in decorating, shopping, wrapping, baking, and all those other things we women do before Christmas, take a breather and browse through CWO for some spiritual encouragement.

I love this pretty graphic the editor, Darlene Schacht, made of my book cover. How creative! Here’s what she said about it when she introduced my December Book Buzz column:

“You might also want to check out Heather’s own book, From a Daughter’s Heart to Her Mom, if you’re looking for something beautiful and unique to give to your Mom this year.

From a Daughter’s Heart to Her Mom makes a wonderful keepsake as a coffee table book, or one to keep at your bedside for daily reflection. Vintage style, color-tinted photographs adorn the pages of this book alongside quotes, scriptures, and inspirational messages that remind a mother how important she is.”

From a Daughter’s Heart to Her Mom is now for sale in the CWO Bookstore, which includes some more reviews of it. (Thank you!)

I’m so blessed to be part of this publication. You can write for CWO too! If you have an article idea, check out the CWO Writer’s Guidelines, which begin by stating, “The purpose of Christian Women Online Magazine is to unite women of faith, regardless of our differing ages, our roles as women, or the signs that mark our church doors. We believe that one of the best ways to do this is to encourage each other in faith, by our spoken and written words.”

You can also participate by downloading the free Christmas scrapbooking pages, which are simply gorgeous! Or you can write an essay for the weekly In Other Words blog carnival, which is hosted at a different site every week and is based on an inspirational quote. This month’s host is Laurel Wreath.

Another way to join in CWO is through reading the Snippets from the Word together. There are suggested scripture readings in the morning, along with a devotional by Elisabeth Elliot to read in the evening. Can you think of any more inspiring way to spend your time?

Be blessed!

Does this picture crack you up? I absolutely LOVE this book cover. This was my life 20 years ago. I didn’t own a Trans Am, but there were dozens of them in the parking lot at my high school. And I DID attend a Duran Duran concert (and spent hours lip-sync’ing “Rio” in front of the mirror in my basement.)

Well, guess what? This book can be YOURS! I’m having a Book Give-away here — my first ever. I have an autographed copy of Tricia Goyer’s book, Generation NeXt Parenting, that I want to give away FREE to one of you! All you have to do is write something, even just your name, in the comments here, and I’ll hold a drawing on Friday, November 17th. I’ll email you for your address, then I’ll pop it in the snail mail to you.

I’d love to know what you were doing 20 years ago. Are you like me, one of the 41 million Gen-X’ers, born between the years of 1961 and 1981? This book is written for those of us who grew up in the 70s and 80s — and are now trying to raise the neXt generation.

What was I doing 20 years ago? Well, I was 17 years old, in my senior year of high school. I was slowly becoming aware that the world didn’t center around my suburban so-called life, and I felt off-and-on panicky that I wouldn’t be accepted into college, or if I did, that I would fail miserably.

Meanwhile, I spent my afternoons after school at cheerleading practice, and I worked every weekend as a receptionist for a time-share company. I also had a fantastic English teacher who introduced me to a book I’d never heard of, Wuthering Heights. After reading that book, I decided to major in English.

How about you? What were you doing 20 years ago, in 1986?

Is anyone reading here joining in NaNoWriMo? November is National Novel Writing Month, and last year there were 59,000 participants in this crazy month-long writing jamboree.

I’m in, I think. At least I signed up, and I’ve been jotting notes into a couple of computer files the past week. A few people in my online writing group are signed up as well, and they’re all involved in local kick-off parties this weekend.

Instead of attending novel writing parties, I’m helping out at two Fall Carnivals — at my kids’ school and at our church. My husband and I are actually manning the “football booth” at one of the carnivals, so that should be interesting.

But my head is in the clouds a little bit, and I’m still dreaming of writing a novel. I’ve given some thought lately to the genre. I’ve read a lot of great Christian fiction lately and have decided I’m a huge fan of humorous chick-lit and mom-lit — Kristin Billerbeck and Tracey Bateman both whisk me away by making me laugh.

I don’t see how these women do it. Tracey and Kristin are around my age, both have four children, and yet they write CBA-bestselling novels. Tracey’s publicist sent me her Claire Knows Best book, and I felt like I’d just met my new best friend when I met her character, Claire Everett. You’ll love her too, if you like humorous mom-lit. Somehow Tracey has found time to publish 25 books — and did I mention she’s my age?

Both these novelists cut their teeth on writing romance. Did you know half of all fiction sold is romance? It’s a multi-billion-dollar industry. But I don’t want to write adult romance. At least not now. That seems kind of weird to me, like sneaking around to watch another couple kiss. You’ve really got to live with your characters to write about them — and I don’t want to live with another couple.

I’m not a chick-lit writer either because I just don’t know all that much about fashion and shoes — and you’ve really got to if you jump in that genre. Allison Bottke’s character Dee in A Stitch in Time is a fashion aficionado, and all of Kristin’s characters are into shoes, handbags, the works. Unfortunately, I’m not into shoes — can’t be, unless I want to sell a car or maybe our house. My shoes come from Target or wherever else I can find something on sale. I don’t even look at the name brand — just see if it fits and doesn’t hurt to wear.

But writing for kids — now it’s no problem for me to listen to how kids talk, see what they’re interested in, what they’re reading. Why not write stories my kids would want to read? I was praying for inspiration yesterday and took my fivesome to the library after school to replenish our book supply. I wandered through the kids’ stacks and noticed which authors have a shelf full of books.

Judy Blume, of course, still selling books she wrote 30 years ago. Beverly Cleary — what a wonderful writer — didn’t she have fun living with her character, Ramona Quimby, a few years? Betsy Byars has two shelves in our library — I checked out her memoir about three years ago, and so I checked it out again yesterday to see if I could find one of my all-time favorite quotes. (I just visited her website, and she’s still going strong from her home in South Carolina — she’s published over 60 books since 1962, including the Newbery medal-winning Summer of the Swans.)

Ah … found it. From Betsy Byars, The Moon and I. Betsy tells her readers, “Plenty of good scraps are as important in making a book as in the making of a quilt. I often think of my books as scrapbooks of my life, because I put into them all the neat things that I see and read and hear. I sometimes wonder what people who don’t write do with all their good stuff.”

And here’s another quote that made me laugh. Betsy is a mother of four, and she started writing back in the late 50s when she had two children. There’s a picture of her family in the book, with her husband and two oldest. The caption reads: “Urbana, Illinois, 1956. Behind us are the barracks where I began to write. I really had two choices — write or lose my mind.”

Ha! I can relate. Writing is a good thing to do when you have little kids in the house and you feel like you’ve lost a sense of who you are, but you don’t want to lose your mind.

Yesterday, my 18-month-old pulled some books off a bookshelf in our living room, and when I went to put them back up later, I saw this book that I’d forgotten about, Novelist’s Boot Camp: 101 Ways to Take Your Book from Boring to Bestseller.

So that’s what I’m reading through this weekend as I prepare to write next week. My plan is to hold all my email correspondence and take some time away from the blog — and pour all my word count into this novel. It’s a plot I thought of a couple of years ago, and I started writing it, but then our computer crashed for two weeks, and I lost it. That’s when I decided I’d focus on personal essay writing and devotionals for a while. Which I’ve done for two years now.

I’ve also had this character in mind since I was 19. I wrote about her in freshman composition — while everyone else in my class wrote adult short stories, I wrote about Sadie. I wrote about her again in my children’s literature class, and my professor asked me to read my story to the class, and they laughed at the right places. So I think this Sadie character is pretty funny.

My daughter had a friend over a couple of weeks ago, and I couldn’t believe it when her friend started saying, “I’m crazy about Japan. I wish I could learn Japanese. I want to go there someday so bad.” What!! I started speaking some Japanese to her, and I got out my Nihongo dictionary and showed her the characters and how to write her name in katakana. I kept wanting to listen to this little girl talk, and it turns out her big sister is also crazy about Japan, and wants to go live there when she graduates from high school.

So I invited their family for supper, and that night, we got out my Japanese scrapbook, and they were fascinated. This was just more fodder for my imagination. I’ve got all these plot and character seedlings … now I’ve just got to write.

I’ll be blogging light — if at all — during November, though I do have two interviews with outstanding people coming up — and I’m about to die to tell you who I’m interviewing for December Book Buzz — let’s just say she’s a pretty famous novelist, and I can’t believe I get to ask her questions. I love my day job!

Well, I wish you a happy pre-Halloween weekend — if you’re a parent, I’m sure you’ve got parties and carnivals out the wazoo. But if you’re jumping into NaNoWriMo next week, I’d love to know there are at least two of us out there who have decided we’d rather write than lose our mind!

Author Dena Dyer visits with us today, a mother of two young sons from Granbury, Texas. Dena’s devotional book for moms, Grace for the Race, was one of the first books I reviewed here a year ago.

Dena has been busy co-authoring a new series of books with her friend, Laurie Copeland, as they’ve become Groovy Chicks taking “road trips” to explore peace, love, and friendship in a growing relationship with God.

Hi Dena! Can you tell us about your Groovy Chicks’ series? What are these books about?

They are “book-i-lations,” anthologies of stories by women from all over the world. My co-author, Laurie Barker Copeland, and I, also contributed stories and sidebars — many as our Groovy alter-egos, “Pepper” and “Starshine.”

The two volumes are lighthearted, but not lightweight, explorations of what it means to live fully in the love and peace of Jesus. I told someone the other day that they’re like “Chicken Soup meets Laugh-in with a Christian message”!

Why did you decide to write these books?

Laurie and I met at a writer’s conference and worked on some magazine pieces together. We knew we wanted to do a book together, but just weren’t sure what it would be. And at the time, I was involved in a local Christian-owned music theater called Granbury Live, where my husband is a partner and full-time performer.

In one of the concerts, I did a segment as a groovy, ditzy 60’s character named “Starshine.” It was so well received, and I had such fun doing it, that my boss — who knew I was anxious to break into the Christian book market — said, “Why don’t you do a Groovy Chicks’ Guide to Life?”

I knew it would work … and I knew Laurie — with her fun personality and great marketing skills, as well as her acting, singing, and speaking background — was the perfect partner for a Groovy Chicks’ book. 🙂

She brought a lot to the table, and really helped round the whole thing out with regards to vision, content and humor. (By the way, our website is Groovy Chicks Road Trip, which Laurie’s fabulous hubby did for us. We even have groovy clothes, t-shirts and mugs now.)

How did you gather the stories for these books?

We sent out calls for submissions to our various speaking and writing networks, and to different writing websites. After the first book, we had about three times as many submissions, because people had started hearing about it.

So the second decision-making process was much more difficult. What’s really neat, though, is how Laurie and I — she is from Florida and I’m from Texas — both read all the submitted stories (300 for the second book!) and agreed without hesitation on the top 40 or so. We only had to compromise on a few. It was really neat — a definite God-thing!

I enjoyed reading your Road Trip to Love book, especially the tips on friendships, love, and mentoring between each chapter. What are some challenges today’s women face in nurturing friendships?

Time. Time. Time …. Ha! We’re so busy, and our friendships get left in the dust. Yet they’re too important to let that happen. I make a real effort (I don’t always succeed, mind you, but I try) to keep pretty close contact with my dearest friends. I just need them, and I know they need me … even if we don’t always realize it.

Do you have any suggestions for us on how we can deepen and strengthen our friendships? Is it worth the effort now, or should we wait until our kids are grown and we have more time?

I think that when we become honest with ourselves about our loneliness and the gaps that only friends can fill, and we share that with people, we’ll be surprised at how other women respond. I’m sometimes afraid to reveal that need — how I feel empty when my friends and I haven’t been able to spend time together.

But when I get real, they totally “get it.” In the Bible, in a book such as Ruth, we’re reminded of the gift of friendship, and how we can’t take it for granted or let it die.

And just let me say, as an Internet/email/blog addict (I can quit anytime I want–really!), I do value those connections, and they have been tremendously helpful, but it’s NOT the same as spending time one-on-one with a girlfriend.

Our generation (Gen X) is very well-connected on the Internet, and we have forged friendships worldwide. It’s a blessing, but it can bring about an artificial intimacy that makes it harder to foster face-to-face relationships. We think we’re connected, but we’re not … not really. It’s TOTALLY worth the effort, I believe, to nurture the friends we have at church, in our neighborhood, and in our moms’ groups. Especially when the kids are young — because we need support, encouragement and a relief from mom-isolation, now more than ever!

One fun thing that several moms and I have done is to have a monthly Bunco (a really easy-to-learn dice game) night. We do it on the third Thursday of each month, and take turns hosting it. The hubbies all know that they have “daddy duty” on that night of the month. We have been doing it for about a year and a half. It keeps us connected without being a huge time commitment.

What other projects are you working on now?

My agent, Wendy Lawton, is shopping two proposals around for me, one for women ages 20-40 on being fearlessly countercultural, and one for moms about dealing with inferiority and insecurity. Since our publisher for the first two books has undergone a bunch of changes, we’re also looking for a publisher for a third Groovy Chicks’ Road Trip volume, on Joy.

Can you tell us about your online writing courses? Do you teach these? How does it work?

I’m glad you asked! I love mentoring other writers, but my time is so limited. I used to lead a local writing group, but it got to be too much. So now I teach through Writers’ Helper and love it.

I have courses on writing for anthologies (which is free, if you go through it on your own!), getting organized to write, and writing short pieces for publication. Each one is a four-session course, and you can go through it by yourself, with others, or with me as a mentor/coach.

The prices range from about $20-$60, and they’re all conducted entirely online. All you need is a computer and email.

Thanks, Dena! You’ve inspired us to work on strengthening our friendships, and maybe some of us will send you a story someday for your next book! Do you have any closing words?

Well, if your readers want to be a Groovy Chick, too — it’s easy. All they have to do is have Christ in them. They don’t have to wear a certain style of clothing, or be a certain age. Any “chick” can be groovy!

As Laurie and I always say, we are just ordinary women — with a Groovy God.

You can learn more about Dena Dyer at her website. She loves to hear from readers and can also be reached at her blog, Amazing Grace-land, as well as by email, denadyer@sbcglobal.net.