To Blog or Not to Blog …

• August
• 3

… that is the question! Actually, that’s not quite true. The question is really what to blog about.

Here on the Footprints blog, my ramblings tend to be focused on a couple of themes: Footprints Women’s Ministries Inc; reading; writing; parenting teens; with the occasional forays into fashion, church life, or anything else that happens to take my fancy at the time.

The Footprints blog is not your everyday, garden variety blog, because it’s NOT just about my thoughts and experiences. It actually started as a mechanism to let our friends and supporters know what’s going on in the world of Footprints. But where does the world of Footprints end, and my world begin? They’re not that easy to separate!

I have sometimes worried that I should stick to Footprints matters on this blog, and start another blog for more personal writing. But there’s a few reasons that I haven’t. I was going to say that I’m lazy, and one blog is quite enough but I realised that would be lying … the reality is I’m just so busy that taking on another blog would probably be foolish. And then I would have the dilemma of writing something, and then trying to decide the best place to put it (it’s bad enough now - should my latest piece go on the blog, in the FOCUS ezine, or on the pages of the Footprints magazine itself?!).

I reassure myself by remembering that editors are people too, and that’s okay! Think of the editor’s column in any glossy magazine. Yes, they tell you about the magazine but they often share about their own lives … and these are the bits I probably love the best, because it helps me identify and relate to them.

From the feedback and comments gathered on this blog over the past year or two, I suspect my readers here are much the same. Because it’s my personal anecdotes and reflections which seem to receive the biggest response (judging my your comments anyway).

So forgive me if this blog continues to be a bit of this, and a bit of that; in fact, I hope you’ll enjoy it. Because that’s what life is like. You just can’t compartmentalise one part of it and keep it separate from another – they are all inextricably entwined, joined together, to become one beautiful whole. And all for the glory of Jesus!

Upcoming Writing Festivals

• July
• 28

Just received confirmation that I will be leading a workshop at the Faithwriters Down Under Conference in Sydney on Saturday 9 October. Very exciting! (The pic above is of a group that I led at the Alpha to Omega Literary Convention in Brisbane back in 2007 – or was it 2006? My memory is a little fuzzy!). The full program should go live on the website by the end of next week at www.faithwriters.com.

Closer to home – I will also be teaching a class about writing for magazines at the Word Writers Fair right here in my hometown of the Redlands (next to Brisbane) on 6 November. Although it is a Christian writing festival, not all sessions are specifically Christian and there is heaps for aspiring writers of various genres to enjoy – find out more at www.wordwriters.com.

Has anybody else been thinking about going to the Brisbane Writers Festival, which is 1 – 5 September? The full progam has been released, there were one or two things I was interested in but at $75 a pop – and on a workday – there’s just no way that I can make it. Have to admit that 95% of the program just doesn’t interest me at all.  Not sure why. Is it because I’m a Christian? Or that fiction / poetry etc seem to be the focus?

A Ton of Fun!

• July
• 25

What do you get when you put together:

• Half a dozen members of the Footprints Team;
• At least half a dozen Footprints readers & supporters;
• The odd husband, assorted teenagers, and tiny tots;
• A beautiful park;
• Festive balloons to mark our location;
• Weather that may have looked like it was threatening rain, but didn’t (thank you God!);
• Yummy food, because everybody brought something to share;
• A seemingly endless supply of cups of tea / coffee (thanks to Janet panicking that we wouldn’t have enough thermoses – we ended up with about twenty! LOL);
• A shared passion for Jesus AND Footprints magazine …

… Well put it this way. It’s the perfect recipe for plenty of chatter, hugs and laughs!

 We may have been only a small group, but it allowed everybody to mix and mingle. Even though some were strangers at the start of the event, nobody was by the end!

Conversation topics ranged from choosing churches, to parenting tips, fashion, blogs, memorable holidays, work, studies, family, great books & movies … not unlike what you’d find in an issue of Footprints magazine really!

It only served to confirm my firm belief that Footprints readers are a GREAT BUNCH!

To see all the photos, here’s the link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=190345&id=105081061840.

18, Drug-free and a Virgin

• July
• 23

A friend of mine who is not a Christian loves attending her MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group. Recently the discussion turned to their aspirations for their tots. There were the usual dreams of doing well at school, finding a suitable career, just being happy and healthy … but what really shocked my friend was when one of the  Mums mentioned that she hoped that her child would be “18, drug free and a virgin”.

It’s exactly what my husband and I encourage and hope for, with our own two teens (now 16 and 13), but my friend thought that it was a very strange and unrealistic goal to have. As she honestly shared, she wasn’t either of those things at 18! How could she expect her children to be any different?

I couldn’t help feeling saddened by this discussion. I know that kids are getting involved in alcohol, drugs and sex at increasingly earlier ages, and that there are many temptations out there. But shouldn’t we at least aim high?

What’s that saying … reach for the sky because even if you miss, you’ll still reach the stars!

Party Time!

• July
• 14

To those who live in Brisbane and surrounds, a quick reminder that it is only 10 sleeps until our picnic afternoon tea! 

It’s all part of our 50th issue celebrations - if you’re a subscriber, you should have received an invitation tucked inside Issue 50, with all the details. 

For those who may not subscribe (shock, horror!), or who have lost their invite, we’re having an informal picnic afternoon tea at a popular park, meeting at 2pm on Saturday 24 July. If you are interested in finding out more, or want to RSVP, email editor@footprintsaustralia.com or text 0421 482 642. Please bring along a plate of something yummy to share, a folding chair or picnic blanket, and if you can manage to bring along a thermos of boiling water as well (for cuppas – we’ll provide the tea, coffee, sugar, spoons, cups etc) that would be great!

Come along and meet the Team behind your favourite magazine … we’d LOVE to meet you!

Photo below: our last Footprints get-together with readers was our 10th birthday bash at Rivers Cafe, Mansfield.