Spring!

~~What a lovely beginning this spring is making! Our daffodils, hyacinths, and pear tree are blooming. The cherry tree is close to popping out in all its glory. Here are a few photos to help you forget our long, cold, snowy winter. ; )

~~The experts are saying the pollen season has gotten off to a slow start and the levels they are seeing are about three weeks behind the usual pattern. If you are like me, you couldn't care less. Bring on the lovely and leave the tiny miserable specks behind. Unfortunately, one takes the other to exist. Just enjoy it before the hard part comes.

It's Been a Good Week...So Far

~~How's this for a good week? On Sunday night I gave the long awaited talk at church and sold eight more books and on Monday night I was interviewed for a TV show. Tuesday I got to see the DVD of the show and WOW! It's good!
~~The talk Sunday night was titled "Devotional Worship" and related my ideas for active reading of scripture. It is the process that led to An Easter Walk. Since my active reading takes the form of writing, the rest, as they say, is history. I also have learned the connection of devotion and worship. We usually think that the two words have very different meanings--one is private and the other a group activity--but actually, the two words are defined by each other. So, my talk revolved around both and how to create active, productive quiet time. The group who heard it was very complementary. When I asked John if he thought the program went well, he said, "Of course!" like he couldn't imagine me thinking otherwise. ; ) My mother agreed.
~~The interview was for the program, "Reach Out and Touch" that is produced by my friends, Faye and Gene Agan. Their program is part of the line up on the Unity Broadcasting Network. UBN is based in Boonesville, Mississippi and has several affiliates in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Missouri. Along with their standard broadcast, UBN is an online entity as well. My interview will air online and on the network on Tuesday March 30 at 2 PM. Check out http://www.ubntv.org/ on that date if you have a chance. Unfortunately, the program is not archived, but the Agans kindly gave me a DVD of the finished product. If I say so myself, it's good. John agrees. I also have permission to copy the DVD for sell at book signings if I wish. Faye and Gene are good friends, don't you think? By the way, we plan to do other programs in the future. Can Christmas be far away? Not if I get A Christmas Walk is ready in time. ; )
~~So it's Wednesday and I'm waiting. Just what other good things can happen this week? Your guess is as good as mine. ; )

You Want Me to Talk!?

~~Okay, I asked for it, but preparing to do a presentation is different than writing. ; ) I'm speaking at my church on Sunday March 21 about An Easter Walk. The program will also include how to make Bible reading more fulfilling. It's the very process that created my Easter devotions to begin with.
~~I started this as a challenge from my pastor Steve Davis. He challenged us to prepare for Easter and Lent for as long as we prepared for Christmas and Advent. My answer to the challenge was to read all the scriptures about Holy Week. As I read, I began to slow down and really respond to the words. Writing my responses became short devotions. I then researched the traditions of Lent and found the length of forty days. I had no clue if I would find forty topics to write about. Guess what? I did. As I wrote, I realized I was being led to share the devotions with others. And that's how An Easter Walk came to be written and published.
~~I'm currently writing a companion volume, A Christmas Walk. I need twenty-nine devotions for a full-length Advent season plus Christmas Day. At the moment, I have no clue what will be in the last four or five. Somehow I think the source of the forty Easter devotions will provide. Isn't God good?
~~If you are interested in a copy of An Easter Walk, click on the picture of the cover to the right. The link will take you to my website. Happy Easter!

It's Snowing--Again

~~I remember winters like this one. When I was little, we had snow off and on several times a winter. But it's been years since its been like this. Droughts and warm winters have been the norm for at least ten years. The last year we had a big snow was 1993 and the blizzard. Now, winter 2009-2010 will go down as a big snow year. It's snowing again today--March 2. That's four this winter.
~~This winter will go down as a cold, snowy one. All I know is, I love it. I love watching it snow. I love thinking about it in the forecast and I know many of my fellow Southerners agree--snow is fun. We're just thankful that it goes away quickly and we can get back out and into the warm again. In fact, we are expecting the temperature to rise quickly. Sunday should be above 60. I foresee sitting on the deck basking in the sun--the deck that is covered with snow at the moment. ; )

What a Weekend!

~~I've decided that this weekend is the best ever. I mean it. ; ) It started on Saturday with the mail. I received my official notice that I'm a nominee for Georgia Author of the Year. The GAYA is the oldest literary award in the Southeast and the Georgia Writers Association administers it. Go to www.georgiawriters.org for more info.
~~Sunday morning brought the Times-Georgian to my door with the article that Spencer Crawford wrote about my books and my journey in writing. He does such a great job helping members of CCWC promote their work. Here's a link to the article-- "Author uses religion as a foundation for her writing."
~~All I can say is, a few more weekends like this one would be more than I could stand--NOT! ; )

Three, Two, One

Three white balls of snow stacked up just so in the classic snowman form.

Two bounding barkers bouncing around in the flakes that nearly rise to their bellies.

One Southern Snow Storm of three and one half inches deep, lovely and white.

~~I know that it's not a lot of snow by northern standards, but it's wonderfully heavy for north Georgia. Of course, it is a strange winter with this second snowfall on Friday, February 12 and another expected late tonight and into tomorrow. Talk about a Valentine's Day Gift! ; ) Our puppies loved it. After an initial caution, they bounced and bounded so fast that we didn't get a photo of them. When you are only ten inches tall, snow of three and one half inches is a bit of a challenge. Add the snowman--the intruder in our midst--and you have a noisy, fun time.
~~John and I have never "rolled" a snowman before. All our past attempts have been the mounded variety. Either we haven't had this type of wet, heavy snow before, or we have waited until the next day when the drier air has stripped it of moisture...But this time, the snowballs rolled into the perfect sections for a lovely snowman. Add a red hat, green towel scarf, carrot nose, and two broccoli floret eyes and you have it.

~~Enjoy the photos of our latest, but not last snow. ; )

Do You Have A Website?

~~"Do you have a website?" and "Can I buy it online?" Well, as a matter of fact, I do and you can--Now. After having to answer these two questions with a negative over and over as I told people about my new book, An Easter Walk, I got the message. I needed to get more than a blog going. With two interviews planned, it became more important. In fact, I have just finished the first interview with Spencer Crawford for the Times-Georgian on Wednesday afternoon. So, on February 21, readers will get an article about me as a writer and about the book and will be able to buy it that day. ; )
~~After deciding to get the website started, I had to figure out how to do it. Since my only foray into programming was way back when I created mimeograph worksheets for my students with basic run/print statements on my Apple IIc, I couldn't create a website from scratch by myself. I do love Diana Black’s web designs, but I couldn't to use her wonderful services on the meager profit I'm making so far. Diana encouraged me try to find a web host with a template to use. She thought I could manage that. ; )
~~First, I looked at Intuit.com and their small business website builder, but it was still too rich for my pocketbook. Beautiful templates, though. John suggested I hunt for a list of rated web hosts and I found one. I figured I'd start with the top. There was one problem--I had tons of questions about just what the things listed on their service meant. I took me two days to get a person on the support line and then I couldn't understand him at all. Don't get me wrong, I'm very good at understanding accented English. Maybe it's because I speak with a strong Southern accent myself. Only the young man had the thickest, most rapid British accent I've ever heard. I'm sure he thought my questions were ignorant and stupid. He answered me like he assumed I was "a hick from the sticks" and "dumb as dirt." I take exception to both assumptions. That told me to keep searching. Add the fact, that he didn’t send me the link to the sample templates just made the decision to go elsewhere easy.
~~I went to the second site in the list—iPage.com . They did assure me on their homepage that all their agents were in North America. I figured there wasn't an American or Canadian accent I couldn't understand and Mexican wouldn't be too bad either. ; ) I was right. Not only did the agents I've talked with help me, they didn't talk down to me either. The templates were simple Drag-and-Drop and there were several I liked. The challenge then became how to link my favorite image of a tree-lined walk in autumn to what I write. Once the title "Walk Among the Leaves With Me" with its lovely double meaning clicked, I was off. It has taken me a week to create the five webpages and publish.
~~So, if you have a minute, take a look at http://www.zanmariesteadham.com/ . I welcome all comments and suggestions. Many of you know so much more than I do about this. For those of you in the dark like I was, let me encourage you--you can do it, too.
~~Now to find the courage to try facebook and connect with my thousands of former students...

It's Getting Better. I Promise!

~~My mother-in-law, Helen, had hip replacement surgery on Tuesday. It's been a long time since she fell in August, but finally we are moving in the right direction. The first problem was the fall, followed by the screws that were to hold the fracture in place didn't, and finally a new fracture appeared. It's a new fracture or one that wasn't found to begin with. We'll never really know.
~~What we do know is that the new doctor from Emory Orthopedics has replaced the bone that was inflamed around the screws and the fractured ball that was also inflamed. She stood up for the first time in over two months the day after surgery. It's a relief. She can now get better and have a life that is easier on her and her sons.
~~Keep us in your prayers.